We got back half an hour after the time that had been designated, so let's just say that our arrival was quite embarrassing. 

"Guys!" AO Mamoru (from the Ares world) turned around, relief in his eyes. "Thank goodness you showed up! I was about to lose my braincells!" 

"You technically did," Froy corrected, causing Hikaru and Seiya to sweatdrop in agreement. 

"Sorry, we had to clear up something before we came back," Dukun apologised. 

"What did you have to clear up?" Mera frowned, crossing his arms as he said this.

"Well, to be completely honest...." I was struggling to keep my cool.

"We think we've solved the mystery," FC Keisuke finished my sentence, grinning broadly. 

It brought the domino effect to the others, and Holly rushed forward, shaking me back and forth, "Really?! You found Mocchi, Rygar and Golem?!" 

That took me by surprise, "Wait, they were taken?!" 

"We managed to catalogue the people who've disappeared," Ran walked over, handing a long piece of paper to Rantaro. When he unrolled it, it literally touched the ground. Woah, that's a bit scary. 

And oh, that's off-topic. 

FC Choiseung took it gently from him and skimmed it, eyes eventually landing on some certain numbers. A smile appeared on his face, "I knew it. They've finally revealed their true colours." 

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kuriwa looked perplexed. 

"The truth behind this story," FC Choiseung answered, turning to her. "They couldn't resist and went straight for the people they had a grudge against." 

"Wait, wait, wait, are you saying that you know where they are?" Twinklnyan's eyes widened. 

TA Jerry's mouth went open, "Is that true?! You know where Tomnyan is?" 

"Yeah, and I have some ideas on who did this," FC Choiseung nodded. "Mind following me to the bridge for a moment? I'll try my best to explain the parts I'm clear on." 

"The bridge is too small for us all," Calypso pointed out. 

"We have chibi forms for a reason, Calypso," Takuya reminded her drily. 

"Ah, right," she facepalmed. "My bad." 

The rest of us couldn't help but sweatdrop seeing this. This was downright ridiculous. It was nice that we could relax a bit, though. The walk to the main location of the crime was very tense. 

I looked back slightly and saw Suezo comforting Holly with Ham's help.

I sighed. I felt bad for making them wait like this, but FC Choiseung had said that we were better off telling them once we got to the others. 

Thankfully, that wasn't too long, since the dining room was only a floor away from said bridge. When we got there, FC Keisuke moved towards the control panel. 

FC Ayame blinked, "What are you doing, Keisuke?" 

"Long story, but I'll let Choiseung-san explain," he answered. 

"Yeah, he's the one who put all of this together, after all," Dukun grinned. 

"Technically it was all of us, you guys," he corrected. "You helped me clear up the mistakes I had made."

"But you were the one who started it off," Rantaro smiled. "You deserve the credit." 

"I guess so," he sheepishly smiled back. 

"Alright, this is sweet and all, but come on, tell us where the ---- are Fubuki and Sinae," Sarah crossed her arms. 

"Yeah, where's Chika-chan?" Mitsukuni asked.

"And our baby too," Jeonghan crossed his arms. 

"Even Xukun's gone missing, and we want to know why," Zhengting stated. 

"It's a long story, but I'll focus on one point in general," FC Choiseung said. "Why Duri-kun was taken." 

"It wasn't because he was a leader and they took lucky guesses?" Suho tilted his head sidewards. 

"No, I doubt they had that kind of information," he said. "And it ties in to why Dad and Rau were taken, and why...."

His eyes landed on someone, who stiffened up quickly.

"Why you were so confrontational to me, Akino." 

"W-What are you talking about?" he looked away. He was twiddling with his fingers, though. He knew that he had been called out. 

"Choi-nii, what are you talking about?" FC Ayame asked, eyes wide. "Are you accusing him of kidnapping them?" 

"No, it's not that," he shook his head. "He blamed me because of his guilt."

"Guilt? What would he have to feel guilty about?" FC Kaida frowned. He was confused as well. Not that I didn't understand, of course. 

FC Choiseung turned to his friend and said, "Do you want me to tell them, or do you want to tell them yourselves?" 

"I-I don't know what you're talking about! So leave me alone!" he demanded.

He bit his lip, but took in a deep breath, "You're making this harder for everyone, Kino. Stop stalling for Rau and my dad's sake. Please." 

Akino's eyes went wide, but he gripped his fists, and exhaled, "I-I..." 

"I know it's hard to say it, but trust me, you'll feel better after you've said it," he walked over, holding the other's hands earnestly. "Please. We need you to be honest about it. If you try to deny it, it won't help anyone. What's more important, saving Rau or your own skin? I ask you that." 

The Japanese-American inhaled deeply. His grip loosened. He blinked a lot, which brought out tears, "Choiseung..." 

"Don't worry. None of us will judge you here," Choiseung said, smiling as his own grip tightened. "So just say it, okay?" 

He went quiet, and for a minute there I was worried he wouldn't agree to it, but I was proven wrong when he suddenly hugged the Korean-Chinese, sobbing hard, "I-I'm so sorry I blamed you even though I knew you couldn't have done it! I-I... I-I couldn't handle the guilt, s-so I put it on you! I-I'm so sorry I lied about my alibi when I was the reason they were taken! I-I don't deserve you at all!"

That sent shockwaves through the group. FC Ayame was so surprised FC Akinori had to hold her steady, "W-What?"

"You lied about your alibi?!" Leo-nii's focusing on the wrong thing now, so thankfully Jinpei could bonk him on the head slightly to scold him. 

"He did it out of guilt and fear, which we can all relate to, right?" FC Choiseung looked at all of us, as if challenging us with that.

When none of us replied, he smiled softly and patted FC Akino's head softly, "It's okay. See?" 

"T-Thank you," Akino smiled back, wiping the small tears off his face. "I-I think that you know it all, s-so I'll let you tell them. Y-You did a good job, a-and I'm sorry I underestimated you." 

"Don't worry. Anyway, let's get into breaking the case down. More specifically the three inconsistencies yesterday. Rau, Chenhua, and Duri," he turned to the others. 

"It all ties in to this," he took out the USB we had found in Anna's room.

"Huh? A magical USB?" Rekun frowned. 

"It was found in Anna's room," Elsa explained. "We checked it out on the bridge and found that there were two stowaways onboard. Duri must have found out about this, and the kidnappers couldn't risk being found out. This information, if it got out, could destroy the revenge plan they had in store for us." 

"But that's not the only reason. The USB also contains important information about the kidnappers, and it showed us why Rau and Chenhua were taken," Dukun added. 

"It does?" FC Bao En asked. 

"Yeah," Rantaro nodded. "The story as we see it is like this; at 11 pm that night, Duri stepped out of his room to check on the bridge. He was the one who programmed the ship to be this way, after all. It makes sense that he would do that." 

"At the same time, another person was stepping out. FC Chenhua had just finished talking to his son, and was now a bit angry because he knew that he felt left out of his friend group. He decided to talk to the two members of that group, knowing that he didn't want his own son to feel the pain he was feeling. That's what parents do, after all," Conan held a hand to his heart. "As a parent myself, I would know." 

"And so, at 11.45, Akino and Rau left their rooms to talk. However, along the way, Chenhua met the kidnappers and got captured because of this. Rau ended up being captured on the way as well, so when Akino arrived at the designated place, there was no one there. He thought it was the end, but then he saw the room to the bridge was open, so he went to check it out through a peek. By then, Duri had already been taken. Upon seeing the information in the computer, he..." Tecna trailed off. 

"He jumped to conclusions, blinded by his personal feelings. He couldn't sleep the entire night, which explains why he was so angry and lost his mind," I caught up for her. "That's the truth of this part of the case as we know it."

"We came here to check it out, and it wasn't futile," Madoka smiled. "Everything else will be cleared up after we meet the others." 

"The other question of where they are... That's actually quite simple," FC Choiseung said. "Steven, mind doing it for us?" 

"Course," the gem hybrid nodded, and typed out a few things on the computer. 

Then, to the others' surprise, a part of the floor slid away to reveal a gapping flight of stairs spiralling down in the middle. 

"W-What the?" Sayaka gasped. 

"The hideout to the room that the kidnappers added for their purposes lies ahead of us," Rantaro spoke. "So, are we ready to do this?" 

Everyone looked at each other, before Uju stepped forward and nodded, "Let's go." 

"Alright," I grinned. "No time to waste then. We should head down now." 

With that, we began to descend down the stairs, determined to save our friends.