The clinking of spoons and the hiss of the espresso machine in the corner of Kopitiam Senja blended with the laughter that had dominated the back booth for the last two hours. Four dark graduation caps hung neatly over the dark teak wooden chairs, resting right beside their worn-out university letter jackets.

Rian stretched his stiff neck and set his velvet-wrapped blue diploma diploma tube down on the table. He blinked, staring down at his black coffee, which now left only a thick layer of dark grounds at the bottom of the ceramic cup.

"I swear, it feels like just yesterday we were pulling all-nighters in the campus library trying to finish chapter three, and now we’re officially unemployed certificate-holders," Rian groaned, earning an annoyed scoff from Maya sitting across from him.

"Watch your mouth. Intellectually unemployed, Yan. Please correct it," Maya retorted sharply, though a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She tucked a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear and took a sip of her caffe latte. "But honestly, she's right. Starting tomorrow, we officially enter the quarter-life crisis phase. Sending job applications everywhere, getting ghosted by HR, and stressing out alone."

Next to Maya, Dika burst out laughing, slamming his hand on the table hard enough to rattle the cups. "Come on, don't be so pessimistic! You’ve gotta take life easy like me. Graduating with a mediocre GPA, but keeping my soul completely free!"

"Free your ass, Dik," Gani interrupted from the end of the table. The broad-shouldered guy was busy rolling up the sleeves of his flannel shirt, fixing Dika with a raised eyebrow. "Your GPA is mediocre because every single field lab exam you’d bolt early just to hunt for meatballs. If I hadn't covered for your lab reports, you would've been expelled back in the fifth semester."

"Aw, Gani, you're no fun. It's called survival strategy for a small-town kid," Dika deflected with a cheeky grin, refusing to back down. He glanced briefly toward the corner table where Sita, the quietest of the group, sat hugging a cup of hot chocolate in silence. "Hey, Sit! You've been quiet this whole time. What's on your mind? Don't tell me you already got a job offer from a multinational firm?"

Sita blinked slowly, as if being dragged back from some distant place. She met Dika's gaze for a second before shaking her head. "No... just thinking. Maya's right, after this, we're all going to be caught up in our own lives. Are you guys really sure our schedules will line up easily next year?"

The mood at the table abruptly quieted down. Sita's question struck right at the fragile truth they had been trying to mask behind their loud laughter. Their university life, which had served as the anchor of their world for the past four years, was officially over. Their paths were about to branch off in entirely different directions—some heading to the capital, some locked into corporate contracts, and others forced to return home to help family businesses.

Noticing the atmosphere dip, Dika immediately sat up straight. His mischievous face shifted into something serious—or at least, an attempt at it.

"Look! Exactly because we're about to become corporate slaves and go our separate ways, we need to pull off one last genuinely insane stunt," Dika declared, his eyes bright with excitement. He leaned over the center of the table, slinging an arm around Rian and Gani's shoulders.

Rian narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What kind of insane stunt? Don't get any weird ideas, my wallet is already gasping for air just trying to cover next month's rent."

"This isn't about money, bro. This is about the adventurous spirit of youth!" Dika thumped his own chest proudly. "Before we officially become boring civilians stuck in rush-hour traffic every evening, we need to climb a mountain. Let's scale Mount Aruna!"

Maya choked on her own spit, breaking into a fit of small coughs as she grabbed a napkin. "Mount Aruna? Are you out of your mind, Dik? That mountain is still semi-active, the trails are notoriously brutal, and local folklore says rookie hikers shouldn't just wander up there!"

"Oh, legends are totally secondary, May. Locals just like to exaggerate to make their tourist spots sound mysterious," Dika argued stubbornly. He turned to Gani. "What do you think, Gan? You're the resident hiking master of our squad. Mount Aruna's totally worth it for our farewell trip, right?"

Gani didn't answer right away. His fingers tapped a steady rhythm against the wood. His gaze drifted toward the café's glass window, where the evening sky was shifting into a deep, bruised orange-red. As an outdoor enthusiast who had conquered dozens of peaks across Java, Gani knew Mount Aruna's reputation all too well. The mountain was breathtaking, its summit offering an endless ocean of clouds, but its trails were infamous for harboring strange, unsettling stories among veteran climbers.

"Aruna's views are incredible, sure," Gani finally said in a heavy tone. "But the trail is long, the forest is dense, and our logistics management has to be airtight. Plus, our physical condition isn't exactly prime for a steep climb."

"Well, that's the whole point!" Dika cut in quickly. "Our bodies are at their absolute weakest, which is why we need to push it one last time before turning into 'dad-bod guys' chained to laptops. Besides, we've got you, right Gan? The most experienced logistics lead in campus history. If anything goes wrong, we just sprint behind you!"

"Damn it, you think I'm a human shield," Gani muttered, though a faint smile finally broke through. He knew that arguing with a stubborn guy like Dika would only result in non-stop whining for the rest of the day. Gani let out a defeated sigh, then glanced between Rian and Maya. "Well? Are you guys up for it? If we're actually serious, we're packing our gear next week."

Rian turned to Maya. The girl weighed the thought for a moment before giving a slow nod, a spark of reckless excitement lighting up her eyes. "Fine. Let's do it. One last stupid memory before we get old."

"Awesome! It's a settlement!" Dika cheered, nearly startling the patrons at the next table. He raised his half-empty coffee cup. "Come on! A toast to the most epic farewell of the century!"

One by one, their hands reached out to the center of the table. The ceramic cups clicked together softly, producing a sharp ring that sealed a massive plan—a journey they firmly believed would be the sweet finale of their youth.

Yet, at the very last second before those cups were pulled back, Sita didn't join in. She sat rigidly upright, staring straight out the glass window, which was beginning to reflect the dim, hazy glare of the city streetlights.

Sita turned her head slowly. Her eyes swept over her five closest friends with a gaze that felt hollow, cold, and entirely out of sync with the euphoric atmosphere of their table.

"Are you guys really sure about Aruna?" Sita whispered softly, her voice nearly swallowed by the café's background noise. "They say... the mountain has a lot of 'guests' this year."

Rian let out a light laugh, waving a hand dismissively at Sita's words. "What do you mean by guests, Sit? Is there a wedding reception happening up there?"

"Classic Sita, always loving to give us the creeps whenever she talks," Dika chimed in, chuckling as he finished his drink. "Come on, stop buying into superstitions. The important thing is we go, have fun, take pictures at the summit, and come back down safe and sound."

The others burst out laughing, brushing Sita's comment off as typical gloomy banter from a girl who spent way too much time reading internet horror forums. Not a single one of them realized that Sita's warning wasn't a joke at all—but rather a genuine forewarning from someone who—without them knowing—had already caught a glimpse of the dark shadow waiting for them behind the fog of Mount Aruna.