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The woman yawned, not bothering to cover her mouth. There wasn't anyone to see her anyway. Her throat was patched and so she searches for her water bottle which was no where to be found. She went to the back of the truck and continues her search. Another car pulled over and asked her for directions.

In the mean time, Allisa woke up from her sleep. Still affected by the poison from the snake bite, she started hallucinating. She opened the door and stumbled down, clashing onto the soft dirt below her, staining her white dress.She picked herself up and walked mindlessly away from the car.

With the authorities imported about the situation, Corona was told that they would send a unit immediately, and that they would start filing a missing person report with the information she submitted. She wonders if it’s a good idea to head over to the police dispatchment in person to see if she could find anyone she could persuade.

It still hasn’t been long however. Allisa could still be nearby. Logically the most likely place for them to leave would be the patient loading area, but that phone call sure was suspicious. Why would Allisa suddenly call her if she was kidnapped? Why would she be unattended for long enough to make such a call? Wasn’t she completely unconscious, with life in danger just earlier? Everything about this sounds like someone playing a cruel trick on her.

“This is bullshit!” Corona shouts in anger at the expansive parking lot before her. Feeling a bit desperate, she shuffles around the hospital towards the area by the loading area and ambulances. A sudden car alarm going off draws her attention. In the distance, she sees someone who looks like it could be Allisa, wandering around, dazed and bumping into nearby cars.

“Hey! Hey! Allisa? Is that you, Allisa!?” she shouts as she makes her way as quickly as she can towards the figure.

“Allisa! Allisa, are you alright?”

Corona slows down to a jog, and then a full stop before her friend. She looks around, but in her quick glance sees no one else in the area that was particularly suspicious. There were a few passerbys whose attentions are focused on the car alarm blaring.

“Here, I’ll help you walk,” Corona offered as she goes over to support Allisa’s weight.

“Who did this to you?” she asks, not exactly expecting much of an answer due to Allisa’s dazed state.

“As I thought, it really is you!”

A police officer approaches.

“Corona? You’re the one who called in about an Allisa Moon right? What’s going on? I don’t think I’ve seen you since the academy.”

Corona looks towards the voice.

“Hey, this is her. I think she’s drugged or something. Someone tried to kidnap her I think, but I don’t see them anywhere. They posed as hospital workers or had the hospital cooperating with them, I have no idea... wait, Akash Malik?”

“That totally sounds crazy.”

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I think she’s been brainwashed or something. The important thing is, she needs protection. Someone’s after her.”

“Allisa, Allisa, calm down,” whispered Corona.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” she adds in an almost cooing tone while attempting to hug her softly.

“Can you take us to the station?” asks Corona. “My car’s still here, but I wanna come with. I want to make sure she’s going to be okay. It shouldn’t be too far, right?”

Akash turns her head with a contemplative expression for a moment before continuing. She had the kind of look that suggested that she wanted to say something but held it in, pursing her lips slightly.

“Alright let’s go. You’d better have an explanation for this, Corona.”

Akash and her yet unnamed partner guide the two towards their car.

Corona gives a hurt expression as Allisa starts flailing about in the back seat as she sat beside her. Corona looks worriedly at the police officers seated in the front, through the heavy-duty bars and safety glass segregating them.

“So, is this the same Allisa you mentioned before? Back at the academy I mean?” Akash asks as she starts up the car. Her partner remains quiet, staying out of her way.

“Y-Yeah,” replies Corona. “I’ve known her for long enough, but something’s happened to her. She just vanished and I think she hasn’t even gone back to her home in more than two weeks. Then I suddenly find her again, and she’s like a different person. She says she’s lost all her memory past a certain point, but doesn’t seem even the least concerned about it. This creeps me out!”

“I see.”

Corona sits tight as she watches helplessly, a mostly quiet but fearful Allisa. No amount of soothing is effective on the dazed girl. She figures it’s best to not get too close to her friend for the time being, as is pains her to see a gentle stream of tears flowing down her smooth cheeks. Furthermore, the tips of the bangs of her green hair are damp.

“She’ll be alright. We’ll let her rest on a bed in one of the cells okay? Then she can sleep it off... whatever it is that she’s drugged with,” says Akash’s partner, who had identified herself as Nura Reisi Fard. She turns to face the back seats while Akash continued driving the car. She has a soft pleasant voice, and her facial features are softer than Akash’s. She also has her brown hair in low and loosely braided pigtails, of all things. Intimidating she is not.

Akash, on the other hand, has short hair with a mixture of purple and brown color. Her features are a bit more defined, and she has a serious gaze that emits more pressure than that of her partner’s.

When they arrive, two officers escort Corona and Allisa into the building. Allisa was relatively cooperative, but her red cheeks still glistened, and her entire being looked dejected, like a lifeless doll being carried around. They greet and make their way past a Kavita Jai working desk duty at the receptionist’s desk with an explanation of the two they have with them. She promptly lets them through by notifying the armed guard by the gate.

As the group steps into the heart of the police station, the light murmur of all the people working there can be heard. The light bustle of people moving about, the typing of keyboards oat the desks, the ringing of telephones, and answering of the operators, the police station was as alive as can be. They make their way down a floor to the holding cells and interrogation rooms. They go to the cell first so that Corona can be put at ease by seeing Allisa being brought to a cell with a proper bed. Carefully laying Allisa on the bed, she straightens out her white dress, and watches as the gate is closed and locked after she exits.

“I’ll stay behind to watch her, alright~? You two take your time,” Says Nura. “I think you two might need some time to catch up as well,” she adds with an almost playful kind of grin. Then she turns towards the armed guard by the cells.

“Looks like I’m with you for the time being, Arya~,” she says cheerfully.

Akash and Corona make their way out of the cell area, and Arya locks the gate behind them with Nura staying with her on the other side. The holding cells area is a bit more echoey than the rest of the building, and the metallic clanking noises carry far.

Akash leads Corona to a small private room where they can talk. They walk in silence, and Akash has a contemplative expression as she walked, like she’s going through what she’s going to say when they sit down. The walk felt longer than it should have been.

After Akash closes the door, the room suddenly felt eerily quiet, like the rest of the world was instantly shut out. Corona straightened out her skirt behind her before she sat down in her chair, which made an audible creaking sound in the cushions. She couldn’t exactly feel comfortable in her seat. It wouldn’t allow her to.

“Now, Corona...,” Akash says as she crossed her legs. Her head tilted to the side slightly as she looked at Corona with a hard stare. She lightly knocks her knuckle against the surface of the table between them before neatly holding them together. She had placed a small tablet computer on the table.

“Yeah... I’ve called about her being missing before,” Corona starts.

“The day before yesterday right?” Akash asks while looking over the report on the screen.

“Right. Allisa, she’s been gone for over two weeks, then she all of a sudden shows up at a place that has meaning for her and is pretty out of the way. In the forested area near Lunar Lake, away from where most people would go, there’s a tree she calls ‘The Thinking Tree.’ I found her there. She lost her memories, and she’s living with some new family I’ve never heard of before. When I called her number for the past two weeks, it wouldn’t go through, but today it did. It did when I found her there.”

Akash has a concerned look on her face as she listened to Corona continue.

“Afterwards, Allisa, she got injured or sick somehow. I’m not even sure what happened to her, so I took her to the nearest hospital.”

The agitation in Corona’s voice starts to intensify a bit.

“Everything checked out fine, and I was talking to the doctor... but then she told me everything was alright, and told me to go back to see Allisa. Except when I went back, she wasn’t there anymore. I asked around, and no one at the hospital knew what happened to her. They had no records of Allisa or that doctor. Naturally I couldn’t find that doctor anymore either. The room I was in, which I thought was her office... everything completely vanished by the time I returned. It, it was like I was seeing ghosts or something. It was so freaky!”

“What do you mean the office vanished?”

“Like the tables, and the files and everything... when I returned, it was an empty room. No one there seemed even the least concerned. I was unbelievable! That, that’s when I got a call from some unknown number. It sounded like Allisa saying that she’s been kidnapped, but then it cut off. It sounded like her, but you’ve seen how she is right now. I don’t think she can speak so clearly like how she spoke on the phone. I think someone was messing with me. Afterwards, I searched around the parking lot, and found Allisa wandering around like she’s been drugged. That’s when you came.”

“I see,” says Akash stoically. “I think I understand,” she adds in a calm voice. “Take a deep breath. I haven’t seen you since you left the academy. How have you been since then?”

“I’ve been alright,” Corona answers hesitantly.

“What happened back then. Do you wanna talk about it?”

Corona looks at the table avoidantly, and remains quiet for a moment before responding.

“There were some personal issues I had to deal with. Maybe I’ll tell you about it some other time,” she explains flatly.

“Okay then... You see, since I know you since back at the academy, I know you’re no joke. I know I shouldn’t be telling you this, but my gut is telling me I have to. Somehow I feel like you need to be put in the loop regarding this, but I’m not exactly sure why. Something tells me that you can help somehow. I hope this isn’t some sort of mistake okay. Do you think you can handle this? It’s not something that just anyone can know, do you understand?”

Akash leans forward slightly as she awaits Corona’s response. Corona responds in kind, getting a bit closer to hear her out.

“Alright, go ahead.”

“Alright look. I don’t know everything about it that there is to know, but it seems something big is going on. There has been reports recently all over, from every constellation, about mysterious kidnappings and disappearances that are likely to be connected in some way. I’m not on it, but there is a special team assigned to investigate this. I think this is all connected, so it might be a good idea to work with them. They will surely like to know what happened here. I just wanted to get ahold of you first before you came into contact with them... So, what would you like do? You seem pretty capable, so do you want to speak directly with them or work on your own, outside the limitations of the force?”

Corona paused for a long moment to let it all sink in. It was all overwhelming.

“I’m... not sure yet,” she utters weakly.

“That’s understandable. I think you need to clear your head,” Akash says with a noticeably relieved tone of voice. “Now that the hard stuff’s over, I hear that my little sister’s been visiting you...”

“Gusta have you been spying on us with those minions of yours?” Tehila demanded, the moment her skin touches the leather seat. “You know those from this constellation will not welcome you.”

The man known as Gusta shrugged and smirked, “Technically, I am neither a male nor female so the gender issue does not affect me. Besides it’s not like you didn’t know how convincing I am as a woman.” He winked at his disgusted partner before securing his seat belt and then leans over for hers. Before he starts his engine, he whispered into her ears, “Don’t worry, you are not interesting enough for me to even think of stalking you. I just know that you are in trouble. But since when had you not got yourself involved in some form of trouble?”

He returned to his seat and ignored the cringing female before taking off. Well what he claimed was not far from the truth, he had shoulder length greyish hair that was pulled into a short ponytail. His features were more towards feminine side, blessed by his mother. In fact if he did not point it out, one wouldn’t suspect that he is a he and not a she.

Complaining the entire time as he drove to the detection centre, Gusta couldn’t help but rolled his eyes at his whining partner, he had learned from experience that the best way to deal with this annoying partner was to either kiss her or just ignore her. Usually ignoring her would work, but it doesn’t appear to be the case today.

“Enough!” He yelled at her as he steps on the breaks. “Firstly, it’s not my fault that she escaped. She wouldn’t if you have paid more attention to her. You almost jeopardize our plans and I haven’t even got to settling that score with you. So you’d better shut up right now before I knock you unconscious.” It was rare for Gusta to be mad but she knew that she had pressed the wrong buttons. She kept her silence as he continued driving.

When the car pulled over, Gusta instructed her to stay put while he exited the van and went to his trunk where he picked up a doctor’s coat and the necessary forged documents he will need to pass off as an authentic doctor. He applied some light makeup, just a sheer amount of foundation and blusher with the combination of a pinkish lipstick and he’s ready. Admiring himself at the mirror, he puts on a pair of frameless glasses and now he looks like a professional doctor.

Wearing his nametag on his coat that spells his name as “Yamada Aika”, he took his medical kit and walked towards the building. “Good afternoon, I am Yamada Aika. And
I’m here to see detective Akash with regards to Miss Allisa. Would you be kind enough to get her for me?” She asked, blinking into the guard’s eyes, sending direct instructions into her mind. Forcing her to obey his every comment without coming off as overwhelming.