I decided to call my contact at the FBI to give him an update on what was going on. I just hoped he wouldn't be too upset that Xranstran managed to get away again.

"Agent Dalton, I have chased Xranstran to Royal Woods, Michigan, I was this close to nabbing him again, but he managed to slip through me. He seems to be concentrating his efforts on the mall scamming whoever he can come into contact with."

"Look, Nick!" I know you have a lot of investment in catching this guy, but I should ask, do you think you should be doing this? You have been at this for months, and I can tell it is not doing good for you mentally," Agent Dalton asked.

"I would honestly like to stop, but I need that bounty money. I have invested too much time into this to quit now."

To be honest with myself, though, I did consider that thought. Catching Xranstran has completely taken me over to the point of obsession. If I didn't have to do this, I would have quit long ago. Would it be worth it to quit now, especially since I now have a friend in this place.

"I understand. I wish I could say something different, but I know how much you need this."

"Anyway, I need to go to sleep now. I will speak with you again later."

Sleeping for me is not very fun. Being homeless means I need to sleep in a dark alley on whatever vaguely comfortable materials I can find. I have already gotten used to doing this, but I will admit it does still hurt to not have a comfortable bed to sleep on. I am sure that Leni girl is doing so right now.

In the morning, I wake up ready to continue tracking down Xranstran. I head back to the mall. I don't know for sure if he is still operating there, but it is the best option I have. When I arrive, the first thing I notice is that most of the booths have been taken down, all except one, which is about a contest for a free trip to Hawaii.

I decided to survey the booth while waiting to see if anyone would come to take it down. I made sure to stay out of sight of any passerby. After waiting for nearly 30 minutes, someone finally came to get rid of the booth. It wasn't someone wearing Xranstran's outfit, so I had no idea who it could be. I needed to get some info out of him though.

"You there, you are in big trouble if you are who I think you are, and you won't be slipping past this time," I said.

"You have the wrong idea, sir. I am just a janitor. Someone paid me 20 bucks to get rid of this booth. I don't understand why, but I wasn't complaining."

"Well, those 20 bucks are very likely stolen, so you better give it to me."

"Jeez, calm down, take the money, just leave me alone," he said before quickly leaving.

I had a feeling he was telling the truth because Xranstran wouldn't be dumb enough to reveal himself, I am guessing this is how he got rid of all the booths. Now I had an idea. Eventually, Xranstran will realize that this one is still up and I can use that to try and get some more info about him.

I continued watching the booth for hours, but no matter how long I waited, it was never so much as touched. I was also periodically checking my phone to see if any other crimes matched, but nothing showed up. Xranstran was doing something, but I was at a loss for exactly what it was.

While watching the film, I got a text from Leni. I will admit, I had been hoping this would happen.

Leni: Hello, Nick. I just finished school. Do you want to hang out?

It was weird to see she was so eager to hang out with me even though we had just met. I guess she was just that nice of a person. Also, she mentioned school. I know what school is, but it still feels weird. I have never been to school in my entire life. I am completely self-taught. My natural intelligence does help a lot with that.

Nick: Yeah, sure. What place do you have in mind?

Leni: The Burpin Burger.

Nick: That works. I will see you in about 30 minutes.

As I looked up from my phone, the booth had vanished like magic. That was annoying, so my one chance had just been taken away. Was this phone call meant as a distraction? No, that can't possibly be it. I did a background check on Leni and she couldn't possibly be Xranstran, but I needed to think of the possibility that he could have been manipulating her to do this. It wouldn't be the first time. Now I had to go just to make sure.

I needed to look up exactly where the Burpin Burger was and also hope that Leni would pay for the food, as I had nothing to pay for it with. Looking up the location wasn't too hard though, and it was decently close, so I could walk there pretty easily and make the 30-minute deadline.

I arrived at the place, and I will admit it was quite interesting to see that I don't get to go to these places often. I saw Leni sitting on one of the tables and went to join her.

"Hey, Nick."

"So this is the Burpin Burger," Nick commented.

"You have never been here before?" Leni wondered.

"I am not from around here. I came on a job trip."

I wasn't exactly lying when I said that I just wasn't telling her the full truth.

"Are you travelling alone?" Leni asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"My parents like would never let me travel away from home alone, I can understand that."

"I guess my parents are more trusting of me."

I wish I could say that was the case, but I don't even know who my parents are. I have been alone my entire life, so there isn't anyone to stop me from going wherever I want.

"So Leni," I was wondering why exactly you felt the need to call and hang out with me? I mean, we had only just met. " I asked.

"I like hanging out with and making new friends. There was only this voice in my head that told me to do it. It was probably nothing though."

I will admit that is odd. Could Xranstran have had something to do with that? The guy is clever, so I wouldn't put it past him. While this was happening a waiter came up and asked what we wanted I just ordered the default while Leni ordered some burgers I didn't pay attention to.

"Oh, sorry, Leni. I didn't bring any cash," I said, trying to find a reason to say I couldn't pay for this.

"It's fine, I can pay for our food."

Luckily, that wasn't too hard for me. I will admit the food was really good it is unlike anything I had ever experienced before. For the rest of the hanger, me and Leni mostly just talked. I got to learn a lot about her, her family, her friends, and her experiences. I was still trying to keep most of myself hidden because I was afraid she would be disappointed if she found out who I was. I will admit the paranoia may not be the case, but as of now, it's not a chance I am willing to take now that I have the first person who is nice to me.

For the next few days, me and Leni would continue hanging out in various places until we got to know each other better and better. It felt good to finally have someone as a friend. I have never had any friends at all until now. I have spent my whole life alone.

During this, I was still attempting to track down Xranstran but I have been having little luck, Xranstran has gone weirdly quiet with his crimes only occasionally showing up.

While I was hanging out with Leni, she asked me a question.

"Hey, Nick, would you like to come over to my house."

"Sure, Leni. I guess I will finally get to meet your family, which you have been talking about so much."

"They are totes going to love you so much."

Leni's enthusiasm did put a smile on my face. I hope they do like me. Leni was my first friend, and I want to make a good impression on her parents and siblings.

"So where exactly do you live, Leni."

"My mom and dad made me save our address on my phone, so I will send it to you."

"All right, I will see you there."

When I arrived at Leni's house, it did look like a normal house. Maybe this wouldn't be considered too impressive, but as someone who has never had a home, I would kill for this. Something about this seemed familiar though, not the house itself but the location. This was around the area where a lot of Xranstran's crimes had recently been happening. Now I have another reason for going into the house to find out what is going on.

I knocked on the door, and Leni was the one who came to answer it.

"Hey Nick, come in."

"So this is your house."

"Yeah, what is your house like?" Leni asked.

"Um, it's nothing too impressive, kind of like this except smaller."

I will admit, I came up with that quickly, and I was not expecting to fool her, but Leni seemed to have bought it.

"So let me introduce you to my family," Leni walks up to the couch, "This is my only brother, Lincoln."

"So you're that new friend Leni has been talking about. Nice to meet you, Nick."

"I see you're playing a video game. I hope you enjoy that."

"Thanks, I am getting close to the end."

"It seems someone brought over her new boyfriend," Luan said after coming downstairs and spotting Leni and Nick.

"No, me and Leni are not like that."

I will admit, a few times while me and Leni were hanging out, people thought we were a couple. I guess some people don't get the idea that a boy and a girl can be friends. Honestly, I am not interested in the idea of pursuing a relationship. I don't know if it's just that I can't feel anything or I just have too much else to worry about.

"This is my younger sister Luan. She likes telling jokes," Leni said.

"These jokes are lighting up the mood, get it?"

Me and Leni head into the kitchen, where both of her parents are cleaning up.

"These are my parents."

"Hello, nice to meet you. I am Nick Leni's newest friend," I say while shaking their hands.

"Leni has always had a talent for making new friends," Rita said.

"I can't believe that the car broke down again," Lola said while storming into the house through the back door.

"I just need to get my toolbox and it will be as good as new," Lana said.

"Nick, these are two of my younger sisters, Lana and Lola."

Ah, twins. I see, you two must get along so well," I responded.

"Well, sometimes," Lola said.

"It's more of a 50/50 thing," Lana responded.

"Man, your clothes look terrible, Nick. It's like you haven't changed out of them in weeks," Lola said.

Crap, I was worried about someone taking notice of this. Now I needed to come up with an excuse.

"I forgot to pack my clothes when I came here."

We walked back into the living room, where I witness another of her siblings, who I later find out is named Lynn, rushing down the stairs.

"Out of my way, Stinkcoln, my sports show is on soon."

"I am nearly done with my game, Lynn," Lincoln says this while battling Lynn for control of the television.

"That is my younger sister Lynn, but we should probably go before things get ugly."

Leni and I walk up the stairs to the second floor and are right away greeted by another of Leni's sisters.

"Hey, dude."

"This is my younger sister Luna. Luna, this is my new friend Nick."

"Sup dude. By the way, Leni, thanks for helping me with Sam," Luna says as she goes downstairs.

"Who is Sam?" I asked.

"She is Luna's girlfriend. Long story with that one."

"I see."

I had heard of the concept of men with men and women with women in a relationship, but I had never met anyone like that until now. I guess it's fitting that it would be with the family of my first friend. Me and Leni then head into the room right in front of the stairs and see another of Leni's sisters performing some sort of weird ritual.

"That is my younger sister Lucy," Leni said.

"I am performing a channelling I would like peace." I quickly closed the door.

"I noticed that all your siblings are younger than you. Leni. Are you the oldest sibling?"

"Well, not quite. I have one older sibling, Lori but she is currently in college."

"Maybe I will get to meet her one day."

"I still have two more to introduce you to." Leni leads me into the room in the corner on the right.

"This is my youngest sister, Lily. She is currently asleep though."

"She is so cute."

"And this is my younger sister Lisa. Lisa, this is my new friend Nick. He is really smart, just like you."

"I see. Do you have any hidden agenda?"

Wait, how does she know? She couldn't possibly know, I just met her.

"Ummm, no, why do you ask?"

"Don't worry, Nick Lisa likes to do that," Leni replied.

Well, I will admit that it is slightly reassuring. However, just as this was happening, my phone started beeping. I checked in quickly and saw there was a major crime in progress that matched Xranstran's pattern.

"It's been nice meeting your siblings, Leni, but I need to go now. It's an emergency." I rush out of the house as quickly as I can.

"Leni, something is suspicious about that guy. He seems to be hiding something from you, I would recommend being careful," Lisa said.

"Thanks for looking out for me Lisa, but I don't think I need to worry. He is a nice guy." Leni walks out of Lisa's room to head back to her own.

"Maybe it is just my paranoia, but something feels wrong about that man," Lisa said to herself.