"Hey, what are you doing? Why are you protecting him?" said one of the boys who had previously joined in beating up William.
"Stop hurting my brother!" Maria shouted.
"Y-you, his little sister?"
"Yeah, so stop it, please!"
"Why? Why are you protecting a jerk like him?"
"I don't know! Just stop doing this now! Or I'll call the teacher right now!"
"You... You're really as kind as people say. You're even willing to protect your own brother who hurt you?"
"I don't remember any of that!"
"You must have been forced to help him by William, right?"
"No! I really don't remember that!"
Suddenly, William stood up and shouted, "Hey! Didn't you say you'd help me? Were you lying last night?" Then, after that, William looked shocked and covered his mouth as if he had blurted out something he shouldn't have said.
Maria, who didn't understand what William was thinking at this moment, could only remain silent in shock.
She didn't understand why her brother, who always smiled at her, suddenly changed like this. But the strangeness of being considered to have done something she didn't remember made her even more confused.
However, unlike Maria, William's classmates became even angrier and more hateful towards William.
But William didn't care about that and continued his words.
"So, it seems you really have lost your memory. You must have been too scared at the time and became traumatized to the point that you don't want to remember it."
Maria was silent, because she felt it was the truth. So did the others who were there. They believed it and started approaching Maria while staring at William with hateful looks.
Meanwhile, Maria began to recall little by little the memories of yesterday. But her memories showed 7 girls lying in the place, including herself, besides William alone who was smiling but slowly shedding tears.
At that moment, Maria felt very afraid of William. It made her unable to say anything now, because she had lost her intention to protect her brother.
But there was still doubt in her mind, hope remained in her thoughts, and also suspicion of the strange situation made her regain her senses.
But before she could act to turn the situation around, William acted first by leaving the classroom while saying something that made everyone there silent.
"Thank you, Maria. Thanks to your cooperation, I can get out of this classroom full of stupid people. I'll keep my promise, I'll release your pet alive."
The last expression seen on William's face in front of everyone in the classroom at that time was a smile. A smile full of malicious intent and also cunning that was unknown.
"Hey! Stop there! You think I'm going to let you get away with it?" someone said, chasing William out of the classroom.
"That's right, catch him!"
"Yeah, right!"
While the boys were enthusiastic, the girls there tried to calm Maria who looked shocked. Maria's shocked face made everyone there feel sympathy for her.
"Hey, you're William's little sister, right? How about we report him to the police?"
"That's not necessary," Maria replied quickly.
Maria slowly began to understand what William actually wanted to do. Everything had connected well and made it easier for her to know what her brother wanted to do.
And there was one thing she thought about now that made her very sure of what she believed now.
I... don't have a pet.
But there was one more thing that confused her.
What does my brother want from me? Why did he deliberately give me clues? Help? Or something else?
Even though she asked herself that, she knew it was pointless, because she would know all the answers if she spoke directly to her brother when they were alone.
With that conviction, she waited for school to end. She quickly went home, changed her clothes, and then prepared some things to talk to her brother.
"Mom... Can I borrow your phone?" she said to her mother.
"What for?"
"I want to look for information on the internet," she replied with a smile.
"Information?"
"References for books to study."
"Okay, it's fine, just take it in my room, I put it on the drawer near the lamp."
"Um..."
"What else?"
"Where's Dad?"
"He's sleeping in the room, he seems tired after scolding your brother."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, it's understandable that Dad is angry, he's on vacation but he has to go to school because of the problem your brother made. What happened to him lately?"
Maria was silent for a moment while looking down to think back, but then she looked back at her mother and asked, "Do you believe what you believe now, mom?"
"You mean about your brother's problem? Actually, I don't want to believe it, but your brother himself confessed. Whether I want to or not, I have to believe him, right?"
Maria sighed, then she smiled and thanked her then immediately went to her room to take her mother's phone.
But her father, who was sleeping on the bed, woke up because of the sound of Maria's footsteps.
"Eh? Did I fall asleep? What time is it?" her father muttered while opening his phone to check the time.
Maria, seeing her father slowly waking up, thought for a moment and smiled. She approached her father and immediately asked, "Dad, would you like to work with me?"
"E-eh?" Her father could only be confused by the sudden request from one of his children at that time.
After a few minutes, Maria finally arrived in front of her brother's bedroom door. She took a deep breath, mentally prepared herself, then opened the door slowly.
It didn't take long for her to see her brother sitting on the edge of the bed while looking at her and smiling while saying, "Yo, long time no see."
"Brother...", Maria muttered after seeing her brother with that gentle smile, unconsciously she smiled and closed the bedroom door.
"Sit next to me."
"Yes, thank you."
"Don't be so formal, you're my cute little sister, it's normal for family."
"Yeah, you're right, but can you stop call me cute?" Maria replied while starting to sit without hesitation on the edge of the bed next to her brother.
"Why? You think you aren't cute?"
"You want a fight with me?"
"Ehehe, i'm sorry, i'm just joking. So... what do you want to talk about with me?"
The smile on Maria's face slowly faded, then she started to reply, "Can you explain what you're actually doing right now?"
"What do you mean?" her brother replied with a confused expression.
"Don't pretend anymore, you're the one who gave me clues to solve this mystery."
William smiled and said, "It's really troublesome to have a smart sister."
"Sorry for being smart."
"Ehehe, okay, I'll explain."
"Really?" Maria looked surprised, her face unconsciously moved closer to her brother's face.
"Why are you so shocked?"
"I thought you wanted to hide it forever."
"I have no such intention, besides, you must already know what I'm trying to do. You're asking because you want to know about your lost memory, right?"
"Yeah."
"But, before that, can you stop recording our conversation with the phone you're carrying right now?"
Maria smiled while sweating a little because of surprise and anxiety. Without hesitation, she replied, "Brother, you're scarier than I thought."