After the recording was finished, Miko and I decided to leave the school. We had learned all we could here.
We locked the door behind us and left.
It was already 11 p.m. I had to return home because if I did not, my mother would get mad. I do not know why, but I stopped understanding her way of thinking a long time ago.
I dropped Miko off at her house and headed back to my place.
On the way there, I had the feeling that someone was following me. I turned my head to see that no one was behind me.
But the feeling was still there.
I looked two more times, but nothing.
It's impossible that my instincts are wrong or that I am hallucinating. Something is not right here.
I started walking faster, changed my direction and started running through the neighborhoods of the city.
The feeling became more and more intense.
I turned right and hid behind a wall that was near a park.
As soon as I saw a person running past the wall, I immediately caught him and threw him to the ground, holding him by both hands so he could not escape.
It was a boy, I guess about my age? To be honest, he looked a bit younger than me.
"Who are you and why are you following me?" I said, shaking him.
"Wait, I am not a bad person. I just wanted to ask you something."
"If you want to ask me something, you can just ask. Why did you follow me all this way?"
"I did not know if you were one of the people who did this to my sister."
"What are you talking about? I do not even know you, how would I know your sister?"
"Today, a girl's body was found at school..."
"Yes, I know that. I was there."
"S-she was my sister."
"WHAT? Your sister?" I was still confused, because I did not think he could give me that answer. But now I was sure he was not a bad person, so I released him.
"So, what do you want to tell me?"
"I saw you and the president at school earlier. You were trying to find out who murdered my sister, right?"
"Wait, who told you it was a murder?"
"Wait, you two do not think it was a murder? But there was evidence. Am I the only one who saw her?"
"So you saw her, too. Impressive for your age."
"So you actually believe it was a murder. And what do you mean by my age? I am seventeen years old."
"Hmm, I see."
"I have a proposition for you."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Will you help me find out who did this to my sister?"
"And what do I gain in return?" Not that I wanted anything, I had already promised Miko, so I would definitely keep my promise. I just wanted to see what the boy had to offer.
"I... um, I'll be your friend."
I have to say, I was not expecting that. I stared at him for about a minute. I was just surprised by his answer.
"Alright, I accept," I said and smiled.
We both extended our arms and shook hands.
"And what is your name?
"Ryu, Akari Ryu. My sister's name was Akari Sara. And what is your name?"
"I am Shinji, nice to meet you."
"Where are we starting from?"
"We will start at the school the guy goes to. But we will do that tomorrow, it's midnight now."
"Oh, ok"
"Do not worry, we will find out who did this. Let us meet back here tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then."
I waved to him as I made my way home.
I guess my mother will be angry. It's already midnight.
What did I do to deserve this?
Anyway, I have almost arrived. Let us see what's going to happen.
I opened the door and walked down the hall. To my great surprise, my mother did not yell at me. Maybe that was because she was watching a romantic movie with Hoyo and Ruby.
Wait, wait, did she tell Hoyo about Ruby?
I tried to ask, but the only answer I got was a "shush."
So I went straight to my room and decided to get my thoughts in order.
First of all, the guy who did this is not from our school. Second, he knew where all the school cameras were. Third, although we are not quite sure it was him yet, he's the prime suspect because he was the one who took the keys to the roof from the room.
This boy, Ryu, also seems smart, to be honest. He figured out right away that it was a murder. But he seems too calm. I mean, if someone killed his sister, he should be angry. Or he's used to it for some reason, or he's hiding it, and he's doing pretty well.
But for now, that does not get me anywhere. I will wait until tomorrow to find out the truth. I am sure we will not have school like today, so I'll be free to move around in the morning. I suspect that's why my mother didn't got mad at me. Probably the principal informed her about everything.
I will just sleep and solve the case the next day.
I said "good night " to Hoyo and my mother, who seemed a little confused as to why I went to sleep so early. Ok, maybe it was not early, but when I didn't had school the other day, I'm used to sleeping at 2am.
So I leaned on the bed and waited to go to fell asleep.
[The next day.]
I opened my eyes slowly when I felt a shaking on my right side. I saw Hoyo shaking me until she realised I had woken up.
"What is it?" said I, yawning.
"Miko is waiting for you at the front door."
"Mmmm, I see... Wait what? Give me a moment to get dressed."
"Okay."
As soon as Hoyo left the room, I immediately got up and started getting ready as fast as I could.
I think I could have broken the world record for getting dressed the fastest if there had been one.
When I came out of the room, I saw my mother talking to Miko in the living room.
"Oh, hey Shinji, are you ready? I hope I did not wake you up." said Miko as soon as she saw me.
"No, not at all. Should we get going?"
"Yes, let us go."
"Ah, look at my son, he's going on a date." my mother said and just before we left the house I gave her a criticizing look.
Now that I think about it, I did not inform Miko about Ryu.
"Hey Miko, I have something to tell you."
"What is it?"
So I started telling her about my meeting with Ryu and my impressions of him.
She also thought it was strange that he was so calm about all of this.
Hmm, I think I will not ask him about it. I'll just wait and see what will happen.
Shortly after, we arrived at the park.
Ryu was sitting on a bench and when he saw us, he came closer.
He was wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt. His silver hair was blowing in the breeze and his emerald green eyes were shining in the sun.
He stepped close to Miko and said, "Hello, my name is Ryu, nice to meet you, President."
Miko blushed a little from his formality, so she just said "N-nice to meet you. But do not call me president, just call me Miko."
They both smiled and started laughing. I think they were doing well.
So after the introductions we headed to the other school. Reinseham High School. The second most famous school in our town. Let us see what we will find here.
It took twenty minutes to arrive. It was almost in the centre of the city.
A huge building with three floors and next to the main building there were two other big buildings, the one on the left was a library and the one on the right was a gym.
We went to the front gate, but the security guard prevented us from going in.
"I have never seen you here before. Who are you and why did you come here?"
"We just want to meet our friends."
"Oh? And who are your friends?"
Oh shit, I forgot to see the guy's name. So now what?
"Hey security guard, do not mind them, they are here for me."
I turned my head and saw a boy walking towards the gate with four other people.
He got out and motioned for us to follow them.
This surprised me. He was the one we were looking for and I did not expect him to come to us willingly.
He led us into an alley and he and his subordinates surrounded us.
"It seems he was right, you really did come on time."
Eh? What is he talking about? Is anyone else involved in this?
"He told me to give you a letter if you beat us in a fight, but I do not think you are even capable of fighting."
"Do you know someone named Akari Sara?" said Ryu from behind.
"Huh... Sara, Sara... Hmm. Oh yeah, I remember. You mean that slut?"
I turned my head back and saw Ryu clench his fist. He must have really been trying to hide his anger all this time.
"W-what do you mean by slut?" said Ryu angrily.
"Hmm, how am I going to explain this to you? Well, let me try. You see, we saw her four days ago on our way. She seemed a little bit out of her mind but she was beautiful, so we invited her to join us. You might say we wanted to harass her, but she readily accepted our intentions. It was a hell of a night." the boy said, smiling.
Ryu could no longer hold back his anger and rushed forward to punch the boy. But the others stopped him and started to beat him up. However, Ryu continued to hit them with all his might.
I guess it's time for me to play my part.
I took a step forward and one of the guys tried to attack me, but I easily dodged him and kicked him into a wall, knocking him unconscious.
The other three stopped hitting Ryu and all came at me together.
If I had not done that training, I'd probably be dead now. But we all know how this is gonna end.
I hit the first one, lowered my head to avoid the second, grabbed the arm of the third, and knocked him to the ground.
The boy, who was so arrogant a moment ago, began to shake and pressed himself against a wall.
As I slowly approached him, the second of his subordinates charged at me, but I dodged to his right and kicked him in the stomach.
"W-wait, that was a misunderstanding. If you let me go, I'll give you money. My father has a lot, so please spare me."
He had fallen to the floor, so I had to get to the same height as him.
"Hey Shinji, what are you doing? Finish him off." I heard Ryu say.
I turned my head and gave him a "shhhh".
"So where were we? Oh yeah, who was the person you were talking about?"
"I-I can not tell you that. He said he would kill me if I said who he was. B-but he gave me this letter for you."
I took the letter and opened it. It contained the following words.
"Hey Shinji, you may not know me, but I know a lot about you. I have been watching you for a long time. What do you think about this? Do you want to play a game with me? Whether you like it or not, we will see tomorrow. Be prepared to find another body in your school. Try to find who am I. If you can, of course. For every day you can not find me, I will kill another person. And this will continue until you find me or I run out of students to kill. Then the game can begin."
I read that aloud so now I could see the horror and outrage on Ryu's and Miko's faces.
I turned back to the boy.
"Tell me who this person is or you will wish you were dead."
"All right, all right, I'll tell you, but do not hurt me. He's..."
The moment he was about to say the person's name, a gunshot rang out.
I turned my head and saw the flash of a sniper sight.
I turned back to the boy, but it was too late. He had a hole in his head and blood was flowing.
"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE?"