The Search

The workshop ended at lunchtime, and we distributed free meals to everyone. In the middle of eating lunch, Sai gave me a meaningful look and pointed at her dad. It's gonna start now, the thing that I've been itching to do.

"Uh, Dad. We'll just roam around the town; is it okay?" Sai asked Howard Brent.

"You two are going on a date?" Howard raised his eyebrows and looked at me.

"Dad! It's not like that, okay?" Sai rolled her eyes.

He laughed. "Alright, just go back to the hotel before nighttime. It's not safe at night since you two are not even familiar with this place. Look after my daughter, okay?"

"Yes, Sir. Thank you for allowing us," I said, slightly bowing my head.

"Both of you did a good job assisting participants. I should be the one thanking you two." He tapped my shoulder.

Sai and I excused ourselves from the staff and walked through the exit. At last, it's the start of searching in a different area! Unlike other places here on Techne Island, there are no taxis available in the East. This is actually a rural area. But there are bicycles and pedicabs nearby. We preferred to walk since we don't even know what our destination is.

"What if we get lost?" Sai asked.

"We won't. We have a map on our phone, I said. We walked straight away from the venue.

"This is a dumb question, but... What if we ask Dad if he knows where she used to live?" She asked again.

"I'm afraid he'll find us suspicious. Let's just follow this straight path first."

Minutes later, we are now walking through an unfamiliar neighborhood. People's eyes were fixated on us. Some children were playing on the street, while a few folks from their houses were watching us the whole time. I felt... tensed.

But we needed to continue and eventually ignore them.

The streets and houses were smaller than the ones in the North. Almost every house that we passed by had a person looking at us. But it was understandable; maybe they're not used to having visitors.

"There's a bridge nearby, and it connects this place to another neighborhood." Sai was looking at the map on her phone.

"Alright. I think Iseul's home is not here. How can we even search when people are literally watching our move?"

Sai snorted. "You noticed too?"

"Anyway, let's try to go there," I said.

We walked past the bridge, and we're now in another neighborhood. Similar to the one earlier, people are watching us again. It's so hard to search for something while being watched, for Pete's sake!

I scratched the back of my head when we realized we just walked through the neighborhood and didn't even search for Iseul's home.

"Dude, what are we even doing?" Sai said. We're at the end of this second neighborhood. Great. We just walked straight, and nothing happened.

"I guess we have no choice," I shrugged. "That's the third neighborhood; let's go there and search for real."

"Their neighborhoods are divided but are not really so far from each other," Sai said.

It made it convenient for us to go from one place to another because the next neighborhood is not so far from the other. That's how it went after a few minutes of walking. We're headed literally nowhere.

"Should we ask?" Sai said.

I shook my head. "It's our last option, and it is a very risky move. I don't even know how a citizen would react if we asked such a question." We sat on a wooden bench after an hour. I was catching my breath while looking at the map.

We're under the shade of pine trees. If we followed this road, it would lead us to a river nearby. I glanced at the neighborhood that we just went to. It has tombstone walls just like the others, and the road is not cemented.

We decided to start moving again. We just followed the dirt road and saw a nearby river. It looked like a dead end from afar.

"Stairs."

There's a stair that can lead us to a higher area. We couldn't see the next locale because of the high land. After crossing the river, we approached the bamboo stairs, which had a lot of steps.

"Is it safe to use?" Sai asked.

"I'll go first and try," I said, and I started stepping on the bamboo.

I was able to reach midway, so I glanced back at Sai. "Hey, it's safe! Follow me!

"Okay, wait!" she shouted.

I took a step again and looked back at her. She did not even move from her place.

"Hey!" I sighed and went down again. "Go. I'll be right behind you," I said to her. She's afraid of heights, which makes her watch every step that she takes. I almost forgot.

"Yohan, if I fall from this shit, I'm going to kill you!" It was so hard for her to take the next step. She's even holding the handrail tightly.

"You're not going to fall," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Wait, this step is slippery!" she started panicking.

I held her arm for support. "Just continue; you're not going to fall, I said for the nth time.

It took us a while to get to the top. She sighed in relief after the last step. I let go of her arm and looked around. It's another community, just as we thought. There's a cemented road that will lead us through, so we followed it.

The houses here are bigger, and there are almost no people watching us from their houses. You can really tell the difference at a glance. We were able to look around comfortably.

"Please! Stop ruining my painting!"

My feet stopped when I heard someone cry.

"Let go of that! Stop!"

Hey, where are you going?" Sai asked when I walked fast. I immediately searched to see where the voice was coming from. It gets louder as I reach an alley.

"Don't step on my painting!"

I gasped when I saw the kid crying. She's crawling on the floor, trying to reach a painting canvas that some boys were stepping on. Her arms and knees were bleeding. But the boys were laughing at her and continued stomping their feet on the piece.

"Anatole!"