A few minutes ago, roughly the same time as when the gloomy guy first received notice of Wendy's plight from the unbound system, Sofony Mendez also got notified by her ever so sarcastic and grumpy companion. And unlike Chris who only came to know about this due to his qualifying quest, Sofony's was due to agreeing with the system's automatic point deductions to alert her whenever Gio, Wendy, and Steffy were in danger.

It was past four fifteen pm. She was waiting for Wendy in the room and chatting with some of her cla.s.smates about the hottest topic in the country when the news of Wendy getting mind-controlled by a host got reported to her. The name of the controller was not said outright, but she didn't even have to guess that it was Clarissa Guzman, the only immoral host hostile to her.

'That woman!!!!'

'Dammit!'

'If... If she dares harm my best friend, I'll... I...' she bit her lips as she dared not say what she would do in case this became reality.

Without even bothering to say goodbye or inform anything to her cla.s.smates, Sofony immediately ran towards the Faculty Room. She bolted away so fast that those who saw her running on the hallway couldn't believe that the person they saw was their famous nerdy.

Sofony was almost in tears as she continued listening to the report. Worries and insecurities were drowning her. And although she learned that Wendy was still unharmed, when she heard how her best friend stabbed one of the teachers, she unconsciously sped up her running due to the fear that washed over her. This was probably the very first time she hated why her cla.s.sroom was on the second floor and the Faculty Room on the adjacent building at the left of their Eleventh Grader Building.

'No, no. This can't be happening! I beg you, whoever you are, let me arrive there on time! Just don't let Wendy be taken away!' she anxiously and repeatedly prayed.

'DAAMNNNNNNN YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!' Sofony cursed out. Only she knew whether her anger was due to the system's taunts or Clarissa's blows.

Sofony's eyes were already red when she took the last turn. Her breathing was also increasingly growing heavy because she was sprinting at full speed. At the same time, her mind was working furiously, already planning what she should do in case she arrived at the worst time and ways imaginable.

'Just a bit more,' she encouraged herself. Sofony hated herself for not being fast enough to cross the remaining twenty-meter distance.

Sofony started to chant her calming mantras to mind. As she conditioned her mentality for the best plan she had managed to come up, she slowed down her pace. Her eyes busily scanned the place for loitering people, but her steps did not pause at all.

'....Deduct points from me all you want, just destroy any evidence or anything that will record what will happen from now on,' she decisively and coldly said after she withdrew an item from the inventory. If someone could look at her carefully, he would be amazed by how she managed to return her eyes to normal even though she was almost crying just a while ago.

She curtly replied. 'If it's someone, report to me the name, no matter who it is...'

After hearing the system's annoying way of agreeing, she took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and pushed open the door to the room where Clarissa's first crime against her took place.

...

Red. Sticky red.

That was the first thing that registered in her eyes the moment she regained clarity of mind which she felt like she had lost for a long period of time.

The stinky and unpleasant smell was the next thing that rushed into her brain. It was an odor similar to what always haunted her room whenever she clapped a mosquito to death. The scenario was almost the same, except on those times, the amount of blood on her hand was very negligible, something that could easily be wiped off the edge of her mattress. Especially since it came only from an unwelcomed, blood-sucking insect.

But what about today?

Why did she have so much on her hands? Did she kill so many mosquitos today? Or mistakenly wiped them on a pail of paint?

But the smell... It was not the addicting scent of paint or watercolor, but the repulsive scent of ...blood.

'...What the heck happened?'

Wendy furrowed her brows at the sharp headache that a.s.saulted her. Her eyes automatically closed, and a groan came out of her mouth.

"...Uuuhh..."

'Dammit. The heck? What's with this headache? Which devil or deity wants to kill me through a headache? Don't they know it's a sin to torture a beautiful G.o.ddess like me? Argh!'

"Y-you!!!"

A terrified shout awoke Wendy from her dazed state. She opened her eyes and followed the direction of the voice. And there she saw one of the teachers who was also Steffy's advisor, Mrs. Santiago. She was pointing a finger at her while mumbling incoherently with her trembling voice.

Actually, when she looked around, she saw that practically everyone's eyes were on her. And none of them bore the usual goodwill or gentleness that every teacher gives to an honor student. Instead, what she saw from the eyes that dared stared at her were fright, disbelief, panic... the kind of stares given to monsters or despicable beings.

'The question is... when did I become like that? Are they insulting this world's perception of beauty?'

"M-murderer!!!!!!"

"Hushhhh! Don't startle her! W-what if she starts chasing us with her knife!!!? You dumb woman!!!!"

"B-but I... M-make her go out then! Chase her away! I beg you! I'm begging all of you! Call the police! D-do anything to keep her away from us!"

She heard the faculty president trying to sound as convincing and calm as possible as he pacified the puzzling situation. "I already called them! L-let's just first barricade ourselves while waiting for the police! and don't get near her! She's insane! You don't know but people like her who lost touch of the reality is much much stronger than normal people so f-for safety's sake, don't get near her!"

'...Who are they talking about?'

Fear also started to make way into Wendy's heart since she heard them mentioned the keywords 'murderer', and 'lost touch of reality'.

'Aren't they talking about a madman? W-where? Who?'

She began to look around again. An expression of panic and vigilance on her face. She tried to get up and get ready to run away at any sign of danger. All she was thinking was to also get away from the 'madman' and join the teachers at the corner.

However, when she tried to stand up by grabbing onto the edge of a table for support, one of her knees collided with something protruding from the ground which caused her to fall down instead. She fell down face planted. But instead of falling to a hard and cold tiled floor, the surface where she fell to was not as smooth or even and was even sticky and wet.

The strong smell that a.s.saulted her nose made her think of a frightening possibility.

It was blood. Of a human. Of an unconscious and familiar man.

For quite a long while, Wendy's mind was blank. Her hands and whole body was subconsciously trembling. Cold sweat started to trickle down her back. and her breathing became labored.

"...D-did I...."

The girl could no longer inhale and exhale properly at the conclusions she arrived. She kept shaking her head. She then began letting out crying sounds as she backed away, inch by inch, from the fat blue-uniformed body lying not far from her.

"No...P-please, somebody tell me I-I'm not the one who d-did this...P-please..."

For a whole minute, she kept saying the same thing, repeating that same plea over and over again. Her sobs too kept getting louder as she repeatedly shook her head. Sometimes she would choke on her own cries. She kept backing away until she seemingly reached a dead end which was the wall near the door.

"...You..."

A male student's voice came from her right, to where the left door was. Like a frightened kitten, Wendy trembled and almost jumped from her position, her red watery eyes reflecting fear, denial, and insecurities when she slowly turned them to that direction.

The her who was supposed to be strong-headed stammered a reply, "I-I... didn't know! I-I can't r-remember! I swear, I...I...."

She was interrupted by the overlapping voices of the adults refuting her claim of innocence.

They all kept shouting that she was a madman, a monster, a murderer, a killer, an ingrate who stabbed her teacher to death.

All sorts of names and accusations had been thrown to her, and they were not giving her time to refute. As this pattern kept getting repeated, she became like a brainwashed child who was also starting to believe that she was what they were claiming. Because of this, she hugged her knees on that corner, cried, and trembled.

Her mind was a mess. And she was already starting to question herself 'Why did I do that?', instead of 'Did I really do that?' as she was really starting to believe that she really did.

After all, if she didn't, then why was there a bloodied knife and seemingly dead man next to her when she regained clarity? Her hands were dyed in blood too. And she was the only person nearby. Her situation was also completely like the 'lost touch of reality' situation the Faculty President had mentioned a while ago.

"S-someone, p-please save me!"

Unfortunately, even though she had persistently and whole-heartedly prayed, there was really no one who came forward to extend a helping hand. The teachers were still hurling insults and knife-life words to her currently fragile heart. And the boy at the doorway was only dumbly looking at her wretched state.

She felt like she was gradually sinking into an ice-cold lake and there was nothing to hold on to keep her head above water. The suffocating feeling was killing her.

And the suffocation could no longer grow worst when she saw that someone marching into the dead-silent room. The girl that came in had that familiar imposing and confident aura on her.

Someone who looked exactly like her.