Sen Yukio kicked a stray pebble as he trudged up the front steps of Shady High, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets. Something felt…off. Normally, the school was loud by this time—students talking, lockers slamming, teachers yelling at people to get to class. But today?

Silence.

No voices. No footsteps. No announcements. Sen frowned. He looked left, then right. The place was completely empty.

“…Weird,” he muttered.

Then he grinned to himself.

“Oh. Everyone’s pretending to be sick today.”

Satisfied with this completely logical explanation, he kept walking like nothing was wrong.

1

Hakari Yun yawned as she walked through the school gates, rubbing her eyes. She had barely managed to roll out of bed on time, throwing on her track uniform and bolting out the door without thinking. So when she stepped into the school and saw no one, it took her a second to register. She blinked. Tilted her head. Looked around.

“…Did I forget a holiday?”

Shrugging, she wandered deeper into the halls.

2

Luke Choi noticed immediately that something was wrong. The parking lot was empty. No teachers, no students, no janitors. Just…nothing. A test, he decided. Some kind of dedication experiment. Maybe the school wanted to see who cared enough to show up. That had to be it. And then, when he walked in, he spotted two other students standing in the hallway. He groaned internally. They don’t know, either.

3

The three of them stared at each other.

Sen squinted. “Uh. Who are you guys?”

Hakari looked at him. “Who are you?”

Luke sighed, adjusting his bag. “That’s not important. We need to figure out what’s going on.”

They all looked around the empty hall.

Sen tilted his head. “Think it’s a prank?”

“Maybe?” Hakari considered it.

Luke rubbed his temples. “It’s not a prank.”

“Maybe everyone’s pretending to be sick.” Sen stated confidently.

“That’d be kinda funny.” Hakari giggled.

Luke looked like he wanted to disappear.

They started checking their phones, searching for an explanation. If something happened to the school, surely people would be talking about it online? Yet there was nothing about Shady High at all. No posts, no articles, and the school’s website had been taken down.

What they didn’t know was that the school itself was shut down. They had sent letters, but—Sen’s mom never checked the mailbox, Hakari’s parents mistook it for junk and threw it out, and Luke’s parents straight up ignored it.

The school was abandoned. But somehow, they were here.

“…Okay,” Sen muttered, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. “That’s awkward.”

They wandered the halls, unsure what to do. Their interactions were awkward at first. None of them knew each other’s names. Sen tried to fill the silence with random comments. Hakari didn’t seem bothered and just went along with whatever was happening. Luke kept his distance, watching the other two with mild skepticism. Then, they ended up somewhere none of them had really spent much time. The cafeteria. A poster caught their attention.

“Eat your lunch every day, get a free scholarship to Shady College!”

Hakari squinted at it. “That was a thing?”

Luke folded his arms. “It was too good to be true.”

“I remember trying it once. Hated it. No idea why.” Sen frowned.

Luke sighed. “I never trusted it. My brother and I packed our own lunches.”

“Hold on, you have a brother? Where is he?” Hakari looked around.

Luke shook his head, “He’s sick today.”

Hakari shrugged.

The conversation didn’t last long, but as they left the cafeteria, the silence felt heavier. They stopped in the rec room, throwing out theories.

Hakari stretched, then nudged an air hockey table. “Well, since we’re here… anyone wanna play?”

“No.” Luke scoffed.

Sen immediately grabbed a paddle. “Yes.”

Hakari grinned. “C’mon, dude. What else are you gonna do?”

“Something productive.” Luke was already looking around the room.

“Sounds boring.”

Sen was already setting up. “Coward.”

Luke sighed. Five minutes later, he was keeping score. The game turned into a ridiculous, overly dramatic battle, complete with unnecessary slow-motion reactions and fake victory speeches. At some point, Luke started paying attention. And, though he wouldn’t admit it, he didn’t hate it. For the first time since stepping into Shady High, it felt normal. Eventually, the day wound down. They packed up their things and left together. None of them had planned to return.

Yet, as they reached the gates, Sen casually said,

“See you tomorrow.”

And without really thinking about it…

No one disagreed.