The classroom was slowly filling again. The fluorescent lights flickered as students shuffled to their seats, whispering to one another. Outside, the rain had stopped, leaving a drizzle streaking down the windows.
Sylus slipped back quietly into his desk near the back, his bag heavy against his shoulder. His phone stayed tucked in his pocket.
The role he had accepted, it played over and over in his mind like a muted echo.
He glanced at Kai, who had already moved back to his seat, still pale and jittery from the blackout and something he can't name.
The boy seemed glued to Sylus' presence, as if trying to tether himself to someone who could understand. Sylus allowed it. No words passed between them, but Kai's [FEAR – 76%] hung faintly above his head.
Ms. Crawford, an Economics teacher, entered briskly, shaking a folder in her hand. She glanced over the room and sighed.
"All right everyone, settle down. For today's class, we're going to examine consumer behavior and the consequences of debt." She paused, scanning the students' faces. "Sylus, I hope you've caught up on last week's material?"
Sylus's mind was elsewhere, he barely registered the question. Debt and its consequences. That word reverberated, he remembered his childhood, his father gambling the family into ruin, his younger brother never understanding why life was always so unfair to them. Debts kept coming, piling up no matter what he did.
"Sylus!" Ms. Crawford's voice cut across the room. "Are you in the room with us?"
He blinked and realized the class had gone silent. All eyes were on him. "Uh… yes, Ms. Crawford," he said evenly. "If a consumer takes on debt without foresight, it creates compounding obligations that can escalate beyond their control, sometimes leading to personal or financial ruin."
A few students muttered, some nodded. Kai exhaled softly beside him. Sylus leaned back in his chair, eyes half-lidded, letting the words sink in without revealing how much he actually knew.
Class continued, but Sylus' thoughts drifted. How did the game even get on my phone? Is this some Roblux kind of thing? Why me?
Halfway through, he began sneakily researching under his desk, scrolling through news feeds, forums, and tech articles, piecing together anything resembling the game's code.
A sudden tap on his shoulder broke his concentration. He looked up to see Mira, the girl who always sat in front of him, leaning slightly, eyes narrowed. "Why did you throw that?" she demanded.
Sylus froze. "Throw… what?" he asked, genuinely puzzled.
Mira's hand extended, holding a crumpled piece of paper. On it, scrawled messily, were the words: "Nice boobs."
Blood drained from Sylus' face. His mouth opened, then closed. I never wrote this. He stared at her, confused and angry.
"I… I didn't do that," he said finally. "It's not mine."
Mira's expression hardened. "You're lying! I saw you!"
A small crowd had gathered around them as the teacher urgently left the class. Some snickered, some whispered.
Sylus could read their emotional tags. They were feeding off the chaos in the same way emotional demons fed off their emotions.
"Stop it, Mira, that's not even my handwriting—" he began, raising his hands, hoping to calm her down.
Before he could finish, someone nudged him sharply from behind. Off-balance, he stumbled forward, trying to brace himself. His hands accidentally landed on Mira's chest as he tried to soften the landing. The crowd gasped, murmurs rising to whispers of shock and indignation. Sylus froze, realizing what had happened, but the movement was entirely reflex, unintentional.
Mira yelped and took a step back, clutching the paper. Her emotional tag spiked:
[ANGER – 82%], [FEAR – 47%].
The crowd's tags also flared. [ANTICIPATION – 68%], [ENTHUSIASM – 72%], [MALICE – 49%].
He anxiously scanned each and everyone of their faces, they were all enjoying the drama, not noticing the tension, the misstep that could have been harmless but looked dangerous.
"I—I didn't mean—" Sylus started, trying to explain, keeping his voice calm but firm. "It was an accident. I was pushed. I didn't throw anything. I didn't—"
"Liar!" Mira shouted, stepping back. "You're disgusting!"
"Everyone calm down," Sylus said, though no one moved. Their tags flickered around his vision. No one wanted real confrontation, just to escalate the issue.
"This is a misunderstanding!" he said, voice rising slightly, not in anger but insistence. "I wasn't—"
Some students snickered. Some laughed. One whispered, "He's into Mira, I bet."
The teasing continued, escalating. Sylus' stomach tightened.
Kai pushed through the crowd to his side. "Hey! Stop it, all of you! He didn't—"
"Shut up, Kai," someone hissed.
Then a voice cut through the murmurs, soft yet firm. "That's enough. Move along."
Sylus' head snapped toward the sound. A girl had stepped forward, her stance confident without being aggressive. Dark hair fell across her shoulders, but there was nothing sharp about her expression, just calm, steady authority.
Arden.
Her eyes flicked to Mira, then to the actual student who had thrown the paper. "If she wants someone punished, that's where it belongs. Not on him."
Sylus' gaze drifted over her. He expected to see the faint shimmer of [FEAR] or [ENVY] above her head, or at least a tag of some kind—like everyone else. But there was nothing.
His chest tightened. That wasn't possible. He could see everything else but Arden? No tag, not even a faint tag, nothing.
Kai leaned close, whispering, "Who… who is that?"
Sylus didn't answer, his eyes stayed on Arden. There was something about her presence, a certainty, that didn't register in his head.
As he walked past her, he couldn't shake the weight of the unknown. Someone whose tags were invisible, what could that mean?
Kai trailed behind him, voice low. "Do you know her?"
"No," Sylus said, sliding his bag over his shoulder. "And I intend to find out."