“Tira.”

She flinched at the soft poking in her sides, the touch had startled her awake right away.

Thankfully the room was not painfully bright yet, instead it was dyed in the soft hues of morning blue that gently let her vision adjust. Hannah was the one sitting by her bedside, her face peering down, the morning light glossed on her skin.

“Sorry, I had to wake you up. The teachers and prefects said we can shower at the sports’ club changing room, can you come with me?”

Tira sat up slowly and noted that all the other girls in the classroom were still asleep. She took a breath to calm down from the scare, making the effort to not snarl and answer like a proper human being, and covered her mouth as she yawned.

“What time is it?”

Hannah flinched. A full body jolt as her eyes comically widened, before she smiled bashfully, “Sorry, I’m still not used to hearing you talk. Your voice is lovely.”

… And what was she supposed to say to that???

“Hm…” Tira hummed instead, gave Hannah a nod that she was going to escort her by giving her a hand.

“Thanks.” Hannah stood up, pulling Tira with her as she moved back, and they made their exit out of the room as silently as possible.

Outside, the world was even bluer than it appeared from inside the classrooms. Every open space was touched with a stain of blue, the soft light spilling over every available surface, slowly uncovering the dark mystery that night left them. Tira took in a big, painful inhale of the cold, coughing as her lungs burned and slowly she became aware of the waking world.

When they arrived at the shower room, they saw two seniors were standing by the changing room’s door. One was the guy called Ris whom she remembered being the one to send the emergency broadcast, and another girl that Rina asked to escort her class, the one Tira thought to be the class representative, though her name had escaped her mind at the moment.

Thankfully, Hannah appeared to be more awake and knowledgeable as she greeted the senior girl with a hint of surprise in her voice. “Felis?”

“Oh, Hana! I heard from Aris that you wanted to take a shower?” Felis flashed a tired smile at them. “And your friend too?”

“Hello” Tira greeted the senior as politely as possible, pushing through the discomfort of speaking in the morning and giving a little bow out of habit. “I’d love to shower but..”

“Towels?”

Tira nodded. Felicia, as Hannah whispered in her ear, took a tote bag from a pile by her side and opened it to pull out a brand new towel.

“Here we go! There’s also... Liquid soap, a toothbrush and some toothpaste.” She handed them another clear plastic bag filled with all the items above. “Should be good for one or two uses, so keep it close to your belongings.”

Felis seemed to remember something as they stood around awkwardly, reached into her pocket and pulled out two marker pens. “Oh also! Here, fabric marker! Name the towels so that you can dry them in your class using the chairs. I think it’ll be crispy and dry by the afternoon and they won't get jumbled up with the others.”

“Thank you…” Tira softly whispered her gratitude. Felicia talked so fast that she almost didn’t catch up on any of it, still battling the brain fog of the first good sleep she had had in weeks. But not so out of it that she forgot basic politeness. Tira glanced at her friend and Hannah, catching the hint, expertly maneuvered them out from another barrage of small talks. “Yeah, thank you, sis! C’mon!”

Her gaze lingered on Felicia for one moment, a blink of an eye, before she entered the bathroom and turned out of sight.

Half an hour later, with her skin free of dried blood and chilled to the bone from the ice-cold water, Tira asked about Felicia as they were drying their hair.

“Oh her? She’s my neighbor. We’re supposed to be in the same grade but she skipped a year back in junior high, so, eh. We still go home together in the end.” Hannah said in between another yawn.

Tira hummed in reply. She wondered how she would have to face the senior year girl,while telling her that the allocated shampoo was already all used up, and she was not getting the grease out of her hair whatsoever. Not to mention that her nails had grown so long overnight and had made it harder for her to scrub her scalp without accidentally scratching herself.

The urge to cut her accursed hair and nails was getting stronger with each accidental tug and scratch as she showered, but she needed to ask that guy first if it was just going to grow every time she went into battle. Otherwise, snipping them off would be entirely useless.

“Tyr?” Hannah called out with a tint of worry. “You okay?”

“I am,” she answered in reflex. Surprisingly it didn't feel like a lie, “You?”

The lack of an answer was an answer in itself. Tira did not comment on the shaking frame of her friend that sat on the dry sink by her side, letting her hand rest on Hannah’s shoulder in support of her as the girl looked away to keep her face buried into her dampened towel.

They walked out the bathroom later than expected. But neither commented on it. For once, another person's touch had not been as scorching and painful as Tira was used to it feeling.

“Tira,” Rina called out from the corridors on their way back to the classroom. She waved for her and so, Hannah entered the class on her own. “Did you sleep well?”

Tira nodded, then posed a silent question with a raised eyebrow.

“There’s going to be a… survivor meeting, later, at Bhakti Uni,” the senior girl said around her yawn, “they’ve been rescuing people all night before we managed to clear the path over there. A lot more people are coming. Still coming actually, since the barrier went up.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Rina was starting to ramble. It was strange to see this usually put-together senior taking so many detours in speech, not to mention her not making any eye contact. Tira almost wondered if she should cut in and spare them both the awkwardness or let her keep going out of politeness.

“And... ugh!” Finally giving up on making excuses, Rina got straight to the point, “Would you mind being there?”

She did not immediately answer, thought and striked off all the possible reasons as to why she was even being offered such an opportunity in the first place. There were many things about her situation that she had not told anyone, and she was unsure of how much everyone else knew in the first place either.

Dias seemed to be capable enough of controlling people that way, that he might break information that he possessed into smaller chunks, and gave out different parts depending on who asked so that nobody would possess all the puzzle pieces.

Thinking of that shady bastard so early in the morning made her mood plummet all of sudden. “Did Dias mention that I wasn't needed?”

“What? No?” Rina looked confused, perhaps being thrown off the loop by the mention of the demi-god’s name, but her expression contained no guilt and was merely pure surprise.

They were talking about two completely different things here, huh?

“None of the students' council or teachers saw him since last night when he said he wanted to sleep, so we allocated the first floor infirmary for him. I don’t think he’s awake yet though.”

Tira tilted her head to the side, a bit surprised to know that he needed sleep. Or maybe he didn’t need to, but could, and thus did so. Another question to the pile. “Are you going to let him attend the meeting?”

“That…” Rina trailed off, her brows falling from the height they reached during her initial surprise, she squinted in thought, reflecting her uncertainty in plain sight. “Should we? I haven’t talked to anyone on board about it but, would that be a good idea?”

“Rina.” Tira sensed that the older girl was about to go through another ramble and stopped her. “Have you slept yet?”

“Huh? Yeah, I did.”

“How many hours?”

The guilty look on her face was enough for Tira to not continue that line of questioning and go for a new route. “You should go to sleep. Did Raphael sleep? Belinda? Any of the third year club members?? Have one of them cover for you and go. To. Bed. I’ll relay this to the seniors when I can find them.”

“S-Sorry…” Rina sniffed, moving her gaze to the ground with apparent exhaustion, then back at Tira, with a hint of wetness pooling around the corners of her eyes. “I’m useless, aren’t I?”

Tira shook her head, “Not useless, just burnt out. Go take a shower, grab some leftover chicken, and try your best to rest. Even if you end up not sleeping at all; you need some time to… process.”

Rina smiled, nowhere near how she usually would in front of everyone. The third year senior massaged her temples and closed her eyes to blink away the tears. “Yeah, you’re right. Thank you.”

A small nod from Tira, and Rina went on her way. Tira did not follow to send her away, as they weren't the closest of colleagues outside of the club. They barely even interact during the club activities, as she wasn't the most outgoing of the bunch in that group.

But still, she hoped that Rina would get an even more peaceful slumber than what she had.

Another beat passed before she returned to class to deposit her bathing supplies. More girls, of various ages and grades, were starting to wake up. Though the youngest were still asleep—all tucked and curled into their sleeping bags, while the older students talked in whispers and tiptoed around them.

Tira noticed the chairs had been rearranged into a line, with one of them already sporting a short towel. She hung hers on another one, glad to see that the quick-dry ink was true to its name in spite of the fabric still being damp.

Leaving few minutes later, she came across a patrolling school gang member and asked about the whereabouts of the remaining student leaders. He then led her to the teacher lounge, where a few teachers were gathered around a giant meeting table along with the student leaders littered around and in between each of them.

A few eyes glanced up upon her arrival, the adults a lot more warily, more so than the seniors and the gang boss' acknowledging nod; though she felt that the council president’s gaze was the most indecipherable as he greeted her with a tired smile upon sight. “Ah, Tira... right? What’s up?”

There was something there, a little bit of something she couldn't tell as it faded away too fast from his face to be noticed.

Oh well.

“Just here to deliver a message from senior Rina that she’s going to be indisposed for the survivor's meeting. I’m going to find our club’s second in command to go in her stead.” She delivered the message as concisely as she could, the amount of attention she accumulated from her announcement was enough to make goosebumps erupt on her skin.

“Is she okay?” Ma’am Hartati, the counseling teacher asked with apparent worry on her tired face.

“She’s just exhausted.” Tira clarified, then glanced at the two seniors, a question on her tongue which she swallowed back when she saw their faces when she finally noticed the strangers in their midst.

Before she knew it though, another thought had replaced the original and forcefully escaped the hold of her self-control.

“Have any of you slept?”

Now that it came to this, she did not let anyone answer and bulldozed through, “No, I think none of you have slept, have you?” Her gaze landed on the teachers and sure enough, they all looked away guiltily. Turning away from the principal, she locked eyes with one of the supposed messengers. “When is the meeting going to take place?”

“E-Eight o’clock.”

“Postpone it. None of our third years nor our capable adults have rested enough to attend any meeting.” Her gaze found the strangers’ again. From the different colored badges that hung from their necks she assumed they were representatives from different universities. “I’m sure that your side hasn't rested as well. Did you go in shifts? No? You should go back now and do that instead.”

“The influx of survivors isn't going to heighten any time soon. If they could reach us during the night, they would have tried. For anyone else, their best chance to survive the night is by locking themselves in like we did.”

She emphasized her last words, eye contact sharp and unrelenting to make sure they were paying attention. “Tell your leaders or representatives this; do not let our side lose important security and medical personnel due to panic and exhaustion. The best thing we can do is to put everyone in rotation. Starting now. Have anyone else who can’t help in both security and medical catch their sleep, so they can help out later when we do need another rescue operation. Understood?”

The group of grown men nodded furiously.

“Good. We’re not going to hold or attend any meeting or anything of the sort until tomorrow noon at the earliest, or until they’ve— I mean all of you,” she pointed to the representatives again, for emphasis. “- have got your shit figured out. Am I clear?”

The adults nodded again, this time with a hint of fear coloring their expressions.

“Then go.”

They ran away. Tira did not need to look behind to tell that those representatives had tripped over themselves in a bid to get out. Weirdos. Did a fifteen-year-old girl look that scary to grown men? She always thought if any children would fit the definition of scary, it would be the third graders.

Turning her gaze to the remaining adults and seniors of her school, she gave them a quick bow of her head. “Sorry for interjecting, but this isn't the time to panic.”

Donny merely laughed, breaking the tension at that side of the room as he tried to wipe away the silliness of that scene by sliding a hand down his face, which proved impossible, as a huge toothy smile still graced his face. “No worries. You said all the right things. Isn’t that right, Principal?”

Principal Guntur snapped back when addressed and coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment and failed miserably. “Ahem. You’re right, we should all get some rest so our brain would be up to the task. Armand, will you please have your members take turns in guarding? The first year should have had enough rest by now.”

The blond-haired punk unwillingly nodded, “Sure... Oi, Dharma, you go tell the kids.”

“Yes sir!”

Tira moved away from the desk so her classmates could go. At the same time, Donny was talking with his vice president in a soft enough voice that she nearly missed it. “Alright, I’ll do that.” After giving a softly murmured affirmative, the vice-president left as well.

Slowly, the people in the room started to disperse, going to where they might have designated themselves a resting place, though some vacated the meeting table only to go and occupy the sofas instead for another round of talking.

Tira also wanted to leave, lingering embarrassment of having derailed what looked like an important meeting prodded at her conscience and made the decision easier to make.

As she turned away, Donny walked by too close to the door that their shoulders almost bumped. The heat radiating from him burned, much more than Hannah's hand had. She needed to keep her calm. “S-Sorry.”

Donny shrugged and turned halfway to face her as they walked, “Do you mind if I ask you something?”

She carefully moved away, still walking, though now no longer in stride and being more careful of everyone passing by. Hoping her action went unnoticed as she cooly answered, “Depends on what the question is.”

“Did you know?”

She glanced up at him. Seriously, why was every senior in this school taller than a giraffe?

“Know of?”

“The apocalypse,” Donny supplemented without missing a beat.

What a loaded question. “Honestly, no. I didn’t,” she huffed, already tired despite not having done anything in the morning. “I’d be better prepared if I had known, wouldn't I?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Donny stopped walking by her side and overtook her with a few long strides, leaning by the pillar near the railings of the intersecting corridors. “I think you’re well prepared as it is already.”

She stared at him, not letting a single word or emotion out. It wasn't the first time she had been accused of something that had little to do with her, and certainly didn't feel like it would be the last.

After a few seconds of studying his face; one that made the girls in her class swoon like feral caged animals, Tira replied in all of her tired countenance with, “I jumped out of a window.”

Donny raised his right eyebrow.

“If I was prepared for the apocalypse,” she picked up her pace again, walking away, uncaring to check if her words were heard or not. No energy needed or wasted in trying to convince someone who had formed a solid conclusion of her already. “I would have taken the stairs.”

The school bell rang.

Donny burst into a fit of belly-aching laughter. Laughter that was loud enough to beat the bell, and continued to echo downstairs even after Tira had stepped down to the cafeteria as breakfast was announced.

What a weird start of the day.