↑ Madoka Matsumoto above ↑

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'For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first'
— Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

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"Tada! Wake up!" bellowed Madoka Matsumoto, pounding furiously at her older brother's door. She yelled louder and louder, her knocking both persistent and irritating.

Groggily, Tadashi opened his heavy eyelids. He tuned out his sister's voice, squinting from the bright light pouring in from his curtains.

"I'm up!" Tadashi yawned as he pulled himself upright, hair standing up at all ends.

The knocking screeched to an abrupt halt.

"Geez! This is the last time I'm coming to wake you up, okay?" cried Madoka. "Also, I cooked breakfast so hurry downstairs. Today, you'll surely admit defeat!"

"Give me a break," he said under his breath. "I don't want to die young."

A while back, his sister had come to him for advice about her cooking, and despite how disgusting it tasted, Tadashi told her it was good. Madoka went on to give some cookies to her friends, which, unfortunately, had sent them straight to the nurse's office, and she hated him for it ever since. To this day, she makes him taste her cooking for revenge and will continue to do so until the day he finally admits it's gross.

Why not just tell her what she wants to hear, then? It was a solution, sure, but if Tadashi did that, he'd be admitting to his sister that she sucks at cooking.

Thinking of it another way, if his gullible-worthy sister had instead come, asking if she were smart and would pass an exam she'd been fretting over for weeks, only to end up failing—badly, might he add—and she returned, insisting he call her stupid for that, could he do it? Tadashi couldn't, anyway. It was the same in this case. His sister put in an extraordinary amount of effort and still whipped up the nastiest plates with ease. It was a genius level talent at that point.

As an older brother figure, he couldn't outright tell her it was disgusting and to give up. How could he, when he'd been watching her put in that effort?

As Tadashi's feet grazed the cold ground, a sudden urge to puke washed over him. He clasped his hand over his mouth and breathed, hard.

There it was again. He slowly removed his hand from his mouth once the urge faded. He did his best to disregard his throbbing headache but to no avail. It was weird. He'd felt clammy and sick every day for the past month but the feeling made sure to go away in the afternoon.

But that wasn't all. Tadashi always made sure to go to bed early so why did he feel so tired whenever he woke up these days? He'd even gained dark bags under his eyelids showcasing his restless nights. But, besides the information Kiyoshi regarded him with last week, Tadashi had practically gotten over the Moriko Kitoshi conspiracy and left it up to the police to piece it together. So, what exactly was going on with him...?

Sighing, Tadashi shook his head to rid the thoughts and made his way to his personal washroom, ignoring the queasiness that came with it. Once dressed, he travelled downstairs for some breakfast.

Hushed whispers erupted from the living room.

His mother and Madoka were watching the news; something they made sure to do every morning and evening. "Ah! Tada!" his fourteen-year-old sister exclaimed. "They found her body!"

Tadashi's eyelashes fluttered. "Body? Whose?"

"You know! That girl that was kidnapped!" Madoka replied as if it were obvious. "She's from your school, remember?" She turned to their mother for confirmation. "Her name was Morino Kimchi, right?"

The middle-aged woman shook her head, a weak smile playing at her mouth. "It's Moriko Kitoshi. From that famous Kitoshi group."

Tadashi's blood ran cold.

"Was... this on the news?"

"Oh, no! A colleague of mine informed me," his mother instantly denied, though a look of concern crossed her face. "But that academy of yours is full of celebrities; it's no wonder people are after them. I'm worried for you, Tadashi. Make sure to be careful—"

"Mom!" Tadashi shouted hastily.

Both females flinched.

"Do you know where they found her body?" he pressed. "When? How?"

"Whoa, Tada! Calm down!" Madoka held up a hand helplessly. "We don't know that many details. The police still haven't released the information yet. Besides, I know you're obsessed with crimes and all but this isn't some game you need to feign detective for."

It was just a game though, Tadashi thought before solemnly spinning around. "Whatever," he sighed. "I'll just head out."

"What about breakfast? You still haven't—"

"Not hungry," Tadashi cut his mother off as he slammed the door behind him.

What a great way to start off my morning, he groaned.

☻ ☺ ☻

"How are you all feeling today?"

"Fucking ecstatic," Yasuo snapped in response.

Akira's mouth dropped.

"Hey! I was just trying to brighten the mood!" She pouted. "No need to be such a jerk about it."

"Brighten what mood? We're here to do that stupid crime-thingamajig and that's that," Yasuo snorted, a dangerous edge in his voice. "Someone hurry up and start this thing."

The room, once again, was engulfed in silence.

So everyone already knows... Tadashi glanced around the room and took notice of the fact that his companions all looked out of it today.

Although they should be glad they found her body, it only increased the gloominess in the room. Well, ever since this whole incident began, everyone had been on edge.

"So, are Kiyoshi and Iori absent today?" Saya spoke up, listing the faces who were missing from the room.

"It does appear that way," Ayame answered, rising from her chair. After sensing the uncommunicative energy from the group of teens, she reluctantly sighed and slammed a gavel onto its podium as if she were a judge. "Let's begin with these games for today. As we decided last week, the theme is stealing. With that said, it is time to—"

Izumi cut Ayame off by instantly bolting from her chair, bearing an irritated expression. The dark bags under her eyes portrayed her sleepless nights; something you didn't quite expect from someone of her prestige. "I can't stand being in this room," she spat, slamming her model-worthy hands onto the table.

Ayame's stone-cold expression demonstrated that she couldn't comprehend her anger; as did everyone else. "And why is that?"

Izumi sneered, a smirk in place. "I don't feel comfortable being in the same room as a murderer."

Akira lurched from her chair. "M-Murderer? Izumi, that's not—"

"True?"

Akira flinched and glanced away, her features strained. "That's..."

"You guys still can't be saying this is a coincidence! There's enough proof pointing that the culprit is in this club. And this dear "friend" of ours that you guys so valiantly trust will aim for our lives next!" Izumi furrowed her eyebrows darkly. "Unlike you guys, I don't want to become some meaningless sacrifice for this person's sick game."

"So?" Ayame questioned. "Are you going to quit the club? It's not like if you did that, you'll officially become less targetable. In fact, there's a higher chance you'll be aimed for more."

Izumi spared her arch nemesis a scowl. "I'm not stupid enough to fall for such a trap. This idiot is obviously trying to push us further into a corner. He's waiting for somebody to make a move."

Ayame closed her eyes. "And that move would be informing the police, correct?"

"Exactly."

Everyone in the room watched the miraculous thing happen before their very eyes. Izumi and Ayame were actually getting along. These two were practically fire and ice and hated each other's guts. During every Crime Games they held, they managed to get into some pointless argument that would waste the whole hour of club time they had just yelling at each other.

So to think they would actually be carrying a rational conversation...

Of course, however, their conversation seemed to be going a bit too fast for the rest of them to process.

"W-Whoa! 'Informing the police?'" Ryuu inquired hastily. "Why would he be waiting for something like—"

"Because he's waiting for somebody to cave," Yasuo replied, glaring. "In this day and age, going to the police would be the obvious choice. But with such a lame excuse like this, the police won't do the search."

Tadashi gritted his teeth, understanding what he was getting at. "And your plan will end in failure..."

"B-B-But i-i-if that's th-the case, wh-why w-would it be a d-dangerous m-move?" Mayumi stuttered, biting her thumbnail apprehensively.

Katsura sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Because the people pushed that far into a corner eventually break..."

"And they'll be the perfect people manipulated by the culprit," Saya finished with a solemn expression.

"I don't really understand all this serious talk, but," Haru commented, scratching the back of his head while playing around with the lollipop in his mouth, "you're all talking like the culprit is in this club. But who is it?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Atsushi shouted for the first time since they assembled in the room. "I know! Everyone close your eyes and let the culprit raise his or her hand! That way—"

Izumi snorted, "No way. That's ridiculously stupid."

"Then, what do you propose we do?" Atsushi questioned with a sullen frown.

Tadashi placed a hand to his chin in thought. "So, the culprit stole the paper from the drawers and deleted the information off of the club's—"

Everyone's heads snapped to Tadashi but before he could continue, Ayame's sudden cough successfully averted all gazes to her. Tadashi blinked slowly, twisting his head toward the white-haired female as well.

He raised an eyebrow. "...comput—"

She coughed once more.

What is she doing? he asked himself. He opened his mouth to continue but Yasuo cut him off.

"I... didn't want to mention it last week since I didn't want to make a big fuss out of it, but..." He paused for a second, his eyes darting from Ayame's direction. "The only way somebody could get into the drawer with all our crime scenarios is if Kobayashi gave it to them."

"H-huh?" Mayumi blinked wildly.

"I'm saying that Koboyashi's the only one here that has access to the drawers."

"How? That's not—" Atsushi began.

"It is true," Katsura interjected. "These drawers were specially made for the school faculty which had then been passed down to us. However, these drawers only open with one particular key. You cannot pick the locks, or open them by force because of the material it's made from... And Miss Kobayashi has that key."

Everyone jerked their heads toward that girl who replied with a simple, "And?"

"That means..." Haru pondered out loud as he rocked back and forth on his chair.

"That means..." Akira began, pointing her index finger like a detective. "Ayame Kobayashi...you're the culprit!"

Ayame rolled her eyes.

"D-Don't try to hide i-it!" Mayumi stuttered. "Y-You had th-the key so you c-could've just been tricking u-us! You st-stole the paper and k-kidnapped them!"

Tadashi's eyes widened at how fast things had escalated. "W-Wait, everyone! There's no way, Kobayashi could've—"

"No, Matsumoto," Ayame interjected, her violet eyes shifting to everyone in the room. "Don't say anything."

Tadashi gaped at her in astonishment as she folded her arms.

"She just admitted it!" Saya gasped.

Izumi gritted her teeth. "I should've known..."

"I didn't admit anything," Ayame stated with an exhale of breath. "Rather, I don't have anything to admit to."

"But y-you just s-said..." Mayumi began.

Ayame's gaze landed on her.

"Said what? I admit I have the key but do you really believe I'd stoop so low as to kidnapping?" She scoffed at the idea. "In the first place, using such a lame kidnapping idea like that is ridiculously stupid and obvious."

"Stupid?!" Izumi exclaimed full of spite.

"Yeah! We all came up with it together!" Atsushi agreed. He halted before lowering his voice, "Even if it was used in real life..."

"That's even more suspicious! How do we know you aren't lying?" Akira questioned.

"I can say the same to you," Ayame retorted. "You could just be shoving the blame over to me because you don't want to get figured out."

"Huh?" Akira gasped. "I would never commit a crime when I help my dad to stop them! That's just ridiculous! I'm not a hypocrite!"

Ayame simply sneered and glanced elsewhere. "Then, everyone in this room is just as suspicious. All club members came up with the idea, and only the club members were in the room at the time of the finalization. Just because I have the key doesn't mean I'm the one who committed the crime."

Everyone remained quiet. Though, few continued to shoot glares at Ayame.

Without much warning, the door to the clubroom slammed open. "I don't come for a week's seminar and everyone's already bickering amongst themselves? Is this a game or is this real life?"

They all turned their attention towards their club advisor, and one of the coolest, most laid-back teacher's ever, Mr. Nobuo. Resting on top of his afro was a night cap. He had a pillow tucked under his arms, and if it wasn't for the suit he wore, albeit frivolously, you'd think he'd recently woken up from a nap instead of teaching all day.

It was to be expected. Mr. Nobuo enjoyed sleeping a lot. He slept every chance he got: classes, lectures, ceremonies, etc... He looked about ready for another siesta now.

Despite his idle nature, his absentmindedness served as a perk to everyone around him. Nobody had to worry about doing anything serious in his classes. God knew why he was hired as a teacher at this school, but who were the students to complain.

"Mr. Nobuo," Yasuo greeted with the bob of his head.

Katsura bowed. "Good afternoon, Mr. Nobuo!"

"Good morning to you, too," he replied with a yawn as he trudged his way over to the side door of the large room. "The teachers kept nagging me to come visit you guys so I figured why not waste some time back at this old place. Maybe take a small rest."

This room did used to be the old staff room but it was relocated a few years ago, leaving this room to the CRF this year.

"Behave well, okay? I am the one allowing you guys to keep this club," he claimed wearily, shutting the door behind him. With a yawn, he called out, "If you do anything stupid, I'll disband it. Now get along and start whatever crime thingy you do every week."

"Yes!" everyone chorused.

Once he finally disappeared into the small room, they released a unified sigh. They couldn't exactly say anything now that a teacher had arrived; even if he was already snoring away in the attached room at the rear end of the clubroom.

"We'll continue this another time," Ayame declared. "Since we wasted practically all of our club time arguing, we'll meet up next week for a real session."

"Yes, ma'am!" Atsushi saluted.

"You're so serious," Juzo murmured as he plodded past him.

Everybody jumped back.

H-He was in here?! they all shouted in their minds.

"I swear your lack of presence is scary, Juzo. When did you get here?" Ryuu laughed, playfully ruffling Juzo's hair.

"Please stop..." Juzo closed one eyelid, his tone of voice lethargic as usual. "I was here the whole time."

"Then why didn't you say anything? If you actually participated, this case may be a lot easier than it is now."

"What case?"

"...Do you even pay attention to anything we say, Juzo?"

Juzo gandered at Ryuu with his dull forest green eyes hidden behind the huge dorky glasses he wore. "Not really, no."

Everyone awkwardly glanced at the green-haired male.

"You really are different, Fatora," Saya pointed out.

"Is that so?" Juzo mumbled, repositioning his bag's straps on his shoulders. He exited the room at that. His figure disappeared around the corner, leaving behind a questionable silence.

"H-H-He r-r-really i-is a-a weird-do..." Mayumi stammered, biting on her thumb once more.

Like you should be talking! simultaneously thought the group of teens.

Izumi sighed in aggravation and glowered. "Hurry the hell up and get out already! You're blocking the exit, idiots."

At Izumi's intimidating shout, everyone flinched and immediately evacuated the room.

Tadashi laughed weakly before turning to leave the room also.

"Matsumoto."

"Huh?" Tadashi turned back around and saw Ayame standing behind him. "What do you need, Kobayashi?"

Ayame breathed out and eyed him intently.

"Wh-What...?" Tadashi asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Nothing," she answered, looking away. "I was just amazed by how ignorant you could be."

"Ignorant?" Tadashi repeated, absolutely bewildered. What is she...

Ayame's attention landed on Tadashi once more and she narrowed her eyes. "We've been set up."

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Finally able to update yahoo! And the weekend is here; a long one too so I'll try to get another chapter done by the end of it :) Things are finally starting to get interesting yay~ Next chapter, a lot will be revealed so look forward to it~

VOTE & COMMENT if you liked it~~ (hopefully you guys do? xD)

-Misty