The Rescue

They met at ten in the morning, in the alley behind the school.

"You look terrible," was the first thing Kaito said, and it wasn't an insult. He looked like a heist planner, wearing a dark hoodie and carrying a backpack that looked too heavy.

"I feel terrible," Hina admitted, rubbing her temples.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Mei whispered for the hundredth time. She was pale with panic. "We're going to get expelled. We're going to get arrested."

"No one is getting arrested," Kaito said, his voice tense but determined. "Mrs. Tani, the cleaner, opens the art room window every Saturday morning to 'air it out,' as she says. She goes to the other side of the building to clean the gym. The volleyball team is practicing, so the main alarms are off. We have a twenty-minute window."

"Twenty minutes?" Mei squeaked.

"Let's go," Hina said, pulling up her own hood. She couldn't wait anymore. She needed the ring.

Kaito led them to the back of the art room. As he predicted, the window was open about four inches. He slid it up, the sound seeming deafening in the silence.

"I'll go first," he said. "I'll check the hallway."

He climbed up, slipped over the sill, and disappeared inside. Hina felt her heart beating in her throat. A second later, Kaito's head appeared in the window. "Clear. Mei, you're next."

Mei looked like she was going to throw up, but Hina helped her up. Hina was last.

They were inside. The smell of oil paint and dry clay filled the air. The school, empty on a weekend, was spooky. Their footsteps echoed in the hallway.

"Right," Kaito whispered, acting like the mission leader. "The principal's office is in the main building. Mei, your job is the most important."

They stopped at the end of the art hallway, which overlooked the main courtyard.

"You stay here," Kaito said, positioning Mei behind a large fake plant. "You have a clear view of the courtyard and the gym hallway. If you see anyone—Mrs. Tani, a teacher, a lost volleyball player—you clap. Twice. Loud. And we run back here. Got it?"

Mei nodded, her eyes huge with terror. "Two claps."

"Hina, let's go."

Hina and Kaito ran across the open courtyard, feeling terribly exposed. The door to the administration building was unlocked, as Kaito predicted. They slipped inside.

The hallway was dark and silent. They reached the door with the plaque: "PRINCIPAL TANABE." It was locked.

"Now what?" Hina whispered.

"Plan A failed," Kaito murmured. "I thought she might leave it unlocked."

"Plan A?" Hina panicked.

"Plan B is better," he said, pulling her away from the door. "The inner courtyard window."

He guided her to the small, shadowy inner courtyard, a square of dead grass that no one used. The principal's window was there.

"I saw the janitor complaining about this," Kaito whispered. "The latch has been broken for months."

He put his fingers under the window frame and pushed. The window slid up with a horrible creak.

They froze. Waited. No alarm. No scream from Mei.

Kaito climbed in and helped Hina inside.

They were in the principal's office.

It was immaculate. Tidy books, a clean desk, and against the wall, a trio of gray metal file cabinets.

"It's that one," Hina pointed to the cabinet where she saw the principal put the envelope. "The middle one."

"Right," Kaito said, taking off his backpack. Hina expected him to take out lock-picking tools. Instead, he took out a ring of keys.

"Kaito?"

"I don't know how to pick locks," he admitted, his face red. "That's just in the movies. But I know where Mrs. Tani keeps the master key for the cabinets."

"What?"

"I help her carry clay bags sometimes. She's nice. She hides the master key for the file cabinets in every room, in case she loses hers. It's school policy."

He went to a plastic potted plant on the principal's desk, lifted it, and grabbed a single silver key that was taped to the bottom.

"You are... amazing," Hina breathed.

"Let's just say I'm observant," Kaito said.

He went to the cabinet, inserted the key, turned... and nothing.

"It's jammed." He forced it. The key wouldn't turn. "Damn. It's the wrong lock. Maybe it's the other one..."

CLAP! CLAP!

The sound of two claps echoed from the hallway.

Hina's blood ran cold. "Mei!"

"Someone's coming!" Kaito panicked. He pulled the key hard. It didn't come out. "It's stuck! Hina, it's stuck!"

Hina looked at the locked cabinet, the stuck key, and then at the window. They were going to get caught. The plan failed. The withdrawal was making her head pound.

No.

"Stand back," she said.

"What?"

"Stand back!"

Hina grabbed the base of a heavy visitor's chair. With a cry of adrenaline and desperation, she lifted it.

"Hina, no!"

She smashed the leg of the chair against the cabinet lock with all the strength she had.

CLANG!

The metal dented, but the drawer didn't open.

"Hina!"

She raised the chair again, her vision blurring. She wasn't trying to be subtle anymore. She hit it again.

And again.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! Mei was clapping frantically now.

With one last blow, the thin metal of the drawer bent and the latch popped. Hina threw the chair to the floor.

She pulled the drawer open. It was full of files, but she saw it. The small brown envelope.

She grabbed it, tore it open, and shoved the ring onto her finger.

The relief was instant.

The headache vanished. The ringing in her ears silenced. The world stopped spinning and snapped back into sharp, clear focus. The power flowed back into her, warm and steady.

"Hina, we have to go! NOW!" Kaito shouted, pulling her.

They ran. Through the courtyard window. Through the main hallway. Hina could hear a voice in the art hallway—Mrs. Tani.

"Who's there? I'm calling the principal!"

They didn't look back. They ran to where Mei was hiding.

"There's a teacher!" Mei sobbed, running with them. "I saw Tanaka-sensei entering the art hallway!"

"Through the side door!" Kaito yelled.

The three of them ran like their lives depended on it, bursting out a gym emergency exit and tumbling into the alley where they had started, panting, hearts pounding.

They made it.

They stood there for a minute, gasping for air, looking at each other. Kaito, the brains. Mei, the lookout.

And Hina, the... brute force.

Mei was the first to laugh. It was a hysterical sound, half-sob, half-laugh. "We... we broke into the school."

Kaito leaned against the wall, sliding down to the ground. "I can't believe you smashed the cabinet. With a chair."

Hina looked at the ring on her finger. It was warm, alive, safe. She looked at her friends. They weren't afraid of her anymore. They looked exhausted. And they were smiling.

"Thank you," she whispered, and she had never meant anything more in her life. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, well," Kaito said, standing up and dusting himself off. "Let's not celebrate yet. You have a plan to execute."

Hina nodded. The adrenaline of the heist gave way to the gravity of the next phase.

"I know what to do," she said.

She looked at the sky. It was Saturday noon. The party would start in a few hours.

"The Reject Club," Hina said, with a small smile. "Kaito, I need a favor. I need a distraction. Mei... I need you to cover me."

She looked at the ring on her hand.

"I have a party to crash."