District Six, Suroff City.
"Wow, so District Six is more focused on the housing area," Kendrick commented as he, Carla, and Mina headed to Carla's house together.
"Yes, unlike District Eight, which focuses on business," Carla replied. District Eight became a business area for shopping, restaurants, and tourism because it was a district connected to Costina and the train station to the outside of the city. Many tourists and students from Costina went to District Eight. District Eight's booming time was during the weekend because that's the only time the students could leave.
"That's my house," Carla said while pointing at a two-story home made of brick and wood. It was a modest house since most of the houses around them had the same materials and structure.
Carla walked to her house and knocked on the door. It didn't take long for the door to be opened by a little girl.
"Sister! You came home!" the little girl jumped to Carla and hugged her happily.
"Yes, I'm home," Carla smiled warmly and hugged her sister back. After hugging for a while, she released her sister and looked at her friends.
"May, these two are my friends," she told her. "Kendrick Lawson and Mina."
"Hello!" Kendrick waved his hand with a smile. Meanwhile, Mina just nodded her head.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Carla's little sis! May!" May greeted with a bright smile.
"Shall we go in?" Carla said and led everyone inside the house. "May, where are Mom and Dad?" both Mina and Kendrick sat in the living room while Carla followed May deeper into the house.
"Mom at Auntie Ellie to buy something. Dad is helping Uncle Jack," May explained while walking to the kitchen along with Carla. Both Kendrick and Mina were told to sit down first.
Carla and her sister returned to the living room while carrying snacks and tea; they served it to Kendrick and Mina.
Kendrick took a sip of the tea and had eyes brimming. "Delicious!"
"Thank you!" Carla said happily. She looked at Mina, who was eating the snacks silently. Upon noticing Carla's gaze, Mina stopped eating and gave her a nod as she replied. "Delicious."
"Thank you, May helped Mom bake it," Carla said, which made May look proud.
"Now then, May, do you hear anything weird or interesting around here?" Carla asked her sister. May immediately frowned while trying to remember anything.
"Hmm …. I don't think so?" May tilted her head cutely. "But why ask?"
"It is for our study regarding Suroff," Carla explained while not telling the truth. It wasn't a lie since the mission was kind of field studying. Saying mission seemed to be too much and would inquire questions but saying a study would cause less suspicion.
"Is that so? Mom or Dad probably knows better."
Carla thought so as well, but it wasn't wasteful to ask her sister. She turned to her friends and asked. "Should we wait for my parents?"
"Naturally," Kendrick said. They couldn't just return with empty hands. Besides, they just got here.
After several minutes, a woman entered the house. Upon seeing them, she adorned a shocked face but then recognized Carla.
"Carla, sweetheart, you are back," Carla's mother said while hugging Carla, who walked to her.
"Yes, Mom," Carla whispered softly.
Releasing her daughter, she glanced at her daughter's supposed friends. "I suppose this is not a normal visit?"
"Yes, we need help with our study," Carla confirmed. "But before that, they are my friends, Mina and Kendrick Lawson."
Mina gave a small bow while Kendrick took a step forward to Mrs. Forhaust. He took her hand and gave her a kiss. This action made Mina cringe, Carla shrieked, and her mother giggled.
"Pleasure to meet you, Ma'am. My name is Kendrick Lawson. Please do call me Kendrick," Kendrick smiled warmly with his gentle smirk.
"My …. What a charming young man. Are you Carla's boyfriend?"
"Mom!" Carla shouted in embarrassment. She came here to get information, not to be embarrassed!
"Alas, I have not found such an opportunity," Kendrick sighed.
"Kendrick!" Carla shouted again. Seeing her red face, Kendrick just laughed along with Mrs. Forhaust. Carla's mother went to pat her daughter.
"My daughter is cute," she said happily. "Now, what's the visit for?"
Hearing the question, Carla recovered herself and asked. "Mom, do you happen to hear anything interesting around? Weird or something like that?"
"Hmm... I suppose you don't want a simple gossip," Carla's mother mumbled. "Ah, I remembered!" her eyes widened. "Jack's dog is missing, and last night, your father heard a howl."
"Dog disappearance?" Kendrick muttered in confusion. "Is that our mi- I mean our study project?"
"That can't be….. this is the first time I heard a pet missing case here, though," Carla replied. The location where her family lived was a safe place, and as far as she remembered, there was no case of the pet disappeared. While some pets disappeared for a day or two, it was because the owner gave them freedom and they would return in the end.
"Mom, Uncle Jack's dog is leashed during the night, right?" she asked just to make sure.
"Yes," her mother nodded. "I heard that the dog just disappeared out of nowhere without his leash. There was no sign of the dog forcing itself to break free, probably someone took off the leash, but how could that person carry such a big dog so easily?" she wondered.
Another clue. It wasn't a simple missing pet. Someone kidnapped a pet but for what reason? And was this only happened once or had already happened before? They needed to investigate further.
"Mrs. Forhaust, is there anything else?" Kendrick asked. They couldn't focus only on the missing pet. The mission was probably something else.
"I think …. No? There is nothing interesting aside from it. But if you want to know more, you should go to the police station or the Government District," said Mrs. Forhaust. The Government District she meant was the First District and Second District, most of the government buildings were located there.
Since there was nothing else to ask, they couldn't stay here all day and had to look around for some clues before going back to the academy. "Mom, we will look around the district first before going back," Carla said.
"Okay, be sure to visit again and bring your friends again," Mrs. Forhaust said happily. She was happy that her daughter returned home and brought friends, who knew she might bring a boy as her future husband later. The one named Kendrick looked like a good boy, but he was only one, they were plenty of fish out there and she wanted to meet them all. After all, one of her worries was her daughter's future marriage.
"Ah, please wait a moment," Mrs. Forhaust went to the kitchen and returned with a plastic bag full of cookies. "Take them for you and your friends."
After taking the cookie and thanked Carla's mother. The trio from Class Seven bid their farewell and walked around the district.
Kendrick silently sent his summoned familiars away to observe from above while they were walking. However, even with these familiars, they didn't find anything strange.
"Ah!" Carla suddenly jolted up. She turned to her friends who looked at her questioningly. "I remembered there is an alley where there are some stray cats around there," Carla told them.
"You want us to check whether they have disappeared or not, right?" Kendrick asked, receiving a nod. "Whether is the missing pet or it is the missing animal," Kendrick concluded. If stray cats were to disappear as well, then the target range had become wider. Which was odd, why target the animals? Pet or stray.
"Is there any animal store or something?" Mina asked to which Carla shook her head. "I don't think so. Unless a new store appeared," even if a new animal store opened or a vet to take care of animals, they wouldn't just pick up every stray and treat them. However, if a vet truly appeared and took the stray cats, then it would have had no connection with Uncle Jack's dog because the dog had an owner, which made their progress to find what their mission was about to zero.
Once they arrived at the said alley. Carla looked around and sighed. "No cats," she said to her friends. "We have to ask whether there is a vet store around here or not."
While Carla and Kendrick walked away from the alley, Mina was still standing in silence. Her eyes were glued to the ground. If one looked closer, a black liquid wiggled on it could be seen.
When Mina tried to touch it, the liquid seeped into the ground and disappeared. A frown appeared on her face at the liquid's disappearance.
"Mina?" Carla called, she tilted her head to see what Mina was doing. Mina closed her eyes, she felt familiar with the black liquid but she couldn't remember where she had seen it before. She shook her head and let her face loosen.
"Sorry for waiting," she said before trailing behind Carla and Kendrick.
Several hours later. Carla, Mina, and Kendrick returned to their dorm. They gathered everyone and told them what she had known.
Hara held her chin while in thought then voiced her opinion. "We can't be sure yet since we only focused on one district. However, if the mission is related to animals disappearance, then it is not a normal missing or kidnapping."
"We have to wait to hear what Miss Liza briefs us."
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Author: Aida Hanabi
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