Chapter 12: Miho?
7:00 PM
It took 45 minutes to interrogate the 12 girls, and unfortunately for Maho and the others, it was a waste of time: none of them had seen Miho. Disheartened, the group decided to say their goodbyes. As they climbed back into the helicopter, Alice, accompanied by her deputies, said to them:
"I'm sorry… I hope you'll find your friend soon."
Hana was about to reply, but at that moment a female voice asked:
"Hey, shiki-kan! Who are these girls?"
Alice and the others turned around, noticing three girls: The first had black hair that reached her shoulders and eyes of the same color, the other two left both Kay and the others speechless.
"Naomi! What are you doing here? And why are you wearing a University Team uniform?" The captain of Saunders asked.
However, it was the third girl who surprised her and the others. In fact, it was none other than…
"Miho! Is that you?" Darjeeling asked her.
Hana, happy as ever, hugged her captain.
"Miho! Luckily you are unharmed… We were worried, we were worried about you!" She stated.
Her captain looked at her as if she were crazy.
"Excuse me?" She asked, confused.
"You idiot! How did you think to try to commit suicide?" Kay scolded Miho, pointing her index finger at her.
"Yes… A useless and cowardly action!" Erika supported her, crossing her arms and looking disgusted.
Maho nodded and approached her younger sister.
"Now come with us… You will return to Ooarai, for the time being, and in the meantime I will find a way to convince our mother to retrace her steps." She said.
The brunette, however, reacted unexpectedly: she freed herself from Hana's embrace and exclaimed, impatiently:
"What the hell are you talking about? Are you drunk, by any chance? I don't know you or this Miho!"
The girls were disoriented.
"But… Miho! What are you saying?" Hana asked her.
"That's Natalia, one of our classmates. And I'm Olga." The Naomi-lookalike intervened.
"I'm Ekaterina instead." The raven-haired girl introduced herself.
"They're all my students." Alice said.
The girls' relief immediately changed into strong disappointment, when they realized that in front of them it wasn't Miho, but a simple lookalike.
It seemed too easy to me…
Thought Inspector Ogino.
"I see… Let's go, girls." Maho said.
After a few minutes, FA 223 took off, heading east.
Alice and the other students watched it go away, then Azumi said:
"Luckily Miho stayed in the tent, otherwise we would have had endless trouble."
"Can I know who this Miho is? And what is she doing in our camp?" Natalia asked, impatiently.
Her captain gave her a stern look.
"A guest of mine… And if you don't want to be kicked out of the team, you mustn't tell anyone she's here! And the same goes for you, Ekaterina and Olga!"
The three girls, intimidated, simply nodded. But they all realized that their commander's guest was the same girl that the police and students from 4 academies were looking for in the forest, and that they had heard about while exploring the area.
"Now go back to your tents, and wait for dinner time. You've walked enough for today." Alice ordered them.
The trio snapped to attention.
"Hai, shiki-kan!" They answered in unison.