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.
The first person Dim-Dim called was his brother, Damian, who responded very enthusiastically."Gauze? Are you sure? And that's more tempting to them than blood?" Damian asked. "Clary, Clary, you need to hear this!" he called to his wife, Clarinassa."Yes, I'm sure that they eat gauze with antiseptic fluid and just a few drops of blood, and the scent is so intoxicating to them," Dim-Dim explained, pressing his phone between his ear and shoulder."Oh wow," Clary said, "Congratulations, Dim-Dim! This discovery is amazing! You should report this to the Society! It could mean a lot!""Tara is writing that report for me," Dim-Dim said excitedly. He leaned over to Tara, who was typing eagerly on Dim-Dim's laptop, and said, "The customer service rep's name, if I'm not mistaken, is Veronica Shine.""Okie dokie," Tara said cheerfully."Who's Tara?" Damian asked, and suddenly Dim-Dim realized he hadn't told Damian and Clarinassa about Tara before."She's my college friend," Dim-Dim replied. "I'm
Later that evening..."Okay, please attach this smallcamera device to my head after I transform into a type A ant-sized monster," Dim-Dim requested Tara, while handing over the very, very, very small camera to her."This is so tiny, it feels like threading a needle," Tara muttered. But she quickly shut her mouth when Dim-Dim had already transformed into a type A ant-sized monster, and she hurriedly crouched on the ground next to Dim-Dim, then placed the camera on his tiny monster head. There was a strap accompanying the camera, but Tara didn't know how to attach it to Dim-Dim's head, so Dim-Dim impatiently attached the camera to his head himself, with his monster legs."Alright, good, and the video it produces is very clear," Tara said while looking at the laptop connected to the camera on Dim-Dim's head, and then Dim-Dim entered the burrow monster resembling a cave.He conducted the research expedition for about forty minutes, recording and takin
"Hm, so the girl just replied to your message while being chased by monsters? How romantic," Tara muttered.Dim-Dim didn't respond her, because he didn't know if Tara was serious or being sarcastic, then he went back to working on his thesis. Meanwhile, Tara decided to go up to her bed and read a novel.They continued like this, doing their respective tasks without speaking until suddenly Tara said,"Aren't you going to sleep? Aren't we supposed to leave for Safe City tomorrow?""No, I'm going stay wake up all night to catch the bastard who sent you the threatening message," Dim-Dim said firmly."And then what? Are you going to beat him up?" Tara asked. "Because I don't—""I wonder why you're not worried," Dim-Dim interrupted. "I mean, you're alone at home, Tara. This house is huge, and if you scream, your neighbors won't hear you. So you'll have to duel with this guy, whoever he is. But that's if he comes alone. What if the bast
When Dim-Dim woke up late the next day, he found over 100 notifications on his phone. Instinctively, he opened Damian's message first.Damian: OH MY GOSH, I watched the news. Are you okay, Dim-Dim? That girl's ex is really insane.Then Dim-Dim realized there was an unnatural noise outside. Rising from bed, he found many reporters in the yard.Dim-Dim quickly replied to Damian's message: I'm okay. Just a few scratches. Don't worry about me. I'll be back in Safe City this afternoon.He then read Velicia's messages, who had called him twenty times that morning.Velicia: Dim-Dim, please answer my calls.Velicia: There's a mission this morning. I canceled it and asked Mouse to swap missions.Velicia: Come on! You have to pick up my call. I see a lot of blood stains at the crime scene being broadcasted on TV!How could last night's events make it to the news? Was it that big of a commotion?Then he opened his laptop, waiting for it to load today's news page, while reading Justin's message.