Katsuki holds the door open as Yuudai carries Akina back into the restaurant. “We gotta get ahold of the others to-”

“To what?” Yuuri’s voice rings out from one of the booths inside. “Where have you all been? We’ve been here for 10 minutes! And- and wait, why is Yuudai carrying Akina? Wait, why is Akina so pale?” She gets up and rushes over to look at Akina with the others following.

“Hey, hey, hold on! Calm down and we’ll explain everything!” Yuudai says. “A-and step back, Akina needs some room!” Katsuki pulls out a chair for Yuudai to set Akina in.

“Y-You’re not looking good, Angry-senpai!” Kirika looks at Akina from across the table. “D-do you know what’s wrong?”

Akina lolls her head to look at Kirika “Yeah, Bloody Mary needed a pint of my blood to get us out of the cell the staff here put us in.”

“E-eh? The staff? Cell?” Kirika stammers confusedly. “W-”

“What tha hell is goin’ on here? You’re sayin’ that the workers here kidnapped ya?

Mayumi cuts Kirika off loudly.

“Yeah, drugged our drinks then took us to a warehouse behind it.” Yuudai replies.

“Shit, no wonder we couldn’t get any service.”

Yuuri asks Katsuki, “Did you do the right thing and call the police?”

“Yeah, we used one of their phones, since they took ours and we haven’t got them back yet.” Katsuki says.

“Why didn’t you just take them back when you escaped?”

“We don’t know where they kept our stuff. We were hoping that maybe they kept them in here somewhere.”

“You mean… THESE cell phones?” Saito says as he walks in, also holding a bottle of pop.

“Yeah, th- wait, where did you find them?” Katsuki says.

“Over there behind the bar. Just laying on a shelf and everything.” Saito takes a drink from the bottle.

“Wait, why were you at the bar?” Yuudai asks.

“I was thirsty. And underage.” Saito answers before taking another swig.

Katsuki grabs the phones, giving Yuudai his and setting Akina’s in front of her. “It’s a good thing this isn’t an emergency, the police have taken fore-” The door flies open, policemen walking in.

“Everyone, freeze. We had reports of illegal activity and- Oh, it’s you all again.” The policeman loses his bravado realizing the only people in the restaurant are the Paranormal Club. “Nobody’s hurt this time, right?”

Kirika starts to speak up, only for Akina to quickly cover her mouth with a grunt. “Yeah, we’re all fine. Especially me, I’m the finest.” Akina says.

“O… okay. Well, are you the only people here? We got a report on some criminal activity going on here.” The policeman asks.

“Uh… well, some people were hurt then, I guess.” Katsuki says with a light smile. “In the warehouse out back, the goons running this place were kidnapping people and keeping them in cages. We freed most of them, but there’s still a few there we couldn’t escape with.”

“Alright. You three, go check it out. You two, look around here for any clues. You kids didn’t touch anything, right?”

“We just-” Yuudai quickly rethinks telling him about the machine “We just got some drinks! Soft drinks! Is that fine?”

The officer sighs. “It’s not, but what’s done is done. We’ll be expecting that your fingerprints are on the kid’s stuff. And ONLY the kids stuff, got it?”

“Of course, officer!” Yuudai says, his eyes sliding over to look at Mayumi just in case. “We thought since we were kidnapped by them we could at least get something to drink in return.”

“Alright, so tell me in detail what happened here. Start from the beginning…” The officer says, pulling out a notepad and a handheld voice recorder. Yuudai and Katsuki combine to tell the officer almost everything that happened, leaving out any mention of their powers or the machine. As they finish the story, one of the officers re-enters the restaurant and whispers into the cop’s ear. “Alright, alright. One last question, then. Do you know anything about a guy in the back with a face covered in blood? He didn’t have any visible lacerations and only a blunt-force injury to the head. Did he try to attack you?”

“Uh… w-we only saw him trip! Yeah, just fell over like that!” Yuudai says uneasily.

“He… tripped?” the cop asks.

“Yep!” Katsuki says, backing up Yuudai’s words.

“I see. Well, we’ll take it from here. Stay safe, though knowing you all, you won’t.” The policeman says, turning to leave. “At least pay for your soda next time.”

“W-we will!” Yuudai says, sitting in a nearby chair as the police finally leave. ‘“Phew, glad it’s all over.”

“Wait, so the guard just tripped? How lucky.” Cerys says.

“Well, not quite, but we couldn’t tell the cops what did happen.” Katsuki awkwardly answers. “I… I kind of used that blood magic stuff again.”

“What? Like with Miyu?” Cerys asks.

“Y-yeah! I took Akina’s blood and turned it into a ball and hit him in the head with it!” Katsuki says, beaming slightly. She is greeted with looks of equal parts disgust and disbelief from her friends.

“That’s… kinda disgusting, Kats.” Mayumi says to break the silence. “It worked, but it’s still disgusting, yeah.”

Katsuki frowns for a moment, then continues talking “I-I asked my mom about blood magic after the Miyu thing, and we talked about it for a while. She gave me some guidance on using magic, s-so I can use it on purpose now.” She looks over at Akina and hangs her head a little. “I think I’ll just stick to using my own blood from now on.”

Saito looks questioningly at Katsuki. “Why would you go to your mom for magic help?”

Katsuki replies, “Oh she’s a mage as well! Er, I was supposed to keep that secret...and magic, too…”

Yuudai notices Katsuki struggling with everyone's remarks and steps in to rescue the conversation. “It’s thanks to her that we got out alive, though, and especially with this information.”

Cerys asks, “Wait, information? What information?”

“I’m glad you asked, Cerys!” Yuudai says with a smile. “We have confirmed that they are yakuza. That’s all the information for now.”

Cerys mutters, “Of course I asked, you didn’t tell us anything.”

“Ignore the big idiot.” Akina says. “They were using a machine to steal… something from people they kidnapped, leaving them lifeless.”

Yuuri gasps. “Lifeless? Like you are right now, Akina?”

“Not quite, and they didn’t use it on me. I can still move and speak. These people couldn’t do anything under their own power. The guy who’s ass I kicked said something about stealing the essence of special people to gain power themselves.” Akina coughs weakly, Kirika still trying to help.

Cerys asks, “Well, did it work?”

Akina smirks. “Of course it didn’t, they tried to power themselves up with the machine but nothing happened. Knowing them, they probably just drained a bunch of blood or something stupid like that.”

“Wait… I’m not special at all! At least not like you girls. Why did they kidnap me too, then?” Yuudai ponders.

“They probably didn’t know who was or wasn’t special beforehand, Yuudai.” Akina says. “Their kidnapping pattern was very inefficient and random, which is unusual for yakuza.”

“If they’ve been doing this for a while, how did nobody ever come up as a missing person?” Cerys asks.

“From what the rumor said, the only real pattern amongst them is that none of the people had family in the area, and were relatively recent move ins.” Katsuki says as she flips through her phone. “And righ- hey, wait. What’s this?” She says nervously. “T...they sent a text to Yuuri from my phone! Those assholes went through my phone! Now I’m gonna have to change my password and everything!”

“What was your old password, Katsuki? Was it that easy to guess?” Kirika asks.

“It’s the date my favorite manga started getting published. No way they’d guess it that easily.” Katsuki says with a grumble.

Akina chuckles weakly. “They’re yakuza, do you really think they just guessed it? They have tools for these things.”

Yuuri speaks up. “By the way, Akina. Why did you feel that you needed to hide that you’re a yakuza daughter from us?”

“A bunch of crazy people I don’t know well? I have no duty to let any of you know anything about me. Much less giving you the chance to rat me out to some authorities.”

Mayumi interjects. “The hell, Akina? You stabbed me in my damn eye an’ we didn’t report you then, what makes ya think we’d report ya for bein’ a yak?”

“Trust nobody except yourself and your family, and we are not family… I have no family.” Akina picks her head up to look at Mayumi. “Not anymore. I left the yakuza behind to come to Miyafuji and start a new life.”

Yuudai asks, “What do you mean you don’t have a family? Weren’t they talking about your father while we were kidnapped?”

Akina grunts, standing up from her seat. “You mention that piece of shit one more time and I’ll be replacing my blood with yours. I hate that old man for keeping me from something important just for the sake of this goddamn strength.” She slams the table, even in her weakened state the table cracks.

As Akina sits back down a silence permeates the room. “You’re lookin’ better all of a sudden.” Mayumi says to break the mood.

“Anger’s powerful.” Akina replies drolly. She opens her mouth but hesitates. “I didn’t… I didn’t know if you all could accept me. Or even would accept me, not if you knew my history.”

Yuudai steps forward. “Akina, you’re not the only one with a messed up past. I’ve proven that myself. But letting that past control you, your future, you can’t let that happen! It doesn’t matter if you’re a yakuza at all!”

Katsuki jumps up. “In this club, we accept everyone! Paranormal Club is for everybody! It doesn’t matter if you’re a blood mage, a yakuza’s daughter, if you summon devil butlers, or even turn into a cat sometimes!” She smiles proudly. “Or even if you do nothing, like Saito!”

Saito scoffs. “I’m very happy to do nothing, thank you very much.” He then slams another 5 bottles of soda on the bar, starting to mix them together into one glass.

“...Okay, Saito. Despite what I just said, if you keep stealing we’re gonna have to kick you out, then probably report you too. Stealing isn’t cool.”

“They stole my friends, I steal their drinks. It’s a fair trade.” Saito says as he finishes. Another silence fills the room, this time punctuated by Saito drinking his unholy potion. “Ahh, that’s the stuff!”

“I wonder…” Yuuri starts scratching her cheek. “If there is a group that wants to harness these powers for evil that must mean there is one that wants to use them for good right?”

Katsuki perks up. “Well, I did get an invite from another special school, but I chose this one over them.” She hugs Yuuri lightly from behind. “Because you were going here~”

“O-oh, another school?” Yuuri asks with a light blush.

“Yeah, a private one out in Tochigi, called Zonzai.” Katsuki continues. “They recruit young people who have special abilities to train them in their usage.”

“What, like some kind of Weirdo Academy?” Saito asks.

“No, it’s nothing like that, it’s a normal high school except with extra classes and instruction to help people with these abilities to control them, learn to use them, and also integrate into society... at least that’s what my mom said.” Katsuki explains.

“So if this is a place for special kids and all, why were you sent an’ invite when ya just now startin’ to learn about yer powers?” Mayumi says condescendingly.

“Oh, that’s easy. My mom asked about getting me enrolled there when we were looking at options. She said she knew I had some magic power in me, just needed to bring it out.” Katsuki smiles. “She didn’t know how to train me though since she’s an elementalist and not a blood mage so she was hoping to get me somewhere where I could learn what she couldn’t teach.”

“Huh, riding yer old ma’am’s coattails then.” Mayumi smirks as she leans in closer to Katsuki.

Yuudai asks, “What did she think about you coming here instead?”

Katsuki frowns a bit. “She was irritated, but she understood. She really wanted me to develop my powers more, but also said that she shouldn’t control my life, and since Yuuri was here, she allowed it.” Katsuki’s smile returns. “She’d be surprised at how many friends I’ve made so far! And I even learned a bit more about what I can do, so it’s a win-win!”

Mayumi chuckles. “It’s a good thing they didn’t know about me, then.” She telepathically picks up Saito’s mixture and pours it down a nearby sink. “I could have stolen yer invite, Red.”

“Hey!” Saito yells angrily at Mayumi, grabbing the glass out of the air and setting to work re-creating his horrific creation.

“It’s fer yer health ya idiot.” Mayumi snarks, but leaves him to his devices.

“There was actually a school like that back in Great Britain, too.” Cerys says.” I moved to Japan before I could start going there, though. Life probably wouldn’t have been as… interesting if I had gone there.”

“I’m glad you’re here too, ya bitch~!” Mayumi quips with a smirking smile.

“If nothing else, I’m saving you from being spanked by old men for money by spanking you in mahjong for fun.” Cerys says back.

“Hey, I resent that! You only beat me a few times!” Mayumi retorts with an angry chuckle.

Yuuri pulls her phone out and lets out a minor gasp. “Oh my stars, look at how late it’s gotten! We better be getting back to the dorms. Everyone ready?”

“One moment.” Saito calls out as he starts sticking the pop bottles into his bag before being stopped by Katsuki.

“It’s one thing to drink them here, it’s another to steal them wholesale, Saito. At least don’t do that.”

“Fiiiine.” Saito says, before quickly taking one last big drink.

Yuudai steps towards the door, opening it for everyone else. “C’mon, let’s go. We’ve already been kidnapped once today, let’s not push our luck any farther.”

The Paranormies head home once again, satisfied with another completed adventure and another mystery solved, though new questions have been raised.