On the evening of Next HarMEOWny's concert, fans were gathered all around Gourd Park for the event, including Katie and her friends. There were vendors in the area selling all sorts of foods such as soba noodles, mochi, fried kabobs, and of course onigiri to represent Pandanoko. Others sold official Next HarMEOWny merchandise like t-shirts. Several fans were dressed in Next HarMEOWny fan attire, holding up signs and gilded fans declaring their love for the idols.
"So cool! They really went all out for this event!" exclaimed Sarah. "I still can't believe you got us passes, Katie!"
"Yeah who did you have to talk with to get these?" asked Alex. "It wasn't that rich girl from the other class, was it?"
"No no, it was Pan…" Katie began before stopping herself. She didn't want to reveal that she was friends with Pandanoko. Her eyes became small white dots and a sweat drop appeared on the side of her head while she tried to think of a lie to cover up what she said.
"Huh? Pan what?" asked Sarah.
"Pan… Pan… Fried dumplings!" Katie pointed to a vendor selling pan fried dumplings. "Pan fried dumplings over there!" She then gave Alex and Sarah some money and pushed them towards that direction. "Why don't you two go and get us some while I run to the bathroom, okay?"
Before they could say anything else, Katie took off.
"Oookay." Sarah said with confusion.
"But I wanted yakisoba." Complained Alex.
Soon, Katie was away from her friends. "Well that was a close call." She then remembered something important. "Oh! Call!" She pulled out a small walkie-talkie from her back pocket. "This Hazel Eyes to Whis Cream, come in Whis Cream. Over."
"Whis Cream here, whis~." Whisper replied from the walkie-talkie.
"No Whisper, you have to say "over" when you're done talking or it doesn't work. Over."
"Sorry, whis~. And call me by my code name! Over."
"Right, sorry. So any sign of Tattlecast yet, Whis Cream? Over."
"Not yet, but I have my eyes peeled. No one gets in or out of here without me seeing. Over."
"You sound muffled for some reason. Just how high up are you? Over."
"Pretty high, but that's the point. A bird's eye view will provide more accuracy. Over"
Katie spotted from afar Whisper eating takoyaki from a vendor and talking with his mouth full. "So, how does the takoyaki taste? Over." She asked.
Whisper choked and look behind him to see Katie with an angry expression. He then gulped down what was left in his mouth. "Uh, good? Over." He replied, looking nervous.
"You're fired. Over."
"No no! I'm going in the air now, whis~!" Whisper said, frantically flailing his arms around. Whisper floated about eight feet in the air before floating back down. "Ehe. See, I can't really float that high after eating or else my stomach gets violently upset. Over."
"So I repeat, you're fired. Over."
Whisper whimpered while falling to the ground with his back turned to Katie and a blue aura shrouded him as he moved his index finger on the ground in a circular motion.
"Fortunately, I expected this to happen which is why I came up with a backup plan. Over. Hazel Eyes to Bloodsucker, come in Bloodsucker. Over."
"Bloodsucker" was Moskevil's code name. He was at Mt. Wildwood's Summit looking down at the concert from a pair of binoculars. "Bloodzzzucker here. Tattlecazzzt izzz nowhere to be zzzeen yet. Over."
"Alright well keep your eyes sharp. Also, thanks again for agreeing to help. I was worried you wouldn't after the update. Over."
"I wazzz hezzzitant at firzzzt becauzzze I didn't want to reveal who our anonymouzzz benefactor wazzz, but after your kindnezzzzzz the other day I felt obliged to show up anyway. I'm relieved that you decided I should watch over the concert from here inzzztead of being there in perzzzon. Over."
"All part of the plan! Speaking of which I need to check in with our other eye in the sky. Over. Hazel Eyes to Luna, come in Luna. Over."
"Luna" was Sailornyan's code name. She was stationed at the top of the Excellent Tower looking down at the concert from a pair of binoculars. "Luna here. No sign of Tattlecast. Just a bunch of concert goers having a good time, while unknowingly being inspirited by Yo-kai who are also having a good time. I see my ex just flipped up some poor girl's skirt. And he still wonders why we broke up. Over."
"Oh, Baddinyan's here too? Can't say I'm surprised. He's the biggest Next HarMEOWny fan I know. Over."
"Katie are you sure I shouldn't be there with you instead of up here? Like I said, I'm willing to be on the front lines if necessary. Over."
"Hey! Code names, remember? Over."
"Oh sorry! Hazel Eyes, I mean. Over."
"And no you're fine where you are. If Tattlecast saw any other Yo-kai who weren't possessing anyone, she'd immediately be suspicious. Over."
"What about you? She knows what you look like, so what if she sees you? Over."
Katie's right eye gleamed for a second. "Heh. That's why I came prepared. Over."
"Prepared how?" asked Whisper who seemed to have gotten over his sadness.
Katie then reached into her pocket and pulled out a stack of money bills in the shape of a fan.
"Gah! That's a lot of moola for a young girl to have all at once, whis~!"
"That's the power of saving up!" Katie boasted. "With this, I'll be able to put together a basic disguise so Tattlecast won't recognize me! Observe!"
Katie leaped over to a vender selling Pandanoko masks. "A Pandanoko mask to 'mask' my visage!" She went to another vendor selling Next HarMEOWny cat paw mittens. "Kitten mittens to show my love for cats!" Lastly, she went to a vendor selling fans with the idols' faces on them. "And finally, two fans with Sakura and Fiona's faces on them! With these items, there's no way Tattlecast will ever recognize me!"
"But what about your clothes?" asked Whisper. "Aren't you wearing the same clothes you wore to the café last week?"
"No Whisper, these are the clothes I've been jogging in for the past week. I wash them by hand every day. You really need to be more observant."
Whisper looked down and pushed his index fingers together. "Oh, I see."
"Hmm. Now that I think about it, since you failed to your job what you should do now is blend in with the other Yo-kai and act like you're inspiriting someone."
"Eh?"
"Though it's hard to imagine what kind of inspiriting power you'd have. The only thing you're really good at is being a know-it-all."
"Hey!"
"I mean what did you do before you were sealed away?"
Whisper began to sweat heavily. "Well… You see…"
"This is Luna to Hazel Eyes! Red alert! Red alert! Tattlecast spotted! She's on the move now! Over!" Sailornyan warned.
"Huh!? Where!? Over!" Katie asked.
"She appearzzz to be heading towardzzz the zzztage! Over!" Moskevil explained.
"But why!? The idols aren't even on there yet! Over!"
"I don't know, but I'm watching closely! Right now, she's just maneuvering by hopping on people's heads." Sailornyan chimed in. "Probably trying to make sure you aren't around to try to stop her. Over."
"That's smart, whis!" Commented Whisper.
"And if she sees Sarah and Alex, she'll know I'm here too!" worried Katie. "And they don't have disguises! How is close is she to us? Over!"
"She's actually not too far from you and is closing in, aaaaand she just stopped on a bald guy's head to take a break. Over."
"Makes sense, she is an elderly woman after all, whis~." Commented Whisper.
"All right, that gives me enough time to try and hide Sarah and Alex's identities." Katie looked at the money she had left and sighed. "So much for candy apples. Whisper, you need to hide yourself, too. I don't have enough money to buy you a disguise as well."
Whisper folded his arms. "So, you want me to steal a Pandanoko mask and some other miscellaneous souvenirs like some vagabond? I'm shocked at you, Katie."
"No! Just find some blabbermouth boasting about how much he supposedly knows about the idols when he really doesn't know squat and act like you're the cause of it! Now go, Whisper! Think of this as a chance to redeem yourself!"
Hearing that last sentence made Whisper gain a sense of responsibility. "I won't let you down this time, Katie!" He saluted with his "nostrils" flared. Afterwards, both took off in separate directions.
Katie ran back over to the vendor selling Pandanoko masks and bought two more before quickly rushing back to her friends.
"Bloodzzzucker to Hazzzel Eyezzz, Tattlecazzzt izzz on the move again!" Moskevil warned. "She'zzz moving clozzzer to your proximity! Your friendzzz are at the dango vendor to the eazzzt! Over!"
Whisper was less panicked than Katie and took his time to find the right target to pretend to inspirit.
"Oh, there has to be some nerd who thinks he knows everything around here!" He groaned.
"I know for a fact that Fiona's outfit is 100% linen." A voice said. Whisper looked in that direction to find a group of girls from Katie's class. One with glasses and plain clothes, another with pigtails and another with a side-ponytail who was the one claiming she knew certain facts about the idols.
"How do you know that?" asked the girl with pigtails.
"It's obvious. As the lead singer, she has to look the best out of all the rest of the idols, therefore her clothes have to be made with more expensive material than the other idols'. There's no mistaking it~!"
A sweat drop appeared on the back of Whisper's head as a cold chill blew in his direction.
"I guess that makes sense. You're really smart, Maya." The girl with glasses said.
"So, our know-it-all is a girl who might as well be under my influence, whis~." Whisper said as he floated next to Maya and flapped his lips in tandem with hers. Tattlecast passed them by without looking in their direction.
"And Whizzz Cream'zzz zzzsafe! Over!" announced Moskevil.
Katie ran as fast as she could without bumping into the other concert goers as Tattlecast moved closer to her and her friends.
"Luna to Hazel Eyes, she's closing in on you! Hurry! Over!"
Katie eventually spotted her friends and bolted towards them. "Guys! Look what I got us! Pandanoko masks! Here put them on! Hurry!"
Her friends looked at her strangely, but took the masks and put them on anyway. Tattlecast passed them all up without even a glance towards them.
"Phew! That was close!" Sailornyan smiled.
"You're pretty excited about this aren't you, Katie?" asked Sarah.
Katie nervously laughed. "Yeah, I guess I am."
Alex lifted up her mask to eat her dango. "Well let's save some of that excitement for the actual concert, okay? Speaking of which we should probably get to our seats now."
"Sounds good! I'll meet you guys there in a minute. I need to, uh, look around some more to make sure there's nothing else I wanna buy."
"All right suit yourself. We'll see you in a few."
As Sarah and Alex walked off, Whisper returned to Katie's side and she pulled out her walkie talkie. "Hazel Eyes to Luna, where's Tattlecast now? Over."
"Still headed to the stage. Not sure what's she planning. Over." Sailornyan replied.
Tattlecast eventually made it to seating area and took a huge leap off of the head of a person sitting in the front row into the spotlight beams.
"Woah! What an imprezzzzzzive leap!" Moskevil complimented.
"Huh?! What did she do!? Over!" asked Katie.
"She leapt into the beamzzz holding the zzzpotlightzzz. I'm no expert at zzztealth, but I believe she planzzz to ambush the idolzzz from above when they're on stage."
"Well, we're just gonna to have to keep the idols off the stage, then!"