Flashback Max (1) Cat Fur

Max and Mr. Theria followed Melianor's gaze. The three of them now both see the waves of The Wave move uneasily.

Melianor still felt pain in her head, so she tried to balance herself as she stood up and walked towards the side of the table filled with a cross-section of the world.

"The potential for repeating history is very high," Melianor said in a still weak voice. Her energy was drained in a short time. Mr. Theria was uncomfortable with Melianor's situation.

"We all have a hand in this and Elijah holds an important key," Melianor whispered. Max propped up Melianor's shoulder as her balance rolled. At that moment, Max could feel Melianor's body shivering.

At the same time, Mr. Theria pretends not to see Max's actions. He was focused that Melianor is remembering a painful past for anyone directly or indirectly involved at the time. Mr. Theria was there too.

That day, Theria and Melianor were teenagers. The two can't forget those memories forever. In order not to repeat itself, both of them vowed to keep the Wave at risk. To Theria, Max was a kid yesterday afternoon. From the beginning, he was a bit disappointed when Melianor chose him as a couple.

"Where exactly is Elijah?" Max asked Theria. It made Mr. Theria look at him.

"Probably in Vacuum."

"What?" Max's forehead frowned. He remembered his experience of being attracted to the flow of that hollow zone. He gulped.

"It's not easy, can't we interfere?" he asked Melianor and Mr. Theria alternately as if he didn't know about the Vacuum.

Melianor shook her head.

"No. Like what happened to you. That's a sensitive zone. I don't know exactly where the Vacuum, how it formed, how it works, I don't know at all."

Melianor gently reminded Max of the hollow zone status. She placed both of her palms on both of Max's cheeks then tiptoed until her bandaged breasts continued to touch Max's chest. They kissed.

Mr. Theria turned his face away. He refused to see the sight. Somehow he is forced to admit Max has a proportionate body that is in tune with Melianor. Melianor's way of speaking and gestures to Max shows their relationship is getting more intimate. Mr. Theria clenched her fists.

"Now we focus on what we can do. Melianor believes Elijah can escape the Vacuum," Mr. Theria said, helping Melianor explain the challenges Elijah had to go through alone.

"If she wants to discover the truth behind her mother's death, this first test is just the beginning," Mr. Theria said with an unchanging facial expression.

Melianor unleashes her spoiled thud on Max. She then approached the table. The intimate nuances that Max and Mr. Theria had felt disappeared, replaced by Melianor's aura of focus on analyzing the situation. Max and Mr. Theria then positioned themselves, on the right and left sides of Melianor, respectively.

"What should we do now while we wait for Elijah to get out of the zone?" Max starts a strategy meeting.

"Information from JoydaG will direct us. The next step will depend on that information," Max said. He became like a commander.

"Before that, we can first analyze the information you get from the outside world. After that we combine it with information from JoydaG later," Melianor told Max. There was a change of intonation when she spoke only to Max.

"We'd better sit there," Melianor coded with her chin.

Max sat opposite Theria, while Melianor sat in her lounge chair. In that formation, Melianor looked like a respectable and respected female leader.

The aura of leadership emanated from Melianor. Because of this, there was no difference in status between Mr. Theria and Max. For a while, Max wasn't a lover, nor was Mr. Theria, he wasn't a friend since childhood. At that moment, both are co-workers.

The jealousy secretly suppressed by Mr. Theria was successfully put into a very strong shell within him. There are enemies out there that must be suppressed or annihilated for a major disaster or perhaps bloodshed between brothers to happen. Overcoming it is more important than his feelings.

They returned to the moment a few days ago. When Melianor tells Elijah to enjoy her cake alone in the park while giving a code to talk one-on-one with Max.

Max becomes excited. Max followed Melianor into a kitchen filled with spice scents. Melianor closed the door when Max went inside. Afterward, Max received Melianor's hug which he did without further ado. He felt pleased when Melianor wrapped an arm around his neck. Max hugged Melianor's waist and pulled her firmly until it attached to his body, in such a position, that he could feel Melianor's heart. Meanwhile, his lips came into contact with Melianor's soft lips. Max enjoyed a wet kiss with Melianor for quite a long time.

Afterward, while still hugging, Max recounted the incident at his house briefly but clearly and quickly understood by Melianor.

"That's why I brought her here and I think your storage room is safer," Max said. "After all, only you, I can rely on her to explain little by little about the underworld, this card will probably lead you, Melianor... I need your help."

Max said all that while gently stretching Melianor's arm around his neck and they now both saw the wooden cylinder containing tarot cards held by Melianor.

"Do you have any guesses who's after her?"

"At first I didn't," Max replied, "but I found this."

He then took a plastic bag of evidence from the pocket of his jeans. He showed Melianor the contents.

"Cat fur?"

Max nodded.

"A pretty big cat," there was a tragic jokey tone from his words.

"I think that cat has shrunk in size. I remember opening the door for Elijah, a black cat was passing by. At the time, I didn't realize it was snuff. Until I found this fur while rump looking through Elijah's bag."

Melianor focused on the cat's fur.

"Does she know?"

"No, of course, I kept it a secret. She didn't know anything about the underworld yet. If I told her, she would just laugh and think I was crazy or she would panic and become even more insane. I tried my best to handle it. Fortunately at that time, whoever controlled this big cat, the priority at that time was just to take Elijah's bag."

"In other words, whoever the suspect has not taken into account Elijah's role could be more important than her mother's phone? But why should you be at your house? Wouldn't it be easier to ambush Elijah at any time, on the street, for example?"

"I don't know. It may have been tried but something made them fail."

"For example?"

"I guess that at that time Elijah's subconscious defense system was working to activate her companion, so they couldn't touch her. At my house, Elijah took the bag off. My house is also not covered by strict Magi guarding because I hide my stealth side."

Max felt regret, but he didn't tell Melianor.

"Don't blame yourself."

Max gasped, "Well, I guess so, had I been more sensitive at that time, probably wouldn't have involved you."

Melianor shook her head.

"You are wrong. Even if you manage to deal with it at that time, it will only shorten our search time. After all, these few days, The Wave showed unnatural movements. If you had intended not to involve me, obviously it would have been impossible."

Both of Max's eyes squinted. Something flashed through his mind and Melianor's words opened Max's mind.

"You are right. Our only chance now is to hide Elijah until we know exactly who we are dealing with. My guess is, it has to do with the rumors I've heard over the last three months. It's hard to prove but they're enough to worry me."

"Rumors? What's that?"

"A human being or a group of people has crossed the boundary of three worlds. There is a study based on rumors circulating they cloned living things. If that's true then they won't succeed if they don't harness the power of the magi," Max waved his hand in front of his face, he didn't want to continue talking about the rumors.

"When it comes to Elijah, whoever they may want the information stored on Bibi's phone or wants to destroy the evidence, whether related or not to the rumors, this still needs to be watched out for."

"Until this moment there was no movement from the higher-ups, you know what I mean, don't you? Open war, meaning Bibi's death may be related to silent operations to maintain balance. Do you know what Bibi's last mission was? I guessed, we'll know what it is from knowing Bibi's last mission before she dies."

Melianor leaned first on the edge of the table next to Max. Their arms touched.

Melianor thought for a moment.

"Ms. JoyDaG, that kid probably knows."

Melianor's face brightened, like a child who had solved a math problem.

"I'll call her."

Melianor then took the phone that had been lying on the spice rack not far from her. She pressed JoyDaG's number and waited for a response.

"Not lifted. I'll try again later. Now, what do we need to do?"

"Then, 'read' Elijah. I suspect something is deliberately shut down from her instincts, but something is also moving automatically to protect her. We have to know what it is and who intentionally covered it up. Everything that happened to her overnight was so bizarre, there were even people killed by Draft. I can't ignore the facts popping up randomly. There must be a trigger."

Melianor nodded understandingly while considering the dimly lit situation.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'll keep those things first. After that, I'll see someone."