Chapter 2 Inferno

'Calm down. You're late, so you're not allowed to enter the line anymore,' Raivin said firmly.

'I mean, let go of my hand!' The girl tried to pull her arm out of Raivin's grip.

'If I let go, you'll still run into the line. It'll only disturb the other guys.'

'I'm not going to run away!' insisted the girl looking fed up. She jerked her arm away from him with a single jerk.

Raivin cleared his throat to neutralise his focus. 'Why are you late?'

'There was bad traffic on the way. I was only a few minutes late anyway. Someone over there who was late wasn't detained, why is it my turn to be detained?' protested the girl pointing towards the edge of the field, far away.

'You were 20 minutes late, so there's no need to protest. The roads are usually congested, which means you have to leave early. If there's no traffic, why didn't you go that way earlier?' Raivin answered every sentence in the girl's defence. Now the girl just folded her arms in annoyance.

Raivin took out a small note and pen. 'Name?'

'You're just like a cop, taking out notes and pens. If you want to be a cop, why are you here, sir?'

Raivin felt silly after being satirised by the girl, he admitted he was being too formal and stiff. He hid the item he had taken out earlier and then repeated his question. 'Alright, what's your name, which department and faculty?'

The girl did not answer, again either not hearing or pretending not to hear, she looked at the row as if looking for someone. Once again Raivin repeated. 'Answer! You're not suddenly deaf, are you?' This time his intonation was louder.

The girl took a breath and let it out as if giving up. 'Minatta,' she said with a poker face looking the other way. 'It's a double T.'

'Faculty?'

'FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES.' The girl named Minatta replied with an annoying poker face.

'Major?'

'INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.' HI, pronounced ha-i, stands for International Relations.

'After the welcoming ceremony, you can't disperse with the others until I give you permission!' Raivin then walked past Minatta.

'Being a senior! All you want! So powerful!' grumbled Minatta who almost stopped Raivin in his tracks.

Rather than turning around and getting into another fight with that strange girl, it was better for Raivin to ignore her.

Shaking his head, he continued his steps towards the edge of the field, holding back the other students if any were still late.

Hopefully no one else would be as annoying as that girl.

~o0O0o~

14 hours before the night of the incident.

'Damn! My early morning mood is already ruined because of that guy!'

'Patience, Natt. It must be his job.'

'Yeah, but why aren't the others arrested. Many are later than me but they still get in line. I'm really unlucky to be detained by that disciplinarian senior.' Minatta sipped her cold lemonade with a sour look on her face. She was taking her lunch break at the canteen of her faculty, FISIP.

Ziana, who was always patient with her emotional best friend, just shook her head, not knowing how to calm her down.

'Which person is it?' Ziana was still curious.

'Too bad I didn't get a chance to ask his name,' Minatta snorted, ruffling her hair. After the freshmen welcoming ceremony, she had been told to skot jump several times by that man. Especially under the increasingly scorching sun, the heat was unbearable and she was dripping with sweat.

'Are you sure he's a senior from our faculty? Maybe it's another faculty,' Ziana said, picking up the fries in the chilli sauce and popping them into her mouth.

'What the hell.' Minatta looked up at the faculty basketball court across the grassy field from the canteen. There was a group of people playing basketball and he recognised one of them.

Ziana also turned her head in the direction of Minatta's gaze. When she saw the same person, the girl remembered something. 'Oh, yes. Didn't you read the class group chat this morning?'

'What chat?' asked Minatta, turning her attention back to her best friend.

'There's an intimacy night tonight. All new students must attend.'

'Duh! It's only the first day as a new student. I already want to be exposed,' complained Minatta, who looked lazy.

In her opinion, the event tonight would definitely be a waste of time. It was completely unimportant and pointless. The seniors must just be nosy or lacking in work, they just couldn't wait to instil the concept of seniority.

'Pre-Ospect, to be precise.' Ziana narrowed her eyes in suspicion. 'I'm sure we'll have some weird talent show tonight.'

'Where's the event, anyway?'

'Let me see.' Ziana quickly opened her mobile phone to confirm the information she had read earlier that morning in their class group chat with the seniors. 'Coffee Poirot.'

'Coffee Poirot?' Minatta's forehead wrinkled subtly, this was the first time she had heard of the cafe.

'So, are you coming tonight?'

'Hmm... I'm not sure yet. Tonight is my scheduled call with mum.' Minatta shrugged. 'You know, Zi, this is my first time living alone. Mum's so scared that she has to call me every night. If I ask for permission to go to an event tonight, she won't let me.'

'You should be lucky that you still get calls. Me, my parents are too busy to call their children.' Zia let out a short breath. 'If you're going tonight, let me know.'

'Okay. But I don't think I'll be coming,' Minatta said confidently.

~o0O0o~

[Ziana Alvonsi]: 'Natt, it's bad!'

'What's wrong, Zi?' Minatta, who was lying on her bed, was surprised by the agitated voice of her friend.

[Ziana Alvonsi]: 'They're looking for you!'

'Who are they? Seniors?'

[Ziana Alvonsi]: 'Kak Bayu and his gang.'

'Oh my! Seriously?' Really, Minatta wasn't familiar with that name at all.

[Ziana Alvonsi]: 'Just come here. Right now!'

The call was immediately switched off by the caller. Now, Minatta quickly got up from her bed. It was a good thing he'd been on the phone with his mum, so it was a safe bet that she wouldn't call him again tonight. Minatta was free to go anywhere tonight.

'What madness, huh. It's ten o'clock at night and I'm still being told to come by those crazy seniors,' Minatta grumbled, wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt that fit snugly and pushing a sweater over her body.

Quickly, the girl grabbed the keys to her vespa motorbike hanging near the mading and ran out with a small bag containing her wallet and mobile phone.

The location of her boarding house was quite close to the cafe where her seniors were holding an event. So, it took Minatta less than twenty minutes to arrive at the location, of course by booting.

'You're finally here.'

Minatta was immediately pulled by Ziana to bring her best friend to face their seniors.

'Slow down, Zi.' Minatta just grumbled, not feeling very good about what had made him wanted by his seniors throughout the department.

'So this is Minatta Carollano?' One of his seniors greeted Minatta's presence in the midst of those sitting at the same table.

'Yes, brother. What's wrong?' Minatta asked in a low-key tone.