Feeling a pressure on my chest, I open my eyes and see a familiar face.
"Jake?"
He smiled and lovingly touched my cheek, and once again, I melted in his touch. Then he giggled and when I opened my eyes, there was an evil look on his face as it was covered in blood. Suddenly he grabbed me by the throat and tightened his grip. Choking and gasping, I clawed at his hands and begged him to let me go but started laughing manically.
Then I jolt awake gasping for air while feeling the pain on my neck and collar bones.
"It looks worse than before Ms. Cross-wood," a deep monotone voice said.
The ceiling continued to spin blurring my vision and the signature scent of Hikari Wood lingered in the air. Slowly, my racing heart slowed down to its regular pace, and sit up.
"How long have you been having this nightmare?" it asked.
"For a long time," I swing my feet off the sofa, "Every night it's the same thing. Sometimes I'm too afraid to go to sleep."
"Have you been taking your medication?"
"Yes, but they are making it worse." I finally look at the tall wrinkled old man with grey hair and silver eyes looking immaculate in his white lab coat and stethoscope. "I don't like taking them."
"You have to take them if you want to sleep properly. It's for your own good Emma," he stood up and walked towards the window. "And this has been happening before the incident in your school?"
I give a stiff nod and look down trying to forget about it but the pictures Bae showed me had been engraved in my mind. Someone hummed and was scribbling something on paper.
"Tell me, what activities have you been up to lately?"
"Well," I lean back and look up. "I have taken up cooking again and started doing the skincare routine every night before I go to bed."
"You haven't been doing anything impulsive? Like shopping, drinking…"
I shake my head.
"Did you make a new friend?"
"In…in a way," I mutter. "But she wants to solve the murder."
"Why?"
I think back to what Bae told me the other day and purse my lips. "She thinks it will restore my reputation in school and stop the rumors."
The silence was thick and heavy.
"I think you should distance yourself from this friend of yours. She is doing more harm than good." He stood up. "Any symptoms we need to take note of?"
"Shouldn't you know what is wrong with me by now?" I look up at him. "We have been doing this for months and…"
"You are a special case Emma; an irregular. It's going to take some time to find out what's exactly wrong with you understand?"
A mixture of emotions slowly bubbled inside me and I did my best to suppress them. However, I could recognize one of the feelings as frustration because every time I come here looking for a solution, I end up running around in circles. I read it's normal for people to feel this way when seeking solutions from a therapist but it had been, I don't know, close to a year and still nothing.
As if reading my mind, he places his hand on my shoulder and smiles. "It's okay. We will find a solution, but forgetting what happened is better than revisiting it."
"You've been saying every time I come here," I say irritated.
"That's another symptom Ms. Cross-wood." He said.
My eyebrows furrowed in a frown.
"It's okay. We'll take things one step at a time,"
I take a deep breath, stand up, and head to the door.
"Take care," he called as I shut the door. Going straight to the pharmacy situated at the left wing of the building, I collected my bag of medication and left to the waiting room and was surprised to see Ms. Mishima sitting there looking at her phone.
'Maybe she is waiting for someone,' I thought walking straight to the exit.
"How was it?"
Stopping in my tracks, I felt the hair at the back of my neck rise so turn around to see her. "Good morning ma'am."
"I know you saw me," she narrowed her eyes behind her glasses. "Why didn't you greet me then?"
"I thought you were waiting for someone."
"You know that is not true."
I mutter an apology and watch her eyes fall on the paper bag in my hand.
"What's that?" she asks.
I shrug. "The medication my therapist prescribed for me."
She stood on one leg and put a hand on her chin in thought without taking her eyes off my item. Then she grabbed my hand suddenly and led me out of the hospital. Once we were outside, she finally snatched the bag and looked inside it.
"What are you doing?" I protested but she was already taking out the contents of the bag.
"RestoRelief, Sleep Ease Plus, MindCalm Max, Serenaxa Relief and," she riffles through the bags and takes out the last pill bottle. "What is this?"
"It's 'Vertapain Solution'. It's used to soothe the back aches." I reply looking away from her.
"You take it when you wake up from your nightmares?"
My head snapped up in shock. "How did you…"
"As you gasp for air, it strains your throat and the back of your neck causing you pain." She tosses the pill bottle back to me. "I'll be keeping the rest of the drugs thank you."
"But," she turns around and walks away with a paper bag holding the rest of my drugs. Pursing my lips, I decided to do some grocery shopping at the nearest supermarket for dinner before going to my apartment. While I was shopping, I received three calls from Bae and a text from her asking if she could come over to my place. I left the text on read; finished shopping and a few minutes later I was in the kitchen kneading dough to make the steam buns.
'And to think I started craving for them after eating something terrible,' I thought recalling the mess Bae made in the kitchen the last time she came. This brought a smile to my face as I rolled out small portions of the dough, stuffed the filling inside them, and sealed them in. The apartment was quiet with the sound of the television blaring from the living and the smell of steaming buns on the cooker. My eyes wandered from the phone and then to the steaming buns and I sighed.
'I am an idiot,' I take the phone and dial a number.
Bae arrived thirty minutes later as we were watching a slice-of-life anime eating steamed buns.
"Awee! These are so tasty!" she exclaimed spewing particles of food from her mouth. "Yum!"
"Anything on the case you are working on?" I ask halfway into the fifth episode.
Eyes glowing with excitement, she gives me the same vanilla file. "Okay, I followed up on the clue you gave me and asked Hibiki for pictures of every girl in the school that had long hair and I compared them to the list of students in the school and found out they were complete."
"This means all of them were complete at the time of the murder," I say looking at the pictures until one caught my attention. A girl with purple hair, and matching indigo eyes stared back at me.
"Who is this?" I ask.
Mouth full, Bae stretched to look at the picture. "That's Gina Katsuki. She is the Leader of the Drama Club in school and … created the drama club."
"Hmm," I say out loud admiring her portrait. "She looks beautiful. Does she have a boyfriend?"
"Yeah," Bae flipped the page to pictures of boys wearing jerseys and pointed at the picture of a red spikey-haired handsome boy with reddish eyes staring back at me. "His name is Bramble Katsumi. He's the leader of the Sports Club and the P.E teacher's assistant."
"No surprise there. There are a lot of boys looking at her." I felt a pang of jealousy in me but sighed in defeat. "It's no surprise. She always steals the show anytime she walks into the room."
"Yeah. Too bad her grades aren't that good."
That surprised me. "I beg your pardon?"
"Gina's grades are some of the worst in the school!" she said grabbing another steamed bun and biting into it. "But from my research on her, she doesn't care about that because she wants to be an actress and a classical music writer once she graduates."
"Really?"
She nodded. "Yep! That's why she spends more time in the Drama Club. Not to mention she's on track to win club leader of the year this year! She has potential and her confidence shines through even on stage not to mention she has enough charm to land her a lead role in any play but she always stoops down to help people and allows her club members to showcase their artistic talents."
I looked at the pictures which included mine and narrowed my eyes. "And with every girl cutting their hair to a shoulder length, it's going to be harder to identify them."
"Actually," she twiddled her fingers together. "Not everyone has cut their hair."
"What do you mean?"
"Some students complained to the student council about the 'Hair Cut' policy and they told every girl to cut their hair to a back length."
I rolled my eyes. "I think I know the students that tabled their complaints."
Silence filled the air punctuated by the sound of the ending credits of the episode as I thought long and hard about it because it wasn't my priority right now.
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
'I shouldn't be doing this but,' I thought to myself. "I noticed many students have different types of personalities which form different cliques. What do you know about them?"
She swallowed her last morsel before taking out her notebook. "I am not so sure about cliques but do clubs help?"
I nod.
"Alright. There are a Martial Arts Club, Drama Club, Dance Club, Photography Club, Cooking Club, Music Club, Gardening Club, Sports Club, Gymnastics Club, Archery Club, Debate Club, Sewing Club, Literature Club if you are interested," she winked and pointed at me. "The Journalism Club."
I raise an eyebrow at that. "Why so many clubs?"
"Kiyoto Tatsuhara suggested it. She is a member of the student council and in charge of public relations and she said, there was a growing population of students, so different interests are bound to take place. That's why she suggested that the school should allow the students to form different kinds of clubs to endure one thing."
"And what's that?"
She pumped her fist in the air. "To ensure the school's reputation and loyalty among its students. The more clubs they are, the higher their reputation."
I nod and take a sip of tea in thought. Why I didn't notice this during my first year in this school? I will never know. Maybe I was too wrapped up in my pain to notice not to mention Magic is forcing me to join one club.
'I told him to get off my back but he refused to listen.' I thought. 'Now, thanks to this incident and the rumors, members of the Student Council are keeping an eye on me like bodyguards. None of them liked the idea of babysitting me and neither did I but for some reason, they went along with it."
I looked at Bae who was munching on a poki.
'I have to solve this quickly,' I drop my cup on the coffee table. "If that's the case, how many students don't have clubs?"
Bae stopped munching and looked at me. "I…I don't know."
"Students who have cliques, do they have clubs as well?"
"I am not sure,"
I purse my lips in deep thought and look out the window. "This person this Kiyoto Tatsuhara, does she know how many students aren't in a club?"
She slowly shakes her head.
"Did anyone notice something odd that day? Like any student missing from school or class?"
Bae hummed, took out her notebook, and flipped through them. "No. All the statements I have are from the students who saw the crime scene and most of them said that you do it."
Her words made me hum in thought. "Why don't you ask some students if they saw anything strange?"
"Are you sure that is a good idea?" she looked down and pursed her lips. "Some of the club members don't like me. Besides, what am I going to ask them?"
"Ask them if they saw anything strange or anyone acting strange from the morning to lunchtime." I lean back on the couch. "That's the only way we can find a clue."
"Find the student acting strange, we interview them and crack the case!" Bae clapped her hands excitedly. "Emma you are a genius!"
Just as luck would have it, the next day was a Monday and it was Kiyoto's turn to 'babysit' me. Instead of going to the bathroom, I head to the library instead.
"You are not going to class today?" she asks.
"No. I don't feel like it." I reply picking up a book. "You should take a break. I am going to be here for a long time."
"How long?"
"About an hour."
"I can't do that."
"Let me guess, your President told you not to let me out of your sight for even a minute?"
She scoffed at the tone of my voice and folded her arms. "Itsuki was supposed to be the one watching you, not me."
"No mystery why he didn't do it."
"Why don't you like him? Amongst all of us, he is the only one who tolerates your crap."
I flip to the next page. "Someone hates her job,"
Rolling her eyes, she looks away and mutters something under her breath.
"Let's make this job interesting then," I shut the book and look at her in the eye. "How many students aren't in a club?"
I could tell the question took her by surprise because she looked back at me with a stunned look on her face. "I…I am not sure."
"Apart from me, I have counted four students who don't do club activities."
"Really, who?"
"Victor Matsua and the three rich b*tches."
Still wearing that stunned expression on her face, she folded her arms and leaning on the table, gave an exhausted sigh. "Well, there are more students who are not in a club."
"Why?"
"They are in cliques or groups," she looked out the window. "Unlike the school's 'Mean Girls,' there are the bullies, the delinquents, the rich kids, fashionable kids...
"Where were they during the time of the murder?" I ask and when she gives me a shrug, I chuckle ruefully. "You aren't doing your job are you?"
"Excuse me?"
"Save me the lecture," I look back at her. "Did you guys ever sit down to ask yourselves what happened?"
"Hey! Don't remind me about that." She snapped. "I had to sit down for two hours listening to Magic talk on and on about the incident. Then the next thing we had to listen to was how we needed to keep an eye on you for 'security reasons'."
"I am not a dangerous person so why do you think that way?"
She glared at me and huffed. "Do I need to remind you of the time we caught you sneaking weapons inside the school building? Or the time you nearly stabbed a student with a knife?"
I glared back at her. "First of all, I found the knife in the Home Economics room so I did not sneak it in. Secondly, he was bullying me and all of you knew it,"
"Whatever. It was thanks to you that he is never coming back and his parents nearly damaged the school's reputation by nearly suing us! You are lucky we settled things out of court."
I decided the end the conversation there because it was clear that she wasn't going to give me a concrete answer thanks to her incompetence and attitude. Picking up a psychology book, I flipped through the book until I found the key stolen a few weeks ago hidden between the pages and grin.
'She may look tough but she is not observant,' I slam the book shut and place it back. "I need to go to class. Care to escort me there?"
Rolling her eyes to heaven, she took me back to my homeroom where I stayed until lunch time. Instead of heading to the school's roof to eat, I carried my bag which held my bento, and headed back to the school's library where I retrieved the key and put it in my bag. Satisfied, I head straight to the Journalism Club where Bae was waiting for me.
"Hi," I say in a monotone voice.
"Hey!" she quickly sat down on the chair behind the wooden desk. "Well, I followed up on your instructions and found something odd in the drama club."
"What is it?" I ask.
"Well, their club leader is acting strange." She replied taking out her notes. "One of the club members told me she wasn't radiating like her usual self. She seems…different from the girl they knew. She always walking around, looking at her phone, talking to other students aside from her friends…."
"Is she afraid of something?"
Bae nodded and leaned back in her chair.
"Did you ask her what she is afraid of?"
A sad look appeared on Bae's face when I asked her that and she leaned forward. "Yes. She is afraid of you."
I raise an eyebrow. "You can't be serious."
"Well, when I was talking to her, she was making weird movements with her arms and talking about how you had the makings of a killer. According to her, she says you joined the Martial Arts Club to learn how to fight and joined the Sports Club so that you can use the equipment to harm people. She also pointed out that you may have signs of PTSD which is why she considered you dangerous."
For some reason, I wasn't angry by this instead, I was sad that someone like her could say such bad things about me.
"So she thinks I am a dangerous person huh?"
"Well…everyone thinks that way," Bae responded. "But you didn't join the Martial Arts Club did you?"
I shake my head. "No. I wanted to join the Music Club but they had no room for a flute player and told me to join the Drama Club." I sighed. "Their leader wasn't there so her assistant assessed me on my skills and told me they were full so I joined the Archery Club instead."
"Oh. I thought they banned you from joining the Martial Arts Club because you beat up a student there," Bae said.
"No. Magic made it clear that I wasn't allowed to join any club that enhanced my ability to hurt someone," I pouted at that and sighed. "During that time, I was still paranoid that he might come back for me so it made sense."
"Who? Your boyfriend?"
A long heavy silence filled the air when she asked the question that ignited goosebumps in me. Looking back at the detective board then looked at her trying to find some comfort in her eyes but what I found was curiosity instead.
"I think I have something that can help you out," I said.
Hearing this, her eyes lit up. "Really what is it?"
"What date did the incident take place?" I ask.
She flipped through her notes again, "It happened on a Thursday."
"Oh right, you didn't have Biology class that day huh?"
"Nope!"
"Then what did you have?"
"Gym class. All of us were in the field or the auditorium."
"This means the culprit used that opportunity to lure the victim to the roof and kill her," I mutter out loud. "Since we deduced that the air conditioner was used to murder the victim we need to establish a time frame okay?"
"Great! I'll go first," She took out her notebook and started writing. "At 8:10 AM we had English Language and at 10:15, my class and class 3-2 went to the field for gym class during the second period."
"And I had Physics Class at 8:15 AM and Biology class in the lab at 10:00," I mutter. "This means someone the culprit either snuck out of gym class or skipped Biology class to lure the victim to the rooftop to murder the student."
"But something is missing." Bae pointed out.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean how was the person able to increase the speed of the fan blades in the air conditioner and lure the victim all in the same morning? And get rid of the evidence?"
"Well, the place where the victim was found was directly under the incinerator…" I point out. "This means the person was able to throw away the victim's clothes, belongings, and other incriminating items down below to destroy them."
"But how was the person able to do that before lunchtime?" she asked.
There was no answer to that although I had my suspicions. Biting my bottom lip in thought, I ponder on that before looking back at Bae who was chewing her pen.
"Can you tell me more about the air conditioners Bae?"
Her eyes widened at that. "I didn't know that…"
I could have face-palmed at her incompetence but I frown instead.
"But I know who to ask," she said quickly. "We can ask the members of the Science Club,"
"Do you have a friend who can help?"
"Not really but I know someone who can help,"
I stand up. "Okay, let's go."
So we left the room and went to the third floor in the west wing where a dimly lit room Science Room. Inside, a small group of students were fiddling with some robots, pouring chemicals into test tubes, and discussing amongst themselves. While I was standing at the door, Bae was peeking into the room and quickly hid when a girl with platinum hair adorned with blue streaks and dark eyes reminded me of a certain someone.
"Can I help you?" she asked with a monotone tone in her voice.
I look back, notice Bae has vanished, and roll my eyes. "Can you tell me a few things about the school's air conditioners?"
"Why? Are you planning to kill someone?" she asked loud enough to get everyone's attention.
My mouth curls up in a sadistic smile. "If I wanted to, I wouldn't be asking you about it would I?"
Whispers echoed in the room as everyone stopped to look at us. I still maintained my sadistic grin on my face while she narrowed her eyes at me. Tension hung in the air for a few seconds until she broke contact and walked back to her station. Everyone went back to what they were doing leaving me alone. Mentally kicking myself in the ass for making the wrong move, I was about to leave when a little voice piped up.
"Umm…I think I know something." It said.
Once again, everyone stops what they are doing and looks at the owner of said voice, a short boy with the same platinum hair but with pink eyes and a warm smile.
"Isuki, are you serious?" one asks.
"Well…she may look weird but I don't think she…"
I cut him off. "Just tell me about the air conditioners okay?"
The last thing I wanted was for this kind soul to be a school pariah because of me. Pressing his lips lightly, he leads me to their digital projector and taps a button on his tablet showing me a digital skeleton of the air conditioner on the screen.
"The school's air conditioners are industrial-sized ones that spread cold air across the school through the vents. They were invented by Saikou Corp and are linked to the school's heaters."
"Do the heaters work in the Biology lab?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "No. The Biology lab doesn't have a heater because it would destroy most of the microscopic samples in there."
"So it uses the air conditioner?"
"Yes but not in the winter because it's cold already," he replied.
I give him a sideway glance, "That's new because to get the fan's blade spinning that fast, the person would have reduced the temperature."
He raised an eyebrow at my words. "In the middle of winter?"
"The Biology Lab was cold the day of the murder. Whoever did it was quick and smart enough to clean up evidence to help identify the victim but not smart enough to consider the risk of getting caught. I want to know how long it takes for the air conditioner to make a room that cold."
The room was quiet and tension hung in the air but I ignored it, Isuki coughed and tapped a few buttons on the tablet until a set of numbers appeared on the digital screen. "It depends on how cold the room was before the air conditioner was turned on. From my knowledge, the standard temperature of the lab should be 21 degrees or -1 degrees. The temperature of the room drops 5 degrees every 3 hours but it depends on the air conditioner that is being used. The school's air conditioner can cool a classroom within 2 hours but for a lab like the biology lab in the middle of winter, the temperature can drop within 30 minutes."
"But the Biology lab doesn't use the air conditioners during winter and doesn't have heaters either," I point out.
"Yep," there was a pause. "How cold was the biology lab that day?"
I shrug. "I don't know but now I know that to get the lab that cold, the person must have snuck into the school earlier that day to turn on the air conditioner to make the fan blades spin at such a high speed. Now the question I am asking is, how did the person do it without getting caught?"
"I think the question you should ask is, 'Who had the key to the maintenance room," the girl from before snatched the tablet from Isuki, and with a few taps; she showed the location of the maintenance room. "The room is found on the ground floor near the school's swimming pool. Only teachers and school staff are allowed access to it because it needs a key card to operate it."
"The Headmaster is with the Master Key Card." someone said.
"So this leaves the Biology teacher but she said the air conditioner was broken."
"Which means someone stole a key card."
It took me a while to notice that all eyes were on me but I ignored them because I got what I wanted. Just as I was about to leave, a shrill sound echoed through the school building forcing us to run out of the room. I turned around to watch the Club's Leader insert a key code to lock the doors before rushing to the nearest classroom to join in the middle of the room. The shrill sound stops and the whole building goes silent. The teacher barricaded the door with her desk and crouched next to us until someone knocked on the door. It was one of the student council members and a few minutes later, she signaled us to stand up and walk out of the room in a single file.
"Class is canceled for the day," she whispered guiding us out. "All of you are instructed to pack your things and leave the building immediately. If your things aren't with you, quickly tell one of the members of the Student Council where they are and have them guide you to its location. The police are here, so hurry."
The worry in her voice was evident but I had no intention of leaving the school yet. Once we were out of the classroom, I slipped into one of the empty hallways and went straight to the library where my book was waiting for me on one of the top shelves. There, I hid the key I stole and was about to leave when the second door to the room opened and some of the Student Council members walked in.
"I can't believe this," Kiyoto muttered.
"Tell me about it," Katsumi groaned taking a seat. "Magic is going to kill us,"
"I…I think we have other things to worry about," Itsuki took out a chair and sat on it. "Like figuring out where Emma was at the time of the murder."
"Most of the students in the Science Club told me she was with them asking some weird questions," another said.
"And you didn't ask them what it was?" asked Itsuki.
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nope,"
Hearing this, Kiyoto clicked her teeth. "Incompetent,"
"Now is the time to point fingers Kiyoto. We are all at fault in this," Katsumi snapped. "You were the last person to see her alive Itsuki. Tell us what you know,"
'Her? Who are they talking about?' I got in a crouching position and leaned forward to hear the conversation properly. 'I hope it is not who I think it is,'
"That's it? That's all you know?" Kiyoto yelled.
"All I know is, I walked by her, said 'Hello,' and walked away." He replied.
"Anything else?" Katsumi asked.
He hummed out loud before snapping his fingers, "She was dangling a bunch of keys as she walked away."
"A bunch of keys?" the rest snapped.
I slip out of the room and head to the lower floor but stop short. What if the police are already there? With this in mind, I look out the window and see nothing but a bunch of students filing outside the gates.
'Of course, the cops won't arrive on time. The incompetent bastards!' I continue my journey down the stairs until I arrive at my destination. Sprawled on the floor in the middle of the hall near the lockers and covered in blood was the body of one of the members of the student council going by the name Hiroko Nakagawa. There were no police tapes around so I wore a pair of surgical gloves and got to work accessing the body.
"There are red marks on her neck which means she was strangled," I turn her head to the other side taking note of the blood caking her auburn hair. "Someone hit her on the head repeatedly with a heavy object cracking causing blunt force trauma and making her bleed out but the blood around her head is dry."
My assessment led me to find the key card on her person which confused me because the science girl told me only staff were allowed to have it so I take a good look at it and see Mrs. Haru's name engraved on the plastic and she is the school's Biology Teacher.
"Nice try trying to frame someone else for the murder you bastard," I mutter hiding the item in the pockets of my underwear (yes I have panties that come with those) because it might come in handy. "But why would you kill her instead? Why not report her to the police? Are you trying to be a hero?"
No there was no way he would try to be a hero but why play this game? Was he...
I shake the thought out of my head, stand up, and sprint down the hall. 'Taking the key card from the victim is the only way to make sure no one connects her to the murder. Now we need to wait until someone slips some detail about it but, I need to see if it is still working."
It was easy for me to head to the school's swimming pool and locate the maintenance room since the school was empty. I swiped the keycard on the electric lock, watched the doors open, and was shocked by the complexity of the air conditioner's system.
'How the hell was the person able to operate this?'
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