- meet me at the back garden of the school -
Kala sighed in relief after receiving Aganta's message. He knew his friend had finally been allowed to leave by the police.
"Good for him," he muttered as he stood in front of a locker, returning Hasta's tablet. He had used it to hack the CCTV, send photos to their anonymous account, and breach the school's audio system to play a recording from the voice-pen.
Kala paused for a moment in front of the locker. Had he become reckless now? Not thinking ahead about what might happen? Or was he beginning to care about others?
"Agan's not just anyone," he told himself. "It makes sense I did this. Would be a shame if he ended up in jail. Plus, Kaze would lose a member. He's one of the few excellent ones besides Yoan."
*******
Kala and Gantha met at the agreed location: a quiet lakeside garden near an unused school building. There was no one else around.
"When did you see the incident?" Gantha began the conversation.
"Yesterday," Kala replied. "Not long after I was with Yoan and Yoga doing a group project."
"You've always been involved in investigations, but until now your job was only to find clues and let the others figure things out. You didn't seem to care much about others' problems," Gantha said, staring directly at him.
"I don't know either. Maybe subconsciously I'm afraid the school is haunted. I've been influenced by Yoga and Dion," Kala replied casually.
Gantha chuckled softly. "Didn't expect your reason to be that dumb. You looked cool earlier in the infirmary."
"Yeah, I'm honestly still confused," Kala scratched his head. "By the way, since when did you know I'm an esper?"
"Two days ago," Gantha answered without hesitation.
"You don't think I'm weird?" Kala asked, a little anxious.
"I used to see you talking to yourself. I thought you were crazy, but then I realized you always found clues effortlessly," Gantha explained.
Kala looked at him in disbelief. "Ouch, my pride... You thought I was crazy," he said, clutching his chest dramatically.
"Do you think I should tell the others about this now?" Kala asked again.
"Do you think they'd see you as weird or feel deceived? You've been playing dumb this whole time while playing key roles in cases," Gantha said seriously.
"There are two possible outcomes. One, they'll want me to use my powers more often. Two, I'll get kicked out of Kaze," Kala replied, his gaze distant.
"You're not getting kicked out. They won't risk the secret getting out. But yeah, they might distance themselves until you feel uncomfortable and leave on your own," Gantha said confidently.
"Well, maybe that's about to happen soon," Kala said, hinting at his recent recklessness in solving the case without discussing it with the others.
Gantha understood the feeling, but he thought Kala didn't need to rush revealing his powers to the others.
"Thanks for the help, Kal. Still holding up?" Gantha asked, patting his shoulder.
"Hm?" Kala looked at him, confused.
Suddenly, both their phones rang. A message from Dion, calling them to meet at the basecamp.
"It's time," Kala said lazily, looking at his screen.
******
In the rundown building, the seven youths gathered to discuss something.
"You alright now, Gan?" Melvin asked.
"Yeah," Gantha replied curtly.
"So what's the story? You ready to talk now?" Dion teased.
"Like any other day, I went to the rooftop for a smoke. But this morning, I saw Hadi there. Said he had a meeting with someone. I didn't care and just sat down. Then suddenly, someone hit me from behind with a pipe," Gantha explained.
"In the recording that played over the school speaker, Hadi mentioned meeting your friend," Yoan said.
"I don't know. Didn't see anyone on the stairs to the rooftop," Gantha replied.
"Really? But Hadi said that person had just left," Yoga said.
"I really didn't see anyone. No one crossed paths with me," Gantha said calmly.
Kala looked at Gantha, puzzled. Was Gantha trying to protect him? So this was what he meant by "still holding up?"
"A few seconds isn't long, so it's reasonable Gantha didn't see them," Dion said, trying to ease the rising tension.
"What matters is Agan's okay now," Hasta added.
"Agan's in the clear, but who wrapped up the case?" Yoan asked.
Silence fell over the room. As Gantha and Kala had guessed, Yoan was always the first to speak up when something strange happened.
"It wasn't you, Vin? You were the one who suggested we investigate," Yoga asked.
"Nope, I stayed in class," Melvin replied.
"Kaze's account is on Asta's tablet. Since he's the hacker, his devices are hard to trace," Yoan noted.
"Asta kept his tablet in his locker. I saw him in class during the police investigation," Dion added.
"Then it must've been stolen," Yoan concluded.
"No, it's safe," Hasta responded.
"The voice-pen the police found looks a lot like one my dad made," Yoga said.
"Then it was you who planted it?" Melvin blurted.
Yoga glared at him. "You think I knew someone was going to die on the rooftop?"
That hurt, thought Kala.
"Whoever knows about Yoga's dad's shop and Kaze's operations must be one of us."
Yoan said this while glancing at Gantha and Kala, making them uncomfortable. Finally, Gantha spoke.
"Why are you looking at me and Kala like that?" Gantha asked.
"You asked to talk to Kala alone," Yoan replied.
"Why do you care?" Gantha retorted, a bit defiant.
"You two talked about this case?" Yoan's suspicion grew.
Gantha chuckled. "You need to know everything? Got nothing better to do?"
Yoan looked offended and stood up, but Dion and Melvin held him back.
"Easy, bro," Melvin said.
"Calm down, Yon. Don't lose your temper," Dion added.
"Maybe whoever did it didn't have time to discuss," Hasta said.
"Actually, we should thank them. They acted quickly enough to keep Gantha from being taken by the police," Dion added.
"The real question is 'who.' I'm not accusing anyone," Yoan said.
"What's the problem? Our job is to solve cases unnoticed," Gantha said casually.
"But Gan—" Yoan tried to protest, but Gantha cut him off.
"Yon, curiosity can get you into trouble," Gantha said seriously, then walked away and returned to his class.
******
Kala walked down the hallway sipping a bottled drink. He planned to cool off in the library during the free period.
Thud!
"Kala, you okay?"
He had tripped over his own shoelaces. Luckily, Hasta was nearby and helped him.
"I'm fine, As. But your uniform got stained," Kala said.
"It's okay, I've got a spare at home. I'll just wash this one," Hasta said with a smile.
"You're soft-spoken, but you didn't even flinch or get mad. Just smiled," Kala said, surprised.
"Hehe, really, it's fine." Hasta took off his jacket. "I'll head to my locker."
Watching Hasta walk away, Kala felt uneasy. He looked out the hallway window—it was pouring rain. He thought Hasta might get cold without his jacket.
"I brought a sweater to show Kyungmin. It's supposed to be Jihan's birthday gift. But… would it be okay to give it to Asta?"
He paused, unsure. But remembering Jihan's birthday was still days away, he figured he had time to find another gift.
"Alright, I'll just give it to Asta," Kala decided.
He rushed to his classroom, grabbed the sweater, and went to the lockers. Sure enough, Hasta was there—but so was Yoan, who had already approached him. Kala hid, sensing something important.
"As," Yoan called.
Hasta turned. "What is it, Yon?"
"Your tablet really wasn't stolen?" Yoan asked seriously.
"This conversation is over," Hasta replied, rolling his eyes.
"Aren't you curious?" Yoan pushed.
"No," Hasta said shortly.
"What if it wasn't a Kaze member who took it?"
"Why do you keep insisting it was stolen?" Hasta asked.
"Your expression can't lie," Yoan shot back, making Hasta pause.
"There's clear evidence too. Someone anonymously posted Lia's letter, hacked the school's speakers and CCTV—so there's no footage of the theft," Yoan continued.
"Fine, I'll admit it was stolen. But I don't care who took it. You know why? Only the seven of us know the passcode. So I'm sure one of us took it. Not some outsider," Hasta said firmly.
"You're not going to find out who?" Yoan asked.
"My answer should be clear enough—I'm not interested in knowing," Hasta said, walking off, tired of Yoan's obsessive curiosity. While useful for solving cases, it could be annoying in everyday life.
Kala, still hidden, remained silent. Hasta really was that kind. It would've been normal to want to know who took his tablet—but he didn't.
"Asta's really kind… kinder than I thought," Kala murmured.
Seeing Hasta head to the library, Kala decided to follow.
Screech
Kala slid the library door open, startling someone inside.
"You scared me," Hasta said, hand on his chest.
"Hehe, sorry As. I just wanted to give you this," Kala said, showing a blue sweater with cloud patterns.
"What is it?" Hasta asked, confused.
"A sweater, obviously," Kala joked.
"For me?" Hasta asked.
Kala nodded. "Yeah. I accidentally spilled my drink on your uniform."
"I told you it was fine," Hasta replied.
"Eh, whatever. It's yours now," Kala placed the sweater on the table in front of Hasta.
"It's raining outside, better wear it before you end up freezing like Agan," Kala said, then walked away.