The Conundrum Corporation |Oumasai

Chapter 9

"Last night, I had an odd dream," I muttered to Shuichi while writing down a plan in my notebook for Hoshi and I to do. We were going to spy on Rantaro and if we get caught, Hoshi will just teleport us to my room. It wouldn't hurt to do some spying of my own. Right? Besides, Maki can't be trusted.
"What do you mean odd?" Shumai asked. I was writing in my purple notebook in such a manner so that Shuichi won't be able to see. If he saw then he would be annoyed or even worse, mad at me.
"Like, I thought that it was a memory but then I'm not too sure if it was. It was pitch black around me also," I sighed. I drew a wonky image of Rantaro with my blunt purple pen. It would be the most perfect drawing if I had a green pen. That way he would look more like an avocado instead of a grape. If anyone's going to be a grape, it will be me!
"Can you remember what they were saying?" Shuichi replied and ate a bit of his breakfast.
"Yeah something like...is he asleep? Then someone was refusing to talk and some other person got mad. Oh, I heard the name Byakuya, although Byakuya was not there as they were implying something bad about him. Hmm, they all wanted to do something. Then they were arguing and someone wanted something. The other person called them stupid as that 'something' was very harmful but that person didn't listen," I explained, although none of it seemed to make sense to Shuichi. He looked more confused than I was.
"Byakuya? Then that means if this did happen then it must have happened here," Shuichi commented.
"Think so. Also, all the voices sounded the same. Dull and borrring!" I giggled. I would be able to I interpret who was talking if they didn't all have the same voice. I carried on writing the plan out. I would sneak Hoshi out of his room, then we would go to Rantaro's office and wait for him to come out. When he comes out, we will teleport into his office and hide until he gets back. Why his office? If you think about it, all his evil plans should be in his office! Plus from my understanding, all his work revolves around his office. The Control Department runs by Rantaro monitoring the Hope-Lies and employees and they plan the best course of action. Rantaro goes for a coffee break at 11 and right now it is 10 so I better finish up with Shuichi.
"Kokichi? Kokichi!" Shuichi yelled, gaining a few stares.
"Hmmm?" I asked.
"Are you even listening and what are you writing there?" he questioned. Oopsie, I knew that I should have been paying more attention to him.
"Nothinggg! Just doodling," I giggle and swiftly turn the page to where I drew Rantaro. He looked at it and burst out laughing. I giggled, too.
"Don't you have a green pen to draw his hair with?" Shuichi laughed.
"Nope, but is it that obvious who it is?" I teased.
"Yes, Kokichi it really is. Make sure he doesn't see that," Shumai whispered. I put the notebook on the table and closed it.
"I'll get you a set of coloured pens later today, you like to draw, don't you?" Shumai asked.
"I do like drawing but I'm not very good. You really don't need to buy me pens," I laughed.
"Nonsense. You've helped me so much over this hectic week and it's the least I could do," he smiled an angelic smile. I frowned, I really want to get him a gift, he's being too generous. I haven't saved his life or anything. I understand that he is really kind and I like that a lot about him, but I feel bad. I feel bad that I have nothing to offer him. I need to get him something on Saturday...wait do I even have any money?
"Kokichi, are you blanking out again?" he sighed.
"No sorry! I'm here, thank you Shuichi I would appreciate that. You need to stop spoiling me though," I answered.
"Haha, Sorry. Anyhow, let me know if you have any more dreams," he replied.
"Will do. This has been super duper fun, but I have to go," I giggled and stood up.
"Bye Kokichi, see you later," Shuichi waved.
"Byeeeee," I skipped out of the cafeteria.

"Doo doo doo do! Who's here? The Supreme Leader is!" I yelled happily while entering Hoshi's room. Hoshi gave me a confused glance and then packed away the pack of cards he was playing with.
"So, are we going to do that thing?" Hoshi asked.
"Yep! Now look, it is 10:30 and in order to get there in time we need to go now!" I exclaimed while dragging Hoshi. The stars on his arms were yellow which was a good sign.
"Fine by me," he shrugged. I am glad that he has gotten more comfortable with me. I can still remember when I first met him he was stuttering and super quiet.
"Okay then, off to the Control Department," I announced dragging him out of his room.
"Wait! The alarm will go off. Let me teleport to the place," he shrieked. Forgot about the alarm..hehe.
"Oh right, of course! Then I need you to teleport outside Rantaro's office, without being seen of course," I smiled. He nodded and within minutes he was gone. I closed the door behind me and ran up to the elevator. It took me to the Control Department and I went down a couple of corridors to find Rantaro's office.
"Pshh!" a voice whispered. I turned around to see Hoshi in the hallway. It's good that they do not have cameras in the hallway otherwise this would have gotten me fired.
"Hoshi, come here," I pointed to the tiny storage room next to his office. We hid ourselves in there, next to some light green boxes. Suddenly, footsteps were heard going beside us as I see Ranataro walk in the hallway. I order Hoshi to teleport us in his office and he did so.
"Where to hide? Where to hide? Aha!" I exclaimed and went over to the cupboard. I am pretty small and Hoshi is a child so we both fit.
"Alright Hoshi, now we must listen and wait," I whispered. He nodded.

After an eternity...or 10 minutes, Rantaro returns. He works on a couple of papers until he gets a knock on his door. I look towards the door through the tiny gap. There, standing was Maki so she did live up to her promise. I don't hear much of the conversation, but Rantaro walks away and Maki comes in. She immediately rummages through the papers and groans as she finds nothing. This was the perfect time for the element of surprise.
"BOOO!" I come out of the cupboard and yell, a risky yet worth it move. Hoshi frowns and face palms. Maki drops all of the papers and falls on the floor. Although Maki seemed like the type to not be jump scared, she can admit that she wasn't expecting that.
"Nishishishi~" I burst out laughing.
"You idiotic gremlin!" she growls and stands up. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm spying like you are," I stated the obvious.
"Let me guess you don't trust me, after all I lied to you about the email. Well I'll get one thing straight, Rantaro told me that he was sending an email to Shuichi and it was for Shuichi to read only," she explained. "When I saw you reading it, I quickly did something about it."
I examined her face, she was telling the truth.
"Oki doki. Doesn't change the fact that you're a bully," I teased. She has called me a gremlin twice now and I wasn't having it.
"Fine, whatever, but listen don't do anything stupid, okay?" she quickly ran out of the room.
"Come on, Hoshi. Back to the prison cell," I exaggerated while we got back in the cupboard.
Rantaro came back in panting. He must have ran a lot as he was out of breath. What was he even doing?
Ding ding ding ding.
A phone started buzzing and I immediately looked at my pocket. Holding my breath I looked at my phone. It wasn't my phone thankfully. Hoshi pulls my sleeve as I look back at Rantaro. He picked up his phone.
"Hello, Rantaro Amami speaking," he smiled. I can't hear the speaker on the phone!
"Of course, I was expecting your call. No, I understand," he sighed. Who was he talking to?
"The package is delayed? That's a shame. Now listen, I did what you said about the pills, the purple ones right?" He frowned. That monster, making Shuichi faint like that!
"It removed the memory. Thank you. Now back to the package-" he started.
"The green ones? I will have them change it. Thank you once again. Why did I remove a piece of his memory? Well, he was planning to do something that will-" Rantaro replied angrily, but the other person cut him off.
"Bye," he bluntly ended the call. So when Shuichi said that day that he felt as if he was forgetting something, he was right. Why did they remove a specific memory? What package? Who was he talking to? Hoshi tugs my sleeve and I nod at him. We were soon teleported back to his room. We have uncovered a lot of things today about Rantaro, but we still have a lot of mysteries to solve. Gosh, I sound like Shuichi. Speaking of Shuichi, I look at my watch.
"I'm late! Sorry Hoshi, gotta run!" I yelled forgetting that I needed to meet Shumai in the cafeteria.
"No it's fine, I need to go to bed anyways," he yawns. I leave him be and dash out of the room. He won't mind that I'm a tad late. Anyways, it was for a good reason. A good, nerve racking reason.
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They're ——ng t- —-.