Saihara's POV:

I wasn't surprised when my father had brushed off my 'theory' and allegation, thinking it was just a theory with no foundation or evidence for it. It makes sense, thinking about it, why would you believe someone who only had a word of mouth for a testimony? Still, it didn't change the fact I was still disappointed in him.

I also had to get back into the routine of the house, my life being ruled over by a strict schedule, one I wouldn't dare breaking on the fly, even on the days I was sick I was used to doing the bare minimum, which was usually at least six to ten hours of desk work.

It felt confining due to the relative freedom I had been experiencing. 

Everything in my life is planned by the minute. In exactly four minutes and thirty-nine seconds, I need to finish breakfast and start again on my homeschooling. In two hours thirty-six minutes and twenty-eight seconds, I need to begin looking over the casework assigned for the day or review a past case my father thought I could learn from.

In four hours fifty-five minutes and six seconds, I need to make dinner. It goes on. Not one spot on that schedule is for interacting with my Father beyond in a professional atmosphere, which consisted of him usually checking my homework, or giving him food, along with making sure he didn't die from a caffeine overdose.

The schedule, however, with all the busy work that came with it, might have been the only thing keeping me sane though. Otherwise, I would have gone mad thinking about Ouma.

Honestly, it's terrifying being here again. Not because I am worried about my safety, my father would never hurt me other than a small slap on the wrist if I cursed or disrespected him massively, it's mainly about how I left Ouma behind to himself.

He has no one there, I know that. And I know that something horrible just happened to him when I was reading some reports today.

It was in their local newspaper, front and center. Detailing the death of Ouma Kokoro, or Osaka Kokoro as I researched her maiden name to be, she was just thirty-three years old and had apparently committed suicide in the hospital she was staying in. The same day Ouma had told me he visited her, and she transferred custody over to his Aunt.

She had been described in the article as a bit less sympathetic, with reports and interviews from coworkers describing her as a manic and depressed figure who had developed extreme paranoia and life of a recluse, however just from the few hours I spent researching into her past I knew that women had worked three jobs to support herself and her son, which meant she likely was actually severely sleep-deprived while working and not being intentionally rude to her coworkers, if at all.

What disturbed me was how that was around a week before I left, and judging by how Ouma had been acting I doubt he knew his mother was gone.

Does he know now? Would his aunt and uncle even want to tell him in fear of risking his mental health? Kiibo probably knows, will he do it?

I sighed, would I even tell him if I had the opportunity to...?

...

He told me the truth about the worst day in his life, so if I knew and shied away from telling him, that would make me an awful person.

It was sad to say though, but the added information I could now access for Ouma's mother did help the case.

Father was right when he said right now my only piece of evidence was Ouma's confession to me, which would likely not even count in a court of law. So I would have to work backward, find out who was the one in charge of the massacre and why along with who must've either been manipulated or cooperated to allow this crime to have remained hidden for so many years.

The profile for his mother though also left questions. Momota had told me Ouma's father was an abuser, and dead at that, however, I could find nothing pointing towards his actual death or even a newspaper obituary.

It meant likely Ouma's mother had lied, and due to my home access to some low-level police files, I could see that she had warranted a restraining order on her husband shortly following an annulment of their marriage.

The reason for the annulment being how she was only seventeen years old, and thus still a minor and didn't have consent from a guardian to allow her marriage, Asahi Ouma though appeared to have not shown up for any of those trials though the judge still ruled in favor of Ouma's mother who also had full custody over Ouma unsurprisingly.

But it was after this Asahi Ouma was officially declared missing, with the official date being the day Ouma's mother claimed to have kicked him out of their apartment, which had been in her name still.

This even might have been the reason Ouma's mother moved to the same town as Kiibo and her sister's family, to prevent him from finding her. Though I suppose it failed.

But she kept his name, Ouma. In legal terms she should have been registered as Kokoro Osaka, even Ouma likely could have changed his name...

So why didn't she? Did she just not think of it, or did she have some other reason to keep using the same name?

I wish I could ask her...maybe I can get in contact with Ouma's aunt and uncle, even if the two weren't close they could probably provide some insight into why.

This might not even matter to the case though, it had happened nearly a decade before the incident.

But there was a surprising lack of information on Asahi Ouma himself, all that they have is a name, even the photos of him including the one turned in to the police are gone, without ever making their way to the online database. His parents had also been reported dead for the previous three years, so any information regarding his home life was also lacking at best. It's as if he never existed.

She probably doesn't have any photos of him either, but maybe Ouma remembers what he looks like or his other family at least...?

Ouma looks exactly like his mother so that doesn't help me find out what his father might look like..it's too mysterious...

His disappearance and the lack of information were too neatly done, it doesn't seem like a coincidence so...

I sighed migraine coming on, as I printed and organized my notes on what I could, if I returned to the town I would have to add collecting more information on Asahi to my list, along with actually recorded testimonials from Momota, Harukawa, and off course Ouma.

There was also investigating the crime scene and the school, maybe finding information on why the sub was hired and whatever background he likely forged, there is so much work and so little I can do while away this is too much I can't do this by myself.

"Shuichi" My Father called snapping me out of my thoughts. I quickly turned around and saw my Father leaning against the doorframe to my room.

"Yes, Father?" I asked. "Tell me, how did you learn about the suicide while you were there?" He asked, his tone was unrecognizable as I decided to stick to the bare minimum.

"I investigated and someone told me" I answered him and he looked at me satisfied. "Good, then you are coming along as a detective then" he congratulated me which was a big shock honestly.

"We have barely ever gotten a decent report in that town on the victims of that case, you think Shoto would pursue it further...his kid after all..." he seemed to whisper the last part to himself and I shifted uneasily.

Does Uncle know what happened? Or does he know it wasn't a suicide at the very least...

"So, I ask you did you find anything while you were there about your cousin? Did you find anything in her room?" He asked and I looked at him confused. "Find what?" I asked and he sighed.

"A suicide note" he responded and my eyes widened. "No, I couldn't find anything like that in the house," I told him, "and you got your idea about that being a lie from the survivor," He asked and I paused.

"Yeah, I did" I answered. My Father looked intrigued "they say the boy was scarred for life by the attempt" he stated, "tell me how his mind is" he asked. "He...he's hurting," I told him, "he tried to commit suicide while I was there...he got stopped though by a friend...he's starting to speak again," I told him and he looked shocked.

"He is starting to talk?" He asked, "what does he say?" He pushed further. Should I tell him about the murder? No. I shouldn't until I know he's trustworthy. I probably already said too much anyway.

"He talked about what happened and sometimes says hi, he doesn't usually speak though unless he is very emotional," I told him. My father paused as if in thought, "well, that's more than I was expecting...I might need to send you back I want to finally close this case" he admitted.

"I didn't think you were even this interested, you called me a liar yesterday along with him" I admitted. My Father sighed "honestly, I don't believe it still" he answered. "It leaves more questions than answers...but I'll give you this" he started "prove it with solid irrefutable evidence and I'll think about presenting it for further analysis," he told me.

"So...we can get him justice?" I asked and my Father sighed "if he isn't lying that is" he told me, "I don't think someone would lie about a maniac killing all of his friends" I reminded him, "Saihara when will you learn that maybe your old man can also joke?" My father asked.

"When you make good ones," I told him, and the most shocking thing of the entire conversation, he laughed.