Under Beautiful Night Skies

Judgement

In one day, Masato had met two people who didn't obviously hate him and think he was a murderer. He thought about the victims and if there were any links.

Airi Fujimoto. She was a second year. Apparently (from Hayate's information), she was a very nice girl. No reason for anyone to kill her, she was very mysterious, though.

Tamiko Sugawara. She was also a second year. She was very protective of her brother, Shiro. If someone hurt Shiro, she'd probably get quite violent, but other than that, Masato couldn't see any other motive to kill her.

Shiro Sugawara. He was a first year. He was quite popular and a lot of people would mourn over his loss. Maybe someone could be jealous of him, but that isn't reason enough to kill someone. Unless the murderer was unstable.

Masato then thought about the murderer themself. Were they an adult, child or maybe even a student?

If the murderer was an adult, they'd be able to easily subdue their target. The only problem would be that the adult would have to be able to get the victim the follow them into the woods. Maybe if the victims knew them well..?

If the murderer was a child, they'd be able to easily make up an excuse to get the victims to follow them, i.e they were lost. Their problem would be that they wouldn't be strong enough (especially considering the way they were killed), albeit, it would be a more likely option than an adult.

If the murderer was a student, however, that would be the most likely. They'd be able to trust them because of the close age range and also if they were friends. And if they were athletic, it would be easy for them to kill people who were much weaker than them. Masato was almost certain that it was a student.

Now, the murderer's motives. Why would this person want to kill those three students. Masato was sure it wasn't because it was fun, that was probably only part of it. Another reason...

They had a grudge?

They were jealous?

It could be that they are emotionally unstable and had to rely on harming others. But Masato didn't think that was right; after all, there were no people like that at their school. If anything, he was the odd one out. That was probably why people thought he was the murderer. He wasn't the murderer.

The girl Masato had met earlier that day, Chouko Ryusaki. He hated to say it, but she was a suspect. Why was she in the forest? Was she eavesdropping on their conversation? Then again, she could have just been having a stroll. Or maybe she stalked Hayate. And when she spoke, she was calm but also friendly. It seemed like she would be able to fake sanity well enough. He should talk to her, see if there are any links between Chouko and the victims. The only problem, he didn't have her email, phone number, address, anything! Maybe if he went back to the lake, would she be there?

Masato went to sleep for the night.

-

More! More! More!

The murderer needed more blood, more death!

Stab! Stab! Stab!

The sounds of screams and the slish-slosh of blood made all of this worthwhile. The beautiful colour of blood flowing everywhere. The murderer laughed hysterically. The victim had died a while ago but they still continued to stab the hollow corpse.

A scream broke the murderer out of their fun and they saw a woman with hands clasped over her mouth. She started to run away.

NO!

If the woman notified the police, it would be the end of their fun forever. The murderer gave chase and after a little bit of running, caught up to her and jumped onto her back. She screamed and squirmed and the murderer stabbed her in the back of the head. The murderer exhaled and smiled. What an adrenaline rush.

The murderer got up. They had blood splattered all over their clothes. Who knew homicide was such a messy hobby? The murderer had to purchase new clothes every time they killed people. The murderer hurried home, changed, threw out their blood splattered clothes and hurried to the uniform shop...