CRACK!!!
A massive, mysterious black claw shot out from the ventilation gap above the door, snatched Xavier's OSIS (Student Council) hat right off his head, and dragged it into the room in less than two seconds.
"My hat, dammit!" Xavier shouted, his usually flat eyes widening in shock.
"Damn! The curse is real! Xavier's most prized possession is gone!" Luca yelled in a panic.
"But wait a sec... your most prized possession is just a fifteen-thousand-rupiah student council hat, Xav?" Raffa stared at Xavier with a smirk.
"I borrowed that hat from the fierce Student Council President yesterday because I lost mine. If that hat vanishes, the probability of me getting punished by running 50 laps around the field is 99.9%!" Xavier replied, his breath hitching. For Xavier, physical punishment was an insult to his energy efficiency.
"So?"
"So, we get it back, you idiot! Do you want your handsome friend to get punished?!!" Xavier snapped.
"Oh, chill, man. Relax, take it easy."
"I can't relax! I have to get that hat before I get punished with laps!"
Xavier grabbed a medium-sized rock from the side of the building and smashed it against the padlock until it broke—
BANG!!!!!!
He kicked the door of the building wide open. The room inside was pitch black and stuffy.
In the middle of the room, a white-clad apparition was floating, hair long and messy, face half-destroyed with blood-red eyes bulging out. In her hand, she clutched Xavier's hat while letting out a piercing laugh, trying to project the most intimidating aura possible.
"Heeheeheehee... foolish humans! I've taken your most prized possession! Prepare to die in fear—"
"Hey, sachet-sized Kunti!" Luca interrupted, walking casually toward the creature, not a hint of fear in his eyes. The ghost stopped laughing. She was confused because usually, new students would scream or pass out.
"Y-you aren't scared?! I am the guardian of—"
"Guardian of what? Your acting is trash, you know that?" Luca snatched the hat from the ghost's hand in one jerk, then looked at her with a judgmental gaze.
"Your hair is way too long, tangled—don't you ever creambath? And that screeching laugh of yours is super off-key! Flat! It lacks diaphragm power. My old ojek customers back in my past life could shatter windows across the whole district when they laughed. You sound like a busted exhaust."
The local Kunti of this new world just stared, stunned. She floated back a meter, her pride as a school senior ghost crumbling instantly.
"Y-you... how are you critiquing my vocals?!"
"It's not just the vocals, your positioning is wrong too!" Luca continued, stepping forward and poking the ghost in the nose.
"If you want to scare people, don't do it in the middle of a room full of dust. You're ruining the aesthetic! You should've flickered the lights or appeared slowly from behind a cupboard. You're such an amateur!"
Raffa crossed his arms behind him, smiling cynically. "Take that. Mentally destroyed by a former occult master."
The Kunti suddenly teared up. Her blood-red eyes were now leaking real tears, she was so embarrassed to be roasted by a bunch of teenagers.
"Hiks... s-so mean... I was just doing my job from the Student Council to scare the new students... and I get hazed back instead..."
"Tch, drama queen," Xavier muttered, staring at the ghost cynically.
After the horror show turned into deep trauma for the ghost, the five of them walked toward the parking lot. Hiro walked in the middle, between Luca and Raffa.
"Brother, can I get a ride later? My driver said the car broke down," Hiro asked, playing with the hem of Luca's uniform.
"The car broke down? You came here in a luxury sedan earlier, Ro!" Raffa protested.
"That... uh... the driver got an emergency call, so he left," Hiro replied vaguely.
"Alright, it's fine. Hop in my Alphard," Luca said casually.
"Are you really taking him, Bang?" Raffa stared at Luca as if his brother had lost his mind.
"It's fine, Cil. Poor kid, he said he's still scared from what happened earlier."
Hiro, hearing that, smiled sweetly at Raffa—a smile that made Raffa immediately look away because he felt it was creepy, though he didn't know why.
"Thank you, Kak Raffa! You're so kind!"
Raffa snorted. "I'm forced to, not kind."
In the distance, Hasna walked lazily toward Xavier's sportbike, which was on standby.
"Xavier, give me a lift again, okay? I forgot where I put my keys," Hasna said, completely shameless.
Xavier stared at her sharply. "I am not a transport service for incompetent teachers. But since I need your psychological data for my observations, I agree."
"Yes! Xavier really is my smartest student!" Hasna hopped onto the bike without a shred of grace.
"We're going first!!!" she yelled at Luca, Raffa, and Hiro who were still standing by the car.
"Ma'am, keep it down, my ears are gonna go deaf," Xavier grumbled.
"No way, I'm safe, my voice is melodic like this!!" the teacher replied, even louder.
After the roar of Xavier's sportbike faded around the corner, leaving Hasna sitting on the back seat with zero regrets, only Luca, Raffa, and Hiro remained by the car.
"Why are we still here? Let's go home," Luca said.
"I'm hitching a ride, Bang," Raffa said, shooting a cynical look at Hiro.
"Then what about your car, Cil?"
"Let my driver take it. Our house is close, and I want to stop by your place later anyway."
"Fine, let's go together, I'm hungry too... let's get in," Luca said, stepping into the car followed by Hiro and Raffa.
After a few moments, the car sliced through the quiet night. The driver was focused, while Luca, Raffa, and Hiro were busy with their own things. Hiro was on his phone, Luca was leaning back and yawning, and Raffa had his eyes closed, not sleeping, just tired.
"Ro, which complex is your house in? So Pak Shofi can drop you off directly," Luca asked, leaning toward the back seat.
"Oh... that... my house is at Teratai Complex number 23..."
"You heard the street name, right, Pak?"
"I did, Den," Pak Shofi replied calmly.
Luca nodded, looking out the window.
"Kak Luca... I want to ask something..." Raffa opened his eyes, listening.
"Ask what?"
"Are you and Kak Raffa biological brothers? It feels like you two are from different families."
Ding!!!
Luca froze, confused about how to explain it to the kid. He couldn't say Raffa was his brother from his second life. He wanted to admit it, but he was scared of leaking his secret.
'Crap, what do I say? There's a driver here too... if he hears and reports it to my parents, I'll get kicked out for being a fake child in their eyes...'
"I-it's—"
"Bang Luca is my foster brother. I consider him my brother, even though we aren't blood-related... I love him and he loves me... wherever he goes, I follow, and it'll be like that forever. No one can separate us..." Raffa cut in, shooting a cold look at Hiro. "And if anyone intends to separate us... I guarantee they'll vanish from this world forever."
"Enough? No more questions," Raffa said, leaning back and closing his eyes.
Luca, listening to that, was stunned, but he couldn't deny he was touched by his brother's words. 'My devilish little brother has grown up... all the hard work I put in to feed him wasn't for nothing,' Luca thought, eyes getting misty.
"O-oh... I see... I thought you guys had some kind of relationship..." Hiro scratched the back of his neck.
"But Ro, why did you ask that?"
"I was just curious... I was also thinking, if Kak Raffa can be the little brother, can I be the new little brother too—"
"No! You can't!" Raffa opened his eyes, staring piercingly at Hiro, his voice chillingly cold.
"W-why not?"
"Bang Luca is mine. Only me. No other little brothers allowed. If there is, I'll kill them right now."
"That's enough, Fa. Don't scare the kid," Luca tried to mediate. "It's okay, Ro. Kak Raffa is just stressed about money, so he's a bit sensitive. He's just joking."
"I'm not joking, Bang..."
'Why are these two like this? Fighting like cats and dogs! Argh, so stressful!' Luca thought in frustration.
"Okay, okay, stop fighting, alright?"
"He started it, Bang," Raffa muttered. He leaned back again, though his breath was still clearly annoyed.
Hiro pouted, looking down as if he felt guilty. "Sorry, Kak Raffa. I didn't mean to be presumptuous..."
"Whatever, drama," Raffa hissed. Luca sighed. He stared blankly out the window, massaging his temple. He wondered about his fate. In his past life, he was a ghost-ojek driver; now, he was a handler for two young tigers who loved clawing at each other. He had no idea there was an even more ancient life—when his name was Zenra and he died tragically crushed by a laundry rack—that triggered this entire mess.
The silence returned. Pak Shofi kept driving, while Luca prayed for them to reach home fast.
However, in the darkness of the back seat, out of Luca's sight, the atmosphere turned freezing. Hiro straightened his head. The sad, innocent expression he'd worn for Luca vanished. He turned slowly, staring at Raffa who was still resting.
Raffa opened his eyes out of predator instinct. Their eyes met. Raffa froze. Hiro's gaze wasn't that of a scared little brother anymore. It was dark, empty, and filled with a possessive aura—the look of someone whose ownership was being threatened. Hiro's lips curled into a thin, cold smile that made Raffa's skin crawl. The look seemed to say: 'Who do you call yours? He was with me long before this world existed.'
Raffa gripped the seat. His jaw tightened, cold sweat appearing on his forehead. Damn it. His guess was 100% correct. This kid... he was insane.
"Den Luca, we've arrived at Teratai Complex number 23," Pak Shofi's calm voice broke the extreme tension. The Alphard stopped in front of a tall, black gate.
In the blink of an eye, the terrifying look in Hiro's eyes vanished, replaced by an adorable, innocent twinkle. He turned to Luca cheerfully.
"Wow, we're here! Thank you so much, Kak Luca, Kak Raffa, and Pak Driver!" Hiro said, then got out and walked lightly.
Luca breathed a huge sigh of relief, as if he'd just escaped an execution.
"Finally. Okay, let's go, Pak Shofi! Gas it, I'm starving!"
The car drove off, leaving Hiro standing alone under the streetlights, wearing a mysterious smile that never faded.
After dropping Hiro off, Luca was leaning back, while Raffa was still thinking about Hiro's weird gaze. But the tension broke when the headlights shone on a very familiar silhouette. A sportbike was parked, and beside it, a student in a full OSIS uniform was squatting, staring at a completely flat rear tire.
"Eh, Pak Shofi, stop for a sec. That looks like Xavier," Luca said. The car pulled over next to Xavier. Luca rolled down the window. "Xav! What are you doing squatting in the middle of the night? Seeking an omen?"
Xavier turned flatly. His expression didn't change at all.
"My motorcycle tire is experiencing an extreme loss of air pressure. I am calculating the friction coefficient if I were to force it home."
"Friction coefficient, your head!" Luca shouted, joined by Raffa at the window. "Who pushes a bike like that at night? And where's that BK teacher, Hasna?"
"I dropped her off at the intersection. It seems her weight on the back seat exceeded capacity and triggered this leak," Xavier replied, calm but biting.
"Fine, instead of dying stupidly here, let's drop your bike at the 24-hour repair shop, then you ride with us. Come to my place first."
"Is there a fee?"
"Seriously? Why do you think you have to pay?"
"I know your nature, Burden. You're greedy, you don't help people for free," Xavier said, staring sharply at Luca.
"Since I'm feeling generous, it's free this time. Calm down."
"Suspicious."
"Do you want to push the bike or do you want me to leave you?" Luca snapped.
Xavier sighed. "I'll join you, Burden. It saves money, and there's something important I want to discuss," he added while adjusting his glasses.
After dropping off the bike, the flat-faced kid joined the Alphard. This time, the seating changed; Xavier sat in the back with Raffa, while Luca was in the front. Five minutes later, Xavier broke the silence.
"Luca, Raffa. Based on the Kunti ghost incident earlier, I've had a highly prospective sociological epiphany."
Luca looked over lazily. "What epiphany, idiot? Your brain is just full of formulas."
"This isn't a formula, it's a business opportunity. I plan to open a new consulting agency: Ghost Psychology," Xavier said without a care. Raffa, who was drinking water, choked.
"Cough! What business did you say, Xav?!"
"Ghost Psychology," Xavier repeated firmly. "Look at them earlier. Ghosts these days are experiencing an identity crisis and a drastic decline in mental health. They need spiritual counseling and tactical guidance so their scaring performance becomes efficient and market-aligned."
Raffa stared. "You want to be a ghost psychologist? Are you sane?"
"The market potential is huge, Raffa. If we educate the spirits on positioning, vocal management, and modern horror aesthetics, we can monopolize the supernatural industry."
"Man, I invited you to farm ants and you said no, now you want to be a ghost psychologist? But your idea isn't bad."
Luca glanced at Pak Shofi through the mirror. The loyal driver looked like he was gripping the wheel with trembling hands, trying to pretend he was deaf to his employers planning a consultancy for the undead. 'Kids these days are smart at making money, but this is extreme,' Pak Shofi thought, trying to keep a neutral face.
Luca cleared his throat loudly. "Ahem! Xav, Fa... let's continue this ghost business talk when we get to my room. Poor Pak Shofi, he'll be too scared to drive through this road again."
Xavier nodded. "Fine. We'll save the data. We'll dissect the regulation of Kunti counseling fees at the base."
Raffa could only slap his own forehead, resigned to his friends' state of mind, which was becoming increasingly hopeless in this new world.