EE Chapter 20

# Chapter Twenty - "Haruto et Mizuki"

### Akira

    "Flashlights." Rinko said confidently, standing over the hurriedly gathered ghost hunting equipment as she read a checklist to Chiyo from off of her phone.

    "Check!"

    "Extra batteries for the flashlights."

    "Check."

    "Gloves, in case the ghost is slippery with ectoplasm."

    "Uh…" The girl checked a box that had been brought over from Anette's closet. It was overflowing with gloves she used on occasion to compliment her dresses or round out a costume, made of fabrics from silk to velour, but absolutely none of them would be even the tiniest bit useful for hunting a ghost. *"Check?"*

    "Hand sanitizer and paper towels for all the ectoplasm."

    "Check!"

    "Vacuum cleaner to suck up the ghost."

    "Not check… Where would we get a vacuum?"

    "We're not allowed to use one after lights out anyway." Yume turned from her video game to point out that technicality.

    My bed had been requisitioned as the supply locker for tonight's operation, and all sorts of stuff that someone or another thought may be useful was currently piled on top of it while Rinko and Chiyo took stock of what we still needed to procure. A whole bunch of flashlights - yeah, ok, those will be useful. But stuff like a box of Anette's costume gloves, some candy in case the ghost has a sweet tooth, a little butterfly net Rinko had in her closet for some reason, and other junk that couldn't possibly be helpful…

    "I got it…" The cute white-haired girl who had been sent on an errand returned to our room, carrying a long broom and dustpan. "No one had a vacuum, but the girls in the room next door lent us this…"

    "Kanon, that's perfect!" Rinko exclaimed. "If the ghost tries to make a break for it we can sweep it up so it can't get away."

    "And it's a lot quieter!" Yume interjected again before tossing a controller to our newly returned friend.

    "That's pretty much everything. Now we've just gotta wait for it to get late. Do ya think the recon team figured out anything?"

    "Indeed we did, Ms. Hoshino." I jumped, startled by the unexpected reply from directly behind me. Megumi and the other girls on the recon team had picked the perfect moment to sneak back into the doorway. "In fact, we believe we've deduced the identity of the ghost."

    "Really?" "Wait, seriously?" "How?" We all had our own way of asking essentially the same thing.

    "It was Ms. Chanel's discovery. She's the one who found the relevant records. Perhaps I should let her tell you all what we've found."

    "Indeed, it is a truly tragic story. The files we found said that several years ago there were two idols whose contracts were terminated at the exact same time. Très suspicious, non? One was a young belle named Mizuki, and the other a handsome young homme named Haruto. What happened is obvious, non?" Anette took a bow, satisfied that she had cracked the mystery, but… awhut?

    "Um, non. How is that obvious?" I asked, confused. Several of the other girls had the same issue. Anette looked embarrassed that we had missed whatever she was implying.

    "It is obvious that the two were in love, only they were prevented from being together. Just like *Romeo et Juliet.*" To emphasize what she meant by the comparison, Anette stuck out her tongue and played dead.

    "The girl even lived on the second floor, right around where people have reported seeing the ghost! We bet that he's looking for her, and since he can't find her that's why he wanders the halls." Dam-Bi clapped her hands together to celebrate having solved the mystery.

    "That's so sad!" Rinko shouted. "Now we've gotta find the ghost! Hey, where's Junko?"

    "I'm very sorry, Ms. Hanazawa, but we lost Ms. Junko while performing our reconnaissance."

    "What?! Oh no! The ghost got Junko?!" My new leader shouted really loudly. Wow. Strong lungs…

    "Worse, Hanarin. Lina got her!"

    "Mademoiselle Junko bravely stayed behind to keep Ms. Fujimura busy. She'll return once she is freed, and then we shall catch the ghost."

    "But we don't even know if that story is…" I stated the obvious, but everyone else just looked at me all sad over it. "I mean, let's go find that ghost!"

    "I was hoping you would still be onboard, Ms. Hoshino. We devised a plan to attract the ghost, but I'm afraid it requires you to play a rather central role."

    "Huh? Why me?"

    "You see, Ms. Hoshino, the files we found contained a picture of Ms. Mizuki Suzuki. She had, as it turns out, quite striking red hair…"

    "S-So what? I'm gonna be the ghost bait for some dead guy?" Rinko responded to my question by lunging at me and grabbing onto me with a gigantic hug. Ok, so this part I don't mind. Hugs are great.

    "Please Akira? You're not just gonna be ghost bait." She said sweetly.

    "Aw, alright. Since you asked so nicely."

    "You're gonna be the ***best*** ghost bait ***ever!***"

    "May I suggest we finalize our plan then? Ms. Han had some excellent ideas as well."

    "Thank you, Megumin! It's really very simple though. All of the sightings have happened on the second or third floor, but most of them have been on the East side of floor two. That means we can treat this room as a safe zone, as well as Anette's room next door if anyone gets too scared and needs to lay down. The recon team will start at the stairs and advance in pairs through floors one and three, that way if we see the ghost it'll naturally flee in the other direction. Right up to floor two, where the catch team will be waiting for it! We start at ten o'clock on the dot back in this room. Got it?!"

    "Got it!" Several of us yelled in unison.

    "And Akira, you're going to need a convincing costume if you're going to fool the ghost. Luckily, I happen to have a few ideas…"

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