“Hm? A dark clear night sky and stars glimmering with such splendour, and the ground beneath bedded with grass.” She could feel her own voice echoing through her head.

“So, I’m dreaming again. This is new, how can I talk..?” She touched her throat.

“Well, I know what’s about to happen. I should probably try a different route this time. It will probably make no difference but I can talk so that’s one change that I can depend on..!” She suddenly felt a burst of optimism.

As she got up and took the first step, her feet got caught in an invisible force and made her land face down on the ground. “Ack- What the hell..?” She turned towards her back and noticed something shiny underneath her feet.

She approached closer towards it and finally the view became clear, it was the hatch!

“Huh!? This hatch… what’s it doing here?” Without thinking twice she readily grips the handle with both her hands and pulls it up.

It was pitch black inside like a dark void of nothingness. She wavers of its true worth after witnessing its not so glamorous look. “How disappointing..?” All at once with no warning whatsoever, the rain of asteroids began.

“No..! Not now!!” Suiren gets up but an asteroid was headed right for her and with no other choice and through pure instinct she falls back trying to escape the huge rock and falls straight into the hatch.

“Gasp!” Heavy breathing filled the room.

Suiren groaned as she pressed her forehead. “Sigh… Why does it always end with me falling off things?”

After calming herself down, she turned to her screaming alarm clock and banged it off.

“The hatch…”

Just as much fun the kids had yesterday, they still had no choice but to go back to school and listen to classes yet again. But with all that being said, Suiren was still deep in thought about her dreams. She was teeming with curiosity as to what could be in that hatch and the only way to find out was…

Suiren glanced at Mel and continued to peek glances until she finally noticed her glaring eyes. Mel thrusted forward and asked nervously, “What is it? Why are you giving me that look? Are you constipated?”

“I need your help with something.” Suiren turned back to her normal position indicating that this “help” she requires shall be further discussed outside during break.

And the plan happened accordingly.

“So? What is it..?” Mel asked with great concern and sweaty palms.

“I want you to stalk someone.” Suiren said with a stone-like expression and a bullet of sweat.

“…Huh?” Mel tilted her head in confusion. “That’s it?”

“What do you mean, that’s it? This is important!” Suiren suddenly gets embarrassed by her friend’s reaction.

“If stalking was all you wanted, why did you have to build up so much suspense..?! I legit thought you murdered someone!!”

“Why would I murder someone?!” Suiren thought for a bit and quickly concluded that it didn’t require an answer. “Yeah, actually that would seem plausible considering my interrupted sleep cycle and insomnia, and you…” She pointed at Mel all dishevelled.

“Moi?!” Mel likes to be French for dramatic effect.

“Oui.”

“Anyway, who is it? The person I’m supposed to stalk? Is it a boy~?” She asked with sudden enthusiasm.

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“For real?! I can’t believe this day has come!” Mel started to levitate from euphoria.

“Don’t get your hopes up, it’s not what you think.” Suiren pulled Mel back down to reality. “It’s Lucio, the guy we rescued yesterday!”

“Oh, him! Why do you wanna know about him?”

“Well… it’s hard to explain. I just want to spy on him for a few days and be more mindful of his whereabouts after school. I need him to get me something.”

“Ok..? I mean, you’re smart enough on your own, do you really need his help with academics..? But I guess it doesn’t hurt to learn from the masters!”

“Academics? I don’t need his help for that? But wait, is he that smart? I overheard a bunch of kids fighting over him on the way to class yesterday.”

“Oh yeah! But he’s kinda low-key about it.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Hmm… Anywho, we can take turns spying on him alternatively with every break and since I’m incharge of the dress code check this week it’ll make things a little easier.”

“Fine by me! I’ll begin with stalking online!” Mel raised her hands in a victory pose.

“That settles it!” Before Suiren could grasp the situation, the very person they were after zoomed past them at the speed of light.

“Huh? Isn’t that forest guy?” Mel pointed weakly at the student sprinting away leaving clouds of dust behind. “What’s he up to now?”

“I don’t know, he looks panicked?” Suiren looked around and noticed a swarm of students all headed the same way as him and quickly recognised them. “The kids from yesterday?!”

A cunning notion whipped past her mind and realised this could be the perfect opportunity to perhaps befriend Lucio. “Mel, quick! Let’s go save him again..!” She dashed off without a warning leaving Mel scrambling for her wits.

Lucio was busy panting for air as he tried to navigate through the corridors to find a perfect hiding spot away from those people whom he considered leeches.

“Argh! Can I ever catch a break around here?! I completely forgot it was science exhibition season, why does this school have to cram all extracurriculars into the same month?! All this cause I accidentally got first rank this one time??”

As he ruffled up his hair in frustration, he noticed his shoelaces were untied and quickly hid behind a column next to the window grates. He bent over to fix them quickly. Just then out of nowhere a loud stomp was heard from his right.

“Found you!” The voice was like a siren to his ears and aptly he jumped upon hearing them.

Lucio fell back. “Please! No more of this nonsense, I told you I’m not gonna join you guys. Please leave me alone!!” He said facing away from the person’s feet and put his hands forward in defence.

“Actually, on the contrary I’m here to save you from said nonsense.” Suiren bent down and showed him her face.

Just as he could see a clear view of Suiren, she immediately pulled him up and started to look around for an escape route.

“Huh? Oh, it’s you, whose name I’m struggling to remember..!”

“Come on, we met yesterday! How can you forget?” She started sprinting away and Lucio followed along with no complaints currently distracted trying to remember her name.

“Sorry, I'm just not used to Japanese names. Was it… Sui… Suika!” He snapped his fingers.

“That means watermelon, you dingus!” Suiren snapped back straight to his face and continued on downstairs. “I’m seriously reconsidering helping you now!”

“Wait! I’ll get it right. Was it Suiren?” He guessed as he tried to squirm through the crowd. “Man, I didn’t know there were stairs here!” He glanced at the tiny dangerously placed spiral staircase tucked away near the staff room. It was fairly unused but not forbidden, it just isn’t preferred because of its safety concerns, but it happened to be a great shortcut from the huge staircase dividing the corridor into two for convenient access.

“This staircase will lead us straight back to the second floor where your classroom is. Those students chasing you would have probably taken the main stairs down. You can sneak back up to the next floor through here.” Suiren seemed pretty proud showcasing this secret.

“I just realised I have a lot of things I have to thank you for-”

All at once, the sound of at least seven pairs of feet rumble through the tiny tunnel going upwards. The groups of robot enthusiasts spilled out of the tiny entrance of the stairwell and devoured poor Lucio.

Suiren witnessed the storm dragging the ship away and finally peace came at last. But just then another pair of feet came timidly from above.

“Mel…” Suiren glanced at her with soulless eyes. “What did you do?”

“Th-They forced me!! I’m sorry!!” Mel immediately apologised to save herself from yet another cold treatment from her friend.

Suiren gave a concerning grin. “If I can’t use normal methods then I have no other choice than to resort to the morally questionable methods!”

Suiren began the operation the very next morning. It was her turn to check the students’ uniforms for the day and her job was to immediately detain anybody who violates it. The rules were strict and she was even stricter, so much so that even the other members started to take notice and removed a few hours of her duty from uniform checks.

“Stop! Not only are you late, your socks and the edge of your pants are covered in mud. Got an explanation?” She tapped her clipboard a few times, she was more than ready to write him a note.

“Woah, chill! It’s only a little mud, Ren. Roads these days are quite rough, y’know?” He was a little too jolly that morning and was bursting with positivity meanwhile Suiren was still headstrong on figuring out where he’s been.

“Ren?” She lifted her eyebrows.

“Lighten up, Ren! It’s a lovely morning.” He dashed off without any explanation at all.

“Third time this week… Late and muddy shoes.” Suiren pondered intently. Some students happened to slip away stealthily as she was engrossed in the mystery.

Mel did a pretty good job as well on her part. She managed to take notice of him every break and all the while the only thing she could add to the log was…

“Always on his phone or laptop with earphones on talking to someone. Sometimes hides it away whenever his friends are nearby. Leaves to go to a secluded area and was once seen leaving the school during lunch headed east.”

“East? Haha, it’s definitely the mountain road..! Great job, Mel! I’m so proud of you!!” Suiren celebrated by clasping hands with her friend and hopping about.

As they settled down, Suiren began with her deduction. “Late every morning; covered in mud; talks to someone secretly; leaves during school hours. It’s so obvious he’s been making a detour to the forest every now and then to meet up with someone in secret!”

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious to me as well. But Suiren, what do you have to gain from this? If anything it could be someone like his crush that he’s meeting up with.”

“Uh… Honestly, that makes sense. But I know for a fact whatever he’s doing in that forest has something to do with me.”

“How?!” She slammed the table hard.

“My dream said so!”

“Are you for real?!” Mel screamed, “I knew those dreams caused you discomfort but now you think they are premonitions or something??”

“No… the dream changed, Mel. For the first time I didn't just die from the asteroids, I survived thanks to a hatch on the ground that resembled the one in the forest!!” She continued with the same vigour, but now started to pace back and forth. “You see, at first after I fell in the hole I thought the dream would cycle back. But it didn’t happen! I found myself in a dark room similar to a labyrinth. What’s more weird is that the dreams I’ve been having don't cause me to wake up in cold sweat, all frightened out of my wits, it’s rather calm!”

Mel found it hard to believe that Suiren would succumb to such illogical conclusions but she couldn’t help but disregard the confidence and joy in Suiren’s voice as she explained how her sleep has improved. Her best friend was making an effort to cure herself of her problems and Mel didn’t need more of a motivation to support her.

“Well, that’s great and all. But why haven’t you gone to the forest yourself and found it?” Mel suggested.

“I could. But don’t you think he would’ve locked it up because it’s something so important he doesn’t want to tell anyone?”

“Once again, you give him too much credit…”

“I don’t want to risk getting lost in there either.” She continued, “So, I’ve decided I’m going to follow him instead. For that I’ve got to spy on him for the entire day.”

“Man, this is all so tedious. How about we recruit another person?”

“Like who?”

“Aiden Wang.”

“Who?”

“Our victim’s bestie.”

“Sure, why not? But how can we make him do what we want?”

“I can pull a few tricks.” Mel gave a devious smile.