“Alright, fine,” Zain was the first to disrupt the awkward atmosphere. “None of us know how or what the other is here, but I’m sure we both have the same objective, correct? So let’s not get too deep into the reasons and work together, do we have a deal?”

“Yeah,” answered Mike, offering a handshake. Though his face remained confused and worried by the fact that not only Zain was doing an investigation without his help, the young man did it completely in secret. But he also acknowledged Zain’s suggestion, as the painful memories of tailing Yusei were all still too fresh in his mind.

“Now, first thing first,” Zain continued. “Don’t go through the front entrance. We’re minors, remember?”

“I’m not gonna just waltz in, obviously,” Mike clicked his tongue in annoyance, pulling his sleeves to reveal the black suit underneath. “I got this; it’s my design based on your Bitleo suit…”

Mike had thought that his friend would be excited at the news, but all he received was a shrug from Zain, who immediately interrupted:

“Doesn’t work. Look at their hips.”

Though he was annoyed at the fact, Mike turned his gaze over as suggested. And instantly, the boy was humbled as he saw the metal detectors lying around, which turned his face from a grunt to a sad frown.

“Oh, metal detectors…”

“Yeah, not likely we’ll get in through the front,” nodded Zain. “Follow me.”

The two then quickly left the scene and went around to the back of the building, the same place Zain got to the last time he tailed Yusei. Quickly picking up Mike, the young man once again flew up to the top floor to look through the window.

Per his expectations, the room was empty.

“Uh… what are we doing here?” Mike asked.

“We go inside the room,” answered Zain, who quietly opened the window and landed inside.

Once the two were safely in the room, the young man retracted his wings and continued. “I got to this place yesterday, but the guy was using a body double with a wig and everything.”

Zain then made his way to the cupboard and opened the door. Inside were the usual Aoba uniform and red wig he had seen. Mike, meanwhile, was completely shocked at the news as his jaw nearly dropped seeing the wig.

“But… I tailed him all this time… and he was monstrously fast too…”

Replying to Mike’s claim was only a smile from Zain.

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought that too,” answered the young man. “So this time, I put my tracker on his shoes instead of his clothes or hair. But look at this.”

Zain then tossed over his own tracker to Mike and signaled the boy to check it. As Mike followed, his eyes widened once more as the red dot of their target once again showed itself being in the vicinity.

“W-Wha…”

“I was kicking myself when I knew too,” Zain nodded in understanding, “but that Council President had us fooled all along. Either he wasn’t using a double in the first place, or he was actually the double all along.”

“… Wait, hold on,” Mike, seemingly realizing an important detail, asked. “If he’s not here, but the tracker still shows him being here, then… where is he?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“This thing doesn’t show height, so he’s on a lower floor, of course,” answered Zain. “But we know that he’s not on the bottom floor through the conversation before, so…”

“I see! Then the only option left would be the second floor!” Mike gleefully concluded but was met with a shake of the head from Zain.

“I tried looking down last time; there wasn’t anything.”

“… Huh?”

“The only conclusion left to make was that…” Zain paused for a moment, then gestured down and up the floor. “There’s a secret floor; either up or down from here, and it’s only accessible through this room.”

As the words left his mouth, Zain looked through the wardrobe once again, flipping through the pile of disguises one by one. However, the fated item, whichever it was that Zain was looking for, proved to be a challenge, as none of the disguise items served as a hiding obstacle.

Mike, at first, didn’t have a clue about what his friend was doing. But it didn’t take long for the boy to find out, as he gestured to the corners of the wardrobe:

“If some kind of switch is what you’re looking for, then how about trying to find some hidden spaces?”

With the hint given, Zain quickly tried feeling around the corners of the wardrobe. And it didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for, as his finger touched the ridge of a small button hidden well behind the door’s upper corner.

Lights hidden below the wardrobe lit up in the same vein as Mike’s suit, and a hatch opened leading to a metal platform – an elevator going underground.

Without another word, both Zain and Mike nodded their heads and went onto the platform.

It was as if the two boys got lost in another world.

From a wardrobe barely enough for two teenagers to fit, now in front of Mike and Zain was an incredibly spacious room. A ceiling going thrice Zain’s height covered their tops, and endless rows of marble tiles tread at their bottom. Along the room were various suits of armor and weaponry of all kinds, but contrary to the room’s by-the-time look, the tools and equipment present was anything but.

Steel-plated armor with horned helmets covering to the ears. Masks bearing fierce-looking creatures. Long, curved swords, both sheathed and unsheathed alike. Metal spikes and stars. Scrolls – actual paper scrolls.

“What is this place?” Exclaimed Mike. “This is like one of those old ninja hideouts!”

“Ninja?” Asked Zain. The concept was foreign to the sheltered young man.

“Don’t you remember? I showed a comic to you once.”

“You showed me how many comics during the summer vacation?” Zain could only raise his eyebrows in doubt at the question.

“… Fair enough. Anyway, a ninja is like a hired assassin in Japan’s history. They can either exist as individuals or an organization serving a feudal lord – like a current president nowadays.”

“Old assassins, huh?” Zain slid his fingers along a sheathed sword nearby. “But from the way you say it, they shouldn’t be around anymore, right?”

“Not as I’m aware of, no,” answered Mike. “With the development of modern weaponry, the ninjas are soon outclassed and became obsolete. That, and the ruination of Japan’s feudal system meant the end for the shinobi – that’s another term for ninja, by the way.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why all of these are here… unless our friend is somewhat of a fan of these old folks?”

“I mean, if he’s a fan, I want to know where he got these things,” Mike let out a whistle as he felt the cold steel of the armor on his fingertips. “These are genuinely made, and it’s not like they’re antiques either. By the look of their shine, I’d even say all of the things here are brand-new.”

“Brand-new…” Zain muttered; his eyes glanced over the armor where Mike was. The young man then pointed to the object behind the armor – a calligraphy of sorts:

“What’s that?”

“The letter?” Mike squinted, trying to remember the limited Japanese vocabulary that he picked up from the books he read. “I think that’s…”

Before the boy could answer, however, another voice sounded behind them.

“The Kanji for ‘Nin’, meaning patience, as well as the ‘nin’ in ‘ninja’. Took you long enough to get here, my uninvited guests.”

Mike could not utter a word, for he already felt the cold blade behind him, ready to sick at any time given. Zain, meanwhile, let out a smirk to hide his anxiety:

“Not the best way to welcome guests, don’t you think so, President?”

“We’re no longer on Aoba’s grounds, Zain, you can drop the formalities. Yusei is fine.”

“Hard to when you have a sword sticking at our backs.”

“You leave me with no choice,” Yusei chuckled. “After all, it’s only natural that I have to defend my house from invaders… don’t you think?”

“This… isn’t defending!” Mike, finally mustering the courage to open his mouth, shouted. Or perhaps the boy thought that by shouting, he could shake off the fear that lingered within him.

Nonetheless, it only grabbed a smirk from Yusei as a reaction.

“Sorry, Michael, but I’m not talking to you… isn’t that right, Lewis?”