Enchanted (9/?)
Title: Enchanted (9/?)
Pairing: Ohmiya
Summary: Once again, the boring academic year at the Magic School begins for Nino and his friends but… is this year really boring? Someone is trying to kill him!
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The plot is mine. Co-written with zazasukie .
Genre: AU, High school, magic
Words count: 2638
AN: unbetaed
AN2: Sorry for the long waiting. I've finally finished this series with zazasukie 's help and from now on I'll update every weekend. Btw, I've made some changes in previous chapters so, if you're going to pick up this story, I enthusiastically encourage you to reread them. \(^o^)/
Previous
CHAPTER 9
“Theeee day beeeeforeeee a littleeee mouseeee eeeexiteeeed theeee room only two meeeen eeeenteeeered theeee room,” the door creaked.
“Why does it talks like that?” asked Aiba full of curiosity, pointing at the door of Nino’s room.
“Maybe it needs oil,” commented Ohno, tilting his head quizzically.
The old door let out another high-pitched creak, making Jun and Nino cringe, the wooden face on his surface smiling with hope, “Oil! Yeeees, pleeeeaseeee! That would beeee reeeeally heeeelpful.”
“We will grease it later,” hissed Jun, looking anxiously at both sides of the corridor. “We need to finish this before someone comes to the corridor and catches us talking with Nino’s door!”
“We better hurry,” nodded Sho. “Could you describe those men?” he asked the door.
“Oneeee is the owneeeer of theeee room... though heeee hasn’t eeeenteeeereeeed theeee room lateeeely,” the door replied pensively.
“Yeah, we know that,” replied Nino, twitching his pink nose impatiently. “What about the other man?”
“I had neeeeveeeer seeeeeeeen him beeeeforeeee. Heeee was tall, thin and lookeeeed oldeeeer than the peeeeopleeee that usually cross theeee corridor in front of meeee,” the old door continued its explanation.
“That’s pretty generic,” complained Nino. “Nothing more? Do you remember any detail that made him look different from the rest of the students?”
“What colour were the motifs of his uniform?” asked Jun, trying to get more information. Finding the mysterious student shouldn’t be so difficult! After all, they were talking about someone getting access to a restricted area in which even the cleaning staff had to be accompanied to enter.
“Colours? What areeeee colours? Sorry, I don‘t undeeeeerstand,” the door replied apologetically.
“Did that person access the room the day after the mouse left the room?” piped Ohno, scratching his chin pensively.
“Great idea!” Jun shot an approving glance towards Ohno.
“Yeeeeah, I saw him neeeext day too. Heeee eeeenteeeereeeed wheeeen the peeeeopleeee of theeee corridor had leeeeft, carrying books and otheeeer things and beeeefore theeeey reeeeturn to put theeeem away insideeee theeeeir rooms,” added the door after thinking for a bit, its clear features starting to disappear.
“So, it was during class!” exclaimed Aiba.
“Well, I hope that we can work with that,” Sho sighed tiredly, wiping the sweat on his forehead, “because I’m drained and the spell is losing its force. The face won’t last too much longer.”
A second later, the face disappeared completely and the creaking voice returned to a normal squeak.
“We need to find out who didn’t attend class that day!” exclaimed Jun, “That’s our only clue to cut down the list of suspects.”
Everybody nodded and they left the corridor, arguing about how they could find out who was the person who hadn’t attended the classes the day when Nino had turned into a mouse.
“I’ll grease you later,” murmured Ohno, patting the door before following the other students.
The door let out a soft merry creak in response.
~~
“I hope Sho has luck with the teachers.” Aiba paced nervously up and down the corridor, waiting for his new friend to exit the teacher’s lounge.
“If someone can get the attendance sheet it’s Sakurai sempai,” Ohno loyally affirmed without noticing Nino’s sour expression.
“Given that I’m a damn mouse, I could have looked at the attendance sheet too and nobody would have noticed,” the little mouse couldn’t help but grumble, showing his upper teeth, the bitter taste of jealousy still lingering in his mouth. Why was Oh-chan always so trustful of the committee’s president? Every time the older student mentioned the other boy’s name, Nino’s mood soured exponentially.
However, his jealous remark went unnoticed because the other students were startled by the sudden appearance of an old man dressed in an elegant suit. “Master Matsumoto, master Aiba… it has been a while since we met, hasn’t it?”
Aiba and Jun struggled to compose their surprised and guilty expressions before the old man realized they were doing something suspicious. The Potion student recovered first and tried to buy some time for his friends, “Ah, Morimoto-san, it’s been a long time,” he exclaimed, armed with his best smile.
“What are you doing here in the school? Has anything happened in Ninomiya’s manor?” added Jun worriedly.
“Nothing new since master Kazunari’s strange disappearance. Everybody in the manor is really worried,” the old man replied with a sad expression. “The Duke and the Duchess, who interrupted their diplomatic travel after hearing the horrible news, arrived this morning to the city. They talked immediately with the authorities in charge of the case and now they’re holding a meeting with the Dean.”
“I hope the authorities find out Nino’s whereabouts soon,” added Jun. “We’re really worried about him.”
“We hope that too,” the elegant man replied. “Well, I must go now,” he commented after taking a glance at his watch. He apologized politely and hurriedly turned around the corner.
“Who was he?” asked Ohno, “One of Nino’s relatives?”
“No, he’s the secretary of the Duke. He began to work for Nino’s grandfather many years ago. Then, when the latest died half a year ago, he kept working for the current Duke, Nino’s father,” replied Aiba.
“Did you hear that, Nino?” whispered Jun to the mouse hidden in his pocket. “Your parents are here, in the school. Do you want to tell them about the murder attempt?”
Nino shook his head slowly. Until they knew the true identity of the perpetrator that had managed to trespass the school’s security measures so easily, he was still in danger. If they told his parents about his situation and the fact that he was still alive came to light, that person could try to kill him again. “And I’m sure he won’t fail a second time, not now that I’ve been turned into a defenceless mouse,” he grimaced.
Suddenly, another thought, much more frightening, came to him, “What if the assassin realizes that my friends know something about my whereabouts and try to use them as a bait to catch me?” He paled, imagining Jun, Aiba or Ohno injured, even dead, by the assassin’s hand. No, he decided; to assure everybody’s safety, his existence must be a secret until they find out who had tried to kill him.
A second later, Sho exited the teacher’s lounge and walked towards them, his face glowering with a contained expression of triumph. “I’ve got the attendance sheet,” he whispered. “Quick, we need to gather somewhere to examine it!”
~~
“There wasn’t any student marked absent that day! How could THAT be possible?” protested Jun, kicking furiously the small table where the attendance sheet was placed on.
“I can’t believe it myself,” agreed Sho, slowly shaking his head in disbelief, “There are always some students who skip class!”
Trying to overcome his discouragement, Ohno took the attendance sheet and studied it again, reluctant to let their only clue slip through his fingers so easily. He stubbornly checked the information of the sheet until something strange grabbed his attention. “There weren’t any students absent... but one of the substitute teachers arrived half and hour later to his class,” he frowned, placing his finger on the name of the suspicious teacher.
“Really?!”
Four pair of eyes looked astonished at the name pointed by the first year student.
“It’s true!” exclaimed Jun, “That teacher arrived later to his class that day!” he took the attendance sheet and read the side notes of that class. “Here it says that he claimed he felt a bit sick that morning but he tried to give the class anyway.”
“But if he’s the culprit, he could have used that time to check if Nino was dead and erase all the incriminating traces…” Aiba reasoned, scratching his chin pensively.
“Well, whether he’s the person who tried to poison Nino or not, he’s our only suspect right now. I propose we investigate his whereabouts and movements that day,” Sho suggested and everybody nodded in acquiescence.
With those words, the member of the student committee took the attendance sheet and left the room to return it to the teachers before they could suspect a thing.
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