The bitter November cold meant Asahi couldn't stay in his bed for too long before shivering. He put on his fluffy hoodie, a nice pair of thick joggers, and left for school. It was snowing, and the white flakes painted the roads. Because of how early it was, there was no one around. The dark sky had stems of indigo from the sun slowly breaking the horizon. He was in a good mood, so he whistled along the way.

"Shit, Asahi?"

"Hey, how come you're up so early, Ari?"

"I could ask you the same thing,"

"Do you want to throw some snowballs at random people's windows?"

"Well, that would be unethi- yeah, alright"

Well, boys will be boys.

"Haha, damn it, I think an old lady saw us. Let's go"

They ran to school as fast as they could. Well, Asahi did - Ari had to drag his feet to let him catch u.

"You need to do more exercise,"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever,"

As they approached the school building, they noticed red flashes emerging from the gate.

"Hey, I think there are police here..."

"What, at our school?"

There was yellow taping everywhere.

"Damn, did something happen?" Asahi said.

"Probably... do you want to check it out?"

"Of course I do."

Ari went around the back of the school and gracefully jumped over the fence. Asahi followed suit. He made sure to step exactly where Ari stepped as he followed him.

"Oh, you're going on my foot trail so you don't get caught?"

"Well, I can't be too careful,"

"It's nice to know I mean so much to you!"

It was a long walk to the main campus building. They walked very cautiously, ducking whenever they heard the sound of a car - or a stick break - to remain unnotice.

"Hey, erm, where are we going?"

"Well, let's just roam around and check out what's happened. Something must have gone down, right?"

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They entered the building and looked around the campus. In contrast to when the school was full of people, it felt quite desolate inside. Darkness was around every corner, and they couldn't make out where they were going.

"Why didn't school tell us not to come in?" Asahi asked.

"I'm not sure - maybe they were going to tell us in the later morning, when most people would have woken up,"

Finally, they entered the art room. It was messy everywhere, and there was paint scattered across the walls.

"Wait, Ari, be careful. The floor is wet, and I've got paint on my shoes - this wasn't done long ago."

"Fuck..."

A few moments later, Ari let out a small gasp.

"Hey, Asahi, come here..."

Ari's grimaced face startled him a little, and he slowly walked over.

The painting Ari was pointing to was rather strange. It was a single rose flower, but its leaves were ripped off and attached to its roots, and its anthers were impaled through its horizontal axis. The whole flower was painted red, too.

"What do you think this means?"

"I mean, it's very abstract. It could mean anything. Maybe someone got their heart toyed with, and the flower is a symbol of that?"

"Yeah, could be. It's disturbing but... it looks brilliant"

They walked around the room, and took photos of the painting and the wet watercolors, in case detectives needed them for something.

"Let's go upstairs. I heard looking down at a snowy city from a vantage point is a brilliant view,"

"Yeah, sure, it's quite stuffy inside anyways,"

They walked up the winding staircase, and they felt the cold slowly emanate as they rose one step at a time. When they finally reached the top, they could see the city from below. The amber lights were speckled across the plane below, and the harsh snow rained ever harder down. The moon was still out, and the darkness made it look like a Disney movie.

"Oh my god, that's beautiful,"

"Yeah, what the hell? I didn't know a city could look so... graceful."

Asahi got out his phone, adjusted the camera setting, and took a perfect shot of the scene. Ari didn't know he was taking the photograph, so it looked candid.

"Ari, you could be a model, you know,"

"Yeah, maybe that way I'll actually get a girlfriend for once,"

"Haha, desperate, much?"

...

"Hey... Asahi... can you smell that?"

"No, I can't smell any-"

A gust of hind grazed Asahi's face and with it, came the pungent smell of iron.

"I think it's coming from the other corner of the roof,"

"A-Alright, let's head over there,"

The smell became exponentially stronger as they came closer. Their noses were sharpened from the cold, so they could feel the change in air density. The beautiful quiet sky now turned chilling and gloomy. The two boys walking pace came slowly to rest as they neared the corner.

"Alright, are you ready to look around?"

"Y-Yeah!"

"Are you sure, Asahi? Y-You seem a bit scared,"

"What? W-Who's scared? It's not me"

"L-Look at you shiver,"

"You are too!"

They held each other by the shoulders and walked further on.

And they stood frozen in their positions.

The dismembered corpse lay bare in their vision. The legs were ripped off and attached at the hips, and the arms were impaled through the torso's horizontal axis. The head was nowhere to be seen.