"Eh? I just said I wished there was Anya Forger. Since you guys are a family, having a family picture together would be nice, right?"
Noah let out a nervous chuckle. He knew that this fan had struck a chord in Yor regarding the situation they were having.
"Well, we're currently working on finding her. Just hope that we can find her quickly." Noah replied to the fan.
Yor felt uncomfortable and confused regarding the topic that the fan had brought up this time. Noah sensed this and held her hand.
"Thank you for taking a picture with us. It was nice to meet you guys. But I think we have somewhere else to be." Noah excused himself.
He pulled Yor away from the fans, leaving the place where the fan was. He walked towards an empty corner, away from the crowd.
"Loid, how do these fans know about Anya." Yor asked with a concerned expression.
He had to think of a reason because he couldn't just say that she was a fictional character in a fictional series that everyone who attended the event watched the anime.
"I don't even know why and how did she knew about it." He replied.
Yor still looked at him with a concerned look. She was still curious about what she meant, "Do you think she is one of those people who sent the letter?"
"I don't think so. I met her yesterday when I came here for the first time, and I think it's just a coincidence." He replied and didn't think she would be the sender of the letter.
He looked around, and there were several food and drink stalls around the area. He saw a food stall nearby and thought of a way to change the topic.
"Let's go and get something to eat and drink while we wait on one of the benches there. It should be a moment from now." He thought it was better for him to distract Yor for her not to overthink it.
She just nodded and followed him around, even though she was still processing what the fan had just said.
They went and had something to eat and drink. They went and sat down on one of the empty benches nearby. They looked at the area, and there were a lot of people gathering around the outdoor area.
There were a lot of people and both of them were looking for someone that looked suspicious. They had a feeling that the person should stand out from the crowd and would be easy to spot.
They looked around the area for the next 20 minutes. A lot of people were still walking around the area, and the number of people was not decreasing.
"There are a lot of people coming here. How are we going to find him?" Yor said as she sighed.
But just as they were going to give up, a man was walking near them. They didn't notice that this man was walking in their direction.
The man was a little bit different compared to the other people who attended the event. He was not dressed nicely and did not wear any fancy costume. He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. He looked a little bit older than any of the attendees of this event.
He walked past Noah and Yor without even glancing at the two of them. As he walked past, he threw a letter on their bench and quickly disappeared into the crowd once again.
Yor quickly noticed this, and he only saw a glimpse of the man's hand, there was a peculiar detail about it. The man had a tattoo of a barcode around his wrist and a timestamp of 22:30.
Yor and Noah looked at the letter and were shocked. The sender had appeared and left another letter, just like that. Yor couldn't even get a glance at the man's face.
Noah grabbed the letter and quickly opened the letter. The content inside the letter was similar to the previous letter they received.
But this time, the letter contains several polaroids. Both Yor and Noah's eyes widened as they were surprised to see the pictures that were inside.
It was the picture of Anya, who was currently crying and tearing up. There are pictures of her on the road, on a building, and somewhere at night while being tied with a rope.
'If you wish for her safety and well-being, you must do what we told you to do.'
'Prepare 1.000.000$ cash in 20 and 50$ bills. Drop them in a trash can at the address attached.'
'You have one week to do so.'
'If you don't do what we said, you know what will happen to her.'
'Do not inform the authorities or the police about this matter. If you do so, we will immediately end your daughter's life.'
Both of them looked at the pictures and were shocked.
Yor was looking at the pictures and couldn't help but feel angry and frustrated. It was a picture where there was Anya being held as a captive.
"Wh-what should we do now?" Yor asked.
Noah thought for a while about what to do in this situation. They cannot just comply and do what the kidnapper tells them. The line was constantly replaying in Noah's head, and he was thinking deeply about how to handle this situation.
"We cannot comply with what the kidnapper tells us." Noah said as he looked at Yor.
"Why?" Yor asked.
"If we do that, the kidnappers will ask for more money and keep extorting us. If we keep giving them money, they will keep continuing to use Anya as their bargaining chip. There is no guarantee that they'll let her go after we give what they want." Noah said as he glanced at her.
"I have something that came to my mind, but I need to do something about it myself alone since I don't want to involve you in this matter. But don't worry, I'll let you know if I have something." Noah continued.
"What? I don't understand. Why would you keep me out of this matter?" Yor asked him and was confused.
"It's not that I want to keep you out of it. But it's for the best for now. It's for your and Anya's safety." He explained.
Hearing this, Yor just nodded, and Noah continued, "You should go back to the hotel room and have a rest. It's getting dark. I'll be back in around 9 PM later, okay?"
Yor nodded again. But she still had a lot of things on her mind. She was still curious as to what is his plan. She listened and followed what he had just said, mainly because she had her own plan to find the people behind the kidnapping.
She wanted to take care of things personally and find Anya out herself without Noah's knowledge. She purposedly acted like this so that she could have time alone to do her own plan.
She needed to prepare before she could go out to the night alone.
After saying goodbyes to Noah, she walked towards the hotel by herself. Yor was walking around the street and was heading back to their hotel room.
Noah looked at her where she was walking toward the hotel, and he started walking around the other way.
His first thought was to ask about the local police or go to the police station to ask if there was any information regarding Anya. But given the note mentioned that if he involved the authorities, they'd know, and they would make a move.
This hints that these kidnappers might have some connection or relations within the authorities' circle, which could be a possible reason why the police are not able to find out where Anya is.
Based on that possibility alone, he writes out the authorities as a way to ask for assistance in this case. He knew someone who might been able to help him.
However, asking for the help that he needs to find out about Anya from the anime would only make their eyebrows raise whether or not he was sane, given how ridiculous the request was.
Although, he is still willing to give it a shot.
As he was walking down the roadside and on his way to the address of the person who could help him in this situation, he was stopped by someone calling him.
"Sir Twilight?" A girl called him.
Noah turned around and saw a tall, short lavender haired girl wearing a dark purple trenchcoat.
Man, I really love her as a character. She looks cool asf.
Also thanks for the power stones!