MYSTERIUM CLAVA (VOL. 2) - COMPLETED

CHAPTER 7

DAVE

Friendship is one of the greatest thing that you can ever have in your life. Friends that you can trust, friends that you can rely on even in your darkest times. I must admit that I am one of the many people who has a huge trust issues in the society but each and everyday that I go to Holmes Academy and I look at Trisha, Tetsuya, NZIB, Ryn, Toby and Craige, I can say with 100% confidence that I am with the right friends and being with them is the the best decision that ever made in my life.

I was at the top of the roof deck here at the Moriarty Building habang nilalapsan ko ang lakas nang hangin. Minsan ay ang sarap sa pakiramdam na kahit minsan ay nararanansan natin ang kaunting katahimikan at kapayapaan kahit papaano. Iyong walang cases, walang mga codes at riddles galing kay L.

While I was daydreaming, I felt a presence walking towards me, it was Tetsuya. Wait, did I just felt his presence? It is unusual because most of the time, he always feels like a ghost but for the first time I was able to feel his presence. Gumaling na nga ba ako o guni-guni ko lang ito dahil masyado akong nag-iisip ng mga bagay-bagay?

Paglapit ko kay Tetsuya ay sinalubong ko ito ng sampal na sobrang kinagulat niya.

"What was that for Dave?" he complained as he gave me a I-Deserve-An-Explanation look on his face. Well, he really does.

Was I being too paranoid? I think that I was overreacting already but it is not wrong to be cautious dahil sa panahon ngayon ay halos ang hirap na malaman kung alin ang totoo sa hindi dahil sa sobrang galing mag-disguise at magpanggap nang maraming tao. What was wrong with me? Bakit ba ako biglang nakaramdam ng ganito?

"Sorry, Tetsuya. Sinisiguro ko lang na ikaw iyan dahil for the first time ay naramdaman ko ang presence noong papalapit ka. It is just quite unusual." sabi ko kay Tetsuya habang hinihimas niya ang mukha niya.

"Well, there is no point in hiding my presence with you, Dave. But, I like the fact that you are being as cautious as ever because nowadays we are dealing with a lot of enemies such as Legion and Celestial Mafia and we don't know what are their real strength and ability especially when it comes to the art of deception which includes their ability to disguise." Tetsuya said while looking up in the sky.

I looked up in the sky and I love the fact that it seems that things seems to be peaceful and I hope that things are always like this. I hope that the day will come that we will be able to end all of the chaos here in Holmes Academy and finally close the case with L.

I know that I arrived in this school out of hunger for mystery but I never expected that this hunger will lead me to such chaos as this. Make no mistake, I don't have any regrets in joining Mysterium Clava but I am looking forward in the future that the students in this school will be able to study here in peace. No worries, no cases, no bloody murder.

It is just so upsetting because this school is a place for education but because of L's sadistic thirst for blood and games, this school has become a battlefield, a place where evil has disguised as students of Holmes Academy.

"Tetsu, sa tingin mo ba ay makikita pa natin ang sarili natin na naglalakad dito sa loob nang campus na parang isang normal na estudyante? Iyong walang iniisip na kaso, iyong alam natin na totoo na ang kapayapaan sa loob ng Holmes Academy?" I asked him our of nowhere.

Tetsuya chuckled. "So you are also having some random thought, huh. If I am going to be honest, I don't know. I don't really know, Dave."

"Bakit naman?" I asked.

"Alam ko na balang araw ay matatapos rin ang lahat nang ito, Dave. We will be able to close our cases which includes our battle with Legion but to answer your question kung dadating ang araw na makakapag-lakad tayo dito bilang isang normal na estudyante? I don't really know dahil kahit matapos na ang lahat nang ito ay pagkatapos nang lahat ng laban na hinarap natin, lahat nang pagsubok na nalampasan natin ay magiging fresh ang lahat ng iyon sa utak at puso natin. This campus has been our battlefield and at the same time, this school has witnessed us grow not just as a student, not just as a detective but it witnessed us grow as a person."mahabang litanya ni Tetsuya.

We just smiled at each other as we kept on talking about random stuffs for the next hour. It just feels so good to have a friend like Tetsuya, in fact, he is the best friend the everybody could ask for.

While we were talking, both our mobile phone vibrated from our pocket. Since it vibrated at the same time, I can presume that this message came from any of the officers of the club.

Tetsuya and I looked at each other after receiving the text message.

"It's from Craige?" I asked Tetsuya as he checked on his phone.

"Yep, this is from Craige because I can see a lot of dots and dashes." Tetsuya chuckled.

I opened the text message coming from Craige.

FROM: CRAIGE DALMACIO

-. . .-- / -.-. .- ... .

"Tetsuya, minsan ay kailangan siguro nating turuan magsulat gamit ang English Alphabet si Craige, eh." I told him as I chuckled.

"Masyado niyang pinaninindigan ang pagiging Master of Ciphers niya, eh." Tetsuya said as we walked on our way to the headquarters.

Every member of the Mysterium Clava has their own set of qualities and I can't say that it is normal because none of us nor anything that we do as a college students are normal to begin with but sometimes when you are with the flock of your own kind then you don't have a choice but to live your life with them no matter what struggle you are dealing with.

When we arrived at the headquarters,  we saw NZIB who was busy working on something on her laptop and Ryn who was on the couch with a man who I presume was standing at 5'4 in height, he has a skinny body and a nerdy eyeglasses.

I noticed that his hands and legs were shaking and I presume based on those facts that there is a huge probability that he is being frightened by someone or it is safe to say that most likely that he is being blackmailed by someone who has something against him. 

Bakit ko pa ba kailangan i-deduce at hindi ko na lang itanong?

I looked at Ryn and she nodded at me which was a sign that she understood that we need some information about the request or case of this young man.

It is safe to say that he is kinda useless to be asked as of the moment because of his condition so I will be needing to rely on the information that Ryn can provide.

"He is Tristan Salmon, a freshmen and he is taking AB Communication. Nandito siya ngayon dahil ilang araw na siya nakaka-receive ng mga blackmail letters as kanyang locker. He actually tried to ignore those messages dahil baka isa lang itong prank but eventually, the culprit sent some proof that they had some confidential information that they can leak to our student portal once Tristan failed to do their demands or what they call as request." Ryn explained the case to us.

Ryn handed us the actual copy that our client received this past couple of days in order to have it served as our evidence to track the culprit.

"Tetsuya and Dave. It seems that you are our best option for this case. What do you say?" Ryn asked.

I looked at Tetsuya who was looking at the evidence and documents about this request and I noticed that he was smiling. No doubt, my partner here is interested in this case so there are no reason for us to decline the request.

"Tristan Salmon, in behalf of Mysterium Clava we would like to accept this case and consider this close because we will hand you the culprit behind this blackmails along with everything that he got against you." I smiled at our client.

We don't get this kind of cases but I can definitely say that we are so fired up for this case!

Whoever this manipulative blackmailer is, we are coming for you!