Professor Layton: Conundrum of the Vanishing

Chapter Fifteen

Sleep did not exactly come easily for any of our heroes. Most of the night, they tossed and turned and waited for sleep to come and take them away to the deepest recesses of it, but such never happened for Byrne, Roman, and Minori. They were left tired the following morning, barely able to drag themselves out of bed when the time finally came for the investigation to pick off where it had left off the day before. 

"Let's go down to the lighthouse," Landry suggested once the entire group had come together the following morning. "Now that it's daytime, I assume that the mysterious men have evacuated their building for the day. We have a chance to run in there and look around a decent amount before they come back. The best time to do that is now."

Byrne nodded in reply. "I agree. Plus, if this mess is all connected with the kidnapping of Foliis, Faith, and Fey, then we can figure out why they were taken and maybe find them once and for all so that they aren't taken once again," Byrne declared. 

Sofia let out a sigh. "You're being far too hopeful. There's no way that the two incidents are linked. The chances of it actually being truth are too slim to be realistic. Their kidnapping was purely coincidence that it happened at this point in time while we're up against these villains," Sofia told Byrne. 

Byrne frowned. "Somehow, I find it difficult to agree with something like that. If you ask me, then it's only realistic for the two cases to be connected. There's no way that somebody from that neighboring island would take them for no reason. Foliis, Faith, and Fey were all strangers on the island. Would sensible people really take them, people who had never been to the island before? Once again, if you ask me, the chances are extremely low of that."

Roman sighed. "Just stop arguing so we can get on with the investigation. We need to find Faith and her siblings before they end up getting hurt."

"I agree with Roman," Minori said quietly. "Let's get going."

"Do you guys really think that we'll be able to sneak into the lighthouse with such a large group as this? I somehow doubt it. There are around eighteen of us. Eighteen people sneaking into a lighthouse without being caught? Really? You all think that there's actually a chance of that happening realistically?" Quinton asked sarcastically, crossing his arms and staring at the group with some thing about his gaze that made him seem more like the sassy Foliis than the easily angered Quinton he truly was. 

"Well... I guess that Quinton has a point," said Theo with a frown. "Maybe a small group of us should go in there at first and the others can be backup in case things go wrong."

"Actually, a third of us should go to the lighthouse and the other two thirds should stay around here and try and force some sort of information out of the mayor and his wife," suggested Misa. 

"Let's think over who should go where..." Toya said, tapping her chin. 

"Quinton, Byrne, Scarlet, Lucy, Casey, Roman, Minori, and Landry go the lighthouse. The rest of us will stick around here," Alex declared. "Get to it, people. We have other things to do."

"Yeah, Alex is right," said Kurisu. "Let's all go to our places. There are things that we need to check out before the end of the day. After we figure out our respective things, then let's meet back up with each other here at the end of the day."

"We need a set time for this meeting," Valentine said. "We'll end up getting into trouble over incorrect times if we don't figure something out."

"What about four? This way, none of us will end up running into the mysterious men at the lighthouse and the rest of us can be with the mayor and wife long enough to get information but not long enough so that it becomes creepy," declared Toya. "How does that sound to everybody else?"

Nobody gave any sort of objections. The eight selected to go to the lighthouse all gathered up together and started for the door. Byrne reached for the door handle, only to turn when he heard Sofia's voice. "Blondie."

"What is it?" Byrne asked, trying not to remember the days when Foliis had called him the exact same thing. 

"Don't let my brother get hurt. If he ends up injured, then I'm going to fry you alive and eat you for dinner." Sofia pointed two fingers at her eyes and then pointed them out at Byrne to show that she was watching him whether he liked it or not. Byrne shuddered as a shiver ran up and down his spine. That girl sure could glare. 

"Alright. Time to get to business," Talia declared impatiently. She had moved to take Caj's hand. Caj met her eyes with a sad smile before pulling her hand back and leading her group out of the room. Talia stared at her as she went and looked like she wanted to run to Caj. Byrne could sense the romance growing between those two. 

He was glad. It meant that he was right in assuming that Caj was a lesbian for all that time.

The lighthouse group did the one thing that they knew they should have from the start: walked towards the lighthouse. Byrne dared to look up at the lighthouse to make sure that nobody was nearby to spot them. After seeing nobody, he shot the group a nod to show that it was safe to advance. 

Landry crept to the door and opened it slowly to avoid any creaking sounds. Scarlet, Casey, and Lucy led the pack inside with Roman, Minori, Byrne, and Quinton taking up the middle section. Landry glanced around one last time before walking inside for themselves, shutting the rusted door behind them as they entered the lighthouse filled clear up to the brim with secrets. 

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one more lsg update today woo i can do this

-Digita