With a soft tap on my shoulder, I come back from my deep slumber. I raise my head to see the messy red head of hair that only could be cute on Yuuko.
        “H-hi Yuuko, I’m sorry for falling asleep again. D-did I stay past closing again?” I manage to squeak.
 
        “Oh no you’re fine Hanako, I was wondering if you’d like to help with something.” She whispers.
 
        “O-oh, I don’t know Yuuko. I d-don’t think I could be much help to you.”
 
        “Hanako, don’t say that. I’m asking you because I think you’re the only person I can trust.” She looks left and the right, as if to make sure no one is near. “Some of the schools books have gone missing.” She whispers into my ear. “I was wondering if you could look into it. Do you think you could do that Hanako?”
 
        “What? A-are, I mean, are you sure you didn’t just misplace them?” I reply.
 
        “I-I’m not that bad at my job Hanako.” She mumbles quietly. “I’ve checked multiple times for these books, so I’m sure they’re not in the library. I really could use the help Hanako, between the library, Shanghai, and studying for school I don’t have enough time to look for the books. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
 
        “I-I’ll help you Yuuko, but I can’t promise I’ll be much help.” I reply.
 
        “Oh thank you. I’m really sorry to put this on you, but no one frequents the library like you do. Here’s a list of the books that have gone missing.” She hands me a short list of books. “I hate to just drop this on you, but a line is forming to check out books andigottagoimsorry.”
And with that Yuuko runs off to go help the now mildly annoyed students. I look down at the note she shoved into my hands. Let’s see, A Nuclear Engineering for Dummies-missing Monday, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep-missing Wednesday, The Atomic Bomb-missing Thursday, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-missing Monday.
 
        Hmm, this selection of books is not by any stretch of the imagination “light reading”. But something about that last book stands out. Why would anyone take this combination of books? I lay back in my beanbag chair and let the ideas run through my mind. Why did I agree to do this? I’m not a detective from the 1930’s, or a get the answer by any means kind of person.
       
        I crack open the copy of The Dark Intersection and let my eyes do the work. Minutes pass like seconds and before I know it the library is about to close. I stretch out my legs and release myself from the warm embrace of my beanbag. I wander over to the checkout counter to have a last word with Yuuko.
 
        “H-hi Yuuko, can I check out this book?”
 
        “Oh, of course you can. So got any ideas about where the books could be?” She says this as she scans my book out of the system.
 
“O-oh no, I’m really sorry I haven’t been thinking about is much. But I do have a question for you. Are sure the last book on here should be here? It doesn’t fit with the rest.”
 
        “I don’t know what to tell you Hanako. Those are the books that went missing; they may or may not have something in common.” She says as she hands me my books back. I wave her goodbye as I make my out of the library.
 
As I start to walk back to the female dorms my mind begins to wander. Why am I even helping Yuuko? I don’t know, maybe I can make a game out of this. Yea that might help me get motivated to help Yuuko.  
 
After a long walk across the moonlit campus I arrive at the dormitories. Hugging the walls I make it up to the front door. I open the front door to the female dorms, and hug the right wall as I make my way to room. The girls in the common room pay me no mind even though I probably look like a lunatic. Though it’s not like them to acknowledge my existence anyways.
 
I finally make it to my own door, brown and simple. I open the door and slip in without the tiniest noise. I make my way over to my bed and plop myself down on it. Silence once again. What should I do with my free time? Maybe I’ll go see if Lilly is free.
 
I change into my pink PJ’s and silently make my way across the hall to Lilly’s door.
 
I quietly breath the words “L-lilly? Can I come in?”  
 
I wait a moment, almost dreading that she’ll refuse, and then the door opens to reveal the tall blonde beauty. ”Good evening Hanako, a bit later than usual aren’t we?” She says as we make our way to the tea table.
 
Seems Lilly has been waiting for me, the tea cups are already filled with the blend of the night. Seems that tonight we’re drinking a blend heavy on the cinnamon, I can’t complain it smells amazing. ”I’m sorry for being so late, I fell asleep and got lost in my new book.”
 
“My my, seems like you had a busy day.” Lilly replies before taking a sip of tea. “What book got you so lost in it?”
 
“The Dark Intersection, it’s this great story about a detective who takes on a case of a hit and run.” I squeak out. “I also promised to help Yuuko with something.
 
“Hmmm. So what is this something you’re helping her with?” She says with a girlish smile clearly showing on her.
 
“Oh it’s nothing, I’m just helping her look for some missing books. I was thinking of making a game out of it.”
 
“That sounds like fun Hanako. Have you got any ideas on how to make this into a game?” Lilly says through the calculating smile she has on her face.
I shake my head in reply. To be honest I haven’t thought that much as to how this could be a game. It’s not like the squares in the hallway.
 
“Well Hanako, since you were talking about the detective story, why don’t you play detective?” Lilly remarks with a little giggle thrown in here and there.
That actually sounds like a fun game. I’ve never played pretend to be something like that. “I think I could do that. But where would I start the case?”
 
“Why not ask some of your classmates? Can’t hurt to just ask.” She replies before taking another sip of her tea.
 
I agree with her and then she starts to tell me about her day.  My mind begins to wander through the possibilities of being a detective as Lilly continues to talk. The possibilities for fun skyrocket once you look at this like a detective case. I think I could even be good at this since I’m already under the radar with most of the students.
 
“Who do you think you’re going to ask about the books first?” Lilly says to break me from my concentration.
 
I had never thought about that, who was the most likely to read some boring science books? “I guess I’ll ask Hisao and Mutuo first. Them seems like they’d be into these books the most.”
 
“Seems like you’re already thinking like a detective. It will be no time before the bad guys are caught.” She says with the biggest grin I’ve seen on her.
 
Lilly lets out a small little yawn. I take that as my signal to go back to my room. “Lilly it’s getting late I’m going to go to sleep. Is that ok?” I say as I begin to stand up.
 
        “Of course it’s alright, I won’t see you tomorrow morning I have representative responsibilities to do in the morning.” She replies in her calm and collected voice.
 
        “Good night Lilly, a-and that you for the help.”
 
        “It was nothing Hanako, Good Night. I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow.” She says  right before closing her door.
        I walk into my room and sit on my bed. What am I going to call this case if I’m playing detective? Five Finger library card? No that’s dumb, what about The case of the Book Bandit? Hmm that’s not much better but I think I can work on it later.  
 
        I slip under the sheets and rest my head on the pillow. I toss and turn for a few a minutes until I find the perfect spot. The combination of the warmth of my blanket and the silence of my room begins to make my eyes heavy. Soon I slip into the land of dreams and nightmares. I throw the dice, what will it be tonight?
 
        An image conjures in my dream. It’s a shadowy figure perched on a dark corner in the moonlight. The figure is leaned up against a street lamp in a trench coat. The shadow has yet to notice my presence, so as I move closer I notice that a small cloud of smoke hangs around this individual. The closer I get the more detail becomes available to me, now a fedora sits upon their head and I have seen their short cropped hair at about shoulder length. I’m almost on top of them when the person turns and faces me.
 
The light slips between the curtains to tease my eyes to open. Fifteen minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Great. Well I guess it’s not all bad maybe I’ll have some extra time to get to talk to Hisao before class.
 
I slip on my normal Yamaku uniform and make my way to the main building. Along the way to class I see a few of my classmates going about their day as if nothing was out of the ordinary.  But how could they know anything was afoot, even Yuuko doesn’t suspect a thing. Three books stolen from the library all on some form of science that deals with nukes, this couldn’t just be a coincidence. No, coincidences don’t exist except in fairy tales, everything has a reason and a motivator.
 
I pause before I enter the classroom, the lights are on but only a few people have managed to stumble into class early. Everyone has dark bags under eyes, seems I wasn’t the only one affected by the suns intrusion this morning. As I look around the class I notice two things, Hisao has not arrived yet and Misha is here alone. For some reason she’s abnormally quite, I guess it’s the early morning that’s causing this. I walk over to my desk and slip into it. I’ve got time to kill so I pull out my copy of The Dark Intersection and kill some time. Time passes in an instant and before I know it class should be beginning, but as usual Mutuo is late again.
 
Hisao still hasn’t arrived in class by the time Mutuo makes his way to class, already half way into the discussion as usual. I suppose I have to chase down Hisao later. The rest of the first half of the day passes without an incident. Hisao came into class about 30 minutes late and kept his head down until the lunch bell rang.