Jay's POV
The name echoed inside my head long after I said it out loud.
Stein.
For a moment, nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The entire auditorium felt frozen in time, as if even the air had stopped moving. I stared at the paper in my hands, hoping I had made a mistake. Hoping I had read the wrong name. But no matter how many times I looked, it remained the same.
Stein.
A strange feeling settled in my chest. It wasn't confusion. It wasn't shock. It was something worse. It was recognition.
I knew that name.
Maybe not completely. Maybe not clearly. But I knew it.
The more I thought about it, the stronger the feeling became. Tiny fragments of memories started surfacing from somewhere deep inside my mind. A classroom filled with noise. A familiar laugh. Someone sitting a few seats away from me. Someone who should have been part of our story.
Yet somehow, he wasn't.
I slowly looked around at Section E. Their expressions mirrored my own confusion. Some were staring at me. Others were staring at the report. Everyone looked lost.
How could an entire section forget someone?
How could a person disappear so completely that even their memories faded away?
The questions kept piling up inside my head, each one heavier than the last.
Then I looked toward the stage.
The stranger was still standing there, watching us carefully. Not with satisfaction. Not with anger. But with the expression of someone who had waited a long time for the truth to finally come out.
A chill ran down my spine.
Because for the first time that night, I realized this wasn't just about David anymore.
It wasn't about anonymous messages.
It wasn't about the videos.
It wasn't even about the argument that happened years ago.
It was about Stein.
And judging by the fear slowly spreading across everyone's faces, I had a feeling we were only beginning to uncover what really happened to him.