The movement toward the Custodian's Closet took less than twenty seconds. Allisson walked point, keeping his Twin-Blade Spear at the ready and scanning the corridor for noises with his 17.5 Perception. Paulo followed directly behind, covering the group's rear with his iron bar, while Pierre remained sandwiched safely between them.
Upon reaching the heavy metal door at the end of the service gallery, Pierre stepped forward and tapped out a rhythm on the steel: three quick knocks, a brief pause, and two final taps.
NIP!
From the inside, the slide of an iron bolt broke the silence. The door creaked open, revealing a slim boy with black-framed glasses.
"Pierre! You made it..." the boy began, but froze upon meeting Allisson's imposing figure and the bloodstained spear. "Mr. Allisson?! Paulo?!"
"Make room, Abner. We need to step inside quickly and seal the door," Allisson requested in a low, calm voice, guiding the group into the space.
The room was cramped, smelling faintly of powdered detergent, mildew, and dust. Brooms, iron shelving units packed with cleaning chemicals, and plastic buckets occupied almost every square foot of the floor.
Sixteen-year-old Abner shared the same slender build as Pierre—standing 5'5" and weighing around 100 pounds. Despite the room's dust, he wore the school's standard white uniform under a dark blazer with a neatly adjusted collar, habitually pushing his glasses up his nose. Behind the thick lenses, his eyes reflected the sharp, analytical focus of a student accustomed to math olympiads. Seeing Allisson and Paulo armed, composure intact, he grasped the situation immediately and let out a long sigh of relief.
Pierre, also 5'5" and 100 pounds, wore the same uniform, though his shirt was wrinkled and disheveled from confinement, his skin glistening with sweat from Mana exhaustion.
In the corner of the room, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.
Cowering between two plastic buckets, Ms. Jade, the Language Arts teacher, raised her head. Standing 5'6" and weighing roughly 110 pounds, she wore a white blouse and a long ankle-length skirt—clothing that, once clean and formal, was now wrinkled and stained with floor dust. Her hair was undone, her eyes bloodshot from crying, and her trembling hands clutched a wooden rosary tightly against her chest.
"Allisson?! What... what are you doing here? Close that door! Close that door right now!" she whispered frantically, her entire body shaking.
"Calm down, Jade. Keep your voice down," Allisson instructed in a peaceful, firm tone.
"How can I calm down, Allisson?!" she shot back, rising slowly by leaning against the metal shelf for support. "Are you out of your mind? Walking down the hallway with these boys and that blood-covered spear? We have to stay locked inside! Rescue must be on the way. The police or the army are probably setting up a perimeter outside right now!"
Allisson scanned the small room. There were no water bottles. No crumbs of bread. Nothing.
"Jade, neither the army nor the police are coming," he stated directly, his tone remaining perfectly level. "Have you heard a single siren since yesterday? Any helicopters flying over the school?"
She blinked, caught off guard by the question, her grip tightening on the rosary.
"N-no... but they must be organizing..."
"If authorities had control over the situation, we would have heard emergency vehicles within the first few hours," Allisson explained with the clarity of someone stating a simple mathematical fact. "The silence across the entire city proves that the event occurred everywhere simultaneously. No one is coming to retrieve us."
"That's just a guess!" Jade argued, her voice choking up. "We just need to have faith and wait. If we stay hidden and quiet in here, God will protect us until everything returns to normal!"
"The issue isn't faith, Jade; it's water," Allisson replied, gesturing toward the empty shelves. "A body can last a day, but without food and water, within two or three days, basic biological functions simply collapse. This room lacks ventilation and is retaining heat. Staying locked in here isn't protection—it's just delayed mortality."
Jade stared at the teacher, searching for a counterargument, but his cold logic left no room for debate.
"We are moving to the Faculty Lounge," Allisson continued. "There is a sealed 5-gallon water jug there, and the space allows us to organize properly."
"I'm not going!" Jade shook her head, taking a step backward. "Stepping out into that hallway is suicide! Pierre... Abner... don't go with him. We are safe inside!"
Abner looked at his Language Arts teacher, then back to Allisson. The choice between her paralyzing terror and the math teacher's practical composure was clear.
"Mr. Allisson is right, Ms. Jade," Abner said, adjusting his glasses. "There isn't a single drop of water here. If we stay, we'll fall ill from dehydration by tomorrow. Besides, they walked through the hall and made it here fine."
"Pierre?" Jade appealed to the other student.
"I only risked using my skill because I couldn't stand waiting for nothing to happen anymore," Pierre admitted, lowering his head. "I'm going with them."
Allisson looked at Jade without pressing her.
"No one is going to force you, Jade. The decision is yours. But if you choose to stay, we will have to lock the door from the outside to secure our retreat route. Just understand that remaining here alone without water will not solve your situation."
Allisson turned around and addressed the three students.
"Let's form up," he instructed, his tone businesslike. "I'll lead at the front with the spear. Pierre, Abner, and Jade will stay in the center, protected. Paulo will take the rear guard to cover our backs. If everyone moves quietly and watches their footing, we will reach the Faculty Lounge without incident."
Abner and Pierre nodded immediately, the formation logic instantly clear to them.
Jade looked back at the darkness of the custodian's closet, the empty shelves, and then at the group preparing to step into the hall. The terror of walking out into the corridor was immense, but the prospect of being left entirely alone in the dark was far worse.
Swallowing her tears and wiping her face with the sleeve of her white blouse, she took her first hesitant steps toward the exit.
"Wait..." she whispered softly. "I'm coming with you."