Another week had passed, the person who claimed to know Tamaya’s real identity, struck again. This time, putting the post-it note in her locker. It read “Swimming Pool. 11pm.” She crumpled up the post-it note again and tossed it in her pocket. 

At 10pm, the seniors in charge of the dorms called lights off. Everyone’s room lights had to be off and they had to be asleep. Tamaya was wide awake in her bed. She watched her wrist watch till 19 minutes had passed. She then started to count down every second, until the minute hand shifted slightly to 20. 

“Now.” she cued in her head. At exactly this time, something would have gone off in the girls bathroom. A noise that would attract those patrolling on the floor to the source of the noise. It was made loud enough for those patrolling to hear, but soft enough for anyone inside their rooms to hear. 

This meant that Tamaya had no idea if it actually went off, it was just a matter of luck. Luck was on her side tonight, as she successfully snuck out. She creeped down the stairs and walked among the shadows, something she was skilled at. 

It wasn’t easy dodging all the seniors that were patrolling around the school. After 20 minutes or so, she managed to finally get to the school swimming pool. It was located on the far side of the campus and in daytime, it usually would have taken 10 minutes. 

She passed through the locker room quietly before reaching the main pool area. The moment she entered, a light switched on, instantly blinding her. She shielded her eyes with her palms before speaking out. 

“Always there to tick me off huh?” she said in an annoyed tone. 

“You know I enjoy competing with you.” taunted a familiar voice. 

“Besides, I couldn’t let you take all the credit. Medusa.” The person continued before walking into the path of the single beam of light. Tamaya lifted her palm from her face. And there he was, standing in full glory, Ares. Not the god of war, although if anyone knew his past they would think he was one. He was wearing a tank top that displayed all his tattoos.

He switched off the light and walked towards her holding a torchlight. She pulled out an identical torchlight from her pocket and switched it on. Ares stood a few feet away from her. He stared at her for a few seconds before stretching out his hands. She ran to him and gave him a tight hug. He hugged her tightly. 

After a minute, she pulled away from his hug, and he let her. He smiled, something he hadn’t done in a long time. Both of them decided to move to the locker room to talk. It was less riskier that way. Tamaya followed Ares to the men’s locker room. She leaned against a locker, watching him as he removed his tank top and applied cream to his upper body. 

“So tell me, why did you pick Kai?” she asked curiously. Ares/Kai chuckled at that question. 

“It’s not like I had a choice, they just randomly assigned the most stereotypical Chinese name to me.” 

Tamaya burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, give me a sec.” she said laughing. 

“I can’t believe they just gave you a Chinese name, when you’re in fact, half-Korean, half-Japanese. They completely missed out those two ethnicities.” He shrugged, before wearing his black full sleeves inner. 

He then wore his tank top on top. 

“So, you have to wear that everywhere.” she said motioning to his full sleeves inner. 

“Pretty much.” he replied. 

“According to my file, I did a heroic act of saving a kid from a burning building.” he said sarcastically. 

“So I technically get to use the special toilet.” He reasoned. The special toilet was reserved for people with any special needs or accommodations. It was a single bathroom equipped with a shower room and there was a door that would lock. Unlike all the other bathrooms that had no entry doors but a passageway. 

This toilet was located on the 1st floor near the main office. Only authorised people could use it and people had to sign in and out. This gave Kai the privacy he needed and it kept him from revealing his identity unintentionally. Afterall, anyone would be able to identify that he was part of the second chance programme just by looking at his arms. His whole body, from his arms down to his legs were covered in tattoos. 

They stayed there and chatted for a while longer, before parting. Kai waited for Tamaya to disappear up the staircase before going to his room. It was easy for the both of them to slip back into their room since the seniors ended their patrolling at one in the morning. 

In the morning, everyone in their year was subjected to run extra rounds in the morning. This is because someone had planted recording devices that played ‘Ra, Ra, Rusputin’ in both the mens and ladies bathroom at exactly 10:20 pm in the night. Tamaya couldn’t help smiling to herself, both Kai and herself had chosen the same method, let alone the same song to sneak out. 

The morning classes resumed as usual, Tamaya could feel herself slowly nodding off during her lectures. Kai on the other hand, was wide awake like an owl during night time. She glanced at him. 

“It looks like he still has insomnia.” she thought. Nothing changed about him in the two years that they were apart. 

During school hours, both of them pretended that they didn’t know each other. This was to make sure that both their identities were not revealed. They rarely also met up after that night. Kai stopped leaving post-it notes in her locker. Both of them knew it was for their own good. 

But they didn’t have to hide their friendship for long, because the next morning, all hell broke loose.