A/N: OK, before the story, I would like to emphasize something. This story is COMPLETELY fictional. Nothing in this story (all chapters) should be carried out in the real world, as it may be a little violent and whatnot. Please be a wise reader and do not imitate the plot, especially the pranks. Thank you for your patience for reading this. Now, on with the story! ^_^
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT A PART OF THE PLOT!
Chapter 10 – ECONOMIC SANCTION
"… OK, that sums up for today's lesson. Harayuki, would you please distribute the exercise sheet? Oh, and hand in by tomorrow. You're dismissed," Miss Aqua announced in front of the class. "Now if you would excuse me, I have to go and get my mathematics books, I forgot them again."
Once Miss Aqua's feet left the classroom, most of us got up from our respective seats. We formed small groups for discussion, although the homework wasn't meant for group work. Actually it wasn't that hard, I could manage to do it myself. When I was getting so engrossed in my work, Ryuutaro spoke at the front: "Hello! Everyone! If you happened to bring 50 yen today, hand in as class fee. If not, tomorrow then."
The phrase "Class fee" had two meanings: One, a noun; Two, a killer! No matter how high the "social status" it was (meaning how much it cost), it is lethal. Erm, the lethality somehow seemed to be directly proportional to its "social status"… Although now I couldn't invent a formula to express it, I guess no one was willing to pay the class fees, because the irritation directed at it wasn't able to be expressed in words… Even if there was a formula, it was useless anyway… he he!
Sigh, I had better hand it in fast, being the forgetful one, if I decide to hand in by tomorrow, I would have forgot all about it. In order to prevent Ryuutaro to become a loan shark (But I doubt that… He looks so… a bit of a naive somewhat… Was that the word?), I dug out 50 yen and gave it to him. Job done! Now back to business! Organization XIII and I formed a group of our own and had discussions. Soon, the work was all done! Oh yeah! Unity is strength!
When Miss Aqua came back, we had Math lesson, all of us engaged battles with algebra. I could still keep up with the lecture, yes. But when I saw the exercises, I had to close my eyes to pretend I saw NOTHING - 20 pages of exercises, deadline: tomorrow! No multiple choice questions! Holy Bananas! "Dom!" Eh? Demyx headdesked? Laura fainted and fell to the floor? And Ian was whining uncontrollably: "OH! For heaven's sake! For the last time in Eaton, I was in Class 14 for Mathematics! Dear me…!"
Oh mamamia! Holy Kingdom Hearts! But, because of the slogan "Malaysia Boleh" ["Boleh" means "can" or the ability to do something in Malay.], I had to suck it up first. Hey, it's only algebra right? *Gulp* There's nothing to be afraid of! Yeah, I'm going to kick some algebra butt! Here I go~~~
~~~ After 30 minutes ~~~
… Oh my god… Oh my god! No way! Totally no way! I was only at the third page, and factorization and expansion were all over the page! Holy Bananas! I give up!
"Ding Dong Dang Dong~~~" See, even the gods pitied me as well, so they rang the bell for me to get out of the endless torture! Oh yeah~ The gods still didn't hate me! Hee hee! HOOYA! Gotta go and save my stomach! It's getting hungry. I rushed outside, but wha-
"BAM!"
Elastic collision! I fell onto the floor, and my butt hurts… Ow…
"Itaiyo~ Dareka?! Hontouni baka!" [Translate from Japanese (いたいよ~ だれか?! ほんとうに ばか!): That hurts~ Who was it?! Really an idiot!] STFU! HEY! I was going to say that to you! Were you blind?! Running around without looking out for people,and bumping into people. Then you never apologized, and you dared to call me an idiot?! You're the stupid fool! My temper was not cooling down at the moment, so I jumped up and was going to see which fool that didn't know what's good for him or her!
To my surprise - That Big Sister! OK… although I really wanted to say sorry… anyway, SERVED YOU RIGHT! "It's you! That's it! You uneducated turnip head (P.S. I'm not a turnip, thank you very much, I don't even look like one), you have the nerve to block my way and crash into me?! Oh my hair…" What? She crashed into me hard, she ignored her bruises, and she's worried about her hair?! What a so-called "Big Sister" she was… "What the… so it's only a drowned chicken? You didn't stay wet, but running around like a mad chicken and bumping into people, were you that bored?" I said, looking at the other side.
"You…! What are you so cocky about? Last time you were just lucky, but I couldn't guarantee that the next time… Oho ho ho~~" She was speechless due to anger at first, but then she fired back. See? She was even cockier than me! "You, turnip head, better apologize to me, or else…" She unleashed the next wave of attack, take that! "Hey! I had a name, you know! What turnip head… Do not simply give nicknames to random people, you onion head!" I folded my arms in front of my chest, snickered a little and said.
"WHAT?! ONION HEAD?! YOU…!" She was so easily enraged by me, by the way, her pissed-off looks did look like an onion… Ha ha! "That's it. I don't have the time to listen to your crap! Time is gold, so I'm going to leave you on your own, excuse me!" I waved in dismissal, and turned to leave. "Hey! Hold it right there!" I had just walked a few steps and I still heard some crazy people yelling. Was it so hard to be a normal person? -_-III
I purposely stood still and I diverted my ear's attention to my back. Even though her steps were bulky due to the body size and fats, and even when the feet hit the floor, they caused 6 Richter quakes, but they had their tempo - Increased over time. Three seconds later, a "hurricane" invaded, I didn't hear the footsteps anymore, but the last one caught by my ear was the loudest. Oh? So the hungry wolf was going to pounce on the sheep? Sure, I'd play along and see!
It was time! I ducked immediately and said: "Oops, my shoelaces are loose…" A flick of a moment, a gust of wind, swept over the head; Couldn't be cut, let alone manage (The *cough*shoelaces*cough*), so I rose my head - What a mess, turned around and saw the blanks (The expressions of Big Sister's "bodyguards"), now who won? I WON AGAIN! ^_^ (Like a poem? O.o)
Big Sister changed from "A Hungry Wolf Pouncing a Sheep" to "A Carp Leaping over the Dragon Gate" and finally to "A Meteor Crashing on the Earth"! So? How's the feeling of embracing Mother Earth? "WAAH~~! THAT HURTS! YOU THREE IDIOTS! (Meaning the "bodyguards") WHAT ARE YOU GAWKING AT?! HURRY AND PULL ME UP, WILL YOU?! OUCH~" "Pfft, crybaby. Enough of this, I've got better things to do. Au revoir!" I threw some words at her and I left quickly. That should teach her a lesson. That was fun!
After stuffing up my stomach, we were supposed to have Science lesson. But since the teacher was absent, we were not going to the Science lab but to stay in the classroom for self-study. But, I guess no one wanted to study, and the teacher was not here… He he! Me and Organization XIII gathered around and talked about some crap. We were still using codenames! The codenames for the original five were the same, Xion's was 383 and Lawrence's was 443.
207: "So this was the whole story!"
222: "Hey! There's this epic show and you didn't invite me to witness it? How sad… *fake a sob, and pout, which fails epically*"
006 & 013: *Double facepalm*
383: "Hell yeah, I didn't get the chance to avenge what they did to us days ago! Hey, next time when this happens again, remember to call me. I want to add some footprints on them!"
135: "Chill, we would still face situations like this from now on, as long as they oppose us."
443: "Well, I guess you pawned her REALLY well, did you?"
207: "Oh come on, you should really see her face! She really was pissed off, a lot I suppose."
006: "… OK… Did she pick that fight with you because of the P.E lesson incident?"
013: "Ugh, if it is, I would have ignored her to oblivion. I seriously could care less if I were you, 207."
207: "I don't think so, 006. First point, judging her body size, she should be the one that loathes sports, and couldn't possibly beat someone up because she didn't win a game; second point, she overreacts whenever she messed up her appearance, even when she got hurt, her hair was all it mattered. I don't think she would play rough in a game if she behaves like so, let alone come at someone because she lost. No offense, but I think this would be someone like Axel would do."
222: "Hey! :O"
013: "*Laughs* Hey, she was telling the truth, Axel. Anyway, could she do this out of some other reason?"
207: "*Thinks* I wouldn't exclude this possibility, because we didn't get to know her any much better, *Mutters to self* that kook…"
383: "Maybe she feared that whatever hidden secret of hers would leak out? I mean, like, trying to keep us away from the secrets?"
222: "But what she's doing now was a dead give-away, wasn't it? It's like confess without being pressed, and that would only make her even more suspicious to us."
443: "… Yeah, I agree with you, 222."
"Agree with what?!" A beam of soprano shot through us! Whoa… Clap clap? *Claps hands twice*… Yay! I'm not deaf! [Authoress: *Anime sweat drop* … What the… ] It's Laura, what did she want? "Bonjour! Zoo you want to pay?!" … Pay what? I totally blanked out. "What zoo? The last time I went to there was, like, a zillion years ago…" Lawrence was as blank as I was. Xion tilted her head aside and thought, and then she said: "Oh! Was it 'Do you want to play'?" Laura suddenly glomped Xion and said: "Je t'aime!" [Translate from French: I love you!] Okaaaaay? Maybe she could hardly find people that really understand what she said? O.o
"Oh yeah! What are we going to play?" Axel revealed his playful side again. "Science leakage!" She said with agitation. … Crap, what leakage?! And Science? Nani yo kore…?! [Translate from Japanese (なに よ これ): What is this…?!] "What did you do to the lab? Gas leakage?" Roxas was confused at this point. "Did you mean 'sign language'…" Xion whispered, we could hardly hear her, but it was a different story with Laura: "Yes Yes Yes! Salanghaeyo!" [Translate from Korean: I love you!] … OK… Maybe she happened to learn a few phrases from Soo Jyoo… -_-III
For the next few minutes, we had fun playing games. During the days later, our class had school and recess, ate, did homework and played together… We fostered strong bonds of friendship. But, all these stimulated my memories of my old friends in Penang. Naminé, Kairi, Ven, Sora, Riku, Rita… And the teachers! Mr. Cloud, Mr. Lexaeus, Miss Mulan *Aww, I miss them the most* Mr. Saix *shivers involuntarily a little*, Mr. Marluxia *man, the flowers…*, Miss Larxene *shivers*, Mr. Sephiroth, *whimpers* Mr. Luxord and LCL *I still remembered her poor pronunciation*… How was life back there for them? The friends… The 9th Grade wasn't a very relaxing life in Malaysia. Sigh…
And of course, all these associated to that *Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuut* Fayra! ARRGH! I hate her! And it's all her fault! Saving her equals to never try to! We were being kind, and we were the ones to be blamed and punished… Forget it! I might as well drop the topic for now! Or else I would die of too much angst.
Everything went smoothly and nice, until one day… "Sorry to interrupt, but would the class monitor of 3-13 come to the office? Thank you." A sound came from the PA system. Harayuki then got up and went out. No permission was needed since Miss Aqua was not here yet. But why did I have this bad premonition?
After about five minutes of wondering, Harayuki once again returned to the classroom. Her facial expression was weird to say the least. … Is something up? She seemed to drag her heavy feet to the teacher's desk in front of the class, she looked up and watched the somewhat noisy Class 3-13. She started to speak: "Everyone… The school… had imposed economic sanction on us…"
At that moment, it was like thunder slashed through, the class suddenly had their voices sucked away, most of them put on a "WTF" face at her. "Economic sanction? What in the world was that?" I really didn't understand, even Zexion started to scratch his head in confusion. We decided to ask Ryuutaro who sat in the adjacent column.
"Actually, the 'economic sanction' here means every source would be cut off, including water, electricity, Internet, canteen food, documents etc. The durations were not fixed, it could be a month, or everything would go back to normal after three days," Ryuutaro patiently explained everything to us, the newcomers. "Thanks, roommate," Lawrence said.
A random thought went into my head, so I asked: "This sounds like a punishment…" "Wha-! How… how did you… know?!" Ryuutaro acted as if he'd seen a ghost. "You… You know mind reading?!" … What? I was baffled at first, but then I bowed and said: "Wow, I was actually that awesome to you?! Thank you very much, I'm so touched, I appreciate that!" [Everyone: *Authoress used a thick brush with black paint and heavily scrubbed three thick lines on their heads*]
"Quit being a narcissist…" Axel patted my head with a heavier force than usual. I held where a "bun" would appear, and said innocently: "Hey! I was just joking! I guessed it, believe it or not." "If Nemix got it correct, then there's another problem: What did we do wrong?" Xion said. She had a point.
Harayuki, who was at the front said: "The school sent a warning letter, it said… We owed class fees for a month and did nothing to solve it." D. O. N. G! All hell broke loose, everyone disregarded their images and rambled: "WHAT?! WE HANDED IT IN!" Hmm… It's obvious that everyone here was sensitive to money…
An agitated Anne jumped: "What?! All my Euros were done for!" Yuanfang was mumbling: "Crap… Conversion of Renminbi to Japanese Yen… I lost so much… T_T" "What the heck? I was the first one to hand in the money!" Katra was talking to herself unbelievably. Just then…
"RYUUTARO!" Anne practically exploded, and she aimed her shot at the poor treasurer of the class. Uh-oh… In a swift motion, she took a stride towards Ryuutaro, pulled his collar and roared: "HOW DARE YOU, YOU THIEF! TALK! DID YOU KEPT THE MONEY FOR YOURSELF AND POCKETED IT?! HUH?! Just give me an explanation if and only if you want to see tomorrow!" … Whoa.
… OK, some really random stuff surfaced in my head:
Anne is directly proportional to money.
Anne is directly proportional to time. (She was the first to sit in the class every time)
Anne = k (time x money), where k is a constant.
Since Anne really kept her eye on time and money, and there's a saying: "Time is money", erm… There's only one Anne, so if k equals to 1…
Therefore Anne = time x money
Therefore Time = money
Therefore Anne = money x money
Anne = money squared
And then, by judging the situation now, only money can solve the problem. Therefore money is the root of all problems.
Therefore money = square root of problem
Therefore Anne = (square root of problem) squared
Anne = problem!
Holy Bananas! She would be a VEEEEEERY big problem! Do I have to sneak out and buy Ryuutaro some flowers for his *gulp* funeral? O.O
"C-c-ca-calm down, Schneider-san, I s-s-swear I ne-ne-nev-never d-did such a thing! Calm down…" Ryuutaro stuttered, scared. Anne still didn't look convinced. Somebody put out the fire, NOW!
"Yes, Anne, although we did hand in the money and ended up like this, I still trust Ryuutaro didn't pocket the class fees. We have to launch some investigations to find the real culprit to solve the problem. Calm down, please," Harayuki saw the whole commotion and hurried over to cool her down. Well, Anne did calmed down, although her angry looks hadn't seemed to retreat, her hands let go of the collar. Ryuutaro slid down the wall like a sack of potatoes. He fell to the floor with his forehead full of cold sweat. His widened eyes stared at the collar before him, where wrinkles appeared due to Anne's force. Poor him… o.o
I didn't think the whole thing was that simple as it seemed. I averted my gaze towards my teammates, and coincidentally, they turned over to look at me as well, and their eyes told me that they had the same question as mine. OK… This was REALLY weird… Although curiosity killed the cat, I had decided! I - accepted - the - case! I could not imagine the days I had to race back and forth between the school and the convenience store, no access to the Internet, do everything with a torchlight, no printed assignments (Means that only handwritten work was permitted and no copies of exercises received from school)… Believe me: It was definitely like living hell!
Just then, the forgotten school bell sang eagerly. OK, what lesson were we supposed to have now? Let's see… Ah! Music lesson! Oh yeah, relaxing time! ^_^
I quickly arrived at the vacant music room and searched for a lucky place to sit eagerly. I now sat before a pearl white piano, my hands opened the white cover and I saw the keys, contrasting in black and white as always. The keys were spotless; it seemed to shine a little. I let my finger slid over the keys from the right to the left. Even the keys were slippery too, like sliding down a slide. While approaching the end, the piano let out strings of sounds that changed from high to low, clearly. My finger came to a stop at the most left of the keys. The sound ceased, too.
The members of 3-13 arrived one by one, and they sat before their respective seats before a piano. (Strange, huh? Actually this school was really wealthy; each student can have their own seat before a piano in the music room! That sure was fun. He he…) While the teacher hadn't arrived yet, a song appeared in my head - "Dearly Beloved" from Kingdom Hearts. Sure it was simple, but it sounded nice! I like it! (And no, it's not "I like to move it move it", and I don't own this awesome "Dearly Beloved" or whatever song I had used in here!) Mission start! I pressed the first note with one finger… "Ding!" And the next one. "Dang~~" And then… "Dang~ Dong~ Dong~ Ding Ding Dong Dang Dong Ding Ding~~" Now I kept the tone soft and totally absorbed in my work…
Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, the old memories resurfaced again. I sure missed the people back there, except for those idiots, of course. I wonder what would happen if my parents knew that I would not return but stay here? And the people in the old school? Well, the bad guys could care less about us, but the friends and the teachers… Sigh. Now the song was getting sadder by the minute. Hmm, well, I couldn't help it, I could not return at this state, not when the bad guys had the so-called evidences that could send me to more trouble. What's worse, my friends would have take the brunt. OK, I'm not going back. Think no more, Nemix.
[Authoress: Hey! Miss! What were you thinking? You were supposed to play the piano, you know.] "Ding Ding Dong Ding Dang Dong Ding Ding Dang~~" My spacing out should stop by now. The song was coming to an end as well. I kept the tone very low and soft throughout, so no one noticed what I was doing, unless: One, that person had a very good hearing; Two, that person was right beside me.
End. I stopped my fingers and moved my hands away from the keys. Mission accomplished! The teacher arrived at that time. "Good morning, teacher~~" "Good morning, class, sit down."
"OK, today we're not having lessons!" The teacher, who introduced herself as Miss Tifa Lockhart (Personally, I can't imagine Tifa teaching Music, since she had carved the "kick-ass" first impression in my mind, but if I make her teach P.E. and, erm, Yuffie being the Music teacher… I cannot imagine that, so let it be this way then… Ha ha.) clapped her hands and said. Everyone cheered! Except for the quiet ones, of course. "But! Let's have some music communication! Everyone must pick their favorite song, and when I call your names, he or she has to present a song. And I mean everyone." At that moment, "thunder" clashed! Everyone thought they wouldn't have to see those "bean sprouts" a.k.a. the music notes for today, but… Sigh! What a pain…!
Oh well, that wouldn't be too hard, right? I had a strange song in mind: A medley of Roxas' Theme, Ventus' Theme and Sora's Theme. (Let's pretend that the boys mentioned were not the same as the ones in the game, or else it's gonna be weird… I don't own these songs.) These three songs were kinda easy, it's just the part where the themes change needed some thinking. (One thing, I do not own all the songs stated below!)
Miss Tifa's requirements weren't hard to achieve. No matter it was using one hands or both, easy or hard, fast or slow, happy or melancholic, she accepted them all. Soo Jyoo was the first to go. Soon, she started. It's Pachebel Canon in D. I really liked that one! Next up was John, he played "Country Road", not bad, and it somehow fitted him well. William played a rather simple one, named as "My Grandfather's Clock". But he didn't seem to have mastered the song well; he almost had some notes wrong. But it's OK! Good attempt!
Ian presented a Piano Sonata (Which the tempo was really haphazardly fast. Although I couldn't catch up, it sounded pretty good! But I forgot which Piano Sonata it was… :P) Katra played some song I didn't recognize, but I wasn't interested of the original composer, because it was a pop song. I was just… really not interested. The random one, Brant, played the Crazy Frog Theme - Axel F! Whoa… but it was still good nonetheless. Zexion was the next, he played "Fur Elise", it sounded a bit sad, but I still liked it! Axel zoomed past "William Tell Overture", I felt like riding a running horse… Wild…
Harayuki played "Hall of the Mountain King", and I almost thought Halloween was coming… BOO! Yuanfang also played something I didn't recognize, but I could sense the Chinese element in the song, not bad. Laura presented Richard Clayderman's "Mariage D'amour" and she was so intoxicated; it was all written on her face… (Did she want to get married so badly? -_-') Roxas played something I didn't expect at all - "The Other Promise" from Piano Collections KINGDOM HEARTS! Whoa… That was SSSOOO epic! Fitted him well.
Demyx played "Greensleeves", the one which I had heard him played on his sitar before. He made the tempo a bit slow this time, yet it still was good. Antonio brought "Moonlight Sonata" to us, I had never heard this song before, it was kind of like walking under the full moon at an eerie night in a dark forest. Oh no! It's my turn! o_o I started on "Roxas", mind you, I could only play using one right hand, unless my left hand only had to press on one long note or play a very minor role, or else my poor left-right hand coordination would mess up everything. Soon, I reached the "Ventus" part. I made it slower to try to portray the sadness. And when "Sora" came, I pulled the atmosphere back to the happy and lively one. And finally, I finished the task, thanks to whatever god I worship or didn't worship. Yeah! Next up was Lawrence. Did he read my mind? He played "Naminé", Musique pour la tristesse de Xion" and "Kairi" in one medley too! Holy Bananas! After he finished, we gave each other a high-five!
Xion played "Sonata in C" (I think it was from the album "Celestial Mozart for Relaxation"), which was the longest presentation for today. It made me feel like soaring in the vast sapphire sky, playing with the puffy clouds and racing with the cool winds… When the song almost ended, it's like I slowly descended from the sky. Nice one, didn't know that had it in her. What Ryuutaro played, I really don't know. But his hands were really shaky. They were trembling. There were some parts where the notes I thought should be played with much force turned out to be much softer. OK, later I would have to look for a priest to help him, I guess. Anne ended the whole presentation with "Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor", the tone was lively and quick. "Dang~~~" The last note was done. Following that was "Ding Dong Dang Dong~" "Alright, good job. Thank you, class." "Thank you, teacher."
It was recess again, due to the economic sanction, we have to send out the expectant runners among us - Axel, Yuanfang and Ryuutaro. (Although Ryuutaro wasn't a desirable one, they need a tour guide, too…) They would have to buy our lunch at a store outside the school. How sad… Then, the rest of the Organization XIII and I sat down and discussed.
006: "OK, let us hear some ideas. How should we start?"
207: "Hmm… Class fees, huh… Could it be from who stole the money first? Or…? What the…"
443: "I guess it's better if we check up on Ryuutaro."
135: "Why? I mean, yeah, he's suspicious. But something tells me that he's innocent."
207: "Like what you said, he was still a suspect. There were no direct evidences to prove he's innocent so far, it's not that we didn't believe him."
013: "That makes sense. Anyway, we didn't know where to start so let's just investigate Ryuutaro first. Firstly, we could omit some of the possibilities; secondly, we could prove his innocence. It's better than doing nothing."
383: "Okaaay… So now Ryuutaro was the target, how should we investigate? Being the stalker? Via Facebook? Interrogate with heavy punishments?"
207: "*Scheming*… He he, I've got a nasty plot… )"
013: "Oh NO…"
443: "You don't mean…?"
207: "Sneak into the base at night!"
013: "*Slaps hand on forehead* Not again?! Do you have any better, more creative ideas?! :O"
135: "Saw that coming… That wasn't even possible! 207, did you forget Ryuutaro -"
207: "- Was in a different room from us and the security was very strong to infiltrate, right? Of course I know that, so that's why I was even more content… You know?"
006: "*Deep thought*… Oh! Understood! The one whom you wanted to go on this mission was 443, am I right?"
207: "Finally someone who understands me! *Thanks, you made me feel so good, sniff sniff* And it also solved the problem regarding who we have to send on the mission! Killing two birds with one stone! )"
383: "Not bad 207, not bad…"
207: "But, if conditions approve, I would still want to investigate on my own there… Aha! That's it! Lawrence, did you bring your iPad with you to Japan?"
443: "Yeah, I did. What's the meani- Oh… I get it…"
207: "OK, this is it! *somewhat devilish smirk*"
383: "Uh… Hello? Don't smirk at me like that… You would freak a three-year-old out… O.o"
006: "Why was it just like when Lynn Green was caught? 207, do you have confidence in this?"
207: "Of course - *Stomach rumbling out loud*"
Everyone was like: O.O "What the… you stupid stomach… You just had to drum roll at this rate! Sigh… I'm hungry… -_-" That was embarrassing…
Just then… "Who said 'hungry'?!" Axel hopped in with bags of food on his hands. "Cut the crap! Bring me the food!" I lost my cool once I saw food. Axel took out a piece of bread and shouted: "Here, take it!" Then, he threw it to me. Once I caught the bread, I immediately landed a big bite on the nice looking bread… Mmm… HOW… UBER CHOKING SPICY! OoO But I said nothing, shutting my mouth that would spit flames and pretending like nothing happened before. I only… twisted my facial expression a little. He had that cocky smirk again.
Axel…! Very well! Not bad! You better not forget this! I will express my "gratitude" so much! Thanks for the WASABI BREAD! And there were more spicy stuff inside…
Later that night, we were in our dorm, with our interphones and staring closely at Roxas' laptop. 443 brought his iPad and was at Ryuutaro's room (Or their room). He would use webcam to communicate with us. (That's why I was very confident with my nasty plot…) "443, how was things over there? The signal here wasn't good enough, I can't see a thing…" I was the first to break the silence.
"Oh come on, it's the economic sanction, man. I'm stealing other people's signal strength, of course it was going to lag… Patience's a virtue, you know…" The screen didn't display his face, but his voice was so clear, not even lagging… "Oh now it isn't! Don't forget that you're now an intruder of other people's secrets and a spy. Ugh, now go and check on Ryuutaro's table," I retorted and stuck to my plan.
Thank goodness, now the signal wasn't as down as before, the laptop screen finally displayed the scene. I could see the table was neat, and clean as well. Eh? There's a book on the table, what's it about? "Er, 443, that book on the table, go near and examine it please," 383 stole my line! But, hey, we thought of the same thing.
013: "OK… It's a ledger book… So he really did do his job… -_-'"
006: "Open it and see."
443: "*Opens* Check with what date?"
207: "Erm… Try the day we handed in the money."
443: "*Puts iPad aside* Wait…"
383: "What… Why were we facing the ceiling?!"
135: "He's not an acrobatic troupe actor, oh well."
222: "How's the situation?"
443: "Erm… em, ah… Argh! See for yourself! Evidences speak louder than words… *Turns the iPad facing a page of a book*"
207: "4th of February… He wrote the entry for cash, below that was 'Class fees'… And double entry! But, it seems weird? Hmm…"
222: "'Ello sir! We're not asking you to check whether his ledger or debit or credit or whatever were correct or not!"
207: "Of course not, seriously! Anyway, we just have to bring it back and check it out… Whatever! 443, grab that book, take some of the pictures of the suspicious spots of this scene and retreat. We will be borrowing your iPad for a while."
443: "Oh, OK."
006: "Good idea, if we did not get to see the evidences ourselves, it would leave us more questions, I do hope Ryuutaro did not find out…"
After 5 minutes, we met outside of the dorm and borrowed Lawrence's iPad plus the book and decided to return them the next day. In the dorm…
"OK, so many pictures… Watch them one by one…" Zexion and Demyx were looking at the iPad screen, carefully observing the pictures before them. I was at the study table, studying the ledger book.
I carefully observed everywhere in that book (Including the details and content) Nothing suspicious at all. Did this book held no clues? Argh… So tiring! I spaced out temporarily, gently running my fingers over the surface of the page. Just then -
Wait! What…? I ran my fingers just like before again. "AHA! The clue!" I shouted, almost falling off the chair. Everyone came up, save Zexion and Demyx. "What? Nemix, what clue?" Roxas asked. "This page was not written by Ryuutaro!" I said with much confidence. "Why?" Xion asked.
I said: "See this, the handwriting was imitated very well; they looked alike, no? But the force applied when writing was a different story! Judging the pages before, it's not hard to conclude that Ryuutaro applied a bigger force when writing, even the page after had uneven surface due to the force. And look at this one, the page after it was drop dead smooth! Therefore, the person traced out Ryuutaro's handwriting lightly to imitate it," I depicted with my fingers doing the tracing gesture. Then, I continued: "Also, this person could not be left-handed. Ryuutaro wrote with his left hand, if you write from the left to right with the left hand, some of the pen's ink would smear your hand and then the paper, so it would be a little blur."
Roxas said: "But there's this blur you said here… Nemix, so how?" I drank a gulp of water and answered: "Correct, it was blur. But the pattern was not correct. If written by hand straight from left to right, the smear would appear as lines; but this smear was like a cluster, like using some cotton or tissue paper to dip a little of ink and 'stamp' on the paper."
"So… that means, maybe Ryuutaro was knocked out before!" Xion snapped her fingers and said. I was surprised, but after looking at the handwriting, I also agreed: "… Maybe, but it makes sense. This particular word was written by a bigger force, especially this part… Maybe someone knocked him out when he wrote this word." Axel said: "Then who would that be? What's strange was that Ryuutaro himself didn't know he was hit, and didn't know someone completed his entries for him. He would have reported it."
Roxas guessed: "Was he brainwashed or hypnotized?" All of us shot him a "What do you think?" look. "… Er… He he… I guess not… -_-'" He smirked, kind of embarrassed, and negated this ridiculous possibility.
Suddenly, Demyx yelled: "Hey! Guys! Come here for a sec!" Now all of us came up to him and Zexion. "There's a poster, it was about the… Astronomy Club." This poster was stuck at the wall near the window. It had a black background setting, and it had the heading "Matsuaki Academy Astronomy Club", with some meteors and a planet as decoration. "What's so special?" Xion asked.
Zexion magnified the picture, there was information printed on the poster. Xion read out loud: "4th of February, we invite you to witness the glory of stars? Including zodiacal constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer? Wow…" "And Orion?! Oh come on! What's so surprising?!" I was sleepy, and if I didn't get enough sleep, I was that grumpy, yes. Zexion explained patiently: "Since the Astronomy Club had activities that night, and Ryuutaro always writes his ledger at night, that means them, who happened to be at the opposite of the room, would never say 'do not know' as to what happened to him!" After his words left his mouth, he pointed at the observatory which was outside of Ryuutaro's room in the picture.
Oooh… Stars, huh? OK! Let's get some sleep and plan tomorrow then! YAWN~~ Zzzzz…
The following day was a Saturday, and the observatory was occupied, so we decided to take a tour there. "Hey, 207, we started from a ledger book to the handwritings and all the way to the observatory to investigation, wasn't it a bit ridiculous…? I swept across the surface for a long time and yet I still couldn't obtain anything. How'd you do that?" 013 draped his hand on my shoulder and said. I replied: "It's nothing actually, it's just that I had conjunctivitis when I was twelve. My eyes were swollen like two big fish balls and I couldn't even open them, let alone see a thing. I was practically blind during that time; I had to rely on my hearing and sense of touch to do things. Maybe I somehow trained to a point that it was… I don't know, well-developed?"
222 asked: "You had conjunctivitis before?" I replied, not minding at all: "Who wasn't sick before? I had a 'scar' on my right eye, thanks to that conjunctivitis…" [Authoress: Really, I had this 'scar', I think the brown patch was going to be on my eye forever…] Axel came before my eye to see the infamous scar. "Hey, it really is there… A patch! At the lower left corner of the iris!"
006 said: "Here we are, the activity room of the observatory." The seven of us stood before the door. 443 went up and knocked the door. Knock knock! "… Come in!" We entered and closed the door, only to see pitch black darkness. There were adhesive decorations (star-shaped) that glow in dark all over the place. There were even all 88 constellations, too! The sunlight was kept outside, and there were many telescopes arranged at a corner. There were three persons in here, we went up and greeted them.
"Hi, we are the exchange students, and we are interested in the Astronomy Club, so we are here to inve- I mean, look around… he he." Yikes, I almost slipped it! It's better to keep our real intentions… -_-III
"Good morning, everyone. I'm Awayuki Naoko (あわゆき なおこ, 淡雪直子), the vice president of the Astronomy Club. Pleased to meet you guys," A girl with short hair and a hair band greeted us. I heard her extending her hand for a handshake, but I couldn't see it. It's too dark after closing the door. -_- "Er…" Roxas' voice hung halfway.
Then she realized. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll get the lights." Soon, the light was switched on with a snap. The whole room went bright suddenly, so we had to squint again. "Hello, I'm Kikuchi Rin (きくち りん, 菊地林), a member." Another girl with long hair also introduced herself: "I'm Natsuhara Kaeko (なつはら かえこ, 夏原康江子), Catherine, call me Catherine. Welcome to Matsuaki Academy's observatory, I'm the treasurer." Oh? A hybrid? Not again… Reminds me of that *Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut* Fayra Joann! Urgh…
After the self introduction part, we started the investigation. I asked the questions again:
a) Any activities at the night of 4th of February: Yes (Just to check the validity of that poster);
b) Time: 10 o'clock p.m. to 11 o'clock p.m.;
c) Participants: Members of this club only;
d) Any new discoveries of the sky: Like what was on the poster;
e) Did they see anything at a block in Area E: No, but only a shadow behind the curtains (Now they suspected my true intentions of visiting here… -_-');
f) Photos: Now on my hands, I'll check back later;
g) Did anyone leave halfway: No (What? Wouldn't they doze off?! Like I'm going to believe that! Pfft! Forget it…)
h) When the activity ended, who's the last to leave: The president of the club;
i) Who was it: Don't know (They were the newbies of the club, so they were unfamiliar with the president… *Sweat drop*);
j) Which of the telescopes were used: Telescopes A and B;
k) Once again, REALLY nothing suspicious?: "Really, nothing…" ~Treasurer; "No, why?" ~Member; "Of course not…" ~Vice president.
Now their heads were full of question marks, I let Zexion to do the explaining for me, in case I accidentally had a slip of the tongue, play safe never hurts! I started to study the photos, all the dates were on the 4th of February, and all were in year 2010… According to the sequence were as follows: The north (Aries, Taurus, Orion, Gemini and Cancer), the south (Orion, Eridanus, Fornax, Canis Major [Hey! I saw Sirius!], Monoceros). All of these were taken at 10 o'clock. As for 11 o'clock: Leo appeared at the north, while a big part of Hydra appeared at the southern sky. I went to check the telescopes. My playful side revealed itself and I peeked through the eyepiece. It's all black… Why yes, of course, since the lid was- "WHOA! HOLY BANANAS! WHAT THE KINGDOM HEARTS!"
Everyone in the room was startled by my "surprise attack". Zexion was the first to ask: "What is wrong with you?" My eyes glued to the eyepiece, and then I calmed down and said: "… Er… It-it's nothing, actually… It's just that… I was just feeling strange why there were stars during daytime… he he… Sorry…" Then everyone let out the breath they held for too long in their chests. "… What the hell… That's why?!" Axel calmed down his heartbeat. The vice president came up and explained: "I'm so sorry, but I think it's because of the cover lid of the telescope… There's this practice here; we drew some images on the lids and put them back. If you saw the images, actually it's the pictures on the lid."
OK, which bored person would have such funny practices?! Anyway… "OK… er, I really think these photos were very good, mind if I borrow? ^_^" I changed the subject, see if I could bring the photos out. Naoko nodded and said: "Sure!"
After finishing what should be done, the seven of us left the scene, I'm hungry… I hadn't taken my lunch yet. Now it was almost one in the afternoon. We decided to head out and have some sushi. (Don't forget we had economic sanction here)
We sat in a corner; it wasn't obvious for all to see. Ugh! How irritating! If it wasn't the class fees… If it wasn't the ledger book… If it wasn't the handwriting… If it wasn't the Astronomy Club… ARGH! Oh god it's irritating! Now, facing a whole bunch of the photos, but I had no clue! *Anime vein bulging* *Exhale* Chill, chill… Let's have a gulp of the green tea…
One of my hands propped my forehead as support, and another holding the photos. So… what's the big idea? I purposely brought along an astrolabe to contra-distinguish - Totally the same. No progress was made! Sigh… Just then my lunch order had arrived, forget it, eat first, then I would think later! Look at everyone; they were enjoying themselves, guess I better not bring up this subject now… 443 had some matters to attend to, so he left for the dorm first.
After lunch, to pass time, we decided to visit a bookstore nearby. Kill hour time! There were different kinds of books in there, from literature to science and technology, everything you could think of, but it seemed the mangas were a bit too much… -o- I like to spend my time in bookstores since I was a small child. So many people thought I was an alien. So what? IDGAF! I wandered to the "Languages" section, and then to "Astronomy", "Novels", "Mangas"… OK, I wandered everywhere my legs carried me. The prices were too expensive to me… Sigh… Also I didn't understand Japanese very thoroughly, I guess my "gain" for today wouldn't be much, eh?
I half leaned on a bookshelf with my eyes closed to give my eyes some rest. Anyway, this place was as silent and peaceful like in a library, no noises, why not take this opportunity to refresh the mind… But then - "OI!" A voice popped at my left out of nowhere! "WHOA!" I couldn't respond to the voice verbally, instead I jumped. I accidentally bumped into a small bookshelf in front of me. Some books fell from the shelf and almost buried me alive. What's worse; I was hit by a hard-cover encyclopedia on the head!
I felt everyone's eyes looking at my direction, holy bananas… That's embarrassing! Which idiot was it! I crawled out the small hill of books, and tried to stand. My head hurts a little and giddy… _ I put my hands onto the sides of the shelf for support, and focused the stare at - Xion! "Whaa… Xion, don't catch me off guard again! Man! Help me to clean up this mess…" Both of us worked together to put the books back, now only the newspapers were left, due to my giddiness, I had to sit down and rest, and I would fold the newspapers well and pass them to Xion to arrange them.
I simply grabbed a newspaper, after folding it, I was about to pass it to Xion, suddenly a group of numbers flashed before my eyes, I snatched the newspaper back and took a closer look - 2010-2-4! And shifting the gaze to the words beside it - "Arashi no yoru" [Translate from Japanese (あらし の よる, 嵐の夜): Stormy night] But - That's it! The astrolabe… Why didn't I think of it?!
Xion saw that I was like thunderstruck, so she waved her hands before me, asking: "Hello? Earth to Nemix?" I didn't respond correctly (to her, somehow), but a few words came out of my mouth: "Arashi no yoru… 4th of February?" "Huh? What 'Aladdin's no yoghurt?! Oh crap… Did the book hit 207 to insanity? OxO' "
"4th of February! There was a storm that night! Screw the stars, they couldn't even see the moon!" I talked to myself, standing up and crashed into Xion in the head! "BONKA!" "OW!" "Wah! That hurt…"
At that time, Axel walked over to us. "Hey! What are you guys doing, taking so long?" I passed the newspaper to him. "Er… 207, since when did I know how to read Japanese?" Xion said: "I didn't know what happened to her, after that encyclopedia hit her head and… yeah, that's how…" I snapped: "OI! Firstly, I'm perfectly normal, thank you very much! Secondly, see the date for yourself; Thirdly, I'll translate the words beside the date: stormy night!"
"… Aha! The Astronomy Club lied to us!" Axel snapped his fingers and said. "Finally! Someone who understands what I'm saying! Thank god!" I tilted my head skyward and sighed. Soon, we started walking back to the school dorm. I said: "At first I didn't get it at all but when I saw the date and weather, only then I realized that the astrolabe misled me!" Zexion felt curious and asked: "How?" I put both of my hands into my pockets (God, it was still cold outside at a time like this…) and continued: "I totally forgot that the astrolabe I brought all the way to Japan was of the "Only suitable in Malaysia" model, but this could only explain why the constellations in the photos were the same as what was on the astrolabe. This purely was a measure of dealing with people who never paid attention to the weather."
Roxas then concluded: "Then, if the weather was fine at the night of 4th of February, the photos wouldn't be the same as these, right?" "Yes," Demyx nodded and said. Without realizing, we had returned to the school. I was now lying on my bed, applying an ice pack on the spot where my head collided with the encyclopedia and Xion's head. Holy Bananas… Why both the injuries were on the same spot?! Luckily the gods still loved me, so far, I was very normal, so far so good… -_-III
"Argh… What to do now? Interrogate the Astronomy Club?" Axel stretched, yawned and said. Zexion thought over things and said: "Nemix, how was your idea in the progress? What do you think?" "Mm… Huh? How did you know I was thinking?" I still closed my eyes, asking unmindfully. "You did not utter anything for too long; you must have been thinking what to do." "Oh… You still understand me that well…" I muttered.
Just then, Xion walked into the room and said: "Guess what I had just found out?" "Beats me… What?" Demyx, who just came out of the bathroom, asked. "Lawrence informed me just now, he said he also suspected the members of the club, he returned to the observatory's activity room to look for them, and then they confessed everything: That night was stormy and raining cats and dogs, so the activity was cancelled!" "So? We had figured out ourselves," Roxas shrugged and said. "C'mon, let me finish! Lawrence said he overheard them speaking with the president! They said something like 'oh cane ah tally naive' and 'Oh cane oh mule sumo'…"
"Wha-!" Axel was dumbfounded. "… Ah! One more sentence, something like 'ellopja a penzt gyujtott osztaly'! That's all." Axel banged his head on the table and said: "I officially declare that I'm SO NOT doing this anymore!" I didn't understand it either… What the crap was that? Garbled crap?! It wasn't a computer breakdown… Arghh! That's it! If it wasn't the economic sanction, I would not care so much and go straight to Google Translate!
Zexion kept his cool and asked: "Did Lawrence see the president's face? He or she must be the mastermind behind all these!" "Huh? They were using walkie-talkies! How would I know?" Xion said, lowering her head. Oh god! Oh mum! Oh Dad! Hmm? Dad…? Wait a minute wait a minute… I suddenly got an idea, and I slowly crept up and sat on the bed. My dad didn't teach me some other special stuff, but he taught me some foreign languages! Roxas saw my trance, and asked: "Eh, Nemix, what are you doing?"
… (After three minutes)… "This is it!" I said, a somewhat evil grin plastered on my face. "Wh-what is it? 207 had gone nuts again!" Xion clutched onto Demyx's arm, commenting in fear. "… Zexion, I had an idea, would it work?" I turned my head to his direction, putting the icepack aside. "Er… Fire away?" He thought for a few seconds and said.
"WHAT THE HECK 207! What were you thinking?!" Roxas lost control and shouted. "If not, how? Any better ideas? It made me dizzy to think up all of these… Why don't you let yourself got hit by a hard-cover encyclopedia and then a skull in the head, and later you try to think of something!" I put the icepack on my head again and lied back down on the bed. "Eh… Sorry about that 207, for crashing into your head…" Xion said sheepishly. I said: "*Sigh* Forget it, it's OK, just… don't do that again in the future…"
The next day! Sunday! We went to look for Harayuki and Ryuutaro. "Ah? Collect the class fees one more time?" They asked in unison. Zexion nodded and said: "Yes. One more time." Harayuki asked: "Why?" Demyx answered: "If we hand in the class fees again, we would clear our debts, and then the economic sanction would lost its effects on us." "But, I don't know if the others agree?" Ryuutaro contemplated for a while and said. "Of course they will! Who would want to have economic sanctions anyway?" I said.
"Hmm… Alright, now I'm going to inform the class…" After Harayuki said that, she left. We said thanks and left as well.
Then Monday arrived. We sat on our respective seats, with money in hand, I went to the toilet first. When I was done washing my hands and about to head out, and I turn around, eh? Why was it that Big Sister again?! Ugh… "Yo! Hey guys! See this! Our friend here had economic sanction! How was that? The days without any resources weren't bad days, eh?" I had no time to play with you! So I was about to make an exception and ignore her! But she didn't seem to want to let me go.
"Hey hey hey! Wait a minute, don't be hasty! You don't have to be so hurry! I know that you guys were like beggars and it's embarrassing, and now they wanted to 'suck blood'… Oh! Dear god! That was too sad!" She was acting really pitiful, while still using another hand to instruct the bodyguards to block the exit. PFFT! WHAT A DRAMA QUEEN! Eh? Wait! "You… How did you know my class was going to collect the class fees again?!" That was unexpected, so I asked in surprise. Did she stalk on me again? Observing the shoe heel… White scratches again, so I was right, geez! Never learn your lesson, did you? -_-' "Ah? Oh… Wait! So what if I knew? What does it have to do with you?" Looks like she didn't expect me to ask that, and she almost slipped it. I put my hands on my hips and said: "Sigh! I guess you're not going to tell me, huh?" "… Of course! I won't tell you even if I had spies in your class!" She did a hair flip haughtily and said complacently.
Wait a sec… Spies?! Don't point it out yet, let's play some minds games with her for a while. I managed to squeeze out a somewhat narcissistic expression (Which failed epically somehow) and said: "See? Am I cleverer than you? That I knew you won't tell me?" She seemed angry, and said: "Hey! You! I won't allow you to be more narcissistic than me! ! Er… erm, ah! I mean cleverer!" I stifled the urge to burst out laughing and commented: "Oh, then why were you in the tenth class? The first counting from the last?"
"The only person I allow to be cleverer than me is Ryuutaro! Don't ever think to replace him, you turnip head!" … Why, out of the blue, of all people, did she mention him? I was about to say something, but she seemed to haven't finish her words. "He helped me a lot! He taught me Hungarian, and he provided me financial aid!" Maybe… He's the spy? What the… NOT GOOD!
I didn't have much time left! I retorted: "So what? I'm not interested! Oh! Almost forgot, thank you for confessing the truth to me…" After I finished, I was going to rush out of the washroom, but that daft bodyguard kept on blocking my way, I couldn't care that much! I thrust my knee up against somewhere… eh… related to Father's Day, if you know what I meant, and I escaped! "HUH?! Confess? … OH ****! #?!&%$* Blah-Blah-Blah!" [Censored!]
I rushed into the classroom, and they were handing in the class fees. Phew! I dug out my money and handed it in, and then I said to Ryuutaro, who was collecting the money: "Sorry, but I guess I would hand the money to the teacher." "Huh? There's no need, I'm the treasurer anyway, this is part of my job," he said. "It's nothing… Actually I was told by another student to hand the total sum to the teacher, because the teacher also wanted to see me as well. So I'm taking over this job!" I said, smiling to cover up the lie, I took the bundle of money and turned to leave.
I only heard him said: "Oh… OK… Thanks!" He's gullible… I felt guilty for fooling such a naive person. Couldn't care that much anyway. I put the money into my pocket, walked to the door and said: "OK, I'll put this here." Then I left.
My thoughts were flowing in my mind as I walked. What's the relationship between Ryuutaro and Big Sister? I'd never heard him mentioned her. And why did he treat her so well? To the extent of spying for her? What's the profit from such act? And who's he spying at? Financial aid? What in the world is thi-
"PAK!"
Black out!
… "… Hey! Hey! Wake up 207!" … What? My head hurts… I opened my eyes immediately only to see the cold floor. Maybe I was knocked out. I held where my back of the neck hurts, getting up. Roxas and Demyx were the ones to call and shake me awake. WAIT… If I was knocked out, where's the money?! I stuck my hand into my pocket, it's gone. Oh great… "… He he… Ha ha ha…" I snickered, but they still heard me. "207? What are you doing? Could it be…?" Demyx observed my reaction and stated. "You're right, it worked!" I said. Just then, members of Organization XIII appeared. "207, you OK?" Xion asked. "OK as I'll ever be, and I'm happy as well," I stood up and answered.
Zexion said: "Judging the situation, the plan worked?" "Of course… Those idiots robbed the money and got away, but, what they robbed from me was the real 'Monopoly' currency! HA HA HA!" I said, wanting to burst out laughing again. "The real money is in my pocket - the inner pocket of my coat! (P.S. The school uniforms comprise a coat, a white shirt, a long dark blue skirt or trousers. Sorry for the late info!) They robbed the 'money' from the pocket of the skirt! Luckily the frauds by swapping worked, if not, this knock out didn't worth it, isn't it?!"
Axel took the money and delivered it safely to the teacher's office. OH YEAH! Mission accomplished! Now the objective was to capture the mastermind from the behind! (Hey it rhymes!) It could be that phantom wannabe president of the Astronomy Club…
It's school dismissal, my mood was a very good one. NO MORE ECONOMIC SANCTION! OLEH~ OLEH OLEH OLEH~ (In Malaysia, this phrase is like cheering) I'm so high. I was strolling at a pond outside the dorm. I squatted down and watched the fishes, how I envied them! Freedom was around them, no one cared where they swam. Evening fell; the sky was painted with wild orange and red, with some pink clouds on the side, even the pond was dyed orange mildly. That made the reflection in the pond even clearer. Lazy Afternoons… Yeah, that's what was in my mind at that moment. (Love that song! I do not own that!) Like what Roxas told me about Twilight Town.
I was so engrossed in watching the reflections, suddenly I saw a black figure flashed at my back. (Don't forget, I was looking at the reflection in the pond… I didn't have eyes behind my head) I sprang up and spun to face my back. No one there? Was I hallucinating? I was about to agree with the latter, some rustling could be heard from my left, like something fell into the bushes. I followed the noise and turned my head to said direction, guess what I saw?
"…?! 'Monopoly' money?! You…!" I was so shocked and managed to spit out a few words, looking up - A cloaked figure! It had a long black trench coat, all black from head to toe, I couldn't see his face, but it seemed to want to pick a fight with me and said: "You think you're very good, huh…" And then it turned and ran away. What was I waiting for? Give chase! I sprang into action and ran after it. What nimble movements, how could it run that fast in a long bulky trench coat?!
Chasing, chasing, and more chasing, the sun set without realizing, now I was like surrounded by a layer of black muslin, I could hear the footsteps, "Tap Tap Tap" they rang, lingering in the dark school corridors. The cloaked figure was still in front of me, but its speed decreased over time significantly. Ha! Tired, were you? But, I wasn't any batter… It turned, and I followed to turn around a corner; it jumped over the wall, I also jumped. Soon, it finally hid itself in a room, and closed the door. Got you!
I kept my back against the wall beside the door, and observe for any movements while regulating my breath, so tired! After that, I tiptoed to the door, taking in a deep breath… HERE I COME! I quickly kicked the door open and barged in! I was in my ready-to-fight pose, but it was pitch dark inside, nothing could be seen. As I was confused, the door shut itself! BAM! Then I heard the sound of locking the door! Oh crap! I was locked! I fell for a trap! Then, a voice boomed.
"HA HA HA! How's that? You fell for it!" I calmed myself down and retorted: "If you've got the guts then fight me one on one! Don't just hide there and act mysterious! Not cool!" I finished my words and was about to walk forward, suddenly I felt a cut on my knee, it hurt like hell and I staggered backwards, but I heard some fabric being slashed open by the same thing. Holy Bananas! I panicked and turned around, only to have a cut on my left cheek! I could feel the warm fluid ooze out of the fresh opening on the skin, oh crap you!
I dared not move a muscle, a sweat dripped from my head to the chin, but it didn't fell to the floor, but it fell on something and let out a weird sound like "Pik! Pik!" I've got it!
"… Piano wire…?!" I suppressed my surfacing fear and said. But my voice somehow sounded like a squeak. "Very well… But it took three cuts for you to get the answer, it's not like you, you know, he he…" Wait! How did this whoever-the-hell-it-was know I was cut three times? I didn't scream out of pain, and it's dark, and even the windows were tightly shut! Unless… A night vision goggle was used! But then again, what does it mean by "not like me"? Maybe this person knew me! But I couldn't recognize the voice! Dang it!
I remained in a same pose, and it's tiring. And I couldn't sit down, because there seemed to be glass wool all over the floor… I guess the whole room was filled with draping and interlocking piano wires and glass wool floor coating! Anyway, I was not claustrophobic, no need to be afraid. Yet.
"Hmph! You idiotic fool, don't ever think to get out alive, just be good and stay here until you suffocate to death!" The voice boomed again, with more malice. Anyway, I couldn't move, why not let me deal with it for a while. "Sigh! You're right, I couldn't get out anyway, so why don't you let me sit? How's that? You won't lose anything." "What? Are you tired? Ha, useless piece of waste, let's settle this like this." Without waiting for my response, I felt a string of piano wire stopped right on my neck where my carotid arteries were, anything stupid I did would let me see the gods… Gulp! "Go! Follow my orders, or die on the spot!" Backing up? I slowly backed up, I moved exactly what it told me; directions and how many steps to take and all that. I moved and stopped alternatively. Finally my back touched the cold wall. I slowly descended and sat down safely.
I felt the presence of the piano wire on my neck was gone. OK, this mysterious dude here knew how to control them… I slowly and cautiously fumbled around with my fingers as secretly as possible. On my left was wood… A cupboard? On my right was some icy cold metal sticks, what was that? "This is so good! Now, be a good girl and stay there - until you die!" After the voice died down, I heard rocks rubbing against one another, which roared very loudly, some footsteps, and the same rock noise and a sickening "BAM". Silence reigned once again. Gosh… This room had some mechanism installed and there was an additional smell I'd never forget - Burnt smell! (Actually there's one night, everyone's asleep I'm the only one wide awake, reading some comics. The comics depicted the group of protagonists were in outer space, but the keyboard of the rocket somehow combusted, the main character opened the exit of the rocket, some of the air escaped and the fire extinguished due to absence of oxygen. I was getting into the story, and then I smelled smoke. At first, I thought the neighbors were having a barbecue party, so I shrugged it off. But after five minutes, the smoke smell was getting strong. I got out of my room and I saw the corridor leading to the parlor was filled with smoke, like someone had thrown a smoke grenade in there. When I reached the dining room, nothing could be seen. And I finally arrived at the kitchen - HOLY BANANAS! My mother left the carrot soup on the stove and she went to sleep, now the poor carrot soup had became carrot paste due to over cooking, the whole pot was smeared by the dark brown burnt paste, and it's sticky… I was scared at first sight, and then I snapped back into reality and turned off the natural gas supply, opened all windows and switched on the fans to maximum! I woke up my mum and we used air fresheners to spray everywhere and cleaned up the mess. I saved the day!)
Burnt smell… That meant Home Economics Room was next to this room! Because there was also the smell of cakes. Okay… What in the world was beside the Home Economics Room? … Argh! Being the road dummy, I couldn't recall anything! T_T
I was so mad I pushed the big wooden cupboard down! KABAM! TOINK! TWANG! BOINK! TOI~~~~! Oops… The cupboard fell, and broke some piano wires. Ha ha! Lucky me! I moved to the left to where the cupboard once stood. I waved - NO MORE PIANO WIRE! OH YEAH! I pushed and pulled the cupboard back to its original position, (By the way, the cupboard wasn't that big anyway…) opened (via fumbling) the drawers. I found a torch. I didn't think the gods hate me… ^_^
Switching on the torchlight - The whole room was full of piano wires! My god! Now I shone the torchlight everywhere, I knew it… I was in the observatory! The next hour, using a scissors found in a random corner, I removed all the piano wires! URGH! So tiring! Guess the mysterious guy would go nuts if it came back and saw this… Who cares! But… How should I escape? I couldn't escape through the door. I didn't know how to activate the mechanism like that dude could… Even if I opened the window, I didn't dare to jump out - 500 meters, from the roof to the ground, would I dare to?! Hmm…
But, there's a metal bucket, a scissors, a big can of petrol, a sink, a long rubber water tube, telescope, matches and papers. Scheming… He he… I'd got a nasty plot… D
[Switch to Organization XIII]
"207's interphone and GPS device were here with us, how to contact her?!" Axel lost his cool and yelled. Zexion was pacing up and down, muttering: "Must have been in trouble…" Xion said: "I know she was strolling near the pond … Where did she go…?" Demyx barged into the room, shocking everyone. He said: "Look! This was beside the pond!" Everyone looked - "Monopoly" currency! "Wasn't this used in the nasty plot of 207 earlier ago?!" Roxas' eyes widened and said. "… Something is up, 443, how is the search?" Zexion stayed calm and asked via interphone. "No sign of her…" 443's voice came in.
Zexion said: "Could it be that… the mastermind made its move?!" "This…! *Sigh*" Axel was at a loss of words and sighed. Xion asked desperately: "She'll be OK, right?" "I don't care, if I couldn't find 207 tonight, I'm not going to sleep!" Roxas, who always thinks before he acts, said assuredly, and he ran out of the dorm.
[Back to me…]
I cut the hem of my skirt with the scissors (This damn skirt was way too long and it obstructed me from doing anything), and I used the fabric to wrap my knee and face (Of course I had ensured the cloth was free of glass wool). I then filled the bucket with half of the petrol, and I placed the papers on top of the cupboard. Next, I connect the rubber tube to the water tap of the sink and I placed the end of the tube on the floor. The glass wool on the floor was swept out through the bottom of the door, and the window was opened. I disassembled the telescope and took out the eyepiece lens. NOW, THE PLAN!
I ignited all the matches, and threw some to the papers and some to the cupboard, and I proceeded to open the water tap to its maximum! I then hung the bucket high up at where the water couldn't reach and threw the rest of the ignited matches into it. Now, the wooden cupboard turned into a fire cupboard, soon, fire emergency water spray was activated, water rushed very rapidly. I used whatever I could find to block the bottom of the door, like wood planks, wooden board and cloth. Smoke was everywhere, and the water never ceased, soon it's flooding.
After about five minutes, the water level reached 0.5 cm below the window. But the increase in water level slowed down. No way! I waded to the door, and placed the eyepiece before the light of the torchlight, and light rays focused onto the door, then some smoke came out. OH COME ON! The smell of petrol was too strong! Finally, the water flooded out of the window! Hope somebody would notice that!
But, soon the torch ran out of batteries… The smoke gradually drifted away, the water spray stopped slowly too. Now, only the water from the sink was flowing. The ends of piano wires dangling from the ceiling were waving in the water with the current. I guess there's no way no one wouldn't notice such a big racket I caused! I took a glimpse at my watch - eleven o'clock at night, OK… Organization XIII must still be looking for me?
Just then, something unexpected happened…
CLIFF HANGER!
[Back to 013 and 383]
They were gasping for air near a wall at a field. "*Gasp* So tiring… where… the heck… is… is 207?!" Roxas put his hands on his knees and said. He was pouring with sweat, but Xion wasn't any batter. "What the hell… Where would 207 be? We only found… a… a 'Monopoly'… money, what would… that prove?" Suddenly, Roxas smashed his fist onto the wall and shouted: "OMG! 207! JUST GET OUT FROM WHATEVER FREAKING PLACE YOU ARE IN!"
"FWOOSH!"
"Whoa!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Roxas was half wet, he jumped aside and yelled: "What the flip! Why is it raining out of no reason?!" "… Er… It's not raining… Look!" Xion tilted her head skyward, pointing above the wall. Roxas looked to said direction, OH NOES! Water was coming out of a window! "Isn't that the observatory?!" Roxas exclaimed. Xion said: "Who was so…?" Roxas thought for a while, then he snapped his fingers and said: "Ah! 207! 207's in there!" "Why?!" Xion asked, surprised. "I understand her too much, this should be one of her nasty plots… Also, look at this," He said, placing a Beijing Olympics Mascot keychain on his palm. "When I was soaked just now, this hit my shoulder, 207 brings this with her every time, it must've dropped from her at the top." Xion: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" The two cousins left the scene.
[Back to me]
"How dare you! You idiot! Look what you have done?!" The mysterious figure reappeared, but with the help of the moonlight from outside the window this time, I could make out the whole person, it's the cloaked figure from before! It appeared from a hole higher than the water level, when it saw the ruckus, it screamed uncontrollably. I immersed my arm into the water and found a wooden plank. I drew it out of the water and readied it as a weapon. A fight to the death!
I retorted: "So what do you think? You thought I would stay here and wait to die?! In your dreams!" Now the water level reached 5cm below my armpits. The cloaked figure quickly approached, but too bad it lost balance and fell into the water, a huge splash occurred. Maybe its body size was huge, very easy to take down… But I didn't expect it to emerge from the water immediately and in a swift motion it turned off the water tap! The water supply's cut off… Crap…
I retreated to a corner, and used the wooden plank to poke and hook the obstacles that stuffed up the hole at the bottom of the door. C'mon… It's coming at me! But the water resistance slowed it down. 3, 2, 1! "Kap! Kabook!" The obstacles were removed! The cloaked figure was drawn away by the water current against its will! KABONG! "NINCS!"
Wow… I had never expected this would happen, though… The door was busted open, water spurted everywhere… What a big racket we have here… O.o The hole at the bottom of the door caused the water pressure of the water flowing out of the hole to decrease due to the increase in velocity of water, and the surrounding greater water pressure (including atmospheric pressure) caused the object to flow (Or in this case, gush… -_-') towards the door, I didn't expect the door would be crushed by the cloaked figure… Anyway, it's good! Bernoulli's Principle worked! OH YEAH!
I was gushed outside as well, but I held onto the side of the wall, when the water level subsided, I proceeded to capture the cloaked figure. I pulled off the fabric I used to wrap my wounds to tie up its limbs. CAUGHT YA! I crossed my arms before my chest and said: "Never guessed that I would catch you, huh… Onion Head?"
"Darn it… How did you know it's me?!" The person asked with rage and shock. It struggled with all its might, the hood of the cloak was shaken off, and its true identity was revealed - Big Sister! "First of all, the most obvious one was your body size, in that total darkness before I truly couldn't see anything, but once the window was opened, it's OK; Secondly, you said this before *air quotes* 'Very well… But it took three cuts for you to get the answer, it's not like you, you know' this sentence told me you knew who I am; Thirdly, you said too many foreign languages, especially Hungarian (The phrase 'nincs'); Fourthly, *snickers* you admitted that you're Onion Head…" I observed her reaction. She was so mad she was only able to spit out a few words: "What Onion Head *&$#%..."
"Answer truthfully, why did you want to rob the class fees?" I directed my gaze straight into her eyes and said in a serious tone. "Wh-what Class fees?! Let me tell you, don't simply accuse people!" She used an "I-hate-you-to-hell" tone to retaliate, and forced her eyes to glare back at me, pretending that she wasn't lying. Hmm, this was the first time I encountered this situation. I asked: "How come you never notice one of your hands have a strange smell and mark?" "Hmph! You tied me up so badly, how would I know?! Dimwit!" Pfft! As if I was going to fall for that; release you and let you get the chance to escape! Just then, Roxas and Xion arrived at the scene!
"Nemix! If you hear me then answer - Whoa…" Roxas halted, dumbfounded at what he saw. Xion bumped into him on accident. "Ow… Hey! Roxas! Don't just execute emergency brake for no reason! You - Whoa…" Here came another dumbfounded person onto the stage! [Authoress: *Claps hands alone…* *Anime sweat drop*]
"Get over here and grab her! She wants the evidence." I immediately called out for help. After a minute… I placed a firm grip onto her hand and pulled up her sleeve a little, and a thick silver line was on her hand. "While you're robbing the 'Monopoly' money from me, your hand accidentally contacted the ambushing marker pen in my pocket…" I purposely stopped at mid-sentence to provoke her.
"… Hmph! You got lucky! I'm impressed by your plan! But, how did you, an idiot, know that I'm about to steal the class fees?" She went silent for a short while, and then she said. I replied: "When you were talking to your underlings, of course…" "Quit the act! That -" "- time was a boy who eavesdropped on your conversation… right?" I said, now had my back against her, without wavering of emotion. "… Pfft! Know-it-all… Nani wo bakana…: [Translate from Japanese (なに を ばかな): What a fool…] "AHEM! You were the fool!" I turned and pointed at her, telling her to SHUT UP!
"Eh 207, have you mistaken? Wasn't 443 the one who eavesdropped?" Xion whispered to me. I smirked a little and said: "Of course, it was 443, but when you came back to inform us the news, didn't you say a lot of 'alien languages'?" I had just finished, and suddenly another voice popped out of nowhere: "THAT'S RIGHT! WHAT WERE THOSE 'ALIEN LANGUAGES'?!"
"WAH!" I almost jumped out of my skin, I turned around to see - Axel and the rest of Organization XIII. "Holy Bananas Axel! Luckily we're not in the library or the bookstore…" Thinking of the incident days ago… *Shudders* Yikes. "Anyways… She said: 1) oh cane ah tally naive; 2) Oh cane oh mule sumo; 3) ellopja a penzt gyujtott osztaly. Translation: 1) Japanese (おかね が たりない): okane ga tarinai (Not enough money); 2) Japanese (おかね を ぬすむ): Okane wo nusumu (Steal money); Until the third sentence, because she discovered that 443's presence, so she changed into Hungarian. 'Lop' means 'steal', 'penz' is 'money', 'osztaly' is 'class'. Ring any bells?"
Axel's jaws almost hit the floor. Roxas screamed: "How nice of you 207! You knew the translation and you didn't tell us!" (That day I didn't tell them the translation for surprise) "There's no difference if you know it now! It's just that I don't understand, why she changed languages, since we also don't understand Japanese very well too, it must have some other better reason, isn't it?" I moved closer to Big Sister and said. "Get away from me! Hmph… Correct, there is another reason… because he knows Japanese!" Everyone else apart from me, herself and 443 were shocked!
"Good one, you did know Lawrence is a fan of Anime and Manga, so he knows the language, not bad…" I slowly nodded and said. "You… You stalker!" Demyx blurted out of shock. "No… It's the spy… It's Ryuutaro, isn't it? He told you all of these, right?" I shook my head to negate Demyx's comment and said, staring at Big Sister all this while.
"… Looks like I can't hide anything tonight…" Now, she stared at the floor. "That guy Ryuutaro, he was too gullible and honest, I wanted him to create fake evidences but failed to do so, the fake evidence in the ledger book was seen through soon enough, the poster on the wall was also forgotten to tear off, and luckily the members didn't betray me… I also forgot to tell him to hand in the class fees himself… *Sigh* So hard to control." She said slowly, losing her big-bully facade and arrogant tone. Tap…Tap…
"So… Soudesuka? Anata wa ore wo shiyou shiteika…" Whoa! Who was that?! We turned to the source of the voice. We only saw a gloomy (or glum, should I say?) Ryuutaro standing there, hurt. (By the way, he said: "Is… Is that so? You were only using me…" [そ... そうですか? あなた は おれ を しようしていか...])
"R… Ryuutaro niisan!" (R… Ryuutaro [brother]! [りゅうたろにいさん!])
"…"
"Naze, naze koko ni irunoka?" (Why, why are you here? [なぜ、 なぜ ここ に いるのか?])
"… Shinko, nan no hanashi wo shiteiru no desu?!" (Shinko [Her name], what are you talking about?! [しんこ、 なん の はなし を している の です?!])
"Sono you janai, watashi -" (It's not like that, I - [その よう じゃない、 わたし -])
"Doushite? Anata wa ore no imouto desu, naze suru hitsuyou ga arimasuka?" (Why? You're my sister, why did you have to… [どうして? あなた は おれ の いもうと です、 なぜ する ひつよう が ありますか?])
"…" (On the verge of tears)
"… *Suppressing something* Watashi wa anata o teishi surubekidatta…" (I should've stopped you… [わたし は あなたを ていし するべきだった...])
"… Nani?" (… What? [... なに?])
"Mou tasukeru koto wa dekimasen. Kore wo shien sareteimasen… 207, I'll leave that to you." (I cannot help you anymore. This is not helping… [もう たすける こと は できません。 これ を しえん されていません...] [You know the rest, right?]) After he said that, he turned to leave, I stopped him. "Wait! Are you sure you don't want to care about her anymore?" I caught his hand and said. He stared blankly at the front. I let go of his hand.
Zexion commented: "She had a point. Why did you want to give up on her?" I also asked: "Why is there this so-called 'financial aid'?" "… *Sigh* The incident happened two years ago…"
[OK! STOP!] Authoress said CUT this time! Now there is no time for dilly-dallying! Let us cut the long story short! Er-hem! It all happened two years ago, Ryuutaro and Big Sister (I'm not really accustomed to call her "Shinko"…) were in 7th Grade, and Big Sister fell in love with a boy, and he tricked her too many times and she's too blind to see that. And that dude owed some loan sharks a large sum of money, and he moved to an unknown country. Big Sister had to get a part-time job to pay the debts. But they were afraid their parents would find out (even though they lived in the dorms), so they formulated an alternative… And Ryuutaro took pity on her so he reluctantly agreed to help her. [Back to normal! Hasta la vista guys!]
"Is that so…" Roxas nodded his head slowly and said. "Judging this situation, the debts were not cleared, and the school knew nothing of this, right?" Zexion concluded. Big Sister said: "Yes… The deadline is near, they would… would…" At here, she shivered uncontrollably, like recalled some bad memories, really bad memories. Don't simply open the wounds… The ones who suffered serious mental stimulation were not easy to deal with… *Gulp*
"Since you could not solve this yourself, you could have just sought help from your parents or the school, why did you have to place yourself into this awkward situation?" Zexion asked. "No! You can't! … No… If the others knew about this, I wouldn't be able to be with him again… He… will return… Yes… He still cared about me in his heart…" Big Sister screamed at first, then mumbled to herself, like she was about to go mad… No way, seriously… Right until now, she still naively believed that kook would change his mind?! I want to punch her to wake up her ideas, suddenly -
"PAK!" The sound propagated to every corner of the corridor, especially at a quiet night like this, it seemed even scarier. Axel swiftly shot out a palm and slapped her across her face, all of us were petrified. Axel tried his best to suppress his temper that was losing control at the moment, and angrily huffed: "Miss! Until now you were still so naive, thinking that trickster would return?! Are you daydreaming! Obviously he was using you to return his damned debt! He was enjoying himself outside, you know, you thought he really loved you?! Assume I'm begging you, wake up! You're fooled all along! Got it memorized?!"
Whoa… I swear, since I knew Axel, this was his first time to lose control… Sure, he was always hot-headed and a little impatient, and a little bad tempered, but this was way over this time… O.O Big Sister regained her senses a while later, used her icy cold back of the palm to touch the burning cheeks. "I was being used… Fooled?" She whispered, very shocked indeed. "Er… yeah, you must not be like this anymore, it's not good for anyone…" Demyx watched his choice of words and smoothed things over. Roxas dragged Axel aside to cool him down.
Honestly, I really didn't want to see this annoying overdramatic soap opera anymore. Also, when I was locked in the observatory, she could've wiped me out (Touch wood… It's not good to curse yourself… ^_^'), but she only used the piano wires to force me to a corner to sit down… Guess that's the only solution… So I could "repay her kindness". I contemplated a while, and stated: "Report to the principal straight away." "… Huh?" Everyone said in unison.
"I think reporting to the principal is better; Firstly, the students under her management had problems, she should do something; Secondly, she knows what to do is the best," I cleared my throat and explained. Zexion agreed. "I agree with Nemix. This is the best solution by far."
Ryuutaro hesitated for a sec, and said: "OK." Big Sister was sobbing silently now, let's leave Ryuutaro to comfort her, since the rest of us were outsiders… The next day…
"… I understand, I will look into this, remember, do not publicize this," Miss Aerith understood the whole situation and said. "OK…" We agreed. "So, one of the school bullies was caught, I will pay close attention to her. Thank you for your help, if not I wouldn't know how many more classes will suffer from 'economic sanction'," She said. Zexion said: "It is nothing, this is our duty, not to mention that this may not end yet…" Huh?! No way, seriously? D: The principal nodded and said: "Yes, I understand. I still have to count on you guys for a while. Really… Doumo arigatou gozaimasu." (Thank you very much! [どうも ありがとう ございます。]) And then, she bowed! Holy Bananas! We did it too. "Dou itashimashite…" (You're welcome… [どう いたしまして...]) I said.
After five days… "OI! Zexy! The newspaper you wanted is here!" Demyx, who just came back from buying the newspaper shouted from outside, walking into the dorm room. Zexion sighed in defeat and grabbed the news over and then looked at the headlines… I was so curious and I peeked over his shoulder from his back to see. "Holy Bananas!" I exclaimed. Now the members of Organization XIII came over. Headlines translation: "17 Year-old Japanese Drug Trafficker Caught in Burma, Police Arrested Drug Trafficking and Underground Banks Organization". "Oh my god… Zexion, why did you buy this newspaper all of a sudden and you got this headline?!" Axel asked. "… It really is by pure instinct!" Zexion's eyes widened in surprise and uttered. (P.S. That trickster was later revealed by Big Sister that he was actually a drug trafficker, and was 15 two years ago)
Xion "patted" my shoulders and said: "Luckily we had you in our team, 207, if we didn't have a nasty plotter like you, we wouldn't know what's gonna happen!" Wah… Why did anyone that "patted" me would cause me internal injury…?! T.T I said: "383, being a nasty plotter wasn't as easy as you thought… You have to deal with glass wool, piano wires, petrol, fire, mud and many more… Oh! Also -" "OK! Er… I had to go to… er, the library to return the books! Bye!" She then ran away. "207, did you have to make it to sound so scary?" Demyx placed his hands on his hips and said. Well, this is MY life as this nasty plotter… )
~ CHAPTER 10 FIN ~
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N: Mua ha ha ha! The too long Chapter 10 was done! Really, it's too long, and it took a lot of brain power to translate them all, especially the foreign language part… Since my first language is not English, let alone the others… Yeah, I like Chinese better… *nod nod* Sorry if there's any incorrect translation! Anyways, I'm outta here! Gotta get some sleep. I need to rest… Bye!