That day, I woke up feeling energetic.
I had a nightmare about a fair maiden being attacked by those seven men and I, dressed up like Superman, saved her and whooped those guys.
In short, It was great.
But I was so busy with my lessons, household chores and vibing to music in a language i didn't understand so that by one-thirty, I was busy wrestling an apple I was supposed to eat.
Then I checked my personal clock.
I yelped.
I was going to be late.
So I hurriedly did the rest of my stuff but I finished my match with the apple.
Damn! The apple beat the crap out of me.
Never wrestling with apples again. Only oranges.
So I rode my bicycle to Adewale's apartment, feeling like Lance Armstrong.
I got off and knocked on the door.
As usual I was late.
(Mad rhyme)
Adewale looked at me and asked why I was late.
I said I went to deny a pregnancy.
They all burst into laughter except Adewale who shook his head light-heartedly.
After the laughter subsided, Adewale (sitting on Jumai's lap) rose and looked at all of us.
They were all sitting on the sofa but I was more comfortable on the beanbag.
For some reason, Sally rose from the sofa and came to sit beside me on the beanbag.
I barely noticed.
I was staring at a poster bearing the advertisement of a new season of some anime named "Solo beveling" or something.
It reminded me of Azim.
He loved anime so much and I didn't.
I saw anime as cartoons made in Japan.
We could spend hours arguing about it.
I remembered him saying that he would make sure the intro of some anime named "Demon Player" was played at his funeral.
And now, he was gone.
Sally noticed my face and put her hand on my right shoulder.
I gave her a look of gratitude and we both looked at Adewale.
Adewale cleared his throat and began,
"Yesterday was crazy..."
I was like yeah it was bruh. Getting chased by seven men when you go to investigate your friend's disappearance by invading his house isn't normal.
Only we weren't chased.
"...I believe our next course of action is quite clear."
"Which is?" Tochukwu raised an eyebrow.
"Jumai and I discussed this for a while yesterday and we came to a conclusion."
We all waited.
"Henceforth, we will refrain from going to Azim's house and street and anywhere near it. Also, we will report the entire matter to the police and our parents. Our security is very important."
I frowned. I didn't like where this was going.
Were we just supposed to forget about Azim?
This was so not happening.
"That's true because our parents need to know everything about us and the police will take action. Those seven guys are dangerous!" Tochukwu said in agreement.
Everyone else nodded.
But I wasn't buying it.
"So we should just forget about Azim?" I asked in spite of myself.
"Well..no, the police will further their investigation, they are true professionals at what they do."
Adewale said and even came closer.
"We are not forgetting about Azim, we are just handing this case over to someone else."
I shook my head and rose.
"I am not adhering to your conclusion because it has faults!"
Adewale was amused "What faults?"
"So are we just going waltz over to the police station and tell them that we went to our friends house and seven lovely men winked at us?!"
Adewale's eyebrows furrowed.
"Alright, so what do you suggest we do then? Continue investigating like detectives from a sci-fi movie?"
I sighed but he wasn't done yet.
"Kazim, this is not some supernatural movie or novel. This is real life. We are just kids in the final year of high school and this seems weird. Do you understand me?"
I slapped my forehead.
"I know this is real life but doesn't it seem odd to you?" I looked at everyone's faces.
They seemed tense.
"Azim, the real definition of happiness suddenly turns blue and disappears, we go to his house and see seven men in his house! What is this supposed to mean?"
Adewale gave a wan smile "That's why I suggested we tell the police and our parents, this is weird as hell."
"And Kazim" Tochukwu began, "We were also Azim's friends. We also want to know what happened to him, we are also scared as well!"
Sally looked me in the eye.
"We all know you were the closest to him so you are taking this the hardest but try to understand that they are right. Our curiosity shouldn't be prioritized over our safety."
I sighed and walked some distance to the door.
"Where are you going?" Adewale demanded.
I closed the gap between us and said,
"There's something I didn't tell you guys."
Everyone stared at me with a huge question mark on all their faces.
"Azim sent me another text before he disappeared. I didn't think it had much meaning but now, it seems relevant, I guess."
"What was the message?"
"Robert Noode."
"What's that?"
"You mean who's that?" Sally corrected Tochukwu.
"I want you guys to do something for me..."
They all looked at me, paying rapt attention to what I was saying .
"...search up Robert Noode."
They immediately grabbed their phones and acquiesced.
The Android users went to Google and the Apple enthusiasts used Safari.
Two minutes later, they all had the same response.
There was no one in the world bearing Robert Noode.
So what could it mean?
"And if I know Azim, he doesn't do things without reason. He always took things under advisement before doing them."
I paused.
"So this means this is not ordinary..."
I was interrupted by Adewale.
"Oh really? Azim didn't do things without reason? Isn't this the same guy that told the girls we used to question him 'leave my apples'? WHAT DOES LEAVE MY APPLES MEAN! And you expect us to be chill about it!"
He stepped a bit closer to me.
I was about to say, keep your distance, gay but I realized we were in a serious situation.
"I understand that you were the closest to him so its understandable that you will be the most emotional but let's use logic here."
Jumai placed a hand on Adewale's shoulder.
"Logic, you want to talk about logic? Let me show you logic!"
Sally and Tochukwu rose from their seats, hoping that we didn't fight.
I didn't want to argue with him either.
I just wanted to prove my point.
"Azim, the embodiment of happiness and the best toothpaste advertisement around suddenly goes Batman and disappears. He leaves a text message which says 'you have no idea what is coming for us' which is quite scary and a confusing text about Robert Noode. We search his house to find out what happened and see seven men in his house and before his disappearance, he says leave my apples to anyone that asks him what's up with him."
I paused, letting my words sink in.
"Is there anything logical about this case? Of course not. It all just seems crazy and random but somehow, on a different outlook, it makes perfect sense."
Tochukwu nodded. Whether he was showing support or just behaving like a lizard, I didn't know.
"I feel like involving our parents and the police is not the wisest decision. Even if we wanted to tell them,what would we say? The story above that makes little logical sense?"
I faced Adewale.
"Obviously, there's no room for your logic here. Let's figure this out the same way we discovered Azim's address. We didn't even tell our parents about Azim's disappearance or the way we found out his address so why would we involve them now?"
Jumai and Sally looked somewhat impressed on some level, agreeing with me.
"Or is there something Adewale is not telling us?" I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
He looked thoughtful.
The furious look on his face had been replaced by a ruminative one.
All eyes fell on him but he was looking at someone.
Jumai.
She looked like she was urging him to say something.
After a while, he sighed and said.
"Yeah, There's something I didn't tell y'all."