After several minutes spent in peace of uneasiness, all of us had agreed to end the discussion, and call it a day though I doubt any of us actually would. Kaigo and Ringo were the ones who suggested that we must rest well early to get a clear and composed mind by tomorrow morning, to further debate about the murders with those who had already left us before the investigation. But still, our most critical priority is to prevent any more murders. They are right. We had gone through too many heavy schedules since the morning. The first meeting with our old friends since ages, long travelling, playing at the beach, free self-activities, and the newest one which is also the most mind exhausting and unexpected one, homicides in our very reunion. Our body and mind really were at the limit already.

We dispersed on the second floor, and going separately for our own individual room. I turned around for a second to look at Elena who was also walking nonchalantly as the others, but still thinking very hard and seriously. I felt sorry for her, because I couldn’t even help to give a smallest clue nor idea about the murders, and even further confused everyone with the fact about witnessing the Snow White. By now, my clothes were already dried on my body, and I felt very cold. It was already 11 p.m., but I still didn’t feel any desire to sleep even though my everything were really utterly very tired, and dirty from the rain too.

I better not fall sick and cause any more trouble for everyone. So, I headed back, forcefully passed by one of the earlier disturbing scenes, and pretended to be as calm as I could, before entered into my room, impatiently locked the door, and bolted it. Then, I took a long warm shower, before changed into my clean clothes to lie spread-eagle on my bed.

Finally, some calm! But my mind so suddenly went through the flashbacks of those two nasty, almost head-off corpses were also somehow lying together on my arms! Pinning them furiously! Each on either side of me! So close to me! Not even ever that close when they were still alive! There were the three of us here! Their head … finally detached!! And rolling toward my face!! I couldn’t get away!! I couldn’t shout!! I was paralyzed!! But I was still struggling as much as I could!! They … touched me!! My just cleaned face, my just cleared brain exploded!!!

Better not think of anything useless like that. Thank God, it was gone so easily, yet still too creepy, and I was still shivering. I couldn’t bear to see when the others are trying so hard to solve the mysteries, and I am just idling around. I was thinking, thinking, thinking, and thinking. But before I could think of anything, I fell asleep. I really was just … too tired.

They could already tell that much from their quick investigation. Fionna, we might really need her. She was in her room, next to mine.

The other room besides mine is one of the murder scenes as well. A terribly horrible one, of one of my long acquaintances. We were … totally out of ourselves there … before.

So bloody, so stinky, so … haunting.

The next morning, a little late maybe, or could be even more delayed if the door wasn’t knocked be someone.

“Yes, yes!”

I got up half asleep, lazily unbolted, and unlocked before opening the door. I was hoping for a cute Lolita maid beyond this door, who was waiting for her master to wake up with her most eager smile while delivering a full set of healthy breakfast on a servant cart, like milks and sandwiches. But as I was getting more and more awake. The cart was disappearing, and the maid outfit was turning into ordinary girl dresses. But at the very least, the cute Lolita was still there, and she really greeted me warmly.

“Go … good morning, Yoru-kun. Kaigo-kun and Ringo-chan said we need to gather together in the drawing-room. They have something to tell us.”

“Oh, oh, um …. A-ha-ha-ha. All right, all right! Chi … Chika-chan. Thanks. You can go first. I will be there in a minute,” I stuttered while scratching the back of my head. My mind was still bewildering between the reality and creativity. But, I had already noticed her same flower hair accessory has a different color from yesterday, which is a green one this time. Does a green flower really exist somewhere in the world? Nevertheless, it looks perfect on her, anything would be.

But she still remained there, and looked at her feet while rubbing her hands nervously. She seemed to still have something to say. Her pair of big eyes, then, looked at me regrettably.

“That …. I … I was … sorry for the trouble … I caused last night …. I was ….”

I quickly cut her explanation because I had immediately remembered what had caused her to be like that. I didn’t want her to suffer anymore by forcefully talking about that.

“I know, I know, Chika-chan. Don’t worry about it,” I said gently.

I pretended to be shocked, though I am still a newbie compared to the twins.

“Ah, what happened last night? I have completely forgotten about that. Did you drink my portion of milk in the dinner so that you can grow taller?”

Of course, no adult would want to drink milk in dinner. Yet she still said.

“Yeah …, Sorry … about that. He-he.”

She gave a very reassuring smile before leaving me behind. As I watched her running back, I felt really sorry for her. She had already restrained too many stresses inside for having her best friend died over than 6 years ago, yet still trying to pretend to be strong, not to be worried by us. She had just gotten too many pressures last night, and had very likely been reminded of those painful memories. No wonder Kaede was even more protective to her. I also wanted to help, and protect that pure but fragile heart of her, even just a bit.

I hit my own head with my right hand. To be honest, I had really completely forgotten about all incidents that happened last night at the first few moments of just woke up. It has always been like this. My mind just blanked out. But I would regain those memories back in a recollection. In fact, I would be much more grateful if I am just unable to remember those cruel murders. It is sometimes very true that someone has said ‘to forget is a blessing’. I couldn’t imagine, really, how it is to have a photographic memory if it ever exists. I would be really dead inside.

I hurriedly showered myself, got clothed, and went down along the main stairs to the drawing-room.

I was the last one of the ten people gathering here. And they were already discussing something, rather lively.

“I don’t think I will ever need that kind of thing,” said Fionna coldly, both her tone and countenance.

Two siblings chuckled.

“You are very sharp indeed, Fionna-chan. Have you looked through us that it was just a farce?” The twins admitted gracefully.

What were they talking about?

“What!?” The remainders were utterly taken aback from a reassured face. The duo liars, then, gave every each of them something, except that disagreed one.

Weren’t those their phones?

“To be able to call each other through Bluetooth or personal hotspot, though in a very limited range, we will need an application for that. And because we haven’t had that preinstalled nor could build that ourselves, we will need internet to be able to download that. And because of that, we are only able to do nothing of that right now …, in fact.”

To prevent any karma befell upon them, at least for now, I was being used. Though a little too late, actually. Ringo naturally clapped, and said in a happy and encouraging face.

“All right-all right, all sheep has arrived. I supposed that we aren’t in a happy-happy mood now.”

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“Of course!!” The most expensive phone user looked most irritated while still trying to invent a usable device by herself instead.

“Better-better than having nothing fun to do. Let us continue our little brain-brain game now,” Kaigo naturally clapped, and was also in a good mood like his twin sister.

We had already known that Kaigo and Ringo would be very eager to continue our last night’s unfinished investigation, or rather, interrogation as soon as possible. I didn’t say that I completely agreed with their playing style while doing it. But, every each of us has the rights knows all facts that happened last night, to prevent any more victims, and even to catch the murderer itself. The murderer or their partner is most likely one of us here even though we don’t want to believe it. Nobody opposed the young doctor and young police’s proposal of inspection anymore after everyone had cooled their head for one night, and now had gotten a much clearer mind.

But the twins replayed that clapping game first, to slowly reveal those two identical murderer’s name cards to the rest of us who hadn’t seen it. They, sometimes, really could get on one’s nerves easily.

They, then, explained everything about it, just about it. Until nothing was left.

“Crazy! They used our already long gone friend’s past as the murderer’s identity!” the rich daughter was a bit raged.

“Maybe just some coincidences there,” Kaede said indecisively.

“There is no doubt anymore!! That murderer must have been planning to get their revenge to all of us now, for … causing Mayuu-chan’s death 6 years ago!” Megumi’s emotion was still uncontrollable, and shrieking anything without thinking first.

I turned to Chika, because I think that topic must have hurt her very deeply. My guess was right. She was looking at her feet while shivering slightly, and looked very distracted and sad. But, she still tried her best to control herself, not to cry, not to make any sound, and even tried to look like didn’t concern about it at all. But, her best efforts aside, she still couldn’t hide it very well. I felt some of her pain too.

“As everyone had stated! Nobody else has gotten their room’s windows tampered, right?” Kaigo asked happily.

“Then? The only drugged ones with the only tampered windows really did sync!” Ringo announced happily.

“Minimal job, minimal risk!” they punned cutely.

After that, the twins changed the subject to the one that might have already been told by Ryouta himself before I came here. All by themselves.

“If you said that the old legend is just some made-up story, that means the murderer really know what we were talking about, right?” they asked simultaneously.

“As we had said, the murderer or their partner must be hiding among us now, in this room, grr,” Kaigo said annoyingly.

“One or maybe more of us have betrayed us all, in this room, huh,” Ringo said sadly.

After a brief of no topic moment, everyone seemed to regain a little understanding again. The peculiar twins suddenly came into another emotional mode, a serious one.

“We really don’t need to know their reasons for the killings nor their fake name,” Kaigo said decisively.

“We really just need to know the ‘whodunnit’ and ‘howdunnit’ parts,” Ringo said decisively.

“Even we have already known that all of you will be very agitated by that fake identity. We still have to start with that. Because …,” the twins ‘sadly’ said.

“After the bitterness of the worst and unworthy identity part ended,” Kaigo happily said, and welcomed us.

“Let us begin with the sweetness of the best and worthy mystery part now,” Ringo happily said, and welcomed us.

We ….

“Shall weee …!!? He-he,” the twins chorused together beautifully.

… had no comment for that.

After everyone somehow restraint their painful feeling to be able to think rationally again. The twins just like to delay it further.

“There is only one thing that could help us catch the murderer, or at least identify them immediately, Mansion-kun. Of course, if you ever have that.”

“What is that!?” Ryouta was very impatient to know, everyone too.

“Ci …,” the female twin started with the first quarter.

“… Ci …,” the male twin followed with the second quarter.

“... Ti …,” the female twin continued with the third quarter.

“… Vi,” the male twin finished with the fourth quarter.

The twins’ teeth are indeed very white.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!”

The twins’ mouths are indeed very big.

Judging from the mansion owner’s strained silence, we could already guess his answer. No, even long before that. If those CCTVs were installed here, he would have told us already. Those laughing twins just wanted to further tease us up to the limit.  

I think everyone should have already been trying their best to withhold themselves not to beat up those abnormal twins. But, though they seemed like playing at the moment, they were also being serious at the same time. They two, then, replayed about all the strange things found in those two murder rooms, and gave all of our wild guesses out exactly the same as the last night’s before entering into a new session of yet another wild guesses.

Megumi was the first one to give her idea out confidently because she was the most unconvinced one at how active our most silent friend was in that particular subject. Though, she was also the most raged one before.

“So, the money must have been a treasure dug by the strong built Yamao-kun, according to the map drawn by Nakano-kun. We know that his father is like Ryouta-kun’s, a well-known architect … before. After they found it, they split it in half. That is how the same amount of so much money connects with the map.”

Kaigo and Ringo stared at her in admiration.

“It really … is rewarding to have all of you here,” Kaigo said in awe.

“The brainstorming is amazing … really wild,” Ringo said in awe.

“… but just a little too incomplete,” the contrasted twins instantly concluded regretfully.

“What …!?” the newest wannabe twitched.

Elena explained, because she thinks the twins’ further comedy would result in a disaster.

“The founded money is so new that most likely had just been withdrawn from bank. And the map just has the details of the interior of the mansion, and some of its exterior garden. It doesn’t have any special mark anywhere. And of course, we didn’t discover any tools nor dirt on Yamao’s body nor all of his belongings.”

“Um …, all of those things are just a little too difficult, or rather, a little too unimportant to understand for now. Let us focus on the chance of having one of us as the murderer then,” the twins got into a serious mode again, the atmosphere as well.

“First of all, now that all of us are here. Let us share what we had been doing after the dinner last night for that is when we had confirmed as the last time everyone had seen the victims alive together,” Ringo inquired.

“From what we had remembered is all of us, except Ryouta, Kazuki, Kaede, and Ms. Fionna, were gathering in this drawing-room last night before the first sound of beaconing,” Kaigo clarified.

Ryouta answered first.

“Yes, I, then, returned back as soon as I could after have escorted Nakano-kun back to his room. I also told him to lock his door. But, he was still too drunk at that time, so, it was hard for him to understand me. That is why it took a while. He … might have locked it later.”

The blue twin asked, but finished in a slow speed as though the time had been slowed down for free while still sounded very naturally.

“For … how ... long?”

“Maybe around … 15 minutes.”

The red twin judged, but finished in an extreme speed as though no space nor punctuation there while just on her first try.

“There-is-still-too-much-time-to-commit-a-murder. Beat-him-up-and-repeatedly-jabbed his-body!”

Ryouta was agitated, but still tried to be as calm as possible.

“As I had said, he was drunk. And it was so hard to tell him … to lock his door. See what we discovered when we tried to enter his room? It was locked!”

Ringo said.

“That is true. It is also I who had unlocked the door. Ok then, ha-ha, Kazuki, next,”

Kaigo inquired.

“Ok then, what did you do after had escorted Yamao, the first discovered victim? Ha-ha”

The twins were suddenly reminded of something. They added together.

“Eh, beside the way, do you know if the one you escorted had bolted his door, or not?”

Kazuki said unhappily.

“I didn’t really pay any attention for that. After had escorted him. I met with Kaede, and talked with her in the right open lounge.”

Kaede gave her clarification.

“Yes …, I was … talking with Kazuki-kun until around 8 p.m., if I am not wrong. Then … then I went straight back to you all in the drawing-room.”

Ringo asked.

“That means you were all alone after Kaede left?”

“Yes.”

Kaigo asked.

“Did you happen to see anything strange? White?”

“No.”

As though playing one-word game, the twins now inquired.

“Then?”

“Ryouta-kun came for me. He said something bad had happened inside Yamao-kun’s room. But, he was still going to search for Fionna-chan who was still missing. So, he asked me to return back alone first, and find Yoru who might be looking for me, maybe in the inside. Then, we went separated.”

The twins turned to the one who could give the clarification of this one.

He nodded. They asked.

“How?”

“What do you mean by that?”

They were awkward.

“Sorry-sorry, ha-ha. We are just kind of … dwelled in that. How do you know that our Yoru had gone to search for Kazuki, also?”

“I just guessed it. Because I had heard other running footsteps from the inside. And Yoru-kun is usually very concerned about Kazuki-kun. Everyone knows that.”

I know that.

“Such … bromance. How beautiful! Just perfect … like us,” the twins were in full of awe again.

They, then, quickly got serious again. They reset themselves.

Kaigo asked the last missing one, a purple-haired foreign young woman.

“What about you then, Ms. Fionna?”

“I was with myself, sitting with nobody in the left open lounge,” Fionna answered real cold.

Ringo asked again.

“Alone?”

“Means no alibi, I know.”

Kaigo announced nonchalantly.

“Kazuki also don’t have any alibi after Kaede left him,”

Kazuki was furious.

“What!?”

I defended my cornered friend.

“No, Kazuki won’t ever ….”

“I don’t know what you two are talking about! I am not a murderer! I swear it!! I can also hear the glass breaking sound. But I just ignored it! I was being distracted by another thing at that moment. Really!!!”

Ringo asked nonchalantly.

“I see, what is that?”

Kaede cut in.

“Let’s pause for a while, shall we? Have a breakfast, and clear up the atmosphere, Okay?”

Kaigo and Ringo eccentrically smiled. Their stomach growled. They answered real obedient.

“Okaaay~.”