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“Yo! Kaida! Over here!”
Kaida turned toward the voice and spotted Kumuna Rolin, his best friend, waving at him from near the school gates. The taller teen had his usual lazy grin, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket.
Beside him stood Tsubaki Moeta, arms crossed, watching with an amused smirk.
Kaida jogged over, swinging his bag over his shoulder. “Hey, guys!”
Kumuna stretched, letting out a loud yawn before cracking his neck. “Man, first day back, huh? You hyped, or are you already looking forward to summer break?”
Kaida grinned. “C’mon, we just got here. Gotta at least pretend to be motivated.”
Tsubaki snorted. “That’s rich, coming from you. Didn’t you barely pass math last year?”
Kaida groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. “Let’s not bring that up.”
Kumuna chuckled. “Don’t worry, buddy. I’m sure you’ll scrape by again this year.”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Before Kumuna could make another joke, a soft voice, barely above a whisper, interrupted them.
“H-Hey… um, good morning, guys…”
Kaida turned and spotted Mishell Williams standing slightly off to the side, her hands gripping the straps of her backpack. She had a nervous smile, her posture a little stiff, as if she weren’t entirely sure if she should be standing there.
Kaida’s face immediately brightened. “Mishell! Morning!”
Kumuna gave a lazy wave. “Hey, Mish. Sleep okay?”
She gave a small nod, glancing down. “Y-Yeah… I guess…”
Tsubaki, noticing her usual nervous energy, softened her tone. “You excited for the new school year?”
Mishell hesitated before muttering, “I… I guess so. K-Kinda nervous, though.”
Kaida chuckled. “C’mon, Mish, we’ve been doing this for years. What’s there to be nervous about?”
She fidgeted, glancing at the ground. “New classes… new people… I dunno, just stuff…”
Kaida patted her shoulder gently. “Hey, you’ve got us. Same group, same lunch table. You’ll be fine.”
Mishell offered a small smile but didn’t say anything, just nodding slightly.
Kumuna grinned. “See? No need to stress. Besides, I guarantee you, by the end of the year, you’ll be calling us dumb for worrying so much.”
Mishell let out a quiet giggle, hiding it behind her hand.
The group’s small talk shifted into discussions about their schedules, the teachers they were hoping to avoid, and what clubs they might try out this year.
Tsubaki was considering student council.
Kumuna was talking about joining the track team.
Kaida… well, he hadn’t decided yet.
“Still nothing, huh?” Tsubaki raised an eyebrow.
Kaida shrugged. “I dunno, I wanna do something exciting, y’know? Just haven’t figured out what that is yet.”
“Exciting?” Mishell tilted her head slightly. “Like… what?”
Kaida smirked. “I dunno, maybe something where I get to fight evil and save the day?”
Tsubaki rolled her eyes. “So, what? You planning on becoming a superhero?”
Kaida chuckled. “Hey, if the opportunity comes up, why not?”
Before Mishell could respond, the first bell rang, signaling that it was time to head inside.
“Guess that’s our cue,” Tsubaki said, adjusting her bag.
The group made their way into the school building, the halls already bustling with students moving toward their classrooms.
As they reached their respective classrooms, Kumuna grinned as he patted Kaida on the back.
“Try not to sleep through the first period, alright?”
Kaida rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. See you guys at lunch.”
First Period: Just Another Normal Day… For Now
Kaida took his seat near the middle of the classroom, pulling out his notebook while the teacher began taking attendance.
The next thirty minutes went by uneventfully.
The teacher droned on about the expectations for the year, class rules, and the upcoming curriculum.
Kaida found himself half-listening, jotting down random doodles in the margins of his notes. Around him, other students were either engaged, already bored, or secretly scrolling through their phones under their desks.
Everything felt like just another ordinary day.
And then—
The emergency alarms blared through the school intercom.
Kaida’s head snapped up. A sharp tremor shook the ground, rattling the desks and windows.
A loud explosion followed, shaking the entire building.
Screams erupted in the hallways. Panic spread instantly.
The teacher’s voice rose above the noise. “Everyone, stay calm! Stay in your seats!”
But at that moment, another explosion occurred—this time, sounding much closer.
The walls groaned, a sickening creak filling the air as cracks splintered through the ceiling and walls. The overhead lights flickered wildly before one of them detached, crashing onto a student’s desk.
“SCREW THIS, I’M OUT!” someone yelled.
That was all it took.
The classroom erupted into a full-blown stampede.
Students shoved past each other, scrambling for the door. The lights flickered again, the sound of debris crashing down echoing from outside the room.
Kaida’s pulse pounded. His instincts screamed at him to move.
This wasn’t a drill.
Something was very, very wrong.
Kaida barely had time to process the sheer panic around him before another tremor shook the school. A deep, thunderous boom echoed through the hallways, like something massive had just impacted the ground. The lights flickered violently, the ceiling tiles trembling, as if the entire building was ready to collapse.
Students were screaming, pushing and shoving, desperate to get out.
Kaida clenched his fists, forcing himself to push forward. He needed to find his friends.
He needed to find Olivia.
Shoving past his panicked classmates, he bolted into the hallway.
It was even worse here—students and teachers ran frantically, the air thick with smoke and dust from falling debris. Locker doors were dented, some completely blown off.
And then he saw them.
Kumuna.
Tsubaki.
Mishell.
They were near the stairwell, looking just as shaken as he felt.
“Kai!” Kumuna called, waving him over. His usual cocky demeanor was nowhere to be seen—his face was tense, serious.
Kaida sprinted toward them, nearly stumbling over a fallen textbook. “What the hell is happening!?”
“No clue!” Tsubaki yelled over the sirens. “One second we’re in class, the next the whole damn school is shaking!”
Mishell clutched the straps of her backpack, her knuckles white, her entire body trembling. Her wide, fearful eyes darted around the ruined hallway, her breath coming in short, panicked gasps. “It’s total chaos… I’m scared…” Her voice quivered, the sheer terror written all over her face.
Kaida frowned, his chest tightening at the sight of her distress. He reached out, about to reassure her—
Until a violent tremor suddenly ripped through the hallway.
