Jun was livid.

He tapped the smartwatch to check how long he was out, luckily it wasn't more than 5 minutes since it registered an oddity in his vital signs. 

“Oh, when I fucking find you…” He growled.

He took a deep breath, adjusted the rifle strap and walked a few steps to make sure his balance was stable enough. He picked up the pace, eventually starting to run towards the opposite end of the alley, assuming that Juto decided to reach the tower by himself. Jun had the advantage in terrain, so he was sure the soldier couldn’t have gone too far without him. It was a common occurrence for tourists to get lost whenever they ventured sightseeing on the upper levels.

He reached into his pocket to grab the phone and froze when he couldn’t feel it. He looked back, despite knowing it was impossible to lose it by mistake. The phone was always secured inside the pocket with a lanyard, so it couldn’t slip out unnoticed, unless the tip broke off or the strap ripped apart. He pulled it out and sure enough it was intact. This could mean only one thing.

However, instead of lamenting his loss, Jun stood there chuckling under his breath, which gradually turned into a full blown laugh.

“That idiot, HAHAHA!” 

A pair of seagulls sat on a fence near him and started squawking as if mimicking his laugh. They took to the air startled when Jun suddenly dashed off in the direction of the plaza.

“So, um, I was wondering… is Jun doing some community service or something?” Juto helped himself to the free water bottle on the table, emptying it in one go.

He changed the topic again to stop Frank from droning on and on about how he convinced half of his family to switch to pipes. Juto was convinced that if he happened to stumble upon another person smoking a pipe in this town, it was certainly going to be Frank’s family. Yapping must’ve been in their blood, so Juto made a mental note to not engage with them unless absolutely necessary.

“You mean the guerrilla thing? Nah, he’s volunteering on his own. He may be a little rascal, but his heart is in the right place.” He grinned.

“Speaking of which, I better go!”

He tossed the empty bottle in the bin from where he was sitting and took one last puff before getting up. He didn’t have any pockets, so his next best option was to just tuck the vape inside his sleeve, which was then secured with the glove. 

“Right, see you around, pal!” Frank raised his arm in a goodbye gesture.

Juto waved with his hand without looking back and jogged off. Frank took the time to thoroughly clean his pipe with a soft cloth. He was about to put it away, when he noticed something on the table.

“Hey, you forgot your phone! Huh…?”

He called after Juto, but the soldier was already out of sight. Oh well, thought the kiosk clerk and got up from his seat to pick it up for safekeeping until someone returns looking for it.

At the fountain, Juto couldn’t help but feel a bit excited that for once he could slide his hand in the tiger’s maw to pull the lever. His mood quickly changed when he noticed the place near the crates was empty. 

“Oh, this is bad… this is really bad.” He went pale. He closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I leave for 5 minutes…” He mumbled. “Why can’t things go my way for once today?”

The worst has come to worst, the cat and mouse game began. Maybe this isn’t real. Maybe all of this didn’t happen, he thought. Maybe I’m just dreaming, still in my bed at the base. He took a deep breath, focusing, as if trying to materialize the unconscious guerrilla with the power of his mind. He opened his eyes, but the spot was still painfully empty, not that he hoped it would actually work. A couple of seagulls sat at the top crate and started to squawk, as if mocking his attempt to retcon everything.

He had no other choice, but to continue on his own, preferably at his fastest pace. Luckily the observation tower was at the highest vantage point, which was visible from every angle in the valley, so all he had to do was move in that direction and hopefully avoid the other guerrillas. He wondered if he should move forward with the risk of stumbling into Jun or trace back and find another way from there. He decided that he’d rather move in the shadows than in the open where he could be spotted easily, and whatever happens during a possible Jun encounter, he’ll try to smooth out peacefully, if possible.

“Dia!” Jun approached a familiar face. He leaned forward, hands propped on knees, panting from all the running.

A tall woman with an undercut, combined with a rat tail braid, reacted to her name. The tank top underneath the guerrilla vest allowed her to fully display her toned arms, one which was covered in a fading out sleeve tattoo depicting Nokoa’s signature animal.

"Hey shortstuff. What got you out of breath already?" She laughed, not used to seeing her fellow guerrilla looking this out of shape so early.

“Listen…” He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. He straightened his back and adjusted his glasses. “I’m looking for a guy around this tall…” He stretched his arm way up. “...muscular, hair, uhh… blond-ish light brown, wears a skintight suit. Have you seen him?”

"Did you get yourself a kinky boyfriend or something?" Dia wondered after searching her memory for a moment, trying not to chuckle.

“What? No!” He puffed his cheeks. “He-” 

He paused for a moment, realizing that if he tells the truth, Dia will definitely chew him out for not sticking to the code of conduct. He decided to just omit some details and get straight to the point of why he seeked her out in the first place.

“He’s a thief!” He continued. “He stole my phone! I need your help tracking him!”

"A thief in a skintight suit? Man, tourists get weirder every year." She sighed, already taking out her own phone and booting up a tracking app that shared the location of all guerilla members in Nokoa. "A-ha! A smoking gun, it seems" She grinned, turning the screen towards Jun, showing the location marker at Frank's place. "Guess your thief fancied himself a smoke break."

“What!?” Jun leaned closer, focusing on the red marker above the kiosk. “Motherfucker! Why would-?” He realized mid sentence that Juto may have stolen more than just the phone. “Oh he’s so fucking DEAD!” He dashed off. “Thanks Dia! I owe you one!”

"Don't go chasing the guy thinking you can fix him!" Dia shouted her words of wisdom after Jun, having no intention to stop the furious man.

“Oh, he’ll need fixing, alright. In the fucking hospital!”

Meanwhile the man in question stopped in his tracks in front of a dark tunnel, similar to the one they passed before. The thought of stepping into a place crawling with dust bunnies gave him the creeps. The gaping entrance emanated with cold air and gave off a low howl when the wind passed by, as if letting out a sigh.

“Nope.” He shook his head and turned around, hoping to find another route. 

That was the second time he had to retrace his steps because of a dead end. He decided to conserve his energy and just walk at a fast pace instead of running. He unzipped his suit past the collarbone, as he could feel the sweat drip down his back. He flapped with the collar to fan himself off and let some of that heat out. The suit was great for thermic protection from the outside, but when the heat came from within, it felt like being trapped in a sauna.

The overgrown flora took over most fences and walls in this part of the town. His gaze landed on an ugly frog statue, or more like, a statue so eroded that someone decided to paint a frog over it with wobbly lines, and topped it off with incredibly big bulging misaligned eyes. It was standing in the middle of a fork in the road. After what happened today, Juto wouldn’t be surprised if it came to life to ask him a riddle. He decided to go right.

Soon he came across more cartoony frog graffiti here and there, all of them close to the ground, and even on the ground, so whoever the prankster was, they must’ve been very young. Juto stopped in front of a hopscotch court in the middle of the street, but the squares were numbered out of order, which was probably a local variation of the game. He pondered for a moment, then looked around to check if nobody’s watching him. He kicked a pebble, which landed neatly in the square with a wobbly number one scribbled in it and he skipped around in the ascending order, his augmented boots clacking on the pavement. With his long legs it wasn’t that big of a challenge. He finished with a twirl, landing on the other side with his arms outstretched, like performing a gymnastic dismount. Suddenly he heard clapping somewhere above. A woman in the open window smiled at him and went back to watering her plants. Juto nodded at her flustered and quickly left the scene.

He sighed, combing fingers through his hair while following the twisted narrow path when a familiar pair of misaligned eyes stared back at him. He found himself at the fork in the road again. He pursed his lips and furrowed his brows, feeling irritation getting to him again.