Vol. 1 Side Chapter: Search

***Dasmariñas, Friday morning…***

A pair of motorcycle riders stopped by the roadside, opposite the entrance of the street that led to Junie’s apartment building. Their dark helmet visors concealed their faces to anyone who happened to look, yet their body-tight jackets confirmed they were ladies. After securing their vehicles, they approached the nearest vendor—a noodle cart, and showed him a picture from one of their phones.

“Good morning! By any chance, do you know this person? We were told he is living here.”

“Ah, hello there, ladies!” the vendor greeted, then turned to the picture. A few moments later, he admitted, “Sorry but I’m not from here. Ryan, do you know this guy?”

One of the patrons approached them, followed by others, mostly out of curiosity. The man named Ryan, however, exclaimed, “Eh? That’s Junie!”

“Junie?” one of the ladies asked. “Is that his name?”

“Well, we call him Junie. But I don’t really know his full name,” Ryan turned to his other companions. “Anyone of you knows Junie’s full name?”

They shook their heads. Another man revealed, “That guy works at the Adventurers’ Agency; I don’t know if he already left for work. He lives in that apartment building over there, on the second floor.”

“Is that so…?”

“Are you ladies his friends? We can tell him if we see that fellow.”

“No worries. That isn’t necessary,” one of them gave the group some pocket money. “Please don’t tell him we came by. We plan to surprise him.”

“Oooh…alright. Oh wait, there he is!”

From their spot, they saw the door of Junie’s apartment open, and the man himself leave. As he passed by other houses, one of the lady riders silently chanted a spell that blew a potted plant right over his head. His neighbors called his attention, and Junie effortlessly saved himself and the plant.

Even the guys at the noodle cart were impressed. When they looked back at the riders, they already vanished.

Nevertheless, the ladies just got back to their vehicles. Using a spell that concealed them, they observed Junie as he took out his motorcycle from its parking spot, turn its engine on, and sped away to work.

One of them gave a nod to her companion. Then, she confirmed, “We finally found him!”