*RING~RING*


    As the bell rang once again, signifying the end of the school day, I exhaustedly got up before following Han and Jin to the exit.


    As the sliding door opened, the sound of countless students talking and walking in the hall immediately flooded my ears.


    Sighing, I recalled how silent the entire school had been earlier when exams were upon us.


    "...I missed when there were exams...at least, the school was quiet then."


    From in front of me, Jin immediately remarked.


    "Are you insane!? Do you not remember how hard we had to study just to barely pass in the end?"


    Shrugging my shoulders, I replied.


    "Who''s ''we?'' I did far better than barely pass."


    With a smirk, Jin pointed to a nearby chair before putting his hand on his stomach and saying.


    "Need I remind you of what just happened an hour ago?"


    "...alright, you win."


    -*-


    "I''ll do anything you say for a day if you get it correct... but if you lose, you have to try and piss off Liam for me."


    Confused but interested, Ruby turned to Ren before saying.


    "...that''s what you want?"


    Seeing Ren nod, Ruby turned around and ran towards Irene, who was alongside the rest of the main cast.


    "Where''d you go?"


    Meeting up with Irene, Ruby replied.


    "I wanted to get a headstart on the line... but after seeing the food, I''m fine."


    Chuckling at Ruby''s response, Irene curiously asked.


    "Is it really that bad?"


    As Ruby nodded her head, Kevin spoke up from behind the two of them.


    "Well, thank god, we have Lily and her amazing cooking skills!"


    Turning before they reached the cafeteria, Irene, Ruby, Lily, Kevin, Liam, and the limping Zach all stood in front of the seemingly useless door.


    Taking a key out of his pocket, Liam moved forward to unlock the door while Kevin spoke out in disbelief.


    "I still can''t believe the principal gave you, out of EVERYONE, a personal room to use."


    Not responding to Kevin''s words, Liam opened the door, revealing arge room that had countless couches, windows to the outside, some cooking devices, and even a couple of board games lying around.


    And hanging from the ceiling was a sign that read.


    [The Hero''s Hangout]


    All of them, having been to the room countless times to n and hang out, moved their respective ces.


    Ruby and Irene took their seats on a couch right in front of the windows while Lily moved to the center, where a couple of cabs were.


    The three boys all took their seats on chairs before cing their backpacks on the table in front.


    As Lily took out a couple of snacks she had prepared earlier from the cab, Irene naturally walked over due to the smell.


    "What are those?"


    Warming up the snacks, Lily replied.


    "I call them Tanghulu. When I was young, I would always buy them from the street vend- I mean, my mother made them for me."


    Taking a stick, Lily carefully took some of the freshly picked grapes from the cab and put them through the stick.


    Putting the stick of grapes on a te, Lily took a bowl filled with water before adding a couple of cups of sugar.


    Next, Lily elevated the bowl of sugar and water before casting a fire spell right below it.


    Watching the sugar crystalize, Lily started creating more sticks of fruits.


    Finally, as the bowl was at the right temperature, Lily picked up the stick of grapes and slowly ced it into the fire-hot bowl of sugar and water.


    After ensuring that the fruit waspletely coated with sugar, Lily removed the stick and ced it into a bowl filled with water.


    Using an ice spell to ensure the bowl was cold enough, Lily hovered the stick of grapes over the bowl for about a minute.


    Then, Lily ced the finished stick of fruits onto the te.


    After repeating the process ten times, Lily was left with a te filled with countless sticks of fruit, ranging from strawberries to grapes to oranges.


    Under the sunlight, the sugar-coated sticks of fruit sparkled, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.


    The sweet aroma of the sugar-coated fruit sticks wafted through the room as Lily moved the te to the table where the three boys sat.


    "It''s ready!"


    Ruby and Irene moved from the couch to the table, and after cing the te, Lily also took a seat.


    As each of them reached for a stick of fruit, Liam put his hand forward and opened his smartwatch.


    A momentter, a three-dimensional replica of the school appeared on the table, projected from Liam''s smartwatch.


    Taking a bite from one of the grape sticks, Liam asked.


    "What''s the n this ti-"


    However, before Liam could finish his sentence, Zach interrupted from beside him.


    "...aren''t we missing someone?"


    Shaking her head, Lily replied.


    "Alya needs some time... to cool down. Don''t worry, I''m checking up and watching her to make sure nothing bad happens."


    Seeing Zach calm down and not respond, Liam continued.


    "ording to Lily, in a week''s time, the academy will be infiltrated during the winter fest."


    "From there, the djinns will aim to first create a barrier surrounding the entire school, stopping people from both leaving the school anding inside."


    "That we will allow to happen."


    Completely distracted by the strawberry stick in front of her, Irene asked.


    "So, get to the point, What are we going to do?"


    Using her hands to zoom in on the courtyard area of the school, Lily answered.


    "First, the djinns will create an artificial drill using some device to cause a fire or another natural disaster."


    "As per protocol, all students will evacuate to the courtyard area, just where the djinns want them to be."


    "From there, the djinns will pop out of the ground, trees... anywhere possible, and try to cause as much chaos as possible."


    Finishing his stick of fruit, Kevin asked.


    "But, then, what''s their main goal? Just to kill and kidnap as many people as possible?"