The next day, Kai visited Ryu.
Knock! Knock!
When Ryu opened up, he was surprised. He hugged Kai and said, "I was beginning to get worried."
Kai sighed, "Yeah, Fred insisted we fully recover first before resuming."
He turned and left. "Let me go say hi to Nathan, he must be worried sick about me."
Lila and Kai went to Nathan's dormitory. As they knocked, Nathan first peeped to see who was knocking. When he saw them, he felt relieved.
He opened up and hugged them tightly. Kai struggled, and Nathan sniffed, "I've missed you guys so much; you have no idea."
Kai released himself and Lila from the hug. They wanted to leave, but Nathan drew them into his room. "Okay, look, no more vigilante stuff; we suck at it. We almost lost our lives."
"No more jumping before orders and no more fighting with authorities. We stick to plan and listen to instructions, got it?!"
Kai scratched his head. "Look, I know all this is overwhelming to you and you probably want to quit hanging out with us, but we protect lives, Nathan."
Nathan nodded. "Yes, I did want to quit, but you guys left me no choice. Zack told me that the authorities already have our faces and are on the lookout for us."
Lila held her grin. "Zack huh, he's helping us?"
Nathan continued, "Yeah, for now. I think we can trust him. He's going to find a way to get hold of the authorities' file."
---
Later that afternoon...
Stacy and her friends were hanging out when she received a message from Zack. She held the phone.
"Hey, do you have time to meet up?"
But before she could reply, her friends held her phone and laughed. "No boys in summer camp, remember?"
She sighed and smiled. "Right."
Zack saw a reply.
"Sorry, I'm busy."
He sighed and left.
---
Aehr
"Good afternoon, Nerya. Need me for anything?" Camila stood.
Nerya folded her arms. "How's the Stonebrook case going?"
Camila smiled. "Great, I should have gathered some few evidences by next week."
Nerya frowned. "Next week? That is much longer than we were expecting."
"Tell me, Camila, you're not slacking, are you?"
Camila, in shock, "No... not at all. Principal Bradford's crimes run deep in that school. I want to gather enough believable evidence first."
Nerya, unwavering, replied, "Camila, you recently got promoted here. You're still new, and we expected a lot from you; simply waiting till you gather 'believable evidence' is not enough. You must also be fast."
Camila remained speechless.
Nerya continued, "We have high hopes for you. Please don't disappoint us."
Camila bowed. "I understand."
She closed the door and left, then thought to herself,
"I'm working on multiple cases and still trying to protect Ryu and the others, and they still feel I'm slacking."
Zack was typing on his computer as he overheard some staff murmuring, "With VIREX on the loose, the people are losing faith in AEHR."
Zack only thought,
"Of course they are, you guys' organization is working with them."
Camila held Zack on his shoulder. Zack, in fear, turned.
"Oh, it's you. How do you sneak up on me like that?"
Camila: "I didn't think you would give into the gossips."
Zack sighed. "It's kinda hard to ignore when you know it's the truth."
Camila pointed at his system. "What department do we work in? Anti-corruption. So that gossip is none of our business."
"It's best you don't allow that nonsense to get into your head."
She walked away. Zack held his grin and thought,
"She's never like this, so angry."
He held her hand.
"Camila, is everything okay?"
She turned. "Yeah, just work pushing me to provide results for the case I'm working on."
Zack smiled. "Well, I'm always here to help. How can I be of assistance?"
Camila quickly brought out her system and said, "If you say so, help me print out these files and access them. Then here is the stapler; you can attach them correctly."
---
Later that evening...
Camila yawned. "Man, for your age, you surprise me."
Zack smiled. "What's that?"
Camila drank her coffee. "I mean, every teen's dream is to get home after work, but you, you like work."
Zack smiled and glanced at the files. He saw Principal Bradford and thought to himself,
"Why is Camila so bent on removing our principal from the school?"
Zack finally spoke up, "I don't understand why you feel Bradford is a part of this VIREX charade."
Camila sighed. "Hmm."
Zack continued, "Don't get this wrong, I know you want justice and you also want to prove yourself to the boss. But if you really want justice, shouldn't VIREX be your target?"
Camila replied, "I know, but unfortunately the anti-corruption department has no access to VIREX files. And your principal isn't faultless. Alright, let's go home."
Zack still thought,
"VIREX wouldn't have been this covered if the people working here knew AEHR was also in on it."
---
Later that night...
Jin pulled off his glasses and stared at his system.
"Mind Cultivation: The Psychic Path."
Jin wrote all about the authorities' mischievous acts with James, the detectives, and VIREX, along with the killing of Mei.
He sighed and clicked publish.
---
Stonebrook Boys Dormitory
Kai was in his room when he saw Mei. As he ran towards her, she burst into light particles.
Kai screamed as he woke up, his breathing ragged as he drank water.
He went to the toilet and washed his face, staring at the mirror.
"It's been five months since you died."
"Tomorrow is going to make it the sixth."
"Truly, a lot has changed since you left."