The uniformed policemen stomped their shiny boots on the school's ground and started taping the entrance of the Journalism Club. Still, despite the temporary barricade, the students could see the body littered with stab wounds. Murmuring amongst themselves, they stopped what they were doing to look at the young girl who just walked into the building and looked back at them in confusion.
Then a stern uniformed officer walked up to her and stretched out his gloved hand. "Your keys please,"
Confused, Bae searched her bag and for the keys to the Club room but only came out with keys to her apartment which she gave to the officer. The man gave a stiff nod and then someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down the hall.
"What's going on," Bae asked nearly tripping over her own feet.
"You have guts don't you," Ayumi snapped opening the door to one of the rooms and tossed her to the floor, spilling the contents of her bag. "First you harmed Bramble and now you killed Mio Yamamoto. How are we sure you aren't the one who killed Hiroko Nakagawa and the student earlier?"
Hearing this, Bae quickly picked herself up and looked at the room consisting of a huge roundtable where the Headmaster, Gina Katsuki, Ms. Mishema, and members of the student council were seated.
"I…I don't understand!" She stammered.
"Just have a seat Ms. Tatsumania," the Headmaster gestured to the seat in front of her. "Then we can talk to you about your crimes."
"C…crimes?" Fear gripped her tightly. "The…there must be a misunderstanding! I didn't do anything!"
"Do as he says and sit down!" Ayumi screamed.
"Ayumi!" Ms. Mishema cautioned.
"You need to be careful! She might kill you!" Gina cautioned.
All of this was hard to believe for Bae but she picked up her things and took her seat while observing the tension in the room.
"Bae Tatsumania you are going to be charged for the murder of Mio Yamamoto and we suspect that you are the one responsible for the tragedies that took place in the school. Do you have anything to say about that?"
It didn't take Bae long for her to defend herself. "That's impossible! I was the one trying to find the person behind these murders! How can I be the culprit!"
"Liar!" Ayumi snapped.
"Ayumi, calm down!" Ruri cautioned.
"Shut up Ruri!! Your friendship with her does not grant you the right to defend her do you understand?"
Ruri cowered in fear and looked away. Ms. Meshima sighed, looked back at Bae, and asked. "Care to tell us where you were last night?"
"I…I was at home!" she replied.
Magic cleared his throat getting everyone's attention. "Bae, your fingerprints were found on the keys of the clubroom…"
"Well that's true because we gave her the key to the room," Itsuki interjected.
"Yes, but Gina told us Mio got a message from you to come to the school last night to 'discuss' what happened to Bramble and she did," Magic explained. "That was the last time she and her parents saw her."
Bae's eyes widened in shock but she refused to back down. "I never sent a message to Mio! I don't even have her phone number look!" and with that, she took out her phone and showed it to her. "See! I am innocent!"
"Then why was she found dead in your club room?" Ayumi snapped.
"I don't know! I just got here!" Bae snapped back.
"That's a lie! M…maybe you lured her there and deleted the message from her phone and just like did when you lured Bramble to his demise!" Gina pointed out.
"That's impossible! How can I delete someone's number when I don't have it?" Bae asked.
Magic adjusted his glasses and looked squarely at her. "I don't think you have a leg to stand on Tatsumania. The police found a file with all the students' profile pictures, personal information, and phone numbers inside them, and in another file; we found handwritten information about Hiroko Nakagawa. What's your defense?"
"Huh? I don't have that kind of file!" she looked at Ms. Mishema and then back at Magic. "The types of files I have are the ones I made myself over the school term!"
"Then what about Hiroko Nakagawa's personal information?" asked the Headmaster.
"Ruri asked me to write a eulogy about Hiroko!" Bae explained. "I got that information from the students and her parents and…"
She trailed off at that part and surveyed the room because of the suspicion and growing tension in the air until the Headmaster looked down at the table in disappointment. Magic shook his head pathetically; Ruri looked away, Itsuki twiddled with his fingers while the rest of the student council glared at her.
Only Ms. Mishema had a stoic look on her face. Standing up, she coughed and said, "Here's my suggestion…"
"I am sorry Ms. Mishema but you don't have the right to advocate for a student going to be charged with murder," Magic said, and ignoring her angry gaze, he looked back at Bae. "I am sorry but your defense and evidence are not enough."
"What do you…"
"No!" Ruri stood up in protest. "No! You can't let the police arrest her without evidence!"
"Shut up Ruri!" Ayumi yelled.
"I agree with her," Itsuki said. "Having her arrested would tarnish the school's already fragile reputation and…"
"But if she stayed here, the school's reputation would be destroyed, plus the students would tear her apart,," Kiyoto leaned back and folded her arms. "I am going with our president's suggestion to expel her."
Chiko nodded in agreement. "Yep, the sooner she's gone the better and, our honorable Guidance Counselor is welcome to join her."
"No!" The firmness in Bae's voice brought silence to the room as everyone stared at her until she slammed her hands on the table and stood up. "I am not going to be arrested and expelled for something I didn't do!"
"You have no right to decide!" Ayumi yelled back.
"Yes, I do! All this time I was the only one interested in figuring out the person responsible for the tragedies playing out in this school!" she put a hand on her chest, "I have been going around verifying everyone's alibies, trying to detect lies and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together all for the sake of the survivors and the victims yet here you are accusing me of something I didn't do!"
"I am sorry Bae but the evidence staked against you is numerous so you don't have a leg to stand on here. Not to mention you tried to drag a mentally unstable student into this mess," Magic calmly said.
"I didn't drag Emma into this! She agreed to help me! This is a trap set by the killer to frame me and we are all falling for it! Can't you all see that?"
Suddenly Ayumi stood up and grabbed Bae by the collar of her uniform. "Cut the charade! You have been a thorn in my side ever since you came to this school and now you are acting like none of this is your fault! You are not a journalist! You are not a detective! You are just a psychopath who takes joy in killing other students to create a case for your sick fantasy! You are a murderer!"
Bae struggled to break free without ripping the collar of her shirt but Ms. Mishema and Itsuki came to the rescue. As they tried to separate them, the door burst open and Emma wearing her school uniform walked in with her bag.
"Sorry. Am I late?" she asked nonchalantly.
The room went silent as everyone looked at her in surprise until Itsuki broke the silence, "It's not what it looks like!"
She surveyed the scene; Itsuki had his arms under Ayumi's arms in an attempt to wrestle her away from Bae who was in Ms. Mishema's embrace and it confused her because she knew the type of person her friend was. Nonetheless, she let them adjust themselves and go back to their seats.
"You…" Gina gasped through tears and pointed at her. "What are you doing here?"
"You are supposed to be on suspension!" Katsumi added.
"My suspension ends today so zip it tomato head!" Emma barked.
Katsumi's eyes blazed in anger at the insult but she composed herself and looked away. Setting the bag on the table, Emma assessed the room and looked at Bae who looked back at her with red eyes and tears streaming down her face.
"What's happening?"
Magic adjusted his glasses and coughed. "If you must know, we have decided to allow the police to arrest your little friend for everything that happened in this school."
"Since when did the school decides who the police should arrest?" Emma asked.
"I was the one who suggested it," Ms. Mishema replied lacing her fingers. "Immediately when we found the body in the club room, I knew something wasn't right so I wanted to hear it from her instead."
Hearing this, Emma looked deep into Ms. Mishema's eyes and guessed the woman had other motives for doing this but when the woman looked back at her, it created another feeling she hated; confusion. The tension in the room heightened but was punctuated by Itsuki's cough making everyone look at him.
Then she sighed and turned her attention to the Headmaster. "What proof do you have?"
"Well, there is the fact that she has all the information about every student in this school kept in files, the fact that she is stronger than she looks, and the fact that she may have done this to create a story for herself due to her dream of becoming a journalist someday."
Ayumi clicked her tongue and scoffed muttering something to herself and Ruri looked down.
"I object,"
Ruri was shocked. "Huh?"
"That is not for you to decide!" Ayumi snapped back.
It was Ms. Mishema's turn to adjust her glasses. "So do I but why do you object to this decision?"
"It is because I have proof," Emma replied.
Chiko chuckled at this and Magic groaned. "Emma I don't know what nonsense this girl has dragged you into but if you must know…"
"The victim of the first murder is a female student with long hair who was lured to her demise by the culprit on a Thursday," Emma interrupted putting a hand on Bae's shoulder she added, "My friend and I discovered that only the students at class 2-1, 2-2 and 3-1 where having a P.E while the rest of the of the school was in the Biology and Chemistry Lab which means the victim was a student whose class was at the second or third floor of the school."
"Yes but everyone was there," Kiyoto Tatsuhara pointed out. "I checked,"
"Yes and so were the rest of the girls with long hair which means, the culprit is still here among us disguised as a student with long hair so tell me," she pointed at Bae. "Why are you accusing my friend who has shoulder-length hair as the culprit?"
The room went silent in shock and until Itsuki said, "Then what does this mean?"
Ruri gasped. "Does this mean the killer has long hair?"
"Probably," Emma replied. "We analyzed the time frame of the incident and I discovered that the killer wasn't fast enough to kill the student and get rid of the evidence and wasn't smart enough to operate the air conditioner to high gear but was smart enough to steal the teacher's keycard and plan everything thanks to the evidence found at the murder scene which means it was premeditated. So can someone tell me how that air conditioner operates?"
The room went silent until the Headmaster coughed. "That's classified information, Emma. We only allow our trained staff and teachers to operate it."
Hearing this, she smirked and folded her arms. "It's a shame because one of the students knew how to operate that thing."
"Who?" Katsumi asked shocked.
"Mio Yamamoto,"
"What?" Bae and Ruri said in unision.
"No! There is no way my friend would know how to operate that thing! There is no way!" Gina yelled.
"Sorry Gina but you seem to have forgotten that your friend's father was the engineer who created that thing. So he knows how to operate it."
"Huh?"
"I talked to him personally," she took out pictures of a forty-five-year-old man and tossed them on the table along with a file. "That holds his personal information from the police database and a handwritten statement from him. You can read it if you want and don't worry, I gave a copy to the police."
She ended it with her thumbing to the door and watched as Katsumi grabbed the file and handed them to the Headmaster who opened the file and read the contents.
"Where did you get this?" Magic asked when the file was passed to him.
"Asking the receptionist at the Barusa Town police force for his private details ate most of my suspension time," Emma replied folding her arms. "As you can see, Mr. Yamamoto was one of the engineers and designers for most of the technology in Saikou Cooperation before the company shut down due to the scandal. When I asked him about the machine, he was more than happy to share it's designs which collaborated with the information I got from the students from the Science Club and one of them told me his name later on."
"Does this mean she is the killer?" Ms. Mishema asked looking at the information.
"Yes but she was working with impostor who killed her to frame my friend here," Emma replied. "And they were the ones behind the death of Hiroko Nakagawa for reasons known to them only but I have a theory about why Mio teamed up with the imposter."
"And what is it?" Bae asked.
"Bramble."
"Bramble?" Chiko scoffed at that. "You must be joking."
"When I talked to Mio's mother, she revealed that her daughter had a crush on Bramble for a long time and was happy when he and Gina broke up but was devastated when she learned that Bramble's injuries were going to put him in a coma for the rest of his life," Her eyes fell on Gina, "She recalled seeing her daughter arguing with someone on the phone in a loud voice before leaving to meet with a 'friend' that night."
Hearing this brought a smile to Ms. Mishema's face. "And when did you get this valuable piece of information?"
"Yesterday,"
"Ye…yesterday?" Gina asked.
"Yes, and I met her parents during the middle of the night. Besides, everyone knows that Bramble had a heroic personality so it was easy for the killer to lure him to execute his plan. So in my opinion, while everyone was blaming Bae for the incident she knew who did it all along, and from the looks of things, she left to meet with the Imposter and got killed."
"Ye…yes and it couldn't have been me!" Bae said. "Like I said, I didn't have her number!"
"Then it must be you!" Gina stood up and pointed at Emma. "You did it!"
A smug smile appeared on Emma's face. "Really?"
"You think you are saying all these things to clear her name but you are just implementing yourself!" Gina exclaimed. "I bet you did it and are making us blame her!"
Bae was shocked by this, "What the…didn't you just hear what she said?"
"She said the killer is still in this school!" Ruri replied while Ayumi turned beet red with embarrassment.
"But she knows all of this! She knows the kind of personality Bramble had so she did it so that we can place the blame on Bae!" then her sobbing turned to rage, "I bet she called Mio that night, lured her to the school roof and killed her there before dragging her to the Journalism Club to frame Bae!"
The smug smile on Emma's face grew shocking everyone, "Who told you she was killed on the school's roof?"
The room went silent as everyone stared at Gina who blinked back in shock.
"She was found in the Journalism Club so it was concluded that she was killed there. No one knew about her being killed on the roof so how did you know?"
Then Itsuki snapped his fingers "Wait a minute I remembered her saying something about Bae deleting the message from Mio's phone! How did she know that?"
"Uh…uh…" Gina stammered as her eyes darted around the room but she couldn't escape their gaze. "I heard it from the police! Yes! I heard it from the police!"
At this, Emma strode over to the trembling girl grabbed her by the hair before anyone could stop her, and gave it a quick tug. The whole room gasped in shock as Gina's purple hair was in Emma's hand and Ruri quickly stood up and cornered herself near the door.
"Who…who are you?" she asked.
There was no answer as Emma tossed the wig behind her. Meanwhile, Ms. Mishema's eyes slowly blazed with rage and she banged her hands on the table.
"If I could recall from the information I got, this girl was expelled for smoking wasn't she?" Emma asked as everyone stared at the now green short-haired girl and then at Ms. Mishema, "Does anyone know her name?"
"Yes," Ms. Mishema groaned through gritted teeth. "Her name is Hinaka Kiyama."
"I guess she couldn't stop that habit," Emma pulled out another bunch of pictures of cigarettes found in the drawer from her bag and dropped them on the table. "Do they look familiar to you? Your 'parents' and I found them in 'your' room and were shocked because their 'real' daughter doesn't smoke."
The girl looked down at the table to avoid eye contact but a rueful smile appeared on her face. "How did you figure me out?"
"It was hard at first until the members of the Drama Club told Bae you were acting strange," Emma explained. "I chalked it up to paranoia because many of the students were still scared until I got to know the real Gina better. The real Gina could read music, write plays, and play instruments so you weren't good at embedding yourself into her lifestyle. Acting paranoid and distancing yourself from them worked but it reached its peak when you learned Bae was investigating what happened so you tried spreading rumors about me but it didn't work. Then you convinced Mio to team up with you to frame Hiroko Nakagawa. I don't know what the plan was but you succeeded in planting the keycard on her body but the police couldn't find it leaving the case open but it's not like Mio cared about that did she?"
The girl snorted evilly and balled her hands into fists. "No, she didn't. She only cared about that stupid boy,"
"I guess that confirms my theory," Emma said with a satisfied smile on her face. "And now everyone knows why the number of students didn't drop. No one suspected a thing because you were no longer in the school's system so it was easy for you to replace her without raising alarm."
"It also confirms my theory," Bae pipped up pointing at it cigarettes in the picture. "These are the same brand of cigarettes found in Emma's bag the day she got suspended! This means you were the one who framed her!"
Another gasp from Ruri echoed across the room as Ms. Mishema snatched the photo from Bae and adjusted her glasses to get a better view before silently grinding her teeth. All this time, the girl's shoulders jerked as a slight chuckle emitted from her lips until she looked up and everyone could see the visible smile on her face but failed to see the subtle glint of madness in her eyes.
Then Ruri took a step forward, twiddling her fingers before asking a simple question, "Why? Why did you do all of this?"
The girl bowed her head letting her green fringe cover her eyes and chuckled again. "You figured out why Mio accepted my proposal. So figure out why did it."
"I'll leave that up to the police," Emma replied somberly as she turned around to open the door to two policemen. "She's all yours."
The rain signified the end of winter and under the cold, Gina Katsuki's and Mio Yamamoto's parents waited anxiously at the school's gate. Then police came into view with the imposter in handcuffs wearing their daughter's school uniform followed by a stretcher carrying Mio's body. Gina's parents broke down in tears when they witnessed this while Mio Yamamoto's parents rushed towards the stretcher when her father saw the face of his dead daughter, his knees buckled and he fell onto the wet pavement crying loudly.
Emma watched this happening before walking towards the two families who were sobbing under the downpour to offer them her condolences. It was short and brief and when she looked around she saw Hinata's parents under a red umbrella watching the scene from afar. They locked eyes with her, quickly entered their car and drove off.
Meanwhile, the Headmaster took out his glasses, cleaned them on his shirt, and wore them back with dissatisfaction in his eyes and it grew more when Ms. Mishema appeared beside him watching the scene play out.
"I told you the girl was innocent," she gave him the side eye. "Do you still want her gone?"
He gave a deep sigh. "I talked to the police. They said they were going to drop the charges against her since Emma proved she wasn't a suspect from the beginning."
"I asked about her getting expelled not arrested," Ms. Mishema said with a stern voice.
"That won't happen,"
"Good," she finally turned around to face him. "And the next time you and your underlying my authority again…"
"You know your place Ms. Mishema," he said looking at her with stern eyes. "Don't make yourself walk on thin ice,"
She frowned but restrained herself from grinding her teeth and slung her bag over her shoulder. "I suggest you send the children home for the week if you want to cover up this mess."
He watched her walk out into the rain and groaned muttering to himself as he turned around and walked back to his office where Magic and Itsuki waiting for him.
"What an embarrassment," Magic growled as he walked around him to take his seat.
"Give it a rest would you?" he snapped, "Who would have thought she was capable of something like this?"
"Cut the rubbish. I told you to expel that girl didn't I?" Magic said firmly. "Now look at what she has done!"
"I should expel her but under what grounds?" he yelled loudly.
"Keep your voice down. The police are still here!" cautioned Itsuki.
"Shut up!" they said in unison.
Then Magic looked back at the Headmaster and through clenched teeth he said, "Get rid of her now!"
"I can't! Not with the police and the public knowing about this. As we speak that girl is talking to reporters so this would be all over the news! Do you know what will happen to the school if I expel her under no grounds?"
Magic groaned loudly with rage and slammed his fist on the door. "You idiot!"
"Gentlemen, gentlemen calm down," Itsuki cautioned. "I know today has been a rough day with the rain and all so I suggest we all go home, sleep over this okay, and come back with a plan to fix everything. Do we agree?"
Magic glared at him before walking out and slamming the door behind him. Itsuki exhaled as the tension in the room left, looked back at the older man, and opened the door.
"I'll see you in weeks' time sir," he announced.
"Get out of here!" he thundered and watched Itsuki rush out room. Sighing deeply, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes but the rage inside him was still boiling. "That stupid girl ruined everything! What am I going to tell the family now?"
He pushed his chair back and stretched feeling a slight ache on his lower back. "At least it's over,"
Once Emma got the news that the school was going to close down for a week, her eyebrows knotted into a frown because there was a student she needed to see. Unfortunately, thanks to the police confiscating the personal information about the students, she would have to sneak into the school or wait for it to open to get the information she wanted. Standing under the lamp in an empty street, she watched a video on her phone while waiting for the shop beside her to open.
"Hello,"
A red-skinned creature with thick bird-like legs and a buffed-up human torso with feathers making up part of its white hair and wearing nothing but a pair of torn-up pants appeared tossing some coins in the air.
"What's a beauty doing in a place like this?" it asked in a squawking voice.
"It's none of your business," she replied narrowing her eyes at the creature. "Please leave me alone."
The creature huffed and walked away leaving her alone. Emma gave herself one more hour until she finally sighed and walked back to her apartment only stopping on the way to buy herself some instant ramen. There she ate and searched for her sleeping pills but didn't find them so she laid back on her futon expecting another nightmare. However, she only shut her eyes for a few minutes before she heard a pair of trotting feet approach her. Sitting up abruptly, she looked around and saw the injured fox-like creature staring at her before curling up into a ball and lying next to her.
"It's nice to have some company tonight I guess," she muttered before going back to sleep.
The night passed slowly over Barusa Town but it wasn't the sun's rays that woke her up but the knocking on her front door. Like any sleepy person, she ignored it but whoever it was kept knocking until she finally sat up and tossed the blankets off her.
"I swear, I am going to behead the idiot knocking on the door by…" she took a quick look at her phone before growling. "2:30 in the morning?"
Still groggy from sleep and angry at the sudden interruption, she walked into the living room and made to turn the door knob but stopped short. Whoever it was knocked again but she couldn't move. A knot formed in her throat and her heartbeat increased as a knot formed in her throat. Slowly, the room turned dark as the door before she moved away from her vision and different colors appeared dancing before her distorting her vision.
But the knocking continued to make things worse. Shutting her eyes tight to stop herself from seeing colors and calm the knot in her stomach, she finally moved closer to the distant door, grabbed the handle, and was about to open it when someone whispered these words into her ear; "I am back Beloved!"
"Emma!"
The familiar voice snapped her out of it replacing the feeling with annoyance. She finally opened the door to see Bae standing by her doorstep still wearing her nightgown with her hair down holding her futon and blankets.
"What the…Bae what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I am sorry to disturb you Emma but can I stay here for the night?" she asked batting her big brown eyes at her. "I don't feel safe in my apartment."
Hearing this, Emma threw her head backward and groaned loudly. "Really? You came all the way to ask me that?"
She nodded and widened her eyes hoping the sparkle in her eyes would prevail against her opponent's wrath and it worked. Without another word, Emma opened the door leading inside.
"But do yourself a favor and don't cook in the kitchen again," she muttered while nestling into her futon. "Once was enough."
"Never again," Bae replied wiggling excitedly into her blankets. "Good night!"
She gave her a nonchalant response and shut her eyes. The nightmares slowly crept up on her and she tensed up her body to embrace it but they disappeared as soon as they came. Emma could hear the whispering more clearly now and when she opened her eyes she saw Bae standing next to her, eyes glowing pure yellow, hair levitating as something dark surrounded her. The adrenaline inside her body was kicking but the muscles refused to obey as if she was paralyzed and the last thing she saw was dark smog transform into a pure yellow aura lightening up her silhouette before closing her eyes.
Bae stopped chanting and the glow around her faded away as a smile appeared on her face. Although she felt something that nearly stopped her from completing the cleansing ritual she knew what it was. Covering her with the blanket, she gave a warm smile to the creature before returning to her futon and falling asleep feeling the weight as the fox creature curled up between them.
Only to be woken up by the smell of someone cooking poultry. Sitting up, she looked around and noticed Emma's missing futon. The smell wafted through the air forcing her out of bed and go into the kitchen where Emma was stirring something in the wok.
"Good morning," she greeted.
Emma gave a warm smile in response and Bae smiled back. The ritual had worked; for now.
"How do you feel?" she asked taking a seat on the kitchen island.
"Duck Bao," was the response as she turned off the stove. "The buns should be ready by now,"
Bae's eyes widened in awe as the lid of the pot opened revealing a pair of freshly steamed buns folded in a weird shape. Taking one out while it was still out, Emma put a huge spoonful of the filling and handed it to Bae who took it and took a huge bite.
"Hey, slow down," Emma cautioned.
Bae wolfed down the last big morsel and smiled through the bits of food around her mouth. "I can't! It's so good!"
"I am glad you liked it," She gave a huge smile.
The fox creature was already eating its boa stuffed with raw duck while the girls chatted away about the incident that happened four days ago.
"But how did you know she was going to frame me?" she asked munching through the third bao.
Emma shrugged. "I didn't but you did make it obvious by going around and asking everyone questions like the nosey wanna-be journalist that you are but tell me something,"
"What do you want to know?" she asked with her mouth full.
"Where were you while I was talking to the members of the Science Club?"
Bae stopped munching and let her cheeks turn red. "Ruri called me."
"Why?"
"She wanted to talk to me about the flyers for the upcoming event for the teachers," she took another bite of the food. "She didn't like them."
Emma dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand.
"By the way, what are you going to do with the keycard you took from Hiroko?"
Emma's eyes widened and she looked away. "I might need it for later."
"Why?"
"It's a private matter so let's talk about something else," she looked back at Bae. "I wonder who is going to be buried first."
"Hiroko is going to be buried first!"
"Really? How did you know?"
"My sources tell me her parents sent an invite to all her friends," with that, Bae took out a white envelope. "See?"
Emma looked at the envelope in Bae's hand and sighed deeply. "It must be really sad for a parent to bury their only daughter at a time like this."
"I agree. Winter is always depressing no matter how much you look at it and it is more depressing when you have to bury three people."
There was a moment of silence until the fox spirit cooed and walked into the living room.
"Did you get any news on the murder's trial?"
"Yes. They set the date for March."
"You must be joking."
"I am not although I am not sure," Bae scratched the top of her head and shrugged. "But that's what I was able to get out of the receptionist at the front desk two days ago."
"Tell me about it. It took me three days to squeeze information from that fat woman. Those cops are useless and I bet she must have lied to get you off her back."
She gasped. "You think so?"
Emma could only groan in response.
"I plan on attending Hiroko's funeral first. I put together a beautiful eulogy for her but it's only a draft. See what you think of it."
Emma nodded and stretched out her hand to read to retrieve the folded paper. Unfolding it, her eyes squinted at the terrible handwriting and struggled to read the mixture of symbols.
As a close friend of Hiroko Nakagawa and entrusted with leading our school's journalism club, I find myself grappling with profound grief as I write this eulogy. Hiroko was more than just a fellow student; she was a cherished friend and a pillar of kindness within our school community. Her sudden and tragic passing has left an indelible void that words can scarcely convey.
In her role as secretary of the student council, Hiroko exemplified compassion and dedication. She went beyond her official duties, always ensuring that every student felt valued and supported. Her genuine care for others, coupled with her infectious smile, made her a beloved figure among peers and faculty alike. Hiroko's impact extended far beyond the walls of our classrooms; it touched the lives of everyone fortunate enough to know her.
While we mourn the loss of Hiroko, we also celebrate her remarkable life and the profound legacy she leaves behind. Her ability to uplift others and her unwavering kindness serve as a guiding light for us all. As we navigate this time of sorrow, let us remember Hiroko's spirit of empathy and strive to honor her memory by continuing to foster a community where compassion thrives.
Amid our grief, I am reminded of the privilege of having known Hiroko Nakagawa. Her friendship, her laughter, and her boundless compassion have left an enduring imprint on my heart and the fabric of our school. May we carry forward her legacy with the same grace and warmth that defined her life? Rest peacefully, dear Hiroko. You will be deeply missed, but your spirit will live on in the memories and hearts of all who were touched by your kindness.
"Wow Bae, this is beautiful," Emma looked up at her with a sad smile. "Do you mind writing my eulogy during my funeral?"
This earned another gasp from the girl. "No Emma! You are not going to die so don't say that!"
"You can't be too sure," she replied chuckling sadly to herself.
This brought a heavy silence in the room as the clocks ticked and Bae's face slowly transformed into a deadpan expression. Then Emma sighed deeply and proceeded to stand up.
"What do you think will happen to Bramble after this?" she asked walking out of the kitchen.
"I am not so sure. I learned the doctors told his parents that might suffer sever brain damage thanks to the injury he sustained. "Bae replied.
This made Emma stop in her tracks. "Bae?"
"Hmm?"
"Something isn't right about this," Emma looked back at her. "Bramble's case doesn't make sense,"
Bae turned to look at Emma with confusion in her eyes. "Why do you say that?"
"What if I told you there was a third person in this mystery?" Emma said. "It's just that....I have that inkling that might be the case with Bramble situation."
At this, Bae shrugged and picked up another morsel of food. "I don't think so. She did she harmed him from the statement she made that time,"
"I see," Emma looked down but the paranoid feeling intensified. "I feel exhausted. Maybe I will try to get some sleep."
"Okay. Rest well," she called.
"Thanks,"