The teacher had an evil grin when handing out est papers. Each page was filled with hard problems that demanded careful thought and problem-solving skills. The room fell into a tense silence.

  Roselle tackled the first question on the real test. It felt as if she had transitioned from pying a video game on easy mode to suddenly finding herself in the most challenging level oreme difficulty mode. The questions were signifitly more plex and required a deeper uanding of the subject matter.

  However, Roselle couldn’t afford to dwell on the sudden shift in plexity. Fortunately, despite the increased difficulty, the test remained in multiple-choiat, some ease on Roselle’s shoulders.

  With fire burning in her eyes, Roselle delved into the test, carefully sidering each question aing what she believed to be the correswers.

  Around her, other students were equally focused. They were all trying to decipher the problems oest as quickly as they could.

  The bell rang only minutes after the distribution. A collective murmur of frustration rippled through the . Roselle and her cssmates exged anxious ghey were nowhere near pleting the challengihe teacher had uedly sprung on them.

  Their teacher, wearing a smug grin, strolled to the front of the css. He leaned against his desk with his arms crossed, and his eyes filled with a mog gleam.

  “I hope you ehe little surprise, css,” he taunted with a ugh. “It’s not every day that you get to fail a test so spectacurly, right?!”

  Roselle growled in frustration. She was about to let the teacher have it, but one of the other students couldn’t tain his irritation any longer. He spoke with anger. “This isn’t fair! You tricked us with that practice test! We need more time!”

  The teacher chuckled. “Life ain’t fair, man. Aher is this test. This is a lesson I’m teag you, but I’m irely heartless. You will have a two-minute grace period. After that, I have to release you for lunch. ’t have the principal pining that I’m holding you back, we?”

  Two minutes might as well have been a mere blink of an eye in the face of the challenging questions that still loomed before them.Roselle ched her pencil tightly. She had to make the most of those preinutes, even if it meant leaving some questions unanswered. Failure was not an option here.

  With gritted teeth, she turned her attention back to the test and tackled as many questions as possible in the dwindling seds of the grace period.

  With every sed tig away, Roselle frantically answered question after question. Breathing heavily, she leaned ba her chair. Unlike most of the other students who were struggling, she had mao answer every question.

  Roselle leaned ba her chair, drained and barely hanging on. Her soul seemed to be floating somewhere he ceiling. She looked as if she had just survived a near-death experien a video game’s hardest mode.

  Suddenly, her cssmates rushed to her side. They g to her arms and shoulders, trying to pull her back to her normal state.

  “Roselle, breathe! Yoing to give yourself a heart attack!” one girl excimed.

  “Just try to rex!” another added, patting her back.

  Each of the girl’s tried to Roselle to her usual self, but their bihusiasm only seemed to amplify her weariness.

  The teacher, watg this se unfold, furrowed his brow. “I didn’t say you could move yet,” he said, but then shrugged and smirked. “Oh, who cares? You all look like you’ve had enough.”

  He then began colleg the test papers with a very slow pace. “Hand ’em over,” he instructed to all of them. The students passed the test to the teacher with groans ing from their mouths.

  “Alright, all of you, get out of here, go to lunch already, scram.” The teacher yelled.

  The students filed out of the grumbling in frustration. Roselle, feeling physically aally drained from the inteest, slumped her shoulders. She nearly colpsed, but before Roselle could succumb to exhaustion, a strong hand gripped her shoulder. It was her friend Michigo from the Karate club, a fellow student with an athletic body with medium-trimmed bck hair, and a red headband with her school uniform.

  “That was some battle in there,” Miarked with grin. “I mao answer half of the questions myself. I’m hoping for at least a 50%. You okay, Rosey?”

  “Yeah,” Roselle replied weakly.

  Michigo looked at Roselle with a ed fad then burst into a sympathetic chuckle. “You look like you were karate chopped in half! I don’t bme you, though. That teacher is like some kind of vilin from a bad aovie.”

  Roselle managed a tired smile. “I guess he does seem that way...”

  Michigo tinued chug. “Yeah, if he keeps this up, we might need a rescue team just to survive his tests. At least we survived today though. Let’s grab some lund recharge. I hear they’ve got a new batch of those chocote chip cookies in the cafeteria.”

  Roselle’s eyes lit up at the mention of cookies. “Cookies! That sounds like exactly what I need right now.”

  Roselle and Michigo finally made it to the school cafeteria. They found ay table aled down. Roselle wasted no time in diving into her meal. It quickly became apparent just how ravenous she was.

  She had mao get two trays of food piled high with a variety of dishes—pasta, burgers, fries, and a generous stack of cookies. Roselle devoured her meal with impressive speed ahusiasm. A few students at nearby tables gnced over in astonishment.

  Michigo, sitting across from Roselle, propped her on one hand, her friend with amusement. Her red headband bobbed slightly with each shift of her gaze.

  Finally, Roselle looked up and noticed Michigo’s unwavering stare. She asked around a mouthful of fries, “Hey, Michigo, why aren’t you eating? Yht your own lunch, right?”

  Michiged casually,. “No reason. Just enjoying the show.”

  Roselle blinked, slightly fused but too absorbed in her feast to dwell on it.

  Michigo eventually took out her light sandwich, a modest but tasty-looking creation with fresh veggies and a hint of mustard. She ate slowly, sav each bite as she kept an eye on Roselle.

  After a few minutes, Michigo put her sandwich down and leaned forward slightly. She cleared her throat before speaking. “Hey, Roselle, I wao ask you something...”

  Roselle looked up from her sed helping of cookies, a bit surprised by Michigo.“What’s up, Michigo?”

  Michigo hesitated for a moment, then tinued gently, “It’s about Sarah. She hasn’t shown up to school for the past two days. I know you two are really close. Do you know anything?”

  Roselle She stopped eating and frowned. “Sarah... I’ve been trying to reach her, but she won’t answer my calls or reply to any of my texts. Aruka and El are ag straoo, and then there’s Tina… she’s gone pletely missing. I don’t know what to make of all this…”

  Michigo looked serious towards Roselle. “We o find out what’s happening with our friends. Maybe they’re in some kind of trouble.”

  Roselle nodded in agreement. “You’re right, Michigo. I’m worried about Sarah, Aruka, El, and especially Tina. Let’s start by trying to find out where Tina might be. Maybe someone knows something.”

  Michigo’s face lit up. “I know someone who might have some information. I’ll call Tori. She’s a bit of a gossip girl, right? She always seems to know what’s happening with everyone.”

  While Michigo reached for her phone, preparing to make the call, she suddenly felt a presence behind her. She turned her head and was surprised to find Tori standing right there. “Did someoion my name?”

  Michigo chuckled and said, “Tori, you have impeccable timing. We were just about to call you. We need your help with something.”

  Tori’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “I’m all ears, doll. What’s the juicy gossip today?”

  Michigo leaned in closer. “It’s about Tina. She’s been missing, and nobody’s been able to reach her. You got any information for us?”

  Tori’s pyful demeanor shifted instantly, and her face grew dark. Her eyes narrowed in curiosity. “Tina? That’s... unusual. Who’s Tina, and why is this such a big deal?”

  Michigo exged a gh Roselle before they both gred at Tori. “Tori, this is serious. Stop pying around! You know who Tina is!”

  Tori sighed deeply and then pced a smile on her face. “Okay, okay, I was just having a little fun, but you know, information about Tina doesn’t e cheap. What are you willing to trade for it?”

  Roselle hesitated for a moment. She then nodded slowly. “Okay, Tori, we’ll owe you a big favor. Just please, tell us what you know about Tina.”

  Tori leaned ba her chair. “You got it, Rosey. You’ll owe me one favor, anytime, anypce, and it be anything.”

  “t the deal,” Michigo said firmly, log eyes with Tori. “Tell us what you know.”

  Trinned. “Good choiow, here’s what I’ve heard about Tina...”

  Tori now spoke in hushed tones, “Last week, right before you got expelled Roselle, I overheard you talking to Tina in a way I’d never heard before. You were calling her all sorts of names and demahat she do some perverted stuff. Oh, and you were with a boy.”

  Tori whispered something in Michigo’s ear, and Michigo’s eyes widened with a blush ing to her face. She stammered, “That’s... that’s impossible. Roselle would ell her to do something like that!”

  Roselle’s brows furrowed in fusion. “What are you two talking about? Whatever it is, it couldn’t have been me, right?”

  Tori nodded. “I’m irely sure it was you, Roselle. That’s one of the reasons why your friends may be avoiding you. Something strange is going on… ”

  Roselle nodded. “If we find the boy she spoke with, we might get some clues. Do you know anything about him, Tori?”

  Tori’s eyes sparkled. “I’ve never seen him before, but from what I’ve heard, he’s a total hottie. Blonde hair, pierg blue eyes, and he’s got that bad-boy vibe. Probably stands out in a crowd.”

  Michigo rolled her eyes at Tori’s description, but took it in with a ral face. “Alright, we’ll look for this mysterious hottie and see if he knows anything about Tina. Thanks, Tori.”

  Trinned mischievously, “Oh, I’m always here to help, especially when it involves hot guys. Just remember, I’ll be calling in that ‘favor’ someday.”

  Miirked. “So, he’s a bad boy, huh? Sounds like your type of guy, Tori. Yo don’t wanna e along?”

  Tori shrugged, a mischievous grin on her face. “Sirls. I appreciate good looks when I see them, but I gots my own show to run. If this mystery guy is the key to finding Tina, then you should start asking around saybe someone knows who he is.”

  Roselle nodded.“Alright, we’ll start asking around at school. Tina’s been missing for too long, and we o find her.”

  Michigo chimed in, “We’ll track this guy down and see if he provide any information about what happeo Tina that day.”

  Tori leaned back.“Good, good. You’d better find this guy, cause I expee juicy updates.”

  Roselle and Michigo left the lunch café. Roselle’s gaze momentarily swept across the area. Amid the sea of students, her eyes locked onto a sight that sent a shock of surprise through her.

  There, sitting at a table, was a girl in a school uniform that looked eerily like Risebelle. The resembnce was uny, from the blue hair to the uniform. Roselle’s heart skipped a beat, and her eyes widened with hope and fusion. Was it possible that her sister, Risebelle, was somehow here?

  Before Roselle could react or approach the girl, she blinked, and in that split sed, the girl and her friend had vanished.