147 Alessa 3

Two people called out his name, and both stared at each other promptly after. However, their staring contest only lasted for two seconds and their attention went back to him.

Chris chose to turn around and faced Simonne, ignoring the other. He nodded at the man in acknowledgment. After all, even though the officer did not help him much, Simonne did try his best to put good words to the ear of his superior. However, it seemed his position in this branch was not as good as at Alina City. He didn't have to be a genius to guess that it had something to do with the length of service there.

Wendy's brother managed to come to his side in just a few strides due to his height and long legs. The man was actually taller than him, a fact which he found a bit annoying. Simonne's face was also colder than his.

"When will you be going back to Alina City?" the man asked directly to the point. There was no need for an exchange of greetings between them since they already had it inside the confession before he left. Chris reckoned this police officer just forgot something to tell him.

Since the person was more likable than his sister, and he felt no uneasiness towards him, he thought there would be no problem to reply. He shook his head and said, "Sorry, I won't be going back there anytime soon. I already transferred to another school here."

Simonne's face did not change even though a hint of annoyance was on his voice when he nodded. "Alright. That's all. I just asked because my sister wants someone to help her with something."

Chris didn't speak. He was not interested to know what it was and why the other was here instead of Alina branch.

"... I thought you can help investigate somebody from there, surnamed Luizon. It is Wendy's request."

When Chris was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly heard Simonne saying this in a way as if he was telling it to himself. However, due to that familiar surname, Chris ended up narrowing his eyes to man. Remembering that Wendy was that Clea's friend, he immediately realized that it made sense that she would want to know what happened and mobilize people who might help uncover the case. After all, this was one of that girl's few merits. Aside from being someone who had a strong sense of justice, she treasures her friends a lot. Since this Clea was closer to Wendy than Felicity, that girl must be quite heartbroken by now and wanted to deliver justice for Clea.

Still, he couldn't help but comment with narrowed eyes. "Why do you think I can help? I'm just a nobody. You can do it better than me because you all have the resources from your branch. Also, she's there."

Simonne shook his head and said, "Wrong, she's now an exchange student at Country J. Nevermind. I'm now stationed here and won't be back there for a year or two. I thought you're just taking a vacation and will eventually come back once the break is over. Since you can crack a cold case, I supposed that you can maybe help. But yeah, nevermind. Have a safe trip home. Thanks for your participation in today's investigation."

Though pissed off at being reminded of why he ended up in this place, he nodded at the man. This time he really turned around and trotted speedily towards the only entrance and exit of the place. He already did a mistake once. Learning his lesson, he sped up his pace and walked without letting the voice calling out to him to hinder him.

This time, he really didn't want to deal with this lady who he didn't know how had gotten to this place. When he first saw her, he brushed it off as coincidence and tried to encourage himself that she had other business in the place. That it was not necessarily him. Unfortunately, the opposite of what he was hoping happened- which he later learned when she called out his name at the same time that Simonne Gomez did.

The woman looked like she would not stop until she speaks with him. Now that his short talk with the other man was over, what should come next? How would he deal with this trouble?

'What a stupid question. Of course, ignore the trouble and walk away,' he thought, even though the person somehow managed to catch up with him through half-running, half-walking.

"Mr. Meyer, wait," she said while catching her breath, "...I have no other intention today. I just want to say, thank you."

He froze for a brief second, quite caught off-guard that she did not stalk him to annoy him with that confusing and no-brainer request of hers. However, his bewilderment only lasted briefly, his steps resuming after until he successfully passed by the entrance and reached the bus stop.

It was to his great relief that no more ghosts or madwomen chased after him or stopped him from getting home.

Finally, the traumatic series of events ended.

...

This occurred when his still coughing father turned on the TV to watch the evening news. The time on the lower left corner stated that it was 6:13 pm, quite negligible when compared to the large space occupied by the face of the reporter and the footage of the explosion.

53 dead. 154 wounded and injured. 13 missing.

The explosion incident was bigger than expected, and he only came to know about it when it got reported as flash news. Chris could only dumbfoundedly look at the figures showed on the screen, his mind finally realizing how big the disturbance was.

Hearing vague details from the police was a different matter. When he watched how great of devastation that bombing incident had brought to that mall was, he realized that he underestimated the gravity of the situation. Or maybe, he just forgot how huge the matter was due to being caught in a troublesome affair.

Now, he knew that people died. Many people even. Not to mention those injured and missing who were still probably trapped in the underground parking lot.

The young man took a deep breath when he regained his senses. He felt self-remorse for not doing enough to avoid this tragedy.

But at the same, he felt helpless because he didn't know what else he could have done in that situation.

He really hated this feeling. This happened first on Felicity's suicide. Even now, he couldn't forgive himself that he had not done anything to help or stop her in doing that. The second instance was when he learned that there were immoral hosts running rampant on earth yet as a powerless, weak normal human, there was nothing he could do to stop them. This morning, what he was attempting to do was influence the most reasonable of this bunch to go against her kind and be more considerate of the people around her. But deep down, he knew it would hardly change a thing in this chaotic world.

Now, this was the third time. It was another major event which kept on making him wonder... If he had only informed the police much earlier, would they be able to stop that bomber on time? Would this tragedy not take place then?

Chris didn't know how he managed to go back to his new room. But when he did, he just found himself throwing his fists on the wall. For some reason, he found it so likable to punch today, especially now when memories of Felicity and the explosions were haunting him like crazy.

After five minutes, his system could no longer keep silent about his current mental state, therefore it voiced out.

'...' Chris did not reply, even though it was the very first time that it said something not suggesting immorality. However, he did stop his fists since he noticed that they were already bleeding. Worried that his parents would discover the wounds tomorrow, he reluctantly asked the system to heal them. The system gladly deducted the points and did the job, all the while adding to its previous statements.

Shaking his head, Chris went back to ignoring it, just mentally noting to himself that he gained more people to include in his daily evening prayers.

....

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