Chapter 145 - You Can See Her, But Can't Touch Her

Since I was too bored to even move around after watching the movie and all I decided to just head home and rest. 

It was already past 3 pm when I reached home. I could have gotten here faster if I didn't have to avoid the crowd. For reasons unknown the road that led directly to my house was all of a sudden filled with people. Again, is there a national holiday that I don't know about? 

… 

It was soon going to be 8, I got dressed up again.

With a made-up excuse, I left the house. Waiting for Lily to arrive and not the other way around. 

"Lily, aren't you early?" I asked her. 

"Really? I said 8 so I thought it would be better to arrive a little early since I am the one who called you." She said, 

"Anyway, where are you taking me?" I asked her. 

"Get in the car first." She said as she tilted her head a little. 

I looked around and noticed a black car, whose headlights were instantly turned on. I couldn't take a look at the car easily. 

"Okay," I replied. 

…

While we were in the car waiting to reach the destination Lily explained to me the bits of knowledge she could gather in a short amount of time. And it turned out that Alex is also involved in this operation.

After a short while, the car came to a stop but it was around a normal neighborhood like mine. I assumed the girl would be somewhat of a rich person but isn't she just like me? 

And my observation turned out to be true, this wasn't her place but instead, it was Alex's place. 

"Why are we taking him?" I asked lily. 

"Apparently Alex used to know her and using the thing called- coincidence Alex will meet with her to try to ask her about the video," Lily said with a confident look. 

"Wait a minute. How are you sure she will just tell him that? You said Alex 'used' to know her so wouldn't she be alarmed when he all of a sudden did that?" I raised an obvious question, even the driver took a peek at the back seat. 

"Tha won't be necessary, Allen. I won't be directly asking that" the gate of the passenger's seat opened up and Alex sat. 

"Hello, Alex. And what do you mean?" 

"As you mentioned earlier I haven't seen her in a while but we sure used to know each other. Since she has been a shut-in for quite some time it might be easy to break her shell," Alex said with confidence. 

"See, it's easy," Lily said in agreement. 

"Wait, am I missing something? Alex is here and Lily seems to have told him everything already. Where was I when this happened?" I raised another obvious question.

"I wasn't trying to at first but he persuaded me and also he wanted to help willingly so I didn't want to let go of an opportunity that might increase our chances of success." Lily's straightforward answer made me agitate for a minute. 

I don't want to involve more people in it. The larger the information spread the easier it gets for the enemy to find loopholes. 

"I know Allen you aren't good with me tagging along but let me help you at least once." He said with a saddened voice. 

Even before he also seemed a bit disappointed for not being able to help me. I guess he is a person who gives in to peer pressure and now that the opportunity came forward where he won't need to worry about it he took it. With no one to judge him, he can freely agree to help me, is that what he is thinking? 

"Alright…" And now that it was already agreed on I can't do much about it. 

…

Silently the driver rode us to a series of apartments. As I looked outside, I noticed one thing and that was, the other buildings were larger than I imagined and started to come into the light. 

At first I was amazed by the size of it. And what's more, I have seen advertisements about it on televisions and in newspapers as well. It has been about 10 years since this place came to being and somehow the prices on the property skyrocketed. 

Even though I am far from this thing, I still heard rumors about its facilities and how great it was. 

Now this is what I hoped from a friend of Lily. Although these apartments didn't hold a candle in front of Lily's Mansion it was still impressive. 

We stopped right in front of the exit gate of these apartments. Since it was already dark, we hid under the shadows of the trees. 

"Isn't it time for you to go, Alex?" I asked. 

"No… we are just trying to follow her and pinpoint the place she goes to and then encounter her there. If I were to pop up there now even an idiot will find it suspicious," Alex said. 

"Allen don't worry we will do what needs to be done," Lily said, still her eyes were located on the entrance. 

As I was going through everyone's expresion I noticed the driver was chuckling but had been suppressing his voice with his mouth and with the dark nothing seemed to be clear. 

"What's so funny?" I whispered to him. 

"Fufufu… nothing, it's just watching you kids is kind of… funny." He said but soon got hold of his laugh. 

…

After waiting for hours, 

"I think that's her," Lily said in a low voice. 

"Wait but I don't even know her name yet." I interjected. 

"What?" Alex was the most surprised. 

"Just tell me. Later on we can spend as much time as we want to make fun of me," I said. 

"It's Ariana," Lily said.

"Don't you know where she is going at this hour?" I asked. 

"Apparently she is going to a shady place,"Lily answered. 

"Shady place? What do you mean?" 

"She got influenced by some bad people while she tried to cope up with her feelings after her father's death," Lily said. 

"She got involved with drugs, smoking and other sorts of things,"Alex said. 

"... Ehh… at this age? Really?" 

I heard stories about some teenagers getting on the wrong path but it's my first time seeing it live. 

"Allen mind if I ask something off topic?" Alex touched the hem of shirt. 

I wore a full shirt since it was getting a little chilly outside. 

"Hmm? What is it?" 

"I don't know who uploaded the video but why wasn't it leaked earlier?"Alex asked. 

"What do you mean by earlier?" 

"I… assumed that the video was old footage and not new one," He said. 

"Why do you think so?" 

"'Why you say…?' At first, I thought it was a recent event but then after some spectaculations, Noah pointed out a few things that made all of us realize it was somewhat an old video." 

Noah, huh? 

"What did he point out?" I asked. 

"The room where it was recorded was not too long ago changed into a storage room and from the looks of the room it didn't feel like a storage room at all," Alex said. 

Well now that he pointed it out, even I felt the room was changed when I was giving my testimony to those officers. Hmm… Noah's speculations and observation skills are quite something. Even I ignored those slight details. 

"Well yeah it was some time ago, to be honest," I admitted. 

…

The Driver started the car when our target, Ariana, was at the corner and had taken a turn. Since we didn't want to get noticed, the driver didn't turn on the flash. The Street Lights were enough to see the front. 

Gradually we came to a dead end. An ally that was too narrow for even a two-wheeler to pass made it difficult for us to continue stalking our target. 

"Let's get out!" Lily said as she seemed desperate. 

"But Miss, it isn't safe for you to go alone!" The driver's proposition was legit. 

It's definitely safe since we already know Ariana is involved with some bad people. Even I feel a bit hesitant to follow her. The place people smoke and use drugs isn't a child playground. 

"B-But we need to save her at least! This is the last option to free her from all this…!" Lily cried. 

And now I know the reason why Lily seemed to show interest in this. Her main motive was to get to her friend and be free from the suffering. I won't be saying anything at the moment but Lily you need to make amends after, for deceiving me twice. 

"Lily, it's the truth. We can't go alone. It's not up to us to involve with those people," Alex said with a worried expression. 

"Argh! A-Allen you will come right…!? You need to find out how-"

I chopped her head. 

"Ow! What was that for?!" she exclaimed. 

"Can't you hear yourself?" I said. 

"Wh-What————!" 

"Just think of a better plan before coming here. At least we know where she is going, now we just need to make a plan to corner her," I said. 

"..." she nodded. Embarrassed and self pity. 

Alright, now we have a ground to take on Council. 

TO BE CONTINUED…