Dim-Dim's heart sank at the sight of those monsters.
"That's awful. I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I were you," said Justin, grabbing one of Dim-Dim's Illicitor tools useful for efficiently crushing monsters."We have to exterminate them," Dim-Dim said. "But Ella forbids me from using anti-monster poison in her garden. So we have to kill these monsters the traditional way.""It's going to take a while," Justin muttered.For the next ten minutes, they spent their time killing the ant-sized but stone-hard monsters."Oh no," Tara muttered as she walked into Dim-Dim's room and saw what they were doing.Justin nearly jabbed the closet door out of surprise. He quickly got up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Nice to meet you, I'm Justin, Dim-Dim's friend since middle school. And you?""Tara," Tara said. She had just finished showering, her hair wrapped in a towel, and now the scent of soap emanated from her body.Valir Campbell. When was the last time Dim-Dim met that guy? Dim-Dim doesn't remember. But one thing for sure, he needs to contact Valir soon. So that's what Dim-Dim did."Hey," he said, once the call was answered."I'm on my way, currently passing through the Holland Tunnel. Is everything safe over there?" Valir's voice sounded firm yet serious over the phone, a voice Dim-Dim hadn't heard in a long time."It is still safe for now. But those monsters have started invading the untouched corners of the house," Dim-Dim said seriously, trying not to think about Edel as he spoke. Because Valir is Edel's boyfriend, and perhaps he knows about the issues between Dim-Dim and Edel."Have you used the anti-monster poison?" Valir asked."We have. But it's a big house, with about seven bedrooms, three kitchens, and several other rooms. If I fumigate the entire house with anti-monster poison, the monsters will just flee to the garden and hide underground, but the old lady owner of the house doesn't
"Tara, open the door!" Dim-Dim yelled while trying to open Tara's bedroom door. No luck, it was locked from the inside.He attempted to bump his shoulder to the door to open it but failed. A moment later, which felt like forever, Ella and Justin arrived."I have the spare key to her room. Wait, I'll take it!" Ella said nervously, then the panicked Tara's grandmother immediately ran as fast as she could to the other end of the house."Too long, we have to go in through the window," Justin said, freezing everything around them. Ella and everything except them both immediately stopped moving. It was then that Dim-Dim realized how foolish he had been. Somehow people indeed need time to think straight."Shit, I should've transformed into an insect," he cursed. And then he quickly turned into an ant, slipped through the crack under the door, and transformed back into himself. What he saw at the next moment horrified him.He saw Tara lying on the floor, her hand swatting at ant-sized Type A
Valir arrived ten minutes later, and Dim-Dim felt relieved when he saw the man carrying a bag of blood that he requested. "Sorry, Dim-Dim," Valir said, slightly out of breath as he climbed the steps of the house. "There was a monster case at the hospital when I was getting the bag of blood for you... Hey, Justin." "Hey," Justin replied. "Good to see you here. The monster attacked the granddaughter who owns the house earlier." Valir looked guilty. "Is she okay?" he asked. Dim-Dim nodded. "We saved her just in time, and she's currently with her parent and grandparent in the living room. Let's go in." "We should quickly set up bait for them," Valir suggested. After that, Justin, Valir, and Dim-Dim went inside the house. They prepared the bait for the monster in the kitchen. The ingredients were simple, just human blood and sugar.
At night, Dim-Dim packed some warm clothes, his laptop, and wallet into his bag, preparing for his return to Safe City New Jersey. Justin, who had finished packing his things at some point, was playing a game on the bed, waiting for Dim-Dim to finish."Do you think I need to bring more clothes?" Dim-Dim asked Justin, who took almost a minute and a half to answer because he was too focused on the game."No, you're just planning to come back shortly and then return here. And it's your apartment; there are plenty of clothes there," Justin replied before diving back into the online game he was playing."You're right," Dim-Dim said, then he began to take out the clothes from his bag and laid them on the bed. He was about to return the clothes to the wardrobe when suddenly Tara stepped into the room. She looked at Justin, Dim-Dim standing in front of the wardrobe with a stack of clothes, and then at the open bag on the bed with a laptop and other items visible.<
"Dim-Dim! Where have you been, you jerk!" Velicia exclaimed while hugging him tight. Dim-Dim hugged her back, chuckling."I'm in New York, you know that, do my research," Dim-Dim said. "Come on, we can talk inside. It's so cold outside." And after that, he pulled Velicia's hand towards the entrance of the 9 PM cafe. For some reason, even since forever, the cafe located in Safe City Pine Barrens was always empty but always open.They took off their coats and quickly walked to the table where Justin, Valir, and Edel were already waiting. Dim-Dim secretly felt relieved because Amma wasn't there."Vel, my girl," Justin said as he stood up and hugged Velicia. "Should we flatten Mouse's car tire now?"Velicia shook her head and laughed. "No need, I've already done that myself," she said, and they all laughed by her joke. Velicia then let go of Justin and hugged Valir and Edel. "Oh my, I miss you all so much," she said.And strangely, even though Velicia laughed, cracked jokes, and seemed fi
"Why were you taking so long?" Velicia asked as Dim-Dim joined them at the table overlooking the forest."Just chatting with Saras," Dim-Dim replied, noticing Edel's concerned look and deciding he needed to be honest. "I ran into Amma earlier. I think Edel told her where I was," he said.Instantly, everyone turned to Edel. Even Valir looked at her puzzled."Why did Edel have to tell Amma where you were?" Velicia asked, confused. "You didn't tell Amma, Dim-Dim?""We've broken up," Dim-Dim replied, hearing Velicia gasp. "Amma's been cheating behind my back, and Edel knew but kept silent.""What? Why did you do that?" Valir asked Edel, bewildered. "I—why didn't you tell all of us that Dim-Dim had broken up with Amma?"Edel looked a bit nervous as she answered, "It's complicated. But Amma loves Dim-Dim. That's what matters to me. I'm sorry."Velicia bit her lip, then sighed. "Edel," she exclaimed. "You're our friend. Now I'm confused about how to respond to this.""Just forget about it, I
With a light heart, Dim-Dim got out of the taxi, then leaned on Tara's grandmother house fence. He hummed a cheerful song while typing a message to Tara on MONSTRACHAT.DIM-DIM: I'm in front of your house :)Based on experience, Tara usually took some time to reply to his messages. She had a daily routine of cleaning her grandmother's spacious house, and her phone often got left behind in her room.However, Dim-Dim was lucky today because Tara replied to his message faster.TARA HIRANO: I know you don't need someone to open the gate for you to enter, considering how you entered my room yesterday, but okay. I'll open the gate for you. Please wait five minutes ;)Dim-Dim laughed, then removed the earbuds from his ears and put them in his pocket, waiting for Tara.The girl appeared almost a minute later, wearing an off-shoulder T-shirt and long pajama pants. Her sandy blonde, cut short hair looked slightly damp.Her face lit up with a bright smile. "Come in, and help me lift the grandma'
"Don't you think we need to bring shovels and hammers? You know, for self-defense," Tara said as Dim-Dim grabbed his Illicitor gear, and Dim-Dim shook his head."No need. Just bring... determination," Dim-Dim grinned. "We're not going there to kill them anyway. We're going there to investigate them... Oh, my bad—I'm the one investigating them, not 'we'," Dim-Dim said.And then, they headed to the yard where Tara's black Ronge Rover was parked.Tara quickly got in and sat behind the wheel, while Dim-Dim sat in the passenger seat."Ready?" Dim-Dim asked."I'm ready," Tara replied.Dim-Dim smiled. "This is irrelevant information, but the Venators and Illicitors would definitely respond, 'more than ready'."Tara smiled. "I think I'm ready, but leaning towards 'must be ready'. I'm not as confident as you guys."Then she fastened her seatbelt, and her foot pressed the gas pedal, taking them from her spacious grandmother's mansion to the Brooklyn area, specifically towards Amma's house area.