The Stray Kids of Edogawa Rampo

Vampire In a Haunted House

Vampire In a Haunted House

H I R O Asahina
December 18, 9:15 PM

Alright, aaminin ko. 'Di ko maiwasang kabahan nung si Zen na mismo ang mag-volunteer at nagsabing may kakilala siya na pwedeng tumulong sa amin. I mean, look, Zen is very different from us. Galing siya sa angkan ng mga diyos. His family is known to be one of the wealthiest clan in the Philippines and we clearly understand why he's not aware with all the stuff that we're doing. Pinanganak siyang may gintong kutsara sa labi, hindi niya alam ang mga dinadanas namin araw-araw, kaya ganon nalang din siguro ang gulat ko nang malaman na may koneksyon siya.

Pero 'di pa dyan nagtatapos ang lahat. Dahil nung sinabi niya na kailangan naming mangako na 'wag aarestuhin ang source niya, mas trumiple ang kaba ko. What in the world, Zen Wysteria-Gomez. 'Wag mo sabihing trumopa ka ng takas sa selda?

"We'll leave by 10," he told us, lowering his gaze from a book he got from Twelve's library. Nasa bahay na nga pala kami ngayon.

We adjourned the meeting after that. Sabi ni June, gagawa siya ng plano pagkatapos naming maimbestigahan ang hospital. We went straight to HQ afterwards to discuss important matters with Ash. Since busy si June sa mga ginagawa namin tungkol kay Edogawa, malamang mapapabayaan niya ang agency. It's Ash's duty to take over so they discussed schedules and arrangements. Ngayon, mas makakapag-focus na si Chief sa problema namin at magkakaroon din siya ng time para makahinga. Around 8 pm, we decided to eat, as usual sa 7/11 dahil mahihirap lang naman kami, and go home.

Bumuntong-hininga si Lance, nakaupo lang din siya sa couch katabi ko at mukhang nas-stress din siya sa nangyayari. "Teka nga muna, Zen. Bakit ba kasi sa gabi natin kailangang pumunta? 'Di ba pwede sa umaga?"

Umiling-iling siya habang nagbabasa, he flipped the pages and answered us. "I have two reasons. Firstly, we need the info ASAP and secondly, there's no way we can catch him in the morning."

Twelve, who's currently sitting upside down on the couch, jeered. "Ay weh? Ba't naman ganoon? Aswang ba siya? Call center agent?"

"Neither," he answered. "But he's not normal either, I should say."

"Saan mo ba siya nakilala?" tanong ko. Sinusubukan kong mag-focus kay Zen pero naiirita ako sa posisyon ni Twelve. "Dose, umayos ka nga ng upo, upong normal na tao ba 'yan?

Tinuro niya ang sarili, "Normal na tao ba ako? Socially accepted norm na ba ang pag-inom ng zonrox?" tanong niya saka ngumiti, "No? Then I'm sitting like this."

Kung sino man po ang magulang ni Twelve, naiintindihan ko po ng maigi kung bakit ayaw niyo sakanya.

Zen just sighed and shook his head, 'di niya nalang pinansin si Twelve, "He's like, a childhood friend of mine," he answered. "I know him long enough to trust him."

Nung sinabi niya 'yon, tumama ang tingin niya sa sahig. I don't know about him or his pasts. There are things that we still didn't know about him. What we got our just surface information pero bukod pa don, Zen never really opened up. I can say that he doesn't like it. Nang pumatak ang 9:30 isa-isa na kaming kumilos at naghanda. For security measures, Twelve brought a gun with him. Aangal pa sana si Zen pero nanahimik nalang siya. We then ventured outside and halfway we met June.

"Sasama ka?" tanong ko.

"I'd like to see Zen's friend in person," June answered and stretched his back. "So, how do we get there?"

Sumimangot si Lance, "Kami dapat ang nagtatanong niyan June, nasaan ang secondhand Toyota mo?"

"Bakit, may inaabot ba kayong pang-gas sa'kin?" pinanlakihan niya kami ng mata. Agad namang nanahimik si Lance. Lance manages all of our expenses and he didn't like the idea of paying extra for gas.