Happy New Year, fellow readers! This latest chapter brings forth some interesting revelations to the table. Please enjoy.

*Yasube ramen shop, Shinjuku, Tokyo*

Everyone had returned to the Academy after Christmas and Spiral and his friends were all eating out at one of Tokyo's finest ramen shops (Seriously, it is an actual ramen shop in Tokyo's Shinjuku district). Spiral and his friends were all having dinner at the restaurant, eating many bowls of ramen.

"You know, it's been a while since we discussed what's been happening in the mirror world." Shroud pointed out. "I mean, we still haven't heard how Spiral and the twins went in there."

"Now that you mention it, we should be talking about that." Aura realized. "So you remember anything, Chan?"

"We remember everything clearly." Chan responded. "We saw Spiral going in there and when we saw him going into the mirror, we couldn't believe our eyes and acted without thinking. We tried to pull him out, but he wouldn't let us. The struggle caused all three of us to get stuck there."

"… Wait, what do you mean by 'he wouldn't let us'?" Momo seemed confused.

Spiral stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "… It… was because of the letter I got."

"What letter?" Lee also became confused.

"While I was sulking, someone knocked on the door." Spiral explained. "However, nobody was around when I opened the door. I took the letter inside and I opened it. There was no name, return address or anything on the envelope. I opened it and I got a letter that simply said 'enter the mirror world and die or the little girl will take your place'. No capitalization or punctuation marks."

Everyone fell silent.

"… Why the **** didn't you tell us this right away? !" Naoto suddenly became furious and stood up, slamming his hands on the table. "This is important information and a threat no less!"

Naoto took a deep breath, regained his composure and sat back down.

"Do you think 'little girl' could refer to Etsuko?" Momo guessed. "If so, then whoever's responsible is a horrible person for threatening to kill a child!"

"No kidding." Lee agreed. "That's pretty low."

"Before we attempt to deduce anything, let's review the situations in which we were all placed in the mirror world." Spiral suggested. "We don't know the circumstances for Momo's grandfather or our first homeroom teacher. After those, I think Shroud was the first of us to enter. He went into the restroom at the hotel Camaru lives at and was placed in there."

"That's how it happened to me, too." Momo stated.

"Yeah, same goes for me." Naoto said.

"I came in because I asked to go with you guys." Aura said. "So I think we can exclude me from the pattern."

"Asuka, what do you remember before you found yourself in that world?" Spiral asked.

"Uh…" Asuka had to think for a bit. "… I think… it was the same as everyone else."

"I also went into the restroom so I could cry." Hikari recalled. "Remember?"

"Yeah…" Spiral tilted his head down. "And then… that leads to me and the twins-Oh, wait! I forgot about that Raza guy. Although… he seemed to be more aware of the situation and it was him who placed Krystal's kid there. Actually, his Demon never even appeared or manifested. Maybe he's another exception."

"So, what do the people who aren't exceptions have in common?" Asuka wondered.

"… They all happened in restrooms." Spiral answered. "It makes sense. I mean that's the most obvious place one would find a mirror in public. But in a public place, wouldn't there be witnesses? Were there any people in the restroom when you guys entered?"

"Last I remembered there was no one else around." Momo recalled.

Numerous 'same here' and 'I was alone, too' comments erupted.

"Wait!" Naoto realized something. "If this happened to both guys and girls, don't you think that would make a person suspicious?"

"Yeah, you're right." Spiral agreed. "… Wait, could we be dealing with multiple people? You know, maybe a cult?"

"I wouldn't rule that out." Chan said.

Asuka just stared blankly at her bowl of ramen while everyone chatted. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she spoke up.

"Wait, I think I might have something!" Asuka exclaimed.

"What is it?" Spiral asked.

"What kind of person can go into either restroom without raising suspicion?" Asuka riddled.

Everyone had to think for a moment.

"Asuka, you're a genius!" Spiral had an epiphany. "The only person capable of that would be…"

Everyone waited in anticipation.

"A janitor!" Spiral revealed.

"Of course!" Lee also realized it. "It makes total sense! As long as they would knock before entering, they wouldn't raise any suspicions!"

"I think that's our best lead!" Aura said.

"Wait…" Shroud brought doubt into the conversation. "What about my case?"

"Our janitor's a guy." Naoto pointed out. "He simply could've went into the hotel, waltzed in while no one else was in there and tossed you into the mirror."

"If our deductions are correct, I owe that guy a few blows to the face!" Asuka cracked her knuckled.

"We should inform your mother about this." Hikari suggested.

"Yeah." Spiral nodded.

Later, the janitor was brought into a dimly lit room and was sitting at a table in the middle of it. Pulse entered the room first, followed by Spiral, Naoto and Asuka.

"Miss Principal, what might be going on here?" The janitor asked.

"We just have a few questions for you." Pulse took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"Do you recognize any of our faces?" Spiral asked.

"I do." The janitor answered. "You two boys were responsible for that puddle of urine I had to clean up on Halloween and I've had to clean up the blood that girl leaves in her wake."

"Are you familiar with this little girl?" Spiral interrogated as he held out a picture of Etsuko that he had in his pocket.

"… No, I'm afraid not." The janitor responded. "I see plenty of young girls in my neighborhood, but I've never met this one."

"And what about this?" Spiral then handed the janitor the folded warning letter he received.

"… What the..." The janitor looked at it in shock. "Who-Who would do such a thing?"

"You tell us." Naoto said.

"You recall the incident that happened back in September, right?" Pulse asked. "The one in which Genji Madaro was found dead? We think that the disappearance of some of our students is related to that."

"Are you accusing me of something? !" The janitor asked in realization.

"Possibly, but we won't know until we get some answers from you." Pulse answered calmly.

"… Wow, I feel like we're those jackasses and bitches that interrogate witnesses and criminals on those overrated crimes shows." Spiral commented.

"There's one more thing we need to know." Pulse said as she pulled out a small mirror from under the table. "Push onto this mirror as hard as you can."

The janitor seemed confused. "… What is this going to prove?"

"That's classified." Pulse simply answered.

The janitor seemed a bit uneasy to touch the mirror, but he went for it anyway. Everyone looked with anticipation, hoping that his hand would go right through it… only when the janitor touched the mirror, nothing unusual happened. His hand didn't go through it or anything.

"Thank you." Pulse took the mirror back. "Two more questions: Did you kill Madaro and placed these kids inside the mirror?"

"I certainly did not kill anyone!" The janitor yelled. "And what the hell does 'place inside the mirror' mean anyway? !"

Pulse just stared into what seemed like nothingness for a moment until she finally closed her eyes.

"Very well." Pulse spoke up. "You are innocent. You are free to leave. Sorry we assumed it was you."

The janitor left and the situation left Spiral, Naoto and Asuka perplexed.

"What… the hell was that about? !" Asuka seemed a bit furious.

"When a person lies, there are physical consequences that one can read." Pulse informed. "I looked into his eyes this whole time. It seems that his reactions were genuine."

Spiral looked down. "We're sorry we forced this upon him."

"It's not entirely your fault." Pulse said. "Your deductions were sensible, but sometimes even the most thought-out deductions won't lead you to the answer. Also, there's something I should have mentioned. When Momo's grandfather was killed, there were two scrolls stolen. One of them listed details on transformation ninjutsu. In other words, our culprit could change how he or she looked provided no one was around to see said transformation."

"Then who the hell could the killer be?" Naoto wondered.

They all had to think for a moment.

*This feels like we're going nowhere!* Spiral thought to himself. *There's something we're missing here! The only clues we have are the ones in front of us! For one, no one reported anything suspicious this whole time. That means it would have to be someone in the Academy, a student or faculty member. They would have to be in a disguise in order to avoid suspicion. Now that I think about it, it'd have to be someone with a position that allows them to watch over any and all happenings within the school. Who would that be…?*

Spiral had to think for several minutes before he came up with something.

"I… have an idea… but…" Spiral spoke up.

"Who is it?"

"What about the class rep?" Spiral questioned. "OUR class rep."

"Now way." Naoto denied. "I've known him for some time and there's no way he's a killer."

Naoto remained silent for a moment.

"Although… now that I think about it, he has been acting differently lately." Naoto realized. "Ever since the fall, he's been acting so different, he's practically a different person."

"Someone of his position would know the school well, know what we were doing and could approach my dorm room without anyone finding that suspicious since we have a class together. Since everyone knows who he is, that would explain the lack of witnesses." Spiral pointed out. "There's a chance that he isn't, but if you look at the clues, there are very few possibilities that can be ruled out. He would know about our situations and would use that to his advantage by changing his form. Actually, if he DID steal that scroll his current form might not even be his own. There's no reason to doubt him, but… something's been bugging me about him since the semester started."

"Let's inform the others about this." Asuka suggested.

They all stepped into the next room and told everyone about their deduction.

"Now that I think about it…" Hikari spoke up. "I saw him talking with Madaro at the beginning of the semester. They supposedly met after school."

"Wait!" Naoto seemed surprised. "He did? ! When? !"

"Remember back on it… I think it was the day before his body was found." Hikari answered.

"Yeah, and if he did steal that scroll from my grandfather, he could disguise himself as anyone and throw us into the mirror." Momo said. "It'd be no problem for him to slip that warning letter into Spiral's room either."

"Before we conclude that he is the one behind all this, I think we should hear it from the horse's mouth first." Spiral suggested.

With a suspicious shadow covering the class rep, they all left.

Luckily for them, the class rep was home while it was winter break. Spiral and his friends all went up to him.

"Oh, it's you guys." The class rep greeted. "What do you need? I was just about to head home."

"Uh huh." Spiral nodded.

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" He asked. "Classes don't start again until about a week from now."

Just then, the class under-rep came up to them and she didn't seem to be in a particular good mood.

"Oh, you're here, too?" The class rep asked.

"There's been something I've been meaning to tell you for some time now." The under-rep said. "You've been acting weird ever since the fall semester began."

"Weird how?" He asked.

"Your actions have been… out of character." She answered. "You've said and done some things that I couldn't help but question. I never said anything because I didn't have the courage to do so until now. Actually, I've gotten this unusual vibe from you ever since the semester began."

"What are you talking about?" The class rep asked. "I'm still the same old guy I was back then."

"Really?" The under-rep didn't seem to believe that. "How come whenever one of the other students left the class, you left as well?"

"He left?" Spiral asked. "I guess I never paid attention to that."

"Maybe it's just your imagination." The class rep said before turning toward the others. "And you should all get going soon. Who knows when a blizzard might kick in?"

"Come to think of it, why ARE you guys here?" The under-rep asked.

"We came to confirm something with the class rep." Spiral said.

"Me? What about?"

"You talked with Mr. Madaro after class near the beginning of the semester." Spiral told him. "What was it about?"

"Hmm… my memory's kinda hazy on that since it happened a few months ago." The rep said. "I think it was homework or something. Or maybe he was giving me a lecture. Can't remember exactly what it was. Was that all you wanted to ask?"

"One more thing." Spiral mentioned. "What about the warning letter I received a little while ago?"

"Warning letter?" The rep seemed confused.

"The one delivered directly to my dorm room." Spiral told him.

"You're well-loved around here, Spiral." The rep explained. "Why would anybody send YOU one? It's probably just a prank."

The rep then looked at everyone.

"For Christ's sake! What the hell is this all about? !" The rep started to look nervous for some reason. "I have some important business to deal with!"

He tried to leave, but Asuka and Lee blocked his path.

"There's another thing." Spiral said. "We know that the murders of Momo's grandfather and Madaro were done by the same person. Do you know who it might be?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The rep responded.

"'Cause we think it might've been you." Asuka expressed.

"Th-That's crazy talk!" The rep shouted. "For all we know, someone else might've put them-!"

The rep shut himself up… but it was too late.

"Did you just say… 'put'?" Aura questioned.

"Wait." The under-rep was confused. "Do you know something about their murders?"

"AAAAAHHHH!"

A student came screaming from down the hall. He ran and stopped right in front of the whole cluster of people.

"Guys! You won't believe this shit!" The guy panted from the running, but as soon as he looked up and saw the rep's face, he started to panic and babble like a lunatic. "What the hell? ! How can this be? ! You were dead just a minute ago!"

Everyone in the room was in shock at this revelation.

"I was in the bathroom, minding my own business when I smelled something weird." The student explained himself. "Not like restroom stink, but like a smell you don't even smell in a bathroom. Anyway, I followed the smell to one of the vents and I peeked inside. There I find the class rep's body all cold and shriveled up. Then I run out here and he's alive. What the **** is going on? !"

Everyone else turned their attention back to the class rep.

"Things aren't looking good for you, are they? 'Class rep'!" Naoto glared at him.

The class rep then ran in the opposite direction and everyone else gave chase.

At some point, they lost him and had to split up. Spiral and Shroud were searching the girls' dorm and he was looking around.

"Where the hell is he?" Spiral mumbled to himself.

As soon as Spiral turned around, he saw the class rep down the hall and another person he didn't expect to see with him.

"No!" Spiral started running toward them. "Etsuko!"

The other person was Etsuko and the class rep was holding onto her. She saw Spiral and tried to call out to him, but the class rep covered her mouth with his hand and pulled out a bomb and pressed a button on it. He then threw it at Spiral, but he ended up dodging it.

"That bomb is set to go off real soon!" The class rep shouted at him. "Who knows how many students it'll kill if you don't get rid of it!"

The rep ran off in a different direction while Spiral and Shroud were left behind to deal with the bomb.

"I can disarm the bomb!" Shroud told him. "You just focus on saving your sister!"

Spiral nodded and went off after him. He went into the direction he saw the rep run toward and noticed that a nearby restroom was recently opened. Spiral burst inside and saw the rep entering the mirror with Etsuko. He quickly threw a rubber ball at the wall, which ricocheted back to the mirror and cracked it. Spiral tried to enter the mirror, but he couldn't because the mirror was broken.

"DAMN IT!" Spiral punched the mirror with his fist.

Spiral just stood there with his fist in the mirror and started to cry.

"Why?" Spiral sobbed. "Why Etsuko? !"

Spiral continued to sob and wallow in his failure.

English Voice Cast

Todd Haberkorn Spiral

Maxey Whitehead Shroud

Alexis Tipton Aura

Monica Rial Momo

Kate Higgins Pulse

Yuri Lowenthal Naoto

Alison Viktorin Chan/Chun

Caitlin Glass Asuka

Laura Bailey Hikari

Tom Gibis Lee