Chapter 20: Birthday Paradox (Part 2)

Ice Serge

I'm now at my room. I'm thinking of all the possibilities that may happen after those events that occurred.

Nyx already know the truth about Heidi and me. Heidi and I, we needed to protect each other because that's our responsibility. We were asked by the principal to do "that" because we are the one who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization, which is our room.

Pero wala, as in wala kaming pinatay.

We were just asked to lock the room and give the section Deity a brainstorming because like what Heidi said on her group message, "the test is about to start." Actually, there are 3-5 test waiting for us but since someone killed some of our classmates, the principal was left with no choice but to ask some innocent students to remorse for a sin that they did not do.

And that students is us. Heidi and I was the one who were asked to repent for something that we did not do. And that's because the principal is too afraid that many students in section Deity will transfer to another school.

If you know about Noble Academy's site, you might know about the true intention of our principal.

I have read the old contents of the site and when I go back to that page recently, I noticed that some of it changed.

I don't know who's the person behind that site but when I asked our principal about that site, she just shrugged, smile, and then she said that it doesn't matter so, I immediately obey her without hesitating.

She wanted us to train very hard. Actually, it is also required for every person in this section to have strength because some of the difficult test includes strength.

I remembered some of the contents of the site before it was changed.

I pulled the back of my shirt using my left hand and then throw my shirt at a basket that contains my dirty clothes.

I sat down at my table near my bed and I reached a ballpen and a small notebook. I tried to remember everything.

Each of students that will enroll in Noble Academy will undergo a survey from the principal to know if the enrollee will pass the quality of being a student in Noble Academy. Each of student(s) must have the ff:

*The strength;
*The money;
*The beauty;
*The popularity and;
*The brain.

After remembering those qualities, I listed them all. And I encircled the word strength. I don't have any idea why she wanted to test our strength. It's not like we're attending a military school.

We don't need strong brawn to study but for her, its important.

But instead of spitting those word out at our principal, I decided to shut my mouth.

To enter this academy, the enrollee(s) must have atleast 2 from the quality said above but most of all, the enrollee MUST have the money and the strength. The enrollee will be classified to the section Deity, (the only section that has name) if and only if the student have all the qualities said above. But before that, the enrollee will undergo a very hard test from the academy.

The last statement only proved that each and every one of us in section Deity is still an enrollee because we haven't finished the test yet. We are still not part of this section.

It's not enough to have that qualities said above. You must also know how to use it to be classified to our section.

She badly want to test the skills of every student in our section. I don't have any idea as to why she wants to test us but I have no strength to fvcking get out of my comfort zone.

You see, I'm a selfist. I don't want to be hurt. That's why I let Heidi take all the responsibility that was given to us. All of it. And that's the reason why I was gone for months.

But then, I also realized that I needed to help her. And then unexpectedly, we have to change plans. It's all sudden that with just a blink of an eye, things changed.

To be honest, I have no idea also on what will happen after these chaos. Everything is a mess now. I don't know how to clean it for our principal. I want to leave. But I can't do it for the second time.

Nyx found out the truth, and I'm sure that she will tell Rae-rae about this. That's why I decided to give Nyx the thing that will prove me and Heidi as innocent.

Rae-rae. That name brings back so many memories. I wonder when can I call her my Raven, again?

I let my body feel the softness of my bed because I know that later on, I will receive a punishment from the principal because I decided to give Nyx some of the information without her consent.

Nyx Chantal

After the scene on the library with Ice, I felt guilty for blaming them. Agad naman akong bumalik sa kwarto namin para ipaalam kay Ea ang nangyari. Since wala pa rin kaming guro, malaya akong nakapasok.

"Ea!" tawag ko sakaniya.

Lumingon siya sakin gamit ang mata niyang walang buhay at bigla niya akong inirapan. Ano kayang problema niya?

"Please solve this.. I know that you know this code!"

Without her permission, I put the small paper on her table that contains dot and dashes which I didn't understand.

It goes like this:

.--./.-/.-../...-

Ice gave this paper to me to unlock the translucent box that I stole. But there's no dots and dashes on the keypad of the translucent box so I came to the conclusion that I might need to decipher this first before getting the real deal.

Ea rolled her eyes again at me and then took a glance at the piece of paper.

"Morse code." sabi niya at nagiwas na muli ng tingin. Pero ilang sandali lang, tumingin ulit siya sakin at umirap. Tapos nagsulat sa kabilang side ng papel na yon.

Nang matapos siya, nakita ko na yung sinulat niya.

Decipher!
.../.-/.-/-.|-.-/.-|--./.-/.-../../-./--.

Napa-simangot ako. Akala ko tinulungan niya na ako. Ano bang problema niya? Mas mahaba pa yung idedecode ko sakaniya kesa sa binigay ni Ice eh! Etong dalawang to talaga! Pinapahirapan ako!

I fished my phone and then started browsing the net about norse code raw ba?

I typed norse code but instead I saw morse code. Ow.

A morse code is represented by dots and dashes (or short and long pulses), originally used to send messages by telegraph, later by flashes of light and such.

Tama, morse code nga yung ginamit para masolve itong code na binigay nila. But the answer is how? Isn't there something assigned to represent letters from those dots and dashes?

I clicked the word, IMAGES and then I saw letters with an equal sign leading to the dots and dashes. I just got the answer!

My eyes quickly roamed at the dots and dashes as I find the first letter on the code that Ice gave.

I found out that .--. corresponds to P. I did the same to all of those dots and dashes. I used the "/" sign to seperate the dots and dashes while this "|" is the space.

I got "PALV" as the answer.

Kinuha ko yung bag ko para kunin yung transparent na lalagyan at tinype ko yung letters nang hindi nilalabas yung lalagyan.l. Baka kasi may makakita, mahirap na. After typing those letters which doesn't make any sense, the transparent thing opened.

Napa-"yes" ako ng medyo malakas kaya napatingin si Ea sakin tas napa-tingin din ako sakaniya. Inirapan niya nanaman ako. Napa-kunot ang noo ko. Yung kaniya naman nga yung i-de-decipher ko at baka sa kakaikot ni Ea ng mata niya, tumirik nalang yun mamaya.

Tinry ko rin yung morse code sa binigay ni Ea and then I got:

San ka galing

Ow! Posibleng nagtatampo si Ea dahil hindi ko siya sinama sa paglabas ko. Tapos! Hindi nga rin pala ako nakapagpaalam sakaniya!

"Ah, Ea.. galing ako sa adventure!" Sabi ko. Hihi. Totoo naman. Tumingin siya sakin saglit pero inirapan niya lang ako ulit which means she's not satisfied at my answer.

Lumapit ako sakaniya at bumulong sa tenga niya.

"Mamaya.. Ike-kwento ko sayo.."

LUMIPAS ANG ilang oras at uwian na kaya't habang naglalakad kami, ikinwento ko sakaniya ang lahat.

I also invited her for a brunch. Its already 3:00 in the afternoon but I still haven't eaten anything so it's brunch for me.

Nang makarating kami sa paborito naming kainan, inilabas ko ang bag na may laman ng transparent na lalagyan. This place is not in the public eye so I'm not scared to put this thing out.

"Here, Ea, to prove everything, I have a concrete evidence." sabi ko sabay tingin sa mata ni Ea na nanliliit habang tinitignan ang box na hawak-hawak ko.

Alam ko na, medyo, ang laman ng transparent na lalagyan na ito since nasabi na ni Ice sakin ang ibang detalye. Pero sabi niya, mas maganda pa rin daw kung ako mismo ang makakabasa.

Sus, I know he's only using me to prove his innocence to Ea! That manipulator jerk!

Itinype ko ang PALV at pinindot ko ang enter button then nagbukas ang box.

Only then, I saw Ea smiled for a short time while reading the paper.

Ibinalik niya ang papel sa box at inilagay sa loob ng bag niya.

"Ey, Nyx? Let's go to Aura's birthday party. It's now time to hunt the killer."

To be continued..

A/N: Goodevening guyseu! I updated because my urge to slay someone is overpowering my kindness. HAHA lol. Any comments about the chapter?