Chapter 5

"Morning everyone!" Tao yelled, knocking pots and pans together. This was no way to wake up in the morning, not in a situation like this. Leon felt like yelling at him for telling the murderer and master mind where they were, but he realised that they already knew where the group was. He got up and went into the main area. There he was, still knocking the pots and pans. He looked to his left and saw a post it note on the wall. That was odd, they didn't need reminders, did they? He took it off the wall and read it.

"A clock is ticking, counting down to events that will occur. Whether they tick down to tragedy or a blessing, you will have to wait and see. I think you know though what it will count down to. You have 24 hours. We will visit again tomorrow to give you some more news."

There was no signature on the note and the handwriting was very neat. Leon looked up and saw Lunar slapping Tao. Well that was a mood changer. He walked up to where most of the group were standing and spoke.

"Does anybody recognise this handwriting?" Leon asked, waving the post it in the air. He saw that everybody was there except Harvey. Was he... No he wasn't. He was a heavy sleeper after all. Leon handed the note to Lucy, who examined it then passed it Lunar. The cycle went on until it went to Lucy again. Nobody recognised it.

"Well it's a note left by the murderer. I say we all write the exact same note down. Get some paper out everyone." Leon said. Everyone grabbed a piece of paper and sat down. They all looked at the note and wrote it down. Once they all did so, they placed it into the middle.

"Ahah! I knew it was you Lunar!" Hiro exclaimed. Everyone seemed confused. Lunar's handwriting did look slightly similar, but it wasn't the exact same.

"That's... that's her normal handwriting." Zac pointed out. Everyone agreed. They had all seen Lunar's handwriting before since she made handwritten stories and put notes on some of her drawings. Hiro was defeated. There was no proof that Lunar was the murderer. The other copies didn't look anything like the handwriting on the note.

"So, we can guess that the murderer isn't in this room." Leon sighed.

"Do you guys smell that?" Lucy said. Everyone smelt something. A familiar smell of... decay. Hiro stood up, and slowly walked towards the bathroom door and opened it. The smell was stronger as soon as he opened it, and there was a dead Harvey. Lunar saw the body and hugged Lucy straight away. Tao looked at Leon, who only looked at the crime. It was almost like he was used to it already. How could he adjust to something so traumatic so quickly?

"I'd presume that there will be a death each night, but that can't be the case. We have 24 hours until something happens. There will only be one more death this night. They don't plan to kill us all..." Leon deduced. Tao couldn't help but agree with what Leon said. It seemed like it would be correct. Tao saw the note himself, and recalling the recent events, it would be safe to assume that there would be one more death this night. It wasn't a nice fact to know, but it was certainly helpful.

"Tao? Come on, we need to take a look at the scene. See if we can find any clues, I guess." Tao was interrupted by Leon offering him a hand to get up. Tao took it and they went to Harvey's murder scene. The smell was stronger than the other day. The body was definitely older. There wasn't any murder weapon, but Harvey was hit in the head with a blunt object. A hammer, maybe? No, as far as Tao was concerned there weren't any hammers in the dorm. Why would the school give them hammers anyway?

"Tao, are you feeling alright? You were just mumbling something we couldn't hear and your eyes were closed." Marley said while grabbing Tao's shoulder. Tao seemed confused. He... he didn't have his eyes closed. He was able to see the body. Or he had observed it enough to see it in his head, clear as day.

"I'm sure my eyes weren't closed, and I don't remember saying anything." He told Marley. Everyone seemed shocked and confused.

"You were mumbling something that we couldn't hear. It was almost like you fell asleep and started to sleep talk." Zac said, placing his hands in his coat pockets. Tao felt like he might as well have a question mark above his head - not only did he not understand the situation, but nobody else did either. He looked to his left and saw Leon, who didn't look confused or shocked like the others. It looked more like... he was worried?

"I'm fine. I haven't felt nauseous, I haven't had a headache, I haven't felt tired since I first woke up. I feel perfectly fine. I must have been lost in thought..." Tao said. Everyone seemed to have their questions answered, so they got back to the investigation.

"So... who was last to speak to Harvey?" Leon asked. Hiro was about to say he did, but...

"I was the last one to speak to him." Lunar said. Everyone looked at her almost immediately. Leon nodded to say she could continue speaking.

"It was around 9pm last night. I was about to get changed and then Harvey walked in. He didn't do anything, Lucy, don't worry. I said he could get changed before me and then I left. Instead of going back into the bathroom, I changed in my room instead."

"Did you injure him in any way?" Hiro asked. Lunar looked at him, slightly annoyed.

"Nothing severe. I only threw a trainer at him. That was only when he first entered though." She said. Hiro looked like he had a stroke of genius.

"Can you show us the trainers from last night?" He asked, sounding slightly triumphant. Lunar nodded and went to her and Lucy's room. She came back later with her trainers and there was not a single drop of blood on them. Hiro even smelled them to see if the blood had dried to match the colour of the trainers. There was no sign that blood had ever been there.

"Well, a trainer couldn't have been the weapon." Tao mumbled. He was in the state he was before, again. Leon smiled slightly.

"The normally dumb boy has proven a point. A trainer is a useless weapon. It may be blunt, but it would take a long while to actually kill somebody with it." He explained.

"Then what is the weapon?" Zac questioned. There was no answer for a while. There were barely any blunt objects and Tao kept murmuring incoherent statements until suddenly he said something that people could hear and understand.

"They must have brought a hammer of their own..." That was an answer that made sense, probably the only one that did.

"He's hung out with you too much Leon..." Lucy said. Leon rolled his eyes. Marley asked Lunar if there was anybody else in the room.

"No, not that I could see. It was just me and Harvey in the room." She said.

"Well, I think I see where they hid." Leon said. He pointed to a wardrobe, the doors were open. Hiro went over and looked inside. The only things in there were clothes and shoes. No blood or weapons, just things you'd expect to find in a wardrobe.

"I'm starting to think that these murderers are skilled and have definitely killed people before. Otherwise, there would be more evidence." Marley said. Zac nodded in agreement. Leon walked into the living room, hands covering his face. Lunar woke Tao up from his trance and they all followed Leon. Tao was the first to try and say something to him. He only responded with

"Not now." Hiro, Marley and Zac seemed to be fearful once he said that. Lucy, Lunar and Tao seemed confused. He said it so bluntly, in a cold tone. It seemed like he was almost making... a difficult decision? Tao tried to speak again, but the mere feeling that something was wrong with Leon made him stop. He wanted to say something, but the "not now" suggested that he shouldn't.

"Well, what do we do? Leon said earlier that we can presume there will be another death tonight. We have to do something." Marley said. Lunar suggested locking the doors, but Tao disagreed.

"They can easily break in. If they have a hammer that could kill somebody with one hit to the head, they should be able to break down that door. Besides, if they broke in, we would barely notice. We would've heard a thud or maybe even a scream during Harvey's murder." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"How about we all stay together for the night? Then that way we could fight the murderer and mastermind off and take them by surprise!" Lucy exclaimed. Before anybody else could answer, Leon stepped in.

"No, that would get us all killed. So it's better if we let the one person die. And I've decided who it will be." Everyone seemed to be frustrated as soon as he said that.

"I'm not going to be a sacrifice to the murderer." Lunar yelled. Leon rolled his eyes.

"It's not you, Lunar. It's not anybody. I'd rather take the risk of being a sacrifice..." He mumbled. Everyone's expressions went from anger, to shock. Leon? Putting his life at risk for others? That wasn't like him.

"Leon, what's gotten into you? You wouldn't do something like this..." Hiro stuttered. Leon turned his back on the group. He then sighed and spoke.

"Have you ever met somebody that you want to make happy? It's just... in my case, I was rude to everyone, then this person helped me. I don't know what it is about them I like, it's just that slowly and gradually, they make me a better person. If I were to lose them, it'd probably tear me apart. I don't care about people much, but when I do. I care about them a lot..."

"Not going to lie, you sound like you have feelings for the person. It sounds like something I would say about Zac." Marley said. Leon scoffed.

"I may care for people, but I definitely don't love them. I wouldn't say I do in this case."

"It's Tao you're talking about. You don't need to worry about mentioning his name." Lucy suggested. Tao hit her arm.

"Well... I'd rather not say who. I say I care about people, but I'll never say it to them privately. I won't even mention their name. Besides, Tao isn't the only person I've cared for. Like I've mentioned before, I went to a school before this one." Leon shouted. Lucy shrugged and went to her room, rubbing her arm.

"So... you're saying that you are going to sacrifice yourself to the murderer and mastermind when they are on the way to lower the chances of the person you care about being killed?" Lunar questioned.

"I'm doing it in honour of the person I care about, not to prevent the person being killed." Leon said. Before Leon could do anything else, Tao grabbed his arm.

"I won't allow you to do this! It's pure stupidity. They've probably selected their victim. It's no use Leon! I care about you, and for some reason, you can't see that! So please, just let something happen. You can't interfere with fate." Tao shouted. When Leon looked at him, he saw that the boy grabbing his arm... was crying. The room feel silent, the only noise anybody could hear, was Tao's quiet sobbing. Leon didn't say anything for a minute or two. He just looked down to the boy and hugged him.

"I... I'm sorry Tao... I didn't know it would have this effect on you. I'm only doing this because it's what most people should do. I apologise for my behaviour." He said, then let go. "So what do we do now? I've been stopped from being a sacrifice, so what should we do?"

"I suggest we get rid of the bodies. The smell is starting to bother me." Zac suggested. He was correct. The smell of rotting was getting quite strong and it would take a long time to get used to. It would be best if somebody were to get rid of the bodies.

"I'll get rid of them." Hiro mumbled, then started to get some bin bags. He asked for help, he wouldn't be able to put the bodies away by himself. Lucy decided to almost automatically and mumbled something along the lines of just tell me what to do. They went to Sayori's room first and got to work.

"Maybe we should... do our own things for now." Lunar said. Everyone nodded and parted ways.

* * *

"She just had to tell me to do it by myself. Sure, she helped me put the bodies away, but she won't help me dispose them. Great job, Lucy." Hiro kept whispering to himself and cursing Lucy's name when going to the disposal area. One thing he didn't know, was which bin he would put them in once he was there. As far as he was concerned, the school didn't have a large bin for everything. The bins were separated into plastic, glass and other waste. None of those bins were large enough for two bodies. Hiro got there and set down the bags. The best place to start was to look into the bins and see how much space there was in them. He looked into the waste and it had enough space for one body.

"You don't know how to get the second one in, do you?" A voice asked. It sounded almost... robotic. Hiro turned around and saw a mysterious figure. They wore a hoodie and a mask that looked like a cat or a fox. They were a bit below average height, and they kept their hands in the hoodies pouch.

"I'm guessing you understand what I am, then. Surely anybody who has somewhat decent deduction skills would know by now." The figure said. Hiro could only take one guess. They were the murderer or master mind. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't get any words out. His forehead was damp, it felt like his heart was beating faster than it ever had before. He felt slightly nauseous.

"Can you take off your mask?" Hiro could only say that before taking a deep breath and speaking again. "I'm going to be killed by you, so I may as well know your identity."

"That is something I'd rather not do. Of course, you're right in saying I'll kill you, but you could always run away, or even kill me. So why should I reveal my identity?" The murderer asked. Hiro didn't feel like he had to say anything else. There was no point in trying to find out their identity anymore. Unless...

He looked at the figure walking towards him and slowly starting to run. While they were doing so, the murderer took out a knife and aimed at Hiro's chest. Once close enough, Hiro grabbed an arm, preventing them from doing any damage to him. He tried to disarm them, but they pulled back, making Hiro lose grip on the arm. It caught him off guard and before he could try to defend himself anymore, he felt a warm and thick liquid dripping down from his arm.

There was nothing else to describe it as. It felt like blood was running down his arm. He didn't feel the pain for a while, probably because of the adrenaline. He knew that once he had been stabbed once, that was most likely it. The pain gradually increased, and his legs started to shake and lose balance. His breathing became heavy, and it hurt to take deep inhales. As much as he tried to stand, he couldn't and just fell to the ground.

Crimson was the only thing he could see on his arm. He felt like crying, right then and there. The murderer crouched down to look him in the eyes and... placed their bare hand on his shoulder? Their skin was quite pale, which didn't exactly help him find out their identity, but it looked like they were trying to stop him from bleeding.

"I'm sorry it had to end this way for you. I wanted to do this, but seeing you in this state is quite upsetting," the robotic voice mumbled.

"At least I didn't die a... boring death..." Hiro stuttered, trying not to let tears fall. Before he could say or do anything else, there was a feeling of something going through his stomach, and he took his last breath.