[CONTENTID1]

thirty-two: the mystery thickens

[/CONTENTID1][CONTENTID2]

["Test tube babies, possibly."]

[/CONTENTID2][CONTENTID3]

They couldn't find Yong Sangyoung after dinner. They also couldn't find him the next day, or the next.

"Where could this asshat possible be?" Chanyeol raged, as they stopped to rest from their search through the gardens. "Does he not exist on the same celestial plane as us? What the ?"

"Watch it, Channie," Kai warned, shooting a pointed look at his wrapped-up hands, where the bandages were starting to smoke a little at the edges.

"We've asked everyone in his class," Juyeon complained. "No one knows where he's off to all the time. We can't find him in the dining hall at eating hours. It's like he barely exists outside of class. And no matter how fast Kai tries to teleport there, he's gone."

Sehun grumbled low under his breath and glared at the yellowing grass. D.O was trying his best to make them green again, but the chilly weather and hard ground made it impossible for them to last very long.

"Maybe he's back at the scene of the crime," Suho suggested.

"Why?" Baekhyun asked. "Why go back?"

"Who knows? But it's the only place we haven't checked yet. Maybe he's planning another attack or something."

"It can't hurt," Juyeon said, mostly because her feet were killing her and she just wanted the search to stop. Detective work was fun when you had the clues, but the second the hints got stale, it was a chore. A chore that left a whole lot of homework lying on her desk at the end of the day.

They trooped out of the school, trying to look innocent as they passed by teachers. Professor Strange wasn't fooled, but he also didn't particularly care. He sipped at his coffee and let them go on.

"What if Yong Sangyoung isn't real?" Chanyeol said thoughtfully, as they walked across leaf-strewn grass and bare branches to the crime scene.

"Be serious, Chanyeol, for chrissakes," Kai said. "An entire class pretending some dude exists?"

"Maybe it's an elaborate ruse. Maybe they're all in on the Juyeon attack."

"I find that unlikely, Chan."

"I find your face unl―"

Juyeon clapped a hand over Chanyeol's big mouth at the same time as Kai, and in almost unison the group of friends threw themselves under cover behind a tangle of thorny bushes.

There was a person at the crime scene, crouching amongst the hardened mud where they found the button. He was too far away for Juyeon to make out any clear details, but she just knew. He was, without a doubt, Yong Sangyoung.

Not everyone was really paying attention, though. Chanyeol was finding Juyeon's palm pressed over his lips very distracting, and Kai suddenly seemed to notice nothing else except that his hand was clasped over Juyeon's. Juyeon was more preoccupied with Yong Sangyoung, but after a few moments she couldn't help but feel embarrassed when she was unable to pull her hand away.

"Kai?" she hissed.

There was a brief pause. "Yeah?"

"Let go of my hand, please."

His hand must be a very nice hand to hold, Juyeon mused. It was warm and surprisingly gentle when placed over hers. Her thoughts turned sour the second Kai said, "What? Don't you want to hold my hand, lovely? Is that why you won't let go?"

"You're the one not letting me go, you slimy ―"

Suho clapped a hand over Juyeon's mouth, but the damage was done. Sangyoung's head shot up, and he looked around wildly. "Who's there?"

The group hiding behind the bushes held their breath, not daring to move. Sehun glared daggers at Juyeon, who was tomato-red from embarrassment. She, in turn, glared daggers at Kai, who seemed surprisingly subdued and a little pink-cheeked. Nobody glared daggers at Chanyeol, but he looked a bit like someone had just punched him in the face.

"Come out! I know you're out there," Sangyoung yelled, voice cracking slightly from anxiety.

"Wait, why are we hiding?" Baekhyun whispered. D.O shushed him, but he resolutely plowed on. "No, seriously! I mean, we were looking for him with the express purpose of questioning him. So, why don't we question him?"

"That's a good point, Baek."

"Bite me, Suho! You pushed me so hard to the ground I tore my jacket! Look, this'll have to be sewn back together!" He shoved his sleeve into Suho's face. Juyeon took the opportunity to rip her hand away from Kai's and attempted to claw him as revenge, which he began to loudly complain about while easily avoiding her angry swipes.

The bickering grew more and more noisy, and it took several tries for D.O to get everyone to notice that Yong Sangyoung was running away.

"Okay, it," Kai snapped, and with a sudden burst of black smoke he disappeared and reappeared right beside the escaping suspect.

With a squawk of surprise, Sangyoung tried to run the other way, but Kai had already got a firm hold of his uniform jacket's collar. "Don't run away if you know what's good for you."

The rest of Exo plus Juyeon walked up, brushing dirt off their clothes and grumbling about bruised knees and scraped arms. Juyeon, whose contacts had dislodged slightly from throwing herself to the ground, blinked them back in focus and got a good look at their target. He was a mess, his clothes caked in dried mud and hair stringy from going several days unwashed. He had clearly been down on hands and knees, fingers scraping and digging at hardened earth, for days.

"I-I didn't do anything, I swear!" he warbled, shivering under Kai's firm grasp around his neck. "I was just ― just looking for something."

"A button?" Baekhyun asked innocently, and Sangyoung gave an involuntary twitch.

"H-how do you ―?"

"We found it a few days ago," Baekhyun said, still maintaining an innocent, casual tone. Sangyoung's eyes bugged out. "Don't worry, we gave it back to its rightful owner. She sure is a cute one, I have to say."

Sangyoung's face had gone from pale white to red in a space of half a second. "I-I ― wasn't ― I mean ―"

"Actually, Yong Sangyoung," Sehun said, eyebrow raising. "Why were you looking for a button here in the first place? What were you doing out here?"

Sangyoung's face was slowly rising in colour. "I ― I can't tell you that."

"Why?" And here was where Sehun unleashed his full force scariness. A cold wind began to blow, whistling loudly through the bare trees. It sounded like the calls and moans of ghosts. "You're going to say that to me ― that you can't say anything? Who do you think you're talking to?"

"P-please don't hurt me!" Sangyoung wailed, struggling to free himself from Kai's iron grip. "I didn't do anything bad! I swear! Y-you can go and tell Taehyuk that I did what he asked, okay? I wasn't going to say a word, so ―"

"Wait," Sehun interrupted, and the cold wind abruptly stopped. "Taehyuk?"

Sangyoung gazed at them all, puzzled. "Didn't Taehyuk send you guys to threaten me some more?" he asked weakly.

"Who the is Taehyuk?"

Kai let go of him, but gave him a threatening glare. "Don't try anything,