A Midnight Visitor
"Ding... dong," the doorbell chimed. Indra, Alex, Nara, Diaz, and Fani turned to face the entrance of their boarding house, where Amanda was already standing.
"Who's coming at two in the morning...?" Alex mumbled.
"Everyone, get ready..." Diaz replied.
The six of them walked towards the main door, preparing to transform if needed. Indra, at the very front, held the doorknob. He glanced back at the others. When they nodded, he opened the door. Standing there was a man in a long brown coat, a shirt underneath, and dress pants. He wore a cap and glasses. Indra, Alex, and Diaz's faces immediately changed when they saw him.
"The cop from earlier..." Diaz whispered into Alex's ear.
"I know. Was he following us?" Alex whispered back.
"Don't know..." Diaz replied, still whispering.
"You guys know him?" Nara asked.
"Good morning. Sorry to disturb you so early, but I guess you're still awake," the man said.
"What's up, Officer?" Indra asked.
"Hohooo, you know me, do you?" the man asked, smiling.
Alex and Diaz immediately grabbed Indra by the collar, pulling him back. Amanda quickly took Indra's place.
"Why'd you say that to him, you idiot?!" Diaz hissed into Indra's ear.
"This means he knows you, dummy!" Alex added, whispering.
"Oh, right..." Indra replied innocently.
"Why are your friends hiding behind you?" the man asked Amanda.
"Um... it's nothing, sir... are you really a police officer?" Amanda asked.
"Oh, now you don't know me? Didn't your three friends there tell you? They met me at the crime scene earlier, and I introduced myself," Fadli replied.
"So, you three got caught?" Nara asked innocently, turning to Indra, Alex, and Diaz, followed by Fani, who also looked at the three.
"Oh, for crying out loud...!" Indra, Alex, and Diaz exclaimed in unison.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to arrest you or anything. I'm here to ask you all some questions. May I come in?" Fadli asked.
Reluctantly, Amanda finally invited the man inside. They led him to the living room. Amanda excused herself briefly to get drinks. The man observed the faces of Indra, Alex, Diaz, Nara, and Fani, who sat before him. Then he turned to look at an empty chair.
"Hmm, there are six of you, including the girl who just went out, that makes seven..." Fadli mused.
Indra, Alex, Diaz, Nara, and Fani immediately froze. They looked at each other. The man had counted Shin, who shouldn't have been visible to ordinary people.
"You can see him?" Alex asked, pointing at Shin, who was sitting in the empty chair.
"Yes, a foreigner, right? From the land of cherry blossoms. Oh, I apologize, not a person, but a demon from there, correct?" the man asked.
"Who are you, really, sir?" Indra asked.
"Wait for your friend to come back. Besides, surely you haven't forgotten?" the man replied.
Indra, Alex, and Diaz immediately fell silent. They hadn't forgotten Fadli's face from when he introduced himself earlier. Soon after, Amanda returned with a bottle of mineral water and sat next to Indra. The man then opened his bottle and drank.
"Alright, now I'll introduce myself again. My name is Fadli. I'm a detective from the Jakarta police. This is my badge. My division is the paranormal division, which technically shouldn't exist. I have some questions for all seven of you," Fadli said, showing his badge, which he took from inside his brown coat.
"Huh... Mr. Fadli can see Shin?" Amanda asked, surprised.
"I just asked that too," Alex replied.
"Can you explain who you really are, sir, and how you got here?" Indra asked, tense.
"Don't be so tense, relax. This isn't an official visit, I just want to talk. We met earlier, right? Why did you run, even though I raised my hands and introduced myself?" Fadli asked.
"Why didn't you three tell us you'd already met him?" Amanda asked.
"Yeah, we're totally out of the loop here," Fani added.
"Wait, Mr. Fadli, how did you know that was us? Our forms were different, right?" Indra asked.
"Aha! So you admit it... which one were you?" Fadli retorted.
"Oh, come on, bro..." Diaz groaned.
"Too late, bro. Just spill it," Indra replied.
"As I explained earlier, I handle paranormal affairs in Jakarta. Of course, seeing a jerangkong, a tiger-man, and a bati-person together in front of an odd creature's corpse, then discussing it, it's definitely a transformation, isn't it? I just connected you with the group that arrived this afternoon, bringing the victim's child to the crime scene, which I saw from inside. It's highly unlikely it would be anyone else, as this case is confidential. So it turns out I was right, huh?" Fadli said, smiling.
"Uuuuh..." Indra, Alex, and Diaz mumbled.
"But how did you get here, sir?" Amanda asked.
"This..."
Fadli showed a photo on his smartphone. They saw a picture of themselves from earlier that afternoon. Fadli pointed to Diaz's car, whose license plate was visible. He said he had his men track the car, and they found it immediately. The six of them fell silent, unable to say anything.
"Alright, who exactly are you? If I read the sign in front of this boarding house, it says 'detective and paranormal services accepted.' Can you answer that?" Fadli asked directly.
Indra, Amanda, Alex, Nara, Diaz, and Fani looked at each other. They then looked back at Fadli, who leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of his face, staring at them.
"We're just aspiring university students who just came to Jakarta for college, sir," Fani was the first to speak.
"Hmm, you're from Bali, aren't you?" Fadli asked.
"How did you know, sir?" Fani asked, surprised.
"From your accent. You're the ones who like catching and fighting criminals at night, right? But not in Jakarta," Fadli replied.
"What do you mean, sir?" Nara asked.
Fadli opened his smartphone and showed his social media. He displayed the exploits of Indra, Alex, Nara, Diaz, Fani, and Amanda in their respective cities, recorded by surveillance cameras or by other people. The six of them fell silent again, not making a sound.
"As I said, I'm not here to arrest you. I just want to know who you are. Why do you look so scared?" Fadli said.
"Alright, sir, I'll tell you," Indra replied.
He began to explain that the person in the recording was indeed him, even though he only just realized his actions had been recorded. Then, one by one, they explained to Fadli about their own recordings, which they themselves hadn't realized were being made.
"So you really came to Jakarta for college, and it just happened that you're all together?" Fadli asked.
"Yes, sir, that's right. We're also online gaming friends," Indra replied.
Fadli looked at the faces of all six of them. Then he turned to look at Shin, who nodded at him. Fadli immediately leaned back and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat.
"Mind if I smoke?" he asked.
"Please do, sir. I'll get an ashtray," Amanda replied, standing up immediately.
After lighting his cigarette and exhaling smoke upwards, Fadli took a photo from inside his coat and placed it on the table. The photo was of Tari's parents' bodies before they were taken by the coroner from the hospital. Indra, Alex, Nara, Diaz, and Fani saw that what Amanda had said was true, as they were now looking directly at the photo, which made them a little nauseous.
"Enough, sir, please cover it... it's gruesome," Nara said, flipping the photo over.
"Alright, now that you've seen it, I'll explain," Fadli said.