The GATE Academy

Solving a Mystery

    A few weeks later after the Valentines Day dance brought spring. Considering things had settled down, a few of my friends and I decided that a mission would be fun to do.

   This time it would just be Opal, Mizu, and I. The job was for us to locate a kid who went missing in their early childhood years. When I first read the description of the job I was kind of unsure as to why   the villagers would just now be concerned after nine long years of a child missing. Perhaps they gave up years ago, but what makes them so interested now?

  The area we would have to travel to was all the way in Asia in The Himalayan Mountains. That is where the village is located. It is supposedly secluded from any sort of major city.

  Well, this should be an interesting mystery. Figuring we'd be out for a while, I packed a small bag full of the things I may need. I pocketed my phone and left my dorm, locking it behind me as I did. The plan was to meet in the registration office considering we had to tell the lady that we were leaving.

"Falen! Wait up!" Opal suddenly said loudly from behind me. I stopped walking and turned, watching her jogging to catch up. She had her bag in hand, so she looked a little funny lugging it around as she ran. I swished my tail as I resumed walking. The two of us made our way down stairs and towards the door that would lead us to a different area of the school.

"Why didn't you wait for me??" She asked, pretending to be offended. I let out a small laugh, continuing to walk down the flight of stairs. "I actually expected you and Mizu to be waiting for me in the office. I was slow at getting ready today."

She nodded, opening a door and walking through it. I followed her, holding the door open for a teacher that was a bit behind the two of us. "Must be a neko thing. You felines are masters at being lazy."

"Wow. Should I take that as a compliment?" I said, glancing at my friend. This earned a laugh from her. We both shortly arrived at the office, opening the door to see Mizu laying on a couch. He opened a single eye, staring directly at me. He sat up as Opal and I walked towards him. "Felines...so lazy and slow sometimes.." He said, attempting to hide a teasing tone of voice behind a more serious one. My ears lowered and I whacked him with my fluffy tail as he stood up. "Says the one who was just laying down on that couch.."

Mizu smiled, running his hand on my tail before lowering his hand to mine to hold it. Before Opal, Mizu, and I could leave, the lady behind the desk stopped me.

"Miss Asami, before you guys take off I need to give you the mail that you haven't collected yet. I was saving it for a bit, but your stack has five envelopes and a package. The earliest they are from was that particular incident." She placed a package and five wax sealed envelopes on the desk in front of Mizu, Opal, and I.

"What an ominous seal.." He said, looking at the envelopes as I picked them up. "Who're they from, babe?"

This wasn't the time and the place to speak about it. "No one.." I said, tucking the envelopes and small package into my bag. I did my best to avoid the subject and get the two to focus more on our trip. "Come on guys we better get going...don't want to miss our plane, do we?"

  I took Mizu's hand and pulled him out the door, following Opal. I could sense Mizu was not satisfied with my excuse, but I ignored the stare I was getting from him. It took about half an hour to get to the airport on the bus. The ride was mostly silent, but it's not like there was any tension.

"You lovebirds need to hurry and buy your crap. We're going to miss our plane." Opal said as she stopped in front of Mizu and I who were occupying the third spot in the gift shop line. One hand was on her hip and the other was shoving her phone in my face.