The jazzband room is still mostly empty by the time Amelia enters. It's shaped like a normal classroom however instead of desks there are adjustable metal stands in front of every chair presumably for holding music sheets and notes. While it seems that most of the instruments are packed away in a backroom, Ame's gaze is drawn to the piano in the back corner. Curiosity overtakes her and she finds herself seated on the bench. The piano is an old thing and upon closer inspection well kept. Experimentally Amelia presses one of the ivory keys and is rewarded with a strong note. "It's in tune at least." She pulls out her pocket watch and places it on the rim, the time everstill but the action reminding her of the last time she sat down at a piano. With a melancholy smile her other hand drifts to the keys and she slips back into that moment.

For just a moment the detective finds herself relaxing before she notices the door opening and a head of pink hair peek curiously inside the room. Almost as quickly as she had begun to play, Amelia stops. The girl at the door walks in and Amelia immediately places her as the same girl she had noticed playing guitar the other day while she was walking the grounds with Ninomae Ina'nis. With a smile the girl walks over towards her, backpack on one shoulder and a heavy looking instrument case slung over the other. "Howdy there! I didn't mean to interrupt you. You must be the new student right?"

Clearing her head of old thoughts Amelia grabs her watch again, stuffing it into her pocket and turns to face the girl. "Uh- yeah I guess so. My name is Amelia, Amelia Watson. I woke up early so I just kind of showed up and the door was unlocked soo…"

With a smile the newcomer grabs one of the seats nearest to the piano and sets her stuff down. "Oh don't worry about it, the door is normally open. The teacher knows that we're all in the dorms so the music room is always open for practice if class isn't in session. "I'm Calliope Mori by the way. Feel free to call me Calli if that's too long, most people do." Calli leans forward with a smile holding her hand out.

Amelia shakes her hand while taking stock of Calliope. She's a tall girl with long pink hair and eyes to match. She appears to be wearing the school uniform pants but wears her own black sweatshirt instead of the school sanctioned sweaters. "Nice to meet you. I hope you don't mind if I lean on you a bit. I haven't actually played since I was younger."

"Really?" Calli raises an eyebrow as she goes to begin opening her instrument case. Once she undoes the latch she reveals the shiny saxophone that she pulls from the case. "I only heard the tail end but it sounded like you really knew what you were doing on those keys. To be honest I'm pretty happy that you showed up when you did. We're supposed to be playing a concert in a couple of weeks and our old pianist just sorta vanished."

"Oh really? Did they transfer out?"

With a shrug Calli takes a cloth and begins wiping down her instrument. "Honestly? Not sure. I'm sure we'd have heard if anything dramatic happened but as far as I'm concerned you're already better than her in my book." She pauses to give Amelia a considering look. "Well I mean, you aren't planning on sexually harassing anyone are you?"

Taken aback for a second at the bizarre question Amelia her head. "Was that an issue with your last pianist?"

"Yup. Hoshou Marine, her name is kind of infamous around here. There's not a girl in this class that she didn't make extremely, uncomfortably, aware of her…needs." Calli shudders. "Other than that she was actually pretty nice but kind of hard to overlook when every conversation gets so…. Horny."

Amelia grimaces at the thought. "Yeah, I can see how that might get old fast."

Calliope roots around in her bag for a second before pulling out a sheet of paper and holding it out. "Here's the sheet music that we are probably going to be practicing today, don't worry, it should be way simpler than what you were playing earlier."

By the end of class all Amelia zips closed her bag with a sigh. She ended up having to agree to weekly extracurricular practices to maintain her cover as a student interested in jazz band. The upside is that Enma was right, everyone she asked had plenty to say about the missing student Hoshou Marine. Unfortunately it was all mostly the same thing.

"Marine? Ugh yeah I thought she was normal until she suggested we'd play better without our uniforms. At first I agreed who wouldn't rather be in their casual clothes. That's when she clarified that she meant no clothes… No thanks."

"Oh our last pianist? She was… well.. very forward."

"Houshou Marine? Yea she was kind of alot but wasn't so bad. Sure she was kind of handsy but when her hands were busy with the piano she was actually pretty relaxed."

Unfortunately none of them had any relationship with her outside of class so no further clues. Standing up with her bag over her shoulder Amelia almost bumps into Calliope who stands at the same time. "Woah close there Watson." Calli adjusts her bag on her shoulder. "By the way this is your first day isn't it? You need help getting to your next class?"

Amelia pulls out the map Gura marked for her along with her schedule. "Uhm, I have Malay next It's across campus but I think I know where it is."

Nodding in acknowledgement Calli gestures and they both begin to walk to the door as they talk. "Oh, one of my friends TA's for that class. Reine, she's really nice. My next class is in the same direction we could walk together if you want?"

Smiling Amelia holds open the door for Calliope. "That sounds nice, I'd love to."

Suddenly Watson feels a sense of impending dread. Looking through the now open door she sees a pretty girl with bright orange hair and violet eyes. The smile on her face seems deceptive with the menacing aura coming from her eyes which are currently locked onto Amelia.

"Hey Calli. Who's your new friend?" The new girl speaks not once taking her eyes off of Amelia.

Thankfully Calliope walks through the door cutting off the strangers eye contact. "Oh hey, Kusotori. This is Amelia, this is her first day, be nice."

Amelia walks out behind Calli to see the girl, 'Kusotori' pouting. "Aww, Cawwi when am I not nice?" She bounces over to Calliope's side and grabs Calli's arm to her chest. "Ok, ok I'll be nice. Wanna walk with me to the dance studio? By the way have you seen Gura today? I hea-"

"Hold up there Kiara." Slowly Calli extricates her arm from Kiara/Kusotori's grasp. "I was actually going to walk with Amelia towards her class. She's got Malay and it's on the way to my next class.

Again Amelia is met with the same menacing smile as the newcomer turns her gaze away from Calliope. "...Oh. How nice of you."

Deciding that this is getting out of hand Amelia holds her bag close and takes a step away. "That's ok, I can see that you're busy so I'll just-"

She's stopped by Calli's hand on her arm. "Hold up Watson. Like I said, my class is on the way so I'll walk with you." Her other hand gestures to the new girl. "Amelia, this is Takanashi Kiara. We've been friends since… well for a very long time."

Watson looks to Kiara whose gaze is focused on Calli's hand swill grasping Ame's arm and gently removes the hand, holding her own out to Kiara. "Hi, like Calliope said I'm new here, it's nice to meet you Kiara." She makes a smile that she hopes reads as harmless.

Kiara seems to consider a moment before taking Amelia's hand in her own. Amelia only holds it for a second before the pain registers and she pulls her hand back in shock. "What the!" Looking at her hand she can see the skin of her palm is red, thankfully the pain already fading. The feeling reminded her of her childhood memories of touching asphalt on a hot day. "Did? Did you just burn me? You felt so hot?"

For her part Kiara instead of looking shocked or feigning innocence simply smiles impishly. "Hear that Calli, even Amelia thinks I'm hot."

Calli does not look Amused. "Watch it, Kusotori. If you're not going to play nice then I'll see you later." She grabs Amelia's other hand while she's still distracted by her stinging palm. "C'mon Watson."

Still looking at her hand Amelia allows Calli to drag her off in the direction of her class. She casts a look back over her shoulder to see Kiara still standing there, the expression on her face unreadable from this distance. After turning a corner Calli stops and turns back to Amelia. "Your hand, are you burned?"

The matter of fact question is enough to pull Amelia from her shocked state. "Uh, not really." She holds up her hand, the palm of which is only slightly pinker than her other hand. "What was that? Her skin felt like it was burning."

Calli studies her hand before reaching into her bag and pulling out a tub of white cream. "You're right. She didn't get you too bad but just to be safe I have some cream that might help. You never want to be too careful with burns."

She holds out the tub to Ame who dips her finger in and slowly spreads it on her pink palm. It's immediately comforting and she takes another to cover her whole palm. "Thanks. Good think you happen to carry burn cream." Calliope is silent as she closes the tub and puts it back into her bag. "That girl burned me with her skin." After a second Amelia's detail oriented mind realizes something. "She grabbed your arm and didn't burn you."

Sighing Calli scratches the back of her head. "C'mon we can walk and talk." She pushes off of the wall and begins walking in the direction of their classes. Still wanting answers Amelia falls into step beside her. From the expression on Calli's face it's clear that she's trying to gather her thoughts so Amelia is content to wait until she figures out an answer.

"You said this is your first day, so some things about this school are going to seem kind of weird." She gives Watson a look out of the side of her eye as she keeps walking. "But if you're here then well, you wouldn't be here if you weren't also… ugh look some stuff is gonna be weird."

Annoyed, Amelia responds, "That isn't actually an answer."

"I know." Calli stuffs her hands in her sweatshirt pocket and slouches slightly as she walks. "Look, I can't just tell you. I can't just tell Kiara's secrets like that. As for me. Well I won't go into it, but I don't really burn."

… It takes a second for Ame to realize that's all she plans to say. She considers pressing on the Kiara angle but it's clear that Calliope isn't going to say anything that she considers secret. "If you don't burn then why do you carry burn cream?"

Groaning Calli flushes as she answers. "Kiara is kind of, well she's really clingy. It's so annoying. This isn't the first time she's done this." Calli stops walking and nods her head to a nearby building. "Look if you want to talk more about this find me at lunch I'm normally on the east lawn. And look I'm really sorry about what happened and that I can't tell you more. For what it's worth I really do hope we can be friends?"

Friends with a girl who has a clingy…girlfriend? Who can burn people with a touch somehow. In any other situation Amelia would just walk away. However….

[Takanashi Kiara]: capable of burning people with a touch. Clingy and possessive of Calliope Mori.

Means

[Calliope Mori]: In Jazz band, is seated next to the piano where the missing girl Hoshou Marine, infamous flirt, known for being exceptionally 'handsy' used to sit.

Motive

No real detective would walk away from a potential informant. With a smile Amelia waves the non burned hand. "I understand you don't want to share secrets that aren't yours. As far as I'm concerned you've been more than nice to me, I'll see you later."

Relieved Calli waves and smiles back as she turns to walk to her own class.

Thankfully Olivia Kureiji used to be an assistant for at least one beginner Malay course. The language Bahsa Malasia is not one that Amelia had ever given much thought to having never been to the region but since she's in the class might as well pay attention. Who knows when it might be useful? So despite only really pretending to be a student Amelia found herself actually taking notes. Perhaps after this case she might have time to take an online course or something. Seeing as she didn't arrive early enough to talk to the students or teachers aid might as well just pay attention to the lesson. It's something to keep her mind off of her strange encounter with Calliope and Kiara.

After class when most of the students start leaving the teacher assistant who had introduced herself during class as Pavolina Reine moves from the front and takes a seat in a middle desk pulling out some papers and a pen. She's a tall and graceful girl with pale lavender hair and clear green eyes. As Amelia walks up to her her eyes are drawn to the blue feathered hairpin she wears. "Um, excuse me. Hi, I don't want to take up a bunch of your time but I was wondering. Do a lot of classes here have TA's?"

Reine looks up from her paper at Amelia. "Hello, Amelia right? Hmm, there are some others but no, it's not common. I think any teacher can get TA's but Olivia and I only do it for the free credits. We're both from Indonesia so it's not difficult."

"Olivia? Does she help with this class too?"

Reine sighs and leans onto the desk with her elbow resting her face in her hand. "Yeah, she had to go back home for some family troubles so I'm covering for her until she gets back.

Family troubles? There was nothing in Enma's file about that. Amelia also doubts that Enma would have missed something so obvious. Still there's nothing else she could ask without being overtly suspicious. "Oh, sounds rough having to cover an extra class all of a sudden. You two must be close."

"Yeah, I guess so." Sitting back up Reine takes her pen up again and looks towards the paper. "I just kind of wish she told me before she left. It's been nice meeting you Amelia, I don't want to be rude but I really do have some homework I need to catch up on. I'd love to chat with you some other time."

Nodding Amelia gathers her bag. "Of course, I didn't mean to take up your time. I'll see you around."

Stonewalled. That's probably the best way Amelia could summarize trying to get any useful information out of her latin class. Not only was it a completely unreasonable class to have, the students that she asked weren't able to tell her anything about Uruha Rushia or the Occult club. Not even so much as where to apply. It's a wonder Enma was able to find out that Rushia was a member in the first place.

With a heavy sigh and feeling more tired than she reasonably should be at 2:30 Amelia walks from her last class to the pizza place Gura had marked. Normally she'd have liked to have something a little nicer than school grade pizza for lunch but because of her unexpectedly early morning with Gura and the promising clues for the investigation she had totally forgotten to eat breakfast.

Sitting down at an empty table she eats pizza with one hand while typing out a quick message to Enma

["Look into Kureiji family.]

[Anything that would cause them to pull Olivia out of school for a while."]

[Also anything you have on a student named Takanashi Kiara.]

Knowing that Enma won't reply until she'd found something, Amelia puts the phone away and instead checks her pocket watch. It reads one-sixteen and Amelia freezes mid bite. She watches it carefully for a few seconds and then relaxes after she counts thirty seconds without the second hand moving. She can't help but mumble to herself as she wracks her brain for the last time she looked at it. "When did it-"

"Watcha lookin at Watson?" Amelia almost jumps out of her seat at the sound of Gura's voice right beside her. "Whoops didn't mean to spook ya." Gura says as she slides into the bench next to Amelia with her own plate of pizza. "It's two-thirty two by the way. Pretty sure your watch is broken." Gura says while checking the sports watch on her own wrist.

After taking a breath Amelia responds. "Yeah, It's been broken for a while. I… mostly keep it for sentimental reasons." Which is almost true.

Nodding along, Gura stuffs pizza into her mouth giving Amelia a moment to think. She had honestly been still pondering the Rushia problem, but perhaps it'd be best to focus on the angles that have a more clear line of inquiry. "Hey Gura."

"Hmm?" Gura looks up, taking a bite of her second slice.

"I was wondering." Amelia tries to think of a way to bring it up naturally but with Gura's personality perhaps the direct route might be best. "Did you always have your own room, or did you have a roommate before me?"

Gura looks at her confused but answers anyway. "Uh yeah. There was another girl that I roomed with but she moved out a couple weeks ago."

"Did she happen to say why?" Gura is still looking at her strangely so she tries to find something to make the line of questioning sound more natural. "Uh, it's just weird I guess. To move out in the middle of the semester right? So I was just curious."

"I guess so." Gura shrugs and takes another bite. "I wouldn't know. I just came back one day and she was gone. Didn't think much of it but when I got back from class the next day all of her stuff was gone too. We weren't super close or anything so I never really asked."

Dang another bum lead. It's beginning to look like the Calliope Kiara angle might be the only one to go off of for the moment. "Also a random question. I heard a rumor about there being an occult club or something like that at this school. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it would you?"

Gura takes a moment to think while finishing off the last of her lunch. "You mean like spirits and ghosts and all that? I dunno, not really my thing. My friend Calli might know something. She tends to be into creepy stuff like that."

How many Calli's could there be at this school? "Do you mean Calliope Mori?"

Gura nods, "Yup, how did.. Oh wait you had jazz band didn't you. Well there you go, you want to know about weird creepy stuff ask her. I only know about cool things."

Ame can't help but take the bait "Oh yeah like what?"

With a proud grin Gura responds. "Did you know that there are over four hundred species of different sharks?"

"Uh, no?"

"Well there you go shark fact." Gura smiles proudly and Amelia can't help but giggle. "Hey sharks are cool! What are you laughing at?"

Stifling it Amelia grins back at Gura. "No you're right, cool fact." Looking out at the east lawn Amelia spots a head of pink hair sitting in the grass. "Actually I think I see Calli over there now. I think I'll go ask her about it. I'll see you later?"

Gura shrugs. "Probably tomorrow unless you're up late. I've got swim practice and I usually stay late. Seeya Watson."

Amelia gives a small wave as she stands and throws away the garbage from her lunch walking towards the east lawn. Calliope is laying down on the grass using her backpack as a pillow when Amelia approaches. "Hey, Calli. Sorry if I'm bothering you. Do you have time to talk?"

Opening her eyes Calli smiles up at Amelia. "Sure, take a seat." She says gesturing to the grass next to her. "So what's up?"

"I was actually hoping you could help me out with a rumor I heard." Intrigued Calliope sits up. "Have you ever heard of an occult club at this school?"

If Amelia hadn't been watching Calli's expression she might have missed the disgust that passed over her face for just a second before her expression calms into a more normal face of apprehension. "Yeah, I've heard of it. You really shouldn't be getting involved with them though. Those guys, just aren't right. They do stuff that… Well it's not ok."

Curious. "I tried asking around about them in my Latin class but everyone was pretty tight lipped. Do you have personal experience with them?"

Scratching the back of her head Calli looks away hiding her expression. "...Yeah. I guess you could say that." She turns back with a heavy sigh. "Ya, know I really wish we could've talked about something more normal."

Amelia herself looks away. Perhaps if she wasn't on the job they could have talked about music or classes or the things normal friends talk about, but small talk isn't going to find those missing girls. "Sorry, I'll make it up to you some other time, promise. Do you happen to know when they meet?"

"I do. But I'm serious that you shouldn't get involved with them. You're new here, things at this school can be a bit. Intense."

Amelia thinks back to her strange meeting with Kiara. If Calliope treats that like it's normal, what about the Occult club has her so spooked? It's all the more reason to investigate, if there's something strange going on there it's an even greater chance that the club is in some way involved with the disappearance of Uruha Rushia. "Thanks for the warning, I'll be careful I promise. I'd just like to see for myself."

Frustrated Calli runs her hand through her hair. "Guh! Fine. I tried to warn you. Here." Calli holds out her hand with several loose strands of pink hair clutched in her grasp. "They meet after dark in the literature room. They won't let you in unless you bring them something that interests them. This will work."

Amelia hesitates before reaching forward and taking the hair awkwardly. "The occult club is interested in your hair? Would any hair work or is it specifically yours?"

Looking annoyed, Calli takes a moment to smooth out her hair. "I have some… history with them. I don't want to get into it." She pulls her bag onto her shoulder and pushes herself up. "Good luck on whatever you're trying to do here but if it involves that club you can count me out from here on. I'll see you in class Watson."

After watching Calli walk off Amelia looks at the strands of hair she's holding and without any better place to keep them just puts them into her sweater pocket and stands to head back to the dorms.

It's halfway back to the dorms when the tingling feeling on the back of her neck alerts Amelia that she's being watched. Rather than look back and let whoever it is know that she noticed she instead takes a sudden left away from the dorms and towards the observatory. Walking around the backside she's out of view of the main student foot traffic. She turns, her hand in her pocket clutching her pocket watch ready to confront her stalker.

When Takanashi Kiara walks out Amelia finds that she isn't surprised. The look on her face is the same as when she first met her. A sweet smile accompanied by eyes filled with rage. "I saw you with Calli at lunch. I think we need to talk about some boundaries." Kiara cracks her knuckles and the air around her seems to distort, light refracting as her temperature increases.

Amelia takes a step back as she's hit with a wave of heat emanating out from the girl. "H-how are you doing that?" She pulls her other hand out to cover her eyes, the heat threatening to dry them out.

Kiara freezes her eyes locking onto Amelia's hand. A long pink strand of hair sticks stubbornly to her sleeve. Amelia notices too late trying to shove it back into her pocket but the damage has been done. Kiara's smile drops her face hardening into an enraged glare. "You little shit!" Kiara steps forward, her hair bursting into flames of red and green.