Phantom of the music room [3]: Truth

"Now then, let's take take it from the top."

I put my hands in my pockets and assumed the stance of a certain great detective I admire.

"Our culprit in this case heard about the phantom of the music room. If i had to guess, he probably heard about it from his girlfriend or someone close to him...."

This was not a guess but a product of mind reading. However, no one seemed to question the reason for that 'guess' due to the flow of logic thus far.

"....As the vice president of the newspaper club, he had sufficient knowledge of the history of our school as well as the renovations over the years which led him to the conclusion of a secret compartment in this very room, that was when he started making preparations for his devious plan"

The existence of a secret compartment was a truth I couldn't have explained with my limited information. However, it was a 'truth' from pretty boy's deduction that has been accepted in their subconscious..... His words served as an excellent springboard

I took a deep breath to build suspense then continued.

"First, he approached Ms Milligan, our music teacher who just so happens to have absolute pitch. He was able to get her to play the tune of the phantom and secretly recorded it. Then, he offered to clean the music room alone yesterday—a ploy that gave him ample time to locate the compartment."

Sara slowly started moving towards the door to intercept our culprit in the event he tried to escape.

"After finding the compartment and cleaning the room, he locked up and headed downtown to have the key duplicated. After that, his preparations were complete"

Phase one clear, on to phase two

"The next day, our culprit returned the key to Ms Milligan then went about his day waiting for his time to strike. He could've stolen this small trophy at anytime but if I had to guess...."

I slowly started walking around the room

"..... I'd say he did it during music class and slipped it into Ms Snow's bag— since she didn't have much friends and their class was just before lunch break, it'll be difficult to find someone who could verify her alibi. At the end of class, he headed to dispose the gloves in hopes that waste disposal will destroy the evidence. Luckily, library girl got there just in time."

Now for the best part

"After disposing of the gloves, he waited for Ms Milligan to leave the music room then he unlocked the door with his spare key, left traces of clay on the lock and placed the speaker inside the piano. You might be wondering why he went through the trouble of doing that but it was actually part of his plan. Yes, he was counting on Ms Milligan's absolute pitch to divert our attention outside the room, all to hide a simple truth....."

I stopped moving while backing my audience.

".....and that is, THE TROPHIES NEVER LEFT THIS ROOM TO BEGIN WITH!"

"Eehhh?!"

Brock couldn't help but exclaim which added to the weight of my proclamation. I guess you're good for something after all, Brock.

I turn round to face my audience.

"That's right! Our culprit took the trophies and placed them in the secret compartment, started playing the pre-recorded music timing it to stop right when the teacher returned, then walked out of the room and locked the door. He was planning to meet up with his girlfriend after that to set up an alibi, then return for his loot at night once everyone had left..."

I took my hands out of my pockets for a dramatic display.

"HOWEVER, something unexpected happened after he locked the door!"

"Which was?"

Brock asked, his eyes beaming with excitement. Nice assist Brock.

"Ms Milligan's return! She forgot something important in the music room and returned to get it. With his escape route blocked, he had nowhere to run or hide so he had no choice but to pretend he was here on official business. Our culprit stopped the music as she unlocked the door and 'witnessed' the theft alongside her. "

Putting my left hand back in my pocket, I continued.

"Shortly after, he was contacted by his girlfriend who was awaiting his arrival and he told her about what he witnessed. That brought Sara and I to the music room where he took the lead in the investigation trying to divert suspicion from himself. "

I started moving around again.

"He had suspects brought in and waited for Ms Milligan to point out fact that it was a recording, so that he'll have the opportunity to place the magnet in the jam while inspecting the lock. All that time, he never left the music room even once because he was afraid of arousing suspicion"

Miguel O'Hara's final and most fatal mistake, born as a result of excessive caution and guilt.

"That's right, once we conduct a body search of pretty boy over here, we'll find the spare key— the decisive evidence that proves..."

I stopped to imitate the smartest detective in manga history, I was missing the glasses though.

".....The culprit, Miguel O'Hara, IS YOU!"

A quick body search revealed the spare key and gave substance to my 'deductions'.

Everyone in the room were halfway between elation and confusion, each trying to process these events in their own way. That was right before Ms Milligan brought us back down to earth.

"That's all well and good, but where exactly is the secret compartment? I'll get fired if I don't find those trophies"

She asked with a sullen expression.

"Oh, about that— I noticed something while inspecting the room for clues"

Yeah right. You can thank mind reading for this one as well.

I opened the door to the storeroom and lifted the rug. Then, I started hitting the floor looking for the entrance. I opened it and lo and behold, all the trophies were right there.

"Ohh thank you! Now I can keep my job!"

She exclaimed while hugging me.

Honestly, I won't mind staying like this forever. However, she was already late for the faculty meeting so she had to assemble the trophies immediately.

I stepped out of the store room leaving Ms Milligan and Anna to retrieve the trophies when all of a sudden—

*Slap

"You.....monster"

Library girl muttered with tears rolling down her eyes. I had seen the slap coming ofcourse, but I refused to dodge it cause I knew I deserved at least that much.

"You....lied to me, y-you used me. HOW DARE YOU!!"

She ran out of music room crying.

I couldn't blame her, after all, I made her sift through dirt believing she was helping out her boyfriend when infact, she was digging the very hole I used to bury him.

"Quit worrying so much, Katie'll forgive you eventually"

"Kya—"

"There's that 'kya' again. Who knew the ruthless delinquent who beat up 30 guys had such a feminine side."

The ice queen had her mischievous grin shinning brighter than ever. She had successfully tied up Miguel O'Hara and was probably looking for a new prey to taunt.

We both left the music room and were walking together on our way to class.

"You here to scold my methods too?"

"No, actually....."

Her face suddenly turned serious. It was a rather beautiful expression I couldn't help get captivated by.

"....You did good. The moment Miguel chose to steal, he should've prepared himself for the consequences. I know Katie understands that as well, which is why I'm sure she'll forgive you with time."

"That so?"

"Yep. You were really cool out there, well done."

The pure smile I saw on her face was unlike any of her previous expressions. I had to turn my face away to hide my reddened cheeks.

"By the way...."

"....."

"Why do you think he did it? What exactly was his motive?"

"If I had to guess....."

This was not a guess at all.

"..... I'd say he was probably in debt. Most likely owing some dangerous people downtown and was desperate to make quick cash to pay it off. "

I didn't want to pile on his motive on my mountain of speculations so I chose the safe option and ommited it from my performance. The thing about getting too close to the sun and all that.

"Hmmm.... Yeah, that makes sense. I'm completely satisfied"

She said while stretching both her arms above her head with fingers interlaced, reaching the sky. That motion made something already humongous look even bigger.

I tried banishing the worldly desires from my mind as I asked the next question.

"You're not angry the phantom of the music room turned out to be a hoax?"

"There are as many stories as there are people. A single false rumor isn't enough to get me down"

"You'll believe in the paranormal till the very end, won't you? By the way, who do you think the phantom is?"

"It was probably a first year. They aren't allowed to use the piano after all."

That was as good an answer as any. That said, something was still bugging me about this case, although I couldn't quite place my finger on what exactly that 'something' was.

"Hey, I wanted to ask?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you free on Saturday?"

Is this what I think it is? Is she asking me out on a d-d-date? No, no, no, calm down. I'm probably just overthinking this. I won't fall for that classic romcom trap.

"Adam?"

"Ohkay, calm down and play it cool."

I thought to myself.

"I don't have plans."

"Great— there's something I'll like to talk to you about. Could we meet up somewhere?"

"Sure"

We exchanged contacts and headed to our respective classes.

"It's way too early to tell whether it's a date or not, so don't get the wrong idea"

I muttered those words to myself as I went to my seat.

**********

Saturday came by in the blink of an eye and all I could think about was how much I didn't want to leave my one-room apartment.

Sara and I messaged each other frequently since the phantom of the music room incident and we were gradually getting closer. While it's true that we mostly argued about the paranormal, there were also times we talked about other things like music and animals.

Yesterday, we agreed on where to meet for our date, no, outing today— well, more like she told me she wanted to go to the amusement park the next town over and I just mindlessly agreed with her.

"Aaargh! Why the hell did I say yes to going to a stupid amusement park?! An amusement park means huge crowds of people, just thinking about the number of thoughts I'll be processing is enough to drive me insane!"

I continued my screams of agony while rolling on my bed for another ten minutes, It's kinda one of the few perks of living alone.

Even now, I still avoid crowded places. As much as I wanted to reintegrate into society, there's a limit to how much 'noise' I could take, processing that much information is so painful my head usually feels like it's going to split apart.

"Well, I'm going with Sara today so if I focus on her silent thoughts I should be fine.... probably."

I got up from my bed to wash my face. I chose to get myself ready while I was at it and before I knew it I was raring to go.

I arrived at the train station shortly after to find that the trains were not running yet. There was a sign at the ticket booth explaining the situation.

'Please be advised, in the spirit of celebrating Maya Stone day, train lines will be running from 10:00am till 8:00pm today, thank you for your cooperation and Happy Maya Stone day'

Just who the hell is this 'Maya Stone' person to begin with and why are they interrupting our schedule just for her?! Ooh, what a pain.

I checked the time on my phone, it was 09:03am. I was supposed to meet Sara at exactly 10am but due to Maya whatever day, that's not happening. I also realized I had forgotten my wristwatch— Oh well, it'll all work out..... probably.

I decided to kill time by watching an anime right after sending a message to Sara informing her that I might be a little late.

A little under 5 minutes after, someone I vaguely remembered entered the station. I tried not to look in her direction hoping she won't notice me but my efforts were futile.

"You're that kid from the music room right?"

You're only a year older! Doesn't that make you a kid too?

"Y-Yeah"

I didn't want to run into anyone from the phantom of the music room incident, just remembering my dramatic performance that day was enough to make me cringe every night in bed.

That didn't stop the upperclassman known as Rachel Snow from taking a seat beside me.

"Pfft— You're watching cartoons? Lame. You're not a kid anymore y'know?"

That's rich coming from the person who called me "a kid" less than a minute ago.

In spite of my reluctance to talk with her, she crossed a line that many dare not cross and ignited the fiery flames of passion deep within my soul.

We ended up having a heated argument on the subject— Me, defending my animes to my dying breath and her bombarding my fortress with rebuttals.

In the end, I convinced her to actually watch one before judging. We ended up watching animes together for a little over an hour and missing the 10:00 train.

"Hahhhh, that was...actually fun. I'm sorry for judging earlier. Could you recommend some other animes I could watch?"

"Sure thing."

I was so caught up in the spirit of anime that we ended up exchanging contact info.

"Thanks. Oh, and..... Thanks for helping me during the music room incident. If not for you, I'd probably be in jail right now, so..... Thank you."

"Uh...y-yeah, no problem."

Her statement wasn't what shocked me but rather the expression on her face. She was blushing, full on blushing! Seeing that expression kinda made me feel a little embarrassed as well.

The tall, pale beauty made her way to the ticketing booth. I did so as well and boarded the 10:30 train.

Running into Rachel reminded me of the slight unease I felt once that case was over. Although, I still couldn't quite put my finger on the source of that feeling.

I got to the the amusement park at 10:50 where Sara was waiting by the entrance. She was wearing a long white dress with black boots, a sun hat and a black handbag.

"You're late!"

"Sorry, I didn't know the trains ran late today..."

".....20 minutes"

"Huh?"

"It takes 15 minutes to reach your stop from the station and 2 minutes here, that's 17 minutes. Let's say 20 minutes accounting for any distractions..."

Her glare seemed like it would freeze my soul solid.

"So then.... Care to explain what you were doing for the remaining 30 minutes?!"

"Oh... well, y-you see, I-I had to go to the bathroom, so I kinda missed the 10:00 train"

I said while scratching the back of my hair with some remorse.

It didn't take a mind reader to know she wasn't buying it though, but I couldn't exactly tell her that I made her wait so long because I lost track of time watching animes with another woman.

"*Sigh— As punishment, we'll do whatever I want for the rest of the day, no ifs, ands or buts"

"*Sigh—Ohkay"

"What did you say?!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Holy crap she's scary.

"C'mon, the haunted house opens at 11, let's get in line"

She said pulling me by the sleeve

Haunted house? This is the first I'm hearing of this. Well, at least she's smiling again

I took my place in line while Sara went to get us some drinks. I offered to go but she said "what did I say about no buts?". Thanks to that I'm stuck line with over 50 different minds and a mascot I hope doesn't notice me— Too late.

"Never pegged you as a theme park guy, dead eyes!"

Seriously?! There are over 50 people here! Do you have some kind of sixth sense to ruin my day or something? Go do your job you damn mascot!

"Oh.... Hey, Brock"

I replied rather unenthusiastically.

"You come here for a date or something?! Haha"

"...."

"Yeah, listen.... I....wanted to apologise for how I've treated you so far, you're actually pretty cool—"

"..."

" —Though, in my defense, you were kinda asking for it... Michelle just wanted to help, y'know. She's nice like that...."

Even if I explained just how wrong his impression of the queen bee was, I doubt he'd believe me— Honestly, I doubt anyone would believe me, so I chose the path of silence.

"... I know this doesn't make up for how I've treated you but.... I'M REALLY SORRY"

He said bowing his head. He had no ulterior motives or devious plots, he was truly apologetic, but—

"I want to start over from scratch, so please, can we be friends?"

—If I chose to be his friend, that'll give Michelle an opening she could use to interact with me more frequently and eventually win me over to her side.

It won't matter if I know what she thinking. She has the social skills and charisma to achieve her goal if given the opportunity to engage in frequent one on one conversations with me which was why I decided on silence as my deterrent.

I'm sorry Brock, I don't realy have anything against you as a person, but I can't risk my pride.

"I have no interest in making friends. Also, stop bowing, you're making me look bad."

I said as the line started moving.

I realized that I had dealt a hurtful blow to the young jock and that made my heart ache a little. Don't know if that was the reason, but my drink tasted a little bitter.

I and Sara made our way into the haunted house where 'spooky delights await', but for me the jumpscares of some guys in costumes didn't really faze me since I knew their exact locations.

"You seem to be good with this kind of things"

"Well, I won't say I'm particularly bad at it at least"

My bravado was short-lived once we started getting 'attacked' by fully automated jumpscares. I managed to maintain my pokerface throughout the whole ordeal but my heart was beating so fast you'd think it was an engine.

"Fufufu, you look like you've seen a ghost"

Guess she saw right through me. The uncontrollable laughter of my companion made me feel a little uneasy.

"*Sigh— I haven't laughed that much in a while. Alrighty, let's go grab a bite to eat then we're off to the rides!"

She chose an average looking diner for our lunch break then handed me her handbag.

"I need to use the bathroom so go on in and order for both of us"

"Okay.... What will you be having?"

"I'll leave that to your discretion, fufu"

I entered the diner and realized I'd walked into a trap.

I could've walked out and chosen another diner, but I was with Sara's belongings including her phone. Since I couldn't read her mind, I'd run the risk of losing her in a crowd.

I also thought about just waiting outside the diner but that'll just be weird. Also, the noise outside will give me a migraine.

I took my seat prepared to face this challenge with gusto.

"Weelcome, may I take your ord....oh, you"

The part time waitress, library girl was still as disgusted with me as she was the day she slapped me.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened in the music ro..."

".... it's not your fault, Miguel did something bad, so he has to face the consequences."

Her mouth was saying one thing but her mind was the exact opposite.

"You think an apology makes every better? I'll never forgive you!"

She was still incredibly mad at me for what I'd done, and I couldn't exactly blame her.

"Still though, if there's anything I can do...."

"...You can order"

She was doing her best to hold herself together and leave my table as soon as possible. I placed my order and she left.

Seems my gusto wasn't strong enough.

"How'd it go?"

Kya— I really have to get used to this. At least I didn't say it out loud this time.

"That bad, huh?"

Sara could tell from my sullen expression that her plan had failed.

"Well, these things take time so quit worrying so much. I'm sure she'll forgive you before long."

"Kay"

We had our meals then headed off to our second round of fun.

We rode the ferris wheel, rollercoaster and merry-go-round, tried out different games like ring toss, sharpshooting and the punch machine and even stopped by the arcade where I lost to Sara in multiple games.

Before we knew it, evening came by.

"I need to take a quick bathroom break before we leave. For real this time, fufu. You wait by the bench"

" Yeah, sure."

A sat on a bench while she headed for the restroom. At that moment, the number of activities I'd engaged in on this date and the level of fun I had started taking it's toll.

I was starting to feel sleepy and was gradually dozing off.

Complete and utter darkness, a little girl out in the distance running towards me but never closing the distance between us. Crying, screaming, holding her hand out to me.

A face I couldn't see, a voice I couldn't hear, a hand I couldn't reach. The crushing weight of despair within complete and total darkness.

I woke up to see a view that made me glad I was alive.

"You're crying. You feeling okay?"

I took my head off Sara's lap

" Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bad dream"

It was a dream I had frequently when I was first cursed with this power, haven't had it for a while though.

"I see..."

I checked the time on my phone, it was 7:23.

"If we hurry, we might still catch the last train"

Sara said, pulling me by the sleeve. She could've woken me once she returned from the restroom but didn't. Guess the ice queen is kinda sweet after all.

We arrived at the train station and headed for the platform. Sara seemed to have bought tickets for the of us while I was asleep.

We boarded the train right on time, however, what awaited us inside was something unimaginable— infact, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my very own eyes.

"Just....what the hell....is this?"