For once, I woke up before Sym could start his usual morning racket.

I stared at the ceiling, mentally preparing for the day ahead. The simulation yesterday had been intense. Tammy’s ability was unsettling, Rue was getting even more analytical, and Sym—well, Sym was still Sym.

I sighed. Another day, another survival attempt.

Just as I was about to get up, my door swung open.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up! Time for breakfast!" Sym shouted, holding a cooking pot and a wooden spoon.

I shot up. "WHAT THE HELL, SYM?!"

"Pot and spoon?" He grinned like a madman and laughed. Napabusangot ako.

Rue, standing behind him, pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sym, if you don’t stop, I swear—"

Sym gasped dramatically. "Wow, you have no appreciation for my effort! I wake you up every day."

I grabbed a pillow and chucked it at his face. "Thank you!"

He dodged effortlessly. "That's reflex training! Use your power."

I groaned. "Whatever."

Breakfast was somehow even worse.

Sym took the last piece of spam from the serving tray, and before I could protest, he stuffed it into his mouth and grinned. "Hmm, delicious."

I narrowed my eyes. "Sym. Spit that out."

"Too late, Sue," he said dramatically, placing a hand over his stomach. "It is now a part of me."

"You've reached your limit with me. You're about to become a story for real." I muttered, stabbing my rice aggressively.

Selena sat down next to us, completely ignoring our chaos. "We have a new class today."

Rue looked up. "What?"

Selena smirked. "Covert Operations Training."

Sym froze, then slowly turned to her. "Is that so? That means... SPY TRAINING?!"

She nodded. "Espionage, stealth, deception, and infiltration. It’s one of the harder classes."

Sym clapped his hands together. "YES! This is my chance to become the ultimate secret agent!"

Rue sighed. 

I shook my head. "Sym, if you were the spy, the enemy would know our mission before we even did it..."

"Hey, that's so unfair to me!" Sym clutched his chest. "Me? I'm super dangerous, you know!"

"Exactly." Selena said flatly. "You're a danger to your own teammates."

Sym gasped. "Et tu, Selena?!"

Selena ignored him. "Better eat fast. The instructor for this class doesn’t tolerate latecomers."

"Who’s the instructor?" I asked.

"Mrs. Vega," Selana answered, eyes sharp. "One of the strictest in the Academy. No excuses with them."

I groaned. "Great. Another person to make my life miserable."

Sym grinned. "Let’s go, team! Time to learn how to be invisible!"

Covert Operations Training was held in a dimly lit building, separate from the usual classrooms. As we entered, a tall woman in all black stood at the front of the room, arms crossed.

"Mrs. Vega," Selena greeted.

The instructor’s gaze swept over the room. "Welcome. Today, we begin your training in stealth and deception. If you think this will be easy, leave now."

Sym leaned over to whisper. "Gusto ko nang umalis."

Mrs. Vega’s sharp eyes locked onto him. "Something to say, Mr. Mendez?"

Sym stiffened. "Uh—nothing, ma’am."

"Good. Then we start with an exercise. Escape this room without being noticed. You have five minutes."

Sym grinned. "Easy. Watch this—"

He took one step forward and immediately triggered a laser sensor. A loud alarm blared.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Sym slowly backed up. "There, you’ve seen the wrong way to do it. That’s strategy."

Rue rubbed his temples. "This is going to be a long day."

After multiple failed attempts (mostly because of Sym), we eventually got the hang of moving unnoticed. Selena, unsurprisingly, was the best, disappearing like a ghost.

Mrs. Vega nodded approvingly at Rue’s precise movements and my ability to predict security patterns. Sym… well, at least he stopped setting off alarms.

Barely.

"Tomorrow," Mrs. Vega announced, "we’ll apply what you learned in a real scenario. Be prepared."

As we left the training area, Sym threw an arm around me and Rue. "We're going to be legendary spies!"

Selena scoffed. "Or liabilities."

I sighed. "At least we're still alive."

Rue smirked slightly. "For now."