Chapter 37 – School-Wide…Suspicions?

Amitie's POV

*FRIDAY – THE DAY OF THE PROTEST…*

"Alright! Let's go in there and give that asshole of a principle what for!" Raffina yelled as she started cracking her knuckles.

"R-Raffi. We're not going to beat the guy up. We're just going to talk."

"Aw, what? Talk? But I've been working on my fighting moves all week."

"He's the principle of a school. Not a thug in a dark ally."

"Ugh. Fine. But I'm keeping this idea as a back-up."

I decided not to question it any further. Because as I've learned from dating her for the past 9 months, convincing Raffina to not fight someone is an impossible thing to do.

Yep. My girlfriend just loves kicking ass. Probably ran out of bubble gum years ago.

Anyway, today was the day we were going to our old school and find out from this principle why he fired Ms. Accord all of a sudden. I've heard really bad things about this guy. How he's never greeted anyone here and stays in his office all day. And from what Ms. Accord told us, he does not like her, or the current students, in the slightest.

We had planned to do this as a class. Like a reunion type of thing. But Lidelle still has her fever, Klug was working with Chu on their project, and Ally…well…she had something important to take care of.

So it was just us two as we tried to figure out what exactly was going on here.

"Alright. You ready, Ami?"

"Yep. Ready, Raffi. Let's go…"

*TINGLE*

"Huh?"

*TINGLE* *TINGLE* *TINGLE*

"Oh, no. What now?" I asked in a disappointed mood as I took the Rainbow Puyo Hat off my head. Like the last time, it was glowing and begun floating on its own.

Unlike the last time, though, it moved over to face the two of us.

And then…

"A…Amitie…"

"W-WOAH! TH-THE HAT TALKED?!" Raffina shouted in panic. While I didn't react the same way, I was genially shocked.

"H-Hey, wait a minute. This voice…you're the Spirit of the Red Puyo Hat."

"Yes. Indeed I am."

"Th-The Spirit?" Raffina asked.

"You may not remember, but this voice represents the true power of the Red Puyo Hat. It created the Rainbow Puyo Hat and gave it to me as an apology."

"Hmm…I see…?" It doesn't look like she remembers. I don't blame her, though. She took quite the beating that day.

"So, how are you back? I thought you disappeared forever."

"I had placed myself in an eternal slumber. Slowly regaining the power I once had. It's a slow process. I only have a small amount."

"I see."

"So, what made you use the small amount you have so soon?" Raffina asked.

As the hat was about to answer, it dropped a great distance. I was able to catch it, but that just proved that the spirit really doesn't have that much power with it.

"A-Amitie…I…I sense danger in that school. A dark flow of energy surrounds it. If you really do intend to go in there…please be wary.

And now…I go."

"Huh? H-Hey, wait! What do you mean by "danger" and "dark flow of energy"?!" I asked in a panic.

But I didn't get a response. The voice has disappeared again. Most likely to regain the energy it had used to talk to me. Leaving Raffina and I worried about what to do next.

Even after deciding to check a little closer, we didn't get far at all. As there was a big, black, and honestly creepy-looking lock on the doors. Completely covered with black chains that glowed an ominous black light.

"Raffi. I think we should listen to the hat. This doesn't seem right or safe." I said.

"Even though I would normally disagree with such an idea, I have to side with you on this one, Ami. This looks unnerving as hell."

"Wouldn't anyone know what's going on or at least notice how weird this is? I mean, I'm shocked that we're the first ones to see this."

"Well…Tarutaru should know. He does work here. Though, I don't really know where he lives."

"Yeah, me neither. Maybe we can ask Lidelle. The two are friends, right?"

"True. But she's still sick, though."

"Oh, come on, Raffi. We're her friends. We should be checking up on her anyway. She's been out of school all week remember?"

"*sigh* Fine. But if she gets me sick, then I'm blaming you. And I expect you to take care of me."

"Of course, Raffi. I'll do anything to make you feel better."

"Anything, huh?" Raffina looked at me with an unnerving smile on her face. Which wasn't good for me in the slightest.

"Wh-What's with that look?" I asked.

"Oh…nothing to worry your pretty little blonde head, Ami." Raffina said before walking away from me. "I wonder what sexy cute outfit I can get her to wear. The endless possibilities…*giggle*"

S-Sexy…c-cute…o-outfit?!

"D…D-Damnit, Raffi! Y-You better not!" I yelled as I gave chase to her.

Soon after I chased Raffina in an angry state, we arrived at Lidelle's house. Which, now that I notice it, is really big. It looks a lot like one of those old Japanese temples I would see back home. And it even has a really huge garden.

"Wow. Lidelle's place is huge. Might be bigger than your place, Raffi." I said.

"Tch. As if."

"Ooh. Someone's jealous."

"I'm not jealous! I have way more stuff than she has!"

"*giggle* Okay, Raffi."

"Meanie." Raffina pouted as she rung the doorbell. We then immediately heard a sound coming from the other side. Sounding a lot like…

"ARF! ARF! ARF ARF! ARF!"

…barking noises.

"Poochy! Calm down! It's just the doorbell!" We heard Yumi's voice as she opened the door and saw us standing there. "Oh. Hello there, Amitie and Raffina. What brings you two here?"

"Hey, Yumi. We just came to see if Lidelle's doing any better." Raffina said.

"I see. Well, she's in her room resting a bit. Her fever's gone down a little. So she might be able to hold a conversation."

"Alright. We won't be long, then." I said as we entered the house. Poochy guided us to her room. Which then he phased through the door leaving us outside.

"P-Poochy sure is an interesting…dog-soul-thing." I said.

"Y-Yeah. REAL interesting." Raffina agreed.

"Come in, you guys." We heard Lidelle's voice (although, a bit weak).

"Hey, Lidelle." We both said as we entered her room.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Well…somewhat better. My fever did go down a little. But it's still too high for me to do much. Feeling a bit weak, too."

"I see. Well, we hope you get better soon."

"Thanks, *cough* you guys."

She's really hanging on, huh?

"So, how did that protest thing go? Did Ms. Accord get her job back?"

"Well…no." Raffina said. "In fact, we didn't even go inside."

"Huh? Why *cough* not?"

"Well, we were about to go inside." I started explaining. "But then, the Spirit of the Red Puyo Hat came back and talked to me. Saying that going in there was rather dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"And when we tried to see what it meant by it, we couldn't even get inside. The doors were locked up with a big black lock with chains." Raffina added.

"That's…so odd. Even for a school holiday like today."

"Yeah, no kidding. So we were hoping that you could tell us where Tarutaru would be so we could ask him what's going on."

"Tarutaru…" Lidelle then went silent for a bit. "I…I actually don't know where he is."

"Huh?" We both asked.

"The last time *cough* I saw him was a week before school started. I haven't seen or heard from him since. *cough* *cough* *cough*"

"ARF?"

"I'm fine, Poochy. But can you tell Mother that I could use some juice?"

"ARF ARF!"

We watched as Poochy ran up and phased through the door to do the errand his owner had told him to do.

"Wow. So loyal." I said.

"Yeah, he is. Anyway, I really don't know where Tarutaru is."

"Can't you call him or something?"

"I do, but…well, I'll show you."

Lidelle grabbed her phone and dialed Tarutaru's number. She even placed it on speaker to further prove her claim.

*Please leave a message for…645-586-5989*

"See? It just goes straight to voicemail."

"Okay, that's not good." Raffina said.

"Basically, Tarutaru has…disappeared." I then thought to myself for a bit. "H-Hey, guys. Y-You don't think the lock and chains on the school doors and Tarutaru being missing are related, do you?"

"I was hoping it didn't come to that. But it seems likely."

"Aw, geez. Tarutaru, what *cough* happened to you?" Lidelle asked herself.

"I think we should tell Akuma this. If it involves my hat, then he may know something or what to do in this case." I said.

"Good idea, Ami." Raffina said. "Hope you get better, Lidelle."

"Guys. Please find out what happened to Tarutaru. I'm *cough* really worried."

"Don't worry, Lidelle. We'll figure this out." I said with a confident attitude.

"Thanks a lot." Lidelle said with a weak smile.

"ARF ARF! ARF ARF!"

Just then, Poochy had phased back into the room holding something in his mouth. Only it wasn't the juice Lidelle had asked for.

In fact, this item was…

"Poochy…that's a shoe." Lidelle said.

"ARF?" Poochy tilted his head in confusion.

"Hey, that shoe looks familiar." I said.

"Isn't that…" Raffina said.

"P-Poochy! Give me back my shoe!"

Just then, Rulue had open the door quickly while throwing a fit. We then saw that she was barefoot on her left foot. Which answered our questions from before.

"ARF? *whine*" Poochy had dropped the shoe and Rulue grabbed it by the tip of it. As it was covered with…wh-whatever Poochy is drool.

"*sigh* Damnit. Now I gotta throw this in the wash."

"*whine*"

"It's okay, Poochy. At least you tried." Lidelle said as she patted her pet.

"ARF ARF!"

"What a special little thing…" Raffina, Rulue, and I whispered. All while gaining a sweatdrop.

Lidelle's POV

*1 HOUR LATER…*

"*sigh* Tarutaru. Where did you go?"

*INSERT RINGTONE MUSIC HERE*

Oh. It's Ally. Must be done already.

"Hello?"

"H-Hey, Lidelle. Feeling any better?"

"A little. Fever's still kicking in."

"I see. Well, I just left Suzuran. And I'm on my way there. Need anything?"

"Some juice would be nice. Poochy tried to get some for me. Ended up bringing me Rulue's shoe."

"Pfft! Baaahahahaha! That's freaking hilarious!"

"Please don't *cough* tell Rulue that."

"Alright, fine."

"So. How did it go?"

Ally went silent for a bit. And based on dating her for the past four months and becoming her fiancé for one of those months, I knew where this was heading.

"*sigh* Ally. You blew it, didn't you?"

"N-No! I didn't! In fact, it went…surprisingly well."

"Huh?" I was confused."What do you mean "surprisingly well"?"

"Well…"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Spirit of the Red Puyo Hat returning, Primp Magic School sealed off with big black lock and chains, and Tarutaru's sudden disappearance. Strange things are happening again. And it looks like Amitie and Raffina are volunteering their involvement this time. What could be happening?

So, um…there's going to be a change of plans. The merge is actually going to start a little earlier than planned. Looking over what I got for Friends with Enchantments, what I got for Magical Alteration cannot be modified. Meaning, I'll have to write the rest of Friends with Enchantments from scratch. So that means that it's now a separate and brand new story.

After I update the three non-Puyo stories I have, the merge will begin. But this story will be worked on alongside it. Until it's finished. More information will be given out once it begins. So please bear with me for a little longer.

With that said, Thank you for reading and sticking around for this series. Later.