The four of them remained on the sofa, sitting in silence, simply staring at the birth certificates in their hands. The room was quiet and peaceful, but also a bit stifling and awkward. After a few moments of quiet,
"You know, in class, the four of us never really talked. We only knew who the others were," Noah said.
"I only knew you guys because I'm the class president," Nicole replied.
"Hmm... I remember you were always with Grace. You were Grace's boyfriend, right, Noah?" Nash asked.
"Not anymore," Noah replied casually, leaning back on the sofa.
"Oh... you broke up?" Nicole asked.
"Yep, on this exact date," Noah said, pointing to his birth date on his birth certificate.
"Oh... me too. Tyler also left me on the same day," Nicole replied, looking a little relieved to have a partner in misery.
"If I remember correctly, you were always with Ethan and Sophie, right?" Noah asked Nash.
"Yeah... to me, they're both dead. But luckily, it all happened a day after my birthday, haha," Nash said bitterly.
"So all three of your birthdays were ruined, hehe," Naomi teased.
"Unlike you, who doesn't even have friends, let alone a boyfriend, because you rarely go to school," Nicole replied.
"Excuse me. I had a boyfriend, but he wasn't from our school. Besides, he died on the day I moved here, which was the day after my birthday," Naomi replied, shrugging her shoulders.
They fell silent again and looked down at their birth certificates as if the writing on the paper would change if they kept staring at it. Finally, Noah stood up, carrying his backpack, then he looked at the four rooms in front of him. After that, he turned and looked at Naomi.
"Which room is yours?" Noah asked.
"The one on the far right end," Naomi replied.
"Okay. I'll take the one on the far left end," Noah said.
"Alright, I'll be next to you," Nash added, standing up and carrying his gym bag.
"Fine, I'll take the last one, between Naomi and Nash," Nicole said, standing and picking up her backpack.
"Okay, I'm going in first," Noah said, heading for his room.
"Me too," Nash said, following Noah.
"I want to unpack my stuff first," Nicole said, following behind them.
The three of them went into their respective rooms while Naomi watched them from the sofa and thought,
"Hmm... they didn't ask why my boyfriend died... that's good. It means they don't like to stick their noses in other people's business," Naomi said to herself.
***
Inside the room, Noah locked his door. He fixed his hair and took off his glasses. He placed his backpack on the bed and took off his flannel shirt, revealing a tight black t-shirt that showed off his muscular body. Then he sat on the side of the bed and opened his bag.
He started to take out his three pistols, several boxes of ammo, a suppressor, and a pistol cleaning kit. He looked at the desk, the closet, the bed, and the small shelf next to the desk. He began to hide one pistol behind the closet, one in the small shelf's drawer, and one tucked into his pants, covered by his t-shirt.
After that, he put a box of ammo in the desk drawer, taped another to a clothes hanger inside the closet, and hid a third box with the pistol cleaning kit under the bed.
"Okay, this will do for now. Just waiting for my sniper rifle and shotgun tomorrow," Noah said to himself casually.
Then he started taking the clothes out of his backpack and putting them in the closet. He had brought the clothes because he had planned to stay the night, even before he knew he would be there permanently. After that, he lay down on the bed, looking at his smartphone. He glanced at the door and saw a new boys' uniform, still in plastic, different from his old school's, hanging on the door. He got back up and saw his name written on the plastic.
"Wait, how is my name already on this plastic? I just picked this room, didn't I? (thinking) It must be Uncle Mike. He knew for sure I'd pick this room," Noah murmured, examining his uniform.
***
In the next room, clink... clink... clink, Nash took out a pair of brass knuckles, a pocket knife, a karambit, and a pair of long iron double sticks from his gym bag. He placed everything on the bed, then folded his arms across his chest and thought, looking at the items on the bed.
"Hmm... where should I hide these? What if someone comes in and sees all this?" Nash asked himself.
He looked at the closet, the small shelf, the desk, and the bed. He sat on the side of the bed, his face serious because he hadn't expected to be living in a place like this. He felt the mattress and got an idea. He immediately checked his bag and took out a sewing kit.
"Phew... good thing I didn't take this out of the bag yesterday when I was sewing a torn shirt at school," Nash said to himself, relieved.
After that, he got off the bed and sat on the floor. He lifted the mattress cover and cut the mattress open with his knife. He put all of his things inside the mattress, except for the double sticks. Then he skillfully sewed the mattress back up, but in the middle of his work, knock... knock, someone knocked on his door.
Nash quickly pulled the mattress cover back over and put the double sticks under his pillow. He immediately went to the door and opened it, seeing Nicole standing there with a set of boys' uniforms.
"This is yours, because it has your name on it," Nicole said, giving him the uniform and pointing to the name on the plastic.
"Oh... thanks," Nash said, taking the uniform.
"Can you get mine? It's on the back of my door," Nicole said.
"Oh, just a sec,"
Nash closed his door, grabbed the uniform, and handed it to Nicole. Nicole then checked her uniform.
"Looks like Uncle Mike put the uniforms in our rooms according to our birth order. First Noah, then me, then you, and last Naomi," Nicole said.
"Oh... so we have to switch rooms?" Nash asked.
"Looks like it," Nicole replied.
"Hmm... okay. But we have to switch mattresses, too. I like this mattress (grumbling, "You could have told me sooner. I just cut this thing open!")," Nash said, pointing at his mattress.
"Okay, whatever you want. Let's switch," Nicole said, already carrying her bag.
Nash closed his door, propped up the hole in his mattress with the double sticks so the contents wouldn't shift, and started carrying his mattress to Nicole's room. He then carried her mattress back to his room.
***
After they switched mattresses, Nicole, now in Nash's old room, closed the door and leaned against it.
"Phew... good thing I hadn't unpacked anything," Nicole said to herself.
She immediately took off her glasses, undid her ponytail, and locked the door. After that, she walked to the bed and placed her backpack on her lap. She opened her bag and took out a grappler pistol, a utility belt with several small spray canisters, a laser pen, a cable smartwatch, gloves with gripping pads, a set of night-vision goggles, and a full black spandex suit with a matching mask. After placing everything on the bed,
"Okay, now I have to find a place to store all these tools... It's a good thing I had a feeling something like this would happen. Plus, since my apartment was empty after Tyler left, I brought all my gear with me," Nicole said to herself, thinking.