Invisible: Hunting Hyperdimensional Beasts

Chapter 5: Investigation

Kai was never the type to get involved. He was always the quiet guy sitting in the middle of the class. That's also why he didn't have any colleagues he knew to walk out the school together with. But for some reason, he felt really invested in chasing that animal.

Perhaps it was because he wanted revenge. Or perhaps it was curiosity. Or maybe he was just having fun with the change? Even he didn't understand himself very well.

Kai wasn't the most experienced tracker so he went back into the school to check the files for Aimee's address instead of trying to track overly small blood drips. He knew the library kept a record of all the student's data for registering. Kai never understood why they didn't do it all with an online system instead of actually keeping a bunch of files filled by hand, but at least that came handy at that time.

The door to the library was locked, as expected. Kai could test whether he was really stronger or not. He tried pressuring the knob with all his might. It took him a while, but the lock gave in. He literally broke into the room.

“Interesting…"

Kai knew the big record was kept under the dean's desk somewhere, so it didn't take him long to find the address. It wasn't very far from the school. Kai took a picture of the address with his phone and began walking there.

“This is the place…" He observed after reaching there, looking at his cellphone to ensure he got the address right.

It almost seemed like an abandoned house. The undergrowth occupied the whole entry area, the whole ambient was darkened by the trees. The paint in the walls was peeling off and the overall state of the building didn't seem to be the best.

'But is this really it…?' Kai scratched the back of his head as he thought. 'Oh well, I need to ask her parents something. What story do I come up with? Oh well, gotta ring the bell and think later.'

Kai notice there was no doorbell. He clapped and tried shouting 'Aimee' but no response.

'Is this really hers…? This place looks so…'

The next minute Kai was in the yard, trying to swoop at the window.

'What am I doing?'

He couldn't see much as everything was dark inside. He thought of breaking in again.

'Should I do such things just because I now can?' He thought. He tested the knob with a portion of guilt. But the door was open.

“Oh!"

Kai went in. That didn't look like a house at all. There was a bare minimum of furniture and everything was in a decrepit state. The very few utensils were all thrown into the floor.

“Excuse meee?"

There was no response or noise.

'Is this really an abandoned address then? Did Aimee just lie her address to make a register, then? Sh*t, at this rate I won't be able to… Huh? What's this?'

Kai noticed a bunch of newspaper clippings were scattered through the floor. He bent down to check them. It was about stories of disappearance in an address near the school. Apparently, the daughter of a family had vanished and never had been seen again. Although she lived nearby, she didn't frequent Goldenville, so Kai never heard of the story until now.

“Ok… The 'ghosts' are invisible. I thought if only I and Aimee could see it then maybe we were the only ones affected by their actions? But if that's not the case… If they were to cause some harm to humans then it should be registered as a mystery case like that, huh?'

Kai took a picture of the clippings with his phone.

“What is Aimee anyway? Why is she living in a place like that and researching that kind of thing? Well… I guess it's one more thing to ask her the next time I find her."

Even after reaching the address in the newspaper, Kai couldn't find Aimee.

'Funny, if she isn't here looking for the thing… Then where is she?' He thought after spending a good five minutes in the entrance of the said house. 'I guess I should ring the bell and say I'm friends with that Sally girl who disappeared.'

And so he did.

The mother came with a hopeful face, thinking the school colleague might have something useful to say.

“Please tell me you can help the police investigate. We have been waiting for weeks now…"

“Yeah, the police is not putting enough effort, right, ma'am? That's why me and the colleagues are doing our best to collect information to try and help."

“Oh."

“We started a club at school to make sure the investigation proceeds properly. Could you please tell us some things about the day Sally vanished?"

“Sure… Come in."

Unlike the last place he entered, the house was pretty normal there. The entrance led to a cozy warm parlor beautifully decorated.

“Say… Did Sally…" Kai began speaking but as he entered in he noticed something strange. It was nothing his five senses could feel, but inside his body something accused him. It was similar to that day when he felt the presence of the monster figure at the door, but this time he felt it on a large scale. Like he knew there was something ghost-related somewhere in that house.

“…Yes?" The mother asked him.

Kai confirmed the culprit was somewhere nearby just by the feeling he had.

'Those powers I gained for no reason sure are interesting… But since I'm just a school colleague visiting I might as well play along now.' He thought.

“Uh… Did Sally use to play outside or something? Don't you know if she met someone strange on that day?"

“No. That's what is the strangest thing for us. She never left the house without a prior warning. She was a really good girl, you see..."

'Yep. The thing is living inside, then. Just a matter of figuring how to get to it.' Kai realized without saying.

He asked:

“And what about friends? Did they say the same thing? Normally in these cases, there is a 'friend' who invited her somewhere she wasn't supposed to go."

“No… We really didn't impose rules like that around the house. She was very open. We always talked about the things she wanted to do and most of the time we allowed her, that's why she wasn't afraid of asking. I think someone must have kidnapped… My poor girl."

The mother seemed on the verge of crying. Kai wasn't very good at handling those situations.

“I understand you must have answered a lot to the cops already ma'am, I don't want really to bother you with more questions pretending to be the little cop, so if the mistress doesn't mind… Could I just check Sally's room? Maybe I can find out some familiar stuff. You know… There have been some rumors in the school…"

“Sure. If you think that will help…"

After some more chit-chat, Kai was finally liberated to climb the stairs all the way to his “school colleague's" room.

'Well… Now it's the time to actually find that thing...'