As we were walking toward the hallway leading to the gym, we spotted a purple-haired guy holding his phone at arm's length, clearly recording himself.
"What's up, guys! We're back with another video on this weird-ass school, Part Four! Apparently, we're meeting the other students now," he yelled into the camera, pacing like he was filming a documentary.
"Doing solo exploration in this weird school is insane content," the purple-haired guy added, clearly hyping himself up.
Is he... vlogging? I thought as he continued ranting about the school system like it had personally wronged him.
From the way he talked, it was pretty clear he was a student.
He finally noticed us when we got closer. His eyes widened for half a second—then he instantly switched into performance mode.
He ran a hand through his hair, struck a pose that absolutely did not help, and turned to the girls.
"Hey there, beauties. The name's Zane Bradford," he said smoothly. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ladies."
He ignored the rest of us like we were decorative furniture.
"Nice to meet you, Zane," Amber said, trying not to laugh.
The other two girls just stared at him.
"May I have the names of such fair maidens?" Zane asked, flashing what he clearly thought was a killer smile.
"WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SCARY MOVIE?"
The shout came from right behind him.
"AAH—!" Zane yelped, nearly dropping his phone as he spun around.
A girl with black hair with red crimson at the end grinned at him.
"HA! That face was priceless," she laughed. "Classic Scream. You walked right into it."
"You did that on purpose!" Zane snapped, clutching his chest.
"Obviously," she said smugly. Then her smile softened—just a little.
"Anyway, the leader said to come back to the gym. And to stop wandering around."
Zane's confidence collapsed instantly.
"F-fine. I'm coming," he muttered, shoulders slumping as he turned off the camera.
He walked off with her, keeping a suspicious amount of distance, like he was expecting another jump scare.
Those two must be in the same group, I thought. And apparently, their group already has a leader.
Judging by the looks on everyone's faces, the rest of us were thinking the same thing.
"Kids these days sure are lively," an old man said behind us.
We all jumped.
Judging by the cleaning tool in his hand and the way he was dressed, he seemed to be the janitor.
"Are you the kids who were late on the first day?" the old man asked calmly.
"Y-yes, sir!" Jax said, bowing deeply. "We promise we won't do it again!"
"You don't need to apologize to me, young man," the old man chuckled.
"I'm just the janitor for Elite Education. I'm the only cleaner here."
"No way—you clean this whole place by yourself?" Isabella asked, shocked.
"I do," he said proudly. "That's thanks to my past experience. Helped me land the job."
"We promise we'll clean up after ourselves, sir," Charlotte said confidently.
The old man laughed. "I just want you kids to have a nice future ahead of you. Anyways try not to be the last group to arrive at the gym, you should get going. They're probably already getting to know each other. The gym's a little farther down the hall."
"Thank you, sir!" everyone said together.
"No problem," the old man replied as he returned to his cleaning duties.
As we finally reached the gym doors, my stomach tightened. Through the walls, we could hear dozens of voices talking all at once.
It was the first time we'd be meeting everyone—and judging by the silence around me, I wasn't the only one feeling nervous.
I slowly pushed the door open.
And what I saw was only two groups