The Seven School Rumors (Part 3)

After hearing how Gakkou had only six mysteries, Akane was confused.

"Then how are we going to write an article about the seven mysteries?"

She looked really upset after hearing that.

The girl started to panic after they saw the girl in that state, they didn't really know what was wrong, but they knew they didn't want to see her upset.

"Aka, what's wrong, it's just an article and you know that these things are just some random rumors, right?"

"Well, yeah these mysteries are always told as jokes between students, so the mysteries always change over time, because they either get debunked or everyone forgets about that one. But no seventh, that is mysterious."

"That's right, KanKan. You hear Aka? It's just some claims made by us students. You don't have to be upset."

Akane stopped her trembling.

"Aka? Are you alright?"

"Aki is worried about Aka! Please say something!"

There was silence in the room.

"Akane, you don't need to be upset, just because there are only six mysteries."

Suddenly she looked up, with beaming eyes, looking very excited.

"Want to set the seventh mystery in the world then?"

All the girls looked at her surprised.

""""Eh?""""

"If there is no seventh mystery, we just make the seventh mystery ourselves, who is in!"

"Aka is right! If there is no seventh, we just set one into the world! Let's go!"

"But Yui, what should we do?"

"That's right, we still need an idea."

"Aki is agreeing with Touko, we still need an idea!"

And so, the afternoon passed with the four girls brainstorming, ending with the idea of a scavenger hunt, they were in their clubroom again.

"So, what do we start with? Any idea girls?"

"Well Yui, the first thing we need is a start that is going to be preserved for long, so we need something that will her at this school for a long time."

"Why not start with our newspaper article, that we planned for 'an impossibly difficult scavenger hunt', we say that we buried a time capsule somewhere on this schoolground and that we put 50.000 Yen in it for the people that found it. Of course, we must create puzzles that are so difficult, that it would require multiple generation of students to solve them, but we can worry about that, if we prepare, right guys?"

"That's a great idea, KanKan! We have a great start then, but why end it there? The first puzzle can be hidden in the newspaper article for the students to find! We can create multiple ways and some of them lead to dead ends, confusing everyone that thought that was the right way! Of course, some will be upset, because they think we scammed them, but when the next person finds out there are multiple paths, it will continue!"

"Right Aka! And after a while they are going to start wonder if we really put 50.000 Yen into the box, after months, no maybe years of not finding it! And so, the mystery is going to start kicking in! Did they really put in 50.000 bucks? Is this even real? Is this even the right path? How many paths did they even create? Did they even finish this scavenger hunt, etc.! And slowly, but surely it really will turn into Gakkous seventh mystery! But the problem is that we really need to make sophisticated questions, after all there are many kinds of quirks, and I don't want anyone with visions to spoil the difficult things we are going to set-up!"

"I can find a way around that if that's necessary, but first we need to create the things, any idea guys?"

While the three girls were merrily discussing about difficult questions, Akita felt rather lonely, even with Touko on her side.

"Girls? Can Aki do something? Aki's feeling lonely."

The three girls turned around and immediately had an idea.

"Aki, of course you can do something!"

Akane scribbled with high speed on a note, it was a note of what Akita had to fetch.

"Akita, go around the school and fetch these things, we will use them for our scavenger hunt, and if they ask what we are going to use it for, just say them that we are going to need them in one of our mystery investigations, understood?"

The Shiba Inu girl nodded very fast, grabbed the note and ran out of the room to fetch the things on the list.

"Okay girls, let's think of some sadistic tasks that even Sherlock Holmes himself is going to have difficulties solving!"

""Yeah!""

The two childhood friends Kanna and Yuiko were very excited at Akanes' words.

Even Touko raised her arms and cheered with them.

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After staying illegally at the school after curfew the girls finally decided to stop after they created a binary handful of tasks for the students to solve, they were far from finished.

"Aka, don't you think this mystery is too difficult?"

"Where is the fun in it, if it's gets solved too easily, it's supposed to be a rumor, right? So, it must be as mysterious as a rumor, KanKan."

"Aka is right, we are planning spread the rumor at Monday and we are from finishing this. Want to break into school tomorrow again? So, we can continue on this tomorrow?"

"We'll need to if we want to make this impossible to solve. We still need far more tasks, I plan to end it after at least reaching the eighth finger in the binary counting system, possibly even filling all eight fingers out."

"Akane, we don't understand you, explain so we can."

"I want at least 128 tasks, if we can make it, I want 255 puzzles, ready for the students to solve, better Touko?"

The girl nodded.

"Wait a minute, 128? 255? Don't you think that is too much to prepare? You know we don't want to replace quality with quantity!"

"Calm down KanKan, of course I plan to make each of these one a ridiculous big brain task, just as much as the fifth puzzle they are going to have to solve."

Kanna was silent.

"Do you mean the rolled together white letter, that we put into a hole, we made ourselves, in the white wall of our school, and the only way to see it, is seeing that the letter barely sticks out of the wall?"

"Don't you mean the puzzle, where you need the sun to stand at 12.00 o'clock, so it can shine on a little mirror, so it can burn the letter you get on another task, revealing the fireproof fabric we sandwiched between them with the new task at hand?"

"I am sure she meant the puzzle where you need to put the ice pick from the dead end into the hole of the puppet you get from another dead end, revealing a secret compartment with a new task at hand."

"Guys, I understand it, the puzzles are a bit messed up, but that is what we at least need for a long lasting seventh rumor, so let's continue working on it tomorrow! On Gakkous seventh rumor!"

""""On Gakkous seventh rumor!""""

And so Gakkous unsolvable seventh mystery was slowly created, the girls didn't know yet, but they created a mystery that would last many years.

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It was late as Akane arrived at her home, as she entered, she met the sight of an angered Fumio.

"Akane, you arrived quite late at home, I hope you have a great excuse, else you are going to get grounded, young lady?"

Akane was greeted with these words by her mother, Akane was calm, after all, even if she was grounded, she didn't really have much to do outside, besides shopping if that was usually, but tomorrow was going to be a special day. She didn't want to abandon her friend in their endeavor!

"Mommy, I just stayed late at school with my friends, because we wanted to create the seventh mystery for our school, it's going to be a difficult scavenger hunt that is almost impossible, we just created 31 out of 255 planned puzzles, please mommy I still need to go to school tomorrow because of that!"

"To school, on Saturday, are you planning to break into school with your friends?"

"Yeah, it was my idea after all! Don't worry we aren't going to do anything bad. You know how I am! It will be something that every student on this school is going to remember! Please mommy let me do this!"

Fumio continued to stare at her daughter with an iron gaze, Akane slowly started to sweat drop under her gaze, she is definitely going to get grounded, isn't she?

After a while Akane stopped being tense, waiting for the inevitable, but it never came. After a while Akane could hear how her mother was trying to hold a laugh in.

Akane looked at her mother upset.

"Mommy, that's not funny! Either ground me or not, but don't make me anxious!"

Hearing her daughters' words made her burst out in laughter, she wasn't really upset with her daughter, in these seven year they lived together she showed more often than once that she knew what she had to do.

"A school mystery, huh? Like, in the seven school mysteries? Right. Gakkou never had a seventh, so what do you and your friends planned as a rumor and what did girls made for it?"

Akane told her mother everything, how they came to the idea to research the school mysteries, how that involved the rapist, how they came to the idea of making a scavenger hunt and what kind of tasks she already finished and planned to make tomorrow.

"It's going to be big and difficult. It's going to be the most difficult scavenger hunt in the history of mankind, I don't believe that our mystery is going to be solved in years to come!"

"Oh? What makes you say that, admittedly most of these tasks are almost impossible to solve in a fast way in any way, but there must be a big secret that assures you that it is going to stay difficult.

Akane whispered into her mother ear what she planned, after these words she understood what her daughter meant with impossible.

"Oh my, people really are going to have difficulties solving THAT one. But oh well, it's supposed to be a rumor and where is the fun in an easily solved rumor, right my daughter?"

Akane chuckled, she went full sadism for that scavenger hunt.

"You are right, mommy, I went full sadism with that project!"

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Cooking:

Akane the perfect girl, almost perfect in anything, flawless in any way...

"Bleeeegggghhhh."

... couldn't make a decent meal.

"Akane how did you do that? I watched and lead you at each step of the recipe, but somehow your cooking still creates tasteless gruel!"

Akane was confused too, it literally tasted like nothing, almost like air, how was that possible?

"The worst thing isn't even the tasteless gruel! It's the fact that you follow each of my steps perfectly, no! Even better than me, but at the end you create food that looks exactly like it's supposed to look, but the moment you put it in your mouth it dissolves and turns into gruel!"

Akane tasted her gruel, after eleven bowls it started to taste surprisingly good!

"And the worst is! EVERY! SINGLE! INGREDIENT! Just turns into gruel! WHAT! THE! HELL!"

Akanes' mother Fumio was about to flip the table, but Akane just caught the table midair and through skillful navigation she put it into the old position. It was just sad that the gruel was wasted.

"Calm down Mommy. At least I don't create dark matter with my cooking."

The mother nodded at her daughters' words, indeed, at least she didn't create dark matter.

Fumio looked at her daughter, consuming her 13 bowl of that food, well the gruel indeed tasted good after eating it for a while.