"Yes!" Nana pumps one fist in the air. The light from her phone's screen illuminates her face in the dark. "Victory!"

"I have enough battery for one more round," I say, waving my phone around. 

"JOM!" Apple shouts, a little too loudly, only to be shushed by Umaira. 

"Nanti cikgu dengarlah," she chides, teeth gritted as she scrolls through manga on her phone. "We're not supposed to be awake, especially not playing Mobile Legends."

"Sorry," Apple replies, pointing a smile towards Layla. She leans against the canvas wall of our shared tent. "You're a really good Tank, Layla."

Layla bows her head humbly. "I try."

"I dah masuk lobby," I announce, tapping on the invite icons. One by one, all four of us appear in the lobby, ready for the next game. 

"I call Marksman!" Nana declares. The second we enter the selection zone, she taps on Miya, an elven archer with a blue ponytail and glowing arrows.

"Mage!" I call, selecting Luo Yi with her purple veil and horsetail whisk. 

"I'll Tank," Layla sighs. She picks gold-armoured Uranus, with his massive horns curving upwards.

"Good Tanks are hard to find," Apple quips. She nudges me. "Mimi, jom combo?"

I smile at her, swapping Luo Yi for dark-haired Cecilion with his sweeping bat wings and staff. "Jom."

Delighted, Apple chooses white-haired Carmilla, her bat wings a perfect match to her in-game soulmate's. "I call Support!"

Our fifth member, someone with the username DAEBAK, picks fair-haired Lancelot, with his slim blade and ringlets that could rival a young Harry Styles. 

The game shifts to the loading screen. 

"Tak tahulah apa best sangat pasal ML ni," Umaira mutters. She sucks in a breath as her thumb stops on her phone screen. "Oh my god, they kissed!"

"Tak tahulah apa best sangat pasal Webtoon tu," Apple mimics Umaira in a whiny, high-pitched voice, eyes focused on the screen as the game begins. 

The game kicks off to a great start, me in mid-lane slamming everybody else in the face with Cecilion's bat attacks while Apple slaps them in the face with Carmilla's regenerative flowers. Layla's Uranus guards Nana's Miya to farm in the gold lane, and Lancelot seems content enough on his own in the experience lane. 

"Mimi, Mimi, combo!" Apple shouts as the enemy's Roger shifts into wolf form and strikes, her health bar dropping. Umaira shushes her again, but nobody listens to her as a team war begins. 

The enemy's centaur tank Hylos opens his warpath, slowing our avatars. Our Lancelot bursts from the bushes in a streak of light, ending Roger. The opponents' ninja Hanabi pops out from behind him, unleashing her blossom stun that spreads across the arena. A pastel umbrella flits from the corner bushes, an enemy mage Kagura hiding from sight. 

"Okay!" I slam my thumb on the lower control, and Carmilla is pulled into a dark shroud around Cecilion, providing me with extra shield as I rush around our enemies, releasing a storm of bats that crash into them, killing squishy Hanabi almost immediately. The umbrella strikes me, freezing me to the spot as Kagura emerges, her pink blossom stun in contrast to Hanabi's vermillion red. 

Apple takes a risk, launching her Carmilla straight at Kagura, stunning her in retaliation. She shoots her red beam, only to be violently scooped up by the enemy lancer Zilong, the late and last member of the enemy team. "Shit!"

"I'm coming!" Nana yells, Miya's moon-arrow circle freezing Zilong in place. Carmilla shoots another beam of light, and both of them assault Zilong together. Layla's Uranus arrives a little late, gliding across the green grass towards me. Kagura seizes the opportunity, chipping at my life bar with her annoying umbrella as I try to run into the turret for safety, but it's too late. 

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

The umbrella opens again into a pink blossom, and my screen goes dark, counting down to my respawn moment. I relax a little, until I realise Umaira glaring at me. 

"Janganlah jerit, nanti cikgu dengar," she hisses at me. 

Almost immediately, the zip to our tent rips open, heads popping in. "Apa bising sangat ni?"

Collectively, everyone in the tent screams. Nana chucks her phone out the tent in a fit of panic, the device sailing over the two newcomers' heads. At the same time, all the remaining players on our team get wiped out. 

"Tengku! Nick!" Layla whisper-screams, her darkened phone screen limp in one hand. "What the hell!"

"Well, sorry," Nick says. "We couldn't sleep, and you guys were loud as heck. So Tengku said we should check in on you guys."

"Ye 'odo," Tengku agrees. "So loud, I wouldn't be surprised if Ustazah Suhana crashed your ML party."

"We could've killed them," Apple mourns, watching as the enemy team takes down two of our defense turrets. "Now I think we're screwed."

"Nasib baik Classic je," Nana consoles, her expression turning sheepish. She stands up from her corner, exiting the tent. "I'm gonna go get my phone."

Tengku nods in her direction. "Good arm, there."

"Asal korang takleh tidur? " I ask, moving my thumb onto the joystick as I respawn. The enemy team is already whacking away at our inner turrets, so I slam down some bat attacks to swat them away. Kagura flings her umbrella at me again, but I dodge and deliver another bat slap. 

"Sam, he's snoring really loud," Nick replies, climbing into the tent and looking over Umaira's shoulder, eyebrows raised. "What are you playing as?"

Umaira yanks her phone back to her chest, eyes frantic as she tries to hide her boys' love Webtoon comic. "I'm not playing."

"Not me," Tengku adds, pulling up his long-sleeved Zonrian shirt to reveal a slew of reddened mosquito bites. "The mosquitoes seem to like my blood a lot."

Apple lets out a gasp of delight, and I know it's not because her Carmilla just scored a triple kill with Kagura, Hanabi and Roger. She practically dumps her phone into a clueless Nick's hands and slides over to her bag. Dipping her hand into the side pocket, she pulls out her signature pentagonal container and proudly presents it to him. "Try this. Once you go TGB, there will be no other that you see."

"You need to work on that catchphrase," Nana comments, crawling back into the tent. As she clambers in, her bony elbow jabs into Tengku's side, and he winces. "Ow."

She whips around, eyes wide. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

The corner of Tengku's mouth twitches a little, his eyes glued to Apple's Tiger Balm like it's his salvation. "Yeah, takpe, takpe."

Apple shakes the balm in his face, the top already unscrewed. "Cepatlah."

"Okey, okey, sabar." Tengku reaches into the container and spreads the translucent salve onto his skin. He hisses in pain. "Weh, sakit siot."

"That means it's working," Apple declares, with the sheer unfounded confidence of a pre-med student who's offering to do a tracheostomy in an aeroplane high above the Seine. "Soon you won't feel the itch at all."

"Uh, Apple?" Nick's voice holds a tinge of alarm. "H-how do you use Carmilla?"

"Oh, bloody hell. Jap," Apple mutters, shoving the container into Tengku's hands. She grabs the phone from Nick and Carmilla rushes back to base to heal. "It's not that hard, all you have to do is walk around and slap everyone with the regenerating flowers. Mi, combo!"

I smash the control again, and the shield appears around Cecilion again. In the time it took for Apple to give Tengku the balm, the enemy team had taken down all of our inner turrets and is now going for our base turret. Cecilion lifts his staff to the sky and lets loose his bat tornado, running around at the frontlines in an attempt to eliminate the enemy siege. 

What I did not count on, however, was the fact that enemy Zilong has a ton of guts. He rushes toward Cecilion, scooping him with a lance and sending the couple heroes straight into the enemies' grasp. 

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" Apple and I both scream at the same time as both Cecilion and his beloved Carmilla are torn apart by the enemy attacks. 

Umaira shushes louder. "Cikgu datanglah nanti! "

"Sorry," I whisper back, watching as the enemy team rips into our base turret. The turret explodes to pieces, and the DEFEAT symbol rises from its ruins. "Haih, kalah lagi."

"Yay, MVP!" Apple cheers. 

"Yeah, because you stole a lot of kills," Nana huffs. 

"Malam ni asyik kalah je," Layla complains. "I need to recharge my phone."

"I have a powerbank," Umaira suggests, but Layla pulls out one from her own bag.

"Weh, lampu bilik guru bukak," Tengku warns, already withdrawing from the tent. "Aku rasa Ustazah datang."

Nick's back straightens. "Okay, we have to go. I am not getting caught in the girls' tent."

The others scramble to pack their phones away. 

"Ish, korang lah ni, bising." Umaira slides her phone into a handmade casing designed to blend in with the folds of her bag. "Now I don't know how it ends."

"Bye, Nick. Bye, Tengku." Apple waves at them as the boys slip away. 

"I hope they don't get caught," I say. I curl up on my side of the tent, using my bag as a pillow to rest my head. "I'm hungry, though."

"So am I," Umaira agrees. 

"I have chia seed wraps," Nana suggests, taking out dry wraps in a vacuum package from her bag. She passes them out in pieces, all of us nibbling on them as quietly as we can. 

"The thing about food? They taste best when you're hungry, no matter how bland they are on a regular basis," Apple remarks, waving her piece in the air as if it were a prized feather. "I mean, I'd only eat this with yoghurt, but right now, as of this moment, it's like the best thing in the world--" The end of her sentence breaks off into silence as we hear movement in the grass nearing our tent. 

As quick as we can, we stuff the remaining wraps into our mouths, lean on our bags and shut our eyes tight. 

Minutes later, Ustazah Suhana stands outside our tent, her shadow cast on the fabric walls. I hold my breath, and I'm sure the others pretty much do the same. 

"Tidur ye, semua." Her voice rings out.

None of us respond. We don't even move. 

Satisfied, she walks away, and it is not until the sound of her footsteps completely fade away that Apple lets out a small gasp. 

"Tengku took my Tiger Balm."