Just Wanna Live in The Place
By Lista
Date: July 28, 2024
Ch. 7access card


Matcha stared longingly at the paper in front of her, the paper she had secretly borrowed from Sky yesterday, thinking. Remember, yes, she didn't steal it, but borrowed it. She'll turn it in later. She picked up the paper, looking at it more closely. The Sundanese script was again the very first stanza-one of the reasons Matcha was moved to take it, besides their box being the same.

There was only one line of writing. Matcha picked up the cell phone, adjusting the Sundanese Script vocabulary that she photographed from the Sundanese book in class yesterday. Then, as soon as she could understand the writing, Matcha was transfixed.

Access card holder.

Which card is Grandma Ayu referring to?

However, when she tried to find the next clue on the backyard paper, Matcha found nothing else there, blank, making Matcha rack her brain several times to find another way. When she fetched water from the kitchen, it came out of the small capacity of the glass, flowing downwards.

Matcha grimaced at the realization, putting away her water bottle and picking up the mop on the side of the kitchen. As she was about to put the push mop away again, Matcha glanced at the paper she'd kept on the side of the glass from earlier. Her eyes rounded as she noticed the dotted line there. She threw the mop away, lifting the paper. The side of the paper was waterlogged, and wet.

Then, Matcha added a few more splashes of water, and slowly the straight lines became more spread out and defined.

"Wow."

Matcha chuckled, staring longer at each detail, until... she felt familiar. The housing complex! Here is a map of the housing complex! However, there was something even more ridiculous. The red mark on the paper, indicates the front of her house, Green's house. So, Matcha ran after putting the paper away to her room, in the direction of Green's house, pressing the man's doorbell brutally, several times without pause.

Green came out with a crumpled face after that. "What the hell?"

Unfortunately, Matcha didn't think about what to do. Other than coming to pretend to be a guest.

"Just dropping in, anyway." She looked inside. "So, you went to Cafe Sage, right?"

Fortunately, today they had group work on an art practice assignment there. It's good luck to have an excuse.

"Yeah, not so," Green muttered. "Do you want to wait here?"

"YES!" Matcha cleared her throat when her voice got too excited. She grinned. "Just here."

Green told her to come in, Matcha followed, sitting on the living room sofa. "I'm going to take a shower first."

"Okay."

After Green disappeared from behind the door in the upstairs room, Matcha began to look around. This house didn't have a live-in housekeeper, Bi Darmi often came at seven in the morning, then went home in the afternoon and Wira was still at the prosecutor's office. So, Matcha could look for her access card more freely.

She moved to the side of the courtyard, where there was a glass door that formed the boundary between this small indoor garden and the living room. Matcha thought, perhaps, there would be another box there, hidden in a small crevice of a plant or a bucket in the corner of the yard. However, throughout the yard that Matcha searched, she found nothing. So, she went back into the living room, looking for it there. It should, at most, be in a small closet or... a drawer in the TV cabinet.

Matcha crouched down, opening the drawer. There were only two dead remotes that Green often searched.

"That remote is dead."

Matcha flinched, falling to the mats in shock. She saw Green at the end of the last step, holding the keys to his motorcycle.

"Leaving... now?" asked Matcha.

"No, after fasting."

---

Sky tapped his hand repeatedly on the table. In front of the man was an older man, perhaps Papa's age, whom Matcha had just seen. Sky's seat was quite close to their table. So, Matcha could still see him even though she had her glasses off at that moment.

"So, why should Blue and I be the main characters?" Green's question made Matcha turn her head again.
"I'm handsome, but I can't memorize a lot of dialogs."

"Ah, you can do it." Famila was still firm in her assumption that Green and Blue would be a good fit for the lead roles, of brother and sister. "You're so modest."

"Well, he has a low brain capacity," Matcha squeaked. She looked away as Green turned to her.

"It really has to be a broken home?" Green still looked disapproving. "Why?"

"Because..." Sage moved her body forward. Staring at the three of them. "We're a broken home circle."

The three of them looked at each other, blinking. Matcha grimaced. Yes... it's true, though.

"Uh, Sky! Where to?"

Famila's exclamation just now made Matcha also turn her head. Seeing Sky hurriedly leaving the table and exiting the cafe. Green pushed Matcha off guard, "Follow her there!"

Thus, Matcha stood up under their coercion, albeit while inwardly grumbling. If this body was still the wearer's original Blue, it seemed... it would indeed be like this. But, Matcha felt, this wasn't her. Especially when holding Sky.

"Where are you going?" Sky, who had just gotten on his Beat bike, turned his head. "You... just now-"

"That's my dad." Matcha blinked, new to that. "Allow me to... leave for a while, will you?"

He's dodging, huh?

"It's okay." She scratched her temple. "I think."

Matcha can handle any task. The absence of Sky here wouldn't mean anything, though.

"Want to come?" asked Sky, quietly. The man started the bike, handing Matcha her helmet. Sky often carried two helmets, usually one for Violet. Matcha glanced inside, seeing Green waving his hand to tell Matcha to go, and Sage and Famila nodding.

So, Matcha accepted it after sighing heavily. Sky's escape room, didn't seem like it would be weird, right? Or perhaps, a bookstore?

Fifteen minutes after that, Matcha's prediction was correct. Sky went to the National Library, reading a book, very Sky. She just stayed still, looking out the glass, there was a national monument there. Not long after, raindrops fell, turning heavy. Luckily Matcha was inside.

"Are you bored?" Matcha turned her head at the question, shaking her head. This was what she liked. She shook her head.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes."

Matcha glared. After the rain stopped, they went back downstairs, looking for something to eat, and Matcha said only when the man had finished his meal. "I'm going home."

"Me too."

"Oh."

Matcha nodded, remaining silent as Sky drove off. Arriving home, she glanced at Sky when he said, "Thanks."

A nod was all Matcha gave, then turned around, frowning when she saw the black box on the side of the pot, picking it up. This could be another puzzle pack, right? She would return effortlessly to look for another access card or mission. Matcha opened it, but the next second, the dove limping inside the box with blood on its neck, made Matcha throw the box, backing away, terrified.



Comments
SettingsX
Font
Font size
Font color
Line spacing
Background color