Chapter 42: Catch Me If You Can

I continued advancing toward Ms Reina, who stood still, observing us with a blank expression.

Kaede gave me a cursory glance. “Uhh, are you gonna freeze her?” she asked.

I kept my eyes fixed on our teacher and responded quietly. “She knows how my Ability works. If she isn’t moving, there’s a reason for that. She’s probably waiting to see what we’d do.”

A tense silence hung in the air between us, the subtle breeze shifting the branches above. Something about the way Ms Reina stood—completely relaxed but alert—put me on edge. It felt as though she wasn’t merely waiting for us but daring us to act first.

Her silhouette contrasted against the moonlit beach. The ocean wave lapped innocently at the shore as we continued closing the distance between us. She was now within range of my Ability, yet she made no signs of moving.

“Feeling confident?” I called out. To her, this would seem uncharacteristically confrontational of me since it was unlike how I usually acted in class, but with the current setting, there was no need for pretence.

“You seem to be,” she observed.

Without any warning, I activated my Ability, freezing her in place. I then propelled myself forward, using some of Kaede’s energy which I had saved up from earlier, my body flickering with a faint purple light.

Just as I was about to make contact with her, the air around her buzzed ominously. Black lightning arced outward, creating fractures in the air like shattered glass. Her entire form wavered, becoming blurry and almost impossible to focus on.

In the blink of an eye, the lightning surged. Her body scattered into fragments, dissolving as if space itself had collapsed around her, propelling her away. It was as if the energy she had unleashed created a sudden gap, forcing everything—including me—to falter for a second. And just like that, she was gone.

I blinked, staring at the space where she was standing a moment prior. I turned to Kaede, who reflected the shocked expression on my face.

“What was that?” she asked.

I spun around, scanning the area, my pulse quickening and my head racing. “I think it’s some kind of spatial energy discharge. She must’ve converted her lightning into a burst that disturbed the air, forcing herself out of reach. It’s like she overloaded the air with energy—momentarily disrupting the environment, similar to how an EMP scrambles electronics.”

Kaede furrowed her brow. “Huh? I’m still processing what just happened and you’ve already theorised that much?” She gave me a grim smile. “So, she’s gone. Just like that?”

I gave a slow nod, frustration simmering beneath my calm exterior. “For now. Let’s continue scanning the coastline.”

We hastened our pace as we continued onwards, looking for any traces of our teacher. More importantly, if we did meet her again, how was I going to tag her if she could just “dissolve” her form? And curiously, we had to actually fight back then, how would it have gone down?

I turned to the giant holographic board hovering above the forest.

Role

Remaining

Teachers

5/5

Instructors

5/10

Time

32:23

We had just a little over half an hour left, and none of the teachers had yet been caught.

----------------------------------------

As time ticked down, we were still unable to find any of the hiders. We did come across a few different teams though, some of which were looking a little worse for wear. It had been a long day, and we weren’t even at the halfway point of our camp yet, so the mood was understandably a little low. Still, I had heard rumours that tomorrow, or Day 3, would be more of a rest day, and hopefully a little lighter on our spirits. Furthermore, we were getting increasingly acclimatised to our current environment.

An explosion somewhere in the vicinity shook me out of my internal monologue.

“Let’s go,” I said, turning to Kaede, who nodded in agreement.

We raced over just to see the aftermath. A large crater lay in the ground, with dozens of students around its perimeter peering at it curiously. The crater itself was empty.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Damn, what happened here?” Kaede breathed.

I once again checked the scoreboard.

Role

Remaining

Teachers

5/5

Instructors

2/10

Time

13:45

I remembered the instructor count was already at 2 a few minutes before the explosion, so it might have been a failed attempt by a group to capture either an instructor, or a teacher. However, judging by the scale of the explosion, I was leaning more towards it being a teacher than an instructor. Could it possibly be done by a student? Even Scarlette or Kazen shouldn’t be capable of such a shockwave though.

Whatever the case, spending any more time here would be futile. I figured that with the time remaining, most groups would have given up and would now be making their way back towards their campsites, so we headed in a different direction.

Unfortunately, our efforts proved to be in vain, for the timer soon reached 0. It appeared that all 5 teachers remained uncaught, with only 1 instructor managing to evade our clutches over the hour.

----------------------------------------

Back at the campsite, we reconvened with Scarlette’s trio. The activity had taken a surprising toll on our energy, so we lazed around our tents.

“Anything interesting?” I asked Scarlette.

She wrung her hands. “Sorry, nope! We almost caught an instructor, but he was freakin’ fast!”

“Yeah it’s fine, don’t worry about it. We’ve got you guys covered,” I said, flashing the card we got from the instructor we caught with a smirk.

“Woah…” Scarlette was at a loss for words for once.

Jonah clapped his hands. “See? I told you he would get one!” he exclaimed triumphantly.

“It’s cool. Anyway, did you guys see or hear the explosion midway through?” I asked.

“Yep. Wasn’t me, by the way,” Scarlette clarified, taking the card from my hands and examining it. “We didn’t see who did it either, since we were pretty far away from it.”

“Hmm, I thought so. Anyway, we met Ms Reina at the beach too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t catch her,” I admitted.

“Huh? You couldn’t catch her? Is she that good?”

“I’m not entirely sure how her power works, but—” I trailed off as the woman in question strolled into the middle of our campsite.

“Congratulations to those of you who managed to obtain an instructor card. Unfortunately, none of the teachers were actually caught for this activity, but a solid effort nonetheless.” Her gaze flicked toward me briefly, lingering just long enough to make me feel noticed. “That is all. Please get a good night’s rest.”

As she made her way out, I briefly gave a rundown of our encounter with the rest of my team. I made it quick for our fatigue was catching up to us, and soon after, we crashed for the night.

----------------------------------------

I woke to the sound of rain pattering against my tent. Later, we were informed that our morning free roam—essentially another sash battle phase—had been cancelled due to bad weather, much to the relief of most of us. Personally, I was eager to make up for our deficit to Zara’s team, so the news irked me. With over half the teams now sashless, it would be harder for us to increase our tally. These teams would still be hunting to regain their sashes, but fighting them would likely waste our time and energy.

The rain finally let up just before lunch, when we were briefed on the next activity. It was relatively uneventful, with the instructors returning to teach us outdoor survival skills. Much like yesterday’s rescue lessons, I suspected this session was aimed at students with potential interest in covert field operations or something along those lines.

One amusing moment was when we learned how to start a fire. It was particularly tough since the surroundings were still wet from the rain earlier, so Scarlette could barely contain her smirk as she ignited her kindling in an instant, earning an eye-roll from me. Otherwise, it was pretty standard survival stuff.

After a lighter-than-usual dinner, we were told to regroup at the Rumble Pit for another speech from Dr Connor. I groaned—were we about to get chewed out again?

Surprisingly, it was the opposite. After going through the usual formalities, he finally got to the part we didn’t expect.

“I know I said this wasn’t a holiday camp, but it’s not a military camp either. With your recent performance, I believe you’ve earned a break. So tonight, we’ll have a barbecue at the beach. Join us to unwind—or, as you young ones say, to ‘chill with the homies.’ Everything is ready, so head over whenever you like. Feel free to change into lighter clothing as well.”

“Ugh, cringe,” Scarlette muttered. “Trying to sound cool just does not suit him.” But the sparkle in her eyes betrayed her feigned indifference. The square hummed with excited voices, our spirits visibly lifted. We kept up the conversation as we hurried—doing our best to appear orderly—out of the pit.

After a quick change of clothes into more casual attire, we made our way over to the beach. Even before we arrived, I could hear music blasting in the distance. The heavenly aroma of barbecued meat beckoned us forward. For a moment, it felt as if we were on a resort island.

After collecting our food from one of the instructors at the various barbecue stations scattered through the beach, my group settled into a relatively quiet spot under a palm tree, away from the crowd and music, though we could still hear the sounds in the background. Ironically, it was the same tree that Ms Reina was standing under the previous night. I tried not to let it bother me too much.

Kaede placed her slippers beside her and buried her feet in the sand, munching on some chicken as she spoke. “I wish we were actually on holiday though, instead of some school camp. This is lowkey such a peaceful place.”

“I know, right?” Jonah chimed in. “How I wish we had a proper resort to bathe and sleep in after this.”

“Haha, you wish,” Scarlette replied dryly.

I turned to Mira, who was silently chewing on her food, intending to check in on her. “How’s the camp been so far for you?”

She swallowed before speaking. “It’s alright, I guess. Pretty much what we expected.”

“You doing okay though? You haven’t been talking much… though I guess that’s normal for you,” Jonah said with a chuckle.

“Hey!” Scarlette nudged him, almost causing him to drop his food.

“What?”

“Some people just speak less, okay? Nothing wrong with that!” she whispered.

“Huh? I mean yeah, sorry, should’ve phrased it better,” he apologised.

“All good,” Mira assured him.

“Well, if it isn’t Scarlette and her team?” a voice called from behind us, causing us to turn around. There stood a girl with her arms crossed, flanked by three other students. I didn’t recall hearing footsteps behind us. How did they get here?

“Hi, it’s me. Want an autograph?” Scarlette replied, her tone dripping with snark.

I had a feeling I knew exactly who this girl was, even before she introduced herself.

“Zara Terminus, though people tend to call me ‘Artemis’. I’d like to challenge your team to a fight.”