"You may escape from your problem for now. But sometime later, you will have to face it. The inevitability is clear. You can take as many detours as you like, but the destination will still be the same."

- Luthor Mendez, from Project Loki

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Chapter 24:
Cookie Crumbles

· · ────── ·𖥸· ────── · ·
ZANE

Upon opening my eyes, I was greeted by our amber wood-colored wall, adorned with intricate designs and an analogue clock.

6:00 a.m.

"Buenos días." To my right, my companion sat, eyes fixed on me, as they spooned rice into their mouth.

Thursday came, but Aliza and her father were still nowhere to be found. Their usual presence was noticeably absent. Even with classes cancelled for a day, she remained missing afterward.

I do hope she's all right, as well as her family. I can understand that the incident must have been rather frightening for them. Even I can scarcely believe it happened.

As I stretched my arms, I found myself sitting on my square sofa. "Wait, did I sleep here?"

Over the past few days, Raine and I have been buried under a mountain of assignments. Fortunately, no troublesome cases have come our way.

"What do you think?" she asked. "After you drank tea, you fell asleep right away. I understand, as what happened in the past few days was no small matter — dealing with that case and then the stressful assignments."

"I hope Ali's okay," I said.

"Just be ready for whatever reaction she might have. It happens a lot," she whispered. "Now hurry up, we have class."

"But that's not until nine," I murmured, glancing at the clock. "It's still so early."

"We can hang out in the library," she suggested, standing up with her plate. "That way, we won’t be late for our first class — Fluid Mechanics."

In the past few days, a female substitute teacher has taken over for Professor Tan. I wonder what's happening with them.

࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

After a lengthy, cramped ride on the minibus, we finally stumbled out at the school gates.

We entered the library, which was bigger than I expected. Round lights hung from the glass ceiling above, and the surroundings were bathed in various shades of brown.

The building reached up to the third floor, and almost all the visible walls were made of sturdy glass. There were only a few people there, so we could choose good seats and books.

We dropped our bags on the counter, and the librarian quickly stamped our library cards. Climbing the creaky stairs to the second floor, the musty smell of old books grew stronger.

We sat by the window, the air conditioner blowing directly at me.

"Aren't you going to get a book?" I asked the girl sitting in front of me.

“I’m going to write today,” she said, opening her small blue laptop.

“Suit yourself.” I stood and meandered to the fiction section. As I scanned the shelves, a thriller novel with a gripping cover drew me in.

I was about to open it when Raine's words from last Monday in her sister's car echoed in my mind.

"What did you mean about your reader?"

“The one who said you seem very feminine?” she replied, still typing. I glanced at her screen and saw the name ‘Zane’ typed across the page.

“Am I in that? What is it?” I set my book aside and peered over her shoulder.

"My novel," she answered with a hint of sarcasm.

Both their hands were tied behind their backs. Zane could do nothing but watch his beloved Alyssa-

"Zane? Alyssa?"

"Zane Ramirez and Alyssa Lee. Is there a problem?" She paused her typing and turned to face me.

"So, you're writing about the cases you've solved?" I asked.

“Someone suggested it would be good for me. And if you want to read it to find out—”

“Who told you that?” I interrupted.

“You don’t need to know. Just sit down and—”

“Raine, I’m already involved. If you only knew how scared I was last Monday, covering for your whereabouts,” I said, sitting beside her to show she wasn’t alone.

“Zane, don’t mention those events to anyone here at school. We don’t know what could happen if you do,” she explained, her serious tone softening as she looked into my eyes.

"Don't worry, I promise to keep this a secret at our school," I replied calmly.

"In our school," she corrected.

"Huh?"

"It should be 'in' and not 'at our school,'" she explained. "Sorry."

“Despite how terrifying it is, I won’t even share it to my family—”

"With."

"What did I do wrong there?"

"It should be 'with my family,'" she said, still looking at me without typing anything.

"Ah, okay. Now, since we'll be together for four years, consider me your knight in shining armour," I continued.

"Even if you get a girlfriend?" she asked.

"We don't know when I'll find a girlfriend, but even then," I replied.

A smile curved on her lips as she nodded.

"You're not saying anything. Did I get everything right?" I joked, hoping she would always be happy.

“Hurry up and read; we’ll leave soon,” she said, returning to her typing.

I stood up and returned to my previous spot. As I read, I felt more at ease with her, which was precisely what I needed to gain her trust even further.

࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

8:30 a.m.

After a few minutes, we headed back downstairs to return to our classroom.

As we walked, my eyes spotted a girl climbing the stairs.

“Aliza!” I called out. There she was, my new friend, dressed in her uniform with a brown bow tie and clutching a book. “Are you okay? What—”

She hurried over, pressing her hand over my mouth and glancing around nervously. Only when her companions had disappeared up the stairs did she finally speak.

“Zane, let’s not talk about what happened that night. It’s not just because the police told me not to, but because I don’t want to go back there,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears.

"But we can get through this. We're here for you," I replied.

“Zane, or whoever you really are, I trusted you, but you didn’t tell me the truth,” she said, a tear sliding down her cheek.

“We’re so sorry—”

“You know, I liked both of you — especially you, because you’re different from the guys I’ve met,” Aliza continued. “But you lied to me. You didn’t even tell me your real names. How can I trust anything about you?”

“Ali—”

“And I don’t understand why my sweet Aunt, as my uncles describe her, would be interested in finding you, Lorraine,” Ali said, shifting her furrowed eyes to Raine. “Why did she get involved with whoever is looking for you? You dragged both of us into this, including my uncles and Dad!”

After another tear fell, she turned and walked away. “Aliza!” I wanted to shout, but I knew we had to stay quiet in the library.

It felt like my heart shattered hearing those words from someone I thought would bring me lifelong happiness.

“Let’s go,” I said to Raine, who remained silent.

࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

After class, Raine went home before me. I returned to the library, hoping to find Aliza and talk to her again, but she never appeared, despite my waiting for several minutes.

I waited for a minibus for a while, but when none arrived, I squeezed into a crowded jeepney.

When I reached my aunt's building, I took off my light brown coat, which I hadn't paid much attention to before. I looked in the mirror in the common room and noticed how nice my outfit was.

"A coffee-colored coat over a long-sleeve white shirt and coffee-colored trousers," I said, looking at myself. "Ali was wearing a medium mocha beige bow tie, just like me and Raine. And if I remember correctly, my sister was wearing a bright red one."

Sigh, Zane! You're only doing this because you're tired and unhappy.

After that inspection, I went inside the apartment. As I opened the door, a dart whizzed past my cheek, narrowly missing me, and hit a target board on the wall.

I was about to look for where it came from when another dart gun shot hit the wall, stopping me in my tracks.

I saw Raine standing in the hallway leading to our rooms and the balcony. She held her dart gun and paused only to reload it.

“What happened? Why—”

“Move away from there; you might get caught up in this.” Her cheerful expression vanished, replaced by a cold, piercing stare.

“What if you hit someone else—”

“That’s why you should move. I didn’t tell you to come in while I’m doing this.” She aimed her small dart gun at the wall again, and I headed to the kitchen to stay out of her way.

"What happened? You seem deep in thought," I asked. "Do you have a new case? Are you angry?"

A dart hit the bull's eye, joining the previous three. "Annoyed!" she replied. "I'm annoyed by everything that's happening!"

"I'm annoyed because I can't control myself!" She sent another dart into the wall.

"I'm annoyed because so many people are getting involved, and hiding isn't enough!" Another dart fired from the gun.

With her darts exhausted, I saw my chance to take the gun away before she hurt herself or anyone else coming through the door.

"That's enough. That thing is dangerous; you almost shot me in the head!" I scolded, grabbing the dart gun from her.

"You know, if you want to be an expert in this and your cases, why didn't you study criminology?" I asked. "Now you're just a nuisance to the police, and I'm getting dragged into it," I added jokingly.

"My brilliant sister didn't want me to — said it's too dangerous. That's why she let Detective Ferrer take me along just to confirm things," she replied.

"If that's what you want, why haven't you pursued it?"

"Who said I haven't?"