I reached for my phone as my sixth alarm went off. Alarm six had the drowning theme from Tyrant Rangers VII X VI: Summons of Seas, and if I heard the drowning theme, the one that plays when your character has about three seconds to come up for air, that meant I had slept in. I groggily shut that off, scrolling through my feeds for a bit (which were mostly news updates about that hero guy Tokickaman). Zeta and Marmalade’s beds were already empty by the time I got up.

“Nobody wanted to wake me, huh?” I muttered to myself. My sleep wasn’t easily disturbed, so I guess I didn’t blame my roommates. Someone grunted as they shuffled out of the bathroom.

The golden morning light made Marms look like she was glowing, each stray uncombed strand of hair more noticeable.

“Mmmgh,” She sounded sleepier than me.

“Maybe you need a few more minutes,” I patted her shoulder as she plopped back into bed. “It’s just the talent show today, so I don’t think anyone will notice.”

“I’m up, I’m up,” Marmalade said as she nuzzled into her pillow. “Just…a few more minutes, yeah.”

“I’ll vouch for you if they take attendance,” I said.

Marmalade was already back asleep, so I went about my morning prep.

Zates was already at the auditorium when I got there. I finished off my breakfast bar before I sat down as another PSA from that company that made all the crappy ones played.

“While getting your Cani fangs in can cause changey changes for you, a void storm can cause changey changes in your whole world,” the narrator said.

“Why do they always say ‘changey changes’ in these?” Zeta whispered.

“Typically, our stable world and the void are separate, but during a void storm, the lines between there and here blur. This can result in various dangerous circumstances, from homebound Cani being flung outward, to outward beings being brought here. Typically, these events effect void born Cani the most…”

Blah, blah, blah. This was the talent show, wasn’t it? I knew a void storm was coming, but I didn’t know anyone that was void born. When that finally ended after a section with Thadley doing jumping jacks, things didn’t get immediately better, as Penteldtam took the stage, guitar in hand.

“Howdy hey, students! It’s your favorite principal!” Penteldtam said to a meager response. “Now, I know what you’re thinking. 'Wow, the handsome and intelligent Principal Penteldtam, holding the talent show during a void storm? That seems like a recipe for disaster.' And...sure, maybe! The walls of this school may be coated in substances that prevent big issues with this sort of thing, but we still must be ever vigilant and careful! Now, before we get to the students, I think you’d all like a fun little opener.” He held up his guitar.

“God,” I muttered as Penteldtam sat down on a lone chair in the center of the stage.

“Just a few songs,” He strummed a few out of tune notes. “Wait, gimme a sec. Hold on. Nope, that's not it..."

I looked around for any immediate reprieve from the latest Penteldtam attention grabbing measure. First on the agenda was Zeta, who was scratching her hands.

“Why do you have gloves on?” I asked. “You leaving?”

“It’s freaking cold in here!” Zeta snapped back. “Remember last time it was cold during that nutrition circus group and I was shivering? I came prepared this time.”

“Ah, right,” I said. Hm. Not a lot of material for follow-up jokes there that I haven't already used on Zates. Moving on.

Aira was seated directly in front of us, maybe she had something going on. Just as I leaned forward, I saw Syval walking down the aisles. I thought he was headed for my row and waved, but he didn’t even notice me, taking the spot to Aira’s left.

“Aira. Psst!”

Since when were Aira and Syval friends? I gave Zates a glance that I hope said as much and got a shrug back.

“I need you to do ‘that thing’ again,” Syval said.

“We’re not going all the way…that knocked me out for a whole week,” Aira said.

This sounded kinda spicy. I felt kinda bad eavesdropping, but the shocked reactions from Zeta were worth it. Girlie looked like she was overhearing top level government secrets.

“We don’t need to go too far,” Syval said. He leaned in and said something I could hear. Aira fidgeted in her seat a bit, then the two left.

“What the hell? Seriously?” I said.

I could have just let this be, but this felt like a great excuse to bail on what was sure to be an awful talent show.

“You wanna see what that’s about with me?” I asked.

“I’m staying out of it,” Zeta said, holding her hands up. “That sounded like…very private matters. And potentially drama. But…tell me what happens.”

“You got it,” I said.

It wasn’t hard sneaking out, any teacher that would have cared that was present was already nodding off at Penteldtam’s musical stylings. What was trickier was keeping up with Aira and Syval. With Aira’s teleporting Cani power, they could go wherever, and there were definitely some points on this chase that I was sure she used her powers. But she never used them to go far. I almost got caught more than once, as Syval and Aira both kept looking around every few steps.

I wasn’t sure what exactly I was going to do. If they really were about to do something spicy, it’d be kind of a major creep move to jump in, wouldn’t it? The runaway duo left into an empty classroom, the door of which didn’t shut all the way. Maybe if I ‘accidentally’ interrupted, I could figure out what was going on and not feel like a complete ass about it. Without debating it any further, I followed Aira and Syval, silently pushing the door open.

“Oops, sorry,” I said as the two whirled around. “I didn’t mean to…”

They weren’t getting up to anything romantic, but I was stunned into a deeper silence than I would have been if I walked in on them kissing.

Aira and Syval were still, petrified by my sudden arrival. We all just stared blankly at each other, because in Aira and Syval’s hands was the blue, tarp looking piece of fabric that was the costume of the hero ‘Tokickaman’ that had been all over the news.