Ray’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, his brows furrowing in concentration as he stared at the locked file. His gaze flicked back to the photo of Es and the others on the picnic, her radiant smile frozen in ti. He reached out instinctively, his thumb brushing over her face on the screen as though he could feel the warmth of that day through the cold glass.
"What are you hiding, Es?" he whispered, his voice barely audible. The question echoed in the silence of the room, unanswered but lingering, heavy.
Shaking his head, he tried to redirect his thoughts, forcing himself to focus. He clicked through the other files on the laptop, hoping to find sothing—anything—that might provide a clue. But as each file opened, his confusion deepened. Every single one of them was empty.
His irritation flared. "Damn it, Es! Why would you have all these files if they’re just... nothing?" he muttered, leaning back in his chair. The only file with any substance was the one locked behind a password.
The throbbing in his head intensified as he considered his options. If this were any ordinary laptop, he’d have tried every password he could think of—birthdays, nas, special dates. And if that didn’t work, he’d hack into it without hesitation. But this wasn’t an ordinary laptop. Es’s security asures were ironclad. The woman had always been a step ahead, and she’d clearly intended to protect whatever was hidden inside.
His eyes returned to the photo on the screen, lingering on Es’s knowing smile. The warmth in her expression felt almost deliberate, as though she were silently challenging him. There was sothing about that picture. It felt too... intentional.
"Could it be..." His voice trailed off as he leaned closer, studying every detail of the image. He rembered that day vividly—the picnic Jay had insisted on, the way Kai and Es had reluctantly put their work aside to make it happen. The laughter, the teasing, the way Es had seed almost carefree for once.
But what about the photo was important? The date? The setting? His mind raced through possibilities, trying to piece together the puzzle she’d left behind.
Ray’s hand clenched into a fist, his knuckles pressing against his temple. "It can’t be that simple," he murmured, his thoughts a chaotic swirl. But then again, Es wasn’t one to leave random breadcrumbs. If she’d left this here, it was for a reason.
Ray stared hard at the photo, his eyes narrowing as sothing clicked in his mory. Es’s smile—so soft, so deliberate—triggered a recollection he hadn’t thought of in long ti.
"The ring," he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
His heart began to race as the details of that day ca flooding back. Jay had been whining endlessly about so experint he wanted to conduct, sothing about understanding divine beasts and their connection to their owners. At the ti, it had been more amusing than anything else. Ray could still hear Jay pestering him to let him examine his pendant, a request Ray had flatly refused.
"No way. Not happening, Jay," Ray had said, pulling the pendant out of reach.
But Jay, being Jay, didn’t give up. Ray rembered watching him pivot to Es, asking to touch her ring instead. To his shock, Es had agreed. She raised her hand and handed it to Jay without hesitation, sothing that was almost unheard of among divine beast owners.
It had struck him as odd even back then. Divine beast artifacts were deeply personal, a sacred connection between the owner and the beast. Letting soone else touch it was practically taboo.
Ray had asked her about it later, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Why’d you let him touch your ring?" he’d asked, half-expecting so cryptic answer.
He could still see her expression in his mind’s eye—the way she had raised her hand, her ring catching the sunlight, and the faintly mischievous smile that played on her lips. "You can touch it too, if you want," she’d said, her tone light but layered with aning he couldn’t quite grasp.
That smile... it was the sa one captured in the photo on the laptop screen, as if she were silently saying, You’re getting warr.
Ray stared at the photo on the laptop, his brows knitted in confusion. Sothing wasn’t right. Leaning closer, he studied the image with a sharp eye. Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he grabbed his phone. His fingers swiped frantically through his gallery, scrolling past hundreds of photos until—there. He found it. The sa picture.
But as he held the two side by side, a chill crept down his spine.
The angles didn’t match.
It was subtle—so subtle that anyone else might have missed it. But Ray’s sharp eyes picked up on the difference. The laptop photo seed to be taken from a slightly higher angle. Frowning, he replayed the events of that day in his mind.
Es’s phone had been broken at the ti, so she couldn’t have taken it. Rayan didn’t even carry his phone, and Jay... well, Jay’s phone had long been sacrificed to one of his bizarre experints. Ray distinctly rembered taking the selfie with his own phone. He was certain no one else had taken another photo.
So where had this co from?
His jaw tightened as unease settled over him. He zood in on the laptop picture, examining every detail. The tree. The light. The shadowed angle. It ca from behind a tree—a spot none of them had been near.
Soone else had been there.
Ray’s heart pounded as the realization hit him. Whoever it was had been close enough to capture this mont, yet he hadn’t sensed a thing. Him—a beast owner with senses sharper than any human. How could this be possible?
He looked closer, zooming in on the faces. His focus sharpened as he studied Es. And then he froze.
Her eyes.
The faintest glow of gold reflected in Es’s black irises. A telltale sign. She had seen sothing. She knew.
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