I was still on the stage, staring at him through my tears. Then our eyes met. He motioned for me to come over.
"Hey, new guy. Your name's Marvens, right?" the boy asked.
"Uh... Yeah, that's right," I said, wiping my tears.
"Alright, stop crying already. Your friend's alive, isn't she? I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want to see you like this," he said.
"You're right..." I replied, calming down.
He was right. Knowing her, she'd be making fun of me by now, but since she was still in the box and knew it wasn't time to come out, she wouldn't.
"But anyway, let me introduce myself. I'm Juan. I'm in 11th grade at Komona High. Hope we can be friends!" he said with a smile.
He reached out for a handshake.
He was really kind. Even in that short exchange, I could tell that he and I would become great friends.
So I shook his hand and introduced myself too.
"I'm Marvens. I'm also in 11th gra at Komona High. I hope we can be friends too!" I said with a big smile.
"Marvens!" shouted Komi as she came running toward me. "I'm so happy Katia didn't get executed!"
Juan had already figured out that Katia was the name of the Spirit. I didn't even need to explain it.
Komi's eyes were puffy too, though she'd managed to dry her tears before me.
"Me too! And it's all thanks to Juan!" I said with a big grin, giving him a playful bump on the shoulder.
"Wait, Juan? I thought you hated Spirits?" Komi asked.
"You're right. But what I hate even more than Spirits... is injustice," he said.
"You know, Komi, my power lets me know everything—whether it's general knowledge, talking to nature, thunder, or even what living beings are thinking. So thanks to that, I could tell he wasn't lying and that he was truly sincere when he said that Spirit was his friend and hadn't attacked him. That's why I decided to spare her," Juan explained.
"Huh. I didn't know you could be so nice," Komi said in a smug tone.
"Hey! I do have a heart, you know!" Juan replied, a little annoyed.
"Don't start fighting, guys. What matters is that Katia's safe!" I said, full of enthusiasm, with a big smile.
I was genuinely happy. I'd just made a new friend, and on top of that, Katia had survived.
"You're right!" said both Komi and Juan, smiling.
"Let's celebrate in my room!" I said.
"Alright!" said Juan.
"Well, I guess I've got time to join you," Komi said with an air of superiority.
"Oh, come on, don't act like you're all busy. You've been complaining for weeks that you have nothing to do," Juan teased, laughing.
"Hey! Don't start! He wasn't supposed to know that!" Komi shouted at him.
Right then, I realized those two loved teasing each other. I was glad they got along.
Then we got to my hallway.
"Hey, that's funny. Looks like we're all in the same hallway," Juan whispered.
"Wait, really? You're in this hallway too?" I asked, lowering my voice.
"Actually, Juan's to your left," said Komi.
"No way? Juan's to my left? Juan's to my left..." I repeated, giving him a suspicious look.
"Wait, so you were the one talking late into the night yesterday!" said Juan.
I was hoping he'd forgotten, but by the look on his face, he clearly hadn't.
"It's not what you think, I swear!" I said.
"What are you two talking about? I don't remember hearing Marvens say anything," said Komi.
"That's normal. You fall asleep in like thirty seconds after hitting the bed," Juan replied.
"Now that I think about it... I might've heard you snoring a bit," I said, thinking aloud.
"Ugh, that's not important. But I do want to know what Marvens was talking about last night," said Komi.
"Uh, it's nothing important," I said, my face turning bright red.
"Yeah, totally not important!" said Juan, blushing just as much.
"Well, here we are—my room!" I said proudly.
"...It's a mess," Juan said, looking disappointed.
"Looks like a Spirit went on a rampage in here," Komi added, just as unimpressed.
They weren't wrong. After my little fight with Katia, I think she decided to trash the room while I was sleeping.
"Well... that's basically what happened," I said, a bit embarrassed.
"Well, that explains it," said Komi.
"I wanna see your Spirit friend!" said Juan, clearly excited.
"Only if you help me clean up first," I said awkwardly.
"Well, I'm out. I've already seen her, so there's no point for me. Call me when you're done," said Komi.
"You've seen her already?" Juan asked, a little confused.
"Well yeah, I was there," she replied.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Juan asked me.
"I didn't want people judging Komi in case Katia ended up getting executed," I said.
"Yeah, you're right. That wouldn't have helped her reputation," said Juan.
"But come on, Komi, we could really use your help," I said.
"No way! Not happening!" she replied.
"Please, please, pleaaaase," I begged with the cutest face I could make.
"Fine... but only because you look so pathetic," she said, blushing.
"Wow, Komi, you're really blushing hard!" said Juan.
"Don't start, slug-face!" she snapped.
Juan laughed without arguing back.
"Hey, what if we all had lunch together at school tomorrow? That'd be awesome, right?" I asked them.
"You're right, but we need the Master's permission to hang out at school," said Juan.
"Don't worry. I have a feeling he'll say yes," I said confidently.
"Alright, we'll try tomorrow at lunch. But if anything goes wrong, it's all on you," said Juan.
"I agree with him," said Komi.
We cleaned my room for about fifteen minutes. Then it was time for dinner.
"Alright, before we eat, show me Katia. I really want to meet her!" said Juan.
"Alright, alright," I said.
"Katia, you can come out of the box," I said.
Nothing happened. Katia didn't answer.
"Katia? Katia, come out of the box!" I said again.
"Is she... asleep?" asked Juan.
"Spirits don't sleep," said Komi.
Which only left one possibility: Katia had escaped. And that wasn't even the worst part. If I remembered correctly, she could kill someone weak just by telling them to die. Especially at this hour—there were still lots of people walking around the building. Which meant, for now, Katia was a potential threat.
"Katia's escaped. We need to find her before she kills someone," I said in a whisper, so no one else would hear.