★ kee speaks "astig" means cool or badass

I groaned really loudly, stretching my legs. "UGHHHHH."

"Shut up, Diana."

"You shut up," I pouted, folding my legs and sitting cross-legged on the bench.

Classes were done for the day and it was 3 days until Christmas. Today was the last day of school before the break, too. I was here because Elize was here, and she always hung out with the seventh graders. Usually they would be playing in the gym or in the waiting area on their phones, but Aerron stayed behind because Philip had to do a make up quiz. We stayed in the hallway while he finished up in the teacher's faculty.

Elize and Aerron talked a fair amount, but because I was only there to tag along, I only joined in once or twice.

"What was that about Mia again?" He asked, taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

"She told Gabriel to tell me to go to her house with Elize or something. With the katana."

"Yeah, she has a butterfly knife."

"How do you even know?"

"We exchanged numbers."

Damn. Most of Elize's friends actually knew how to communicate and socialize successfully.

"Okay, Mr. Popular."

Aerron glared at me, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Oh yeah, how are things between you and Laurence?"

I scowled at him through my own glasses and picked up my bag. "Okay, bye." I took a peek down the hallway but found Philip making his way back. I sighed, blushing, and turned back.

Aerron was looking at me smugly, sharing earphones with Elize. "You still leaving?"

"Me?" Philip asked behind me.

Aerron's expression lightened. "No! Of course not. Tapos ka na?" ("Are you done?")

"Yeah."

They started talking about a lot of other things, which left me and Elize, so I sat down beside her. "You ready to go?"

She put her cold bottle of apple juice down and ran her fingers through her hair. The tips were still magenta from the time she colored her hair last summer. Even though the school had told her to grow it out and not color her hair anymore, I always thought she looked really pretty with or without it. "Yep. I'm bringing my katana, right?"

I nodded. "What are you gonna bring?" She asked.

"Um...I think my dad has an itak but I haven't cleaned it yet, so maybe I'll bring it next time."

After that, we had gone to our lockers and changed into casual attire, stuffing our uniforms into our backpacks. "Let's go," Elize called, waiting for me at the end of the hallway. I smiled and followed with my bag on one arm.

Ever since the first attack at Circle Park, I had stopped wearing shorts outside because I didn't want to scrape my knee again. It rarely happened, but the sting bothered me when I sat weirdly (which I do a lot) so I took my jeans out of my closet and actually wore them for once.

Elize was in a yellow shirt and black jogging pants, with both of us wearing rubber shoes. It was exactly 3:34 P.M, since classes always ended at 3:10 and I had gone to the high school floor with her so she could talk to Aerron. The concrete was lit up and heated from the sun, and it was hot like always, even in December.

Well, it was slightly colder, but it still wasn't enough to be able to wear a jacket on normal days. Unless you're Aerron, then you have all abilities to be able to endure any temperature.

The street was empty except for a child and their guardian at the end of the street. Bushes and trees lay here and there, and they swayed with the occasional cold gust of wind. We walked to the end of the street and waited for a tricycle at the main road.

"Nasa 'yo yung pambayad?" ("Is the money with you?") I asked, glancing at Elize. A motorcycle sped past, ripping through the air so her voice was drowned out, but I saw her nod.

Not even a minute later we sat in a tricycle, me on the open side. I always liked riding them, even if I rarely did anymore. It was loud, especially when you're the one riding it, and it's not a smooth ride, but it's fast and windy, and I loved that. As in if your hair was long enough it would be whipping your face and you'd feel like you're flying through the air.

We arrived at her street with her house a few meters away. I waited in front of her front door while she went to find her katana. Apparently she took longer than I thought she would, because she dropped her backpack off and only brought her wallet back. She smiled brightly as she came out with the sword.

I stared at the sheathed katana in her hand. "Okay na yan, kahit hindi mo tanggalin, pamalo na yan." ("That's already enough, even if you don't remove it from the case, it's already something to hit things with.")

Elize chuckled. "Eh...gusto ko pa rin gumamit ng katana. Ng maayos," she added, scolding me playfully. ("Well...I still want to use the katana. Properly.")

I mimicked a hitting motion in the air as we walked out of her street. "Anong sinabi mo nung hiniram mo yan?" ("What did you say when you borrowed it?")

She hummed. "Wala namang tao. Tsaka wala namang mangingialam kung ginamit ko 'to." ("No one's home. And no one cares if I use this anyway.")

To be honest, I kind of felt left out, not having a weapon, and I hated being left out, too. But it was my fault, since I chose to bring my itak next time. Mia and the rest already had their weapons, now it was only RenRen and I left. Well, I already had mine, it just wasn't with me. Oh, boo hoo, so sad for the kid.

The sun beat down on our heads as we talked, and just as we were about to leave her street Elize turned back to get her mom's scooter. I said I'd get my bike once we pass by my house, too.

When I took my bike out, I considered going up and getting the itak, but we were running out of time and Mia was waiting for us. I found Elize leaning against my parents' car.

"Is this a girls' day out?" Mia joked when we got there.

I raised my hand. "Actually, you were the one who told us to go here and so we don't actually know what we're here for."

She shuffled her feet. "If you want to practice with the swords—" she glanced at Elize, "—We can. There's an empty hidden parking lot nearby."

Mia brought us up to her room. It was simple, just a bed, desk, closet, and a backpack in the corner. There was a light switch labeled "fan" and I looked up to see a ceiling fan overlooking us. She picked something up from the desk and showed it to us. It was a balisong, or butterfly knife. I remember seeing them in movies and how they'd fold and unfold. That was cool.

"I have mine too!" Elize said excitedly and unsheathed her katana. The shiny blade would have cut me if I didn't move away.

"Woah! Careful," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Honestly, the katana was beautiful. It wasn't perfectly shiny, but it was sleek and a little worn down, which kind of gave it a nice flaw, like it had been through a rough journey. The whole thing was just a little longer than my arm and the dark wooden handle seemed to fit into her hand perfectly.

Mia threw something at Elize and Elize reacted pretty quickly. Her katana flashed in the light and then something fell on the ground. A Styrofoam apple was on Mia's bedroom floor with the top grazed off. It wasn't perfectly cut in half, but hey, it worked!

"Woah," I said. "That's so cool."

"It won't be kind to the monsters, won't it?" Mia asked, poking the apple with her butterfly knife and holding it up.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. But how will w—I mean you practice with those? I mean, it's not equal, katana versus balisong."

Elize shrugged. "We can hit things."

I frowned. "You said...Actually, nevermind. Are we going to the parking lot thing?"

"Only if you want to," Mia replied.

Elize perked up. "Of course we're going!" She looked at me. "Sali ka?" ("You coming?")

I stared at her. "Oh! Yeah, sure."

Some time later Mia led us into said parking lot. Apparently there was an old restaurant but they moved to another part of the city, leaving the parking lot. Mia told us that no official companies or organizations used the place, so a lot of kids would go here to play, including her because of how big it was. It wasn't a mall-sized parking lot, but just big enough for a restaurant. It had two floors, overgrown with weeds and vines, with the paint faded off and gravel and dust laying here and there. There were just some parts of our barangay that were...dead.

Mia led us up the stairs beside the cured part where cars were supposed to be "Welcome to the secret hideout. No one really goes here while someone else is, so this is a good place to hide."

Elize kicked a rock off the stairs and the sound it made when it landed echoed down the stairwell. "Astig." ("Cool.")

A few minutes later we had gotten comfortable in the place, the sheath of Elize's katana on the floor and Mia already trying her best with the knife.

"No interruptions or intruders, huh?" I asked, tying back my hair.

Mia awkwardly picked her knife off the floor and shook her head. "Nope."

It felt awkward just standing there and watching them practice, swinging their weapons while I stared and shoved the thumbs into my pockets. I saw the sheath of Elize's katana and thought, maybe I could use that. Just get my arms used to the feeling or something.

"Elize, pahiram," ("Elize, I'll borrow this") I said, bending down and picking up the wooden stick off the ground. My fingers grazed the dust as they curled around the wood. Elize nodded.

I had used long things a lot before. Cartolina, hangers, rulers, branches, pipes when no one was watching. Of course I knew how to swing things around. When you grow up reading Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, you tend to have a fascination with adventure and swords. Based on my experience, at least.

I knew the sheath wasn't very good practice, though, because it was probably much lighter than the itak I was supposed to use. I mean, this didn't have a 15-inch blade, did it? But it was all I had at the moment. Looking around, there were no metal rods or anything so I was stuck using Elize's sheath. I reluctantly swung it around, trying not to laugh at myself.

"Diana!" Elize yelled.

From what we've already been through, I thought there was another creature thing in the room so I spun around and held the stick in front of my face, blocking whatever was to come. I flinched and when I opened my eyes Elize had her katana against the sheath, pressing the blade sideways.

"Wait, that was good," she grinned, almost as if she surprised herself.

"Yeah," I replied, slowly lowering my defense.

"Hey." She pressed the katana a little harder. "RenRen said never let your guard down or something. Wag kang magpatalo." ("Don't let yourself be defeated.")

"Oh. When did he say that?"

"That roleplay in science we had back in grade 4," Mia chimed in. I nodded.

Were we really doing this? I was still in disbelief. It seemed even more surreal now that we had weapons. We didn't even know what those things were. Animals? No, Laurence said those weren't animals anymore. So what were they and do they stay dead? Wait, they do. They disintegrate as if Thanos was snapping his fingers.

"Mia. Mia, do the thing," Elize chirped. She asked me if I wanted to borrow the katana and I said yes. It was heavier.

"What thing?"

Elize held air and waved her hands around.

"Oh, this?" Mia asked and did the thing with the butterfly knife. I don't know what it's called either, but it's the thing where they wave it around while it fold and unfolds.

"It's faster than our teachers can tell us they're disappointed in us," Elize noted.

"I'll take that as a good thing," Mia said.

I stuck the katana in the air and tried whatever Elize was doing earlier. "It is. So what if I like, stab someone? By accident. And how are we gonna...I don't know, hide this when we go out in public?"

"That's a lot of questions. You sound like RenRen." Mia shook her head.

"At least I don't Naruto Run down the fucking street," I said almost bitterly.

Elize recoiled. "He still does that?"

"Sometimes," I laughed.

Mia climbed up on the ledge. "So—oh yeah, can you check your phones tonight?"

"Why?"
"Huh?"

"You'll see."

I had wished Mia had given us a clear answer, and it looked like Elize did too as we swapped looks.

"This looks like a nice place to sing. With the echoes and all," I observed, taking another look at the parking lot.

Elize started singing a random song. To be honest, she was really off-key. I was telling Mia to get down from the ledge when something crackled downstairs, as if someone stepped in a rock or a piece of glass.

"Wait, wait, wait, do you hear that?" I asked. Elize stopped singing and slowly went to the stairwell. "Be...be careful," I said.

"Is there someone there?" Mia asked. Elize nudged me back, and then began pushing me.

"Go back, go back, may parang aso or something, or monster, but it's not a dog—"

I shoved the katana into her hands. "Um, here's your chance?" I said, unsure. My heartbeat sped up even more when I heard footsteps up the stairs already and nearly tripped when I sped back up too fast. Elize helped me up as Mia took out her knife.

Mia called us to the end of the room and we watched as the something appeared at the top of the path, growling.

It was colored brown, with what I recognized as a monkey's body. What was the head? It was like a bear's, but it was kind of...pinched. Smaller, more like. The fur around its eyes to the end of its snout was darker and sharp teeth poked upwards. It growled again and seemed to scan the three of us. It was bigger than what should have been normal, too—just like the bird things at school.

It bark-screeched like the sound of a tire screeching on the road and a person with a sore throat coughing. That was not anything normal.