Instead of heading straight home, Arya went with me back to my house. At first I was hesitant with the idea. But considering that we have to wait until 3 am, waiting outside was definitely not an option.
"Mom, Arya will be staying here for tonight." I informed my mom as soon as we entered the house.
"My! You should have told me before hand." My mother exclaimed as she welcomes us. "Look at both of you! You're very dirty! Hurry up and take a bath. Arya, I'll just bring you some spare clothes. Is that alright with you?"
"Ah, yes aunt." Arya replied softly.
After cleaning ourselves up, both I and Arya waited in my room. My room, though I may sound mature and all, is a bit childish. My bed, just beside the window, was decorated by cartoon characters. The walls around the room were filled with posters from games and movies. I believed these posters were back from my childhood. It seemed like I really loved hero series back then. Since there's a sense of nostalgia in it, I decided not to remove these posters. The study table near the end of the bed was rather small considering my height. But since I rarely use it, I didn't really mind. On top of that table was comic books and action figures I used to collect when I was a kid.
"Wow, I know I've been into your room for several times already but I must say this is so childish." Arya started teasing me as soon as she entered the room.
"I knew I shouldn't have let you enter my room." I sighed as I close the door.
"You know I'm just joking."
"So, why are we here again?" I asked as I fix my bed for Arya to sit on.
"Well, your room has a nice view of the hill. We can clearly see this dragon the mystery is talking about." Arya explained in a matter-of-fact manner. After clearing the sixth mystery, we were deliberating on where to wait for the seventh mystery. After a very fruitful discussion, which was mainly Arya spouting options after options like a machine gun, we have decided to wait in my room. Well, it's not really like 'we' decided it but more of like Arya just forcing me to agree.
Suddenly, my mother entered the room. She brought with her two glasses of milk and some snacks.
"Here, help yourself with this." Mom offered the snacks with delight in her voice.
"Mom, I told you to knock first." I complained as I help her carry the snacks.
"Thank you Auntie." Arya replied.
"Reve, don't do something weird to Arya, okay?" My mom said teasingly.
"As if I'll do that!"
"As if I'll let you do that!" Arya said.
"Well, I do trust both of you. Anyway, I'll be going to sleep now." My mother said as she left the room.
"Mom really loves to joke around." I sighed from exhaustion. Arya teasing me was already bad enough. But my mother teasing me as well was beyond embarrassing.
"You and your mom are really close."
"I can't disagree to that." I laughed as I try to forget the teasing a while ago. "By the way, are we really just going to wait here? It's still 11pm so there's about four more hours to wait."
"Hmm, we have nothing to do anyway. Besides, the mystery said that up to 3, but not exactly 3 so we might as well just observe."
"You're right. Ah, this is the 7th mystery. I guess we will be able to uncover the last mystery tomorrow." I said with a sense of accomplishment. This adventure was indeed a rough ride but it was indeed fun. I might've have complained a lot, but thinking about it, this was indeed a good summer activity. I guess the fact that Arya was there made this adventure even more fun.
"Yeah. Tomorrow. This adventure will end." Arya muttered. But instead of matching with my mood, Arya was rather sad. It was very subtle, but I can hear sadness in her voice, which was very uncharacteristic of her to act that way. Something feels off and I wanted to ask her if there's something wrong. But I just can't shake this feeling that I shouldn't ask or rather I shouldn't know.
"Well, you don't have to worry. There are tons of adventures out there." I said instead. I don't really want to ruin the mood further so I decided to just say something that may cheer Arya up.
"You're right. There are still a lot more adventures that awaits you." Arya replied as she softly smiles.
"You mean 'us' right?"
"Yeah, us. We still..." Arya paused as she bites her lips. "Say, let's play a game. I am getting bored of just waiting after all."
"What do you want to play? I have racing games, arcades, and other stuff."
"Wow. You're games are so old school. Well, the usual then."
"Usual?"
"You know the fighting game we used to play."
"Ah right. Why did I forget that?"
"Silly Reve."
The two of us decided to pass time by playing video games within those little remaining hours before the end of the 7th mystery. Childish game competitions, sudden argument, bickering, and getting suddenly shy with each other, we did everything and it felt really nostalgic like some memories I have sealed from the far past had started to resurface. It had this warmth but somehow lonely feeling that I can't explain. And when I came to my senses, Arya has fallen asleep. She was now leaning at my shoulder as we face the window. With few more minutes left, the 7th mystery will be uncovered. I patiently waited for the 'dragon' to show up. And at exactly 3am, a plane flew across the sky as the moon illuminates its path.
"Hey, I have uncovered the 7th mystery as you sleep." I gently move the hair that covers Arya's face as I softly whispered those words to her ears. "Hmm?"
After staring at Arya for a while, I noticed something. It seems like Arya was holding a small notebook. After a closer inspection, I realized that that notebook was actually the notebook where the mysteries were written. Being overpowered by my curiosity, I gulped before reaching for it slowly so as not to disturbed Arya.
"Hmm, let's see. Arya was the one holding this so I wasn't really able to take a good look at this notebook." I said as I inspect the notebook curiously. I examine the notebook from every angle before turning the pages to where the mysteries were written. Other pages were blank so it was really easy to find the pages I was looking for. "What is this? Some child scribbles? Wait a minute. This hand writing looks so familiar. Where have I seen this?"
As I force myself to remember, I was suddenly attacked by a headache. And before I knew it, I fell asleep.