(Chapter 3) Operation Tango

All of them slowly sneaked around through the side to go down back to the mansion. By the time they got down the mountain and back to the mansion, it was sundown already, about 7pm. As they entered the mansion, a few of the regulars gathered at the first floor discussing about something. Ryuzaki sensei was not there because she went to the town for an important matter.

"What is all this commotion about?" Oishi who is always curious asked them.

"There you guys are! We've been worried about your whereabouts. Where have you guys been?" Fuji exclaimed in relief.

"Err…We…" Oishi tried to find the appropriate word to explain their "adventure".

"We been chased around the woods by a bear" Oshitari interrupted.

"The bear is this big, nyah! And its teeth is this long and its claw is very sharp too, nyah!" Eiji jumped around and waved his both hands like a madman.

"You are exaggerating!" Mukahi can't stand Eiji's behavior.

"Nyah?"

"Stop making the "nyah" sound!"

"Hoi hoi?"

"And that sound too!"

"Okay, stop the crap!" Atobe exclaimed in frustration.

"Now, the one that is still missing is Kaidoh, Momo, and Echizen" Inui pushed his glasses up.

"The last time I saw Kaidoh is at the park"

"The park? Oh no, this is bad" Ohtori stepped to the front to explain.

"Why is it bad nyah?"

Atobe sighed and slapped his forehead. "There is one time when we found out that Jiroh was missing after we noticed that he didn't come back for lunch and dinner. As one of my servants told me that he went into the maze, we went to look for him. It took us about 3 hours just to find him sleeping at the end of the maze. He was very scary at that time. When we tried to wake him up, his eyes are red and he talked in a lady's voice and keep on telling us to go away. He was possessed. We had to lock him up in a cage for a week before he turned back into his old self."

All the Seigaku regulars felt shivers running through their spines.

"You mean there's a ghost there nyah?" Eiji hide behind Oishi.

"Maybe. We are not sure about that either. Since then, we never dare to go there again." Ohtori sits down next to Shishido after explaining.

"So, are we going to find that broom head and snake-boy?" Shishido muttered.

"We can't leave them there! We must go find them!" Oishi turned into his Seigaku's mama's mode.

"This is going to be interesting" Fuji smiled.

"We have 12 people here, excluding Jiroh. We will break into 3 groups. This will make it easier for us to find them."

"Why are you excluding me?" Jiroh woke up with a bit of sliver drooled down his mouth.

"Hmpp, we don't wanna bring you and have the trouble trying to find you again later. You just stay here and sleep" Atobe tried to persuade Jiroh not to tag along with them.

Jiroh was not listening to him. He went back sleeping on the couch.

Atobe sighed.

"How are we going to decide on the group?" Fuji asked.

"Paper-pulling. There are 3 colors. Each color for each group" Inui took out a set of paper.

Each of them took one of the papers.

"Okay. So the blue team members are Shishido, Oshitari, Ohtori and Oishi. Red team- Atobe, Tezuka and Kawamura and Kabaji. Green team- Fuji, Eiji, Mukahi and me.

"I wanna be in the same team as Oishi, nyah!"

"Of all people, why am I in the same team as him?" Mukahi muttered.

"Atobe, do you have the plan of the maze?" Inui asked.

"Yes. It's here" Atobe handed over the maze's map to Inui.

"Thanks." Inui pushed up his glasses as he examined the map.

"The blue team will search this area. The red team searches this area and the green team search here. There's a 97 percent that we will find them in less than an hour this way. If anything happens, the team just signals the rest of the other teams with the torchlight. Operation name: "Operation BRAVO". Everyone understand?" He handed each team a torchlight.

"Operation BRAVO? What kind of name is that? This doesn't suits me at all. Not elegant and beautiful enough!" Atobe exclaimed.

"I will name it operation TANGO. It's more elegant"

"How about operation NEKO nyah?" Eiji raised up his left hand.

"I would rather call it operation save the stupid Broom Head and Snake-boy" Shishido suggested in a harsh voice.

"A-no, I think we should get going" Kawamura suggested in a polite manner.

All of them split up following their groups to search for the missing trio. This is where the real adventure begins.


Inside the maze


Green Team (Fuji, Eiji, Mukahi, Inui)

"Creepy, nyah" Eiji walks along tagging behind Fuji.

Argh… Why am I stuck with them again anyway? Why am I the only Hyoutei student here? Why? Why?

"Mukahi, are you okay?"

"...mumble…mumble…mumble.."

"Hmm.. If ghost really exist, there's a slight 13 percent that we will meet it if we fail to find them before 8 pm. Percentage will increase by 2 percent every 5 minutes after 8 pm." Inui took his notebook out and began his calculation.

"This will make a very interesting data in my notebook if we are able to meet the ghost."

"Inui!" Eiji scolded Inui as he holds Fuji's right hand tightly.

"Eijiii…" Fuji turned his head towards Eiji wearing a "faceless" mask. (A/N: It's the mask that Fuji used in the episode of the cursed racquet.)

"ARGH!" Eiji shouted in terror. He let go of Fuji's right hand and then ran away from the group.

Fuji took his mask down and tried to stop Eiji but it was too late. Eiji ran away very very far.

Great… Just great… Now we have to find 4 guys instead of 3. Why am I stuck with them again anyway? Mukahi sighed.


Red Team (Atobe, Tezuka, Kawamura, Kabaji)

"We should turn here" Tezuka pointed to the left as they walked nearer to an interception.

I thought I'm the leader of the group. Then, why is he giving the order? Atobe flipped his hair.

As they were about to turn, a cry from afar was heard.

"That sounds like Momo. Tezuka, we should go there and take a look" Kawamura suggested.

All of them hurried to the direction where the voice is coming from.

"Momo!" Kawamura exclaimed.

"Ghost! A ghost! …Af..t..the..ring.. us. Help!"

"Momo, calm yourself down. Where are Kaidoh and Echizen?"

"..Buchou!" Momo stood up and hugged Tezuka.

"A..a..?" Tezuka was surprised while everyone else was shocked.

Is he hugging Tezuka? Well, that's was an unexpected sceneries. Neh, Kabaji?"

"Usu"

"Momo, where is Echizen?" Kawamura tried to calm Momo down.

"..I.. don't know.. We got separated"

Suddenly, out of nowhere from the bush, Kaidoh jumped out holding Karupin and crying for help.

"Kaidoh?"

"..Buchou!" Kaidoh hugged Tezuka.

"A..a..?" Tezuka was surprised while everyone else was shocked.

Do I look like a hugging pillar to them? Tezuka wondered.

"Tezuka, looks like you are pretty "huggable" for Seigaku" Atobe smirked.

"Shut up"

"Hmmp" Atobe turned away.


Blue Team (Shishido, Ohsitari, Ohtori, Oishi)

"I wonder whether the others are okay. Maybe Eiji now is scared. Maybe I should go and find him." Oishi worried about tons of stuff.

"It's amazing that you haven't got any single white hair yet" Ohsitari teased him.

"?" Oishi doesn't get the message that Oshitari was trying to imply.

"If I see that broom head and snake-boy, I'll give them what they deserves for making me going out here and missing my favorite TV show!" Shishido continued to walk as he mumbled along the way.

"Help! I'm lost, nyah!"

"That sounds like... Eiji?" Oishi was disturbed by the voice.

"Nyah! Help, nyah! Uwaaa…"

Oishi walked towards the voice. It really turned out to be Eiji.

"Eiji?"

" sob..sob.." Eiji wiped his tears and looked up. "Oishi?. Oishi, it's you. I'm so glad,nyah!" Eiji stood up and hugged Oishi.

Oishi just blushed as the rest were looking at him and Eiji.

Then they heard another sound coming from the bush.

"What's that?" Ohtori asked curiously.


to be continued...