Chapter 2: Lucky Charms

Takeru sat in the waiting room of the Police Box, nervously twiddling his thumbs under the incredulous gaze of the officer that had been assigned to babysit him. Dareo was sitting on the other side of the room, holding an icepack on his head and a tired expression on his face as two adults – Mr Hyung-Rae Shin and Mrs Shin Luzviminda Shin, his mother and father – fussed over him.

There was a slight commotion outside, the voice of man sounding somewhat panicked and out of breath. Takeru shrank into himself – he knew that voice very well.

Less than a second later, a dishevelled-looking man burst through the door, his jacket on inside-out, glasses askew on his face, and sporting the worst case of bedhead this side of the Pacific Ocean. This was none other than Professor Shin'ichi Yamatone, lecturer for Tokyo Tech's department of Life Science and Technology, researcher at the Earth–Life Science Institute, world-renowned biotechnology expert, and Takeru's long-suffering father.

"Takeru, I came as soon as got the call, are you okay?!"

"We saw one dad!" Takeru jumped to his feet. "We saw a real ghost, for real, tell him Dareo!"

Behind him, Takeru heard Dareo let out a frustrated groan. Takeru pouted back, slightly annoyed at the minor betrayal.

"A gho–?" the Professor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Oh no, please don't tell me that this another 'Meiji Temple Rubber Man' mess…"

"At least that guy only wanted to sue us," Dareo grumbled.

Dareo's father stood up, crossing his arms, "Yes, apparently this guy tried to stab them."

The Professor let out a choked squeak as the colour drained from his face, and he wobbled slightly, causing one of the police officers to run up to him to stop him from falling.

Takeru rolled his eyes, "Dad, we're fine – the ghost we saw, the Phantom, he saved us!" He turned towards Dareo, staring at him intensely. "Come on, Dareo, I know you saw it too. Back me up here, dude."

Dareo took a deep breath, "Honestly, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I am one hundred percent certain we were chased by an angry knife-wielding maniac, but everything after that has me questioning my grip on reality right now."

"Your grip on reality seems just fine to me!"

Dareo got up with a huff, "Takeru, given the combination of adrenaline from being chased and very possibly nearly dying, the sizeable goose egg I've got growing on my head-!"

"Easy now mahal," Dareo's mother put a calming hand on his shoulder.

Dareo continued his rant, "And the possibility we could've, I don't know, accidently inhaled whatever drugs said knife-wielding maniac had hidden in his jacket-!"

"D-drugs!?" the Professor's eyes bugged out of his head.

"I'm having serious trouble believing that things are 'just fine'!"

There was a dull thud as the Professor finally fainted and slid out of the police officer's attempts to keep him upright, faceplanting into the floor.

After the Professor had been revived and patched up, the two boys were taken home by their parents – Dareo to Okubo in Shinjuku, Takeru to Minami Aoyama in Minato.

Takeru and the Professor had taken a taxi, and the ride was… awkward, to say the least. The Professor had hit the floor hard when he fainted, and thus his face was bruised, with tissue paper stuck up his nose to help with the bleeding, and their driver tried desperately not to look at them via the rear-view mirror. Neither father nor son talked during the twenty-or-so minute drive. Finally, the taxi pulled up in front of the apartment complex that Takeru and his father called home, and the driver tried his best not to look too relived to see them go.

Even in this modern era, there are many who'd want to live so close to a cemetery. But the Professor was a down-to-earth sort who wasn't bothered by superstition, and Takeru found the graveyard to be the one of the most fascinating places on earth, given his interest in the supernatural. Thus, the Yamatones' were content to live in an apartment that looked west over the Aoyama cemetery, perhaps the largest in Tokyo, and it was one of Takeru's favourite places to hold his stake outs. Of course, with the recent Sunshine 60 incident, not to mention numerous past incidents of freaking out other visitors, Takeru was unlikely to do exploring of any sort for foreseeable future and could only glance longingly at the old graveyard as his father hurried him towards their apartment building.

It was well after midnight by then, so the two had quickly cleaned up and gone to bed, but as soon as it was daylight the Professor had phoned Takeru's mother, one Sergeant Major Sunny Madea of the United States Marine Corps.

In Japan, usually, when a couple with children divorced, a child would remain in the full custody of only one parent while the other lost their rights entirely, and it wasn't unheard of for the parent with custody to cut the other parent out completely. However, Takeru's parents had remained good friends after their separation, and even if that wasn't the case, the Professor was not the sort of man to deprive his son of the mother that loved him. Takeru still didn't see his mother that often, as she was stationed at Kaneda Airbase as a drill instructor, but he contacted her frequently, and every summer vacation was spent with her Okinawa, while she visited Tokyo during the Winter holidays. Takeru loved his mother just as much as anyone could, and generally was happy to interact with her in any way, shape, or form.

Right now, however, she was the last person he wanted to talk to.

Takeru cringed as his father spoke on the phone, taking a good minute or two to inform his mother of the events of last night. Finally, the Professor turned to his son, handing him the phone, and said in a deadpan tone "Your mother would like to speak to you."

Takeru gingerly took the phone and held it up to his ear, "Hi, mom…?"

"Takeru Terence Yamatone, what the HELL have you done now!?"

The weekend had dragged on with Takeru essentially being under house arrest, barred from the internet and unable to go out without being accompanied by his father, and the only contact he had from Dareo was a quick phone call to ensure everyone got home safely.

Then Monday came. Usually, Takeru would make the trip by himself on his bike, but today he was taking the bus, accompanied by the Professor to ensure his good behaviour.

Being public transport, the ride on the bus was even more awkward than the taxi, as the other commuters did their best not to stare at the Professor's face, which was still noticeably bruised and bandaged. Both father and son were relieved when they finally got off at the stop, and the two hurried towards Nagamatsu Academy.

Nagamatsu was a private school, and as such was rather flexible with which neighbourhoods its students hailed from, acting as a full secondary school, and didn't require a senior high entrance exam so long as one had been a student at the school for all years of junior high.

Neither Takeru nor the Professor had spoken during the ride, complying with the standard etiquette, but now Takeru found the courage to speak up, "We really did see him, you know."

The Professor kept walking, occasionally looking towards Takeru to ensure the boy kept up with him, but otherwise said nothing.

"The Phantom," Takeru said instantly. "Dareo and I-"

"I don't care about the ghost, Takeru," the Professor groaned.

"But-"

"Takeru," the Professor turned to face his son, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't you realize how much danger you were in the other night? And Dareo as well. That boy does so much for you, you realize that right?"

Takeru huffed as his father once again seemed to refuse to take him seriously, failed to understand his passion.

His father crouched slightly to make eye contact with the boy, "Please just – just try to behave for me today, okay? Don't cause trouble for your teachers or classmates, and especially don't cause any more for Dareo. I'll pick you up after school, and as soon as we get home, I'll be calling your mother again."

He pushed Takeru gently towards the school gate, his watchful gaze implicitly telling Takeru that he was done talking and he was to go straight inside. Reluctantly, Takeru did as was wanted of him, sulking off towards his homeroom, only looking back once to see his father walking back towards the station.

Why couldn't he just... understand?

Once Takeru made it to homeroom, he found Dareo waiting for him at his desk, next to his own. The larger boy shifted in his seat, turning to face his friend, "Hey."

"Hey." Takeru sat in his chair with a huff.

Dareo drummed his table with his fingers, "So, I need to talk about to you. About the whole Sunshine 60 thing…?"

"I'm grounded for a whole. Freaking. Month," grumbled Takeru, slumping into his chair. "No internet, no going out without dad, not even after-school clubs!"

"Mom and Dad pretty much gave me the same deal," Dareo replied, "I'm still allowed to attend clubs, but I've also got extra chores at the restaurant. And also-"

"This is an injustice!" Takeru jumped up, causing the other kids in the class to turn to stare.

Dareo cringed, trying to ignore the giggles of his classmates as he reached a hand towards his friend, "Takeru-"

"Don't they realise how important this is? We're agents of discovery and innovation, exploring bold frontiers in humanity's understanding of the world around us!"

"Takeru-!"

"They dare try to keep us down, try to confine us into their narrow views? We're pioneering explorers of the unknown! We-!"

Takeru's rant was interrupted when the homeroom door burst open, and everyone, including Takeru and Dareo, turned to see who had entered in such an ungainly manner. It was a female student, bent over and panting, and although her face was currently obscured, she was easy to recognise thanks to her distinctive tan skin.

Takeru blinked in surprise, "Isn't that Miss Kaneko?"

Indeed, it was none other than Maria Kaneko, and she looked rather flustered. Takeru didn't interact with the girl very much, as she was one of the school's elites after all. However, he had seen her around and she always seemed to be the typical strait-laced perfectionist type, so her current state was something of a shock. The other students also took note, and they began whispering amongst themselves as they pondered as to why Miss Kaneko had barely made it to school on time and was looking so dishevelled.

"Uh, Miss Kaneko, are you okay?" Dareo asked.

Maria looked towards Dareo, smiling weakly at him, "Oh, h-hello Mister Shin. I-I'm fine, really, there's – there's nothing to worry about!"

The door opened again, and the homeroom teacher came in, glaring at Miss Kaneko.

The young girl stood up and turned to face the teacher, "I-I apologise for my conduct just now, Sensei. It's just that, well, I-" she stopped herself, taking a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be making excuses." She gave an apologetic bow. "I know that I was careless. It will not happen again."

"I sure hope not, Miss Kaneko," the teacher replied curtly. "Usually, due to your impeccable record, I'd be willing to overlook this sort of error, but your grandfather has made it very clear to the school of his expectations of you."

Miss Kaneko just stared at her feet, "Yes sir, I understand."

The teacher walked past her towards his desk, "During after-class clean up, you assigned to bathroom duty with Shin and Yamatone. Now please take your seat."

Miss Kaneko did as she was told, sitting with the other elites, a few rows ahead of Takeru and Dareo. Takeru couldn't help but grumble to himself that he and Dareo had been also singled out for toilet duty – had their parents informed the school about the events of the other night? He knew better to talk back to a teacher though, and kept his mouth shut as the rollcall began.

First period came and went, as did second. It was now halfway through the third period, (English, Takeru's least favourite subject) when the teacher left the room for a bathroom break. Takeru wanted to use the chance to talk to Dareo about the situation, but Dareo was adamant on doing the work they'd been assigned and staying out of trouble. Well, maybe it was better to keep a low profile.

His train of thought was interrupted by a loud, sudden THUMP! coming from the window.

Takeru, glad for the distraction, quickly jumped from his seat, as did several other students, and rushed towards said window, and soon he and several other kids had crowded round, pushing and shoving and jostling each other to get a better look.

"Did a bird fly into the window? Poor thing,"

"It looks like a hatchling, it's still all fluffy."

"What the – oh gross it's a rat!"

"I think that's actually a bat?"

Bats weren't exactly rare in Japan, but it was strange to see one in in the middle of one of the densest cities in the country, let alone the world, in the middle of the day. Takeru couldn't help but be a little excited by this potential new mystery.

"Whatever," the girl that had mistook the creature for a rat earlier huffed and crossed her arms. "It looks gross, what if it's like a vampire bat?"

"Oh please," Takeru scoffed at his classmate's ignorance. "Those are only in South America. Most bats only eat invertebrates, nectar, pollen, fruit, although some can eat smaller vertebrates like frogs and such. Oh! and in China, the word for 'bat', 'biān fú', sounds similar to 'fú' which means 'luck' so they're considered lucky symbols there, also there's like, only six bat species with white fur, there's the ghost bat of Australia, but there's also the ghost bats of South America but they're not really related to the Australian ones, and then there's the Honduran White bat – and, and! Honduran bats are one of the twenty-two species of bats known for making nests in tents made out of leaves and…!"

Takeru failed to notice the dumbfounded looks the other kids gave him as he continued info-dumping.

"…still think it's gross," muttered rat-girl.

"Well gross or not, we just can't leave it out here," Dareo piped up. "Hitting the glass like that couldn't have done it any favours." He gingerly worked his way through the crowd, undoing the latch on the window to open it, but Takeru quickly grabbed him.

"Woah dude, careful! Bats can carry diseases like rabies and Ebola without even getting sick!"

Awkard silence.

"Do we even have those diseases in Japan?" another kid asked.

"I think rabies was eliminated from Japan in the sixties or something. They can still carry SARS and Covid though."

"What on earth are you all doing over there?" the commanding voice of their English teacher snapped the teens out of their chatter. Quickly, the students scatted back to their seats, Takeru and Dareo included, as the teacher marched up towards the window, glaring at the students. "You kids weren't up to something now, were you? Whatever, I'll straighten this out."

Without stopping to look at what the fuss had been over, the teacher reached to open the window before any of the students could protest. There was a triumphant little screech and the fluttering of leathery wings, and teacher jumped back in a panic and began screaming as a golden-yellow ball of fluff began flying around the room.

The room erupted into panic as teacher and students tried to catch or avoid the invading menace, screaming and flailing and crashing into one another as the little bat kept deftly out of reach. It was literally flying circles around them, coming in close every now and then only to zip away when someone made a grab for it. From the way it ducked and weaved around, one would be forgiven for thinking it was mocking everyone, its chirping sounding more like a mischievous giggle.

"Get down here you, you… flying rat!" one kid snarled.

"Bats aren't rodents," Takeru shot back, "they're a totally different cladistic linea-"

"Nobody cares, Yamatone."

The bat circled around the room a few times before deciding it'd had enough fun, and it began flittering down towards the one student who had remained seated during the chaos. The little bat hovered for a second or two before it lowered itself down.

Right on top of Miss Kotone's head.

Takeru was surprised that Miss Kotone didn't immediately start panicking, even little bat crawled in her hair, peeking its face over her forehead, and meeting her gaze, but he supposed she was simply frozen in fear. Now that the creature had stopped flapping about, he was able to get a better look at it. Its most noticeable feature was its fur, fluffed up like a pompom and golden-yellow in colour. It reminded Takeru a bit of a bean jam bun, or perhaps a powdered jelly donut. But it was strange… as far as he knew, most wild bats in Japan tended to be brown or otherwise dark coloured. Finally, as Takeru's eye wandered to the bat's wriggling left ears, where amidst the golden fuzz, he spotted a black marking one the left one that looked a little like a blurry, stylised skull.

Takeru was broken out of his thoughts by Dareo calling out, "Woah, woah, hold on a second now!"

Takeru turned, and saw that Dareo had grabbed onto another student, who had been slowly approaching Miss Kotone with a heavy textbook raised over his head, and Takeru couldn't help but wince.

"First and most importantly," Dareo continued as he pulled the student away, "that's definitely gonna hurt Miss Kotone. Second, the bat could easily fly away, meaning she'd get concussed for nothing."

"Thank you, Mister Shin," Miss Kotone said meekly.

"No problem," Dareo replied, before turning back to the class. "And thirdly, this is more my personal beef, but I'd rather not see an innocent animal get killed just because it might be sick or considered scary. Could we just try corralling the thing without going all murder-hobo on it?"

Another student spoke up, "We have an entomology club, right? Maybe they have a net we can use?"

"Yeah, their club room is near the science labs, they keep a stash of supplies there."

The teacher, who was backed up into the furthest corner of the room, trembling as he held out a broom, hastily squeaked out his approval to a pair of students who quickly headed towards said club.

The grossed-out student turned to Miss Kotone with reproach, "How are you so calm with that thing on you head?"

"Well, um, I'm not exactly okay with it," she replied. "But there's no use in panicking and just causing more trouble, so I'm doing my best to stay calm."

Takeru nodded his approval, impressed by the girl's logic.

After that brief exchange, the room was quiet and tense. From the clock, Takeru noted that less than a minute had passed, but time seemed to drag on for hours before the two students who had left for the entomology club finally returned, bringing them a borrowed butterfly net, along with a cardboard box to contain the troublesome critter.

The student with the net raised it above his head, creeping slowly towards Miss Kotone, his eyes bugged-out and homed in on the little bat. Takeru was slightly concerned by how much the guy was trembling, fearing it would make him blow his shot. Miss Kotone twiddled her thumbs but otherwise seemed perfectly calm.

The student was now hovering right over Miss Kotone. He adjusted his grip on the net, took a deep breath and…

"Gotcha!"

The bat panicked and flew up into the bag of the net, only succeeded in entangling itself in the mesh. The kid holding the net freaked out at the flapping and shrieking, and dropped it to the floor, but Dareo swooped in, grabbing the net's mesh at the opening, and blocking the bat's escape. He lifted the net off the floor and headed towards the kid with the container, who quickly opened its lid. Takeru went over to help Dareo untangle the bat from the mesh and stuff into container, and both boys quickly shut the lid, muffling the creature's squeals of protest.

The classroom gave a collected sigh of relief.

The teacher put down the broom, adjusted his tie and sauntered to the front of the room, "Well, that's dealt with. Honestly, the things you kids get up to when I'm not here. If it weren't for me, this whole thing would've devolved into total chaos."

It was now lunchtime. The box containing the little bat had been moved the teacher's lounge, where at the end of the day it would be picked up by animal control.

Meanwhile, Dareo and Takeru sat together as they usually did, sharing their respective lunches. The Professor had been busy, so Takeru only had a store-bought bento, while Dareo's parents had packed him a home-made meal of Korean and Philippine dishes. The two boys happily shared their lunch with each other, swapping a few items here and there.

"So, on to strategy," Takeru said as he scarfed down one of Dareo's lumpia. "Now that we've confirmed for ourselves that the Phantom's real, our next step is to prove his existence to the wider world." He wiped a few flecks of pastry from his mouth. "We're gonna need to be sneaky since we've been grounded, but that won't be a problem once we get proof. I've yet to brainstorm any ideas for that, so let's go over that right now." Takeru paused waiting for a reply, but none came, "Dareo?"

The other boy was staring absent-mindedly towards the front of the class.

"Hey," said Takeru, but the other boy paid him no attention. Takeru grabbed Dareo's shoulder and gave it a light shake, "Hey!"

That jolted out of his daydream, "Wha- Oh, sorry Takeru, I'm just a bit worried. Miss Kaneko doesn't seem to have brought any lunch today."

Takeru looked towards the top dog students, where Miss Kaneko seated at the edge of the group. Sure enough, all the other top students were eating their lunches and happily chatting, but Miss Kaneko didn't seem have a meal of any sort, and just sat in her seat quietly.

Takeru gave a Dareo a raised eyebrow, "Okaaay…? What's that got to do with us though, she can just share with one of the other top dogs."

Dareo gave a hummed indicating he wasn't convinced, "Are you finished with your lunch? I thought Miss Kaneko would like some of our leftovers."

"Seriously?"

"C'mon dude, I'll be back. There's something I kinda need to talk with you about anyway."

Takeru rolled his eyes, "Alright, fine. I suppose it means less garbage to clean after school."

Daero rearranged the half empty boxes as neatly as he could manage, then got up from his table and took the boxes as he walked towards the top students, "Excuse me, Miss Kaneko?"

Miss Kaneko and the other students looked up towards Dareo, mostly surprised, but Takeru could see a few were giving Dareo dirty looks.

"Please forgive me for intruding, but it looked like you didn't have anything for lunch today, and well, we did kinda have a stressful third period." He presented the boxes towards the girl. "Takeru and I are finished eating, but we still have plenty to share."

Miss Kaneko blinked and gave a soft stammer.

"I must say, how very generous of you, Shin," one of the elite boys sneered. "Frankly I'm surprised no other student has offered before you just now, all things considered."

"Oh, hush now," another girl interjected, her nose in the air. "We don't want to misinterpret Mister Shin's good intentions, after all."

Dareo looked towards the girl, confused, "I don't understand?"

The girl turned to face Dareo, looking at him as if he'd just crawled out of a sewer, "Well, I'm just saying, given the prestige surrounding the Kaneko family name, you'd expect all sorts to be trying to bribe their way into their good graces."

Dareo jerked back like he'd been slapped, "Wha-? No, no, I – I didn't mean it like that-"

Miss Kaneko said nothing, but she suddenly seemed very interested in fixing a crease in her skirt.

"Oh relax, will you?" the other boy said with a dismissive hand wave. "I think we can safely assume that you're genuine enough. After all, only an idiot would think they'd get anywhere when all they have to offer is table scraps."

Takeru bristled at the backhanded compliment. He knew where this was going.

Dareo forced an anxious smile, "Uh, y-yeah, I guess it's not exactly five-star dining, hopefully I've presented it decently enough?"

"It really is amazing though, isn't it? Just how easy it is to distort things," tittered the girl. "Like, oh, I don't know, people spreading silly rumours and gossip, half the time the stories you hear are nothing like the truth. Like, I don't know, 'Oh, did you hear? They say Miss what's-her-face from room so-and-so was caught eating leftovers out of the school bins!' or something stupid like that. Honestly, some people really have nothing better to do!"

Dareo was sweating bullets, gripping onto the tray so hard that his knuckles were white. Miss Kaneko had still said nothing, just staring at the floor.

The elite boy nodded in agreement, "And of course the parents of the unlucky subject of such a tale would be likely to take such rubbish at face value, wouldn't they? They'd be furious at the scandal, meaning the poor victim would have to endure all sorts of humiliation and disapproval."

Takeru had enough. He pushed himself out of his chair and was stamping towards the top students to give them a piece of his mind-

"Mister Shin!" Miss Kaneko suddenly stood up from her chair. She took a deep breath as she turned to Dareo, "Mister Shin, I appreciate your kindness, but it is my own fault that I don't have my lunch today. I was late getting ready for school this morning and was forced to leave it at home." She bowed towards the boy, "It would be wrong for you to be forced to share your meal with me and therefore deprive yourself due to my oversight." She stood back up, but she continued to look at the floor, "I'm sorry Mister Shin, but I still must reject your offer. I must learn to rely on my own strengths instead of being a burden on others."

An audible growl came from Miss Kaneko's stomach. Hearing this made Miss Kaneko's face go red, while the other top students sniggered.

Dareo smiled gently, "I-I get where you're coming from, but I don't think it's good for you to be skipping meals."

Miss Kaneko shook her head, "I must learn to take responsibility for my own mistakes. It's what Grandfather expects of me. Once again, I thank you for your kindness, Mister Shin, but I must decline. I hope you understand."

Dareo gave a sigh of defeat, giving a quick bow, "Sorry to bother you, Miss Kaneko... and for causing any trouble. Please take care of yourself, and I hope you have a good day."

He turned and headed back towards Takeru, his head hung low as the two boys sat back down.

"Bunch of snobs," Takeru mumbled. "Since when do you suddenly care about one of those elitists, anyway?"

"I just got a bad feeling about how Miss Kaneko's doing, I guess?" Dareo said with an uncertain shrug. "I can't quite explain it, but something just feels off with her. I mean, that security guard was hassling her at Sunshine City-"

Takeru's eyes lit up, "Wait a second – did you say that you saw her at Sunshine City!?"

"Uh, yeah, I ran into her just in front of the 60 before we met up on Saturday. Guess I forgot about that."

"Miss Kaneko was at Sunshine City!" Takeru whispered to himself, his eyes gleaming.

If Miss Kaneko was at Sunshine City…

That had to be the reason Miss Kaneko had been acting so weird today – she'd had seen the Phantom!

And that wasn't all – Miss Kaneko was one of the school's top students, and the daughter of a Diet member to boot! A respected, credible witness is just what they need to blow this case wide open, and they could do it despite being grounded!

"...akeru? Takeru!"

"Eh, what?" Takeru snapped back into reality as Dareo shook him by the shoulder.

"Lunch is over. Didn't you hear the chime?"

Indeed, the other kids had finished eating and were packing away leftovers and cleaning up ant crumbs and spillage.

Takeru groaned internally at having missed out on an interview with Miss Kaneko, but not to worry! There were only two classes left, and then, he and Dareo would be in the bathrooms with Miss Kaneko during clean-up, where they could question her to their hearts content! With her on their side, people would have to believe the Phantom was real!

"Takeru!" he heard Dareo whisper-yell at him.

Takeru turned to him with a quizzical look.

"I need to talk to you after school," he said, looking Takeru dead in the eye. "It's super important."

"Oh? Uh, yeah, sure."

"Takeru."

"Relax will ya, buddy? We are gonna be on bathroom duty together, right?"

For a moment, Dareo looked uncertain, but he signed and began packing away his leftovers. Takeru smiled as he began wiping off the crumbs from his desk. As he finished up and took his seat, he was laser-focused on Miss Kaneko, seated near the front of the class.

Things were looking up!

Takeru practically ripped open the door to the cleaning supplies closet, grabbing as many items as he could carry in his arms and carrying them haphazardly towards the bathrooms. The sooner he got there, the sooner he could get to questioning Miss Kaneko. Even better, Dareo would be there to back him up!

Dareo and Miss Kaneko collected and carried out their tools far too slowly for Takeru's taste, tapping his foot as he waited outside the bathroom for them impatiently before they finally arrived.

"There you are," he pouted, one hand on his an another thrust dramatically into the air. "I've been waiting forever for you two!"

Dareo walked over to him, "Well, we had to stop to pick up some gear you dropped. But we're all here now, so we can-"

"Get started on the interrogation!"

"...Wait, what?"

Takeru pushed past his friend and marched straight towards Miss Kaneko, getting right up close to her. "You saw him, didn't you?" he shoved his face right into hers, causing her to lean back in shock.

Miss Kaneko blinked stupidly, "Um, pardon?"

"You were at the Sunshine 60 on Saturday," Takeru declared, pointing an accusatory finger at the girl a la Ace Attorney. "And while there you saw the Phantom!"

"What," was all Dareo could respond.

Miss Kaneko's eyes went wide, she hugged tightly onto the cleaning supplies, shoulders stiff, and she was shaking profusely.

Meanwhile, several other kids who were in the hall doing one task or another stopped what they were doing upon hearing Takeru's declaration, craning their necks and regarding the scene with a great deal of interest. They'd all heard about the Phantom, of course, and of the two boys' supposed encounter with the ghost. Most hadn't taken it seriously, considering Takeru's reputation, and even Dareo's refusal to discuss the event was typical. But Miss Kaneko potentially being involved? Now that was a whole other story.

The mood was tense. Miss Kaneko composed herself and answered in a neutral tone, "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Mister Yamatone."

Takeru gave a manic grin, "I knew it! You have seen him, haven't you? Don't try to deny it!" You can't fool me, Miss Kaneko, your reaction has easily given you awa- oof!"

Dareo had come up behind Takeru and caught him in a loose choke hold, and started to drag him away, "I am so sorry about this Miss Kaneko, I'll sort him out."

Takeru pulled himself out of Dareo's grip and rounded irritably on his friend, "What the hell dude! We were totally gonna get Kaneko to spill everything!"

"All we were gonna do is humiliate her in front of everyone!" Dareo hissed back. "Ignoring your insane leaps in logic for just a second, even if she did see the Phantom, she clearly doesn't want to talk about it."

Takeru puffed out his chest, "Why should she be humiliated? We're just going after the truth!"

"Whatever it is, it. Isn't. Our. Business," Dareo spat each word out, glaring at Takeru as he did so.

Takeru was stunned at his friend's attitude. Dareo was large for a boy his age, but he was also a big softie, calm and collected, who wore his heart on his sleeve and hated confrontation, so seeing him even in a tranquil fury was pretty shocking.

Takeru felt his bravado faltering. But he needed to get to the truth of the Phantom. He needed Dareo on his side. "Dareo, c'mon, you know what a big deal this is. We're so close to the truth, so close to showing everyone that we were right!"

Daero sighed and shook his head, "There are more important things than 'showing everyone', Takeru." He looked briefly looked back towards Miss Kaneko, before turning back towards Takeru. "Like, y'know, our friendship? I actually-"

"Of course our friendship's important, duh!" Takeru griped. "That's why I don't get you acting all, y'know, weird!"

"If you'd just zip it and let me explain-!"

"Hey, Miss Kaneko!" one of the other kids in the hall had come up to the girl. "Is it true? Did you really see the Phantom?"

"Does he really have glowing red eyes?" asked another.

More and more kids were coming up to Miss Kaneko, crowding around her like a swarm, peppering her with questions without giving her a chance to answer.

"Did he try to steal your soul?"

"Did he curse you to make you late to school?"

"Do you think he followed you from Mexico?"

"Did you really get bitten by a rat? Think you'll get rabies?"

"Did you really eat leftovers out of the bin during lunchtime today?"

Miss Kaneko stood in the centre of it all, sweat on her brow, she had dropped her cleaning supplies, her hands over her ears and her eyes sight tight as she tried to hold in her panic.

"Hey, knock it off!" Takeru tried to push through the crowd of kids to get back to Miss Kaneko. "I was here first!"

"Seriously, Takeru?" Dareo growled.

"What? She hasn't even answered my questions yet!"

Suddenly, a shriek arose from the crowd. The boys turned to find the students backing away from Miss Kotone in disgust and fear from… something flying around in the air, divebombing anyone who got too close to the girl.

Takeru squinted at the squawking, flapping blur, that shade of gold was awfully familiar… "Another bat?!"

The fuzzy fluffball settled itself on Miss Kotone's shoulder, and it was indeed awfully similar to the one that had interrupted their third period class, probably the same species. Did the school have an infestation or something?

"It went that way!"

Takeru turned to look down the hall where the new voice had come from, seeing a small group of harried-looking teachers and other faculty coming towards the students. One of them was carrying a familiar cardboard box which was open and clearly empty.

One of the teachers pointed out Miss Kotone, "There it is – you're gonna pay for stealing my dried plums you, you… rotten little fruit-thief!"

Wait, so it was the same bat from back in third period? Did it escape somehow?

Right now, the bat had firmly latched itself to Miss Kotone's shoulder, fluffing itself up and hissing and snapping at anyone who dared to get close, which only freaked out the kids more. Takeru squinted at the bat, trying to get a look at its left ear and – yup. A black skull-shaped marking, just like before.

Okay then.

Once again, Miss Kotone didn't seem to be afraid of the bat, mostly surprised and confused by its sudden reappearance. Meanwhile, in their effort to avoid the creature, all the kids who had been previously crowding Miss Kotone had backed away from her. Takeru realised this was his chance and tried to push through.

Takeru saw the look in Miss Kotone's eyes. She'd had a similar realisation.

She took it and ran.

"Hey!" Takeru took off after her. "I'm not done with-! You get back here!"

"Takeru, wait, don't!" Dareo called after him.

Takeru, however, didn't get very far, before he was slammed in the face by a shrieking ball of fuzz, fluff, and fury. A few stray hairs managed to find their way into his mouth, causing Takeru to choke and sputter as the little bat zoomed around his head, screeching into his ears, and occasionally nipping at them.

"What the-?! Quit it!" Takeru held his hands up to shield himself from the flying pest, instinctively taking a backwards step, landing his foot right in a bucket of cleaning supplies. This combination of bucket and bat soon caused Takeru to lose his balance, landing butt-first into a puddle of soapy water.

This seemed to snap everyone else out of their panic, any though of Maria or the bat abandoned as they stopped to look towards Takeru. Most of the teachers were giving Takeru disapproving glares, while the kids mostly were either looking on in slack-jawed shock or cringing with second-hand embarrassment. Some of the less well-behaved kids burst into laughter at the humiliating scene, and a few had even recorded the whole thing on their phones. Dareo, meanwhile, just buried his face in his hands.

Takeru looked around, and realised there was someone missing. He picked himself up, trying to ignore the cold feeling of his waterlogged trousers as he scanned the hall.

It was no use. Maria was long gone.