Raidou steps away from the door, rubbing his nose. He turns towards Yuudai and Saito within the empty hallway with a sour look on his face.

Saito shares Raidou’s sour look, “Man, I kinda feel bad for the girls. This is the dodgiest crap I’ve ever seen.”

Raidou snaps out of his sour look and slaps Saito on the back with a chuckle. “Still, us getting to see them in cheerleadin’ uniforms ain’t half bad!”

Yuudai clinches his fists and puts on a determined face. “Is that all you guys are thinking about!? This could put us at a great advantage!”

Saito scoffs and deadpans. “I don’t particularly care.”

A high-pitched voice rings out from seemingly nowhere. “You guys think this is total crap too, don’t you?” One of the Drama Club members who was resting against the wall near the group raises his head and looks towards the boys.

Raidou and Saito both simultaneously say, “Yep, pretty much.”

Yuudai then lies in order to impress this new student. “I-I think it’s kind of dumb, but whatever can get our club ahead, I guess. Haha.”

The drama club boy chuckles but still extends his feminine hand. “Kairu, pleased to meet you. There’s actually an arcade not very far from the field, so we can still pretend to watch. I mean, if you guys wanted to…”

Saito’s face suddenly lights up. “Dude, that sounds pretty dope!” He jets his hand out. “I’m Saito.”

Yuudai’s shoulders droop. “Eh? V-Video games aren’t really my thing…” He then mumbles out very quietly, “I kinda wanted to watch the game.”

Raidou eyes the stranger for a moment, but still extends his hand for a handshake. “Raidou Kurabe. I’m down with watchin’ the game, but if they have the new Witches and Warlocks machine I’m down for an arcade run.”

Yuudai manages to squeak out, “I’m Yuudai, by the way…”

Kairu shakes both Saito and Raidou’s hands, then turns to Yuudai. “Well, there’s something else I want to do, but I can’t talk about it here. Meet me at the arcade once the game starts!” Kairu then daintily walks off, leaving the boys to decide amongst themselves what to do.

Raidou turns towards the other two, “She doesn’t seem like the trustworthy sort, yeah. Then again, all kinds of weirdos in that Drama club.”

Yuudai nods. “I don’t trust her, are you two still thinking about going?”

Raidou shrugs. “If both of y’all are goin’, I’ll go.”

Saito puts on his headphones and says, “You idiots know that was a guy, right?”

Yuudai and Raidou look at Saito, then back at each other. Yuudai breaks the silence by stammering out, “I-I think I may go just to be sure nothin’ happens to the kid!”

Raidou follows the lead, saying, “Y-yeah, w-we’ll go. We’ll totally go.”

Yuudai continues to shakily talk. “W-well, I guess that’s that then, heh heh heh”. He cracks his neck, and says, “Let's just hope the girls don't get into a huge fight.”

Raidou tenses up, caught between video games and a catfight.

Saito says, “They’re certainly taking long enough. I guess that’s girls for you. Isn’t it about to start soon?”

Raidou relaxes and look at his watch. “Yeah, in a few minutes.”

Yuudai says, “They better not ruin our chances…” He trails off as the PA system comes to life to announce the beginning of the cheerleading match.

Saito stands up. “‘Kay, that’s our cue. Let’s go see your new girlfriend, guys.” He smirks as he heads out, with Yuudai and Raidou following behind him fuming.

The gang meets up with Kairu at the arcade, showing their school badges to the officer near the front. They’re greeted by a floor filled with rhythm games, shooters, and other typical arcade staples.

Saito takes in the sights of the surprisingly good arcade, he then grins and rubs his hands together. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting such a nice arcade here. Who says arcades are dying? Alright boys, time to let loose.”

Yuudai rubs his eyes. “Jeez, how do you stand this? All these flashing lights are burning my retinas.”

Raidou laughs out loud and taunts Yuudai. “You a shut-in or somethin’?” He turns to the arcade. “Anyway, where’s that new Witches and Warlocks...?”, he mutters, before walking off into the light gun district. He almost immediately runs into a machine labelled “DEN OF THE DYING 4: CHAOS IN THE CITY” which surprisingly has nobody at it. He can only mutter “badass” under his breath as he grabs the gun and inserts a coin.

Yuudai gets his sight back, and not realizing Raidou’s moved on he says, “I just don’t go to these places often…” He notices Raidou isn’t there and mumbles out. “and this is probably why.” He then goes to look for him near the light gun games, finding him instantly by the sounds of his screen-directed trash talking.

After watching over Raidou’s shoulder for a moment, Yuudai asks, “What is this game, exactly?”

Raidou doesn’t break his concentration, yelling back, "It's a - Shit! - game about killing some - Fuck! - zombie dudes!" while shooting at some virtual zombie dudes.

Yuudai stands next to the cabinet and picks up the unused blue gun in the machine’s “holster”. “Huh, you use this fake gun to shoot them?”

Raidou looks over for a split second, enough to take some damage. “There's co-op play if you - God DAMN! - wanna try it out.”

Yuudai says, “Well, I don’t see that… er, guy yet, so I might as well try it o-”

Yuudai is cut off by Raidou yelling out a loud string of curse words as GAME OVER appears on the screen. “FUCK! This one’s even harder than the last one,” he shouts at the air with a loud roar.

Kairu reveals himself from behind a nearby machine, having heard Raidou’s boisterous yelling. Yuudai sees him approach and waves him over. “Wow, you fucking suck,” Kairu says to Raidou with a hair flip. “I’m glad you guys decided to show up. I'm planning on sabotaging this stupid waste of time they call a ‘game’.” He tilts his head back and runs his hand through his hair. “And Ame has been such a huge bitch recently I'm ready to break.”

Raidou jams the gun back in the machine. “You don’t need to sabotage it, it’s already sabotaged! How the hell do you even hit that weakpoint on the first boss?”

Yuudai gives Raidou a look of disdain. “Eh, you mean the baseball game?

Raidou throws his arm back. “No, you DUMBASS! The fucking arc-” Raidou suddenly realizes the presence behind him, turning around to greet him. “Oh, it’s you. Sup?”

Kairu shrugs and shakes his head. “Arcade game…” He then looks back up right at Yuudai and Raidou. “Yeah, the baseball game. If Ame loses then she’ll probably step down and I can take over the drama club. If you help me…” He pauses for a moment. “Well, I’ll ignore your club forever.”

Yuudai immediately steps forward and asks, “How do we know we can trust you?”

Raidou adds with a sigh, “Yeah, the chance at gettin' two clubs off our asses is a lil' too good to be true.”

Kairu runs his hand through his hair, then says, “Honestly, you don't have a reason, but have I given you a reason to doubt me?” He perks up a bit, then continues. “Besides, it'll be an exciting thing to investigate! You guys are totally in to that! Right?”

Yuudai thinks for a second. “Well, I guess you got a point…”

Raidou still looks skeptical, saying, “Feh, you're one of those drama dweebs, though. I’m not gonna trust you until you explain what it is we’re doing.”

Kairu leans in close, lowering the level of his voice. “You see, I have some dirt on the current dean. Some real underhanded behavior. I saw him doing some… illegal shit at the last baseball game.”

Yuudai is completely interested. “Dirt on the dean, huh? What kind of dirt?”

Kairu reponds, “The kind that would give us a new dean. And possibly give him a home behind bars.”

Raidou is now interested too. “Woah, that sounds heavy. What the hell could the dean be doing to get that kind of punishment?”

Kairu grins. “Well, he was talking to this guy in a flashy coat, giving him money and some papers. I thought it was just a normal bribe, or some kind of Yakuza payment, but then I saw him get some money back. That’s when it struck me, he was betting on the baseball club’s games.”

Yuudai and Raidou are slack-jawed at this revelation. Saito comes across while moving from the rhythm section to the puzzle section. He stops, seeing their shocked faces. “Oh, hey guys. What’s got you lookin’ so shook?”

Yuudai is the first to recover, saying slowly, “Saito, we’re gonna bust a gambling ring.”

Saito stares at him with a mix of bewilderment and amusement. “And how do you suggest we do that?”

Yuudai thinks for a moment, and asks Kairu, “W-wait, do you have any proof of this besides your own words? It’s easy to claim things, but-”

Kairu cuts him off mid sentence. “Of course I do. They meet up in this arcade after the end of the first inning and deal near the broken machines in that corner.” He points to a darkened area in the back. “We’ll hide there and catch them in the act.”

Saito scratches his head. “Why’s this so bad, again? It’s just a little gambling, people probably do it in the pachinko parlor next door too.”

Kairu responds, “That’s different. Anyone can come in and play pachinko. This is one of the people running the games betting on them, he can control who does and doesn’t play.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Yuudai suddenly exclaims, “Hey, what a minute! Why do you need our help if you already know all this?”

Kairu responds, “I don’t have any way to record the deal, and besides having a lookout is never a bad idea. Plus, if we get caught, we can scatter and at least most of us will get away.”

Saito pulls out his smartphone and opens the camera app. “What, don’t you have a cellphone or something?”

Kairu pulls his out, a weathered-looking clamshell phone. “Yep, but it doesn’t have a camera.”

Raidou suddenly lets out an amazed sound, “Woah, dude! I have the same kind!” He pulls out one similar, but it’s red in color and much more beat up. “These are so good, great reception and it’s fun to flip them up!” He flips the phone open for emphasis.

Kairu grins. “I guess we have a lot in common, eh? Wanna exchange numbers?”

“Hell yeah, dude!” Raidou flips his phone open again and they begin to type each other’s numbers in. He closes it one more time, smiles back, and gives an affirming grunt as he pockets it again. Their stare lasts for a few moments, but Raidou’s face suddenly becomes red. “H-hey, stop lookin’ at me like that. If you d-don’t stop, I’ll have to p-punch your lights out! I’m not into that kinda t-thing, shrimp!”

Kairu laughs and flips his hair. “You’d be surprised at how often people mistake my intentions.” He looks at his phone, then straightens up and turns to speak to Yuudai. “Well, it’s almost time. We need to get in position before they arrive.” He turns and begins to walk off towards the darkened corner.

Yuudai looks at Saito, then Raidou, then turns and begins to follow him. The other two shrug at each other as they bring up the rear. They look at the machines, and decide to hide in a gap between two worn out machines.

Yuudai struggles to slide in, and starts loudly whispering, “Darnit, these are too close together, I can’t even fit betw-” He’s cut off by Kairu’s hand covering his mouth.

“I see him, the dean’s here. Be quiet, dumbass!” He instructs Raidou to pull Yuudai out and hide near another machine with more space. They do so just in time as the Dean and his bookie walk past them. The dean rests by a machine. “Heh, every time we come here I remember us ripping punks off with this Final Cut 2 machine. Now we’re ripping everyone off with these baseball games. Give them odds just good enough to be true, then pull out the star player with a bogus reason and reap the rewards.”

“Or tell everyone about the Golden Boy from Chiba that is gonna join the school, just to tell him the wrong time so he misses sign-ups,” the other man says with a smoky voice. In response to that the two men laugh.

Kairu looks back at Saito holding his phone. “Oh, were you recording?” Kariu asks excitedly. “Did you get that?”

Saito turns his phone around to show a Full Song Combo completion screen with some idol images on it. “No, I was playing MusiDooru. You didn’t tell me you were expec-”

Kairu pulls Saito up by the collar. “If you fuck this up, I swear to-” He’s interrupted by a buzz of his phone, he opens it to see a text from Raidou which says “hey man udie is reccin video 2 use as prof. did sato get vid 2?” He lets Saito go, only saying “You’re lucky you got good friends.”

Saito dusts himself off, only saying “Whatever...” He then puts his headphones back on and goes back to his phone.

The Dean continues. “I can’t believe so many people bet on this game. For having two terrible teams going head to head, the people taking odds like this is astounding. I guess there’s a lot of desperate fools out there.” He chuckles to himself as does his comrade before he opens his jacket and takes out a large envelope. He offers it to the other man while speaking. “Here’s the tickets. Take them to the base, sort it out, then bring the payouts after the end of the game. As usual you shouldn’t have to bring much. Bring some guys back with you in case someone starts trouble.” His partner nods and takes the envelope, putting it into his own jacket. He turns and leaves, the Dean lingering a few moments as to not being seen with him before leaving himself.

As the coast clears, the four regroup in front of the machines where the Dean was standing minutes ago. Yuudai hands his phone to Raidou so he can show the others, with Kairu being particularly impressed. “I think this is enough to bust them, Yuudai. Good work. Now, we just take it to the policeman up front, and everything will be settled by them.”

Yuudai speaks up, “I’m angry.” He then balls his fist and looks up at the others. “And I want to punch him.”

Kairu looks over to Yuudai and with a confused look. “What? You can’t just go and punch him no matter how big of a shitbag he is.” Yuudai starts to walk away, but Kairu jumps in front of him and spreads his arms. “Yuudai, stop. If you do what you’re thinking of doing, you’ll throw away everything we’ve been working for here.”

Raidou pulls Kairu away. “Yo, let him go. We gotta take this guy down, right? What’s a few extra dents in his face if he is going to jail anyway?”

Saito stops everyone. “I think we should first trail that other guy back to their base and once we know where it is then we can show the police this video.”

Kairu looks towards where the man went and watches Yuudai storm off. “Look at what you did, now he’s going to go ruin everything I’ve been working towards!”

Raidou just scoffs. “A man and his revenge is more important than some stupid investigation.”

Saito takes the chance to recede into the darkness. “I’ll handle this on my own terms.”

“Hey, where the hell did Saito go?” Kairu suddenly asks. “Hell, where did EVERYONE go?” He looks at Raidou, who just shrugs in response. Kairu stomps and sighs exasperatedly. He says, “Let’s just go and find this white haired idiot before he does something stupid.” They rush out of the arcade, deciding he’d most likely be at the baseball game, then rush in that direction.

Yuudai finally makes it back to the stadium, flashing his student ID as he quickly rushed past the turnstile in search of where the dean could have gone. He thinks out loud “Now where would he’d be? With how egotistical he is, he’d probably be at the highest possible place, like an emperor.” He snaps his fingers as the answer pops in his head. “The press box!” He turns his head left and right, looking for a path up. “Now, how the hell do I get up there?” He finds some elevators, tries to press the top floor button, but then notices a key hole next to the button. “Shit, the elevators need a key to get up top,” he says as he bangs the panel, shorting it out a bit and causing the doors to re-open. “And I don’t know where the stairs up to the press boxes are.”

He rushes around the stadium, ignoring the rigged game going on, trying to look for any suspicious doors or stairs. Finally, he comes across an emergency exit that doesn’t exactly lead outside. “This can’t be right… maybe this is how they hide the entrances?” He goes to punch the door, but then thinks twice of it when he realizes that emergency exits are usually attached to alarm system. “Now… how do I get around this?” he thinks out loud, trying to find someplace to make a secondary entrance.

“Need some help, bro?” Raidou finally runs up to Yuudai, with Kairu close behind. Kairu is barely able to keep up, bending over while panting for breath.

Yuudai blinks. “How did you find me?”

Raidou points at the doors around the area, all swung wide open and surrounded by cracked walls. “Ya left a trail.” Raidou laughs, but Kairu finally catches his breath enough to slap Raidou on the back of the head.

“We’re here to stop him, idiot!” He then turns to Yuudai. “Yuudai, you shouldn’t be rampaging through like this. We called the police, they can take care of him properly. Don’t be reckless.”

Yuudai turns back towards the door. “Screw the police, this guy wrecked my future. And before they get here to put him away for the rest of his life, I need to get even for that.” He growls and furrows his brow before rearing back and punching the door off his hinges, causing the alarm to start blaring. “Ah, I don’t care about them knowing I’m coming, it just makes it fair!”

Yuudai starts to run up the stairs as Kairu reaches out to him, yelling “NO, DAMNIT! YOU JUST SCREWED THE ENTIRE THING UP!”

Yuudai runs up the stairs, pounding his fist against the wall every few steps out of anger and adrenaline, soon reaching the top. He sees the Dean coming out of one of the skyboxes with a suitcase in hand, he yells out to him, “HEY, DEAN! YOU GET BACK HERE SO I CAN BASH YOUR HEAD IN!” The Dean immediately dashes off down the opposing side’s stairwell, with Yuudai in hot pursuit.

Kairu is looking around, trying to find another way up to stop Yuudai, when he sees several policemen walking by. They walk past him, one of them mumbling, “I swear, if this is another false alarm, I’m gonna write a big damn fine to this damn school until they-” The sentence is cut short when one of the officers points out the opened emergency door. The captain immediately perks up and pulls out his jitte. “Alright men, this is the real thing! Let’s go!” Some of them rush up the stairs, while another group runs off to the other side. Kairu and Raidou look at eachother, then run along with the other group of policemen, hoping they’ll lead them to another entrance.

Yuudai reaches the bottom and pops open the door, only to be met with the policeman holding a jitte. “STOP WHERE YOU ARE,” they shout, causing the Dean to hold his hands up. Yuudai catches up, but also gets told to stop in his tracks.

The Dean moves towards the policemen, pointing at Yuudai. “Oh, thank heavens that you’re here! This hooligan broke into my box and threatened to kill me!”

The policemen walk past the dean and encroach on Yuudai. “Wait, wait, hold on! This guy’s the one you want! He’s gambling on matches, screwing over students and ruining their futures so he can get rich off rigged games!”

The policemen ignore Yuudai’s ranting and begin to close in on him, when suddenly a voice from behind yells out, “Hey, cool it, he’s right. We have video evidence!” Raidou charges towards the cops, Kairu being dragged behind him. “Cool it, dude! We don’t need you getting arrested too! Just show them the damn phone!”

The police chief turns his head without breaking his stance. “What the hell are you kids talking about? Nevermind that, what are you even doing here? Are you with this delinquent?”

Kairu pulls Raidou back even more as he gets upset at the chief calling Yuudai a delinquent. Raidou can barely keep himself composed enough to hold himself back. “You’ve got the wrong guy, we have video of the dean making backroom deals and rigging these games.” He pulls out the phone, turns it on, and hits the play button on an already loaded video.

The police chief watches the video to completion and turns towards the Dean and says, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

The Dean’s face doesn’t even give off a hint of nervousness as he calmly states “You could not see the faces of either man talking in that video clearly, you have no proof of me doing any wrong doing.”

Yuudai advances towards the dean. “That’s bullshit and you know it! That’s you in the video.” The police chief steps forward and pushes his jitte against Yuudai’s chest. “Calm down son, just relax.”

With tensions rising, everyone is too focused on the situation to notice Saito arrive, holding a suitcase. He drops it on the ground, then gives it a little kick, sliding it between the Chief’s legs to a stop in front of him. “What the h- Where did this come from?” the Chief yells as he looks back again towards the newcomer.

Saito looks the Chief dead in the eyes. “Here’s the rest of the proof, sir.”

The dean finally breaks his facade, recognizing the suitcase. “H-h-how the hell did you get th-”. He stops himself, then regains his composure. “What is some silly suitcase going to prove?”

Saito responds, “Open that and you’ll see all their betting slips, notes, and everything else they used.” He then looks at the Dean. “I convinced your partner to let me borrow it.” He leans his head back only to hit it on his scythe, still wet with blood.

Raidou notices this and says, “Yo dude, that’s what that box you carry around is? Sick!” Saito ignores him, collapsing his scythe and slinging it over his shoulder.

The Chief reaches down and forces open the suitcase, looking through the papers. He sorts through them for a few minutes while his men keep everyone still, finally looking up and nodding towards the officers holding the Dean. “I’ve seen enough. These boys have blown this case wide open and we didn’t even know a thing about it. Arrest that man, he’s going away for a long time.”

The officers behind the dean grab his arms and cuff him, ignoring his cries of innocence and drag him off. Yuudai pumps his fist in excitement. “Yeah, we got him!” The chief interrupts his celebration. “Kid, you did good uncovering all this. However, I can’t ignore that you were attempting to assault him.” He pauses for a moment, then continues. “I’ll let you off with a warning this time, don’t take the law into your own hands. You seem like a good person, don’t throw your life away for revenge.” He turns his head to the others. “That goes for you all too.” He adjusts his hat, then turns to leave, ordering his men to do the same. “Good day, boys.”

After the police leave, the boys stand around still processing what just happened. Kairu breaks the silence by clapping for the boys. “Thanks for helping me out with this today, I’ll be sure to pay you guys back in kind when I can.” He smirks and walks away, leaving the three paranormal boys behind. Raidou breaks the new silence with, “Well, now what?”

Yuudai looks down towards the field. “Well, the game is still going on. Let’s check in on the girls.” As they make their way down the stairs, they hear the announcer proclaim the end of the game. “Well, we can go check on the girls still.”

Saito glances down at the field, and spots the girls still in their cheerleading uniforms. “Looks like they’re still on the field, for some reason.”

Yuudai leads the way as they proceed down the stairs to regroup with the others. As he walks, he hears the roar of the crowd and the announcer over the PA system. “And here are your winners...the PARANORMAL CLUB!”

Yuudai’s rage turns to joy as he runs onto the diamond, whooping and hollering. He tosses the first person he gets his hands on, a groggy Mayumi, high into the air. “Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip-”

Mayumi’s lacy black bra lands on Yuudai’s face. She smirks at him freezing up, then realizes he’s not going to catch her. She hits the ground with a sickening smack.

Akina allows herself the ghost of a smile. “Hooray.”