"A secret doesn't die in silence — it rots in the shadows, waiting for someone to scream."
The campus buzzed with life, yet for Aska, it all moved in a blur — like he was watching a reel in fast-forward. Students laughed in groups, professors crossed courtyards with arms full of paper, and the scent of late spring lingered in the air. But in his chest, a storm churned.
He hadn't slept. His eyes were red, not from exhaustion alone, but from staring at a screen for hours. The group chat between the four of them remained silent — dead silent — since the night someone had leaked the file.
Aska knew one thing for certain: the file that got out wasn't the final version. Said had edited it before it was sent. But the version that had reached the admin's inbox? It wasn't the same one.
That meant one of them had made a copy.
And that changed everything.
---
Two hours earlier.
Aluna sat across from Ara at the campus café. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, glasses sliding down her nose as she stirred her coffee without drinking it. Ara, on the other hand, looked too calm. Her phone was off — again — and her silence was louder than any scream.
"You think they'll find out?" Aluna's voice cracked with restrained anxiety.
Ara didn't answer immediately. She toyed with the corner of her notebook, eyes never meeting Aluna's.
"They'll investigate," she said at last. "But unless one of us talks, they'll find nothing."
Aluna leaned in. "What if someone already talked?"
Ara finally looked up. "Then we're already screwed."
---
Back in the library, Said was tracking footprints — not on the ground, but in the code.
Lines of logs. IP addresses. Access times. Admin accounts. He had long ago installed a shadow script on the university server — just in case things ever turned against him. Now he was digging through those logs like his life depended on it.
Because it did.
His scholarship. His record. His future.
But the deeper he searched, the more certain he became: someone logged in with his old credentials and forwarded the file.
His stomach dropped.
That login was only shared with one person.
Ara.
---
Present.
Aska stood in the hallway outside Professor Revan's office. The door was ajar. He could hear voices — low, tense.
"—it's already in review. We can't ignore this, sir. A breach this big…"
"Don't make accusations until we have evidence," the professor replied, voice weary. "Four of our top students are involved. We owe them a fair investigation."
Aska's blood froze.
So they already knew. The investigation had started.
He turned and walked away quickly, head down. His phone vibrated.
Ara: Meet me. Rooftop. Now.
---
The rooftop of the east wing was quiet, almost too quiet. Wind tugged at Aska's hoodie as he stepped onto the gravel.
Ara was already there, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
"You think it was me, don't you?" she said before he could speak.
Aska didn't answer.
"Typical," she scoffed. "You only trust people when it's convenient."
"Because trusting anyone got us into this mess," he snapped.
Ara took a step forward. "Then let's be honest. You think I leaked the file? What if I think you did it?"
He clenched his jaw. "Because I didn't."
"Neither did I," she hissed. "But if we keep pointing fingers, we won't see the one person who's been quiet this whole time."
They both paused.
Aluna.
---
Trust breaks quietly. But the silence afterward? It's deafening.
---