The alarm’s sound was echoing through the room, waking the person under the blanket. He was moving to one side to another, not wanting to get up but the alarm wouldn’t stop if he didn’t so.

Fighting against his drowsiness, the boy threw the blankets to the other side of the bed and got up. The sluggishness he felt made his steps uneven but he managed to achieve balance.

Slamming the alarm with his hand, the sound stopped and he yawned. Rubbing his eyes, the boy looked at the alarm and smile faintly.

The alarm’s digital clock displayed [06:30 // WED], still fairly early to go to school. Looking out the window, he could see a sunny day as the light rays basked the street and the house’s roofs.

-It’s going to a normal day today.

Ending his sentence, Chris went to the wardrobe and choose his clothes.

[][][][][]

Afterward, the boy came down and entered the kitchen, not even bothering with the girl following him like it was a natural.

He opened the fridge while she was about to open a cabinet

-Ah, let me grab them. You can wait.

Seeing what she was about to do, Chris said it to Midna, stopping the girl’s actions. Following what he said, she took a seat at the table.

Confirming she wasn’t moving, he grabbed a milk pack then placed it on the table before going to the kitchen cabinet.

He grabbed two bowls and a cereal box inside it, alongside two spoons he got from a drawer nearby, and then he sat on a chair.

Giving her a pair of bowl and spoon, Chris was about to serve Midna when he realized something.

-Oh, do you want it? - Shaking the box, he asked.

She nodded her head.

Receiving her affirmation, Chris filled her bowl with cereals then he had his own serving of it. Pouring some milk in the two bowls, they began the breakfast.

Midna was eating quickly, as if the cereal would disappear from her hands at any second, while Chris was chewing slowly, looking at the girl as his eyes traced her body.

(Unbelievable…was she really hurt yesterday?)

No matter how long he tried to search for it, he couldn’t find any wound on her body.

When Chris was trying to take out the plastic wrap from Midna’s hands, his mother suddenly barged into the room and found them together on the ground with her son on top of the girl.

He was about to explain what happened but seen the teasing smile his mother had on her face made him even more embarrassed by the situation.

Then he was asked to leave the room for her to check on Midna. Assuming he didn’t have dinner yet, she brought a fast food combo for him to eat downstairs.

When he was about to finish it, his mother arrived at the living room and said there was no need to worry about the girl’s condition, since there weren’t any major injuries on her body and it would heal by the morning.

For more than he wanted to argue back to his mother after seen Midna’s condition, he didn’t have the same knowledge as a professional.

Still, Chris couldn’t believe it was just that simple to heal those wounds overnight until he saw her condition this morning that was.

-Omeing ‘ong? – With her mouth full of cereals, she asked.

He had been staring at her for so long that even his cereals started to wither.

-No…nothing.

(Maybe that is also a trait of hers, but oh well.)

Looking at her confused face, he said with a smile:

-Everything is fine.

Then he resumed eating.

[][][][][]

After finishing their breakfast, they went to the school without any problems on their way.

Just like yesterday, nobody could be seen inside neither inside it nor around it.

Chris went straight to the classroom, waiting on his seat for the first period to begin together with the girl.

Hearing the bell, the other students started to fill the empty seats and the teacher came soon after. It took them two minutes and twenty-eight seconds for all of them to arrive, or so his phone’s chronometer said.

-Good morning students. Let me first give you all a warning: the teachers, me included, were rather disappointed by the overall results from yesterday’s exams, so from now on all the teachers will review the contents before we advance to the next subjects. Even if you already understood them before, use this opportunity to review them.

Without losing time, the teacher already started to write something on the blackboard, ignoring the moans of dissatisfaction from the students.

Opening his notebook, Chris started to copy the contents his teacher was writing.

[][][][][]

The first period came to an end and the teacher left, leaving the students on their own enjoying the break time.

Chris flipped some pages, filled with the previous contents, of his notebook with his hand soaring after a non-stop writing since the tip of his pencil reached the paper.

(Dammit. I know it had been a long time since I took notes but this is ridiculous. I can feel my blood pulsing on my hand.)

Because of the tingling sensation he felt, Chris started to regret not properly attending the class these past few days.

But his moments of rest soon ended with the entrance of the next teacher through the classroom’s doors.

As she begins her lesson, the boy put aside his discomfort and forced himself to write once again.

While he was focused on taking notes of the new contents, he failed to notice the glances of a girl looking at him from the front seats.

[][][][][]

After the fifth period, his hand was even worse than ever. Although he had noted all the contents from the morning’s subjects, his tears of pain questioned him if he couldn’t be calmer to note it all.

But, as the saying goes, no pain no gain. Contrary to how he was feeling on yesterday exams, now Chris was confident he could achieve a good score on it easily.

However, that was not all. Using the chronometer, Chris managed to get the timing of when the teacher would reach the class, finding something noteworthy on it.

If there was no student outside, the teacher would arrive in one minute and fifteen seconds. If there was one, he would take the same time as the one before class started this morning, two minutes and twenty-eight seconds.

Luckily, Chris could measure the timing on both occurrences twice and they all took the same time to arrive on class, no matter who the teacher was, so he was sure this was also something related to the phenomenon.

And now that last period ended-

-Man, I’m telling you, no way he was the killer.

-But you saw how he looked at the protagonist at that time.

-Just because he looks suspicious, it doesn’t mean he is.

-Why else would there be candy on the car’s glove box then?

-I don’t know, David, maybe because he is a middle-school teacher and wanted to treat his student!

-Or he could also have a family.

-That’s what I’m saying, Chris! It’s too early to assume he was the killer.

-Ok, ok, but when he will be about to kill Ratoru, I don’t want anyone saying that I didn’t warn them or if it was the best plot twist of the century.

Finishing his sentence, David bit the sandwich on his hands irritated by his friend logic.

They were outside the school, together in one of the few tables that were near the sport’s field. The moment they were together, Max began to talk about the last episode of a mystery anime that became popular some time ago.

Chris didn’t know much about it, but seeing David reaction over it, he must have been accompanying the series together with Max.

-Fine, tell me then: why is the teacher suspicious?

-Are you kidding right now? Just look at how he is shown in the show.

-I know he looks a bit off, but if there was one thing Zcooby-Doo taught me was that I can never trust one’s appearance. They are showing us him like that then, in the next moment, BOOM, he is not the culprit.

-…Hold on. – David picked up his phone and was scrolling his thumbs until he found something – Here. This is what Laura said after I send her his picture.

He extended his arm towards Max, showing him the message on his phone.

-“Yep, he is the killer alright”, what does she mean by it!? She doesn’t even know Eraser!

-Face it, man, you are outclassed here. It’s two-against-one for me.

With a smug on his face, David proceeded to eat his sandwich, ignoring the frustrated Max at his front, but he soon grinned, not wanting the conversation to end like this.

-Hey, hey, Chris, you also think he isn’t the killer, right?

-Objection! Don’t involve him in our discussion.

-Silence! You got your girlfriend in it, so I can as well include Chris! Gimme that!

Taking David’s phone, Max showed Chris the teacher image in the chat box. He looked for a bit and then shifted his gaze to Max then David before returning to eat his lunch.

-David, you think this guy is the killer?

-Yep.

-Then he is the killer.

-Strike three Max! You are out!

-This was so cruel Chris! Why didn’t you take my side?!

With the victory on his hands, David laughed while Max was crying to complain to the friend who turned his back at him.

-Max, no offense, but the thing is: you have a bad-eye to judge something.

-I have not!

-May I remind you about that, what was it called…magical girl show we watched that day in your house?

-Oh yeah! Your face that day was priceless!

-…I don’t have anything to say about it.

-“Oh man, you guys will not believe how good this show is! Here, check out the new episode!” and then the monster bit the girl’s head off!

-Cut it out!

-It also happened at the best time as possible! You were saying “Oh man, this girl is so cool. I think she will be one of my favorit-“ when it happened!

-Ok, ok! I was wrong, so stop teasing me about it!

With his two friends laughing at him, Max grunted. Although David was usually calm and collected, all that needed to happen was a good discussion to fire him up.

(Yeah, this is just how it needs to be.)

A good time with your friends without thinking about anything else. Just an ordinary day together with them like any other.

-Anyway! Are you not glad we have P.E. as the last period today?

-Switching topic, are we?

-What? I just wanted to talk about something more enjoyable, that’s all.

-Aham, “more enjoyable”…but yeah, I’m kinda glad. I want to cool myself today.

Using his hand like a fan, David was trying to lose some heat, but a particular word he said picked Chris interested, as well as his confusion.

-…What?

-I know, right? It’s like hell here. Look, my clothes are all covered in sweat.

Joining his friend, Max was also shaking his hand to send some air to his face.

-Hey now, what are you two talking about?

It was true today was a little hotter than usual, even if they could see the withered leaves on some trees from the fall, but they are talking about physical education to cool themselves.

-Oh yeah, your schedule is different.

-I’m sorry Chris, to leave you suffering in hell while we enjoy the paradise, but you had your chance yesterday.

Max was looking at him with pity while David was a bit conflicted about his feelings, however, that didn’t explain anything to him.

-David, Max…what are you talking about?

His friends were surprised to hear Chris’ serious tone on voice and looked rather confused at him.

-Chris, I know we are joking here but you don’t need to be like this.

-Yeah man. Just because your class will not use the pool today, it doesn’t mean you need to be all “do or die” about it.

-…Pool?

To his simple question, his friends were staring at each other like they just heard the dumbest question of all time and the looks on their faces gave Chris a bad feeling.

-But we-

But we don’t have a pool, he wanted to say, however, before he could get more information, the bell rang and lunch break was over. As if he was awakened by it, Chris quickly finished what was inside his lunchbox and got up from the table.

-Sorry guys, I can’t be late today. Bye.

Leaving his two friends looking at him weirdly, the boy rushed inside the main building, without easing his mind from the confusion he was feeling.

Still, he didn’t stop running.