Unclassified; Zero and Still Standing

The look Seth gave Kristen was enough to make the entire base fall silent.

Kristen, as always, ignored every warning sign to stop talking.

"Our attendance has been perfect so far." She said with a deliberate smirk. "We can’t have Corvane ruining it."

Seth’s fists clenched automatically. His sharp eyes remained fixed on her.

Kristen answered with nothing more than a smug smile.

Nobody said a word. Everyone simply waited.

Slowly, Seth’s hands loosened.

He carefully rubbed a hand over his tired eyes.

Then sighed.

The tension in the room eased almost immediately. Several students quietly let out the breaths they had been holding.

Camden hardly ever lost his temper. It was something 11-A took pride in.

He lowered his hand.

"Bring them over."

The boys guarding the captives obeyed immediately.

One after another, the captured members of Squad 11-D stepped forward.

Their fingerprints were scanned against the attendance device.

Captive.

Each confirmation flashed briefly across the screen before their information was stored.

Yesu was last.

As she waited, her eyes kept wandering toward Heidi.

The girl was sitting by herself at the edge of the base.

Yesu wasn’t entirely convinced she wouldn’t suddenly decide to run away again so she kept watch.

Whenever their eyes happened to meet, Heidi looked somewhere else.

Every single time.

The scanner beeped.

Captive confirmed.

Yesu immediately lifted both tied hands.

"Now that’s done with, can you untie us now?" She asked Seth. "Our hands are starting to hurt."

Seth gave a small nod toward the boys.

They stepped forward and removed the vine ropes from every captive.

The remaining three captives rubbed their wrists with obvious relief.

Yesu didn’t.

"We had better head back so we can make it by nightfall." One of the captured 11-D students said to his squad mates.

Seth stepped forward.

"I’ll escort you."

The captives looked genuinely surprised. None of them had expected that.

The members of 11-A, however, barely reacted. They already knew the kind of person their leader was.

Only Apollo looked up.

He studied Seth quietly.

’Oh no.’ Yesu thought.

If Seth escorted them back then there would be no chance to question her stalker.

Speaking of which—

Her head snapped toward the spot where Heidi had been sitting.

Empty.

Yesu had expected that. She looked around the base.

The girl was gone.

She must have slipped away without anyone noticing or perhaps everyone had noticed except her.

She let out a small breath.

That’s fine.

At least now she knew the girl was in class A. Once they returned to school, finding her wouldn’t be difficult.

Ever since the chase at the festival, Yesu had found herself occasionally wondering.

She couldn’t come up with any reason why someone would spy on her. And so diligently for that matter.

Seth led the way out. The released captives quietly followed.

Yesu was the last to leave the base.

***

Seth and Yesu walked side by side.

Neither of them had spoken since leaving 11-A’s base.

A short distance ahead, the other three members of Squad 11-D chatted quietly among themselves, relieved to finally be heading back.

Yesu wasn’t listening.

Her thoughts kept drifting back to the unfinished business she was leaving behind.

11-A’s stalker.

Her brows furrowed.

Come to think of it, she had quite a lot of unfinished business lately.

First was the anonymous caller who had pretended to be Millie.

Their arranged meeting was to take place during the weekend.

And today was Thursday. It was close enough.

Another unfinished business was Arrow. Deciding who got to contact her and who didn’t.

That didn’t seem fair or ethical either.

And then there was Aunt Mei.

That business had always been a dead end but family was family.

She guessed.

"Kaelitha."

Seth’s voice suddenly broke the silence.

Yesu looked sideways.

Without the nature surrounding them and no squad to lead or Trial duties occupying his attention, he looked exactly like he had the day they had met at the greenhouse.

Serious. Passionate. Nerdy.

Yesu frowned as the thought occurred to her.

Nerdy.

That was it.

She knew something had been missing when she had seen him earlier but she hadn’t been able to put her finger on it.

"What happened to your glasses?" she asked.

Seth blinked.

The question seemed to catch him completely off guard. He instinctively rubbed at his eyes.

"Broken."

"Oh." Yesu said. "Someone told me that Trials could be really something."

She looked ahead thoughtfully.

"Everyone loses a thing or two." Her head cocked to one side. "...And gains a few things too, I guess."

Seth wasn’t listening. Only one thing occupied his thoughts.

"Last Friday..." His voice became firmer. "I told you to see me after the festival. And you didn’t."

Yesu remembered immediately. His telepathic message.

"Right." She scratched the back of her head. "Sorry. I forgot."

Seth stopped walking.

Yesu stopped too.

He turned fully toward her. His expression was somehow even more serious than before.

Almost grave.

"Where is the Morning Dew flower you stole?"

Yesu frowned.

"I didn’t steal it. It’s not like it was locked away in some special place."

"I don’t care." His reply came instantly. "Where is it?"

His tone only grew heavier.

Yesu honestly couldn’t understand why.

"I lost it." She said with such ease.

Which was totally unbefitting to the tone of the present conversation, which she couldn’t quite grasp.

Seth was thoroughly displeased by her response.

"You lost it?"

Yesu didn’t hesitate.

"Yeah." Then she made a show of thinking. "I probably threw it away after the festival or something."

Seth’s eyes narrowed.

At that exact moment Yesu felt it again.

The strange sensation. Something lightly brushing against her mind. Like fingers turning the pages of a book.

Just like back at the greenhouse and the food stall.

She immediately shook her head.

Hard.

"Stop doing that." She said. "It’s creepy."

Seth stepped closer.

Not aggressively. But his presence suddenly felt heavier. His tired eyes remained fixed on her.

"Where is the flower?"

He asked again.

Yesu let out a disbelieving breath.

"I already told you. I must’ve lost it."

Silence.

Seth slowly stepped back.

He rubbed his aching eyes once more. Then looked at her.

"You’re lying."

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