SSHS 98 In the eyes of the students, it was the same old Monday. A normal day, the first Monday of the month of November, and another day for them to relish their memories about the successful Halloween Event brought to them by the Occult Club and with the collaboration of the Student Council, Drama Club, and the Photography Club. “Hey! I heard they are releasing the photos today!” Shouted one of the students across the hall. It is now lunch break and some of them are staying at the comfort of their classroom— savouring the warmth. Then there are those who are roaming the halls and exchanging conversations with the others, still in the comfort of the warmth that the buildings provide. But by hearing about the news, everyone went to their phone screen and reloaded their school email, waiting for that email from the Photography Club, for the most awaited pictures. Yes, four days have passed and they are only releasing the pictures today. But it was standard protocol. It was a manda
SSHS 99 They were trained to be stealthy, trained to finish their mission with minimal attention or to no attention at all. it was the very essence of being a spy to the ISO, to be discreet and unnoticed. However, there may be times that their missions require them to be noticed, require them to be seen by other people and to be acknowledged-- and by this, their remedy is to craft an entire new face as a disguise, to protect their identity. Well, that is if their audience is a huge crowd of people and that their mission involves their faces to be published on the tabloid and social media. The only difference for the rookie spies enrolled in La Florence Academy was that there is tight security when it comes to the identity and faces of their students. They do not let their student's faces to be published that easily, as much as possible, they do not want to expose their students to the outside world at all. Certain exceptions were there like: if the student is a celebrity, or if the
SSHS 100 From one table and to another, Hestia was finally questioning herself why she even went on with this idea of hers. It was getting annoying to her even though she just passed at least four tables in total. Turns out, hearing the same pleasantries, the same praises and the same fake smiles or whatever was boring as hell. ‘I would even wonder how these people get to endure such a thing.’ and by people she was talking about the other members of the Student Council and also the senior spies in which are assigned to missions that involve talking to people and revealing their faces to a huge crowd. If not for her being known to have an emotionless and stoic face, she would have been internally complaining due to a hurting face because of long periods of smiling. And for that she was thankful for. Though she would utter a few ‘thank yous’ and ‘it's no big deal’ and some occasional bowing of the head to show her gratitude to those who have praised her, she also was obligated to gi
SSHS 101 To Hestia, it was a complete rollercoaster inside her mind as she was being observant and taking notes of the five people they are told to watch and when she was not doing that and was on the nightmares of interacting with people, she again, questions this idea of hers and regretting it afterwards. And her mind was telling her that it needs to rest for a moment due to the situation Hestia placed it in, but Hestia knows she was capable of much more. ‘I was trained to do so.’ but deep down she just wants to retreat to her corner back at the stage and go on to ‘fix’ her watch again. And if it wasn’t that enough, all that time that she was with the Student Council and Dean Malcolm having a round at the tables, she was constantly receiving messages from the others who were just watching on the side of the whole event. Telling her that her move was dangerous and insubordiantion, that it was not part of their orders and that she could get the mission in jeopardy— the messages ar
SSHS 102 The cogs in her mind started to turn again, but this time, in a fast manner that even her mouth cannot follow through. Even her fingers stopped from ‘fixing’ her watch as she stared in the open. The table rounds are over and they are back to their place in one of the corners at the stage. Her other co- members were busy doing their own thing: Damian reviewing some papers given to him by Dean Malcolm before he left, Excami was busy playing on her phone and Arthur seemed to be chatting with someone as he was typing and smiling constantly with every notification from his phone. And even if she were to stare at the void and open place without even moving for a very long time, it would seem normal to her co- members. They have seen her do that many of times and they are used to it at this point. Her physical body was like in frozen ice, unmoving and cold, but not dead. She was so still that she would pass as a statue. And yet, the insides of her mind was moving at a fast pace,
SSHS 103 Once they are handed with the information collected, they immediately went and investigated the people in concern. Aside from digging and sifting through their files at the school system, it was also an assigned task to know their personal lives and also to know if they have any other connections. It was an intensive investigation and all efforts were poured in by the agents assigned at the mission on hand. However, even if Hestia has contributed a lot to the progress they are in, she still received a scolding from Mr. Ben himself. And it was not pleasant at all. “Isn’t it my direct orders to not engage with the people in concern at all costs? Agent H, I knew you were better than this. You were the top of this batch? What happened?” Mr. Ben looked at Hestia with a disappointed gaze, sure, he was glad that she could provide added information, but he was also upset that she did not follow his orders. “This is insubordination, Agent H. Please give me a good reason why you di
SSHS 104 The hallways of all the buildings were busier than ever. Students are running back and forth, entering different classrooms in a panic and searching for different people all at once. There are those who are hurrying to get to one of the library rooms in the library building, hurrying to get themselves a reservation to one of the private rooms that the library also provides for the students. Everyone was thrown into a haze of panic and fast paced steps as they tried so hard to get a copy of some notes, to group up with their friends for a group study and review because apparently, the third week of November means that they have to take a mid- quarter exam. And to them, it is something that needs a lot of focus, attention and reviewing to do. The only good thing is that P. E. does not include any written exam and that it only performs a physical one in which is the easiest one to pass among all the subjects they have. After all, it is a big deal for the students of La Flore
SSHS 105 As the students were busy with their exams, the undercover spies inside the school— who were not students— were also busy with their own study. As of the moment, most of them are busy tailing a person out of the five they have suspected. Meanwhile, some of them were also busy reviewing the information provided by Dean Malcolm himself about the five people in concern. Before even Mr. Ben was to ask help from the Dean, Dean Malcolm already had the resolve to help the undercover spies into bringing to light whoever was the person that let the intruder in and endangered the lives of his students. Dean Malcolm had already given access to the spies to the vault that was hidden in his office. Of course, the access was limited: the spies that can view the files are limited, as well the files that they can view. “I am only giving access to two of the ISO spies, and no more.” He said on the phone call with Mr. Ben, as the latter called him late in the night for the request of acces