Chapter 03

Remind me again what we’re doing here, Tank Top said to me as he struck a pose with both his arms above and behind his head, accentuating his torso.

I snapped a photo of him. Not with my smartphone, but with a box camera and a huge flash.

“Our mission”, I answered him. “Now turn a bit to the left so we can take that pose at an angle.”

He followed my direction and continued with the conversation. He said, However, our mission is to find evidence of an illegal market for rare and endangered species.

“Don’t forget we’re searching for my junior, too”, I said as I snapped another photo.

As I was lowering the stand of the camera so I could get a low angle shot, Tank Top asked, Then why are we taking photos of me in different tops?

I took the low angle photo before answering him, “Remember what that gecko said?”

I motioned for Tank Top to turn to his right, which he silently complied with.

While taking another picture, I continued, “He knows the person who has the information we need, but he’s only going to introduce us for a price.”

Then why not simply pay him? He asked as he struck a new pose placing his right hand on his hip and leaning slightly on his left. I took a shot as he added, Instead of doing this.

I grabbed a transparent ball the size of a basketball from a box beside me and passed it to Tank Top before replying to him. “He’s asking for ten Big Macs.”

Big Macs? He sounded confused, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of the term I used or he didn’t know what to do with the ball I just gave him.

“The price for that information is around the same amount Goldy gave us at the beginning”, I explained as I took photos of Tank Top simply holding the ball. “We’ve already used half of our allowance so we can’t pay him.”

I arced my right arm on my side to show Tank Top how to hold the ball, which he got at first glance and copied me.

I took more pictures and continued, “But luckily for us, information is traded like a commodity in this place. And, if it can be traded, means we can haggle.”

What do you mean?

“I mean we can offer other things to bring the price down, like doing a favor or two.”

Like what we are doing now?

“Exactly like what we are doing now”, I said as I took a photo.

Although, what we were doing isn’t exactly part of what the gecko guy asked of us. But, it was still related.

The task was to find a rare item. It wasn’t contraband being sold through illegal channels nor a banned product so it should be available at a normal shop. At least, according to him.

The item is, in the gecko’s words, an… extremely super duper rare trading card of some pop idol named Felis from a group named Cat Nights.

With that group name, it’s easy to have the impression they would be composed of cat girls. But, considering my experience with aliens, I doubt they would be human-like girls with cat ears and they’re more likely to be some form of being standing on two legs complete with fur and other feline features similar to Streillaeth.

Anyway, the trading card was announced to be auctioned somewhere in the bazaar. The shop that will be selling it has a condition that bids will only be accepted through their store. That is, if those interested can find the shop within the deadline, which is two hours from now.

So, here we are searching for it as the exchange for the gecko person to give us a discount on the information of who we need to ask to find what we were looking for in this place.

Of course, since Tank Top and I had just gone through four streets of the bazaar asking people for clues, we were a bit hesitant on doing it again. Fortunately, the gecko person had a lead.

“My friend, who is a clothes merchant, was the one who told me of the auction”, he said. “But, she claims she doesn’t know where it’s going to be sold. Maybe she doesn’t actually know, but I get this feeling she does. Go find out.”

And off we went to chase a second wild goose.

By coincidence, the gecko’s friend was the owner of the clothes store where Tank Top bought new tank tops. We thought she would give us the information about the trading card auction since we’ve already shopped at her place earlier, but she refused.

“This is a new transaction now”, she explained.

She laid the same conditions again, but we were unwilling to use what’s left of our money since it’s already reserved for paying the gecko person.

Fortunately, she was willing to negotiate. The photo session with Tank Top modeling was the agreed payment for the information. For what, however, we didn’t know.

“It’s for personal use”, she said, winking six of her dozen eyes at Tank Top. She was human-like except for her large round head housing those many eyeballs

I had a feeling I wouldn’t want to know the exact reason, so I just gave myself the idea she was going to use them as posters to advertise tank tops in her shop. The important thing is we got a new clue.

“Head for the hardware street. I heard it was the antique store run by the old strograsumod”, she said.

“The what now?” I asked, turning to Tank Top.

They’re beings similar to a jellyfish, he explained.

We went to our next destination, but not before the lady with the twelve eyes slipped some small piece of paper into Tank Top’s chest and said, “Call me.”

I can only imagine his reaction as his face remained expressionless, which is another feature of his kind.

We hadn’t gone through the hardware street earlier, but it didn’t take long before we found the place we were directed to. However, the problem is, there were two antique stores that’s manned by a large jellyfish-like being and they were next to each other.

Which store is it? asked Tank Top.

“Only one way to find out”, I replied as I approached the nearest one. “Are you the old stogasoomot?” I asked the first jellyfish person who was sitting in a chair reading some pamphlet.

“Strograsumod!” He corrected me on the pronunciation of the name of his people. “And what do you want?”

“Wait just a minute!”, the second jellyfish person interrupted.

The shops are more like booths where the wares are kept and displayed inside a wide depression on the wall and not like a boutique. It was not surprising our conversation was within earshot of the neighbors.

The second jellyfish approached us, stomping his tentacles, and said, “Don’t believe this guy, I’m the older one!”

This caused the first jellyfish to stand from his chair and confront the second jellyfish, “Says who?”

“Says my birth certificate!” Countered the second jellyfish as he produced a hologram of some document.

“That piece of crap again? There’s a smudge that makes your time of birth look like you were born a second before me!”

“A smudge?! Why don’t you take a good look at it?!”

They were starting to raise tentacles against each other so I had to interrupt them. “Guys, guys. No need to fight. I just want to ask a question.”

The second jellyfish answered, “You can ask them once we establish who between the two of us is the older one!”

“Yeah, didn’t you want the older strograsumod?” the first jellyfish added.

“I don’t really care who, really”, I said to the two of them. “As far as I’m concerned, the both of you can answer my question.”

“You don’t care?!” Reacted the first jellyfish. “Well, you should because this guy is a liar!”

“The only liar here is you!” the second jellyfish said loudly as he raised more tentacles against the other jellyfish.

“Please, we’re in a bit of a hurry”, I pleaded as we had a time limit and already spent half an hour taking pictures earlier.

But, they ignored me.

“A liar?” The first jellyfish echoed his rival. “I only look younger than my age. Does this baby face look like a liar to you?”

“Huuhh?? You still smell like milk, you big baby!”

The first jellyfish then looked at me as if remembering my presence and said, “I know! Why don’t we settle this by asking this strange alien here.”

It felt weird being called a strange alien by an alien being.

“What are you suggesting?” asked the second jellyfish.

“Hey, stranger”, the first jellyfish called to me instead of explaining his intentions. “Who do you think is the older one, him or me?”

That caused me to take a step back.

“Uh, listen, man. I don’t want to get involved in your argument”, I replied. “I just want to know if one of you is auctioning a trading card of Felis from the Cat Nights.”

I felt the need to gain control of the conversation so I just let the question out.

“Oh, we’ll tell you if you tell us who you think is the older one between us first”, the first jellyfish countered, unfortunately.

To make matters worse, the second jellyfish added, “And the one you pick will be the only one to answer you.”

"W-wait, but I don't really know who looks older between the two of you", I protested. "Can't the both of you just tell me?"

"But, you said earlier you didn't care who you asked", the first jellyfish pointed out.

I couldn't come up with a reply.

The two jellyfishes looked at each other and turned back to me to say, ““So you better choose wisely.””

The worst part of it all is that the two look the same to me - two identical human-sized translucent jellyfishes.

I looked at Tank Top, but he simply shrugged.

I don’t know either, he said.

I looked back at the two jellyfishes trying to figure out if there is some kind of indication of age for their kind, but I could not find one. Although, if there actually was one, I don’t recognize it!

“Well?” the first jellyfish impatiently said to me.

“I thought you were in a hurry”, taunted the second jellyfish.

Succumbing to the pressure, I raised my hand to point in a random direction and said, “You.”

“Hah! Baby face my ass!” The second jellyfish bantered.

He was the one I picked.

“Hmph!” The first jellyfish grunted and wordlessly sat back on his seat. He turned away from us and returned to reading his pamphlet.

“Now, for that trading card”, the second jellyfish said, grabbing my attention. “It doesn’t exist.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Exactly what I mean”, he answered. “The Cat Nights only have three members: Leoo, Lionor and Lynxx.”

“But Felis…”

“Doesn’t exist. She’s simply a person some hardcore fans thought existed as a ghost member, but the Cat Nights have always been just the three I mentioned.”

“But the auction…”

“Obviously a hoax”, he replied. “I mean, how can a Cat Nights trading card of her exist when she herself doesn’t exist? If there is one, then there's no doubt it's a fake.”

I was speechless. I could only look back in horror at Tank Top and wonder if the gecko person would accept this revelation.