2) Short Circuit
Part 5
It was around in the afternoon at the academy when Satomi and Chao decided after their classes they went to their lab to check out the condition of their Neutralizer. The two arrived at their lab room and went inside. Chao turned on the lights, and there was Satomi and Chao's machine standing on the table neat and spotless. Satomi checked around the machine's exterior and interior body, but she came to the conclusion that there are no damages or scratches on their machine. The two are confused and wondering what happened to their machine yesterday. Just then, someone came into the lab. It was Nami Tsuno all worried and scared.
"Satomi, Chao, you're here!" shouted Nami in relief.
"Hey Nami, what're you doing here?" Satomi asked.
"Oh, I was worried about you two. I heard what happened to your machine and the fair yesterday."
"Everything's okay… for now."
"For now? What do you mean?"
"Well, our problem is that the crowd and the judges blame us because of what we accidentally did to them." Satomi scratched her head and sighed. "If we don't figure out what's wrong with our machine and prove our innocence, we won't participate in a science fair forever."
Nami feels so guilty and wishing she could do something to help. "I wish there's some way to solve this problem, but I just don't know how."
"Well, at least thank you for thinking about us," Satomi said and patted Nami's head.
Nami smiled and said good-bye as she left the lab.
Chao looked at the machine over and over again and still couldn't find any problems. No wires snapped off, no short circuits, nothing. Satomi and Chao are really confused.
"Well Satomi, I just don't what's wrong with it," said Chao as she crossed her arms.
"I don't know either," Satomi said. "We'll look at it again right after our classes."
The two girls exited the lab. As Satomi is about to turn off the lights, she looked at the machine one more time. She looked confused, turn off the lights, closed the lab's doors.
A few hours later in the afternoon, at the Mystery club, Matthew is reading a book called The Fundamentals of Electronics. On the page, Matt is reading is about cable wires that connect to video and sound sockets. Matt wrote notes page by page as a helpful tip to try and help Satomi and Chao and figuring out the cause of the machine that went berserk. Just then, he heard someone knocking at the door. "Come in…" said Matt while he still reading. The door opened, Matt looked and sees Chisame Hasagawa walking inside.
"Oh, Hey Miss… uh… Chisame," said Matt. "What're you doing here?"
"I came by to talk," said Chisame. She stepped inside the room, grabbed a chair, and sat down.
Matt closed up his textbook and his notes, and he put his writing utensils on the side. "Talk? About what?"
"Well…, I just… want to know more about you."
"Okay…, what do you want me to talk about?"
Chisame looked away for a moment, and then she looked back at Matt. "Well… Matt, do you feel like you're all alone without your parents."
"Not exactly, Chisame. I indeed lost my parents, and I took it very hard. All my friends from high school really gave pity on me. I felt so sad and regretful for two weeks in school. My friends tried to cheer me up, even the teachers, but I was really despondent. I didn't feel like looking at the blackboard or whiteboard.
After my parents died, I was moved into a foster care apartment, where I met a few teens who also lost their parents. They didn't take it so hard from their parents, but mine was very important to me."
Chisame becomes interested in Matt's story. "How are your parents so important?"
Matt remembers while he replies. "I was very shy and quiet when I met strangers back in my young days. I didn't know what to say. All I did was hide behind my mother, especially the girls. But my mother was very compassionate and helped me introduce new people and make new friends with them. And my father is extraordinary. He always makes up games for me with the new people I met to play together.
One time they attended my elementary school on Parent Career Day, and every student in the class liked me because my parents are well-known. My mother is proficient in flower arrangements for parties and ceremonies, and my father is a high-class businessman. The two made almost about ten grand dollars per year, that's about like a million yen here."
Chisame was awestruck. She never thought Matt's parents were that rich.
"Because of them, I made a lot of good friends. Not only they respect me, but they saw how kind and generous I was to them once I overcame my shyness. I owe a lot to my parents, but they are gone, and I feel like I'm lost and don't know where to go. Despite that I have lots of friends Chisame, what I do miss is a good family. I did appreciate my friends being so close to me, but it's not a true family. I was hoping… maybe… coming here to Mahora would help me find a family and save me."
Chisame looked down at her laptop on her lap. She begins to frown a little and looked out the club's window. After a few moments, she started to confess Matt. "You know Matt, I was always the quiet one in Negi's class."
"Really, Chisame?" Matt said with a quizzical look. "How so?"
"Well…, I've arrived here at Mahora when I was about 11 years old. I was quiet, but I was mostly independent. I didn't feel like 'fitting' in with the rest of the class. All I did was type whatever is on my laptop. The class was so energetic and wild, and I really thought I didn't belong with them and wanted to run away."
"But then, what made you decided to stay here then?"
Chisame paused for a moment and then smiled. "…Negi"
"Negi? You mean the boy professor in your class?"
Chisame nodded. "When he came to me, he kind of opened my heart and started to interact with the other students in my class. Thanks to him, I felt like I was part of the class family, and we've been together ever since. Although there were some times that I do get frustrated from my class."
Matt smiled at Chisame. "I'm glad you're part of the class now. I mean, It's not fun when you are all alone and being by yourself. You must've felt like you needed at least someone to talk or look at you."
"Now that you've mentioned it, I did feel like I wanted someone to talk to me." Chisame paused and looked at Matt. "Matt, I feel that not only you needed someone to talk to you, but someone… really 'close' to you."
"Don't worry about it, Chisame. I'm glad you understand my situation, but all it matters is that the loss of my parents is in the past, and I'm starting a new life here in Mahora."
They both smiled at each other until someone opened the club's door and got both Chisame and Matt's attention. In came Negi, Asuna, and Konoka and spotted Matt and Chisame sitting close together.
"Chisame? What are you doing here?" Konoka questioned.
"I… just came in to kill time, that's all," Chisame responded calmly. She looked back at Matt and winked her left eye. Matt winked his right eye back at her.
"Anyway, Matt we need your help," Asuna said with concern.
"What? What happened?" Matt wondered.
"There's a mob at the soccer field!"
Matt flinched and gasped.
At the soccer field a few moments ago, there are a group of cheerleaders getting ready for their tryouts. Sakurako, Misa, and Modoka are stretching out their bodies and practicing their moves for the tryouts.
"I'm so excited!" screamed Sakurako. "Are you girls ready!?"
"You bet!" Misa responded. "We're going to be on the team for sure."
Then the male coach of the cheerleading squad called out, "Group 5, you're up."
"That's us," Madoka replied. "Let's go." The cheerleaders ran up in front of the coach and got into their positions.
But behind and in the shadow of the seating stands is a shadowy person looking at the cheerleaders. In the suspicious person's hand is the machine Satomi and Chao made, the Neutralizer. The shadowy person placed the machine on a seat in the stand and aimed it at the cheerleaders. The person turned on the machine.
The three cheerleaders are all positioned and started their routine. "Go, Go, Let's Go! Go, Go, Mahora!" The cheerleaders did a backflip and made themselves into a pyramid. Sakurako got on both Madoka and Misa's arms and all of them yelled, "GOOOOOOOOO! MAHORA!"
The coach was amazed. But just as he was about to clap her hands, the shadowy person pressed the button on the remote and the machine's waves were fired directly toward Sakurako, Misa, Madoka, and the other cheerleaders. They all stopped in a trace, their eyes swirled and glowed angrily bright red. Then all the cheerleaders started to fight and cause a rioting mob destroying every cheerleading equipment. The coach ran away as fast as he can and called out for help.
The shadowy person grabbed the machine and slowly walked away. The mysterious person hid behind a tree and looked back at the angry cheerleaders. "All according to plan. Soon you will feel my wrath Satomi and Chao for what you have taken away from me. No one will stop me, not even that absurd man Matthew Oda."
Satomi and Chao are sitting at a table eating their lunch in the cafeteria. Satomi is eating her beef stir-fry, and Chao is eating her favorite pork buns.
"Mmm… these pork buns are so delicious," said Chao.
"You never get tired of those, do you?" Satomi said in little embarrassment.
Suddenly Satsuki came rushing into the cafeteria and spotted Satomi and Chao. She went up to them and panted heavily.
"Satsuki, what's the matter?" Chao asked.
Satsuki took her deep breath, "You guys have to hurry… the cheerleaders started an angry mob…, and they're attacking the soccer field. It must be from the machine you guys created."
Satomi and Chao were surprised. Then Satomi had a thought, "Wait! The machine is locked up tight in the lab… unless…"
It wasn't long until Satomi and Chao, along with Satsuki, rushed out of the cafeteria and all the way to the lab department and investigate the lab that had the machine inside it. They discovered the door was cracked open a little, and inside the room, the machine on the table is gone.
"No…, how's this possible?" said Satomi in grief.
"But the door was locked," Chao stated. "There was no way the perpetrator could've got in."
The trio girls scanned around the room, looking for any clues of what happened to their machine. They searched everywhere, but they couldn't find a trace of where or what happened to their,. Just then, Chao spotted something on the floor. It is a pin. Chao called out for the other girls.
"What'd you got there?" Satsuki asked.
"It looks like a pin," Chao replied.
"It's a hairpin to be exact, with a daisy attachment on sit," said Satomi, correcting Chao. "But look at it, this pin is all bent up and crumpled like someone smashed it."
Chao scratched her head and thought to out to her friends, "Why is there a hairpin here in this room?"
The trio wondered, then Satsuki had a thought, "Hey, we have something useful, we can show this to Matt-san. He can help us with this clue."
"Good idea Satsuki," said Chao, "Let's hurry and find Matthew-san."
The three girls exited the lab and dashed off to find Matthew.
Meanwhile, the Mystery Club gang headed to the soccer field where the mob is taken place. They ran as fast as they can to get to the field. When they arrived, the cheerleaders are still angry and going berserk destroying anything in their path.
"We need to calm these cheerleaders down!" Matt commanded. "Negi, do you have some sort of spell that will knock their senses or stop them in their raging tracks?"
"Yes I do," Negi replied, "stand back, everyone." He pulled out his staff and begins to chant. "Rastel Maskil Magister! Sensus omnes spiritus, ego praecipio tibi. MOTUS FRIGIDAM!" A huge wind-wave burst out from Negi and makes contact on the cheerleaders causing to stop and fell straight to the ground.
"Great work Negi, they should be fine once they wake up and come to their senses," said Matt.
A few minutes later, all the cheerleaders woke up, and they shook and scratched their heads.
"Wha…What happened? What was I doing?" said one of the cheerleaders.
"Oh, my head hurts." said another.
Every cheerleader was weak and so confused.
"Strange, they don't seem to remember anything about raging riot," said Konoka.
"You're right, Konoka," Matt agrees, "it's almost as if someone took over their minds and they are not themselves."
Then Asuna spotted Sakurako and the other girls. Negi, Matt, and the other girls went over to them.
"Hey Sakurako, are you okay?" Asuna questioned.
"Oh, what happened?" Sakurako said in confusion. "My head feels dizzy, and I don't remember anything."
"Me too," Misa speaks, "I don't remember what happened at all."
"Well, all it matters is that you girls and the other cheerleaders are okay," said Matt.
Just then, Satomi, Chao, and Satsuki came into the scene and saw all the cheerleaders on the ground, and Negi, Matt, Asuna, and Konoka, with Sakurako, Misa, and Madoka noticed the three girls' presence.
"Hey!" yelled Satomi, "Is everyone alright?"
"Hey, it's Satomi, Chao, and Satsuki," Negi speaks.
Satomi and Chao were astonished to see all the cheerleaders dazed and sore from the fight they had. Negi looked up to the girls and asked them.
"Hey girls, what are you doing here?"
"We came here to see the mob, but it looks like we're a little late," said Chao.
"No worries, girls," Matt speaks. "Everything's alright."
"How did you know about the riot here?" Asuna asked.
"Allow me to explain," said Satsuki, "I was walking and passing through the soccer field when I saw this odd-looking person holding Satomi and Chao's machine. I saw the criminal using the machine on the cheerleaders and scurried over to Satomi and Chao about the situation."
Then Chao continued the conversation, "After Satsuki told us about the situation, we quickly went to the lab where it is locked up tight that contained the machine. Only to shockingly discovered the door was opened and our machine was gone."
Satomi took over the conversation, "We searched high and low for any clues for what happened to our machine, but all we found was this." Satomi showed Matt the crumpled hairpin.
Matt examined the hairpin seeing all bent and twisted in different directions. "Hmm… Interesting," said Matt with interest.
Then the whole academy staff, the security, and the dean showed up to the field. The cops apprehended Satomi and Chao by grabbing their arms. The captain of the police came forth to Satomi and Chao declared a statement, "Miss Hakase and Miss Lingshen, you're under arrest for attempting and forcing an angry riot to the cheerleaders by abusive technology use."
"WHAAAAAAAAAT!?" cried everyone.
"Wait! We didn't do anything wrong. I swear!" Satomi screamed innocently.
"Hold on!" Asuna shouted, "What makes you think it was Satomi and Chao, who are the guilty party?"
The captain of the police officers looked at Asuna with a stern look, "We got a reliable source that these two were responsible for the cause for the angry rioting destruction."
"Who or what is this 'reliable' source you got?" Matt questioned.
"Couldn't tell, all we know is we got a phone call from someone anonymous, and they stated two girls named Satomi Hakase and Chao Lingshen are planning to attack a soccer field at Mahora Academy."
"Phone call?" Matt replied, "When did you get that call?"
"About half-hour ago, mister. Now, if you excuse me, I need to take these girls into custody."
As he orders his men to take Satomi and Chao away, Matt stopped the captain. "Wait! Hold on! Give them another chance. I just know they're innocent, they would never do anything of the sort."
The captain of the police coldly replies back, "We have enough evidence and witnesses' testimonies to prove Satomi and Chao created the angry mob during the science fair. That's enough to put these two in custody until further notice."
"But that's wrong!" Konoka cried. "You can't take them away!" Konoka was scared and panicked. Then she looked at Dean Konoe. "Grandpa! Do something!"
The dean rubbed his long beard and looks back at the captain. He speaks to him, "Sir, I have a suggestion. Why don't you let my good friend here Matt Oda take full responsibility for the girls within 24 hours? My friend is a very expert sleuth; he manages to solve the kidnapping incident. So I'll bet 5,000 yen he will solve this mystery and clear Hakase and Lingshen's names. Let him be, and after 24 hours, you'll do what's right for your job."
The police captain looked at the dean, then to Matt Oda, and finally to the girls. Then the captain sighed and responds back to Matt, "Alright kid, for the next 24 hours, I'm giving you the full responsibility to watch over Satomi and Chao and make sure they don't do anything sinister. In the meantime, you have 24 hours to solve this case. If you don't make the deadline OR if another riot starts again, I'm taking Miss Hakase and Miss Lingshen for good. Understand?" Matt nodded. "Good, you may start your duty… now." The captain released Satomi and Chao and saluted to everyone. "Men! Fall Out!" The cops then exited the field.
"Thank you guys for saving us," said Satomi.
"Don't thank us yet, Satomi," Matt responds. "We have 24 hours to solve this incident, and we need to think and act fast. If only we had more clues."
Satsuki has her index finger and thumb on her chin and begins to think. "Hmm…"
Matt noticed Satsuki's state and asked her, "Hey Satsuki, what is it?"
"I've thought about what that officer said when he received the phone call. He said he got the call half-hour ago before he came to apprehend Satomi and Chao."
"Right," Matt agrees.
"But what's odd about it is that's around the same time I saw the perpetrator hiding from the cheerleaders and has Satomi and Chao's machine."
"Huh… That's weird." Matt replied, "But this is another clue."
"What do you mean, Matt?" Negi questioned.
"If what Satsuki says is true, why did the suspicious person who called security ahead of time before the perpetrator took action? AND why the caller claimed it was Satomi and Chao as the criminals if they were both at the cafeteria eating their lunch? Coincidence? I think not."
"Hmm… those are good questions, Matt," said Chao in amazement.
"We're getting somewhere, but we need more clues before we come into solid assumption. All I know is that you, Satomi and Chao, have an archenemy that wants to get rid of you, and they planned this heinous action for a while."
Then came out of nowhere, and onto the field is Nami Tsuno waving at Satomi and Chao. "Hey, Satomi! Chao!" She got their attention and Matt started to shake and sweat. "Hey girls, I heard what happened here from the other students, so I came to check to see everyone's alright."
"We're fine Nami," said Satomi.
"Aren't you guys in trouble?" Nami questioned.
"We were at first," Chao replied. "But Matt here gave us another chance to help us clear ourselves, and he's going to help solve our problem."
"Oh, so this is Matt Oda, the one who solved the kidnapping incident. How are you doing?"
Nami stretched her arm to shake Matt's hand, but he is too scared to see Nami right in front of her looking at him.
"Sorry about our friend here," said Konoka. "You see he's afraid of girls 'cause of his phobia. So you might want to give him some space."
"Oh, I see…"
Just then, the coach came to the field and called out to the cheerleaders, "Is everyone alright?" All the cheerleaders responded saying they are fine and safe. "Well, I'm glad everyone's safe. But due to the damage you guys did by your uncontrollable behavior, I'm afraid the tryouts will be postponed until further notice." All the cheerleaders were disappointed, including Sakurako and the others. The coach guided all the cheerleaders into the lockers. Matt gets close to Sakurako, Misa, and Madoka.
"Hey, I'm sorry your chance has been blown," Matt said with sympathy.
"Aww, thanks for caring us Matt, but we'll be fine," said Sakurako with a grin.
"Yeah Matt, you go on ahead and solve that mystery and save Satomi and Chao's life," said Misa. "We know they're innocent."
"We're counting on you Matt," said Madoka as she winked at Matt. The cheerleaders left the scene, and Matt went back with Negi, Satomi, and the others.
"Hey Matt," Konoka speaks, "Nami asked us to come over to her dorm room for some snacks. You wanna come?"
"Umm… sure, why not? Maybe I can find some information about our culprit too."
Later that day, everyone headed to the girls' dormitory and entered Nami's room. On one side of the room showed trophies and pictures of Nami winning at conventions and fairs. Negi, Matt, and the girls looked at the pictures and trophies.
"Wow! You got a lot of awards," said Konoka in amazement.
"Sure do," Nami replied, "I worked very hard to earn these awards."
"You're pretty good, Nami," Negi complimented. "I never thought you were that intelligent."
"Whoa Nami, you're as good as us," said Satomi in astonishment.
"Thank you very much, Satomi," Nami replied. "It's amazing that you and Chao won the High IQ Trophy award."
"What award is that?" Asuna asked.
"It's the most famous and rarest awards that served every five years. It's awarded to the best and smartest person in the community by their extraordinary discoveries, theories, or inventions. Like a Nobel Peace Prize. Satomi, Chao, and I entered the competition, and they won the trophy. I got second place."
"Second place is really good," said Konoka. "That takes a lot of hard work to be in the top three."
"It sure does. Here let me get the snacks and treats."
Matt looked at Nami and heard what she said. Then he turned back to the pictures of Nami and her awards. As he scanned every picture on the table until he spotted something in one of the pictures. He picked it up and looked closely. The picture showed Nami all dressed and wearing flower hairpins holding a gold trophy in her right arm and shaking a judge with her left hand. Matt examined a little longer and then says, "Un-huh…"
Later that night, everyone exited Nami's room and went to their own dorm room. Before Satomi and Chao separate from Negi, Asuna, Konoka, and Matt, they wanted to talk Matt for something.
"Matt, it's already 20:47. You will solve this mystery and help us, won't you?" Satomi asked.
"You can count on me, girls," Matt replied. "I will catch that crook and clear your names if it's the last thing I do."
Satomi and Chao said thanks, bowed to Matt and then headed straight to their rooms. Negi, Matt, and the girls headed towards their rooms as well. As they approached their room's door, Matt asked a question.
"Hey, um, I need to look for Chisame for something important," said Matt. "Do you know where her room is?"
"Yeah Matt," said Asuna, "she's one level down in room 322."
"Thanks, I'll be back soon." Matt headed to Chisame's room as the Negi and the girls watched Matt walked down the halls.
"I wonder what's so important that he needs to see Hasegawa-san?" Negi questioned.
"Beats me, Negi," Asuna replied. "C'mon, let's go inside."
At Chisame's room, she's busy posting her pictures and comments on her Net Idol Chiu Web. Then she heard a knock on the door. Chisame quickly reacted, minimizes her web, and flicked on the lights. "Come in," she said. The door opened and in came Matthew Oda. "Oh, it's you Matt. What are you doing here?"
"I need your help," Matt kindly begs. "I'm on the case to solve the mystery of the perpetrator and the machine from Satomi and Chao."
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"Since you are good at researching online, can you look for any science competition records of Nami Tsuno."
"Why her Matt. You got lead?"
"More likely a theory."
Chisame gets to her laptop and starts to type, and Matt pulled up a chair and sits close to Chisame. She typed as fast as she can, pulling up an information profile of Nami Tsuno.
"Here, Matt. Is this enough?"
"That's plenty, Chisame. Thanks. Now let's see here." Matt read two articles about Nami Tsuno during her science competition years. "She began entering the scientific student contests in 2000 during her fifth-grade year in school. Then in 2003, during her second year in junior high, she entered a science contest to try to win the High IQ Award. But she lost by one point by Satomi and Chao and earned second place with a blue ribbon for 'Best Effort.' After that, she never entered any science competitions again. Huh… I wonder…"
"You got something, Matt?"
"Yeah, but not quite there yet… I still need to investigate more." Suddenly a beeping sounded was alerted. Matt wondered what that sound was.
"Oh, don't worry. That's my laundry. I'll be right back." Chisame got up and went into the washroom.
Matt looked at the articles of Nami Tsuno again and begins to think hard. "Nami retired her competition days right after she earned second place for trying to win the High IQ Trophy. I don't think that was a coincidence."
Matt Oda scratched his chin with his right hand. He then drops his hand and pushes a button on Chisame's laptop. It maximized Chisame's Chiu Web Page. Matt then shocks himself. "Ah! Whoops! Let me… huh? What's this?" Matt looked at the web page and read what's written on the page. "Chat Room, Appealing Ratings, Upload Photos?" Matt scratched his head. "Why is Chisame looking at this?" Then Chisame comes into the room with basket fully cleaned clothes.
"Hey Chisame, can I ask you something?" Matt asked.
"Go ahead, shout it out." Chisame replies.
"Okay, do you know by any chance who this Chiu girl is?"
Chisame suddenly freezes and drops her basket on the floor. She quickly raced towards her laptop and closes the screen. "DON'T LOOK AT IT!" she screamed. "That's private!"
"Private? Wait, you mean that's your web page?"
Chisame starts to blush, "NO! It's not!"
"But if that's your web page, then are you 'Chiu?'"
Chisame then screeched and blush even redder. "Don't you tell this to nobody! You understand!?"
"Okay, I won't, I promise," said Matt as he blocked his face with his arms. "Don't scream at me, or I'll get my phobia again. But I just want to say you look pretty good as a net idol. It must be nice to be famous and get a lot of fan-friends."
Chisame face started to go back to normal and quietly calms down. Chisame then slowly sat down on her chair and sighed. She looked at Matt, "Are you really sad and alone, Matt?"
Matt calmed down and replies, "Chisame, the past is in the past, and I got my friends Negi, Asuna, Konoka, and Setsuna with me. Everything's going to be fine." Chisame looked away and feels depress. "Well, thanks for helping me, Chisame. I'm going to head back to my room for the night." Matt got to the door and opened it. Matt and Chisame looked at each other. "Good night, Hasewaga-san." Matt went out and closed the door. Chisame looked at the door that Matt exited with worried and sad look for a few minutes.