.

Fly-By

Gamo-chan and Yoshi tiptoed down the hallway and came to a stop outside the art club room entrance. Gamo-chan pressed her ear up against the door.

"Can you hear anything?" Yoshi whispered.

"Not a peep. It's totally quiet in there." She gently tugged on the door. It rattled a bit but didn't give. "It's locked. They must be up to no good."

"Do you think they're doing lewd stuff in there?" Yoshi asked.

"If you would have asked me a week ago, I would have told you, not in a million years. But I'm starting to wonder." She backed into the hallway. "There's something fishy going on here." She pulled out her phone and tapped the screen. "Maybe Sakura will have more luck."

###

Down below, at ground level, Sakura stood behind the gaming club members as they configured their new drone. Unlike most four-propeller drones, this one resembled a scale model of a genuine helicopter and made a lot of noise.

Fat Guy controlled the copter with an iPad that displayed and recorded everything the chopper's camera saw.

"Do you want me to hover outside of the club room?" he asked.

"No. That thing's so loud, they'll see it in an instant and we'll be busted. Can you do a fly-by with the video running?"

"Sure." He adjusted the camera to point to the side.

Fat Guy maneuvered the helicopter even with the top floor then flew past the windows from one side of the building to the other.

"Are you sure you're close enough?" Sakura asked.

"This thing doesn't handle too well. If I get any closer to the building, I'm afraid I'll crash it."

"Understood."

As the helicopter zipped by the building with its camera pointed sideways, Sakura watched the video feed over Fat Guy's shoulder. Once it flew past the far side of the building, Fat Guy tapped the Home button. The helicopter banked, dipped, and landed with a thud at their feet.

"Perfect timing," Fat Guy said. "We ran out of batteries."

"I couldn't see anything when it flew by," Sakura said. "Did you?"

"Nah, but you can check the video frame-by-frame."

Sakura held out her hands. "Okay."

Fat Guy hesitated. "You're still going to do that thing you promised, right?"

She nodded. "You know it. Now let me see the video."

He handed her the iPad and she played back the tape. When she got to the part where the helicopter flew by the art club room, she hit Pause and cycled forward slowly, frame by frame.

The first few frames revealed some familiar things, like the closets and cabinets, but the bookshelves appeared where the door was supposed to be.

In the next frame, she saw Senpai at his easel and Nagatoro sitting across from him in a chair. At least she guessed that's what she saw. Since the copter flew by so fast, the blurry image lacked detail.

She skipped to the next frame and her jaw dropped open. "Oh, my god. Is she naked?" She zoomed the frame in and out, turned the iPad sideways, and squinted. She had difficulty gauging Nagatoro's exact state, but she could clearly see her tan lines. Is that pale skin or fabric?

Nagatoro was either naked or wearing her white bikini. But Sakura couldn't discern any shade lines between fabric and skin. Huh? An odd white ring encircled her ankles. She blinked. Must be socks.

She skipped to the next frame, a blurry mess that didn't reveal anything. And that was that. She tapped the Delete button and handed the tablet back to Fat Guy.

"We can make another run in about an hour," he said. "That's how long it takes for the batteries to charge."

"No, that's fine."

###

Five minutes later, Sakura met Gamo-chan and Yoshi in the library.

"So." Gamo-chan rested her chin on her intertwined fingers. "Did you see anything interesting?"

"Anything skeevy?" Yoshi added.

"It's not like they were having sex or anything. The guys did a helicopter fly-by of the room and I saw the video, but I didn't see anything too perverted. It looked like Hayachi was modeling for Senpai in her white bikini."

Gamo-chan pinched her chin for a few seconds. "Are you sure she had her white bikini on?"

"Of course she did. She wouldn't pose for him naked… would she?"

Gamo-chan momentarily wore a stone face. "For that virgin. No way. He'd run off so fast, he'd set a world record."

"Usain Bolt!" Yoshi added.

Sakura leaned back in her seat. "Did you hear anything through the door?"

"No. We tried sneaking in, but the doors were locked."

"Locked tight."

"Hmmm." Sakura furrowed her brow. "I didn't even know you could lock those doors."

Author's Notes: I decided to bring Sakura in a little earlier. What could she possibly have agreed to do for the gaming club? Find out next time. That is, if I don't take a break for the holiday. — SK