The air is electric in the Paranormal Club locker room as the group celebrates their first win of the school year. Rina and Suzaka stand in the middle of the room, surrounded by the others, soaking in the praise for their dance-off win. Everyone seems to have forgotten the pair were inches from fighting each other a few minutes earlier. Saito is apart from the group, sitting off to one side playing games on his phone. Akina meditates in the opposite corner, separate from the others as well.

A knock at the door causes the commotion to die down. Yuudai walks over and opens it, revealing Lucy standing there.

“Oh good, you put your shirt back on.” She notices.

Yuuri joins Yuudai at the door, the other partiers follow behind her, “Is something wrong, Ms. Usha?”

Lucy cracks a faint smile, “Not at all Ms. Sayamura. I’ve just come to inform you that your belongings are being prepared to be moved over to your new accommodations in the Low Tier Dorm.”

Kirika marches to the front, “There better not be any creeps going through my stuff!”

“I assure you no such thing will occur Ms. Komori.” Lucy answers, “We have a way of transporting your belongings without violating your privacy.”

The group at the door goes silent trying to piece together how that works.

Lucy flips through her clipboard, “Because of this, your new dorm will not be ready until late this afternoon. Use this time to go out and celebrate your first win.”

Yuudai scratches his head, “Can I at least shower first? I don’t want to go out in town feeling dirty!”

“We have showers on-site for anyone who wishes to clean up before leaving, Mr. Akiyama. If there are no further questions, I’ll take my leave.” Lucy grabs the door from Yuudai. “We will contact you when the dorm is ready Ms. Sayamura.”

Yuuri nods.

“Good day, then.” Lucy closes the door.

The celebration resumes without Lucy

Yuudai goes over to his bag to grab a set of fresh clothes.“If you guys don’t mind, I’m going to grab a quick shower.”

“Can Ah have yer gym socks?” Mari asks. “Yew know, fer magic purposes.”

Yuudai's phone buzzes, saving him from answering that. He grabs it to see he has four missed calls from his father along with a concise text message.

“Call me now.”

Yuudai gulps as he returns his father’s missed calls. He is immediately greeted by buzzing yelling. Yuudai pulls away from his phone as his father yells loud enough for the rest of the club to hear.

“-I want you out of that school immediately! Why didn’t you tell me it was that stupid superpower school!? I thought your friends had some sense and were going to a normal school! You’re going to get yourself killed out there!” The yelling continues as Yuudai tries to muffle the phone.

“I’ll...take this outside.” He says jogging to the door. He opens it to find Haruhiko standing there about to knock with Karen beside him. Yuudai ushers the pair into the locker room and shuts the door as he leaves.

“Hey guys~!” Haruhiko waves to the club.

The Paranormal Club stops celebrating again and gives the pair wary looks.

Cerys runs over, “Haruhiko? What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to congratulate you guys!” Haruhiko gives a few claps for the group and then points to Rina and Suzaka, “Especially you two! You both were great on stage!

Rina locks up for a second, her behavior giving away that this isn’t something she’s been complimented on before. “T-Thanks...I-I guess…” She stutters out.

Suzaka can’t find any words and nods her head towards the Idol Club President.

Mari wanders up to the group and hovers over Haruhiko. “What’s yer angle, pretty boy?”

Haruhiko chuckles as he squats down to ruffle Cerys’ hair, “The only angle I have is a cute one!”

Mari’s ahoge droops at the affection the redhead is getting.

Cerys blushes profusely, “I told you not while everyone’s around!” She bats his hand away and points at Karen, “What’s she doing here anyway?”

“Karen?” Haruhiko asks, “She really wanted to come see you guys. Dunno why though.”

“Well ain’t that ni-” Mari stops as her nose goes into overdrive. She hovers around Karen. “Why d’ya smell laike yew’ve been rollin’ through a daisy field?”

“Huh?” Karen looks confused before putting two and two together, “Oh you mean my perfume! I don’t remember what it’s called. Eriri gave it to me. I can bring it with me to class Monday!”

Cerys snaps her fingers to cut the conversation. She points to Haruhiko, “Spit it out, what are you really here for?”

“Well, I did have another reason…” Haruhiko pulls a party hat out of his pocket and squats back down, putting it on Cerys’ head, “I came to wish my rockstar a happy birthday!”

Cerys’ face turns an even brighter shade of red, “Y-You remembered!?”

“Huh?” Rina scratches her head.

“Wait…” Yuuri trails off, “Oh no, I was so focused on the competition I totally forgot!”

Katsuki clicks her tongue. “Crap, me too.”

The club starts to gather around Cerys to congratulate her.

Haruhiko looks confused, “Aw, you told me but not your newbies?”

Cerys slowly nods, “It’s ok, everyone. Things have been busy lately.”

Kirie grabs Cerys in a hug, lifting her up, “No need to be sorry! It’s your birthday!”

“P-Put me down now!” Cerys demands.

Yuuri looks nervously at the redhead, “A-Are you eighteen now or...?”

“Nineteen actually.”

A collective “Eh?” comes from the club.

“I will not be answering any questions,” Cerys says, holding up a hand.

Haruhiko holds a pantomime mic to Cerys’ face. “Will you be celebrating today?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Nonsense!” Yuuri puts her hand on Cerys’ shoulder, “We’re going out anyway, so we should celebrate your birthday too!”

Katsuki cheers behind the two. “It’s rare to get to commemorate two good things like this, we gotta take the chance that fate gave us.”

Cerys rolls her eyes, “Do we have to? And do you have to talk like that?”

Haruhiko claps his hands, “Of course! You gotta celebrate!”

Suzaka’s stomach growls, “How ‘bout we go eat and celebrate Cerys’ birthday that way? It’d be awesome!”

“You sure you’re just not really hungry?” Rina smirks.

“Do ya really need to call me out like that?” Suzaka pouts.

Haruhiko smiles to the group, “You know, I know this great little sushi joint in town that you guys might enjoy. Eriri and I go there all the time.”

Cerys gives Haruhiko a weird look but brushes it off.

Yuuri nods, “Great! We can all go!”

Kirie looks Haruhiko up and down, “Are you sure we want him joining us? Is he your boyfriend or something, Cerys?”

“W-What!?”

Haruhiko holds his hands up, “Oh I’m afraid I couldn’t attend anyway even if I wanted to. We have to prepare for our match tonight.”

Cerys clears her head, “Right! You guys are competing! G-Good luck!”

Before Haruhiko can answer, Karen taps his shoulder, “Hey, Eriri is asking where we are.”

Haruhiko ruffles Cerys’ hair one more time, “Thanks my rockstar! Anyway, we need to get going!” He catches himself and motions at Rina and Suzaka, “If you two ever consider wanting to grow those dance moves, come find me~”

Rina snorts, “Don’t hold your breath.”

Haruhiko and Karen wave to the club as they leave.

Yuuri tilts her head, “Actually... Why does Haruhiko call you his ‘rockstar’ Cerys?”

Cerys shrugs, “I have a band.”

The club looks in bewilderment at her.

“Have you guys not seen me leaving late at night?”

Most of the club shakes their heads no.

Cerys walks over to her bag while taking the party hat off, “Good! You’re not supposed to!”

Yuudai comes back into the room, his hair slicked back from the shower.

“How’d that phone call go, big guy?” Rina asks.

“Everything’s fine!” Yuudai assures the group, “My dad can be a bit protective sometimes and wanted me to transfer out. It took a bit of doing, but I finally got him to calm down and let me stay.”

“At least your daddy talks to you…” Kirika mumbles.

Yuudai quickly changes the subject, “Anyway! What did Haruhiko want?”

“He told us it was Cerys’ birthday today,” Mari says.

Yuudai lights up, “It is!?” He grabs Cerys in a big bear hug, “Happy Birthday! We need to go out and celebrate! A-And get you some presents! And…” He trails off trying to think of more things.

“Seriously, stop doing this!” Cerys whines.

Yuudai sets the blushing redhead down and grabs his stuff, “This is great! I’ll be right back!”

“Wait, where are you going?” Yuuri asks.

Yuudai dashes out of the room, “To get Cerys a present!”

“But we can g-” The door slams, “He’s already gone…”

“Are we sure Big Guy isn’t a dog?” Rina asks.

“Oh well.” Cerys sighs in defeat, “Let’s go into town and get this party started I guess.”

***

The group wanders their way into town after departing the stadium, and instantly find themselves lost thanks to Haruhiko’s directions. After struggling to decipher his text messages, the club finds the place; an unassuming sushi restaurant straddled by two larger buildings.

“This is the place!?” Rina squints, confused.

Akina nods approvingly at the restaurant. “This place looks honest. You guys remembered to bring money with you right?”

Some nod. Others check to make sure they have money with them.

Kirie pulls out a small sack from her purse, “Does this work?”

Yuuri is baffled by the sack, “Did...you bring nothing but coins Kirie?”

Kirie pulls out a handful of gold coins and looks at Yuuri apologetically, “It’s the only currency I have.”

Suzaka leans in to look. “Woah, that looks like real gold!” she shouts.

Akina grabs Kirie’s arm and stares at the coins, “This is real gold…” She looks up at Kirie, “Where did you get these?”

Kirie tilts her head, “This is the currency from my hometown.” She looks to see her club staring blankly back at her, “Y-You know...from up North…”

Kirika slides up towards Kirie. “I’m from up north too! What prefecture are you from? Which city?”

Kirie looks away. “Oh, y’know...northernly.”

Cerys groans, corralling her club inside. “Let’s just go in. People are starting to stare.”

The interior is as unassuming as it is on the outside. There’s only one other customer in the restaurant, at a corner table. They’re wrapped up in a thick jacket, wearing a medical mask and sunglasses.

The club takes a seat at the bar. The chef welcomes them and begins taking their orders. Cerys ignores the chef, her eyes are glued to the person in the corner.

They meet her gaze, only to look down at the table.

Cerys slips off her seat, sneaking away from the others.

Yuuri and Katsuki sigh. Yuuri takes it upon herself to help everyone order and guess at what Cerys would want. Katsuki keeps watch on Cerys to make sure she doesn’t cause trouble.

Cerys slides into the seat across from the stranger at the table. “So...how bad are you burned?” Cerys asks.

The stranger pulls their mask and sunglasses aside. It’s Naomi. “Cerys, it’s me.”

“Oh goddammit.” Cerys groans.

Naomi laughs, “Funny seeing you guys here. Great performance today, by the way!”

“Ugh, you reporters are all weird. Why are you here anyway?”

Naomi’s cheerful demeanor leaves, “Hazuki said she saw something bad in my future. This weekend, the person trying to murder me is going to finish the job.”

“So you came here? I knew this place was a bad idea.”

Naomi shakes her head."It's not bad, it's just that my uncle runs the place, and I feel safe here more than at school...”

“Hey it's fine to be worried but... you sure this place is safe? Haruhiko told me Eriri comes here all the time.”

“Eh? What does my sister have to do with this? Are you seriously jumping onto that bandwagon too?”

Cerys rubs her temples, “Look, all I want is for you to be somewhere where they can’t get to you! Eriri, Kotoha, Mako, whoever!”

"A building caught fire, the roof collapsed on me, and my pudding was poisoned this morning! I don't wanna be anywhere near the school right now!"

“How do you know your pudding was poisoned?”

“It tasted terrible! Nothing like it usually does, so it has to be poison!”

“You’re being way too paranoid.” Cerys points to Naomi. “I mean, it looks like you’re wearing a straightjacket!.”

“Nevermind how I’m dressed! Has your club done anything to try and catch the person doing this?”

“Whoever it is is really cautious. Could even be more than one person.”

“M-More than one?” Naomi turns pale. “I really am gonna die…”

“Calm down, even if it’s more than one person we have like ten people on this. We just need some more clues. Now… do you know if anything like this has happened at the school before?”

“Nothing like this has ever happened before here!” Naomi tears at her hair. “I’m going to be the first murder victim in school history!”

Cerys slams her palms down at the table and leans forward. “Goddamnit, Naomi! Fucking relax or I’m going to kill you before anyone else gets the chance!” The noise in the restaurant dies down as everyone turns to look at the commotion.

“Get back to stuffing your fuckin’ faces!” Cerys yells at her club.

The chef gives Cerys a look. “They haven’t been served yet, little missy.”

Cerys glares at the chef. “Get back to work.”

Naomi looks at Cerys with a shocked expression. “You… You really care about solving this case.”

“No, you idiot, I care about someone at this school dying for no reason.” Cerys takes a deep breath. “Look, if you’re going to get this riled up, why don’t you just have the Paranormal Club protect you?”

“I… don’t know. You all might be more dangerous then the killer is.” She looks over at the bar, where Rina fights Suzaka over the chef’s first plate of sushi. Suzaka pushes Rina, causing her to crash into Kirie.

Cerys smirks. “Then it’s better to have the dangerous ones working for you, right?”

Naomi shudders.

“If you say anything but yes, I’m going to yell at you in front of the whole restaurant again,” Cerys says. “We’ll all get kicked out and neither of us will be able to come back here anymore.”

Naomi gulps. “Y...Yes. Yes, I will join you for my protection.”

“Great! Now, let’s enjoy the meal you’ve so graciously left here for us, shall we?” Cerys’ eyes Naomi’s plates of sushi, her grin downright demonic.

Naomi pushes one of her plates of sushi to Cerys, hands trembling. “Y-You can have this plate as p-payment!”

Cerys eats greedily. “Now you’re getting it.”

Naomi looks over at the rest of the Paranormal Club. “You’re not going to eat with your friends, Cerys?”

Cerys keeps eating. “Well, this was supposed to be my birthday celebration, but it looks like they had other plans.: She finishes her plate and takes a roll from Naomi’s plate. “Those guys just suck at planning parties.”

Naomi is shocked. “It...It’s your birthday? And you’re willing to spend it helping me?”

“At least Haruhiko gave me a party hat when he came over.” Cerys squeezes her roll until the filling bulges out.

Naomi flinches at the mention of Haruhiko’s name.

Cerys gives her an annoyed look. “What’s got you spacing, space cadet?”

“N-Nothing.” Naomi holds her hands up defensively, “I-I wanted to ask if you had any idea who was behind this!”

“I don’t have any leads! Weren’t you paying attention?”

Naomi sags in her seat, trying to think of something else to say, “Izumi has brought this up to the Student Council, but they can’t do anything without a solid suspect.”

“Student Council?” Cerys scratches her head, “Wait, we have one of those?”

Naomi sighs and rolls her eyes, “Agh, do you really not know about the Student Council? Like at all?”

“Not really.”

Naomi continues, “Okay, well Izumi had told me already that he was going to the Student Council president’s office to bring up some sort of protection plan. Those four have a lot of power and leverage here. Even if we have some just-above-local level fame, the orders of the Student Council are absolute.”

“Sounds pretty fucked up, to be honest,” Cerys says.

“Well,” Naomi exhales, “You don’t want to mess with them, trust me. The president, Yuzurika Shiina is… a force to be reckoned with.” Naomi shakes her head, “Anyway, even though they rule with an iron fist, they can’t just act on rumors and suspicions! Just like the ones you guys are putting onto Eriri!”

“Well, I don’t know how we could find this person then…” Cerys trails off, in deep thought.

Naomi braces herself for Cerys’ next words.

Cerys shakes her head. “No... You wouldn’t do that.”

Naomi looks nervously at Cerys. “D-Do what?”

Cerys meets her gaze, “I’m thinking about using you as bait to draw out whoever it is the best course of action!”

“T-That’s not safe at all…” Naomi mutters.

“No, it’s fine! We’re a group of trustworthy people!” Cerys points back to her club, where Kirie is throwing water from a flask labeled “aqua vitae” at her plate of octopus sushi, causing the staff to check on her.

Naomi blinks a few times, “Right...How do you plan to use me for this?”

Cerys shrugs, “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet but I know it’s going to work!”

Naomi’s face brightens, “You mean it?”

“We’re the Paranormal Club, these things always work out for us!”

Naomi’s smile wavers. “I’m game...I guess. What’s first?”

Cerys looks her up and down, “Take off all that bulky clothing so you don’t look like a freak.”

Naomi sighs and takes off her coat, sunglasses and mask, leaving her in a T-shirt and shorts.

Cerys leans towards her, “Good! Now, we’ll follow you back to school, hiding the whole time, and if anyone makes a move on you, we beat them up!”

“That’s your plan!?” Naomi says, exasperated.

Cerys leans back. “No need to complicate things. You trust me, don’t you? Or would you rather spend the rest of your time here sweating in those ugly disguises?”

Naomi panics. “Fine. Get your club together and let’s go. I’ll get my uncle to make you some to-go boxes.” She picks up her discarded clothing and hastily heads back to the kitchen,

Cerys watches Naomi leave before yelling to her club. “Hey assholes, we’ve got a job to do!”

“MWEE?!” Mari jumps in her seat, almost choking on her frankfurter. “What tha hell is wrong with yew!?”

“Grab your stuff and let’s move! We’ve got a life to save!”

“We just started eating,” Akina says, murder in her voice.

Cerys tries to calm her down, “I swear I have a plan this time!”

“What could your plan possibly be?” Katsuki says.

Cerys smiles, “Stalking.”