Kala looked at the time on his phone again. It was 6:30 in the morning, even though classes started at eight, which meant Kala had indeed arrived early.
He walked down the school hallway while exchanging messages with his friend.
"Sorry, Kay. I'm leaving you behind today."
After putting his phone back into the pocket of his school blazer, he looked around the school grounds, which were still very quiet. The only person around was a janitor who was busy working.
"I've gotta hurry to class, drop off my bag, then go straight to the rooftop."
Without wasting any more time, Kala hurried toward his classroom before a voice called out from behind him.
"Kala? Is that you?"
Kala slowly turned around and found one of his friends standing there.
"Oh, yeah, Vin. Turns out you're already at school too," Kala said.
"Student council members always come early," Melvin said.
"Oh, right. I forgot," Kala replied.
"You're the one who usually doesn't come this early. What's up?" Melvin asked.
"M-My book got left in my locker. Anyway, bye. I'm going ahead."
Without looking back, Kala immediately hurried away from his friend.
After leaving his bag in the classroom, he checked his phone for a moment before continuing toward the rooftop.
~~~~~
Still that same morning, Agantha had just returned to the school grounds after buying cigarettes from a roadside shop.
He walked casually toward his favorite spot, but accidentally spotted the lavender-haired boy laying on the stairs. Confused, he approached him.
"Kala, what are you doing sleeping here?" he said, patting his friend's cheek in an attempt to wake him.
"No work to do, huh, you demon doll? You're actually sleeping on the stairs."
Even so, he still cared about his friend and carried him on his back to take him to the school clinic.
In the hallway, he accidentally ran into Hasta and Melvin, who were walking together while joking around.
"Ghe, what happened to Kala?" Melvin asked.
"He was sleeping on the stairs," Gantha answered innocently.
"His head is bleeding. Are you sure he was just sleeping on the stairs?" Hasta asked after noticing his friend, who was still unconscious.
"I don't know. I just saw him already lying there," Gantha replied.
"He wasn't sleeping, Ghe. I think he passed out after falling down the stairs," Hasta said, exasperated.
"Enough with the arguing. We should hurry and take him to the clinic," Melvin said.
The three of them immediately headed to the school clinic.
It didn't take long before all seven members of Kaze had gathered at the clinic after reading the group message Melvin had sent.
"So what happened? Kala slipped and fell down the stairs?" Yoga asked.
"Yeah. He was alone at the time." Asta showed them the school CCTV footage he had managed to obtain.
"Did you guys notice? He looked like he was in a hurry to get upstairs, even though all of our classrooms are on the lower floors," Yoan said.
"Maybe he had a friend up there," Darel suggested.
"No. Besides that, his expression looked kind of panicked," Yoan replied.
"Yeah, but no one can answer that question right now." Hasta glanced toward Kala, who still hadn't woken up.
"Was the impact really that hard?" he wondered aloud.
"No, As. The teacher in charge of the clinic said Kala is fine," Darel said.
"Let's just pray Kala wakes up soon," Melvin said. He then glanced to the side and saw his red-haired friend beginning to walk away.
"Just leave him," Yoan said, also noticing Agantha's departure.
Meanwhile, Agantha was starting to get a little bored and decided to continue the activity he had been forced to postpone.
"The guys are probably waiting for that kid before class starts anyway."
He climbed the stairs one by one before finally opening the rooftop door. Not far from the railing, someone was standing there while holding a piece of paper.
"It's unusual to see someone here this early."
The student heard the approaching footsteps and voice, then instinctively turned around.
"A-Agantha," he stammered, slightly nervous upon seeing the sharp-eyed boy there.
Besides having an intimidating appearance that made him look like a delinquent, Agantha was also known as a troublemaker who often broke school rules.
"Are you meeting someone?" Gantha asked.
"Y-Yeah. How did you know?"
"You've got a letter in your hand, right?" Agantha pointed at the paper the boy was holding.
"Oh, y-yeah, I guess you're right." The boy remained nervous, afraid Agantha might suddenly attack him for no reason.
But Agantha chose not to care and immediately walked toward the bench where he usually sat to smoke.
"A pen."
Agantha stopped for a moment as he remembered Kala making small talk with him the previous day.
He decided to get the pen, but unfortunately, pain struck his neck first.
"Damn it." He cursed as he roughly pulled away the syringe that had pricked his neck.
"Lia!"
Hadi was naturally shocked by what his girlfriend had suddenly done. Even so, he still pulled the girl backward.
"Are you crazy?!" Agantha snapped, holding his aching neck.
"S-Sorry. She did that, but t-there must be a reason," Hadi said nervously.
"What reason?!" Agantha shouted.
"I-It was an accident. She didn't mean to prick you with the syringe," Hadi said.
"An accident, you say?! You don't even know what's inside that syringe!" Agantha retorted.
Taking advantage of the two of them still arguing, Lia grabbed a metal pipe lying nearby and swung it at Agantha.
"Damn it!"
Agantha cursed again when the blow struck his head.
"Lia! What are you doing?!"
Hadi grabbed the metal pipe to stop her from striking Agantha again.
"The sedative was supposed to be for you, because I was going to kill you here," Lia said.
"Damn it." Agantha cursed inwardly upon hearing that. Apparently, he had become the victim of mistaken identity.
"What do you mean? Why do you want to kill me?" Hadi asked.
"You cheated on me," Lia replied.
Without saying anything else, she swung the metal pipe at him again.
Agantha tried to get up to stop her, but his head was throbbing badly.
"The damn drug…"
As a result, he was caught off guard, and Lia managed to knock him down.
With what little awareness he had left, he crawled toward the pen.
"It's not time yet. I have to hold on." Agantha bit down hard on his own hand in an attempt to stay conscious.
Not long after, a scream came from behind, followed by the sound of something hitting the ground.
"Too bad you'll end up being the scapegoat, but it's your fault for being here at the wrong time."
Lia turned the person lying on his side onto his back and briefly observed his now peaceful, unconscious face.
"Bullying would make a pretty good alibi. Luckily, you're already known as a delinquent."
The girl tossed the metal pipe aside and casually left the rooftop.
After her footsteps could no longer be heard, Agantha slowly opened his eyes.
Using the last of his strength, he grabbed the pen lying nearby and crushed it with his bare hand.
"Tch. Damn girl."