Eight years have passed since that incident. Now Aruta and Juriko have turned sixteen. Grandpa Hans himself died last year. It was sad, but Aruta and Juriko did not dwell on the sadness too much. Now they have moved to an apartment in a city called Berial City. A fairly large city.
Behind the city is a mountain called Mount Jevier. The mountain is known to be mysterious. There is a story where some climbers saw an old mansion on the mountain. But when they wanted to enter, suddenly a strange sound appeared behind them. They were shocked and immediately looked behind them. But no one was there. When they looked back at the mansion, the mansion had disappeared without a trace, even though a few seconds earlier, the mansion was right in front of their eyes.
Berial City's neighbor is Batavia City. Batavia City is the capital of Luthuria. The city is so big and there are so many magnificent buildings standing. It is even one of the most magnificent cities in the world. The city is also a very old city. The city has been standing for hundreds of years.
Now they are ordinary high school students in a high school called Starmind High School. Aruta only joins the basketball club while Juriko joins the librarian club.
One day, Aruta and Juriko are alone in their apartment. Aruta was playing a PS game while Juriko was playing with his phone.
"Hey Juriko. Now it's time for you to cook dinner," Aruta said while playing his PS game in the living room.
"Okay okay," said Juriko getting up and starting to walk towards the kitchen.
Juriko start to prepare dinner in the kitchen. The food was quite simple. Just a regular carrot soup. But Aruta quite liked it.
A few moments later... ding dong. The doorbell rang. Aruta quickly put down his controller and head for the door. When Aruta open the door, he see his two high school friends already behind the door. Vins and Uika were their names.
"Oh Vins and Uika huh," Aruta greeted with a big smile.
"Yo my bro Aruta! We want to stop by for a while," Vins said.
"Oh yeah? Come in, come in! It's cold on the outside," Aruta invited Vins and Uika.
Vins and Uika enter the apartment room. Uika sit in front of Aruta's TV which was showing a game. Aruta start to sit next to her and have a some chit chat with her.
On the other hand, Vins see Juriko cooking in the kitchen. Vins immediately approach him.
"Hi Juriko. Are you cooking for a dinner?" Vins asked.
"Yes, it's my turn to cook dinner," Juriko replied, starting to put the ingredients into the pot.
"Is that so." Vins start to open his bag and take out several sheets of paper containing several study notes. "These are the notes you asked for," Vins said, giving the papers to Juriko.
"Ah, thank you," Juriko said as he receive the papers.
After that, Vins start walking towards the living room.
"Hey Uika. You said you want to go home early," Vins said to Uika.
"Oh yeah." Uika just remember.
"Hahh? why you so hurry to go home?" Aruta said dissapointed.
"Why don't you guys rest here first?" Juriko asked from the kitchen. "Are you guys in a hurry?"
"We're actually free," Vins said.
"Okay, let's play here first. There's nothing i can do at home anyway. Just playing with my phone, eat, and sleep. So let's stay here for a moment, Vins," Uika invited Vins.
"Hmm okay then," Vins replied.
"Okay! How about we play some game?" Aruta asked, raising the two PS sticks in both hands.
"Okay!!" Vins and Uika said.
"Wait a minute," Vins said, reaching for his bag again and take out so many snacks. "I brought a lot of snacks!"
"WOAHHH!! Okay, let's enjoy this night!!!" Aruta said excitedly.
On the other hand, Juriko just smiled as he continue to cooking. After a while, Juriko finally reach the final stage of his cooking, which was waiting for it to be cooked. While waiting, Juriko start to go to the living room.
Arriving in the living room, Juriko sit down and went back to playing with his phone while Aruta and the others were still playing game together. Aruta realize that Juriko was playing with his phone.
"Hey Juriko, come join us," Aruta invited.
"Sorry, not for now," Juriko replied.
Aruta's naughty thoughts begin to emerge and he think about how to provocate Juriko.
"Are you not coming because you couldn't beat me last week?" Aruta asked with a mischievous smile.
"Of course not! I just wasn't serious that time," Juriko said in a high voice.
Seeing Aruta, Vins and Uika also began to intend to provocate Juriko.
"Oh yeah? Then prove it," Uika said.
"No, I'm lazy for that now," Juriko said.
"Hmm~" Vins approaching Juriko with a smile. "I seem to remember that the day before yesterday you also couldn't win against me. Are you scared?" Vins asked with a mischievous smile and a mocking expression.
"I told you I wasn't serious that time!" Juriko said in a higher voice than before.
"Your face was red at that time. Is it true that you weren't serious?" Aruta said, provoking Juriko even more.
"Hehmmh (Juriko grumbled in annoyance) Alright! I'll fight each of you one round. Don't cry if you lose!" Juriko said.
"That's it then! Bring it on!" Aruta said.
Juriko started playing against Aruta and the others. Juriko againts all of them one by one. And in the end he didn't win a single round.
"Oh, it's only this much," Uika mocked.
"Alright, I'll be serious," Juriko said. Juriko change his position from sitting to crouching. "I'm not sure you guys can beat me when I'm in crouching mode like this," Juriko said who was still a little annoyed.
Juriko start to playing with his friends again but Juriko still didn't win even just once. It was as if winning was just a myth for him.
"Damn it," Juriko muttered in annoyance.
"Hmm, you said you were serious. It turns out that your seriousness is only this much? It's not much different from your usual mode," Aruta taunted.
"Damn you. Come on, one more round!" Juriko challenged with his annoyance still burning.
After the round was over, Juriko still hadn't won a single round.
"Again!" Juriko challenged again.
Juriko still hadn't won.
"One more!!" Juriko shouted.
And Juriko lost again.
"MOREEE!!!!" Juriko's annoyance was getting more and more fiery.
Maybe i don't need to write it down. You know what happen next.
Juriko keep repeating the game until the day was very dark. Finally, Juriko win against Aruta, Vins, and Uika. Juriko didn't win because he was getting better, but because Aruta and the others were exhausted.
"Ahaha I'm better than you guys now! AHAHAHA!!" Juriko laugh in satisfaction.
"Just say yes," Vins muttered. Vins and Uika stand up and say goodbye because it was getting dark and they had to go home. Aruta and Juriko thank them. When Vins and Uika go home, Aruta and Juriko start cleaning up the snack wrappers scattered in the living room.
"Oi Juriko, next time let's play with a bet," Aruta said again with a mischievous smile.
"Damn you." Not long after, Aruta smell something strange.
"Hmm? Juriko, do you smell something burning?" Aruta asked.
"A burning smell huh... wait a minute, burning?!" Juriko was surprised.
The two of them start to stare at each other.
"You finished cooking, right?" Aruta asked but Juriko didn't reply.
The two of them immediately run to the kitchen and see the stove that was still on. It could be seen that the pot on the stove was burnt black. Juriko immediately jump and turn off the stove.
"Hey, the outside of the pot is already like this. What about the inside?" Aruta asked.
Juriko start to open the lid of the pot and saw that the food Juriko was cooking no longer looked like a food. Aruta approach him and see the same thing.
"Ehh... it looks more like charcoal than a food," Aruta said.
"Ahh because you asked me to play earlier!" Juriko said blaming Aruta.
"EHH?! me?" Aruta was confuse because he was suddenly the one being blamed.
"I'll buy groceries outside. You go clean the pot," Juriko said.
"Why am I getting blamed too?" Aruta asked.
"Just do it already. Rather than not having me cook dinner," Juriko threatened.
"Ugh... fine fine," Aruta agreed reluctantly.
Juriko got ready to leave while Aruta was cleaning the burnt pan.
Juriko go to the supermarket to buy some groceries. Carrots, tomatoes, and others. A few moments later, Juriko finish shopping and walk home. It was quite late when Juriko go home.
Juriko walk home through a residential area. The residential highway was very quiet. There were no vehicles passing by, even Juriko was the only one walking on the road. The people in the area probably felt more comfortable inside their homes. Some house lights were still on. At least that light could accompany Juriko.
"What a quite place," Juriko muttered.
Juriko start to pass a deserted building. The building was so dark and uninhabited. Completely abandoned.
Not long after Juriko pass the abandoned building, he heard a strange sound coming from a small alley in front of him right next to the old building next to it. The sound was like someone messing up the things in that alley.
Juriko start to get closer, and the sound became clearer. Juriko try to peek into the alley and his eyes suddenly widen.
He see a little girl walking around while calling out that name "Deca". The girl's feet hit the items in the alley once or twice because the alley was filled with used items.
But that wasn't the thing make Juriko so shock. He see a creature with a caterpillar body, a bull's head, and lots of human legs that were the creature's feet. That creature was hanging right above that little girl.
"I~m... hungry," that creature said and it seem like that girl didn't notice that creature at all.