Ever since Max Ryder was born, the only goal pursued by him is simply thrill of mystery and a will to achieve indifference . When he entered Wonavilla first , he thought that since his life was gonna be pretty simple anyway so there was no point in just continuing towards indifference. Soon he found out that he was wrong ..and there was something going on that fascinated his curiousity so with his friends , he started to look for mysteries here too and found them a lot. Soon his circle widened with his past friends and new allies , he had lot of fun and thrill while solving mysteries. But as he entered his fourteenth year , he was once again reminded of fact that he needed to pursue those ideals again as mysteries will always be there and as more complex they get , higher the indifference it requires.

And after shifting of timeline , Max found out about the truth that he was missing all this time . Defeat at hands of Isla and then meeting her and knowing about everything , he finally realised where the ideals of morality had gotten him ..he was not even able to scratch behind the surface presented to him and was just content in thinking that he was able to see everything resulting in his death.

But here in this world, he had a chance...a chance to pursue that ideal from the start and he felt like he reached highest level of indifference in recent encounter with Isla . But after knowing that he wasn't even able to think of idea that Second Principal hoped that someone of his caliber would think about ...

His resolve was just more strengthened that he was freeing himself from shackles of those weakness more and more. So why even after all that realisation, he was feeling down ? Why after all that rationality , he was feeling disappointed right now?  Why was he hiding himself in his arms ?

If he had already discarded trust.. morality..guilt ...regret ...to achieve indifference, then why was he feeling that sensation  now ?

Selica's Pov

I was still preturbed by what  I was thinking about yesterday. As I was walking pondering over the matter, I saw a slight I never expected to see .

Max was sitting alone on a bench in park which was pretty frequent for him but the way he had buried himself in his arms ..it was as if he was just sad. Max..sad . But I thought he said he was indifferent. So he wasn't really after all at least not to everything.

He looked up for a second as I sat down beside him and then averted his gaze down again.

"What happened?" I asked gently. I wasn't really sure how to approach him but I knew I couldn't leave him alone now.

"Nothing. Just overthinking." The reply was as vague as it could get and I felt that he wasn't even trying to come up with believable lie.

"You can tell me you know?" I said after some time.

"And why is that?" He stared at me with his sharp gaze . I steadied myself inside. He wasn't wrong. What right I had to ask him ? I was just saved by him and Claude and helped him to pay the favour back but it wouldn't be enough, would it be ? After all , what have I done to earn their trust? Barely two weeks by now and now many times we have even talked to each other.

"Selica! I am grateful for your help those two times I asked you . So don't consider it your responsibility to pay me back. You have already done that . And.. you don't trust me anyway." He stated as I gulped inside. It seems he could tell what was in my mind even now .

"Just leave me alone. That is all I want. You don't have to help me anymore. I can do what I want on my own . So that way , the anxiety inside you of being used is eradicated, isn't it ?" Was this the answer? Will I just always be insecure about myself to let other cut off relations with me to ease me ?

"Max ! I am not denying that I don't feel a sense of trust between us but it is only now . With time, I believe that can happen " at which he blinked.

"But Selica! You are wrong. At best I can feel a sense of easiness but trust...now that is another matter.i felt most at ease with Claude but trust.. especially after three years of no contact is not in my dictionary. So the most effective and logical choice would be for you to pursue a normal life away from threat looming behind me ." He stood up brushing himself off.

"But Max ! By your argument, if you were really indifferent to concept of trust , then why would you even bother telling me all this and not try to beguile me with hope that you are willing to do it so as to use me ? It means that you aren't indifferent to extent that you will use me and would tell me all this for my sake means that you are already at bit of ease with me , aren't you ?" I retorted as he sighed.

"What is up with you ? Why are you acting so intelligent all of sudden ? No one from my circle can just accept what I say . " He but his lip.

"Fine! If you really want to have trust or well try to have it ,then I guess it can't be disadvantageous to have more allies on my side." He agreed as I smiled standing up .

"Thanks Max . That is all I wanted. A relationship of trust and see ! You are bit brightened up ." I pointed out at which he just shrugged it off saying probably.

"Hey Max ! So why did you call me Zee that one time in past I wanted to ask ?" I shot him a question as we were walking towards the dorm.

"Oh. That.. just a nickname." He answered.

"A nickname . Really ! So can you call me that then now instead of Selica?" I asked him as my heart skipped a beat .

"I don't see any problem but you do realise that if I call you by nickname , it would just increase amount of hatred towards me in school well I would generally say I don't care but could hinder me in my activities." At which I tilted my head. Why would hatred towards him increase because of calling me by my nickname?

But I conceded as he told me that we would only refer to it in private conversations and with Max , I think that is most of the time since he doesn't talk much to people.

Max 's Pov

"Claude! I wanted to consult you on a matter. " I called her from school's phone. I had two minutes.

"Hello Max! Shoot ." She replied .

"Claude ! Tell me something considering all you know already about the organization, why would someone in Wonavilla would implement a rule and then basically nullify it . I mean it can't be just to attract attention of someone like me . Like do you know what clue might be there ?" I asked her .

"Well! You are certainly not explaining situation well enough but I would say that you would need to look at things no matter how trivial as close as possible even if they have no connections and then jam your brain to its deepest extent." She sighed.

Warden was not there. Looks like if I really needed more concrete advise, this was the time to tell her about my situation.

"So Claude listen basically..." I quickly told hera zist. Ten seconds left . Let's see what you can tell me .

"Wordings. Look at them ." As everything opened. So the suspicion I had proved to be right after all.

"Thanks Claude." I ended our call . Well looks like I am going over to library again finally to see for myself . The last message left by Mr Winston for me .

Thoth's Pov
Somewhere elsewhere

Are the preparations ready ?" A man with a deep voice  sat down on chair. He was wearing a thin velvet suit which made him shine even in the dark alleys where his compatriots were meeting him.

"Yes sir ! Cartridges are checked and ready to go." One man nodded.

"Good ! For fifteen years , we have waited .Now we will take what we set out to " The man said to them all as he pondered over the matter . All this time , setting pieces in motion and then suddenly came a hindrance when truth was revealed . Our branch was sure that it had eliminated Vincent to cleanse us all of our tracks but then we find that all members are arrested and some dead . And now two days ago , even those men were killed. That branch has warned them of a single person before they were destroyed, Max Ryder. And his name had come up yet again in interview . When he read his interview, he thought nothing of it at first but then saw the hidden message in it .No ! This brat was too dangerous to be left alive .

So when they finally set out this time to obtain their reward , the first thing to do is to eliminate Max Ryder.

Karl Himenston..that name was so bygone but he was pretty sure that Max must have figured out who he was by now if he was challenging the organization. It doesn't matter. Really! At end , nothing matters if you obtain information. Because whether with info or not, a single brat is nothing against organization like theirs. No matter how clever he may have been , Max Ryder's days of staying alive are about to end .

Thoth's Pov
Wonavilla hostel

Unbeknownst to all this, Max continued on his way to library.

"You want just one year right." Librarian asked as he nodded. The librarian was still confused as to what purpose that a first year form student had with those but he granted him.

It was quite confirmed after discussing with Claude that answers simply lied in the sheets itself. That is why Max had currently taken all the question papers belonging to all forms in 2009 . There were whole 2 sets of papers before the rule was revoked and papers stopped being issued from the Axis library . So Max knew whatever he must have wanted to tell would be through the wordings in the question papers because he can't displace the item in Wonavilla without Karl Himenston's knowledge or arousing suspicion. He can't call a student and tell him as the student might betray him or someone might heard their conversation over phones or through acess to footage leaked by school teachers.

Max had to admit despite his wishful thinking, second Principal was quite smart to think of all such possibilities so he chose the option that he had . To create a rule and then revoke it to attract attention of someone and then tell message him in most unexpected way .

Max rubbed his head as he tried to figure that out of 16 papers issues , what was the chronological order and the pattern since this also fell under deep pattern analysis , he had to think harder.

"Alright ! How about I arrange every first sheet and then second sheet of second year and then so on..i.e.

First question papers
Seeing first page of first year, second page of second year and then go back to first when page finished...

But he soon found out that it wasn't the case here . He tried 23 différent patterns with différént term papers and subset of papers but none worked. He sighed to himself. Alright! Definitely thinking of random patterns is not working .. which means only one thing. I have to go even more deeper into myself. As he closed his eyes wandering into his consciousness.

"So you need my help ?" Indifferent Max asked.

"Well ! How are you even gonna help? Glare at paper . No! Where is the deductionist?" Max sighed.

"I don't know . Hey ! How about thinking of History of School part 2 . I mean I am sure there must be some fact that you may have overlooked." A suggestion came from analyst.

"You do realise that Mr Winston couldn't have mentioned anything in his book much already, don't you ?" Max retorted.

"Obviously! We all are aware of that fact but still try to remember even most trivial unrelated thing. Isn't that what Claude said?" Calm Max answered.

"So we are listening to someone else now?" Max looked at them .

"I mean .. haven't we always?" Analyst Max stated.

"No ! We haven't . We are rational and capable." Indifferent Max opposed him.

"Yeah! Well whatever. I think I am going to take help of you all . Just don't bicker. We are supposed to be mature." Max sighed opening his eyes . Let's see. Mr Winston. Mr Winston and Axis library. Sheet . Two times . Wonavilla .

"Ok ! I can do this . The date when this rule was implemented. Let's see 21st June , 2009 . What is so special about that day ?  Oh right! The longest day . The summer solstice.. it stays between 20th and 22nd June . It was revoked on 22nd December . The longest night . 21st and 23rd  Dec .Again two days. Two is the constant. So two is important." He thought.

Which means that at least that two sheets must be required to read together to make sense of them . Wait ! Wait . If those days are between two days , then it means that sheets have to be compared with alternative style.

Also the fact that 21st and 22nd are mentioned. Let's see. Either it is 3rd and 4th year (2+1 and 2+2) or it could be 1st and 2nd year.

After that Max tried out several analogies and found out actually for the first term question papers , it was second year and first year merged  (2 1)and 22nd implied that all were in second year (2 2)

"What do ..."

Then second year question number 1 first term

You have "

So each time first word was basically succeceded by words in next year which was then succeceded again by previous year . Like basically

First word taken from Question number 1 of both first and second year together followed by second question in same way ...and so on for one term and then

Seeing it together in second term papers. So after lot of hard work and analogies, Max sighed arching his arms as he finished writing the message.

"What you discovered was something after hardwork. I remain unaware as to what your intentions are . But worry not , I will definitely give you something vital . Room 14 . Regression analysis. First Stone. It may seem confusing but I still hesitate as to tell where it is reposed. But after all this, little puzzle won't break your Indissoluble spirit. You must find it." 

Max 's Pov

Don't worry, Mr Winston. Whatever that is . Whatever is hidden in this Wonavilla, I will find it in Room 14 and with help of two clues you left me.  I accept your final message to me and it is quite lucid . Karl Himenston! Come at me .

Karl Himenston's Pov

Max Ryder. Try your best . I will get my hands on it soon . And then you would see who stands on the top .

Au révior readers! Keep posted for the next chapter.