Harlem smiled triumphantly as he backtracked a bit while keeping his arms outstretched as if taming an animal. He wiped the beads of sweat that trickled down on his forehead and looked up at the ceiling fan. His jaw clenched as he noticed that it was not producing cool air as he would have wanted.

"Why're you sweating? It is August!" Nancy giggled while observing the perspired man. Kuril Islands veritably becomes an arctic blast when autumn rolls in. It was abnormal for someone to be sweating even a tad bit. For some reason, the condo was scorching from the inside. Harlem blindly guessed that it was because the windows were never open and there was no air conditioner. It was not like this old condo can cater to people's desires for the ideal climate anyway. He shrugged his shoulders in response and walked over to the girl sitting on her bed.

"I am used to the air conditioner. Plus, it is stuffy in here." He stood by Nancy and glanced at the ceiling lamp. His neck then swiveled to the stack of red paper boat hats. A scowl marred his face. Nancy paid no attention as she flapped the card that was in between her fingers while eyeing Harlem.

Nancy began a line of questioning, "What is with the cryptic message? Are you trying to tell me that Natalia's up to no good?"

Harlem exhaled through his nostrils as buckled at his knees and held onto the edge of the nightstand. He looked at Nancy with a crestfallen expression as she could not understand the ambiguity or whole gist of the message on the card. He said crisply, "Natalia is not the nice sister you think she is. She can be very callous and patronizing."

Nancy scoffed, "I know that she is overbearing, but to call her heartless is an overstatement."

Harlem raised a brow at her and said more coldly, "An understatement actually."

Nancy shook her head, "An overstatement!"

"Understatement-"

"Overstatement, take it or leave it!" Nancy said that with so much conviction that her body rocked back and forth, causing the bunk bed to creak. Harlem was taken aback by her outburst but quickly rallied as he sat on the edge of the bed beside her, leaning over as to not the platform base with his head. Nancy's frustration is now fixated on his sitting position. She fumed slightly and pointed at his back, "You will become hunchback if you sit like this."

Harlem waved his hand dismissively, "I am used to sitting like this." He does a once-over at the stack of paper boat hats before reaching for Nancy's hand and interlaces his fingers with hers, smiling at her with a faraway look. He steels himself before asking, "Can I ask you a question?"

Nancy squinted at him and spoke matter-of-factly yet harshly, "Don't ask me if you can ask a question in advance. You literally just asked one!" Nancy sighed as she slid the note into her paper boat hat on her head. She spoke more softly this time, "Of course you can, moron. Next time just ask without giving me a forewarning or anything like that. Just ask away."

Harlem chuckles and winks at her in a whimsical manner before recomposing himself and looking at her with a solemn expression. "Did it ever cross your mind that someone could fabricate something in one of your paper boat hats?"

Nancy laughed raucously, but her cachinnation came to an end when she took in Harlem's stern expression. "I am being dead serious, Nancy. Something this dicey must be thought out."

Nancy puffed her cheeks out as she adjusted the pillow behind her head with her freehand before placing it on top of Harlem's hand. She stared at the rotating ceiling fan, her mind blanking out from his words. "Harlem dear, I can tell if the handwriting is mine or someone else's."

"Anyone can emulate your handwriting-"

"No one can. I have my own way."

Harlem gaped at Nancy astonishingly. His jaw clenched and he retracted his clammy hand that was atop her cold one. He ran his fingers through his hair as he walked towards the window with heavy footsteps. He mumbled indignantly to himself as he bent over. He propped his hands on the windowsill as he stared out of it intensely. His gaze was almost woeful, not angry anymore.

"Nancy..." he started as his gaze veered to her direction to look at her now, "That tree...that's the tree where you and Omniya would study together before travelled to London for college."

Nancy's head inclined and she let out a faint gasp. She now remembered...she remembered Omniya Shoku. She was a brunette girl with an eye mole and a petite yet tall figure. All she recalled was that she was her piano study buddy and was the first one to propose having the tree as their rendezvous.  

Harlem clasped his clammy hands and his expression hardened as he looked at Nancy intently. "Care if we go out for a while? I want to show you something."

Nancy nodded and rose from her bed, back to her energetic senses after finally rallying. Harlem smiled as he extended an angled arm towards her, which she gladly took. Harlem gently walked alongside Nancy with their arms connected and swiftly put the coat that was left on the coat hanger over his burly shoulder.

♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮▬ι═ﺤ ♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮♮

The two made a brisk stroll to the tree and were now standing in front of the arched colossal tree, its branches decorated in inferno leaves. The tree looked even more divine up close. In the broad daylight, the amber luster of the sun seeped through the gaps between the tree's arms and fingers. The dark brown tree bark looked like it had been gnawed off, yet nothing incongruous was apparent on the tree. It was an idyllic spot for ruminating and relaxing.

Harlem slowly let go of Nancy and sauntered to the topsoil completely swathed in rigid leaves and twigs. Without stepping on it, he stooped down and inspected the soil. In the meantime, Nancy was ogling at the tree like a child in a candy store.

"Who would've known that I moved to the condo where my study buddy and I would sit under this very tree? What a small world!" 

"No. It has been transferred. A tree like this has seen better days." "Just why would she have to even place the same tree in her plan? I get that it is cherished, but wouldn't it start giving her hallucinations since it is related to Omniya?" Harlem does not voice his suspicion to Nancy as to what this transferred tree could be doing here. If it was taken down, why transfer the same exact one? He knew something that she did not, but he could not afford telling her yet.

Nancy looked at Harlem dumbfounded after he broke it to her. "You think so?"

"I don't think so. I know so." He pointed at the topsoil and began expounding with a confident smile. "The soil is stratified and dry, indicating that it was recently moved. It rained cats and dogs in this area not so long time ago, and all stratified soils are ought to be damp. Plus, the leaves do not match the tree's leaves. The twig also does not look like it is made of the same wood."

Harlem picked up a big twin and snapped it into two without a hitch. Suddenly, a screeching cat darts from above a branch, probably because it was sent to a frenzy after hearing the sound of the twig. Harlem closed his eyes tightly as a couple of leaves due to the cat's sudden propulsion fell on his hair. Nancy laughed light heartedly and went up to the boy now covered in leaves, propping her elbow on his shoulder.

"Guess you will be leaving with leaves, eh?"

"And who said I will be leaving now?" Harlem snorted as he prodded Nancy with the half of the twig. She was quick to retaliate as she took the other half and poked him back. They continue doing this, but Harlem quickly ends it since he despised "childish tomfoolery". 

Nancy drew a shaky breath and swayed to the side while shuddering, "That reminds me...we will be getting a cat soon."

"A cat, hm?" Harlem's eyes narrow as he noticed Nancy shivering from the cold. He puts the coat that was hanging from his shoulder around her while closely looking at her.

"Yea. His name's apparently Redrum because his fur is red like wine. What kind of cat is that?"

Nancy giggled, in which Harlem did not join. He cast Nancy a suspicious look as the ystarted going back into the condo. "Redrum?"

"Mhm. What's wrong with it?"

"Murderous name if you ask me." They were now back in her room. Nancy threw the coat to the coat hanger without looking and they stopped in the center of her dimly it room, the only source being the dusk light flooding the room.

"Murderous?" Nancy blinked in confusion, her full fledged grin dropping.

"I mean- in my agency, some man good at mechanics tested the newbie coding dissector by creating her a robotic cat and named it Redrum to see if she figures out the whole eerie intent behind it."

"Eerie intent?"

Harlem's dismissive behavior did not deter Nancy from probing further, but what inhibited her was the sound of his receiver in disguise as a dumbbell ringing. The sound flurried Nancy. Harlem quelled the clamor by answering it. His tone underwent a more formal modification.

"Detective Harlem of the FDH magistrate here...sorry, I didn't quite catch that...come again?" He paused as he stood up, glancing at Nancy fleetingly before walking to the coat hanger. He put his coat over his pin tuck, buttoning it up with one hand while holding the receiver with the other hand.

"Oh, a dead body on the side of the road...that will not happen on my watch. I will deal with it. Alright, alright. Send my regards to them." Harlem closed the receiver and tucked it away, talking indistinctly under his breath. All Nancy heard was, "These spasmodic calls come at me in the wrong times...they come and go, come and go." He sighed. "At least they aren't from the pager this time. I can hear a voice that has emotion."

Harlem holds the doorknob and takes out his hat from the coat hanger. He puts it on while smiling amorously at Nancy, his body facing the door. "I have a case I must crack. The last thing I can tell you is that even if the meaning behind the message I wrote on the card is a downside, all sides must be shed on light sooner or later. The more you deny that Natalia may be shady and cruel, the deeper the hole that you're digging for yourself becomes."

Nancy gazed at Harlem with an appreciative smile. She sprang from the bed all while taking off her pink paper boat hat and tucking the card into the crevice. She gave it a pat before putting it back on and said indulgently, "Okay, I will bear that in mind. Just swing by, okay?"

Harlem hummed in assent before planting a kiss on Nancy's forehead and waving at her as he stepped out of the room. Nancy sighed as she was now left with her, her paper boat hats, and muddled thoughts. Could it be that Harlem sensed something in Natalia that she did not? Was Natalia a malign person? She did not want to forfeit her own mental wellbeing and decided to let go of these thoughts and walked to the piano. She started tickling the ivories without a care in the world.