Aiden’s ears perked up as he heard three pairs of feet approaching the security room door combined with loud grumbles and scoldings as they neared the room.

The door burst open but the scrimmage still hadn’t ended.

“…What do you mean, you wanted to get home quickly so you took the most riskiest path there is, for what? Shoes?!” Suiren was turning red.

“Well..! I didn’t have a choice, my brother needed them.” Lucio looked away with a pout on his face. No matter what he tried he couldn’t convince her of his actions.

“LUCIO!” Aiden swiftly took off from the chair, almost sent it flying across the room. “You’re alive..!!” He screamed as he wrapped his arms around Lucio and crushed his spine.

“Off- Didn’t we already confirm my life status over the phone call..?” He muttered trying hard to break away from his hold.

“Do you have no remorse? You make so many people worried about your well-being, but here you are without a care in the world.” Suiren still relentlessly continued with her lecture which at this point was just her dispensing her anger.

Aiden turned immediately to her careless response with a blank expression. Suiren noticed it and realised she said something very out of line. She stepped back, a little worried about what he might say.

He approached her silently and uttered, “You…”

“M-me..?” The room was suddenly filled with tension. Mel, who was there the entire time remained quiet throughout the scrimmage all the way from the mountains to the school, watched expectantly.

“You are absolutely right! I need some appreciation over here. I’ve saved his ass multiple times to the point that this became the norm for me. You’ve reminded me just how ridiculous he is.”

“Oh?” Suiren paused for a brief moment.

And suddenly all eyes were on Lucio again. Those teeming eyes needed an apology, to which he didn’t restrain, he immediately complied.

“I'm sorry.” He got on his knees.

“Stay like that for the next hour.” Suiren glared.

“Make it two.” Aiden added.

Suiren left the room to join Mel waiting outside watching the drama so they could head back to class. Meanwhile, Lucio and Aiden were the only ones left there.

“Are you really that mad..?” Lucio whispered.

“I’m not mad. You’ve just got to stop doing reckless things.”

“I know… I’m sorry. I really am.”

“Apology accepted only if you think twice about things.”

“But I did think twice.”

“Then think five times, I don’t know!”

“Okay…” He looked up with a little smile. “So, can I get up?”

“Yeah, sure whatever.” Aiden smiled along as well.

As they prepared to leave the room, Aiden finally asked why he entered the forest in the first place.

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“Well, Mateo forgot his shoes, so I decided to take a shortcut back home.”

“Then did you get it?”

“I completely sidetracked and totally forgot. And right about now, I should encounter a wild Mateo around here.”

Just as he finished his sentence, a blaring voice came from the left closer to the school buildings.

“Bro..!” A taller frisky boy with short brown hair in a jersey approached them with a look of distress.

“Bro, I went to your classroom to look for you and people started to randomly give me condolences for my loss. They think you’re dead.” He looked over to Aiden and quickly greeted him.

“But I knew, you weren’t dead… yet? So I asked them why. They said you went into the forest road on your own. Which basically confirmed that you were dead to me…”

“So..? Why are you telling me all this? If you wanted a confirmation then, yes. I did do all of the things you mentioned. As for the shoes, well I’m not getting them for you.”

“The shoes aren’t the issue anymore, they said I can just rinse these ones with a hose and dry them. The main issue is that… I called mom.”

“Mom?! Why mom?!”

“CAUSE I THOUGHT YOU DIED!!”

“What?! Did you actually tell her that? Oh no…”

“Honestly, great job, Mateo. Good on you for informing your mom that your brother is dead. She needs to know.” Aiden praised him for his commendable work.

“That’s all fine and dandy! But you’re missing the point. I’m very much alive!! What is she going to think?”

“Sounds like a ‘you’ problem to me…” Aiden shook his head in disappointment and turned away from Lucio.

“I agree.” Even Mateo thought he had it coming eventually completely disregarding the fact that it was his own fault his big brother is now in trouble. Besides that he didn’t forget to give him some words of encouragement to face the perilous forces of his birth-giver. “Get ready to face the wrath of mother dearest. May the author of your life have mercy!” He quickly scooted away from the two. Eventually even Aiden decided to leave his sulking friend behind.

“Man… why did I even decide to go in the woods?” In his moment of glum he remembered that it was still worth getting his face and back covered in mud. “Well, at least I found you, Lyney.”

Meanwhile, three heads drifted about the hallway trying to make it to class and finally rest up after this ordeal. One amongst them was certainly too exhausted to even speak but the other two were too busy bickering.

“I’m telling you shawarmas are better than burritos..!” The boy squeaked.

“Are you kidding me?! That’s the worst food take I’ve ever heard. Besides, burritos are amazing!” The girl fired back.

“Really? You’re just saying that cause you’re vegetarian! You don’t know what it’s like when those juicy kebabs come in contact with your mouth!”

“Caleb, why are you even here?!!”

“What is it, Mellissa? Can’t think of a better defence so you resort to the lowest tactic of all: shooing me away!” He points in the most dramatic way possible with the other hand on his chest.

“Ugh.. Can you guys please take this elsewhere..?” Suiren finally uttered as she tried to pull back her soul leaving her body.

“More like, Caleb, you take yourself elsewhere. You ain’t allowed in this friend group!” Mel grunted as she swung her head to the other side.

“Oh~! But this duo of magical girls and the mascot would be no more. Oh! And if it wasn’t obvious, you’re the mascot.” He points to Mel with a mischievous grin.

“YOU PIECE OF SHI-” Mel roared and the two could witness the glory of Mel the fire breathing dragon once more in their lifetime, although it’s not a rare occurrence, this special dragon seems to appear quite often these days.

Suiren immediately sealed Mel’s lips shut and uttered coldly, “Cursing? Not in front of the disciplinary council, you’re not.” She continued but with a smile, “But you can throw yourself out the window to let off your frustrations and whilst you do that take Caleb with you as well. The fresh air would do great for you to air out your hot-takes on food that nobody asked for.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The two followed along obediently.

After the two main culprits of her exhaustion had scattered, she began to recall everything that happened that day. “Lucio Mendoza… I guess I didn’t have the time to pause and think for a second but he was oddly familiar. Have I met him before? Meh! We go to the same school, of course I would’ve seen that guy. But what is most vexing is…” She gripped her chin. “What was that hatch? He was in there the whole time and definitely wanted to hide it from me… what could possibly be in there?”

“It looked crazy old as well, it should’ve been there for a while and besides, the forest has been sealed off for a while because of encroachment but they were never really that strict about the civilians entering and loitering. But I do remember that the forest once had a bomb shelter there… could that hatch be a bomb shelter?!”

As she tried her best to deduce a possible outcome, she noticed that she was way past her class and ended up at the end of the corridor instead. As she assessed her surroundings she noticed a group of kids hovering around a particular classroom in a frenzy.

She tried to overhear them talk.

“Come on, man! Where is he??” A girl sounded with agitation. It was soon followed by another student also in the same mode of panic, “He said he’d be in his classroom! Our group needs him for the Robotics fare!”

“Hey! So do we! We came here first anyway! You guys don’t even have a chance at showcasing your work at a panel, I would be surprised if you even managed to get a panel!”

“What the hell did you just say?! We worked with Lucio two years ago, if anything we had more team skills than you guys! And guess what, we won second place at an intra school level competition! So suck it up, you bastard!”

Suiren stood there in mortifying disgust with a chill down her spine as she heard them ramble on. Nerds are dangerous and ferocious when it comes to things they are good at and their school was certainly full of them. They turn into savages when it comes to competitions like these and can flip the whole school if something obstructs them in their path. But even so, she couldn’t help but notice the familiar name whom they ever after.

“Lucio, again? Give me a break, I’m hearing too much of him today…” She quickly retreated and turned away back to her own class.