When Henry arrived at school the next morning, a very glum atmosphere had fallen on not only the children but also Chie-sensei the teacher.

"Come on, guys; lighten up! You look like someone's died!"

"Erm …" said Chie.

Henry's post-festival euphoria evaporated instantly. "Oh, damn," he said. "Someone hasn't …"

Shion nodded soberly. "We got the news about half and hour ago. Tomitake-san and Takano-san were both murdered last night."

Henry sat down, feeling really bad. He couldn't believe it. Two murders? He thought Oyashiro-sama only killed one and made another disappear. Tomitake was looking alright the previous night. How could he suddenly have died?

"Sorry," he said guiltily. "I didn't know."

"That's okay," said Keiichi. "It's hit us all pretty bad."

"They both died?"

"We don't know the details, but they managed to identify both bodies."

"When you've all finished," called Chie, silencing the hushed conversations. "There's someone here who'd like to see you."

The door slid open, and a large man with neat grey hair, a black shirt, beige trousers, a red tie and suspenders entered the room.

"How're you doing, kids?" he said in a voice that screamed lung cancer. "My name's Detective Ooishi, for those of you who don't know me. I work with the Okinomiya Police Department.

"I'm here with regards to the murders of Jirou Tomitake and Miyo Takano. I will wish to speak to all of you individually, so if you have anything that may help the investigation, please tell me."

Ooishi interviewed the children in pairs. Henry was interviewed last, along with Shion.

"So, I'll put it to you guys straight; you're old enough to handle this sort of thing.

"Jirou Tomitake was attacked first. The murderer must have jumped him, because Tomitake-san was no pushover in a fight."

Ooishi pulled a number of photos from a cardboard file. All showed an image from some kind of horror movie. Tomitake was lying on his back, clutching a ragged hole where his throat should have been. His body was covered in slashes and tears and chunks of missing flesh. Shion looked ready to faint, and Henry felt ready to puke. The blood had pooled around the body like a shiny crimson backdrop.

"We're not yet sure how he died; blood loss, oxygen deprivation, or drowning."

"Drowning?" asked Shion with a laugh. "On dry land?"

Ooishi, clearly, did not see it as a laughing matter. "His lungs were full of blood. In practise, this would have a very similar effect to drowning in water. It wasn't just that; his body had lost several pints of blood, and he sure as hell wouldn't be able to walk that off."

"Surely it's obvious?" asked Henry, pointed to the dark hole in his throat. "He ran out of oxygen. All the others must have happened afterwards."

"It's possible that a large animal predated the corpse, attracted by the smell of blood. At least, that's what we thought. But we found tooth-marks around the bites. The shape told us they were human, and the structure and size of the jaw told us it belonged to a young adult or teenager."

Henry realised that Ooishi had fixed him with a piercing stare, and sensed that, despite his kind words and likeable air, he was actually quite sinister. Henry laughed derisively.

"Wait a sec … you think I did this?"

"You seem unusually well-informed, son. It could be you."

"I just happen to know a bit about human anatomy. I went straight home after the ceremony."

"Can anyone back up that alibi?" Ooishi asked, with the air of one who has the suspect cornered.

"I can," said Shion firmly. Henry looked at her, but realised what was happening. She's covering for me. "Me and Henry went to his place, had a cup of tea, and then went I home. I found him just after Rena went home. I understand she was with you beforehand?"

"Oh … yeah, sure. Ask her if you don't believe us."

"Okay, say I believe you. For now. Do you know who did this?"

"No, we didn't see anyone suspicious."

Ooishi grunted to show he understood. "By the way, Miyo Takano was killed by incineration. It seemed she was burnt to death by standing in a puddle of burning diesel."

"Which means?"

"We know it was murder. Someone broke into her garage and stole a jerry can, sloshed it over the garden, the set fire to it. It's unlikely that she burned herself. We only just managed to scrape up enough bits to identify the body."

"How?" asked Shion. "She was deep fried."

"A neighbour heard the screams and the flames, and put it out before the fire got out of control. Unfortunately, Takano-san was dead long before the fire died."

"I remember seeing those two together!" said Shion suddenly. "This was before the festival. Maybe they got back together afterwards?"

"That's possible. It could be that the killer dispatched Tomitake-san … and then got Takano-san in order to stop her blabbing. It's possible that she saw who the killer, and they didn't want to be revealed."

Ooishi fixed with that piercing stare again. "And what makes you suggest that?"

"I'm a fan of murder-mystery stories. I even write a couple of my own. I try to work out the enemy's motives, and build on that."

Ooishi shook his head sadly. "I'd like to believe you, son. But there's something about you I find suspicious."

Henry finally lost his temper. He kicked back his chair, stood over the old man and thumped his fist on the desk.

"Is it because I'm an outsider?" he roared. "I don't belong? I only got here a week ago, but I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to solve this and help the village! I don't like the idea of a murderer running loose in the village!"

"Henry," whispered Shion. "Sit down. You're attracting attention."

He looked around, fury pounding in his temples. The whole class was staring at him as though he was going to explode. He sat back down, but glared at Ooishi. He decided he didn't like this man one bit. He fought to gain control of his hatred. He began breathing deeply, rocking back and forth, staring at his lap. He could taste the sweaty iron tang of blood in his mouth; he must've bitten his tongue. Eventually he looked up again, still breathing deeply. Shion was looking at him with a mixture of hesitance and awe. Ooishi looked faintly amused.

"Forgive me, Ooishi-ojisama. I shouldn't have lost my temper," he said meekly.

"Relax, kid. I'm tough enough to handle being shouted at. If you want to help, I suggest you have a look at this."

It was a single Polaroid; freshly developed by the look of it. It only featured a single object; an eye.

"This is the only piece of visual evidence as to the identification of our murderer. Tell me; is there anything odd about it?"

Henry looked harder. It was the same colour of corroded copper; a sickly shade of clinical green that actually looked like an ancient coin. Streaks of coppery brown radiated from the pupil. The pupil was long and slitted, but had a pure white core. Around the iris was a single, thin band of hell-fire green, almost glowing. One thing was for certain …

"This isn't a human eye. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was the eye of Oyashiro-sama."

"It is human, alright. Not like any human I've ever seen, but human nonetheless. Why else would they kill Miyo Takano, rather than spiriting her away?"

"I don't know," Henry admitted, deflating slightly.

Ooishi grunted, and waved them away.

At the end of the day, Henry ran into Ooishi outside.

"Ahh, Henry-kun. Can I speak to you quietly for a moment?"

"Sure."

"How about we chat in my car? It's got air conditioning."

"No, I don't want to go to your car, you creep. We can talk out here, or not at all. I'm supposed to be meeting someone."

Ooishi chuckled, and placed his hand on Henry's shoulder. And squeezed. Hard. Henry gasped in pain; he didn't realise how much strength the portly man actually had.

"Listen to me, kid. Don't talk to me like that again."

Henry refused to break eye contact. Ooishi squeezed his shoulder harder.

"You don't want me to be your enemy, son. Do you?"

"What the hell does it matter to you?" he growled back through gritted teeth, still staring at Ooishi.

"All I want is to solve this case. Get it?"

"Get this!" he hissed, grabbing the man's wrist and digging his sharp thumbnail into the soft flesh. Ooishi gasped in surprise and pain, and unhanded him. He grasped his wrist, and Henry could see blood trickling between his fingers. A sliver of crimson glistened of his nail, and he licked it off.

He glared Ooishi down. "Don't touch me again, Ooishi-san. You don't want me to be your enemy, do you?" He turned on his heel, leaving the detective clutching his wrist.

"Hey, Henry!" called Shion. She was a little way down the road, and had obviously stopped to wait for him. "What did Ooishi want?"

"Nothing much. Why'd you wait?"

"I'm going over yours."

"Isn't it polite to ask first?"

"I covered for you."

"You didn't need to."

"I trust you did go straight home yesterday?"

"Yeah, how stupid do you think I am?"

"At least I'm not harbouring a fugitive. Anyhow, you owe me a cuppa."

"I've got a guest tonight."

"So?"

Henry and Shion had only been in for ten minutes before the doorbell rang again. Henry, now changed into a black shirt and cargo trouser, went to answer it.

"WHASSUP!" yelled the person on the other side.

"WHAAASSSUUP!" Henry replied. He knew who it was in an instant; only one person would greet him with 'Whassup'. He opened the door fully let the guest in. He had scruffy brown hair, was easily a foot taller than Henry, and wore a pair of black-rimmed specs. He was Charlie Offley, one of Henry's best friends back in England.

"Bet you're surprised to see me," he said, pulling off his trainers.

"Yeah, you could say that. I was just about to put the kettle on; d'you want a cuppa?"

"Might as well."

As he re-entered the 'kitchen', he realised that Shion was looking at him as though he was slightly mad.

"Cut me some slack. It's an inside thing."

Charlie followed him in. His eyes automatically took in the half-unpacked kitchen. "How long have you been here?"

"A week. I've been busy with IB stuff lately."

Then Charlie noticed Shion. "Who's this?"

Shion stood up and bowed. "Shion Sonozaki. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Charlie. Well, Henry; didn't know you were this popular with the ladies."

"Pack it in. Do you take milk?"

"Yeah."

"Shion?"

She looked up at Henry. "Pardon?"

"Do you want milk in your tea? It's only English tea, I'm afraid."

"Oh. Yeah, sure. Whatever."

Henry finished making the tea, and set the cups on the table. "So, what's the news from Blighty?" he asked Charlie.

"Well, I've emigrated here, actually. I've got a job at the Irie Clinic just outside the village."

"Already?" asked Henry. Charlie had only just left school, having finished his A-levels. "Why here?"

"Partly 'cos you said it was so nice here. Partly 'cos they needed a surgeon."

"Why?" asked Henry and Shion in unison.

"The murders. They need someone to do the post-mortem."

"So you're on the investigation team?" asked Shion.

Charlie nodded, and sipped his tea. Henry's face darkened.

"What's up with you?"

"He doesn't like Detective Ooishi very much."

"I'm not surprised," said Charlie reflectively. "He's a hard man to get on with when it comes to the Hinamizawa murders."

"You know about them?" Henry asked.

"I'm on the team; I've read the case files."

"I think he suspects me." Henry said darkly.

"He distrusts anyone who may be suspicious. Even I'm not entirely clean," Shion pointed out.

"Why?"

"I started an affair with a teacher at my old school so I could break out," she said proudly. "Some people are so easy to manipulate."

Henry cocked an eyebrow, but said no more. It wasn't his business. "So what about Ooishi-san? Why doesn't he trust anyone?"

Charlie set down his teacup. "Since the first year, he's been in charge of the investigation. The shrine leader in the third was actually a friend of his. Every year, it's always the same; a death, a disappearance, and no clue how to move on. Every year, he gets more desperate, more zealous to solve the mystery. Even if he can solve just one, he can avenge at least one of the deaths, and bring the guilty to justice. Possibly with a bullet in their skull."

"What?"

"Like I said, he's ruthless now. This year is Ooishi Kuraudo's last year of service before he retires; he's more adamant than ever to bring this case to a close."

Henry shook the thoughts from his head. "So, what's the progress with the investigation?"

"We found no trace of illicit substances in the body of Jirou Tomitake, or any drug at that. It was murder that killed him. His posture implied that his hands went to his throat before he died, which implied that his throat was torn out by the killer's own teeth. The eye photo has been analysed by our best computer, but we are no closer to guessing who or what it belongs to."

"What ever it was, I doubt it was a demon … or Oyashiro-sama," said Shion. "If it is, he's been getting sloppy. He hasn't made these mistakes the last few years. The tooth marks, the unsuccessful disposal of Takano-san ... It must be a human; a god wouldn't make these mistakes."

"If that's so," said Henry, "then I hope they catch this guy soon. From what I've heard, Oyashiro-sama only took two victims every year. What's to say a person won't take more? We know they're a psycho."

"By the way, I was told to rally anyone I could," added Charlie suddenly, as though he had just remembered. "We're meeting at the Furude Shrine at eight o'clock tonight. We're going to try and find the murderer."