The room went quiet, really quiet. As though the fact about the two murders which occurred in front of us in a very gruesome way, and the deaths which were our very own ex-middle school classmates in our long yearned reunion weren’t shocking enough. The twins had just said that the victims were drugged first before their homicides, could only mean that it was from the time we had our last dinner together.

I don’t know when they are aware of that. But thinking in more deeply really revealed that at least one person like Ken who is already so familiar with alcoholic drinks from ages shouldn’t be so easily wasted by just merely two or three glasses of regular dinner wine. But in a reunion, who would have expected that as the beginning of a murder?

“That clearly showed that at least one of us is at least a partner of the murderer themselves in at least one of these murders. Thus, should have a connection with the murderer,” Kaigo didn’t explain for the easier understanding purpose.

“Or maybe that at least one of us is at least a murderer themselves in at least one of these murders. Thus, should have start from investigating ourselves,” Ringo didn’t explain for the easier understanding purpose either.

“Maybe the food ingredients have been tampered before?” Megumi also joined in to analyze the mystery, surprisingly had gained her compose.

“What do you mean by that?” Ryouta was concerned. He thinks he was being suspected by that statement. It is him who had arranged everything of this party after all.

“I don’t think so. We had gotten all ingredients from the new and unopened cans. Even the drinks for the dinner are all new bottled, right? Everything is still intact,” Kaede gave her clarification.

“Then it means the … betrayer who had drugged them is … among the women who had prepared the dinner for us? Sorry no offence,” Ryouta said to the walls next to him, unable to face any of them.

“Still couldn’t confirm that yet. The meals and drinks were distributed by men as well,” Elena added.

“Yes, that is why. All of us here …,” Kaigo announced.

“… ten persons are, the suspects on the same level,” Ringo finished.

The remainders looked at each other confusingly, despairingly.

“What a lucky reunion,” Kazuki snorted.

“It can’t be true,” Kaede couldn’t believe at the presented fact.

“But they are right. There is no other person besides us who had the chance to drug Nakano-kun and Yamao-kun during the dinner,” I sullenly agreed.

The room went peaceful again. Before a mumble was heard, and quickly raised to a deafening level.

“No …, No-no-no …, Noooo …! Pleasee …! Don’t do thaaat!!!” a loud and eerie cry suddenly echoed inside the room. It was from Chika who was silencing all this time. She jerked off from her sister’s hug.

“Mayuu-chaan …, pleasee!! I believe in you …! You are not such a person! Even … even it is us who had caused your death …. We won’t … even forget about yoouu …! Aaaah …!!!”

Chika looked like a totally different person now. Her eyes were big-exposed, and sobbing erratically, like being possessed. All of us were very shocked at her first ever disturbing gestures and countenances. We were being completely frightened by her auras. She cried more, ear piercingly.

“Mayuu …, Mayuu-chan, please! Are you there? Can you hear me!? We are so missing you! But please … stop. Stop … Don’t do this anymore!!”

Another horrifying scream howled out from this frantic looking Lolita before she fainted. Kaede immediately caught her up, and felt her forehead.

“She is too freaked out. She is having a fever.”

And so do the others here, deep inside.

“Kaede-chan, please take Chika-chan to rest in her room. All of you, too, if you please. The time is very late already,” Elena said grievingly.

“What about you?” I asked.

“We will perform the investigation in the rooms of murders first,” Ringo answered instead.

“We realized that we could also prove nothing of ourselves being not guilty. So, feel free to join us. Who want?” Kaigo asked us. But the answer was too obvious.

At the end, only the twins and Elena who were going to do the investigation at the murder scenes. Kaede supported her half-conscious poor little sister away, and going to sleep together in the latter’s room. Kazuki who was already discontented from the start of that suggestion, just went straight to his room irritably. And Megumi who wasn’t as interested to find out who the murderer is as protecting herself from the threats, had also left us, and went to her bedroom to locked herself up.

After I helped the injured leader with some quick aids, we joined the single lady who was the only remaining here, and not so expert in doing those kinds of detective stuffs, waiting in the drawing-room. As for Kaigo and Ringo, they had so suddenly appeared as a doctor and a police. Had they gotten their license in these last few years? They are the eccentric ones from the first place though, and only interested in anti-mainstream things. As for Elena, she is just a very curious female, and happened to have some experiences for it. Even though I also so wanted to help, but I would just stir things up. Three persons are more than enough already. Besides, I was rather more intrigued in another thing that had been bothering me for a while.

“Ryouta-kun, about that old legend of this mansion ….”

“Concerning the 13th person?”

“Yes. At first, I didn’t pay much attention for that, but when Chika-chan talked about her … our friend, Mayuu-chan …. Did this really happen to be such a coincidence?”

Ryouta hesitated for a moment, and let out a deep sigh.

“I am terribly sorry to all of you. Originally, I just wanted to scare off Nakano-kun and Yamao-kun by making those rumors, including that random 9 deaths 3 survivors. Of course, this mansion is clean, and no such legend existed before.”

“Why did you do that?”

The skinny young man in front of me was frustrated. He looked at his feet for a while before facing at me, then averted again.

“Sorry, I need some time … for now,” he gave a forced smile.

After a long silence, Fionna asked us.

“I haven’t heard much about this Ms. Mayuu. Who is she?”

Despite everything nonsensical earlier, this young woman should be still one of us.

“Ah yes, you were only transferred into our school in the last few months before the graduation exams. Of course, you didn’t acquaint with her. You just met with her when she …,” I had said some unimportant stuff instead of answering properly to her question. And now, I stuck myself from continuing anymore.

But still, I think Ryouta is the most appropriate to talk about her.

“Mayuu-chan was our classmate before you came. She … died.”

Fionna was interested to know more.

“I just happened to know that it was her seat that I sat at that time. The cause was?”

We hesitated, and didn’t really want to talk about it. It is even considered as a taboo to think about that incident. But these cases seemed to link with her death in some ways because of the persons who got killed tonight. Ryouta straightened his eyeglasses, and confessed.

“Mayuu-chan was killed by us all. Ha-ha. Why … why wasn’t I killed, either? At that time and now.”

What a painful laugh that was.

There was another silence for a while. The atmosphere really wasn’t an enjoyable one. He continued.

“She is a really beautiful girl, and very kind to us all. Even she comes from a rich fortune family, and like you, has the blood of foreigner though just a half, she never brags about it, and still wants to humbly make friends with anyone, including me whose family was still poor at the time. The three of us, Chika-chan, Mayuu-chan and I had always been together.”

Ryouta’s hand slipped into his pocket. Then, a beginner sewed doll was introduced to Fionna and I. I recognized that eyeglasses boy shaped doll. It was the last memorial gift from Mayuu to Ryouta. He was still keeping it all this time after all.

“She made this … for me. She is really friendly with Chika and I. Always protects us from those delinquents that likes to bully the poor and weak ones. Because of that, she has … also become a target of suffering together with us. But, she never complains, and just silently endures that. When we knew about it … it was already too late.”

The foreign young woman continued to ask.

“Those delinquents? You don’t mean …?”

Ryouta said in rage.

“Yes, most of all are Nakano-kun and Yamao-kun!”

We withdrew for some moment to recollect ourselves. We were reminded that we were just from a heavy rain, still wet and shivering every now and then.

“But, aren’t there ….”

Just when the woman wanted to ask more, she had stopped by herself abruptly with her mouth remained unclosed for a while, deep thinking inside. After a few seconds, Ryouta immediately reserved his memorial doll into his pocket again as those three amateur detectives were already coming at us, to report what they had discovered about those two crimes.

Elena announced.

“We should have searched through all those two bedrooms in questions. Most of its major things were almost identical. It seems like a perfect closed room murder with each of their own room key saved inside the pocket of each respective victim. Except both rooms have its windows opened widely, evidently.”

Kaigo started.

“First, let us start with the first murder scene, Yamao’s murder. What we have found unusual that belong to the victim are a very large sum of money, and a passport with airplane ticket that has been scheduled to take off to overseas in the afternoon, 3 days from now. In other words, a few hours after this reunion has been expected to end. Those 2 suspicious things are found inside his bag. It really-really is very-very strange.”

Ringo continued.

“Continuing to the room’s overall strangeness, what we have found on the floor are a single dispersed fresh sunflower, and a lot of its shattered vase pieces that we ‘would’ expect as the result of the sound for luring us to the first murder scene. Those were spread out in front of the windows because it was likely being smashed there. As the rain was pouring hard, too much rainwater had entered into the room through that wide opened windows thus drenched most of those poor yellow flower and vase pieces, and some on the left side of the bed, and of course the floor around that area.”

Kaigo cut it because the explanation was too long.

“Three things are interesting though. The first is, on the wet area, one of the sunflower petals still has some fresh bloodstains on its backside while all other pieces had already been washed clean, or at least blurred by the rain which it should be. There are still some other bloodstained ones distributed around the dry area, but not really important as it is just as naturally as they supposed to be. And the second is, on right side of the bed’s floor, some of its bloodstains are smeared by something like a human’s skin, likely from a human’s hand, just slightly beyond the right side of the bed’s height.”

Ringo finished it because it was her turn now.

“And the last is the subtlest one but still couldn’t escape from our perfect inspections. All bloodstains had shown that the body was never moved at all. Considering from victim’s orientation which is aligned with the bed vertically as the center line of the room facing toward us. Then, its right-side area has had more blood spilled than its left. It really-really is very-very strange.”

“How complicated. But, good job for you two,” Fionna slightly complimented expressionlessly. But the twins already looked happy-happy like kids who just got candy-candy.

Ringo started the explanation again, happily.

“About that left side area which has had less blood spilled, it might be because the murderer was using something as cover like a big plastic to warp around the victim’s neck and themselves before starting that perfect one cut action from that side. He-he.”

Kaigo continued the explanation again, happily.

“I had seen some strange bloodstains around that cleanly cut neck that was likely caused by that maybe a plastic cover. You can’t even expect to find that kind of evidences anymore in this convenient area, around a vast open sea, and a dark forest. He-he.”

Elena said gravely.

“Then, that should have answered the reason behind those unevenly blood splatters all over the room. But for the blood smear on the bed’s right side floor, it shouldn’t have been caused by any of us when we first discovered the scene. We still haven’t gotten enough clues to get into the perpetrator’s mind. Were they searching for something? That vast amount of money in the bag? If so, how did they know it? Failed? Did they really not realize those evident remains? Deliberated? Not enough time?”

I patiently waited for Elena to finish all her questions up though I know she wasn’t asking to any of us. She was just self-thinking, or at most asking to the twins.

Ryouta gave an opinion.

“The cause of Yamao-kun’s death is that deep cut on his neck, right? Then the bloods had also spilled so much all over the room like we had seen on the murder scene, and as you said, on the murderer. Even if they were really using a cover, some must still have stained over, right? Like the accidentally smeared mark there. They might even not aware of it yet. Then we could just clarify ourselves if there are any bloodstains on our body, or more evidently on our clothes, couldn’t it?”

“That brilliant idea of yours would only do for catching the murderer who is a very noob and unlucky one. Because the heavy rain didn’t happen to wash it clean even it was unintentionally. It would make us feel so depressed already. On top of that, as for the location of the windows relative from the bed. You should have known better than us, shouldn’t you?” Kaigo gave out a clue on the riddle, indirectly.

“The windows are on its left side? How do those connect to the bloodstains?”

It was Ringo’s turn to give out another clue, indirectly.

“I have checked the locked door before we were forced to unlock it with the master key. The door is perfectly fine. No trick whatsoever has been done to it. And the supposedly only key for the room was inside, saved in the pocket of the corpse. After excluding the possibility of Chika, or Kaede, or maybe both lying about their long time spent to find the master key, the chance of having any second master key, or the room specified key itself, and the probability of any pick locker expert around here. Then, the only entrance and exit for the murderer throughout the scene at the supposed time is that unlocked and wide opened windows which could be very easily set up before as though being locked from the inside. But, why didn’t they bolt the door, just before they escape, for the most convincing effect on all those two rooms?”

The one who escorted one of the victims previously was taken aback.

“But I remember hearing Nakano-kun bolted his door. I am not so sure though. Maybe he has accidentally unbolted it again in drunk state.”

We were trying our best to reason something out individually.

“The door was locked but not bolted? Maybe because the murderer could lock it from the outside, but couldn’t bolt it from the inside of the room. Just like Ringo-chan just said, maybe a duplicated key, or some pick locker skills?” I finally contributed something though it is just converting most of Ringo’s previous statement.

“That is exactly what the murderer wanted us to confuse, we supposed?” the twins gave me quadruple thumbs up sarcastically.

“All doors in this mansion have the old and ancient design locking system. It shouldn’t be able to get picked so easily even by the most skilled one. Then, as for the key ….”

“There is only one key for each room, and one master key that can unlock every rooms, right? As usual,” Elena asked again impatiently, then sullenly.

“Um, yes …,” Ryouta gulped nervously.

Fionna fully connected the twins’ clues with a fresh thought.

“If I were the culprit that was coming in through the windows. In other words, from the left side of the bed, then I should be killing my prey from that side as well. It isn’t as though not enough space for that. The unevenly sprayed blood had proven that. I am not going to the opposite side anymore, and deliberately leave a mark there. There wasn’t much extra time left for any eccentric actions like that, or bolted the door even if it was still unbolted, before quickly ran away through that exit window, considering the murder had only started in such a long time after the vase’s shattering sound that might be just a mere recorded one. There were already people alerted, and coming to the room, or even waiting at the outside cautiously. Because it is just as they had said, that sound was for beaconing us to the murder scene, or even distract us from certain actions, maybe by using the TV remotely. And they just needed to rearrange those already broken vase and flower on the floor for the final adjustment. So, in my conclusion, those 3 peculiar facts just don’t sync at all, and contradicted each other.”

The twins were going to announce something cheerfully, and in a gesture of encore already, but the foreign woman still hadn’t finished, actually.

“Absolute …,” they had stopped abruptly just for her.

“Though the mark could have been simply from the victim himself considering from his posture and strong life force,” even Fionna was somehow distracted by them for a second.

“Kai-Rin-Bin-go!!!”

“Rin-Kai-Bin-go!!!”

Not sure who shouted which, and who or which sounded better, but the twins were clapping their hands happily as though just being resumed from a play button. But then they continued with a sudden bewildered expression.

“Something feels odd though. But, don’t mind!” they quickly got excited again.

“What do you mean by the murder had only started after the vase was broken?” I asked out of the contradiction between my thought and her statement.

“We have found the file used for that sound from both TVs. Might as well control C and control V it for our notification ring next time,” they smiled innocently.

Why? Just why!? You two only said right now!

“Not just ‘had only started after the vase was broken’, but it had already passed for quite a while even after that. The last odd point in the room that hasn’t been discussed yet, the fresh bloodstain on the back of one flower petal that lies on the area that should have already been soaked by the rain like the other objects, the scattered pieces of vase and flower. Why was it just that one particular flower petal? Why wasn’t its bloodstain touched by the rain even just a bit? What does it mean?”

I was taken aback.

“Nobody … should be touching that.”

“Yes, it means that special bloodstained petal was either dropped there, or the blood was somehow stained on that petal after the rain was ceased.”

The wonder foreign detective added after a slight pause.

“That also means, from what I know about the situation of that moment though I wasn’t even there. It wasn’t long before all of you unlocked the first murder scene’s door. Waiting, while the first victim was still alive beyond the locked door, or at least one living person was still there.”

This Fionna … is truly intelligent. She didn’t take part in the investigation earlier maybe because she doesn’t even need to. She just needs the information.

She was taking it easy.

“My bad, maybe not even a minute,” Kaigo said regrettably.

“My bad, the door was unlocked by me,” Ringo said regrettably.

Ryouta was dumbfounded, and said.

“Then, Yamao-kun was murdered just before we opened the door?”

Elena said with a little disappointment.

“Might be. At least someone was still there. For now, these are all we can guess. At least … for now ….”

Ringo announced, she seemed impatient.

“All right! All right! Let us, ehem, continue to the second crime. In Nakano’s room, which is a complete horizontal-flipped version of Yamao’s because of the opposite wing side reason, in other words, left to right, right to left, we have also found something that is out of ordinary. The first is yet another same drenched floor in front of the windows together with most of the scattered glasses and flower’s petals there. But all bloodstains had been washed clean on that wet area!”

Ryouta asked.

“What is so strange about it then? Isn’t that what supposed to be?”

Kaigo asked warmly.

“Didn’t you, ehem, forget what was happening on the outside when the murderer called us there? All right? All right?”

The first questioning man who was being questioned back was still not getting the twins’ meaning. They gave out a sigh.

Elena answered instead, weakly.

“The rain had ceased by then.”

Ryouta and I were taken aback. We felt that we were just being played around and around. Fionna added.

“So, were the whole murders reversed? That was why Mr. Takuma’s room has gotten more smell than it should have? If there really is just one culprit, then they must have used that low concrete roof which connected those two open lounges along the rear of the mansion to get to our first discovered crime scene from the second after from the ground level easily. Meaning they should have run over me on top at that time in rain. Such interesting.”

“Very interesting indeed!” the twins compiled happily while bowing and touching the other’s nose.

“Anyone could have set up those tricky windows. Those rooms should have been left unlocked previously the entire time. But, based on what?” Elena suddenly murmured.

She continued.

“Were those two killed tonight because of their rooms’ location? But they did particularly pick it as well. Maybe just because of that? But their rooms aren’t even the most of something like the furthest or nearest one of each wing. Was it really random?”

“Was it?” the twins were also wondering in a cute way, tilting their head to each other.

“Why did they pick those particular rooms in the first place? It wasn’t as though better than the others as they shouldn’t have seen it either before making that decision. They are being separated so far away because of that, but still grouped and ate together so closely during the lunch and dinner? Though it should have been like that because they could be considered as an independent group here.”

“We didn’t even notice that!” the twins were also as surprised as Ryouta and I. Real or not? I am not sure though.

“Everything better has some connections,” said coldly by Fionna.

“And explanations,” added eagerly by Elena.

Suddenly, it was Kaigo’s turn now.

“Then, the second wonder thing is a large sum of money, yet again. Just curious, so, we had counted it.”

Ringo said happily.

“The amount with Yamao’s money is exactly the same! They are very-very rich indeed. Must be planning to build another mansion beside this one. Half shares for each.”

They suddenly looked at each other questionably. What an act!

Fionna said thoughtfully.

“From the first place, it is already too strange for a person to bring so much money to this kind of reunion. There is no need for that. Moreover, two with the same amount. Are they going to pay for something? It may have some connections with the airplane ticket that Mr. Yamao has gotten, even by himself only.”

Elena nodded.

“I have also thought of the same.”

Kaigo announced vigorously.

“We think that ‘very-very rich indeed’ is also linked with this.”

He and his twin sister raised up a black handbook together so that all of us could see it. They were just like athletes of a couple team who just won, and showing off their first-place award. But of course, with their gloves still on.

Ryouta asked.

“What is so special with that?”

Ringo grinned to us. She answered.

“This is a map of your mansion.”

“What!?” Ryouta was shocked by the fact that his family’s mansion design had been copied. He grabbed it from them, and read it seriously.

The rest of us were also curiously peeking on it from his behind, and confirmed that the twins really weren’t joking with us, after everything they had done. It doesn’t just have the map of this mansion. There are also some very detailed arrangements of our rooms, and enlists most of the crucial things’ whereabouts that even all of us hadn’t noticed up until now. The location of fire extinguishers, main power switches, and first aid kits are in the kitchen. The locations of all inner phones besides the one in each of our rooms are in the drawing-room and the main hall. The map further shows us the location of every unexplored doors that even haven’t been yet officially introduced by the mansion owner to us. There is a back door behind the dining room, and another one on the left side of the main hall. But there is also a door which is drawn unknown that even they don’t know what it is used for in a cornered area of the first floor.

Ringo uttered.

“Compared with the other belongings, that handwriting is indeed Nakano’s.”

Kaigo uttered.

“Nakano might have it drawn in the free time from after lunch to dinner time. Not sure how he calculated though.”

I clarified.

“I remembered seeing them like measuring the walls, or something in the free time, right?” I turned to Elena. She nodded to them.

“For what?” Ryouta asked again curiously.

The twins concluded, or rather, punned.

“For now! Ha-ha.”

“We are still in the dark. But looking at those …” Kaigo pointed at the book that Ryouta was holding.

“… details are just so amazing for that short amount of time,” Ringo also pointed at the map on that black handbook.

The twins squeezed the mansion owner childishly in the middle.

Fionna murmured.

“What a discovery on these … random guys.”

Then the twins suddenly said something in a weak, rather afraid tone. Of course, it should be one of their eccentricities as well, 99.8% of all times.

“Um …, sorry. It might be a little too late to say already after the discussion has gone so far. But, we have still gotten to say that …,” Ringo said, but she couldn’t look at us directly.

“… we have also found another thing, one on each murder room. That makes it two. Um …, sorry,” Kaigo said, but he couldn’t look at us directly.

They suddenly said together, happily.

“We have been sneakily hiding it even from our Elena-sama when we were doing the investigation. Hope you would be so humbly forgive us! He-he?”

They were just scared that Elena might be angry at them for hiding something so important nonsensically. But she didn’t seem to concern much anymore, and just annoyingly beckoned them to continue and make it fast.

They chuckled excitedly for being given the mercy, and showed their two pair of clapping gloved hands to us. They, then, slowly opened it up astonishingly, and that something was finally revealed inside, one on each of them. Those are two papers that had been carefully preserved as evidences though the twins were still playing with them. They were identically the same, and had gotten something written in it. Horrible red writing!

The still ungraduated one is coming for revenge – The 13th Middle School Reunion Member.

“What the …,” Ryouta was completely taken aback for its contents.

“It seems that the culprit really likes that story,” Fionna smiled, her mascaras were enchanted.

“Yah, they even used that number. It shouldn’t be a coincidence. But why are they still ungraduated? They can’t be telling …,” Elena’s eyes were wide opened.

“It is impossible, right?” I know what Elena was thinking right now, and really dumbfounded.

“Mayuu …,” Ryouta was distracted, and said in a low voice.

“No! Someone has used that old legend’s murderer identity, and our already died ex-classmate’s poor history who doesn’t even have the chance to graduate from our middle school. Hiks,” Kaigo said melancholically.

“Hiks. Then combined them into a really interesting murder plot for our first reunion after 6 years. No!” Ringo said melancholically.

“If the culprit really is seeking for revenge, it means they are still holding those grudges all over these years?” Fionna said without any special emotion. At least, it is an honest one.

“How could they use Mayuu-chan, and that made-up story like that? Mayuu-chan wouldn’t want to get any revenge for her death. I know her. Absolutely!” Ryouta said desperately.

“What!!! Made-up!!?” the twins were over-shocked. But, we didn’t care. Too obvious.

“Yes, I, too, believe that the murderer has really gone too far, even before using that nonsense reason for the killings,” I assented with Ryouta.

“In fact, that identity doesn’t matter much,” Kaigo said heartlessly after being ignored.

“We just want to catch the murderer, whatever their reasons are,” Ringo said heartlessly after being ignored.

“Yes, that is true. The culprit is too confident. They challenge us,” Fionna smirked.

“Yes, you are … indeed very true too. They don’t know who they are dealing with,” the twins nodded while smiling contently, and seemed to like our new speaking ally very much already.

After a long silence, Elena began to wrap up.

“For now, even though all those theories are just some guessing works. But, from the way that the perpetrator had used to lure us to those two murder scenes by using the exact same method, and had even deliberately left us the notes could only mean one thing, definitely!”

I asked hesitantly.

“What … is that?”

The long black-haired detective answered without any doubt.

“These murders are … already planned!”