Sayo's voice slid into Mei's mind. She was chanting a song and Mei's brows knitted in response.

"Kagome, kagome
The bird in the cage."

Mei flinched. Not this song, not that.

"When, oh when will it come out
In the night of dawn
The crane and turtle slipped
Who is behind you now?"

Mei shivered and sneezed when a gust of wind hit her. The song from her childhood rewound like a tape, like all other voices, only that this was louder. The green gunge kept flowing out of her eyes and she wiped it off with her hand. They were meant to be tears, but the loss of control over herself and her Singularity changed things for her.

"Who is behind you now?" Sayo licked the girl's hair and smooched the nape of Mei's neck. Mei felt slightly weaker from the icy lips and her lips trembled. Sayo's long hair blocked Mei's vision like the bars of a cage. It seemed to be a slight dissociation from her surroundings, from herself...

Mei refused to answer. Forgetting to take her medicine that night really was disastrous. Instead, she focused her gaze on the sniggering boy.

They don't have Pokémon with them. Mimikyu not with me. Mei thought. Sayo's incessant taunting interrupted her already unfiltered and incoherent thought process, making it hard for her to join her thoughts together to formulate a battle plan.

"Mute, are we?" Clay sneered, inching toward her. "Regret playing the hero?"

Mei shook her head vehemently. Just how many annoying brats were there in Noryuku? Why can't anyone listen? Why can't they see Sayo? Why do they keep denying Sayo's existence? Mei hated every bit and ounce of her existence, her life. For a while, she couldn't quite place who this 'her' was: was it Sayo or herself?

"Blade," Sage murmured beside her. "Teleport us away."

"No. We can't back down without a fight." Blade puffed up his chest as he sent the boy a telepathic message. "Please, we can't keep escaping. You got to confront the problem, go to the root of it and analyse it."

Clay brisk-walked to the girl and gripped her throat. She lowered her body and pressed her hands onto his feet and the ground. Sayo hissed into her ears.

"What the..." Clay tried to move but his feet were rooted to the earth. His legs were stuck in place due to the goo. He sneered and two jets of silvery liquid spilled onto the court. "Take that!"

Quicksilver? Mercury? Sage blinked and gnawed off his thumbnail. Cinnabar is a mercury ore. Wait... Then that means—

"Mei!" He dashed out and pushed her away from the boy.

"Too late. Mercury vapour is way toxic-er than the liquid. Of course, I'm unaffected, idiot."

And who is the idiot here? Sage gritted his teeth. Turning to Blade, he said, "Teleport." Lowering his volume, he added, "Leave Mr. Quicksilver alone."

Blade noticed the severity of the circumstances and heeded reluctantly. Within seconds, they were all out of sight and falling onto white sheets.

"Sage, you better explain yourself!" Ferro said and pulled the boy closer.

"Tell your brother he's an idiot if he's thinking of using mercury vapour. Hope no one breathed that in," Sage said. "Whatever. Better not mess my room."

Ferro held onto his V-shaped weapon and glared at him. He knew the boy was right about his brother. He didn't want to admit it, that was all.

Titan pulled his roommate back with Rain's help. Mei sat at a side and looked at them. She rubbed her eyes.

"I need my eyedrops," she said and all the boys looked at her. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

Sage shook his head and patted his Pokémon's back. "Blade, take a good rest."

"So... what's with being the terrorist?" Ferro asked, turning to the drummer.

"Here I thought Titan's the hothead, but no. And the bomb is from the gachapon." Sage eyed the boomerang in the boy's hand. "Also, I thought I said to not touch that function."

Rain got to the door and dragged Ferro with him, prepared to avoid all awkwardness between the boys. "We'll get going."

Titan stayed and apologised on behalf of his roommate before taking a seat on Zayn's bed. He watched as Blade disappeared and reappeared in a split second, returning with a bottle of eyedrops as Mei requested.

"Thanks," the girl mumbled as she dripped the liquid into her eyes. "Anyway, who were those people?"

Titan did the introductions and also told her about his and Ferro's usernames and Singularities. Listening, Mei nodded and hummed to herself. Turning to the Blade Pokémon, she told him to get her bottle of Geodon and the humanoid creature meekly obeyed. As she gulped down the capsules and took a sip of water, the cacophony in her head was gone, as if someone paused the cassette tape playing over and over in her head.

"So, that was Rain." Mei lowered her gaze to the boxer's body. "Nice build, Titan."

It took him a while to realise he wasn't wearing a shirt at all. Whenever he was training with Rain, he would always take off his shirt. Today was no exception.

"Give me a moment." Titan relied on his Ink Of Cerberus to retrieve his shirt and they slid through the door a minute later with a white round-neck tee hanging in their mouths. He wore it and gave the girl a wink. "You wanted to say something?"

"I was suspecting Sage at first to be the mastermind of the app." Mei inhaled deeply. "Turns out he's not, even if he lies frequently."

"Any idea who it is?" Sage removed his bandages.

Should I tell them? They can be trusted, I'm sure. Mei grabbed her phone and texted her senior.

Mei: Zayn, can I tell them our secret?

The boy replied at once.

Zayn: Go ahead. I've nothing to hide. I owe it to Sage especially. Also, show them the doc. My laptop's in my drawer. Password is SS.

Mei: Ok. Sprit Shackle it is.

Without uttering a word, the girl went over to take his white laptop and unlocked it with her fast fingers.

"Can I get Jade to come here? She might want to know this too," Mei said.

Both third-years agreed.

"Okay then." Mei opened the document and steeled herself. "It's not him, but he's forced by the mastermind to do this. We still don't know who is behind this."

She let the duo scroll through the story of Healer Killer and waited in silence. Jade came over rather quickly and that eased the tension a little.

Finally, the secret was out.

"That's why he told me to try to play the game." Sage dipped his head. "Maybe he planted the app into my phone too."

"If it's as you say, and Zayn claimed the mastermind to be a he, it might be a boy. But, we can't rule out the possibility of a transgender who's yet to change his appearance. Or a binary character." Titan pondered over it.

"When will the bird in the cage come out?" Mei asked quite abruptly and earned looks from the three other students. "Sorry, it's just, we're all trapped in this situation."

"But what bird?" Jade tapped her shoulder.

"Maybe a resplendent quetzal?" Sage mumbled and crossed his legs. "It's quite beautiful, more attractive than a Chatot."

"Who is behind you now?" Sayo's words returned to her. Mei couldn't get the last line of the song out of her head.

What did it mean? Why was Sayo telling her all these? What did she want from Mei?

A duet played from the speakers, just like every other night since the tragedy occurred. Placido would calm them down at this hour and tell them that even the darkest nights had an end. The twins' Singularity, Eternal Serenity, would always calm the student body down and release them from the grief and sorrow or whatever emotions that haunted them. Ji-min's alto voice was accompanied by Iseul's tenor voice and their harmony made hearts flutter.

Yes, everything would be over. Sage felt the weight on his shoulders lighten. The effects of Shadow Scar must have faded. He raised his cheekbones. The action felt natural, no longer seeming forced at all. If this peace can continue, I wouldn't have to use my Singularity and I wouldn't spiral into depression. How beautiful.

He texted Zayn and told his friend about his positive change in emotions. His friend was happy for him, of course. Thinking of his friend in Kalos, Sage's mind veered from this thought and to the document he nabbed. He had it underneath his shirt and took it out. Three pairs of eyes fell onto the file with the blue word 'Confidential' on it, and waited.

"I found this before the explosion." Sage opened the file. "Let's see what's here. It might just be more interesting than Zayn's unpublished work."

Blade got up and joined them. Sage placed the document in the middle of the circle they formed.

A blank page rested in front of them. Then, Sage turned it over.