A few weeks had passed ever since the strange events occurred back at the temple. Things began to go back to normal as everyone started to prepare for the upcoming school year. The town had become much quieter than it already was; parades, events, and other activities were becoming less frequent because of the inevitable end of Summer. Haruto and his best friends had not yet decided which school they wanted to attend. They wanted to find a place where they could be together why able to train peacefully without having to worry about what happened back in the tournament—a simple life was what they wanted. And they wanted it together.
"Man, where are those guys?" He thought.
Haruto stood near the entrance of his house waiting for his friends in his jogging outfit and running shoes. Tidying his long hair as people ran by him. Dawn was all over Cansojong, the sound of chickens and common birds were waking the sun and the citizens of the town.
"It's already 5:45 AM, where could they be?" Haruto thought to himself as he looked at the cars that were starting up and leaving their houses.
"Haruto!" A voice called.
In the distance, Sayozane and Kenriki were approaching him, wearing their jogging gear as well. They greeted each other as usual and started to get ready for the long exercise they were going to have on the sidewalks.
Dewdrops, sunlight, and a cool breeze with leaves dancing on it were all prominent in their area, like an aesthetic art painting; a relaxing sight early in the morning that lightened up everyone's moods.
"I'll never get tired of this view." Kenriki said. "Hopefully we'll get to visit it again when we're finally world famous!" He chuckled.
"Of course we'll visit it. This is our home after all." Haruto replied.
After stretching for a couple of minutes and chatting about what occurred in the past day, they began their jog towards the sun-lit mountain. Coming across multiple people who greeted them good morning; the usual friendly citizens of the barangay with their wide smiles, calm tones, and waves of greetings. They would always put a smile on your face while they were attending their daily chores of cleaning, preparing their shops, and even putting up posters.
After a long journey on the roads, they decided to take a break and discuss important matters.
"Hey Haruto, is your dad coming home anytime soon?" Sayozane asked as she swept the sweat off her forehead. "It's been a few weeks since we last saw him."
"I don't know Sayo, he said it would only take a couple of days but I guess he's really busy right now," Haruto replied as he drank his bottled water and changed the song that was playing on his music device.
"Doesn't he send you any emails or texts? It's kinda weird that he doesn't do that." Kenriki chimed in as they finished cooling down and continued to jog towards the mountain. "He should inform you about stuff like that."
Near the streets in a local food shop, several people were enjoying their cup of sikwate coupled with a few pieces of freshly made puto, the smell of their breakfast caused a little rumble in the trio's stomachs. Unable to resist the temptation and hunger, they decided to stop for a moment and eat. Chatting and goofing off on one of the wooden tables with plastic covers, Haruto and his friends enjoyed their soft snacks as OPM was playing on the radio, giving off a sense of nostalgia and relaxation. Near one of the tables, a group of middle-aged women in tights and pink gym outfits were discussing something that piqued their interest.
"Mars, have you heard the news?" One of the women asked excitedly as she flicked her hand on a shoulder. "Another person went missing last night, they say anyone that has disappeared is actually dead." The woman continued as her colleagues started mumbling and chuckling. "I hear that they were kidnapped because they didn't pay their debts to the druglords. Serves them right for doing drugs, right?" The other fun laughed and shooked their heads in disbelief, one by one they each gave different stories or gossips that came from multiple people and what they claimed to be facts of the situation that the missing people were in.
Haruto and his friends turned their heads in curiosity "Several people are going missing?" They asked themselves as the group of women began talking even louder to the point where the old shopkeeper asked them to quiet down. Soon they decided to ignore it as they thought that reveling in gossip and chikas isn't really the cup of tea for a couple of new high school students. A few minutes later more people arrived to check on the food shop to taste the delicious food. Children, elderly, and adults all joined in on the relaxing moment of sitting down and eating after a long jog; a perfect way to start the morning as one might say. As each group went on with their business in a good vibe, a short broadcast interrupted the songs that were playing on the radio. Everyone turned their head to the radio in curiosity and even excitedly; mostly the pink middle-aged women with their wide smiles, wrinkly foreheads, and chubby cheeks, as they were about to hear the latest news of their beloved hometown.
"Magandang Buhay Mga Kababayan, lovely day we're having right now, students are currently preparing themselves for the upcoming school year starting this June, let's hope that they do get to be enrolled... or else we'll be called uneducated by foreigners' standards, amirite folks?" Everyone at the store chuckled as a pre-recorded hysterical laugh played on the radio after the spokesperson's joke. Several programs and ads began to play from the station until a couple of minutes later when another piece of interesting news came out of the radio's speaker. This time it toned down the mood of the crowd.
"This just in; 35 residents have been confirmed missing over the past few weeks. Cases of mysterious happenings have begun at the end of the fighting tournament that occurred at the Temple of Light last July." Everyone at the store had stopped what they were doing and instead listened carefully to the news that was playing. Only the sound of the radio could be heard in the area. "Locals are advised to be on high alert or volunteer in the search for these missing individuals. Police are also giving out a monetary reward handed by the victims' families for anyone who can find them. For more information, please contact your local barangay officers or dial in on our radio station."
"35 missing people..." the sweet innocent voice of a worried little girl in her tiny Barbie jogging outfit held on to her mother's hands in fear of what she heard. "Mommy, are they going to be okay?" Her mother replied to her in a calm voice while caressing her short hair. "Of course they will be sweetie, let us always pray for them, okay?" Immediately, the little girl's worries were replaced with comfort by her mother's calm words.
Beside the table, Haruto stared at the two with teary eyes. The sight of a baby with her mother made him sigh and feel a little inconvenient. It made him feel the need to raise his puto to dip into the glass of sikwate, only for him to notice lately that the smudgy glass was empty. His appetite for the small rice snack was lost and the feeling of joy was gone in spite of the peals of laughter and good vibes around him. He sighed and looked at the horizon. A sound of a glass cup that slid through wood picked up his ears, as he turned around to see the glass full of sikwate right in front him, a smile appeared on his face as Sayozane and Kenriki comforted him in his rough moment.
They each enjoyed one last bite of their food as they left the store and greeted everyone goodbye. The trio had decided that it was finally time for them to go back home and to get ready for the rest of the day. Passing right next to the cars and other joggers under an arching, they stopped in their tracks as they came across another gossiping group near a light pole that had something even more interesting to say.
"Dude look at this, I'm telling you it's gotta be a mutated bear!" One of the boys in a black jacket and baseball cap handed over a tablet to show his friends a video clip. "This has to be some kind of alien duden"
"Aliens huh," Kenriki said as he looked funnily at Sayozane. "Well Sayozane, looks like you're gonna be the first to get experimented on." Kenriki goofed as he waved his hands in an almost tentacle-like manner to scare her.
"W-what?!" Her hasty reply in tears made both of her friends laugh at her sensitivity. "D-don't say that you dummy!"
"We should get going now, I have a feeling that it's gonna be a long day today." Haruto's voice emitted a sense of seriousness and irritation as if the constant experiences that they had this morning were just nuances to him despite his best friends making sure that he would enjoy the day.
Haruto had arrived home earlier then he expected, surprised to see the time on his watch, he thought he'd come home sometime when the sun finally rose to the top, turns out his eagerness to go home had sped up his initial expectation. Near the sidewalk of the gate, he saw an elderly woman standing with a small box covered in pink cloth on her hands. Haruto ran to greet the old lady and enacted a pamamano.
"Good morning Ms. Goodman. Anything new for today?" The boy asked as he tucked away his earphones and phone.
"Why yes Haruto, I've cooked you up something special for breakfast; it's Tapsilog with a little bit of extra seasoning. I hope you'll like it." Ms. Goodman had opened the cloth a little to let him see the contents of the delicious meal. A whiff of its smell was enough to make Haruto's stomach rumble again, much more then it did a while ago. "Oh ho, you must be really hungry Haruto, here, eat well and take a rest. I'm also running out of groceries, do you mind going to shop for some later?"
"I'll deliver it to your house later this afternoon. Thank you once again."
Haruto had only taken a few steps until he caught a glimpse of a sakura petal flying around in the air. The smell and breeze were coming from behind the house. Slowly, he walked towards the pink garden once more and saw Daisuke with someone else. A little boy wearing a small robe holding a wooden sword. Haruto walked over near the wooden steps to sit on the green grass and look at the two. A student and his sensei, sparring on a pink garden on top of green grass, but the child lost and tripped on the ground, he cried, until his sensei came to comfort him and take him back inside the small dimly lit home. Opening the pink cloth that was prepared and the transparent cover it had, an amazing display of rice, meat, egg, and some seasonings sat calmly on a small black plastic box. Haruto took his chopsticks and gave a prayer of thanks for the meal. But before he could eat, a small drop of water landed on top of the egg, the light from the sun had died down, and more drops of water were falling from the sky; it was raining, but he ran inside before his food got wet. Not wanting to waste any more time, Haruto enjoyed his breakfast under the gray weather.
