"Yumi. Hey, Yumi! Talk to me, please?"
The day after, Zaranaia was still nudging Yeonica. "Hey, Zaranaia. Go home. We have so many assignments to do. Stop following me," Yeonica said, not interested.
"Ihh, you're mad at me! Don't you want to hear the story I will tell you?" Zaranaia said, still following her.
As Yeonica is observing her this day, she still treats her like she treated her before. She thought maybe Zaranaia still doesn't know that the pictures inside her notebook are missing.
"By the way, what happened yesterday? Why did Ma'am Estiva call you at the faculty?" Zaranaia asked her, obviously not giving up.
Yeonica exhaled heavily. If only she didn't have trust issues, she might really believe that Zaranaia is innocent. But after finding out about those pictures, she's starting to doubt everything.
"It's nothing. Just about my documents. Go home, Zaranaia. I'm not available today," Yeonica simply replied.
"But Yumi..." Zaranaia pouted. "I'll just follow you until you talk to me."
Yeonica stopped walking and faced her. She looked at her face; she looked so innocent. As she said, she's starting to doubt anything. Now that Zaranaia's attitude towards her didn't change, she started doubting her discovery, too. Is this person in front of her behind Margareth's death? Is she behind those secretly taken pictures of her and the other students? Why did she have them in the first place?
"Fine. Let's just go to that convenience store again," Yeonica said. Zaranaia's eyes lit up a little.
"Yeees! Let's go! I hope we see no teachers there."
"Why? Are you hiding from one of our subject teachers?"
Zaranaia laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey! My grades are not that great at the moment. And sometimes having them around doesn't feel safe. It's uncomfortable. Well, it depends which teacher."
As they walked to the convenience store, Yeonica saw Edem again passing by. Fortunately, at that time, no bullies were following her, even though Zarco was nowhere to be found.
Speaking of Zarco, Yeonica needs to find more information about that kid, as he is the only one they couldn't find much helpful information about. They assumed that he might be the son of high officials or VIPs, as his information seems to be strongly protected.
All she knows is that Zarco seems interested in Edem, as he almost always follows her, and he's always there to protect her from her bullies. Remembering Edem, she might be so quiet about her experiences in school. She never saw her ask Mrs. Estiva for help. And her father, the principal, doesn't seem to do anything.
Two things are possible: the principal doesn't know or he chooses to ignore. Yeonica doesn't know about their family's story anyway.
"YEON—YUMI!"
Yeonica and Zaranaia stopped walking when someone across the road called Yeonica.
"Leana? What the hell is she doing here?" Yeonica whispered.
Zaranaia looked at her. "Who is she?"
Leana walked towards them, secretly talking to Yeonica with her eyes.
"Oh, Yumi, my niece! I see you're with a friend," Leana said, pretending to be her aunt. Yeonica slightly widened her eyes, asking her what she was doing here. Leana answered her by also widening her eyes, telling her to go with the flow and come with her.
"Ah, yes. Zaranaia, this is my auntie. Auntie, this is Zaranaia." Yeonica introduced them to each other.
"Oh, hi Zaranaia! But I'm so sorry, I and my niece actually have an errand to run right now. Can I borrow her for today?" Leana said.
Zaranaia is slightly disappointed, as she thought she finally had the time to talk with her, but she let her go anyway. "Ah, of course! Take care!" she said.
"Yumi, let's just chat later," Zaranaia told Yeonica, saying goodbye to her.
"Alright. But I might do something later. Let's just see each other tomorrow," Yeonica answered.
"But... okay," Zaranaia said, smiling and waving at her.
Minutes later, Zaranaia has no choice but to just go home and not go to the convenience store anymore.
While walking, she doesn't really feel alone, as she feels that someone is following her since Yeonica and she went on their own way.
She changed the pace of her walk, almost running. She heard the footsteps behind her running, too. Someone is surely tailing her.
"Zaranaia."
"Stop following me!"
Zaranaia protected herself as she was pulled by someone. She calmed down a little bit as soon as she saw who was following her.
"Edem? You startled me!"
Edem gave her an apologetic look. "S-sorry."
Zaranaia sighed. "Forget it. It's okay. What is it?"
"Zaranaia. Run away," Edem said, slightly panicking.
Zaranaia confusingly looked at her. "What? Why? Run away from what?"
Edem tensed and held her shoulders. "You must run away now, Zaranaia. She found out."
"What? Who?" Zaranaia asked her. Even though, deep down, she thinks she knows what Edem is saying.
"The pictures. She knows you have them."
"How did you know about the pictures?" Zaranaia coldly asked her, slightly nervous.
"That's not important now! Don't go to school! Just go away!" Edem shouted at her and ran away. That left Zaranaia with many questions.
She continued walking, highly alert to her surroundings.
"Zaranaia."
"Hey, I know you're concerned, but don't tell me to just run." Thinking it was still Edem, she turned around. Only for her to meet the clanking glasses and lose consciousness.
—
"What? Zarco might be an accomplice? How?" Yeonica asked, surprised. Leana urgently pulled her to tell her some important information.
"Mr. Felmor talked to me about this earlier. Well, there's still no strong evidence to tell, but he's a potential accomplice," Leana explained.
"Look," Yeonica said, looking at Leana's monitor. It's the information they got about Zarco. Almost none.
"The date of his transferring is suspicious. He moved just after the death of Margareth. Not even a month has passed."
Leana's right. It's impossible that it's just a coincidence. Well, if you ask someone like them or someone with trust issues, it's really impossible.
"But Zarco is in those pictures."
"You're right. Maybe it's too early to assume. But Yeonica, don't let your guard down. Everyone in Class 3 can be suspicious."
Yeonica slowly nodded. "Okay."
"And Yeonica, answer that damn phone! It's beeping for a while now," Leana, back from her bitch mode, said, rolling her eyes. Yeonica glared at her and took her phone. If she's not in her student mode because of her current appearance, she might just throw her a stapler.
Turning her phone on, she was shocked by so many texts and missed calls from an unknown number. The other calls are from Zaranaia.
"What's happening?" she murmured, slowly panicking.
"Zaranaia's in danger."
"What?" her face crumpled as she read the message from an unknown number. All texts are the same; all saying that Zaranaia is in danger.
Once again, her phone rang. It's a call from Zaranaia.
Yeonica stood up and immediately answered the phone.
"Hello? Zaranaia?"
"Y-yumi? Is that you?" A weak, gasping voice can be heard from the other line. It's Zaranaia.
"It's me, Zaranaia. Where are you? What happened? I'll go to you right now."
Zaranaia weakly coughed. "N-no, Yumi. D-don't."
Yeonica can't be more anxious. "Just tell me where the fuck you are!" she shouted, making Leana startled.
"Y-yumi. It's not me. The p-pictures are not mine. I j-just found them inside the r-room when you were absent."
Yeonica was shocked. "What? How did you know I saw them? Just tell me where are you!"
"Ms. Yeonica... that's your n-name, right? S-sorry, I couldn't tell you t-that I had them. I t-tried to, but I c-couldn't."
"W-what? Zaranaia—"
"T-thank you for everything, Ms. Yeonica. Y-you are such a good friend. Please, take c-care. They're s-scary."
"Zaranaia! Stay with me! Don't hang up—Zaranaia? HELLO? ZARANAIA? ZARANAIA!"
That was the first ever call she had with Zaranaia, and probably the last one she could ever have.