Death Wish: Smiling for The Dead

Chapter IV: Friendship

A month since Riza succeed in his first mission, he glad that there is nobody near him got suicidal though anymore. His happiness is very obvious, it can be seen from his weirdly smiling face. "Humans are boring creatures who love a stagnant life, don't you want to find someone who needs help?" said Michael staring at Riza with a disappointed look. Riza seems to ignore what Michael said and keeps working on his assignment. Michael then says "Do you already forget your own objective? Forget about your love? Hahaha... Human such pitiful being who always forget!".

Listen to what Michael said, make Riza stop typing on his computer, and shout "How am I supposed to forget about her! Astral being like you will never understand our feeling!". Everybody's eyes in the room immediately pointed at Riza, and the situation suddenly turn awkward. Riza can only stay silent and back to work on his assignment, he then grumbles inside his mind "Great! Now everybody will talk about me being crazy again. Thank you Michael!". That sarcasm from Riza, seems doesn't affect Michael, instead, he replies "Don't mind it". Michael's answer annoyed Riza, but he think it was better to let it slide for now.

(that evening, at 19:00)

Riza just finished his work and prepare for home, footsteps coming from behind. Riza immediately looked back, turns out that was Brian who had already finished everything and was about to go home. "Ah... It's you. I got surprised by your footsteps. What is it, bro?" said Riza while tidying up his desk. Brian's face looks so sad "Why aren't you telling me?". "What are you talking about?" said Riza in confusion. Brian suddenly gets angry and yells "You got a problem, don't you?! Why aren't you told me?! We are friends right?".

Riza stunned by that question strike "bro! Calm down! What are you talking about?!". "Ah... I know, you don't trust me, aren't you? Fine! Don't ever talk to me again!" Riza surprised, not only because Brian who suddenly angry, but also because of his rapidly decreasing resilience percentage.

Panicky Riza says "Hey! Hey! Bro! Calm down... Calm down... Are you ok? Do you have something to tell me?". As Riza said, Brian's resilience immediately stop decreasing at 45%. Brian's expression change to regret, he then says "So... Sorry bro....". Riza then approach Brian and say "Bro... Let us have some drink. Let's talk about it". "No thanks... I'll go straight home" right after saying that, Brian immediately left Riza alone in confusion.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" thought Riza. "That is your next target," said Michael suddenly appear out of nowhere. Riza was shocked to hear what Michael just said, he never know that his close friend have suicidal thoughts. Michael then continue "Oh yeah. Let me tell you, some human has a little bit unique trait. For example, your friend Brian, his resilience can change randomly". "How's that possible?! There is no way that happens!" said Riza, he couldn't believe that fact.

Michael then explains humans are volatile beings, some of them are so strong like steel, but some of them are fragile like glass. Even if a human is already considered strong, if something suddenly strikes at the moment when he is weak, everything can turn 180 degrees. Michael then ended his word "You better try to approach your target. Before it's too late".

After that Riza went home worried. Unlike Roger, Brian is his best friend, and of course, Riza doesn't want anything to happen to him. Right after he closed his apartment door, Riza immediately sits on his personal computer to search possibility reasons for Brian's behavior. It's so unusual for Riza, to put on a serious face like this. Michael then say "Looks like this mortal is dearest to you". "So what?! Unlike you, he always tries to help me!" said Riza angry. "Calm down, I am not mocking you or anything. Jezz... Why you earth dweller always easy to get offended?" said Michael lift his both hand.

Ignoring Michael, Riza keeps trying to find out what Brian's problem is, but his attempt is futile. There is no clue Riza can find on the internet, but when he almost gives up Michael suddenly says "Does Brian have something he always talks about? Like worldly problem he always likes to talk about? Or something that you two like to joke about?". Michael's question looks like ring something, Riza then says "Yeah he likes to talk about conspiracy theories. But what does that have to do with Brian's problem? It's not like he was serious about it".