Hello there. Aria here…
A lot happened yesterday. Honestly, I'm not even sure where to begin. So many things spiralled at once that it's hard to pick which thread to untangle first.
Maybe I should start with my relationship with Irana.
Well, on the surface, nothing's really changed. We still talk. We still smile. But there's something—some crack—beneath it all. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I know it's there. It's like standing in a room that looks familiar, but feels just slightly… off. Unbalanced.
To be fair, I always knew this day might come. No relationship is perfect forever, even ours. We've always been close—unbelievably close. Maybe too close. It was probably just a matter of time before something shifted. A little friction here and there is normal, right?
Still, this feels different. This is the first time I've felt a distance forming between us.
Maybe that's why it hurts more than I expected.
I wonder… is it because we're twins? Did it take this long for the first real crack to show? People always assume twins are inseparable, in perfect sync. And maybe we were—for a while. But even perfect rhythms fall out of beat sometimes.
Then again, maybe I'm just overthinking it.
Truthfully, I don't really know. I never had siblings in my previous life, so this is all new to me. All I have are guesses—assumptions stitched together by instinct and a little borrowed logic.
Guess I'll talk about something else for now. It's not like my relationship with Irana has completely fallen apart.
The next thing on my mind is the incident of missing persons. Fourteen official cases have been reported—fifteen if we include Syena. And honestly, for all we know, there could be even more. People disappearing without a trace… It's unsettling. There's something deeply wrong about the whole thing.
And yet, here I am—back at the secret basecamp again.
Why?
Well, to be fair, have you seen this place? It's practically a sci-fi dream. All this high-tech equipment, the sleek designs, the polished floors that reflect the lights like some underground research facility straight out of a movie. And it's not just the tech either—there's luxury entertainment here too. A private lounge, gaming stations, even a minibar with non-alcoholic drinks served in wine glasses for dramatic effect.
It's wild to think that all of this was built and managed by a group of underage kids. Like, what even is this place?
As I reclined comfortably with an apple juice in hand—served in an actual wine glass, mind you—I turned toward Iris, who was lounging nearby.
"Hey… Iris," I said, swirling the juice a little, "where did the money to afford all of this even come from?"
She glanced at me and smiled, that usual cryptic-but-pleased-with-herself expression on her face. "It's from a trustworthy source. Don't worry."
That only made me more suspicious.
I raised a brow, leaning a little closer. "It's not… illegal, is it?"
Iris didn't miss a beat. "Of course not," she said sweetly. Then, with a playful shrug, she added, "Well… unless you think crypto manipulation is illegal. Then sure, maybe a little."
I nearly choked on my juice.
It was hard to tell if she was joking or dead serious. With Iris, the line between reality and mischief was always blurred.
And yet somehow… I didn't feel like pressing further.
"Anyway," I said, setting the wine glass down with a soft clink, "about the thing I asked earlier…"
Iris, still as calm and unbothered as ever, pulled out her smartphone. She tapped a few times, her expression sharpening just slightly—focused now, but not alarmed.
"All in here," she said, turning the screen toward me.
I leaned over to get a better look. Her phone displayed a compiled list—dates, names, locations… it looked like a private database or maybe something scraped from internal sources. Definitely not something a normal citizen should have access to.
"Looks like the numbers have gone up," Iris said, scrolling slowly. "Sixteen people now. Syena has officially been added to the record."
I frowned. I had been holding onto a faint hope that Syena might have just been laying low, maybe disappeared on purpose for some reason we didn't know about. But this made it real. She was missing. Officially.
"And another girl," Iris added, tapping on a new entry. "Name's Ariana."
My head tilted slightly. "Huh? Ariana went missing too?"
"Hmmm," I murmured, leaning forward with my elbows on the table. "Do we have a clue about the culprit?"
Iris didn't answer right away. Instead, she gave a sly smile, her fingers lazily scrolling through her phone. Then, with a casual tone, she said, "Well, sure…"
My eyes widened. "Wait—really?!"
A flicker of excitement shot through me. I sat up straighter, my heart skipping a beat.
But then Iris tilted her head and added with that infuriatingly calm voice, "That'd be impossible. We've only just started investigating."
I froze.
Why the heck would you word it like that, then?
I just stared at her as she looked back with the most unapologetic face in the world.
This isn't as easy as those detective comics. I thought digging around would give me something—anything—to work with. A lead, a pattern, a clue. But the more I look, the more it just feels like I'm running in circles.
Maybe I shouldn't dig any deeper…
This kind of thing isn't really my job anyway. I mean, what am I even doing here? Reading half-baked forum threads and sketchy rumours isn't going to magically solve anything.
Maybe it's better to just leave it alone.
Let the people who are actually good at this handle it.
I sigh, leaning back a little, letting my thoughts trail off. The missing people, the weird fire, that white flame… It's all too strange. And if I keep pushing, I might get dragged into something I'm not ready for.
"Could the culprit be… someone like us?" I muttered, barely above a whisper. "I mean, considering the white fire and everything…"
Iris didn't respond right away. Her eyes stayed fixed on the screen in front of her, the glow of her smartphone casting a faint light on her face. I could tell she was already ten steps ahead, probably sorting through files and data in that brain of hers.
"It could be," she finally said, her tone thoughtful but calm. "The nature of the fire is... unusual. Too controlled. Too clean. And white flames aren't exactly something that appear naturally, especially not in a populated area."
She tapped a few things on her screen, then added, "I'll run a search—see if there are any individuals with known abilities that could match this kind of output. Fire manipulators, heat distortion specialists, even chemical engineers with special clearances. Anyone who fits the profile."
I watched her in silence, feeling that strange mixture of dread and curiosity bubble up again. Part of me wanted to back out—to leave this mystery to someone else. But another part… the stubborn part… wouldn't let it go.
Something about all of this just didn't sit right.
And if there was someone out there with powers like ours, using them to hurt people?
Then maybe we didn't have the luxury of looking the other way.