Daily Life With Furry Girls

27 - Who's Out There?

Cani opened the door of the hotel room when someone knocked politely on it in the morning, and gazed upon a black and white bird reminding her of a magpie, dressed in a black uniform with matching highlights and a stern look in his eyes. She wasn't sure if he was an official or a fancy doorman until he gave her a nod and presented his identification. 'Inspector Garud, National Security Division.' he said with more authority in his voice than Cani had expected from a bird. 'I'd like to have a word with all of you, if I may.'

'Sure?' said Cani and let him inside.

He introduced himself again to the others and Guy offered him a seat. 'How may we help you?'

'Have any of you left this room during last evening or this night?' Garud asked and observed the reactions of everyone in his undetectable professional manner.

'We've been here since we returned to the hotel.' Guy said. 'Did something happen?'

'We received reports of disturbances.'

Feli raised an eyebrow. 'What sort of disturbances?'

'It couldn't be us.' said Cani. 'We kept the windows shut and we didn't make more noise than usual.'

Mami hit her with a pillow. 'I'm sure that was not what he was talking about.'

Garud cleared his throat. The group of foreigners might be stranger than he anticipated from the profiles they had initially made of them. 'Someone has been scaring people during the night. Someone described as having large ears.'

Guy chuckled once. 'Large ears? That's it?'

Garud stared blankly at him. 'Know any birds with large ears?'

'No, but if the only clue is ears and nothing else, they could be fake ones. Or maybe some sort of head wear that looks like ears.'

'We do not take this sort of thing lightly. It's deadly for us if our hearts are strained hard enough.'

Guy nodded. 'I understand, but to judge just from that.'

'There's also your reputation for anarchy.' Garud said and held up the file folder with their profiles. 'Causing chaos at a theme park. Clashes with the royal Mouse guard, not to mention engaging into a fight with our own security personnel.'

Cani stood up at once. 'Hey! They started it! And how do you know about how we captured Mami and defended her when they tried to kidnap her!?'

Garud leaned back slightly. 'It would seem you're not above causing chaos, unintentionally or not. That is why we needed to check up on you.'

'We can assure you it was none of us that did anything like that.' said Feli. 'We always stay together during the night.'

Ara wrapped her arms around Guy from behind. 'Why would we leave in the first place once we're settled in bed comfortably?'

Garud cleared his throat while Guy blushed. 'Did you notice anything strange yesterday?'

The girls thought and shook their heads, except Cani. 'There was this couple we saw a few times, but they turned out to be tourists as well.' she said. 'Nothing suspicious about them.'

'All right, I have to look at every possibility.' he said and stood up. 'Thank you for your time.'

Cani led him out of the room, and he waited out of sight of the door for a moment to be sure no one was looking through the peep hole, then gestured in front of the opposite door to open it. Tas opened it quickly and he slipped inside. He surveyed the room in an instant. 'Did they leave during the night?'