He was reclined on the couch, sprawled over the sofa like a blanket, with a book on his face. Reya slowly walked up to him and eyed him cautiously.

She'd clearly asked the headmaster to give her a room to herself. But then again, would he really do as she says? She'd come off as demanding if she complained to the headmaster about this.

First of all, however, she had to clarify that this boy was actually going to be her roommate. She looked down at him, and realised he was asleep. She slowly picked up the book off his face and scanned the cover.

Epiphany of Five Souls

Her breath suddenly seized her throat as the familiar title wafted back into her memories. She was about to flip it over and read the synopsis, but someone's hand grabbed her wrist and prevented her from doing so.

"Give it back."

Reya looked down at him, and finally got a good glimpse of his face. He was, and she hated to admit, incredibly handsome. He had sharp, refined features, soft cream hair that appeared to be silvery-blonde, and this was quite unique: hazel-brown irises fading into dark brown.

She let go of the book, and the boy groaned as he sat up on the sofa, still shaking off his drowsiness, and snatched the novel out of her hand. She noticed his long lashes as he blinked a few times.

He didn't let go of her wrist, however, but placed the book on a coffee table and tightened his grip.

"Care to explain why you're in my room?"

Look's like he is my roommate, after all.

The hand which he was holding onto was already bruised thanks to Ryou, so it was starting to hurt.

"Let go of me first," she winced, scowling. He pondered this for a few seconds, before reluctantly letting go. Reya rubbed the marks on her wrist in frustration.

The boy stared at her, questioning her with his eyes. Such a cold gaze, Reya thought, looks just like I did this morning.

"Don't misunderstand. Today's my first day, and this is the dorm number the headmaster assigned me. Unless there's a mistake, it appears that we're going to be roommates. So, I suggest you control your anger."

He frowned at her, "what are you doing here? This is an all-boys school, and you're a girl."

Reya sighed. She'd been hearing the same thing all day, and she was downright sick of it. No sh*t I’m a girl. She held up her hand and waved it dismissively.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"There's really no point in discussing this. If you have an issue with me being here at your school, in your room, go complain to the headmaster, because I'm not exactly in a situation where I'm allowed to protest."

He didn't say anything after that but looked at her in a kind of judgmental way. He then gave her a small nod, his face still quite emotionless, before walking away to his room and closing the door.

After a bit of exploring, Reya familiarised herself with the dorm. It had a kitchen, a small area for two sofas and a television, two bedrooms, one of which that boy was in now, and another bedroom which Reya decided to claim hers.

It had an attached bathroom, a cozy-looking double bed and soft carpet. The academy sure lives up to its prestige. This is undoubtedly a school for rich kids.

Reya pulled out her phone and called someone to bring her belongings.

"Hey. I'm in room 403… Yeah, all of it."

An hour later, Reya answered the door. On the other side of the door was a girl, dressed in a tracksuit with her hoodie pulled over her head. She was panting for breath with her face all flushed and sweaty, clearly indicating that she had been running.

"Do you know how many stairs I had to drag all this up?" She huffed, rolling in three rose-gold suitcases, two small and one large, "the security is crazy! I had to show them my ID a million times for them to let me in, you know?"

Reya led her to her room and she left the baggage in the corner before turning to her.

She lowered her voice to a whisper, "who's your dormmate?"

Reya shook her head and shoved her out of the door, "I'll call you once you get home, Serein."

Serein gave her friend a mischievous pout before rolling her eyes in a "whatever" kind of way.

After she'd left, Reya returned to her room and unpacked her things. Most of it were clothes, shoes, and extra hair ties. She changed out of her incredibly uncomfortable school uniform, hung it neatly in the cupboard, and pulled on a yellow shirt and a pair of white pants.

Once she'd tucked the empty suitcases away under the bed, Reya scanned the room to confirm that there were no cameras or bugs. She eyed the large suitcase, which she'd left unopened, then gently laid it down on the soft carpet and unzipped the lid.

Inside, a large wooden board draped in a black cloth lay beneath a few cardboard boxes, which appeared to be unlabelled. Reya carefully set the boxes aside and retrieved the wooden board from the bottom of the suitcase, hanging it up on a little hook on the wall.

Unveiling the board, anyone could see at first glance that the person it belonged to was either some crazy-conspiracist or a detective. Reya traced her fingers over the many images that she'd collected, all joint to one another with red strings.

Above it all, a large title stuck to the top of the board, imprinted in silver lettering.

SAKURA CITY CASES CLOSE TO HIKARI ACADEMY

She smiled, and that marked the second time today.

If Reya wanted to get out of this wretched school as soon as possible, she had to solve this. Of course, it would be a piece of cake, as long as she stayed under the cover.

But how on earth should she convince that boy not to come into her room? Should she install a lock on it? Surely that wouldn't be suspicious… right?

Whatever.

Reya huffed, concealing the board with the black velvet once more and pushing the empty suitcase under her bed, along with the two small ones. She stacked the cardboard boxes on top of one another, sliding them into the corner of the cupboard where no one would search.

As she walked out of her room, Reya noticed it was already past twelve- this was extremely odd for her as she normally went to bed by ten. She glanced at the kitchen, which was spotless as the entire dorm.

I should ask him about cleaning tomorrow, so I don't look like a freeloading leech.

The door clicked open, and Reya glanced at the person who'd just walked in. Her eyes widened as he locked the door, then slid down it and slumped on the floor.

"You went out this late? Where did you…" she trailed off as her eyes wandered down to his arm. The boy looked up at her voice, clearly surprised, then quickly slipped it behind his back.

But Reya had already seen.

She stomped over to him and grabbed his arm, pulling it out in front of her eyes. He winced a bit, and she gasped.

His whole forearm was shredded, the shirt ripped and the muscle torn. His blood was dripping onto the floor at her feet, and staining her pale skin.

Her eyes spotted the symbol underlying the jagged flesh. It appeared to be burnt into his skin.

Reya looked up at him, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"What… what the hell have you been doing?"