ERALD

SINADYA KONG magpa-late sa klase ngayong Biyernes. I had to go to the police station. No, I did not commit a crime or was I involved in any. May kinailangan lang akong alamin mula sa kanila. The lingering thought in my mind was at last confirmed.

Today's the day of the senior high school acquaintance party. The enthusiasm of Grade 11 and 12 students was dampened by the "threat" brought about by the scene-stealer K-OS Club.

Huminto ako sa tapat ng malaking bulletin board sa entrance hall. Nakakumpol doon ang mga estudyanteng binabasa ang nagbabagang balitang hatid ng Clark Clarion.

Rogue K-OS Club to cause chaos in 1st SHS party

That wasn't a breaking news to me since I have already known about the threat. But for the students around me, there was fear. There was concern. May mga narinig akong nagbubulungan sa kanan ko, ang sabi'y baka hindi na sila mag-attend mamaya dahil sa banta ng rogue club.

Our student publication wasn't helping the situation of the student council. Mukha ngang nakatulong pa sila sa agenda ng K-OS Club. Imagine if there was a low turn out of students in the party later. The student council would be embarrassed. Hindi pa kasama riyan ang gimik na iniluluto ng mga walang magawa sa buhay.

"So this is the club that I have read about?" a female student behind me remarked. Her voice was strangely familiar so I looked over my shoulder.

Nanlaki ang mga mata ko nang makita ang mukha ni Charlotte na nakangiti sa akin. I was at a loss for words, hindi ko alam kung anong sasabihin sa kanya.

She tilted her head to the right with furrowed eyebrows. "Bakit ganyan ka makatingin sa akin? Para kang nakita ng multo. Are you not happy to see me?"

Umiling ako at sinubukang mag-compose ng matinong reply sa kanya. "Ang akala ko kasi, hindi ka pa makakapasok ngayon."

"Gumaling na rin ang sipon ko kaya wala na akong mahahawa sa inyo," she beamed on me. "Missing out another day or two might get me into trouble. Oras na para pumasok na ulit ako. I also want to work with you and Clyde in the club again."

I'm more relieved to hear that she no longer has that contagious illness. Ayaw kong magkasakit at um-absent sa klase, lalo na ngayong may nagpapainit sa mga eksena. Well, if I ever get colds, ihahawa ko na lang ang ate kong si Maddie. Damay-damay na 'to.

"And I also look forward to working with you again."

Nope, that wasn't me. Just in time, Clyde appeared out of nowhere and joined in the discussion. His rectangular spectacles reflected the blinding light outside.

"Nakahanda na ang camera ko para sa documentation!" Charlotte showed us the gadget hanging around her neck. "This is the restart of our adventures as the QED Club!"

"As it happens, we already have a case to solve," Clyde responded, staring at the news on the bulletin board. "Tamang-tama ang timing ng pagbalik mo. This is going to be big."

Muling nagawi sa board ang tingin ni Charlotte. "Are we going after that rogue club?"

"Let us discuss the details in the clubroom," sagot ni Clyde. "We still have twenty minutes before our classes start."

Pinauna ko nang maglakad ang dalawa kong kasama. Charlotte asked for what happened in the club during her absence while Clyde responded accordingly, telling her the most trivial stuff.

My thoughts drowned my hearing. I was too absorbed on a thought that I found to be either a coincidence or a trick by fate. Napatingin ako sa aking bag kung saan nakapaloob ang report na kinuha ko mula sa police station. Tanda ko pa ang sinabi noon ni Maddie na mapaglaro ang tadhana. I thought that was just about me and Charlotte. It turned out that I was wrong.

"Ang tahimik mo yata, Erald?" tanong ni Clyde sabay lingon sa akin. "You are unusually quiet. I was expecting some side comments from you."

"I don't bother myself with small talks," I rolled my eyes. "Busy rin ako sa pag-iisip kung paano natin mapipigilan ang panggugulo ng K-OS Club mamaya. You can go on and talk about things of little relevance, while I formulate a counter-attack plan."

To be honest, wala pa akong naiisip na pangontra mamaya. I was juggling between two cases: the threat posed by the rogue club and the incident four years ago. Mahirap paghiwalayin ang dalawa lalo na't kaming tatlo ay involved sa parehong kaso.

We reached our clubroom after less than five minutes of walking. Parang naninibago si Charlotte sa kuwartong kanyang pinasukan. Parang first time pa lang niyang makapunta rito. But there was a slight hint of recognition on her face. She hasn't totally forgotten about the club after all.

We took our respective seats. Clyde narrated on how we came upon the case, starting from the list of potential K-OS Club accomplice up to the threat letter received by the student council.

"If we stop that club from disrupting the event and catch the culprit, magkakaroon na tayo ng shortcut na magli-lead sa atin sa kanilang mastermind," Clyde ended his explanation.

"Assuming that that person is communicating directly with the mastermind," I spoke after minutes of silence. "Kung hindi niya maituturo sa atin kung sino ang nag-utos sa kanya, this mission could be a total waste of time."

"Let's say, for the sake of discussion, that there's no direct link between the culprit and the mastermind," four-eyes said. "If there's a middle man and the culprit can identify him, we can still consider that a progress. Totally not a waste of time."

"What if there's no middle man?"

"We will cross the bridge when we get there," Clyde countered. "Ang kailangan nating problemahin ngayon ay kung paano mapipigilan ang trick nila at kung paano natin mahuhuli ang gagawa nito."

"Hitting two birds with one stone, eh?" I commented, raising an eyebrow. "Our priority should be catching that person, not stopping the chaos."

"But as Clyde told us earlier, part ng request ng student council ay pigilang maging reality ang threat," Charlotte's eyes narrowed into slits. "If we let that person do what he wants, we will only let him win."

And here comes another difference of strategies.

"Kailangan nating maaktuhan ang taong 'yon na gumagawa ng gulo," paliwanag ko. "If we don't catch him red-handed, how can we prove that he was doing something sinister? Let's let him win the battle, because once he's captured, we will win the war."

"That should be our last resort," Clyde disagreed. "You are a wise man, Erald. I trust that you can think of a plan that will prevent that person from ruining the party and will enable us to catch him before he commits the crime. If we follow your strategy, how can we ensure na kapag hinayaan natin siyang gawin ang gusto niya, mahuhuli natin siya kaagad?"

"There are hundreds of senior high school students who might attend the party," Charlotte added. "We cannot check each and every one of the attendees."

Wow, binola pa talaga ako ng apat-na-matang 'to. But I admit that Charlotte has a point. Kung bobombahin ng K-OS Club ang venue, magkakagulo na at mahihirapan kaming interview-in o i-inspect ang mga attendee. Napahawak tuloy ako sa baba at napaisip nang malalim.

"Let's discuss this later," sabi ni Clyde, nakatingin sa clock display ng kanyang phone. "We have to go to our classes now. Baka ma-late pa tayo."

"And I have a lot of explaining to do with my classmates," Charlotte said, picking up her bag. "Fortunately, natatandaan ko pa kung sino-sino sila, pati na ang mga instructor namin."

Ini-lock namin ang clubroom at pansamantalang nagkahiwa-hiwalay ng landas. Charlotte went the other way while Clyde and I walked across the same hallway.

"She hasn't forgotten about everything," Clyde remarked as we went down the stairs along with other students. "She probably retained her memories up to the point that she met us. She recognized the clubroom. She also sat on her usual spot."

I have the same observation. Nagkataon din ba na kaming dalawa ni Clyde at ilang memorya niya habang kasama kami ang nabura? Only her mind could tell.

"If we don't want another memory reset to happen again, we should advise her to not attend the party later," I replied. "While we have no idea exactly what the K-OS Club was planning, it would be best if she stays out of it. Baka magkaroon na naman siya ng extreme emotional trigger and she might forget a bigger chunk of her memories."

"Are you not confident in your skills that you can prevent them from making chaos?" Clyde asked, shooting me a sideward glance.

"Just a safety precaution," I answered. "And hey, hindi lang sa akin nakadepende ang mangyayari mamayang gabi. If I fail, you also fail. We are all in this together. Tutol nga akong tanggapin ang request ng student council, 'di ba?"

"I saw an opportunity when they presented the case," Clyde explained. "I have already told you my reasoning why we should accept. This can be a shortcut."

"Only if we win," I added. "This is different from the cases we got ourselves involved into. In the past, bad things already happened and we go to the crime scenes to investigate them. Now we are trying to prevent a bad thing from happening."

"Think of this request as a game with a harder level of difficulty," Clyde smiled. "As long as we put our heads together, we can accomplish this mission."

Together, huh?

We were about to reach the second floor when I stopped from walking, letting the other students to walk past me.

"Can I ask you a question?" My tone became dead serious.

Napatigil din sa paglalakad si Clyde, lumingon sa kanyang likuran para harapin ako. He returned my stare with his eyes intently scrutinizing me.

"What is it?"

"Did you know that—"

"Erald! Clyde!"

Sabay na nagawi sa harapan ang aming tingin. We saw the execom chairman Reign Imperial catching his breath as he stopped in front of us.

"I went to your classroom but you two weren't there," he said, still panting. "May urgent request ulit ang student council mula sa inyo."

"We have already accepted the case," I responded. "Ano pang gusto n'yo? Magsuot kami ng mascot at sumayaw mamaya sa acquaintance party?"

"Exactly," Reign nodded. Nagkapalitan kami ng tingin ni Clyde, nagdududa kung totoo nga ba ang sagot ng taga-execom. "Just kidding, of course. But we need your presence somewhere."

"We are all ears," tugon ni Clyde na napakrus ang mga braso.

"Thanks to the Clarion, we are facing a potential low student turnout later," Reign explained, coming a little closer to us. "That doesn't sit well with the student council. Kailangan naming pahupain ang agam-agam ng mga estudyante. If we don't do anything, this event might become a failure and a disaster."

"Our campus media is influential, we can't do anything about that," I remarked. "Unless you want to call out their report on the K-OS Club as fake news?"

"That won't help the interest of the council," Reign shook his head. "Para mag-attend ang mga estudyante, dapat may bagay silang dapat na abangan. Most of the senior high students are aware of the threat and they are afraid of what might happen later. The fear is out there. We need to combat that fear by reassuring them that everything's going to be fine."

"But how can you convince them?" Clyde asked. "At this point, a simple statement of assurance won't work."

"If the statement comes from the council, the students may not believe it," Reign said. "But if it comes from the highly regarded QED Club, that might persuade them to attend—"

"Teka, teka," I raised my right hand to cut his words short. "Masyado n'yo yatang ino-overestimate ang influence ng club namin. How do you expect us to convince these students that it's going to be safe to attend the event?"

Clyde smirked. "Mukhang naiintindihan ko na ang strategy ng student council. You want to turn the fear caused by the threat to your advantage by pitting us against them. In simpler words, the event won't just be about a party, but a showdown between the QED Club and the K-OS Club."

"And that is something that students can look forward later," Reign nodded. "We will turn the fear into excitement. Students may become curious on whether or not you can stop that good-for-nothing group. They will be there. They still haven't forgotten the club fair incident that you averted, and that's a feather on your cap that gives you credibility."

"And what if we fail?" I used to be fond of being the devil's advocate, but this time, much is at stake. "Paano kung hindi namin mapigilan ang panggugulo nila mamaya? Malaking sampal 'yon sa mukha namin. A dent to our so-called credibility."

"We expect that the QED Club can deliver, given your colorful history," Reign spoke in a way that only pressured me. "If we fail, we fail. But at least, we put up a fight."

I only wanted to manage his expectations, as well as all senior high students. Nai-imagine ko na ang magiging headline ng Clark Clarion kapag pumalpak kami mamaya. QED Club no match to rogue group. QED Club no longer spectacular. The list of possible headlines was endless.

"We have talked to the broadcasting club and requested for a live campus-wide broadcast at twelve noon," Reign said. "I-invite kayong maging guest at doon n'yo pwedeng i-assure sa mga student na walang magiging problema mamaya."

"We will inform our club president first about the broadcast," Clyde replied. "We also need to discuss kung paano ang magiging approach namin sa topic."

"I will also be there at the broadcasting room," Reign waved his hand as he descended the stairs. "See you later."

Napabuntong hininga na lamang ako. Wala na, napasubo na.