Chapter 7 - Sleuthing

The seven of them walked to the bus stop slowly and carefully, trying hard not to be recognized. But there was no fear of that, as they passed many places full of people who they knew, and none called out to them, or greeted them by name. At the bus stop they huddled in a tight circle, for fear of being recognized by their classmates.
“Ok, the bus will be here in two minutes.” Sally whispered. “We should be able to avoid contact with anyone until then. Then we’ll all get seats right at the back so-“
“Excuse me,”
They all froze as they turned to see two girls standing at the edge of their circle, wearing the uniform of their school.
“Do any of you have the time?” The first girl asked. She was short and had long brown hair. The other girl had blonde hair with pink streaks. Kairi’s face broke into a grin.
“Kioko!” she threw her arms around the girl.
“Damn, we’ve been found out!” The brown-haired girl said as she pried the blonde girl from Kairi’s grip, and the two sped off down the street.
“She didn’t recognize me.” Kairi said sadly.
“Of course she didn’t, you’re in disguise.” Trinity reminded her.
The bus arrived and they all rushed on board, taking seats at the back.
“So what’s the plan when we get to school?” Pai asked.
“Well, unless anyone has a better plan,” Trinity began.
“No. Go on,” Sally prompted.
“Damian and Aqua, you two distract Mr. Black. Sally and Cerion, you distract the other teachers while Pai, Kairi and I sneak into the staff offices and look for incriminating evidence in Mr. Black’s desk.”
“Good plan.” Cerion nodded approvingly.
“We’ll only have twenty minutes before school starts. And remember, stay in character!”

The bus pulled up beside the school, and the seven girls disembarked and raced toward the school staff area. They reached the staff tea room, just as their Home Economics teacher Ms. Sunnyshore was leaving.
“Miss?” Aqua said, putting on a very strange, possibly Swedish, accent. “We are new exchange student and looking for Mister Black.”
“Oh, I wasn’t aware we were having exchange students this week… Anyway, Mr. Black is at the other end of the school, near the sports shed on the oval. SHED. OVAL.” She said, pointing down the corridor that led to the other end of the school.
The girls waited for her to be on their way before Aqua and Damian separated from the group and headed towards the oval. The other five stood at the entrance to the staff offices, and slowly opened the door.
“There are only a few teachers in there.” Pai said, her ears twitching as she strained them using her feline hearing. She, Trinity and Kairi pressed themselves up against the back wall.
“Alright, ready.” Sally winked, as she fell backwards and hit the floor with a huge crash.

“Bloody ‘ell!” She’s fainted, she ‘as!” Cerion shouted, “Someone ‘elp!”
Teachers came hurrying out of the staff offices to see what the commotion was.
“That’s all of them.” Pai whispered to Trinity, and the three girls snuck behind the crowd of teachers into the staff offices. Kairi quietly shut and locked the door behind them.
“How do we know which is Mr. Black’s desk?” Kairi asked.
“Look for history books and… creepy stuff.” Trinity suggested.
“How about this?” Kairi asked, picking up an old, leather-bound book off a nearby desk. She read the title aloud. “The Land of the Undead.”
Pai and Trinity came and stood next to her. Pai opened a drawer.
“Look at all these other books! “Creatures of the Night, Death and Resurrection, Mirrors and Their Powers… This is really scary!”
“Look at this!” Pai said, handing trinity a small piece of mirror, about the size of a large coin. As Trinity stared into the mirror, she could see Sailor Sun staring back at her.
“Ok guys, we’ve got everything we need.” Trinity said into her communicator-watch, as Pai and Kairi packed the bunch of books and the mirror into their bags.
“Aqua, Damian, it’s time to go!”
There was no answer.

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