Bomb Shelter Quiz

by JLCHailstorm71

With two events and two Deadly Challenges out of the way, Sachiko calls upon the students of Paulownia Academy High School for her next event, which is a quiz down inside the bomb shelter of the school. Can the combative students work together long enough to acheive the target score of 427 points? Set in the same universe as The Tenth Shadow & Seven Sachiko Challenges. One-shot.

DISCLAIMER: CORPSE PARTY AND ITS CHARACTERS ARE OWNED BY TEAM GRISGRIS/GRINDHOUSE. ZENKA IS OWNED BY AXEL THE MOON. MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, PACKER, ANGEL, QUACKENBUSH, FLORA, TERRAN, TUNDRA, DUSTIN, RUSH, AND SYN ARE OWNED BY ME.

Author's Note: As you have no doubt noticed, I have separated several of what was once 'Hysteric Birthday Chronicles, now Seven Sachiko Challenges' chapters into their own one shot stories, because 1. I want Sachiko's challenges to be the main centerpiece of the story, and 2. These former chapters are long enough to stand on their own. I will also denote in each of these stories and in every chapter of Seven Sachiko Challenges when these events take place in the grand scheme of things, since they still revolve around each other.

This story takes place after Chapter 2 of Seven Sachiko Challenges.

I hope you guys are in for some reading, because there is a lot to get through. Good luck.

---

ONE SHOT STORY: BOMB SHELTER QUIZ

As things finally settled down, everyone had broken off into groups and were talking amongst themselves while Sachiko was busy setting up the next event.

The Knights of the Covenant and the Kisaragi group were off on one side of the auditorium having a very lively conversation after Packer had introduced everybody.

"It really is nice to meet all of you," Angel said with a smile.

"Likewise," Yui replied.

"I still can't believe there are others like Packer-kun out there," Ayumi said.

"Believe it, kid," Quackenbush laughed. "But Packer's in his own zip code with what he can do compared to the rest of us."

"So we've noticed," Yoshiki chuckled.

"So, Packer… you finally got yourself a girlfriend, eh?" Flora asked with a sly smile. Packer sighed with slight irritation.

"Yeah, I did. So?" he replied.

"So… it's about time," Quackenbush interjected. "I've told you for a long ass time that you needed to find yourself a girlfriend. Of course, I don't think any of us expected it to be one of the Nine, but be that as it may, I think you made a wonderful choice."

"Why, thank you, Johnny," Seiko laughed, bowing in front of him. The group let out some laughter at Seiko's antics.

"Hey, only I can call him Johnny," Angel interrupted, although she was smiling as well.

"Alright, everyone! Gather around!"

All parties looked toward the stage, where Sachiko was now standing. With some apprehension, everyone gathered at the foot of the stage. The little girl let out a small giggle.

"Alright, I came up with a quiz specifically for today!" she beamed. "Everybody likes quizzes, right?"

Sachiko smiled pleasantly as she looked around at everyone. However, most of the group was making a half smile at Sachiko, eyes adverting.

'A quiz made by Sachiko-Chan?' Sayaka thought. 'Definitely can't say it's going to be good. Looks like most everyone here is thinking the same thing…'

When everyone became quiet, Sachiko dropped shoulders slightly in disappointment, a small frown on her face.

"Oh… does nobody like quizzes?" Sachiko inquired. "You know, things like 'Final Answer?' and 'Come On Down' and that kind of stuff?"

"'Come On Down?' Sounds like you're referring to 'The Price is Right', which isn't a quiz show, per se," Packer explained. "The other one, 'Final Answer', is a reference to the show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', which is a quiz show."

"Wow, how do you know so much about quiz shows, Packer?" Naomi asked. Packer shrugged.

"Game shows, actually. I used to watch them as a kid," he said.

"But those shows are so old!" Satsuki interjected.

"S-Satsuki-Chan!" Yuka exclaimed. Sachiko glanced at the two young Kisaragi girls with an irritated look on her face.

"Why is it old?" Sachiko asked. "I went around to all the blue and red spirits to ask what the most recent quiz shows were the best."

"The Price is Right isn't exactly a 'recent' game show, and it was more of a guessing game than anything else," Packer replied. "Millionaire can be considered a recent show, though."

"Yeah, but even so, you're gonna get the wrong kind of answers if you ask dead people such things," Satsuki said. Sachiko growled in frustration.

"Well, then what kind of quiz shows are good?" the little girl inquired.

"The high-schooler's quiz, of course!" Satsuki beamed.

"What the hell is the high-schooler's quiz?" Dustin asked.

"It's a quiz show that was popular in Japan in the 90's," Packer replied.

"Is that really considered a good show, though?" Yuka asked.

'What a weird conversation,' Sayaka thought.

"Well, then, Yuka-chi, what would you suggest then?" Satsuki inquired.

"What? Well… ummmmm…" Yuka mumbled, trying to come up with a definitive answer. "Well, I don't really like quiz shows that much, so I actually don't really know what would be good."

"Geez! If you don't know, then don't interrupt me!" Sachiko shouted.

Suddenly, the building began to shake violently at Sachiko's anger, causing everyone to gasp and yelp.

"Geez, Sachiko! Calm down!" Packer yelled. But the building just continued to shake. Several shards of glass fell toward the floor near where the young Kisaragi girls were. Packer quickly shielded the girls from the debris. Then, finally…

"...I like them," Sayaka spoke up. Hearing her words, Sachiko's eyes were quick to set their gaze on Sayaka, and the building finally began to stop shaking until it subsided entirely. Naho glanced at her young friend.

"Sayaka, don't say anymore if you don't want to get into trouble," Naho warned.

"Maybe, but I didn't want to see those girls get hurt, so…" Sayaka explained. Suddenly, Sachiko jumped down in between them, her eyes wide with merriment as she glanced up at Sayaka.

"Sayaka Onee-Chan!" Sachiko beamed. "What did you just say you liked?"

"Um… a quiz," Sayaka replied. "I kind of like those things."

"Are you okay with the quiz that I made?" Sachiko asked.

"Yeah, I like it," Sayaka said. Sachiko began jumping up and down excitedly.

"Really?! Yaaaayyyy!" Sachiko shouted with glee.

"Man, this girl really seems to have bi-polar issues," Quackenbush laughed.

"You're not kidding there," Syn agreed.

"Welcome to my world," Packer interjected.

"Oh, my…" Inumaru gasped. "To think that Sayaka was a quiz maniac…"

"Eh?" Sayaka muttered. "What about it?"

"Well, to be a lovable childhood friend for 17 years, and to think there was still something about Sayaka that I didn't know about… It shocks me!" Inumaru exclaimed.

"What the hell is the lovable childhood friend thing all about?!" Sayaka yelled. "Actually, why are you still here?!"

"But at the same time, I'm flattered!" Inumaru continued, as though he didn't hear Sayaka. "Finding out a secret like this after being together so long… oh, how I love you even more!"

"Are you listening?!" Sayaka roared. "What happened to going home with you?!"

"What's wrong, Sayaka?" Inumaru inquired. "You're looking at me so intently. Oh, perhaps you've fallen on love at first sight with me?!"

Sayaka face palmed in frustration.

'This guy is hopeless… I got to do something about this…' she thought.

Sachiko glanced up at Inumaru with a confused look.

"Hmmm? I was pretty sure that I sent Inumaru back to the real world," she noted. "Inumaru, why are you still here?"

Inumaru let out a hearty laugh.

"I will return many times for those I love!" he proudly declared. "Call me the immortal phoenix!"

"So… fucking… annoying…" Sayaka growled.

"Sorry for leaving you, Sayaka," Inumaru apologized. "Were you lonely?"

"I was enjoying the moment while it lasted!" Sayaka yelled. "Geez, not even taking into consideration my feelings…" Her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Oh, by the way, what did you do with my clothes?! You did burn them like I said, right?!"

"Of course, I put them away neatly in my drawers," Inumaru replied. "Since Sayaka didn't need them anymore, I went ahead and…"

"DIE!" Sayaka roared, kicking Inumaru in the stomach. With a pained groan, he collapsed to the ground.

"K. O.!" Dustin yelled, chuckling at the sight of the two of them arguing. Sayaka was breathing heavily as she tried to get her anger under control. Naho crossed her arms and shook her head.

"I feel sorry for you, Sayaka," Naho murmured.

"Yeah," Sayaka replied. "I feel like I've wasted way too much precious energy on this numb nut anyways."

"I heard that," Naho chuckled.

Meanwhile, the Kisaragi group, as well as the Knights, were looking on with amused expressions.

"Geez, that guy is amazing," Yoshiki admired. "I've never seen a person so blatantly show the person they love that much affection."

"I'm more impressed with the amount of abuse he takes, and he keeps coming back for more," Quackenbush laughed.

"He's dedicated, that's for damn sure," Rush chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe I should learn from him," Ayumi commented. Yoshiki glanced at her with a surprised look.

"That would be very out of character for you. Shinozaki," Yoshiki said.

"You think so?" Ayumi asked.

"Yeah, I do," Yoshiki answered.

'Ah! Those people were listening!' Sayaka thought with embarrassment.

"Hey! Don't leave me out of the conversation like that!" Sachiko yelled, bringing Sayaka's attention back to her.

"Y-Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry," Sayaka apologized. A smile reappeared on Sachiko.

"Well, I'll forgive you since I'm so kind today," Sachiko replied. "And you did apologize, so…"

"Thank you," Sayaka said, bowing to her.

"Sayaka, don't believe her. You'll fall into her trap," Naho warned.

"Oh, yeah," Sayaka replied. "You're right. Okay, I understand."

"So, Sayaka likes my quizzes, right?" Sachiko inquired. "Then I'll let you be a part of my quiz show!"

"Yeah… thanks," Sayaka murmured.

"I really like you now, Onee-Chan," Sachiko said. "So, just for you, I'll pick people that you're close to so they can participate in this quiz."

"Really?!" Sayaka exclaimed.

"Yep!" Sachiko replied. "First off is Naho."

"Yay!" Sayaka yelled happily. "Naho-tan! We're together!"

"Yeah, thank God," Naho said. "I didn't want to be separated from you again, after all."

"And also your… lovable childhood friends? Yeah, Inumaru," Sachiko said.

"Alright!" Inumaru exclaimed. "Sayaka, we're together!"

"Crapola," Sayaka whispered.

"Ignoring me?!" Inumaru yelled in a sad voice.

Just then, Aiko walked up to them.

"With these three as a team, I'm guessing the next one is me?" Aiko asked.

"Correct!" Sachiko confirmed. "Aiko is in as well. And I'm also counting on you to do the job of assistant as well." Aiko let out a small giggle.

"It's starting to get interesting," she said with a smile. "Looks like it's gonna be fun, in more ways than one. So on that note… Naho-Chan, Sayaka-Chan, Haruyuki-kun, let's have some fun, okay?"

"Well…" Sayaka mumbled.

"Sayaka, you don't have to answer her," Naho said with a frown. "Don't give in so easily to the spirit and Aiko."

"Oh, my," Aiko sighed. "It seems I've drawn your ire quite a bit. It saddens me."

'Yeah, right,' Sayaka thought. 'You look like you're enjoying yourself, Aiko-san.'

"Taguchi will be a member of this quiz as well," Sachiko continued.

"What?! Me as well?!" Taguchi exclaimed.

"Geh," Naho muttered.

"Naho-Chan, did you just say 'geh' to me?" Taguchi asked.

"Well, with Taguchi-san, I get worried about what's gonna happen next," Naho said.

"W-What are you trying to say?" Taguchi inquired.

"If possible, I would like to decline your attendance in this quiz," Naho replied.

"What?! That's so mean, Naho-Chan!" Taguchi yelled.

"Sachiko, is it possible for me to decline the attendance of a member?" Naho asked.

"No way!" Sachiko replied. "Once I've decided who's joining, they have to join in."

"Damn," Naho muttered.

"That's a little too much, isn't it?" Taguchi complained.

"Naho-tan, cheer up," Sayaka said. "I have to stick with Inumaru of all people, but I'm gonna try and live through this torturous hell!"

"You're really mean too, Sayaka-Chan!" Taguchi yelled.

"What a motley crew they are," Terran laughed.

Inumaru let out a small laugh.

"Come on, Taguchi-san," he said. "That's just Sayaka's embarrassed side talking."

"Eh? Is that so?" Taguchi inquired.

"Yes, that's right," Inumaru answered. "Sayaka is normally all cold on the outside, but when we're together, she's all nyan nyan pafu pafu! She's so damn cute!

"Pafu pafu?!" Taguchi exclaimed.

"Keep your obvious delusions and dreams to yourself, you creep!" Sayaka yelled, kicking Inumaru in the leg.

"Again with the inner thigh!" Inumaru cried, dropping to the ground once again.

"K. O.!" Dustin yelled once again. Sayaka sighed in aggravation.

"Geez, my head hurts," she sighed.

"Sayaka-Chan, you've got a good kick there," Taguchi admired. Sayaka giggled in response.

"This has turned into some kind of party already," Aiko giggled.

"No doubt," Naho deadpanned.

"Well, then I will announce the final member!" Sachiko declared. "Dakadakadakadakadakadakadaka… Ta-da! Kou Kibiki! You've been selected as a member of the group. Congratulations!"

Sachiko snapped her fingers, and a flash of light brightened the room for a split second. When it faded, Kou Kibiki stood next to Sachiko.

"Who is Kou Kibiki?" Rush asked.

"He's the foremost expert on paranormal activity in Japan," Ayumi replied.

"That fabulous hair, though," Dustin said, admiring Kibiki's wavy black and blue hair.

"Well, I'm not sure what's going on, but I guess I have no choice but to join," Kibiki said. Naho let out a surprised gasp.

"Sensei?!" she yelled.

"Naho?" Kibiki said in surprise. "Oh, I never thought I would see you again! Are you alright? Are you hurt at all?"

A rare happy smile popped up on Naho's face as she ran over and gave him a hug.

"I'm alright!" she said gleefully, eyes watering up. "I'm glad you're okay too, Sensei! To think I would get to see Sensei again…"

"I'm glad for you, Naho-tan…" Sayaka murmured, her heart swelling at seeing Naho so happy. 'Naho-tan, you were so worried about Kibiki-sensei after all…'

Kibiki turned toward Taguchi.

"I'm glad you're safe and sound too, Taguchi-kun," he said. "I was worried when I lost you back there."

"I'm sorry, Kibiki-sensei!" Taguchi apologized. "I was so caught up back there, but I'm glad you're safe and sound as well."

Sachiko clapped her hands to bring everyone's attention to her.

"Okay then, everyone," she announced. "Are you all ready to move to the arena?"

"Ready to move?" Sayaka repeated in confusion. Sachiko snapped her fingers, and a portal begins to open underneath the group, causing Sayaka to gasp in surprise.

"Now it begins!" Sachiko yelled. "The Bomb Shelter Ultra Quiz! Everybody give your all, and try to have fun in the process!"

The portal opened fully, causing everyone in the Paulownia group to fall through it. Their screams became quieter as they fell further and further away.

---

All was quiet in an old storage closet in the air raid bunker, until a portal suddenly opened and dropped the Paulownia group through it. Everyone landed on the dirt floor with a thud.

"Ow, I hit my bum…" Sayaka complained.

"Are you alright, Sayaka?" Inumaru asked worriedly. "You want me to put a healing spell on your butt?" He stopped as he realized what he said, but it was too late as Sayaka was now glaring at him from across the room. "Okay, that didn't come out correctly…"

"You should just go die!" Sayaka roared, running over and beginning to pummel Inumaru with her fists.

Naho shook the cobwebs from her head as she stood up, and chuckled as she watched Sayaka hit Inumaru relentlessly.

"Good, it looks like we're all here," Naho noted.

"We were flown over rather violently, weren't we?" Aiko inquired, dusting off her skirt. "So, where are we exactly? Any ideas, Naho-Chan?"

"No, I have no idea," Naho replied. "But from what I can tell, this looks like an old storage room. Judging by how cluttered it is, I'd say it hasn't been used in years."

"I… I know this place…" Sayaka muttered, recognizing her surroundings.

"Oh, is that so?" Aiko asked. Sayaka nodded in affirmation.

"Yeah," she replied. "When we did the Sachiko Ever After charm, I ended up here, in this room. There's no doubt about it."

"So when we were flown to Heavenly Host Elementary the first time around, you ended up here," Naho surmised.

"Yeah," Sayaka replied.

"It's rather gloomy in here," Inumaru said, looking around at the various boxes piled high next to the wall. "And in this place, Sayaka… ahhh, how awful, you must've been scared." He held his arms out wide. "Come here, I'll comfort you. Come and jump into my arms, Sayaka!"

"You should just die already!" Sayaka shouted.

"I have a feeling you just said the same thing before, Sayaka!" Inumaru pointed out.

"That's because I did, idiot!" Sayaka yelled, burying her fist into Inumaru's stomach, doubling him over. Aiko giggled watching them argue.

"It's so entertaining watching you guys," she murmured. Sayaka looked around, noticing several people missing from their group.

"By the way, is it just us?" she asked. "Where's Sachiko and Sensei?"

Just then, they heard a low moan. They looked over and could see Taguchi sitting up on the dirt floor as he finally regained consciousness.

"Huh? Where are we?" he asked.

"Oh, Taguchi-san is here too. I forgot," Naho deadpanned.

"What?! I only just came to and you're already so harsh to me, Naho-Chan!" Taguchi complained. "And my back hurts and everything…"

"Well, if Taguchi-san is here then…" Sayaka began. Naho let out a gasp.

"Sensei? Where's Sensei? He's here somewhere," Naho realized. Everyone looked around the room, but Kou Kibiki was nowhere to be seen. Naho cupped her hands together like a megaphone. "Sensei! Kibiki-Sensei!" When she heard no response, fear begin to rise up within her like a volcano beginning to erupt. "Sensei, where are you?! Please, answer me!"

"Naho-tan, please calm down!" Sayaka urged.

"But, Sayaka, we just met each other again, and I'm afraid we might lose him again," Naho cried.

"It's okay, Naho-Chan," Taguchi said. "Sachiko even said that Sensei was a part of the quiz participants, so he'll definitely be here somewhere."

"Maybe Sachiko accidentally flew Sensei to a different location?" Inumaru wondered, scratching his chin. "Either way, we should go out and look for him."

"Unfortunately, that's not going to work," Aiko interrupted, stopping everyone in their tracks.

"What do you mean?" Naho inquired. Aiko dug her hand into her skirt pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper.

"I don't know when it happened," she explained. "But in my pocket, this piece of paper appeared."

"What's that?" Naho asked.

"It's an instruction manual that Sachiko-Chan gave us, or something along those lines," Aiko said. Inumaru held his hand out. His eyes widened as he could feel something coming from the sheet of paper.

"I can feel some spiritual energy coming from this," he said.

"Yes. It's not a normal piece of paper," Aiko continued. "It seems that it's a piece of paper that allows the user to read certain instructions at the appropriate time."

"I see," Naho murmured. "And what can we read at the current time?"

Aiko giggled.

"You want to know?" she asked in a teasing tone. "It involves Kou-Sensei."

Naho gasped in surprise, and she could feel her frustration mount as she sensed Aiko was prodding her about this information.

"Naho-tan, don't!" Sayaka warned. "Getting angry is not gonna help us find Kibiki-Sensei!"

"I know, but…" Naho began. Aiko's smile grew ever wider.

"If I said to Naho-Chan now that she'd have to pay me 10 times the normal secret information she normally would, she would pay it, wouldn't you, Naho-Chan?" Aiko asked, causing Naho's blood to boil even more. "Although, even if you wanted to, you don't have the actual goods on you."

"Aiko, stop right now, or I'm gonna get pissed," Naho growled.

"Oh, that doesn't scare me at all," Aiko replied. "You're always mad when you're talking to me anyway, right, Naho-Chan?"

"Why you…!" Naho yelled, trying to lunge at Aiko, but Taguchi stepped in between the two girls to prevent a brawl from breaking out.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on!" Taguchi exclaimed. "Fighting isn't gonna get us anywhere."

Naho's breathing was heavy as she glared daggers at Aiko. Taguchi turned toward the brash young girl in question.

"Um, Niwa-san," Taguchi said.

"Yes, what is it?" Aiko asked.

"To Naho-Chan and myself, Sensei is a very important person," Taguchi explained. "So I'd appreciate it if you'd stop being mean to her and tell us what is written on that piece of paper."

"Oh, my," Aiko cooed. "So Naho-Chan and Shougo-san are rivals fighting over Kou-Sensei?"

"That's not it at all!" Taguchi shouted. "Kibiki-Sensei is my mentor. He's taught me everything I know about the occult, so I'd appreciate if we'd stop this nonsense and look at the piece of paper already!"

"I agree," Naho said. "Me fighting over Sensei with Taguchi-san isn't happening, so stop saying stupid shit and tell us what's written on the paper!"

"My, what a boring reaction," Aiko replied. "I thought you'd beg more desperately, but you're just too boring, Naho-Chan."

Naho gritted her teeth as the two glared at each other in silence. Then…

"Well, if this is the kind of teamwork you guys are gonna exemplify, we're in deep trouble."

Everyone looked over in surprise as Zenka Shinojin walked up to the group from out of the shadows. His jet black armor glinted in the faint light.

"And who might you be?" Aiko asked.

"I am a Knight of the Covenant," Zenka replied. "Zenka Shinojin, Knight of the Storm, at your service."

"And what brings you here?" Aiko inquired.

"I was instructed by Sachiko to assist you with a few things," Zenka explained. "Such as keeping you safe from whatever might be lurking down here and keeping score on the quiz."

"Is that so?" Aiko asked.

"It is," Zenka said. "Sachiko will explain more in due time. But for now, you need to open that little slip of paper like you're supposed to, and read what it says."

Aiko shrugs her shoulders.

"Alright then, I'll read it for you all," Aiko conceded.

"Hurry up," Naho urged. Aiko unfolded the piece of paper and glanced at its contents.

"So… It says here that Sachiko is holding onto Kibiki because he is a prize in this quiz," Aiko read.

"A prize… what does that mean?" Sayaka asked with confusion.

"It sounds like whoever wins the quiz gets Sensei as a gift," Naho surmised.

"I see," Taguchi said. "Alright, let's do our best!"

"Why are you so up about it, Taguchi-san?" Inumaru asked.

Suddenly, a light flashed all around them, causing everyone to gasp in surprise.

"What the hell was that?!" Sayaka shouted.

"Right on cue," Zenka said. "Look over next to the wall."

Everyone looked, and they could see a television sitting on top of a small table. Gathering around it, the screen suddenly came on, and on it were Sachiko and Kibiki.

"Welcome to the air raid shelter, everyone!" Sachiko beamed. "I'm gonna explain the rules of this quiz, so listen carefully, okay?"

"Kibiki-Sensei, are you alright?" Naho asked worriedly.

"Yes, I am fine," Kibiki replied. "I'm sorry. By the time I realized it, I was here and… I feel so ashamed."

"Please wait right there! We're going to save you!" Naho shouted, before turning and glaring at Sachiko. "What is the meaning of this, Sachiko?! Release Sensei immediately!"

"No," Sachiko replied bluntly. "Didn't Aiko tell you? Kibiki is a prize in this quiz."

"Sensei isn't an object!" Naho shouted. "If you're gonna decide on a prize, then pick something else!"

"No!" Sachiko replied again. "I'm gonna do want I want to do. Didn't I tell you? It's MY quiz." She looked up with an eerie smile. "Don't tell me that you're going against my idea?"

Naho clinched her fists together, trying to keep her frustration under control.

"Naho-tan, it's not a good idea to anger Sachiko-san too much," Sayaka warned.

"I know, but… it's so damn frustrating…" Naho sighed.

"I know how you feel, Naho-Chan," Taguchi interjected. "I also strongly disagree with Sensei being turned into a prize."

"You said you were try your best or something like that before," Naho pointed out.

"Only because I want to get Sensei back to us," Taguchi countered.

"So, does this mean that whoever comes in first place in this quiz gets Kibiki-Sensei?" Inumaru asked.

"Nope! Incorrect!" Sachiko replied. "Didn't Zenka tell you? In this quiz, the key to winning is 'teamwork'!"

"So… what does that mean?" Inumaru inquired.

"Well, since Zenka is our guest Knight for this event, which is something I'm gonna implement for the rest of my birthday, it would be best if he answered your questions," Sachiko replied. "Zenka, would you do the honors?"

"Certainly," Zenka replied as the Paulownia group turned toward him. "So, here's the gist of it. The five of you work as a team, which means that anyone can answer the quiz at any time. The scores will be added together from everyone's points to form the team total. Throughout this bomb shelter, there are questions scattered all over in secret hiding places, and it's your job to find them and answer them. Get it wrong, and you could lose points. Get it right, and you earn points based on the question. Also, there might be secret bonus question lurking about worth big points, so keep on the lookout for those."

"Got it," Sayaka said.

"Oh, and one more thing," Zenka continued. "In order to win the quiz, you have to get a certain amount of points. According to Sachiko, the winning total is 427 points."

"427? Why that number?" Naho asked.

"I think it refers to her favorite word, 'die', so… yeah," Zenka replied.

"That's correct," Sachiko said. "Also, in addition to earning Kibiki-Sensei, as a side bonus, I'll put everyone's starting positions in the same dimension, that is, if you earn more than 427 points!"

"What?!" Taguchi exclaimed.

"That means…" Sayaka began.

"Sensei, Sayaka, and Taguchi-san… all of us are gonna be able to see each other again after this?" Naho asked.

'What's everyone talking about?' Inumaru thought with confusion.

Sachiko let out a small giggle.

"Seriously?! No kidding?" Sayaka inquired.

"Today, I'm very nice, so you can believe me, alright?" Sachiko replied. "It's an open-hearted, open-minded kind of thing. So, do your best, everyone!"

"Of course we'll do our best!" Sayaka beamed. "Right, Naho-tan?"

"Yes!" Naho yelled, now filled with confidence. "I'm gonna meet Sayaka and Sensei again, and escape this Godforsaken Heavenly Host Elementary once and for all!"

"If you don't include me, then I'm gonna start to worry, Naho-Chan!" Taguchi complained.

"Sachiko-Chan, is it alright if I ask a question?" Aiko asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Sachiko inquired.

"What happens if the score is lower than the 427 required?" Aiko asked. "As long as I'm in this group, I think everybody getting along is going to be… impossible, for the lack of better words."

"Well, you're not wrong there…" Naho conceded.

"I always look at things without bias," Aiko said. "You know what I'm like, right, Naho-Chan?"

Naho just simply glanced at Aiko in silence.

"Well… let's see…" Sachiko said, the gears in her head turning. Then, she looked up, an evil look on her face. "If the score does not meet the 427 requirement, then I'll take the liberty to do all sorts of things to Kibiki's body!"

"What?!" Naho shouted.

"First, I'll pull out all of the blue hairs, right?" Sachiko said. "Then I'll tear away his clothes, too!"

"Stop!" Naho screamed. "Those two things are what make up Sensei's identity! Take me instead!"

"She would actually mess up that fabulous hair?" Zenka asked. "That's just evil."

"It's okay, Naho-kun," Kibiki reassured. "My hair will grow back eventually, and I can always put my clothes back on again, so it'll be alright."

"Sensei…" Naho whispered.

"Anyway, I'll leave the administration to Aiko, and the scorekeeping to Zenka, while I'll be busy guarding Kibiki," Sachiko said.

"Alright," Aiko replied. "I just have to keep an eye on this piece of paper, right?"

"Yep!" Sachiko beamed. "Concerning tomorrow, it's irrelevant to Inumaru, Aiko and Zenka… unless Packer-kun fails to do his part, but other than that, just try to take it easy and enjoy yourselves. Well then, bye-bye, and good luck!"

And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the footage was cut from the monitor. Naho stood in silence, her body beginning to shake all over. She desperately tried to hold back a few tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. She felt a hand touch her shoulder, and she glanced up to see that it was Sayaka.

"Naho-tan, it'll be alright," Sayaka whispered. "Over these past couple of days, we've gotten through all sorts of situations. So it'll be alright this time, too."

"Sayaka…" Naho whispered, her heart strings being pulled tight.

"If the two of us are together, then everything is going to be A-Okay, alright?" Sayaka encouraged.

"Yeah…" Naho agreed. Naho took Sayaka's hand in hers and held it tight, feeling the warmth of it flowing into her.

'It's alright. Everything is going to be alright…' Naho thought, trying to assure herself. As she reflected on Sayaka's words, she noticed that she had stopped shaking.

"I'm alright. I've calmed down now," Naho said.

"Good!" Sayaka beamed. Taguchi let out a small chuckle.

"You guys really are close," he noted.

"But I'm the only one that has a steady relationship with Sayaka!" Inumaru said.

"Alright, alright, enough with your delusions," Sayaka jested.

"You're kind of starting to talk a lot like Saenoki-san recently, Sayaka," Inumaru pointed out.

Zenka crossed his arms as he observed everything in front of him.

"I realize that we've only just met," Zenka spoke up. "But I get the feeling that this Kibiki-Sensei means a lot to you." Naho glanced over at him and gave a wordless nod. "Well, all you have to do is beat this quiz, and you'll get him back."

Zenka held up his left arm, covered by an arm gauntlet, which had a digital readout attached to it. Currently, it read '000' in white numbers. "This will keep track of how many points you've earned," Zenka explained. "427 points is the target. It seems like a lot, but it can be done. There are a lot of questions in this shelter that can award a ton of points. All we have to do is find them."

Suddenly, they heard a screech from outside the room, making everyone's blood turn cold. Just then, without warning, a youma burst into the room, intent on tearing everyone apart. Fortunately, Zenka was ready. Quickly unsheathing Zangetsu, he quickly spun around and decapitated the approaching youma, killing it instantly. Its headless body collapsed to the ground, while the head struck the far wall and came to rest, its eyes rolling into the back of its head.

"Of course, there's also the matter of watching out for those damn youma that are roaming the bomb shelter as well," Zenka said darkly, resheathing Zangetsu.

"It seems like it's not gonna be easy to get the prize at the end," Inumaru noted.

"Well, if we don't try our best, then Kou-Sensei is gonna have some terrible things happen to him for sure," Aiko said. "How terrible."

"Just don't get in our way, alright?" Naho warned. Aiko giggled in response.

"I wonder what I should do?" she murmured. Naho gritted her teeth in aggravation.

"Stop it, you two!" Taguchi shouted. "Now's not the time nor the place to do that! We have to work together if we want to get Sensei back to safety!"

"Taguchi-san, I can't accept that statement," Naho replied.

"Huh?" Taguchi uttered in confusion.

"The one who is going to save Sensei and get rewarded is me, and me only!" Naho boldly declared. "I'm not letting anyone take that away from me!"

"Wow, you're really persistent on something like that?" Taguchi inquired.

"I especially don't want that taken by Taguchi-san," Naho continued. "So, Sayaka, Inumaru-kun… and I guess Aiko as well, please help me out with that."

"Of course!" Sayaka exclaimed. "I'm always on your side, Naho-tan!"

"I'm always on Sayaka's side, so I'll help you out too this time!" Inumaru joined in.

"Thank you, you two," Naho said gratefully.

"I wonder what I should do," Aiko thought out loud. "I don't really like helping people without some kind of profit, but I guess it wouldn't hurt in the long run to make a repayment with Naho-Chan right here."

"I'd appreciate it if you thought about it with less dark intentions," Naho grumbled.

"Huh? Naho-Chan, what about me?" Taguchi asked.

"Out of all of us here, the one that has no supernatural sense is you, and only you Taguchi-san," Naho said matter-of-factly. "To be honest, you're the most useless one here."

"T-That's so mean, Naho-Chan!" Taguchi complained. "You never know, I might be useful at some point or another!"

"In a school inhabited by evil spirits, what is a 'normal' cameraman going to do that could be helpful to us in any way?" Naho continued. "I just can't see anything. Long story short, you're unneeded."

"Ooof, brutal," Zenka chuckled. "I hope Taguchi brought some burn heal."

"Hey… stop!" Taguchi yelled. "If you say anymore, then I'm seriously going to start thinking things that I probably shouldn't, Naho-Chan!"

"I couldn't care less, to be honest," Naho sighed.

"Hey, nobody says that with a serious expression!" Taguchi yelled.

Naho let an evil smile grace her lips.

'Well, it does feel good whenever I see Taguchi-san with a shocked expression on his face,' Naho thought. Taguchi noticed Naho's smile and could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand up.

"A-Are you thinking something that I shouldn't know…?" he inquired. Naho thought about it for a minute.

"Nah, I'll leave it there for now," she replied.

"That so?" Taguchi asked.

"Well, sorry," Aiko said suddenly. "That's incorrect."

"Huh?" Naho muttered in confusion. Everyone stared at Aiko like she had grown a second head. "What are you talking about?"

"I said it's incorrect, Naho-Chan," Aiko repeated with a giggle. "Didn't you realize? Your little spat with Taguchi-kun was the first question on the quiz."

"Are you serious?" Zenka questioned.

"Deadly serious," Aiko replied. "Naho-Chan just thought about what to do with Shougo-san, right? Whether to leave him be for now, or to continue with more."

"Well… yes, I did," Naho admitted. "But isn't there usually a question to begin with when doing a quiz? There was no question, let alone it making any sense as a question."

"Normally, that's true," Aiko answered. "But in a place like this, it's not smart to have any thoughts using common sense. If you thought that Sachiko-Chan would give us easy questions to understand and answer, then you are highly mistaken."

"She does have a point," Zenka spoke up. "This is Sachiko we're talking about here. This is the mind of an eight year old girl at work, with sadistic tendencies, so these questions could literally be about anything and can come out of nowhere at any time, like just now."

"But… that one was kind of unfair in my book," Sayaka protested. Zenka could only shrug.

"Sorry. I don't like it either, but them's the rules. I don't make them, I just enforce them," Zenka said.

"It's alright, Sayaka," Naho assured. "As much as I hate to admit it, Aiko's right. It was my fault on that one. I should've taken my time and decided on my answer more carefully."

"I'm glad we've come to an understanding," Aiko replied.

"But why was that incorrect?" Inumaru asked. "Judging from the current circumstances, Saenoki-san chose to 'leave him be for now', right?"

"So that means that 'keep going' was the correct answer, but why?" Naho wondered.

"I don't know. It doesn't say why," Aiko replied. "Maybe it's better if you asked the person in question."

Everybody's gaze pointed at Taguchi, whose cheeks seem to be glowing a bright red for some reason.

"Got an explanation for us, Taguchi?" Zenka inquired. Taguchi rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Well… um… it's kind of embarrassing to admit… but, I… actually don't mind being ruthlessly made fun of by Naho-Chan," Taguchi admitted.

"What?!" Naho screeched, her eyes bulging.

"So, I thought I really wouldn't have minded if you continued to say such awful things to me," Taguchi continued. "That's probably the reason."

"Well, there's your logical explanation," Zenka laughed.

"Oh, my God!" Naho roared. "Taguchi-san, never speak to me again for the rest of your measly life!"

"Ah, that evil look you have, it reminds me of someone disgustingly staring at an insect of some sort!" Taguchi pointed out. "Naho-Chan, you really do suit that kind of stare!"

"Oh, man…" Inumaru sighed, face palming. "I know I can be a blithering idiot sometimes, but even I've got my limits…"

Taguchi's eyes widened as he noticed everyone backing away from him slowly.

"What?! Why are you guys backing away?!" Taguchi yelled. "I thought at least Inumaru-kun would understand me, being a male like I am!"

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're going on about," Inumaru replied.

"Come on, now," Taguchi countered. "You get excited when you think about Sayaka-Chan giving that kind of attitude to you too, right?"

"My angel would never say stuff like that to me," Inumaru replied.

"What are you going on about?!" Sayaka roared. "Are you blind or something?!"

"Oh yeah, Sayaka-Chan!" Taguchi exclaimed. "You would understand what I mean, right? When Naho-Chan becomes all cold against you, you're all 'OH, YEAH! OOH!', right?"

"My angel never says stuff like that to me, so… no," Sayaka replied.

"Huh? What is this uncomfortable change?" Taguchi asked.

"I'm sorry, but I doubt we'll ever be able to understand each other for all eternity," Sayaka muttered. "My condolences to you."

"Man… it kind of hurts more when you say it so politely…" Taguchi moaned.

"Yep… this is a well-oiled machine, alright…" Zenka sighed, pinching his nose with his fingers.

"It hasn't been that long since this quiz started and we've already torn open the hole that is Shougo-san's fetish," Aiko laughed. "This is gonna be interesting."

"Nobody is thinking that except you," Naho retorted. "By the way, if it was an incorrect answer, what happens next?"

"Well, since Question 1 was incorrect, we lose 50 points from our total," Aiko answered.

Zenka raised his arm, and everyone watched as the numbers turned red and a 'wha wha whaaa' sound emanated from it. The digital readout now read '-50' in red numbers.

"Well, that's a rather large deduction, I'd say," Taguchi sighed.

"Already at negative 50…" Naho said with a defeated voice. "Are we really going to get to 427 points?"

"Hmmm…" Sayaka hummed to herself. "I understand why Naho-tan would be worried. But it's only the first question! We'll be able to make up the difference for it by the end, I'm sure of it!"

"That's right!" Inumaru agreed. "I doubt that they'll make the questions so difficult that getting one question wrong spells disaster, right?"

"They do have a point, Naho," Zenka replied. "Remember, there are a lot of questions out here in this bunker, some containing a boatload of points, and they could come out of the woodwork at any time, so you must be prepared for them."

"Yeah!" Sayaka agreed. "Sachiko-san seems like she's in a good mood today, too!"

"You're right," Naho said. "I need to be positive about this."

"It seems like there won't be any unprompted questions from here on in," Aiko spoke up.

"Really?" Sayaka asked.

"Indeed," Aiko replied. "As Zenka himself pointed out, the rest of the questions are scattered throughout the place, and we have to find the questions and answer them together."

"So the next one will have an actual question written on it," Sayaka surmised.

"Exactly," Zenka answered.

"Well, that certainly helps a lot," Naho said.

"Then let's go look for them," Inumaru declared. "Should we start looking in this room?"

"No, I doubt there would be any questions hidden in here, since this is our starting point," Aiko replied. "I think it's better to start searching elsewhere."

"Right. Let's go, then," Naho retorted.

"Alrighty then!" Taguchi boasted. "Can you guys leave this to me?!"

"What?" Naho questioned.

"I need to prove to Naho-Chan that I can be useful for something!" Taguchi said. "I'll find the first quiz and prove that I'm needed in this group!"

"Wait, Taguchi-san!" Naho yelled as he rushed out the door. The others were quick to follow suit after them… except Zenka, who stood there with his arms crossed in front of him. He shook his head and let out a small sigh.

"This is gonna be a long quiz, I can tell already," he sighed, unsheathing Zangetsu. "Joy…"

---

Taguchi ran out into the hallway and glanced around.

"Well then, which way should we go?" Taguchi wondered. "Alright, let's start off by going to the right!"

As he began running down the hallway, he could hear the faint sound of footsteps.

"Hm? Footsteps…?" Taguchi muttered. "Is somebody there?" He let out a gasp as he thought about who it could be. "Is it possibly… Kibiki-Sensei? Sensei, where are you?! Kibiki-Sensei!"

Just then, the sound of footsteps running came up behind him. He looked back and could see the rest of the Paulownia group running up to him.

"Taguchi-san, what's wrong?" Naho asked.

"It seems like there's somebody nearby," Taguchi replied. "It could be Sensei."

"Sensei?! Really?!" Naho gasped.

"Kibiki-Sensei, can you hear us?!" Sayaka yelled, cupper her hands together over her mouth like a megaphone. There was no response. Zenka gripped his sword a little tighter, electricity running up and down his arms as they could still hear the footsteps.

"Where are those steps coming from?" Inumaru asked.

"It's difficult to see, with it being so gloomy," Aiko replied.

"Sensei!" Naho shouted.

Suddenly, a loud screech echoed throughout the hallway, bringing everyone to a halt.

"Keep your voices down," Zenka harshly whispered. "There's still youma and whatever else roaming down in this place. We need to keep an eye out for them, just in case they show up."

"That's strange… I'll go and check over there!" Taguchi said, running down the hall. Zenka sighed in frustration.

"Doesn't he realize that we need to stick together?" he muttered. The group ran down the hall after him.

As they approached Taguchi, they noticed that he had come to a branching hallway, one going left, right and forward. He turned around and glanced back at them.

"So… which way should we go?" Taguchi asked. Confusion etched on his face when he noticed the terrified looks they were all giving him.

"Taguchi-san, behind you!" Naho yelled.

"Look out!" Inumaru warned.

Both Inumaru and Naho brought out their protective charms, and Zenka raised Zangetsu to attack, but it was too late. A large hammer suddenly swung down over Taguchi's head and…

PLINK!

Everyone stopped as they heard the curious noise. Taguchi gasped as he noticed that the person holding the hammer was none other than Sachiko's monster, Yoshikazu, but the hammer he was holding seemed a bit… off.

"Weird… it didn't hurt at all…" Taguchi noted. Yoshikazu growled as he hit Taguchi with the weird hammer again, causing it to make the same PLINK! noise again. "Hey, man!"

Yoshikazu had a wide smile on his face as he chuckled every time his hammer made the weird noise. Zenka lowered his sword, absolute confusion covering his face.

"Okay… this just got really freaking bizarre…" he muttered.

"What is going on here?" Naho asked, just as confused as Zenka. Inumaru threw his arms up in defeat.

"No clue," he said.

"That's a Pico-Ham, a very popular plastic toy hammer here in Japan," Naho said. "But what happened to the usual hammer?"

"He's always holding a hammer?" Aiko asked.

"Yeah, a rather old sledgehammer that looks like it's been used a lot," Naho replied.

"Oh, is that so?" Aiko said. "That's a shame. I wanted to see it. It must've been a wonderful spiritual hammer full of so much dark and evil energy."

"Maybe, but I doubt you'd want to be on the receiving end of that thing," Zenka pointed out.

Yoshikazu let out small grunting noises, sounding like a monkey, as he continued to hit Taguchi with his toy hammer.

"Come on, what the actual hell?!" Taguchi complained.

"He's probably mad because you separated from the group," Aiko pointed out.

"Eh?" Taguchi uttered.

"Sachiko-Chan said it herself," Aiko continued. "The key to winning this quiz is to work together with the group assigned. It's a big no-no to go off independently from the group. If you break the rules, you'll be bashed upon like so."

Yoshikazu grunted as he nodded in affirmation, giving Taguchi one more whack with his toy hammer.

"Ow! Alright, I get it!" Taguchi conceded. "I won't go ahead already!"

Just then, a loud screech sounded in the corridor, a little louder than normal. Suddenly, a youma came running out of the darkness from behind Yoshikazu toward the Paulownia group. Thinking fast, Zenka powered up a spell.

"INAZUMA! (LIGHTNING BOLT!)"

Extending his hands outward, a large bolt of lightning shot out of his hands, just past Taguchi and into the chest of the youma. It screamed as it was electrocuted where it stood. When the electricity vanished, the skin on the youma as charred to a crisp. It fell to its knees and to the dirt floor, dead.

Zenka dusted off his hands as he glared at Taguchi.

"That's another reason you shouldn't go ahead without us," Zenka warned. "You could've been torn apart by that youma, and there would've been nothing we could've done to stop it."

Shivers running down his spine, Taguchi nodded as he quickly ran back to the group. Yoshikazu lowered his hammer, turned around and began to slowly walk away from the group. Sayaka shivered watching him leave.

"That was so scary…" she whispered.

"Are you alright, Sayaka?" Naho asked.

"Yeah, kind of…" Sayaka replied.

"If you can't walk, then I'll always carry you, Sayaka!" Inumaru offered.

"I just don't want him to come out like that all of a sudden," Sayaka sighed. "Geez…"

"Well, you're certainly up and at 'em, Sayaka!" Inumaru beamed. "But don't be shy. Don't stress yourself, okay? My arms are here to hold you, after all."

Taguchi laughed at Inumaru's posturing.

"Inumaru-kun is a rather positive thinker," he admired. Aiko giggled as well.

"That stalker thinking is rather cute," she observed.

"Well, I think stalker is a bit much, but…" Taguchi began.

"It's better than Taguchi-san's sexual fetishes," Naho finished.

"Ouch…" Taguchi moaned, his shoulders drooping. Naho looked back at the direction Yoshikazu disappeared to.

"Anyway, regardless of whether he holds a Pico-Ham or a real hammer, it's still a person I'd rather not see down here again," Naho commented.

"Yeah, that ghost is bad for the heart," Sayaka shivered.

"I wonder if he's really a ghost, though," Zenka said. "He seemed pretty real to me, almost like a zombie."

"It's best to avoid doing anything that would break the rules," Naho interjected. "So on that note, Taguchi-san, never do anything selfish like that again, please."

"I understand," Taguchi replied sadly.

"Well, then, shall we get going?" Aiko suggested. "By the looks of it, there seems to be nothing of note around here."

"You're right," Naho replied. "Where shall we go?"

Aiko walked up to the intersection and looked to the left.

"There seems to be a light down this way," Aiko observed. "I suggest going this way."

Sayaka walked up to the intersection and looked to the right.

"I think… we should go to the right," Sayaka said.

"Why?" Naho asked.

"Call it a hunch," Sayaka replied.

"A hunch?" Aiko repeated. "I don't recommend going with opinions that have little to no justifications."

"But I think I know more about this place than Aiko-san," Sayaka countered. "I've wandered around this place before, so I think I know where the quizzes would be hidden."

"But don't you know, Sayaka-Chan?" Aiko replied. "Today, this place is being built using Sachiko-Chan's powers, so the dimension is being shifted manually by her. So the place were in right now is technically a different place than where you were, Sayaka-Chan. Put simply, your wits are no use in this situation right now. Do you understand?"

As Aiko gave the group an alluring smile, Naho could see Sayaka's eyes start to twitch in frustration.

"But I still think we should go this way!" Sayaka shouted.

"Really?" Aiko inquired. "Are you not just saying that to cover for your mistakes?"

"It's not like that," Sayaka retorted.

"Then let's decide on the majority," Aiko suggested. "I want to go down the brighter left path, and Sayaka-Chan wants to go down the darker right path. Which path should we take?"

Everyone looked at Zenka, who simply shook his head.

"Don't look at me," Zenka replied. "This is your quiz, therefore, it is your decision, not mine. I'm just along for the ride."

"I'm always on Sayaka's side, so I vote for the right path," Inumaru said.

"I'm putting my vote in for Niwa-san," Taguchi replied. "I prefer to go down the brighter path since it'll be a lot easier to look for the quizzes, and it's less likely that Yoshikazu will show up again."

"So, two votes each," Aiko said. "That leaves just you, Naho-Chan. So, which way would you like to go?"

Naho crossed her arms and thought long and hard about it. After a minute, she gave a long and hard sigh, realizing that her decision was against her better judgment when it came to Aiko.

"Let's try and go left," Naho said.

Sayaka's mouth dropped open at Naho's answer. Aiko giggled in response.

"I know, right?" Aiko beamed. "It's normal to choose my path in this situation."

"Naho-Chan, why…?" Sayaka questioned, her eyes brimming with tears. Naho let out a depressed sigh.

"I think it's natural to choose the brighter path over a suspiciously dark path, don't you think so?" Aiko said. "It's perfectly logical, right, Naho-Chan?"

"As I much as I hate it, Aiko's right, Sayaka," Naho admitted. "Like her, I think that going the brighter path would be quicker and more efficient in this situation." She gave Sayaka an apologetic look. "Sorry, Sayaka."

"Efficient…" Sayaka repeated. Aiko giggled again.

"As expected of Naho-Chan," she noted. "Instead of worrying about the friendship that you have with Sayaka, you prioritized logic over anything in your answer. Even if you did hurt Sayaka-Chan, you're not fazed by it at all, right?"

"I never said that!" Naho yelled. "I just… want to finish this quiz already and save Sensei!"

"So, simply put, you place Kou-Sensei over Sayaka-Chan's friendship," Aiko goaded.

"Oh, for the love of Pete…" Zenka sighed, face palming.

"I-I never said that either!" Naho shouted indignantly. "Stop putting words in my mouth!"

"Naho-Chan…" Sayaka murmured. Naho looked over at her and sighed.

'I had no intention of neglecting Sayaka, but maybe she took it that way,' Naho thought. 'Did I… hurt… Sayaka?'

Then, all of a sudden, Sayaka's face brightened up, and she let out a small giggle.

"I'm glad. It's all good then!" she beamed.

"Eh?" Naho uttered in confusion.

"Let me explain," Sayaka said. "It's not like you chose Aiko-san over me, but you chose her path because you care so much about saving Kibiki-Sensei, right? Then I understand! If Naho-tan decided on it, then I'm not going to complain."

"Sayaka…" Naho whispered, feeling her emotions rushing to the surface. Sayaka took Naho's hands in hers.

"It's no problem," Sayaka assured. "I'm not hurt in the least, okay? Because I know that even if you chose Aiko-san's idea, our friendship is deeper than that of any ocean in existence, and it will not be disturbed in the least!"

"Of course it won't," Naho replied, a smile now gracing her lips.

"And there's no way that my deep love for Sayaka will ever be shaken up either!" Inumaru declared. Sayaka glared back at him.

"Wha… oh, Geez," Sayaka grumbled. "Don't interrupt us while we're trying to bring our friendship closer together, damn it!"

With lightning speed, she swung her fist backwards and connected with Inumaru's jaw, sending him sprawling onto the dirt floor. Sayaka growled in frustration.

"Geez, you ruined the mood completely!" she complained. Naho giggled.

"Yep, he did," she chuckled.

"Well, that was rather anti-climactic," Aiko sighed. "Aren't you two perhaps a little too close to each other?"

Sayaka giggled as her cheeks flared red.

"Of course we are!" she beamed. "Right, Naho-tan?"

"Besides, would it matter if they were?" Zenka interjected. "At least they've got the right idea in terms of working as a team, unlike you."

Aiko crossed her arms and frowned at the onyx Knight, but Zenka was unfazed by her reaction.

"I don't know if you were paying attention during the Battle Royale," Zenka continued. "But you saw how the Knights of the Covenant work together. Even though we can control only one element… except Packer, who can control them all, we work together to make up for our deficiencies and enhance our strengths. At some points, we even combined our powers for even greater effect and results. A similar mindset must be taken here if you're going to succeed…" He holds up the arm with the digital readout, which still showed a red color. "…especially if you intend to get out of this hole you're currently in. As it stands, you need 477 points to win the quiz, so you need to start working together if you're gonna survive."

"…Yes, I suppose you have a point," Aiko replied.

"Alright, let's change the topic," Naho interjected. "So Aiko, I just thought about it now, but… was our selection just then a question on the quiz as well?"

"Oh, so you realized it," Aiko replied, a surprised look on her face.

"Thought so," Naho said with a smug smile. Aiko nods in affirmation.

"Congratulations," Aiko declared. "Your correct answer nets you 10 points."

The digital readout on Zenka's arm suddenly made a cash register sound, and the readout changed to '-40' in red numbers.

"We only got 10 points for a correct answer, huh?" Taguchi said. "Looks like the road to 427 points is going to be a long one."

"Indeed, but it's a start, at least," Zenka replied. "You're still in the red, but you've got momentum right now. Don't lose it."

"By the way, can we even call that a legit quiz?" Sayaka questioned. "I thought Aiko-san said there wouldn't be any more unprompted ones."

Aiko giggled in response.

"I'm sorry. That was a lie," she admitted. Sayaka gasped in shock. "But from now on, there really won't be any more unprompted ones."

"Is that a lie, too?" Sayaka grumbled, crossing her arms in disgust.

"Like I said at the beginning, expect the unexpected," Zenka replied.

"Zenka's right," Naho said. "It's best if we remain constantly on our guard."

"Oh, my, how rude of you," Aiko giggled. Sayaka rolled her eyes.

"Considering your reputation, you're not exactly in a position to be talking," Zenka pointed out.

"No need to pay attention to her," Naho interjected. "Come on, Sayaka. Let's move on."

"Yeah, okay," Sayaka agreed.

"Taguchi-san, can you take the lead, please?" Naho asked.

"Huh? Why me?" Taguchi inquired.

"Because if there's a trap up ahead, then you'll be the one to give us a heads up," Naho replied.

"Brutal," Zenka chuckled.

"I get what you mean, but isn't that mean?!" Taguchi exclaimed. Letting out a sigh, he nodded. "Alright. I am the only adult in this group after all! I'll take the lead and ensure everyone's safety! Let's do this!"

Sayaka looked back at Zenka.

"Aren't you an adult, Zenka?" she asked.

"Actually, no," Zenka replied. "I'm only seventeen right now."

"I see," Sayaka nodded.

"But compared to Taguchi, I think I'm more of an adult than he is," Zenka chuckled. Sayaka giggled in response.

"Agreed," she said.

Suddenly, as Taguchi took the first step, a trap door suddenly opened underneath him, causing him to fall through it. Taguchi yelled as he fell into the hole.

"A trap hole?!" Sayaka exclaimed.

"Looks like it," Naho said matter-of-factly. "I didn't think he would get caught in the first step, though."

"No way… Taguchi-san!" Sayaka yelled into the hole.

"Oh, my… an instant death?" Aiko wondered. "Squashed like splat? Or maybe he was stabbed to death at the bottom by spikes?"

"Hey! Don't go and get me killed like that!"

Everyone looked down into the hole, and noticed that Taguchi had managed to grab onto the side of the door as he was falling, keeping him from falling into the pit of sharpened spikes below.

"Wow, he didn't fall!" Sayaka said in amazement.

"Taguchi-san, your sacrifice will not be wasted!" Inumaru shouted.

"Not you too, Inumaru-kun?!" Taguchi exclaimed. "How about pulling me up already?! There's all these sharp bamboo spikes underneath me! I'm gonna die! Help me!"

"My, my, to think I stumbled upon a chance to see a live human fall to his death like this," Aiko noted. "Shougo-san, could you maybe perhaps think about letting go?"

Zenka looked up at Aiko as if she were from another planet.

"Wow, Aiko. You are one evil bitch," he said with disgust.

"I try," Aiko replied with a shrug.

"You're saying some scary stuff, you know?!" Taguchi shouted. "No freaking way I'm letting go! Please, someone lend me your hand and pull me up!"

"Hold on. I'll get you out," Zenka said, walking over to the hole. Holding up Zangetsu, he imbedded the sword into the dirt wall. "Zangetsu, watashi tsukamimasu! (Grab onto me!)"

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning connected the handle of the sword with Zenka's hand. Using it as a sort of climbing rope, Zenka climbed down into the hole and reached out to Taguchi.

"Grab my hand," he commanded. Taguchi gratefully did so.

"Ooohhh… thank you, Zenka-san," Taguchi cried. "I owe you my life."

"Zangetsu, de watashitachi o hikimodoshimasu! (Pull us back in!)," Zenka commanded.

The lightning connected to the handle of the sword began to retract, pulling Zenka and Taguchi back through the hole and to safety. Taguchi let out a few pants as he was back on solid ground.

"That was a close one," he gasped.

"Geez, you know how to make people fret," Naho complained.

"At least you're not hurt anywhere," Sayaka said.

Aiko glanced over at Zenka, who removed Zangetsu from the dirt wall.

"That was impressive how you made your sword do that, Shinojin-kun," she said.

"Well, the sword is an extension of myself, in a way," Zenka explained. "We've become so close together, it's almost like we can anticipate what the other needs."

"I see," Aiko said.

"Well, while I was hanging out down there," Taguchi cut in. "I just happened to notice something."

"What is it?" Naho inquired.

"To think that Sachiko took all of her energy to dig this hole and put those bamboo spikes there… it tickles my heart a little bit," Taguchi replied.

The sound of crickets could be heard as everyone stared at Taguchi. Aiko let out an incredulous giggle.

"Shougo-san is becoming more and more of a piece of trash person," she said.

"And that hole was most definitely made by Yoshikazu, who was ordered by Sachiko," Inumaru pointed out.

"Taguchi-san, you're disgusting," Naho said venomously.

"I'm sorry. I just thought I'd say it," Taguchi replied.

"No… you're weird," Zenka said.

"Well, then, let's leave this insect and get moving," Naho replied.

"Insect?!" Taguchi screeched.

"You're right," Sayaka agreed. "After all, we haven't found a singer proper question to the quiz yet, either."

"Best to hurry along then," Inumaru suggested.

"I hope there's no time limit on this whole ordeal," Aiko retorted.

Everyone began walking away, leaving Taguchi and Zenka behind.

"I'm sorry!" Taguchi apologized, running after them. "Please don't leave me here!"

Zenka stood in the hallway for a moment, before letting out a sigh.

"And this is the crap I get stuck wiping up," he grumbled. "What did I do wrong in a past life?"

Shaking his head, he followed the Paulownia group down the hall.

---

After wondering through the complicated hall structures, the group came to a door that seemed to lead into a different room. However, there were weird sounds coming from within. Zenka placed a finger up to his lips, silencing the group. Silent as can be, he walked over and peered inside. He could see a group of six youma inside the room, drinking the blood from the buckets and tearing bits of old flesh apart.

Muttering silently to himself, Zangetsu suddenly began to buzz with electricity.

"What's going on?" Naho asked.

"There's a pack of youma in there," Zenka replied. "Fortunately, I have a way of getting rid of them in one shot."

Zangetsu's power reached full bore, and Zenka began to power up a spell himself. As his hands began to gather with electricity, he stepped out and threw the sword into the room, the blade sticking into the ground. The youma looked at the sword in confusion as Zenka finished powering up his spell.

"ZANGETSU, SŪPĀ RAIHA! (SUPER LIGHTNING BLADE!)"

Suddenly, a thundercloud appeared above the imbedded sword, and a bolt of lightning struck the blade's handle.

"Everybody down!" Zenka shouted, taking cover next to the wall with everyone else. Suddenly, the entire room was filled with lightning, as the youma within screamed in their death throes. Lightning bolts flashed out of the door before finally disappearing.

Standing up and taking a peek inside, Zenka could see that all of the youma had been disintegrated, turned into piles of ash on the floor.

"It's clear," Zenka said.

As everybody walked into the room, they let out a disgusted gasp as the smell of blood and rotten flesh fill their nostrils. Hooks hung from the wall, several tables were set up in the room and were caked with blood, as were the walls on all sides.

"A torture room," Zenka observed as he walked up and pulled Zangetsu out of the ground.

"This room is terrible," Inumaru said, pinching his nose. "Is there really a quiz hidden in a place like this?"

"I don't know," Aiko replied. "But the paper says there are no questions to the quiz in the halls, so the only other option is to check every room we come across, right?"

"Although, I'm not really up for that, to be honest," Naho admitted.

"Oh, why is that?" Aiko inquired. "This is such a brilliant room, though."

"This looks like a brilliant room to you, Niwa-san?!" Taguchi exclaimed.

"Yes, indeed," Aiko replied. "I can feel a strong sense of hatred and evil spirits in here. In this very room, so many young sheep have already lost their lives! Hahaha, I can already start to hear the death throes already!"

"What a disturbing hobby," Naho said with disgust.

Sayaka looked around the room, feeling a bit of recognition.

"Sayaka, you've been here before too?" Naho asked.

"Yeah," Sayaka responded.

Zenka cleared his throat.

"I know this place reeks with death, but need I remind you what we need to do?" the onyx Knight asked. He held up the digital display, still showing a red glow to it with a '-40' on the readout. "If you guys are gonna get yourselves out of this hole, you need to find some questions."

"Well, for the time being, we seem to be relatively safe," Naho replied.

"Seems like it," Inumaru acknowledged.

"Well then, let's take our time and thoroughly investigate this room for a quiz question," Aiko suggested.

"Or more," Zenka warned. "I sense that this room holds several questions. Search everywhere for them."

Nodding at Zenka's voice, the Paulownia group began searching the room.

After a few minutes, Inumaru looked up from what he was doing and glanced over at Sayaka.

"Sayaka!" he called over. Sayaka popped her head up.

"What is it?" she inquired.

"Well," Inumaru began. "I don't really know how to say this, but I was thinking there might be a quiz hidden within your uniform."

"What?!" Sayaka screeched.

"No, even still, since you answered a quiz, there might be an evil spirit that has attached itself to you!" Inumaru continued. "Let me check it out for you!"

"What?! Hey, stop it!" Sayaka yelled as Inumaru grabbed her uniform. "Don't touch me!"

"No need to be shy about it!" Inumaru exclaimed.

"Yah… damn it! Die!" Sayaka roared as she reached up and slapped the daylights out of Inumaru, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to hold his face in pain. "Don't fuck around with me, you pervert!"

"What on Earth are you guys doing?" Naho asked with a sigh.

"Acting like a couple of nimrods, I think," Zenka replied.

As he finished rubbing the pain from his face, Inumaru looked down and noticed something floating in the bucket full of blood.

"Huh? What is that paper sunk in there?" he wondered out loud, pulling the folded piece of paper out.

"You found something?" Zenka asked, drawing everyone's attention to Inumaru.

"Yeah, looks like I found a question," Inumaru replied.

"Our first one," Aiko noted.

"Whoa… it's soaked in blood," Taguchi pointed out. "There's a quiz written on that, too?"

"Seems so," Inumaru said. "I can just read it. Let's see…"

Bonus Quiz!

"Ah, you've found one of the bonus questions," Zenka replied. "This won't cost you anything if you get it wrong, but I'd think it'd be a good idea to get those points right now."

"Right," Inumaru agreed. Looking back down, he read the contents of the paper.

How many buckets are there in this room?

Suddenly, there was a beeping noise. Everyone looked up at Zenka's digital readout. It had changed to a blue color, and was flashing with the readout '10.00' before suddenly beginning to count down.

"It's a timed question, Inumaru," Zenka warned.

"A time limit?!" Taguchi yelled.

"Right," Zenka said. "What's your answer, Inumaru?"

Breathing heavily, Inumaru quickly glanced around the room as the clock ticked down. With scant seconds to spare, he gave his final answer.

"Ummmmm… 10?!" Inumaru blurted out.

Everyone waited in suspense, and then…

Cha-Ching!

The familiar cash register sound echoed throughout the room, indicating a correct response.

"Congratulations, Inumaru. That's correct," Aiko said.

Inumaru breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God. That was a close one," he sighed.

"Since this was a bonus question, we get 50 points," Aiko announced.

"50 points? That much?!" Inumaru exclaimed.

"Yep," Aiko confirmed.

Just then, the cash register noise sounded once again. Zenka held the digital readout up, and it had changed from red to a green color, and the readout now read '010'. He looked up at everyone with a smile.

"Congratulations, everyone," Zenka said. "You're officially on the board."

"Alright!" Inumaru cheered. "Sayaka, Saenoki-san, Taguchi-kun, did you hear that?! 50 points! We're finally on our way!"

"Alright!" Naho yelled enthusiastically.

"You're amazing, Inumaru!" Sayaka shouted with glee.

"Huh?!" Inumaru grunted, not sure he heard what he thought he heard.

(Hysteric Birthday's Oozing with Sex Appeal begins playing in the background)

Suddenly, both Naho and Sayaka grabbed each of Inumaru's arms.

"With that, we're a step closer to saving Sensei!" Naho said. "Well done, Inumaru-kun!"

"50 points is a big achievement! I'm proud of you, Inumaru!" Sayaka beamed.

Inumaru swallowed heavily at Sayaka's words, and he could feel some heat beginning to escape from his undershirt.

'Wow, to think that I would be praised by Sayaka!' he thought. 'Actually, to think that I would be hugged by Sayaka one day! On top of that, to be able to see Saenoki-san this happy… it's a rather rare sight, isn't it?'

However, he found that he really couldn't think of anything to do in this situation.

'But… I can't really bring myself to do anything! I was totally unprepared for this! I guess with the actually act of Sayaka latching onto me, my whole body and brain just freezes up…!'

"Let's keep riding this wave and getting those points!" Naho declared.

"You're right, Naho-tan! Let's do our best!" Sayaka encouraged.

'Also, why do I feel so nervous?' Inumaru thought.

"Well, what do you think, Inumaru?" Zenka asked.

"Uh… well…" Inumaru began, feeling unusually nervous. "That definitely sounds good to me, as well."

Sayaka then realized that she was hugging Inumaru's arm, and quickly detached herself with a yelp. She glared at him, but her eyes softened when she realized that he was blushing, and he was letting out small nervous chuckles.

"Well, then," Inumaru said, trying to regain his composure. "Shall we continue?"

As he continued to search throughout the room, Sayaka walked up to Naho, a confused look on her face.

"Is it just me, or did Inumaru seem really nervous around us?" Sayaka asked. "Like, out of character type nervousness."

"I don't think he was expecting such high praise from you or me, Sayaka," Naho explained. "He's been so used to getting abuse from you, that I think getting high praise from you, as well as a hug, completely caught him off guard and out of his comfort zone, so much so that he didn't know what to do."

"Hmmm… interesting…" Sayaka mumbled.

As Inumaru checked the locker next to the wall, he discovered another piece of folded up paper on the floor of it.

"Hey, I've found another piece of paper in here," Inumaru called out. "There's a question on it, too."

Everyone was quick to run up to him.

"What does it say?" Naho asked.

"Let's see…" Inumaru mumbled, reading the note.

Who comes to mind when I say 'Pee-Girl'?

Sayaka let out a small gasp. Inumaru scratched his chin in confusion.

"Pee-Girl? What the hell does that mean?" Inumaru asked.

"Yeah, I don't get it either," Naho said.

"Well… it means just what it says," Taguchi replied.

"I think it means a girl that is known for peeing," Aiko added.

"But if you're alive, everyone pees, don't they?" Naho asked in confusion.

"No, that's not quite what it means," Taguchi interjected.

"Then what exactly does it mean?" Naho prodded.

"Well…" Taguchi began, unsure how to properly word what to say. "If I explain this, then I have a feeling I'm gonna get dirty looks from it." He glanced over at Inumaru. "Alright, Inumaru-kun, I'm passing the baton off to you."

"I'm sorry," Inumaru apologized after a small pause. "I've never heard of that term before in my life."

"Bullshit!" Taguchi yelled. "What was that little pause just then?!"

"I don't know what it means, either, so please, tell us, Taguchi-san," Inumaru replied.

"Inumaru-kun, it's not fair taking the nice kid route out!" Taguchi complained.

"Just tell us already, Taguchi-san," Naho interjected. "If we don't get the meaning of the question, we'll be stuck here forever."

"That's right," Aiko agreed with a giggle. "Please tell us already."

"This should be interesting," Zenka chuckled. Taguchi sighed in defeat.

"A… pee-girl… is a girl known to be a part of an event holding onto their own pee for an exorbitant amount of time, and/or peeing themselves in the end," Taguchi explained.

Sayaka shivered at his explanation, while Naho gave a disgusted sigh.

"Why do you know something like that, Taguchi-san?" Inumaru asked incredulously. "I can't believe you!"

"Damn it! That's why I didn't want to say it!" Taguchi shouted. Aiko giggled in response.

"Speaking of which, Sayaka-Chan has been rather quiet recently, but is something the matter?" she asked, directing her gaze over the red-haired girl in question.

"N-No… it's nothing…" Sayaka stuttered. Naho looked at her with a concerned gaze.

"Don't tell me, you're feeling sick?" she asked. "No need to force yourself."

"Y-Yeah, thanks…" Sayaka replied shakily.

"So, who do you think this 'pee-girl' is, everyone?" Naho inquired.

"Hmmm… I can't think of anyone in particular, but it's probably someone who was brought here to Heavenly Host Elementary," Taguchi surmised.

"If that's the case, then Niwa-san and I have no idea," Inumaru sighed.

"Indeed," Aiko giggled. Naho then snapped her fingers.

"Ah… Come to think of it, I've seen Yuka-Chan holding in her pee before," Naho remembered.

"Yuka-Chan… the small girl with the blue uniform on, right?" Taguchi asked.

"Right, from Kisaragi," Zenka added. "A member of Packer's group."

"I can only think of her, but can anyone think of anybody else?" Naho asked.

After a long period of silence, Sayaka let out a small sigh.

"Yes," she almost whispered. Naho looked at her questioningly.

"You know someone, Sayaka?" Naho inquired.

"Me," Sayaka admitted.

"Huh?" Naho uttered with confusion.

"I-I only think so, okay?" Sayaka said. "But since the question was in that locker, I'm guessing the answer might be… me…"

"Huh?!" Naho repeated, a little louder.

"So… ummmmm… what you're saying is…" Taguchi began.

"Perhaps it means… Sayaka-Chan has peed herself in that locker before?" Aiko asked.

Sayaka groaned with embarrassment.

"B-B-But there was a lot of unexplainable things happening in front of me… and I…" she tried to get out.

"It's no problem, Sayaka!" Inumaru interjected.

"Eh?" Sayaka uttered in confusion.

"That kind of Sayaka is totally okay, too!" Inumaru continued. "I love it! That's so moe! I could even start liking pee-girls from now on!"

"You… UNDELICATE BASTARD!" Sayaka roared, winding up and smacking Inumaru across the face once again, causing the smile to fall from his face.

"Well, I guess he got over his embarrassment," Zenka laughed.

"W-Why, Sayaka…" Inumaru whispered sadly. Taguchi chuckled.

"Inumaru-kun, you really have no idea how women work," he said.

"I can't accept that kind of sentence from the likes of you," Inumaru countered, eliciting a gasp from Taguchi.

"So, is the answer Sayaka-Chan, or is it Yuka-Chan?" Aiko asked. "Or is it a totally different answer altogether? Is there anybody else that may come to mind?"

"Now that I think about it, at Heavenly Host one time, I unfortunately saw Taguchi taking a pee," Naho grumbled.

"Yeah… I kind of remember that..." Taguchi mumbled with embarrassment.

"So, we have three candidates," Aiko noted. "Yuka-Chan, Sayaka-Chan, and Shougo-kun."

"Alright, Inumaru, it's up to you," Zenka said. "Who is it?"

Inumaru crossed his arms and thought about it.

'As much as I'd like to answer Sayaka,' he thought. 'She doesn't seem to be too fond of being known as a pee-girl, and we all know Taguchi isn't a girl... So, I'll go with the only other solid option available.'

"The answer is Yuka-Chan!" Inumaru declared.

"Correct. Plus 20 points then," Aiko announced.

The cash register noise sounded again, and the digital readout on Zenka's arm now flashed with green numbers that read '030'.

"30 points down," Zenka said. "397 to go."

"Alright, that was correct!" Naho beamed.

"Good going, Inumaru-kun!" Taguchi said.

"Thank God, right, Sayaka?" Inumaru asked. "You didn't get categorized into pee-girls!"

"This… this is just…" Sayaka mumbled. Inumaru grunted in confusion. "Then that means I just revealed my embarrassing secret for nothing!"

She wound back and punched Inumaru, knocking him off his feet.

"Ouch…" Inumaru groaned. Sayaka huffed in defiance.

"It seems Sayaka-Chan is really embarrassed. How cute," Aiko giggled.

"Alright, enough playing around," Zenka declared. "I'm sensing at least one more question lurking around in here somewhere."

As they were searching, Inumaru glanced down and noticed something written on the bloody table in front of him.

"Hey… it looks like there's something written here," Inumaru noticed.

Everyone came over to the table. It was covered in kanji writings.

"You're right," Naho said. "It's written in blood."

"Written in blood?!" Sayaka exclaimed. "Ewww…"

"Let's see what it says…" Inumaru said, glancing at the question.

Out of all the students from Byakudan High School, who was the first person to discover the Sachiko Ever After Charm?

"It seems like it's a bonus question," Aiko noted. "If we get this correct, we'll get quite a big point bonus."

"Whoa!" Sayaka exclaimed "Then we got to do our best to answer this, then!"

"To begin with, where the hell is Byakudan High School?" Taguchi asked.

"Hmm… Naho-tan, do you know?" Sayaka inquired.

"I'm pretty sure it's the school that Kizami Yuuya is a student of," Naho replied.

"You mean the tall guy with the long dark hair," Taguchi noted.

"Then that means that one of the girls that were near him is the answer," Inumaru said.

"How so?" Sayaka asked.

"Usually, girls are the ones who are into charms and stuff like that," Inumaru replied.

"Yeah, that's true," Sayaka admitted.

"I'm certain there were three girls," Naho interjected. "Does anyone know the names of those girls?"

Everyone fell silent for a second.

"Sorry, Naho-tan," Sayaka muttered. "They were cute girls, but I didn't get the chance to check them out for myself."

"Same here," Taguchi said.

"I see…" Naho replied. Aiko let a small sly smile grace her lips.

"Are you in trouble, perhaps?" she asked. Naho gave a sideways glance at Aiko.

"Don't tell me," she muttered. "You know the names?"

"Indeed," Aiko answered. "I don't know the answer to the quiz, but I do know the full names of the three girls in question at the moment."

"Wow," Sayaka admired. "As expected of Aiko-san!"

"Thank you," Aiko giggled.

"So, what are their names?" Naho asked.

"Oh, my, don't tell me you've forgotten?" Aiko replied. "I'm selling information here, Naho-Chan. There's no way I'm going to give it to you for free."

Naho glared at Aiko as if she were a monster herself.

"Even at a time like this?!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, good grief…" Zenka sighed.

"Does anybody have anything that will be equal in worth for this information?" Aiko continued. "I don't mind it being money, but I'll be happier if it were a paranormal tool of some sort."

"Well, I've got holy water and spiritual cards, but will that do?" Inumaru asked.

"I'm all stocked up on that kind of stuff," Aiko replied.

"Thought so," Inumaru sighed. "Sayaka, Saenoki-san, do you have anything?"

"I have nothing," Naho replied.

"Me, too," Sayaka seconded. Aiko giggled.

"Then I guess I can't give you this information," she said in a mocking tone. "What shall we do?

Zenka let out an aggravated sigh.

"I might have something for your greedy ass, Aiko," Zenka growled. Aiko raised an eyebrow at the onyx Knight.

"Oh, and what's that?" she inquired. Zenka held up what appeared to be a small dagger with an onyx blade.

"Just in case we run out of mana power, the Covenant forges these daggers for us as backup," Zenka explained. "These daggers are imbued with the power of our respective element, except in Packer's case, in which he uses all eight. In my case, I use onyx daggers, which are imbued with the power of Lightning. While not paranormal, they are supernatural, since they use one of the eight elements that make up our universe."

"My," Aiko gasped. "You're willing to exchange this for information?"

"Well, if you're happy with something like this, then yeah," Zenka replied. "But I'll only give this to you if you solemnly swear to keep it safe. A weapon like this, especially with the power of Lightning, can be dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands."

"Understood," Aiko replied, a serious look on her face. With reluctance, Zenka passed the dagger into Aiko's waiting hands.

"Now, I've held up my end of the bargain," Zenka said. "It's time for you to do the same."

"Of course," Aiko replied. "The names of the girls from Byakudan High School are Urabe Emi, Kirisaki Tohko, and Yamamoto Mitsuki."

"Got it," Naho said. "Is there any way we can figure out who it is based on the names?"

"I don't have any more information that could be useful here, unfortunately," Aiko sighed.

"Looks like we have no clues based off the name alone," Sayaka pointed out.

"Alright, Inumaru-kun," Naho began. "As the finder of the question, we'll let you answer this one on instincts."

"Instincts, huh?" Inumaru replied. "Okay… I'll give it a shot."

After thinking about it for a minute, he made up his mind.

"Alright. My best guess would be… Urabe Emi!" Inumaru declared. Aiko glanced down at the table, and she let out a surprised gasp as the answer revealed itself.

"Oh, my goodness," she gasped. "That's correct."

"ALRIGHT!" Inumaru shouted with excitement.

"Congratulations. That's 50 points," Aiko said.

After the tale tell cash register noise, the readout on Zenka's arm now showed '080' in green numbers.

"80 points down, 347 to go," Zenka said.

"It seems that even Inumaru can be useful sometimes," Sayaka beamed. "You did well!"

"Thank you, Sayaka!" Inumaru beamed back. "I'll just pretend I didn't hear the 'even Inumaru' part."

"If you really did just answer from wits, then you have rather good luck," Naho admired.

"It may seem so," Aiko agreed. "I think it's quite cool that you can do something like that in a time and place like this."

"Well," Inumaru began, his cheeks flaring from Aiko's compliment. "It was thanks to Niwa-san's accurate information."

"I'll always give you accurate information as long as you give me something of equal value," Aiko giggled.

'And if only she was more friendly to us, she would be of so much more help,' Inumaru thought. 'She's such a mysterious person.'

Suddenly, Sayaka started to feel a bit queasy, which Inumaru noticed immediately.

"Sayaka, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"I'm starting to feel a little bit sick…" Sayaka replied.

"It can't be helped, since we've been in this room for so long," Naho noted. "Let's start to move out of here."

"I just checked outside, and there seems to be a restroom not far from here," Taguchi said. "Want to head over there?"

"Yes, let's go," Naho replied.

Zenka unsheathed Zangetsu, and the group made their way out of the blood spattered room and back out into the hallway, bound for the restroom.

---

As the men waited outside, Sayaka exited her stall, her face still a bit pale, but she was feeling a bit better. Naho walked toward her with a worried look on her face.

"Sayaka, are you alright?" Naho asked, concerned.

"Yeah," Sayaka replied. "I feel a lot better after I threw up."

"But you still look quite pale," Aiko pointed out.

"I'll be fine," Sayaka assured. "I'll be feeling better soon."

"No need to be overconfident about it," Naho retorted.

"I'm not being overconfident about it," Sayaka said. "Don't worry about it."

"Alright," Naho conceded. "But just to be safe, we should rest here. Let's make Inumaru-kun, Taguchi-san and Zenka-san wait outside for the time being."

"Yeah. Just for a little bit, then," Sayaka agreed.

"KAMINARI BURASUTO! (LIGHTNING BLAST!)"

The sound of lightning echoed outside the bathroom, as well as the screams of pain of a dying youma.

"These things just won't learn, will they?" Zenka shouted. Sayaka giggled as she heard his voice outside.

"Zenka is very committed to helping us, isn't he?" she said.

"It is his job, after all," Aiko replied. Sayaka glanced up at Naho with a solemn look.

"I'm… sorry, Naho-tan," she apologized. Naho arched an eyebrow in response.

"For what?" she asked.

"I've experienced so many scary things with you, and yet I still can't get used to it all," Sayaka explained. "I'm causing so much trouble for everyone for sure."

"You're not causing trouble at all," Naho retorted. "And besides, the supernatural energy in Heavenly Host Elementary is a first for me, too. Nobody will blame you for not getting used to it at all."

"But, Naho-tan and Aiko-san are so calm about everything," Sayaka pointed out.

"I've been in way more situations like this, and Aiko is just a weird person, so I don't think it's a good idea to use her to compare yourself to," Naho chuckled.

"Oh, really?" Aiko countered. "I think Sayaka-Chan should hurry and get used to it already."

"Aiko, get a clue, will you?" Naho sighed. Aiko giggled in response.

"I can't help it," she replied. "It's so cute seeing Sayaka-Chan fluster over Naho-Chan."

"Don't tease Sayaka with that kind of lame excuse," Naho growled.

"Your angry face is cute as well," Aiko giggled.

"Naho-tan, I'll be fine," Sayaka reassured. "I think I've gotten used to this side of Aiko-san anyway."

"Oh, is that so?" Aiko sighed. "How disappointing. I'll have to think of a different strategy."

Naho sighed in aggravation.

"I'm sorry, Sayaka," she apologized. "Aiko being like this and all."

"I'm fine," Sayaka giggled. "In any case, Naho-tan, we should go and look for the next question. We can't let Sachiko-Chan do stuff to Kibiki-Sensei, after all."

"You're right," Naho agreed. "If we find the next room, we'll split up and search."

"Hm? Hello, what's this?" Aiko murmured questioningly as she glanced over in the corner of the room. She walked over and picked something up. It appeared to be a folded piece of paper.

"What's wrong?" Sayaka asked.

"This… it's got a question on it," Aiko replied.

"What?!" Sayaka exclaimed. "So that means there's a possibility that more questions are hidden in here?"

"Seems that way," Naho replied. "Inumaru-kun, Taguchi-san, Zenka-san, can you come in?"

Hearing their names called, the three males in question walked into the restroom.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Inumaru asked with concern. Taguchi had a blush on his face.

"Going into a girl's restroom with girls in it," he began. "It's rather stimulating… Ow!"

Taguchi yelped as Zenka smacked him in the back of the head.

"Stop being a perverted numb nut," Zenka scorned. "What seems to be the issue?"

"We found a quiz in here," Naho replied.

"Really? What does it say?" Inumaru inquired. Aiko opened the piece of paper and read the question.

Out of the girls in this room, who has the biggest breasts?

"Eh?" Naho muttered in confusion, while Zenka put a hand up to his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Wow, things just got serious," Zenka chuckled.

"What kind of question is that?!" Sayaka screeched.

"This is a rather delicate question to some people," Aiko noted.

"This is a rather dangerous question to answer for us boys, eh, Inumaru-kun?" Taguchi asked.

"Well, I do know that Sayaka is a C-cup," Inumaru said. Sayaka gasped in surprise. "So, if Saenoki-san and Niwa-san has a B-cup or less, then then biggest is Sayaka, but what cup size do you girls have?"

"How can you be so insensitive like that?!" Sayaka roared as she reached up and smacked Inumaru in the side of the head. She panted heavily as she tried to calm down. "I seriously can't stand this guy! What the hell is wrong with you, Inumaru?!"

"Calm down, Sayaka," Naho said. "Since your size was spilled, I'll tell you guys mine, too. My size is…"

"I know it!" Sayaka interrupted. "Naho-tan is a C-cup as well!"

"Wha…?" Naho uttered, surprised by Sayaka's knowledge. Sayaka giggled at Naho's reaction.

"Naho-tan and I have the same cup size, right?" Sayaka asked.

"Why do you and Inumaru-kun know what the cup sizes are if you've never even touched them before?" Taguchi inquired.

"Naho-tan and I went buying swimsuits together once," Sayaka explained. "I checked her size from back then."

"Oh, yeah," Naho replied, a small blush appearing on her face. "Now that you mention it…"

Zenka whistled in response.

"I know everything and anything about Sayaka," Inumaru interjected. "Not only do I know her cup size, but I accurately know her measurements for under and the top of her chest, too."

"I want to destroy you so badly," Sayaka growled as Inumaru cowered away from her.

"Destroy where?!" he whimpered. Zenka shook his head.

"It's confirmed. When it comes to girls, and more specifically, Sayaka, this guy is an idiot," the onyx Knight sighed.

"So all that's left is Aiko's size," Naho said.

"My breast size, huh?" Aiko giggled, a sly look on her face.

"Oh, crap. Here we go again…" Zenka predicted.

"Well, that information's going to cost you," Aiko continued. "I'll start with a million dollars, pay by hand, not to mention in one go as well."

Naho stared at Aiko as if she was a ghost.

"Well, that just sounds like a total rip-off!" Naho shouted.

"Personal information is especially costly," Aiko countered. "If you can't pay me now, then I can't give you any information."

"There's no way we can pay that amount!" Naho yelled. Just then, Sayaka ran up to her and grabbed her by the arm.

"Naho-tan, Naho-tan, I've got an idea," Sayaka whispered. Naho turned her ear toward her as Sayaka whispered into it. A sinister smile graced Naho's lips.

"Alright, let's go ahead with that plan, then," she agreed. Sayaka nodded.

"And on that note…" the red-head began.

"Take this, Aiko!" Naho shouted.

"What?!" Aiko exclaimed.

Suddenly, Sayaka and Naho ran up and grabbed Aiko by the arms with one hand, and grabbed each of her breasts with the other hand, causing Aiko to gasp in surprise and horror.

(Hysteric Birthday's Oozing with Sex Appeal begins playing in the background)

Zenka quickly sucked in a breath, before letting out a small laugh.

"This turned into a different game all of a sudden," Zenka said to no one particular, before looking toward the person reading this story. "But I love it. Kids, look away. You're too young to be reading this part of the story."

(AN: More fourth wall breaking lol)

"So, if we touch it like this, we'll know the size right away?" Naho asked.

"That's right! Nice idea, huh?" Sayaka beamed.

"Hey, stop it!" Aiko protested as Sayaka and Naho ran their hands over her breasts.

"Ooh… In any sense, what ridiculous boobs…" Sayaka admired. "I'm about to nosebleed…"

"They're softer than mine, too," Naho noted.

"I know, right?" Sayaka agreed. "They're so squishy, it's an amazing feeling!"

"Stop it already!" Aiko pleaded as their hands continued to run across her bust.

"It's pure bliss, Aiko-san!" Sayaka swooned. "It's like my hand is inside Heaven right now!"

"While I'm jealous, I have to agree," Naho retorted. "I sense an overwhelming energy that far exceeds any ordinary meat bags."

Zenka continued to hold his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Knock it off already, you two!" Aiko continued to plead.

"What a wonderful view," Taguchi sighed in bliss. "Why do I feel like I'm getting sucked up by the wave of regret when I think to myself 'Oh, why isn't this girl a high school student'?"

"By the way," Inumaru spoke up. "I'm surprised nobody hasn't noticed that it's pretty easy to see who's got the biggest breasts just from looking at it."

"Oh?" Taguchi muttered. "I thought in your case, you would totally defend that Sayaka-Chan has the biggest breast size no matter what."

"No," Inumaru sighed. "In this space with something like that of Niwa-san's, even Sayaka's seem kind of disappointing."

"I see," Taguchi replied.

After a few more seconds, Sayaka and Naho finally released Aiko from their grasp. Sayaka sighed in pure bliss.

"That was a wonderful experience, wasn't it, Naho-tan?" Sayaka asked.

"Yep," Naho replied. "I found out the hard way how unfair life can be sometimes."

"I've never experienced this kind of humiliation in my life," Aiko grumbled.

"Yeah, well, if you had been a little more forthcoming with the information we needed, then this probably wouldn't have happened," Zenka pointed out. Aiko simply crossed her arms in defiance.

"Naho-tan, is this what they mean when they say we lost the match, but won the game?" Sayaka asked. "To think I could one day witness that kind of reaction from Aiko!"

"Indeed," Naho giggled. "I feel so good about that, I don't even care about breast sizes anymore."

Sayaka giggled back in response.

"And on that note, the answer to the question is Aiko-san!" Sayaka declared.

"Correct," Aiko said bluntly. "Plus 10 points."

The cash register noise sounded, and the digital readout on Zenka's arm now read '090' in green numbers.

"Yay!" Sayaka beamed.

"But only 10 points, huh?" Taguchi remarked.

"The question was rather easy, after all," Inumaru said.

"Good point," Zenka replied.

"We'll be alright as long as we keep rolling along like this," Sayaka said.

"Well, it would be good if there's a special question in here as well," Naho sighed.

"Agreed," Sayaka replied. "Special questions have high reward points, after all. Let's try and look for them."

"Yeah, you're right," Naho agreed.

As the group looked around, Sayaka glanced up at the light… and noticed a piece of paper attached to it.

"Hey," Sayaka called out. "Isn't there a piece of paper stuck inside the light?"

Everyone looked up at the light and noticed the piece of paper as well.

"You're right," Naho said. "But it's too high to reach up there."

"I've got this," Zenka replied, holding Zangetsu up toward the light. "Zangetsu, hikari kara ichi-mai no kami o tsukamimasu (Grab the piece of paper from the light)."

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning extended from Zangetsu's blade and grabbed the piece of paper. The lightning disappeared, and the folded up paper landed in Sayaka's outstretched hands.

"Got it!" Sayaka said as she unfolded the piece of paper. "Ooh, a super bonus question!"

"A super bonus question, eh?" Zenka repeated. "This is the one you've been waiting for. If you get this right, it's worth the proverbial shit-ton of points."

"Right," Sayaka replied as she scanned the contents of the paper. "Let's see here…"

Who is standing behind you right now?

Suddenly, as she finished reading the question, the room went completely dark, causing her to shriek in response.

"What the hell?!" Taguchi shouted.

"It's just a blackout… I think," Inumaru said. "Are you alright, Sayaka?"

"Oh, no. I can't see," Sayaka whimpered. "Why now all of a sudden?! Where are you guys?!"

"Calm down, Sayaka," Naho said. "It's best not to move around too much. Stay still."

"Okay…" Sayaka whispered.

"I doubt the blackout will fix itself all of a sudden, in my opinion," Aiko said.

"She's right," Zenka agreed. "I think this is a part of the question."

"Agreed," Naho replied. "I think if we answer it, then it'll go back to normal."

"By question, you mean the one that asks 'who's standing behind you right now'?" Sayaka asked.

"Yes," Naho agreed. "And I presume it's from the perspective of the person who read the question out loud."

"Wha…" Sayaka gasped. "So… me?"

"But, that means that there's… no one behind Sayaka, right?" Inumaru interjected.

"Yeah… I think so…" Sayaka murmured. 'Because behind me… is the entrance to the girl's toilets and…' she thought.

Suddenly, there was a series of knocks sounding in the darkness, causing Sayaka, Taguchi and Inumaru to scream in fright.

"Naho-Chan! Where are you, Naho-Chan?!" Sayaka screamed.

"Sayaka-Chan, it's dangerous to walk around aimlessly in the dark, you know?" Aiko stated.

"But… behind me," Sayaka began. "There was someone behind me!"

The knocks sounded once again.

"Geez!" Naho complained. "All because Taguchi-san let out a scream like that!"

"Well, that's…" Taguchi started.

"Naho-Chan! Are you here?!" Sayaka yelled, continuing to wander around aimlessly in the dark. Naho gasped as she felt someone run into her, and they both landed on the soft dirt floor of the restroom.

"Naho-tan!" Sayaka cried.

"Sayaka…" Naho murmured, hearing Sayaka's voice right next to her.

"I'm so glad," Sayaka cried. "I had a feeling that Naho-tan was going to disappear again, and I… I…"

"Sayaka…" Naho whispered.

"Geez," Sayaka whimpered. "I'm never letting you go again!"

Suddenly, the room was illuminated with light once again.

"Eh? The lights… came back?" Sayaka muttered in confusion.

"Oh, thank God," Naho sighed. "Seems like it was just a regular blackout."

"Yeah," Sayaka murmured. "Thank God, Naho… tan…"

Her voice trailed off as she realized that she was now lying on top of Naho.

"What's wrong, Sayaka?" Naho asked, concerned. "If you've calmed down, I'd like you to move off me."

Sayaka let out a few small gasps, causing Naho to wonder what was wrong. Then, all of a sudden, Sayaka's nose started bleeding, and her face turned a cherry red as a wide smile graced her face.

"OH, MY GOD!" she screamed. "Naho-tan! It's simply wonderful, fantastic, and marvelous! I love you so much, Naho-tan! You're so sexy, Naho-tan!"

Zenka let out a wolf whistle at that.

"Hey!" Naho protested. "Sayaka, your nosebleed is gonna drip! In fact, it's already dripping! Hey, Sayaka!"

"Ahhh, the opportunity to get covered in Sayaka's nosebleed!" Inumaru yelled. "I'm so damn jealous of you, Saenoki-san!"

"There was once a time where I thought Sayaka-Chan and Inumaru-kun were normal kids, too," Taguchi remarked.

"Kettle, meet pot," Zenka retorted.

"So, Sayaka-Chan," Aiko said. "Back to the question… who was behind you, anyway?"

"Oh, that's right!" Sayaka remembered, moving off of Naho. "Umm… well, I thought the toilet door was knocked, but… does that mean someone was outside of it, perhaps? Well… there might have been a ghost there."

"A ghost, you say?" Aiko inquired. Sayaka simply shrugged. Just then, the door to the restroom creaked as it was opened. Everyone gasped as Yoshikazu stepped into view. Inumaru scratched his head in confusion.

"What is it? Did we break the game rules again?" Inumaru asked.

Yoshikazu let out a few moans, causing Naho to arch an eyebrow in response.

"It seems as though he's trying to tell us something," she noted.

"Well, I have no clue what he's trying to say," Inumaru replied.

Yoshikazu let out a few more moans in response.

"He's definitely trying to tell us something," Zenka observed.

"Maybe he's hungry or something?" Aiko wondered.

"Maybe he's complaining about where the food is," Taguchi remarked.

"In that case, there's no way that… we're going to be eaten… right?" Sayaka asked.

"I wouldn't count on it," Aiko giggled.

Suddenly, a red television appeared behind them, and Sachiko's form appeared on it. She let out a childish giggle.

"You're all totally wrong!" she beamed.

"Sachiko-san!" Sayaka gasped.

"The big dummy is saying you guys are rude for not calling him by his name," Sachiko explained.

"Really?" Sayaka asked.

Everyone looked back, and they could see the sad look plastered on Yoshikazu's face.

"But, I thought a ghost was a ghost…" Sayaka murmured. Yoshikazu began to wail in response. Sayaka gasped and was quick to run up to him and grabbed him by the arms. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" Yoshikazu calmed down, but still had a sad look on his face as he gazed down at Sayaka.

"Try calling him by his actual name," Sachiko suggested.

"Um... Let's see... His name… was…" Sayaka murmured, trying to recall Yoshikazu's name. She snapped her fingers as it came back to her. "Yanagihori Yoshikazu-san, right?"

Yoshikazu let out a few monkey-like noises in excitement.

"Seems like he likes it when people call him by his name," Zenka noted.

"Correct!" Sachiko beamed.

"I just thought of something," Taguchi spoke up.

"What?" Sachiko asked.

"You tell people to call him by his name, and yet you don't?" Taguchi inquired. Sachiko tilted her head in confusion. "I just think that calling him a big dummy or other derivatives is kind of rude, as well."

"I'm an exception," Sachiko said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I don't look highly on people that tell people to do certain things, but don't do it themselves," Naho countered.

Sachiko glanced back at Naho with a surprised expression, as silence overtook her. Yoshikazu glanced at the screen in confusion, wondering what was going on.

With a reluctant look, Sachiko turned her gaze over to Yoshikazu.

"…Yoshikazu," she murmured.

Yoshikazu's eyes lit up, and he began jumping up and down and grunting in excitement at hearing his master say his name. Aiko let out a small giggle.

"He seems very happy indeed," she said.

"Sachiko-san, your face is a bit red, isn't it?" Sayaka giggled. Sachiko frowned in embarrassment.

"Shut up, you idiot! You meanie!" Sachiko grumbled.

"Come on, admit it," Zenka piped in. "You liked it."

Sachiko huffed and crossed her arms in defiance.

"The answer to the question was correct, per se," Sachiko began. "But since you called him a ghost instead of the big dummy he is, I'm only going to give you 100 points."

"Oh, my," Aiko sighed. "If you had gotten the question exactly right, we would've gotten 300 points."

The cash register noise sounded once again, and the digital readout on Zenka's arm now read '190' in green numbers.

"Maybe so, but 100 points is still a good chunk of change," Zenka replied. "That brings your total to 190 points. Only 237 points to go."

"But we could've had 300 points? No way!" Sayaka exclaimed.

"Wha… are you sulking because we made fun of you?!" Naho shouted.

"Shut up, shut up!" Sachiko yelled. "I'm not sulking! It's all my decision, okay?!"

"You really are hilarious to watch," Aiko giggled.

"Well, I agree with Zenka," Inumaru chimed in. "I think even 100 points is a large amount compared to the last couple of questions."

Naho sighed.

"Oh, well," she muttered. "In any case, Sachiko, hurry up and give Sensei back."

"Nope," Sachiko rejected. "You have to answer the questions and get to the score, first."

"By the way," Naho began. "Don't you think the percentage of finding the questions is a little to our disadvantage?" Sachiko arched an eyebrow at Naho's inquiry. "If we continue like this, then the day is going to pass by, you know? That means your birthday will end with this quiz. Are you sure you'd be okay with that?"

"Naho-tan, I don't think it's a good idea to get Sachiko-san angry," Sayaka warned.

"Well, that's because I feel like being cautious with her is starting to get stupid," Naho countered. "I just want to hurry up and get Sensei back."

"Getting aggressive," Zenka observed. "I like it."

Sachiko scratched her chin as she thought on Naho's words, before looking up at her and nodding.

"Alright," Sachiko conceded. "Then I'll give you the next question right now. 'Where are we hiding right now?' If you can get here without getting lost, I'll give you 40 points."

Without giving any kind of hint, the television shut off and Sachiko was gone just like that, eliciting a gasp from Naho.

"She said without getting lost," Sayaka said. "But what should we do? This underground bunker is unlike the one I remember walking through."

"Indeed," Aiko agreed.

"Well, then, I can't lead the way in this situation," Sayaka admitted.

"I was also running around aimlessly the last time I was here, so I have no idea where Sensei is either, let alone where we are right now," Taguchi added.

"Sensei…" Naho murmured with worry.

Just then, Yoshikazu let out a small moan, and began walking toward the door. At the door, he turned and briefly looked at the group, before slowly walking out the door and back into the hallway.

"Looks like he's leaving," Zenka said.

"What should we do, Naho-tan?" Sayaka asked. "Should we follow him?"

"But what if we follow him and it's the wrong path?" Naho replied. "Damn it, what are we supposed to do?!"

"Are you stressing, Naho-tan?" Aiko giggled. "You really do lose all rational thoughts when it involves Kou-Sensei."

"Aiko, this is seriously not the time for your bullshit teasing right now," Zenka growled.

'This isn't good. Naho-tan is in no state of mind to make a rational decision,' Sayaka thought.

"Well, what should we do?" Taguchi questioned. "If we don't decide now, there's a possibility that we're gonna lose Yanagihori Yoshikazu!"

"Well, I'm not a fan of the big guy," Sayaka admitted. "So I don't really want to go with him."

"But is there another way of getting to Kou-Sensei?" Aiko asked.

"Well," Sayaka began. "I don't have any idea, but…"

After thinking for a minute, the light bulb went off in Inumaru's head.

"I know!" he chimed in. "What about trying to trail Sachiko's spirit energy?"

"You can do something like that?" Taguchi asked.

"Yeah," Inumaru answered. "I may not be able to do it alone, but it should be possible if I use Zenka's sword in conjunction with my own spiritual energy."

"Eh?" Naho grunted in confusion.

"I'm sure you guys will be able to trace it and find Kibiki-Sensei for us!" Sayaka encouraged.

After a minute, Naho looked up and nodded, a confident look on her face.

"Let's do it!" she said. Inumaru glanced over at Zenka.

"Zenka, would it be alright if I borrowed your sword for a while in order to find Sachiko?" he asked. Zenka reached back and unsheathed Zangetsu.

"That's all up to Zangetsu," Zenka replied.

"Okay," Inumaru said. "Can you ask Zangetsu for me?"

"Of course," Zenka replied, before looking down at his precious sword. "Zangetsu, anata wa Inumaru ni Sachiko to shite shira rete iru seishin o mitsukeru tame ni anata no idaina-ryoku o shiyō suru kyoka o ataeru nodarou ka? (Will you give Inumaru permission to use your great power to find the spirit known as Sachiko?)

The sword flashed with lightning for a split second. Zenka looked up with a smile.

"You have Zangetsu's permission," Zenka said. He held out Zangetsu to Inumaru, who gingerly took the sword into his hands. "Don't be afraid. Let Zangetsu guide you to Sachiko."

"Okay," Inumaru replied. He held Zangetsu out in front of him, and the blade began to glow with a light blue energy. Then, it began pulling Inumaru, causing him to walk toward the door.

"Seems like Zangetsu has found Sachiko's scent," Zenka chuckled. Naho sighed.

"I'm sorry for being so hopeless at such an important time," she said.

"Don't be, Naho-tan!" Sayaka encouraged. "You're always super helpful and important to me!"

Naho let out a giggle at Sayaka's empowering words.

"Thank you," Naho said gratefully, before turning to Inumaru. "Well then, Inumaru-kun, let's give this a go, shall we?"

"Alright!" Inumaru beamed, before turning his attention back to Zangetsu. "Lead us on, Zangetsu!"

The sword pulled on Inumaru, and led him out of the bathroom and into the hallway. The rest of the group followed, while Zenka held back for a second, a small smile on his face.

"Well, then, there's a chance they might actually win this thing, after all…" he murmured to himself.

---

As Zangetsu continued to lead Inumaru down the hallway, the rest of the Paulownia group and Zenka trailed behind him. Then, Zangetsu came to a stop in the middle of the hallway, its blade glowing as bright as ever. The atmosphere around the area seemed to have changed as well.

"It's here," Inumaru said as he handed Zangetsu back to Zenka.

"Seems so," Naho replied.

As everyone stops in their tracks, the air in front of them shakes, and Sachiko appears from out of nowhere.

"Oh, you really made it here without getting lost, huh?" Sachiko inquired.

"Indeed, we did," Zenka replied.

"Sachiko, where's Sensei?" Naho demanded.

"He's waiting further up here, okay?" Sachiko answered.

"Then hurry up and take us to him!" Naho exclaimed.

"No need to fret and worry," Sachiko retorted. "But what a shame. I thought for sure that you would have followed the big dummy."

"By the way, since we made it here without getting lost, we get 40 points, right?" Sayaka asked.

"I know, I know," Sachiko mumbled. "Geez, so boring…"

The cash register sound filled their ears once more, and the digital readout on Zenka's arm now read '230' in green numbers. The group followed Sachiko as she glided down the hall with her levitated body.

"Come on, over here now!" Sachiko urged. "I'll leave you behind if you're dilly-dallying!"

As everyone followed Sachiko, Naho began to show signs of nervousness.

'Beyond this hall… is Kibiki-Sensei,' she thought.

Sachiko led everyone to a room that was filled with dead bodies, some floating in a pool of blood in the middle of the room.

"A dead pool…" Zenka observed. Naho suddenly gasped. Standing in the middle of the room, unharmed, was Kou Kibiki.

"Sensei!" Naho shouted.

"Naho-kun!" Kibiki exclaimed. "Taguchi-san and the others, too!"

"Did Sachiko do anything to you?" Naho asked. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Alright, hold it!" Sachiko commanded.

As Naho tried to step toward Kibiki, Sachiko moved in between them with a smug grin on her face.

"Out of the way!" Naho yelled.

"No can do!" Sachiko retorted. She giggled as she snapped her fingers. Suddenly, a force field made of light surrounded Kibiki, effectively cutting him off from the others.

"Naho-Chan, are you alright?" Sayaka asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm fine," Naho replied.

"There's a barrier surrounding Kibiki-Sensei," Inumaru observed. "It's not a good idea to get close."

"Don't patronize me," Naho retorted. "It's just a regular barrier. I'll just rip it down and…"

"Stop it, Naho-kun!" Kibiki pleaded.

As Naho was preparing to take out her holy water, she was stopped in her tracks by Kibiki's tone of voice.

"Sensei… why…" Naho questioned.

"There's no chance fighting against Sachiko here, even for someone like you," Kibiki said.

"But…" Naho tried to object.

"I don't want to see you get hurt," Kibiki continued. "I'll be fine, so don't worry."

"Yeah, Naho-tan!" Sayaka agreed. "It's definitely best to not carelessly jump into a barrier made by the likes of Sachiko-san!"

Naho sighed as Sayaka's words echoed in her brain.

'She does have a point,' she thought. 'As the two of them said, my spiritual energy is nowhere near that of Sachiko's. I don't think that will change, even if I combine it with Sayaka's or even Zenka's, for that matter.'

As Naho looked down in regret, Sachiko lets out a gleeful laugh.

"Don't look so down, Naho!" she boasted. "If you get to the target score of 427 points, then I'll give you guys back Kibiki, no harm done."

Letting out a sigh, Naho glanced up at Zenka.

"How many points do we have, Zenka?" she asked. For an answer, Zenka held up his left arm. The digital readout still read '230' in green numbers.

"230 points," Zenka replied. "That means you still need 197 points to win the quiz."

"Don't worry," Sachiko interjected. "The question I'm going to give you now is gonna be the last one."

"The last question," Naho repeated.

"That means we still have a chance," Taguchi said. "Thank God!"

"You say last question, but what does it entitle?" Sayaka inquired.

"This will be different than all the other questions," Sachiko explained. "If everybody here gives the same answer, then I'll give you 200 points for getting the correct answer. But if even one person answers differently, then you lose 500 points! Well? Sounds fun, right?"

Zenka whistled in response.

"Well, the pressure's on now, boys and girls," he chuckled.

"You said everybody, so I'm guessing I'm a contestant as well?" Kibiki asked.

"Of course," Sachiko answered.

"And I'm guessing we aren't allowed to discuss our answers to each other, right?" Naho inquired.

"Well, if I allowed that, there wouldn't be much point to the quiz, would it?" Sachiko replied.

"Good shot," Naho mumbled. "Fair enough. Alright, give us the quiz."

"Alright, here is your final question," Sachiko said. "The question is 'If only one person can survive out of everybody here, then who would deserve it the most'?"

"Huh?!" Naho exclaimed in shock.

"I'll give you all three minutes to come up with an answer," Sachiko said. "Good luck!"

The digital readout on Zenka's arm turned blue, and it now showed a readout of '3:00' before it slowly began to count down.

'What is this question?' Naho thought.

Everybody glanced at each other with worried eyes, unable to come up with an answer.

'If I had to choose one person worthy of surviving, I would definitely choose Sensei,' Naho thought. 'But I doubt that everybody else would answer in the same way.'

"Only one person?" Sayaka whispered to herself. "That's just…"

'Sayaka is a kind-hearted person,' Naho continued to think. 'She'll most likely pick me. Thank you.'

"This question breeds some terrible feelings," Inumaru mumbled.

'Inumaru-kun will most definitely answer with Sayaka,' Naho thought. 'To him, there is only Sayaka after all.'

"This is a rather difficult question…" Kibiki murmured.

'I wonder who Sensei will answer,' Naho thought. 'Perhaps he'll say I'll survive…'

"Hmm… seems we're in a bit of a pickle here," Taguchi mumbled.

'And I have a feeling that Taguchi-san is going to say Sensei as well, but…' Naho thought.

Aiko let out a small giggle.

"This atmosphere is very distressing and uncalming," Aiko said. "I personally love these kinds of situations."

'Aiko will almost definitely answer herself,' Naho thought irritably. 'She's the next person after Inumaru-kun that is completely obvious.'

The gears in her brain were turning at lightning speed as she continued to think about the question. 'Thinking about it like this, nobody is gonna answer Inumaru-kun or Taguchi-san, so it's safe to take those two out of the equation for the time being. So that means that all of our answers have to match with either Sensei, Sayaka, myself, or Aiko… but…'

"In any case, this is a rather interesting quiz," Aiko said. "I think the key to answering this question lies in how you perceive the part 'deserves to stay alive'. Does it perhaps mean a person that will be best suited to lead the next generation, or maybe it means the person who is most looked up to in here?"

"I think the point of this question is to get that meaning together and answer the same question, but…" Taguchi began, but was cut off by Sachiko.

"Didn't I tell you that no discussions are allowed?" she warned.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Aiko apologized. "I was just talking to myself, that's all."

"I don't think… I'll be able to answer this question…" Sayaka murmured. Naho looked up in surprise at Sayaka.

'I thought for sure she would choose me, though…' Naho thought.

"Well, if I were to choose this 'one person'," Sayaka continued. "And he or she survives and everybody else dies, I think that person is going to get sad and lonely that they're the only one left. If I'm going to feel sad anyway, I would just let somebody else take my place instead…"

"Sayaka…" Naho whispered.

Sachiko looked up at Sayaka with a tilted glance.

"Hmmm… was that you talking to yourself as well?" she inquired.

"Y-Yeah," Sayaka nodded timidly.

"Can I ask one thing?" Inumaru spoke up.

"What is it?" Sachiko asked.

"I was just thinking," Inumaru began. "Are you included in this as a participant as well?"

Inumaru's inquiry elicited a gasp from Naho's diaphragm.

"Sachiko is a participant?!" she exclaimed. Sachiko let out a small laugh.

"I'm glad you answered," Sachiko boasted. "Remember me saying 'If EVERYBODY answers the same person'? So I'm part of this quiz as well."

"Well, this just had a monkey wrench thrown into the whole damn works," Zenka commented.

'Hmmm… so Sachiko is a part of the quiz as well,' Naho thought. And then, the light bulb went off in her head. 'Then that must be the answer. I just hope everybody else is thinking the same thing.'

"I've decided," Naho declared.

"I have as well," Kibiki said.

Naho looked over at Sensei, and they both nodded in agreement. Everybody else exchanged glances and nodded also, including Aiko.

"Aiko, please answer whilst taking the hint here," Naho said. Aiko giggled in response.

"You say rather difficult things, Naho-Chan," she replied. "You know very well that I'm bad at 'taking the hint', right?"

"Then how about this?" Naho retorted. "If you take the hint, then I'll give you the location of where the victims dropped their diaries."

Aiko's eyes lit up at that.

"Oh, really?" she said with interest. "Well, then, I'll have to do my very best."

Just then, the digital readout on Zenka's armed beeped, signifying that 30 seconds remained.

"It's almost three minutes," Sachiko warned. "Is everybody ready with their answers?"

"Yes, we're fine," Naho replied.

"Okay, then," Sachiko said. "We'll answer on set! I'm going to answer, too!" Naho took a deep breath and counted her blessings. "Ready, set…!"

As the counter ticked the final seconds away, everybody stayed silent. Then, the counter hit zero, signifying the end of time for the question. Nobody had said a word. Sachiko looked up at everyone in confusion.

"What?" Sachiko murmured. "Why isn't anyone saying anything?"

"It's because that's our answer!" Sayaka replied. "Right, Naho-tan?"

"Yep," Naho agreed. "I'm sure everybody was thinking the same thing, right?"

"Indeed," Kibiki answered. "It truly is a terrible feeling to be the only one left alive."

"Yeah! I totally agree with Kibiki-Sensei," Taguchi chimed in. Aiko giggled.

"It seems I succeeded in taking the hint, huh?" she said. Inumaru sighed.

"It was hard for me to restrain myself from answering Sayaka, but I did it," Inumaru retorted. Zenka nodded his approval.

"Very impressive, guys," he admired. "Very impressive."

A look of extreme disappointment found its way onto Sachiko's face.

"Why? There was no way that you guys could have gotten this correct!" she complained.

"Well," Naho began. "After I heard that you were going to be a part of the quiz, I figured you would answer in the weirdest way possible. So I wondered who you would possibly answer, and suddenly I came up with the choice of 'no answer', meaning no one deserved to survive."

"Well, damn," Zenka admired. "Score one for Detective Saenoki over here."

"That's my Naho-tan!" Sayaka beamed. "You super detective! You're so pretty with your glasses and good looks and… OH, MY GOD!"

"What?! H-Hey, Sayaka!" Naho said as Sayaka threw her arms around Naho and gave her a big hug. Sayaka giggled as Naho gave her an awkward smile. Kibiki smiled and nodded at them.

"Geez," Sachiko complained. "I can't believe it! It's so boring!"

"But we all answered correctly, didn't we?" Naho said matter-of-factly. Sachiko huffed in response.

"Well, it can't be helped," she moaned. "As much as I dislike it, a promise is a promise. I'll give 200 points."

"Alright! We did it, Naho-tan!" Sayaka shouted with glee.

"So, what is the final score, Zenka?" Sachiko asked. Naho gasped and turned toward Zenka, as did everyone else in the room. Just then, the cash register noise sounded one last time, and the digital readout changed. Zenka looked down at it, and then back up at the Paulownia group.

"Okay. You needed to score 427 points to win the quiz," Zenka reminded them. "Your final score is…"

He paused for dramatic effect, before giving them a big smile and slowly turning his arm to where they could see the digital readout. Everyone gasped as they read the score.

In green numbers, the readout read '430'.

"430 points!" Zenka exclaimed. "You beat the target score by a mere three points! Congratulations, everyone! Well done!"

"I didn't think you would get through it, but you can't argue with the results," Sachiko added.

"Then… that means…" Naho realized.

"Yep," Sachiko finished. "I'll set Kibiki free."

The barrier around Kibiki dissipated, and Naho was quick to run toward him.

"Naho-kun…" Kibiki murmured.

"Sensei!" Naho cried. She enveloped him in a big hug, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I'm so glad," she cried. "When I found out that Sachiko might do stuff to you, I just had to stop her… and I… and I…

"Thank you, Naho-kun," Kibiki cooed. "And thank you, everybody. I'm really happy, knowing that everybody here was giving their all to save me. I truly mean it."

Tears were beginning to flow down Sayaka's cheeks as well, her heart swelling with happiness as she watched Naho pour her emotions out.

"I'm so happy for you, Naho-tan. Really," she murmured. Naho looked back and gave her best friend a very sweet smile.

"Sayaka… thank you," she whispered tearfully.

"Yep, yep!" Taguchi beamed. "Nothing beats just giving it a go, right?"

"To think we'd actually save him," Inumaru interjected. "I was thinking it would be impossible, but we pulled it off!"

"Indeed," Aiko agreed. "I'm sure it was good luck charms stacking on top of each other, but we have to commend Naho-Chan for her hard work, too."

"Oh, you guys…" Naho cried with joy. Sayaka giggled in response.

"It makes me happy when I see Naho-tan happy, too," she beamed. She grabbed her best friend's arm while holding back tears of joy. "Because you know, Naho-Chan is the cutest when she's smiling! I'm going to protect Naho-tan's smile! I don't want to see a sad Naho-tan even if we lose Kibiki-Sensei!"

"Oh, Sayaka…" Naho swooned at her friend's words. Kibiki laughed with glee.

"You two really are very close indeed," he remarked.

"Of course!" Sayaka giggled. "Right, Naho-tan?

"Yes," Naho agreed. "Sayaka is the closest friend in the world to me."

Sayaka gasped in pure bliss at Naho's words.

"OH, MY GOD!" she beamed. "I'm so happy, Naho-tan! You're the same to me, Naho-tan! In fact, you're more like a lovey-dovey kissey-kissey kind of person to me!"

"Alright, alright!" Naho said with embarrassment. "Geez, Sayaka…" Kibiki laughed once more.

"Ooue-san, please look after Naho-kun from now on as well," he said.

"Of course!" Sayaka acknowledged. "Please leave it to me!"

'From now on…' Naho thought.

Naho realized what those words meant, and she turned her gaze to Sachiko.

"You're going to keep your other promise as well, right?" Naho inquired.

"You mean where I start everybody off from the same position tomorrow, right?" Sachiko replied with a giggle. "I keep my promises no matter what, you know?"

"Alright!" Sayaka exclaimed. "Naho-tan, I can see you again tomorrow as well!"

"Yeah!" Naho replied.

As they looked toward each other, a sad feeling came over Naho, and she was certain Sayaka was feeling it as well. Even if they did start in the same dimension, they were uncertain if they would see each other again before they died.

'I… I will definitely meet with Sensei, Sayaka, and even Taguchi-san again, and we'll get out of Heavenly Host Elementary together!' Naho thought.

Sachiko let out a small giggle, catching Aiko's attention.

"Is something the matter, Sachiko-san?" Aiko asked.

"It's nothing," Sachiko assured. "Alrighty then, that's the end of this quiz! I'm gonna return everything back as they were now. I'm going to send Kibiki back to his own dimension, so make sure to say your goodbyes!"

"Sensei…" Naho gasped.

"Naho-kun, it's alright," Kibiki assured. "We'll meet again. I'm sure of it.

"Yes…" Naho agreed.

"It's goodbye for now, until we meet again," Kibiki said.

Kibiki came over and hugged Naho, and she was quick to return it.

Zenka, after observing all of this, finally stepped forward.

"Of course, there's also the possibility of not having to go through Heavenly Host again to meet each other," he said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "There's still the possibility of getting out alive, right here, today." As confusion swept over the group, Zenka then turned to Sachiko. "Because Packer's third challenge is coming up next, right?"

Everyone gasped as they remembered what Zenka was talking about.

"Of course!" Naho realized. "Packer-kun is challenging Sachiko to get everyone out alive!"

Sachiko giggled at Zenka's intuition.

"You're absolutely correct!" Sachiko beamed. "Packer Onii-Chan's next challenge is being set up now as we speak! So, it's time to head back to the auditorium! Thanks for playing!"

With that, Sachiko snapped her fingers, and everyone disappeared from the dead pool room in a flash of light. The only sound that could be heard was the endless rain pounding on the roof of the school.