Michio walked out of the school with his group, which consisted of Satchiko, Tomi, and Jirou. Needless to say, they were a bit of a mess. Jirou was the only one with any organization, but he wasn't stern enough to even hope to control Tomi, and Satchiko was just being her hyper self as always. Michio wondered why Mitsuo didn't put Jikkō in this group, she'd be able to actually get something done.

"How about we check around the back?" Jirou asked, then sighed when he realized Tomi was in a tree.

Michio inwardly groaned, looking up at the white haired boy. "Come down, will ya? We're trying to actually find Sato!"

Tomi just laid back in the branches. "But I don't care about him, just go without me! It'll be boring anyways."

"No man gets left behind!" Satchiko exclaimed. "We're a big family, so get down here brother! Or I'll climb up and get you myself!"

Tomi looked a little confused at her words, giving her a weird look. He let out a small sigh, before jumping down from the tree. "Okay, fine."

He didn't have time to prepare before Satchiko ran and gave him a bone crushing hug. Michio couldn't help but laugh a bit at Tomi's shocked expression as he struggled to get away. Everyone in the class had to experience a Satchiko hug at some point, and it wasn't always pleasant with how hard she squeezed.

After a while, Satchiko released Tomi, stepping back with a triumphant grin. "I trapped the ultimate escape artist! I'm officially magical!" She then paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Unless you really didn't want to escape...."

Tomi became unusually quiet, and Jirou took the opportunity to speak up. "Come on, let's get going." This time, no one objected, and they all followed Jirou's lead.

It wasn't long before the group started losing hope, as they weren't finding anything at all. Michio was just about ready to head back, when he started hearing a strange sound nearby. Was that... laughter?

"Hold on..." Michio said, stopping in his tracks. "Do you hear that?"

Tomi was still for a moment, before beckoning everyone to follow him. He led the way towards the laughing, and they ended up at a large statue. In front of it was a staircase leading into the ground.

"I don't think this is safe..." Jirou said quietly, a nervous look on his face.

"But if Orochi's there, we gotta get him!" Satchiko exclaimed, then Michio realized she was shaking. "But uh... it is kinda scary...."

"How about you two wait out here then?" Michio offered, since the two looked obviously afraid. "You can look out for us while we check it out."

Jirou nodded. "Yeah, okay... just be careful."

Michio nodded, before turning towards the staircase. Both he and Tomi headed down into the darkness. They were quiet, and Michio would be lying to say he wasn't a little nervous. He never remembered a staircase even being here in the first place.

"What if this is some kinda torture chamber?" Tomi wondered. "Kidnapping kids right under the school would be pretty thrilling."

Michio slowly shook his head. "I hope it's not that... maybe it's some underground storage room for the school. I think that's more reasonable...."

"Hm, yeah, a storage room, every storage room has maniacal laughter coming from it. Very reasonable." Tomi responded sarcastically.

It wasn't long before they reached the bottom, and entered a dark room. The first thing to meet Michio's eyes was a familiar girl with wavy strawberry blonde pigtails.

"Hey there Zetami-kun~." Junko greeted with a smirk. "It's time."