Under Beautiful Night Skies

Answers

The next day, Masato returned to the lake. He brought a book with him since there was a chance that Choukou wouldn't show up. He sat by the river and continued to read his mystery novel.

Approximately an hour and a half had passed and Choukou hadn't shown up. Masato was about to get up and leave but he heard a familiar rustle and as expected, the girl had emerged from hiding.

"You were waiting for me, weren't you, Masato?" Choukou stated.

"Um...I..." Masato said. Choukou smiled lazily.

"You were going to ask me questions to see if I'm the murderer."

"Y-Yeah..."

'Shit,' Masato thought.

"Okay then, ask away!" Masato blinked. "If I refused to answer your questions, it would seem suspicious, wouldn't it?"

Masato nodded. He needed to know if Choukou was related to the murders at all. Even if she wasn't the murderer herself, she could be a victim.

"Why were you in the bushes the other day?" Masato asked.

"I was taking a stroll," Choukou replied. Albeit, the excuse sounded a little hard to believe coming from her mouth. Masato decided not to say anything else about it.

"Did you know any of the victims personally?"

"I did. They were all friends of mine." Masato gaped.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"It's fine," Choukou said.

'They were all her friends?' Masato thought. 'She couldn't have killed her own friends. But what if she did that so it would be harder to suspect it was her?' Maybe he was overthinking.

"We were all part of the same club. Airi, Shiro, Tamiko, Katsu, Kazuko, Minato and I are all apart of the group. So far Airi, Shiro and Tamiko have died. Minato wasn't at school today and I'm worried he might have been killed."

Choukou's facial expression held real worry. She wasn't worried for her own life, she was worried for the lives of her friends.

"I see," Masato said, "thank you for sharing. And stay safe."

Choukou nodded and left soon after.

It didn't seem as if Choukou was the murderer, but if her friends were all dying, she could be a victim as well.

Masato's phone vibrated. He pulled it out and saw an email from Hayate.

'I need you to come with me to get some information about these murders. Meet me in front of the school.'

'Right,' Masato replied.

Masato and Hayate met at their school. When Masato saw Hayate smile and wave over to him when he arrived, his heart started beating rapidly. Masato calmed himself down before he walked over to Hayate.

"How's it going?" Hayate asked.

"Ah... G-good," Masato stuttered. Hayate just smiled. He obviously didn't notice his weird behaviour. Thank god.

"Okay, so I was thinking... I believe the murderer is a student. It would be the most likely."

Masato nodded.

"There is the possibility that it might not be, but I'm quite positive that it's someone in our school," Hayate continued.

"Yeah, I thought the same thing," Masato responded.

"I think we should check the uniform shop. By the way these people are murdered, the murderer would have to get messy."

The two made their way to the uniform shop and walked in. When the bell above the door rung, alerting the arrival of new customers, the shop owner came out of a room from the back of the shop. The man had a blank look on his face.

"How can I help you?" The man deadpanned. The man's eyes widened the slightest bit, but reverted back.

"My name is Hayate and I'm a freelance detective, this is Masato, my assistant. We were wondering if you would be able to show us the book that you keep to show the customers that have paid and ordered for uniforms," Hayate explained. The man's eyes moved from Hayate to Masato for a split second.

"Ah... Of course," the man said. He reached under his desk and retrieved a large book.

"Please show us the names of the people who have purchased uniforms here over the past week," Hayate said. The man nodded. None of the spaces for names were filled in but the dates and what type of uniforms that were purchased were. All of them were purchased on the night of the homicides and they were all male uniforms.

"I see," Hayate said, "thank you for your time, sir."

The man nodded and ran off to the room in the back of the store.

"Well, this means that our murderer is a male from our school," Hayate said to Masato. "At least that cuts the suspects in half."

-

It had been too long since the murderer had had any action. Another perfect night. It had been raining a lot lately but at least the weather had cleared up now.

"Who do we have tonight? Katsu Yamada," the murderer said. Said boy had his hands tied behind his back. For some reason, the boy had refused to speak and try to escape. These kinds of people were his favourite. The murderer got out his switchblade and took a few steps back.

"Let's do some good old fashion knife throwing," the murderer said. He threw his knife straight towards Katsu and the blade got lodged in the boy's chest. Katsu cried out.

"Score!" The murderer cheered. He ran over to Katsu, his uniform was covered in blood. The knife didn't go in very deep. The murderer giggled and gripped the knife. Instead of pulling it out, he pushed it in deeper. Katsu screamed. The murderer pushed the knife in as deep as he could and twisted it sharply. Katsu's screams reached unimaginable pitches. Finally, the murderer pulled the knife out and Katsu's blood sprayed everywhere. The dying boy fell backwards onto the ground. He bled to death, covering the murderer in blood.

The murderer strolled into the uniform shop, still covered in crimson blood. When the shop owner turned around, his eyes widened at the sight.

"The usual," the murderer smirked.