Krishna, 2018

Izhan stood silently before Krishna's vault.

The words Krishna, 2018 echoed in her mind.

What kind of case would make him lock it away for years?

She rested a finger against her chin.

"I think I know... but I can't be sure unless I unlock it."

Her gaze drifted from the vault to a stack of files neatly arranged beside it. They were filled with newspaper clippings on education issues—teacher misconduct, school incidents, policy changes. Krishna had apparently kept them all.

One document stood out.

It wasn't a complaint file.

It was a court document.

Curiosity got the better of her.

She carefully lifted the first page.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SABAH AND SARAWAK

AT KOTA KINABALU

Civil Suit No.

BKI-101/2018

Filed:

29 October 2018. A High Court case...?

Before she could turn the page—

BEEP!

The printer suddenly came to life.

Izhan's eyes widened.

"Shoot."

She switched off the office lights and slipped beneath Krishna's desk just as footsteps echoed down the corridor.

The office door creaked open.

Iskandar stepped inside, scanning the dark room.

"Strange... Sir left two hours ago."

His eyes swept across the office, lingering only briefly on the locked vault before moving on. It clearly wasn't what he was looking for.

He stopped beside Krishna's desk.

Izhan held her breath.

The blinking printer continued to flash.

"Oh..."

He pressed the power button.

"It was just the printer. Sir must've forgotten to turn it off."

The room fell silent again.

Without another thought, Iskandar closed the door behind him and left.

Only after his footsteps disappeared did Izhan finally let out the breath she had been holding.

The front counter was unusually peaceful.

Siti quietly stapled a stack of substitute teacher forms, enjoying the rare lull in the office.

It didn't last.

A tall, lanky figure approached the counter.

"Assalamualaikum. Is Rozman around?"

Siti looked up and immediately recognised him.

It was the principal of SMK Putra.

MEGAT, his name tag read.

Around Kota Belud, however, most people knew him not as a principal, but as the district's legendary football captain.

"Waalaikumussalam, Cikgu Megat. Yes, he's here."

Siti picked up the office phone.

"Tuan Rozman, someone's looking for you."

Moments later, Rozman emerged from the office. The moment he saw the visitor, a grin spread across his face.

"Yo! Captain 17."

Rozman lifted his birthmarked left arm and beckoned Megat toward his office.

"Come in. It's been a while."

To Megat, it felt like nothing more than a reunion between former squad members.

He had no idea that someone else inside the room would leave him even more surprised.

Izhan sat at her workstation, crunching on potato chips from the pantry while filling in rows of an Excel spreadsheet.

"It has been a long time..."

She stopped typing.

That voice...

She looked up, and her face instantly brightened.

"Cikgu Megat!"

"What are you doing at PPDKB? I thought you were a junior officer."

Megat glanced between Izhan and the office around her, clearly confused.

Izhan opened her mouth to explain.

But Rozman answered first.

"She’s my mentee."

"What brings you here, Cikgu?"

Rozman looked at his old friend.

"Well... it was because of a complaint."

Izhan tilted her head.

"You could've just called him, Cikgu."

Megat chuckled.

"Nah. I heard from Rozman that you were here."

He looked at Izhan with a smile.

"Besides, I took it as an opportunity to see my precious ex-student again."

Megat inserted his flash drive into Rozman's PC and opened the attendance records.

"Here is the attendance data for my teachers at SMK Putra."

The spreadsheet appeared on the screen.

Izhan leaned closer.

Her eyes scanned through the neatly arranged columns, formulas, and records. She was impressed by how organised everything was.

Rozman nodded in approval.

"SMK Putra is really ahead in terms of digitisation."

Megat smiled before scrolling down the list.

Then, he stopped.

His finger pointed at one name.

"Ruhinie."

Izhan and Rozman looked at the screen.

"Top CRK requester."

The previous evening, Izhan had watched the news announcing the dissolution of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.

On her way to work that morning, she noticed banners for political gatherings lining the roads. Among them, the GeOS coalition seemed to have the strongest presence.

She also recalled hearing that some civil servants were involved as party machinery during the election period.

Her gaze returned to the attendance records on Rozman's monitor.

CRK.

A thought crossed her mind.

What does annual leave have to do with attending political meetings?

Izhan shook her head, dismissing the thought before it turned into an assumption.

Instead, she looked at Megat.

"Cikgu, what are the criteria for applying for CRK?"

Megat leaned against Rozman's desk.

"It isn't meant for just any reason," he explained. "Usually it's for urgent personal matters—visiting a critically ill family member, accompanying a family member for medical treatment, attending religious ceremonies, emergencies like floods or fires, convocation, registering a child for school or university, orientation programmes, or your own wedding or your child's."

He paused.

"Of course, every application still has to be supported by a reasonable justification and approved by the head of department."

The room fell silent.

Izhan's eyes returned to the spreadsheet.

Rozman noticed the change in her expression.

"What crossed your mind?"

Izhan hesitated.

"I passed several political gathering banners on my way here this morning."

She tapped the column labelled CRK.

"I'm just wondering..."

"...what if someone applies for CRK to attend something that isn't actually covered by the guidelines?"

Megat closed the leave facilities document and folded his arms.

"I've been approving Ruhinie's CRK applications for months."

He sighed.

"At first, I trusted the reasons she provided. Most of them were written as urusan peribadi or urusan penting. Nothing immediately raised a concern."

He switched the screen to another tab.

"But recently, I noticed some applications stated that the purpose was for khidmat masyarakat."

Izhan looked up.

"Khidmat masyarakat?"

Megat nodded.

"Yes. That was when I started reviewing the leave regulations again."

He pointed at the document.

"Activities involving community service may fall under Cuti Tanpa Rekod Kelompok, depending on whether the conditions are met. It is a different facility from CRK."

Rozman studied the spreadsheet.

"So your concern is not the activity itself."

Megat shook his head.

"No. My concern is whether the correct leave was applied."

He tapped the attendance record.

"I don't want to accuse Ruhinie of anything. If the applications were valid, then there is nothing to pursue. But if the wrong leave category was used repeatedly, PPDKB needs to clarify it."

Rozman nodded.

"That's exactly what we're here for."

Izhan stayed quiet.

She still remembered the confidential document she had seen in Krishna's office—a case involving a teacher's absence from school.

She didn't know the full story yet.

But she knew one thing.

Whatever it is...

I won't let Cikgu Megat step on the same rake.

The Investigation Continued.