Chapter 7: Do You think he would Kill someone?

Arin blinked a few times as his mind tried to process what he just heard. "... huh? W-what did you say?"

"Arin, please don't make me repeat myself..." Rosalind let out a heavy sigh. "You're under arrest for murder." Arin stood motionless in disbelief. Him? Murder? What were they talking about?! Rosalind retrieved a pair of chain cuffs from her belt and began to close the distance between her and Arin.

"YOU'VE GOT THAT WRONG!" Richard declared as he slid between Arin and Rosalind. "I've seen you use improper procedures before, but this is too far! You need proof to justify someone's arrest!"

"Y-yeah!" Arin agreed, obviously not wanting to be arrested.

Raito then set down a briefcase that he had on the ground, opened it and lifted out a sealed, clear plastic blag containing several small, grey spherical looking objects. "These are the bullets recovered from Sergeant Grants' body." he explained. "Using some forensic research, we found out that they belong to a Desert Eagle handgun." Arin gulped as he put two and two together.

"And after I hack- I mean, checked your school's data bases..." Jean continued. "We found out that Arin over here uses the exact same weapon."

"B-but..." Arin and Richard stuttered in defeat.

"Now do you get that he-"

"OBJECTION!" Drew joined the debate, dramatically pointing his index finger at Raito's group. "If I recall, you said that the bullets recovered from the victim's body belonged to a Desert Eagle." he explained as he held up and tapped a few sheets of non-existing paper. "However!" He then smacked his hands on a non-existing table. "Since this is a combat school, several people incorporate guns into their weapons!" Drew once again pointed dramatically at the opposition. "So the weapon alone doesn't determine who did it!"

"Well, it's true that there are several student in your school who uses a similar weapons." Jean admitted. "But there's another piece of evidence."

"Another?!" the three defendants cried out in despair.

"Y'know those fancy scrolls you kids have? They have a function that keeps track of whenever a student's off of school grounds." Jean explained. "And, again with the help of your school's data bases, we found out that Arin was out until 2:30 a.m., coincidentally, the time the crime took place."

"O-oh... right." Drew didn't have a counter for that, Arin was out late last night.

"I'm sorry to do this Arin, but please come-"

"H-hold on a minute!" Arin stepped back nervously. "What you're saying doesn't make any sense! Why would I kill Old man Grants?!"

"And that's the final piece we have against you..." Raito sighed. "You have a motive."

"W-what?"

"Surely your teammates know of why you left the army? It was because of Sergeant Grants' Graduation Hunt. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have gotton maimed and needed to leave the military! I think that's a good enough motive..." Raito concluded.

Rosalind continued to approach Arin, handcuffs at the ready. "N-no..." Arin mumbled as he stepped backwards. "You got this all wrong!" Arin then broke out into a sprint away from everyone.

"He's making a break for it!" Rosalind declared as the three soldiers ran after him.

Arin found his way to the landing pad for blimps. He was considering getting onto one until he realised that Raito and the others could easily get on with him. 'Dammit! Where do I go?!' He looked around for an escape path, but it was no use. He was trapped and the only path for escape was blocked by his three former allies, now coming to arrest him. He backed up slowly to the edge of the pad as they ran towards him. His nervous retreats were stopped as he hit the safety barriers on the edge which prevented people from falling off the... 'Hang on a minute...' Arin peered over the edge. It was a good 30 meter drop.

"Arin! Don't do it!" the three yelled as they saw him gazing off the edge.

'Looks like I have no choice!' In one swift motion, Arin hurdled the meter high barrier and fell. He took out his gun-knife and jammed it into the cliff face in hopes of slowing his descent.

The other three finally arrived to the area where Arin jumped. They peered down to see that at the bottom of the cliff was a rather large forest, that wasn't too far away from the city of Vale. "Dammit! We have to hurry! If he gets into the city, it'll be tricky for us to find him!" Rosalind ordered.

The three began to make their way to the nearest blimp down to the city, when the saw the rest of team DARN arriving. "It... can't be..." Drew stared blankly in disbelief and Nina began to dramatically break into tears.

"Do you need any more proof?!" Raito yelled with spite at the team.

"You..." Richard marched over to Raito and grabbed him by the collar. "HOW COULD DO THIS TO ARIN?!" His voice trembled as he yelled out his frustration. "First you go and give that scar... AND NOW YOU'RE ACCUSING HIM OF A CRIME?! DON'T YOU KNOW-"

"OF COURSE I KNOW!" Raito yelled back, his voice also wavering. "I know more than anyone..." His head hung low, his hair covering his eyes. "That day haunts me... Every day I have to remember that my best friend's life was ruined... because of me." Richard's grip on Raito's shirt loosened. "And now I find out that he's gone and done this... of course I know." With their heads hung low, and their hearts full of sorrow, the three soldiers boarded the nearest blimp down to Vale in hopes of finding Arin.

Drew, Richard and Nina were left on the landing pad, confused and hurt. "Guys..." Nina broke the silence with a frail voice. "It... it isn't true, right? Arin couldn't have..."

"Damn it all!" Richard's fists trembled in frustration. "He never followed the rules like a student's supposed to! But this..."

"What are you talking about?" Drew asked, surprising the other two with his calmness. They turned to him to see he had a stern look on his face. In fact, he was glaring at his two moping teammates. "Didn't we just spend the entirety of the last chapter making the point that we trust Arin?"

"Entirety of the what?" Nina tilted her head in confusion.

"Richard!" Drew pointed at his friend passionately. "Do you think that the Arin you know would kill someone?!"

"W-well, with the evidence that was presented-"

"Richard! Ignore the evidence! Based solely on what you know about Arin as a person, do you think he would kill someone?"

Richard had to think hard for a second. He always saw Arin as a nuisance, someone who would break the important rules and ignore his duties as a student just because they were inconvenient! But a killer? "... no. No, I don't think he would."

"Right. Nina, how about you?"

"Y-yeah! Arin's the good guy!" she cried as she got to her feet and clenched her arms enthusiastically.

"Exactly!" Drew grinned wildly. "Me too. No matter what anyone says, or what evidence they show me, I just know that Arin is innocent!"

"That's all well and good, BUT!" Richard stood up straighter, now back to his usual self. "Our beliefs are meaningless in the face of the evidence! Unless we manage to prove Arin's innocence, he's guilty!"

"Well..." Drew thought for a moment to come up with their next plan of action. "First off, we need to find Arin before the others do. If he gets arrested before we can prove him innocent, it'll be all pointless."

"Good strategy, leader!" Richard commented.

"Alright! Team DRN, move out!" Drew announced.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting someone?" Nina questioned as she pulled a sleepy Moonmoon out of her bag.

"Right. So... Team DRNM, move out?"


3 days later...


"I'm so God damn bored~!" Drew moaned as he collapsed in the middle of an abandoned street. "Arin~! Why do you have to be so good at hiding?!" he cried out into the night sky. It was just a little past midnight on Sunday and the street in Vale was completely abandoned (save for a now face down on the ground Drew). Arin was still missing. Not just for Drew and Team DRNM, but Raito's group also had no luck in finding him. If it weren't for Raito, Rosalind an Jean monitoring any escape routes out of Vale, they would've suspected that he already left.

The remaining members of team DARN were spending all their time sweeping the streets of the city in search of their teammate, but took necessary precautions to make sure that Raito's group didn't find out about of their little operation. Drew alone had lost count of how many times he turned a corner to see Rosalind, and then he high tailed it out of there. It wouldn't have annoyed him if it wasn't for the fact that no one was making any progress! Drew thought that they'd just find Arin in the nearest bar. Unfortunately, they had no such luck. Plus, Arin left his scroll back in their dorm, so they couldn't contact him that way.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me." Drew got back up on his feet and pulled out his scroll. He started up a group conversation with Nina and Richard and waited for them to answer.

"Leader! There is nothing to report!" Richard cried through the scroll, though given his loudness, Drew suspected he could probably hear him even without the scroll. "How goes the search on your side?!"

"Nothing else over here..." Drew slumped in defeat. "Don't you know some super, secret, strict military way of tracking?"

"I AM AFRAID I AM UNAWARE THAT SUCH A TECHNIQUE EXISTED! IF IT REALLY DOES EXIST, THEN WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN TOLD ABOUT IT?!" Richard bellowed, easily clipping the mic on his scroll.

"Hey guys~!" Nina greeted as she joined the conversation. "I keep getting Moonmoon to track Arin, and he keeps saying that he's in the forest, so-"

"Wait, is he like, indicating that he's in there, or is Moonmoon just running in that direction?"

"He's running. Why?"

"Then... I don't think he's really in there." Drew concluded.

"What makes you say that?"

"Intuition. Just get him back and continue looking in the city."

"So, what's going on over..." Drew heard someone speak as they were turning around the corner. He was about to make a dash away, until he saw that it was an all too familiar red cloaked student. Who was being followed by some red-headed girl. ".. oh." Ruby blinked as she found another student standing in the street looking into a scroll. "Hello there."

"R-Ruby!" Drew yelped. "I-It's good to see you again!" he let out a light sigh as he walked closer to her.

"Yeah... Good too see you again..." Ruby laughed nervously and raised an eyebrow. "Um... who are you?"

Drew lost his footing and landed face-first into the ground again. He got onto his knees and his eyes began welling up with tears, almost to a comical degree. "You don't remember me-e-e?" he sobbed between tears.

"Huh?! D-did I do something wrong?!" Ruby panicked. "I don't even recognise you, how am I supposed to know?!"

"Oh Ruby, is this person also your friend?" The red-head chirped up. "Salutations! My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you!" she gleefully declared to Drew as she grabbed his hand and began shaking it violently.

"L-l-l-likewise." Drew responded through the shaking. "I'm Drew. The Fiery Hero and Leader of team DARN. Let go of my hand. Please."

"Oh yeah, that's who you are!" Ruby realised. "You're that guy from the classroom!"

"Yeah! You got it!" Drew beamed in delight.

"Oh, so you two are friends?" Penny deduced.

Drew blushed slightly and chuckled sheepishly. "Hehehe, well-"

"No, not really." Ruby casually shrugged. "We met like, once. And he didn't even tell me his name."

"Ruby, how could you?!" Drew once again fell to ground and began to flow rivers of tears out of his eyes.

"Ah! L-look, Drew was it? It's nothing personal, I just hardly know you..." Ruby tried to comfort her crying acquaintance.

"Wait...!" Penny flinched and stepped back in horror. "Following that logic... then... we aren't friends?!"

"P-Penny, that's not true, I just-"

"R-Ruby~! Why must you do this?!" Penny also began crying hysterically.

Drew's eyes widened as he realised what he could do. 'This is my chance!' "Yeah, aren't we good enough for ya?" he questioned.

"Huh?! You too?"

"Please Ruby! Can't we all just be friends?" Penny fell to her knees and peered up and Ruby with large, puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, pwease~?" Drew followed in a similar motion.

Ruby sweated frantically from the pressure. "I-ugh.." She couldn't ignore those eyes. Those four, piercing eyes that cut right into her soul, and begged for her friendship. "Well... okay then." she sighed heavily.

"Yay~!" The two teens cried out in unison.

"It's wonderful that we have gained her comradery, isn't it?" Penny celebrated with Drew, holding up her hand for a high-five.

Drew noticed her gesture and decided to correct her. "No, no, no, no, no." he shook his head in disapproval.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"When it comes to friendship, this is the pose you have to make!" Drew crouched his knees, bent over his back and tucked his arms into his chest. "First off, you go like this."

"Okay..." Curious, Penny followed his actions.

"And then..." In a sudden motion, Drew straightened his legs, back, and stretched his arms up into the sky. "You reach out like this!"

Again, Penny followed his exact motions. "Right!"

"And when you do it, you to say 'It's space time!', like that."

"Why?" Penny asked, confused about the last part.

"'Cause it's the phrase that goes with it!"

"Umm, not that I'm an expert on the subject..." Ruby intervened. "But is that really a thing you do if you get new friend?"

"Oh? So you don't know?" Drew pointed to the sky dramatically (specifically, the moon), trying to look cool. At least by his definition. "Those are the actions and words of a brave hero of justice who valued friendship above all else!"

"Having searched for data regarding the phrase, I believe he is referring to a TV show." Penny explained to Ruby.

"Eh?! I've been found out already?!" Drew panicked. 'And what does she mean 'searched'?'

"Oh... Kinda takes away the impact if it's just from TV..." Ruby sighed. "But anyway, what are you doing out here so late at night?" she questioned.

"Oh yeah, that's right! I'm looking for my friend Arin, have you seen him? He's kind of tall, wears an open trench coat with a shirt... and there's a high possibility that he's drunk."

"Umm... no. But actually, I'm also looking for my teammate too. Have you seen her?" Ruby questioned back eagerly.

"She's a cat Faunus girl, who-" Penny began to explain.

"P-Penny! You can't give her secret away so casually!" Ruby scolded.

"Oh, you mean Blake?" Drew smacked his palm in realisation.

"Y-You knew?!" Ruby flinched in surprise.

"Of course! I'm an anime otaku after all, I've a sixth sense for moe! And cat-ears are a prime example!" Drew exclaimed.

"I... I think I know what 'anime' is, but I hardly understood what he just said." Ruby sighed. Simply holding a conversation with this guy is tiring.

"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with his vocabulary aswell..." Penny pondered.

"W-Well, it was just a guess. The bow just reminded me of cat ears..." Drew rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed at his outburst.

"I should definitely warn her of that..." Ruby mumbled.

"But anyway, why are you looking for her? Did she run away or something?"

"W-well..." Ruby nervously pondered. "It's... kind of a personal matter."

"O-Oh! I'm sorry, I just thought..." Drew panicked as he mentally scolded himself for being too forward.

"It's fine. So... why are you looking for you friend?"

"He may have killed someone." Drew bluntly responded.

"W-What did you say?! Kill someone?!" Ruby gasped in horror.

"I see..." Penny rested her chin on her hand.

"How are you so calm about this?!" Ruby panicked for Drew's sake. "W-We're talking about killing someone here! As in, actual death!"

"Yeah, but... he didn't do it." Drew shrugged as an answer.

"Oh... really?"

"Yeah! Well, granted, there's a lot of evidence that says that it's him, and he has a clear motive for doing it, and he ran away when he was confronted about it-"

"T-That kinda means he did it!" Ruby returned to panicking.

"I have to agree with Ruby." Penny admitted. "If there is such strong evidence against him, then the logical conclusion is that he did do it."

"Well, I know that. But..." Drew straightened his posture. "The Arin I know just wouldn't do it! Sure, he's kinda lazy, and sarcastic, and he's always scolding me on whatever I do. But as his partner and his friend, I just know he wouldn't do that!"

"O-oh..." Ruby mumbled, surprised at Drew's resolve. "You really-"

"I think that's wonderful!" Penny declared enthusiastically as her eyes lit up with stars. "Your blind loyalty to your comrade is truly touching!"

"I'm blind, huh?..." Drew asked with a deadpan expression.

"Well, I guess you do have good intentions." Ruby shrugged. "I'm not so sure about your teammate, but we did bump into a few other people."

"Who?"

"Well, first there was that other student we found. He was dressed in his uniform and his hair was kinda short. And when we talked to him, he got mad and yelled at us for 'venturing outside the dormitories after curfew', or something along those lines..." Ruby sighed at the tiresome memory

"Which I found odd, as technically he is outside after school curfew too..." Penny pondered, confused at the strange student's behavior.

"Uhhh... That's probably Richard, my other teammate. Just ignore him, he's like that with everyone.." Drew apologised on his team's behalf.

"And the only other person we met was that army guy."

"Well, if it's just the military, I guess there's nothing out of the ordinary..."

"Are you sure? Because I noticed quite a few things that were a bit strange." Penny mentioned.

"Hmm?" Drew raises an eyebrow. "What things...?"


Crouching down in the corner of a dark and dank alley, Arin gazed carefully onto the streets watchfully. After his fall into the forest, he made his way back to Vale. He had been spending the past three days sneaking around, trying to avoid being caught by the police. And it showed. One look at him and you could see that his clothes and face were covered with dirt and he reeked of sweat and filth. Although, this was by his own choice. He intentionally made himself look like some homeless bum on the street to blend in with all the other homeless bums that made their homes down these alleyways. It wasn't exactly the most dignified disguise, but Arin had to do what he had to do.

But along with looking 'inconspicuous', Arin was also very busy. He was going around with his new 'friends' and asking about anything that they noticed on Thursday night, the night old man Grants was killed. And through their crazy babbling and begs for change and whatnot, he finally managed to piece together what really happened that night. And now all that was left was to wait... he knew that the culprit was going to be passing down this street any minute. Arin checked his equipment one last time, he knew that he would probably have to put up a fight. His knife-gun was in working condition, though the blade was heavily chipped and dulled due to his escape act three days ago. He had two ammo clips, one a regular magazine that was only half full, the other was a special Dust charged clip, designed to shoot a single, strong ray at a target.

Though, the lack of weapon ammo wasn't the big problem for Arin. It was his shoulder. Arin had money to buy himself some alcohol but, surprisingly enough, bars and pubs tend not to serve you if you look and smell like shit. Nonetheless, Arin had to deal with what he had. His right arm would undoubtedly hurt like hell as soon as this fight will begin, but there was no other way...

After waiting a few minutes, Arin saw a black hooded figure walking down the streets. 'It's time...' Arin stood up and calmly walked out of the alleyway. He purposely stayed no more than 15 meters away from the figure, as to avoid his suspicion. But then the figure made an unexpected turn right down another lane. Not wanting to lose them, Arin hurried up to the turn but was surprised when he made the turn to see that the figure had gone. The path led into an empty courtyard, so Arin cautiously and slowly stepped into it.

When he was roughly in the center, he heard a loud bang. Acting on instinct, Arin rolled to the side and closely avoided a bullet whizzing past his face. Arin looked up to the direction the bullet came from. He saw one window opened out of all of them. He chuckled to himself. "You got yerself the element of surprise, but it looks like I'm still better than you!" he joked as the hooded figure appeared from the window frame and jumped down into the courtyard with Arin. Arin's smiled started to fade. "... why did you do it?" The figure lifted a hand up to their hood. "Just... why?!" Arin's voice began to tremble. The figure pulled down their hood to reveal their long, black hair and pale, stern looking face. "Tell me, Raito!"


AN: I feel like M. Night Shyamalan with all these contrived plot twists I'm throwing in here. So yeah, next time we'll find out what's the big deal with Raito, and finally end off Arin's arc. Not that I didn't enjoy writing his charavter arc, it's just that, well, it's really blue and just a downright bummer. Having planned out what everyone's arc will be, Arin's is probably the gloomiest (with the exception of Nina's arc). But anyway, after the next chapter, we'll be onto Richard's arc! And... it's gonna be kinda cheesy.

Also, props to anyone who got both Drew and Richard's reference at the beginning. Get it? It's funny because Richard's practically a carbon copy of that other character from the game the reference came from, hehe... he...