Case 34

The Plan

"Excuse me, my show is perfectly safe! Our grounds are meant to be kept at high surveillance! Especially in the evening. I can assure you we will find the missing members as soon as possible." MePhone ends the call and is met with another one. "Oh my god, okay. Uh, MePad, take charge of the place while I'm gone. You and Toilet better make sure no one else goes missing. I'm gonna have to make some calls and do paperwork." MePhone walks off somewhere as MePad nods. "Yay! For once Mistah Phone trusts me!" Toilet beams at MePad with a smile. "Yes, that is nice of him." He replies with a smile.

On the grass, there was a panicked mess. The Bright Lights and Grand Slams were talking with one another. "So, does anyone know where Nickel, Microphone, and Baseball were last time?" Knife and Balloon look at each other but don't respond, Suitcase shaking her head and looking to the ground. Paintbrush fixes their posture and looks at Lightbulb. "What about you, Lightbulb?" She looks up at the other object and thinks for a few seconds before nervously explaining. "I saw Microphone walking in and out of the forest multiple times. She spends a lot of time there too! Maybe she wandered off a little too long and got lost?" Lightbulb tries hard to remain positive, but it doesn't help the group's atmosphere anyway.

Marshmallow remains as quiet as the rest, Fan is writing some notes, and Test Tube swaying side to side. Knife gets more annoyed by the minute, staring at Test Tube and staring back at the grass. If what Taco said was true, then Test Tube is an amazing faker. Knife feels himself lose patience and almost pounces on Test Tube before Balloon holds onto his arm tightly, peering at him with a stressed look. Knife just grumbles and jerks his arm off, looking away from all the objects. Balloon sighs and finds all of his confidence to speak up. "S-so, what about you, Test Tube? Have you seen anything suspicious anywhere?"

Taco has told both boys from the Grand Slams to keep a low profile on Test Tube, almost as if they never knew. During the entire time here, Balloon was the first one to question Test Tube. "Oh, I just saw Microphone the other day in the forest. She was sleeping, so I decided to leave her alone. Nickel on the other hand... Hmm, I don't really know much about him. And for Baseball, I just saw him sitting on the grass alone the last time I ever saw him. Sorry if that's not much information." Test Tube explains, the confidence and lies clear as day in her words and voice. Paintbrush's mood shifts and they suddenly start to talk. "Wait a second, if I'm correct, you saw them all during the day, right Test Tube? I mean of course aside from Microphone." Test Tube nods at Paintbrush's question, and they continue. "So that means that the suspect attacks during the night! Since most of the time, the last time we saw the objects was during the day. But as soon as night came, they were nowhere to be found the next day." Paintbrush brushes away some bristles from their face and sighs, looking at everyone's expressions. Suitcase, who hasn't said a single word throughout this entire sequence, has an urge to speak.

"If that's your assumption then, Paintbrush, why did Test Tube still see Microphone during the evening? In fact, why was Test Tube near Microphone during the evening to begin with?"

Suitcase mutters, which makes everyone uncomfortably shift. Test Tube, however, was silent and had a neutral expression. Knife and Balloon then heard Taco speak from the other end of their earbuds, the sound alarming them. "What is she doing?! Stop her!" Knife and Balloon look at Suitcase who was now standing. "Let's calm down, Suitcase. I guess it seems a bit suspicious to you especially but pointing fingers this early will just make it harder for us to work together. Let's just put our team differences aside, okay?" Paintbrush calmly says, looking at Suitcase. Knife gently holds onto Suitcase and makes her sit back down on the grass. "Don't worry Suitcase, we're suspicious of one another here. Whether we can admit it or not. But we can talk about it another time." Balloon smiles and pats her back. Suitcase does calm down eventually, staring up at Test Tube with a pained look. Test Tube smiles softly but gives her a dark expression right after.