Suddenly, a silhouette emerged from the shadows and said, "What! The! Hell! Are you doing?"

As the trio stared intently at the figure before them, the silhouette stepped into the light from a half-open window, illuminating the face of none other than Abhi himself. Standing in a 'combat position', the Agents of Hypotenuse felt their expressions shift from intense focus to stunned amazement as they realized Abhi had witnessed their entire ‘act’.

Tring! Tring! Tring! Before anyone could say another word, the school bell rang, and students began gathering inside the classroom. The trio seized the moment to blend in with the crowd, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Abhi as they sat as far away from him as possible.

‘I can't believe I just did that. No way was I rhyming about exposing Abhi… in front of him!’ Kevin thought to himself, curling up into a ball in the corner of the classroom.

‘No! No! This did not just happen. I was literally screaming, "We can finally see what is the mystery of Abhi's last name." in front of Abhi himself,’ Dep thought, lightly banging her bench in frustration.

‘I will forever cherish the days that are not today, for the embarrassment I faced was unfathomable,’ Veer reflected, still in the throes of his poetic mindset.

As everyone settled in their places, other students also formed groups and switched seats from their morning arrangements, fostering the early seeds of friendship. Amidst this, Abhi sat alone on a bench large enough for four people, isolated and without company.

The next period's teacher barged in, signalling the end of students' gossip and chatter as the lectures resumed.

The hours passed with nothing notable happening, but as soon as the last school bell rang and classes were dismissed, the trio quickly exited the school premises and entered the street outside the gate.

"God, I wish I could turn back time. Or at least erase memories," Dep lamented.

"Well, I'm just never returning to this school again," Veer declared.

"Yup, I'm outta here for good," Kevin added.

"Wait! Hold up!" a voice called from behind.

"Is someone calling us?" Dep asked. The three turned back in shock to see Abhi standing behind them, gasping for air.

"Come on, guys! I've been shouting at you for so long that I had to run to catch up," Abhi panted.

The three exchanged silly, tense glances before replying in unison with a robotic monotone voice, "Oh hi, Abhi. Nice to see you again."

"Hey, huff! So… what's up? Are you guys waiting for your bus, or are some of your homes nearby?" Abhi asked, still catching his breath.

"Um… Not really. We can just walk home; it's not that far, but we have a car coming to pick us up," Dep replied anxiously.

"Damn, that's great," Abhi said.

"....."

"....."

"....." Half a minute passed and no one said a word.

Abhi decided to bite the bullet and address the tension in the room. Breaking the awkward silence, he said, “So… I’m not exactly sure what happened in the classroom just before the break ended, but I’m sorry if I somehow offended you guys.”

The trio exchanged confused glances, but then Veer whispered something to Dep.

“This seems like a perfect opportunity for a game: 3Gs—Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss.”

“Noted,” Dep replied in a low, soft voice.

“Oh, it’s alright, Abhi. No big deal, my man; we were just startled when you suddenly appeared out of the darkness, ha ha!” Veer exclaimed in an exaggerated tone, using excessive hand movements—perhaps he has Italian origins.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s not a biggie,” Kevin chimed in, mimicking the dramatic gestures to emphasize his words.

“Ah, great! Thanks, guys; you’re too kind,” Abhi responded.

“Don’t worry about it, cuh; we’re chill like that,” Dep added, also adopting the over-the-top tone and absurdly excessive hand movements.

“Though I do have a question: What did you mean by ‘We can finally see what the mystery of Abhi’s last name is’—and some other things about last names as well?”

The awkward silence returned for round two.

“Okay, we should just make our confessions; there’s no point in hiding it anymore,” Dep suggested, looking at Kevin and Veer.

“Alright, I guess there’s no other choice,” Veer agreed.

“Yeah, you know what to say, right, Dep?” Kevin asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

Dep subtly nodded. She then turned her focus to Abhi and said, “See, we were just really curious about why you were hiding your last name. You didn’t just conceal it in your introduction; you also avoided discussing it with us at lunch.”

“Also, after you revealed you’re from Rakvill, the mysterious aura around you captivated us even more,” Kevin added.

“We apologise for intruding on your privacy, but when you suddenly ran away after we asked about your last name, it only fueled our curiosity,” Veer explained.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Oh, so did you guys secretly look into the teacher’s register to find my name?” Abhi asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Perhaps…” Kevin admitted.

“And was that spy part of the act or something, ha ha?” Abhi replied.

“…”

“Come on, that was pretty funny, haha,” Abhi chuckled at his own comment.

“Yeah… ha ha…” the trio echoed awkwardly.

“So, did any of you check the register and find out my last name?” Abhi asked.

Veer and Kevin looked towards Dep. Sensing their gazes Dep spoke:

"I don't think the boys saw it, but I got a good look. I think you put your mom's name as your last name, right? Abhi Archana?"

"Yes, I go by Abhi Archana. But as you can tell, that's not exactly my actual name. I'll be open and share the reasons behind using my mother's name as my last name because I believe there’s no friendship without trust…"

The trio exchanged wide-eyed glances, a mix of suspense and guilt evident in their expressions.

"... I have no last name. Ever since I can remember, my mom and I have never seen my dad. We don’t affiliate with him or his last name. Whatever my original last name might have been is completely irrelevant to me. I also don’t have a last name from my mother’s side because she was an orphan without one herself. So, I just use her name as my last name. I'm not ashamed of it; in fact, I’m proud of it. I just avoid announcing it because it leads to more questions that don’t need to be answered," said Abhi, gazing calmly into the sky.

"Aww, dude, you could've just said you were uncomfortable telling us. I promise we wouldn't have been so stubborn," said Dep.

"Yeah, man, I’m sorry for all of us. We wouldn’t have pushed so much if we’d known the truth. It felt like you were making so many excuses, so we thought there had to be some crazy secret behind it. If you’d just said you don’t share your last name for personal reasons, we wouldn’t have dug deeper," said Veer.

"It's all right; you don’t need to apologize. But I’ll tell you this: I didn’t make any excuses—not in the way you think," responded Abhi.

"Okay, bruh, we just got deep into trusting each other, and now you're saying this? Come on, stop capping," said Veer.

"Just give me a chance to share my side," said Abhi.

"Go ahead, I guess," said Kevin.

"So, this morning, when I was coming to school, I saw some weird-looking mushrooms near an electricity pole. They’re right there; you can even see them," Abhi pointed out.

The trio turned around to see where Abhi was pointing. After noticing what he meant, Dep said, "Oh yeah, there are three near the dog and the pole, but they don’t have caps, just the stems."

"Yeah, because I ate the caps," said Abhi, with a neutral expression as if it were no big deal. Upon hearing this revelation, the trio exclaimed in unison, "HUH!"

"Yeah, they looked pretty tasty. So, I ate all three of them, even though I only wanted to try one. At first, nothing much happened, but since break started, I began to feel dizzy; even people's faces looked mashed up…"

"No way this dude is real," said Veer, still not interrupting Abhi.

"...And when I was sitting down to eat with all of you, I had to leave multiple times—not because I didn't want to talk about my last name, but because I was about to bomb the whole goddamn bathroom..." said Abhi, maintaining a straight face.

"Nahh..." The whole trio burst into laughter at Abhi's explanation. They leaned on each other’s shoulders, giggling heartily as they realized the silly truth behind the 'last name mystery.'

"I was feeling weak after that 'event,' so I went to lie down and eat the rest of my food in the classroom. But I woke up to the noise of your shenanigans near the teacher's cabinet. I was too embarrassed to tell you all about this before, but now, I guess I just spilled the beans, ha ha," Abhi said, finally letting out a chuckle.

"Brother speedrunning trust and friendship," said Veer, still softly laughing.

"Ha ha, it do be like that sometimes," Abhi joked.

Suddenly, a loud stylized honk echoed from a distance.

"Whoops, seems like my bus is here. Gotta go," Abhi said.

"Hey man, why don't you stay a bit longer? We could hang out at my house if you're down," Kevin suggested, smiling at Abhi.

"Aw man, thanks for the invite. But as I told you, I have a job, and I have to catch some pretty infrequent buses to get there on time. So, I’m gonna have to decline this time, but maybe some other time?" Abhi replied.

"Sure, though one question: I don't recall a route that requires catching two buses in all of High City. Is there a new route opened up or something? My dad always drills those routes into me, so I’m surprised I don't know about it," Kevin said.

"No, no, my house is down... down at Low City, so my journey is quite long," Abhi clarified.

…

There were a few seconds of silence in the conversation, but this time it wasn’t necessarily awkward but rather just everyone getting stumped by Abhi’s revelation.

"Oh damn, I didn’t know you weren't from High City. You’re actually the first student I've heard of who’s from Low City," Veer broke the silence, still looking surprised.

"Guess I got lucky. Well, the bus is near, gotta go... see ya," Abhi said while jogging towards the bus and waving goodbye to the trio.

"Bye Bye!" they waved back.

…

"Explains a lot, doesn't it?" Kevin said.

"You mean him being from Low City, right?" Veer asked.

“Exactly, how could they let him in? When I was younger I used to think the school had a rule against accepting students of Low City or something” Kevin Replied while in thought.

“Yeah, this is something we need to look into, there are a lot of mysteries behind him, Right?” Said Dep as she saw Abhi’s bus leave past their sights.

"Yeah very mysterious. I sensed he felt a bit different. Glad to have another person in our class who isn’t just another pompous snob like everyone else in High City to be honest," Kevin remarked.

"Though he is still such a goofball, ha ha," said Dep, grimacing.

"Ha ha, so true. His confessions honestly made me feel like he’s just a genuine dude too, bit weird but still real" Veer added with a chortle.

"Same, hehe," replied Dep.

Unlike the other two, Kevin appeared less cheerful. He rubbed his chin, gazing into the distance as though in deep thought. Noticing this, Dep asked:

"Yo! Why so serious? What are you thinking about? Do you want to eat those mushrooms too, hehe?" she teased.

"No!"

"So what’s up then?" Veer inquired.

"See, now, I think Abhi is a chill guy. He’s funny and maybe even trustworthy. But one thing keeps bugging me," Kevin said.

"What is it?" asked Dep.

"In our whole day of conversation, from the break period to now—from trying to use him as a lead, to confessing about trying to research his last name, to him catching us red-handed, and then all of us even sharing our secrets with each other..."

"What are you getting at?" interrupted Veer.

"Even in the last confession, where we were trying to be open, we still never told Abhi the full truth about ourselves. Just like how we hid some things from him, he hid some things from us too. We asked him about other topics far more than we asked about his last name."

Veer and Dep squinted their eyes at Kevin, listening intently.

Kevin continued…

"Even though we brought it up far more and even tried to revisit it in our last conversation... Abhi didn’t say a single word about Rakvill or Incident 99..."

....….