— Meet me at the empty field behind the school —
Kala immediately let out a breath of relief after receiving the message from Agantha. He knew his friend had already been released by the police.
"Good for him," Kala muttered.
He was standing by the lockers, returning Hasta's tablet that he had previously used to hack the CCTV, send photos to their anonymous account, and hijack the school's audio system to play the recording from the pen recorder.
Kala paused for a moment near the locker. Was he being careless now, not thinking about what would happen next? Or was it that he had started to care?
"Gantha isn't just anyone. It's normal for me to do this, right? It'd be a waste if he ended up in jail—Kaze would be down one member. And he's one of the excellent ones, besides Yoan."
~~~~~~~~
Sakala and Agantha met at the agreed location—a lakeside garden that was eerily quiet since it was near an abandoned school building. There was no one else around but the two of them.
"You've returned the tablet to its place?" Gantha asked.
"Yeah. You knew I stole Asta's tablet," Kala replied.
"You're not ready to tell the others about being an esper yet. Taking shortcuts means stealing, right?" Gantha said.
"Guess it was obvious," Kala snorted.
"So, when did you see what happened on the rooftop?" Gantha asked.
"Last night. Not long after I was working on a group assignment with Yoan and Yoga," Kala answered.
"You're always involved in investigations, but your role is usually finding clues and letting the others solve things. You've never really seemed to care much about other people's problems," Gantha said.
"I don't know. I don't get why I care either," Kala shrugged. "Maybe subconsciously I'm scared this school's haunted. Must be Yoga and Dion rubbing off on me."
"I didn't expect your reason to be that ridiculous," Gantha teased. "You looked cool earlier when we talked in the infirmary."
"I'm seriously still confused," Kala said, scratching his head. "By the way, when did you realize I was an esper?"
"About two days ago," Gantha replied.
"You don't think I'm weird, right?" Kala asked cautiously.
"Before this, I often saw you talking to yourself, so I thought you were crazy," Gantha said honestly. "But after thinking it over, I realized you always find clues without much effort."
Kala was stunned. He had been mistaken for crazy—thankfully, Gantha corrected himself quickly.
"My mental health just did a breakdance being called crazy," Kala said, clutching his chest dramatically.
"So, do you think I should just tell them now?" Kala asked.
"Do you think they'll see you as strange, or feel tricked since you've contributed a lot to cases while pretending to be clueless?" Gantha replied.
"There are basically two possible outcomes, even though we're friends," Kala said. "First, they'll ask me to use my abilities more. Second, I'll get kicked out of Kaze."
"You won't get kicked," Gantha said. "They won't want this secret leaking. More likely, they'll slowly distance themselves from you until you feel uncomfortable and leave on your own."
"Yeah… that might happen soon," Kala said quietly, thinking about how recklessly he had resolved the case earlier without discussing it with the others.
Gantha understood. Still, he felt Kala didn't need to reveal his abilities just yet.
"Thanks for helping me, Kal. You can still hold on, right?" Gantha said.
"Huh?" Kala looked at him in confusion.
Their phones rang at the same time. A message from Dion—telling everyone to gather at the basecamp.
"It's time," Kala sighed, staring lazily at his phone.
~~~~~~~~~
Inside the abandoned building, the seven boys gathered to discuss the situation.
"You good now, bro?" Melvin asked.
"Yeah," Gantha replied briefly.
"So what really happened? You gonna explain now?" Dion pressed.
"Just like any other day," Gantha began. "I went to the rooftop to smoke. I saw Hadi there—he said he was meeting someone. I didn't care and sat down, then someone hit me on the back of the head with a pipe."
"From the recording played through the school speakers, Hadi mentioned meeting your friend," Yoan said.
"I don't know. I didn't see anyone on the stairs to the rooftop," Gantha replied.
"Seriously? Hadi said the person had just gone down," Yoga said.
"I really didn't see anyone. No one passed me on the stairs," Gantha insisted.
Kala shot Gantha a strange look. Was Gantha protecting him? Is this what he meant by 'you can still hold on?'
"It wouldn't have been just a few seconds anyway," Dion said calmly, trying to defuse the tension. "So it makes sense Gantha didn't see anyone."
"What matters is that Agan's okay now," Hasta added.
"Agan's case is done, but who actually resolved it?" Yoan asked.
Silence fell over the room.
Just as Gantha and Kala expected, Yoan stepped forward—he always did when something felt off.
"It wasn't you, Vin, was it? You were the one who suggested investigating," Yoga said.
"Nope. I stayed in class the whole time," Melvin replied.
"The Kaze account is on Asta's tablet. Since he's a hacker, his devices are hard to track," Yoan said.
"Asta keeps his tablet in his locker. I saw him stay in class during the police investigation," Dion added.
"So your tablet was stolen," Yoan concluded.
"No, my tablet's safe," Hasta said.
"The recorder pen the police found looks like the kind my dad makes," Yoga said.
"So you're the one who placed the pen on the rooftop," Melvin accused.
Yoga shot him a flat stare. "Do you think I could predict someone was going to die on the rooftop?"
I've never felt this indirectly roasted, Kala thought.
"They knew about Yoga's dad's shop and about Kaze. That means one of us handled this case," Yoan said, glancing at Gantha and Kala—making both uncomfortable.
Gantha spoke up first.
"Why are you staring at me and Kala like that?"
"You asked to talk alone with Kala earlier," Yoan said.
"What business is that of yours?" Gantha snapped.
"So you discussed the case together?" Yoan pressed.
Gantha laughed dryly. "Do you really need to know? Got nothing better to do than pry into other people's business?"
Yoan stood up angrily, ready to punch Gantha, but Dion and Melvin quickly restrained him.
"Easy, bro," Melvin said.
"Calm down, Yon," Dion added, forcing Yoan back into his seat.
"If one of us really did solve this case alone, maybe they just didn't have time to discuss it," Hasta said.
"And honestly, we should be thankful," Dion continued. "They acted in time and kept Gantha from being taken to the police station."
"The question is who," Yoan said. "I'm not accusing anyone."
"What's the problem? Our job is to solve cases without being noticed," Gantha replied.
"But Gan—" Yoan tried to speak, but Gantha cut him off.
"Yon, sometimes curiosity can get you into trouble."
Without another word, Gantha left the room and headed back to class.
~~~~~~~~
Kala walked down the hallway while sipping a bottled drink. Since it was still a free period, he planned to cool off in the library.
*Thud.*
"Kala, are you okay?!"
Kala hadn't realized his shoelaces were undone and had tripped. Luckily, Hasta was nearby and helped him up.
"I'm fine, As. But your blazer got splashed with my drink," Kala said.
"It's fine. I've got another one at home," Hasta replied. "I'll just wash this one. We're going home soon anyway."
"I know you're soft-spoken, but at least act shocked or mad. You're smiling instead," Kala said.
"Hehe, it's really okay," Hasta said, opening his blazer. "I'll put this in my locker first."
Kala watched Hasta leave, feeling guilty. When he glanced outside the hallway window, he saw it was raining. He thought Hasta might get cold without his blazer.
"I brought a sweater to show Kyungmin earlier—it's supposed to be Jihan's birthday gift. Her birthday's still a few days away… maybe I can just give it to Asta."
After hesitating for a moment, Kala made up his mind.
"Alright, I'll give it to him," Kala said.
He returned to his classroom, grabbed the sweater from his bag, and went to the lockers. Just then, he saw Yoan approach Hasta first. Kala instinctively hid, sensing there was something he needed to hear.
"As," Yoan called.
Hasta turned around. "What is it, Yon?"
"Your tablet really wasn't stolen?" Yoan asked.
"This topic's already done. No need to bring it up again," Hasta said, rolling his eyes.
"Aren't you curious at all?" Yoan pressed.
"No," Hasta replied flatly.
"What if the one who took your tablet wasn't from Kaze?" Yoan asked.
"Why are you so fixated on my tablet being stolen?!" Hasta snapped.
"Your expression gives you away," Yoan said quickly, freezing Hasta in place.
"And the evidence is obvious," Yoan continued. "Someone mysteriously uploaded Lia's letter to the Kaze account, hacked the school speakers and CCTV. There's no footage of them taking your tablet."
"Fine. I admit my tablet did go missing briefly," Hasta said. "But I don't care who took it. Only the seven of us know the password, so it had to be one of us—not an outsider."
"You're not going to look for the thief?" Yoan asked.
"You already know the answer," Hasta replied. "I'm not digging into this."
He walked away, tired of dealing with Yoan's relentless curiosity. He knew Yoan's nature was useful for solving cases—but in everyday situations, it was exhausting.
From his hiding spot, Kala watched in silence, realizing just how kind Hasta truly was. He never blamed Kala and chose not to investigate further.
"Asta is really… unbelievably kind," Kala murmured.
Seeing Hasta head toward the library, Kala decided to follow him.
*Slide.*
Kala opened the library door, startling someone inside.
"You scared me," Hasta said, clutching his chest.
"Sorry, As," Kala chuckled. "I just wanted to give you this."
He held out a blue sweater with cloud patterns.
"What's this?" Hasta asked, confused.
"A sweater—can't you tell?" Kala replied playfully.
"For me?" Hasta asked.
Kala nodded. "Yeah. I spilled my drink on your blazer earlier."
"But I told you it's fine," Hasta said.
"Whatever. Just take it," Kala said, placing it on the table.
"It's raining. Better wear it so you don't get cold—unlike Gantha," Kala added before walking away.