After spending all night turning over the various oddities surrounding Mahesa and Karma, Hendra completely failed to get any sleep. His mind kept spinning, trying to piece together a puzzle that stubbornly refused to yield a definite answer. His eyes felt heavy, hot, and watery.
"Damn, I'm so sleepy," Hendra complained as he trudged into the increasingly crowded classroom. Without bothering to keep things neat, he tossed his bag carelessly onto the desk, then slumped down and laid his head on the cool wooden surface.
Mahesa, following directly behind him, didn't seem particularly concerned about his friend's complaint. Mahesa's own face radiated incredible exhaustion, as if all his energy had been drained away over the course of the night. Since his seat was in the far back corner of the rightmost row, Mahesa immediately leaned his back against the concrete wall. He folded his arms across his chest and resignedly let his eyes close, making use of the remaining time before the first-period bell rang.
The brief silence suddenly shattered when the school bell rang loudly. Not long afterward, Ms. Dayu, their homeroom teacher, walked through the doorway. Standing beside her was an unfamiliar teenage boy in a neat uniform—clearly a new student.
"Sa, your twin, Sa," Hendra whispered, gently shaking Mahesa's shoulder.
Mahesa forced his eyes open little by little. But the moment his vision focused, his heart seemed to stop for an instant. His gaze collided with a figure who was anything but unfamiliar. It was the teenager he'd met just yesterday afternoon in a life-or-death situation—a dazed boy whom Mahesa had accidentally saved just as he was about to jump from the roof of an old, abandoned building. At the last possible second, Mahesa had snatched him by the collar, thwarting the reckless suicide attempt that had nearly cost the kid his life.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Mahesa Gaska Dianggara. You can just call me Sagas," the new student said in a calm voice that held a strange depth.
"At first, I was worried that your nickname was also Mahesa, since it might confuse the whole class. Luckily, it isn't," Ms. Dayu cut in with a smile, prompting a few light chuckles from the students in the front rows.
After the brief introduction, Ms. Dayu invited Sagas to sit in the empty desk in the far back corner of the leftmost row—directly diagonal from Mahesa's seat.
"No way that's a coincidence, right?" Hendra whispered suspiciously, now sitting upright as he nudged Mahesa's arm.
"Obviously not," Mahesa replied softly, his tone cold. His eyes remained fixed on the left corner of the classroom, watching Sagas as several enthusiastic girls began crowding around him to introduce themselves. Amid the commotion, Sagas suddenly turned his face and threw a straight, enigmatic look directly at Mahesa.
Without wasting a moment, Mahesa abruptly stood from his seat. "Tell Ms. Dayu I'm going to the school infirmary. I suddenly don't feel well," he said firmly, patting Hendra on the shoulder. His friend immediately answered with an understanding nod.
Mahesa had always received special treatment and standing permission from the school to visit the school infirmary whenever he wanted. Somehow, whatever process had taken place in his past, he possessed official medical records stating that he suffered from a congenital heart defect prone to flare-ups—a perfect, irrefutable excuse that always worked whenever he found himself in a tight spot.
He hurried along the school corridor, which was beginning to empty. The moment he stepped into the silent school infirmary, Mahesa quickly locked the wooden door from the inside and pulled the fabric curtain tightly around the bed at the far end. Sagas's presence in his class today was clearly no mere coincidence; the boy's arrival was a danger signal that the boundary fortress along the interdimensional reality line had been breached.
With slightly trembling hands, Mahesa reached into his uniform pants pocket and pulled out an ancient metal pendant engraved with an intricate spiral symbol. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed the pendant's cold surface against his left chest. As his heartbeat raced faster and faster, ripples of invisible energy began gathering, blurring the air around him. The white wall before him slowly began to ripple like distorted water, opening a glowing yellow portal to another dimension—one he needed to investigate before it was too late.