5) Game On, Mystery Club
Part 5
The next day, every member is at Matt's club as the Sports Games continued as it is the second day of the games. Matt, Negi, Chamo, and all the girls are looking at the slide screen, and Chisame uses her laptop to connect to the projector to depict what's on her laptop screen.
Chisame researches about the I.D. card they found last night. She pulls out a profile of a man and shows him to the screen. "Here we go Matt-san," Chisame called to Matt. "Takato Umi. Proficient in mechanics and electronics. Has a Bachelor's degree, and works at Yamata Industries, a machine factory."
"Intriguing," Matt replies, "looks like we're getting somewhere."
"Odd," Chao said, "why would an expert mechanic be working with the Mahora Sports Games, and sabotage the hurdle event?"
Matt pauses and thinks for a moment. He then turns to Chisame, "Chisame, does his profile say that he volunteered or worked with the Mahora Games before?"
Chisame checks on her laptop and researches the data about his previous jobs of the Mahora Games. She looked and read every word, but didn't find any clue. "Nothing Matt," She replied. "There's no info about this mechanic that worked the Mahora Games before or in the past."
"Then that means one thing," Matt comments as his team looks at him, "the enemy used him as a hired gun to sabotage the hurdle event. He may rig some of the other equipment to get the athletes in harm." Matt pauses for a moment. "He must've been bribed."
"But who would do that?" Konoka worried.
"I don't know Konoka," Matt turns to everyone in the room, "but if we're going to save every athlete out there from harm, we have to be extra careful and be on the lookout even more. I'm sure one of the next events and games are going to be manipulated and that the enemy is going to take out another athlete."
"So, what do we do?" Haruna wondered.
"We'll be in the same positions again and in the same groups, but we'll be extra careful about our surroundings."
"Got it, Matt," Setsuna said, "we'll be searching really hard and capture any criminals roaming in the games."
Beep! Beep! Beep! Matt's watch alarm goes off as he looks at the time. It said 1:45 p.m., which is the start of the second day of the games. "Alright, everyone," Matt calls out to his team. "The games are about to start again, so take your video-talkies and grab your partners. We're going out again." Everyone grabbed their stuff and exited the club to head out to the Sport Games.
At the Mahora Spring Wrap-Up Sports Games, every athlete and the fans were excited and ready to play the next set of games today. The announcer appeared on the T.V. screens as he makes his speech, "Good day, and welcome again. Today is another day for Mahora Academy's Spring Wrap-up Sports Games as we got great sports coming our way and a lot of athletes ready and eager to play. So without further ado, let me introduce our Sponsor and President of the games, Jirou Kayaku." He waves his arm to show Jirou behind him.
Jirou Kayaku is on a small podium and has a mic stand in front, ready to make his speech. "Thank you all for coming again to our wonderful games on this beautiful day," the president stated. "We are truly sorry about what happened yesterday during the hurdle race, but my staff and I can assure you that we will never let that happen again. So, everyone, it is my great joy and pride to say to you all, let the games continue and have fun." Everyone shouted in excitement and are ready for an excellent day.
Ako, Makie, Misora, Akira, and Yuna were in the athlete crowd as they smiled. "I'm so excited girls," Ako said with delight. "The second day of the games is here, and we're ready to win."
"I feel sad for Shinju," Akira worried. "She was so close to winning until that incident happened."
"Well, don't you worry," Yuna said cheery Akira up. "The president and his staff are going to make sure they are not letting these incidents happen again."
Makie and Misora looked at each other with a concerned look. "I hope Negi and the others will save us from harm," Misora said to Makie. "Because I've got this feeling more bad things are coming our way."
"I feel it too," Makie replied as she puts her hand on her chest.
Somewhere far off from Ako and the girls in the crowd is Chika and her team. Chika smiled with an evil look on her face. "Well girls," she says to her teammates, "ready to wipe the floor and rid of these pests." Her teammates nodded, and as they were ready as ever.
The Mystery Club members were at their original positions again, with the same group still being on the lookout for any criminal activity. Negi, Matt, and Asuna were together at the pole jumping area again. Matt grabs his video-talkie again makes a call to everyone, "This is Matt speaking. Be sharp everyone, something tells me that today is going to get ugly, so stay on your guard and feet." Everyone nodded and kept their eyes peeled. Every athlete is getting ready for the games, and the fans are excited and ready to cheer. The cameras are rolling and recording everything in their sight.
But unbeknownst to the citizens, someone is watching the games. In a surveillance room at another area, a young woman, about 25 years old, with a black beret on her head, has light brown hair with short twin tails, and wears a black collar shirt with a black skirt, watches the people and athletes having fun in the games. She stares at them with an evil glare with hands behind her back.
She then reaches a microphone on the control computer and makes an order, "This is Mai speaking, commence the next phase of Operation: Game Crasher." She ends the order and looks back at the screens. "Soon, everyone will learn and feel the pain of our rejection. No one will play the Mahora Sports Games forever."
As the day went by, things really got out of hand. The athletic students that participate in the games have gotten hurt and injured during their events. In the triple jump, a teenage boy tripped over his third jump when a thin visible line pulled his foot, and he landed and cracked his knee. A gymnast girl fell on her arm and sprained it when she grabbed onto the hanging rings, and one of them snapped off. And in basketball, a young student makes a dunk when suddenly the basket came off the backboard, and he landed on his head.
Everyone, the audience and the other athletics, are shocked and scared to see these terrible sights. The Mystery Club checked every single game event that had the accidents and discovered they were rigged. This caused everyone to complain and go furious as the audience thinks this spring wrap-up game of peace is now a cheating war. The announcer and the president Jirou did everything they can to calm the audience and the athletes down as they did their best to track down the criminals who were responsible for the crime.
Then during the high jump event, things really turned from bad to worse. After a blonde girl jumped over the bar that it was about two meters high, another girl is up to jump over 2.15 meters high. As she ran and tries to jump over the bar, the poles holding the bar rose, causing the girl to hit the bar on her back. She landed on the cushion safely, but her back was sprained. The medic team, the refs, and Matt's mystery team came to help her injury.
Akira, who is one of the participants, watches the girl carried off to the medical tent. "Who could've really done this?" Akira said to herself. "This is just horrible."
Ako, with Yuna, Makie, and Misora, are in the stands as they watched this dreadful scene with their frightened looks. Ako, however, makes a grump. "It has to be Chika," she said in a mean mood.
"Huh? What makes you say that?" Makie questioned.
"Didn't you hear what Chika said before the games started? She said she'll do anything unthinkable and impossible to win the games. She must be doing this by cheating so she can win games with ease."
"You might be right!" Yuna responded in realization. "It has to be her. I mean, she was mean to us, and now she wants to win by eliminating the competition."
"Yeeeahhh…but why she hurt anybody?" Misora said and doubted. "I mean, she is rude, but trying to hurt someone. That's a contradiction right there." Ako didn't respond to Misora's question, but she kept thinking about the bully Chika in her mind.
Negi, Matt, and Asuna watched the girl, who threw out her back, getting treated inside the medical tent. "We have to do something," Asuna said with a firm look. "All these athletes are getting injured by the second."
"We need to stop this before more girls are going to get injured again," Negi said as he pondered.
"But how can we?" Chamo said as he hopped onto Negi's head. "We don't even know who is doing this and where the enemy is."
Matt pauses and thinks to himself of how the enemy manages to sneak into games and gets away with it. He then lifts his head up and looks around the high jumping area. But in a twitch, Matt spots something in his view. There behind a tent that's few yards away is a man wearing a black cap, a black sweater, and long blue pants. Matt observes closer, and in a quick snap, he spots the suspect holding a remote controller. The suspect slowly walks away into the shadows, but Matt went after him. "Negi! Asuna!" Matt shouted, "Follow me!" Negi and Asuna heard Matt's words and went after him.
Just in the outside area of the high jump and onto the streets, the suspicious guy quietly and casually walks away and tries to escape, but then…"Hey, Stop!" Matt shouted. The suspect turns around to the sound and sees Matt, Negi, and Asuna chasing to him. The guy flinched and started to run away. Matt grabs his video-talkie to call the rest of the team. "Gang, I found the criminal! Hurry, he's heading towards the bridge that leads to the city's entertainment district! Don't let him escape!" The other teams understood and quickly headed toward the destination.
Negi, Matt, and Asuna were hot on the man's tail as they got a little bit closer to him. But the man wasn't going to give up as he pulls out a bottle. He opens it up and pours onto the ground. The trio stepped on the liquid, and they slipped and fell to the ground. Matt looked up and sees the man getting close to the bridge. "No! He's getting away!" Matt shouted. He was about to reach the bridge when all of a sudden…
BOOM! A gun was fired and the bullet shot behind the man's left heel. The man fell on his knees as he struggles to get up and continues to swiftly limp across the bridge.
"Not so fast!" some girls shouted. The suspect heard the voices and turned. FWOP! Kaede, Fei Ku, and the twins came rushing in and pounced on the man. The girls got his arms and legs as he can't move at all.
"Gotcha!" the twins shouted.
"You're not going anywhere." Fei Ku followed.
Matt and his team arrived, along with other members of the team. Mana approaches the team, and she blows the smoke off from the tip of her gun. "Excellent shot, Mana," Matt complimented. "If you didn't show up in time, we would never catch him."
"Thanks Matt, I appreciate your complement," Mana replied in a calm, but happy mood.
Matt walks up to the captured man and glares at him. "Now then, Mister," Matt said to the man and with his arms crossed, "You going to come with us and answer some questions." The man struggles as he looks at Matt, Negi, and the girls in an angry mood.
