The moment I touched her on the shoulder, she wiped the tears from her eyes and turned around.
"Liam, what are you doing here?" she averted her gaze, trying to hide the fact that she was about to cry.
"I came here with a friend," I answered. "What are you doing here? Is something the matter?"
She hastily pulled out her phone and showed me the screen.
"Have you seen this girl?" she asked.
On the screen was a blonde-haired girl dressed in a skirt and an oversized jacket. She struck a cute pose with a pink bag hanging from her arm. She looked just about my sister's age.
"No, I haven't seen her before," I answered.
"She's my sister, Kei. She was out late, so I tracked her location. When I realized she was here in Firefly District, I got worried and decided to follow her. It led me to this place."
From Ivy's expression, I could tell she was really worried about her sister. I had never seen this much emotion from her before.
"I'll help you look for your sister."
"Thank you," she said, bowing her head.
We both searched the building for any signs of her sister. We wandered around questioning people who were there, but no one seemed to have seen her. Ivy was panicking as she rushed from person to person.
The stoic girl I thought I knew before now seemed so fragile.
"Where could she have gone? I don't know what I'll do if anything…"
I took her hand before she began thinking the worst and brought her over to the entrance. The guards see everyone who enters this place; if anyone saw her, it must be them.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Ivy protested, trying to pull her hand from my grasp.
I took the phone from Ivy's hand and showed it to the guards.
"Have you seen this girl?"
The guards squinted as they stared at the phone. Ivy's eyes brimmed with faint hope. It looked like she understood what I was thinking by asking the guards.
"No, I haven't seen her before," one of them answered.
Ivy's expression fell, and her hand trembled.
"Wait, I think I know her," the other guard said. "Isn't that Jake's girl?"
"Oh, yeah, that lowlife," the first guard responded, clearly not a fan of this Jake person. "Jake left a while ago with a huge grin on his face. The fucker must've made a lot of money."
"Do you know where he went?" I asked.
"Not exactly. There's a fine establishment not too far from here. It's a restaurant/arcade/motel. We refer to it as the 'joint.' It's where all the kids go when they want to have some fun."
The joint?
"Okay, thank you," I said.
"Thank you so much," Ivy repeated after me, bowing her head.
We exited the building and headed toward the joint.
"Do you know the place the guard was talking about?" Ivy asked, looking at me suspiciously.
"No, I don't really know the area. This is actually my first time here."
Ivy frowned.
"Thank you for helping me look for my sister, but what I saw back there isn't boxing. It's disgusting, and anyone who enjoys watching that is also disgusting."
She doesn't mince words, does she?
She spoke with conviction, and I could tell she felt strongly about it. Soon we arrived at a rundown building, just like all the buildings in this district, except this one had a giant neon sign plastered above it that said 'Joint.'
"This is it."
The door creaked as we pushed it open. The first thing that greeted us was a lounge area. It had pink-colored sofas that formed a semi-circle around a TV. There were two rough-looking men sitting on the sofas. Beside them was a pink-haired girl wearing a crop top that left a section of her bra exposed and a short skirt that revealed a tattoo of a dragon on her thigh. What shocked me the most was that this girl looked the same age as us.
"Who the fuck are you two?" she asked.
Ivy and I were momentarily speechless at the sight before us, but I finally regained my composure and spoke.
"Sorry for interrupting; we're looking for someone. Do either of you know Jake?" I asked.
The pink-haired girl smiled and crossed her legs.
"Never heard of him, right boy?"
The rough-looking men, whom I had previously been wary of, nodded their heads like dogs.
Who is this girl?
The way she carried herself gave me a bad feeling.
"Is there anything else you need help with?" she asked, then slowly climbed off the sofa. "Maybe we can wash your back since you're clearly in a position to march in here and make demands."
"Look, I only came here looking for Jake. My friend here—"
"I don't give a flying fuck what you or your friend here want. I've never seen you around here before; who gives you the authority to come here making demands? What gang are you with?"
Gang? Immediately as she said that, the men behind her reached for their waists. I immediately understood what was happening. Ivy grabbed onto my arm.
"Maybe we should leave," she suggested.
"Maybe you should," the pink-haired girl mocked.
An unsettling feeling welled up in my stomach over the whole situation. I had a feeling that something was amiss with this Jake guy and that somehow Ivy's sister had gotten caught up in it. At this stage, we couldn't do anything about it, so Ivy and I left.
We walked along the street, unsure of what to do next.