Plans

After accompanying her friend home, she returned to her own. It was going to be a busy afternoon and evening, not because of her friend's extravagant ideas, which she would undoubtedly discuss with her brother, but because normally there were two of us having dinner, before three if the au pair decided to stay, but today there would be four, twice as many people as usual, and twice as many things that could go wrong.

"As you hear it, sometimes I want to kill her." Coral shook her head.

"She was helping… in her own way." Imobach knew that Teresa was sometimes clumsy. In the first year of secondary school, that was the same thing that had made her go from sharing a year with him to repeating and being with her sister. "Anyway… it's strange."

"The fact that?"

"The messages."

"The ones in the photos?" she said as they served the dishes on the table. "I suppose they were a reminder of your life, in the form of a diary."

"Do you think so?" He sat down thoughtfully.

"Who are they talking about?" Adassa joined in the conversation without taking her eyes off her phone.

At the table of four, Yuusuke was the quietest, either out of politeness or attitude. He had nothing to add either. Coral was the one who kept the conversation going and had managed to be as close to the dark-haired boy as possible, without invading his space, but close enough for him to smell his fruity cologne.

"…it was her." Coral put Adassa in time, she had met her the summer she met the rest.

"She always had a sad smile." Imobach added.

"The old woman never seemed to be happy about anything, Adassa admitted."

For a few minutes the only sound in the room was the clinking of spoons against plates. Even though Imobach had made it several times, the soup was vinegary; perhaps the unexpected visitors had disturbed him more than he thought.

"He's telling us something else." The three natives looked at the foreigner. "Regarding the messages. They seem to be clues leading to the structure" he avoided saying hermitage, he wouldn't be able to pronounce it at first and it would be cumbersome.

"Like what?" The green-eyed girl tried to adopt a seductive pose.

"I don't know. About the baby, about her, some discovery, I really don't know."

"That's it. The child was stolen." Adassa said.

Coral didn't think the same at all, but she didn't want to contradict him, not him. The one who did seem to agree was the brown-haired boy, who had his hair in a half-updo.

Yuusuke couldn't help but make comparisons with his Earth, everything would certainly be easier if on this planet they implanted tracking chips in everyone, just in case, for emergencies, although... thinking about himself, he was now inrrastebale.

"It could be…" Imobach placed two fingers on his chin. "Between 1938 and 1996 was its heyday… the church had a lot to do with it -his sister reproached with her mouth.

"It says here that a certain Sister Maria and a doctor were involved." The brunette with short curly hair read directly from the tabloid.

"Well, Maria is a very common name, it's just a coincidence. Something like Sachiko" She pulled out the library she had built in her mind after so many oriental series.

"It's a preconceived notion. But something's not right."

"Yes… technically, there is nothing wrong, but something seems not right…"

"Well, leaving that subject aside, have you found any clue that will allow you to return? Anything?" Coral smiled at the man with the slanted eyes, although in every single layer of her being she wished he wouldn't leave.

Her brother couldn't help but snort or curl his mouth slightly, she had simply been shameless. She gave him a look, but nothing more, something had told her that day that she had to make her brother's silverware ugly. A little revenge in advance.

"It's not that easy. I know how I got here, but I lack resources here - he said with an air of designation."

"It says here that there were cases in Tenerife, not that many but there were."

The girl who used to wear fluorescent colored clothes and soccer boots despite not having played sports for a long time, brought up the subject of the church again.

"Did he tell you the year?" she continued.

"No… but maybe around the 60s? He is the same age as Tiburcio, Teresa's great-great-grandfather" He clarified to the man with the black eyes. "And assuming that at that time they got married around 18-year-old."

"No, let's see guys" Coral looked into the eyes of both the oldest at the table and the one with the piercings. "This is getting out of hand, we can't start with delirium. It's not the best thing for Mr. Chinea to rummage through the past."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, I shouldn't have said anything" Yuusuke interceded.

"No, no, not you, I'm not referring to you."

Quick as a cool summer breeze, Adassa stood up and positioned himself behind her. He first placed his hands on the back of the chair, then on her shoulders, in a semi-hug, and whispered in her ear loud enough for the other two to hear.

"Are you sure you don't want to investigate? Whatever we find, you'll get the old man's thanks and the credit."

"But…"

"I will spread it, I will magnify it, and you will be known throughout the institute."

The one who shared genes with her just looked away and the short-haired girl continued. She wanted adventure.

"Think about it."

"It's not…"

"Maybe it reaches them too, maybe they pay you a visit, maybe..." He couldn't finish the sentence.

"I accept!"

This is how the second adventure began, without even having almost started the first one.

"If they are going to investigate, they have to get organized" The guy with the mole on his chin excluded himself.

"Yes. And who better than you to come up with a plan?" It would mean more time together and less time thinking about how to get back. I remember that you were good at the school festival, and at the beach too.

Yûsuke was surprised but understood quickly, it took a little longer than Coral, she still had a hard time discerning between her husbando 's real life and the semi-invented one by the animanga , however, the one who interrupted was Adassa.

"Well, we'll see about the boss." I'm the best option, she thought. "What do you propose, Hara?"

"Easy…" He didn't know Adassa's last name.

"Bethencourt."

"Easy, Betencuru" He pronounced it as best as possible, it was not a surname he had been taught at the academy. "There is a clear pattern" Everyone waited expectantly. "The church, especially the building, the herumitage . It appeared in most of the photographs, as you mentioned.

"You're right, but don't forget that a few years ago religion was the favorite pastime and culture, at least in this part of the world" Imobach informed him.

"And why did they accuse her before?" said Yûsuke in a sober tone.

The tall, broad-shouldered boy didn't know what to say, and the smaller girl ignored him.

"So, what… we should investigate the hermitage." Coral summarized.

"Yes. We have nothing else."

"Well done team, Saturday will be the day. Well, the night, rather. We'll make it."

A wide smile spread across the green-eyed girl's face for a long time. The next day she would tell her friend, who would no doubt join in, albeit with some fear.

Meanwhile, the other investigation, the "super secret" one known only to the two friends, continued. It wasn't until the fourth day of searching that they stopped to question the plan. They weren't tired, nor discouraged - well, one of them not much, but it was then that the one with the patch on her right eye spoke.

"What if… we’re not looking right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't be mistaken, I have a good time here with you and my grandfather's garden is looking beautiful with the flowers I bring every day, but maybe there's nothing there."

"No, there must be. He told us that in that kind of tunnel he absorbed several things apart from himself."

Some boys, perhaps younger than them, passed by with their cell phone speaker on full blast.

"Of course! You're right" She took her friend by the shoulders. "There are a lot of killers here" Oh, I shouldn't call them that, or at least not when they're so close, she thought.  "And all kinds of people, any strange gadget, even a book, they must have taken it, if they're curious they might keep it, but what if not? What if they sell it?

"There aren't that many eccentric shops here, but it would be easier online."

"Great, that's it - his eyes lit up."

Just in case, they looked around the area one last time. If there were any leaves on the trip, they could have been blown away by the wind. Perhaps there was something at the end of the vertical section of land, between the rocks on the beach.

"I have to hurry, I promised Guaci I would help her with her homework. I couldn't refuse, she needed me."

The path to the coastal accident was too dangerous for the blonde, so this time she decided to stay and collect more flowers. Every day she uprooted at least three completely new ones, some of which did not seem typical of the subtropical climate, but they were there, unfazed. When she saw her friend return with nothing, exactly the same as the previous days, she turned around without asking, obediently, she walked side by side with the other.

In any case, it had been a good day.