It was a beautiful, bright summers day, the city outside was bustling, and Leon Chai was stuck in detention.
It wasn't even for anything major. Literally just some homework he forgot about. But 'disrespect the sacred institute of mathematics' once, and Mr. Shankly would send your ass to stay an extra hour. Well, he did the homework he was supposed to, and the accompanied worksheet about why he wouldn't forget his homework in the two months left before he graduated. He glanced around the room, seeing who else he was with. Some other names, most of which he didn't recognise. There was some guy at the back nobody really paid attention to. There was Alison, who once drew art of him and Elijah that had her landed in here before, so she was possibly a repeat. Elijah himself was still there, probably for something stupid like fighting in the halls or smoking. Same with Travis. Leon and Elijah's eyes met, and both clearly wished that didn't happen. And the worst part was his phone buzzing in his pocket. Nobody seemed to notice, but either Jay or his boss were repeatedly hitting his phone and asking where he was. And he couldn't leave for at least another thirty minutes.
Across from him was Ms. Collins. Young, new hire. He didn't have her for anything, but from what he heard she was relatively easy to get along with. And she was just looking at the screen of her laptop, uninterested. So Leon walked towards her with his completed work in hand, showing it to her alongside the texts about work.
"Go ahead." She whispered, to which Leon gave a thumbs up.
"Hey!" A guy yelled from behind him. "He gets to leave early?"
It was Allan. As greasy looking as he always was. Wearing his old grey hoodie. It was unknown if he had one grey hoodie he wore all the time, or multiple versions of the same grey hoodie. Today, it smelled like the former.
"Yeah, something came up with his parents." Ms. Collins replied, fanning her face with her hand.
"I thought his parents were dead." Allan replied.
"His caretakers. Sorry, Leon. I'm tired"
"I thought he lived alone?"
"Just go, I'll take care of this." Ms. Collins said. Leon nodded and walked out of the room, turning into a run when he was certain no authority figures were watching. He almost ran into a sharply dressed woman on his way out. As they passed, he felt some weird sensation over his body. It felt like some invisible liquid washed over him, but left him completely dry. But that aside, he finally reached the door.
And it wouldn't open.
As hard as he pushed, the door refused to open. When he adjusted his vision, he noticed the outside street looked…hazy? Okay, he knew he was tired, but this tired? Whatever, he probably had the money for a quick coffee before he got to work, he could deal with it then if he could just get this stupid door open.
A loud noise reverberated through his ears. It was low, droning. But it felt like it was playing inside Leon's skull, and the sensation made his ears feel like they were about to bleed at any moment. But as it continued, the noise began to get more coherent. Until words sounded like they were being formed. Until one clear voice was being beamed into him.
"Hello, students of Lion Public!" It rang out. "Today's challenge is quite simple. Nineteen of you are in this building. It opens up after the death of one person here. Should you awaken them, you may use your new abilities however you wish. Now then, let the games begin!"
Leon looked around. The sharp woman he passed looked at him, as confused as he was.
"Did you…hear that?" She asked.
"Something about someone here needing to die?" Leon replied.
The woman was about to say something else, but an uproar was heard from inside the detention room.
"Okay, everyone calm down!" Ms. Collins said from inside. "I'm sure this is some kind of prank or something. Actually, wait. Did one of you do it somehow? Don't tell me this is being recorded…"
"Move it!"
A thud was heard from inside and a short blonde guy rushed out of the room. He made his way to the door and pushed forward. He kept pushing, and the door continued to stand firm.
"Okay, what's going on?" He yelled, turning to Leon, who was quickly being joined by the other detention inmates.
"Is this some kind of prank? Was Ms. Collins right?" A girl behind Leon asked, glancing around at any potential culprits. She checked her phone in the hopes she could call someone outside to get her out. No signal.
"Who has the resources to set up a prank like this?" Elijah asked. By this point, the other people still in the building got up from the sports and drama clubs to join them around the door.
"Then what is it? Terrorists? Are we being hit by terrorists?"
"So wait. We all agree this is real, right?" One girl asked with her eyes widened, while slowly backing away from the others. "So if we want to get out of here…"
The realisation hit them.
"Guys, wait!" Ms. Collins said as she emerged from the room. "I'm certain if we all wait here, someone will notice we're stuck here and get us out."
The attempt at rationality didn't affect the students, who almost trampled her as they spread out through the building, trying not to get killed by whatever was coming next. She was knocked to the ground, leaving just her, the sharply dressed woman, and Leon in the hallway. Leon tried helping her up, and he noticed her outfit looked more…sparkly than it did a moment ago.
"Do teachers normally dress so…extravagantly?" The sharp woman asked.
When she stood up, she looked at her arm. It didn't feel heavy, but a set of jagged crystals made of a pure blue quickly covered it, stopping at her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, what's going on here?" Sharp woman asked, shifting her gaze between the crystal and the room around her.
A cough was heard from behind them. The three turned around, and behind them was a guy with a transparent hammer in his hand.
"Darren?" Ms. Collins asked.
"Sorry, Collins." He said, his skinny frame effortlessly hoisting the hammer over his head. "It says somebody has to die, and I'm not letting it be me."