CHAPTER 2: Discoveries Inside the Restaurant

"Wow, the place is amazing inside!" Johann was astonished by the size of the restaurant's interior. "The restaurant is bigger than I expected." In front of us, there are three tables, each approximately two meters long, but their height is slightly lower.

"Ah, amazing, Johann! You have to look at the ceiling." The center of the ceiling is a glass dome that helps sunlight stream inside. "It's truly incredible. Look at those engravings as well. The engineer who built this restaurant is very skilled." Johann was impressed by the engineer's craftsmanship and dedication to his work. I, too, was truly impressed by his work.

There are many drawings stuck on the walls. It seems that children drew these pictures, as it's clear their ages do not exceed seven years.

"Karl, come here! You have to see what I found," Johann exclaimed, indicating he had discovered something important."Look at this." It's a collection of photographs of many children, apparently taken with a box camera. "Look at this too," Johann said, showing some posters that seemed to be for a play, but I couldn't recognize the thing on the poster."This is the first time I've seen a poster like this." There were no posters in the village where I came from; the first time I saw posters was in the capital. But this poster looked strange even to Johann."It seems to be a theater poster for a statue or something. This is strange; it's the first time I've seen something like this," Johann said. Even Johann, who spent his childhood in the capital, had never seen a poster like this before.

We didn't find anything significant to aid the investigation, but we continued searching.

"Boom!" "What was that?" We heard the sound of something breaking. "Karl, that sound came from that room," Johann said. It was strange to hear something here since it was supposed to be just the two of us. I shouted loudly, "Hey! Is anyone in there?" No one answered. Johann put his ear to the door and then spoke to me in a low voice, "I hear something moving inside." Someone else was here. I tried to open the door, but it was locked, so I started addressing the person inside, "Hey, whoever's in there, I know you're there. Come on, open the door." No one answered me. So, I tried to threaten them, "Open the door, or I'll open it myself." Again, no one answered. It seemed I would have to use force. "Wait, Karl, what are you planning to do?"

I started gathering blood in my right and left hands, and I began to press on the blood in both hands. "Stage one: Demonic Blood Shot."

"Wait, stop!" Someone shouted to stop me. I turned to see who it was. "What do you think you're doing?" Damn, it's the mission supervisors. They arrived just when I was about to use my technique. It seems I've gotten myself into trouble, hahaha.

After the mission supervisors arrived, we stepped outside the restaurant. "What did you two think you were doing? You know your only task was to guard."

"Yes, we know. We're sorry for what happened," I replied. This was the best answer, as he was right. We were only assigned to guard. "And where are the girls?" None of us could answer his question. I glanced to the right of the street, and it seemed that Erika and Anna had finally arrived.

"Where the hell were you?" Erika and Anna felt embarrassed in front of the supervisor. "Uh, sorry, sir. We were just, uh, taking a walk, sir," Erika stammered, clearly frightened by the supervisor. "Damn, you go for a walk during work hours? What were you thinking?" It seemed they were going to get a harsher punishment than us. "Sorry, sir, we wanted to make sure the area around the crime scene was safe," Anna quickly tried to cover for them.

"The boys go in to investigate while the girls wander around to guard the area? Seriously, what were you thinking?" We all remained silent, not saying a word. "I can really respect your eagerness to help," one of the supervisors started speaking. "I see that we can rely on you, rookie recruits," another supervisor praised us, unlike the first one. "Yes, I know what you did was against orders, but your intentions were good," the other supervisor seemed impressed with what we did. "Yes, sir, our goal was to assist in the mission," Anna ensured that our intention was to help.

"I'll respect your desire to help, but don't ever repeat what you did," the other supervisor expressed his willingness to forgive us. "We're sorry, sir. We promise this will be the first and last mistake," I spoke in a way to confirm that we wouldn't repeat what we did.

"Alright, you can go now. I'll consider the mission accomplished," Johann said, relieved. "Sir, before we go, I want to show you this poster," he informed the supervisor about the poster he found inside the restaurant. "It's a poster for a play, but it's the first time I've seen one like this, sir," Johann remarked as he handed the poster to the supervisor, who began to smile.

"It's a poster for the play Mechaniker," he said. "What a peculiar name," Johann replied. "Young people these days wouldn't know; Mechaniker Animatronics used to perform shows in this theater. I always attended their performances," the supervisor reminisced. "Anyway, I'll see you later, recruits. It's a pleasure to work with you. My name is Wolfgang," the supervisor said, extending his right hand to shake Johann's. Johann reciprocated the handshake. "If I were in your days, sir, I would have enjoyed Mechaniker's shows," he commented.