Chapter 5

For the two people inside, the room is eerily quiet despite of the sounds that can be heard. The rustling of the leaves, the swooshing of papers and the way the pen glides on the papers. Even though the light shines from the window; for them, the room is dark. The tense atmosphere and glum aura that comes out of the two. You would think that these two are having a tragedy and yet their surroundings contrast their feelings.

This is how Hestia would describe the situation she is in. She immediately went home after her encounter with Arthur Beckett and after a week, she never saw him again. She tried to go home late hoping that she would bump into him again but it's no use. She didn't see even a shadow of him. And in that week, nothing abnormal occurred when she is observing Aaron or his surroundings. No strange movements or conversation and no wary people around him too. She felt like her effort of putting those things were for nothing.

Hestia gave a deep sigh and focused on her laptop. Right now, she is in the Student Council room alone with the President. When she entered the locker area, she's immediately dragged by him to the council room. She thought it must be an urgent meeting or something that needs her signature but she's wrong on both. Damian just said, "Sit in that sofa and stay, I might ask some advice from you so stay; and don't worry about the classes, I already gave all of your teachers an excuse letter." and proceeded to analyze and sign some papers. He would ask some questions from time to time but, that's all.

"Miss Leblanc, Can you please see this papers. It's the budget proposal of the Drama Club, can you tell me if I should approve it?" Damian said while handing her a couple of papers. This is how it works: he asks questions and advice, gives her some papers to review and she will tell him her opinion. Because it's just the beginning of the semester, clubs are submitting their lists of new members, agendas for this year and proposal of the budget needed for their agendas. Nonetheless, their budget proposals should be inspected thoroughly to avoid money laundering from the funds of the school. Yes, money laundering is real even in this school; what can you expect, most of them are children of politicians.

Of course, Hestia gave the president a very thorough opinion and advice about his query. She has a mission but that doesn't mean she can't help on preventing other wrong doings inside the school, she is the Vice President after all.

However, she's thankful to him because she can watch and listen to the bugs without classmates and teachers constantly bothering her. At the moment, she may look like doing some assignment or project or watching some videos, but actually she is reviewing the footages from her CCTVs; carefully reviewing every frame and examining each person's facial expression and bodily language. Studying what could be their body be conveying.

Damian was about to hand her another paper when a knock came from the doors, it was a hurried knock as if the person on the other side has an emergency. Damian retracted his hand and composed himself, while Hestia closed her laptop and stood beside the President. "Come in." Damian said and the door flung open and immediately closed. There in the door, leaned a nerdy male student with panting breathe, his legs wobbling and his eyes pacing left and right as if searching for something.

"Are you alright?" Hestia was the first one to break silence; recognizing the student, a bell rung in Hestia's mind. "Please, p–p–please h–help me president. H–Help me please." Said the student stuttering and shaking as he walk to the president's desk. Hestia, being the one whose standing, helped the pupil to sit down on one of the sofas while Damian sat opposite to him and tried his best to calm him down.

"Here, water, please calm yourself down," Hestia said as she handed a glass of water, showing her concern act as best as she can. In reality, she couldn't care less about this even if she is the Vice President, she has a mission to do. When the student finally calmed himself down, he put down the glass and whispered to Damian, "Um, and President? Can we talk privately please?" he said as he glanced at Hestia. She and Damian nodded to each other, her being the Vice President is a secret so it's only natural that the student will treat her as another. "Thank you for your help President." Hestia acted like she just received help from Damian and quickly left, it would be suspicious if she stayed longer.

When she closed the door, she remembered something very important. 'Oh no! No, no, no, no! I forgot about it!' she thought as she pulled her hair in frustration. She forgot that the Student Council room can also be a source of information for the victims of Aaron. They can go there if they ever needed help and she forgot about it, the most important thing in getting information without blowing her cover off: 'I forgot to place a bug!' she walked to the nearest comfort room with irritation planted on her face. Good thing, it's still class time so no one's in the halls. If they saw her, they would probably interrogate her, especially Excami who still bothers her whenever she had a chance.

Once she entered the comfort room, she calmed herself down and tried to analyze the situation. When the schoolboy entered, she thought she saw him somewhere and it rang a bell in her mind; she then tried to remember where and she thought of the footages. She finally recalled it, her eyes wide in recognition. 'Of course, he is one of those people that visit Aaron in his training! He delivers Aaron's food during breaks and quickly leaves!' she's about to put together some puzzle pieces when she stumbled upon an option: 'What if he is not one of Aaron's victim in blackmailing, but someone who is bullied by him?'

Hestia contemplated in this problem again and again because it prevent her from completing the puzzle and moving one step further on her mission. 'If he is really bullied it's still a problem but it's not connected to my mission. To someone nerdy like him, bullying is intimidating enough to make him submit to his shadow and it requires no extorting; therefore making him an irrelevant lead. But if ever he has some courage inside him, then some threat might enter the picture; therefore making him a possible lead to the downfall of the target.' Hestia meditated between those two possibilities back and forth until her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She picked it up and read Damian's name as the caller. She didn't bother to answer, she already know what it means. Before leaving the place, she first glanced from left to right if there is anyone around; when she confirmed that the coast is clear she hurried back to the council room and saw Damian sitting back on his desk signing papers. She sat in front of her laptop and looked at the footages again, this time, focusing on that boy's body language. She was about to ask Damian on what they talked about but got cut off by him.

"It was Marco. One of the nerdy yet very intelligent student here in school. He said he wanted to report a bullying incident about a friend, but I doubt that it's a bullying incident about him and not a friend. I suggested that he gather evidences of the bullying and pass it on me so we could file a proper case. After that h said thank you and left." Damian explained without taking a breath. "Oh, is that so... is there anything I can do to help?" she asked after hearing the story, but in actuality she's disappointed that Marco is not the lead she is looking for. 'So he's out of the puzzle huh.' she thought while closing the windows on the video footages.

"But, I found it strange." Damian said and scratched his chin. Hestia was interrupted at what the president said. Turned her head and asked, "What is it President?"

"I know that some people have this tapping habits when doing something but, I find his tapping habit strange." Damian continued as Hestia listened. "You see, other people do it like this: tap, tap, tap; but him, he do it like this: tap... tap, tap, tap. Tap, tap... tap, tap. Tap, tap... Tap... tap, tap... tap. Tap... tap, tap..." Damian mimicked what Marco did and Hestia's eyes widened as she identified the tapping sequence. 'It's Morse code.'

"President, can you still remember how he tapped until the end of your conversation?" Hestia suddenly asked as she grabbed a pen and paper. Damian was taken aback by her actions but did it anyway. He mimicked Marco's taps.

-...     .-..   .-   -.-.   -.-   --   .-   ..   .-..

....   .   .-..   --.

.-   .-   .-.   ---   -.

Hestia decoded the message and was happy when she read it. 'So it wasn't all in vain after all. Nova effect can really be a pain to understand.' She smiled inwardly, ignoring the Presidents' question to her. "It's nothing Pres. I just thought that Marco might have a mental illness that is connected on his tapings. When you demonstrated it to me as I reviewed some notes that I have about psychology, I was relieved to find out that it might be just Marco's wierd habit and not a mental illness." She lied. She can't tell him what the code said, not when she found a lead; and this is her mission, it's better that no one interferes or gets involved.

However, Damian still had a doubt on what Hestia said but swiftly brushed it off and continued his work.

The next day, Hestia arrived at school extra early to prepare her plan. She prepared a looked like a confession note and slid it inside Marco's locker; if she made it look like some kind of 'I-want-to-meet-you-go-here' note– he might get scared and never go.

She waited near their meeting place before class and concealed herself. It's better to be discreet than not. She placed a microphone and listening bug at the meeting place and hid herself far enough so she can't be heard. When Marco arrived, she turned on the microphone and listening bug. "Hello Marco." A robotic voice said. Marco was terrified and searched from where the sound could come from.

"I have something to say."

Link about nova effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGVhOWqsBWM