There was a knock on the door as the sun peeks into Mr. Davide’s room. Someone in the middle of his twenties entered the room while giving a brief salute.
“Excuse me, Sir. There are volunteers who want to meet with you,” reported Sato, head assistant of the Tantoris future police division.
“Is there something important to report?”
“Yes. They said that there was someone who deliberately messed up with the record of the past. I’d believe this is related to our meeting this morning.”
Mr. Davide pondered for a moment. He put down his pen and stacked the paperwork onto the left side of the desk.
“Let them in.”
At the same time as Mr. Davide takes a deep breath, the four teenagers entered as Sato opened the door. The assistant reassessed their faces once again and lowered his head, inviting them to speak with his superior.
Arisa, who led the group, came closer to the table of the head police. Mr. Davide stares intently, trying to recognize the girl’s facial features.
“Good afternoon, sir. My name is Arisa and we previously came to our meeting this morning due to your calling. Sorry to interrupt your time. But, there is a report I have to share regarding the increasing number of complaints because of unstable record of the past.”
“Let’s hear it. I hope this information will give us any lead, no matter how small it is.”
“Alright. The name who has been manipulated the record of the past in any way is Johann Accialini,” Arisa explained.
“…interesting. I feel like I’ve heard that name before. Go on.”
Arisa explained more about her meeting with Johann, her childhood friend, and what he said regarding the project to travel to the past. Sato was standing next to Mr. Davide, listening carefully to understand the information.
More or less, Rio and the company have listened to what Arisa said beforehand. Therefore, he suggested that they all go to see Mr. Davide at that very second, considering this sensitive information.
“I see, Sir. I agree that Johann is someone we should start looking for.”
Mr. Davide has not responded. He opened a projection display showing the data of the volunteers in Tantoris. As he couldn’t find what he was looking for, the head police opened more extensive information related to the personal data of volunteers outside this city.
“…Johann Accialini not on the list of the volunteers. Are you sure you met this Johann person at that night, not mistaken with someone else?” confirms Mr. Davide once again.
“I am certain that I met him that night, not someone else,” answered Arisa while giving out data from her ring. When Mr. Davide accessed it, it was a photo that the girl secretly took when she met Johann.
“We can temporarily conclude that Johann is illegal visitor on this era. He shouldn’t be here,” said Mr. Davide flatly while examining Johann’s face in the picture.
He had asked Sato to conduct further investigations while sending the data Arisa had given to his assistant. Sato nods respectfully and leaves the room swiftly to do what he must.
“I think that’s all the report you need to submit?”
“Yes, Mr. Davide. Until this second, I never saw him again. My guess is that Johann is most likely related to the volunteer’s record of the past. Because he can tell exactly that my record of the past is unstable before I tell him,” said Arisa.
“Noted. Alright, I appreciate the report you’ve been given, Arisa. This will be valuable for us and definitely give us lead to conduct our investigation.”
Arisa turns to look at her friends. Valerie gives a thumbs up, and Rio nods firmly.
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“I think that concludes my report. So, we will excuse ourselves. Good afternoon, Mr. Davide. Please also give my regards to Mr. Sato.”
The four left the room when Sato walked into Mr. Davide’s room. Not to forget, he also lowered his head to express his gratitude to Arisa and company before actually leaving this place.
“But, Arisa. Are you sure about this?” Rio asked as they had just got out of the police station.
“Eh?”
“Johann is your childhood friend, right? To report him to Mr. Davide, the police officers will be looking for him now. Is that all right?”
“I think… it’s a bit late for you to ask this, Rio,” Arisa replied.
“Oh, that’s right—”
“I think it’s fine.”
Valerie nudged Rio’s arm. However, he ignored it and focused on Arisa’s answer.
“If indeed Johann is planning to do something dangerous and could damage something that all of humanity’s effort to save each other’s future, then this is the right thing to do,” said the girl with an ice cream hair accessory with a smile.
Of course, that smile is just a form of manipulation of Arisa’s facial muscles.
Mr. Davide looked out from his office’s second-floor window, ensuring the four teenagers walked away from here. At that moment, Sato was ready with the information on the projection display of his communication ring.
“Sir, regarding Johann Accialini. I’ve found some facts that you should be aware.”
“Continue.”
Sato takes a breath. “Johann Accialini is the son of Bascio Accialini, one of many renowned scientists. The said scientist died while in the middle of the development of time travel. The news stated that the cause of death was an accident in the laboratory. However, the forensic results said something different. Somehow, the inconsistency is ignored so that the official cause of death only says it was a natural accident.”
“I think you must have a good guess for what actually happened, right?” Mr. Davide sighed as he sat back in his chair. “Do me a favor to find this Johann guy. Search all over the Tantoris Town. Don’t miss anything.”
“Roger, sir!”
Sato left the room to carry out his duties. Mr. Davide turned his chair to face the window while gazing at the sunset.
“A person who can come to the past without following the official program of the scientists. It raises my suspicion that there were several people who possessed time travel technology on their own. Hah, what a hassle,” he cursed.
The evening has come in no time. Arisa seems to be leaning on the railing of the north main bridge to enjoy the view of the evening river. The ice cream stick hangs in her mouth while Arisa plays it around. She slightly takes at the dam, a few couples of kilometers away. Even though it’s pretty far, the barrier can still be seen.
She pulled out the ice cream stick from her mouth and walked home.
“I’ll just eat the remaining ice cream along the way,” she muttered.
Unintentionally, her shoulder bumped into someone.
“Ah—sorry. I don’t see—”
“Oh, no problem,” she said it short.
When Arisa looks at this person, she feels that her clothing choices are a little off. A brown scarf around her neck so that the girl’s beautiful face is half covered, a dress with dark shades combined with very short black pants and stockings covering almost her entire legs.
She also noticed that the said girl was also wearing a communication ring.
“Hmm, what’s wrong?” the girl asked, noticing that Arisa was staring at her appearance.
“Are you a volunteer from the future too?”
“You could say that. Are you usually staring like that towards people you never meet before?”
“I’m Arisa. I’m just blown away by the way you dress, I’m sorry. I guess all the volunteers from the future have adjusted their appearances so they can blend in more easily according to their record of the past. That’s what they teach us in the future, isn’t it?”
“Heh, this is my own choice of fashion, you know. So far, I haven’t got any problems with the past society,” the girl sneered.
“Oh, I see.”
Arisa moved her facial muscles to smile. Then, she gave one of the remaining ice creams to the said girl.
“Why are you suddenly giving me something?”
“I just happened to buy too much ice cream.”
“Is that safe to eat?”
“What do you mean? Ice cream always safe to eat. It’s also super delicious.”
After staring at Arisa’s hand, she smiled behind the scarf and accepted Arisa’s gift.
“Alright. Thank you for the ice cream. Have a nice evening.”
“You’re welcome.”
They go away from each other as Arisa continues to walk home. The scarf-wearer girl ate the ice cream given by the person he just met and got a taste she had never had before. It was so alien and cold, yet the lingering sweetness made her smile slightly.
The girl walks down on the sidewalks and crossroads with poor light without any worry, as if she is getting used to this kind of environment. The quietness didn’t affect her as she continued to enjoy the ice cream until she arrived at the apartment.
She finished her ice cream when she got inside the lobby. She throws it in the trash nearby while waiting for the elevator to come. When the elevator doors opened, she went inside and pressed the button engraved with the number five on the surface.
The elevator opened in just a few minutes, and Johann was there, waiting for the girl.
“Welcome, Adel” said someone with glasses.
“Like what you see?” she smirks.