"These jackasses are getting on my nerves!" Scratching his head slowly, Kanabe sighed as he finished his words. It had been four days yet nobody was behaving as what Kanabe and Kanao had in their minds.
"I'm pretty sure they'll work on their teamwork skills very soon." Kanao tried to rest assure her twin.
"What the heck do you mean by soon, sis? We only have three days left and nobody has found the last spots, nine of them!"
"Chill, dude. I'm pretty sure we'll find them." Sanji calmly said in his own way of sense.
"And where the hell is Yahiko?" Kanabe yelled ignoring Sanji's words.
"Nobody has seen him for the last two days, right dude?" Sanji looked at Kanao.
I'm not a dude!
"Brother, he might seem careless but he maybe is searching for the nine spots."
"Two days! Two days it has been since he left. And this is the third day."
"Kanao?"
"Yes, Mai?"
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"It was the midnight of the day 1."
Kanao had not seen Yahiko since that night. The next day as she woke up she hadn't seen him and thought he was on his inspection duty. But she noticed that he hadn't taken any supplies or food with him even his bag was lying inside his tent.
Where are you, Yahiko? I'm so worried about you. Kanao looked at the river's calm current which reminds of her calm and mute best friend.
"Why am I in such a boring inspection?" Izana murmured the complaint and furrowed her eyes.
"You said somethin' ?"
"What? No, not at all, Kimada." Izana instantly put on a cute smile on her face.
-And where the FUCK is that mute Yahiko?
Izana started to walk ahead of Sanji considering the fact that she was about to snap anytime if the inspection went more than long enough. Sanji did notice Izana's sudden change of speed and thought she was being enthusiastic and changed her speed. He looked right of his line of sight and saw a mark, a blue colored scythe on a tree. He went close to that. Izana looked behind and saw that blue scythe. She followed to the mark after Kimada. They bent together to take a close look.
Ti-ting!
The sound came from both of their wrist watch that was provided by the Atom. Their eyes instantly went on the watches and widened as soon as they read the notification.
LOCATION MARKED. 8 REMAINING.
"What?" They both shouted, questioning about what even happened.
"Izana, this is our 12th location."
"The Mark someone might have-"
"Marked it? I think so. But the question is whoever found it how did they know that this is our quest spot?"
"And if they were from our team then why didn't it notified us before?"
"Maybe, they were only one person, Izana."
"What?"
"Mai had told me of her inspection with Yahiko."
That mute again?
"Mai explained that if anyone found a spot of the quest and marks it they have to be more than one person, at least two. That's why Kanabe has been sending us in pairs not alone ever since Yahiko has disappeared. Otherwise, the spot won't be marked. "
"And we both found it and it automatically-"
"-Made the call and this spot was marked. Was it Yahiko?"
Ti-ting!
Ti-ting!
Ti-ting!
Ti-ting!
Ti-ting!
Ti-ting!
Ti-ting!
Ti-ting!
All on sudden both of their watches went off again and they both looked at the notifications.
QUEST COMPLETED!
TEAM-S' ALL SPOTS HAVE BEEN MARKED.
"WHAT?!" They both yelled again.
"How so quick? Sanji, we just found one, right?"
"Yeah, but this is absurd that someone else have found all of the marks."
"Let's go back, we need to report this to Kanabe and Kanao."
"Yeah, I was thinking the same. It's almost nightfall, dude!"
"What?!" Shawn punched the table in front of him. "They already completed their major side quest? How is this possible? They were supposed to be well hidden."
"Our informer told me that someone alone found those leftover nine spots, marked them as a blue colored scythe."
"A blue scythe?"
"Yes. And today Kanabe sent a lot of people from their team in pairs and they all found them. As soon as they did they came back to their basecamp and reported this to him."
"And our informer was one of them?"
"Yeah, and also one of the member of Team-S was missing from three days. It was Yahiko."
"So, Yahiko was the one to mark those spots."
"That's what they believe but nobody has confirmed this yet."
It was natural to think of it that Yahiko in these three days and two nights might have marked the nine spots. At least for now that's what the case was.
Beep! Kiriya's phone received a message. He opened his phone and read through some explanation.
"Shawn, I have a news."
"Split it."
"Team-S' last pair just arrived that was sent to inspection. They were Mai and Sanji. They left the camp to search for Yahiko. Throughout their inspection, they found their last mark. But They saw someone, the same person who you're looking for."
"That masked boy?"
"Yeah. The informer explained that a masked boy was making the scythe and and and he also told Mai and Sanji about Yahiko." Kiriya took a peek on his phone.
"Wait, he told Yahiko's whereabouts?"
"Yeah, and Yahiko was found unconscious. He had been passed out since the start of the day-2. He had fever, he fell off something and passed out by getting hit on his head."
"I see." Shawn realized that all of this information yet hadn't explained about the masked boy's identity. But he still refused to believe some of the information.
"Kiriya, keep an eye on the team and Kimamoto twins."
"Got it." Kiriya left the tent as soon as he finished his words.
"The nine spots were found by whom, then? If it ain't Yahiko, or anyone else, who are you, Masked Enigma?"
"Yahiko, how are you feeling now?" Kanao entered Yahiko's tent. She noticed that he was all alone like always. She sat next to him.
Kanao held his hand and looked at Yahiko. Even after the injury Yahiko had he was still the same as before, emotionless.
Yahiko nodded in the affirmative to ensure his good health to Kanao.
"You don't have to force yourself."
Yahiko raised his hand towards her hand to tap in morse code. But to his surprise, Kanao suddenly hugged him. Yahiko's eyes went down on her forehead in search of her eyes as she hugged him tight.
"Don't do that?" she sounded as if she was crying but as she looked up, matched her glaze to his, he saw her teary eyes.
"Please, don't do that again. Don't leave me behind like that, ever!"
He gently pat on her back. Yahiko started to feel that his T-shirt was getting wet because of Kanao's tear, but he didn't mind.
"I was so afraid. I thought something might have happened to you. When I saw you unconscious after Mai brought you to the camp, I was so scared. I don't want that!"
He started to tap on Kanao's back.
Kanao, do you wanna go with me in tomorrows inspection? She translated the code.
"Yes!" She smiled. And somewhere in his eyes, there lied a face close to Kanao, And it made him feel comfortable to stay like this with Kanao.
"Kanabe, why in the world are we following them?" Sanji whispered as he walked behind Kanabe and Mai and Kimada was tagging along with them as well.
Four of them over heard the conversation between Kanao and Yahiko. And this was day-5. Kanabe was suspecting that Kanao might propose to Yahiko this time. So, to think of visually experiencing his sister's the most cutest moment, Kanabe became curious. Others actually tagged with him.
"Of course, how could I ever miss my sister's best moment in life. After all, she had fallen in love."
"With Yahiko?" Sanji never thought that a girl like Kanao would ever fall in love with a gloomy, loner guy like Yahiko.
"But that isn't the problem in this confession." Mai whispered. "It's Yahiko. I really wonder if he cares about Kanao."
"You're right. I probably know where this is gonna end." Kimada held on to a tree.
"Wait, they stopped." Kanabe warned.
They all paused and hid behind trees. Kanabe saw that there were two girls in front of Yahiko and Kanao. One of them was Nika Saraki, leader of F-Orbital.
"Long time no see, Kanao." Nika put a smile on her face. the other girl next to her had baby-pink colored hair and yellow eyes. She looked a bit tired and she put her hand on Nika to get a grip.
"It really has been long."
"And you must be, Yahiko, right?"
Yahiko nodded in the affirmative.
"What are you two doing here, Kanao?"
"We're on inspection duty."
"But your side quest is already done. Then why?"
"We still have to figure out the Red Leader."
Nika suddenly shifted her glaze to Yahiko who was looking at the sky. Kanao was surprised but she knew the exact reason and also that Nika is gonna ask something.
"Yahiko, are you the Masked Enigma?"
Yahiko looked as she heard his name, not at the point where she spoke of Masked Enigma. She tried to look deep into his eyes, doubting the fact that he was a mute. But the only thing she could notice was a vast darkness lurking behind those emotionless eyes. She somewhat felt a coldness and a chill coming down her spine. Kanao looked at those almost scared eyes of Nika, wondering the same question.
Is Yahiko really that Enigma?
Of course he can't be, that's was she thought as a conclusion to her doubt.
"No, of course, you can't be. Sorry if I'm being rude but you can't talk and I heard that the boy with the mask could. So, yeah! You're not him."
"It's true that the boy with the mask had spoken to some people before. And he also informed us about Yahiko's conditions that he had passed out days ago." Kanao added the facts to ensure Nika some details. But her real intention was to get out of this spot for now since Yahiko was already tapping fingers on her hand.
"Anyways Nika, we'll head back." Both Yahiko and Kanao turned back left the spot in some moments afterwards.
How long do you intend to play with us, Kanao Kimamoto.
"Let's go back." Nika ordered the girl next to her.
Kanao and others saw the girls leaving the spot and came out to an open place.
"Man, I was hoping some romantic confessions." Mai sighed.
Yahiko, are you...?
"Kanabe,-" Before Kanabe could finish his thought Sanji called him.
"Yeah?"
"-What do you think Nika was doing here?"
"I don't know."
"I might have an idea." Kimada scratched his head. "Nika might be inspecting and searching for information on the masked boy. Or another thought, she might be spying on someone and unfortunately Kanao and Yahiko got in her way."
Izana was talking to someone on phone call at the teachers' campsite. The teachers let the Electrons talk to someone if they missed a visit. Usually, this wouldn't happen. But if the person was important or the person was going to be a future student, they could call or visit the Atom.
The phone Izana was holding, provided by Miss Jigoro who was standing next to her, was a land-phone. It was a wired one. Izana, while talking, toyed with the wire.
"Yeah, I know what I did, Ishina. Anyways, it's about night time. So, I'm hanging up...Huh?...Yeah, but why are you asking me this?" Her face turned pale.
"Listen, if you wanna meet him then come here soon. Alright, I'm hanging up. Bye." Izana hung up the phone and gave it to Jigoro. She then head back to Team-S' campsite. But there was thought running in her own head.
Does she know him?