It sucked going outside without a phone.

Dad said that it’ll take a couple of days to find a way to make it hero proof if it was turning on and off by itself.

It was even worse since I made arrangements with a particular person too.

I sat at a table outside of an ice cream parlor and tapped my fingers against the table. The sky was clear and the sun beat down on my face which caused me to cover my eyes with my hand. I hope this wouldn’t take a long time.

“My word, this little hare has grown so much.”

The shrill voice called out to me and a grin stretched on my face.

“Goosette!”

Goosette stood there with a black and white fan covering her face. She looked elegant with her hair covering her shoulders. She even wore a white dress for the occasion. The only thing that wasn’t elegant was the giant backpack she had on her back.

Looked like she didn’t find better ways to hide her wings yet.

She waved her hand at me. “Hush hush, now. You know I no longer go by that name ever since I turned the dreaded age of thirty with no success behind it.”

“Sorry, I forgot.” I gave a bashful smile and rubbed my arm.

She huffed. “Only natural. I don’t know how you survived the hero world with your given name out there.”

“Ah well… my dad helped a lot.”

“Mm yes, Mr. Saenin. He always knew how to get around loopholes.” Goosette took the seat in front of me and placed her fan down on the table. “Now, why did you bring me here today?”

“So…” I folded my hands together. “I was out doing a mission assigned to me and the funniest thing happened. I recognized your voice on the receiving end.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re not going to accuse me of some act I had no hand in, are you?”

“Hold on, let me tell the whole story.” I raised a hand to stop her. “So… I did some digging the other day and found out that it was a sample voice recording you had on your site.”

“Ahhh, yes. My special reels. But those are only supposed to accessed on my website for a heavy fee.” She leaned back and sighed wistfully. “Oh, how the world wasn’t ready for my talents.”

“Yes, exactly. I was wondering if you could do me a favour and give me information on whether someone has purchased them recently?”

“Technically I’m not allowed to disclose that sort of information to third party.”

I shifted in my seat. “Yes uh… I know I don’t like doing this but… we could stage a fight under the pretense of me busting you for a villainous act and legally you can hand over that information.”

She let out a low hum and shook her head. “You know I’m retired, gosling.”

“Please Genevieve!” I pressed my hands together in a plea. “I asked the heroes association about why I got called there but there are no records of them ever sending me that emergency notification.”

Her head leaned back and she raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me that the app has a glitch?”

“I don’t think it’s a glitch I think there has been a hack or something.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Your phone or the site?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering.”

“You haven’t been using your phone, have you?”

I shook my head. “No, no, that’s why I emailed you.”

She sat there for what felt like a very long time. I watched her expression change every so often as she thought over the situation. Whatever was going on in her mind probably was really hard for her to make a decision.

“Since you are such a dear friend, I’ll figure out something for you. If say, one of my geese happened to steal an important document and you happened to find it. You would do your duty as a hero to return it within a reasonable amount of time, correct?”

My eyes lit up and I nodded. “Yes, of course. I take my hero job seriously.”

“Fantastic.” She stood from her seat and adjusted her bag. “Just be sure my little goose doesn’t get harmed. Messenger geese are very expensive.”

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to the goose.”

One step closer to the end game. Whatever this person has planned won’t get away with it.