Chapter 65: Festival
The walk home that evening felt lighter than usual.
Not because I had fewer things to think about.
If anything, there were more questions than ever.
Lucien.
The letter.
The old man beneath the oak tree.
The principal’s strange conversation.
The System’s repeated warnings.
None of those mysteries had gone away.
Yet somehow, they no longer occupied every corner of my thoughts.
Maybe the principal had been right.
Not every mystery needed to be solved the moment it appeared.
Some could wait.
As I reached my apartment building, I looked back once toward the academy. From here, only the tallest buildings were visible beyond the rows of trees, their windows glowing softly in the evening.
For the first time since arriving in this world, I wasn’t thinking about surviving tomorrow.
I was thinking about next week.
That alone felt like progress.
---
Monday morning arrived quietly.
The exhibition had ended, and the academy had returned to its usual routine. The colorful banners were gone. Temporary food stalls had disappeared from the courtyard, and the crowds of visitors had been replaced by students rushing to their morning classes with half-finished breakfasts in hand.
Only a few posters remained on the notice boards, thanking everyone who had participated in the event.
Ryan was waiting outside our classroom when I arrived.
He looked unusually energetic for a Monday.
"...Morning."
He turned immediately.
"There you are."
"I’ve got news."
I raised an eyebrow.
"It’s seven forty-five."
"You’ve had news since seven forty?"
"I’ve had news since six."
"...I’m almost afraid to ask."
Ryan leaned closer.
"Our club room."
"What about it?"
"The key."
I blinked.
"What key?"
"Our key."
He grinned like a child who had discovered buried treasure.
"Noah picked it up from the Student Affairs Office before first period."
I couldn’t help smiling.
"So it’s official."
"It is."
"We have our own room."
Ryan folded his arms proudly.
"I’ve already decided where I’m sitting."
"You’ve decided?"
"I called the seat next to the window."
"You can’t call seats."
"I just did."
Marcus walked up behind us carrying a stack of textbooks.
"No."
Ryan looked disappointed.
"You people never let me have anything."
Marcus answered without slowing down.
"You can have the chair if you arrive first."
Ryan’s eyes widened.
"...Really?"
"Yes."
"That’s legally binding."
"It isn’t."
Daniel arrived a few moments later, laughing as usual.
"What are we arguing about this time?"
Ryan pointed dramatically toward Marcus.
"He tried to deny my constitutional right to a window seat."
Daniel looked at Marcus.
"...Did you?"
"I told him to arrive early."
Daniel nodded thoughtfully.
"That sounds fair."
Ryan sighed.
"I’ve been betrayed by democracy."
The first bell rang before the conversation could continue.
Students immediately began filing into the classroom.
---
Lessons resumed exactly as they always had.
Mathematics.
Literature.
History.
Teachers seemed relieved that the exhibition was over, though more than one congratulated students whose clubs had performed particularly well.
During third period, Professor Ellis entered the classroom carrying a thin folder.
Before beginning the lesson, he looked toward our row.
"I’d like to congratulate the members of the Mystery Research Club once again."
Several students turned to look at us.
Professor Ellis continued.
"Your exhibition received one of the highest visitor satisfaction ratings this year."
Ryan quietly whispered,
"I’m framing that sentence."
Marcus kept writing in his notebook.
"You don’t have a frame."
"I’ll buy one."
Professor Ellis smiled before continuing with the lesson.
The attention lasted only a moment.
Soon everyone was focused on class again.
I found myself appreciating that.
Recognition was nice.
Returning to ordinary life was nicer.
---
When the lunch bell rang, Ryan was the first to stand.
"Meeting."
Marcus looked up.
"It’s lunchtime."
"Exactly."
"Our first official meeting."
Daniel packed away his notebook.
"I guess we should see the room."
Noah appeared at the classroom door almost on cue.
"I was just coming to find everyone."
Ryan pointed dramatically.
"Our president has arrived."
Noah held up a small brass key.
"I picked it up this morning."
For a second, everyone simply looked at it.
It was only a key.
Nothing remarkable.
Yet somehow it felt like much more.
"Let’s go," Noah said.
The old building was quieter than usual.
Most clubs met after classes, leaving the hallways almost empty during lunch.
Our footsteps echoed softly as we climbed the stairs.
When we reached the familiar door, Noah paused.
"This feels different."
"It does," Ethan agreed.
Noah inserted the key into the lock.
The mechanism clicked smoothly.
He pushed the door open.
Sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the room where we’d spent countless hours preparing for the exhibition.
Without the evidence board and decorations, it looked almost empty again.
Rows of desks.
A whiteboard.
Bookshelves along one wall.
Dust floating lazily through the afternoon light.
Ryan walked inside first.
He slowly turned in a circle.
"...We’re back."
Marcus entered behind him.
"This time we’re staying."
Daniel smiled.
"It already feels different."
Ethan placed his bag on one of the desks.
"Because it’s ours now."
Nobody argued.
Noah closed the door gently behind us.
"I know everyone’s busy."
"So this won’t be a long meeting."
He placed a notebook on the teacher’s desk.
"I just wanted us to decide what kind of club we want to become."
Ryan raised his hand immediately.
"Professional detectives."
Marcus looked at him.
"We’re students."
"Student detectives."
Daniel laughed.
"Closer."
Noah uncapped a marker and wrote a question across the whiteboard.
What should the Mystery Research Club do?
He turned back toward us.
"Any ideas."
For the next half hour, suggestions filled the board.
Monthly mystery events.
Guest speakers from the local police department.
Visits to museums.
Book discussions.
Puzzle competitions.
Collaboration with the Journalism Club.
A small library of detective novels.
Ryan suggested creating official detective badges.
Marcus surprisingly didn’t reject the idea immediately.
"They might help identify members during events."
Ryan looked genuinely shocked.
"...You agreed with me."
"I said ’might.’"
"I’m counting it."
Daniel chuckled.
"This is a historic day."
Noah stepped back to look at the crowded whiteboard.
"I think we’ve got enough ideas to keep us busy for the rest of the year."
"I hope so," Ethan said.
"It’d be a waste to let the room sit empty."
Noah nodded.
"It won’t."
He looked around at all of us.
"The exhibition helped people discover our club."
"What we do from now on..."
"...is what determines whether it lasts."
His words reminded me of the principal.
A club wasn’t just an event.
It was the people who chose to keep coming back.
As the lunch bell signaling the end of the break echoed through the old building, everyone began gathering their things.
Ryan paused at the doorway.
"You know..."
"What?" Daniel asked.
"I think this place needs something."
Marcus looked around.
"Like what?"
Ryan smiled.
"A club motto."
Marcus sighed so deeply it was almost impressive.
"I knew we weren’t escaping today without one more idea."
The rest of us laughed as we stepped into the hallway together.
The room behind us was still mostly empty.
But it no longer felt abandoned.
It felt like the beginning of something.