Help from the Shadows (Open Novella Contest)

11 (Rau)

"Eh? You want to question me?" Ayame blinked at Choiseung, causing us to look at them as we all sat in the garden -mainly because Jorogumo can't fit inside except when she's in Lightside (a pretty woman with a pair of black eyes, purple hair, and had a red kimono on, by the way), but she prefers her Shadowside, so yeah-, aimlessly chatting. Choiseung nodded.

"I need to find clues, especially about what you said back in the cave," he replied.

"Are you talking about what Keisuke had told Ayame, the one about friends?" Jorogumo looked up from reading a book about Youkai myths.

"Yeah," Choiseung nodded again. "It's weird that Keisuke would say something like that."

"Is not," Ayame immediately shook her head. "Keisuke-kun's just different from most people."

"Which brings me to a topic that I had accidentally forgotten from before," Choiseung shot back. "Ayame-chan, when you described us, you said that Akino and I reminded you of Touma and Keisuke combined."

Ayame blinked, "Did I?"

"Yes, you did," Choiseung nodded. 

"Now that I think about it, you did say that," Akino remarked.

"But why would that be weird?" Mitsue-san frowned.

The 4 of us looked at one another. How do we tell them?

"It's kind of hard to explain," I confessed. "But the Keisuke we're used to would never say anything like that."

"Then your idea of him is completely wrong," Ayame bluntly told us. "It's because of him that the 5 of us could grow close."

"Eh?" Uncle Chenhua blinked in confusion. "Really?"

Ayame nodded, "I don't know whether it was because of his fear of Youkai or something, but we all kind of sympathised with him because he had to deal with this even though he's still 11. We talk in between cases, and grew closer that way."

"Oh..." we all chorused, finally understanding the truth.

"Everyone's a bit different compared to their anime selves, now that I think about it. Don't you guys agree, Rau, Choiseung, Uncle Chenhua?" Akino offhandedly remarked out of nowhere.

"Eh?" Ayame and Mitsue-san both blinked in confusion, but I nodded, "That is true..."

"That could be a major clue to figuring out why the Original Quartet were taken, but not Ayame-chan," Choiseung mused as he took out his detective notebook and started scribbling on it.

"If they had been aiming for the Tanteisha as a whole, they would have taken Ayame-chan too," Uncle Chenhua quickly explained to Jorogumo. She frowned a bit as she closed her eyes. After a while, she opened them up again. 

"Hey, I just had this idea. What if the person thought that Ayame-chan wasn't part of the Tanteisha?" Jorogumo asked us.

At that, all of us blinked. 

"I mean, that's a good reason why Ayame-chan was left out," she reasoned. "Because she had joined quite late, it's not really well-known that she's part of the Tanteisha. On the other hand, since Keisuke had joined at an ideal time for them, most Youkai would think that Ayame's not part of the group. So, the kidnapper would probably think that the group only had 4 human members in it." 

"Wait, but wouldn't that mean that..." Akino trailed off. 

"そ (so = Yes), that would mean that the Youkai (assuming that they ARE one) has not met the Tanteisha before," Jorogumo nodded. 

"Then we can cross out the Youkai who have met them," Choiseung scribbled on his notebook while saying that. 

"How about the Soranaki virus though?" Uncle Chenhua frowned a bit. "I mean, it really hates humans according to what we know, so wouldn't it make perfect sense for it to try to bring down the Tanteisha?" 

"Not really," I countered. "If that was the case, then Soranaki would mainly aim Natsume due to her being the Princess. Plus, why would it kidnap Akinori, Touma and Keisuke?" 

"Maybe to be its pawns to destroy humans?" Uncle Chenhua theorised. 

"I don't think so," I shook my head. "Far as I know, the virus wouldn't play around for too long." 

"Shutendouji and Douketsu have a stronger reason to do it," Akino agreed. "They want to bring Shuka back, so that would make sense."

"But they wouldn't lay a finger on the other 3. Not without Natsume-chan's order," Ayame protested. 

"True," Choiseung sighed. "Are we really stuck then?" 

"... Actually, I don't think so," Mitsue-san suddenly corrected, causing us to blink. 

"What are you talking about, Mitsue-baa?" Ayame looked confused. 

"Ayame-chan mentioned that they had been taken in the mall at night, right?" Mitsue-san asked. We all nodded. 

"Then, if we want to look for clues, wouldn't the best place to do so be the place where they were taken?" 

. . . 

"I can not believe I forgot about that," Ayame and Choiseung groaned out at the same time, causing the two of them to look at the other in confusion. We exploded in laughter and giggles seeing this. 

"Cute," Jorogumo teased them. Choiseung immediately buried his face into Uncle Chenhua's shoulder, trying to hide from the embarrassment, while Ayame went red and lightly put her head on Jorogumo's shoulder. 

I patted Choiseung's head, "Ma, ma, you're way too cute for your own sake, Choiseung, my dearest こうはい . (kouhai= underclassman)" 

"S-Shut up! You're just older by 2 months!" he feebly protested. 

"But I'm older by 4 months, Choiseung," Akino grinned at him. He just groaned in response.

"Wait, hold on, your birthdays are just separated by 2 months?" Mitsue-san looked confused. Uncle Chenhua nodded. 

"Akino was born on March 1 at Tsu Prefecture, while Rau was on May 2 in Honolulu, and Choiseung was brought to the world on July 3 at Iksan. All of them were born on 1998 too," Uncle Chenhua explained. 

"How about you, Chenhua-kun?" Jorogumo inquired curiously. 

"I was born at Zhenjiang on the 29th of February 1976," he replied. "Since I'm Chinese, Choiseung is technically half-Chinese, half-Korean." 

"Oh...." Ayame and Mitsue-san chorused. 

Just then, a PING! came on Akinori's laptop, making Ayame, who was the closest to it, open it and look at Usuranura. After skimming for a while, her eyes widened. 

"Everyone, you HAVE to see this!" she called out as she turned it around so we could all see. 

It was a new post that had been put there by a guest, who was titled Anonymous, featuring a video of some sorts. 

"Eh? Can Usuranura even have videos?" Akino asked. 

"Sometimes, people do that to show gratitude to us since we solve the cases. At least, that's what Akinori-kun told me," Ayame replied. 

"Could it be the kids who we freed from Obonyuu and Unsan?" I smiled excitedly thinking about it.

"Maybe," Mitsue-san looked a bit excited too. 

"Well then, what are we waiting for then? Let's watch it!" Akino grabbed the cursor and clicked the video, allowing it to buffer for a while before it opened up. 

What was shown, however, stunned us to silence and made our excitement fly away as fast as a roadrunner. 

Why?

Simple. 

It was a video of the Original Quartet.