Chapter 7 - Operation: Finding Aliza

MANDY

SHE HAD BEEN wondering how the hell Goku entered into their world, but she sure was okay with it. The only thing that was bugging her was Aliza. Where was she?

A bag in her hand, she sauntered off toward their home—and it was almost midnight—frustrated at how his twin brother was being so quiet after the incident with Colleen's parents. Goku was by his side, wandering around our lawn, now looking at the tendrils slithering through their backyard tree, fascinated by the color—she guessed, since anime was different.

Only the sound of their movement against the grass and the mellow crunching of dried grass were pretty much the only thing she heard.

She navigated the area outside their lawn, through the picket fence lit with a flash from the balcony's light bulb of their house. "The coast is clear," she whispered.

Andy spoke, clearly agitated, voice forcedly hush. "Now, Goku, could you describe the person that saw you?"

Goku just stared above, probably thinking. "I don't know. He had a brown shirt on, and he seemed to be a guy your age. He was wearing glasses, and . . . That's all I remembered."

"Robert," Mandy quickly stated, sure of it.

"We can't just fabricate a meaningless conclusion that quick!" Andy objected her, again.

"Meaningless my ass! He's the only one of Colleen's admirers that wears glasses—a shallow geek! That's already an enough proof!" She basically had her face all red already.

"Tone your voice down, will you? He could be about in the midst of our conversation! And, mind you, stereotyping is just an enough reason for me to disprove your conjecture! Anyone could be wearing glasses as a sort of disguise!"

Goku just watched them fight like they're some eight-year-olds. It wasn't his fault, though. Andy was basically ranting with alien words again, and that could really be of good help for them, that's for sure. If only Andy would stop being so damn sure of himself, then they'd probably solve this problem right about now. *Oh, how embarrassing!*

"Goku, did he see you fly?" She tried her best to sound calmer and "more professional," as her twin brother would say.

"I only saw him when I started to lie down. Probably." Goku scratched the back of his neck. She could start to understand why Vegeta was, most of the time, pissed with him.

"Well, let's just try to be calm and be more sensible for once, alright?"

For the sake of having a productive way of finding out who was the one who saw Goku so that they could find Aliza as quicker as possible, she agreed. Goku, of course, just followed whatever they were doing.

"So what if we'll forget the stalker-thing for now and try to look for Aliza?" Mandy suggested, gazing at the facade of their house.

"Okay, and since our parents are still sleeping," Andy whispered, "Let's take this opportunity to look for her. It may be 11:34, but let's still take the risk for now. There are also no more classes tomorrow. What else could be the disadvantage aside from the low probability of our parents waking up?"

Operation: Finding Aliza. This seemed to be an enough task, if she didn't make it too hard for them to look for her. She agreed on her twin's banter with a nod, waiting for his further instructions.

Goku was pressing the sole of his foot against the grass, movie his leg sideways. "Where do we look for Aliza?"

He didn't have the slightest effort to down his voice, but still, the volume was pretty low. Rest assured, her twin brother wouldn't be bitching about it.

"To that 24/7 coffee shop just three blocks ahead she usually goes to," he pointed from behind her, so she turned around. To be honest, she didn't know where south was, so she assumed it's the direction of coffee shop. "I guess we have to walk there, huh," he said.

"Or we could just travel by flight." Feeling excited, Mandy latched onto Goku's arms, also finding it funny that Andy was getting scared shitless. That's her twin bro, a big wuss.

Next thing she knew, she was on Goku's back, hopping around like a child, while her brother was on the back, gripping her bigger-than-average waist tightly, like a baby.

Then he jumped into the air, with extreme speed, and a wave of excitement filled her very system, exhilarating her. Andy, on the other hand, was screeching his lungs out, lowkey annoying the hell out of her. When Goku was just a feet away from the clouds, he slowed down, looking for the said coffee shop.

"This turned out better than what I'd anticipated," Andy said, breathing in, then breathing out. Breathing in again, then breathing out.

*What a wuss.*

"Andy," Mandy called him, who was probably still trying to conquer his stupid fear since he was unresponsive. "Andy!"

"What?" He began ranting about excuses such as the following: a.) he tried to look for the coffee shop before they'd missed it; b.) he was shocked how the extreme level of velocity didn't throw them off when Goku blasted off; and c.) he was still trying to adjust from his fear. She counted probably two-to-three alien words from him.

"Never mind!" was all Mandy replied, slamming her face onto her face.

"You two don't get along that often, do you?" Goku finally spoke, after the tense silence, accompanied, of course, by the whooshing of the air against them.

Mandy didn't dare answer that; so did her twin brother. She just gazed down, her eyes probably like the size of an orange she ate this morning. "Goku! We missed the coffee shop!"

"Oh, okay," he calmly said, turning back.

Andy just shut up, while Mandy basically laughed inside. Taking only a few seconds, Andy pointed at some building that was the coffee shop, and there he descended slowly, the pair of twins holding one arm each.

Now, Mandy was in front of the facade of the coffee shop, Andy almost stumbling as he tried to jump off Goku's arm. She sighed at that, proceeding with the operation. The air was still, and only one car was parked. Squinting her eyes to see better, she couldn't find Aliza through the glass window.

The clanging of the door went as they entered, distorting the silence. One of the baristas perked their head up, smiling as he saw them, dimple showing, ash blond hair covered with a beanie, eye bags barricading the lids of his brown eyes, and . . . "Hey, Mandy! Andy! Good to see you here! Looks like you have some new company."

She couldn't help but blush. He called her first! Well, it was no big deal, and—never mind that. She must focus with the operation. "Uh . . ."

"Will you take the espresso, the cappuccino, or the usual?"

"Uh, no, we're just looking for Aliza?"

"Hmm, Aliza? What about her?" He leaned closer, arms supporting his chin, giving her his signature smile. His gaze was piercing through her, his voice made her have an eargasm, his presence overall made her question her worth. Mandy was basically having a cardiac arrest, a state of paralysis, and a mental breakdown inside, and and if those weren't exaggerated enough, then she didn't know what was.

Then she was being pushed away by her brother, breaking from the awkward air around her. She just tried to put up a smile, glancing at Goku who was snickering at her blatant action.

Their attention both darted toward the desk once Andy slammed it with his palms, getting a tad bit wild. "Have you seen Aliza?"

That cute guy only shrugged, wiping the stout ceramic coffee mug with his white rag. Once done, he placed the rag onto his shoulder again, that same lucky rag laying peacefully on his shoulders.

"I thought she's with you guys," he stated, giving Mandy a glance, which made her divert her attention toward something else. She turned, looking at the rows of tables, and a kid caught her attention.

*Wait, what?*

How could a kid in the middle of the night this last stay up without staying drowsy? Her parents were drinking coffee, while the boy was having his gaming console lay on the table as he stared at something, as if he just saw something fictional stand before him in real life.

*Wait . . .*

She looked at where he was staring at, and holy waffles, her suspicion was confirmed. That kid was looking at Goku! Of course, with that orange gi he's wearing, he could easily get noticed! Hurriedly, she grabbed the collar of Andy's shirt, awkwardly ordered Goku to exit, and bid her crush a quick goodbye, before proceeding to run around the corner of the coffee shop.

"What was that for?!" Andy shouted at her, his footsteps brisk with agitation.

"We need to get Goku a shirt," she plainly said, exhaling heavily.

It took a hefty amount of heavy whines, growls, screaming, and bantering before the heated discussion ended, and through all that, she wasn't surprised how a couple of people had stared at her like they were some crazy, good-for-nothing, teenagers. But she didn't care!

Especially when Andy still won the stupid debate.

"We can easily give them the impression of Goku as a cosplayer as long as he restrains himself from showing his powers, problem solved!" Andy, who was now rubbing his temples, faced Goku, and then at his twin sister again. "It is irrelevant to say that we should buy clothes for him if you wanted him to stay unexposed, when in fact there are hundreds of people that could probably see him! Taking that risk is just foolish and can squander our time. What's more relevant now is Aliza, nothing more, nothing less. Understand!"

Mandy just let him have it . . . for now. Again. She just nodded her head, like she always did. She just gave in, like she always did. She just let herself be the loser, like she always did. She was never going to be the boss of him! The rage was erupting, but she had no other choice but to control it. She wanted to cry, but she mustn't.

He may had high vocabulary, but she guessed "sorry" was never a part of it.

"Now," he continued, wiping his glasses with his handkerchief, "where do we go to next? We have two more places that we—"

"Uh, excuse me," Goku started, "wouldn't it be better if we'll just get some clothes from your house?"

She didn't know what to expect from this. The usual goofy smile from his lips changed into more of a serious one, his once huge eyes not that big anymore.

"That's a good question!" he praised. "But no. You see, time is of the essence, and just getting back to our house will be inevitably useless, alright?"

"Why?" he asked again, and it left Andy almost in a fit of hysterics. Even Mandy shared the same reaction.

"Goku, please, let's just find Aliza, alright?" Mandy pleaded.

Goku looked at her, eyes wide again, and then at Andy. He stood up straight, and the next thing he did was to scratch his hair, just like he always did in the show.

"Alright, let's go to the old abandoned warehouse where her Uncle Danny settles near. It's just probably fourth of a kilometer from this wretched city."

He then agreed, getting back to his goofy smile he usually wore. Again, they flew, but before Goku landed, he tried to ask Andy again.

"Our father is dead, Goku, and distressed, our mom had all the heaps of his clothes burned up." Andy didn't make another sound after that

"Oh, I'm sorry," Goku muttered.

Sighing, Mandy stared at the stars, those same stars the once she had used to gaze at with her father when she had been little. Nothing had seemed to have change—their mother had still managed to pay all the bills, they still had been enrolled in the most prestigious school in town, and they still had had enough money to eat three times a day, with deserts and all that.

But there had been a change, something lost that even the greatest of luxuries couldn't afford. Their father was dead. After months, that old memory was gone, but she guessed memories like those were meant to renew itself. Old things would feel as if they're new, and vice versa. That's how life was for her.

"Don't you have Dragon Balls here?" Goku asked again.

"Whatever that thing is, no, there isn't," Andy answered, still trying to act clueless. Also strong and not fragile. But his voice was all weak, completely destroying the effect.

Mandy wished for it, thinking of the possibility to have the seven Dragon Balls to wish for his father's revival. It would be so damn great if that were possible: to see the giant green dragon materialize and grant them three wishes. But she guessed that would never happen.

After that, Goku just kept flying, and the twins were dead silent, in deep thought. It took them, like, thirty seconds to reach the place, and just as she figured, the warehouse reeked off dead rats and poop. Even Goku was fazed with that smell.

Andy, still silent, went toward an old wooded shack just meters away from the warehouse. There's nothing seemed to be the problem, except for the fact that the lights weren't on inside. Andy had already been trying to knock on the door when Mandy arrived.

She guessed her uncle wasn't here. Andy was already thumping his fists against the wooden door as he slumped his head against it.

She just opened up her hand bag, grabbed her phone, and checked the time—*12:32*

At least they still had a lot of time before dawn would break. Yawning, she just stood up, and was going to talk to her twin brother when the latter suddenly kicked the door as hard as he could, slouching in failure.

Drowsiness, bad memories, and a frustrated twin. Just great . . .

Now they'd just go at the last place where she would most probably be. "Andy, let's just go; she's probably not here, anyway."

He just turned around, his face moist with tears. "I guess that's the most plausible."

Both of them were about to call Goku when Andy's phone ringed. "Wait!" Mandy shouted, urged by the sudden ringing of the phone.

It was not everyday she'd get a phone call. "Hello?"

Then she listened.

"It's Colleen!" Mandy announced, catching Andy's attention.

"Give me that!" Andy tired to grab it, but Mandy was fast enough to get away from him. Rolling her eyes, she put it on speaker.

"—our GC said about Aliza suddenly disappearing, like in a flash, just like how Goku explained the way when he unintentionally came here. Do you know what this means?" Her voice was very hushed, but enough to let them hear it, making them frozen in place.

"Hello? Guys, answer me? My parents are coming!"

So after all this time, she wasn't here. She was probably in Goku's world.