The Reunion Party

All of them except Agatha were surprised, At first she thought; 'Why are they all shocked? What made them so scared?'

She was confused, because the one she had her eyes on were not scary at all. Because she was looking at the love of her life.

Spade was standing in front of her, with the most gentle smile that she had ever seen.

Agatha shook her head, 'It can't be Spade, It can't be my husband. He's at home.'

She was trying to convince herself that it wasn't him, not until she looked around and saw other teachers. She looked back at Spade and ran to him, "I-I thought I will never get to see you again."

"I was so anxious that my mind couldn't function well." she said. "What about the twins? You left them?"

He caressed her hair to lessen her worries, "They're with their nanny, don't worry."

The others who were in a daze was startled by the sound of the party popper and they looked at the confetti that was raining on them. The ones holding the party poppers were Ria and Keila.

"Did you two know this from the start?" Klair asked, obviously frustrated.

The two immediately shook their head, "No! I saw March by the door and she told me to come." Keila said. Then she looked at Ria,

"You all saw me! I was suddenly pulled by Keila and Ma'am March!"

They sighed with relief that this was just all planned for the teachers and students reunion. But the thought that Rosa is here, bothers them so much. Especially, Arneau, who dived into Rosa's corpse.

"But how is she alive?" Justine asked.

The teachers all looked at him in confusion, "What are you saying? Did someone die?" Spade asked.

Ria elbowed Justine, he realized what she meant so he immediately made up an excuse, "Oh, Sorry, I was thinking about the game that I just played."

Spade, who looked convinced by his excuse, just shrugged and returned to talking with Agatha.

The other teachers stared at Justine for a while then averted their gaze to continue partying. March pulled Keila to sit and talk with her. All of them sat down and the party goes on.

Even though they felt relieved, danced, sang, and talked, what happened still bothers them. Some of them are trying to forget and ignore about what had happened, but sime of them still couldn't help but look at Rosa, who was sitting so calmly in her seat.

So, to forget about it for the meantime, they tried to chat with them and to lessen their concerns.

Klair took a sip out of her coffee, it looks weird to drink coffee in a party, but that was what calms her in times where she feel uneasy. She put the cup down and glanced at the teacher, "The invitation was very fancy, Nice of you all to make an effort for inviting us after what happened to the academy." she said.

The teachers stopped what they were doing and looked at her, "But we didn't send out the invitation."

"What?"

"We came here because we also received an invitation. I thought that maybe you graduates planned it, or maybe the directress." Volante responded.

"If that's the case, It's a big wow that we get to see the directress be so generous for the first time." Ericson said with a laugh.

Lloki looked at Klair and Ria, then stared down on the floor. 'Don't they know what happened to the directress?' he took a quick glance over Zhel, 'Zhel is her daughter, she couldn't possibly not know.' he thought.

"I know it's not appropriate to ask this but, Why didn't you tell the other teachers about the academy?" Ria asked. The others looked at her surprised that she asked about it just like that.

"I'm sorry but I just can't wait around without knowing the truth." Ria said after noticing her classmates' eyes on her.

Zhel looked down, dejected. They never knew that there would be a time when their strict teacher who was feared by the students would make that kind of sad face. "I was planning to tell you but I—" she stated and was cut off as she was a bit taken aback, probably remembered the tragic memories.

"I really don't know. It's just that after my mother fired all of you," she said and looked at the teachers, "She kept saying that the school should be shut down."

"Before we could even officially close the academy, when I arrived, the building was...demolished." she said, her expression turned dark as if recalling something traumatic, "Then she was, she was cursing us all. We had no choice but to send her to the institute."

CC hesitated for a bit before asking, "Then, what...happened to her at the institute?"

They all remembered the clippings about Ester Tessenno and waited for Zhel'l reply, "I don't know, I was abroad and just got back, I was planning to go visit her but I was—busy."

There was something off about the last bit of her words, but they decided to let the party end before they talk about it.

They didn't dare ask about Ma'am Rosa since they don't want the teachers to be frightened to see that the person they claimed to be dead, was sitting just beside them.

The party went on, the random talks, singing, dancing and laughing took them back to their highschool days. The days where they just lived their carefree life, the days where they just talk and play with no worries.

And this time, they did all of that again. Even just for a little while,

Before everything turns into hell.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up! Guys, wake up!"

They were all sound asleep and refused to get up, "Wake up, they are gone!" Keila yelled.

All of the immediately woke up and their sleepiness fade away as they heard what Keila had said. They looked around and they were the only ones in the room. "Where did they go? Did they go home already?" CC muttered groggily, still suffering from the hangover.

"No." Agatha said, she clenched her fist, "Do you think my husband would go home without me? He would at least tell me if he's going somewhere."

"How can you be sure that he will, when he didn't even tell you that he was also invited here." Elay chimed in, sarcastically.

"He didn't tell me at first because it was a surprise!" Agatha exclaimed.

"Then that wasn't a good surprise! Did you see your face this entire day? You were so scared!"

"I was scared that I won't be able to return home, while you were scared of the dark and clung tight to your ex!"

Everyone went silent and Elay was taken aback by her words, her eyes widened and flared up, "At least I didn't hook up with a teache---

The loud slap that Agatha gave her echoed around the silent room. It triggered Elay to grab her hair and they rumbled in anger.

"Stop! Stop it!" Klair and Mitch says as they pull the two away from each other, but they didn't stop causing Mitch to fall down on the floor, Klair immediately helped her up while Keila's expression darkened, "They told you two to STOP!" she roared with authority.

Startled by her command, the two of them glared and pulled away from each other. "I understand that the two of you blurts out harsh words because you are drunk, but please control yourselves!"

It's been so long since they have seen Keila mad. Klair caressed Elay's back to comfort her while Agatha rush towards Mitch, "I'm sorry, are you okay?"

"What did you think about what the teachers said?" Lloki asked Ria, who was sitting quietly in the corner of the sofa. "If I add what had happened to us all the way, all of it doesn't make sense." she responded, staring into emptiness.

"None of them, even the directress, would make an effort to send us all the way here in an aircraft. The teachers had long been fired from the academy, which means it's already years long since the academy has closed. I just don't understand, the incident, even her death was on the news but how come they didn't know about it?" Ria said.

"Maybe they were busy when the news were in." Jayson muttered.

She shook her head, "All of them were busy at the same time? That's too much of a coincidence, I'm not gonna believe that."

"Not only that, we clearly saw ma'am Rosa right in front of us." Lloki added.

"But Ria and I checked the face, it really has Rosa's traits!" Agatha insisted.

"I dived into her fucking corpse! Bitch, how the fuck is she alive?" Arneau snapped. They all looked at him, "I'm sorry for the words, but I've been thinking about that for so long." he added.

"The phone." they all turned to Klair as ahe whispered. "We saw her keypad phone on the room. Rosa always brings that phone wherever she goes." she muttered.

They all look at each other in silence then stared back at Klair, "Are you saying the real Rosa was that corpse?" Jocephine asked, about to go insane in confusion. Klair nodded as a response. "But then how would you explain the one in the reunion earlier? A ghost?!" Rica said sarcastically, still frustrated about everything that had happened.

Klair lowered her gaze, "I'm not sure, but since the phone was together with that corpse, maybe that was the real Rosa."

"If the directress and principal are dead and the teachers didn't send out the invitations, then who did?" Elay asked.

Lloki put down the hand that was on his chin and snapped his finger, "That makes sense,"

Ria turned her head to him and so did the others, "What makes sense?"

"One of the teachers must be acting."

Rica snorted, "Maybe someone among us are also acting!"

Agatha snapped, "How could you make such an assumption?"

"Stop it, don't you guys still get it?" Ria muttered. They all looked at her with furrowed brows, "All of us are suspects."

They were all surprised when they heard a slow clapping behind them, the person who was listening to them the entire time, Rosa.

"Are you students done fighting? Oh wait, you're graduates now, stupid me." she said in a weird manner of talking.

"Why are you being like this? Is it because of Ester? Could it be that you think it's the graduates fault that she died?" Lloki asked.

She looked up in the ceiling pretending to think, then she looked at him, confused. "Ester?" She laughed like a lunatic, "I couldn't care less about that old penguin." she stated with disgust. "I'm just doing M's commands." she said, didn't even bother hiding her smirk.

"M? What do you mean M?"

"The Mastermind."

All of them froze. They didn't exactly know what she meant, but they could sense that it was something bad. Someone dangerous. "You mean the M that you're talking about, killed Ester and Rosa?" Klair asked, hoping that maybe she will slip up.

Rosa raised her index finger in front of Klair's face and moved it left and right, "No, no, no. That's a secret. As for 'Rosa' what do you mean? I am Rosa."

"Then answer me, Did M kill that woman in the room?" she repeated. Rosa smirked and put her face near Klair, "I killed that woman." she whispered in her ear.

She sat back down, crossed her legs and put both of her arm at the outside back of the sofa. "But it was fun. Just so you know, don't blame me. It was about damn time for her to be executed."

They all looked at her like she was a lunatic who escaped from the mental institute, they couldn't understand what she was saying, nor why she would kill just like that. "Do you want to know how it feels?" she asked, she stared at Lloki, her eyes ordering him to answer instantly, "Feels to what?" he responded.

She smiled in amusement, "Murder."

Ria broke out in cold sweat, while Klair kept glancing at her sudden change of demeanor.

A continuous beeping, like an alarm, resonated across the room, "Woops, Time to go." she was about to go when Keila gripped her arm tight and pulled her, "Where do you think you're going? Tell us where the other teachers are, first!" she said, looking at her seriously and directly to her eyes.

"They left," Rosa muttered, "But I won't tell you since that would be a spoiler." she joked. She held Keila's arm using her other hand to remove it but Keila tightened her grip even more. Rosa paused as she felt the tight grip. She stared at the hand then at Keila and smiled.

She grabbed Keila's arm and also gripped it tight, it startled Keila and they heard a slight cracking sound, She grabbed it even tighter and glared at Keila, "Put your hand away, or you'll die before the game even starts." she said in a serious threatening tone. She backed away and sat down holding her hand, dumbfounded.

She twisted the knob and opened the door, before leaving she turned around, "After 10 minutes you will hear another alarm and you will meet SYSTEM, Goodluck, Graduates." she smiled and left.

"What does she mean 'game'?" Keila muttered, still dumbfounded in her seat.

None of them spoke for the whole ten minutes, they were all confused, anxious, scared about what will happen to them. All of them have their own thoughts running through their minds that no one could know what it was.

And after those ten minutes,

The SYSTEM announced,

[Graduates, it's time to go to the Gathering Room.]