The Paranormal Club head towards the Administrator’s Room, having been called in for a special meeting without being informed of its nature. A buzz is shared among the club as they move through the hallway, though a few of them are nervous about being summoned as such.

“Why would Roka call us into her office?” Hotaru asks the air. “We haven’t done anything wrong...but I’m still getting a bad feeling about it.”

Yuudai chuckles. “Don’t worry so much, Hotaru. She’s probably just checkin’ up on us, seein’ how we’re doing here so far.” He suddenly stops in place causing the group to slam into his back. He turns to his bunched up friends, smiling as he slams his fist into his palm. “Hey! Maybe she’ll tell us we’re in the next competition!”

“Hopefully we’re given a more competitive opponent than either one from last week. If that’s the best this school can offer, we’ll have no problem.” Akina brushes past Yuudai, prompting everyone else to resume walking as well.

Yuudai sighs as he follows. “If we could be more like the first match from two weeks ago it’d be for the best! Maybe this time instead of soccer we’ll play baseball!”

“I know you haven’t played in a while, but can you not?” Saito sighs, “I’m getting really tired of the baseball talk.”

Rina rolls her eyes, “Yeah, yeah, we know you don’t like anyone talking about physical activities stick boy.”

“I’ll get to play again!” Yuudai crosses his arms, “Zonzai can’t field a team but it doesn’t stop me from playing with the local team!”

Yuuri perks up, “So that’s where you’ve been every evening? I thought it was weird for you to be missing club meetings.”

“Guess I should’ve told you first…” Yuudai sheepishly rubs his head.

“You should’ve been on top of that Yuuri,” Katsuki chastises her friend, “You’re the president now. You should know where we are at all times.”

“S-sorry.” Yuuri pokes her fingers together, “I’m still getting used to all this presidential stuff.”

Katsuki laughs, “Well if you ever need help, you can ask me.”

“Whatcha mean local team?” Suzaka tilts her head.

“Well,” Yuudai crosses his arms, “Zonzai has a program where a bunch of us are loaned out to the local high school to play sports with them. I had to do a separate orientation to learn all the rules the school puts on us. There’s a lot of us that do it but the only one I really talk to is Haru and this one girl who talks so much that I didn’t even get her name by the time we got off the bus.”

Hotaru raises his hand, “Was she from the Science Club?”

Yuudai shakes his head, “I couldn’t even tell you that.”

Cerys turns around, “If you’re done playing Twenty Questions, we’re at Roka’s office now.”

Yuudai holds the door open as the club filters in.

They are greeted by Lucy’s stern gaze, “Ah the Paranormal Club. I should’ve known it was you from the noise. Miss Kurosaki will see you now.”

A little further in, Roka sits at her desk in a frilly white dress with her hair done up in pigtails, “You’re here! You’re also late...but here!”

“Good afternoon Principal Kurosaki.” Yuuri bows, “You requested us here?”

“Did ya call us here ta see yer kyuuuuute dress?” Mari sweetly asks.

A wave of fear briefly washes over Roka’s face before she turns the chair around, “Lucy! Stop her before she gets me again!”

Lucy moves with inhuman speed to Mari and holds her clipboard against her. Mari stops dead in her tracks, head, and ahoge drooping. Lucy readjusts her glasses, “Miss Kurosaki invited you here to announce that you will be competing in the morning competition this weekend.”

Yuudai and a few other members of the club celebrate.

Hotaru pulls out his notepad. “Will we find out what the competition is now?”

Lucy shakes her head, “That is still being determined at the moment.”

Roka spins her chair around, “But! I can tell you, that you will be facing the Games Club!”

Kirika’s eye twitches, “Ah...Those charlatans. We’ll make quick work of them.”

Saito looks around the room, “Well, can you at least tell us who will compete in this? We outnumber the Games Club by a bit.”

“That, I also cannot answer.” Lucy quickly replies, then sighs, “While you do happen to outnumber every club at Zonzai, the matches are random in the first place.”

“We can’t have you blabbing on social media. That’ll spoil the fun!” Roka adds before she spins her chair again, stopping to point at Kirika, “No summoning!”

Kirika looks bemused, “W-what?”

“I can’t let you use your summons! That’s cheating!”

“B-but I’m useless without access to my new friends!” Kirika pleads.

Roka crosses her arms, “That’s a new rule for this year! You and that boy from Science Club can’t use them!”

“You mean Hattori, Miss Kurosaki,” Lucy interjects.

“Yeah him! He cheated last year and it made it no fun!” Roka starts to pout in her seat.

Mari begins to fidget in place at the absolute sight of adorableness coming from Roka.

Lucy taps Mari’s head with the clipboard, causing her to jump.

“What are the rules exactly?” Akina asks. “I don’t remember receiving a rulebook for this.”

“No purposeful, serious injury!” Roka shouts before remembering her new rule, “No outside help either!”

Hotaru furrows his brow in thought, “That’s...it?”

“Yep!” Roka proudly responds.

“What Miss Kurosaki means is that due to the random nature of how we select these competitions, we can’t exactly create one uniform ruleset,” Lucy says.

“Don’t worry! The school nurse is one of the best!” Roka butts back in. “He’s worked with my daddy!”

Everyone stares at her, causing the little girl to become nervous. “T-That’s all, you can leave!”

Nobody moves, causing her to panic a little more, “Get out! Go!” Lucy finally takes charge and hurries the club back out into the hallway.

“Hey Hotaru,” Cerys asks as the door closes behind them, “Can I see that notebook?”

He begins to hand it over but hesitates, unsure of what her intentions are.

Cerys sighs, “I’m not going to destroy it or anything! I just want to look.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Hotaru pauses for a second before reluctantly handing it over to the redhead. She takes it and flips through it before reaching a specific page. Cerys glances through it before closing the notebook and tossing it back at him.

“Got what I needed. Thanks!”

“W-What were you looking for exactly?” Hotaru asks.

“The name of the seer. We’re going to go pay her a visit and figure out what we are doing Saturday.”

“Let’s not do that, Cerys.” Yuuri says, “That would be cheating and you saw how much Roka is against that. We’ll just use Hotaru’s notebook and study from that!”

“You mean the Studex!” Katsuki interjects, earning some grumbling from the little boy.

Meanwhile, Yuudai catches a small boy with grey hair out the corner of his eye. He turns to get a better view but when their eyes meet, the little boy takes off running.

“Hey! Who are you?” Yuudai takes off in pursuit.

Cerys watches him run off, then turns to the rest of the club. “Are we really not going after him?”

“Well…” Yuuri ponders, “He is pretty fast…”

“Are we sure Big Guy isn’t a dog?” Rina asks. “He just took off after something random and didn’t tell us anything.”

“W-What if he saw a demon!?” Suzaka panics, “W’ need to back him up!” She bolts down the same hallway.

“Wait I didn’t mean...dammit she’s gone.” Cerys sighs and follows. Some of the other club members look at each other and give chase, with Hotaru, Kirie, and Katsuki left in bewilderment.

***

Cerys and others follow the sounds of commotions down the school and round a corner to find Yuudai with his hands clasped on the little boy’s shoulders.

“Why did you take off?” Yuudai asks.

The boy fumbles his words, “I-I’m not trying to sell you anything!”

Yuudai looks confused, “Sell? Start making sense right now!”

“I have no cents sorry!” The boy pleads back, “This isn’t America!”

“I’m not American either! Why were you looking at us?!” He increases the pressure on his grip, causing the smaller boy to wince.

Mari catches up with the group to see the scene unfolding. “Wow, Yuudai’s bein’ rough with that kid.”

Cerys walks over to stare down the little boy as well, “What club are you supposed to be in?”

“Uh…” The little boy’s eyes dart around, “I’m in middle school!”

Yuuri joins the crowd and looks at the boy, “Then why are you wearing our uniform?”

Suzaka sticks her head into the commotion, “Why are we harassin’ a little boy again?”

“I’m wearing it…” The boy looks back up excitedly, “Because I’m coming here next year!”

Cerys gets closer, “Do you really think we’re that stupid?”

“I-I got it early that’s all…you’re hurting me!”

“Yuudai...shake the boy.” Cerys snaps her fingers

“Ow! D-Don’t shake me!” He pleads, tears starting to stream down his face.

Yuudai hesitates, debating Cerys’ order.

Mari sighs and steps up, “Y’all do remembah we have a little boy in our club as well right? What if someone just started shakin’ him?”

Cerys chortles. “I’d kinda like to see that. Alright Yuudai, shake him.”

“W-wait!” The boy shouts and points to Cerys, “I’m just here to see her!”

Cerys is caught off guard by his new claim, “W-What!? Shake him now Yuudai! Hard!”

“D’awwwww, Cerys has an admirer.” Mari says with the same sugar sweetness she used for Roka.

Yuuri shakes her head, “I’m sorry but Cerys is interested in someone else…”

Cerys’ turns redder as her hair as she snaps her fingers again, “Let him go...now!” Yuudai lets go as she walks over to the boy and pokes him in the chest, “Now talk!”

Suzaka joins Cerys, “You ain’t tryin’ t’ pull the wool over our eyes right?”

The boy shakes his head, “N-No honest! I just wanted to talk with her and...I took this form because I thought it’d be easier.”

“Took?” Rina asks, “You’re a shapeshifter?”

“Not exactly…” he takes a deep breath, “I can adjust the age of a living thing to make it older or younger and I made myself look like I was thirteen again. The problem is I can’t undo it until twelve hours pass.”

“Ah got it!” Mari claps her hands, “Ya thought Cerys was a little girl so ya made yerself look like a little boy so it didn’t look all weird.”

“Pick him up until he tells us something useful!” Cerys snaps.

“Don’t pick me up!” The boy holds his hands up, stopping Yuudai in his tracks.

He composes himself, “I’m with the Yosakoi Club. My name’s Izumi Henmi.”

“Let me guess,” Cerys says, “Naomi wants to speak with me.”

“She didn’t send me over,” Izumi replies, “I just want to help her and I know you have direct connections with Haruhiko.”

“So you want me to help you with your crush. Am I right?” Cerys smirks.

Izumi is taken aback as he blushes, “H-how did you know that?”

“I didn’t!” Cerys crosses her arms, “You told me. As for your Idol problem, I can’t help you. Haruhiko doesn’t tell me anything about his club.”

“Fair enough.” Izumi looks dejected, “I...just didn’t want Naomi to feel scared.”

“Haruhiko isn’t dangerous unless you’re worried about him stealing her heart. If that’s your concern, then you have every right to be worried.”

Izumi ignores Cerys’ teasing, “But he could’ve been associated with the fire at our club!”

Kirika shrugs. “Well...sometimes fires just happen!”

“Oh right the fires!” Yuudai pauses as his brain puts everything together, “Was there a second fire!?”

“There wasn’t another fire.” Izumi reassures the larger boy, “But there was a second attempt at harming us and it was targeted directly at Naomi.”

The panic increases in Yuudai’s voice. “Are you sure!?”

“It’s better if you see for yourselves,” Izumi walks down the hall, “If you want to help, then follow me.”

We need to get to the bottom of this,” Cerys begins following, “As the Paranormal Club, it’s our duty.”

“Fuck no,” Akina snaps, “We have our own shit to take care of.”

Cerys stops, “Like what exactly?”

“Akina does have a point,” Yuuri says, “We do have a competition to prepare for.”

Cerys rolls her eyes, “The Games Club is a bunch of pushovers that we shouldn’t have any issues with!”

Mari looks around to see that Katsuki, Hotaru, and Kirie are missing, “Well, Ah guess tha three not here are workin’ on it.”

“How do you know they will work on it?” Akina retorts.

Yuudai scratches his head, “I’m sure the brainiacs of the club can figure it out!”

Rina snickers, “Brainiac’s kinda a stretch for Kirie.”

Cerys shakes her head, “Whatever, we need to help them!”

Mari thinks, “It could be somethin’ paranormal.”

“Could be demons,” Cerys answers right back.

“D-Demons!?” Suzaka worriedly looks to Akina and Yuuri, “I-If they’re tagettin’ folks, we could be next on their hit list so we should take care of ‘em now!”

“Alright.” Yuuri sighs, “Let’s go stop a murderer I guess.”

***

Having decided not to chase down a random kid, Hotaru, Kirie and Katsuki returned to the club room. Kirie walks over to the table with three cups, “Some tea should help stimulate our minds.”

Hotaru takes a sip of his tea and hurriedly puts his cup down. “Wh...Why is this tea so sweet!?” he says.

“It’s your beloved American sweetened tea, Hotaru. Is something wrong with it?”

“You made it too sweet...And I’m not American! What made you think that?”

“Your pretty, blonde, American hair!” Kirie says as she ruffles it. “Just like apple pie and uncles named Sam!”

Hotaru shrinks back, but lets the headpat happen. “I-I promise you, I’m Japanese and tea should never be this sweet.”

“It can’t be that bad.” Katsuki takes a sip, and spits it back out, “Did you dump the whole bag in this Kirie!?”

“Well...it’s just how tea tastes in America!” Kirie smiles.

Katsuki raises an eyebrow, “Why do you make tea like an American? How do you even know that’s how they make it?”

“I’ve been there!” Kirie beams brighter.

“What for though?” Hotaru asks.

“W-we’re getting ready for the Games Club match right?” Kirie changes subjects.

Katsuki looks at her cup, “Well, we could use this stuff and try to give them diabetes before the match.”

“Diabetes is a slow acting disease, so if we even gave it to them before the match, it would not affect them in any way, shape or form.” Hotaru rattles off.

“What if we put laxatives in it then?” Kirie wonders out loud.

“Let’s not cheat!” Hotaru raises his voice. “We’ll outwit them!”

“How can we do that when we don’t even know what the competition is?” Katsuki asks.

"Simple." Hotaru slides the Studex to Katsuki. "We'll just use what we know to our advantage!"

Katsuki flips lazily through the notebook. “How do we do that, exactly? Their President is a healer, we'd never be able to hurt them enough to matter."

“And Sayaka can summon swords!” Kirie adds before looking down, “They were still bad last year even with all these powers...”

“Well Hiro is brand new to the Games Club, considering we have the same classes,” Hotaru says. “We can’t be sure how he’ll interact with the others.”

“Which one’s Hiro again?” Katsuki asks.

“The one who sprayed us with water.”

“He and that one girl made a hurricane together,” Katsuki thinks out loud, “That could be real bad for us.”

“We’ve got plenty of time!” Hotaru pulls the Studex back over to him, “We just use this and we can easily figure out a strategy to outsmart them!”

Katsuki sighs and leans over the table to see the notebook, “I guess it’s better than nothing. Let’s take a look and see what we can come up with.”