Unclassified; Zero and Still Standing

The hallway was alive.

Students ran from one end to the other, calling out to friends they hadn't seen since returning from the Trials.

Laughter echoed through the corridor. Conversations overlapped. Someone sprinted past carrying another student over his shoulder while a crowd behind them shouted in encouragement.

Apollo walked straight through the middle of it all.

Both hands rested casually in his pockets.

Students brushed past him as they hurried by, excited to be back after a week in the forest of Zone 25.

A few nearly collided with him.

He avoided them with nothing more than a slight shift of his shoulder.

Some shouted apologies.

Others didn't.

Either way, Apollo never looked back. As usual, nothing around him seemed capable of holding his interest.

Then he spotted Yesu, farther down the hallway.

She was walking alone.

Not hurriedly, just walking.

Her eyes wandered from one activity to another, following conversations she wasn't part of, watching students laugh, argue and fool around.

Observing.

Not deeply, simply taking everything in as a passerby.

Apollo's gaze settled on the top of her uniform shirt.

It was bare. Missing something every other student had pinned neatly in place.

His fingers instinctively tightened around the small gold plate inside his pocket.

Her name tag.

The one he'd found back at Zone 25.

The distance between them steadily disappeared.

Apollo sighed inwardly.

He would have to return it eventually.

Reluctantly, he crossed to the opposite side of the hallway. Her side.

The distance kept closing. Quickly, too quickly.

Four steps.

Three.

Two.

One—

Someone bumped into him.

The impact was light but the girl lost her footing and stumbled.

Apollo caught her before she could hit the floor.

Cheers erupted instantly.

"Awww!"

"How romantic!"

"Just kiss already!"

Yesu looked at the scene as she walked past.

She frowned.

"Where do they think this is?" she muttered under her breath. "Some rom-com?"

Without slowing down, she continued on her way.

Apollo remained expressionless despite the attention.

He simply released the girl and started walking again.

She caught his wrist.

Apollo looked back.

The girl lowered her head shyly, cheeks flushed.

"Um… I just wanted to say... thanks."

Apollo looked at her from head to toe.

This wasn't the first time she'd 'accidentally' bumped into him.

He wasn't offended. He only wished she'd try a different approach.

The silence stretched.

The girl's confidence quickly evaporated beneath his blank stare.

Her hand slowly slipped away.

"Okay." Apollo said simply.

Then walked off.

***

Class 11-A was unusually noisy.

Most of the students had gathered around the instructor's desk, talking excitedly among themselves.

Only Mahirah remained in her seat.

Her head was buried inside a textbook as though the world around her didn't exist.

Her recently straightened hair caught the morning light.

Apollo stopped beside her desk.

"What's with them?"

He nodded toward the gathering.

Without looking up, Mahirah turned a page.

"Trial Aggregate."

Apollo glanced toward the front once more before turning toward the back of the classroom.

"Hey." Mahirah called softly.

He stopped.

"You spoke to my father on Saturday." Her voice remained low. "What did you tell him?"

Apollo looked at her.

"I think you mean… What did he ask about?"

Mahirah groaned.

"Whatever. Just tell me."

She was trying not to raise her voice.

Apollo noticed her shoulders rising and falling with each breath.

Nervous.

Anxious.

Probably both.

"He asked about your performance."

Mahirah stiffened.

"Really?" She murmured to herself. Then looked back at him.

"What did you say?"

Her nails dug into the metal edge of her desk.

"The truth." Apollo replied.

Before Mahirah could say anything else, he walked to his seat.

Mahirah stared daggers at him before facing forward again.

"The truth?" she muttered. Her face slowly grew red. "What truth?"

She glanced back.

Apollo had already settled into his seat, looking out at the field beyond the classroom windows as though the conversation had never happened.

"Seriously?!"

A loud voice rose from the gathering at the front of the class.

"That Zero was actually worth the highest bounty?!"

Mahirah didn't need to look.

Kristen.

She could already picture the expression on her face.

Mahirah leaned back in her seat and smirked behind her book.

Murmurs spread through the class.

"So..." Kristen continued, sounding both sheepish and deliberately mischievous. "Camden was right about the bounty theory then."

BANG!

Mahirah slammed her textbook onto her desk.

The classroom fell silent.

Only the noise drifting in from the hallway remained.

She slowly got to her feet. Her eyes locked onto Kristen.

One step.

Then another.

"What did you say?" she asked quietly. "Camden's idea?"

Kristen, as always, pushed further.

"Well, it was." She looked around the classroom for support. "Wasn't it, guys?"

No one answered.

Several students quietly returned to their seats, unwilling to get involved.

One hurried out of the classroom.

Kristen scoffed.

"Everyone may be afraid of you, but I'm not." She folded her arms. "Capturing the Zero was Camden's idea."

Mahirah advanced menacingly toward her.

Kristen instinctively took a step back.

Just before Mahirah reached her—

"Corvane."

Seth entered the classroom, the student who had run out following close behind.

Mahirah's steely gaze snapped toward him.

She let out an irritated groan.

Without another word, she brushed past Seth, shoving the other student aside as she stormed out.

Seth watched her leave before turning to Kristen.

"Follow me."

He nodded toward the hallway.

Kristen snorted. "Don't tell me what to do."

She walked back to her seat, sat down and crossed her legs with exaggerated sass.

The classroom slowly came back to life.

Conversations resumed.

From the back of the room, Apollo watched quietly.

His eyes lingered on Kristen for a moment.

Then looked away.

***

Apollo and Mahirah walked across the Academy grounds.

Students streamed toward the examination halls.

They went the opposite way.

Toward the parking lot.

Mahirah's arms remained folded across her chest. She was still visibly boiling from her confrontation with Kristen.

Apollo kept stealing glances at her.

"Stop looking at me." Mahirah snapped eventually.

"Sorry." Apollo replied flatly.

Quinn passed them on her way to the parking lot without so much as a glance.

Mahirah watched her go.

"She's in 11-C, right?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"I don't know." Apollo replied. "It's a big school."

Mahirah groaned in annoyance and walked ahead.

Apollo stared after her.

"What's her problem?" he muttered.

***

When Apollo stepped onto the bus, the other three students were already seated.

Far apart.

He followed the same pattern and took the window seat.

A few minutes later—

Yesu climbed aboard wearing a small smile.

That was until her eyes met his and the smile vanished.

Apollo sighed.

Again.

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