Feliciano had cooked up quite a good meal, despite Arthur helping him.
This was what Kiku had thought a few days ago, though he was now starting to doubt this. He felt sick. Really sick.
He hadn't thrown anything up, but he did have a fever and diarrhoea. He wasn't sure if it was food poisoning or not. Feliciano was the first to notice his weakened state, since the Italian, who had once again been late for school, had seen Kiku wandering out of the toilet, looking a bit like a grim reaper.
Kiku rolled over in his bed. He had had diarrhoea before. He had had fever before. But something that was new was cramps. He had never had those before. And they hurt so badly, he believed he knew how it felt like to have something trying to force its way out of your stomach...
He groaned.
On top of all that, he was thirsty.
He was so thirsty... But he was unable to get any water. Feliciano had brought him a small bottle earlier that day, but it wasn't enough.
It was now empty.
Stupid cramps... the Japanese boy thought, curling up. They were so painful now, he couldn't even get up! Luckily, the school day would be over soon.
He was just so thirsty.
No one had come to look after him, of course. If you didn't go to the infirmary, you weren't so sick that you couldn't look after yourself.
But Kiku was that sick. He couldn't look after himself. Ever since the cramps had started, he felt like if he moved, he'd die.
He regretted not going to the infirmary immediately, however, he had had a good reason not to go.
He was afraid of the nurse. Everyone was afraid of her. Even Berwald and Ivan, and those two were considered the scariest guys at World Academy (including the teachers).
Kiku would rather die than go to the infirmary, or so he would have said maybe yesterday or so. She was so tall and muscular and not female. She had humongous hands, a tattoo on her upper arm, was foul-mouthed and even had a moustache. To make things worse, her voice was so low and gruff, she could easily be mistaken as a man, which made her all the more scarier.
A lot of students gossiped about her, how she used to be a raper and paedophile, before the police caught her. She then escaped and changed her name. She fled to Switzerland, where she found work as a nurse.
No one had been really ill since the arrival of the nurse, but this was not because everyone only ever got mildly ill at World Academy.
It was because no one wanted to be under her care.
Ever.
But oh, Kiku would rather be under her care than no ones right now! The cramps were so unbearable! Even the earlier diarrhoea was nothing in comparison to this! If only he'd listen to Feliciano...
But the Italian usually only ever had bad advice and Kiku had been sure that he'd feel better soon, that it'd pass without the creepy nurse looking after him...
Kiku, in his sick state, smiled. Funny, how he and Ludwig seemed to nearly always do the opposite of whatever Feliciano said. He had never really noticed that before... Or maybe he was currently so delusional, that he believed that he and Ludwig always did the opposite of whatever Feliciano said... Yeah, that must be it.
Oh... Thirst... Would it kill somebody to get him a drink?
Kiku curled up even more. He felt so sick. Cold and hot at the same time. Pain from the lower abdomens, unbearable and uncomparable . Dry throat and chapped lips, begging for something, anything, to drink.
Pure Hell.
...
How long had he been ill? A few days... Maybe more?
No.. Couldn't be so many...
Or could it?
He felt so out of it, he couldn't keep track of time... He didn't even know what day it was!
... It was so cold...
And too hot!
... When Kiku had last gone to the toilet...
Was it him, or had it been a little red?
Of course it hadn't! He was currently, haha, delusional! Imagining redness where there was none!
So sick!
So thirsty!
So very thirsty...
... water...
I'd do anything for all this to stop... he whimpered.
Hadn't Arthur said something about taking him to the infirmary a couple days ago?
Yes... But Kiku had insisted on not going...
Stupid nurse... Stupid thirst...
Heh...
Stupid him...
Kiku closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
"Hey Kiku, I don't care what you say any more, I think you really, really need to go to the infirmary now, maybe even a hospital! We've been delaying this for far too long and all of your friends agre-" Arthur cut himself short, when his eyes fell upon the Japanese boy.
He was sleeping quietly.
Arthur sighed and sat down next to Kiku, to wake him up.
"Kiku, wake up." Arthur said softly. "Come on, you need to go see a doct..."
Arthur paused.
Kiku wasn't warm.
At all.
"Uh..." Arthur stuttered. He shook his head. Now, now Arthur, don't go jumping to any conclusions! he thought, as he pulled back the duvet.
Kiku wasn't damp from sweating any more. He actually looked kind of... dry...
Didn't Feliciano say he'd make sure Kiku got enough fluids?
Arthur picked up Kiku's hand. It was cold and limp. He tested it for a pulse.
...
"... No..."
"... Are you sure that all those students have been... Murdered?" the head teacher asked, his voice trembling ever so slightly.
"Yes." someone else replied. "I will need to stop the usual school activities to investigate. With your permission, I would like to ground the students. Leaving school premises should be forbidden. Well, until further notice anyway."
Arthur leant closer to the wall.
He was so pleased with this secret passage. What were the chances that there'd be one behind the head's room? It wasn't just that, but Arthur could also hear them astonishingly well, despite there being a wall in the way.
Arthur rolled his eyes at the conversation. He still couldn't believe that they didn't know whether or not they were dealing with a string of accidents or murders!
Of course it was a string of murders! It was so painfully obvious! After all, what were the chances that an accidental death would occur every four weeks?
Very small, he should think! And besides that, something else wasn't adding up in those death cases.
After all, Ludwig had been a good gymnast, Antonio had been a good and sensible driver and Kiku had had a strong stomach.
The real question wasn't "Is there a murderer?" but "Who is the murderer?" and what were those murderer's motives?
Arthur would need to gather information. Do a little investigation of his own.
He sighed and tried not to think of Kiku. Officially, Kiku had died of food poisoning, salmonella poisoning. He and Feliciano were the only ones who could have cooked a contaminated meal. And Arthur hadn't forced the Japanese boy to go to the infirmary. That just made things worse for the Brit.
Everything was pointing at Arthur, that he was to blame for Kiku's death.
Not only that, but the old rumours had sprung back to life with a vengeance. Everyone was talking, whispering behind each other's backs, pointing fingers!
And there was no one to hide it from this time round. Gilbert had been taken out of the school a few weeks ago. Feliciano had become inconsolable after Kiku's death and spent most of his time locked in his room. No one cared about how Arthur felt.
He sighed.
This... It was all becoming a little too much for him.
He missed the days when the worst thing on his mind was any recent prank by the Bad Touch Trio...
Arthur left the secret passage.
It was a few nights later. Arthur did not like what he had concluded from his personal investigation.
It looked like everything was pointing at Feliciano. While he couldn't prove that the Italian had anything to do with... Antonio and Lovino's deaths...
Arthur remembered the night Ludwig had died.
He remembered that Feliciano hadn't been in bed when Ludwig left the room.
There was only room for two rooms on the top floor, namely Arthur's and Feliciano's. Both had a bathroom, as all bedrooms did at World Academy, but there were no toilets in any of them.
The toilet room was, like at a normal school toilet room, shared by multiple people. Each floor had such a toilet room, every single one, but the top.
So Ludwig and Feliciano had to have seen each other while going to the toilet. And Feliciano would have waited for Ludwig, before going. The chances that Feliciano wouldn't wait for Ludwig and go back with him were near impossible.
Ludwig had also been a good gymnast. The chances of him not only falling down the stairs and seriously injuring himself, but also dying, were small.
The only way for those chances to become bigger, was if somebody unexpectedly pushed him down the stairs. And to make those chances even bigger, somebody that Ludwig knew would have had to have pushed him down the stairs, somebody Ludwig would have never suspected...
Feliciano, unfortunately, fit this role.
... But why would the Italian kill his best friend?
...
... Then there was also Kiku.
Kiku had a strong stomach and was healthy and fit. A little salmonella shouldn't have killed him, therefore, he must have had a large dose.
The only thing that could have been contaminated with a heavy dosage of salmonella was what he, Feliciano and Kiku had eaten a week, or so, ago. But the ingredients had all been fresh and Arthur had only been in charge of the salad. He'd also been the only one to eat the salad...
Besides that, if there was such a heavy doses, wouldn't he and Feliciano have suffered from it too? Kiku had been the only one to suffer from any form of food poisoning, while Feliciano and Arthur remained untouched.
Feliciano was also the one responsible for looking after Kiku while he was ill. Feliciano had been the one that was supposed to be looking after him!
But Kiku had obviously never gotten enough to drink... And even if Feliciano was a bit of a forgetful person, he wasn't so forgetful that he'd forget to look after one of his best friends.
... But still...
No.
It couldn't be Feliciano.
How could it be Feliciano?
Arthur was missing something...
Something big, something important...
Well, at least the Brit knew that the murderer, whether or not it was Feliciano, wouldn't strike again for another few nights. He still had some time to think it all through.
He leant back in his chair.
The Italian wasn't a psychopathic serial-killer.
So it just couldn't be Feliciano.
So who was it?
Who could it be?
And what was their motive?
Wait... Feliciano couldn't be it... Unless...
Unless the Feliciano that he'd been talking to and listening to for the past few weeks had been... was not...
Unless it wasn't Feliciano at all!
Arthur frowned.
He had no proof for that or anything that would lead him to believe so. At all. Besides, nobody could possibly act exactly like Feliciano!
Actually, wait a minute...
... It would make sense.
Feliciano...
When Antonio and Lovino had died, Feliciano had cried by day... But... he... He sometimes even smiled at night.
Feliciano had always managed to fall asleep without problem. Every night. Peaceful. Free of trouble. Almost... happily.
Arthur shook his head.
Wow, he felt tired. What time was it?
He looked at the clock on his desk.
Way past midnight... Oh dear, that was late... Arthur yawned and got out of his chair. He should go to his bedroom. He should go to the boys' dorm.
He should leave his office.
Arthur locked both office and school building and headed over to the Boys' dorm. Ugh, he had always been such a sleepy head.
He got into the correct building and slowly walked up the stairs, although, tonight he couldn't be bothered to take the short-cut. That was too much effort...
Well, it was actually less effort, but Arthur's brain wasn't working properly at the time. He was tired-
Hey. Wait.
Did... Did I just see someone? Arthur thought. He was near the top floor, but he could have sworn he just saw someone go downstairs... Arthur walked down. Again, he saw someone. The person ran around a corner. Someone dressed in a school uniform. Someone dressed in a school uniform, way past midnight.
Oh yeah, because that's not suspicious. Arthur thought, running after the other. He only managed to catch a glimpse of brown hair by the next turn.
"Hey you! Stop!" Arthur whispered harshly, not wanting to wake anybody up. But the person continued running.
"I said stop!" He said again, but this time at normal volume. But the other didn't stop running, so Arthur kept chasing.
However... By the next corner...
"Huh?" Arthur asked, looking around. No one in sight.
"... Where did he g-"
A sudden pain shot through his side.
"!"
A hand clamped his mouth shut, stopping him from screaming. Arthur's whole body tensed. He let out a pained groan.
"Ciao Arthur."
His blood went cold.
The Brit said nothing, though he was trying very, very hard to ignore his pain. He tried struggling out of the other's grip, but the more he struggled, the sharper the pain grew.
"I noticed you suspecting me. The way you sometimes glare at me during lessons. Can't believe you figured it out. I thought I was innocent enough. Oh well, I suppose you really are that cynical. You're not really on my... personal hit list, but I don't want you getting in the way and stopping me from having my fun. So I'm afraid, I'm going to have to cut your life a little short. Any last words?"
Arthur started struggling again. The other laughed.
"I thought not! Good night Kirk-"
Arthur managed to pull the Italian's hand away from his mouth. He sucked in a deep breath.
It hurts so much.
"... n..t... F...li..."
The other paused, trying to figure out what the Brit had said. He laughed.
"Hm? What? I can't hear you!"
"... Not... Feli...ah... no..."
Arthur felt the grip around his body tighten. It felt difficult to breathe.
"... Oh? So who am I then?" the other sneered. Arthur frowned. Good question...
He took in a deep breath.
"... Blo... Spi... it..."
The Not-Feli's grip immediately loosened. The knife was removed. Arthur felt relief, immediately falling to his knees. His side still hurt, but never quite as much as-
It came back, with a sharp jab, deeper than before. Arthur tried to scream in pain to get somebody's, anybody's, attention, but the hand was clamped over his mouth. Again.
"So. You figured out more than I thought." the Not-Feli muttered, annoyed. "How did you know?"
"..." Lucky guess... Arthur thought to himself, unable to speak. He chose to remain silent. This made the Not-Feli angry.
"Not going to tell? Oh well. I suppose it doesn't matter." The knife twisted. In his side.
"Sogni d'oro Arthur..."
Arthur's eyes widened, but he couldn't scream. All that escaped him was a muffled gasp.
The knife was abruptly pulled out and dug in again.
The Blood Spirit stopped holding him.
Arthur collapsed onto the floor.
