It was a long and stressful day doing another mission and dealing with family drama. She was at her wits end today. Lector was asleep in the corner of the room. The Nakamura family was taking a hard hit with Astrid being in the hospital. The stress in her eyes were pronounced with bags. The door clicked behind her, she sighed, laying her back against the door and sinking to the floor. Lector perked his head up, watching her distressed. The stress from the situations made her fatigue and groggy.

“Lee...are you alright?” Lector wondered as he got up from his spot. She had her hands buried into her palms, resting her face. The small exceed brushed her hair out of her face. Her head lifted to her little friend.

“No. I am so stressed out, Lector.”

The small exceed lowered his ears. On her desk, there lay a stack of papers with a sticky note from Tadashi. Her eyes were glued to it. Immediately, she got up from the floor and rushed over to the desk. She read the note:

Lee,

Found this is Astrid’s coat pocket and thought you could use this. It’s a hit list of all of our names, but I am not familiar with the handwriting or who exactly wrote this. There are documents of our whereabouts including some of the Blue Pegasus guild members. I see a pattern with anyone associated with the family that seems to be on the list. Astrid’s name is crossed out.

Take care,
-Tadashi

The note was placed on the left side of the desk. She sat down in her chair and examined the documents. There were four different papers. The first one was a map of Hargeon with parts of it crossed out with red markers and circles in the Nakamura Manor and Blue Pegasus Guild Hall. She skimmed it carefully. The next document was information about Hikaru, Ryu, and her. There were birth certificates of all three of them circled with big fat letters “TARGET”.

The color from her face drained upon studying the documents enough. The final documents were a letter from Astrid to herself and the list of names. It was so shocking to find someone was aiming for the Nakamura family and she was the target. The kitsune felt sick to her stomach. Automatically, she rested her forehead on her hand and stared at the floor beyond her desk. Lector stood there really confused.

“We’re not safe. We’re not safe, Lector.”

Lector grew puzzled. “Why?”

Ragtime spoke up his thoughts on the matter. “Oh, interesting. Try comparing handwriting to old journals of the family. See what you’re missing. Everyone is a suspect here.”

Without a word, she listened to Ragtime this time, forgetting about her exceed’s question. Completely ignoring her friend’s presence, she sent herself to work searching through all the documents the Nakamura family held on hand. It had to be someone within the family or close range to get this kind of information such as birth certificates, whereabouts, and so on. Her focus was so great that she forgot to even eat the next few hours. She ordered Lector about asking for all the possible papers and handwriting from everyone in the family, even some old rune knight papers from people who worked under her Uncle Simon.

558/1000

Stacks of papers caused Lee to feel overwhelmed. What did she expect out of being the head of the family? Puppies and rainbows? It was all hard work and exhausting mentally and physically. She would need a break here shortly. Examining everything thoroughly, she had to compare handwriting and even do some research on how to read some of it as well since not everyone had the best handwriting. Lector took a break in between requests from Lee. She examined everything to the letter and detail.

“Alright, that is going to be off the list. Dad and mom are definitely off. Now…” she trailed off, looking at the list of suspects she could think of. There was even names from old Rune Knights whom she was once in contact with. Everyone, even herself, was a suspect. She really didn’t want to leave anything unturned. The exceed yawned, waking up from his small nap. He smacked his lips and scratched his back after he stretched. His eyes lazily looked at Lee, who was extremely focused. He hopped from his corner and walked over to the edge of one of hte bookcases. There was a small, very yellowed file folder sticking out barely that caught his eye. Pausing, he stared at it for a while. His eyes looked back at Lee, who didn’t notice him then at the file folder. Grasping his little paws on it, he pulled and heaved with all his might. The file folder budged a little, after a little bit more tugging and moving around he fell on his behind with the file folder.

He read the writing on it.

“Solomon Nakamura’s Notes”

This made him stand in shock a little bit. He hopped over to Lee and waved the file folder in her face. She growled out of irritation before realizing what he was holding. “Lee, check this out! I think this might be something,” smiled the exceed. Quietly, she took it and studied it carefully.

“Solomon Nakamura...I haven’t heard this name in a long time. Its been years since we last heard of his whereabouts.,” she explained. Lector tilted his head. Why has he never heard of this guy before? Solomon was a touchy subject for everyone due to his extreme views on the world and how the world is too corrupt for his beliefs or some shit like that. All of this commotion caused Ragtime to pitch in his own opinion.

“I think this might be the one who might be doing this, Lee. Seeing as how the family refused to talk about him in the past from what I can see from your memories. His radical views and beliefs are excellent motives to do this to the family and your guild. Look inside.”

She sighed. “Though, he’s been missing for several years, Ragtime. I cannot think he would still be alive, but it is a possibility.”

Lector cocked his head. “Who’s Ragtime?”

LeeAnn paused. “Oh...a spirit I made a pact with.” She spoke so openly that Lector didn’t believe her. He shrugged. Ragtime laughed extremely hard in her head. “That was too rich! I don’t think anyone will believe you besides Atani, Lee.”

Without hesitation, she went back to work trying to decipher the mysterious handwriting. She noticed the way the J hook was written matched the handwriting of Solomon. When she opened the files, she noticed Solomon studying dark magics and spirits. This caused Ragtime to manifest for a split second and pick up the papers. All Lector saw was an invisible hand lifting the papers. This caused him to freak out. “What the hell?”

“Oh no…” spoke Ragtime.

“What?”

“Lee...this is not good. Whatever he is planning is not good, the spiritual world is connected to demons and whatever this is...he is planning something. Power is all I see. The handwriting is on par. This is the culprit.” He spoke, He made himself heard to Lector, but barely seen. This caused the exceed to freeze.

“I see. Ragtime, Lector. We have some sleuthing to do.”

638+538=1231/1000

[Exit]