“You still remember Lela, right?” Pio asked again, trying to bring Syafir back to the days they had spent together in high school—days filled with challenges and beautiful memories, all of which could never return.
Syafir appeared to be thinking hard, trying to remember the Lela Pio had mentioned.
He kept racking his brain.
Until Syafir finally remembered her—the girl who had once been part of their high school days.
A high school girl whose hair looked like Sailor Moon's in the Japanese animated film. She had been obsessed with Syafir ever since they entered high school.
“Lela, our high school friend? The one with the Sailor Moon hairstyle?” Syafir answered brightly, remembering his admirer from back then.
“See? You do remember,” Pio replied, flashing Syafir a wide smile.
“How could I forget? She disappeared once, and you and I were the ones who found her. So what does that have to do with Ari's disappearance?” Syafir asked Pio, eyeing his friend suspiciously.
Pio's smile faded. Only then did he answer Syafir's question.
“We're going to look for Ari, just like we looked for Lela back then,” Pio explained, revealing his wishes to Syafir with great enthusiasm.
“Look for Ari? Do you think I still want to search for missing people? And do you think we're detectives? Wake up, Pio. We're not high school kids anymore. We're not the detectives you always dreamed of becoming,” Syafir shot back, slightly irritated by his friend's idea. Then he sighed.
“But regardless, we did find Lela when she disappeared,” Pio insisted firmly, as if trying to dictate terms to Syafir.
“And you think that made us detectives? Your thinking is completely ridiculous, Pio Sanjaya. Besides, Lela wasn't actually missing. She ran away to her grandmother's house in Sukabumi because her parents refused to grant her request,” Syafir countered, recalling what had happened.
It was the kind of incident that sometimes made him laugh to himself. How had he ever been willing to follow Pio's crazy ideas back then?
“But at the very least, we were detectives back in high school...” Pio countered, speaking with complete conviction as he continued trying to persuade Syafir to go along with his wishes.
“Yeah, detectives! Amateur detectives, not professionals,” Syafir mocked, poking fun at Pio's long-standing obsession.
“That’s exactly why, if we want to become professional detectives, we have to solve Ari's disappearance,” Pio replied. Syafir merely shook his head in response to Pio's words before speaking again.
“Good grief... Pio, Pio Sanjaya... Do you think I'm still as crazy as I was back in high school? The person I am now is clearly different from who I was then. These days, I care more about college and my future than getting involved in other people's problems,” Syafir retorted with a bitter smile.
“But Ari is our friend too,” Pio said pleadingly.
“Even if he is our friend, I'm not close to him. Besides, isn't Ari a playboy? So maybe he isn't missing at all. Maybe he disappeared on purpose. He could be out having fun with one of the girls he's been pursuing...” Syafir said, rising from his seat. He intended to leave the place as soon as possible.
“But it doesn't seem like that's what happened. There's something strange about Ari's disappearance,” Pio said, trying once again to convince Syafir, utterly certain of himself.
“Forget it, Pio. I want to go home. I'm really exhausted today. Sorry, Pio—I don't mean that I don't appreciate you. I'm just really tired...” Syafir offered by way of explanation, walking away from Pio and the campus cafeteria without caring about anything else.
“If only Ari were a girl. You'd act fast, Fir,” Pio called out, but Syafir completely ignored him and kept walking.
“Looks like I'll have to investigate Ari's disappearance on my own. But hopefully Syafir will change his mind tomorrow,” Pio said to himself, fully determined to pursue his obsession.
Pio then left the campus cafeteria and headed toward his own destination, which was of course different from Syafir's. He hoped that by the next day he would be able to find Ari's whereabouts, conducting an investigation in the style of Detective Pio Sanjaya Pratama.
An obsession that looked ridiculous to everyone else. But not to Pio Sanjaya Pratama.