The person knee on one knee in front of Aruta and the others.
"What are you all doing at school this late at night? You should be home by now," the person said softly and with a warm smile.
Aruta and Juriko saw that the person's right hand was bandaged. Although the person was wearing a long coat, for some reason Aruta and Juriko feel that the bandage covered the person's entire right hand.
"Handsome tall man," Luna muttered to herself.
"We're still here because our female friend left her house key here," Juriko answered the person's question.
"Phew, luckily you're safe. Next time, be careful when you go home. Check all your belongings," that person said, starting to stand up.
"Yes, sir," Aruta, Juriko, and Luna said in unison.
"Alright. I'll take you all home," that person said.
The person then started to take the three children home. First, the person take Luna, then Aruta and Juriko.
When they arrived home, Aruta and Juriko thanked and said goodbye to the person before the person left. After the person left, the two of them started to enter the house and make their own dinner. Since Grandpa Hans wasn't home, Aruta and Juriko end up cooking their own dinner. However, after experiencing the horror incident at school earlier, the food they eat seem to have no taste at all.
After dinner, Aruta and Juriko went to their beds and get ready to sleep.
They both sleep on the same bed. As they lay down, Aruta still remembered what he had just experienced. After thinking about it for a while, Aruta turned to Juriko and asked, "Hey Juriko. Do you think maybe there are a lot of those scary creatures?"
"Maybe," Juriko replied. "It's already night. Let's go to sleep," Juriko said, pulling up his blanket and lying down with his back to Aruta.
After a while, they fall asleep. And when they had just fallen asleep, it coincide with Hans coming home. Hans saw the two children sleeping soundly on their bed.
"Hehe, you two seem tired," Hans muttered. However, when he went to the kitchen, he saw two plates that Aruta and Juriko had used earlier that had not been washed. "Hah... those two," Hans said with a sigh.
***
The next day, Aruta and Juriko's teacher come to the house and inform them that for the next week, school would be closed due to some pretty severe damage at the school.
After the notification, Aruta and Juriko got a surprise holiday. Today Hans asked Juriko to help him carry some of his equipment while Aruta cleaning the dishes at home.
That morning Hans and Juriko left while Aruta was alone at home washing the dishes. A few moments pass and Aruta finally finish to washing the dishes. But, Grandpa Hans and Juriko not returned yet. Aruta, who was bored, finally leave the house, lock the house, and go to Uncle Kito's house. Hans and Juriko brought a spare house key so it was safe. They didn't need to being locked outside.
Aruta went to Uncle Kito's house and as usual played console game there.
After Aruta played for a few minutes, Uncle Kito sit next to Aruta and bring biscuits and milk as usual.
"Wow, thank you Uncle!" Aruta said who put down his console stick and take the biscuits from Uncle Kito.
"By the way, Aruta. It seems like your grandfather will rarely come home," Uncle Kito said.
"Uh? Why?" Aruta asked while eating the biscuits in his hand.
"Lately, the crops in the fields often disappear. It seems like someone stole them. Sometimes some of the rice in the barn also disappears. Not only that, even unharvested rice sometimes disappears," Uncle Kito said. "Finally, the village head enforced night patrols. And your grandfather became part of the night patrol," Uncle Kito continued.
"Is that so," said Aruta who was still chewing biscuits in his mouth while continuing to play his console game.
"However, there was a strange incident. There was once a day, a farmer who was fed up with his crops continuously disappearing. He tried to go around the fields alone at night. The farmer went around the rice field sector. There was nothing strange at first. The farmer began to enter the rice fields that were ready to be harvested and would be harvested the next day. When the rice field was right in front of the farmer, suddenly the farmer began to feel that someone was following him. But, when he looked behind, there was no one behind him. And the farmer was shocked when he looked back forward. Almost half of the rice in the field had disappeared," Uncle Kito said.
"Huh? How is that possible?" Aruta asked.
"I don't know," Uncle Kito answered. "Very strange, isn't it," Uncle Kito asked back to Aruta.
Aruta heard the story from Uncle Kito and began to feel curious.
"Could it be the same creature as yesterday?" Aruta think.
After about two hours of playing at Uncle Kito's house, Aruta finally go home. Aruta come home at the same time as Hans and Juriko who also came home. The day continued normally and as usual.
***
That evening, Grandpa Hans said goodbye and was going to do the night watch. Grandpa Hans leave the house carrying a fairly large flashlight.
After Grandpa Hans left, Juriko said, "Well, Grandpa Hans isn't home."
Juriko was busy watching TV while Aruta was still remembering the story from Uncle Kito earlier. Juriko turn his head and saw Aruta who was so quiet.
"What's wrong, Aruta? Is something bothering you? Usually there are always a words that come out of your mouth," Juriko asked.
"Juriko, have you heard about the rumor of a thief in the field?" Aruta asked.
"Oh, that rumor. I've heard it from Grandpa Hans," answered Juriko.
"Have you ever heard the story about one of the farmers in the field?" Aruta asked.
"Not yet," Juriko answered. Aruta then tell about the story of the farmer like Uncle Kito said.
"Hmm, is the thief the same creature as at school yesterday?" Juriko asked.
"Maybe," answered Aruta. "How about we check it out," he suggested.
"Are you sure? Yesterday we almost became food for that creature," Juriko said.
"Come on. Maybe we can give some help," Aruta said, trying to persuade Juriko.
"No, I don't want to cause trouble again," Juriko said, returning his focus to watching TV.
"Come on. We have the ability to see them. Maybe there is a purpose behind our ability," Aruta said approaching Juriko.
"Are you sure? What makes you think that we're the only ones who can see that creature? Luna could also see the creature yesterday," Juriko said, turning back to Aruta.
"And what if my guess is right? We can solve this mystery and help the farmers. We could thwart any farmers from becoming victims because of tonight's patrol," Aruta said.
Juriko fell silent for a moment hearing Aruta's words. Aruta look Juriko face and fell silent to.
After a few moment, Aruta finally said, "Never mind. If you don't want to come, I won't force you." Starting to walk away from Juriko.
"Hey, wait!" Juriko immediately jump up from his sofa and hold Aruta's hand tightly. "I still care about you. I won't let you go there alone."
"So, will you go with me?" Aruta asked.
"Nghh... Okay then," Juriko said, still not sure.
"Yeayyy!! Thank you very much," Aruta immediately hug Juriko tightly.
The moon shine on the earth with its reflection showing that it was getting late. That night, the two of them creep out of the house and go to the fields. They tried to sneak into the fields without being caught by the farmer patrols.
After entering the fields, Aruta and Juriko begin their investigation in the cornfield sector. After a few moment, they arrive at a T-junction. They were quite confused about whether to take the right or left path. Right in front of them, there were corn trees with large corn. Ready to be harvested. But in the middle of thinking about taking the right or left path, suddenly the sound of a crow cawing was heard. The cawing surprised Aruta and Juriko and make them immediately look back. When they look back, they saw some crows flying.
"Huh? Crows? Aren't they supposed to sleep?" asked Aruta.
"It was surprising," Juriko said.
They turned back towards the T-junction but their eyes immediately widened after seeing some of the corn plants in front of them disappear. Aruta try to courage himself to approaching that corn field. When he got closer, Aruta saw strange red smoke that formed a trail on the ground.
"This is not a normal smoke. So, that creature is really the one who doing this."