Trace

She went to work as usual but skipped the last ‘breaking news’ house. As a result, she was called in by the manager the following day.

"THE F*CK YOU MEAN PROOF?! THE PARCEL IS NOT THERE!!!”

Chihiro heard him yelling from outside the office but knocked anyway.

"COME IN! NOT YOU! FIND MY PARCEL OR I-…”

He hung up as soon as she entered.

"Mr-… Ma- ma- manage- er, yo- u called?”
"Yeah! One of the subscribers reported that his newspaper is missing!”

He slowly walked behind her, hands in the pocket. She lowered her gaze, clutching her skirt nervously.

"Sounds like a he problem… I- I-… Im scared… I don’t want to get fired… Slushatel eats a lot… P**ps a lot too! Most of my money goes to him… If I lose this job…”

He stopped right behind her, looking her up and down.

"I understand… A young, pretty, independent girl… Its hard to live in this economy…”

He leaned closer.

"How about… I make you an offer?”

He placed both hands on her shoulders. Her cheeks flushed as she played with her hair.

"Wh- what offer?”
"Be my girl and I will change your life!”

He whispered. She smirked then clapped twice.

"Ty arestovan, Reganam!” (You’re under arrest!)
"Wha-”

The door burst open and three police officers rushed in with Slushatel waddling proudly behind them with a sunglasses.

"You heard her! Hands behind your back!”
"Quack!”

Yesterday, instead of delivering the last newspaper, she went to check the house with Slushatel.

"Aha! You seeing this, Slushatel?!”
"Quack!”

She pulled the outdoor curtain aside, revealing the cracked window that poorly glued back together.

"No wonder its easily brake…”
"Quack!”

She files a report and gave the package to the police as evidence, which they later found multiple packet of colourful crystalized substance inside it.

"Ah yeah, I also delivered your newspaper to them, have fun reading in the jail!”

Chihiro waved as they took him to the direction of the sunrise. Slushatel stood beside her with sunglasses.

"Quack?”
"The ‘yeeted’ logic? Donno, don’t care! Also, where you get that?!”

Chihiro received compensation and a senior employee was promoted as the new manager. She used the money to pay for the overdue rent and treat Slushatel.

"Bon appetit, Slushatel!”
"Quack!”

She tied a tissue around his neck like a bib and fed him a cooked fish. The following day, she sat on a bench outside the company building, reading her research paper with Slushatel. 

"Quack!”
"I know right! It was a group of hunters involved, so its not Amarok, no?”

The new manager noticed them and approached.

"Morning Chihiro, Slushatel! What you two doing here?”
"Quack!”
"Morning Big Sis! We dating! Wanna join?”

Chihiro patted Slushatel and the manager chuckled, shaking her head.

"Big Sis, do you know anything about Amarok?”
"Amarok? The hot issue? Nah, not a fan! Why?”

Chihiro flinched then looked elsewhere, changing the topic with awkward smiles. The manager noticed her research paper.

"She’s one of those hm… Actually…”

Chihiro locked her bicycle outside a Cyber Cafe.

"Hoo, so this is the ‘CC’ they talking about? We really got left behind huh, Slushatel!"
"Quack!”

She frowned.

"Haa?! What you mean like me in the race?!”
"Quack! Quack!”

People from both outside and inside stared at her arguing with a duck.

"Just another Monday?”
"Just another Monday…”

Two employees watched her violently shakes the duck.

"Quack! Quack!”
"What did you say?!”

She walked to the front glass window with Slushatel sat on her head.

"No pet please!”

One of the employee said, blocking her.

"He’s my friend! His name is Slushatel!”
"Quack!”
"I didn’t get paid enough for this…”

The employee sighed and opened the door widely.

"My condolences…”
"WHAT YOU MEAN BY THAT?! Thanks!”
"Quack!”

Chihiro stared at the blank monitor with Slushatel sitting in her lap. The two employees noticed it and decided to settle it with bird-rock-water game.

"I won!”
"Fine! You clean the toilet tonight!”
"Oh hell nawww!”

The lose employee went to teach her computer basic.

"This is Youtho, a video streaming website and this is Tweak, a microblogging and social media platform! You can search anything here in Gagal then boom, EZ!”

Her eyes widened, amazed by how modern the technology is.

"Wo- aa-… So cool! Its so convenient!”
"Aaa, miss? You good?”
"Quack?”

She cleared her throat and patted Slushatel.

"Aa- ye-… Sorry! I- Why Im stuttered now?! Than-...”

She glanced at his tag card’s hanging and smiles at him.

"...Thanks, Haruto!”

He flinched and looked away.

"Ju- just doing my job! She’s cute af! Fe- feel free to call me when needed!”
"Ah wait! I heard someone said there’s a new game…”

Chihiro wore the headphones, turned on the mic, and played Cell of Duck 4: Modern Warrior with the employees.

"BAAAHAHAHA!!! S odnogo udara, detka!” (One hit, baby!)

She completely let herself loose, drawing attention from the others.

"Isnt she a newb?! How come she carry us?!”
"How should I know?!”

The employees whispered to one another as her gameplay outperformed theirs.

"Ubiráysya s dorógi!” (Get outta my way!)
"Quack! Quack!”

Slushatel shook his head and waddled towards the exit. A customer kindly opening the door for him.

"Quack!”
"MVP!!!”

After hours of intense gaming, Chihiro returned home with Slushatel that evening.

"Ahhh! That was a lot of fun!”
"Quack? Quack!”

She frozed in front of the door. Her eyes widened with an awkward smile on her face.

"Wa... WASURETAAA!!!” (I forgot!)
"Quack!”
"SHUT THE F*CK UP!!!”

The next day after work, she returned to the same internet cafe to continue her research.

"Aight, time to locked in!”
"Quack!”

She watched the viral video and wrote down all the details on a paper while Slushatel silently sleeping on her lap.

Amarok’s Video on Youtho

Hunters: 10
Equip: Mossberg 500 (Shotgun)
Day and Date: Monday, 5 March 2007

Time: Around 1 AM (JST)
Location: Miraii City’s forest (East Side)
Reason: Fed up with police slowpoke
Objective: Hunting the wild beast

Details:
- Most from Miraii City, two of them from Kioku and Hikari Town.
- After 6 years of police being noob, a group of player decided to create a lobby.

"Look Slushatel, I did learn somethi-... How come he asleep that fast?!"

Chihiro focused back on the video and listened to the wolf-like chorus howling. She frowned and repeated it several times.

"Isnt dom wolf has lowered pitch? Why this one has high pitch like the rest?”

She opened a new tab and played different wolf howls from across the internet.

"Mhm… There’s a harmanic variation here…”

She used a frequency analysis site on Gagal and comparing the sounds.

"The viral video has a consistent frequency but these overlap with multiple frequencies overlapping…”

She jotted them down and resumed the video. Moments later, gunfire erupted and she replayed it multiple times.

"They all use shotgun… Why there’s SMG sounds too?”

A blurry figure rushed through the fog as it approached. Right before the video end, a voice saying ‘Amarok’ can be heard. She replayed it and noticed the voice doesn’t match any of the hunters.

"Amarok…”

Her eyes widened. 

"...ningen?! (Human?!)”

End of Chapter 3…

Extra Tri:
Chihiro in a camouflage armor, reloaded her shotgun behind a wall while peeking out the half destroyed wall.

Ducky: No one yet in A area!

She cautiously moved forward.

5RuTo: No one in B area either!
NotxHim: Same goes to C!

Both the Cyber Cafe employees replied in the chatbox.

5RuTo: [Auto] CONTACT!
NotxHim: [Auto] CONTACT!

E = mc^2 has slain 5RuTo!
C = 2πr has slain NotxHim!

Ducky: How you guys died?!
5RuTo: Customer, brb…
NotxHim: I failed maths lmao!

C4 has been planted! You have 5 minutes to disarm the bomb.

E = mc^2: One more!
C = 2πr: Area A! Go! Go!
Xx0Noob_Toxic0xX: Hah! Go back to the kitchen!

Chihiro sprinted to the edge of the map as the enemies targeting her.

Ducky: Sir Slushatel! Ducky here! Mayday! Mayday!”

She sent a distressed call to General Slushatel.

“Quack!”

The general stepped on a button, opening a Cheap Engage, an illegal move to modify the game. As the enemies surrounded her, a giant duck flew overhead, dropping a Machine Gun to her.

System: [Ducky] is the chaser!
Xx0Noob_Toxic0xX: WHAT THE ****

Xx0Noob_Toxic0xX has been muted for three days.

E = mc^2: ISNT THAT MG FROM TANK FORKRESS 2?!
C = 2πr: CHASER?! THIS IS NOT S4 LEAKED!!!

Enemy chatbox exploded as Chihiro grabbed the weapon with a wicked grin.

Ducky: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MF! RATATATATATATATATATATA!!!