That morning, Hesa was startled by a knock at the door just as he was finishing getting ready for school.
With a sigh, he walked over and opened it.
Sure enough, it was his anomaly of a friend.
"Why are you grinning like that?" Hesa asked sarcastically.
"Because I'm happy. My favorite friend is finally coming back to school today," Jaehyuk said.
"I'm the one who's not happy. Now you're going to stick to me again," Hesa replied dramatically.
"Stop being so dramatic. Come on, let's grab breakfast first."
Jaehyuk immediately dragged Hesa toward the porridge stall that had become their regular breakfast spot.
They sat together at a table beneath a shady tree.
While waiting for their food, Hesa absentmindedly watched the cars and motorcycles passing by on the road in front of them.
It reminded him of the kidnapping he'd once witnessed there.
"Sa." Jaehyuk nudged Hesa's arm.
"Stop daydreaming. A ghost might possess you."
"You're the one who should be careful," Hesa shot back.
"Why me?"
"Don't you remember? The last time you said something weird here, someone fell off their motorcycle not long afterward."
"Oh, come on. That was just a coincidence."
Their breakfast arrived.
Jaehyuk immediately dug into his food, while Hesa found himself watching another customer talking to the vendor.
After placing his order, the customer turned around, looking for an empty seat.
His eyes accidentally met Hesa's.
"Wish?"
Hesa blinked in surprise.
What kind of coincidence was this? He had just been talking about him moments ago.
"Oi, Hesa." Not knowing what Hesa was thinking, Wish simply greeted him back.
"Hey, isn't he the guy who fell off the motorcycle? Is he your friend?" Jaehyuk asked as he watched Wish walk over.
"I... guess so," Hesa answered uncertainly.
"Yo, bro! How've you been?" Jaehyuk greeted enthusiastically.
"Jae." Hesa immediately elbowed him, noticing how overly friendly he was being with someone he'd barely met.
"Relax, Sa," Wish said calmly.
"Mind if I join you guys?"
"Go ahead, bro. It'll be more fun with another person," Jaehyuk replied.
"Thanks."
Wish took the seat across from the two of them.
~~~~~
Ring—!
As soon as the lunch bell rang, Hesa closed his notebook.
He glanced at his phone to check the date.
January 24th.
It had been almost a week since that day.
Yet the pain still lingered.
He still hadn't found the courage to ask Kayn about it again.
"Hesa!"
The familiar voice made Hesa look up.
He walked outside the classroom and found his friends already waiting for him so they could head to the cafeteria together.
The group made their way there.
"Guys, we're finally all together again," Joan said happily as he looked around at everyone.
"Hey, remember when we talked about having a little celebration once the whole group was back together?" Satya said.
"I thought we were going to talk about our channel that's been on hiatus forever," Jio commented.
"You literally just recovered, and that's already what you're thinking about?" Joan teased.
"Honestly, I've been thinking about it too. We never uploaded the footage from the camp," Niki admitted.
"Aren't you guys traumatized?" Setta asked.
"Well... yeah, I guess we are," Niki replied.
"So... are we going to continue?" Hesa asked.
Silence fell over the group as everyone looked at one another.
"I don't know... but I feel bad for our fans. They've probably been waiting," Jio finally said.
"Then let's leave the decision to them. We'll ask whether they want us to continue or not," Arkha suggested.
"Yeah. Right now, I think we should focus on ourselves first," Hesa agreed.
"Back to the celebration," Satya said.
"How about we just go out somewhere?" Setta suggested.
"Yeah! Let's all have dinner together," Joan added.
~~~~~
Hesa smiled while playing a game on the computer.
He and the others were currently adventuring together in the same online game.
Then voices from the next gaming booth caught his attention.
"Seriously? You fell from something that simple?" Niki laughed.
"I pressed the wrong button!" Setta protested.
"This game is ridiculously easy," Satya added.
"Whatever. You guys keep playing," Setta muttered.
"Aw, are you pouting?" Jio teased.
"No. I'm hungry."
"Then let's go eat now," Hesa suggested.
"No, we just got to the game center."
"So what are you going to do?" Arkha asked.
"I'm not craving a full meal. I just want something sweet. I'll step outside for a bit."
"Alright, don't take too long or we'll leave you behind," Niki joked.
"Yeah, yeah." The fox-like young man walked out of the building.
The rest continued playing the arcade games.
Arkha noticed a horror game that caught his eye and started reading its description.
"Hmm... it's a horror game."
"You gonna play it?" Hesa called from the booth next door.
"Nah. I just got distracted by the description."
"What's so interesting about it?"
"It tells the story of someone who suddenly wakes up inside an abandoned amusement park that's been deserted for years. It reminded me of that time I suggested we explore an abandoned amusement park."
Hesa nodded.
"If our fans want us to continue the channel, that'll probably be our next destination."
"Yeah. Since the camp trip ended up being a failure."
"Honestly, it's a good thing it failed. If we'd actually gone through with it, we'd probably be traumatized."
"Hmm... that's a little harsh, but you're right."
Hesa returned to his game.
A few moments later, he caught the scent of something sweet.
When he turned around, he saw Setta sitting on the waiting bench behind them.
"Setta?"
"Yeah?"
"N-Nothing. You're not playing anymore?"
"Nope." Setta chuckled. "I'll just wait here."
"Oh... okay."
Hesa turned back to his monitor and let out a quiet laugh.
"What are you laughing about?" Arkha asked.
"It's not because anything's funny."
"Then what?"
"Turns out Setta bought cotton candy."
Arkha looked over and saw Setta happily enjoying a fluffy cloud of cotton candy.
"Ah, I know. It's probably the taro flavor—the purple one."
"Yeah, something like that."
~~~~~
Hesa checked his phone.
It was already five in the afternoon, yet he was still at the cemetery.
Arkha had already messaged him, asking where he was because they needed to stop by the supermarket to buy meat for the barbecue later.
Jio had invited everyone over for dinner that evening.
Hesa replied, telling him there was still enough time to shop before heading to Jio's house.
"We've still got plenty of time."
He locked his phone and looked back at the gravestone in front of him.
"Jihan... I'm heading home now. Hopefully I can come visit again sometime."
He stood up and glanced around at the surrounding graves.
"Kala really isn't buried here..."
Part of him wanted to visit Kala's grave immediately.
But his heart still wasn't strong enough to go there.
"I can't keep avoiding it forever. I think... tomorrow I should go see Kayn."