"Are you alright?"
Irisdina blinked, her wide vermilion-orange eyes locking onto Ivan's intense dark brown gaze. For a moment, it was as if time itself had stopped.
Behind her, Agatha and Luke, her friends, stood frozen in shock. Neither of them had sensed Ivan's approach; he had appeared so suddenly, so silently, as if he had materialized out of thin air.
Ivan did his best to slip into the role of a concerned classmate, his expression carefully crafted to divert the attention of the three onlookers from the E-Watch beneath his foot and the partially concealed body in the bushes to their right. He'd hidden it hastily, but not well enough. If any of them glanced in that direction, it would be over; he'd have no choice but to kill them too.
One victim was already enough for today. Adding three more would complicate things far beyond what he could manage. So, he opted for a dangerous gamble.