"Haru… Haru… Haru!"

Haru came back from her thought when she heard her name being called. She put her book on the table and looked at the person who was calling her. Tokaku was looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Oh, Tokaku… Hi."

"What are you doing here?"

"Investigating," Haru replied as she opened her book.

"Investigating… how?"

"Well, each time Shiena-chan said she's investigating she goes to the library and read some books, so here I am."

"What kind of book are you reading then?"

"Ah, well I wasn't sure which one I should take so I just took one about the Japanese Wizarding War. It's interesting, yet really sad."

Tokaku sighed.

"You shouldn't be doing that, it's not up to us to investigate. You should let the adults handle the situation," the blue haired girl said.

"But Tokaku, I can't! Multiple students had been found in a closet and one of them was dead while the others were paralyzed and injured. Sometimes wrong is going on, people are getting hurt. And I'm sure it has to do with one of the dark wizards group. It could be related to the Eight Legs, or even the Witch Hunters or the Blue Akuma. If I can help people, then I have to try."

Her girlfriend sighed again.

"I suppose I can't dissuade you. Very well, then I'll help you. To protect you from your own recklessness," Tokaku said.

Haru smiled happily, glad her lover wanted to help her.

"So, what do you got for now?" Tokaku asked.

"Hm, well I'm not sure if the one who killed Sato-san is the same who attacked the others, since he died while the others were just injured. If Kagami-san is really the one who killed him, then maybe the current culprit took inspiration of her for their crimes."

"Like a copycat uh… covering their crimes by pretending to be Sato's killer. So, is that it?"

"Um, yeah… I didn't find much. Sorry, I barely began…"

"It's okay. So, the victims… From what I know both Kaminaga and Takechi are half-blood, I don't know if it might be the reason why they were targeted, I don't know the other victim blood-status…"

"Maybe Nio knows!"

"Don't…"

"Hello! You called me?"

Nio was there, smiling brightly. Tokaku looked exasperate while Haru was glad she was there.

"Nio! Good timing! The other guy who was found in a closet after Otoya-san, what is his blood status?" Haru asked.

"Oh, him… He's a pure-blood."

"Ah, a pure-blood… so the culprit isn't targeting half-bloods…," Haru said.

"Oh, so you're investigating, even thought Mizorogi-sensei told us to let the adults handle this. I didn't picture you as the rebellious type Haru-chan. Tokaku-san on the other hand…"

Haru blushed a little, while Tokaku seemed annoyed.

"Isn't investigating Kenmochi-san's thing? Why aren't you teaming up with her, I'm sure you can learn a lot from her," Nio said with an enigmatic smile.

"Oh, Shiena-chan! Why didn't I think of that first… yeah I should totally ask her. Thanks for the suggestion!"

"You're welcome ~. Now if you excuse me, I have work to do. The trashes won't pick up itself."

"Yeah, go back to the trashes, were you belong," Tokaku replied.

"Tokaku!"

"Hehe, I will. Seeya!" Nio said as she walked away.

Haru looked at Tokaku. She was kind of bothered by her rudeness towards Nio, but right now she had something more important in mind.

"Tokaku...we need to find Shiena-chan!"

Wandering in the school, Haru and Tokaku were looking for Shiena. They finally found her in one of the corridor, in a corner. But she seemed busy. She was talking to someone, a Slytherin student.

"Isn't it… Sasoriza-san? With Shiena-chan?" Haru said.

"Looks like it. Still want to talk with her?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want to interrupt her-"

Tokaku suddenly approached Shiena with no shame.

"Hey, Kenmochi, Haru wants to talk to you," she said, before looking at Midori. "Alone."

"Hm, I feel unneeded, should I go?" the green haired girl said with a weak smile.

"Tokaku!" Haru exclaimed as she approached them. "Sorry! I just really need to talk to Shiena-chan."

Shiena and Midori glanced at each other for a moment, and the latter shrugged.

"Well then, I'll leave. We shall continue this conversation later, Shiena-san."

"Oh, yeah… seeya, Sasoriza," Shiena said, looking uneased.

Midori walked away. Haru felt a little bit bad for interrupting their conversation, but she really needed to talk to the brunette now.

"What do you want, Ichinose?" Shiena asked, with some annoyance in her voice.

"Ah, um," Haru began to say, uncomfortable. "It's about… what happened to Kaminaga-san and Otoya-san."

Shiena immediately looked nervous.

"Oh, hm… what about them?"

"Have you visited Otoya-san at the infirmary?"

"Ah… not yet… I was really busy with… homework."

"What were you talking about with Sasoriza?" Tokaku suddenly asked.

Haru noticed that Shiena's hands were shaking.

"It… doesn't concern you…" Shiena replied.

"A-Anyway, that's not why we're here… Shiena-chan, I'm investigating this case. And I was wondering if… you could help me. Since you're good at it. Who knows, maybe it's related to the Eight Legs."

This time Haru could see a drop of sweat falling from Shiena's forehead.

"I… I don't think it's a good idea. It seems serious. We should… let the adults handle this," the brunette replied.

"What? But, you always investigate that kind of stuff…," Haru tried to argue.

"Well not this time!" Shena exclaimed.

Haru was surprised by Shiena's reaction. The latter seemed ashamed to have talked like that and looked guilty.

"Ichinose… sorry. I'm just… really afraid. All of this makes me nervous. Someone is out there attacking students, and I'm afraid… I might be next. I don't want to be attacked, so I'm scared that if I'm investigated this I'll be the next victim. I think you're brave for doing it Ichinose, but… don't count on me for this one. Sorry."

Haru was disappointed. She was really expecting Shiena to help her with this case. But she couldn't force her, it was her decision.

"I understand. Sorry for bothering you then," Haru said as she walked away, followed by Tokaku.

The days passed and other students were found in closets, paralyzed and with a cut on the arm. None of them was dead nor had their lives in danger, much to everyone's relief. But this situation was still quite worrisome.

Haru was still investigating, help by Tokaku. After what happened with Shiena, the latter had started to avoid her, which worried Haru. She was afraid that just like last time, Shiena wanted to end their friendship. But she decided to focus on the case.

She went to see each of the victims at the infirmary to interrogate them. But unfortunately, none of them gave her important information. They didn't remember how they ended up inside a closet. The only thing she learned was that each of the victims was either pure-blood or half-blood.

"So no muggle-borns were targeted, huh…" Haru thought.

Haru realized that she was a half-blood and Tokaku a pure-blood. Both of them could be a target. If the culprit realized that they were investigating, maybe they would be the next victim. Maybe Shiena was right, maybe it wasn't safe to investigate this case.

It was starting to get late, Haru was heading for the Gryffindor dormitory. Tokaku had to stay after the class to help a teacher so Haru spent her time alone at the library, looking for clues. She read about diverse dark organizations, hoping that one of them fit with the crimes. She was convinced that the crimes were related to one of those groups.

"Protego!"

She heard weakly that spell being cast. There was no one around since it was pretty late so only she heard it. Wondering why someone cast a protective spell, Haru headed for the voice.

She arrived in a dead end. Lying on the floor was Tokaku, inert, and next to her there was an individual wearing a black robe with a hood who was hiding their face. In their hand was a knife.

Haru froze for a moment. The girl she loved was inert on the floor, next to someone suspicious and armed. Haru was afraid and worried, but she also felt an emotion she wasn't used to feel: anger.

"You… stay away from Tokaku!" Haru shouted.

She took out her wand, ready to attack. The sinister individual reacted by pulling out something from their pocket that looked like a flask. Suddenly, Tokaku rose up and disarmed them, using the knife to attack. She managed to cut their robe. The individual recoiled even more and throw the flask on the ground, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"To-Tokaku!?" Haru exclaimed, before rushing towards her girlfriend to hug her.

"Haru!"

"How… I thought you were paralyzed…"

"I used the shield spell to block it and only pretended to be paralyzed to catch them. But they managed to escape anyway."

Haru broke the hug, glad that Tokaku was okay. She was so worried about her.

"Who was that person? It was the culprit right?" Haru said.

"Yeah, it has to be. I didn't see their face, but when I cut their robe I saw something under. A colour," Tokaku revealed.

"Uh, what colour?"

As Tokaku told her what she saw, Haru suddenly understood what happened. Everything made so much sense now. She knew who was the culprit. All she had to do was to prove it and catch them.

Haru took a deep breath. It was the moment of truth. Her plan to catch the culprit was done, all she needed now what the cooperation of a certain person. And she wasn't sure she would accept.

"Shiena-chan, I want to talk to you, alone," Haru said with determination in her voice.

The brunette looked surprised by how assertive she sounded.

"Oh, sure… I actually wanted to talk with you too, Ichinose. But… alone."

Haru was glad to hear that. She and Shiena walked together, the latter leading the way.

"I know a secret room, no one will bother us there," Shiena explained.

They arrived in an empty corridor and Shiena pressed a brick on the wall. Suddenly, a door appeared. Shiena opened the door and let Haru come in. It was a rather small room with a table made of rock in the center. Shiena closed the door behind her.

"We should be safe here, free to talk," Shiena declared.

"What did you want to talk with me?"

"It's about… the case you're investigating. I'm sorry for the other day, I'm actually… investigating too. I just… didn't trust Azuma. I know she's your girlfriend, but… there's really only you I can trust, Ichinose."

"Oh… me too, I wanted to talk about the case. I have made some interesting conclusions I want to share with you, if you don't mind."

"Oh, share them with me and I'll tell you my thoughts."

Haru felt a little bit nervous. Here was her plan. But if she was wrong, things could get a little awkward between her and Shiena. But she had to try, to stop the culprit.

"First, the victims were all pure-blood and half-blood. No muggle-borns. Which make it unlikely to be related to the Eight Legs or any blood-supremacist groups. If I had to take a guess, I would say that the culprit is a Witch Hunter. There's a rumour that one is in our school."

"Hm, continue."

"I saw the culprit and judging by their height, they must be a student."

"Go one."

"Tokaku saw that the culprit was wearing yellow, so it's most likely a Hufflepuff."

"I see…"

"The culprit who killed Sato-san is probably not the same as the one who's paralyzing people, they didn't kill their victim. Only cutting them… to take their blood. They are looking for someone among the pure-blood and half-blood."

"Hm…"

"Speaking of the Witch Hunter, didn't Suzu-san said that Collective Dismissal was rumoured to be Witch Hunters? I remembered you defended this group, Shiena-chan…"

"Um?"

"And the victims, more of them were related to the Higanbana family, and a member of that family was a dark wizard. And Tokaku is related to the Azuma, known to be mostly dark wizard."

"Mhm."

"And you're looking for the successor, who has to be at least a half-blood… and related to a family with wizards."

"..."

"Shiena-chan, what are your thought about that?"

The brunette remained quiet for a moment, before an awkward grin followed by a nervous giggle escape her mouth.

"Ichinose, what are you insinuating?"

"Shiena-chan, please. Be honest. You still have a chance to confess and stop before it's too late."

Haru wished she was wrong. But part of her was convinced she was right, much to her despair.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ichinose."

"You're looking for the successor. The successor is most likely a half-blood or a pure-blood just like the victims. You're a Hufflepuff. At first, you didn't want to investigate this case and you were rather nervous when I told you at first. And, the culprit I saw was about your height. It's you, isn't it?"

Shiena sighed, looking nervous, before she showed an emotionless expression.

"I suppose there is no point in hiding it anymore. I'm the culprit you're looking for. But unfortunately for you, you'll have to pay for this discovery!"

The brunette pulled out her wand, ready to cast a spell on Haru. The later reacted quickly by pushing her and they both fell on the floor, struggling. Haru managed to disarmed Shiena and pull out her own wand, but she discovered too late that Shiena had grabbed another object she found on the floor: a rock.

Before Haru could use her wand, Shiena hit her with the rock on the head, sending Haru in an unconscious state.

Well... who was expecting that?