••●••

'When you are going through hell, keep on going. Never never never give up'
— Winston Churchill

••●••

"Chiaki!" Tadashi cried in shock. "What are you doing..."

Chiaki Asahina let out a tired breath, running her fingers through her hair. She bent down and held out a helping hand for him.

"Let's get to the others."

☻☺☻

When Tadashi stepped into the CRF clubroom, everyone sprung from their seats.

"Where's Haru?! Did you find him?" Ryuu cried, wearing similar demanding expressions as everyone else.

Frowning, Tadashi shook his head and moved to the side. Chiaki stepped in without a second to delay, invoking gasps from all of them.

"Chiaki!" Ryuu yelled.

Both Yasuo and Atsushi jerked their heads between Ryuu and Chiaki, jaw-dropped. "This is Chiaki?!"

Memories flashed through every one of their minds, to the information back at their Tsuji Day Camp trip.

"Saya Asahina is dead."

Katsura crossed her arms, her eyes narrowed in thought. "We didn't get to see you and only heard from Matsumoto and Miss Kobayashi... But it is still a surprise..."

Mayumi was biting on her thumbnail in apprehension while Juzo still looked a bit lost.

The magenta-haired female cracked a small smile and took in all of her formed clubmates. "It's nice to see you all again."

Her eyes fell upon Ryuu and his eyes widened in response. It truly wasn't hard not to recognize her without those frames on her face. He knew for a fact that the person standing before him was Chiaki. The Chiaki that was supposed to be dead.

"Chiaki, is there a reason why you've returned?" Ayame asked, her violet hues questioning.

A laugh escaped her mouth. "What, no 'Welcome Back!' C'mon, it's been a few months guys!" Her expression immediately fell. "Though, I'm not going to ask what happened while I was away. It seems like you've all dealt with your fair share of problems and overcame them..."

The tension in the room thickened. They all knew what she meant — there was now less than half of the members of the fourteen they always were. This game was truly terrifying, and the mastermind...

Gritting his teeth, Tadashi balled his fingers into fists.

Haru...

Why couldn't it have been a dream?

"I'm going to get straight to the point: Haru Tomachi is the mastermind's right-hand man," Chiaki wasted no time to begin, her voice booming. It was hard to believe she was the same timid female from a few months ago.

An immense emotion of shock struck the teens and they gaped. They snapped their heads towards Tadashi, who only looked away in response.

Chiaki sighed at their reactions and raised her head. "It is inevitable you've all faced many problems and conspiracies while I was away, so why are you guys still getting so surprised after each and every declaration? I'm not lying, and you've accepted enough. So could you stop acting so dumbstruck for a while?"

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

"Ch-Chiaki..." Ryuu mumbled, eyebrows high.

Chiaki stared at the brunet before cracking a wry smile. "It shouldn't be such a surprise. I'm still the same old 'Asahina' you know. Though..." Chiaki frowned, shifting her attention to everyone else. "I was tired of being completely useless in this situation, so I decided to take action. And to take action means to stay impregnable."

She clenched her fists.

"I can't beat the mastermind if I can't manage this much."

"Asahina, you said Haru was the..." Yasuo began, jerking Chiaki back to reality.

She straightened herself up and opened her mouth, "When I left a few months ago, I began snooping for information on the mastermind like I said I would. Despite telling you the mastermind would try to find me and take me back, he genuinely let me go..."

"Genuinely let you go?" Katsura asked.

Chiaki's eyes were filled with a disgruntled emotion. Shaking her head and the thoughts away, she stood up tall. "I stayed up to date on everything the best I could and when I heard about Akira's 'death,' I took a look into it."

"What'd you look into specifically?" Ayame questioned.

"I went to her funeral."

Astonishment coursed through them all.

Chiaki went on, "Though, I didn't see any of you there. I thought you would be, but then again, you were all still in shock and denial I suppose. But it worked out well that you didn't show up."

"Why?" Juzo gazed at Chiaki intently and his voice was coated with seriousness for once.

Chiaki looked at him. "Because... you would've realized it too."

"R-R-Realized what?" stammered Mayumi.

Silence lapsed through the room while everyone waited for Chiaki to respond. She paused, causing them to swallow hard. What would follow would be nothing good.

"Tomachi showed up," she began, crossing her arms. "Even when you all didn't."

Gasps left Ryuu and Atsushi's mouth.

"Now, why would Tomachi ever do that?" Chiaki let out a shaky breath. "Was what sparked my attention. I went snooping and figured out about his parents' deaths. It was an autowreck apparently. And ever since then, he's been bottling up his emotions and has been cutting."

"C-Cutting..." Atsushi's jaw dropped.

Tadashi recalled what he had saw in the garage.

"I remember the mastermind telling me the right-hand man would always be next to us. He took advantage of Haru's depression and got him to work for him," Chiaki went on, lowering her head. "Just like Yutaka and me. The mastermind uses other peoples' weaknesses and takes a hold of them that way. He sweet talks them, then manipulates them like they're a pawn to this game. Once you get involved with him, you can't escape. You're like a bug stuck in a spider's web..."

Her magenta hues glinted with a fierce emotion.

"I believe everything Haru did up until now was by the orders given to him from the mastermind. And... he was the one to kill Akira Minamotm."

K-Kill... Tadashi's eyes widened by a fraction. He recalled the words Haru had said to him before, which made him shiver.

"I would've been fine with Sasarin coming. That way I could kill another member like he told me to do."

He was talking about the mastermind... Tadashi trembled. It was true... Haru really was...

"Wait!" Ryuu shouted, slamming his fists onto the table. "That makes no sense! The police said she died by committing suicide! There's no way Haru—"

"Joichiro Minamoto is the city's sheriff, remember?" Chiaki stated simply. "Which is why this is odd."

"Odd?" Atsushi exclaimed. "You're not making any sense, Asahina!"

The redheaded female laughed, calmly pulling a strand of her hair behind her ear. "If his daughter was murdered, obviously he would partake in the search for the answer. It's common sense he would want to get to the bottom of his daughter's death, no matter what. But instead, it was labelled off as suicide and he gave up along with it. That, in itself, is odd. Which is why I begun to question my theory."

Ayame furrowed her eyebrows at her words.

"If Tomachi was the one who murdered Akira, why would her parents lay low on this case?" A small smirk tugged the corners of her lips up. "That's when it hit me. Tomachi was ordered to threaten her with death. He plunged her to despair and terror and told her to give up on this case and let everyone to believe she betrayed them and left them behind..."

Yasuo flinched.

"And that's why Joichiro Minamoto, realizing that his daughter was so very petrified, feigned her death and told everyone it was suicide," Chiaki chuckled humourlessly. "It really is a cruel thing to do but that's the truth."

"The truth?!" Ryuu scoffed. "But—"

"Sasahara, Tomachi is truly the right-hand man as she is saying," Ayame cut him off short, stepping towards the magenta haired girl. Her violet hues met hers. "I was beginning to suspect the same thing; including Minamoto's death as well. This was what I had wanted to tell you all but... it seems like I've been beaten to the punch."

Ayame's eyes narrowed. With her words, she was assured of it now. Haru had acted that way to all of them on purpose for months and had deliberately stopped Chiaki from confessing that back at the camp after all.

~ FLASHBACK ~

As if Saya had recalled something, her head jerked back down and her gaze shot left and right. "Everyone!"

"What?" Akira questioned in surprise. Her actions had piqued everyone's interest.

Saya bit her lip before starting, "I... About Yutaka and Oogawa... They—"

"Aww, Sasarin is blushing!" Haru yelled and everyone veered their attention towards Ryuu.

"I-I wasn't! Haru!" He blushed beet red.

"Sasarin and Saya sitting in a tree~!"

"Shut it!"

~ END OF FLASHBACK ~

Chiaki forced a laugh in response to Ayame's look, scratching the back of her head. "I can't believe I'd be able to up Ayame like this! I never could have wished for this to happen!"

Ayame's still expression never faltered.

"I regret every action I did concerning all of you. I caused you to feel immeasurable amount of sorrow and pain, and for that, I am sorry!" She bowed. She got back up. "Even though I just met you all in the academy, and even when I wasn't suppose to get too attached, you all are the only people that have accepted me."

"I truly had fun." She smiled. "Laughing, arguing, joking... I'm so glad I was able to be with everyone until the very last moment. You guys gave someone like me your kindness. I—"

The white-haired senior let out an exhale, spinning around. "You truly have changed."

Chiaki dropped her hand to her side and smiled warmly, gazing up at all of them. "I missed you all."

Everyone fumbled. Ryuu looked away with pursed lips while Tadashi stared at her, not knowing how to respond. Yasuo stuffed his hands into his pockets while Atsushi diligently saluted. Mayumi was still furiously biting on her thumbnail, Juzo was as inexpressive as ever, while Katsura was smiling softly to her words. Even Ayame had cracked a grateful smile.

Despite the things revealed to them, they all admitted it too. They had missed her. And this was the first thing in a long time that had left them this way.

They kept losing person after person after person; bombarded with revelations after revelations; problems after problems. But now, things seemed to finally be looking up from that loophole of despair they kept going through.

Chiaki went on, "I'm hoping the rest of them are well too..."

Noticing the looming aura enveloping everyone there, a sole tear rolled down her cheek and she feigned a laugh.

"I see..." she mumbled, trying to keep herself from crying. "I wish I could've said goodbye..."

"Everyone..." Ayame spoke up before anyone could bother to console Chiaki. Her back was facing them, and she furled her fingers into fists. "Let's go confirm whether it's true or not."

Facing the teens who all wore determined expressions alongside with her, Ayame bobbed her head. They were no longer going to dillydally in this case.

"We're visiting the Minamoto residence tomorrow."