"Eehhh, are you sure?"

"Mm." Tira nodded and then, added on her reasoning for good measure, "There's no telling when the meeting will wrap up, so there's no need for you two to reserve lunch for me this time."

"Remember to stay hydrated, even if you're not eating, Tyr." Elvin answered for the two as he placated his girlfriend with a pat on the back, calming Hannah down from what would be a temper tantrum. Which turned to be a success as she merely ended up pouting instead as she spoke. "Get some snacks at least! If I hear you skip a meal-"

"You'll tickle me to death. Yes, I promise."

"Good!"

With Hannah finally appeased, they turned to part ways, though paused in their stride when they spotted a group of people from across the hall walking their way.

Running into Donny immediately after she'd informed her friends that she would be attending the meeting was a cruel coincidence Tira did not expect. Less so when he was guiding a group of strangers with him. It was especially concerning to see when the people around him appeared grim faced and tired, sleep still weighted on their eyes.

Inspections? Or were they wandering about out of curiosity?

"Pshh, look, they must be the university students!" Hannah exclaimed, no—squealed as she tugged both Elvin and Tira by their uniform sleeves and gushed in a whisper. "Oh my god, look at the guys, they're so fit!"

"Is this really what you should be saying to your boyfriend??" Elvin whispered back with a harsh hiss, though he barely looked offended with how his girlfriend was eyeing the new arrivals like eye candy they seemed to be and getting his own eyeful of the college girls who had come 'tightly' prepared as well.

Tira took the moment as everyone was completely distracted to try and get Donny’s attention.

Their gazes met and he gave her the slightest unnoticeable nod.

He made the smart decision to ignore her group, treating them as if they were just like any other student loitering by and turned his attention back to the adults following him through the halls.

She played along and returned her attention to Hannah and Elvin, and walked off downstairs with them until the university guests had disappeared from their view.

"-that you're not looking at the senior girls too! Hmph!"

Elvin scratched his hair as a sigh escaped from him, not even his ruffled hair could hide his perplexed expression as he tried to coax his girlfriend. "Come on, you're the one being difficult now."

She was able to tune out their romance crisis to think as they walked.

Fortunately, she was without distraction as Dias had left the room early to meet with the school principal and thus, she took this extra time to speculate about the entourage that had just passed by them.

Obviously, there were more than just university students who dotted the group. It was impossible to miss the familiar grey-black uniform of the policemen, walking in tandem at the tail of the group. It hadn’t crossed her mind that there would be any of the police forces left around, much less a good number of them surviving.

Perhaps it was thanks to the surviving semblance of the country’s authority that the number of refugees and insurgents incidents wasn't as catastrophic as they had expected.

But that fact inevitably struck her with another question; Was the military doing well? Had the government made it through this apocalyptic situation or was it on its way to crumbling apart?

Her theory about the keystones appearing close to natural resources was still unproven and merely a conjunction, yet the mysterious qualifications for their activation would present the possibility that the armed forces could potentially survive against at least half of what the apocalypse was throwing at them without any help, for now.

Or maybe, a more plausible scenario could happen with the armed forces meeting a demigod who could activate the keystones for them to survive. She couldn't struck that idea away, no matter how abhorrent it was to think about facing another one of–

"Tira?"

Tira snapped out of her musings, her attention turned to Hannah, who was now much calmer and tucked into Elvin's side.

"Sorry, I'll have to leave now."

"Mm, alright, stay safe!" Hannah and Elvin waved at her as they walked away towards the canteen. Tira waved back absentmindedly.

Multiple questions flashed over her head at once, unwilling to bend to the laws of idleness as they tightly grasped her focus and energy. There were so many things that suddenly needed consideration and she wished she could shove them away for later.

This morning had just started, but Tira could already feel a mild headache and a wave of exhaustion coming to strike soon.

She needed to look for Sariya and ask the girl where they'd taken to keeping the writing supplies, she needed a few more spares and extras; for jotting her thoughts on paper.

Scribbling them down always helped her to connect the dots faster, and unfortunately, there never seemed to be enough time in the day to ponder on them all.

After a quick visit to the library and a change of plans—because plans are always bound to change when met with obstruction—Tira took the closest and most available route up through another staircase; avoiding the route that Donny had picked, as she made her way towards the rooftop.

A number of people had gathered around the bench this time during the day, with Kevin being the most familiar face amoung the group who quickly abandoned his conversation with the other gang members in lieu of approaching her, his walk was shaky as he asked her politely. "W-Why are you here?"

"Important business."

She supplied briefly and moved towards her destination. She found the third exhaust fan from the right and pushed her hand down from the underside to lift the entire thing; revealing a hole and a set of ladders that descended into pitch black.

She leaned back from the strain of having to pull it off without her new power and noticed a pack of candy bars by the bench and, as she remembered Hannah's words, Tira pointed at them as she asked for some. "Mind if I…?"

"S-Sure. Have at it!"

"Yeah, take some!"

Tira pocketed a few of the chocolate candy bars then proceeded to descend the ladder, one step at a time.

Before her head went below surface level though, she peeked out one last time to remind the trio to, "Please help me keep a lookout, if you don’t mind."

"Will do!"

"Thanks."

Seeing the boys nodding back their agreement vigorously, Tira finally grabbed the hidden latch under the metal box and dragged the exhaust fan back down with her, shutting down the entrance and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Once she could somewhat see, Tira climbed down carefully, making sure that her grip and step would not slip out of her being careless.

There wouldn't be anyone who could save her if she fell down in this secret passage, and no one else to blame but her if it did happen, so, she made sure each steps was measured and precise, concentrating every time she had to put her legs onto a rickety steps.

She kept descending for what felt like hours until eventually, her feet finally stepped upon solid ground.

She'd arrived, and now found herself standing in a small—barely one-meter wide—dim hallway, which she threaded with familiar precision, until Tira arrived at an intersection and chose the path on her right that led her towards a wide attic squashed by a low roof.

Located exactly above the auditorium.

Searching for that one spot she knew would be the most stable, Tira balanced herself on the support beam and squatted when she found what she was looking for, carefully wrenching open the rope flap. Tira opened it inch by inch, as silently as she could to not let the hinges creak, to create just enough of a gap to spy in on everyone from a bird's eye view.

She put her powers to the test and enhanced her sight and hearing; she hadn’t tried being deliberate with her senses yet, thus it threw her off kilter, the ear-grinding sounds of a generator running from somewhere else in the school nearly burst her eardrums as the loudest noise of all.

She wasn't interested in finding out the source of it even though she knew with just a tad more focus she could do so. That wasn't the reason why she decided to hang around covered in dust and cobwebs in the attic and could wait for later.

Dias and their school’s representatives were seated on the north side, with the two different badged students flanking from the west and east. Her mental mapping of the layout was finished with the police and what appeared to be civilians with their backs facing the south.

The demigod had blended nicely with the formally suited teachers, not at all looking out of place as his hair had turned into a lighter brown, with matching eye color to boot. Even his freckles had lost their glow and appeared as if normal, dotting his pale skin like a flick of paint from a maestro's bristled brush.

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He was sitting quite gracefully as he talked with the principal in a low whisper. Sir Guntur nodded in understanding, his eyes careful to not look around too much and constantly covered his lips whenever he replied.

Not that he needed to; the distant generator's noise was enough of a mask, but his level of caution was an acceptable and welcome change, a departure from everyone else who was still in the mindset of a civilized society.

Using their conversation as a guide, Tira gradually improved her hearing, blocked the racket of the generator that demanded attention like a whiny child, and succeeded in her fine tuning. It took a bit of a toll on her but in the end, once everyone settled down and the discussion began, she began to get the hang of the right balance of hearing the things she wanted and locking out unwanted sounds.

Four sides. Four factions; when they had only been expecting two.

How would this meeting unfold?

She found the thickest support beam to sit back and took out one of the candy.

"First of all, I would like to thank everyone who decided to participate in this meeting today and for your generosity in granting us the time to sort out all ourselves beforehand." Principal Guntur addressed the people with a gentle tone, his eyes scanned the room briefly as he gave them all a welcoming smile.

"Now, before we begin, I believe an exchange of introduction and information would benefit us as an icebreaker, most specifically about how each of us is faring in terms of food and daily necessities."

The three other factions did not seem like they questioned why the principal was playing mediator, accepting the progression of the meeting almost naturally.

There might've been some deals agreed on behind the scenes other than just the informants going around spreading the news of a meeting or the entourage could have been informed beforehand.

She was uncertain about it though, but she'd ask Dias about it later. Probably.

Chewing on her candy bar, Tira watched as the representatives of each group began to introduce themselves.

"I’m Henry, the representative from Averindah University. Our campus had taken some irreparable damage to the outer wall and some of the student's accommodations." The man spoke with an even tone, a contrast to how his sunburned hair stood in wild directions.

"As for now, we’re providing relief and space for students and their families, should they find their homes no longer available. Although most of our resources were spent on those who were sick and injured, we have enough to support them for now. However, we have been having some trouble with a break-in recently–"

"Wow, you got to spend resources on injuries? Did your medics make it?"

A woman wearing a formal suit on the other side remarked with an easygoing grin. Then, as if she had just realized what had happened, she shrugged playfully. "Oh, sorry for cutting in; my mouth spoke it before I could think."

The two sides scrutinizing gazes were heavy, yet the lady shrugged it off, unbothered. In exchange, Donny was the only one turned to look at her with contemplative eyes, "Was the damage on your side more extensive?"

"In a sense. I’m Lydia by the way," she acknowledged Donny’s inquiry before she turned back to the other representatives.

"We have the classes and dorm buildings intact, of course but since we’re not exactly the sports festival type," the woman leaned back on her seat with crossed legs, her skirt stretched to a tight fit minutely from the pull, "...The three people working in the infirmary are all we have. We’d be grateful if we could send some of our more serious patients over, if you don’t mind that is, along with the supplies needed to treat them."

"Our side also has injured people as well!" The police side, as Tira labeled them for now, cut in with haste. Surprisingly, the ordinary-looking old man appeared to be the leader of this faction and not any of the police officers standing behind him. "We have a clinic running with a few medic and too many victims to handle. Our medicine is running out faster than water, as is our food!"

The other representatives gave each other a short glance, looking unsure of what to do. Everyone was demanding medicine and food without seemingly knowing where they could get some.

"We would be willing to take the sick off your hands if you don’t mind."

Until now.

There were no fluctuations in Rina’s expression as she uttered those words. This was the most impassive Tira had seen her senior act outside of practice drills and field commandeering.

The chocolate bar snapped under Tira's teeth as Rina calmly continued, "We can’t give away our own supply freely, but if you don't mind it, we will take your injured as well as the sick in your stead and treat them appropriately."

"And why not?" The old man's face turned stern, as he asked Rina in a rude and impatient tone. "Why can't you share? At times like this, you’re really going to hold important medicine from others‽"

"It is unknown how long this situation we've found ourselves in is going to last," Principal Guntur stated subtly, as his tone and words remained neutral to a layman's ears, "Most of the injured and in critical conditions on our side are elementary school kids. We need to make sure those children make it through their critical period."

Tira held back her amusement. If the old man had tried to refute that argument, he was guaranteed to lose sympathy and have his position settled as a heartless man.

Instead, he tried to take the same argument and twisted it into his own advantage, "We also have children and women on our list of injured…"

"And that is why we have offered to take them off your hands." The principal's words echoed Rina's earlier offer, "If we want to get through this apocalypse, we have to band together. So, while it is obvious that we will prioritize the young and the sick, we also wish to open our door to anyone who wants to seek treatment, should they choose to do so."

Henry seemed to have caught onto something, as he slightly raised his brows before calming himself down and covered his mouth behind his right palm.

Lydia was harder to read. Her smile was unchanging even as the offers were made, although she was the first one to question its price. "And in return?"

"Safety," Donny answered, careful to not betray his knowledge of the matter as he donned an impressive poker face, "we have too many young children who might have to stay permanently until we figure out a solution for those creatures. And for that, what we lack is safety."

"But they are... outside now, aren’t they? It’s been a few days and none of them are getting through the glowing barrier." Lydia placed her cheeks onto her palm and leant sideways.

Jackpot.

Armand let out a brief, snarky huff of air. He remained silent as Miss Erisa issued a thinly veiled warning. "Danger doesn't only exist just outside, but on the inside as well. They don't come from just the creatures."

Tira could see that the smart ones figured out the insinuation almost instantly. Henry looked mildly disconcerted by the warning, while Lydia's smile had instead grown a few inches. The older man however, looked split between discomfort and annoyance.

Tira struggled to observe the man's emotional turmoil from this angle, but was he really the only capable person who had the skill set to be a spokesperson for the police? His performance so far had been disappointing.

And with how open he was being hostile, it had reflected terribly on the police side so early in the negotiation. He didn't look like the military sort either but then why would the policemen be guarding him so closely? A superior? Or a politician, perhaps?

"I hope it won't come out as rude, sir," Donny addressed the man with a hint of something in his question, "But may I ask as to who you are?"

"Ahem!" The man cleared his throat in a demeanor that was… surprisingly familiar to a certain social studies teacher. The tight shirt he was wearing shifted as he straightened his sitting posture and addressed Donny. "Wahdi Santoso, I own the Nega Supermarket."

Things clicked all of a sudden. He wasn’t a politician after all, though he could be said to be almost like one, as he held a certain amount of power in the form of the necessary rations they all needed.

"Very well, mister Wahdi, pardon my question, but... isn’t the Nega supermarket filled with food?"

Donny leaned forward as he asked, hands over his mouth to support his chin as he tested the waters. "There should also be medicine, clothes, items that we wouldn't even have around the school."

"Bah! What use is the food if the fridges aren’t working!"

Wahdi talked with so much vim that spittle nearly flew everywhere as he spoke. "We salted and smoked what we could, but those meats and vegetables are rotting as I’m speaking! At most, they’re going to last until Sunday! You kids are lucky that your generator is still running!!!"

Aah. So that was what the generator was for.

Donny had grown better at fishing for information since he had last tried to interrogate her… or had he deliberately gone easy back then? He barely reacted as the old man brought up the generator issue.

It was quite a stroke of genius for the council to find a random generator to disguise their true source of electricity. Tira shifted to listen to the exchange with rapt attention and a smile.

"Mind if I suggest you donate them?" Henry suggested, no, begged. He was not subtle in making this request, abruptly cutting in between the two. "It would be less wasteful than to let them all rot away."

"In exchange for your physical assistance?" Wahdi gave it a thought for a few seconds and quickly voiced his decision. "I know you sports kids can move a couple of things, can’t you?"

"To clear the debris, sir?" A guy on Henry’s side asked, his eyes alight with hope but his tone and body language were carefully masked everything else he wasn't saying.

For a split second. For one singular moment, Wahdi looked taken aback.

Tira twirled her ring in silence.

"Y-Yes, to clear out the debris and the cars swarming the road." Tira paid closer attention as Wahdi showed some signs of panic, but it was cleverly masked by him wiping sweat off his brows. "It would be nice to have easier access to the parking lot for more rooms."

"We could also help out if you want." Lydia offered her university's assistance as well, smoothly promoting it so they got a slice of the pie. "Our boys are looking for something they can do since their schedules are suddenly free. You don’t mind, right?"

"Of course not!" Wahdi agreed in a heartbeat. If he truly owned a grand supermarket, he’d have enough food to feed two universities for some time.

"Once the road has been cleared, you kids are free to come over." He promised with a huge, welcoming grin.

It was obvious at this point that they were trying to single out the highschool faction out of the deal. So plainly obvious. Of course, since the school had made its stance clear on not wanting to distribute medicine, despite them having no reason to, it was bound to draw some enmity from the other parties.

Tira opened another bar and bit into it, the taste of mixed nuts and chocolate coated her bitter tongue as she kept watching.

None of the people on the school side looked remotely offended. In fact, they appeared to be merely observing the deal going down.

Tira couldn't make an educated guess based on her limited knowledge of the matter but by simply judging from their behavior, it truly seemed as if they couldn't care less about whether they would be involved in this tripartite agreement or not.

Interesting. How very interesting, because in the next moment, someone strafed away from the expectations with an enticing offer.

"And you wouldn’t mind getting some help around as well, don’t you?"

Lydia broke out of what was a three-way transaction to address Donny, smiling at him as if to let him know it was meant just for him, although her eyes wandered to Dias’s side for a second too long. "It wouldn't be that big of a deal since you’re taking care of the treatment for us."

"Your help would be much appreciated." Donny replied while Dias politely nodded back at Lydia and flashed his refreshing smile that had won a bit of popularity among the students to counter the lady's inquiring question.

Apparently, he had beaten the student council president himself in terms of the most comforting smile, if Hannah and Ginan’s words were to be trusted.

As for the rest of his appearance points, Tira didn't need to ask him to put on a pretty face to work as his looks seemed to be effective, if the smear of a blush on Lydia’s cheeks was anything to go by. Or the more apparent pink faced looks of all the women in each group.

Though with this high of a charm stat, it started to seem less of a flirting and more like a monster-catching game. Dias' smile almost seemed like the monster catching balls and the eyes of those women turning into the sharp teeth of sharks ready to bite and chomp when given the opening.

Tira held back the instinctive shudder that had made her skin break into goosebumps. It was terrifying how one smile had immediately turned the tense mood pink in a blink of an eye.

"Hold on!" Wahdi cut in with haste, bamboozled by the sudden turn of events as he glared at the woman in a pink business suit with hateful eyes. "You said you were going to help us!"

"We’re university students, sir, it’s not like there aren't enough idle hands to go around..."

Lydia calmly countered with an even and steady voice, her smile swerved a tad sadistic in Tira’s eyes. Was she really going to play the devil’s advocate against the police?

"And I didn't exaggerate when I said we need more doctors and medicine more than anything, and I haven't heard you mention anything regarding us having access to the clinic." The lady languidly pointed out the flaw in their verbal exchange with pinpoint accuracy.

Then, as a closing remark, Lydia grinned wider as she shrugged and said, "It’s not like we have to pick sides; helping everyone isn't a bad thing, right?"

Wow. Bravo. She really did it. Tira gulped down the remaining crumbs in her mouth along with her urge to clap and opened what was sadly the last candy bar in her pocket.

Lydia leaned back on her chair, appearing nonchalant as the red-haired man on her side seemed to get increasingly anxious. Yet he hadn't said a thing to refute Lydia's absurd decision to rake in all she could, which told a lot more of his opinion and trust on the young businesswoman than words could express.

Wahdi couldn’t say a thing, of course. Disputing that an all-win solution would be stupid as he was the one who had brought up the imperative of helping each other in the first place.

Scarlet flames burned under his skin as his anger flared, he glared vindictively as he realized he had been played.

Instead of lashing out, though, Wahdi exhaled rapidly in an attempt to calm down, then smiled.

She readied herself into a squat.

"You are right, of course! Ah, I must have gotten so old that my temper isn’t the best these days..." He shook his head with regret, his eyes quickly scanned the room as he shrugged feebly.

"I just don’t like being disrespected and treated like a moron, especially by much younger people, that's all."

The moment Wahdi's shoulder sagged and his hands landed on his sides, the policemen behind him drew their weapons. Two guns and three police batons, mixed with knives or daggers in other hands; were all aimed at the participants in the room.

Tira let her power surge as she identified his threat and summoned her chained stakes on her left hand; opened the latch wider with her right, and threw the pointy ends straight down.

The stake did not pierce the floor from the force but instead pivoted sharply to the left and right, encircling the group of men in less than a blink of an eye and tightening them into a circle with no room to run or resist.

The moment she saw all of her prey had been caught, Tira yanked the chain up.

A sizable bundle made out of six grown men rapidly ascended into the air with ear-piercing screams. The shock and pull had forced them to drop all the guns and so she stopped her pulling halfway through the three-meter height.

In physics, there were moments where motion was absent as the force of an object underwent dynamic equilibrium from being pushed from both above and below and when air pressure was nonexistent, where gravity could not exert its laws upon mass.

Almost alike to a yoyo or a spinning pendulum to stay in the air for a fraction of a second, or for a 'spacecraft experience' tour to work, allowing the illusion of being airborne and flying to trick the eyes and the senses.

This was not that moment.

Once the pulling force began to slow down, the mass of grown men fell down like a pebble on string. Once again, accompanied by a second set of terrified screams.

If she remembered correctly, they still hadn’t put away the gym mattresses since the bunker room had been emptied.

Decision made, Tira threw them over in that general direction with all the force she could muster which was needed for an accurate landing; delicately controlling the chains to whip away the bundle of trash with neck-breaking speed, and then nodded in satisfaction once she heard the satisfying thud of multiple bodies hitting padded surfaces. Hard.

After making sure that there was no follow-up groan or movement, Tira quickly pulled the rest of the chain back to herself, closed the gap where she was spying, and moved as silently as possible to the next support beam with a peek-able gap.

Despite the bad angle of this viewpoint, she could see that Dias’ shoulder was shaking in silence. He was definitely holding his laughter. The ungrateful ass.

Armand had stood up with the gang members following behind him, probably to take care of Wahdi and his men while Donny cleared his throat loudly.

"If there's any more... dissatisfaction, please let us know right now before we move onto a different topic."

His words were calm, but there was no mistaking the tension in his voice or the fear-filled aura that had enveloped everyone else in the room.

Occasionally, shaky and worried eyes flitted to the ceiling to where she had been before.

The auditorium door creaked open as the remaining two representatives shook their heads. And the meeting continued on.