4) The Murderer in the Woods
Part 6
Later that sunset afternoon, everyone, including the old man, are in the dean's office. The dean is at his desk sitting as the old man is standing right in front of him. Everyone else sat on a chair or couch as they listened to the old man's story.
"So tell me, mister, how did this all happen?" Dean Konoe asked.
The man closed his eyes for a second and took a good breath. He then begins to speak at Dean Konoe remembering everything about his best Inu friend. "My good pet and I were very good friends…" the old man said as a memory pops into his mind.
"We lived together peacefully and happily throughout our cherish lives. I was a hunter and my Inu was a pointer. We lived in the forest as our job to make sure no wild animals infiltrate the academy. We were a great hunting team and stopped from bears, mountain lions, and wolves from coming into the academy. We were like a close family.
But one day, a terrible thing happened. We were at a stream for a break, when all of a sudden a wolf leaped right in front of us and attacked. My friend protected me and started to fight back while I was getting my gun loaded. The wolf bit my friend on the neck, but I manage to pull the trigger of my shotgun and kill the wolf. My friend was a little bit injured, but he came out strong. After I checked the body of the wolf, I realized something horrible. The wolf had rabies.
When I discovered that scary fact, my intention was to save my friend from that terrible disease. There were no near vets around the area, so I had no choice but to kill my friend. But I was too squeamish to do that. I thought my friend would survive the illness, so I brought my friend back to the cabin and tied him up to a tree to see if my theory is correct.
But the next morning, my theory was wrong. I awoke from a growling sound, and there from my window, my Inu went into an aggressive rampage. Its mouth was foamed, and its eyes were bloody red. There was nothing else I can do. Therefore I grabbed my shotgun and loaded it up. But then I heard a snap. I jolted and rushed outside to see if my friend was still there. But when I was outside, my Inu was gone and the rope broke."
"And that's how this happened, killing those innocent people from these last few days," the old man stated in grief and finished his story.
The dean closed his eyes. "Unbelievable," he said in a calm matter, "I'm sorry about your friend. I know you have done the right thing to save its life." The old man nodded, and the dean opened his eyes again to the man. "For your righteous deed, I will exclude you of any murdering activity and the charges for the victims. I will make sure that the police will not apprehend you of this disastrous event. I think you have suffered enough from this tragedy." The old man smiled and bow at the dean thanking for his pardon. "So, what are you gonna do?"
The man firmly looks at the dean and replies, "I'm gonna move out of the forest and out of this academy. I'm going to move on and live in a new and better life from here. This place holds too many memories of my late friend."
The dean smiled. "I understand, and I hope you have a good future out there."
"Thank you, sir," the man bowed again and replied. He then turns to Matt, Negi, and the girls and gives them a smile. "Thank you for everything guys."
Matt stood and smiled back. "You're welcome," Matt said in a calm and happy matter.
That twilight evening, the old man has his entire hunting equipment and luggage bag in a big wagon. He has a huge traveling backpack, and he wore a fedora on his head. He arrives at the front gates of the academy and stops for a moment. He then looks back at the academy and the forest he was in as one last time before he leaves the academy completely. He smiles and turns towards the gates. As he passed the gates, Matt came out and spotted the man leaving the academy. Matt races towards him.
"Hey mister!" Matt shouted. "Hey! Wait up!" The old man heard Matt's voice, turned to him, and waited for the young gentleman. As Matt got close to the man, he catches his breath and begins to speak. "We haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Matthew Oda. What's your name?"
The man grins at Matt and replies, "Tarou…, Tarou Ryo."
"Tarou Ryo…" Matt said as he and Tarou shook hands. "Well…, so long."
"Goodbye, Oda-san," Tarou replied with a wink. "May your future lead you to great happiness."
"You too," Matt replied with a smile. Tarou then turned around and started to walk away. He kept walking down the streets and fades into the sunset.
Matt kept watching Tarou as he disappeared into the light.
Then Mana, Fei Ku, Kaede, and the twins spotted Matt and went up to him. Matt hears them coming and turns towards them. "Hey girls," Matt said, "what's up?"
"Hey Matt!" Fei Ku shouted gleefully. "We want to let you know that the girl you saved the other day, well, she made a full recovery. And she's going back to school on Monday."
"That's great," said Matt in amazement.
"I still can't believe you risked your life to save Fumika, my little sister," Fuka said with delight.
"That was still the bravest thing you ever done-degozaru," Kaede said with a hones grin.
"I agree," Mana followed, "you must've done something that great with your family."
Matt paused and scratches his head. "Well, to be frank, I don't have any family members here. I did it because I had to save someone from great harm."
The girls blinked from Matt's statement. "No family members?" Fumika questioned. "What do you mean?"
"Well, basically, I'm the only member here in Japan. My parents have already died a while back."
The girls then made sad expressions on their faces. "Don't you feel lonely, Matt?" Fei Ku asked in her worried state.
"Don't feel too bad ladies," Matt said in a calm matter. "I got Negi and the other girls in my club. They're my great friends, so I shouldn't feel too lonely."
Even so, the girls are a little bit worried that Matt is the only member and has no other family members here in Japan.
Just then, Chisame came into the scene and called out to Matt. "Hey Matt!" Chisame called and got Matt's attention, "The dean wants to see you."
"Well, I got to go, girls," said Matt. "Have a nice night, and I'll see you on Monday." Matt left with Chisame on his side as they went to the dean's office.
The twins, Kaede, Fei Ku, and Mana, watched Matt as they began to think something.
"You know, not only we owe Matt something, but I think we should help Matt Oda's loneliness," Fuka said in concern.
"Yeah sis," Fumika followed, "he does look like he's hurt from his late parents."
"I agree, but what can we do?" Fei Ku pondered with her arms crossed.
Mana thinks carefully, and then she blinks. She took out a folded paper and opened it up. She looks at it and grins. "Y'know, there is one thing we can do to help Matt," Mana said to the other girls.
"What is it, Mana-dono?" Kaede asked.
Mana held the paper in front of the other girls to show what's depicted. The girls observed, and the paper is the flyer to Matt's Mystery Club. "And I think Matt Oda will be pleased," Mana said with a grin.
That Monday afternoon, Negi, Chamo, and some of the girls were in Matt's club. Negi, Asuna, Chamo, and Konoka are reading a magazine article about criminal incidents, Chisame is doing criminal justice research on her laptop, the librarians were reading some of the mystery books Matt brought from his home country, and Eva and Chachamaru were quietly sitting on their chairs.
Eva turns to Matt, who is wiping the chalkboard. "So whatever happened to the Inu Matt?" Eva asks.
"Well, they took him in and cremated him," Matt responded. "They stored his ashes safely."
"Sad to say he lost his friend," said Chachamaru. "but it can't be helped."
"I know Chacha," Matt replies to her. "I'm sure Tarou didn't want to, but it's the only option, even though it feels like it's the wrong thing to do." Eva and Chacha agreed and nodded.
Just then, Matt heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he called out. The door opened and…,
"Matthew-san!" said the Narutaki twins, who ran up to Matt and hugged him. Negi and the girls see the twins hugging Matt.
Matt jolted a little as he stares at the happy twins bracing his waist. "Fuka, Fumika," said Matt. "What are you doing here?"
The twins let go of Matt's waist, and both of them, side by side, smiled at Matt.
"We want to join your club," Fuka said happily.
"Yeah, it's our way saying thank you for helping me, and we owe you something good." Fumika followed with delight.
This got Matt, and everyone in the room astounded. "Really girls?" Matt said in surprise.
"They're not the only ones." said another womanly voice.
Matt and the gang looked to see who said that. At the door are Mana, Kaede, and Fei Ku standing and grinning at Matt Oda.
"Mana, Kaede, Fei Ku," Matt said in a little surprise.
The three girls got closer to Matt and each held out an application form.
"We owe something really big for what you had done last Saturday," Fei Ku said. "And this is it."
"Mmm-hmm, and we wanted to help you with your pain of your lost parents and your loneliness-degozaru." Kaede followed with joy.
"I can learn a lot of good things from you Matt-san," Mana said calmly with delight. "That's why I'm joining with you too."
Matt looked back at his members, who are all smiling at him. "Go for it Matt," Asuna says to him. "I know you and the girls are going to be great friends." Everyone else agreed with what Asuna stated.
Matt smiled and looks back at the girls. "Well then…, welcome to the club."
The twins smiled widely as they hugged Matt Oda again. "Thank you so much, Big Brother!" said the twins in unison.
"Big brother?" Matt said in a confused mood. Matt stares at Mana, Kaede, Fei Ku, and then his team members, all giving him a loving smile. Matt smiled too as he turns to the twins who were happy and still hugging Matt. "You're welcome, little sisters," he said calmly and happily hugs the twins.
Author's Note
"Kuyoku" got its name from "kurai joryoku" which means "dark evergreen."
