Rising Shards

After checking the art classroom and not finding them, we went to the makeshift office the school had set up for Tik, Kara, and Mars. The various boards of notes around the room had been filled in more since I'd last visited, notes and postcards and photos that didn't make much sense to me but clearly did to the trio. It reminded me that we hadn't had a session in quite some time trying to observe Zeta's family past, trying to figure out the situation with Zeta's father Arctus and her aunt River. I wasn't sure if Zeta had any further investigations without me, but I didn't want to delve into her family matters as that was an understandably sore subject for her.

Tik, Kara, and Mars were situated around the previously unused classroom, Mars and Kara in a corner hunched over playing a racing game on one of the portable eGame models, and Tik at the front, standing in front of her desk as she listened to a student. I was surprised to see Amara there, and waited in the doorway with Zeta and Oka behind me.

"It's just...strange," Amara said. "I hope it's nothing, and I know I've reported it already to other staff, but...I wanted to let you know as you seem more...proactive, perhaps."

"Thank you for telling me," Tik said. "Any information of this nature is valuable, I..." She noticed me in the doorway, and stopped. Amara turned as well.

"Sorry if we're interfering," I said.

"You're not, come in," Tik said, waving us forward.

"Howdy, Tik," Zeta said, waving. "And Amara? And Kara and Mars, of course."

"Yo," Kara said, she and Mars barely looking away from the game.

Amara had a small notepad in hand that she paged through. "Hello, I was just..." She looked uncertain if she should say what she wanted to.

"It's up to you if you want to tell them," Tik said. "I haven't looked into this specific situation, but I've dug around similar threads as of late."

"If it's something private, we don't have to know," Oka said. "I don't mean that as in a 'yuck, don't tell us,' way, more in a..."

"Respecting your privacy kind of way?" Zeta suggested.

"Yeah!" Oka said.

"Well, it's not my privacy that'd be interfered with," Amara said. "Let me think about it, it may be best to bring it up after Tik and her companions look into it, I may be overreacting."

"I'm sure you're not," I said. I was uncertain why I said that so confidently not knowing what she was even talking to Tik about.

"What brings you three here, then?" Tik asked.

"And if you have something private I can leave as well," Amara said. "Really, I should probably go, Rain's tee time is coming up soon..."

"Want to reignite our tea set renting feud, do you?" I muttered, apparently not quiet enough though.

"Oh, not that kind of tea. We're hoping to win a miniature golf set at the shopping spree, and Rain invited Michi to join us," Amara said.

"I...see," I said, tempted to ask why they thought they'd win that sort of prize at a shopping spree for prom wares, but it was entirely possible given the way our school ran things. Amara had been paired up with Michi at that dating game incident in the void recently, so this wasn't completely out of the blue. Well, the golf part was, but I didn't press her on that.

Amara skipped away cheerfully, and we approached Tik. She leaned off of the desk, wincing as she held her leg.

"Ah..."

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yes, my leg just..." Tik shook her head, tapping her cane on the ground. "Don't worry about me. What's going on with you three today?"

"We're trying to figure out how to tell if someone is lying," Zeta said.

"And/or ways to get them to tell us what they're hiding," Oka said.

"I may need some more information on this one," Tik said, smiling warmly. "Let me sit down, though, I stood in one spot far too long, ack..."

"Our friend, Kalei, has been acting strange for a while," I said. "We've tried to figure out what's wrong, or if anything's wrong, but we've had no luck."

I tried to think of everything that had been off with Kalei, her growing distance from us, her newfound cagey nature, my theory about Marmalade. I was apparently more concerned about it than I realized, because the words spilled out of me. For the gaps I couldn't fill, Oka and Zeta covered for me, and I think Tik had a clear picture by the time we finished.

"I'm torn between two worries," I said. "One, that there's something wrong and she's in trouble, or two, that nothing's wrong, and that she's just..." I swallowed, my mouth strangely dry. "Drifting away from us."

Tik's expression was hard to read. She sifted through some pages on her desk. "It can be very tough when a friendship falls astray like that, I sincerely hope that isn't the case, as you all seemed very close when we've met together, and in class. That is a possibility, and one that is common around this time in your lives. People do change, and friendships do grow apart."

It hit me then how much I didn't want that to be the case. I hadn't been friends with Kalei very long in the grand scheme of things, but memories of our friendship flashed before me, the fun times we'd shared together, the times we talked each other through crushes, the adventures...I didn't want to drift away from Kalei, and I didn't want her out of my friend group.

"But..." Tik got out a pen, tapping it against a paper. "I should've told Amara to stay..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked.

I couldn't read Tik's handwriting from my position, but I was admittedly curious as she looked over what must have been the notes she'd taken while Amara talked to her.

"Really, this is more than I should be saying in general, but it's you lot, so..." Tik said.

"You can trust us," Zeta said. "I think, right?"

"Don't lose confidence so immediately in yourself, you can totally trust us, Tik!" Oka said.

"Amara brought up a concern with a few students," Tik said. "I won't give the names, obviously, and again, this is much more than I'd regularly be saying, I wouldn't normally be giving this information to students even in vague terms, but what Amara said and what you're telling me..."

"Are they connected?" I asked.

"Possibly," Tik said. "The potential of that has piqued my curiosity, at least. Amara had an encounter with some students that were acting strangely in battle. And the things she'd heard since..." She sifted through more pages. "I'm so sorry, I need to meet with someone. Give me just a bit longer, and I may have an answer for you."

"For real?" Zeta asked. "We were just hoping you'd tell us how to get Kalei to fess up."

"If you can get answers from her, please do so, and let me know your findings. Well, let me know only if you're comfortable sharing..." Tik said. "This could be a lead on..." She shook her head. "Thank you for telling me."

Tik rose, putting her pages into a folder. "Mars, Kara, I'll be back shortly. You don't need to come with."

"Kay," Mars said.

Tik left, leaving the three of us uncertain on how to proceed. Kara called over to us.

"Hey, we're good at figuring out when someone's lying, you want some tips from us?" Kara asked.

"Or if you just wanna play some Farlet Kart, that'd be cool too," Mars said. 

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