DANGER APPROACHES

The couple of days since the night after I went with Erika to the aquarium had just been meeting with people to talk with Erika. Even though I’ve been talking about her with a few people, I haven’t met Erika herself ever since.

Though it’s only been a couple days since I last saw her, it somehow feels like it’s been forever. I’ve also been saying this and that to the people close to her, but I haven’t said anything to Erika herself.

The more I think about her, the more I start to miss her. Without thinking much more about it, I fished my phone out of my pocket and opened Erika’s chat.

Even though I know she has a class this afternoon, and I don’t want to disturb her, a message shouldn’t hurt.

“Still in class?” I asked her through the chat.

I wasn’t expecting a quick reply as she likely is still in class, so I put my phone back inside my pocket.

Right after I did, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, followed by a notification chime. So, I immediately fished it back out and looked at the notification.

The notification was from a music streaming application I use, giving me song recommendations. Feeling disappointed, I turned the phone screen off when another notification came in. This time it’s a message from Erika.

“Just finished.” It says in the notification.

I tapped on the notification to reply. “Can I go see you?”

She took a little time after reading my message before replying with her ‘YES’ grasshopper sticker.

I then asked her to share the location of her campus, and I took the train to the nearest station. The university was close by, and the train ride only took about ten minutes or so from my station. From there, it was only another ten-minute walk before I arrived at her university.

My university’s campus has restricted access, so most people would be outright denied entry without an ID, or if they don’t have a clear purpose to be on campus.

Though no one really goes to campus without any clear purpose. Sometimes parents would come to campus to talk about administrative stuff, but that’s probably it for people who don’t have ID.

I don’t know how it works in Erika’s campus, so I stopped by one of her campus entrances, looking somewhat conspicuous standing by the gate, doing nothing.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and told Erika which gate I’m at, and just a couple minutes later, I saw her walk out of the gate, looking around before finally settling her sight on me.

She’s wearing jeans, and a hoodie, the set that was the second most popular for university students to wear to campus, after a shirt and jeans. She’s also wearing a face mask covering the bottom half of her face, but I can still clearly tell that it’s Erika.

We walked towards each other, and once we were right in front of each other, I stared at her for a moment, which prompted her to tilt her head a little and look at me quizzically.

I raised one of my hands and gave her a light pat on the head, which caused her to look down a little.

“Want to grab some food?” I asked her.

She nodded in response.

It’s still too early for dinner, so I was thinking of grabbing some light bites instead of a full meal.

I’m not very familiar with the area, but I know a good place not far from the station I walked from.

It’s on the other side of the station, so the walk might take a little while, but Erika seems up for it.

While walking, we talked about her classes today, with Erika replying to me by showing her phone screen after typing something into our chat room. She had a couple practical classes today, and got assignments for both of them, but the tasks were pretty lenient on the deadline, and it seems like she already understands most of what she needed to do.

After about half an hour of walking, we arrived at a pastry shop in a shopping district of sorts. This store was already popular several years ago when I first came here with my family, and it’s still plenty popular now.

There’s a line of people that goes a little outside the store, but people that come here generally just point towards some pastries that they want, and the employee would get it from behind the counter. The employee would then put the pastries in a bag for the customer, and once they’re at the cashier, the customer would pay, get their bag and leave. So, the line was quick to move.

I went behind the line with Erika, and we waited for a couple minutes before we got to the part where we could start seeing the pastries behind the curved display glass counter.

Once we were in front of the display counter, we waited for a bit until an employee came up to us behind the counter and got a bag ready for our order.

Me and Erika started walking past the selection of pastry they have available, and picked some that we took interest in.

While looking at the pastries, I couldn’t help but think back on the bittersweet memory of my family, back when we went to get the pastry here.

That thought quickly passed by when I saw Erika seriously contemplating between two pastries, though. She’s already gotten one that’s savory, and she’s now looking very conflicted between two sweet pastries. One has slices of strawberry on top of it, and the other has some blueberries on it.

I really enjoy looking at the cute look in her eyes as she seriously contemplates between the two, but the person in line behind us is quickly approaching and I don’t want to hold up the line, so I placed a hand on top of her head while she’s slightly leaning forward to get her attention.

“Should we both get one of each? We could taste both and get whichever we like more.”

She gave me a quick nod in response, and the employee placed both pastries inside our bag, and as the cashier is right next to this selection, I went ahead and paid for it, before grabbing the bag and walking away with Erika.

There are some tables in and around the store, but we couldn’t get a seat, as all of them are already taken. However, there’s a park not far from here where we can sit down on a bench to eat. I knew because that’s where I went to eat when I came here with my family.

We walked a couple minutes to the park and walked around looking for a free bench to sit on. We found one a little further towards the lake in the center of the park, and we took a seat, facing the lake. I placed the pastry bag between us and held it wide open for Erika to look inside.

“Which one do you want to eat first?”

She reached inside the bag and took out the one with blueberries on top. Holding it with both hands, she showed it to me, as if saying she wants to try that one first.

I then grabbed the one with strawberry cuttings on top and showed it to her. Each of us now have the two that she was split on at the shop.

I can see from her eyes that she’s smiling at me when we showed the two pastries to each other.

She then started to inspect the blueberry topped one. That one has a contrast of color on the dark blueberry and the light toned pastry, making it look somewhat stylish.

She then pulled her mask down to her chin, and bit into one corner of the pastry. The moment she did so, she immediately beamed positively. She seems to really like that one. But instead of taking another bite, she looks at me instead.

I did say that we should each get one and we could get whichever we liked better. So, I handed the strawberry cuttings topped one in my hand to her.

“Want to try this one?”

She looked at me quizzically for a little before taking it and handing me the one in her hand. I took it from her, and she proceeded to inspect the one in her hand.

The strawberry glistens under the sun as it seems to be glazed with sugar, and the bread seems slick with oil from the butter used to make it.

Instead of instantly taking a bite out of it like she did with the strawberry cutting topped one now in my hand, she looked my way. She tilted her head a little, and I picked up on what she’s trying to say. So, I took a bite out of the pastry in my hand, on the other side of where she had taken a bite out of it.

I tried my best to look like I’m really contemplating the taste of the pastry.

Other than the blueberry on top, this one has blueberry fillings too. Both the fillings and the ones on top have a mild sweetness, with a somewhat sour aftertaste. The fillings have also soaked into the pastry, which caused the few layers on the inside to feel somewhat soggy. I don’t like this one very much.

Then I looked at Erika and saw her taking a bite out of the corner of the strawberry cuttings topped pastry. She immediately beamed again upon taking that bite. She seemed to also really like that one.

We then exchanged pastries again, and Erika looked at me seriously, waiting for me to take a bite out of the blueberry topped one.

I looked at her for a moment, before raising the pastry closer to my mouth and taking a bite out of the corner on the other side of the pastry that Erika had bit into, just like I did with the other one.

Again, I tried my best to look like I’m really judging the quality of the pastry.

The strawberry was very sweet as it’s been glazed with sugar, and there’s also a sweet soft cream inside. That, along with the salty savory taste of butter on the still crunchy thin layers of pastry made me really like this one.

“I don’t really like both of them.” I said to Erika, despite how I felt about the strawberry cuttings topped one. “Do you want them both?”

She immediately replied with a quick nod, and I handed her the strawberry cuttings topped one in my hand.

Erika then looked at the one I just handed to her, and I can see her face starting to blush a little. After just staring at it for a while, she took a bite in the middle of the two corners that she and I had taken a bite out of.

I then took one of the two pastries I chose for myself out of the bag. I had gotten one sweet, and one savory pastries. The sweet one I chose was the one my mother got when we came to the shop as a family, and the savory one was what my brother got.

Seeing that Erika is eating the sweet one first, I decide to grab the sweet one.

The sweet one I got had chocolate fillings inside with chocolate sprinkles on top of it. I took a bite out of it and reminisced a little about my past.

As I went through my pastry slowly, I noticed Erika looking my way, having finished the strawberry cuttings topped one. The blueberry topped one still on her other hand.

I brought the chocolate pastry in my hand a little closer to her. “Want to try this one?”

She looked at me a while before nodding her head slightly.

I brought the pastry closer to her mouth, which she doesn’t seem to have expected as she moved back a little, surprised when I did so. But she immediately snapped back and leaned in to take a bite out of my pastry. After she took a bite and moved her head back, I pulled the pastry back towards me.

“Is it good?”

She nodded.

“You want it?”

She shook her head.

I smiled at her and continued eating the pastry in my hand. Since I went through it somewhat slowly, I finished around the same time Erika had finished her blueberry topped one.

After finishing our pastries, we reached inside the bag and took out the savory pastries each of us got for ourselves.

The one that Erika got has smoked ham slices on top, with savory cream inside along with some potato chunks in it. Mine has smoked ham slices on top of baked cheese on the pastry.

I offered mine to Erika, bringing it close to her mouth, and she took a bite out of it. She savored it in her mouth and brought her pastry closer to my mouth. I actually already ate that one before, so I shook my head when she offered me her pastry.

She then pouted, and brought the pastry even closer to my mouth, which made me move back a little in surprise. Snapping back, I chuckled a little, and gave in.

I took a bite out of the corner of her pastry, and she beamed at me with fulfilment.

We then proceeded to eat our own pastry.

Once we’re done, I grabbed the napkins the employee gave us inside the bag and handed a few sheets to Erika. We wiped our hands and mouth and threw the napkin inside the bag. Erika then fixed the position of her mask, and I bundled the bag into a small ball.

“Let’s go back?”

She replied with a nod.

I grabbed the bundled bag, and we walked out of the park, towards the station. When we walked by a trash can, I threw the bundled bag inside and continued on our way.

When we arrived at the station, the train arrived not long after we walked inside, and we immediately hopped on.

The train would pass by my station before Erika’s, so I would be getting off before she does. But I still want to be with her a little longer still, so I stayed in the train to her station, and we got off together, before exiting the station.

Erika was a little confused when I didn’t get off the train at my station, and even more confused when I got out of the train with her.

I decided not to say anything because the confused looks she gives me every corner we turn as I walk her back to her place from the station is really cute, and I don’t want to stop her from doing that.

We walked side by side in silence accompanied by her puzzled look every now and then until she stopped doing so when we arrived at her neighborhood. She seems to finally catch on that I just want to walk her back to her place.

We made a couple turns towards her place, and when we finally made the last turn to her house, I grabbed her shoulder, pulled her back behind the corner, and pushed her against the wall.

She was really startled and looked a little afraid after I pushed her against the wall as I was very close to her when I did so, but she calmed down a little when I moved away to the side.

I took a peek around the corner and tried to get a better look at what I saw when we made the corner earlier.

There’s a small gap between two houses across Erika’s place, like a really tight fit alley that someone could walk through with their shoulder scraping against the wall on both sides.

Since the alley was across from where we are, I could see a little inside the alley, and I could see a person there, looking in the direction of Erika’s place. Because the alley is in between Erika’s place and where we are right now, so they haven’t noticed us yet.

I fished my phone out of my pocket, opened the camera, and zoomed in on the alley. Once it’s focused, I immediately recognize the person.

It’s Mari. She cut her hair short, but I could still tell that it’s her in the alley.

I snapped a picture and turned the screen on my phone off.

After I did, I noticed Erika trying to move away from the wall to take a peek around the corner, and I gently pushed her back to the wall with the hand holding my phone. She’s starting to look a little anxious, so I gave her the best smile I could muster and placed my free hand on her head to gently pat her.

I’ll protect her no matter what.

That was when I noticed movement in the alley from the corner of my eye. I turned to look towards the alley and saw a man walk a little out of the alley, and another standing in front of Mari with her in the alley. They seem to be talking about something there, but I can’t hear anything from where I’m at.

As I leaned forward to get a closer look at their mouth to make an attempt at lip reading, the two men leaned in towards Mari, and she gave them both kisses on the mouth, each lasted longer than they absolutely should have.

I can’t figure out what she’s up to there, but the appearance of the two men changes the situation.

I quickly turned to inspect every inch of my surroundings. Taking a closer look at every corner, and every gap between houses, even behind the fences of every house, and also behind their windows to make sure no one is watching us.

I let out a breath of relief once I confirmed that no one was watching us and turned my head back to look at Erika after taking a quick glance towards Mari. Erika is now looking at me with a mix of confusion and anxiousness.

“Let’s go out for a walk a little longer.” I said to her in a hushed voice.

She thought about it for a while before nodding her head.

When I got lost in this neighborhood the night I moved into this country, I walked past a small park, a little distance from Erika’s house. I still remember where it was because I had to use the toilet there at the time.

I grabbed Erika’s hands, and led her towards the park, taking a little detour to avoid Mari.

On the way, I kept glancing everywhere, taking care to get a good look at places where someone could be hiding. Every time I look in Erika’s direction, I always see her looking at me quizzically.

When we finally reached the park, I led her inside and walked towards a bench closest to the public toilet in the park. When we were right in front of it, Erika tugged on my hand to stop me. She then let go of my hand and pointed towards the toilet.

I understood what she meant as this was exactly what I wanted her to do when I thought about bringing her to this park.

Of course, I didn’t have any weird intentions in doing so. I needed to tell Erika’s parents about Mari without alerting Erika somehow, so I needed a quick moment away from her. That said, I absolutely can’t leave her alone now that I know Mari is here with some other people. The two I saw at the alley might not be everyone she’s with.

I remember using this public toilet last time, and the inside was very small, with only one sink and one toilet even in the men’s room. So, it should be absolutely safe inside.

Once I confirmed Erika had gone inside, I immediately fished my phone out of my pocket to call Hana. While waiting for the call to connect, I went to look around the public toilet just to be safe. Hana picked up a moment later.

“Hey, Olive-”

“Hana, you have Erika parents’ contact right?” I asked her with a hushed voice, taking care to not let Erika hear me.

“Yeah, why are you whispering-?”

“Tell them that Mari is outside of their house right now.”

“WHAT?! Oliver how’d you know?!”

Just as she screamed that over the phone, Erika walked out of the toilet. Hana took a little too long to answer the phone, which is understandable as she might be on shift right now, but unfortunately that means I don’t have much time to explain everything to her. I don’t want Erika to know about this.

But I still have to get Hana to tell Erika’s parents, and if I cut the call right now, Hana would probably fly into a panic.

“I was just walking Erika back to her place.” I moved the phone a little away from my ears, and pointed towards it, silently mouthing ‘Hana’ to Erika.

Erika gave me a nod when Hana started talking again. “You saw Mari there?”

Erika can’t hear what Hana is saying over the phone, so I just have to mind what I’m saying in reply. “Yeah.”

“Is Erika still with you?”

“Yeah, I’m still with her.”

“How is she now?”

“She’s fine, I don’t think she knows.”

“You didn’t tell her? Yeah, actually, don't. I’ll contact her parents and tell them. You keep Erika safe. Bring her here or anywhere away from her place.”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks, Hana.”

I then cut the call and placed my phone back inside my pocket. I smiled at Erika again, before gently patting her head again.

“Hana said we should swing by and get some dinner at Cafe Million.”

Erika seemed a little conflicted for a little while, but she ultimately agreed by giving me a nod.

“Let’s go there.” I said while extending my hand to her, which she then held unto.

Grabbing her hand tight in mine, I led Erika and started walking towards Cafe Million. To get there, I took a detour to get out of the neighborhood, before taking the main road towards Cafe Million.

Even after getting out of the neighborhood, I took care to keep a close eye on my surroundings. While I do so, the sun sinks deeper and deeper beyond the horizon, with only a little part of it now peeking over the myriads of buildings by the main road.

That was when my phone rang. After fishing it out of my pocket, I took a look at the caller, which said ‘Hana’.

I showed Erika the screen on my phone for a little, before picking up and bringing the phone to my ear.

“Oliver, do NOT bring Erika here!” She immediately declared as soon as I picked up.

“Hm? Why?” I replied, trying my best to sound as calm as possible for Erika.

“I saw Mari walk into the restaurant across the road from us!”

“Aw. That’s too bad. Nothing to be done about it, I guess.”

“Be sure to keep Erika safe, okay?”

“Yeah. I will.”

After that I cut the call and thought about how to word this to Erika.

I suddenly brought her away when we were right by her place when I was supposed to walk her back, brought her halfway towards Cafe Million, and now I have to say that we can’t go to Cafe Million.

“Hana said something came up, and they had to close the cafe.” I said to Erika.

She tilted her head to look at me quizzically.

But I can’t have her asking questions. “Should we get something to eat somewhere else?”

She didn’t respond and still looked at me quizzically but now looked somewhat worried. She also still has this somewhat anxious look ever since I pulled her back around the corner by her place. But I decided to ignore it and started leading her the other way to go to a place I know.

“Come on, I know a good place to get dinner.”

I gave her a smile when I tried to lead her away, but she pulled back on me instead. I turned my head to look at her, and she tried to wiggle her hands out of mine. I was holding her hand a little too hard, that she had a hard time separating our hands. When I noticed this, I quickly let go of her hand and turned back to face her.

“Sorry..” I said meekly to her.

She then moved her backpack in front of her, and took her phone out of it, before putting her backpack back. She turned it on and started typing something, before showing me the screen.

“What’s wrong?” She asked me.

“Hm? Oh, about Hana? She said something about a plumbing break or something, I think.” I made that up on the spot, hoping she’d buy it.

But she shook her head, before typing something else into her phone. “What’s wrong with you?”

I then looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

She started typing something else into her phone and showed me her screen again. “You look worried about something, Oliver.”

I immediately brought one hand up and felt around both of my cheeks before letting out a sigh while covering my mouth. Feeling really disappointed in my face for being unable to even keep Erika from worrying, I relent and fished my phone out of my pocket.

Opening my phone’s gallery, I showed Erika the picture I had taken of Mari in an alley close to her place.

Upon seeing this, her eyes went wide in shock. I explained how I saw her close by her place, and I had asked Hana to tell Erika’s parents about it.

I then told her how Hana had told me to bring her somewhere else, and tried to bring her to Cafe Million, but Mari must have gone before we did and got inside a restaurant across the road from Cafe Million.

As the sun sets, and the streetlights around us start turning on one by one, I hear Erika’s breathing getting rougher with every second that passes.

She starts to hyperventilate, and her eyes seem shaken with fear.

We’re currently on the side of the main road, at dusk when office workers are supposed to get off work, so there’s quite a lot of people around, but I don’t have many choices I could pick from. So, I went in and gave Erika a tight hug to calm her down.

Once I could feel her breathing steadying, I moved one of my hands to lightly brush the back part of her hair with my fingers. “It’s okay. I’ll keep you safe.”

I can feel her head nod slightly in response, and she raised both her arms to hug me back lightly.

Her phone then started ringing, and I can feel it vibrate against my back. I let go of her, and she looked at her phone.

After confirming the caller, she looked at me for a moment, showing me her phone screen like I did to show her that Hana had called me. It says on the phone screen that her mother is video calling her.

After my nod, she answered the call, and I can hear her mother’s voice on speaker.

“Hi, Erika.”

Erika replied with a wave to her camera.

“Dear, is Oliver there with you?” Her mother asked.

Erika replied with a nod.

“Can I talk to him for a second?”

Erika looked at me, and I smiled and nodded at her.

She then handed me her phone, and I saw her mom through the video call on her phone.

“Oliver, where are you right now?”

“We’re about halfway to Cafe Million from Erika’s place right now.”

“Could you walk Erika back for now?”

“Sure.”

“Thankyou, Oliver.”

“No problem, ma’am.” I said with a smile, before handing the phone back to Erika.

“Erika, you walk back here with Oliver, okay? Take care not to leave his side, and don’t trouble him, now. Okay, dear?” Erika’s mom asked her.

Erika nodded with a smile in response.

“Alright, take care on the way back, dear.”

Her mother cut the call, and Erika moved her backpack upfront and placed her phone inside.

“Should we?” I asked her, extending a hand towards her.

She grabbed my hand and nodded.

We then walked side by side back to her place. I still took care to pay attention to my surroundings, but now Erika is doing the same. We’re both looking all around while making our way back to her place.

Once we’re at the last corner before her place, I slowed down, and Erika followed suit.

Taking a peek around the corner, I saw a police car, with a policeman looking towards the alley where Mari was at with a flashlight, and another talking to Erika’s parents.

I let out a breath of relief once I knew that it’s safe and turned the corner with Erika.

Erika’s mother noticed us first and called out to Erika and me.

After she did, the police officer looking down the alley flashed his flashlight at us, which prompted me to raise a hand to cover my eyes from the bright light and positioned my body to cover Erika.

When the officer moved his flashlight away from us, I put my hand down and made my way towards Erika’s parents with Erika following close behind me.

“Mister Oliver, Miss Erika, can I ask you some questions regarding the person you saw?”

“Yes, but she hadn’t seen the person. I thought the person might be after her and hid her around the corner.”

“Okay, can you describe the person to me?”

“Oh, I actually took a picture, will that do?”

“That would be preferable.”

I fished my phone out of my pocket, opened the gallery, and tapped on the last picture I took. I showed the phone to the police officer, and he took my phone to inspect the picture for a while before handing the phone back to me.

“Could you send that picture to me?”

“Yeah, sure. How do you want me to..?” I asked, trailing off when the police officer took his phone out of his pocket.

“Can you send it over by bluetooth to my phone?” He asked me while showing the bluetooth details on his phone.

I then turned on the bluetooth on my phone, connected it to the police officer’s phone, and sent the picture over to him.

Once he received the picture, he put his phone back inside his pocket and wrote something down on a notebook he had in his breast pocket.

“Office, sorry. I actually also saw two other guys with her, but I didn’t have the chance to take a picture.”

Erika’s parents gasped when they heard this, and Erika grabbed onto my hand tighter.

“Can you describe these two guys for me?”

I tried my best to give a description based on what I remembered, taking care not to add in anything I’m not absolutely sure about at first, and added it later with a remark to the officer. The officer wrote everything down in his notepad as soon as I said it.

“Did you see what these three people were doing?”

“I wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but I could see them talking to one another, and I, uh.. Saw the girl give the two guys a kiss.”

“A.. kiss?” The officer asked, raising one of his eyebrows. “As in..”

“Yes, on each of their lips.” I answered before he could finish the question.

The officer let out a dry cough, before then looked towards Erika’s parents. “Based on the situation alone, it’s hard to say for sure that these three people could be here to threaten Miss Erika.” He said.

“No, you don’t understand, officer, that girl is-” Erika’s mother tried to explain, but was interrupted by the police officer.

“Yes, ma’am, you have explained it to us before, and we will take it into consideration for this case. But based on what Mister Oliver just said, they could just be.. Perverts committing public indecency.” I could tell that he’s trying his best to keep a flat face while saying this.

“What?! No! Those people-”

“Ma’am, I understand.” The office interrupted Erika’s mother again. “But we have to look into it more to confirm the facts first.”

“Isn’t public indecency also considered a crime?” I asked the police officer.

“It is.. an offence, but we usually do not spend manpower to track down people that committed these offences.”

I grimaced at this, knowing that the police are right here but would just be letting Mari and those guys go.

“Do you perhaps have any idea why this Mari person would threaten Miss Erika?” He asked me.

I gave it a thought before I answered. “I do, but I can't say what it exactly is that motivates her to threaten Erika.”

Erika then went to hide further behind me. Covering her entire body with mine from the police officer’s view. I turned back to look at her for a while, when it suddenly popped to my mind.

“Actually, can I call someone first?”

“May I ask who?”

“Alan. The.. movie star?”

The officer's eyes went wide in surprise. “Sure, go ahead, sir.”

I then started to dial Alan on my phone. He and Emma might know something about it, if it’s something connected to stardom.

It’s weird that Mari suddenly pops up in front of Erika’s place now if it’s because of a grudge from long ago that made her bully Erika at the time. So, it must be something that happened recently. The only thing I could think of is the incident at the aquarium, but I don’t really understand what exactly is driving Mari to do this.

Alan picked up his phone after a few rings. “Oliver? I’m on set right now, and my break is ending soon, so I can’t talk long.” He said.

“Sorry for disturbing you on the job, I’m talking with a police officer right now.”

“Say what, now?”

“Yeah, that Mari girl was in an alley near Erika’s house this afternoon, and I’m talking to the police about it now.”

“What? Why would she do that?”

“I was hoping you’d know.”

“Wait a minute.” He then muted his phone, judging by the lack of background noise of the set that was there when he was talking.

Some time later, the background noise came back. “Oliver?”

“Yeah. Still here.”

“Good. so, I just heard from my manager that the company behind Mari just severed all contracts between them over the aquarium incident.”

“What? Why?”

“What happened seems to be a much bigger incident than I thought, and no one wants to work with her now.”

Yeah, that seems like something to hold a grudge over.

“Okay. Thanks for telling me, man.”

“Sure. just give me a call if you need anything else.”

I then cut the call and put my phone back inside my pocket.

“Right, officer. The other day there was an incident at an aquarium between Erika and Mari.”

Erika started holding onto my hand with both her hands when I started talking about this.

“Hey! I know about that.” The other officer looking around suddenly joined our conversation.

Everyone turned to look at him, demanding an explanation.

“What is it?” The officer that was asking me questions asked.

“You know, the one on the other precinct that guy told us about. Said an idol made a commotion at an aquarium, and he was complaining about how the idol was his favorite or something.”

The officer that was asking us questions looked up, thinking for a while before he came to a realization.

“Ah, yeah. I remember that. Did something happen between Miss Erika and this Mari person?” He asked me.

“Yeah. apparently that commotion caused Mari to lose her job, so she’s likely holding a grudge over that.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing this. Erika even popped her head from my side, looking at me with wide eyes.

The officer then took note of what I just said and placed his notebook back inside his breast pocket.

“Okay, now that we have a potential motive, we could start looking into this as a stalking incident for now. We’ll look for Mari and investigate further as soon as we confirm what Mister Oliver said.”

“Thank you, officers.” Erika’s father said.

The officer replied with a nod. “While we continue our investigation, it might be wise to have Miss Erika stay somewhere else, as this house might be targeted again by Mari.”

“We’ll arrange for that.” Erika’s father replied.

“Okay, well. Have a nice night, and stay safe.” The officer said before stepping inside his vehicle with the other officer and driving off.

After seeing that the police had left, Erika let go of my hand, got out of hiding behind me and rushed to hug her mother. Her mother hugged Erika back, saying that she’s glad that Erika’s safe.

While they did so, Erika’s father walked up to me. “Oliver, we want to thank you. For keeping Erika safe today.”

I replied with a slight nod.

“Really, Oliver. We don’t know what that crazy girl would do to Erika again if you weren’t with her today.” Erika’s mother added.

I smiled at her. “I’m just glad that Erika’s safe.”

Erika let go of her mom, and walked to me. She then signed ‘thank you’ to me, which I still remember.

I patted her head gently in response.

A beat later, I noticed that I’m doing this to her in front of her parents, and immediately pulled my hand back, but Erika’s parents just smiled at us.

“Anyways, Erika should stay somewhere else for now.” Erika’s father then said.

“She can stay at Cafe Million until the police catch Mari.” Her mother added.

“No.” I immediately said, which prompted everyone to look at me. “Mari was also seen in the restaurant across the road from Cafe Million. So that place is no good.”

Erika’s parents gasped in surprise, and they then fell into thought for a while.

“Somewhere for Erika to stay, where Mari doesn’t know about..” Erika’s father muttered before trailing off into deep thought.

Then at the same time, as if on cue, everyone turned to look at me. They stare at me with realization, and expecting eyes.