Ingsun: The Light

Glowing

Nada took a seat.

The café felt warm and inviting, filled with the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, Paris bustled with effortless elegance. The streets, the people, the old buildings glowing beneath the afternoon sun...

It looked like a fairy tale. A fairy tale so beautiful that it couldn't possibly be real.

"Hi. I'm Dayu."

A young woman sat down across from her. She was breathtaking.

Her naturally blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her striking features carried an unusual blend of European, Malay, and East Asian ancestry. She wore a pale green vintage-style dress, with a dark green butterfly brooch pinned neatly to the left side of her chest.

Nada accepted the girl's outstretched hand. She looked two or three years older than her.

"I'm Nada."

"I know."

Nada blinked. "Wait... I think we've met before."

"In a tissue box."

Dayu smiled.

"What matters is... I finally found you."

Nada frowned. "Found me? What do you mean?"

"I found your power, Nad."

"My power?" Nada laughed awkwardly. "I don't have any powers. I can see ghosts and wandering spirits. But that’s it. I'm only an ordinary Indigo Girl."

Dayu slowly shook her head. "Your Indigo ability is only one small part of it. What you possess is far greater. And soon... you'll learn how to find it. And how to use it."

"Where?"

"Anywhere," Dayu's smile never faded. "It isn't tied to any place. Not geographically. Because everything has already entered the realm of relativity."

"...Relativity? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Dayu giggled.

"You will. One day, all of this will make perfect sense. And when that day comes... it'll become the most important thing in your life."

Nada tilted her head.

"More important than school?"

"Much more. Once you step into it... you'll forget all about school. You won't need it anymore."

Nada's eyes widened.

"What if my teachers get mad at me?"

Dayu answered without missing a beat. "Anyone who gets mad at you will be drenched in goat curry."

Nada stared.

"What? And what about tomorrow? My scooter has a flat tire. It needs swimming."

Dayu nodded solemnly, as though the sentence made perfect sense.

"Your lessons begin tomorrow. Listen. Observe. Feel. Everything you'll encounter will reach far beyond ordinary senses... and beyond ordinary logic."

"But why?"

"You'll see," Dayu's eyes sparkled mischievously. "While we're waiting... let's play badminton. At the All England. We'll use Prita Paramitha’s Grasshopper Dropshot Technique."

The café vanished. Without warning, they were standing inside the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. Thousands of spectators roared around them. Nada's uniform had somehow become a badminton outfit.

Sweat drenched her face. The scoreboard read: 20-14. Championship point.

One more point... and she'd become the All England champion. The grand prize?

A blender.

Nada jolted awake. The dawn call to prayer echoed from the mosque across the soccer field. She slowly let out a breath.

What a weird dream.

She couldn't remember most of it anymore. She only knew one thing. It had been... very, very strange.

***

“Nad! Nada!"

The voice made Nada stop in her tracks and turn around right at the front gate of State Senior High School 29 Surakarta.

Among the dozens of students streaming through the entrance, she spotted Benu jogging toward her. The boy's face was damp with sweat. Good. That meant he had recovered.

"You're walking? Where's your scooter?"

"Left it at home. Didn't feel like riding today."

They walked side by side. Every now and then Benu accidentally bumped into her whenever a crowd of students rushed past.

"So how'd you get here?"

"My mom dropped me off."

"And after school?"

Nada held up her phone. "I'll book a bike."

"Oh... I thought..."

She knew exactly what he had been about to say. Benu always offered her a ride home whenever he found out she hadn't brought her scooter. His eyes would always light up whenever that happened.

This time, for some reason, he stopped himself.

"Hey, thanks for yesterday," he said after a moment. "You were right. Last night I stopped playing Obituary and Demigod on my headset, and my fever disappeared almost immediately. I think those spirits really left me alone."

"Of course they did. You gave them what they wanted. But instead of creepy death metal, why not play some K-pop? Especially those slow ballads from Korean drama soundtracks. If the music is mellow enough, nobody gets annoyed."

Benu grimaced as if she'd just offered him a plate of spiders. "I don't like K-pop. Let me guess. Your playlist is full of that stuff?"

Nada smiled. "Not really. I listen to pretty much anything. K-pop too... if I like the song."

"Oh! What I told you yesterday was true, by the way."

Nada's eyes widened.

"So he really is joining our class?"

"Yep. Karin heard it from her cousin Ellen. Ellen's Mr. Basri's daughter, remember? She saw today's updated class attendance list. There's a new name on it. Raditya Mahadewa."

Benu grinned.

"So Karin stalked him on social media."

"And?"

"And the guy is ridiculously handsome. Your entire girls' squad is going to lose their minds. Including you."

"No way," Nada rolled her eyes. "I'm not the type to scream over a handsome guy. But why transfer now? School started two months ago. Why not at the beginning of the semester?"

"You can ask him yourself once you know him," Benu smirked. "He'll probably fall for you anyway."

"What?"

"You're glowing."

Nada shot him a look.

"I'm what?"

"Glowing," Benu scratched the back of his neck, looking slightly embarrassed. "Did you secretly visit a beauty salon after leaving my house yesterday?"

Instinctively, Nada touched both cheeks. A faint blush crept across her face. It might have been the first time a boy had ever complimented her appearance.

"I’m not glowing, you i***t. I just use my mom's facial cleanser."

"I'm serious. That new guy's definitely going to..."

Benu never finished the sentence.

The moment they turned into the corridor beside the school stationery store, Nada suddenly gasped.

Books exploded into the air.

A tall figure was launched backward as if hit by a speeding truck before crashing headfirst into a huge trash bin. The bin toppled over with a deafening clang as the boy rolled across the floor.

Students all around them turned to look. Then burst into laughter.

Ridiculously, not a single one of them rushed over to help him. Nada slapped both hands over her mouth.

Holy...!

Nathan!

She was the first to sprint toward him.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you!"

Nathan, tall and athletic with the clean-cut looks of a TV drama actor, hurriedly climbed to his feet while brushing dirt off his uniform.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry," he said. "Are you okay? I was running because I was late. Ms. Tira asked me to deliver everyone's workbooks to the teachers' office."

Nada blinked. "Wait... wasn't I the one who bumped into you?"

Nathan shook his head. "No. I ran into you around that corner."

His expression immediately filled with concern.

"Seriously, are you hurt? Bruises? Scratches? Broken bones? That collision was pretty hard."

Still dazed, Nada looked herself up and down.

"I'm fine," then she pointed behind him. "Your books!"

Nathan spun around.

"Oh, no!"

More than a dozen books lay scattered across the corridor. Some had even landed inside the drainage ditch, soaking in dirty water.

Benu and several nearby students hurried to gather them. Nathan jumped into the ditch to retrieve the wet books.

Nada helped as well. A few minutes later, everything had finally been collected. Nathan accepted the stack with a grateful smile before dashing toward the teachers' office, still glancing back one last time to make sure Nada was really okay.

"That's weird..." Benu muttered as they approached the staircase leading to their class room.

"Weird how?"

"Nathan was the one who crashed into you."

"So?"

"So why was he the one who got thrown away like that?"

Nada stopped dead at the foot of the stairs. She stared at him.

"Wait... you're serious? I thought I was the one who slammed into him."

"No."

Benu looked puzzled. "He was running at full speed. You were just walking."

Nada slowly turned toward the trash bin, which had already been set upright again.

"Then... why was he the one who went flying?" she whispered.

"Exactly!" Benu frowned. "Nathan's an athlete. He was the basketball team captain last year. He does karate too. Rock climbing. Mountain hiking. Football."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. If anything, you should've been the one knocked unconscious. Even players from other schools get sent flying whenever they collide with Nathan during basketball games."

He started climbing the stairs.

"Come on! Why are you standing there?"

"You go ahead," Nada forced a smile. "I need to use the restroom."

Benu nodded and jogged upstairs. Nada turned toward the students' restroom beneath the staircase.

It was unusually quiet. The place smelled fresh. The refreshing atmosphere put Nada in a good enough mood to glance at herself in the mirror above the sink before entering one of the stalls.

Glowing?

What on earth had Benu meant? Was he losing his mind?

But before she could really examine her reflection... something struck her. Her breathing caught. Only then did she remember what had happened yesterday afternoon after leaving Benu's house.

That impossible journey. The mysterious return of her scooter and school bag. Everything.

Her eyes slowly widened. Then... how had she known about Radit? About the handsome transfer student who was supposedly joining their class today?

No one had told her yesterday. So where had that information come from? Nada stood frozen before the sink, hands planted on her hips.

Minutes passed. A tenth-grade girl entered one of the restroom stalls. By the time she came back out several minutes later, Nada hadn't moved an inch.

The girl stared at her blankly while walking past. Then suddenly bolted out of the restroom without even washing her hands.