the end of november brought a flurry of excitement to the academy, as preparations for the annual school festival were in full swing. students raced through hallways, arms laden with decorations, props, and supplies. the chill of december loomed in the air, prompting everyone to prepare warm, festive themes for their booths and events. the center part of the academy was in chaos, with people not yet done with their preparation.

    the night before the festival was hectic, with all classes urged to participate in many booths and events. apollo''s class was also included in this chaos and saw, like a raging battlefield, shouts and screams can be heard from afar as the students rush to finish making their booth.

    apollo, however, stood in the middle of the chaos, looking utterly lost. his classmates had been shouting instructions at him even when morning already arrived, but his thoughts flew here and there, and wasn''t able to remember what booth he and his class had submitted the entire month they had a meeting about it, its because whenever they do his thoughts would go to nero, so with confusion, he ends up being caught up to a series of orders he needs to obey.

    "apollo!" one of his classmates, alya, snapped, waving a clipboard in his face. "did you even hear what i said? we need those paints, garlands, and the mannequin from the art room!"

    "oh! right sorry let me put these boxes down first"

    the festival hadn''t started yet, and he was already tired from walking back and forth.

    "apollo!"

    "right! paints, garlands, mannequins... got it!" apollo said with a sheepish grin, though he had been questioning why they needed a mannequin.

    as the morning went on and replaced the night, apollo found himself running back and forth, carrying boxes of supplies, fetching tools, and even holding up decorations while his classmates worked. he still had no idea what their booth was supposed to be even with the running he had done.

    when the setup was finally complete, apollo stepped back and stared in awe. their booth was a cozy winter wonderland, adorned with sparkling lights, frosty garlands, and snowflake motifs. a small stall offered warm drinks, while a central display featured a life-sized snow globe with a magical, swirling winter scene. there are also some cold chilling drinks accompanied by pastries that were set to accommodate different tastes.

    "so...this is what we''ve been working on?" apollo muttered, scratching his head.

    alya rolled her eyes a bit amused at his reaction. "yes, genius. it''s called winter harmony. it''s supposed to evoke the warmth of winter and the joy of the holidays."

    "it looks amazing," apollo admitted.

    "well, it''s better, considering how much we yelled at you," matilda quipped before returning to her tasks.

    then, more of their classmates had just woken up from their sleep; the thing was to finish the booth. those who don''t have any events scheduled in the morning will not sleep and finish the booth through the night.

    once morning arrives, a rotation will happen, and the ones who don''t get any sleep will sleep. the one who has the afternoon event schedule will be stationed at the booth until their scheduled event comes.

    the setup goes like this

    morning - students who have a schedule

    apollo felt an unexplained excitement run down his spine as the cloaked figure''s eyes seemed to linger on him for a moment.

    "ah, just now did he just stare at me"

    [you are not planning on targeting them, right?]

    "i was ordered to investigate them so why not"

    [you were ordered to investigate the upper-year student,, not the student council]

    "it''s just the same"

    a sigh can be heard deep within apollo''s consciousness and the boy knew it was jeremiah feeling defeated from his reasoning.

    "jeremiah, we must look into them. after all, who else can tell us what is happening at this place besides them. they could probably give us a bit of information"

    jeremiah couldn''t help but agree; indeed, since he never cared about the affairs going on inside the academy, he didn''t know what he should look into. instead of starting from scratch, he might as well start talking with the people who knew about the academy more.

    once the speeches ended, the festival truly began. students rotated between running booths and participating in events. apollo''s classmates were enthusiastic, splitting their time to ensure everything ran smoothly.

    matilda and alya headed back to the dorms with apollo since they planned to rest for their event in the evening.

    the ones who will man the booth are mceknzie, blair, vesta, and braiden.

    while the others were manning their booth, a group of mages from the tower arrived. they were their guardians assigned to protect them back when the monastery was still aiming at their class, as none of apollo''s classmates had remaining families to rely on.

    the tower mages excitedly ordered drinks in the booth; in a matter of seconds, the booth that barely had people was suddenly filled to the brim.

    as the day progressed, whispers about the previous first-year class began to surface. the sun had already set, and the night slowly crept in as alicia shared what she''d heard with apollo and a few others.

    "they say the seniors who were in our position were forced to leave because of pressure from the other classes," alicia said. "apparently, there was some kind of incident that made their class a target."

    apollo frowned as soon as he arrived and said. "what kind of incident?"

    "no one knows for sure, but some say it had to do with a bet," alicia replied, her voice heavy with unease.

    apollo felt complicated and knew his classmates were now on the move to find out what happened during the last school year. however, he wasn''t sure if what they will know will help them in the future