Amidst the tense atmosphere that settles in as the students realize none of them have a cell signal, the same girl who had commented on the lack of service takes a step toward the school.
"Mr. Novak? We're back from the trip! Where are you?" she yells, projecting her voice toward the school.
Everyone falls silent, waiting for a response from within the building.
After a few seconds, with the realization that no one is answering the girl's call, the students begin to look visibly worried.
Suddenly, in the midst of the unexpected situation, a clear, calm, and strong voice can be heard distinctly, even among the chatter of the confused students. It draws everyone's attention almost hypnotically.
"Calm down, everyone. I know we're tired, but it's Sunday afternoon; it makes sense that there's no one on the streets."
The students turn to see who owns that magnetic timbre that seemed to come from the heavens and are met with a tall, slender boy with neck-length, coal-black hair and emerald-green eyes. He receives his classmates' gazes with a wide, closed-lip smile that almost makes his eyes close.
"Let's go into the school, there must be someone there," he comments.
With that, the group calms down and regains their composure. Unanimously, they all agree that the best option is to enter the school and begin walking in that direction, almost without realizing it.
On the walk toward the school, they look to the sides and notice that the main gate is open and that the familiar guard, who was there every day, is not at his post. No one dares to comment on the oddities. To comment is to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and to lose one's composure.
After passing through the entrance and the school's famous four pillars, which are reminiscent of classical architecture, the students arrive at the central courtyard, still without finding any staff or teachers.
"Nobody..." someone comments as the students look around for any sign of life. "Where is everyone?"
"Look, let's split into four groups! Each group searches one of the buildings. Since I'm already closer to Building A, I'll search it. Whoever is near me, come with me," says the tall boy who is now leading the group, trying to act quickly to prevent uncertainty.
Seeming like the best alternative for the occasion, the students agree to follow the boy's lead and separate, hoping to find someone faster by searching all the buildings at the same time.
As the students move from one side to the other, it becomes clear that not everyone goes to the nearest building. In the end, Noah, who prefers not to move from his spot, is chosen to search Building C along with nine other people, by his count. Each group begins to head toward their respective building, situated at one of the corners of the central courtyard, until they can no longer see one another.
Noah and his group arrive at the ground floor of the building and agree to split into pairs, one for each floor, to cover the five stories quickly and then regroup on the ground floor to share information after they've checked their assigned areas.
It's the first time Noah has been in a school building other than his own, Class D's, but he can't help but notice its perfect resemblance to the building he is familiar with. Its interior is practically a perfect, though mirrored, copy; even the layout of the classrooms is the same, themed according to each teacher's subject, but still, identical.
Noah, in charge of the third floor with a girl he doesn't know, begins to walk from room to room down the hallway, opening the doors and taking a quick look inside. The girl is short, quite attractive, with short, shoulder-length brown hair. The two continue without speaking. The only information Noah knows about her is that she doesn't belong to Class D. The girl follows Noah with a timid and worried posture.
"This doesn't make sense..." Noah says, as he checks the rooms with her.
He notices she grows more tense with his comment, so he tries to say something to calm her down.
"Look... uhm... in the worst-case scenario, it's not all bad, right?" Noah comments with a subtle smile.
"What do you mean?" she asks, nearly in tears.
"Oh, I don't know... if we don't... I've always wondered what it would be like if... Look, this, uhm... is definitely a prank from the school board. A social experiment, maybe. With the money they have, they could certainly buy a signal jammer to make everything more realistic."
Noah notices the girl calms down a bit, even after his clumsy and stumbling comment.
"But why a social experiment?" she sniffles.
"To see how we do in an unexpected scenario, maybe. How we manage, our adaptability. You know Grand Four uses any and every method to measure our abilities. It's not just academic skills that count."
The girl swallows her worried expression and adopts a completely different posture in an instant.
"Yes, of course. I... I already knew. I was just seeing if we were on the same page. Tell me, what's your name?" she says, wiping her nose and fixing her posture.
Noah finds the girl's sudden change in behavior strange but tries to answer her question normally.
"It's Noah. And yours?"
"Teresa! Thank you so much for asking. Look, why don't we speed things up here while we get to know each other better? There are only three more rooms on this floor."
"Sure, whatever you want..."
And just as they agree, the two continue to check the remaining rooms, still finding nothing.
"Don't you think it's fun that this is the first time the classes are doing something together? We're so used to only interacting with students from our own class," Teresa comments.
"It's certainly more fun than having to be around the same people all year, that's for sure," Noah replies.
Teresa pauses, as if hesitating to say something.
"Wow, sorry, but when I saw you on the ground floor, I couldn't help but notice something," she says.
"And what would that be?" Noah is intrigued.
"Your eyes... they're beautiful."
"Um, thanks. They say they're my mother's eyes, but I never got to meet her," Noah replies, a bit surprised and awkward, with a faint smile.
"I've never seen eyes that color before... they're lilac..."
"You make it sound much more special than it really is."
"They go with your short, messy, black hair," she laughs.
Noah doesn't know how to respond, so he hides his face, hoping she won't notice.
Shortly after, when they both finish searching all the rooms on the floor and, finding nothing out of the ordinary or any sign of anyone, they walk back toward the ground floor to meet the others from Group C. Upon meeting the rest of the students and gathering together, Teresa takes the initiative to start the discussion among the pairs.
"So, everyone, what's the report from the rooms you searched?"
"Nothing," someone responds.
"Everything was normal."
"No one."
"Nobody found anything, or anyone?!" Teresa replies, distressed. Trying to ignore her anxiety, she continues, "I see, as expected... Le-let's... check the..."
"Let's meet the other groups in the courtyard," interrupts a student with an arrogant posture and Asian features, as he adjusts his glasses.
"Yes... Let's go to the courtyard, then," Teresa replies, having to adapt her leadership to the other student's opinion.
With the group's decision made, the students agree to leave Building C together and head toward the courtyard to meet the other groups.
Noah's group approaches as other students are already gathering in the courtyard. The tall student who was leading them before is now sitting at the base of the statue of the school's founder, which is situated in the middle of the courtyard. Leaning against the founder's copper legs, he stands up upon seeing Group C arrive, greeting them with a smile.
"We're just waiting for the group from Building D to arrive now. For now, you can sit anywhere around the statue. Oh, and you can call me Thomas."
Noah sits down around the statue in a spot farther away from the majority, along with a few other students from Group C who also aren't sure where to go. He decides to lie down and then looks up at the cloudless blue sky, feeling strangely relaxed in the uncomfortable situation. Five minutes pass, and it's enough for Noah to start closing his eyes, threatening to take a nap.
Teresa unexpectedly gets his attention. She comes close and speaks in a low tone so that others can't hear their conversation.
"So, this social experiment from the school board, how long do you think it'll last?"
Noah is incredulous, realizing how easily she bought the idea of the social experiment, even though it was a hypothesis created with little basis. He and other students know that, in reality, this situation makes no sense.
"A few hours, I guess. I have class tomorrow, and I don't think the school would go so far as to cancel classes to continue the experiment."
"Yes! That makes sense! Just a few more hours and we'll be able to go home and get back to normal."
Ten minutes pass. Thomas stands up from the statue upon spotting some students leaving Building D. He walks toward them, but, when they least expect it, a few screams are heard in the distance, making everyone look in the direction of the sounds. What is at first impossible to understand becomes a clearer message as the sound gets closer.
"There's no one!"
The group spots the student running from the entrance gate toward them.
"There's no one!" he repeats.
Some people get agitated, others are confused, but the harmony of the place is clearly broken.
"What the fuck do you mean there's no one? Where did you come from?" yells one of the students.
"I..." the desperate student hyperventilates. "I went off on my own when we... We were at the gate and then..."
Thomas, realizing what is happening, approaches the boy, touches his shoulder, and raises a hand, calling for the others' attention.
"Easy. Breathe," says Thomas.
"There's no one out there! I swear. I checked all the houses nearby. We're alone in the city!"
While some people, including Noah, remain quiet to process the information, chaos erupts among the group of students, who express a wide variety of reactions. For a few seconds, it's impossible to distinguish anything that is happening. Until, suddenly, another previously unknown person climbs onto the base of the statue where Thomas had been. He's a young man with a strong, athletic physique, at a professional level. His brown hair, slicked back, highlights the prominence of his jaw and nose. However, what catches everyone's attention as he climbs up is not his body, but the noise caused by the force of his feet as he steps on the base.
"Ha ha ha! Thanks for the excursion, Novak! You heard the kid! The city is ours now, and to celebrate the class mixer, tonight there's going to be the best party in the history of Grand Four! Whoever wants to can come with me to get party supplies from the market. Follow Max!" says the boy with a confident posture.
Thomas, realizing he's losing control of the situation, speaks in a firmer tone than usual.
"Wait!"
Max looks at Thomas with contempt but doesn't stop him from speaking.
"The reports from the building search groups!" Thomas continues.
"But we already know there's no one! That's what the search was for," Max replies.
"No. The search was to obtain any important information."
"Whatever! Hurry up!"