Chapter 1A

BASELINE

“Hey, you’ve heard of the rumour right?”

Florgoa Academy. A prestigious boarding school known for having a

revered reputation, as it boasts itself as a school that produces students of
noteworthy status. With multiple buildings and dedicated facilities to aid to the
students, every student’s educational needs are more than met. Graduating from
this academy is more than enough for you to be accepted into a good college of
your choice. With a student body of over 800 people, each student holds an air of
pride around them. The academy presents a mix of gothic and neoclassical
architecture. Stepping into this academy is like stepping into a fantasy world with a
medieval setting.

“What rumour?”

Lunch time in the academy isn’t as busy despite it’s hefty student body
count. This is because the academy has 6 dining halls, each with their own
dedicated food stalls. In one of the said dining halls of this particular academy,
housing 2 rows containing 4 tables each, a secretive conversation between a young
man and woman takes place within the corner of the room while the other students
are eating away at their lunch.

“You know? The one about the so-called Phantom Threads? ”

A girl with a pink hat resembling a mix of a cloche and a deerstalker while
dressed in the academy’s classy and elegant uniform asks an inquisitive question.

“Oh, that. This your first hearing of them? Pretty sure that ‘rumour’ you call
em has been around ever since this school was up and running”

The boy she is talking to, with an appearance of the average norm around
with the standard male uniform with only a yellow necktie to differentiate him
from others, answers her to amuse what looks like her usual antics
 “What?! Have I been digging the wrong hole this whole time?!”

She gives a look on her face that was as if she just realized she made a
wrong decision in her life

“Alright, change of plans. We can disregard the whole thing about the public
speaking club hosting a pyramid scheme”

Way ahead of you there — he thought in his head, as if he was used to her
ramblings

She quickly stands up and strikes a pose, raising her fist up high, and
exclaiming her next words

“You know what they say! A legend’s only a legend ‘till someone proves it
real!”

Her boisterous attitude turns a couple of heads, alarming the young man with
her.

“Okay, okay, yeah, I hear you, now, please don’t make a scene” he says to
her as he gestures to make her sit down in a flustered way.

She complies and follows, but before berating him for how much of a killjoy
he is. At least that’s what she thinks

“Yeah well, at least I’m not turning heads towards myself. Seriously have
some shame every once in awhile”

“There you go again with your ‘I don’t want to draw attention’ schtick. You
absolute buffoon”

“You’re one to talk”

“Listen~, as lieutenant of the newspaper club and my right hand man-“

“Y’mean vice president?”

“It is your duty to uphold the vision and values I’ve set the newspaper club’s
agenda on. Turning people’s heads should be what we should aim for!”
 “Less vision and values and more like recklessness and stupidity. Listen can
I just...enjoy my lunch now?”

“Permission granted. But we shall continue this conversation later in the

club room” She says while role-playing as some sort of military leader...of sorts

“Fantastic”

The young man finally gets to take a bite from his lunch free from the
nuisances of the girl next to him. While indulging in his meal the topic of their
conversation pops up in his head

The Phantom Threads huh? — he asks himself as he looks out the window

It is the season after Valentine's day, the romantic atmosphere has come and
went, winter is nearly coming to stop, and the spring pollens are fast approaching.
As the school bells ring, signalling the end of classes, the students make their ways
to their respective dorms. However, in a certain spot in the academy, a young man
stands below a Redbud tree. A tree with it’s newly sprouting leaves, replacing
those that have decayed from the passing winter. The man stands there, staring into
the tree’s visible roots, as the wind blows by. Suddenly he hears footsteps. He
looks behind him to see who they belonged to. To his surprise, it was a young girl.
Breathing heavily From nervousness, red from embarrassment, and fidgeting from
awkwardness.

The young man slowly approaches her, and reach into his pocket to grab a
letter.

“Were you the one who gave me this?”

“Yes” she replied

The man starts turning red

Suddenly, the wind blows around them

“Well... What do you want to say to me?”

“.... I-”
 As she walks forward, she unintentionally stumbles. The young man quickly
acts to catch her before she falls. As she lays upon his arms, they make eye contact
and stare at each other for a while. As they gaze at each other, to them, the second
feels like an eternity. As their eyes meet one another, red heart-shaped leaves start
falling around them. Yes, falling leaves with bright, vibrant red colours, despite the
fact it’s still winter.

Music plays.... This is a written form of entertainment but yes indeed, music
plays. The two are in the mood, to them, it was now and never.

“I... I like you” she quietly says

The young man stands still. But it’s not long until he gives her an answer of
reciprocation.

“Me too”

As they both accept each others feelings, they slowly start embracing one
another.

Alright, mission, success — unbeknownst to the newly formed couple. A

petite figure watches over them from above. His left leg, stepping over a knocked
over basket, with his left arm resting on it. As if he knocked over that basket that
contain the heart shaped leaves that had been falling around the couple. Explains
why such abundance of leaves are falling about when spring hasn’t begun yet.

“Like shooting fish in a barrel”

Next to him are a bunch of fans. Explains the sudden gusts of wind.
Additionally, a speaker as well, explains the music.

He says to himself while smirking putting his hand under his chin, forming a
check with his thumb and index.

Then suddenly he kicks the basket upwards and catches it. After catching it
he strikes a dramatic pose. A stylish pose, as if he just did a finisher move in a
fighting game. Catching the basket afterwards.

“Alright time to clean up”

 He then takes all the fans and the speaker, and puts them in a wagon. He
then goes down next to the tree and starts sweeping the petals and puts them in a
trash bin afterwards. Talk about anticlimactic.

This eccentric fellow is Sylvester Mallon, a short structured young man with
light grey hair with a short pony tail and a red scarf around his neck, and a member
of the Phantom Threads. Yes, they exist, and their purpose in this school is sacred.
Their identities must be kept secret, otherwise expulsion is will be served for them
on a silver platter.

As his job is done, tightly stitching the romantic relationship between his
targets, he returns back to their base of operations, dragging the wagon with him.
Located in the lower chambers of the academy. One must first enter through the
faculty office first before you can enter, meaning normal students are forbidden
entry unless you are a member of the student council or one of the 4 members of
the Phantom Threads.

“Alright, here we are”

As Sylvester reaches the door leading to their base, he straightens his collar,
fixes his sleeves, and waves his arms and hands around, as if trying to figure out
what would be the perfect pose he’d do when he’d blast the door open
dramatically.

Without hesitation, he slams the door open and poses like a model walking
through a runway at a fashion show.

The room of operations of the Phantom Threads. Despite being a room of

measly size, it has all the commodities you want. A couch and a sofa, a bookshelf,
2 potted plants near the entrance, a decently sized table, a CRT TV on top of a desk
with drawers, a coffee table, and most important of all, a mini fridge.

Hm? – To his surprise, he sees the other 2 members in a room. One of them
being a petite, frail-looking purple haired girl with a pink bandana around her hair
being used as a headband, sitting on an office chair with her laptop on the table,
trying to push back the very same average looking guy with the yellow necktie
looking like he was about to jump on her. The both of them looked distressed, but
for different reasons. Nonetheless, the situation they found themselves in was quite
suggestive, leading to Sylvester to misunderstanding the situation.

“Huh... Irwin I expected you to be many things but... A pervert wasn’t one
of them”

“Hold on, you’re misunderstanding something here!” the man named Irwin
quickly stepped away from the girl she was about to pounce on, and quickly tried
to explain to Sylvester the situation.

“What’s there to misunderstand in a situation where a small and frail is

trying to fight back being jumped by some desperate looking man. Honestly,
you’re even trying to get talk your way out of this. You’re losing all the respect I
had of you”

“I’m telling you that’s not what happened!!”

Hey, listen, jerk wad, the next you try to compliment me, try ‘cute and
cuddly’ instead of ‘small and frail’. Got it? ” The girl interrupts their squabble and
calls out Sylvester's initial comment about her.

“Nonsense, Fera, I wasn’t complimenting you, I was describing you. So

there’s no need for correction”

“Ugh, right, you’re impossible”

They seem to be bickering about something else entirely now. Nonetheless,

it seems the situation has deescalated. Irwin starts filling in Sylvester on the
situation while Fera types away on her keyboard while occasionally glancing at a
ragged rectangular object resembling a book.

“Sillene’s identity is in danger?!” Sylvester exclaims

“Yyyyep, I swear that woman’s a walking magnet that attracts trouble”

Irwin expressed her annoyance with her in a tired way

“Huh... A shame... Oh well her problem not mine” he says in a carefree way.
As if not caring what happens to this Sillene person. What a heartless person.
 “Sigh... Figured you’d say that”

It seems this carefree attitude of his is a natural occurrence within this group.

“Well, this IS Sillene we are talking about, she’s the oldest one here you
know. With age comes knowledge as they say”

“You do realize she’s only 2 years older than us. But I’d have to agree. Her
ability to get herself out of the trouble she gets herself into is as good as her ability
to get into said troubles”

“That’s right, all she needs is that noggin of hers and poof, problem solved”

“Yeah... About that...”

It seems Irwin has something to say about the situation. Sylvester’s

confidence wavers a bit, but he doubts his doubts, so he then proceeds to probe
Irwin.

“About what? Is there some sort of special rule this time? Oh, could it be, is
the corrupt whistle blower this time has an unknown identity?”

“Well...”

Slam

While the two were having their chitchat, Fera looks like she’s had enough
with what she was doing in her laptop and slams the desk. She leans against her
chair, hangs her head backwards, and groans.

“What’s gotten into you? Did a cockroach suddenly appear and frightened
you? Didn’t expect you to have a cute side”

Sylvester attempts to make a quick jab at her.

“Ugh, listen, I don’t want to here any of you right now. I’m not feeling it”

But it seems that she’s too tired to even care.

“Hey, uh... Care to explain what’s wrong? Lost a game or something?”

 Irwin asked, out of curiosity and worry. But mostly curiosity.

“No, not that. In fact, nothings wrong.... But at the same time, nothing’s
right... And that’s what’s wrong”

“.... Pardon?”

Both Sylvester and Irwin ask at the same time

“Sigh... Whatever”

Fera stands up from her seat, places her laptop in her bag, grabs the ragged
rectangular object and makes her way to the door.

“Well I’ll be going on ahead . Gonna take a quick nap, an all-nighter is

waiting for me tonight”

With that comment she leaves the room. Leaving both Sylvester and Irwin in
a bit of confusion, but ultimately, they let it slide and continue their conversation.

“What was up with her?” Sylvester asks Irwin

“I could ask you the same thing” Irwin responded

“Oh yeah, speaking of whatever’s up and above, what was up with you
trying to jump on her earlier like some hungry predator?”

“Oh, that huh... Uh... How about you just forget about that” Irwin nervously
attempts to dismiss the matter”

“Seriously? After all that you’re not gonna tell me? Fine, I won’t pry.
Doesn’t deny the fact that it feels like you don’t trust me though”

“It’s not that, it’s just-“

“Wait scratch that notion!”

Sylvester quickly cuts their conversation

 “I forgot, I have a shift in my part time job today. I’m going bid thee
farewell. I’ll just leave this wagon here. Bye”

In an urgency to leave, he says his goodbyes to Irwin, and exits the room.

Walking through the hallways, towards the locker to get his bag, Sylvester
looks out the huge windows of the academy and admires the sunset.

You don’t get a view like this everyday... Hm... I wonder why Fera looked
exhausted. Quite unorthodox for her— Sylvester thought to himself. But doesn’t
dwell, since he was hurrying on to his job. He continued to walk through the huge
hallways of this grandiose academy, that is until he starts getting an uneasy feeling.
As if someone was watching him. Unsure of what to do, he starts increasingly the
pace of his walking, until he finally reaches the stairs leading towards the main
hall. That is until

“Sylvester Mallon, am I correct?”

A girl, who looks like to be another student in the academy, towers above
Sylvester atop the stairs, while he looks above from below. It was a scene right out
of a comic

“Yeah, who’s asking? Listen I’m in quite the hurry right now so I’d
appreciate it you made it quick”

Sylvester answered.

“Let’s see here”

She takes out here phone, a flip phone, and starts typing away with her right
here. Fiddling through it as if looking for something.

“Ah, here we are. Sylvester Mallon, age 17, class 2-C...”

“Hold on, are you perhaps what they call a stalker? Quite unusual for
someone to stalk someone like me. Why’s that?”

She utters her next words to answer his question.

 “Well, you’re a member of the Phantom Threads are you not?”

With those words, Sylvester is sent to a panicked state. He’s voice is shaky,
and his palms start sweating

“What... How did you-“

“Well, it was simple”

She cuts his question

If one is a member of the Phantom Threads, exposure of one’s identity will

result in expulsion. After all, the great duty of mending the situations of the
students of the academy must be held with great responsibilities. Thus, if one fails
to uphold that responsibility, their position in the school is forfeit. Hence why
Sylvester is sent into a panic

As he looks above upon this girl, atop the stairs, while he, at the bottom.
Like something out of a drama, the villain looking down upon the distressed hero,
Sylvester prepares himself for the worst.