Despite the strange weather, the winter continued to loom over the Shisuta Town along with the news of the murder that happened in Peterson Academy. In the girl's toilet, Bea was reading the news article on her phone and was frustrated when there was nothing on the murder.
"The first thing about being a journalist is to try to find as much information." She muttered while munching on a chocolate bar. "Could it be that I am looking at the wrong places?"
"Are you done in there Ms. Cross-wood?" a male voice asked snapping her out of her thoughts. "I hope you are not using your phone in there. It's a bad habit. Please hurry up. Remember, class is starting in five minutes!"
"I will be out soon!" Emma yelled back from the cubical near her. Quickly bringing her knees closer together, Bae listened as the footsteps echoed through the room and the sound of the door opening and closing. Once the coast was clear, she set her feet down from the toilet seat and tiptoed out of the bathroom.
"Don't you know it is rude of you to rush a woman while she is in there?" Emma snapped at a toffee-haired boy with huge brown eyes and a short stature wearing a student council uniform with the name 'Henry' embroidered on his sleeve.
"I hope you washed your hands. Mother said it is essential to wash them after using the bathroom. It kills germs." He stated ignoring her.
Emma narrowed her eyes at him and he clapped his hands together.
"Splendid! Now, shall we move on to the next class?"
Bae followed closely behind giving a space of a few meters between them. As they walked to class, she noticed someone looking at them from the corner and once they made eye contact, she ran away.
"Shoot! I should have taken her picture," Bae quickly fiddled with her camera. "And this is the second time I am seeing her!"
"Bunking class again Victor?" Henry's voice brought Bae back to reality and she watched as he strode over to a boy wearing a dark hoodie over his uniform. "You do know what will happen if the Guidance Counselor sees this. Come on, off with you. I do not want you to be late for class."
Victor stood up from his sitting position between the two vending machines and slugged off to class with Emma watching his every move. Intrigued by this, Bae took a picture of their silent interaction with her camera and walked to the empty room that served as the school's 'Journalism Club'. Inside was an old wooden desk with an old typewriter, a stack of papers, an old lamp, and a bunch of newspapers. On the wall was a huge detective board with pictures of students with strings attached to the pins. Among the photographs were the picture of the deceased student, the picture of the students she had interviewed, and the picture of Emma.
The swivel chair behind the desk creaked as Bae took a seat, took out her notebook, and started writing in it;
The body was found on the school's roof near the school's air conditioner. It looked like a female student and these were the things I found near the scene:
1). A hairpin.
2). A screwdriver.
3). An electric hand saw.
One thing I noticed about the body was it was naked and the lack of a head. Which means the culprit was trying to hide who the victim was. I learned the police took the body away, interviewed the students who found the body, and just…left.'
Then she paused and tapped on her notebook recalling what the witnesses told her; Emma going to the school's rooftop, seeing the body, and passing out. Everyone claimed she was the one who did it but she, the student council, and Aoki contradicted that theory but it didn't stop the rumors about her.
Bae leaned back on the chair and looked at the ceiling. 'The timing of the murder along with Emma's routine doesn't match up so there is no way she could have done this. Or am I wrong?'
Then the door swung open and another student council member walked inside the room. "Gosh, it's so dark in here. Aren't you supposed to be in class Bae?"
"But class is so boring!" Bae moaned spinning around in a circle.
The girl smiled and looked at the detective board. "Still obsessed with Emma are you?"
This made Bae stop spinning and looked at her.
"Bae, I care about you but you need to stop this." The girl said. "Doing this won't get you anywhere!"
"But I want to be a journalist! How can I be a journalist by sitting down and doing nothing?" Bae yelled.
"How about by improving your grades?" the girl replied. "The English teacher told us that you haven't been attending his class at all."
"But I don't like him Ruri!" she wailed.
The pink-eyed girl with blond hair decorated with hair accessories and tied to two brunches and lips coated with pink lipsticks only replied with a smile. "Anyway, I want you to create flyers for the oncoming school event."
"Really?" Bae sat up. "What's it about?"
"It's a ceremony to celebrate a class reunion!" she snapped her fingers at Bae and winked. "A teacher pitched this idea to the student council and with what had just happened a few weeks earlier, I thought this event would be a good idea to restore the school's morale so I suggested the idea to the Headmaster and he authorized it and if I play my cards right, it we will make it school tradition. What do you think of the idea?"
Bae clapped her hands together and nodded her head. "Yep! You are smart! So when is the event going to take place?"
"Oh. We are yet to set a date." Then she pointed at Bae. "The event is going to be spring-themed with some Valentine flare added to it. So make sure the flyers have that understood. That's your job as a member of your club."
Hearing this, Bae sighed inwardly and looked at the detective board. "So I have to design and print out the flyers?"
"Yep! And do it quickly so I can inspect it! Remember time waits for no one and hurry to class while you are at it. You don't want me to report you to the Guidance Counselor do you?"
"No, no, no! I'll hurry right now," and with that, Bae placed all her notes inside the drawers on the desk and before leaving the room, she turned around and locked the door.
English class was brutal with the teacher Mrs. Hun's strict teaching. Hand on her chin with disinterest, Bae's eyes traveled to the window where she spotted Emma having a heated conversation with a strange woman. Emma was animated gesturing for the woman to leave but the latter remained unfazed and was trying to have a normal conversation with her. Then Magic appeared and a teacher appeared forcing the woman to leave.
Bae quickly turned her attention to the lesson before the teacher caught her until the bell rang. Magic had warned privately her to stay away from Emma and rumors only added to the warning but also added to her curiosity.
"But how am I going to investigate this mystery while designing and printing out the flyers for the oncoming event?" she groaned loudly. "I shouldn't have agreed to do it but don't worry. I will find a solution to this."
With nothing left to do for club activities, Bae got to work in the Art Club designing the flyers until it was time to go home. Grabbing her bag, she headed to the cafeteria to buy herself a drink at the vending machines when she noticed a crowd of students at the entrance. Using her short stature, she squeezed through the crowd and noticed Emma talking to a red-haired girl wearing heavy makeup and jewelry.
"I have to admit, you have guts." The girl remarked. "Interesting,"
"Save your energy for someone who wants to hear it. I am not here for pleasantries." Emma's voice was firm adding to her cold demeanor. "Neither am I here to see you."
"Then what do you want?" she asked. "Do you know who I am?"
"You're Makiko Takeda. One of the most popular students of the school am I right?"
At this Makiko's eyes glistened. "That is correct."
"I also know you are the school's slut."
"Excuse me?"
"You dated Fumihiro Sakamoto three weeks ago then dated Kaedo Endo last week. Now you are bullying Hazu because you figured out your next target has a crush on her right?"
Everyone started whispering and Makiko's red eyes glistened with hatred. Scoffing, she struck an arrogant pose and smiled ruefully at her. "So you know a lot about me huh?"
"Don't worry. I am not interested in digging up on your past relationships but I will not sit back and watch you torment others because you want your target to date you so badly."
"So what? At least I can get a date unlike you." She snapped.
"At least I don't open my legs for anything that moves."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't have time to listen to your bullsh*t." then Emma stepped forward and poked her chest with her forefinger. "Stay away from Hazu do you understand?"
Makiko tsked and flipped back her hair. "Or else what? What are you going to use to threaten me, murderer?"
In response, Emma grabbed her red hair and tugged it violently causing the girl to scream. Everyone gathered around Emma and pinned her to the ground while Makiko ran away from the scene. Witnessing this, Bae shoved most of the students off Emma and helped her up before a Guidance Counselor arrived with a crying Makiko.
"She hit me!" she screamed pointing at them. "She grabbed my hair and hit me against the wall."
"What? That's not true!" Bae yelled. "Makiko was…"
"I don't care who started it." She snapped. "School is over. All of you leave the premises immediately or you will all be suspended and both of you to my office now!"
Hearing this, all the students ran away leaving Bae and Emma behind. In the office, Bae tried to explain the situation to Ms. Mishima who listened intensively.
"And what does she have to say about it?" she asked looking at Emma who was still steaming with anger. "From what you just told me, she was the one who got physical with the girl."
"Yet you knew the girl was bullying another student." She looked up at the Guidance Counselor with rage. "Yet you are going to keep quiet about it?"
"Unfortunately yes but I will get to the bottom of this. Until then," she stood up and slammed her palms on the table. "This will be my final warning to both of you. The next time this happens again, you will be suspended for two weeks understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Bae muttered in embarrassment but Emma said nothing.
"Good," she sat back down. "You can leave now,"
The sun was setting by the time they walked out of the school's premises. Still boiling with rage, Emma heaved deeply and was about to leave when Bae grabbed her by the sleeve of her shirt.
"What?" she snapped.
Bae looked down, her brown curls fluttering in the winter breeze. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why didn't you defend yourself?" she finally looked up at her with tearful eyes. "You could have said something and…"
"Save your breath. They won't do anything," Emma looked down at Bae. "I know these people. They only care about their jobs and reputation so they won't give a damn about students being bullied. I have experienced it firsthand."
Then she jerked her arm off her grip and was about to walk away when Bae called out. "What about the rumors? Are you just going to let it slide like that?"
This made her stop in her tracks, pursed her lips, and turned to look at her. "What did you hear?"
"So…something about you dating a psychopath. Are you killing students because they played a mean prank on you? Something about you going to a cursed school and how you are the one responsible for the death of the student because of the curse." Clenching her fist to her chest, she took a step closer to her. "Is it all true?"
Emma stared at her with an expressionless look on her face and frowned. "What if all of it is true? Let me guess, that blond-haired b*tch told you that crap?"
She nodded numbly and pursed her lips.
"Listen, Bae, I don't care what people say about me. All I want is to graduate from this school and leave this town. So don't bother yourself about them okay?"
"But…"
"Don't worry about it and mind your business okay?" then she turned around and was about to leave when Bae called her.
"So you don't care about the murdered student?"
Again, Emma stopped in her tracks and looked back at her after a few minutes. "What makes you think like I care?"
"I think you do," Bae gave a small smile and tightened the grip on the strap of her school bag. "You took me in on a rainy night, ate my horrible cooking, defended me in front of the student council president, and tried defending a student who was bullied."
At this, Emma chuckled scornfully. "Oh, you mean that part? I just did that to try to get suspended."
Bae shook her head still wearing the smile. "No, you didn't. Everyone knew who Makiko and that's why they were afraid of her. That's the reason why they came to her defense when you got…um…."
"Physical?"
Bae snapped her fingers. "Yep! That!"
Emma sighed. "I know what you are thinking and I will say this for the last time, I did not do it."
"But everyone says you did! Look, I know you don't care about this but we should try to find out who committed the crime."
"Why should I? The police are investigating the case aren't they?"
"Yes, but waiting for them to find the truth is going to take forever! Look," she quickly ripped open her school bag and took out a vanilla file. "I made some notes for us to look at. Maybe we can find something that can give us an idea."
Staring at the file, then at Bae's eager eyes, Emma groaned loudly. Mentally exhausted and physically drained from the day's events, she gave a disinterested look before straightening up her posture.
"Alright, what do you have for me?"
Bae squealed and gave her the file while she tried to fish out her notebook. As they walked down the street towards the setting sun, Bae talked about the crime scene, the objects found at the scene, and the witness statements.
"And all these things don't mean anything to you?" she asked.
"Well…" Bae scratched her head in confusion. "I do know the electric handsaw was used to decapitate the victim's head and the reason why the clothes and accessories were gone was to make sure the the victim could not be identified."
"But from the shoes, it's clear the victim is a female student," Emma pointed out.
"Yep."
"Aren't they name tags on the shoes?"
Bae shook her head making her long ponytails whip back and forth.
"Figures," Emma muttered and looked at another picture. "How did you take pictures of this?"
She winked. "Perks of being part of the Journalism Club; you get all the scoops firsthand."
'That makes sense,' she thought looking at the picture of the screwdriver. "Is that all?"
Bae nods.
"Okay, let's play a game," she closed the file and gave it back to her. "What do you think the screwdriver was used for?"
Bae frowned in thought before snapping her fingers. "To incapacitate the victim."
"How?"
"The...the..." she snapped her figures repeatedly before pointing at Emma. "The culprit must have used the screw-driver to strike the neck of the victim causing her to bleed out."
"That can be true but that doesn't explain why the walls were covered in blood in a sprayed style and from the looks of things, the screwdriver wasn't covered in blood at the tip so that clears out that theory. Plus, it was found 3 feet away from the victim."
"Oh," then she smiled. "I guess I lost huh,"
Emma rolled her eyes at her. "Look closer at the scene. What is missing?"
Bae looked at the pictures and sighed. "I…I am not sure."
"The fan blades,"
"What?" she looked closer and her eyes grew wide. "I get it now. The fan blades to the air conditioner are missing."
"And?"
She looked at the pictures again. "The protective covering is also missing."
"Meaning?"
"This means the culprit used the screwdriver to unscrew the protective cover of the air conditioner's fan!" she jumps up and down. "Emma we are geniuses."
"Good," they stopped in front of the apartment complex. "So what is your conclusion on the victim?"
At this, Bae looked at the pictures confused and shook her head. Frustrated and tired, Emma turned around, swung her bag over her shoulder, and started walking inside the building.
"I'll give you a hint. The victim has long hair."
This time Bae's confusion was clear. "What does that mean?"
Emma glanced back at her with disinterest and Bae's eyes glowed.
"Oh,"
"Bingo,"