The day after the briefing, Campus 2 looked normal in the way a face looks normal when it is forcing itself not to flinch.
The buildings stood in the same places. The glass still caught the morning light. The vending machines still hummed. Students still wore their lanyards and carried their books like all of it meant something stable.
But everyone walked like they were listening for a sound that had not happened yet.
XH woke before his alarm.
He did not have a nightmare. He did not have a dream at all. It was worse than a nightmare because it was empty, like his brain had decided sleep was a luxury the campus could not afford.
His phone had a campus notification waiting.
"Students are reminded that entry to administration floors is restricted until further notice."
It was the kind of message that tried to look routine. It even used the same font as the reminders about library hours and lab coat policies.
XH sat up slowly and stared at it until the words felt like they were moving.
Restricted until further notice.
He rubbed his face and got dressed without thinking too hard, because thinking too hard made his chest tighten.
Down the hall, he heard JP's door open and slam shut like a protest.
JP found him by the stairwell, hair still messy, hoodie pulled on backward at first until he realized and fixed it with an annoyed huff.
"You see that message," JP asked.
XH nodded.
JP made a face. "They blocked the admin floors. That's not a normal adjustment."
NS was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs, posture straight, hands in his pockets like he had been standing there for ten minutes. When XH made eye contact, NS gave a small nod. Not dramatic. Just present.
They walked out together. The air was colder than it looked. The sky was pale and clean, like the city had scrubbed itself overnight.
When they reached the main walkway, the campus felt crowded in a different way. People were not lingering. People were not drifting. People were moving in lines.
Not official lines, but instinctive ones. Like everyone had decided it was safer to stay near other bodies.
TR and Andrew were ahead, whispering loudly enough for anyone within five meters to hear, which meant they were whispering at full volume.
"It's giving collapse," TR said.
Andrew sighed. "Stop saying giving."
"It is literally giving," TR insisted. "You can feel it."
JP muttered, "I can feel you giving me a headache."
They reached the classroom building and paused because there was a new sign taped to the door.
"Students must swipe IDs upon entry. No visitors permitted."
There had always been ID swipes in some buildings, but not this one. Not for a normal lecture hall that barely had working fans.
A staff member stood by the door holding a clipboard, eyes scanning faces like he was counting livestock.
When XH swiped his ID, the screen beeped with a delay. That tiny pause made him feel like the campus was deciding whether to accept him.
He stepped inside and looked around.
Kitty and June were already there, sitting together, shoulders angled slightly inward like they were forming their own small wall against the room.
Kitty's hair was tied back, neat in a way that felt like armor. June's posture was perfect, chin lifted, eyes focused forward, like she was daring the world to wobble.
Their gaze met XH's at the same time.
Kitty's expression softened, then immediately steadied again. June held his eyes longer, like she was checking if he had slept, if he had changed, if he had broken in some small invisible way.
XH walked toward them.
He sat behind, not directly behind. One seat to the side. Close enough to belong, far enough to not make the whole room interpret it as a choice.
JP dropped into his chair like it offended him. NS sat down without noise. HS placed his notebook perfectly aligned with the desk edge, like order could be summoned through straight lines.
The teacher who entered was not the same substitute as yesterday.
This one was younger. Too young. He looked like he had been pulled from somewhere else and pushed onto this stage because bodies were needed.
He smiled too quickly. He spoke too smoothly.
"Good morning, everyone," he said. "We will be continuing with our review. I know things have been… busy."
Busy.
That word hung in the air. Students exchanged looks. Someone coughed. Someone laughed once, quietly, then stopped, like they realized laughter might be tracked.
The teacher began the lecture, but the lesson felt like background noise. What mattered was the way his eyes kept drifting to the door. What mattered was the way his hand trembled slightly when he wrote on the board.
Every ten minutes, a staff member walked past the hallway outside, visible through the small glass window. Each time, the teacher paused for half a second and then continued.
June's pen moved in clean, sharp strokes.
Kitty's pen moved slower.
XH tried to write, but his mind kept replaying the briefing and the meeting room and the calm smiles that meant nothing. He kept hearing the phrase, "remain in designated areas."
Like they were already being managed.
Halfway through the lecture, the door opened.
Two people stepped inside. Not students. They wore badges on lanyards that were different from student lanyards. They did not sit down. They stood at the side and watched.
The teacher's voice faltered for a split second, then he kept talking louder, like volume could hide fear.
JP leaned toward XH and whispered, "They're doing it again."
XH whispered back, "I know."
June did not whisper. She kept writing, but her fingers tightened on her pen so hard her knuckles whitened.
Kitty glanced up briefly, eyes flicking to the observers, then back down.
When the bell finally rang, it was like a spell breaking.
Students stood up too quickly, chairs scraping.
One of the observers stepped forward. "Please exit in an orderly manner."
Orderly manner.
JP's mouth twitched like he was about to say something, but HS touched his sleeve lightly, and JP swallowed his words like a bitter pill.
They filed out.
Outside the classroom, the corridor was packed with students moving in slow rivers.
People talked in low voices.
Some were angry.
Some were terrified.
Most were pretending they were neither.
TR practically sprinted to the group. "Okay, now it's actually scary. They had watchers in the room."
Andrew looked pale. "That's insane."
June spoke quietly. "It's not insane. It's intentional."
Kitty asked, "What do you think they're preparing for."
June's gaze didn't move. "Change."
NS's voice came low. "Or fallout."
That word landed.
Fallout meant something already happened, and they were just living in the delay between cause and announcement.
They walked toward the courtyard to get air. The campus sounded different now. Even the birds sounded quieter, like they were listening too.
In the courtyard, a group of engineering students stood near the fountain. KM was there with a few of his friends, laughing too loudly. The laughter felt deliberate, like they were proving they were not scared, or like they enjoyed the tension because it wasn't their problem.
XH saw Kitty's eyes flick briefly toward them and then away.
June's gaze lingered longer.
Not jealousy.
Calculation.
KM noticed them.
He smirked, eyes scanning the health track group like he was counting trophies.
JP's shoulders stiffened.
NS shifted slightly, placing himself half a step closer to XH without looking like he was doing anything.
KM said something to his friends, and they laughed again. SRM, Thoon, and HTN were nearby too, dressed too nicely for a normal day, like they had decided fear was a runway.
Thoon's voice carried, not quite shouting, but loud enough.
"Health track looks stressed. You guys okay."
SRM laughed. "Maybe their favorite admin isn't favoring them today."
June didn't flinch. She didn't look at them. She addressed Kitty instead, voice calm.
"Don't react," she said.
Kitty's mouth curved slightly, a soft smile that wasn't sweet. "I wasn't going to."
JP leaned in toward XH. "I want to throw a chair."
XH murmured, "Later."
JP blinked. "Later."
HS looked like he wanted to disappear into his own notebook.
TR mumbled, "I hate rich people."
Andrew whispered, "They're not all rich."
TR replied, "The loud ones are."
NS watched KM for a second, expression unreadable. Then he looked away like KM wasn't worth the attention. That was the kind of dismissal that actually stung.
They left the courtyard and headed toward the library, because the library still felt like a safe place. Quiet. Rules. Books that didn't change because the administration got nervous.
Inside, the air smelled like paper and dust and old glue. The kind of smell that reminded XH of being younger, of believing education was always a ladder.
They found a table near the back.
June sat first, pulling out her notes like she was drawing a boundary around her mind.
Kitty sat beside her, close enough that their elbows brushed when they wrote.
XH sat across from them.
JP and NS sat on either side of him, creating a wall without saying they were doing it.
TR and Andrew sat nearby, whispering and pretending they were studying while mostly watching the room.
For a while, they actually tried to work.
June quizzed Kitty on microbiology terms.
Kitty corrected June on a small anatomy detail and did it gently, like she was protecting June's pride without needing to say it out loud.
JP wrote down a list of things that "felt illegal" and then crossed them out because HS gave him a look.
NS barely spoke. He just listened. Watched. Stayed.
XH tried to focus on the words in front of him, but he kept noticing everything else.
The way June's fingers tapped when she was anxious.
The way Kitty pressed her lips together when she was thinking.
The way their voices softened when they spoke to each other.
It was sisterhood for now, wrapped around rivalry like a ribbon.
And XH was sitting in the middle of it, pretending the campus was the only thing cracking.