It was already five in the morning when Kala finished making breakfast for himself.
He immediately bit into the still-warm toast while staring at his phone screen, reading the messages in his friends' group chat. One of them had sent a photo from last night, when they had dinner together at a restaurant.
The eight boys were all posing in their own styles, smiling brightly at the camera. Kala found himself smiling too as he looked at the photo, but at the same time, a dull ache crept into his chest.
"I'm sorry... I can't hang out with you guys as often now."
After finishing his breakfast, he headed to his room to double-check the things he was bringing to school.
As he was busy putting books into his bag, his gaze accidentally landed on a black-covered notebook lying on top of his study desk.
Hesitantly, he reached for it and opened it.
A wave of relief instantly filled his chest.
"Finally..."
Kala closed the notebook again, then stepped out of his room and decided to watch TV for a while since he still had some time to relax.
He had only been watching for a few minutes when the sound of laughter from outside made him reflexively turn toward the window.
It turned out to be Hesa and Jaehyuk, heading to school together. They had left earlier than usual because of a school event. The two of them looked completely absorbed in their conversation, laughing and joking as they passed by Kala's boarding house.
"There's a chance things will only get worse from here..." he murmured softly.
Kala kept watching them until they slowly disappeared from sight.
~~~~~
At seven in the morning, the student council members were already stationed at the theater building to supervise the final rehearsal of the students who would be performing at the school festival, which was scheduled to start at nine o'clock.
One of them was Hesa. He watched while occasionally cheering on Satya and Niki, who were both part of the lineup.
"Good job, guys."
Hesa walked over to them while carrying drinks.
"I feel like I should practice again. It still feels lacking somehow," Niki said.
Satya, who was in the middle of taking off his roller skates, immediately turned to him. "Take a break first. There's still a little time before the performance."
"I'm actually confused about what exactly feels off," Hesa said.
"I don't know, my dance just feels lacking overall," Niki replied.
"It's already good. You're just not confident enough," Satya shot back.
"And you're saying that even though roller skating is way harder?" Niki said.
Satya let out a quiet scoff. "Your dance looks hard too, man. How am I supposed to follow moves that complicated?"
Hesa chuckled softly. "The point is, both of your performances are difficult. You just need to be confident."
"Fine then," Niki muttered in resignation.
Hesa glanced around, looking for Jaehyuk, but he wasn't there. Maybe he was in the student council room.
"You guys take a break first. I'll come back later," Hesa said.
"Okay," Satya replied.
When Hesa turned again to make sure his friend really wasn't there, his gaze suddenly stopped on a figure standing not too far away.
Kyungmin.
The lavender-haired boy stood among the crowd of students, staring at Hesa with a piercingly sorrowful expression.
~~~~~
A cool breeze brushed against Hesa's face as he stood alone in front of the rooftop railing, enjoying the canned coffee in his hand.
That look from Kyungmin earlier had truly made his chest tighten.
So much so that Hesa had chosen to leave the theater building and calm himself on the rooftop instead of looking for Jaehyuk or returning to the crowd.
He had a feeling Kyungmin hadn't appeared before him for no reason.
Maybe... that ghost also knew that this terror hadn't truly ended yet.
"What a waste... I've been so busy here all week, even though I wanted to go back to that school..." he muttered.
Hesa slowly stretched both of his arms, trying to relax his shoulders, which felt stiff and sore. The packed school schedule over the past few days had definitely taken a toll on him.
Today was the main event. So once everything was over, maybe he'd finally be able to leave.
"Whether we work together or not... it turns out it doesn't change anything."
He took another sip of his coffee while staring at the empty school field in the distance.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Hesa turned when the sound of footsteps grew closer. It seemed like another student was about to come up to the rooftop, so he decided to leave.
After tossing his empty can into the trash bin, he started walking toward the door. But before he could reach it, the door opened first and revealed Arkha.
Arkha's expression instantly shifted into relief the moment he saw Hesa there.
"So you were here," Arkha said.
"Why? You looked panicked earlier," Hesa asked.
"N-no, not really," Arkha answered quickly.
"Were you looking for me?"
Arkha nodded lightly. "Yeah. I just wanted to ask you to chill for a bit like usual."
He handed one pack of bread to Hesa, while keeping the other one for himself.
"Thanks," Hesa said as he accepted it.
The two of them then sat side by side on a bench not far from there.
For a moment, silence filled the space between them, broken only by the soft breeze and the faint sounds coming from below the building.
Then Arkha finally spoke.
"Are you planning to go to Sunshower academy again?"
"Yeah, I am. Since I'm a bit more free now," Hesa replied.
"When?"
"After school."
Arkha immediately turned to him. "Wait for me."
Hesa raised an eyebrow. "Wait for you? You want to come too?"
"Of course. Why?"
"No reason..."
Arkha narrowed his eyes. "I'm not allowed to come, huh?"
Hesa quickly shook his head. "N-no, it's not like that. We'll go there together later."
~~~~~
At last, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived.
All the students had now gathered inside the theater building to watch the school festival performances. One by one, the acts were called until it was finally Satya's turn.
The boy delivered an impressive roller-skating performance that successfully drew cheers and admiration from the audience.
The event continued until it was finally Niki's turn to showcase his dancing.
The entire audience looked captivated by Niki's performance, including the members of Thirteen, who were all watching together from the seats.
But not long after, Hesa began to feel that something was wrong.
At the same time, Arkha also seemed restless. His head kept turning, his eyes scanning the surroundings carefully.
Then, all of a sudden—
"NIKI, MOVE!"
Arkha flinched in shock when he heard Hesa yell that loudly.
Without thinking, he immediately followed Hesa, who was already running toward the stage.
**CRASH!**
Unfortunately, they were too late.
The large spotlight had already fallen first—right onto the person standing directly beneath it.
"Niki!"
Arkha managed to yank Hesa backward just before the light crashed down onto the area where they were standing.
They were safe.
But Hesa stood frozen in place.
"Hesa, calm down first. Niki's definitely going to be okay," Arkha said, trying to calm him while pulling him to the side so they wouldn't block the medical team rushing in.
Hesa could only watch everything in silence, his body stiff and unmoving.
And then—
Amid the chaos, a voice whispered softly into his ear.
"Let's continue the game."
A voice he knew all too well.
A voice that sounded, exactly like his own.