Parto 4: La Teamo. 40: La Pridemandado

I knew it. I knew all this thing was a disaster the second I scraped my knee chasing Abrajm. And I told Kanako, so many, many times. Let’s tell an instruisto! But did they listen? Of course not.

Nobody ever listened to Gabino. And guess what? The whole thing blew up. Just like I said it would. And now we were all gonna pay for it. Especially me, probably.

Medusa was freaking out, Serena was crying, as usual, so guess who had to clean up the mess? Okay, first things first. I had to hide the diary. Pronto. La Instruisto was going to call me in any minute.

“I was going to tell Kanako, but I wanted to solve the riddle, and…” Medusa started.

“Later,” I cut them off, shoving the diary into their hands. “Hide it.”

Medusa took the diary and disappeared. I turned to Serena, who was still sobbing. Ugh, little kids were the worst. Had to choose my words carefully, or Serena would start bawling again.

“You go with Medusa when they come back, okay? They’ll explain what’s happening.”

Serena nodded at every single word. They probably didn’t understand a thing. But at least the crying had stopped. You win some, you lose some. I sighed, relieved.

“Don’t worry. Nobody’s going to die or anything.”

“Die?” Serena’s eyes filled with tears. Damn it! I was doing so well.

“Just kidding! It was a joke.” I looked for a distraction. “Hey, look! There’s Abrajm! Why don’t you both go with Medusa?”

Serena, bless their distracted heart, perked up and ran off to find Abrajm. The door to Kanako’s room opened, and, just as I had predicted, La Instruisto called my name.

La Instruisto 4-2 stood by the desk. I looked at them as I went in. I had seen more emotion from a block of wood. Kanako was sitting cross-legged on their bed, and Osiris was sitting on its edge, looking at their hands. They looked like they were about to cry. Great.

“Gabino,” 4-2 said, their voice flat and emotionless, like always. “Kanako has informed me you have some knowledge regarding a map.”

I gasped. So Kanako was ratting me out to save their own skin! Go figure. Self-preservation and all that, I guess.

“Weeell,” I said, dragging out the word and sinking into the nearest chair. “A map, you said?”

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know about the map, Gabino!” interjected Kanako, slapping the map down on the desk.

You showed 4-2 the map!? I glared at Kanako, crossing my arms.

“What’s this about?” I muttered.

Kanako gave me a look. Not an I’m sorry look or an I’ve got this look. More like a just shut up and follow my lead look.

Oh. I see.

“But if I admit it, I will lose…” I mumbled.

“No, you won’t! Remember, from 10 to 11 we can talk about the map and we’re safe!”

“That’s only if your name starts or ends with an O! I thought that was why O-siris was here with you, Kanak-O!”

Kanako stared at me, their mouth a thin line. Then blinked. Real slow.

“Your name is Gabin-O.”

“Children, children,” interrupted 4-2. “I think we’re getting a little side-tracked. What’s this map about, Gabino?”

“Fine, I’ll make this quick before I lose.” I inhaled. “Some time ago Kanako was like, ‘hey, Gabino, my friend, let’s make something cool, alright?’ and I was like, ‘sure thing, Kanako, what do you have in mind? I hope it’s nothing too dangerous, wink wink’ but I meant it, I just had something in my eye, you know? So, anyway, Kanako was like ‘okey dokey, I will draw a map and then we play treasure hunt.’ And I was like ‘no way!’ and Kanako was like ‘now you have to do it!’ and to be honest it didn’t sound too bad, so I thought maybe I was overreacting and went with it.” I exhaled.

“A treasure hunt?” asked 4-2.

“Gabino says that, but you know, they were the one that were stealing items to hide them as ‘treasures’” Kanako wiggled their fingers in the air, mimicking quotation marks.

“Ruuude! I’m sorry! They were treasures to me!” I pouted.

“So, a rock is a treasure now? What about a spork?” Kanako asked me.

“A spork?” said 4-2.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s like a spoon but also a fork! Such a useful tool!”

“Maybe, but not a treasure!” Kanako said.

“Enough,” 4-2 said. They used the same tone they used when saying “pass the salt,” but we both shut up immediately.

Osiris, who had been silent this whole time, looked like they were melting inside the space between the bed and the wall. La Instruisto stared at us for a long, long time.

“I see no harm in this activity,” they said finally. “A treasure hunt is an excellent way to stimulate both the body and the mind. However, you must exercise caution.”

“Of course!” Kanako said.

“Remember that order is important. Make sure not to engage in any dangerous activities. Such as venturing into restricted areas. For example, the kitchen, or the ventilation system.”

“Absolutely,” I said, nodding. “We’ll be careful.”

La Instruisto nodded back, then turned and left the room, closing the door behind them.

Phew! That was close. I almost had a heart attack. La instruistoj could have a staring contest with a brick wall and the wall would lose it, I swear.

I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants. At least that was over.

I broke the silence.

“Medusa has the diary.”

“Medusa what?!” shouted Kanako.

“They told me they know about it, so I didn’t want to risk it. And well, Serena’s probably heard about it from them by now.”

Kanako’s mouth opened, but they didn’t seem to find the words. Any words. So, instead, we went to Medusa’s room.

We saw Serena asleep on Medusa’s bed, and Abrajm sitting on the floor, drawing in a notebook. Medusa was pacing back and forth, about to explode.

With a subtle look, Kanako motioned for us to find a quieter place to talk.

“I took care of the cameras here. We can talk,” said Medusa.

I looked at Kanako, and they nodded.

“Medusa,” Kanako said. “How did you find out?”

Medusa launched into their explanation. Something about seeing us being secretive and being bad at it, then stumbling upon the diary while Kanako was working on their project. They also mentioned they knew Kimiti’s message, but hadn’t been able to crack it. Big surprise.

“I should have told you. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused,” Medusa finished.

“Oh, Medusa,” Kanako said, all soft and forgiving. “It’s okay. We should be the ones apologizing.”

I almost cried, such demonstration of love and friendship.

“Right, enough with the touching reunion,” I interrupted. “Can we focus on the fact that we have a cryptic message from a probably-dead guy? Can we work on it together?”

“We have to check the ventilation system first,” Kanako stated.

“But the instruisto just told us not to go there!” Osiris piped up. I had almost forgotten they were there.

“Exactly,” Kanako countered. “Isn’t it suspicious that they mentioned it?”

“So, what, we’re just supposed to walk right into a trap?” I said. “It’s too convenient. Again.”

“We can’t just ignore it,” Kanako insisted.

Kanako looked at Medusa, then at Osiris. They nodded.

Then, the three of them looked at me. I sighed. There was no getting out of this.

“Fine,” I said, throwing up my hands. “But if we get caught, I’m blaming you all!”

Medusa rolled their eyes, but a small smile tugged at the corner of their mouth. At least we were a team again. Even if it was a team of idiots.