The Zenith Warriors library was nearly empty that afternoon.
Most of the students had already left school. Some were still in the extracurricular rooms, while others were busy with their own activities. The sound of footsteps that usually filled the corridors had grown increasingly rare.
Afternoon sunlight streamed through the library's large windows, casting long shadows across the floor.
At one of the tables in the back, Raka Aditama sat with Mr. Arman.
Several notes, old archives, and lists of students from previous years lay on the table.
Since the incident with Darren, Raka had become increasingly certain that Zenith Warriors was hiding too many things that couldn't be easily explained.
But he also knew they couldn't investigate everything at once.
Arman seemed to be thinking the same thing.
He opened an old folder and placed it in the center of the table.
“We can't look into everything at once.”
Raka nodded.
“Where do we start?”
Arman looked at the notes about Adrian Mahesa.
“The circumstances of his death.”
Raka fell silent.
That name had appeared between them again.
Adrian Mahesa.
The name that had been Raka's reason for investigating the school from the very beginning.
The name that had also brought Arman to Zenith Warriors.
Arman opened several sheets of documents.
“If we find out what happened to Adrian, maybe we'll understand why this school is trying so hard to cover it up.”
Raka studied the pages.
“The problem is, we don't know where to begin.”
Arman took a blank sheet of paper.
“We'll look for three things.”
He wrote them down one by one.
1. The last person who was with Adrian. 2. The last place Adrian was seen. 3. The official report on the incident.
Raka read the list carefully.
“The second one should be the easiest.”
Arman looked at him.
“Not necessarily.”
“Why not?”
Arman took out several more documents.
“Because a lot of the school's records from that day are missing.”
Raka raised his head.
“Missing?”
Arman nodded.
“Several pages from the report are gone.”
He opened another document.
“There are even student records that should still be here, but they've been moved.”
Raka fell silent.
“Who moved them?”
“We don't know yet.”
“And you've tried to find out?”
“I have.”
Arman sighed.
“But there's no clear record of who accessed those archives.”
Raka leaned back in his chair.
He began to think.
If the official report was incomplete and some of the records had been moved, finding answers in the archives could take a long time.
They might not find anything at all.
Raka then looked at the list of names on the table.
“Then we shouldn't start with the archives.”
Arman looked at him.
“Then what?”
“We find the person.”
Arman was silent for a few seconds.
Then he gave a faint smile.
“We're thinking alike.”
Raka picked up the list of students from the year Adrian had still been attending school.
He read through it slowly.
Several of the names were unfamiliar to him now.
Some of them had probably graduated.
Others might no longer be at Zenith Warriors.
But if they wanted to find out what had happened to Adrian, the people who had known him personally might be far more useful than the school's reports.
Raka pointed to one name.
“This person.”
Arman leaned closer.
His eyes settled on the name Raka had indicated.
Reno Pratama.
Arman remembered the name.
“He was a close friend of Adrian's?”
“According to the old records, yes.”
Arman took out another document.
Inside was a list of the students in Adrian's class.
Reno had indeed been in the same class.
His name appeared several times in the class activity records.
There were no disciplinary records.
No special notes.
But his closeness to Adrian made him someone worth finding.
Arman closed the folder.
“We'll look for him tomorrow.”
Raka nodded.
He slipped several notes into his bag.
For the first time since they had begun working together, they had a clearer objective.
Not simply to search for documents.
Not simply to observe people.
They were going to find someone who might have seen Adrian before everything ended.
But before they actually left the table, Arman looked at Raka.
“Raka.”
Raka stopped.
“Yes?”
Arman looked at him seriously.
“If we find something that makes you angry, don't act on your own.”
Raka was silent for a moment.
He knew what Arman meant.
Raka often acted on what he believed was right.
Especially when Adrian was involved.
But Arman didn't want their search to turn into a new problem.
Raka finally answered,
“I'll think about it.”
Arman sighed.
“That isn't a very reassuring answer.”
Raka stood and put his notebook in his bag.
“At least I didn't say yes.”
Arman let out a quiet laugh.
For a moment, the serious atmosphere grew a little lighter.
Raka gave a faint smile too.
But it didn't last long.
As they began walking away from the table, Raka happened to glance toward the old bookshelves at the back of the library.
He stopped.
Something looked different.
Among the rows of old books was a folder.
It was tucked between two large books.
Its position made it look as though it wasn't part of the library's collection.
Raka watched it for a few seconds.
“Mr. Arman.”
Arman stopped.
“What is it?”
Raka pointed toward the shelves.
“Over there.”
Arman followed Raka's gaze.
They both walked closer.
The shelves stood in an area students rarely visited.
The books looked older than the rest of the collection.
Some were even covered in dust.
Raka reached out.
He pulled the folder from between the books.
A thin layer of dust fell as it came free.
Arman immediately focused on it.
The label on the front had almost faded away.
But it was still readable.
ADRIAN MAHESA — INTERNAL ARCHIVES
Raka fell silent.
Arman didn't say anything either.
They looked at each other.
The name they had been searching for was suddenly right in front of them.
In the library.
Tucked between old books.
In a place that shouldn't have been used to store the school's internal archives.
Raka slowly turned the folder over.
There was no archive number.
No date.
No indication of who had put it there.
Only Adrian's name.
Arman reached out his hand.
“Don't open it yet.”
Raka looked at him.
“Why?”
“We don't know who put it here.”
Raka fell silent.
Arman was right.
If the folder really was part of the school's internal archives, it shouldn't have been between library books.
That meant someone might have moved it there deliberately.
Or hidden it.
Raka looked at the shelves.
“So someone hid it on purpose?”
Arman didn't answer right away.
He looked around.
The library was still empty.
The only sound was the hum of the ceiling fan.
Finally, Arman said,
“Maybe.”
Raka gripped the folder a little tighter.
They had just found something that might become the beginning of all their answers.
But they didn't know what was inside.
They also didn't know who had opened the folder last.
And most importantly—
they didn't know whether its contents would truly bring them closer to the truth.
Or lead them into an even bigger problem.
Arman took the folder from Raka's hands.
“We're taking this with us.”
Raka nodded.
“We'll look at it together tomorrow.”
They then walked toward the library door.
But before leaving, Raka glanced back at the shelves.
The place looked perfectly ordinary.
There was nothing suspicious about it.
But now he knew that among those old books, someone had once hidden a name that should have been forgotten long ago.
Adrian Mahesa.
Raka walked out with Arman.
The library door slowly closed behind them.
The corridor fell silent again.
Inside the library, the old bookshelves remained standing as usual.
No one knew that a folder had been taken from there.
No one knew who had put it there.
And no one knew why the archives concerning Adrian had been hidden in a place like that.
But for Raka and Arman, that afternoon became a new starting point.
Tomorrow, they would look for Reno Pratama.
And tonight, they had something far more important.
A folder bearing Adrian Mahesa's name.
Internal archives that should have been somewhere else.
A clue that might have been waiting for years.
And without realizing it, someone might already know that they had found it.