"Target in position."
Camellia whispered - just loud enough for the person next to her to hear.
In the dim light, she could clearly see the tall, slender silhouette of a teenage boy nod firmly back at her.
"Sweet dreams."
Camellia narrowed her eyes slightly, a smug half-smile still clinging to her pink lips as she coldly pulled the trigger.
Pfft.
The DanInject dart gun fired with a soft hiss, muffled by the built-in suppressor. At that distance, no one would suspect a thing.
Ethan raised the binoculars to his eyes, heart pounding. He nearly screamed when he saw one of the twin girls suddenly collapse onto the ground.
"Oh my god! Anya! What happened to you? Somebody - please, someone help my sister!"
Yara clutched her twin, wailing dramatically in the middle of the school courtyard. But the students of Harmony High were too busy dancing along to a musical performance by Class 12A to notice anything strange.
All except one person…
He had knelt down to check on Anya's condition…
Another soft Pfft rang out.
Yara stopped screaming. She had just suffered the same fate as her twin.
"Oops. Shot the wrong ones again."
Camellia said flatly.
Ethan was deeply alarmed.
The actual target was still standing casually nearby, while the twin girls - who had nothing to do with this - were now unconscious. It would take at least four hours before either of them would wake up.
Still, a silver lining: they wouldn't be able to perform the rumored Rap Diss that was supposedly written to mock Class 11D.
But should Ethan really be relieved… when the target was still on the loose?
Suddenly, Camellia pulled her eye away from the DanInject's scope and barked out a warning.
"He's spotted us! Ethan, hide - now! He'll be up here any minute!"
Following Camellia's command, Ethan, Autumn, and the other students of Class 11D quickly ducked into their designated hiding spots.
"Will this plan even work?"
Class President Lucas looked nervously at the time on his phone. It was already 4:00 PM. Only thirty minutes left until the Five-Fruit Tray Decoration Contest began.
They needed to capture the target as soon as possible!
"We have to believe in Camellia!"
Ethan declared, firm as a nail hammered into wood.
"But… she missed two shots in a row! And the distance from here to the target is less than 20 meters. There's no wind today, either. Thank goodness that was only a tranquilizer gun. I can't even imagine what would've happened if it had been a real sniper rifle."
"Well, wrong method but right result still counts, doesn't it?"
Ethan found himself repeating something Spring had once said about Camellia's Vampire-hunting skills.
But in this situation, all he could do was rely on Camellia - and the specialized equipment she had brought.
Thanks to Camellia, the students of Class 11D had managed to sneak into the Harmony High clock tower.
From the outside, the tower appeared to be nothing more than a dome-shaped rooftop without a single window.
But inside, it was a round chamber with nine evenly spaced stone columns supporting a second-floor balcony that circled the entire room.
Along the wall of the second-floor balcony, there were small embrasures spaced one meter apart - subtly styled to match the room's design - just wide enough for someone inside to observe the entire school courtyard.
At the center of the dome ceiling hung a massive antique bell, easily two meters in diameter. Ethan, Autumn, class president Lucas, secretary Simon, and Cherry - Royce's desk mate, were all crouched behind it.
Ethan estimated that the distance from the bell to the balcony railing was no more than a meter.
He had to physically restrain himself from accidentally touching the bell. It looked like it hadn't been rung properly in ages.
"Wait! So Camellia actually lives on campus, but she still chose the Homeschooling program? Why?"
Cherry - the daily nightmare of Royce - whispered curiously.
"Shhh! The target's coming. Everyone, get ready to spring the trap!"
Autumn pressed a finger to her lips, signaling Class 11D to stay quiet.
BANG.
Everyone jumped as the heavy tower door was flung open with brute force. Whoever had just entered was clearly furious.
"I knew it was you. Now tell me - why did you do that to me?"
Royce growled, his voice low and sharp like a predator's, as he slowly advanced toward Camellia.
"You devoured half of our fruit display. Then you were the one who suggested that we use your body as a substitute entry for the competition. Isn't that right?"
Camellia questioned Royce with unnerving calm. She didn't seem the least bit rattled by the bloodthirsty aura radiating off him.
"Uh… yeah, that's true…"
"And you also voted to approve the concept Ethan sent in the class Telegram group for our Five-Fruit Tray Decoration Contest for Mid-Autumn Festival, didn't you?"
"Mhm!"
"You literally had one job: lie still and let Class 11D decorate you - with fruits, leaves, star-shaped lanterns, and ribbons - for the Five-Fruit Tray Decoration Contest. What's so terrifying about that that you had to run away?"
"But… but that pervy Ethan made me take my shirt off!"
Royce shouted, his face bright red.
"Without your six-pack abs, our fruit tray wouldn't have had any visual appeal!"
"And then he had the girls arrange the fruit on my body! I hate being touched by girls! You know what I've been through!"
"If you can't handle being touched, then you should've just gone to sleep and stayed out of it!"
Camellia shouted back, her voice overpowering his. Then she raised her tranquilizer gun and aimed it directly at Royce.
Pff! Pff!
Two shots fired in quick succession.
Class 11D emerged from their hiding spots at the sound.
"Oh my god…"
Simon hung his head in despair. Lucas was pale as a sheet, nearly fainting, and had to lean on Cherry to keep himself upright.
Because…
Despite the two-meter distance between Camellia and Royce, she had missed both shots. The last tranquilizer darts were now stuck in the wall behind Royce.
"Royce! Stay where you are! Don't you come any closer, you idiotic bloodsucker!"
Camellia's voice wavered. Her cool-headed Vampire Hunter persona was starting to crack.
"Heh. And what are you gonna do if I don't? Huh, you silly little Hunter?"
Royce smirked and stepped forward. In a blink, he disarmed Camellia and tossed the tranquilizer rifle aside.
Ethan couldn't see Camellia's expression clearly as Royce pinned her to the wall.
"Oh my gosh! This is so romantic!"
"He's holding both her wrists with just one hand!"
"He's such a domineering alpha! A walking red flag!"
"They even call each other cute pet names: Bloodsucker and Hunter!"
"I wanna be pinned to the wall too! Teehee~"
Next to Ethan, both Autumn and Cherry were bright red in the face, giggling like chipmunks.
Ethan exchanged a look of despair with Lucas and Simon. Boys would never understand the strange inner world of girls.
"Let them be! We want to see what they do next!"
Both Autumn and Cherry grabbed Ethan's sleeves when he tried to intervene.
Faced with the terrifying wrath of girl fandom, Ethan could only freeze in place and let nature take its course…