↑ Sousuke Nakurama above ↑

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'Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something'
—Eric Hoffer

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"That is all for this week's games. You can leave." Ayame slammed the gavel accordingly, and everyone rose from their seats.

"Sasarin! You're back!" Haru cheered, jumping onto Ryuu from behind.

Ryuu forced a laugh for his friend. "But I'm not back to full health yet."

"Want some chips then?" Haru asked Ryuu, holding out a bag of Doritos and Ryuu shook his head.

"I'm fine." Ryuu's eyes scavenged every corner of the room along with everyone who was getting ready to leave, and once they zeroed in on Tadashi, he raced towards him. "Yo, Tadashi!"

Tadashi looked up in surprise. Ryuu flung his arm around Tadashi's neck into a playful chock hold, and laughed.

"Ryuu..." Tadashi struggled to pull his arm off of him and Haru ran towards the two of them with a pout.

"Aw, no fair! Let me in on this too!" Haru jumped onto Ryuu's back and put him into a hold as well. But because of that, Ryuu lost his balance and fell backwards. All three males came tumbling down to the ground, one after the other.

"Oww..." Tadashi, being the one on top, easily crawled off of Ryuu only to find that Haru was almost passed out as he was the one who cushioned their fall.

"Ugh..." Haru grunted, sounding dead, "Sasarin, you're heavy..."

"Ah, Haru!" Ryuu exclaimed, lurching off of him.

Haru pulled himself upwards and at the sight of his bag of Doritos crunched and spilt across the floor, his eyes widened. "Agh!" he cried, and animated tears rolled down his face. "M-my food..."

"It's okay," Tadashi tried to tell him.

"No, it's not! This is snack cruelty!" Haru snuffled. "It hasn't even lived for ten minutes yet!"

"It wasn't alive in the first place," Tadashi commented.

"How can you say that, Tadashinn? I was going to invite you to the wedding too!"

"Wedding?"

Haru bobbed his head, reaching into his sweatshirt's pocket only to pull out a similar bag of chips. "Th-they were going to be together too," he snivelled, rubbing at his eyes. "In my stomach," he added.

Ryuu, who was watching this all unfold, couldn't help but snort. He broke out into a hysterical laugh before long, finding his entire reaction hilarious, and Haru whipped his head toward him.

"Hey! Why are you laughing, Sasarin? You're the one who caused this!" Haru lunged at Ryuu, who barely defended himself due to how hard he was laughing.

A small laugh escaped Tadashi's lips as well and Haru's jaw fell.

"You too, Tadashinn? It's not funny! The chip wedding is canceled because of this! Now they have to go to chip heaven!"

"Chip heaven?" Ryuu snickered incredulously. "Where the heck is that?"

Haru crouched down and scooped up the remaining chips in the half-empty Dorito bag. "Still in my belly," he responded, puffing his cheeks and plopping a handful inside his mouth.

Tadashi burst out into a laugh at that, and soon the room was filled with both Ryuu and Tadashi's laughter.

Though, as they were enjoying themselves, they were oblivious to the dark stares everyone in the club were shooting their way. It was obvious they were acting strangely. Especially Ryuu and Tadashi; the two were never this hyperactive, much less when an event as dispiriting as this was in the midst.

"Let's just head home for the day." Ryuu wiped away his final tear before grabbing his bag. Tadashi allowed one last laugh and slung his bag over his shoulders as well.

"Wait! You owe me chips—" Haru began childishly but Ryuu cut him off, swinging his arm around Tadashi's shoulders.

"Me and Tadashi have something to do now. See you!" He grinned before dragging Tadashi out of the room with him.

Haru watched the two with furrowed eyebrows. He frowned to himself. They definitely weren't acting normal lately. Since when were Ryuu and Tadashi that close?

"Do you know anything, Tomachi?" Ayame spoke up, startling the orange-haired male.

Haru blinked, looking at the violet-eyed female in confusion. "Know what?"

"They've definitely have been acting strange lately," Yasuo spoke up with a glare.

Despite everyone in the room knowing what he was hinting at—that they were in cahoots together—typical, oblivious Haru shook his head with a smile.

"Of course they would be!"

Everyone snapped their heads towards the male, their gazes demanding. He knew something?

Haru held up a finger, grinning broadly. "It's love! Sasarin and Tadashinn must've confessed to each other~!"

Everyone fell back at his words. Ayame face-palmed.

"Asking you is impossible after all..." she muttered to herself. She removed her hands from her face as she listened to the rest of her clubmates pester Haru about his ridiculous answer before directing her gaze towards the doorway.

She narrowed her eyes.

"What exactly are you plotting, Tadashi Matsumoto?"

☻ ☺ ☻

Upon entering the local library, the mood that enveloped the two teens was a dark one. They sat at one of the tables at the far back of the library, and Ryuu's gaze hardened.

"Are you sure everyone's buying such a bright persona from you, Ryuu?" Tadashi asked with a sigh. "You're usually full of energy, but not that much."

"Hey, I can say the same about you too." Ryuu exhaled loudly, digging through his bag. "I'm trying my best here. It's not exactly easy you know."

Tadashi said nothing in return. He knew what he was hinting at. Ryuu was still not completely over Saya's death yet, and to top it all off, they even received that dreaded note.

Ever since getting it a few days ago, Tadashi and Ryuu decided to keep quiet about it from the rest of their clubmates, considering everyone's suspicions were still up from the day camp. So just by themselves, they decided to figure out the truth behind mystery of the letter.

But even then, they weren't getting anywhere...

"This is impossible after all!" Ryuu groaned after staring at the letter for a few minutes. Besides the note, the pink piece of paper inside was ripped in half, and it was mainly blank. What were they supposed to get from a blank piece of paper?

Tadashi picked up the note. "The tattle tale gets his punishment. Death is the answer to it all," he read the single sentence and frowned.

"We know that the mastermind gave this to Chiaki, but it's not proven exactly to be Saya's. But if it is hers, then where'd she put the other half of the letter?" Ryuu thought aloud and with a dejected sigh, he picked up the ripped piece paper. He held it up above his head, staring at it for a while. "Ugh, just when I thought I found a clue to get rid of that bastard..."

Tadashi shifted his focus towards his friend.

As soon as his eyes grazed the paper, though, his heart stopped. It was faint, but he could still make out the letters written onto it.

He jumped up immediately. "That's it!"

"Shh!" The libririan at the front desk hissed, shutting Tadashi up.

He abruptly sat back down, avoiding to look anywhere but her, but Ryuu slammed his hands down onto the table anyway.

"What?" he hissed, urging for the answer. "You found something?"

Tadashi pointed to the piece of paper in his hands and shook his head in disbelief. "Invisible ink, and in this day and age too. The mastermind must be taking this a little too old school."

Just then, Ryuu held it up into the lights overhead, and told Tadashi to read it.

I'm... going to meet Sousuke Nakurama tomorrow. Hopefully he'll hear me out.

-March 29, 2014.

"March 29, 2014? That should be a week before our first year in high school started," Tadashi finalized aloud. "But who's..."

Tadashi's voice falls short after noticing Ryuu's blanching reaction.

"What?"

"Are you sure it said Nakurama?"

Puzzled, Tadashi nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Ryuu clenched the letter up in his fists, animosity sparking in his gaze. Tadashi's pale green eyes widened.

"He went to me and Saya's middle school," Ryuu confessed through his gritted teeth. "He used to be one of my good friends."

Ryuu slung his bag over his shoulder before heading toward the exit.

"We're meeting him tomorrow."

☻ ☺ ☻

Exiting Yokuzawa High School's gates, a blond's gaze landed on a brunet standing by the street along with another male. He was used to seeing his cheerful expression, but now, two years later and reuniting, his look was as dark as night.

"Ryuu?" Sousuke Nakurama blinked.

Ryuu's lips down-turned into a frown. "We need to talk, Sousuke."

☻ ☺ ☻

"What do we need to talk about?" Sousuke inquired after following Ryuu to a park nearby. His gaze landed on the brunet next to Ryuu and he narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

Tadashi gulped hard. "I'm—"

"Sousuke!" Ryuu cut Tadashi off, surprising both males.

Sousuke knitted his eyebrows together at the sight of Ryuu's expression. He was obviously trying to keep it uplifted, but his countenance was only sour and irritated.

Sousuke smirked, intrigued by Ryuu's odd behaviour. "Wow, I've never seen the famous Ryuu Sasahara so angry. What happened? You look like you're ready to kill me."

Ryuu was quiet to his statement. Taking a deep breath he spoke, "March 29th last year... Saya came to you, didn't she?"

"Saya?" Sousuke's smirk widened even more once everything clicked. He laughed. "Oh, I see. It makes sense now. You're here because of Saya. You always had the hugest crush on her but it was me she was into, huh? And you, who was always by her side, just watched her fawn over me. I really felt bad for you, y'know," Sousuke drawled to tease him.

"Answer my question."

Tadashi watched Ryuu clench his fists, not looking the slightest bit amused despite Sousuke's incessant laughter.

Didn't Ryuu say that they used to be "good friends?" The conflict between them didn't go anywhere near what you'd call friendship at all.

"Oh right, this topic makes you uncomfortable," Sousuke said with a dismissive shrug. He tilted his head to the side. "Hmm...last year? I guess there was a time she did."

"What did she say to you?"

"What'd she say?" Sousuke repeated with a sneer. "I don't remember something like that. It was ages ago."

Ryuu glowered at the male. "What—"

"Why do you want to know, anyway? Did something happen to her or something?"

Ryuu flinched in response.

Sousuke's jade green eyes flickered with surprise. "Oh, actually? What happened?"

"What'd she say to you?" Ryuu pressed, recomposing himself.

Sousuke narrowed his eyes once he realized he wouldn't tell him. He put a finger in his ear in an uncaring manner. "I don't really remember. She started talking nonsense...and then mentioned something about "time almost being up for her," and other weird things like that. She then asked me to help her, and when I asked why, she didn't answer," he explained in monotone. "After I told her I needed an explanation, she ran off, terrified. She's always been a weird girl like that, y'know."

Tadashi quailed at his words.

'Time almost being up?'

Panic welled up inside of Tadashi as comprehension ran through him. Everything in his mind clicked.

"Saya knew she was going to be killed..."

☻ ☺ ☻

"Then the note?" Ryuu asked Tadashi the next day within the CRF club room. Ayame had called an important meeting, and the two of them were the first to arrive.

"The note was given to Saya by the mastermind. Even before school started, he had a plan to kill Saya and make Chiaki pretend to be her," Tadashi explained with a frown. "But the letter in there was true. Saya was probably trying to give this letter to someone—you I'm guessing—but the mastermind took it. But now he's decided to give it back to us and by placing the note inside, and also half of the letter, he's fooling around with us..."

Tadashi looked at Ryuu, who was still trying to process this. He recalled Sousuke's words from the day before, and how angry Ryuu appeared from it. Did Ryuu actually believe what he said...?

Tadashi opened his mouth, "Ryuu, you do know that Saya liked—"

Ryuu's face instantly flushed and he held out a hand to stop him. "Be quiet, Tadashi!"

He covered his face with one hand in embarrassment. The sudden look of sorrow that enveloped his face afterwards silenced Tadashi instantly.

"So that was what was in the letter..."

Both teens jolted at the sudden voice, and they jerked their heads in the direction of the entrance only to see Ayame standing there, a hand to her chin.

"Kobayashi!?"

Both boys shouted simultaneously, jaw slack, and the white haired female laughed to herself.

"You two seriously are fools. It was obvious if I called an "important meeting" here and nobody arrived, you two would blabber the truth of what you were doing," Ayame said, sauntering up to them, wearing a smirk.

Tadashi's heart skipped a beat at her words. His eyes were wide. "You set us up..."

"Of course," Ayame replied, crossing her arms. "I suggest you two try not to trust others, or blabber secrets that easily if you don't want anybody to know. With this whole occurrence, nobody is your friend."

Ayame's violet eyes slid to Tadashi and he flinched in response.

"Though, this is all because you guys were acting so suspicious lately I found the need to do this. But I guess now I see what this is all about..."

"Great." Ryuu hung his head in disbelief, disheartened at the thought of Ayame knowing their secret.

Though, Tadashi on the other hand, felt somewhat relieved. To him, Ayame had his complete trust. She told him details about the Moriko Kitoshi incident, of Kiyoshi and Iori, and also of the Asahina's. To him, Ayame knowing wasn't a threat at all. And the words she said that the camp didn't seem like lies either.

"Everyone, what Chiaki left us with, that could referring to any one of you. But, it's up to us to move forward."

Ayame's gaze landed on Tadashi, whose eyes widened in response.

"Trusting any of you at the moment is quite difficult and I'm guessing you all feel the same way too. But no matter how the situation may have changed, I'm still going to find the identity of the mastermind. My goal will stay the same no matter how much time passes, or how many people betray me. For threatening my clubmates, for putting people in danger, and even going as far as to kill..." Ayame stopped for a pause, but her voice never wavered, "I will find who he or she is, and make sure that justice is put to them."

"Ooh! What are you guys doing in here?" Akira Minamoto chirped, entering the clubroom along with Haru Tomachi.

"Ah, it's the murderer!" cried Haru, pointing an accusing finger at Ryuu.

"Haru, those were just chips. I said I was sorry!" Ryuu told him in defence.

Haru puffed up his cheeks like a chipmunk whilst smacking on a lollipop. "You still murdered it... I was saving it for dinner but because of that I had to eat those leafy things instead."

"You're talking about lettuce aren't you?" Ryuu deadpanned.

Haru blinked. "'Let us' what?"

Ryuu face-palmed while Tadashi laughed.

"Your idiocy knows no boundaries, Haru-cchi!" Akira chimed in boisterously, all the while Ayame was shaking her head in disbelief.

"Huh... What's everyone doing in here?" Juzo Fatora stepped inside the room, his dull green eyes flickering over to the members gathered.

"Fatora! Join the party!" Akira cried, shutting the door closed behind him.

Kisho blinked rapidly. "Wh-what..." he stammered, fumbling for the right words.

"Now, now!" Akira chuckled with a grin.

Ayame sighed at the situation and murmured to herself, "Even though it wasn't an actual gathering..."

Tadashi watched the group of teens as they continued on with their conversations. Everyone was so frivolous and happy...

If only everything could stay like this... Tadashi's thoughts couldn't help but get the best of him. But as soon as the idea welled up within his mind, everything came tumbling down.

"Yeah, Papa. Don't worry."

An unexpected voice was heard from the other side of the door, stopping all of the conversations between the teens.

Akira tilted her head to the side. "Who is that?"

"Like I said, there's no need for your concern. I made sure to do it properly. Those idiots don't even suspect a thing."

The condescending tone of voice was familiar, causing everyone to perk at the words being uttered.

"Izumi?" Akira suggested, inching towards the doorway. She placed her ear against it, to listen in more carefully. "Let's see, let's see..."

"Eavesdropping isn't good," Ayame pointed out.

The blue-haired female merely grinned in response. "Who cares. I'm interested~!"

Ayame rolled her eyes in response.

"Like I said, I took the planning sheet for the whole Moriko Kitoshi scam! What do you mean it's not good enough? I'm working my ass off and even risked doing this; you owe me big for this, Papa."

Tadashi found it hard to swallow, and so did everyone else in the room. They were all too shocked to even move, to even breathe. Terror sucked its way through every single inch of the room.

"Izumi...stole the paper...?"