Midari stands up from her desk after swiping at both players' card stacks. 'It's a draw!' She looked at the clock in her office. It was time to go to her next class. Yumeko was dumbfounded, processing that somber monologue. "Where are you going?" Midari put the magnum into her beautification bag. 'I have a Pre-Calculus class to get to.' She noticed Yumeko gathering the cards. 'Do not bother cleaning up, I will get to it after the class day is finished. Maybe I will have Mako quickly throw out the sullied deck.' Before Midari leaves her office she takes a big sip of some vanilla flavored vodka she hid under one of the drawers. 'Fuck functions.' "Wait hold up!" Yumeko jumped out of the office chair and began to follow Midari out of the office. 'Mako.' "Yes Midari?" 'I do not like to do this. For the first time in a few months, would you mind cleaning up the cards in my office?' "Of course, as your assistant I will complete the tasks you create." 'Okay but I do not like to view you as my subordinate, I want to just view you as a friend. I usually tend to keep my own office nice and tidy. Unfortunately, today was a little bit of a turn-off.' Mako's face grinned so wide, "Friend?" She immediately grabbed Midari and gripped her in a deadlock hug. Midari was beginning to experience the sensation of bated breath. The hug was tight, too tight. 'Yes Mako we are friends. I just wanted to make sure you know that the friendship supersedes our work relationship.' "Of course." 'Good. Do you mind loosening that hug a bit? I am struggling to inhale fresh oxygen.' "Yes. Sorry, I did not realize my own strength. I will clean up the fallen house of cards Midari. Enjoy the rest of your day." 'Thank you. Have a pleasant afternoon Mako.' Midari exited the Beautification Council Office, forgetting that Yumeko was following her. This began to get on Midari's nerves. 'Do you not have a class to get to?' Yumeko paused in her tracks. "Yes actually I do. My next class is Pre-Calculus in room 3-9." Midaris' right pupil contracted to the size of a pinhead. 'Are you fucking kidding me?' Yumeko quickly pulled out her transcript. "See, after Pre-Calculus I have my lunch period." Midari took the transcript out of Yumeko's hands to read the fine text. 'Wait. This class was added after the first school day. Did you specifically select this class?' "I did not. My academic advisor made a mistake with my original transcript. It had Geometry originally but I already took the course at my last school. She then decided to place me in the last Pre-Calculus that had open space." 'Fuck. I should have brought the bottle of vanilla vodka with me.'
The two walked through the halls of the academy. "I think I will help you out on your little investigation." 'The game was a draw Yumeko, your assistance is not required.' "I am aware. However, I assume you do not have many leads let alone people to assist you." Midari rolled her right eye. 'I do not. The only person that knows about this besides us is Yuriko and all she got was a letter.' Yumeko stopped Midari. "What letter?" 'Okay I misspoke. I meant to say it was a message, written in the same size and font as on the piece of paper found taped to the inside of the white case I received which contained the shot bullets and the custom blank. The message stated, Preserve The National Heritage, Crush The Nonconformist President And Her Female Lover. Yumeko was a bit skeptical. "A piece of paper written by someone with narrow minded views, bullet cases, and a custom blank alone isn't exactly admissible evidence, Midari." 'That's what I said to Yuriko before she gave me the envelope that came with the message.' "What was inside of the envelope?" Midari took out the polaroid from her beautification bag and handed it to Yumeko. 'Here.' Yumeko noticed that the polaroid revealed Kirari and Sayaka kissing at the Momobami estate. Her face flushed from embarrassment. Midari looked at her funny. 'What? They are just kissing. No need to feel awkward about it.' Yumeko paused. "Wouldn't you feel embarrassed to have been captured in such an intimate moment?" Midari paused as she noticed Yumeko stopped walking. 'I am honestly not sure. I have never found a person I would want to kiss with such passion.' Both looked at each other, silence filling the hallway. The bell rang, they were late to class. 'C'mon, we can talk about this later.'
After the class day was over Midari waited to be picked up by her mother. She sensed that her mother would probably be late again. After that thought occurred her phone buzzed. A text message confirmed her assumptions. Yumeko snuck up behind her. "Hey." Midari became startled. 'Shit! You know I have a gun right‽' Yumeko giggled. "Aww, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just gonna ask if you are available to talk more about the case now that classes are finished." 'Yeah my mom is going to be late to pick me up again. I'll be here for at least another hour. Let's go back to my office.' Once they reached her office, they placed their belongings on Midari's sofa. 'Mako must have gone home.' Midari noticed that her desk and floor were cleared of the sullied deck. 'Would you like a drink?' Yumeko assumed that Midari had juice or water. "What do you have?" 'I have a bottle of Portuguese wine.' Yumeko was a little hesitant but decided to go for it. "Okay I will have one." Midari smiled. 'I think you will enjoy it.' Yumeko took a small sip and her face immediately lit up. "Wow, that is good. I taste pears and cherries." She finished her glass. "Can I have another?" 'Of course.' Midari poured Yumeko another glass and then decided to get herself one. "This is quite delicious." Midari is getting bored. 'So, you said that you wanted to talk. Let's do it then.' Yumeko's face became emotionless to start the serious questioning. She took out a notepad and pen. "Okay, do you think you are being targeted?" 'Yes but I am not sure why.' "Why was Yuriko's message drastically different from yours?" 'Well, maybe the individual is trying to appeal to each member of the Student Council in a distinct manner.' "Are any other members aware of this conspiracy?" 'For now I believe it is just Yuriko, you, and me.' "Why not simply just go to the student council and tell the president?" 'Because I do not know if any other members are involved in the conspiracy. It could also be hard to persuade the other members. I am not exactly the most reputable of characters within the Council.' Yumeko smirked. "I am not surprised." 'Which is a reason why I think the person first chose me.' "Has Yuriko questioned any of her members about any strange behaviors or actions?" Midari did not have an answer. 'Let's ask her.' The two went to the Traditional Culture Research Club. The room was empty. 'The school day may be over but I've usually seen one or two members stick around to help Yuriko schedule the club's future affairs.' They decided to go to her office. 'Hey Yuriko where the hell are you…' She was found sitting in her chair but in a slumped stance. Her mouth was open, drool tracing down her cheeks. Eyes closed, bruises formed around her exposed chest and abdomen. A large pool of blood formed on the floor. Midari ran to her. Yuriko's breathing was faint, her pulse was not promising either. Her pupil dilated as she saw that both of Yuriko's wrists had been severely slashed. 'Yumeko! Lift her arms and keep them flat in the air.' Yumeko was feeling a bit nauseous. She was glad to have had multiple glasses of wine. Midari searched through her beautification bag to find a ball of gauze with a needle and polydioxanone suture. "Have you done this before?" Midari shrugged. 'A couple times. Now is not the time to ask for my credentials. My friend is barely clinging on to life Yumeko. Now, we need to stop the bleeding. The cuts are deep enough that they require stitches, gauze alone will not suffice. Now let's start with the right arm.' Yumeko lifted up Yuriko's right arm flat in the air. Midari took out two antibacterial wipes from her beautification bag. One was used to sanitize her hands, the other was used for the needle before sanitizing the wound itself. She tied the suture to the needle tightly. 'Here we go.' Midari kept performing a calm breathing pattern as she carefully stitched her friends' wounds. She decided to create a diagonal stitch pattern as Yuriko's multiple cuts were long and deep. It would take too long to create multiple knots. Eventually Midari finished with the stitches and began to wrap her right arm with copious layers of surgical gauze. She made a tight knot to maintain firm pressure. 'Are you hanging in there Yumeko?' "Yes, I am no longer nauseous. Do you think the bleeding has stopped in her right arm?" 'I hope so. We still have the left arm to work on.' Around 15 minutes passed, the wounds on the left arm were stitched up and tightly wrapped with gauze. Both looked at the right arm. The gauze was still white, the bleeding seemed to have subsided. 'Good. Now let's call an ambulance.' EMS came to the academy and took Yuriko to the closest hospital. Yumeko decided to go home after quite the eventful afternoon. Midari still has a few minutes before her mother picks her up from a long day at school.
With everyone gone Midari decided to stay in Yuriko's office for a moment of silence. Suddenly she heard a faint noise. Midari sensed vibrations coming from Yuriko's desk. She opened the bottom drawer of the desk to discover her phone. The phone screen side up. The sound grew louder once she picked up the phone. A song was playing. She pressed the side button of Yuriko's phone to display what media was playing. 'No. It can't be.' Yuriko had her Spotify playing the song All Mine by Portishead. Her heart rate increased as she tried to turn off the music. The phone was not responding to her commands. 'Turn off you piece of shit.' A message appeared from a blocked number on the screen. This phone is corrupted my dear Midari. Let me clear the silence for you. The phone's speaker maxed out. Midari began to hit the phone against Yuriko's desk. 'Damn Nokia's.' Another message appeared. This is cute, time to end the noise sweets. The song filled the office completely. Tremors engulfed her entire body. She began to see vivid images of her past suicide attempt. The music must be shut off. Midari turned to see three speakers spread across Yuriko's office, placed in subtle but easy to forget locations. 'I've had enough of this.' Midari took out her loaded .44 and shot the three speakers as well as the phone. Constant ringing filled the room, her nerves are now calming. She looked around the room to find a potential camera. Eventually she found a black marble-sized camera taped against the corner of the room. 'Found you ya son of a bitch.' Midari flipped the gun and hit the camera with the butt. This broke the lens but kept the internal chips intact. She screamed to the top of her lungs in rage. 'I will find you and show you what it means to truly feel despair. Then you will beg me to kill you.' A couple minutes later she picked up her beautification bag to find a tissue. A few tears were wiped away from her eye. 'Okay, I need a shower.'