The Ultimate Hunt

10.

Lydia died. 

It was Lydia. 

And it wasn't supposed to be her. Not at all. Somebody else was supposed to be in her place. 

So why..?

Did I make a mistake?

Was my deduction wrong?

Was my entire plan flawed? 

I stared at Lydia's lifeless body lying broken and mangled on the floor, her face unrecognizable, being slowly charred by the heat of the oven still running.

I took another step closer and reached out, turning off the oven. The quiet click as the machine powered down seemed almost insignificant against the gruesome scene in front of me. But at least it would stop ruining Lydia's face even further, and the awful smell would no longer spread through the room.

Behind me, footsteps and murmurs began to echo in the kitchen. People were entering, one after another, crowding closer as they noticed something was wrong.

"What the hell is going on?" someone demanded, probably Simon's voice cutting through the rising panic.

"Is anyone hurt? What happened?" another voice followed, laced with urgency.

The scent of burned flesh and blood hit them, and I heard a sharp gasp. "Holy shit, what is that smell..?"

Then suddenly, a firm push made me stumble back. Peter had shoved past me, his face pale, eyes wide in horror as he moved closer to Lydia's body.

"Oh my God.. oh my God.." he choked out, his voice trembling. "What the fuck.. what the fuck! Lydia! No!" His hands went to his mouth as if he could hold back the disbelief, the panic clawing its way out in shaky breaths. 

He dropped to his knees beside Lydia's body, his face frozen, almost numb. He reached out a shaky hand, hovering it just above her, as if he was afraid that touching her would make it all too real. His eyes flickered over her lifeless face, desperately searching for any sign that this was some horrible mistake.

The rest of us stood there, locked in place. Every breath felt heavy in the stale, tense air. No one knew where to look. Some were glancing at Peter, feeling pity and sadness, while others couldn't pull their eyes away from Lydia, unable to comprehend how quickly things had gone so wrong. The Pukeboy did what he was the best at, he threw up. Luckily Vane handed him a random bowl before he could make a mess, so all of his breakfast ended in it.

I took a quick glance around, I saw Hanako. He was keeping his distance, looking at the scene. He seemed.. Different. Quiet and serious. It was unusual for him, even in a place like this he could always smile and act like nothing was going on. 

For now though, I had to ignore it. 

We all heard the bells ringing. That was it.

"A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!" We heard Vincent say through the loudspeakers.

"We.. we have to figure this out, don't we?" Marina finally spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper.

Milo looked at her, his face hardening. "Yes. We have no choice. If we don't, we're all at risk." He shot a dark look at the oven. "And whoever did this doesn't deserve to get away with it."

There was a brief silence, broken only by the sound of nervous shifting. One by one, everyone nodded, some reluctantly, others with clenched fists or determined looks. No one dared argue.

Then, a calm voice broke through the tension. "That's right, everyone." Adam's voice carried a strength that was surprising, almost reassuring. He had entered quietly, somehow blending in until now. He stood tall at the back of the group, his expression steady as he continued, "I know the circumstances are awful. But if we work together, we can solve this. Lydia deserves justice, and finding her killer is the first step to ending this nightmare."

Milo cleared his throat. "Then.. let's get started. We have to search for clues, anything that might tell us what happened. We need to cover as much ground as we can."

Alice glanced at Peter, who was still kneeling near Lydia's body, visibly shaken and unresponsive. "I'll stay with Peter. He's.. not exactly in a place to listen right now, and he could use someone with him. I can help him process things. He's going to need it."

Saturn crossed her arms, glancing over at Samuel, who had buried his face in a bowl, looking more nauseated than ever. "Sam's, uh, not exactly in top form at the moment," Saturn said with a pitying look. "I'll take his camera and get pictures of the scene for him. We'll need every detail documented."

Samuel, without looking up, gave a thumbs-up, managing a weak but appreciative smile.

Adam clapped his hands together and nodded. "Good. Saturn you start taking the pictures of anything that might seem relevant. Milo, try to examine the body. Alice, take Peter out of here. The rest of us, let's cover the kitchen first and check any exits. If someone left in a hurry, there might be a clue or something left behind. After that, we'll start working through the rest of the building. Let's keep our heads and stay focused. We're doing this for Lydia." 

I looked at him up and down. Hm. 

While the others had gotten caught up in the urgency of the investigation, I had no intention of sticking around. The situation was already spiraling, and I had no desire to be part of a crowd, especially not when everyone would start poking into each other's business soon enough.

As I turned to leave, I noticed a few pairs of eyes following me, but I shrugged it off. Let them wonder. They could handle this without me. This wasn't my mess to untangle, not yet.

As I slipped out of the kitchen, putting the chaos behind me, I noticed Hanako standing alone in the hallway, leaning against the wall with his hands tucked into his pockets. His usual playful expression replaced with something distant and pensive. His gaze was fixed on some point on the floor, as if he were trying to sort through thoughts he couldn't quite reach.

For a moment, I hesitated. Hanako wasn't the type to let things get under his skin, so seeing him this way was strange. But before I could second-guess myself, I found my feet already carrying me toward him.

"Hey," I said, keeping my voice low. "You okay?"

He looked up slowly, as if he hadn't even noticed me approach, his usual light-hearted smile absent. For a second, I thought he might shrug it off, make a joke. But instead, he studied my face with a tired sort of intensity.

"I'm fine." He said, but his tone was flat, almost empty.

It was obvious he wasn't fine at all. I'd known him long enough to spot when he was lying to cover something up. I looked at him, my voice softer than usual. "You don't seem fine. Do you... want to talk about it?"

He gave a short, almost bitter laugh, glancing away. "It's not necessary," he said, crossing his arms. His voice became sharper. "And even if I wanted to talk, you wouldn't be my first choice."

Oh.

"I mean, you don't care about all of this, do you? You don't care about any of us, not really. So what's the point in telling you anything?"

His words hung in the air, almost like he'd been waiting to say them, maybe for a long time. That's what he thought of me; that I didn't care about anyone here, that none of this meant anything to me. And honestly, maybe it was for the best. If he believed it, then others probably did too. That was my goal and I achieved it. And yet, instead of feeling satisfied, I felt a pang in my stomach.

I let his words settle, gave him a small nod. "I suppose you're not wrong." I replied. Without waiting for him to respond, I turned, putting one foot in front of the other, moving away from him and I started heading to my cabin.

Four days wasn't much time, but Hanako and Lydia had clearly grown close. She had this way of connecting with people fast, drawing them in, I guess. That was probably why he was so shaken, why he looked so.. lost. He must have been feeling her absence in a way I couldn't fully understand, but he'd need his space to process it.

It was a mistake to approach him, plain and simple. I should've just left him to his thoughts, given him the space he needed. Now, the words kept echoing back, lingering longer than I wanted. I tried to shake it off, to remind myself that his opinion didn't matter. But the truth was, a part of me regretted hearing it.