••●••

'The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in'
— Henry Green

••●••

"This is bizarre!" yelled Ryuu, literally pacing around the school courtyard.

Students were currently heading home for the day, as it was getting late—not to mention that occurrence as well—while the five CRF members stood in a circle together.

"It is odd." Katsura nodded, folding her arms across her chest.

"The bodies are one thing, but even that letter too," Yasuo continued with a groan. "What the hell is A and M supposed to mean anyway?"

Ryuu paled at the mention of his first statement. "Hey, don't say that so nonchalantly... They could've actually been dead, you know."

"But they weren't," Tadashi interjected, holding up his hands to both boys to stop them. "C'mon guys, let's not say the word so easily like that."

"What word—" Yasuo's eyelids shot up once realization got the best of him, and instantly, a deafening silence hung through the air. He gritted his teeth, making fists and hanging his head. "Sorry..."

After a few more seconds of the disheartening quiet, Ayame cleared her throat. Everyone turned to find her with a finger placed under her chin in thought. Opening her eyelids, her violet hues locked onto every member gathered. "Let's not worry about this matter for now. No matter the outcome of it, it is pointless to act," she stated firmly. "Instead, we should wait until we figure out if this is truly the work of the mastermind or not, and only if it is will we employ countermeasures. Understood?"

Ryuu's complexion was strained. "But... What if—"

"'What ifs' are not a stimulus we need to abide by. Once we're 'sure,' we'll take action," Ayame cut off the brunet coldly. "We've always acted accordingly to these events haven't we? I disapprove of accusing others without proof or answers. Aren't you all the same?"

Nobody responded.

Ayame frowned at that. "We are all members of the CRF. We are detectives, even if not officially. Detectives need proof to move forward; they cannot go around accusing everyone and everything that they come across— and we are the same. So long as it isn't an urgent matter, we can start on getting to the bottom of this occurrence tomorrow. We've had enough to deal with today as it is."

"Detectives, huh..." Katsura exhaled a breath before bobbing her head up and down. "Tomorrow it is. Goodbye, everyone."

She disappeared down the sidewalk before any more could be said. Ryuu, albeit hesitant, excused himself as well along with a reluctant Yasuo. In the end, it left only Ayame and Tadashi to be alone within the vacant courtyard.

"He disappeared again..." Ayame whispered under her breath, her eyes aimed towards the ground. "Instead of worrying about stuff like this, I'd rather..."

Tadashi watched her murmur in bewilderment. She definitely was acting odd. Despite it still making some sense, Ayame Kobayashi wasn't somebody to give up on an event as prodding as this.

Gulping, Tadashi opened his mouth. "Kobayashi—"

"Why would you bring them?" Ayame demanded, her irritated gaze boring into the brunet. "I'm sure I told only you to meet me. Or did you not understand such a simple implication?"

Tadashi paled. Just as he thought...

Ayame glared at Tadashi hard, furthering his discomfort. Even though it was easy to act all cold and heartless to everyone else around her, she seemed to let all her emotions out whenever she was with him in particular. It was odd. His presence was merely that swaying.

Sighing loudly, Ayame pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Why am I not surprised. You're too kind-hearted for your own good, Matsumoto. Next time, take the meanings behind my words into account."

Tadashi smiled meekly. "Sorry..."

Ayame pursed her lips before facing him accordingly. "The same warning applies to the others as well. But unlike the others, I haven't shown them the letter yet. But you saw the contents, correct?"

She spun on her heels before exiting the area, leaving Tadashi behind.

"Just think about what it means tonight. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Tadashi's lips downturned in thought. There it was again... She always did leave behind a trail of mystery around her.

But... Tadashi recalled the alphabet written within the odd letters.

I... A... and M...

What did they mean?

"Where's the rest of you?"

Tadashi jerked backwards to find an out of breath Kazuma. His eyes widened in surprise.

Standing upright, Kazuma inhaled and exhaled heavily to control his breathing. "They...left didn't they?"

"Yes," Tadashi replied.

Kazuma scowled sourly at him. "How disappointing. I expected to talk to Ayame Kobayashi about it too."

He faced Tadashi appropriately. Tadashi felt overwhelmed by that certain sensation yet again. That one that told him that Kazuma Kurosaki knew more than he let on.

"No matter, I'll simply inform you," he said, narrowing his eyes. "The mastermind is definitely behind this, that I know. He's trying to divert our attention from this case elsewhere."

"How do you..."

"Before I went to see you... I got a note," he responded, digging into his back pocket.

He pulled out a black envelope, startling him.

"This is..." Tadashi gaped.

"It's different from the one you found," Kazuma said before Tadashi could get any ideas. "At the very least, it doesn't contain two measly alphabets."

Pulling out the paper inside, Kazuma extended it. Tadashi accepted it instantly, hurriedly reading it over. His jaw dropped when he did. "H-Huh..."

'for tHere Is trouble, tHere iS crIme. for As criMe is ARt and detectives Are Merciless. And that is the grEatest Kace of all~'

"This..." Tadashi went on, flabbergasted. "What does..."

"Less than five minutes after receiving this letter, somebody screamed," Kazuma went on despite Tadashi's shock. "I immediately knew this would involve your club so I sought you out... And I believe these A and M letters have something to do with this letter."

Tadashi's expression wavered.

Kazuma pointed a finger at the piece of paper he was holding. "A and M... In this statement, some letters are capitalized while some are lower-cases. That's why I'm assuming that the capitalized letters are important. And these letters that we're getting: A and M. They cancel out from the capitals, but they could also cancel out the lower cases so at this point, it is hard to really decipher... So, I'm thinking that once the mastermind reveals all the letters, we'll be able to decode this statement, rearrange it into alphabetical order, and figure out what the mastermind is trying to say. Also..."

Taken aback, Tadashi didn't know how to process his words.

Kazuma noticed this and glared. "How does Ayame regard information to you all the time? You're unbelievably slow."

Tadashi flinched, offended. It was the second time he'd been bad-mouthed today. Why were these particular two always saying such things?

Snatching the paper from him, Kazuma sighed, "Never mind. I'll inform your club in simpler terms tomorrow. Everyone in this school seems to have the mentality of a toddler..." His complexion paled once Hitomi Watanabe came to mind. "Especially that one..."

Shaking his head, Kazuma waved over his shoulder.

"Keep what I have said in mind. Tomorrow... Well, no matter. You'll probably understand me more then."

After his departure, Tadashi found it harder and harder to connect his train of thought. He was doing all he could trying to match pace with what had happened today, he couldn't grasp it...

In defeat, he hung his head with an exhausted breath.

Tomorrow really would be a headache.

☻ ☺ ☻

The next day, although each and every one of them were expecting to come together and solve the mystery as planned in the afternoon, there was a huge explosion in the science lab leading to an immediate school-wide evacuation. The entire class in the science lab at the time managed to be put to sleep by an unknown solution, which led to the many fallings of the students.

The CRF and Kazuma Kurosaki had no choice but to wait until the next day to comply to their gathering.

Though, on Thursday morning, weirdly enough, an entire first year class was found knocked out despite classes being in session, and the sight of their limp bodies caused the ambulance to be dispatched yet again to check on them.

Chaos arose, and school was cancelled yet again.

Although having school being cut short was amazing, it was only able to put the entire student body on edge. Somebody was doing this on purpose. Drugging the admin and students... and only during school time too. Such an occurrence was weird and dangerous and they all knew it.

After a discussion between administration, they decided to shut down the school for a while until they reached a conclusion to the case, thinking that a pipe leak from an unknown source might have been the cause.

These past few days, it seemed like whenever the CRF members wanted to meet up, it always backfired before they could do so. Things were getting worse, and they had no method of stopping it.

"You're so lucky, Tada! I don't wanna go to school either!" Madoka whined, pouting at her older brother.

Tadashi rose an eyebrow, averting his attention away from the T.V screen. Before he could reply, his mother was already steering her towards the doorway. "Now, now, Madoka. Tadashi's not going because he doesn't want to. A dangerous event is going on so the school is fixing it for the students."

Madoka scowled, crossing her arms. "I wish that would happen at my school. I have exams all week!"

Maiko Matsumoto rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. Come on, Madoka. You'll be late."

"But, I—"

The sound of the front door slamming shut was enough to ease Tadashi altogether. The house was completely silent, leaving him in a relaxed state. He frowned to himself, leaning back in his chair.

Text messages. That was how the five club members were talking, but was that going to work out? They needed to find answers and get to the bottom of the case, and to do that, they needed to investigate the school.

But how could they possibly do that if there kept being hindrances to stop them?

Tadashi's gut twisted. He couldn't help but feel responsible. Sure, the students and teachers weren't injured — only put to sleep by the same unknown drug like those two girls and boy — but with the mastermind, he knew it wouldn't last long.

Though... why would the mastermind be doing something like this in the first place? It wasn't his style at all. He didn't seem like the type, but was that really enough of a reason not to suspect him?

But then... how about if it wasn't him after all? Was it stupid of Tadashi to ever think such a thing? He knew he should just conclude it to be the mastermind like everyone else around him, but the thing was, he was completely assured it couldn't be.

Although it was unbelievable at first glance, if you actually thought it through, the mastermind wasn't the type to beat around the bush like this.

Tadashi clenched his teeth. He was more underhanded, more ruthless; if he wanted someone dead, he would kill them without a second's hesitation.

There was no way he'd only put them to sleep; he'd do worse.

The blaring of the doorbell startled the brunet, immediately breaking him out of his thoughts. His eyes darted towards the doorway in confusion. Who would be here so early...?

Getting up to his feet, Tadashi slowly inched towards the doorway. Hesitantly, he twisted the doorknob and without even a second to spare, somebody grabbed his sleeve and yanked him outside.

The impact was almost enough to send him to the ground, but he regained his balance before he could fall. He whipped his head towards the source only to find a shocking sight. His mouth dropped and he gasped, "Kobayashi—"

"Shh!" she hissed, putting a finger to her lips as she nudged him closer towards her. Her pale hair swayed back and forth with the action, and her harsh violet eyes met his pale ones.

Tadashi's heart stopped beating altogether and he tinged in response to their proximity.

"K-K-Kobayashi, why—"

"Don't speak so loudly," she ordered, letting go. Tadashi breathed of relief, and Ayame placed her hands at her hips.

She wasn't wearing her uniform— obviously— and instead was wearing a casual coral coloured t-shirt and some jeans. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail as well, making her seem like an entirely different person. But once you got a good look at her stoic expression and piercing eyes, you could easily distinguish it was her.

"I found our objective," Ayame finally said, furrowing her eyebrows together, "and, a solution."

"What?" Tadashi blinked.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, let me rephrase myself," she sighed. "While you were at home worrying about unnecessary trifles you probably shouldn't have been, I acted and found out what we needed to do and an answer to solve it."

Tadashi opened his mouth to defend himself but Ayame stopped him by waving her hands dismissively.

"I bet whatever you're going to say won't be necessary. Listen to me, Matsumoto. I need your help."

Despite being slightly aggrieved, the brunet was taken by surprise. "Why?" he asked.

Ayame crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. She looked away for a brief second before saying, "You know where that Student Council member lives don't you?"

"Student Council member...?"

Ayame's scowl grew at his discord. Why was he always so clueless?

"Kazuma Kurosaki," she enunciated.

Tadashi's eyelids shot up in utmost disbelief. Why would she want him?

"Come with me to his house," she declared, her solemnity intensifying. "He has all the letters."