The weekend flew by in a breeze as Monday arrived.
"Alright, gather ’round!" Christian’s voice, a booming clarion call, sliced through the morning’s sleepy murmur. "The academy festival is almost upon us, kicking off this Saturday! Every single one of you," he paused for dramatic effect, "needs to sign up for at least one event..."
I can hear their groans rippling through the room.
"It’s okay if you don’t want to join," Christian added, "but rember, this is also included in your performance tasks."
Academy Class Festival is different than normal academies. It’s more like a competition where students compete in various events. There are two types of categories and that is combat and entertainnt which covers all sorts of events.
Naturally, the students began to chatter about the events they wanted to participate in. We were seated per squad so I was a bit far from my friends.
"What event are you planning to join, Zeke?" I asked Ezekiel, who was sitting next to .
Ezekiel flinched slightly, and an awkward smile spread across his face. "I’m... planning on joining the quiz event."
I considered joining him. "The quiz event? Maybe I should do that too," I said.
"The quiz event is already full," Alena suddenly cut in whose sitting in front of us.
I turned to Ezekiel, raising an eyebrow in confirmation. He nodded, his voice barely above a whisper. "Y-Yes... it’s already full. Unfortunately...."
I responded nonchalantly, "Oh, I see."
I turned to look at Christian, who was still addressing the class.
"Let see who hasn’t signed up their nas yet..." Christian cheerfully said as he opened his tablet and flashed it on the board. "Let’s see... the only events we don’t have volunteers are singing, dancing, archery, and shadow brawl..."
Christian’s eyes scanned the room, and he landed on Angela. "Which event will you be choosing?" he asked with a grin.
"Archery, of course!" Angela replied without hesitation.
"Next... singing will be done by Hannah," Christian muttered.
"What?!" Hannah shouted. "Christian! Don’t you dare type my na-"
""Too late, you still haven’t joined any events, so I decided to put your na on it," Christian laughed and typed in the na.
Hannah looked horrified as she wailed, "I swear I’ll drag you to be my partner!"
Christian chuckled and moved on to the next event. "Now for shadow brawl..."
He paused montarily and looked at . At first, I thought he was staring at soone else, but when he grinned and t my gaze, I knew he was looking at . The rest of the students in the room followed his gaze and turned to face .
"I volunteer," I said, closing my eyes in defeat.
"Great! Make sure you kick their butts," Christian cheered.
When I opened my eyes, I blinked again to check if I was hallucinating. My na was written in not one, but two events: dancing and shadow brawl.
"Christian... why is my na written on the dancing category?" I asked, a sense of dread rising in my heart.
"I’m sure you’ll ace it perfectly!" Christian exclaid, unfazed by my question.
"Delete it," I said firmly.
"No can do," he replied, typing in my na and then clicking ’okay.’ He then added Kairos’ na next.
"By the way, it will be a ballroom dance competition," Christian said, finally sending the list of participants to our instructor.
"W-wait, but Caleo is still not here yet," I protested, trying to reason with him. "He’s been absent for a—"
The words was stuck in my throat when I saw Kairos entering the class further widening Christian’s grin.
"Well, he’s here now," Christian announced, his voice laced with amusent, "so discuss with him what you two will be doing."
With a final wink, Christian exited the classroom, leaving the rest of us to deal with the chaos he had created.
Kairos, looking utterly bewildered, approached . He seed poised to take the seat next to , but then he noticed Ezekiel was already occupying it.
"Move," Kairos said to Ezekiel, a charming smile plastered on his face.
"This is my seat so go find sowhere else," Ezekiel retorted.
What happened next stunned everyone. Kairos simply sat on my desk and faced .
"C-Caleo, what are you doing?" I stamred.
"He said to find sowhere else, so I chose here," Kairos replied, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
I facepald, utterly speechless.
"Did you miss ?" Kairos asked, his voice low and teasing.
When I finally lowered my hand, I was startled by how close his face was to mine. My heart hamred against my ribs.
I was about to push him away when a stack of papers flew across the room and slapped him in the face.
"Oh, sorry, I guess the fan blew my papers," Ezekiel apologized, but his face was anything but apologetic.
I secretly looked around but there was no fan anywhere! What is Ezekiel talking about?
I quickly removed the papers from Kairos’ face and was about to hand them to Ezekiel when Kairos snatched them from and thrust them towards Ezekiel. Before they could even reach his hand, the papers were in fire as it dissolved into ashes.
"Caleo! What are you doing?" I exclaid, staring at the ashes.
"Oh, sorry. I was trying to return them to you, but my hand unintentionally flad up. I’m just cold," Kairos said, his smile still in place, but his eyes were narrowed, glaring at Ezekiel.
He turned his attention back to , "You still haven’t answered my question."
Knowing that he won’t stop pestering , I grabbed my belongings and his hand.
"I’ll be with you guys later," I said to my teammates, ignoring their curious glances. "I just need to talk to this guy."
I ignored the looks they gave us as I searched for an empty seat. Finding one, I dragged Kairos with and sat down.
"Listen, we’re both listed as participants for the ballroom dance," I said to him.
"Aren’t you going to ask where I’ve been the whole ti I was gone?" he asked, a playful hint in his voice.
"No," I replied, because I already knew. "So, what should we dance-"
"I’m not listening," Kairos declared dramatically, feigning to sleep.
"Listen carefully, because I’m not repeating myself again," I sighed, trying to hide my blush. "I missed having you by my side, even when you were being so talkative."
I was annoyed by his constant interruptions, how he distracted from paying attention in class, but sohow, I’d co to enjoy it. He would only stop annoying when I unconsciously drift off to sleep.
Kairos’ head snapped up, his eyes lighting up. He grinned, "So you really missed ?"
"One more remark, and I’ll find another partner," I warned, standing up to leave, but he grabbed my hand.
"Fine, let’s talk about that dance," he said, his voice now filled with seriousness.
I finally cald down and sat back down as we began discussing our plan for the dance.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Evening had fallen, and the last class of the day had finally ended.
I sighed deeply, the sound escaping my lips with every step as I walked back towards my dorm.
My mind was full of worries, I need to deal three problems. First, there was the upcoming ballroom dance competition. Kairos and I hadn’t even begun to practice, and I could already feel the pressure mounting.
Second, and perhaps more concerning, he will be in charge of what we’ll be dancing since he has a lot of experience according to him. anwhile, I absolutely had no idea how to dance. The thought of graceful waltzes and elegant steps filled with a sense of dread.
And third, the most pressing concern, was Adrian. His strange behavior had been unsettling, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that sothing was amiss.
As I made my way back to the dorm, I unexpectedly overheard Adrian talking to soone on his phone. His voice, usually friendly, was now guarded and serious.
{Make sure to check your email later.}
"Yes boss," he replied before ending the call.
A sudden wave of unease washed over . Sothing was definitely wrong. I decided to prioritize the Adrian problem first. I quickened my pace so I could get to work
Back in my dorm, I imdiately turned on my laptop and activated ’Cybersky,’ the specialized program that allowed to bypass security systems. Then, with a few quick keystrokes, I had successfully hacked into Adrian’s phone, granting access to his email. My heart pounded in my chest as I scanned through his inbox, hoping to uncover so clue as to what was going on. After a mont, I found it, a single email, the subject line "Mission: Retrieve." My eyes quickly scanned the contents:
————————————
Mission: Retrieve
Tomorrow at 10:00 AM you’ll be participating in combat training class: Scavenger Hunt. Look for the item that is hidden in the 8th floor, clinic room. Make sure no one sees you.
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I guess I’ll disrupt their plans for tomorrow. But for now, I should learn the basic steps of ballroom dancing.
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