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Ōkura Teruko, Tachihara Michizō, Jōno Saigiku, and Tetchō Suehiro were currently standing outside of the banquet hall.
None of them knew what the hell was happening, there were a couple of ambulances on the street, and paramedics were checking on students and teachers.
This was a very confusing situation.
The four teens all stayed silent for a while, there wasn’t anything to say.
Then, Tetchō spoke up. “There could’ve been something bad in the food or the drinks, maybe that’s what’s happening.”
Jōno scoffed, “You just figured that out? Everyone already knows.”
Tachihara debated saying something in his head, he decided he would. “I didn’t know-“
He got cut off by Jōno, “That’s because you’re stupid.”
Teruko looked very amused by the whole situation, she was smiling and radiating excitement.
Tachihara felt the excitement and was only slightly frightened, he turned his head in her direction. “Teruko-chan.. do you have something on your mind?”
Teruko looked up at him, she was smiling deviously. “This looks like a mission for the…?”
Jōno caught on and smirked, “We’re still doing that childish thing?”
Tetchō seemed like he also caught on but he didn’t say anything.
“The...?!” Teruko repeated, trying to get Tachihara to say it.
Tachihara sighed, “The Hunting Dogs?”
There was a bright, less devious smile on Teruko’s face, she spun around once in a dramatic yet childish gesture of joy. “Yes, the Hunting Dogs!”
Jōno shook his head, seemingly amused and annoyed at the same time. “We haven’t called ourselves that in seven years.”
Teruko looked towards him and spoke in a faux stern voice. "But we will hunt again! I'm getting in character now."
"And we're on a mission, to do what?" Jono asked, playing along with raised eyebrows.
"To find the culprit and get to the bottom of this mystery, of course!" Teruko answered, with a little too much excitement.
"And how exactly are we going to do that? Are you gonna interrogate each of these students?" Jono asked, arms crossed, giving a small chuckle.
"No, silly Jono, we are going to solve this mystery ourselves!" Teruko answered, with her best impression of a dramatic "Duh!"
"Alright." Jōno said, trying to ignore the cheesy detective vibe Teruko was giving off with her overly dramatic tone.
The four get to work, quickly splitting up to cover the most ground.
Tachihara looked over the food area, checking for any signs that something was tampered with.
Tetchō made his way over to the punch, while Jōno and Teruko took up a strategic position near the bathroom where the most fainting was happening.
Within twenty minutes, all four teens have a few clues in their possession, pointing towards a definite culprit.
They met back at the entrance of the banquet hall.
Tachihara was the first to speak, “So.. what did you guys find?” The hint of nervousness was evident in his voice and expression.
Jōno seemed the least affected by the information they’ve all found out, he spoke with a neutral expression on his face. “I spoke with some of the least affected students and they started feeling sick after drinking the punch.”
Tetchō looked a little queasy himself, “It’s most definitely the punch.”
Teruko didn’t speak up yet, she listened carefully to the boys’ findings.
Jōno looked toward her, “Teruko-chan, I assume you also know the suspect?”
Teruko nodded, “Yes, it’s fairly obvious.”
“The culprit is unquestionably..”
“Fukuchi-sensei.”
They all stayed silent for a while, they all felt angry and betrayed in some way or another.
“We must report this to the police.” Tetchō said solemnly.
“For sure. I mean, a teacher drugging the punch at the school dance? That’s illegal in lots of ways.” Tachihara responded.
Jōno looked back at the other two boys. “We still need evidence, just our intuition about it wouldn’t be enough.”
Teruko finally spoke again, “I know exactly where to find the evidence we need.” She stared the three down for a second. “Come on.”
She turned on her heel, not looking back to make sure the other Hunting Dogs were following.
Teruko led them to the school building only a few blocks away, they all entered through the main entrance.
They headed to Fukuchi Ōchi’s office in the building. After making sure there was no one inside, Teruko kicked the door to open it and it did with little effort, surprising them as they all thought it was locked.
The office was dark and smelled musty. It was like no one had occupied the space for a considerable amount of time.
Teruko scanned the room for any possible evidence, when her eyes caught something on Fukuchi’s desk. She rushed over to it and grabbed it right away. Teruko held it up for the others to see.
“Men, look what I found! This is definitely our evidence."
In her hands was a pill bottle that seemed to be filled with small pills.
"Is that medicine?" asked Tetchō.
“It’s..” Teruko examined the bottle, “Alprazolam? Do any of you know what that is?”
Tachihara and Tetchō seemed to be thinking very hard, then Jōno answered. “It’s Xanax, idiots, the anxiety medication.”
Something hit in all of their minds.
“Hey, wasn’t there alcohol in the punch tonight?” Teruko asked.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure there was at least a little in it.” Tachihara said in the calmest way he could muster.
There was a collective understanding in all their minds, they all rushed out of the office, out of the school and back to the banquet hall.
Teruko and Jōno went over to one of the paramedics who wasn’t occupied, while Tachihara and Tetchō went off to find Fukuchi.
The paramedic called the police, Tetchō found Fukuchi in the back room of the venue, Fukuchi was arrested.
“Well, Hunting Dogs, this was a mission well done!” Teruko clapped her hands together, “Good job, men! Especially you, Tetchō-kun.”
Tetchō, who was drinking a large bottle of water because he drank a little of the spiked punch earlier, gave a thumbs up.
Tachihara sighed out of relief. “I think this was one of our easiest missions yet.”
“It’s the first serious mission we’ve had, isn’t it odd that it was that easy?” Jōno questioned, it wasn’t directed to anyone in particular.
Teruko smiled brightly, “At least it wasn’t a murder!”