The dismissal bell rang while Arkha was still putting his books into his bag. Faintly, he heard a conversation between two of his friends from behind.
"Did he really follow what Hesa said?"
Arkha turned to look at Joan and Jio, who seemed to be leaving the classroom together.
"I have to find Hesa now."
After finishing packing his books, he immediately left the classroom and headed toward the student council room. But before he got there, he heard something that made him stop for a moment before deciding to sit in the nearby garden.
Not long after that, he saw Winter walking alone, looking slightly annoyed.
Arkha simply watched quietly without greeting her since he wasn't in the mood for small talk.
A few moments later, Arkha finally saw Hesa come out and close the door of the student council room. He immediately approached the senior.
"Hesa."
"Khan."
"Did you just argue with Winter?" Arkha teased.
"Huh? Argue? No, not at all," Hesa denied.
"I've been here for quite a while. I heard you guys arguing," Arkha said.
"No way. Winter saw the wound on my neck earlier, but I just put a bandage on it without cleaning it first. She was worried it might get infected, so she got upset because she thinks I'm being too careless," Hesa explained.
"You're hurt? Wait… didn't you say earlier that you met Heeseung…" Arkha said.
"You know what that means. No need to explain it," Hesa replied.
Arkha chuckled.
"I suddenly remembered when Heeseung found you at the hospital before. You're so calm now. You're not afraid of him anymore."
"If I'm not strong, how am I supposed to help the others?" Hesa said.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Speaking of helping others, what's your actual plan? Did you ask Joan to help keep an eye on Joan?" Arkha asked.
"We're already getting the penalty anyway, so I decided to involve him. We have to watch each other. I'll still be at school, so I'll watch Satya. That means you'll watch Niki," Hesa said.
"But this kind of surveillance won't last long. They'll go home eventually," Arkha said.
"Exactly. That's why tonight I'm planning to take them to the mall and then stay overnight at a nearby hotel," Hesa replied.
"We're going to have a few days off from school anyway. It's better if everyone just stays at my house and we grill some meat," Arkha suggested.
"What about your family?" Hesa asked.
"My parents are away, and our housemaid went back to her hometown," Arkha replied.
"Your brother?" Hesa asked.
"Easy. Just kick him out," Arkha said casually.
"That's not how it works, dude," Hesa said.
"I'm serious. My brother's situation is easy. No need to worry about it," Arkha insisted.
"So we're gathering at your house?" Hesa asked.
"Yeah. I'll let the others know so they can come over," Arkha said before leaving.
~~~~~~
Hesa watched Satya practicing roller skating in the indoor field. Occasionally, he clapped his hands to cheer on his friend. Time passed, and Hesa noticed that it was getting late when he looked at his watch.
"Hesa."
Satya placed his roller skates beside Hesa and changed into his regular shoes.
"It's unusual to see you here. Don't you have student council work?" he asked.
"I-I'm done already. I just wanted to watch you practice," Hesa replied.
"I feel bad. You've been waiting here for a long time," Satya said.
"It's fine. School's over now anyway. Let's just go to Khan's house together," Hesa suggested.
"Huh? Why are we stopping by his house?" Satya asked.
"You haven't checked your phone? He invited us for a boys' night tonight," Hesa said.
"Oh," Satya replied.
"You can come, right?" Hesa asked.
"At night, sure. But we should buy something first to add to the food," Satya said.
"I was actually planning to stop by the market first," Hesa replied.
"Alright, let's go," Satya said.
The two of them quickly headed to the nearest store. Once they arrived, Satya went to the drink aisle while Hesa looked at the vegetables.
While he was busy choosing vegetables to cook later, someone called out to him.
"Hesa."
Hesa reflexively turned toward the sweet-looking boy.
"Kala, you're here too," Hesa said.
"Yeah. What a coincidence. Are you looking for cooking ingredients?" Kala asked.
"Yeah, Kal. Later I'm gathering with the others," Hesa replied.
"Oh." Kala simply nodded in understanding.
"I'm just buying snacks as usual. By the way, I'll go first," Kala said before leaving.
Hesa watched Kala walk away from him until he suddenly realized something that had been bothering him.
"Kal, wait," he called.
Luckily, Kala hadn't gone too far yet, so Hesa could still catch up to him.
"You were calling me?" Kala asked.
"Yeah," Hesa said.
"What is it?" Kala asked.
"Which school do you go to?" Hesa asked.
"Sunshower Academy. Why?" Kala replied.
"Has there ever been a suicide case at your school?" Hesa asked.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend or scare you or anything like that," Hesa quickly added when he saw Kala suddenly turn pale and silent.
"N-no, it's okay. I-I think I've heard about that case before, but I forgot," Kala said.
"Oh, I thought you remembered," Hesa said.
"Sorry," Kala said.
"N-no, it's fine," Hesa replied.
"A-alright then, I'll go first. My friend looks like he's done over there," Kala said.
"Okay."
Hesa followed Kala's gaze. Sure enough, not far away, a pink-haired young man was waving toward them—more precisely, toward Kala.
After Kala left, Hesa fell into deep thought.
"Why does this feel strange? A suicide case is pretty serious. There's no way the whole school wouldn't talk about it… yet a student could just forget? And that uniform is the same as Kyungmin's. I'm sure Kyungmin goes to Sunshower. Maybe someday I should go there and find out."
~~~~~
The atmosphere at Arkha's house that night was lively and full of warmth.
All the members of Thirteen were gathered in the living room.
"Hey, isn't someone missing?" Niki looked around at his friends.
"Setta isn't here," Jio said.
"I invited him too, but he said he couldn't come because of a family event," Arkha explained.
"Oh well, hopefully next time we can gather with everyone," Satya said.
Hesa and Arkha could only exchange glances after hearing that.
"The drinks are already gone. I'll grab more from the kitchen," Arkha said.
He went to the kitchen, but hearing another set of footsteps made him turn around.
"Joan."
"K-Khan." Joan scratched his head awkwardly.
"Do you need something?" Arkha asked.
"No, I just want to ask you something," Joan said.
"Ask?" Arkha replied.
"You intentionally didn't invite Setta, right?" Joan asked.
"Earlier this afternoon Hesa asked for your help too. You must've found that strange," Arkha said.
"Yeah, that's how I figured it out. Setta hasn't gone home yet?" Joan asked.
Arkha simply took drinks from the refrigerator without answering, but Joan nodded slightly, showing that he already understood.
"Do you still trust me and Hesa?" Arkha asked.
"I've always trusted you guys," Joan replied.
"You're not angry at us for not telling you everything?" Arkha asked.
"It does feel like you don't fully trust me and are just using me… but I think you have your reasons. On the other hand, I'm also afraid something bad might happen again. That's why, even though I was annoyed, I still did what Hesa asked," Joan said.
Arkha smiled briefly at that. The two of them then returned to the living room and watched their friends happily singing.
"What song next?" Jio asked.
"Hey, my throat's dry from singing so much," Satya said.
"Let's just watch something," Niki suggested.
"Sure," Hesa agreed.