Maroon Corridor IV

Maroon Corridor:

Shenanigan: 9.3.2018

The monitor screens of different parts of the schools did a little job dimming the darkness. The security room smelled of stocking. I never like being there.

I turned to Lo, "how long have you been here?"

"All night," he said and looked at Ame, "and you know who responsible for it?"

"Ame told you to?"

He nodded, "she believed there was more of what she found yesterday?"

Lo knew the case then, so it saved me some time. I began, "she mentioned suspects."

"Ah yes," Lo proceeded to lean toward the screen, his hand was fast to type. "I guessed Ame want to go back at it again, but I can't afford to help her through a week of footage," he snorted. " So..." He opened a folder named Ame's thing. There were more videos files to scroll. "I clipped them."

"I'm thinking these footages," I pushed Ame to sit, "were taken by the two cameras I noticed on my way here. The one in the classroom's hallway, and the stairs."

Lo smiled, "and you are right. Though not on the corridor you're hoping to, but the cameras were installed almost at both ends of the corridor."

Ame was poking my back and I tried my best to ignore her. "Then we can identify who went in and out."

"We're talking about these clips."

He clicked on the first clip and described it slowly to me, "this is the footage for the first incident."

"Ame must have measured how to identify who went in the toilet and who didn't."

"I don't remember the exact time but yes she did. As you can see in the footage this is our first suspect." A short boy with a bowl haircut appeared. Lo continued, "his class was on the floor, so he could use the other toilet which is nearer, he decided not to. So he passed the hallway camera as he went inside the corridor. He didn't appear in any of the cameras for ten minutes until another suspect appeared."

"This was recorded from the stairs' camera. A group of students," he pointed at their wrinkled and unjust uniformed and put an emphasis, "bad students. They climbed up and went into the maroon corridor. They didn't appear in the hallway after that. I thought they used the corridor to hang out--because there's rarely a teacher come there. But when this happened...they appeared back in the stairs with our first suspect."

"He doesn't seem please." I indicated the first suspect.

Lo shrugged, "he doesn't, yes. It's up to Ame...I guess it's you now, huh?"

He continued, "then the janitor came in and reported the door was vandalised."

"Just that?"

"Well..." He scratched his shaven beard, "there's this girl if you must know. Which I think is unnecessary because the case happened in the gentleman's toilet. Also, she always used the maroon corridor's toilet, not just when the incident happened. Anyway, she was actually the first one to enter the maroon corridor before our first suspect. And she left to her class after the incident was reported."

I shook my head, "Ame would laugh if she heard that." Which she couldn't because she was closing her eyes and ears, which I deducted just her trying to imagine a land of pockies.

"But she always laughs."

"Yes, it makes me wanted to reconsider dying. But when you said this information is unnecessary, that is wrong. Though she was not at the gentleman's, she probably heard something. The door was banged anyway."

Lo chuckled as he put a hand behind his neck, "aw, you're right. You guys are smart."

I didn't appreciate his compliment. If I was so smart then why did I get into this situation? "Let's move to the second incident then."

"Ah yes, it is here. This happened just three days ago. Our first suspect entered again. And also the girl. Well, at first glance nothing much happened here but the janitor, with his cleaning tools, entered the corridor. The boy then left. Three minutes later, the janitor used the stairs to climb down. Then the girl. Well, no one entered the maroon corridor again...until!"

I frowned and suggested, "you're hinting as if this is a horror story."

"It is!" Shouted him. Lo always loved good ol' ghost stories. "Like I said, I was studying the footage. There were absolutely no one should be in there. Yet, someone reported of the door vandalised!"

It did give me a surprise, "now that's confusing. I get it why Ame would love to tell this story in her stream."

Lo laughed, "she was so confident!" as she always would I interjected in my mind. "She said she'd delete her account if she couldn't do it today."

I looked at Ame. Her head was up, dozing off with drools clear enough to see in the darkness. Was her drool gold, too? "Well, if she's here your ghost fantasy would be her laugh stock for a whole minute."

"Now, shenanigan. You don't believe in me, too?"

"Well, yes. I have a logical explanation. That it was not a ghost but a student who had entered the toilet and decided to report it hours later."

Lo stared at me, "er, well, yes that sounds logical. But he must have a reason why."

I shrugged, "wonder. He must be a boy, shy or simply, he was the culprit."

"Hah, yes. The culprit reported his own crime."

I pushed a smile, "thought you've been with Ame longer than me. That's the most likely explanation. Because only kids deciphered this as a ghost doing and leak it on social media."

Lo rolled his eyes, "I swear if one day some spirit attacks you two, you would regretting not to believed me."

"Right..." I yawned.

My hand tugged. Ame snapped from her doze and stretched her hands.

I asked her, "I hope you're you now."

Ame laughed. Like she was her now and said, "I had a dream shenanigan! Oh, Hi Lo. Well anyway, here is this dream. I was dreaming I was out of my pocket stick when I investigated this certain case. Humm, it was a good nap. I should be...pocky!" When Ame reached out for her pocky box and shook it around, she returned to retardness if there was a word for that.

"Well there she goes," Lo said.

"Anyway, Lo. How about today's footage."

Lo smirked, "ah, this is an interesting one again. After two incidents happened Ame decided to close the door after she complained how careless was she can't afford a spy camera. In the footage, yes: No one entered as Ame intended to. Yet the third incident happened."

"Reported by the same way from the last incident," I suggested and regretted. Lo took the pleasure of what I said.

"Nope," he smiled at me as if he was ten steps ahead of me. He pulled out his index finger...to our great detective.

"Amelia Holmes herself reported the third incident."