The air conditioner inside the museum must be indeed dying because when Nagarjuna arrives at the small store, it has quite a line of people waiting to buy something cold to drink, unlike how empty it was when they first came. It seems that it will take a while before he can return to Nina and make sure she did not crush the pile of T-Rex bones.
He stands on the last line, behind a man holding what seems to be his six-year-old son on his arm, and pulls his phone out—randomly opening browser tabs and inbox as he tries to fill in the time he has to wait.
Despite many people lining up in the front of the store, most people did not even chat with each other; only a few of them, and it was done in a whispered voice. It's pretty windy, and many leaves have fallen from the tall trees around the area. Nagarjuna can hear how leafage hits the ground and is dragged by until it crashes into another leaf and creates the sound of a paper being ripped into two. It's not like he has a superpower, but one of the things that got him quickly hired into being a bodyguard is that his hearing is excellent, and he can easily pick up different sounds simultaneously.
That's why it was easy for him to hear—among everything else—the whisper of a man somewhere from his right side where a vast green field exists, a few meters or less from where he is currently waiting in line.
"Nothing new. It's the same old boring story. Balakosa is all they are talking about."
Nagarjuna looks up at that and spots a man standing with his back to him from where he heard the voice coming from, currently leaning on his shoulder to the tree by his right with both of his hands in his jacket pocket. There seemed to be no one around him, and he did not look like he was talking to anyone but Nagarjuna was sure the voice came from him.
The man has long dark brown hair down to his shoulder and ties it half up. He doesn't look like he is in the middle of calling anyone with a lack of phone, but the other may wear an earpiece that Nagarjuna can't see from where he is currently standing because he hears the other utter something again.
"After years, I still find it ironic that they didn't even mention us when the town itself was named after us."
Nagarjuna raised his eyebrow at that. Wondered what the other trying to say, but his train of thought got cut off as someone lining up behind him coughed to wake him from his daydream and signaled him to move forward as the queue had advanced without saying a word. He murmured a soft sorry at that and walked ahead.
When he looks back to where he saw the mysterious man, the long-haired man has disappeared.
***
"Thanks."
Nagarjuna accepts his change and two cans of cold soda while bowing a little to the shop owner before making his way to the side so people lining up behind him can finally order. He finds himself still peeking to that spot where he saw the mysterious man who talks about Balakosa and a town that should be named after a bunch of people he refers to as 'us'—finding it quite disturbing that the other can disappear fast just like that and curious about what the other actually talking about.
IIt's not like he had never heard about Balakosa before—everyone in Indonesia knows about it; they are all learning about it from the history book in High School, but even in the book, there is not much that can be said about Balakosa, so it always been something that draws Nagarjuna into wanting to know more. Especially after age 15, Nagarjuna decided to search all about it through the browser and find more conspiracy theories than actual facts, which is a bummer, but if you are into mystery, it is not that bad, actually. It all would make sense if only the theory did not involve fictional creatures like witches, vampires, werewolves, and other things.
He was just about to get back into the museum again when he heard the sharp sound of car tires colliding with the surface of the road so roughly—something that only happens when a brake is stepped hard so suddenly while the car is still driving high speed. He looks at the source of the sound only to catch the sight of the mysterious man he saw earlier, currently sitting down near a tree right by the gate of the parking lot while playing with his phone as a car crash right into him, covering his whole being and causing a loud banging sound.
"Oh my God! Oh my God! What is happening? Somebody knocks the car window open!"
"Don't get closer! Let the security handle it!"
"Everyone, please stay calm!"
"Be careful!"
"I saw someone getting hit! Did you see that? I swear I saw it!"
Among all those yells and sudden chaos that happened right before his eyes, Nagarjuna found himself holding his breath until he almost lost consciousness due to the lack of oxygen as the shock hit him. He staggered on his feet as his body remembered how to breathe. He shut his eyes as his head kept repeating the moment the car crashed into the man's body.
"It's okay, everyone, it's okay! No one got hurt. The driver is fine, but he seems drunk, so we are holding him until the police come. We will handle this!"
"What about the one who got hit?"
"Yeah, I thought I saw someone too!"
"You must be seeing it wrong, Sir, Mam; there is no one here besides the driver. No one he crashes into. We have checked under the car too, but there is no one. So, don't worry!"
Nagarjuna's eyes snap open at that. He saw the man—two other people did too—but no one was there?
That's impossible.