Chapter 7: Case of the Nutcracker

Act I: Consultation

"Nyah-Nyah, it all started when this guy—I think his name was Dousa-Mai-ya—came to our school and brought this biiiiiig bag of toys to give to all us. He gave everyone little puppies who could play saxophones or a trumpet or even some drums! He told us that if we brought the puppies together, they could play together like a tiny band! We of course tried it, and all of a sudden, the puppies were playing just as he said."

Fremea-chan drank some of her tea.

"But then, Dousa Mai-ya pulled out this biiig bulldog with a large hat and a stick in his hands. He had these biiiig blue eyes and a wiiiide jaws with pointy teeth. Dousa Mai-ya told us that this doggy was special. He put a whole walnut in its mouth, and the doggy chewed the nut, and it fell out in little pieces.

"All of us wanted him right away! All of us tried to get it, but Dousa Mai-ya pulled it away from us. He told us that this doggy was tougher than the others, and how it was for a special little girl. 'If you are good little girls and don't do anything naughty, then the Nutcracker is yours on New Year's Day.'

Oni-chan was listening intently. His arms were wrapped tightly around him. He was rocking back and forth, and his eyes were closed as if in deep concentration. At that very moment, his eyes flew open, and he held out a hand to stop her.

"When did all of this start?"

"Nyah! Christmas Eve," Fremea-chan replied.

"So a three days ago, correct?"

"Hai!"

"Okay, please continue."

"Nyah-Nyah! So a lot of the kids thought that this rule was unfair. I know this boy name Fritz who ran with the Nutcracker-san in his arms, even though they told him not to. When we all ate at dinner, he was holding Nutcracker-san and eating breakfast at the same time.

"Nyah! Fritz isn't what you call a neat eater, and some of his food ended up dripping onto the little doggy. When Sensei came to take the Nutcracker-san away, he wouldn't let it go. They kept tugging at poor Nutcracker-san until inevitably it slipped out of Fritz-san's arms. Everybody screamed when we all saw the little doggy fly out and fall to the ground. Nutcracker's big red hat was knocked off his head. Fritz, of course, had to take a time out after that."

"Oh poor Nutcracker-san!" I cried, but Fremea-chan shook her head.

"Nyah-Nyah! That wasn't the worst thing to happen with Nutcracker-san, though!" she said, "The worse came later when we were playing before going to bed!

"Fritz, that idiot! He stole Nutcracker-san again! This time Marie caught him and threatened to tell sensei, but he just stuck out his tongue and ran away with Nutcracker-san. Then, we were all chasing him, screaming for him to stop and come back. He tripped on his own untied shoelaces and fell on top of the doggy band still playing on the floor, and Nutcracker-san flew out of his hands and his hat got knocked off again. Then Marie tripped over Fritz and landed on Nutcracker-san!"

I gasped.

Fremea-chan nodded. "Nutcracker-san was even worse now than before! His hat was knocked off again, but then Marie landed on him and his arm popped off and his lower jaw snapped off, Nyah- Nyah! Worse still, the whole doggy band had been smashed to pieces.

"Nyah-Nyah! We were all crying at that poing. Fritz was crying because he hurt himself and Marie was crying because she hurt Nutcracker-san. All of us were crying because the two of them were crying. Fritz was punished again, this time with raps on the knuckles. Marie had to sit in time out, and the rest of us had to go to bed early.

"Later that night, I woke up to a strange continuous chirping sound that seemed to echo throughout the house. I crept out of my bedroom, and I saw strange shadows coming up from below. I wanted to go downstairs to look, but something made me feel super sleepy. The last thing I remember was the grandfather clock chiming and that Dousa Mai-ya guy sitting on top."

"The next morning, I somehow woke up back in my bed. Then I heard some music playing downstairs, and the whole class ran downstairs. Miraculously, someone had fixed the whole band, even though they had all been smashed to smithereens. Strangest of all, though, Fritz and Marie have both gone missing."

There was a pause as Fremea-chan sipped some more of her tea. Oni-chan, who had been listening intently, came to and started asking some more questions.

"Who is this Marie? And who is Fritz"

"Nyah- Nyah! They're exchange students from Austria. They came to learn how to become espers."

"So are they related?"

"I think so. I don't really know the details."

"But since they're both foreign nationals, aren't they just going back to their home countries?"

"Nyah! That's what sensei said when we asked her," Fremea-chan answered, "All of us accepted it at first, but then one night some of the kids saw Fritz wandering through the hallway. They yelled at him, but he wouldn't yell back. They chased after him, but he disappeared around a corner and was never seen again."

Fremea-chan drank some more tea.

"Nyah- Nyah! Then I found out that they were child-errors and had no family back home. So there was no way they would go back anyway."

Oni-chan blinked. "How on Earth do you know that?"

Takitsubo, who had stayed silent through the whole interview, suddenly spoke up. "Fremea-chan asked us to search for Fritz and Marie in the JUDGEMENT database. There was no record of either child leaving Academy City, either through legitimate means or through dark-side dealings."

Oni-chan sweat-dropped, "…And might I ask how you got entry into that database?"

"We hacked into it," She rolled her eyes, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

"I need to tell Shiai to beef up the security then," Oni-chan grumbled to himself before standing up. "I think I get the gist of what you need," he said to Fremea, "Fritz and Marie are missing, and you want me to look for them, and you want me to find out about this Dou-sa-maiya character, correct?"

Fremea nodded. "Nyah! I went to JUDGEMENT to ask for help, but they were busy dealing with this man-wolf thing to handle my case."

My mind flashed back to last night at the underground shopping center. Those big red eyes and the gnashing teeth were plaguing my dreams, and the mere thought of them made me shudder. I kept my mouth shut.

"Okay then," said Oni-chan, "May I visit your Dorm this evening?"

"Sure," Fremea said, "But I'll have to talk to sensei first."

Oni-chan glanced at Takitsubo-san. "Is there any way I can contact you?"

She nodded. "I can give you my number. Fremea can text you through my phone."

"Excellent! That takes care of a lot of things!" Oni-chan smiled.

Takitsubo-san and Fremea got up together and followed Oni-chan to the door. I got up too and went after them.

"Bye Fremea," I said, "I'm so sorry for all the trouble you've had. I only wish that I was there for you."

She hugged me, tightly. "It's okay. I like my life right now. I have people who love me and friends like who care for me. I don't want anything to change!"

She stepped back through the threshold and let the door close between us. Then, I heard the scraping of metal as she and Takitsubo-san departed.

I took the opportunity to duck into the bathroom. Oni-chan handed me some of my clothes, and I changed with the door slightly ajar.

Oni-chan sighed. "So Otohime, what do you think?" He said, "About the case, I mean."

I thought for a second. "It all seems peculiar to me. First of all, who is this Dou-sa-Mai-ya character they keep talking about? What does he have to do with Fritz and Marie's disappearance? Is Nutcracker-san really all that? Why was there so much fuss over him?"

Oni-chan nodded. "Then there is the strange chattering or chirping in the night, and the toys getting repaired in the day."

"I can't make heads or tails on any of it," I confessed, "It's all very strange."

"There is one clue that we can work on right now, though." Oni-chan said. "That Dou-sa-mai-ya specifically named the Nutcracker as leader of the toy band, and I kept thinking of this play I saw once."

His footsteps faded away. When I came out, I saw him rummaging through the bookshelf. With a cry of delight, he pulled out a little pamphlet and showed it to me.

"Aha! I have it!"

It was a simple piece of cardstock folded widthwise to form a little booklet. Its cover, though, was decorated with an elaborate border and the image of a stocky wooden soldier could be seen on the cover. Its title was written in English in a large serif font, under which the Japanese translation read: "THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING: A CLASSIC TALE OF LOVE AND HEROISM!"

"I saw this last week. It was put on by the liberal arts schools," he said, "It's the first western play I've ever seen."

"Isn't there a ballet version too?"

Oni-chan nodded. "Actually, this play was based off of the original novel."

"But how can that be?" I asked, "This is Acadamy city we're talking about. Science is the only thing they care about."

"I know," Oni-chan sighed. "Academy city isn't big on the Arts, since it's too focused on Science to care about anything else. So the new liberal arts schools have started a patronage system. Both the Anglican and Orthodox schools have been especially fierce in attracting more protégés especially level 0s and others who haven't found much luck in their core curricular studies."

He smiled. "Well, I know where I'm going next."

He took a step back, and his foot landed on the blanket draping the Kotastsu. Before I could react, he slipped on the blanket and fell backwards screaming and arms flailing. There was a loud "crash!" as he landed with a loud thud on the squat table, which in turn flipped over and dumped Oni-chan in the space between it and the bed.

"Ita-ta-ta-ta!" Onichan groaned, "Fukuda!"

Then, I heard what I could only describe as rolling thunder, even though the sky was clear. Like an old fashion steam locomotive, it grew louder and louder until it stopped at our very door.

BAM! BAM!BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The door boomed as something loud hit it. Then, a voice roared like a lion. "KAAAAAAAAAMMMIIIIIIIIIJOOOOUUUUU TOOOOOUUUUUMAAAAAA! COME OUT THIS INSTANT!"

Side Story 1: The Caper

Part 1: Casing the Joint

"Here we are-Nyah! GROUP Headquarters!" Tsuchimikado Motoharu he threw his arms out wide like a showman

Shiage looked up at the grayish brown façade, barely able to contain his …uh…excitement? No that wasn't the word he wanted to use.

He had expected some kind of military-style bunker with guards posted everywhere. Instead, it was normal a skyscraper, like you would expect in a city like this. It stood facing a ribbon of highway, raising up thirty stories, yet all the people walking by barely registered its presence.

"Huh,"

"So? Why did you chou-call me out here?" said the girl standing at his elbow, her arms crossed tightly.

In truth, Hamazura was so relieved that Saiai Kinuhata alone came after he called ITEM for help. Mugino, safe to say, was out shopping and couldn't be bothered "…to play with children," as she so eloquently put it. Even so, that was a small comfort for Hamazura as a tiny but deadly strong hand grabbed his collar and dragged him down to her level.

"Why are we chou-following a GROUP member into GROUP's HQ? Are you trying to get us killed?"

Shiage could feel his bladder loosening. How could such a cute girl in a wool sweater with a bob haircut and bangs make him tremble so much? His lips quivered, and he tried desperately to speak. "Ex-GROUP member," He said, "GROUP was disbanded just like ITEM was."

"I don't chou-care!" She said darkly, "There are many other things I'd rather do than chou-hang around with you. Now give me a reason why I shouldn't chou-clobber you for wasting my time?"

But before Hamazura could supply an answer, a loud raspy voice made both of them freeze instantly.

"Well shit! Aren't we a happy lot today?" The albino in striped shirt emerged from the underpass. The tap, tap, tap sound from his cane echoed loudly off the concrete, amplifying his presence to all.

Motoharu grinned. "Accelerator-kun you sure took your time-nyah! We were just about to go on without you-nyah!"

"Heh, and get blown to bits? I don't fucking think so! You couldn't get past the first trap even you used up all your magic."

Kinuhata dropped Shiage. "I sure we could chou-manage without you." said, "I think that I'm more than qualified."

But Accelerator just jeered. "Cheeky brats like you should know their place." He sneered. "You're just a sad imitation of me."

Shiage sweated as the two glared down each other. There was no way he would survive if they really went at it with each other.

Fortunately, Motoharu intervened. "Peace between co-conspirators-nyah! We are in this together!"

Kinuhata broke her gaze at Accelerator and turned to the blonde. "I chou-ask again. What does this have to do with me?"

"Nyah! There's a treasure trove of data in there," Motoharu said, gesturing at the building, "The GROUP laison compiled a mountain of knowledge about Academy city and the outer world. Included in that cache is information on child errors in who disappeared in the underworld and had been erased from the Judgement and Anti-skill Databases" He glanced at the girl and smirked. "Mayhaps you will even find information about your past-nyah! Even before the Dark May project."

Kinuhata stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Sounds interesting, but why are you doing this?"

"Call it a favor for a friend-nyah," Motoharu said, "I hate owing that guy so much debt, and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse!"

"Heh, so he's finally ask for repayment?" Accelerator growled. "It's about fucking time!"

"And yet he collects so little," Motoharu smirked "He is so infuriating-nyah!"

"Honestly," Shiage sighed. "I just know that I'm gonna owe him so much more after this is done!"

Kinuhata glanced at the boys quizzically. "Who are you all chou-talking about?"

At this, all three boys just laughed. "Nyah! They say he could stop a bolt of lightning simply by waving his hand at it," Motoharu said, "And his words were so-nyah charming, Magic Gods fall head-over-heels for him-nyah!"

"I hear that Aleister Crowley wanted to bequeath the city to him," Shiage said, "But he adamantly refused."

"It's true," Acclerator growled, "When the world's most powerful people are in deep shit, they go get his help."

Motoharu laughed. "He is only the most interesting man in the world, of course. Kami-yan Touma!"