I'm warning everyone now: starting with this chapter, April is going to take 8 chapters to get through. However (as the next chapter will reveal), it will because of something very special happening! I think it's going to be big enough that it might actually go on for two chapters instead of just one; there are a lot of POVs to cover!

Thank you for reading!

Invi was Daybreak Academy's human security system. There were very few things that escaped her constantly watching eye. But there were days, rare ones, where Invi would turn a blind eye and pretend she didn't see or know anything. This would usually happen when Invi wasn't feeling well, or when an event like Aced punching Ira would occur and could blow over in a few days. There were even some holidays that Invi refused to operate at her typical critical eye level, if only to humor the students and faculty.

April Fool's Day was not one of them.

There were to be no jokes, pranks, or flying toilet paper rolls unless Invi agreed to it. Sitting quite prominently on Invi's desk was a list of approval April Fool's shenanigans. The biggest requests were to wear costumes or to dye their friend's hair. Harmless stuff, they were always approved. Ephemer had placed a request to go around with silly string, on the pretense he only use it on his friends. Considering the boy only had a small handful of friends outside the headmasters, Invi approved it. Then there were other generic requests Invi let slide: whoopee cushions, joy buzzers, and x-ray goggles, for example.
A firm knock on her door caused Invi to look up. She ignored it at first- anyone who needed her attention could just come on in, after all. But the knocking continued. And continued. And continued.

"You may come in." Invi said, trying hard not to sound annoyed. But the knocking did not stop. Giving a sigh, Invi started to head toward the door.

When the headmaster opened the door, no one was there.

"Classy..." she grumbled under her breath. As she started to shut her door again, she noticed an envelope attached to her door. Raising an eyebrow, Invi took the envelope and went back into her office. She casually strolled back to her desk as she looked the envelope over. Something was inside of it, but she couldn't get a good feel on what.

Invi reached for her letter opener, then peeled back the glue holding the envelope together. A very undignified noise of surprise came from Invi's lips as glitter exploded from the envelope. She looked down at the mess in distaste. Most of the glitter had landed on her, but a good bit still ended up on the floor. Invi felt really bad for the custodial man when he came around- this glitter was going to take weeks to get rid of, if ever.

The headmaster then looked back inside the envelope. There was a letter stuck inside, trapped in the springs needed to launch the glitter in the air. Carefully, Invi pulled the letter out. It was surprisingly clean for something that had been surrounded in glitter three minutes ago. The message on the letter was written in a simple format with easy to read handwriting;

'There's a snipe on the loose,

Only Headmaster Invi can find it!

But she has to follow our clues

(completely through and through)

Or else the snipe will surely flit!'

A small half smile crossed Invi's lips. She turned the letter over, finding that it continued on the other side, written in a completely different handwriting. This was a bit more curly than the other, with a lot of unnecessary loops and curls at the end of each letter.

'The arts have eyes. But one is very sleepy…'

Invi raised a bemused eyebrow as she set the letter down. So someone wanted her to go on a snipe hunt, huh? Well, she didn't authorize it, but it must have been for some reason. The first clue seemed pretty simple; the only place that held artwork was on the lower areas of the main building. Figuring that she didn't have much else to do, Invi started to make her way out of her office- leaving behind her a small cloud of glitter.

"Urg, I hate glitter."

. . .

For a moment, Invi didn't know whether to laugh or just continue to stare. Someone had placed googly eyes on every student artwork on display. It didn't matter what it was, if it was in the open, there were googly eyes attached to it. Invi moved a bit closer to one of the paintings on display and realized that the eyes were put on with poster putty. So obviously this snipe hunt wasn't being organized by the Ursus or Leopardus houses; those students wouldn't have wasted an opportunity at mild, and possibly permanent, vandalism.

Invi continued to look along the rows of googly eyed artwork. She only stopped when she realized that one painting had a different set of eyes than the others; this one had a pair with painted on half-lidded eyes. Figuring this was the place of the next clue, Invi took a careful step forward to remove the painting from the wall. Sure enough, there was a small note on the back, so she took it off then placed the painting back on the wall. This clue was written in a small chicken scratch;

'TP belongs in the water. But is it flowing today?'

The Anguis headmaster moved her head from side to side as she thought the clue over. TP surely stood for toilet paper, right? But having it in water that flows? The only 'flowing water' on campus was the water fountain in the plaza right inside the school gates. By the way the clue was worded, it almost sounded like someone was trying to clog the...

Invi's eyes grew wide in terror.

No way. There was no way anyone would do that. For the love of the Nine Old Men, please tell her someone didn't do it! Invi quickly turned on her heel and ran as fast as her feet could take her. She prayed to anyone listening -the Nine Old Men, Ub Iwerks, Mary Blair, anyone!- that someone didn't try to clog the school's fountain as a prank.

When she finally saw the fountain, Invi was so relieved that she almost cried. There was toilet paper decorating the fountain, but all the water had been drained in advance. Sitting there quite innocently on the fountain's edge was the next clue. As Invi tried to calm herself, she then deduced that this hunt wasn't from the Unicornis or Vulpes houses either. The students in Vulpes were too kind hearted to TP something as important as the school's fountain, and the students in Unicornis were too dignified to use anything but party streamers.

The next note had the most atrocious handwriting so far- looking like it was done quickly and without any thought of being legible;

'The snipe is at the dorms. But I hear he's hungry.'

That was… awfully blunt, to say the least. Which ever student decided to write this note didn't seem to have much of an imagination. The note wasn't very specific on which dorms she were to go to, but by now she had a good inkling on which house it was. Invi gave a small grunt as she started to head toward the Anguis dorms.

Invi walked up to the Anguis dorms as if she were about to reprimand someone. In between the dorms, there were a few students operating a pie stand. When they saw her, they waved at Invi. Invi kept a straight face as she headed toward them.

"So," Invi casually said to the three students waiting for her, "Where's this snipe I was meant to find?"

"Right here!" one student from behind her cheerfully declared. Invi turned around to face this student, and instead was smacked in the face with a cream filled pie. The four students then erupted into a loud laughter at the same time Invi gave a sharp gasp in surprise. When the headmaster didn't come out of her shock, the Anguis students stopped laughing to look at her in fear.

"H-headmaster Invi?" one of them cautiously asked. "Are you alright? It was just a little prank..."

Invi turned to the student who had talked before her eyes trailed down to one of the extra pies. Tilting her head, Invi picked up the pie and looked back at the student. To their surprise, Invi smashed the pie into the student's face.

Her smile was only half visible when she told them, "Now we're even."