"This is so annoying—suddenly there's road construction, so we have to take this long detour just to get home."
This afternoon, Kala was walking home with Kyungmin. Kala stayed silent, not responding to his friend who had been complaining nonstop.
Kala's thoughts drifted back to what happened in the cafeteria earlier. He still found Gantha's attitude strange—Gantha had seemed suspicious of Kala for defending Lyo, yet he was also the one who indirectly convinced the Kaze members to take Lyo's case.
Before they realized it, their steps were briefly blocked by several motorcycles exiting the school parking lot.
"Decelis Academy." Kala stared oddly at the sign bearing the school's name.
"What's wrong, Kal?" Kyungmin asked.
"I don't remember this route home passing by this school," Kala said.
"Oh, I thought it was something serious," Kyungmin replied casually.
Kala watched a group of teenagers walking together as they left the school. A strange feeling suddenly crept into his mind—one he couldn't quite understand.
"That's the guy I saw at the café, right?" Kala thought.
He focused on one of them—a boy wearing a nametag that read Rahesa Adinarta. Kala remembered their encounter at the café. Back then, Hesa had accidentally left his book behind, and Kala had unknowingly stepped on it before Hesa returned to look for it.
"Why am I only realizing now that he looks like Lyo?"
~~~~~~~~
Kala was alone at a coffee shop inside the mall, waiting for the others since he had arrived earlier.
While sipping his coffee, he watched people come and go.
"They're taking forever. Should I look around downstairs first? Or maybe I should just buy my stuff now."
After thinking for a moment, Kala decided to head to the supermarket on the lower floor.
"Alright then, I'll just tell them to meet me there later."
Kala walked out of the coffee shop and headed toward the elevator.
"Something feels off…"
He didn't know what that strange feeling was, but he continued toward the elevator anyway and pressed the button.
"Hope it doesn't take long."
While waiting, he pulled out his phone to message his friends, but before he could finish typing—
**BANG!**
Kala staggered as a violent jolt shook the floor beneath him. A loud crashing sound followed.
"What just happened?"
Kala froze. He looked at the elevator monitor—it was stuck on the fourth floor, no longer moving.
"Sir, are you okay?" A security guard rushed over, clearly worried as Kala stood there looking confused.
"I-I'm fine. What just happened?" Kala asked.
The guard looked nervous and quickly told Kala to leave the area and use the escalator instead if he wanted to go to another floor.
"Sorry for the inconvenience," the guard said.
"I-it's okay," Kala replied.
Kala walked toward the escalator. As it carried him down, he glanced at the large glass window decorating the building.
"An ambulance? Was the elevator accident really that bad?"
Since the guard hadn't answered his question, Kala assumed there had been an accident—and suspected the elevator had fallen.
When he reached his destination floor, he saw people rushing toward the elevator area. Crying and loud commotion filled the air as rescue workers carried out evacuations.
Kala stood there, watching the scene in confusion.
"I heard several people died, and the elevator's still hard to open."
"So it really was that serious…"
Suddenly, Kala turned his head and saw Melvin standing right beside him.
"Oh, you're already here," Kala said.
"Yeah. I was browsing on the fourth floor when I heard the crash. Security told everyone to use the escalator," Melvin replied.
"How do you know there were victims?" Kala asked.
"I didn't come straight here. I went near the area before the crowd gathered. Some survivors were shouting from inside the elevator. A few people got crushed by the elevator roof and were in really bad shape. When they checked, some of them weren't breathing anymore," Melvin explained.
Kala nodded, understanding.
"What about you? Where were you?" Melvin asked.
"I was leaving the coffee shop and was about to take the elevator down. Then I heard the crash. I also saw ambulances outside, so I suspected something bad happened," Kala said.
"Oh… yeah, let's not talk about it anymore. It feels unsettling," Melvin said.
"Yeah," Kala agreed.
They both walked into the supermarket.
After some time, Kala finally met up with the rest of the group there.
They shopped for supplies together until it slowly grew late.
"Hey, before we go home, wanna watch a movie?" Melvin suggested.
"Watch what?" Hasta asked.
"A horror movie," Dion proposed.
"Damn, it's already this late—are you trying to get us killed?" Yoga said.
"Scaredy-cat," Melvin teased.
"Come on, let's just watch something real quick," Yoga insisted.
They headed to the cinema area, but when they tried to buy tickets, the horror movie they wanted was sold out.
"Pick another movie, guys. Tickets are gone," Dion said.
"Final Destination," Yoga suggested.
Yoan immediately smacked him on the head.
"Are you insane? An elevator just fell here earlier!" Yoan snapped.
"Hehe, forgot," Yoga said sheepishly.
"Jigsaw," Melvin suggested.
"You psychopath," Dion muttered.
Gantha finally stepped forward to buy the tickets. "One Fast & Furious, please."
No one objected—it looked like the most exciting option available.
After paying, they entered the theater.
Inside, the cinema was fairly empty—only about half the seats were occupied.
"Turns out we can't sit together," Dion said.
"Obviously. The staff already showed us when we bought the tickets," Yoan replied.
"Three seats in section F, the rest in section G," Gantha said.
"I'll sit in the back," Kala said.
"Same," Gantha added.
"You're totally following me, huh?" Kala teased.
"Get over yourself," Gantha shot back.
"Alright, stop flirting," Yoga commented.
"Seriously?" Yoan side-eyed Yoga.
"I'm in section G too," Yoan added.
"Me too," Melvin said.
"Okay, so it's me, Yoga, and Hasta in section F," Dion concluded.
"Got it," Kala replied shortly.
They took their assigned seats. Soon after, the lights dimmed and the movie began.
Everyone seemed focused on the screen. In the middle of the movie, Kala glanced at the seats in front of him.
"Asta…?"
He saw Hasta sitting on the edge seat—but strangely, someone sitting beside him looked exactly like Hasta.
"As far as I remember, Asta doesn't have a twin."
The figure looked completely real and even turned to look at Hasta, who seemed unaware of its presence.
"Kal."
Gantha noticed Kala wasn't watching the screen and reflexively called out to him.
"N-no, it's nothing," Kala replied, turning toward the red-haired boy.
"What's wrong?" Melvin asked.
Kala realized the others were also looking at him with concern.
"I-it's nothing. I'm just sleepy—probably hallucinating or something," Kala laughed awkwardly.
Melvin looked relieved, unlike the other two who still eyed him suspiciously.
"Yoan and Gantha really are hard to fool," Kala thought.
Kala turned his attention back to the screen. The seat beside Hasta was now empty.
Gantha nudged his arm.
"Your eyes were shaking earlier, and you looked nervous when you talked," he whispered.
"You're annoying," Kala replied flatly.
"At least lie better," Gantha muttered.
Kala ignored him, not wanting to escalate things.
"Gan, was the seat next to Asta really empty?" Kala asked quietly.
"Yeah. What did you see there?" Gantha asked.
Kala smiled mischievously. "Don't be so curious."
That only made Gantha scoff. "Damn it, you demon doll."
Kala silently laughed at Gantha's grumbling.