After school, Amanda left the building to head straight home to her boarding house. She walked with Shin floating beside her.
"Hey, Manda, are you sure you want to go straight back to the boarding house?" Shin asked.
"Where else would I go?" Amanda replied.
"No, I mean, I just want to walk around here," Shin replied.
Amanda took out her smartphone and saw no new messages. Then she opened her social media, again seeing no incoming messages. Finally, she checked a website, entered her ID and password, and saw that her messages were still at zero. Amanda put her smartphone back into her student council uniform pocket, then turned to look at Shin.
"Want to go to the mall?" Amanda asked.
"Sure, let's go... better than going back to the boarding house," Shin replied.
So, they walked to the mall, which wasn't far from Amanda's school. After crossing the street, they entered the mall. Many people turned to look at Amanda, surprised to see such a pale girl in Indonesia. Quite a few students from other schools, especially boys, also noticed her. Finally, after enjoying their stroll, they arrived at the food court. Since it was time to eat again, Amanda ordered food, and Shin helped her carry it to the table.
Everyone who saw it was puzzled, seeing the food tray levitate and neatly settle on the table. However, since it was daytime, no one thought it was the work of a ghost. Amanda began to eat, and Shin just watched, as he didn't need food. Suddenly, Amanda's eyes widened, and her fine hairs stood on end. She immediately moved her food from the table and grabbed the sketchbook she always carried for emergencies. Amanda began to sketch with her pencil in the sketchbook, and Shin watched her.
"You're seeing something again, aren't you?" Shin asked.
"Shhh, quiet for a moment..." Amanda replied.
She tried to remember what she had seen and depicted it. Shin, impatient, circled above Amanda's head, watching the drawing Amanda was working on. She drew a skull-faced man, a tiger-human man, a blue-eyed girl wearing a mask, a girl holding her own head at her waist, and a man with bat ears and large bat wings on his back.
"What is this, Manda? I don't get it. Who are these people?" Shin asked.
"I don't know, I just saw them briefly. But they're coming to Jakarta," Amanda replied while writing.
Then Amanda wrote dates under each drawing, all of them showing the year 2023. Amanda and Shin looked at the drawings as a whole, then turned to look at each other.
"Oh, I know!" Shin exclaimed.
"What?" Amanda asked.
"They're our boarding house residents, right?" Shin asked.
"Hmm, I don't know... but seriously, I bought that boarding house because the owner asked me to buy it from his child, since he himself had already died. But it's stressful; it's been empty for six months. I'm the only resident, even though I've set the price cheaper than other boarding houses around," Amanda replied.
"Just think of it that way, rather than stressing out, hahahaha..." Shin replied.
"Yeah, but if it's true, it's still a year away. I'll have graduated by then..." Amanda replied.
"Well, that's fine, why does it matter if you graduate early? Aren't you going straight to college then?" Shin asked.
"That's it, where will college be? If it's far, it'll be a headache," Amanda replied.
"Buy a motorbike, you have money, right?" Shin asked.
"Easy for you to say, my inheritance money will run out if I keep spending without any income. I need income, you're useless..." Amanda replied.
"And no responses to the ads?" Shin asked.
"Not yet, that's why we're here," Amanda replied.
Suddenly, several students from Amanda's school, her age, approached Amanda, who was sitting alone. A handsome student immediately sat next to Amanda and put his arm around her.
"Hello... you're the transfer student in Mr. Baskoro's class, right? My name's Erik, I'm in the class next to yours. What's your name?" Erik asked.
"Take your arm off first, then I'll answer," Amanda replied.
Erik removed his arm, then Erik's two other friends, named Dodi and Faiz, sat in front of Amanda.
"My name is Amanda. Do you need something from me?" Amanda asked curtly.
"Geez, you're so fierce. No, we're just saying hi," Erik replied.
"I'm eating. Go on, get going," Amanda replied.
"Where do you live, Manda?" Erik asked.
"Wow, you're half foreign, you're beautiful," Dodi added.
"Do you have a boyfriend yet?" Faiz asked.
Ignoring Amanda, who was eating, the three male students continued to ask various questions and chat as they pleased, as if Amanda had given them permission. But even so, Amanda paid no attention, she calmly continued to enjoy her meal, until Erik took her sketchbook from the table.
"Put it back," Amanda said, staring intently at Erik.
"Let me see, you're stingy," Erik said, immediately opening the book.
The faces of Erik, Dodi, and Faiz, upon seeing the contents of Amanda's sketchbook, immediately changed because they saw many quite terrifying drawings inside. Finally, they reached the last page and saw a row of strange people drawn by Amanda, along with their arrival dates below. All three swallowed their saliva and looked at Amanda with a gaze that seemed to say Amanda was a strange person. Feeling uncomfortable, Amanda snatched her book and put it in her bag.
"Sorry, Manda..." Erik replied.
"Don't do it again," Amanda replied.
"I'm going now... come on, guys..." Erik invited, immediately standing up.
Without further ado, the three immediately left Amanda alone. Then Shin, who had been hovering over Amanda's head, sat next to Amanda.
"I just thought you found your soulmate, hehehe," Shin said.
"Shut up... you don't know I'm annoyed," Amanda replied.
"Sorry, sorry... don't pout like that, you'll scare off your soulmate," Shin teased.
"You're impossible, I told you to be quiet and you just keep babbling... that's enough, let's go back. I'm not in the mood anymore," Amanda replied.
"Yeah, yeah... let's go," Shin replied.
Both of them immediately got up from their seats, leaving the still-full plates of food on the table. Without looking left or right, Amanda walked straight to the mall exit, then immediately took public transportation in front of the mall to go back to her boarding house. After getting off, she walked into a residential alley right behind an office complex. Amanda stood in front of a minimalist house that she used as her boarding house. She took out the drawings of the people she had sketched at the mall again.
"I hope they want to stay here with me, Shin..." Amanda said, a little sadly.
"Maybe one of them will be your soulmate, hehehe, I'll pray for it... amen," Shin said.
"Hehe, maybe. Thanks, Shin, you really are the best friend," Amanda replied.
"Of course, that's me. I'm always with you..." Shin replied.
They both walked into the empty boarding house, where there was only one resident inside: Amanda and Shin. In front of the entrance to Amanda's boarding house, there was a billboard that read, "Detective and Paranormal Services Office," complete with a phone number, social media ID, and personal website. Thanks to Amanda's track record of helping others, she was known on social media as The Indigo.
That night, when Amanda was alone in her room, she picked up her smartphone and lay facedown on her bed. She tapped the icon of her favorite FPS game.
"Hey, White, you're finally online," a message popped up instantly.
She opened her friends list and saw a friend she usually played with was online. She immediately replied to the message.
"Yo, long time no see, let's play..." Amanda said.
"Join my server, we're playing as a trio..." her friend replied.
"Huh, trio with whom?" Amanda asked.
Amanda joined her friend's server and saw that besides her friend, there was one more person already inside.
"Holy cow... that nickname is cool, hahahaha," Amanda said in the chat.
"See?... Awesome, right?" her friend replied.
"Thanks for the compliment... nice to meet you," replied the cool nickname.