The water had mostly dried off Eri by the time they reached the outdoor boardwalk area.
Mostly.
Her hoodie was still faintly damp at the cuffs, and her tails—while fluffed back to their usual softness—carried just enough leftover moisture to swish a little heavier than normal.
Alex walked beside her, hands in his pockets, suspiciously cheerful for someone who had weaponized an orca fifteen minutes earlier.
“You’re still evil,” she muttered.
“You’re still dramatic.”
She flicked a tail toward him in warning.
He grinned.
The te afternoon crowd flowed around them—families, couples, groups of friends, all drifting between snack stands and souvenir shops.
It was loud.
But rexed.
Safe in its anonymity.
Until—
“Alex?”
The voice cut cleanly through the noise.
Both of them turned.
Becca stood about twenty feet away, holding a pstic cup with a half-melted slushie. She looked equally surprised and confused.
“Oh,” she said slowly, stepping closer. “Wow. I did not expect to see you here.”
Eri’s ears twitched.
Of all pces.
Of course.
Alex recovered first. “Hey. Uh— yeah. Aquarium day.”
“With her?” Becca asked, gncing at Eri.
There was something sharper in her eyes now.
Less casual than at school.
Eri straightened slightly, instinctively aware.
“Yes,” Alex said evenly.
Becca looked between them.
“So this is… a thing?”
Eri felt her face warm slightly.
Alex didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah.”
Not loud.
Not defensive.
Just honest.
Becca’s eyebrows lifted slightly.
“Huh.”
Silence hung for a beat too long.
Then Becca shifted the cup in her hand.
“I’ve actually been trying to get ahold of you,” she said to Alex.
He blinked. “Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
She hesitated.
Then—
“Ethan.”
The name nded heavier this time.
Two weeks.
Two full weeks.
No one had seen him.
No texts.
No updates.
No transfer paperwork that anyone seemed to know about.
Just… gone.
Alex’s shoulders stiffened slightly.
“What about him?” he asked carefully.
Becca watched his face.
“He didn’t transfer.”
Eri’s heart thudded once.
Alex forced a small frown. “What?”
“I asked around,” Becca said. “Guidance doesn’t have anything official yet. They said sometimes paperwork goes missing, but it’s weird.”
Alex shrugged lightly. “Could just be deyed.”
“Maybe.”
But she didn’t sound convinced.
Her eyes flicked to Eri.
Lingering there a little too long.
“He left right after that whole… incident,” Becca added.
Eri kept her expression neutral.
“What incident?” Alex asked, too casually.
Becca gave him a look.
“Come on.”
The hallway whispers.
The garden where he ran off.
The weirdness.
Alex rubbed the back of his neck. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Doesn’t it?”
The crowd shifted around them again, ughter from a nearby group momentarily filling the space.
Becca lowered her voice slightly.
“He was struggling,” she said.
Eri’s ears tilted back subtly.
“With what?” Alex asked.
Becca didn’t answer immediately.
She studied Eri instead.
“I don't know, but there was something.”
Silence.
Eri’s stomach tightened.
Alex’s jaw flexed.
“I know there was,” Alex responded.
Becca’s eyes flicked back to him.
“So you did see him in css. The way he kept staring bnkly. The way he kept silent somedays.”
Eri felt something cold crawl up her spine.
As if she were being observed again.
But Ethan wasn’t here.
He couldn’t be.
“He was just acting up,” Alex countered.
Becca shook her head slightly.
“No. Acting up is a one time thing. This happened many times over many days.”
That words hung heavier.
Struggling.
“What do you think was happening?” Eri asked quietly.
Becca met her eyes directly now.
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
The air shifted.
Not openly hostile.
But no longer casual.
Becca crossed her arms.
“And now he’s gone.”
Alex’s voice stayed level. “Sometimes people leave.”
“Without telling anyone?”
“It happens.”
She studied him.
Then gnced between them again.
“You two started hanging out soon after he disappeared.”
Eri’s tails stilled.
“That’s not a crime,” Alex said.
“I didn’t say it was.”
But she was thinking something.
That much was clear.
A group of kids ran past, bumping lightly into Becca’s shoulder. She stepped aside automatically.
Then sighed.
“I’m not accusing you,” she said, though it didn’t entirely sound like the truth. “I just think it’s strange.”
“It is,” Alex admitted.
Becca’s eyes sharpened slightly.
“That’s the first honest thing you’ve said about it.”
He didn’t respond.
She took a sip of her melting drink, then looked at Eri again.
“Did he ever say anything to you?”
The question hit directly.
Eri held her gaze.
“No.”
Not technically a lie.
He had stared.
Watched.
Followed.
But he hadn’t said anything she could repeat.
Becca seemed to measure that answer.
Then nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
Another pause.
Then—
“If you hear anything, let me know.”
It wasn’t a request.
It felt more like a warning.
She gave them one st look.
Then turned and disappeared back into the crowd.
The noise of the boardwalk swelled again around them.
Eri exhaled slowly.
Her ears were still tilted back.
“She doesn’t believe us,” she murmured.
“No,” Alex admitted quietly. “She doesn’t.”
“She’s going to keep looking.”
“Yeah.”
Two weeks.
Long enough for concern to turn into suspicion.
Long enough for someone like Becca to start connecting dots.
Even if the dots didn’t fully make sense.
Eri’s tails shifted uneasily.
“I don’t like this,” she said softly.
Alex gnced at her.
“I know.”
“She’s not wrong.”
He didn’t argue that.
Because Ethan disappearing was strange.
Even if it had been necessary.
Even if it had been unavoidable.
The boardwalk suddenly felt less light.
Less anonymous.
As if someone had turned up the awareness dial just a little too high.
Alex gently nudged her shoulder.
“Hey.”
She looked at him.
“We’ll handle it,” he said quietly.
Her ears slowly eased from their tense position.
“But this is just the start,” she said.
He didn’t lie this time.
“Probably.”
Behind them, the aquarium loomed quietly.
Ahead of them, the crowd kept moving.
And somewhere within it—
Suspicion had just taken its first real breath.
