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Under Duress III

The sound of paper flicked as the document pages flipped to the next with the touch of her finger. Yana was on the last set of papers, checking the petition reports thoroughly before signing her name at the end to finalize the approval.

When she moved on to the next petition form, she carefully read it in her mind. Petition for better lunch meals at the regular students' cafeteria?

Yana skimmed through the pages, carefully reading the reason why. It was never a week without a single complaint about the cafeteria food. This had been addressed recently, pushing the Academy to source the freshest food. Apparently, some students still found something to complain about.

“…. gross and unpalatable.” She read it out loud. “This is most likely someone’s personal taste.”

“Hm? Again? “ Natalie, who had been sitting next to her with a phone in her hand, took notice, turning her attention towards her as she let out a sigh, rolling her eyes to the side.

“These beggars… every time… they submit the same thing all over again. Ugh. They can never be satisfied.” She grumbled.

Yana sighed. “Right… It’s always the case.”

With a rubber stamp prepared on the other hand, she turned to the last page and slammed it hard against the crisp white sheet, marking it in bold red: DENIED.

The petition was rejected.

Ping!

“What—?!” Natalie suddenly exclaimed upon checking the notification pop-up on her phone, pulling it closer to her face as if she found something interesting from the past hour of just scrolling.

“The Predators are LIVE?!”

“What do you mean by that?” Yana looked at her with brows furrowed. “That cannot be possible.”

“Check this out,” Natalie flashed to her a forum post with screenshots showing the Predators' Twatch account in a live broadcast just a few minutes ago.

“Oh my gosh. Sylvia’s apology video?” She gasped. “As if she would do that!”

While Natalie was preoccupied with the Predator’s stream, Yana immediately grabbed the deposit box where their phones had been stored. She wanted to confirm whether it was still there or not as she unlocked it and opened the lid. Everything was still inside.

Two phones. One looked in perfect condition while the other was nothing but broken smithereens. Just how she remembered receiving them. That only made her even more confused.

“Everything’s here,” Yana confirmed.

“One of them is lying then?” Natalie assumed. “Maybe they have a second phone? Who knows.”

That could be a possibility. Maybe they replaced it with the same model that belonged to someone else?

Yana reached for Mikey’s phone instinctively before noticing a significant difference. It was lightweight, not as heavy as she expected. Then, her fingers ran to the power button, pressing it hard to boot it open.

Nothing happened.

She clicked several times for good measure, but the screen remained black. Still nothing appeared.

“It’s fake,” Yana concluded, letting out a deep sigh as the phone got tossed back into the box. She never thought they would trick her like that, an utter disrespect. If they were planning this ahead of time, could it be—?

“Natalie, I’ll check the room.” Yana proposed, quickly walking towards the door.

“W-wait~ I’m coming with you!” Natalie called from behind and caught up with her right beside her.

They left the room in a rush— footsteps not running but walking briskly as they headed towards the end of the hallway where the detention room was located.

As soon as they stood in front of the room’s door, there was noticeable silence. No whines and curses could be heard from the inside. It only heightened Yana’s suspicion as she held the doorknob.

She twisted it, but it was already unlocked.

“It’s open…” Yana was surprised. “I-I remember locking it.”

Natalie appeared confused as well, her jaw agape ever so slightly, looking back and forth at the open door and to Yana. “No way they have an access key to this.”

With a slight push, the door swung open to reveal the inside, seeing no one but empty desks and disarrayed chairs where the two were supposedly seated. Right on top of their desks, they left their essay sheets for submission with an attached yellow sticky note.

“Finished too early. Took you, girls, a while.” Yana read it out loud.

“Ugh. Those rascals! How dare they?!” Natalie scoffed. “I swear I will slap them on their faces!”

They never bothered to wait for them and just dismissed themselves. As much as she wanted to believe that delinquents like them could be given a second chance to change, that was the final straw for her, as Yana felt a burning sensation in her chest, her hands clenched into fists.

How cocky. I’ll make sure to teach them a lesson.

After their recording session, Raphael had been sitting on this bench, bound and gagged with a rope and duct tape for more than an hour, losing count of the time since. It was not long ago that Mikey proudly announced sending the video to Sylvia’s messages. Now, the two were standing in front of the camera, pointing away from him and most probably doing a live stream.

It took him several takes to capture what was shot on the video. He did what was asked and did his best to perform to the best of his abilities, but in exchange, he insisted on keeping his identity a secret, away from the live audience. He wanted no one else to find out his situation, not even his friends and especially not his uncle. Thankfully, they agreed and complied.

However, the session was far from over. It was a waiting game at this point. Did she even read or receive the message? When will she come? How long is he going to be tied in here?

These thoughts ran wild for the past few minutes as sweat trickled down his face. He had been feeling a bit stuffy from his bounds as his body shifted from side to side, trying to loosen the tightness around his arms and wrists. Unfortunately, that did nothing. It was secured tight, too tight for comfort.

Raphael exhaled, feeling defeated.

How he wished this would be over soon enough, but at the same time, worried. If she decided to come, then what would happen? What could she do against the two of them?

“So, it’s been twelve minutes,” Mikey announced in front of the camera, showing the time to his chat on stream. “And… no reply. No sign of her either.”

“Do you think she chickened out?” Flipper wondered.

“Doubt that.” Mikey laughed it off. “I believe she will come.”

“How long, bro? Shouldn’t we bust into her room and finish it there?”

Mikey tapped his friend’s shoulder several times, shaking his head. “Nah, that’s not how it works, Flipper. Just a few more minutes….”

“Fuck. If nothing happens… I will fucking flip.” He grumbled, raising his middle finger intentionally towards Raphael and glared at him. “Fucking flip—”

“Bro, shush. Be patient.” Mikey reminded him.

Raphael swallowed a lump; he never thought about what would happen if she did not show up. What would these two delinquents do to him? From the looks of it, the worst-case scenario: he would be at the mercy of their fists— or, to be exact, his fist.

His eyes met that glare aimed towards him.

Flipper had been threatening him ever since recording, whispering his intentions to punch him at any given moment, pointing that knife hard against his skin. Without the other guy, Mikey beside him, maybe these bruises and wounds would have been real.

Perhaps that would be for the better. At least, no one else would be hurt besides him, and it was not his fault that their plan failed firsthand.

Why had he decided to come to this conclusion? Somehow, the thought of accepting his own fate had calmed his nerves down.

“Hold on!” Flipper exclaimed all of a sudden, scurrying behind the camera to adjust it, and aiming it towards the open path right in front of them.

“Someone’s coming.”

From the distance, a figure approached, walking so casually, not an ounce of being in a rush. It was too far for Raphael to make out who was coming, as the trees cast dark shadows over the figure beneath the canopy whilst the dimming afternoon sky had obscured his line of sight.

Who…?

His heart raced deep in his chest upon hearing those words. Then, he carefully tried to read the expressions on their faces— a set of wide grins showing bare teeth and eyes gleaming in the dark, unable to suppress their excitement. They knew who it was.

Is it her… Sylvia?

Once the row of trees came to a stop, leading towards an open area without shade, the figure slowly revealed itself, appearing against the afternoon light shining bright in hues of orange, purple, and blue.

A pair of black canvas sneakers stepped out, and her lower limbs were adorned with open-mesh stockings and a high-waisted denim miniskirt, accentuating her hips and waist. His eyes were drawn towards the top. She was clad in a black laced camisole, layered with a dark green flannel shirt that hung loosely over her arms.

Then, reddish-orange locks finally emerged from the shadows, radiating in the sunset, while her strands bounced along with her strides. She had that unamused, bored expression etched on her face, looking side to side with caution as if her attention was not drawn to the camera set up in front of her.

It was his first time seeing her in person wearing something this casual beyond the Academy’s issued uniform. For a moment, he was mesmerized.

Spoiler

[collapse]

“Ah, isn’t that the infamous Sylvia?” Mikey called out.

“Welcome, welcome.” Flipper greeted before whistling in a catcall. “The chat is going nuts.”

Sylvia halted a few steps away from them, standing perfectly still within the camera shot. Her gaze scanned the surroundings once more, stopping intentionally on his direction. A smile curved out of her lips as their eyes met.

Sylvia crossed her arms over her chest before speaking with the same level of confidence as always.

“Well…shall we begin?”