Under Beautiful Night Skies

Assumptions

Masato was awoken by the alarm on his phone. He grabbed it blindly and turned the alarm off. When Masato looked at the screen, he saw another email from the mystery person.

'I know I have the right person. I guess I should tell you what I'm offering you. My name is Hayate Mizoguchi, I am a freelance detective and I happen to attend your school. I'm a third year. I can tell you have some outstanding detective skills (especially with the books you read). I would like you to help me solve this murder case. I'm sure you know which one I'm referring to. I would be very grateful if you accept my request.'

Masato thought about the detective stories that he had read before and he had always thought that they were pretty cool. But Masato's train of thought had changed directions.

'How do you know my name and what I read? Do you stalk me or something?' Masato replied.

This time the reply was immediate.

'Haha, no. I am a detective. So did you think about it? Or do you need more time?'

Masato actually thought about the job. He thought it would be a good opportunity to prove to everyone that he wasn't the murderer and would be something to do other than read.

'Sure,' Masato emailed.

-

Another beautiful night. The murderer was so grateful.

"These beautiful night skies are what I live for. Well, besides seeing my little victims scream in pain," the murderer smiled, sickly.

Tonight, the murderer had managed to catch two people.

"I can't believe you. Why would you kill innocent people?" The girl cried.

"Like I just said, I love seeing my victims scream in pain."

"Please don't kill us!" The boy said.

The murderer chuckled. They retrieved their trusty switchblade from their jacket pocket. The murderer felt like stabbing tonight. They lifted the knife into the air and brought it down into the boy's arm. The boy screamed.

"Shiro!" The girl screeched. "Fuck you! I'll kill you!"

The murderer laughed at the irony and continued to stab Shiro in his arms. After a little while, the murderer realised that Shiro had passed out. They took their blade and stabbed it in Shiro's head. The blade and the boy was covered in scarlet blood. The girl's face contorted in horror.

"Shiro..." The girl whispered. She wailed.

The murderer had had enough crying for a lifetime. They grabbed the girl's brown hair and she began kicking furiously.

"LET GO! LET GO! DON'T KILL ME!"

The murderer stabbed the girl right through the neck. Her skin made a sloshing sound and blood sprayed everywhere. The girl gurgled her own blood.

"Wh...why," she managed to say before she died.

-

The next day after school, Masato got another email from Hayate:

'I would like to meet up with you if you are free because we need to work on this case ASAP.'

'I'm free. Where?' Masato emailed.

'How about Ashino-ko?' Hayate asked.

'Okay.'

Masato arrived at the lake and noticed that Hayate wasn't there yet. He waited for five minutes until Hayate finally showed up.

Hayate was quite tall, blonde hair and Masato would have sworn he had seen him at school a few times.

"Hello," Hayate smiled. Masato nodded in greeting, trying to ignore the increase in his heartbeat.

"Okay, we should discuss these murders. Over the past week, three people from our school have been murdered, presumably by the same person or party," Hayate explained.

"Wait. Two more?" Masato questioned.

"Right, we found their bodies this morning. The police decided not to publicise this information because it would worry everyone. The two victims' names were Tamiko and Shiro Sugawara, they were siblings."

Masato felt dread when he heard that the two victims were siblings, it reminded him of Namie.

"Are there any links between the victims?" Masato blurted out and Hayate chuckled. Masato tried to keep a blush down.

"Other than them being students that attended the same school, nothing," Hayate said. "Well, I have to go. See you later, Masato."

As Hayate left, Masato decided to sit down by the lake and read. He was currently reading a detective story. The murderer was a girl who killed people and didn't even realise she was killing them. She even killed her little sister.

Masato suddenly heard a rustling sound in the trees surrounding the lake. Masato whipped his head around to see what was making the noise. He was starting to feel a little anxious.

The mysterious creature leaped out of the bushes. Masato realised it was just a girl that attended his school. The girl had dark grey hair and emerald eyes. When she looked up at Masato, her face fell.

"Your name is Masato Kimura," she said.

"Yes?" Masato replied. The girl walked towards him. She then held her hand out for Masato to shake it and he did.

"My name is Chouko Ryusaki! Nice to meet you face to face. And just to answer your internal question, no, I don't think you are the murderer and no, I'm not the murderer either."

Chouko was calm and didn't seem to get fazed very much. She reminded him of the girl from his book but he couldn't make assumptions.

"Nice to meet you too," Masato said.