Marianne ordered the cheapest black coffee, while Carlos and Yu Xing asked for black tea.
"Bob... really was just like the teachers said. He loved mysterious things." Marianne wrapped her hands around the warm coffee cup, gathering her thoughts. "He often dragged Charlie and Elliot along to study ancient symbols and dark legends, and even tried using simple materials to perform so-called 'rituals'... We all thought they were a little silly, but harmless."
She paused, lowering her voice. "A few days before it happened, Bob really did seem especially excited. He secretly told me they might have discovered the 'real secret' of the school, and said something like, 'This time, it's definitely not a fantasy'... I thought he was being silly again and even teased him about it... If only I'd known..." She pressed her lips together, a hint of guilt crossing her face.
They were classmates, but they were also quite close friends.
They had all grown up in the same neighborhood and had known each other since childhood, so they were closer than ordinary classmates. Marianne was simply obsessed with machinery and had no interest at all in Bob's "mysticism." Once they got to university, they each had their own things to do, and they weren't as close as they'd been when they were children.
They still talked from time to time, though. Marianne had always felt that Bob liked her. Sometimes that silly boy would bring a few flowers from who-knew-where and toss them onto her desk with a grin.
But she'd always thought things would go on like that for a long time. She could focus on her studies, get the job she wanted, and think about romance later.
She never expected...
When she heard that Bob had died, she was stunned for days. It wasn't