Serefina reluctantly joins up with Sylvia! What will result from this? What does Sylvia need from her? Will Serefina manage to avoid being tempted to the dark side? Hopefully, she and Akira can find the truth without being corrupted by her wicked wiles!

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile! The story is finally completed! Thank you for reading!

ON ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE! The contest has reached the judging stage! And one of my stories, Love Bites, has made it to the semi-finals of the Impossible Romance category! But I need votes! If you would like to support me, go to MyAnimeList/MAL, find the flag for Impossible Romance, and download the app to cast your vote! It would be much appreciated!

The Pokemon Academy Best Girl 2 Finals are up and running! Who do you think is deserving of the title of Best Girl in the second year of the contest? Cast your votes! We've only gotten one vote so far, and I know that a lot of people are reading, so come on guys! The poll's in the profile, who do you think deserves to take the crown?

Finalists: Sylvia, Marion, Sango

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Classes have been temporarily cancelled on account of the murder.

KedharS: I don't like it either, Sylvia is pretty sus.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 692

"SO, I'm so glad you've decided to be a good sport about this!" Sylvia cheered, clapping her hands together. "Nice to see you've come on board! Now, are we going to go! This is something that's…" She looked around the quad, as if she was expecting eavesdroppers.

"…Somewhat private. So, do you mind if we head to your room?"

Serefina knew that caving into Sylvia had been the wrong move, but she couldn't help herself. But that also meant she was going to keep Sylvia from messing any further. Sylvia had agreed not to bother Akira anymore, and this…

"No, we can't," Serefina said, shaking her head. She glanced at Akira. He wasn't staring blankly off into the distance anymore, and seemed actually aware of his surroundings, which was a serious improvement to his prior state.

And Serefina wasn't about to do anything that would jeopardize that. They couldn't go back to her room, they just couldn't.

Because it was her room, too.

If Akira was in Dakota's room, how would that hurt him? Serefina didn't want to find out, and she definitely didn't want to be responsible for traumatizing her friend all over again. So whatever Sylvia had planned, she wouldn't be involved in it.

"Oh? Why not?" Sylvia asked. The shine in her eyes told Serefina that she knew exactly why Serefina didn't want them going to her room, and she was having none of it.

"You damn well know exactly why," Serefina hissed, glancing cautiously at Blake before returning her scathing glare to Sylvia. "You promised to leave him out of this!"

Sylvia stared at her for a moment and Serefina tensed, expecting a fight. Well, she was going to give it to her, then! She might have wanted to know what Sylvia knew, but she was protecting Akira first, no matter what, and that meant-

"Okay, sure," Sylvia said, shrugging her shoulders. That surprised Serefina.

"…Wait, what? Really?"

"Yeah, sure," Sylvia said, shrugging again. "If you don't want us to go your room, then we don't have to. Especially if you don't think Akira is going to be able to handle it."

Serefina wondered if she had died and gone to bizarro-world in the time she had been talking. Sylvia was seeming a little to conciliatory about this. She was actually just going to roll over and let Serefina say no?

…What was she planning?

"Stop it with that suspicious look," Sylvia said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not cruel because I want to be, after all, only if it will suit my goals."

Serefina didn't see a difference in that, and made her rejection known with a rude snort and a fold of her arms over her chest.

"…Fine, have it your way," Sylvia shrugged. "Don't believe me, I don't really care. But right now, there's more important things than messing with you, and that's getting to the bottom of this. So if you don't want us to use your room, there's somewhere else we can go, instead."

Serefina was still surprised that Sylvia was being so accommodating, and she absolutely didn't trust the other girl at all. Still suspicious, she lowered her arms and followed after the blonde, checking to make sure that Akira was still following after her. He was, thankfully.

Meanwhile, Sylvia's thoughts were occupied with another matter entirely.

I wonder if the Phantom really is involved with this, Sylvia mused. And what he's planning if he is. This should be quite interesting…

She needed Serefina to confirm some things with her, and then she would be done with the curvaceous girl completely.

But then again, her reactions are quite fun. Maybe I'll keep her around for a little longer, she's such a fun little pet, Sylvia chuckled, picking up the pace.

Serefina was not exactly enthused about being invited into Sylvia's room. The girl's décor was as odd as she was, gothic and overdesigned, and for some reason, there was a low blacklight lighting up the place, which made everything just odd.

She didn't want to be here, but if they weren't going to use her room, she could see why Sylvia would bring them here instead.

"Aki, you can sit on the bed, if you like," Sylvia purred. Akira didn't take her offer, standing in the center of the room awkwardly instead.

"Are you sure we should be here?" Serefina asked, looking around suspiciously. She was especially focused on the other bed. "What if your roommate shows up?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Sylvia laughed. "I don't have a roommate, this room is all mine!"

"Wait, but second-years need to have roommates," Serefina said. "Unless you're staying in the private dorms, but you're not!"

"…Well, let me clarify," Sylvia laughed, wiggling her eyebrows. "I had a roommate. But she was encouraged to… relocate."

Serefina didn't like the sound of that at all. Desperate to change the subject, she returned to the original topic. The sooner she could get this done and over with, the sooner she could put it behind her and get Sylvia out of her and Akira's lives for good.

"Sylvia, what do you want?" Serefina asked. She wanted to know what was so important that Sylvia had to tell them in private.

Sylvia set down her bag and took out a thick envelope, walking over to her desk and opening it up. She took some papers out of it, and set them down, gesturing over to Serefina.

Serefina was definitely curious. She walked over to the desk and looked over Sylvia's shoulder, and what she saw nearly made her throw up. They were photographs. Not just any photographs, but photographs of the crime scene.

"Sylvia! What the fuck?!" Serefina exclaimed, quickly hiding the photos with her arms, trying to gather them up to keep Akira from seeing them. She looked over her shoulder, but thankfully he was still looking silently away. She sighed in relief.

That relief lasted for all of two seconds before she turned back to Sylvia, her eyes burning furiously. How the hell did she think that this was okay?!

"You seriously have photos of the crime scene?!" Serefina exclaimed. "How the hell do you have these?! The police were just here! And these are evidence photos, too! Where did you get these?! Just having these is a crime!"

Sylvia's smile spread further, her eyes flashing with excitement. Suddenly, Serefina wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to her question anymore.

No, she definitely didn't. It was frigging obvious that Sylvia had done something illegal, and Serefina wanted no part in this.

"I'm not looking at these," Serefina said, putting her hands on her hips. "What's the matter with you?" Maybe if she kept asking that, a satisfactory answer might come. But she seriously doubted it. "I thought you needed my help?!"

"I do," Sylvia said, nodding.

"With what, concealing evidence?!"

Sylvia rolled her eyes and sighed melodramatically. "Seri, why do you have to be such a drama queen goody two-shoes?" She asked, like it was somehow Serefina's fault for not wanting to help her commit crimes on this investigation.

"I don't want to get arrested!" Serefina exclaimed.

"You won't get arrested, I swear," Sylvia sighed. "Look, it's really simple, I just need you to take a look at these and tell me if anything is wrong."

Serefina didn't understand what she was talking about. "What do you mean by anything wrong?" She asked suspiciously.

"You know Dakota better than anybody," Sylvia replied. She spared a glance at Akira, before turning back. "And you were the last one to see her before she left to go to the library, right?"

Serefina nodded. "Yeah, I did," she said.

"So you would know what she had on her person," Sylvia said. "I'm trying to make sure that there wasn't anything missing from the evidence."

Serefina still wasn't sure she understood. "What do you mean something missing?"

Sylvia sighed, and rubbed her temples. She gave another glance at Akira. "Look, I can tell you, but I don't think you want him around to hear this."

Serefina glanced at Akira and was about to agree, when he sharply objected.

"Don't you think I should answer that?" Akira demanded. Serefina was startled by how intense he sounded.

"Akira, I didn't-"

"Sylvia," Akira said, turning towards her, his face hard and his eyes burning. "If you have something to say about what happened to Dakota, I want to hear it. So tell me."

Sylvia turned to Serefina, a triumphant smirk on her face. Serefina bit her lip and glanced worriedly at Akira, but he seemed very much resolved to deal with this issue. So she sighed and nodded her head reluctantly, hoping that whatever it was Sylvia had to say, they could both deal with it.

Sylvia saw that Serefina had given in, so she decided to go through with it.

"Dakota got attacked by somebody, probably to keep her quiet," Sylvia explained. "That's the conclusion that I drew. She was researching something, and came across some information that she wasn't supposed to find. And someone, I don't know who, but they tried to kill her in order to keep her from blowing the whistle."

Serefina let that sink in, a scowl crossing her face. That sounded a lot like what she had expected, unfortunately. Dakota's nosiness had cost her a lot. She looked at Akira again, but he seemed to be doing okay.

"So what?" Akira asked coldly.

"So, that's why they smashed her laptop and her camera," Sylvia explained. "But I've got to wonder if that's all that they did. If Dakota had anything on her person or in her bag that might have been a lead, something that this person might have taken."

Sylvia held back the little detail about that book, the one about the Lake of Rage. It was Dakota's private message to Akira, but she wasn't so charitable as to deliver it to him herself. That would just complicate things, especially if she didn't know what he knew about it. She would tell him eventually, once she'd exhausted her other methods of research.

"So that's what I need your help with, Seri," Sylvia explained, gesturing to the crime scene and evidence photos. "I want you to take a look, and tell me if there's something that Dakota should have that isn't logged into evidence. Is that so bad?"

Serefina bit her lip and glanced down at the mess of papers gathered up in her arms. The way Sylvia talked about it, it seemed reasonable.

But Serefina didn't want to do it. It seemed like a really, really bad idea.

But there wasn't a choice, was there?

"…Yeah, I guess," she relented, setting the papers back down on the desk. Akira peaked over her shoulder and she quickly moved to hide them, but he grabbed her arm and shook his head. His eyes were hurt, but firm.

"No," he whispered. "This is something I need to see."

Serefina didn't know if he could handle it or not, but was willing to trust him. She swallowed and nodded her head, standing upright and turning over the papers. Everything seemed in order here, there didn't seem to be anything missing. Nothing that shouldn't have been here, but was, either.

"One thing I noted was that her phone was missing," Sylvia volunteered. "I found that notably odd. I tried calling her number, but-"

"That's nothing new," Serefina interrupted, reaching into her purse and taking out Dakota's phone. It was turned off. "She forgot her phone before she went to the library."

"Oh, I see," Sylvia said, nodding. "So much for that theory, then." She stroked her chin contemplatively. "So if her phone wasn't stolen, and her computer and camera were smashed, then I suppose that means there's nothing-"

"Wait, what about the flash drive?" Serefina asked. She scraped through the papers again, but couldn't find a bag with a flash drive in it.

"Flash drive?" Sylvia asked, her curiosity piqued. "What flash drive?"

"Dakota has a flash drive that she keeps all of her stuff on," Serefina explained. "She backs up her computer on it every day so her news stories are never far away from her. I saw her put it into her pocket along with a tube of lipstick I loaned her, see?"

She pointed at a photo of various bags. "Her lipstick is right there, but where's the flash drive?"

Sylvia's face lit up and a hundred theories immediately shot through her mind. So there was a flash drive! That changed everything. Where would that have gone? The only answer she could think of was that it had been stolen by whoever had attacked Dakota.

But wait, no, that didn't make sense. After all, Dakota had had enough time to leave a message for Akira. Certainly she would have deposited the flash drive as well, in that hiding place? But it wasn't there. So that meant…

Sylvia had to think on this for a moment.

Dakota was being chased. That much was obvious. She wouldn't have had any business in that dead-end unless she was running and took a wrong turn, or had been trying to hide. Sylvia could tell that, because she had left a message for Akira, and you don't leave a secret message for someone unless you know that someone is after you.

With the fact that she had left a message for Akira in mind, clearly, Dakota would have hidden that flash drive. It wasn't like Dakota was an idiot. She knew she was being chased, and was smart enough to leave a message. She HAD to know WHY she was being chased, or at least have a pretty good suspicion. So even though she couldn't get rid of her computer or her camera, she would have had to do something with that flash drive.

She wouldn't just leave it to be taken.

So Sylvia knew that the Phantom or the professor or whoever it was didn't take it off of her body, because Dakota had absolutely had the means, opportunity, and motive to get rid of it before that happened.

Sylvia closed her eyes and pictured the library in her mind. Walking through it, she examined the shelves, one at a time. She saw the marked Gyarados, of course, but that was nothing. Was there another book that was marked?

…No, Sylvia didn't even bother to look. She knew that there wouldn't be. Dakota wouldn't have left two messages. It wasn't that she wasn't paranoid enough to do it, it was the fact that it would be meaningless. There would be no need to suspect she was hiding things, no reason to look for markings, so no reason for Dakota to make a decoy.

And Sylvia doubted that even if she was that paranoid, that she would have had the time to hide two messages.

No, the only message was in the Lake of Rage book, it had to be. Sylvia poured over the book curiously, and reached up to take it out again. She examined the cover, which she had perfectly memorized the first time.

I wouldn't have missed a flash drive, and there was no bulge in the pages or anything cut out, Sylvia remembered. How odd…

"Sylvia, what are you doing?"

Great. A nagging voice in her ear. What a pain in the ass. Sylvia opened up her eyes and sighed, turning to Serefina, who was looking at her, confused.

"…Thinking," Sylvia said, smiling diplomatically. "…You two can leave now, by the way. I don't have any further use for you."

Serefina couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What the heck?!" She exclaimed. "You can't be serious about this! You invite us here, tell me that you're going to help me figure out what happened with Dakota, and now you're just asking us to leave?!"

"Yes, goodbye, thank you for helping," Sylvia said, waving at her. Serefina stared incredulously at her.

"No, no, you can't just-"

Sylvia's face took on a threatening shadow, and Serefina flinched, surprised.

Suddenly, she wasn't sure that Sylvia wouldn't use violence to stop her.

But Sylvia's aggression passed, and her smile returned. "Don't worry, Serefina, I'll keep you in the loop. But for now, you can go. Take care of Akira. I have some… things to take care of personally, if you would be so kind?"

Serefina wasn't sure what to make of that. She glanced at Akira. This was all about him. If he was okay with it…

Akira looked reluctant. His hard face had slipped away and now he was anxious. Like Serefina, he was probably worried about what Sylvia was planning. When she'd closed her eyes just then, what had that been about? What had she thought of?

"I would say you two can show yourselves out," Sylvia said, guiding the two of them to the door, "but I have somewhere I need to go, myself."

Sylvia closed the door to her room behind the three of them, and walked down the hall with Specter floating behind her.

She had a lot to think about. Mainly, the missing flash drive. What had happened to it? Dakota must have hidden it. Sylvia had assumed that the Lake of Rage book was in and of itself a clue, but now she wasn't so sure. Perhaps it was just to get Akira's attention so he would be able to find the flash drive she'd hidden inside of it.

But if that was the case, then Sylvia should have found the flash drive. The police certainly hadn't, or they would have placed it, and the book, in evidence. And Sylvia doubted anyone else had been in the library between herself and the police.

So the flash drive was already missing by that point. Sylvia closed her eyes and thought. Akira and Serefina had been with her, had she looked away long enough for one of them to snatch the book? No, looking back on things confirmed there wouldn't be nearly enough time.

So that left two options.

Akira, she dismissed for obvious reasons. He may have discovered the body, but there was no way he would have been in the right state of mind to notice the book and take it. He had been practically in a coma.

The attacker, then? Sure, it was possible that they had noticed the hidden note, and taken the flash drive. That was the most likely theory, anyway. But Sylvia didn't think that felt right, either. The way the computer and camera were smashed, the way Dakota's things were torn through, they were clearly in a hurry. And if her timeline of events was accurate, then Akira had gotten there relatively quickly after the attack.

Would that have been enough time for the killer to notice the mark (in the darkness of the library!) and also get away?

That was rather implausible.

A smile spread across Sylvia's lips.

No matter how she looked at it, it didn't make sense.

That was the best kind of mystery of all!

Sylvia's up to something! What will she discover? And what happened to Dakota's flash drive?! Who could have it? There's only one place it could be…