Following Kirie, the gang come across the aforementioned string, dangling from the ceiling, and the unmistakable outline of an attic door.

“Didn’t you say they locked their attic? I don’t see a keyhole anywhere.” Remarks Kirika.

A firm tug on the string opens up the attic hatch, granting access to the ladder inside. Rather unusually, behind the ladder is a second hatch, with a keyhole, presumably locked shut.

Cerys tosses the key into the air and catches it. “I’ll go upstairs and snoop around. You guys keep watch and let me know if they’re coming back.”

“Do you really need all of us keeping guard?” Saito rolls his eyes.

“Fine! Akina can stand guard for me! The rest of you go back over this place and make sure we didn’t miss something!”

The others disperse through the dorms. Cerys climbs the ladder and finds that her key does, in fact, unlock the hatch.

Cerys peeks her head in to reveal that, it’s far from the mundane storage space one would expect, the Idol club had transformed it into a practice facility. Soundproofing foam is spread across the walls while mats are laid across the floor. In the corner sits a small desk with a singular drawer, on which is a laptop, microphone, and camera.

Cerys grabs the camera without hesitation and scrolls through its memory. Predictably, the contents are what you would expect from an Idol Club’s camera; members practicing their dancing and singing, videos of practice, as well as just pictures from their time together, complete with rabbit ears and goofy faces. Among these pictures are Eriri and Naomi, the very picture of a carefree teenage bliss. In one picture they are sharing an extravagant milkshake at the local cafe, in another, they are posing outside the school gates. On and on, ice creams, crepes, shopping malls. Nothing to suggest that the two were anything but the best of friends. Eventually, as she goes forward in time, she comes across more and more corrupted images.

“How old are these?” Cerys mutters. The oldest photo on the storage dates back to 2017. The first photo she found of them is dated May 9th, 2019.

“One year ago…” she mumbles. Cerys scrolls back to the corrupted photos. All of them date from March to April of this year.

“Of course those are missing.” Cerys shakes her head as she puts the camera in her bag. She checks the drawer on the desk to find a notebook with Haruhiko’s name on the front of it. She takes it out and thumbs through it, brows furrowed.

The notebook is filled with dates going back to the previous school year. Cerys looks for the days on which Naomi was attacked and finds them a few pages in. Each date includes the names of one or more of the Idol Club members by it. When she checks for today’s date, Chiya’s name does not appear.

Cerys stares longer at the writing in the new notebook, tapping her fingers on it, “This isn’t his! Who else can speak English in this club?” She tucks both notebooks in her bag and turns around.

She can swear she sees movement. Cerys twists around to where she saw the movements, and while staring down the costume rack notices a shadow in the opposite corner. Out of an abundance of caution she teleports behind the rack.There’s nothing there. Maybe her nerves have gotten the best of her. Cerys scratches her head and starts to walk away. As she is doing so, she notices a fluffy blue tail poking out from one of the hanging dresses. She reaches out and pulls at the tail. It yelps and scurries around to face Cerys. She pulls out her phone again for light and comes face to face with a navy blue dog. She adjusts her grip, this time actually cradling the pooch and not dangling it in the air from its tail.

“Aren’t pets against the rules?” Cerys wonders aloud as she pets the dog’s head. The fur is soft, but what catches her eyes is the ball in its mouth.

“Hey boy, why don’t you give me that?” Cerys holds her hand out.

The dog stares before spitting the ball onto the floor. It sparks and smoke billows out of it. Cerys drops the dog and jumps back in surprise as she begins coughing, falling to a knee. She crawls to the exit only to find it blocked off. Standing on top of it is a girl with blue hair and dog ears. Her face is concealed by a gas mask.

Cerys coughs, “Who are you?” she croaks.

“Uni Hayabusa of the Idol Club,” the girl answers. “You’ve just been caught trespassing!”

Cerys staggers forward, “Sorry, but your club has been trying to kill my friend.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! I can have you expelled for trespassing though!”

“Oh please, I’ve been kicked out of the last four schools I’ve been to. You really think this is a threat to me?”

Uni laughs. “Sorry, I thought you cared about your friends here.”

Cerys grits her teeth, “I’m willing to go to jail for the safety of my friends. I know one of you is targeting her and I won’t allow it!”

“Safety?” Uni scoffs, “Yeah, going through all our stuff kept her safe. Now be still!” She turns her back as she taps on her phone. Cerys uses the opportunity to launch herself at the girl, latching onto her back.

“Oi oi! What are you doing now!?” Uni yells as she tries to shake Cerys off.

“I saw her tied to a chair! Blood streaming down her face! I had to come here and find answers!”

“Are you deranged?! I still don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“I won’t lose another person close to me again! You have to understand!” Cerys’ voice begins to crack as her grip weakens. Tears begin to stream down her face.

“Who are you talking about? Who was tied up!?”

“Naomi!”

Cerys lets go, and Uni stops struggling, “Eh? Eriri’s little sister?”

The floor under Uni explodes. The girl stumbles back, falling down the open hole. Cerys hears a thud, a snap and a bloodcurdling scream. Cerys hurries down the ladder.

“Oh my god!” Yuuri screams.“C-Cerys! Who is this!?”

“Later!” Cerys holds her arm out, “I’ll teleport us out!”

Akina slings Uni, now unconscious from the pain, over her shoulder. She grabs Cerys’ arm with her free hand. The others follow suit and instantly find themselves back outside the dorm.

Katsuki runs over, “I heard screams, what happened!?”

“Shut up and run!” Cerys orders.

The group scatters, Flopsy grabs Kirika and runs with her. Yuuri takes out her phone to send a message to Suzaka. Katsuki also messages the other group, warning them to leave.

“Oi, Cerys!” Akina says running next to her, “Who’s this bitch?”

“She’s one of the Idol Club members. We’ll question her once we get her healed.”

“Why not just bury her in the woods?”

“We aren’t killing her!” Cerys snaps, “We’re going back to Yamato.”

Yuuri notices Cerys and Akina veering off from everyone else and shakes her head. She changes her course to give chase. Kirika taps Flopsy’s arm and directs him to follow Yuuri. The rest continue towards the school.

***

Everyone makes it back to the Paranormal Dorms at around the same time. Hotaru, Katsuki, and Mari collapse onto the floor panting.

“What happened!?” Yuudai wipes away the sweat from his forehead.

“Ceryskidnappedagirlwithabrokenleg!” Kirie says breathlessly

“WHAT!?” Yuudai and Suzaka say in unison.

“That would explain the scream,” Hotaru mumbles, still trying to recover.

“What the hell happened in there?” Rina demands.

“Somethin’ real dumb,” Mari groans, wheezing.

Katsuki groans angrily between gasps for air. “Next time we make a break for it, I call dibs on teleporting.”

Kirie shakes her head, “I don’t know exactly what happened but Cerys went into the attic and smoke began filling up the dorms. I made it back to the attic entrance to see a girl fall from the opening and break her leg. The next thing I knew, we were teleported outside and ran away.”

“We also found a weapon,” Saito adds.

“Wha’ kinda weapon?” Suzaka asks.

“A murder weapon.”

The color leaves Suzaka’s face, “M-Murder!?”

“Attempted murder.”

Mari pulls herself to her knees. “Now ain’t tha time fer semantics, Phones.”

The freakout has given Kirie enough time to produce the bloodied hair straightener from her bag.

Hotaru slowly gets to his feet and goes to look over the straightener, “So wait, do we think this is what was used by whoever bludgeoned Naomi?”

Kirie nods, “It was quite obvious that someone messed around in their dorms. As I said, we have that...injured witness.”

Hotaru pulls out his notepad and scribbles in it, “Who would use a hair straightener of all things to hit someone with?”

“Who cares!?” Yuudai yells, “Where are the others right now?”

“Best bet would be they took their hostage over to Yamato to get healed,” Katsuki says.

Yuudai bolts out of the dorm.

“How often does he do this?” Rina looks to Katsuki for an answer.

“All the time.”

“Yuudai wait!” Kirie shouts, grabbing both the evidence and Hotaru.

“Wait why me!?” The boy panics as he’s dragged out.

***

Akina, Cerys, Kirika, and Yuuri find Naomi sitting outside the Games Club dorm as they approach.

Naomi lights up, “Cerys you’re ba-” She stops, noticing the unconscious Uni in Akina’s arms, “What, uh, what did you do to Uni?”

“Where’s...Yamato?” Cerys blurts out while trying to catch her breath.

Naomi sees Uni’s leg and begins to panic. “W-W-Why!?”

Yuuri puts a hand on Naomi’s shoulder. “Deep breaths Naomi. Is Yamato inside?”

Naomi nods as she follows Yuuri’s instructions.

Flopsy sets Kirika down and opens the door.

Cerys and Akina rush past him.

“Yamato! We need you again!” Cerys shouts.

Yamato walks in from a nearby hallway and gasps at Uni’s injury, “Why is Uni with you guys!?”

“Later! We need you to fix her leg for us!”

“T-That could take a while! Set her down here!” Yamato motions to a nearby table.

Akina does so.

“Take whatever time you need as long as she stays calm,” Cerys says.

Yamato’s hands glow as she gets to work, “This is pretty gruesome...I can’t promise she’ll stay asleep through it. Mending bones and reattaching muscle is uncomfortable for anybody, even when they’re fast asleep.”

“We’ll need to talk to her anyway,” Cerys says.

The door bursts open and Yuudai storms in.

“What did you guys do!?” He demands.

Cerys jumps back, “How’d you know we were here?”

“Saito and Kirie told us everything when we got back and said you’d be coming here. What were you guys thinking!?”

“I’m thinking we’re getting this girl’s leg healed.” Cerys answers, “I could’ve left her for dead. Would you have liked that more?”

Yuudai grumbles to himself before answering, “No. What would cause you guys to break her leg in the first place!?”

“She fell,” Akina says.

“What part of stealth did both of you not understand!?”

Cerys shrugs, “She did it to herself if it makes you feel better.”

“You broke her leg!” Yuudai shouts.

Naomi makes her way in, “Cerys what happened!?”

“Everyone stop!” Cerys yells.

The room falls silent.

“That’s better.” Cerys takes a deep breath and recounts what happened in the attic between her and Uni. She ends the story by taking the notebook out of her bag.

“So let me get this straight.” Yuudai runs his hand through his hair, “You’re saying this girl here wasn’t at the competition, she transformed into a dog, tried to trick you, and fell through the attic door?”

“That’s my story.” Cerys says, “We weren’t out to kill her.”

Akina digs into her pocket and produces the recorder, “Oh yeah. Is there something we can listen to this on?”

Yamato takes a quick look before returning to Uni’s leg, “Kyo! I need you and your laptop!”

Kyo hurries in and is caught off guard by the group, “Eh!? W-What are these...?”

Yuuri smiles, “We’ll explain later but let’s let Yamato focus.” She takes the recorder from Akina’s hand and shows it to Kyo, “Do you have a way for us to listen to this?”

Kyo sets her laptop down and gently takes the recorder from Yuuri. She looks it over before pulling a cover off the bottom to reveal a USB port. “Give me a second to get this ready.”

Cerys shrugs as she hands Naomi the notebook, “Look through this and see if any dates stick out to you.”

Naomi begins scanning through the pages. “Just four...March 5th, 2019, April 3rd, April 27th, and May 1st.”

“The days you were attacked, yes?”

Naomi shakes her head, “The third was my birthday and the first was Eriri’s. Nothing happened those days.” She flips to the last page, “Nothing’s written down for today either.”

“I don’t think today was planned...” Cerys trails off before remembering, “Oh yeah! Who’s handwriting is that? It doesn’t look like Haruhiko’s at all.”

The color leaves Naomi’s face as her voice falls to a whisper, “It’s Eriri’s.”

“Your sister?”

“Naomi nods and holds the notebook down for Cerys to see, “See right here on Mako’s name? Eriri always adds a loop to the end of her o’s. This is her handwriting.”

Cerys looks confused, “I didn’t know you or Eriri were so fluent in English. I thought it was just Haruhiko.”

“She’s been studying it outside of class so I can see why that would throw you off.”

Cerys pulls the camera out of her bag and hands it to Naomi, “Check the dates of the photos of you and your sister.”

“You have her camera too!?”

“She shouldn’t have left it out in the open for me to take.”

Yuudai sighs as Naomi begins going through the photos, “The stupid cherries, the track equipment, the girl with the illusions, and now a notebook and a camera! I don’t see how we have anything that can pin this all to just one person!”

Kyo clears her throat, grabbing the attention of the group. “I-It’s ready…”

Something clicks in Cerys’ head, “Before we begin Kyo-”

“P-Please don’t hurt my laptop,” she squeaks.

“Just answer me. When we came with Naomi earlier, you said something like ‘no, this is too soon’ or ‘now is not the time’. What did you mean by that?”

Kyo nods, “The flowerpot told me that Eriri would sit beside him sometimes and she would go on and on about May 10th. I assumed that was the day something very bad would happen to Naomi. A-Anyway! The recorder.”

Kyo plays the file she found on the device. It begins with white noise for almost a minute before they can make out voices in the distance. They soon fade away and are replaced with a long stretch of silence.

“Is that it?” Yuudai scratches his head.

Cerys shushes him as they continue to listen.

The door silently opens as Kirie and Hotaru walk in just as the sound of leaves crunching blast out of the laptop. They join the group listening in. It feels like an eternity before the crunching stops, replaced with the sound of crackling flames before the leaf crunching picks up. A thud is heard and the footsteps stop. A female voice is heard clearly.

“Wait how’d this get here? And why is it recording!?”

All sounds stop after.

Naomi gasps and covers her mouth. Tears well up in her eyes.

Cerys takes notice, “Who is it?”

“T-That was Mako’s voice…” Naomi says, wiping the tears away.

“Akina, where did you find this recorder?” Yuuri asks.

“It was in a box of burnt Yosakoi stuff.”

“I-If it helps, the file is dated March 5th of last year,” Kyo speaks up.

“Whose name is by that date?” Cerys asks Naomi.

“March 5th…” Naomi flips to the page. She tears up again, “Mako Nishikiya.”

“Can I borrow that notebook, Naomi?” Yuudai holds his hand out.

She turns it over, “What are you looking for?”

Yuudai flips through the pages quickly, “What day did the roof collapse?”

“April 27th.”

Yuudai reaches the day in the notebook to find two names written by it: Kotoha & Renge.

Kyo stares at her screen, “There are other files on here.”

“Let’s listen to them too,” Cerys snaps her fingers.

Kyo opens up another file, this one is filled with faint music in the background and a lazy, bubbly voice begins to sing. Kyo stops the file and opens another; it’s filled with the same voice singing. Each and every file she opens brings in more singing.

“That...isn’t Mako…” Naomi says, “That was Chiya.”

“So it was her recorder?” Cerys thinks aloud, “Then how did it end up with Mako though?”

“Um…” Kirie says, catching everyone’s attention.

“When did you two get here?” Yuuri looks at the pair.

“While you were listening to that recording.” Kirie holds up the hair straightener, “Kyo should talk to this. It has blood all over it.”

“H-Hand it here and I can check!” Kyo holds her hand out.

“This doesn’t make sense!” Yuudai groans, flipping through pages, “I’ve checked every date and can’t find Haruhiko’s name anywhere!” He makes it to the page for this week, “Wait, why is this one empty?”

Yuuri thinks, then claps her hands, “Yuudai, you’re a genius!”

Yuudai jumps. “W-What did I find out?”

Yuuri points to Naomi, “Tell us the names of everyone in the Idol Club!”

“Uh,” Naomi struggles for a second, “Haruhiko, Uni, Kotoha, Chiya, Renge, Mako, Nonomi, Karen, and Eriri.”

Yuuri snaps her fingers. “Check for all those names, Yuudai!” She points to him. “If they attacked Naomi, they will come up like Mako did last year!”

Naomi gasps.

“What are you getting at?” Akina asks.

“It’s the process of elimination,” Hotaru responds.

Yuudai begins skimming through the notebook again. “I found Kotoha and Renge’s name on the 27th, but no Haruhiko.”

“Look for Uni’s name first since we have her here.” Cerys orders, “Speaking of, are you done with Uni, Yamato?”

Yamato nods and presents a bandaged and bound Uni.

Cerys looks at Uni in shock. “What the hell!? I didn’t ask for a goddamned mummy!”

“Y-You looked busy…” Yamato looks at the ground, “A-And she was moving a lot…”

Cerys sighs and pulls the tape off Uni’s mouth.

“I found her name in here!” Yuudai shouts to Cerys, “May 1st!”

Uni’s eyes shoot open as she screams.

Cerys covers Uni’s mouth to silence her. “Mind telling me what you were doing on May 1st?” Cerys asks. She pulls her hand away to let Uni respond.

“What the hell did you weirdos do to me!?” Uni sputters. “How am I supposed to remember what I did on a specific date? Do you know what you were doing on May 1st?”

Akina glares at her. “Answer.”

Uni shrinks and thinks for a moment, “I-I think that was Eriri’s birthday! Why do you even care?”

“Is that all you remember?” Yuudai asks.

Uni looks defeated. “W-We celebrated with a fan outing followed by pizza…I don’t know what you guys want from me…”

Yuudai joins Akina and Cerys, “I mean do you remember everything about that day?”

“Why would I!?” Uni screams.

Cerys slaps Uni and grabs her by the collar, “Why don’t you understand that Naomi’s life is in danger!?”

Tears stream down Uni’s face, “E-Eriri stopped me and asked me if I could do her a favor!”

“What’s the fucking favor?!” Cerys yells in her face.

“To be the dorm guard dog for a month!” Uni wails, “She didn’t feel safe!” Her wails trail off to a whimper.

Cerys scowls and lets Uni go, “Ok, that’s all I needed; you can untie her, Yamato. Uni, if we find out you lied to us, we’ll give you a few more reasons to come back here.”

“Y-Yes! That was scary...” Yamato wipes at her forehead and begins removing the bandages.

Cerys whispers to Akina. “If she screws with us again, break her legs.”

Akina nods grimly.

Kyo sets the hair straightener down, “I think I have what you need.”

Kirie runs up, “What did you find out?”

“T-The hair straightener said he belongs to a girl with black hair and that he was used to hurt Naomi.”

“Can you ask it who specifically used him to hurt Naomi?”

Kyo nods and goes back to whispering to the hair straightener.

Yamato finishes untying Uni, “There. Should be good to go.”

Kyo looks back to Kirie, “He says all he knows is that a girl used him... Sorry if that doesn’t help.”

“So wait,” Yuudai holds up the notebook, “So Eriri was writing down who did the bad stuff and when in this book?”

“That seems to be the case.” Yuuri says, “But…”

“But?”

“It doesn’t make sense that Chiya doesn’t show up for today.”

“Chiya’s name doesn’t show up at all!” Yuudai says.

“Or Haruhiko…” Yuuri thinks aloud.

“Naomi said Chiya does her own thing so I doubt Eriri would ask her for much. Plus it seems like today wasn’t planned,” Cerys adds.

“I never would’ve pegged Eriri to do something like this. She always seemed like such a model student…” Yamato says.

Kirika crosses her arms, “If Eriri didn’t feel safe, why didn’t she hire some bodyguards? My parents do it all the time when they travel. Or at least hire the groundskeeper or one of those younger teachers on less money.”

“Shit, that’s a good point Kirika,” Cerys says. She turns to the table to see Uni has vanished, “Where’d she go!?”

“I saw her get up but never saw her leave, I swear!” Yamato panics.

Cerys snaps her finger, “Flopsy, go get the dog.”

“Hey! You can’t tell Flopsy what to do! He’s mine!” Kirika snaps her fingers. “Retrieve the dog, Flopsy.”

The butler salutes and runs out of the dorm.

“So here’s what we have for evidence: the recorder, the hair straightener, the notebook, and what Uni said,” Yuuri says, pacing. “Doesn’t that make our best suspect... Eriri?”

“Eriri is my sister!” Naomi protests. “We might not get along but she wouldn’t try to have me killed!”

Cerys shakes her head, “Look, with everything we’ve got it narrows it down to her.”

Naomi whimpers in defeat.

Flopsy returns to the dorm holding a small blue puppy by the scruff of its neck. Said puppy poofs back into Uni.

Cerys looks at the defeated dog girl. “Oh good, you found her.”

“What are we going to do with her?” Akina asks.

Cerys motions for Flopsy to bring Uni closer, so she can get in her face. “When we go to the Student Council with this, you’ll testify against your club.”

Uni growls.“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll let Akina break all your limbs next time,” Cerys says.

Akina cracks her knuckles, the hint of a smirk on her face.

The color leaves Uni’s face. “F-Fine!”

“Good!” Cerys stomps her foot to get everyone’s attention, “Naomi, you’re going to be staying with us for the next few nights.”

Naomi is surprised, “H-Huh!?”

“If the tenth is the big day then we have to make sure we’re on guard at all times!”

“Proooooobably need to run that by her club,” Hotaru says.

The door to the Games Club dorm violently swings open. Four students march in, gold bands on their arms.

Their lead, a serious-looking girl with silver hair and a neatly-pressed uniform, takes point, “Cerys Alcott! You’re in big trouble.”

Cerys jumps, “Me!?”

The girl points at Cerys, “You’ve been reported for theft, kidnapping, and assault!”

Cerys rolls her eyes, “And you’re the neighborhood watch?”

“Student Council. And I’m the President, Yuzurika Shiina.”

“Alright…” Cerys continues, “I can see the first two but assault?” She looks at Uni, “Oh you bitch. You ratted me out that quickly!?”

Kirika, finding a way to flatter authority and get back at Cerys, pounces on the conversation. “To be fair, you did just threaten to-”

Akina shoves Kirika aside and stalks towards Uni. “You didn’t learn your lesson did you, dog?”

One of the students with Yuzurika, a tall, lanky boy with short black hair, steps between Akina and the cowering Uni, projecting a forcefield to keep Akina at bay.

“This is a serious issue,” Yuzurika says, “We don’t like to involve Roka in student crimes, so we’re going to settle it ourselves. Tomorrow it’ll be you versus the Idol Club in the Student Council office! No one is leaving until a verdict is reached.”

“H-How did you find this out?” Yuuri asks.

“The Idol Club found the mess someone made of their dorms and reported Uni missing when they returned from their challenge.” The boy projecting the forcefield says.

“You did what!?” Yuudai shouts.

Cerys ignores his outburst, “So what are you going to do with me tonight?”

“You, Naomi, and Uni will be staying in the confinement rooms we have made. To ensure the safety of everyone else.” Yuzurika says.

“Hey, you can’t do that!” Yuudai objects.

Cerys holds a hand up to silence him, “That’s fine. But I swear, if even a hair on Naomi is harmed under your watch I’ll show you a bloody assault.”

Yuzurika doesn’t react to the threat.

“Are you sure about this Cerys?” Yuudai asks.

Cerys sighs, “As long as everyone else is safe and unharmed, then yes.” She gives her club a small smile, “There’s no way we lose this case.”

“I’m glad you see it our way.” Yuzurika grabs Cerys’ arm, “Touma, Subaru, grab the others.”

Cerys grimaces, her body sagging with sudden fatigue.

Touma, the forcefield boy, drops his shield and takes Uni from Flopsy’s hands. Subaru, a boy with shaggy brown hair and glasses, grabs Naomi’s hand.

“You know grabbing me won’t change anything,” Cerys says mockingly, trying to hide her unease. “You’ll never keep me held down.”

Yuzurika’s ice-cold gaze bores right through Cerys. “Try me.”

Cerys concentrates intensely, but nothing happens. She tries again, only to meet the same result.

Yuzurika roughly pulls Cerys towards the exit.

“Hey!” Yuudai waves his arms. “You’re hurting her!”

“I’m only doing what’s necessary to hold her down,” Yuzurika says, her ice-cold gaze on Yuudai now. “We shall see you all tomorrow. I suggest you act with more decorum at that time.”

The other three Student Council members leave. Yuzurika leaves shortly after they do, slamming the door shut behind her. The Paranormal Club are left to process the past few minutes in stilled silence.

“So.” Akina breaks the silence, “How will we prove Cerys innocent?”