La Guardiana

CHAPTER 4

KATANA

I woke up with a twinge and headache. Well, last night was really a mind blowing eventide. I can't believe that we ended the night being battered by so much revelations and clues. Those riddles really helps a lot and Zodiac contributed a great succoured.

I glanced at my friends who were busy with their own businesses. And by looking at them, I know that they were also thinking of what just happened. So Manila, huh? Now, it's settled and we can go there without any hesitation. Buena suerte para nosotros.

I took a deep breath. "I am just wondering why the book of Dan Brown, Inferno received hate and criticisms? From whom? I mean, it was indicated on the last message mailed by the untraceable sender," I explained.

Zodiac looked at me. She knew the books well and I think she red the whole series. "Inferno received hate and criticisms from the Filipinos," she simply said. I am still confused why it receive hatred from them?

"It received backlash from Filipinos maybe because he entitled Manila as the gates of hell. Am I right?" Mayaka said.

Zodiac nodded. "Well, yes. Brown described Manila as the gates of hell after one of his characters in the book named Sienna Brooks, an English doctor recalled how she was raped there after being self-imposed in a humanitarian mission. And also, he delineated it like that 'cause it depicts suffocating pollution, poverty and a kind of shantytown which means a squatter area that lacks adequate infrastracture."

She took a deep breath and looked away. "Well, everyone has the mindset to defend their own country against criticism. But to tell you frankly, the book itself is just a work of fiction. Everyone must know that everything that is written were possibly made up, imagined and just fictitious," as Zodiac continued. She has a point. It's just that someone written it for fictional and non-factual prose texts but readers will react on it for sure if the said story hitted something that is quite offensive.

Well, we can't blame the both parties. Dan Brown as a novelist and Filipinos who were just defending their country.

I heaved a sigh. "But the riddle really helped us. Like now, it gave us a clue to where the legatees might be. We just need to learn everything in that place —Manila. So, what now?" I asked. But then, silence filled the room. Again, as expected.

"I just thought of something." We all looked at Mayaka as she broke the tranquility of the chamber. "What about the messages we received? I mean, is someone helping us or perhaps you know.. misleading us?" She said as she kept on whirling the pen between her fingers.

I heard someone cleared her throat. "Do you think that someone would nipped his or her mind just to construct the riddles they have been sent us? Just imagine Hanabi sending the five things to us just because she's bored. Imagine Arzana making riddles just for her to create a hoax just to fool us. I mean, was the sender crazy? Well, he even include Dan Brown's book which it made more real that the sender was helping us," Zodiac concluded.

"Well, Zodiac is right. But the question is... is the sender of the box and the sender of the riddles were just the same person or two different people?" Hanabi asked us. We just sighed in frustration. And why the fuck they even asked that if we're not yet done talking about Dan Brown? I wanted to know more about him! Now, I hate my friends for being this smart. Damn.

"Maybe yes, pero no. I think they're two or more people with a same purpose and motive. It's just circulating to one of these reasons — either to help or to deceive," Arzana butted in. I just looked away 'cause everyone of them have a point.