Now in the second year, Asahi had established himself within the classroom. The murder of Dr. Lakem last year came as a shocking start to the school year, but time had passed since then. Everything had proceeded as normal, but I feel a rift coming up. I don't quite understand why that is, but I can sense it. I must also say, having been alive for this long, I feel my linguistic ability has significantly increased, and I'm much more able to navigate my own thought processes and gauge my surroundings. I have yet to see any societal disturbances, and I've made a few conclusions on the nature of humanity: but I will document those at a later time.

"Hey, Asahi!"

Ari called out to his friend on his way to school. They'd developed a strong friendship since last year, despite their difference in general popularity.

"Oh, hey Ari, I see you're with Clara,"

"Yeah, I have to keep a leash on him, otherwise he'll go off to play video games again! He barely spends time with me, you know,"

She dishevelled Ari's hair as she spoke.

"That's unfortunate: it's not very regular for the old 'childhood friends' trope to actually come into fruition,"

"Yeah, I got kinda lucky,"

He acted suave, and a sense of accomplishment beamed from him. It was warranted, though, because Clara was considered one of the most attractive students in the school.

"How's Evelyn doing?"

"Oh, we're doing alright, too, but she's doing an internship with a law firm right now,"

Surprisingly, Asahi had also gotten himself into a relationship, though even I am still shocked by this.

"I swear you used to fight with each other all the time at the beginning of the year, what the hell happened?" Clara remarked.

"I don't know, but I guess we paid so much attention to each other that we ended up liking each other,"

"I don't know if that's how it works, though," Ari said.

They chatted aimlessly as they entered the school. As they stepped onto the campus, the bustling atmosphere suffocated them. You couldn't tell there was a horrific murder the year before, given the fast-paced environment the students were consumed in.

Clara broke off from Asahi and Ari, and they both entered the classroom, once again. There, they remet many familiar faces. Yora had become very attractive over the year, and his hair now reached his neck. Laura had become a world-class model and had just arrived from Paris Fashion Week. Micah had taken up athletics seriously and was one of the stars of the track team. Finally, Evelyn had become one of the most promising candidates in the school, having been accepted to Harvard University, with the intention to become a world-class lawyer. She would be having her final year of school here, before heading off to America when everyone else would be in the third year.

In other words, almost everyone had become exceptional, apart from Asahi. Though, realistically, he had the intelligence to get into a brilliant university in his final year.

"Hey everyone! It's nice to see you all again!"

The cold Miss Lock had become a very compassionate comrade to the class, as she slowly warmed up to her students' character. There was a rumor that she had an abusive boyfriend last year, and she soon found someone else who cherished her.

"So, let's get the logistics out of the way... there will be another set of exa-"

The door broke as Evelyn kicked it down. She stormed into the classroom, took Asahi by the back of his collar, and dragged him out of the classroom.

"Hey, Evely-"

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

He didn't have time to speak before she pushed him to the wall and kissed him.

"Hey, I've missed you,"

She looked him in the eyes, earnestly.

"Y-Yeah, me too, but-"

"Asahi, you won't believe me when I say this, but I just spoke to Soriya,"

"Wait, you mean the girl who killed Dr. Lakem last year?"

"Yeah, she was being held in jail, and they let me talk to her for a bit,"

Asahi stared at Evelyn, confused.

"Right, this is cool and all, but, why did you have to half strangle me and drag me out here?"

Evelyn took a deep breath. She'd been speaking enthusiastically the whole time, and her running to the classroom tired her out. Before they carried on their conversation, Asahi went back to the classroom to tell Miss Lock about the situation, and she let them both off for the day.

"How does it feel being the boyfriend of a superstar?" Micah remarked.

Though he meant it in good spirit, Evelyn took his comment to be an insult to Asahi, saying that he had nothing to offer himself. She looked at him angrily before leaving the classroom, annoyed. Asahi caught up to her, and Evelyn carried on with her conversation.

"It might surprise you but, she didn't kill him."

Asahi had actually already figured this out before, but he hadn't mentioned it to anyone. He had to do his best at acting to hide this fact.

"Wait, are you serious? How do you know that?"

"Well, when I spoke to her, she didn't even know why she'd been put in jail,"

"That's flimsy logic, surely,"

"Well, that's not all. Do you remember that painting that they found at the scene?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember it, the ro- never mind."

The painting hadn't actually been released to the public before, so if Asahi told Evelyn about it, he would be outing himself as the 'criminal'. He didn't mean to be so deceptive, but he never got the courage to tell his girlfriend about his secret murder expedition.

"Well, when I asked her about the painting, she said that someone told her to paint it,"

This made Asahi a little frightened. The body was under rigor mortis when he and Ari encountered it last, so the murder would have happened between 12-24 hours before that time. However, the painting was confirmed to have been made later than that: in other words, the person who requested the painting had already murdered Dr. Lakem and then decided to frame Soriya for it.

"I'm not meant to tell you this, but the painting was of a flower. It had its anthers ripped off and injected into its main body, which was exactly how the body was found. That means that someone told her to make the painting to frame her,"

"What type of paintings did she usually make?"

"Just some scenery,"

"So why didn't she reject the request?"

"Well, it was quite a unique circumstance. It was a girl who asked for the painting-"

"Oh, great, so just get Soriya to tell us who it was, then!"

"Well, it's not as simple as that. The girl who approached her was wearing a wig, and she'd done up her make-up a lot, and Soriya doesn't know who it was,"

"So, she made a creepy painting for a stranger?"

"Not quite. The stranger was apparently extremely attractive, and she told Soriya that she would sleep with her if she made the painting,"

"Oh, wow, I was not expecting that,"

Asahi was now even more startled: this explained why there was so much spilled watercolour all over the classroom where they found the painting.

"Wait, is Soriya bisexual, then?"

"Well, no, she's actually a lesbian: but she'd never revealed that fact to anyone,"

"So..."

"Yeah. The woman knew that she was attracted to girls, and she exploited that fact. Soriya was desperate for a woman as well, because she was raised in a very strict household. She was sexually deprived,"

"Doesn't that mean the culprit is one of her family members? Because none of us knew any of that about her,"

"Maybe, but either way, we still need to investigate it. I'll be going back to the prison to talk to her again, but you can't repeat anything I told to you today again - it's highly confidential"

"I'm guessing that no one believed her before because they assumed she was insane?"

"Precisely. You're as sharp as ever, Asahi."