Part 1 - Spied on
We had arrived at the entrance of the academy, it was 10 o'clock at night, the time we had agreed to meet, to sneak in.
Both Marcus and Asuna had arrived before us, curiously Asuna was wearing the same outfit as when we went to the Mall, but this time she had the zip of her modified fire jacket zipped all the way up.
Asuna ran out to hug Emi, since they hadn't seen each other for a long time, usually Emi doesn't like to be hugged unless that person is me, but with Asuna she used to put up with it, besides she was interested in what was currently the source of information for her work, so she would be more patient with her than usual.
-Asuna, how are you... I mean, were you able to fix it? - I said interested in her well-being.
-That shouldn't be asked to a lady like me, but yes, I'm fine, thanks to you.... Akari especially you thank you for putting up with me in the bathroom, I know it's not nice to see that.
-Asuna, I also suffered at the beginning because of my period, so I can imagine how you feel, besides don't thank me, we're friends, you're already doing a lot for me, it's my way of thanking you, even if I can't really do much.
We greeted Marcus, apparently he had already taken off his neck brace, I talked to him a bit, telling me that he was feeling much better, that he had even resumed his boxing training.
-Now the important thing is, where do we sneak in?
Asuna had shouted almost in my face.
-What's wrong Asuna, what's wrong with you?
-Hikaru, what happened to your neck?
I had completely forgotten about the hickey, in class thanks to the shirt it wasn't noticeable, but now that I was wearing my street clothes, it was quite noticeable...
-Because neither of them told me that the hickey was noticeable.
Both Emi and Aki pretended not to notice.
-Asuna, if you want answers, the guilty one is Akari, she can answer.
Aki looked at me as if I had given her away, I had really done it, it was my little revenge for pretending to be the one who doesn't know.
-Akari, what happened to Hikaru?
She looked at me as if she wanted to tell me that I was going to have to pay for it later.
-Asuna, don't worry, I gave Hikaru a hickey on his neck.
-A I get it, I get it... one moment they were doing perverted things, but... since they did it Akari, supposedly can't touch you, and if they did, the first thing they did was....
Asuna's brain was about to fry, I think she felt a mixture of doubt about Akari's affair and jealousy about her love for me.
She looked at both of us, this time I couldn't look her in the face, as I was blushing that Aki had freely and shamelessly told the truth about the hickey, if it had been me I would have lied.
-We're running out of time, it's time to go inside, Marcus help me.
Marcus did everything Emi asked him to do, basically his idea was to use Marcus as a ladder to jump over the wall. Emi was the first to pass, she climbed up without any problems and sat on the wall. She told me to climb up, with Marcus' help I climbed up, and Emi now left me sitting on the wall.
-Wait Hikaru, I'll meet you on the other side, I don't want to make your condition worse.
I didn't want to refute Emi, besides she was right, with Marcus and Emi's help we all got through in the end, for Aki it was easy as he just went through the wall.
We moved according to Asuna's plan, I must admit I was totally impressed, she had thought of everything, even the cameras, so she had thought of a route that avoided the school's security cameras.
-Well we've entered the Academy, now we have to watch out for the guard... although now that I think about it I haven't seen him since we arrived.... - Asuna was pensive.
-Well now, I'll take the lead, my plan is the library, I think you know what I mean, Asuna, you're the expert on this after all.
-I see what you mean, you're talking about the seventh mystery of the academy.
-That's just it, Asuna... they don't have the strange feeling of being watched.
-Now that you mention it, I've felt that way ever since we got here. - Emi said with some discomfort.
No one had noticed, but through the windows, the shadow of someone following us closely was creeping in.
Part 2 - The door that shouldn't exist
We went straight to the library, Asuna was right about something she had said earlier, the night watchman who was supposed to be guarding the school was nowhere to be found, either we were very lucky not to run into him or something strange was going on, and from my experience in the last few weeks I was leaning towards the latter.
I also found Emi strangely nervous, I was even sure I saw her shiver a couple of times, I approached her to talk to her quietly, I didn't want to make too much noise in case the night watchman might be making the rounds.
-Emi, what's wrong, are you all right?
-Yeah, sure, I'm fine, Hikaru.
It was a lie that even the clumsy Asuna could see through.
-Emi, we agreed to walk together from now on, I know you're lying to me.
Very reluctantly she answered me.
-I'm scared, the school at night looks like the perfect setting for a horror movie.
What he was telling me was something new to me, with Emi one of our hobbies was watching horror movies, although we hadn't seen one together for a while.
-Emi, but we usually watch horror movies together, since when have you been so scared?
-Hikaru, why do I have to explain this to you, movies and reality are very different, it scares me, why do you think I almost had a heart attack when Akari grabbed me by my wallet.
I didn't want to insist on the subject, but it was obvious that it was hard for her to admit her fear. I took Emi's hand, to calm her down a bit, and she accepted it gladly.
-Thank you.
Aki looked a little jealous of being holding Emi's hand, but this time she restrained herself from saying something.
-We're at the library, let's hope the forbidden section isn't locked. - Asuna said.
Luckily and surprisingly for all of us, the forbidden section was wide open, without delay we went straight into it, it wasn't a very big room, it was full of boxes and bookshelves everywhere, but no door as the mystery said.
-What I was afraid of, when I came here last year to investigate the seventh mystery, I didn't find anything either, just boxes and old bookshelves as we can see everywhere we look, there's nothing out of this.
-Asuna is right, I thought we could find something here, but I was wrong.
-Not so fast little brother, I think we need to look further, luckily we have someone who can do that, Akari, you can go through the walls, to see if there's anything behind any walls.
-Actually, it's not a bad idea at all what Emi says, Akari wouldn't mind doing it sweetie?
-Of course not, just give me a second.
Aki started walking through the walls, we only had to wait a few seconds until he was all the way around.
-I found the stairs, Hikaru, like the ones you told me about, they're behind this bookcase.
We stared at each other in surprise, because I really don't think anyone thought Aki would find anything.
-Marcus, help me move the bookcase.
-Where are you going Hikaru, remember that you are strictly forbidden to use force, leave it to me, come on Marcus help me.
Finally, with some effort Emi and Marcus moved the bookcase revealing a mahogany door with what appeared to be a logo of a laser engraved face, it makes sense because Jim the boy who saw this door a while ago said it was a fire engraved oni.
-I'm going to open the door.
-Wait Hikaru, would you let me do it, it's the mystery that I can't solve, I'd like to....
-Go ahead Asuna, do the honours.
She opened the door very dramatically, she was playing the clown, but thanks to that we relaxed a bit from how tense we were.
Opening the door there was a long staircase that only descended, we had no choice but to go down, so that's what we did, there was a lot of silence, we could even hear the steps we were taking while we were descending this metal staircase, once we all went down, we found a long corridor of white walls I think, because I couldn't see well, because the whole corridor was illuminated with some gloomy red lights.
-Now this shit looks like a real horror movie. - Emi said very worried.
-Do you want to take my hand Emi?
She took it gratefully.
-Aki, please don't leave my side, Marcus if something happens, take Asuna and get out of here without looking back, I have Emi to protect us.
-Of course Mon coeur, compte sur moi.
-Hikaru, I don't like your words, especially in such a scary corridor.
-Asuna, your words are very different from your behaviour, it seems like you're in an amusement park.
-Hehehehe, it's not every day you get to visit a creepy place like this, especially not in your own school.
-Girl, you really are a bit out of your mind," said Emi worriedly.
Through the peephole I noticed that those words affected Asuna.
-Shinnnnnn.
We all startled because of a metallic sound on the other side of the door at the end of the corridor, it was obvious that we were not alone.