Alexis is writing down something on a paper.
Everyone examined him, confused about what Alex is planning to do.
He finally stopped writing and put down the pen. He handed out the paper.
It wrote down;
-Clues
-Unknown phone number
-Had known Joni before
-Comrades
"These are the information that we got during the phone call," Alex kept a serious face while folding his arms, "But the question is..."
"How to find the clue?" Leon guessing Alex's next sentence.
Alex nodded. He fixed his glasses and examined his surroundings. He make sure to not to missed one detail.
"Alex you..." Albert asked Alex, "what are planning to do?".
He changed his gaze to Albert. "Someone might be spying us right now. Since they said, 'I'll give you clues'. Thinking back, they won't slap random clues on random places then expect us to solve the puzzle,".
The princes nodded. "By that means, we need to be more observant. But don't make yourself too obvious--they'll notice it immediately and will make the clues much more harder to figure out," Charles explained.
Alex nodded happily. "Thanks, Charles! I guess that'll be clear for now. Any questions?".
Someone raised their hand. Alex turned to his side,"Yeah?".
"What are you guys talking about?" Joni asked straightforwardly.
They all had forgotten that an 11 year old, goldfish-brain, tomboyish girl is sitting with them too.
"Mon dieu, how can we even forgot about this girl here? " Ciel rubbed his temple.
"It's okay if you don't understand, Joni. You don't have to figure out so hard. You can relax," Alex said while sweating nervously.
"H-huh??" Joni frowned,"But I wanna help too...". She twiddled her index fingers.
"How are you gonna help us if you don't understand a thing we said?"
The boys sighed. If this goes on, Joni might not able to search for her friends.
Felix got up. Everyone looked at him, in confusion.
"Where are you going?" Leon asked, gesturing him to sit down.
"Well," Felix folded his arms,"If we're just gonna sit here and crack our heads, we'll just gonna ended up clueless, no?"
Everyone kept silent and still locked their eyes on Felix.
"..."
"..."
"Felix, you..." Ciel broke the silence.
Felix's eyes are sparkling. He's waiting for everyone to praise him for his genius words.
"Are you trying to ditch out on us?" Ciel sceptically said.
Felix yelled out,"Wha--NO! Of course I won't do that! Ciel, you meanie!"
"Se détendre, I'm joking. Plus, I quite agree with your idea," Ciel got up. Felix smiled.
"Sí! Like that!" Felix happily slings his arm around Ciel's. He and Ciel marched towards the door
Joni watched those two happily. She got up too, and went towards the door too.
"Really...what a headache..." Albert grinned while standing up and walked towards Ciel, Felix and Joni.
Later on, everyone got up one by one and they all got out of the cafe.
•^•
"The clues might be around us, right?" Albert turned his head right to left.
Leon nodded. "Yeah, but just what Charles said--don't be too obvious."
Joni noticed something and ran towards it while the princes and Alex are busy observing around them.
"If I'm not wrong, we first met Joni here, right?" Charles pointed to a sidewalk on his left,"Right, Joni?"
Joni didn't answer
"Joni?" Alex turned to his front.
Joni is gone.
"J-Joni?! Where are you?!" Alex panicked.
"Drat, did someone took her away?!" Albert ran into an alleyway on his right.
The princes and Alex trailed him from the back. They ran through the alleyway, which revealed another roadway. Joni still isn't there.
"Joni! Where are you?!" Albert yelled out.
"Mon dieu! Can't she just stood still for a while?!" Ciel grumbled like a toddler, "Joni, come back here--!"
Joni stood beside Ciel, like a plank.
"HYAA!! J-Joni, how did you--" Ciel jumped.
Joni grumbled with arms akimbo,"I just went to a tree nearby, not even 1 meter away from you all!"
She pouts while folding her arms. She looked away from them.
"S-sorry, Joni. Perhaps you're too small to be seen..." Alex tried to persuade Joni.
Joni, still looking away said,"Well, I'm not gonna forgive you all!"
They all stood there, silently. Not knowing how to persuade Joni, they whispered to eachother.
Leon took out a ziplock bag that has a slice of pizza in it. Joni immediately snatched it from Leon's hand and munch it--just like a dog.
"Woah, didn't know that'll work..." Leon rubbed his chin.
"Okay, since you gave me food, Imma tell you what I've found!" Joni rubbed her mouth using her jacket.
They all looked at Joni delightfully. Did Joni found a clue? If she did, she's not a time waster for the princes and Alex after all.
"Ta-daa!" Joni took out a cockroach.
Ciel screeched and dangled himself onto Albert. "Hey, get down from me!" Albert tried pushing Ciel away.
Joni laughed hysterically. "Just kidding! I actually founded this,".
"Please don't tell me it's another cockroaches again!" Ciel, still dangling onto Albert.
It's a poster.
Alex took the poster and examined it. He couldn't believe his eyes, to what he just saw.
Felix took it from Alex's hand. "Isn't this you, Joni?" Felix asked.
Joni nodded. "It has my face on it, so I took it with me to make sure that it was me."
Felix noticed that something had fell down from the poster. It seems to be like another paper. He bent down to pick the paper up.
"What's this?" He examined it.
Alex looked at the paper. He's confused, so do everyone else.
***
Harry came out of the convenience store with 4 Coke cans inside the plastic he's holding.
He gave it to Corey, Norman and Alex. Harry sat on a bench beside Norman.
Alex sighed out of tiredness. "We've gone quite far, do we?"
The three boys nodded. They four sat silently as they enjoyed the scenery. Brown leaves scattered on the ground, and several people walking around.
"Beautiful," Alex mouthed.
Corey leaned on the bench. He rest his hand on the pile of posters they haven't pasted yet. He looked on the poster and examined it.
He quickly took his phone out and tried to dial Emilia.
"Hm? Who are you calling?" Alex turned to Corey.
"Emilia," Corey replied.
"Didn't she declined our call? Why're you calling her again?" Alex asked.
"Well, ever since we left the art museum, her message status is offline till now," Corey placed the phone on his right ear,"It's just... worrying for me."
"Have you tried calling Mia? Why only Emilia?" Alex is curious.
"Well, that's--" his ear's tip is blushing, "Mia got panicked easily, so I guess Emilia will handle this easier."
Alex let out a giggle. "I hope Joni's fine too."
Corey looked at his side and kept quiet. Norman noticed Corey's avoiding body language. He decided to ask Corey about what actually happened. Norman got up and approached Corey.
"Can we two walk for a while?" Norman asked him.
"Well, sure..." Corey sweating nervously, questioning what Norman's gonna do. He got up and went to Norman's side.
They both went pass the convenience store, which revealed alley by alleys as they walked forward.
"Is there anything you want from me?" Corey asked Norman.
He nodded. Corey's eyebrow raises.
"What is it?" Corey placed both his hand inside his pocket.
"Why have you been avoiding questions about Joni?" Norman went straightforward to what he's curious about.
Corey's eyes bugged out. His tongue turned cold. He couldn't betray his secret with Joni, ever. He kept silent for a while, then let out a sigh.
"Actually-" Corey's about to break the shell, but Norman immediately stopped.
Corey looked at Norman confusedly. Norman's eyes bugged out and his mouth opened slightly. Corey tried to locate Norman's sight.
"Wha..." Corey stared in disbelief.
Norman went near the wall and picked up one of the scattered pieces of paper.
"Someone teared down the posters we put up earlier," Norman said while looking at the piece of paper he picked up earlier.
Corey's trying to build up some theories. Could it be, it was forbidden to paste posters here? Impossible. If it's forbidden to do so, they must've put up a sign. Did some mischievous kids tear it up? This place is empty, but it wasn't a nice place to hang out. Could it be...
"Someone tried to hide evidences?" Corey said his thoughts out loud.
Norman brows furrowed when he heard that. Hiding evidences? For what?
"They're probably kidnapped, then being kept for human trafficking," Corey added.
"Oi, oi. Calm down. Isn't that too much?" Norman turned his body to Corey. He is sweating nervously. Norman clearly didn't agree with Corey.
Corey took his phone out again and tried to dial Emilia.
ringing...
Then, a loud phone ring suddenly filled the silence.
Corey and Norman turned their head around to find where the phone ring came from.
Norman saw a phone laying on the ground. He quickly pulled Corey into the alleyway.
"Hey, if you wanna pull me, atleast give some warning first!" Corey fixed his jacket and under shirt.
Norman showed Corey a phone. It looked familiar.
Corey rubbed his chin and squint his eyes. He immediately recognised it and yelled out, "This is Emilia's!"
"No wonder she didn't answer your call," Norman said while looking at the phone.
Corey caressed his hair and crouched down. He bury his head between his leg, "Oh, boy. What now?"
"Try to call Mia's number," Norman suggested. Corey nodded and raised his head. Norman crouched down.
ringing...
A loud ring is heard from their side, which almost made both of them deaf.
"Okay, end the call now," Norman couldn't handle the loud ring shaking his eardrum violently.
He went near a pile of cardboards and lift them up. It revealed a phone.
Missed call from Corey
They both looked at eachother.
"This is not a good sign," Corey looked down on the phone.
***
"What does this 'XXX Roman' meant?" Joni looked at the paper she's holding.
"I don't know, but it's sure a clue for us," Leon said.
"How's a random Xs and whatever this 'Roman' thingy is gonna help us?!" Ciel said furiously," And this one question is more absurd, it says, 'What number did the German soldiers said when they refuse to eat the lemons' ?!"
Everyone looked at Leon, because he's a Germany's prince and from German. Leon knew what's on everyone's mind, but he refused to say anything. He felt uneasy.
"Uh, how about the last clue we got for today right over here?" Leon pointed to Albert's hand that's holding another paper. He tried to change the topic.
"Well, it's a dialogue. It wrote down;
'How many are the marbles inside?'
'(yes)x hundred, sir' " Albert said.
"That sounded like an algebraic equations--or something like that," Charles joined them.
"I don't think so, since it wrote down below that dialogue, something like--a location? I can't read it properly. It's quite dark here," Joni said.
Charles looked at his front. It is Momos Academy's dorm for boys. "We'll arrive soon, so don't worry. I'm sure the security isn't as tight as before."
"That's great! I really like the hot tub you all had!" Joni raised her arms to the air.
"Yeah, yeah. Now go squeeze yourself at the middle. You don't want them to see you," Albert ordered Joni.
"Boo! Of course I remembered to do so, you don't have to remind me," Joni pouts.
Alex giggled ,"It's so nice to have a lil sis, right?"
They all went through the doorway easily. The security guard is half awake, so he won't notice odd details and recalled it properly.
As they went upstairs, Ciel immediately stopped.
"Ciel, walk!" Albert whispered to him.
Ciel rubbed his forehead and whispered back, "I know, but there seems to be another door here."
"What? We're on the middle of the staircase--what degree will a stupid architect receive if he built a door between stairs?" Felix joined them.
"Drats, I can't see anything," Ciel went back a few steps.
"Now you will"
click
Everyone's attention are draw to a blue eyed man. His hair is flowing brown, staring at the princes, Alex and Joni coldly.
"Fancy meeting you all here. I'm wondering what kind of excuses you guys will come up."
"T-that's none of your business," Ciel stretched his arms wide to prevent him from coming any closer to them.
"You said you will come at morning," Alex said to him.
He looked down to his watch.
"12:01 a.m. . Isn't that morning already?"
"Darn it! Stop giving us excuses and let us go through!" Ciel furiously stomped his feet while approaching the guy.
"Gion didn't like seeing such childish behaviour, you know," a voice came from their back.
"Livio...and Shintarou too?" Felix said.
"I'm giving you 10 seconds to kick that small-fry out," Gion looked down on his watch.
Their eyes bulged. "How do you..."
"Oh, Gion haven't told you yet?" Livio asked them, in a sarcastic tone.
"Tell us what?" Alex clenched his fist. He clasp Joni's shoulder tighter.
Gion smirked. "We've arrived earlier," Shintarou fixed his glasses.
"We saw everything, you sneaked her into your dorm--how shameless," Gion put down his arm.
He walked towards them, both hands inside his pocket. "10 seconds is up. Kick her out."
"Gion, she's lost. We're bringing her back here for just for a night--" Gion ignored Charles and squeezed himself into the group.
"Gion, stop! Are you crazy?!" Leon grabbed Gion's shoulder, "This is midnight, it's too dangerous for her!"
Gion clicked his tongue. He brushed Leon's hand off his shoulder and grabbed Joni's collar. "Ack! Let me go!"
Alex tried to stop Gion, but Livio quickly stand in front of him. "Livio, let me go," Alex stood still, clenching his fist.
"I'm sorry, Alex. I'm just following orders," Livio insisted on letting Alex go.
Joni is still struggling to let Gion's hand go. She tried pushing it away, but it didn't work. Then, she bit Gion's hand.
"Gah!" Gion let Joni's collar go, he cursed under his breath. Joni ran towards a bush, but her jacket was grabbed.
Joni let go her jacket, but before she could widened another step, she fell down. Her right arm was grabbed, and she saw a fist coming towards her face. She closed her eyes as she accepted her fate.
grab!
Charles held Gion's wrist before he could land a punch on Joni. "I wonder what your face would look like if I did this to your sister," Charles had a sinister smirk on his face.
Gion's fist loosened. He glared at Charles, then threw Joni to the ground. Alex came and helped Joni to get up.
"Gion, you're too much!" Alex growled,"She's just a kid!"
Gion looked Alex, then at Joni, who's crying uncontrollably. Alex gritted his teeth, then Charles placed his hand on Alex's shoulder; telling him to calm down.
"Don't worry, Alex! We've got them down..." Ciel showed a weak thumbs up while kneeling Livio down. Shintarou is pinned down by Leon and Felix.
"Starting from tommorow, you all no need to come at the office anymore," Gion folded his arms,"You all aren't part of MPP now."
Alex stared at him in disbelief, "Who says?!". Gion showed him a picture of them, sneaking Joni inside the building. "Your dad will."
He looked at his friends that were pinned down. "Let them go," Gion said.
"Well, delete those pictures first," Albert smirked. Gion looked at him, and his eyebrows raised. Without hesitation, he grabbed Ciel and Albert's arm then threw them to the side.
"Ah, my arm!" Ciel groaned. Livio got up, then gripped his hands on Leon and Felix's shoulder. He threw them to the side, too.
Gion and his friends left them.
"Grr, that Italian jerk! He knew alot about pressure points!" Ciel brushed his shoulder from any dirts.
Joni looked down. She twiddled her thumbs, and showed guilty expression. If she hadn't been so stubborn, this whole thing won't happened.
"I heard he said to us to not to come to office anymore," Albert rubbed his neck, "Did he..."
Alex looked down, feeling despaired.
"Papa's gonna hate me"
***END OF CHAPTER 5***