Entertaining a Small Thought

Prologue Arc Part 6: The Protagonists Meet At Last

As I'm thinking, another thought hit me. I take out my Monopad and go to the report card section. Yep, just as I thought. I'm still missing two people. But I've already been everywhere that's opened. How'd I miss them? I step out of the shrine area and begin scouting for the missing two.

As I walk past the dormitory, I see the doors open and spot the missing two. One of them was the blonde girl with the ahoge from before. Kaede Akamatsu I think was her name. She had lilac eyes, white musical note hair pins, and an ahoge like me. She wore a white uniform with an orange tie. Over the uniform was a pink vest. Her pink skirt also had musical notes on it, and she also had a white backpack as well.

The other person was the boy she was with earlier, the one with the black hat. He had dark navy blue hair, dark greyish-goldish eyes, and pale skin. He wore an all-black striped uniform as well.

Shuichi Saihara.

These two are the last two I need to talk to, so I better make a good first impression. I walk over to the two and wave.

"Heya. Haven't met you two yet. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you guys are Ultimates?"

The girl smiled and clasped her hands together.

"Yeah! My name is Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist."

"I-I'm Shuichi Saihara." The nervous boys said. "I suppose I'm the Ultimate Detective..."

"Geez! You are the Ultimate Detective!" Kaede states, which causes Shuichi to pull his hat down, covering his eyes a bit more.

"A pianist and a detective, huh? That's an interesting pairing. Have you two been exploring the academy together?" I asked the pair.

"Yeah, but so far we haven't really come across any clues," Kaede responds with a sad look before it terms to a look of determination. "But don't worry! I'm sure we'll find a way out!"

"Well, aren't you an optimist? That's good. We could use people like you here, especially with the situation we're in." I say. "So, what's the story about you two? Everyone else has something amazing about them, and I'm sure you guys are any different."

"Well... ever since I was a child, I would play the piano whenever I got bored. There were even times I played the piano so much that I would forget to eat and sleep. Eventually, I won trophies from concerts. And people started praising me."

"So that's how you became the Ultimate Pianist? That's amazing!" I said.

"It's not a big deal, really. That's all I'm good for, really. My friends actually call me 'Piano Freak' because of it." Kaede said with a chuckle.

"Still, it takes a lot of dedication to play an instrument for that long, especially the piano. What about you, Shuichi? You must have done something just as amazing to become the Ultimate Detective."

"Well, I don't actually have the credentials to call myself a detective yet," Shuichi said with a slight bit of red coloring his cheeks. "I just...happened to solve a case that I came across and...now people call me that."

"But not just anyone can 'just happen' to solve a case. It usually takes a team of professionals to do that. You should be proud of yourself!" I said. He seems so timid and unsure of himself. I wonder why.

Shuichi solved a murder case, but the results left him scared of the truth. The murderer killed the victim because the victim led the culprit's relative to suicide due to abuse. The people who knew about the situation said the victim deserved it. Shuichi heard all of this, and the look of pure hatred he saw in the culprit's eyes left him scared of the truth. It's the reason he wears that hat: to hide from people's eyes.