The next day,
MOHITO stood in the subway staring at the passing scenes outside the window, as if searching for an answer in the city's crowd.
The glittering lights sparkled in his hollow eyes.
"Good morning." Their voice cut through his silence.
MOHITO turned slowly. "Good morning."
"Damn, I'm still sleepy!" MESNAS yawned, hanging from the handrails.
"That's because you stayed up until dawn playing video games," ZAKI scolded in a brotherly tone.
MESNAS looked at MOHITO with surprise. "By the way, aren't you heading early to the institute today?"
"Indeed…" SOLIMON added, "We rarely see you at this hour."
"I wanted to change my routine a little," MOHITO answered quietly, but his eyes said more than his lips did.
"Institute station." The electronic bell cut their conversation.
"All right, see you later," MOHITO said as he pushed toward the door.
"Yeah!" MESNAS and ZAKI replied.
SOLIMON remained standing, staring at MOHITO's retreat.
"Isn't there something different today?" he whispered to himself.
"What? Did you say something?" MESNAS asked.
*****************************************
The truth is, I really don't know why I'm heading out early…
But all I can think about since the last mission is…that strange feeling that follows me;
as if something—or someone—has become necessary…
like a vent in a closed room.
"Good morning!"
That voice again… a voice that doesn't belong to the sounds of my world.
I turned to find LOUVNA standing there,
smiling a smile that stirs something inside my chest I don't understand—an old scar that suddenly remembers how it hurts.
"You look well today," she said in a bright tone, full of hope.
"Yes…" I said, trying to conceal the unease I felt.
"Shall we go to class together?" LOUVNA asked, shyly masking a stack of accumulated disappointments.
"Yes," I answered, looking ahead as if following an imaginary line on the floor.
The walk to the classroom was quiet; each of us kept to his side as if a sheet of invisible glass separated us.
Our steps echoed in the corridor like the rhythm of a sad song.
"Did you understand everything we wrote at the café?" LOUVNA asked softly, trying to open a conversation about the research.
"Yes," I replied tersely, my hand in my pocket as if searching for something to protect me.
"Sorry I left in a hurry that day," I blurted out suddenly, as if the words slipped without my consent.
"It's okay… did you complete your part of the research?" LOUVNA quickly asked, seizing the chance. "We have to hand it in to the professor tomorrow."
"Huh…"
Damn… I was busy with the mission and completely forgot. I whispered to myself.
"What's wrong?" LOUVNA looked at me with surprise.
"Nothing… the research, of course—I finished my part," I said in a calm tone, trying to hide my embarrassment, though my fingers clenched inside my pocket.
"Then let's meet after classes to paste our parts together," LOUVNA suggested, her voice charged with hope.
"All right." My reply echoed like a distant sound.
"Good morning!" ODEL called from behind with his usual smile that hides more than it shows.
"Good morning!" we replied together, like actors in a play that had suddenly ended.
We then went to our separate seats, but I felt ODEL's gaze following me like a shadow that knows more than it should.
The more important question was:
"How much does he know?"
I must go to the library at lunch to finish the research... I'll send a message to SOLIMON telling him I won't be able to have lunch with them.
******************************************
The lunch bell rang, and the corridor burst into life like a bubble.
Voices surged, laughter collided, as if the school had awakened from a deep sleep.
MONA and LOUVNA exchanged whispers in their adjacent seats, like two birds trading the world's secrets.
When LOUVNA looked back, she found MOHITO's seat empty…
Then she noticed ODEL—who usually ate with them—leaving too, like a shadow chasing another shadow.
ODEL was scanning the corridor with eyes that missed no detail, his mind analysing every possibility:
"Usually, when MOHITO wants to take lunch, SOLIMON always accompanies him…
So he didn't go to lunch today.
Where would a student who wants to disappear during lunch head?"
He smiled faintly. "The library."
"Bingo!"
The tone of victory chimed in his head when he spotted MOHITO sitting in the library, bent over his books as if trying to escape the world.
"Hello MOHITO."
His usual voice, the smile that hides more than it reveals.
MOHITO locked at him with a mix of astonishment and worry.
"ODEL?"
MOHITO features carried a single question, What is he doing here?
He was sure he had left no trace…
And he's sure, it's not a coincidence…
because… they are similar; they don't believe in coincidence.
"Would you like me to help with anything?"
ODEL eyes picked up every detail.
"Thanks… I've got it under control." Words short like pistol shots.
"All right." ODEL's smile remained steady.
"By the way… did you receive the notes I sent with SOLIMON?"—an arrow dipped in honey.
"Yes… Thank you." A cautious defence.
"Good… I tried calling you several times, but your phone was off." He weaves a net with skill.
"I avoid using my phone when I'm sick." A wall of falcons.
"So… how did SOLIMON reach you?"—a targeted strike.
"I left him a message and then turned the phone off." A tactical retreat.
"Yes… smart move." A wider smile.
"And where did he hand you the notes?"—the final blow.
"He brought them to my house." A fatal mistake.
"I went to the address you gave to the institute in the first year… but I was surprised you changed it in the first month, and you even left the rest of the rent for the owner." He exposes the papers.
Just as MOHITO expected… those glances were not coincidental, and this meeting here wasn't either.
ODEL suspects something… and for MOHITO, this is not the right time.
because he is about to collide with the Organisation…and that could put ODEL in danger.
MOHITO lowered his gaze a little, then raised his head… and his eyes turned to ice.
"I… really do not like someone meddling in my life." His voice was cold as a winter night—no anger, no sadness… just a final warning.
Then he left, leaving ODEL alone in the silent library.
ODEL stood there, his fingers trembling slightly.
"I was right… he is hiding something dangerous.
That coldness in his eyes… it wasn't anger, it was a warning.
I must uncover this secret, whatever the cost,
and most importantly… keep LOUVNA away from him."
************************************************
"He truly has no idea what he is getting himself into," I whispered to myself.
"He now stood before two choices:
Either walk away carrying a shard of a puzzle that might one day kill him…
Or step further in, and learn — the hard way"
I stopped for a moment
"Why do we, those who do not believe in coincidences, prefer to work from the shadows?"
"Where do I go now?"
The question slipped out with my exhale as I walked through the deserted hallway of the institute.
Then I climbed up to the rooftop and cast a long gaze over the school grounds, watching the students below.
Everyone here lives their life in peace… or at least, that's what it looks like.
We all wear masks to hide the truths we fear the most.
I stood at the edge, the faint wind brushing against my face.
I always believed that every person we meet in life is just a version of ourselves…
A broken version of us.
A reflection of a side we ignored,
A lesson we were late to understand,
Or a punishment for something we tried to escape.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
I always avoided looking people in the eye,
Because every time I did… I saw a buried part of myself staring back.
Those we hate show us what we cannot stand in ourselves,
Those we love show us what we wish we could become,
And those we fear… are the parts we buried deepest within.
I opened my eyes, my gaze sharper, clearer.
And everyone around us is not a stranger at all…
But a giant mirror, reflecting the truth we never dared to face.
The truth that stays imprisoned inside us…
Devouring us slowly…
Until nothing remains but the mask.
I whispered to the wind:
"And I… which mask am I wearing today?"
The wind did not answer me.
The answer hung suspended in the emptiness.
And as I descended from the rooftop,
I finally understood that the most dangerous masks… These These
are the ones we forget we are wearing.
***********************************************
After classes, as LOUVNA gathered her belongings,
she was startled by a shadow standing beside her.
"MOHITO?!" — her voice trembled like an autumn leaf.
"Shall we go…?" she whispered shyly.
"I'm sorry, LOUVNA…"
His voice was calm like a river flowing beneath the ice.
"I don't think I'll be able to go with you today.
I'll send you my part of the research by email."
LOUVNA stood in silence.
Words piled up in her throat like snowballs, but she swallowed them with a fragile smile — like winter glass.
"All right… It's fine."
Her words fell like wilted flowers.
MOHITO looked at the floor,
as if searching for something lost between the tiles,
then tightened his grip on his bag and left—like a shadow melting into the evening light.
"Why don't we go too?"
MONA, who had heard everything,
tried to fill the void with her warm laughter.
But LOUVNA remained standing… silent…
Her glassy eyes fixed on the door he had walked through,
as if she were watching all her dreams disappear behind it.
ODEL, who had been watching from afar,
approached them like a vigilant guard.
"May I speak with you two for a moment?"
"What's wrong? You look unusually serious," MONA asked, confused.
"I'll be direct…
LOUVNA, you need to stay away from MOHITO."
A heavy silence.
Wide-eyed surprise.
Then… understanding.
"I don't have proof yet."
ODEL continued,
"but he is surrounded by mystery…
and he might be dangerous to you."
He tried to go on,
but LOUVNA cut him off:
"I understand why you're acting this way,
and I know you're trying to protect me,
but I can't erase these feelings just like that...
MOHITO is not a bad person…
That's what I feel."
She smiled a bitter smile,
like someone defending a moon she didn't own.
THEN MONA said enthusiastically, trying to break the ice.
"You know they put discounts on crepes at the café next door?"
"Why don't we go together? Pleaaaaaase!"
Both of them stayed silent for a moment, then smiled,
as if agreeing to postpone the battle.
"Why not?"
************************************
As they exited the institute's gate,
MOHITO watched them from behind.
MONA's laughter,
LOUVNA is trying to forget something,
and ODEL's silence — the kind that thinks more than it speaks.
"Will you just keep watching from afar?"
The voice was calm, steady.
MOHITO didn't turn.
He knew its owner without needing to.
"This is for the best.
In the end… we don't belong in their world." MOHITO answered
SOLIMON stepped beside him —
not behind, not ahead.
Two shadows sharing the same fate.
"Hey, you two! Come here!"
AYOUB called out cheerfully, with the rest of the group beside him.
MOHITO and SOLIMON exchanged a glance.
"Let's go," SOLIMON whispered.
And they walked in equal steps,
as if the distance between them measured their very existence.
And with a smile, MOHITO whispered:
"Yes… This is for the best.
After all, their bright world…might blind the eyes of someone used to darkness."
***********************************************
While MOHITO and the others were heading home,
another place opened its gates to hell — a place sunlight never reached.
A man in a formal suit was running,
his breath trembling with terror.
An arrow struck his leg,
and a scream tore through the silence.
"Please! I didn't do anything!"
"I have brought all the information you requested about the Kingdom's Shadows."
Two figures appeared from the shadows:
one giant carrying an axe,
the other slimmer, holding a bow.
Weapons of nano-light glowing in the dark.
The giant approached the injured man,
and in the blink of an eye—
The body is split in half.
"What a waste of time,"
The giant grumbled.
"Let's return to the base."
The bow whispered with deadly calm.
*******************************************
In the Control Room — Where Conspiracies Are Woven
Blue screens reflected faces devoid of mercy.
A man sat behind a desk made of synthetic ice.
"How did it go?"
"Just a rat,"
The AXE leaned against the wall.
"Excellent. Rats spread disease."
The man smiled — a smile that never reached his eyes.
"What about the prodigal siblings?" the BOW asked.
"Don't worry…
We've finally located their hideout."
"Looks like we'll finally have some fun,"
The AXE grinned, showing teeth like a beast.
The BOW smiled too,
like a fox catching the scent of blood.
The Hidden Sector had begun to move…
And the storm was approaching.