[Thursday, August 26, 2021]

  The next day, Gio's main quest was simple: survive school like a normal teenager.

  However, reality dictated otherwise. No matter where or when, Erinn was stalking him with aggressively close surveillance. From the second Gio set foot on the school zone this morning, her eyes were locked onto him—behind corridor pillars, peeking through library shelves, and even in the cafeteria line.

  Gio was nervous. Even during lecture, while the students sitting neatly in their batik uniforms, he was still being watched. Not physically, but metaphysically.

  Erinn, who was in different class, using Astral Projection to spy on him. Her spirit hovered silently in the corner, pushing Gio's awkwardness to be more uncomfortable. He didn't even dare to scratch his nose for fear of suspicion.

  But Erinn didn't realize she was getting counter-stalked. Arua had been monitoring her every move the moment she started tailing Gio.

  When the second recess bell rang, a surveillance constellation has formed. Gio sat at his desk, anxiously eating his lunch. Erinn stood in the hallway, pretending to socialize with her friends while monitoring Gio. Meanwhile Arua was camping on second floor of the Extracurricular Building, forty meters away.

  Arua leaned on the railing. He whipped out his phone and aimed the camera right at the primadonna who was acting down below. Zoom maxed out to a truly concerning resolution.

  Click. Photo captured. Arua opened WhatsApp. He pulled up Erinn's contact, which he'd scraped from the batch group—without permission, obviously.

  [Aruna]: Sent a photo.

  [Aruna]: "Don't you have better things to do than babysit my electric eel?"

  The 'Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted' label was still sitting at the top. First-ever message, and Arua decided to open with a provocation.

  Erinn felt her skirt pocket buzz. She checked her phone. Her eyebrows furrowed deeply before she spun her gaze 360 degrees, sweeping the area like a radar searching for hostiles. "Where is he?!"

  Until finally, their eyes met. Arua waved his hand from the second-floor corridor with an obnoxious smile.

  Then... Smack! A rolled-up A3 sketchbook delivered a clean headshot to the back of Arua's head. "Ayo! Whatcha doing there?"

  Arua turned. Standing right behind him was a petite, black-haired girl with a distinctive twintail hairstyle.

  "I am just chilling here," Arua deadpanned, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't bother me. Shoo."

  "A bastard who never attends club meetings but hangs out around the Student Activities block..." The girl narrowed her eyes, aiming her rolled-up sketchbook at Arua. "Doesn't that sound suspicious?"

  "I'm doing nothing."

  "Last time you said that, the projector in the Geography lab mysteriously vanished without a trace."

  Arua gave a flat, annoyed look. "You guys are still pinning that on me? I was literally at home when it happened."

  "Prove it."

  "How the hell am I supposed to prove that, bruh."

  Arua was telling the truth. It really wasn't him.

  Right after that pointless argument, the other participants arrived. "She's my partner. She'll help me keep an eye on you two," Erinn announced from the stairwell.

  The blonde girl appeared, accompanied by a resigned-looking Gio behind her.

  Arua and the twintail girl looked over. Gio couldn't help but run a quick visual comparison between the two girls in front of him.

  Erinn walked in radiating absolute Main Character energy. Gotta admit, any straight guy would be instantly hooked by her charm.

  Despite wearing an oversized cream-colored hoodie to hide her figure, there was no fooling anyone. She was towering at 178 cm (eye-to-eye with Arua) looking like a runway model. Plus a waist-length blonde hair, natural sapphire-blue eyes, and a chest size above the local average.

  Even Gio, the kind-hearted demihuman, was struggling to keep his eyes respectful.

  Arua? Behind the ‘I don't care’ mask, his eyes darted at professional shutter speed camera. His brain captured the visual data and saved it to his 'Late-Night Imagination' folder in milliseconds.

  On the other hand, stood Erinn's exact antithesis. Lumi, the twintailed girl, has an economical height of 150 cm. That 28-centimeter gap created a hilarious visual contrast.

  Petite, compact, aerodynamic, and flat-chested—a cruel joke of mass distribution she internally complained about daily. However, in terms of facial beauty, she was a heavyweight competitor. If Erinn was the "elegant beauty" type, this chinese-malay girl was "cute adorable" type.

  Both of them were top-tier school celebrities. New student like Gio might wondering how they even got into such elite circle.

  The answer? Stats and connections. First, they were both on the Student Council. A title that granted them +50 Charisma buff and guaranteed they were always busy at every school event.

  Second, they were karate athletes. Being Association Supernaturalists meant they'd been taught martial arts since childhood. The club was just a follow up; obtaining a black belt was easy for them.

  Just like Riku, Lumi also joined Nature Exploration Club. Adventurer genre had literally written in her DNA. Meanwhile, Erinn was the lead vocalist and bassist for Purwokerto High School's band, often performing at festivals across the Banyumas district.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The three humans and one demihuman were now gathered in the empty second-floor hallway. Erinn took the lead. "Now that everyone has gathered here, I'll go over the terms and conditions for your probation..."

  Erinn pointed the girl next to her. "But first, let me introduce the only Venator partner I can trust in this school..."

  Given the stage, Lumi stepped forward, throwing her right hand to the sky in a silly anime pose. "Kukuku... You’ve finally acknowledged my existence..." She forced her cute voice into an edgy pitch, twintails bouncing with her dramatic head tilts. "We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voy—"

  Smack! Erinn snatched the rolled-up sketchbook from Lumi's hand and ruthlessly bonked her on the head. The majestic H.P. Lovecraft quote got canceled by sheer physical violence.

  "Ouch!" "Brat. Quit playing and introduce yourself properly."

  "Yes, Ma'am Rin...!" Lumi chirped, not dropping her huge smile.

  "Hey! I told you to stop calling me that!"

  "Her Majesty Queen Ririn hits way harder," Arua chimed in.

  "Stay out of this!!!"

  Erinn's face burned red, mix of embarrassment and rage.

  Gio—the only one here who remembered they had actual classes to attend—politely raised his hand. "Guys, can we skip the drama? The bell rings in three minutes..."

  "Ehe. My name is Agatha Luminescence. Just call me Lumi. Same class as Erinn, 11-A."

  Gio's internal monologue: "Wait, she is my senior!? I thought she was a junior, wait, I am a 10th grader—"

  Lumi proceeded the Association intro protocol. "CodeName: SCP-2297. ID: D12/S/20/00610. Class: Disciple III. Rank 19, Purwokerto City Association. Primary Ability: Metal—"

  "Yeah, yeah... I'm not listening to that nonsense again," Arua cut her off. "Come on, Pikachu, we're leaving." Arua turned around to walk away. But he froze mid-step.

  "Hey, hold on!" In a flash, Lumi closed the gap. Without hesitation, she snatched Gio's right hand, gripping it tightly with her tiny hands. She started circling him like a moth around a garden lamp, staring at the Demihuman with eyes sparkling on curiosity.

  "Eh? W-What's wrong?" Gio panicked. Lumi ignored him, went straight into a full physical inspection. She patted down his arms, poked his shoulder muscles, and standing on her tiptoes to bury her nose into his hair and shirt. Sniff. Sniff.

  Gio was speechless. Face turned red. So flustered his brain straight-up lagged.

  "Hmmm..." Lumi backed off, looking disappointed. "There’s no demon scent." She turned to Erinn. "Rin, you sure your senses aren’t malfunctioning? You said his demon aura was obvious?"

  Erinn crossed her arms, nodding firmly. "Yeah. I can feel it right now."

  Hearing that, Arua's brain heated up. Perfect topic to mine some information. "It feels like smelling copper, but not through your nose, right?" Arua chimed in.

  He was applying Cunningham's Law: The fastest way to get the right answer isn't asking a question, it's posting the wrong answer. Human nature tends to correct others.

  Erinn stared off, attempting a verification. "No!" she shot back. "Hmmm... How do I explain it..." She tapped her chin with the rolled-up sketchbook, trying to describe the abstract sensory sensation. "It feels like hearing a noise... but not through your ears. It’s like—"

  Erinn stopped mid-sentence. Her eyebrows knitted together, glared at Arua, who was currently playing dumb.

  "Wait a minute... You were baiting me?!" Erinn took a step back, pointing the sketchbook right at him. "You're trying to steal my information to design an aura-blocking Nisaga, aren't you!"

  "Tch." Busted.

  "Don't think I’m unaware what that demon's cloak actually is," Erinn continued. Turns out, the girl wasn't easily fooled.

  "Haha, your plan failed," said Lumi.

  The twintailed girl turned back to Gio, fanatic eyes glowing. "Hey, Demon! Show me your true form and let’s fight!"

  "Eh? Fight—?" Gio backed up, terrified.

  Smack! Erinn head-bonked Lumi again with the sketchbook. Loud and crisp. "Ouch!"

  Erinn looked at Gio. "She's a big fan of horror folklore and internet urban legends, sorry if her brain's a bit misaligned." It sounded exactly like an owner apologizing for a misbehaving pet.

  Lumi's hype didn't stopped. "I refuse to die before identifying every single spirit species in this world!" she proclaimed dramatically, pointing at the ceiling before aiming straight ahead. "Including you, Gio the Demihuman! You're an ultra-rare Euclid-class anomaly!"

  "Is it just me... or is every single demon hunter weird?" Gio thought.

  Erinn cleared her throat, slapping the sketchbook against her palm. "Enough messing around, back to the agenda." The blondie shot Arua and Gio an authoritative stare. "Bottom line: we're implementing a cross-surveillance system."

  Erinn pointed the sketchbook at herself and Arua. "I'm keeping tabs on this 'Disturbing Content'." Then flicked it toward Lumi and Gio. "While Lumi's on the 'Demihuman'. We rotate supervisor positions every week, starting today. Strictly to prevent bias."

  Erinn raised an index finger. "It's a point-based evaluation, starting at zero. To pass this probation, you need to collect a hundred 'Good Behavior' points within one month."

  She kept going. "Act suspiciously or violate Association rules, you lose points."

  Erinn's gaze sharpened. "If you fail to reach the target, we’ll immediately report you both to the Association."

  Silence hung. "Any questions?"

  Arua raised his hand.

  "Yes?"

  "I just wanted to say thank you."

  "Huh?"

  Arua pressed a hand in his chest, initiating the melodrama. "This is the first time girls have ever paid this much attention to me..." He wiped away a completely non-existent tear. "Sniff, sniff. I'm genuinely touched..."

  "Stay strong, bro," Gio chimed in, patting his cousin's shoulder, playing along.

  Erinn's expression twisted into a pure, unadulterated disgust. "Could you take this seriously for one second?" she hissed, flat intonation.

  "I’m serious," Arua replied. He threw a wink and thumbs-up, looking like a failed playboy. "Feel free to watch me anytime, anywhere. When sleeping or showering, totally fine." Lumi chimed in, "Even when you're taking a dump?" Arua didn't miss a beat. "Yup. My room is open 24/7 for you girls."

  Erinn took a step back, shuddering. "I really don't understand how this walking biohazard got accepted in a top-tier school..." she muttered to Lumi. "Just looking at him makes me sick." "Same," the twintail girl agreed.

  "Hey, Foreign Leftovers," Arua fired back, refusing to back down. "Whatchu even doing here anyway? Is Europe suffering a recession or something to the point a colonizer like you going to Indonesian public school on government subsidies? Couldn't afford a private academy, huh?"

  "Whatever I want!" Erinn snapped back. "Besides, I'm half-European, half-Native. What's wrong with that?"

  Arua stroked his chin, scanning Erinn and Lumi with a suspiciously analytical glare. "All this time I've been wondering... Why did you two have to be the female characters?"

  He pointed at Erinn. "One Swedish tsundere." Then pointed at Lumi. "And one Singaporean loli."

  "I am not a tsundere!" Erinn exclaimed. "I love loli!" Lumi cheered in perfect unison. Gio: "Wait, Lumi's from Singapore?!"

  "Like there aren't any other girls around," Arua rambled on. "At first, I thought this was just cheap fan service to bump up the ratings. But now I understand.."

  Arua's eyes widened. A divine revelation just descended upon his head. "Haha! Exactly! This is the trigger event for my harem route, isn't it?!”

  This guy started hallucinating beyond dimensional boundaries. Erinn rubbed her throbbing temples. She had no remaining patience for this sheer silliness.

  "Yeah, yeah... I'm not listening to that nonsense again," Erinn turned around, pulling Lumi’s hand. "Come on, Lumi, we're leaving."

  "Okay~ Byeee, Gio!" Lumi waved cheerfully while being dragged away.

  Arua stared at them in total disbelief, his jaw dropped. "Damnit, she literally just stole my dialogue from paragraph 50, lines one and two!" he complained.

  "Huh?" Gio just confused.

  Shortly after, both girls disappeared around the stairwell corner.

  Arua stood tall, arms on waist, puffing his chest out with sky-high delusion. The hallway breeze blew his hair, adding a completely unnecessary dramatic effect.

  "Watch and learn, Pikachu..." Arua thrust his right hand forward, palm open. "It won't be long until both of them fall in love with me..."

  Satisfied with his monologue, he spun his heel with a painfully fake 'cool' pivot. "Alright. Time to head back."

  Arua started marching confidently down the hall.

  Gio, still glued to his spot, raised a confused eyebrow. He pointed in the exact opposite direction. "Uhh... The stairs to your classroom are over there."

  Arua halted his steps and glanced back. "Who said I was going to class?"

  "Eh?"