Morning sun shines bright, loud lively noises are the first thing Shinji hears, it sounds totally different from the atmosphere Shinji last felt in the campus.
Shinji lays his hand over the back of his head and slowly sits up, gradually returning to his senses to find that he is sitting on a bed in unfamiliar clothes. Shinji finds himself in a dilapidated small room, he turns his neck and looks around the room several times, while he is still clueless about this strange scene.
Squinting his eyes, Shinji puts up a vex expression, "Where is this...?" he mumbled to himself.
While just by Shinji voiced out his doubt, a man suddenly enters the room from the door with a water jug holding in his hands.
"Yo, Izaki Shinji-kun." with a decent smile, he called Shinji's full name and greeted, "You're awake."
It is Yokoyama Wataru, the man with the viola in the Forbidden Building's music room last night!
"Why are you here!? How do you know my name!?" facing this man who is a suspect of the mass slaughter, Shinji is being very sensitive. Indeed, Shinji never told him his name, not an alphabet.
"I don't just know your name." while unexpectedly, Wataru continues to expose, "I also know you often join outdoor trekking and camping activities, or worse, you even tried ghost hunting."
Just as he said, Shinji abruptly jumps out of the bed and dashes to the table by the window. He picks a blade out of the pen holder and points it at Wataru. He stands a little distance away from him, and he stares at his face in a ferocious expression.
"You better explain now." in wrath, Shinji warns, "Who the hell are you!?"
Wataru does not answer his question, instead, he points at the blade in Shinji's hands, he suggests, "Maybe you should put the blade down first, alright? It is dangerous."
While unfortunately, Shinji is not naive as he thought, "Explain everything, now!" he yelled, holding the blade closer to Wataru.
There, judging from Shinji's reaction, Wataru knows what he said about him was right, and Shinji is now mad because he is feeling insecure being known so much by a stranger yet he does not know a single thing about Wataru except his name and occupation.
Wataru understands, hence, he gives Shinji a gentle smile trying to make himself looks mild, he puts the jug down and opens his palms showing them to Shinji so he can show him he is not hiding any weapon in his hands, he is not going to raid or harm Shinji, he just want to talk this out, peacefully.
"As I mentioned before, my name is Yokoyama Wataru, I am the teacher of Eitsuma Middle School." there he mentioned, "As for where this is, this is my dormitory in the school, if you don't believe me, you can look out of the window. It is all true, I don't have to lie to you."
Just by his words sink, Shinji remains in his pose pointing the blade at Wataru and takes a peek at the window. There he realizes, what he sees from the window is the scenery of Eitsuma Middle School, students are arriving at the campus one after another, just like how Shinji used to travel across the woods and walk into the campus through the huge rusty old gate. It is true, Wataru did not lie to him, this is the teacher's dormitory, they are in the campus. But...
"W-why am I here? Where's my clothes?" trying to figure out the reason for him waking up from this room in strange clothes, Shinji asked.
With a chuckle, Wataru reveals, "It was too hard to communicate with you, so I knocked you out and brought you out last night. I was going to place you in the health room, but it seems like there's no health room in the school, so, I brought you back to my room." pointing at Shinji's shirt, he explains, "As for your clothes, they're too dirty to be on my bed, so I took them off and sent them to the laundry, you are wearing my clothes. Don't worry, I didn't change your underwear, so I did not see anything."
Listening closely to Wataru, Shinji figures out Wataru is not familiar with the campus, he did not know there is no heath room in this school. There, Shinji suddenly comes to realize, he remembers there was a new teacher joining Eitsuma when the semester started, Shinji hasn't seen him around yet... Could it be him? Yokoyama Wataru?
"You, you are the new teacher?" frowning deeply, Shinji asked, claiming a nod from Wataru. He then asks again, "Then, how do you know my name? And the fact that I often join outdoor activities?"
With a shrug on the shoulder, Wataru smiles and says, "Based on the guts you have sneaking into the woods in the middle of the night, and..." then, he grabs something out from his pocket and tosses it to Shinji, "Your flashlight." he said.
Holding the blade in his right hand, Shinji agilely catches it with his left hand. A solid metal case flashlight drops in Shinji's hand heavily, Shinji takes a look at it. It is the flashlight he brought out from his room before he headed to the school last night. While on the bottom edge of the tube, a label is found sticking on it. On the label, four big kanji are found written with blue pen, Izaki Shinji, that's his full name. The label was pasted up by Shinji's mother. Since Shinji often joins outdoor activities like camping and trekking, he uses his flashlight very frequently. Hence, to prevent the flashlight from being mistaken or stolen, Shinji's mother made a name label for Shinji and pasted it on the flashlight. Whereas, the label is always stained by mud and rain from nature, it looks dirty and damaged. So that was how Wataru figured out the fact that Shinji often joins outdoor activities.
"I've told you everything." there, Wataru said, he requests, "Can you put the blade down now? Izaki Shinji-kun."
While Shinji refuses, "No, there's one more." lastly, he asks the ultimate million dollar question, "What were you doing in that Forbidden Building last night?"
Unexpectedly, Wataru seems to have a different perception against this question, "That did not happen last night." he stated, "It had passed midnight when we met, it all happened this morning."
"What's so important about the time?" in disdain, Shinji asked.
"Of course it is important." whereas, Wataru is persistent about it.
Just as Wataru mentioned, Shinji eventually comes to realize he made a serious mistake. What he had been neglecting is so important, today's date, 14th, the date which is related to the old school anthem's name, The Bell Rings on The 14th.
"Today... It's the 14th." with a gasp, Shinji mentioned, but his face remains doubtful, "What does that mean? What is happening on every 14th?" even if he knows the date, he does not know what does that mean.
"I don't know." however, unfortunately, Wataru has no idea either.
"Don't you say that, you can't fool me." while still being certain about Wataru is actually related to the case, once again, Shinji confronts, "If you're a new teacher, how did you find out about the Forbidden Building? It's hidden! And how would you know the melody of the school's old anthem from twenty years ago? If you're a new teacher, how could you be playing the old anthem in the Forbidden Building's music room since twenty years ago? Do you still think you have nothing to do with all of these?"
Just by his aroused voice falls back into silence, Shinji takes his time panting for air calming himself down, while Wataru looks rather blank.
"Izaki Shinji-kun, did you just say... The ballad I played, was the melody of the old school anthem?" in a black face, Wataru asked.
"You don't know?" frowning deep, Shinji stares back at Wataru.
"No." shaking his head, Wataru reveals, "I only remember that was a ballad my sister used to play with her viola when I was young."
"Your sister?" there, Shinji finally comes to discover something valuable.
Wataru nods. He then comes to the table and pulls the drawer out, he pulls a book out of the drawer. By the first glance, Shinji thought it looks extremely familiar, indeed, it has the exact same look as the book he snuck out of the teacher's office from Ishiya-sensei yesterday, the annual commemoration book of Eitsuma Middle School from the year 1996. Wataru swiftly flips through the book, until he comes to the pages which Class 1-1 is seen. Then, Wataru points to the last portrait on the student list.
That is a girl with a ponytail, she smiles decently, her name is Yokoyama Yuina.
"This is my sister, Yokoyama Yuina, she was the class representative of Class 1-1 in 1996. One day, all in a sudden, she disappeared... In this school, twenty years ago." there he unveiled, "My family moved to another district so I won't need to study in Eitsuma Middle School which brought bad memories to my family. Years later, when I was bigger, I became a teacher. I moved back here so I can be transferred and teach in Eitsuma Middle School." closing up the book, Wataru gives Shinji a serious look, he says, "I'm going to seek for the truth, that's why I'm here."
Taking his time, Shinji takes a few looks at Wataru's and Yokoyama Yuina's photo. After he finds them looking rather similar, Shinji eventually believes what Wataru said. Finally, he puts the blade down on the table.
Seeing Shinji willing to let his guard down, Wataru continues to unveil, "Last night, when I was preparing to sleep, I saw you from my window, you were sneaking into the Forbidden Building. So I went after you." he mentioned, "But unfortunately, I couldn't find you in there. As I walked up the stairs, I walked into the music room, I don't know why, but I just found myself inside when I'm back to my senses. I saw a viola, and the music sheet of the ballad. I felt it was my sister who brought me there, maybe she wanted to listen to the ballad, so I played the song."
There, crossing his arms in front of his chest, Wataru points at Shinji with his chin, "I'm all clean. It's your turn, Izaki Shinji-kun." he ordered.
Staring at the book Wataru holds in his hands, Shinji says in embarrassment, "I... I'm just curious. I wanted to find out who murdered them, the teacher and the students of 1996's Class 1-1."
While suddenly, Wataru grabs Shinji's shoulders in an astonished face, "Were they really murdered?" was his sister murdered?
"Yes..." nodding with a frown, Shinji mentions, "The voices told me. They are looking for the murderer. Are you the murderer? Are you finally here? That's what they said."
Knowing this boy has proceeded way further in the investigation, Wataru thought he could find the truth of his sister's disappearance through him.
Hence, there he proposes, "Izaki Shinji-kun, how about we work together? We can find out the truth, we can find out the secret this school is hiding from everyone."
With a complacent smile, Shinji accepts it right away, "I'm in." he has such strong curiosity in him, he still feels excited from last night, that's why he will never give up, "But I have a condition."
Squinting his eyes, Wataru stares at Shinji, "Hit it." he said.
Shinji stretches his arm straight towards Wataru with his palms wide open, "Give me back my clothes." he said.