An hour and a half later, "Excuse me," Dylan returned with Aaron, Clara, Fiona, and Iris. When they stepped inside, Ellie, Lena, Amy, and Maya were sitting, fanning themselves with their shirts, and looking exhausted because they had just finished cleaning the house. Dylan and the others walked in.
"What's wrong with you guys? I brought food for tonight," Dylan said.
"Yeah, thanks, honey," Ellie replied, sounding worn out.
"Thanks, babe," Lena added.
"Clara came too?" Amy asked, exhausted.
"Yes, my mom already got an apartment, but we can't move in until tomorrow, so I'll be moving out tomorrow," Clara replied.
"I took a look at her apartment first while buying food. There happened to be a pasta place near Clara's new apartment," Dylan said.
"But are you sure it's okay for us to come here?" Aaron asked.
"It's fine, don't worry. There are five bedrooms here; feel free to choose one upstairs," Ellie replied with a smile.
Dylan and the others turned to see Fiona and Iris wandering everywhere, looking all around the house. They went to the kitchen, opened room after room, and went upstairs. Then Dylan turned to look at Maya, who was silent and looking down. Maya's face looked listless, like someone who had been forced to do something against her will.
"What's wrong, Maya?" Dylan asked, sitting next to her.
"N-Nothing," Maya replied curtly.
Dylan observed Maya, who seemed uncomfortable and looked like she felt guilty for having committed a great sin.
"She already told us everything," Ellie chimed in.
"Yeah, we made her," Lena added.
Amy didn't speak but nodded with her arms crossed. Maya immediately grabbed Dylan's hand tightly.
"I'm sorry, I was forced to tell them about the bank... I let it slip," Maya said slowly.
"Oh... that's all? Well, if you told them, it's fine, isn't it?" Dylan asked casually.
Maya quickly turned her head to stare at Dylan with teary eyes. Her face looked relieved but also confused.
"You... you're not mad?" Maya asked.
"You only told Ellie, Lena, and Amy, right? Of course not, because eventually, they would have found out anyway, right?" Dylan replied casually.
"Thank you," Maya said, now looking incredibly relieved, as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
"What are you guys talking about?" Aaron asked.
"Nothing important, just my business with these four," Dylan answered.
"Oh... okay, understood," Aaron replied.
"Come on, let's eat first. I'll go find Fiona and Iris first," Dylan said, standing up.
"Okay, everyone, let's eat first," Ellie replied, stepping forward and starting to open the plastic bags on the coffee table.
Dylan walked upstairs because he had seen Fiona and Iris go up. The second floor of Ellie's house had a spacious family room with several doors surrounding the area. After that, Dylan walked towards the sofa in the middle of the room and in front of the fireplace. "Zzz... Zzz... Zzz," Dylan saw that Fiona and Iris had fallen asleep on the sofa. Then he sat next to the two of them, and it turned out the sofa was really comfortable, so it made sense that his twin siblings were sleeping there.
Then he looked around. The middle room looked completely empty, with no decorations at all, yet it was comfortable and peaceful. Then he stood up and started walking around the rooms. He opened the rooms one by one, until finally he found an empty room with a large wardrobe covering its wall. He walked inside.
"Hmm... this must be specifically for clothes, then. This room isn't as big as the others, and there's absolutely no furniture like a bed or a table... just this big closet," Dylan said in his head, looking at the large wardrobe that covered the entire wall.
[Try opening the cabinet, sir.]
"Huh... that's not right. Why should I look at the contents of someone's cabinet?" Dylan asked in his head.
[It's fine, sir. You're curious yourself, aren't you?]
"Grr... alright,"
High curiosity overcame his sense of reluctance. He grabbed the cabinet door handle and opened it. The cabinet was empty, and there was a black curtain at the back, making it look like a small hallway. Dylan stepped inside and pulled back the curtain. His eyes immediately widened at what was behind the curtain. It turned out that the cabinet wasn't attached to the wall but a partition separating the room into two parts.
Inside, there was something that looked like a table or altar, complete with candles and flowers, with photos of him starting from when he first entered junior high, 7th grade, up to his last, 12th grade. The entire walls of the room were also covered with photos of him in various poses, all taken secretly. On the right side, there was a whiteboard with marker writing about a plan to trap him, the clinic where he did sperm donation, and so on.
There was also a glass shelf containing several dolls, ranging from Barbie-type dolls to plushies in his likeness, from his hair to his toes. But what made Dylan gasp was his missing mechanical pencil, the tie that had suddenly disappeared, torn pages from his textbook with his work schedule written on them, and his complaints that had gone missing from his school bag, and a neatly plastic-wrapped set of his dirty sports uniform from 11th grade that was placed on the altar like an offering.
Seeing the entire room, which looked like a temple dedicated to him, Dylan immediately got goosebumps, and his head felt huge. He froze, staring at everything with his mouth agape.
"T-This... is Ellie's doing? So all my mysteriously missing things are here? What the hell is this?" Dylan asked in his head.
[Try looking at the floor, sir.]
Dylan looked down at the floor, and it turned out he was standing on a large, half-body photo of himself smiling when he was a small child, around 9 years old, centered within a drawing that looked like a pentagram inside a circle.
"H-Huh? (He looked at the whiteboard) T-This is terrifying... she's a stalker?" Dylan asked, starting to get scared.
[No, sir, she inherited her grandfather's ability, which ultimately revealed the person behind Phantom Cat... that would be your grandfather. She's more of a private investigator... maybe a stalker too, since she collects your things.]
"That's what you call a stalker! Don't try to spin it. She's... obsessed with me, and no wonder she could pull off that perfect plan to trap me... she's studied everything...this so unhealthy," Dylan said in his head.
[That's right, sir. She used her ability to monitor you and trap you with the others, sir... she's not the only one who's obsessed. The reason they could all band together and be so coordinated is because they're all the same.]
"Holy hell... what have I gotten myself into? This isn't a horror movie, is it?" Dylan said in his head.
[Hopefully not, sir.]
"What do you mean, hopefully... that's bad," Dylan replied in his head.
[Calm down, sir. The one who made the plan to trap you and capture you wasn't Ellie, because the one I contacted that time wasn't her... there's one more who has the strategic mind and designed everything from the start.]
"Huh... who?" Dylan asked.
[You'll find out yourself later. For now, you should disappear because they're coming.]
Dylan immediately used his Vanish skill and stayed silent inside the room. "Shhhk," the curtain was pulled back. Ellie, along with Lena, Maya, and Amy, walked in.
"Huh... where is he? He's not here?" Amy asked.
"But the surveillance camera showed he is in here, right? That's why we came," Lena asked.
"He can disappear. He definitely hasn't left here yet. I'll guard the door; you guys search inside," Maya said.
"Okay, let's split up, girls," Ellie replied.
Ellie, Lena, and Amy immediately spread out to search the room, waving their hands around, while Maya stood like a guard blocking the doorway, her arms crossed, looking around. Dylan stood still, pressed against the wall with his hand over his mouth. Then he carefully looked around and realized there was a camera and a motion detector on the altar.
"Damn, there's a camera... why didn't I notice that?" Dylan muttered.
[I intentionally didn't tell you, sir.]
"Grrr... you suck, C.A.T.S.," Dylan muttered in his head.