Project: Death for Classroom Zero

Chapter 23: Back

There were forty students remaining.

Tristan and Rain had successfully gone back to the starting point of the activity without any hindering monsters, nor traps from the forest. It must have been because they have finished the required task in the activity, that is why the system, if ever there is a system here, had finally set them free from monstrous and peculiar plants of the forest. Even the Venus Fly traps who should be waiting outside of the forest were suspiciously gone from where they had stood.

They were surprised that when they came to the greenhouse, towards where they should place and cultivate the plants, they found out that almost all of the students had already finished the task.

Even Tammy was already done planting their Titan Arum on the ground. She was just only waiting for what shall be the next announcement of their professor. When she saw Tristan and Rain, she immediately waved her hand so that she could grab their attention. 

“That’s Tammy!” Tristan exclaimed. He strode towards where Tammy was standing along with another guy, staring at him with a luminescent smile. 

“Tammy! How’s your Titan Arum?” he immediately asked. 

“I—It’s working good. Seven had helped me in finishing the task.” 

Tristan looked at Seven. There was a second of testing stares, and then he nodded at him. 

“Nice meeting you, bro.” 

“Right, it was also my pleasure. You her friend?” asked a man named Seven. 

“Yes. Ally too.” 

“I see,” Seven nodded, “Then can I be your ally too? I actually overslept earlier that is why I missed the chance of our classmates offering alliances to each other.”

“Ugh…” Tristan was surely hesitating. 

“H—He’s a good person, Tristan! H—he helped me finish the task. In fact, he offered to be my partner since both of our partners are missing,” Tammy defended. 

“Timmy is missing?” 

Tammy’s stare landed on the ground. Her hand noticeably shook. 

“Sh—She’s gone missing in a sudden snap. I don’t know what happened, but I just realized that she’s not beside me anymore,” she explained. 

“Maybe she’s just out there, still doing the task despite you and her breaking away from each other,” Tristan held Tammy’s shoulders and tapped it to make her feel that there’s someone whom she could lean on to, had the problem gotten worse. 

“I’ve been telling that to him, but she’s kept her sulked aura,” interrupted Seven. 

“Don’t worry, Timmy’s great from the start. She can survive this.” 

“You don’t have to worry about her.” From the back, it was Rain who had joined the conversation. 

Tristan looked at her with a questioning look. Seeing where her stare was travelling to, he followed it.

“Timmy has just arrived,” said Rain again. 

On Timmy’s shoulder, the Titan Arum was placed. She was carrying that heavy flower all by herself with her own sole strength. Her tiredness was noticeable on her face, but there also was a smile in it. Having the Titan Arum carried all by herself, she was definitely proud.

“Timmy!”

Tammy Cruz quickly ran towards Timmy. Seeing Tammy running towards her, Timmy placed her Titan Arum on the ground, and hugged her twin sister tightly. 

“Tammy! I’m glad you’re alright! I’m glad you’re safe!” then she sobbed.

“Me too. M—Me too.” Tammy hugged Timmy even tighter. 

When they were done hugging and checking each other, they both came towards Tristan and the group—Timmy still carrying her own Titan Arum. 

“Great job carrying the flower all by yourself,” Tristan said with a fistbump to the newly arrived classmate. 

“Thanks. I think this is not an old Titan Arum yet. This has freshly bloomed, that’s why it’s much smaller than the matured one,” said Timmy, “Anyway, glad that I got a baby one. Else I’m gonna cry my butt out if it's as big as the others. Can’t carry it.” 

“Seven and I helped carry our Titan arum,” said Tammy.

“Seven?” with a questioning look, Timmy stared at her own sister. 

“Ah!” remembering that she had not yet introduced Seven to her sister, she pointed her fingers to the good-looking man beside Tristan. “He’s Seven. H—He became my partner when you were missing in action.” 

“Aha, you cat caught a huge fish while guardian’s away huh?” Joked Timmy with a wiggle of her eyebrows. 

Tammy’s cheeks flushed in rose, while Seven laughed soon as he got the joke.

“T—Timmy! H—He just helped me! Don’t give malice!” defended Tammy. 

“Yeah, just helped her because I don’t find any reason not to. She’s just a friend,” added Seven.

Timmy stood beside Tammy and placed her hand over her shoulders. Having a sharp hearing sense, Tristan heard what Timmy whispered to Tammy. 

“Friends. My sister’s disappointed.” 

Tammy jolted, and slapped her sister’s arms. 

Timmy complained that it was painful, but she was just restraining her laugh. 

“Ah, by the way, I’m kind of curious.” Seven opened another conversation in the group. 

Looking, Tristan saw that he was looking at him. 

“You guys came here without carrying any Titan Arum. What happened?” he asked. 

“Ah, Rain can explain.” Tristan looked at Rain, which Timmy, Tammy and Seven followed.

With a sigh, Rain revealed the seeds of the Titan Arum wrapped in cloth. 

“Seeds?” Timmy asked. “Never know Titan arum’s got a seed.” 

“Me too,” Seven added. 

“I’ve planted Titan Arum once,” Rain reasoned. “I worked as an assistant gardener to a certain person who had a penchant to rare plants. The Titan arum here was not modified in its appearance except for the fact that it can grow in a misty, cold place, which a real Titan arum could not take seriously.” 

“So that seed can grow like that huge plant we carried all the way here?” Timmy asked. 

“Yes, it can.” 

“Damn, if I know that, I shouldn’t be carrying this heavy s**t,” complained Timmy which made the group laugh, except Rain. 

“Let’s try it, Rain.” With a nod, Tristan encouraged her. 

Rain picked up a blank spot where she could bury the Titan arum. With the use of a shovel placed beside the planting spot, Tristan helped Rain dig the soil. When done, she placed the seeds and covered it back with soil.

“It would start sprouting two weeks in time. Seven years to take before it could fully bloom,” said Rain. 

“Wh—What?! Seven years?” Tristan was flustered from what his partner said. 

“I—I think we don’t need to wait for years before it could bloom.” 

Seeing that Tammy was looking at the spot where they planted the seeds, Tristan and Rain looked through it again.

“s**t,” Tristan muttered.

Because the plant does not need to grow for seven years or more. It was rapidly growing every drop of seconds. Until a minute passed, and a new Titan arum had sprouted and bloomed—in its death like, carcass smell.