HIBARA ALMOST TWO WEEKS had passed since I heard from Mom. Uncle Noah was a good man. He did not deserve to die this early. Yet, for some reason, the Major was able to solve the case by himself. He’s improving, isn’t he? But I also heard that he almost killed his father’s murderer—which is a BIG FAT NO. That’s just plain stupid. Even the group of detective wannabes will not resort to that action. “Are you not worried about him?” asked Toto as he came out of the Faculty Room. “We haven’t seen him for ten days!” I stood up from the wooden bench in the hallway and answered, “He’s gonna be fine. I don’t need to worry.” “Why don’t we pay him a visit?” I chuckled. “Don’t be preposterous. He’s not a patient.” “What if he’s quitting the team because of that instance…?” “The culprit did not die in his hands and is very much still alive, okay?” I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. “What’s his problem, anyway?” “Hibara, maybe because of that, he feels he doesn’t deserve the spot in this
TOTO LEI “Toto Lei Chavez, you are in charge of evacuating all living persons. I and the CAT Officers will be in charge of handling the bombs. Do you understand?” “Tsk. Toto, do you understand how important your task is? Do you understand the graveness of this mission?” “You can do this. I believe in you.” HIBARA’S VOICE ECHOED in my ears as I ran downstairs, back to the Faculty Room. “Emergency, emergency! Please gather your students and leave the premises. AMU is under a bomb threat!” “Toto, are you being serious?” asked our Class Adviser and Math teacher. “Yes, Mrs. Bonifacio.” What should I add to make them believe me? I whisper-shouted, “This is serious; it’s Hibara’s case!” It seems like I’ve said the magic word, that Mrs. Bonifacio immediately announced that the threat wasn’t a prank. Whew! That was easy. I WENT NEXT to the HSSC Office in the Senior High Building. “Mr. President?” I called as I knocked. “Yes? Come in,” he replied from behind the door. The Grade 12 st
LUKE MATTHEW “Luke! Luke Matthew! Open this damn door! Luke Matthew Vargas!” TOTO HAS BEEN banging on my bedroom door and shouting my name for a few minutes now, and I still refuse to come out by remaining silent and pretending I wasn’t here. I heard Nomy tell him earlier that I don’t want to talk to anyone as of now, but he insisted on staying until I get tired and finally meet him. A detective team— who am I kidding? That’s a ridiculous proposition! There is only one true Detective among us and that is Hibara. Neither Toto nor I deserve a spot to stand beside her and serve in the name of justice, much less I who almost killed a family member. “Dang it, Luke!” he exclaimed angrily and then kicked the door. “Stop acting like some petty Young Mistress who’s having tantrums! I’m getting tired here! Just come out!” “Who are you calling ‘Young Mistress’?” Wow. He got me there. “My God, you finally spoke!” He exhaled a satisfied sigh. “Do you have any idea what’s going on right now?”
LUKE MATTHEW “By the way,” SIR ACOSTA PLACED a hand on my shoulder, causing me to jerk back to reality; “you were absent for two Saturdays. You aren’t the type of Officer to forget the day of our weekly formation.” I stilled. How am I supposed to explain that my first absence was because of The Mystery of the Five Orange Phones and the second was because I locked myself up in my bedroom? “There were things that a Salcedo has to do that are completely unrelated to his Vargas matters,” Toto chimed in and then winked at me. Am I supposed to thank you? That didn’t sound like a rescue! “Ah, that’s right.” Sir Acosta grinned. “My Adjutant is the Young Master Samael.” Hearing that name was not quite surprising. It’s impossible for the news from that night to not reach everyone. And, based on the situation right now, it’s also impossible for the students of AMU to not recognize me as that person. My peaceful Junior High School as Luke Matthew Vargas might have just ended. But what is th
JACOB “Your order of today’s Ammunition is outside, President.” ALISZIA TUAZON THREW the school paper accurately on the tablespace in front of me. Her black kinky hair was in a bun secured with a pink beaded hair tie. She had her DSLR in her hand and not hung around her neck. Judging by her aura this morning, the Club Secretary’s brought no good news. “What is it?” I asked while flipping through the pages of the Ammunition from the back. “We've had no clients for the past four days, thus, leaving our social media page inactive. Our followers are waiting for our newest post but we have nothing to give them,” Zia replied frustratingly just as I read the first paragraph of today’s headline. 【TFC Outsold! An Unnamed JHS Trio Grabs the Limelight. The popularity of the new detective group gets a boost in line with the bombing event of Albertus Magnus University three weeks ago. Comprised of three Grade 10-I students: Hibara W.C., Luke Matthew Vargas, and Toto Lei Chavez, this Junior Hig
JACOB AFTER FOUR DAYS of silence, we finally got a client. But the thing is— he’s dead. Counting five minutes on my wristwatch to elapse, I signaled to these two girls that we were safe to leave the table. “Stay right here. Only I will approach the victim for now, in case there’s another fire. Contact Chief Velasquez,” I ordered. I slipped on my gloves and crouched in front of the dead client. I did a thorough body search and made an inspection to see if there were any irregularities on his skin. Strange… Where is that thing? Lastly, I lifted his head and checked the bullet wound behind. This is—without a doubt—made by a sniper rifle! “.338 Lapua Magnum cartridge; shot around a one-kilometer radius.” “Zia!” I shouted in surprise, dropping the poor guy’s head on the floor. “Tsk. I told you to stay back!” However, she ignored me and continued talking while capturing pictures on her DSLR. “A sniper rifle developed by ORSIS in Russia back in 2018, T-5000 has a five-round detacha
JACOB “G-Guys… Bright Light… is online.” I GOT UP from Red’s chair in alarm and rushed to Team MM’s space. “WHAT?!” The Club President just said that Bright Light is Luciano’s gamer name! How could he be online when he’s lying dead in our clubroom’s doorway with Chief Velasquez? The gamer with a red forehead band pointed at his monitor with shaking hands. “He’s online!” “That can’t be! He’s dead!” I exclaimed but when my gaze landed on where he was pointing at, I found Bright Light on the list of online players. “He’s online in Mobile Legends, too!” announced Suzy, holding up her smartphone with a controller attached. “He’s online also in Valorant,” said Red, staring at his monitor. “Call of Duty, online!” added another Team BB gamer wearing a green forehead band. “Clash of Clans!” added another one from Team HS who also held up his smartphone. “This is…! Someone hacked his account!” I exclaimed. Then, I turned to the two and spoke in a low voice, “There is no doubt that our
JACOB THE SNIPER RIFLE Murder Case and the Gaming Account Hacking Case— two cases brought to us by a dead client will surely blast our ‘inactive’ social media page. “Chief, could you please hand over my laptop?” Zia asked Chief Velasquez. After deciding that we solve the murder case first, my Secretary volunteered to solve the hacking case while the VP and I will visit the three suspects in their respective schools. Since our clubroom happened to be a crime scene, we can’t come and go as we wish, especially with those yellow police tapes around. “Where are you three off to now?” he asked as he gave Zia her laptop. Tere answered, “President and I will interrogate our suspects while she stays here to solve another case.” The Campus Police Head sighs and places a hand on his forehead. “I really don’t understand why these things happen here while the other Campus Police tell us that they don’t do much on duty.” “Cases happen every single day, Chief. It’s just that they don’t notice