Chapter Five: Mystery Solved?

"Let's think… who lives, or was at the Main House, two nights ago?"

Momiji was ready to write down anything Shigure suggested. He had already written "Posibul Murdururs" at the top of the notebook paper he was using, being a fan of organization. And although he was a freshman in high school, he still had the measly spelling abilities of an eight year old.

"Let's see… Kureno," Shigure decided, knowing that when he wasn't away, Kureno sometimes lived upstairs; in the actual room he and Tohru were assigned.

"So the murderer is Kureno!" Momiji concluded.

"Well… not exactly, Momitchi-chan. I mean, you and Hatori's house isn't very far from away. Neither is Hatsuharu's."

"It wasn't me!" Momiji was upset that Shigure had even said that.

KeReNo

HaTORy

HoTSuyHaRuy

He wrote down the three names. It wasn't Haru, he was positive, and he didn't believe it was Hatori either.

"May I help?" a voice came from the door. It was Rini Sohma.

"Come right in," Shigure told her. She closed the door and sat down on the floor next to Momiji.

"You're Aya and Yuki's mom, huh?" Momiji was his usual happy-go-lucky self, oblivious to the truth.

"…Yes," Rini smirked as if it were hard to admit.

"Do you see them a lot?" Momiji wondered. "Are they your favorite in the whole wide world?"

"Momiji, that's beside the point," Shigure snapped, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, or make the conversation get ugly. Rini gave a little nod of appreciation.

"So what are you doing?" Rini looked over Momiji's shoulder at the bad spelling and messy handwriting.

"We're making a list of possible murderers by thinking of who was at the house at the time," Momiji explained. Rini nodded in approval.

"I know another," she told them, and took the pen from Momiji. Shigure looked over at what she had written once she was finished.

Yuki

"Yuki? Your son? How do you know?"

"I was talking to him myself, just moments before the Akito incident," her voice was cool as ice and thick as syrup, "Had a little… argument. He seemed pretty angry when he stormed away…

"Anyway, you have a good start. Now you need to find out who else was there, and narrow them down. You guys are lucky I was assigned to help you."

"Are we now?" Shigure grinned.

"Yes… Ren still isn't doing very well after this whole thing, and probably won't be out of her room any time soon, so her assigned pairs are out of luck… and I'm not sure what to think of that Sam Kohatio… he gets on one's nerves, doesn't he?" Rini stood up. "Well anyway, you can call me down if you need anything. My room is right down the hall."

"Rini… do you know who it is?" Shigure asked as she headed toward the door.

"Honestly… no," she lied. "But I have ideas just like everyone else."

After she left, Momiji and Shigure split up, promising to meet back in the room with information in one hour.

-+-

"Kisa, where did you put our clues?"

"Kagura, you said they were in your skirt pocket, remember?"

"I know… but now they're not. Did you take them?"

"No…"

Kisa flung the bedroom door open. She had a feeling she knew where they were.

She attempted to storm across the hallway for more of an affect, but accidentally ran straight into Hatori.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa Hatori."

"Don't worry about it, Kisa-chan."

There was an undeniable hint of bitterness in his voice.

He seems angry… "Grandpa Hatori, our clues were stolen. Do you know where they could be?"

"Sorry, Kisa-chan, but our clues were stolen also."

"So you're looking for them?"

"Yes."

"Where were they last?"

"My pocket."

At the mentioning of his pocket, Hatori absentmindedly put his hand in his right pocket: where he had shoved the clues that morning. His fingers came out farther down his pant leg, and only one clue was in there.

There was a large hole at the bottom of his pocket.

His clues could have easily fallen out.

And I was blaming Ayame…

"Somebody could have picked yours up off of the ground?" Kisa suggested.

"Yes," Hatori was too angry to give a proper answer, or offer to help Kisa-chan find her own.

"…I know who has the clues."

Kisa knocked on the door in front of her.

-+-

The Long Banquet First

Rat Is Our Any

God Sneaky , Think

Hiro and Kyo looked down at all of their clues, but couldn't make any sense out of them.

"Rat…" Hiro picked up the paper reading "Rat", "and God…" Hiro picked up the "God" paper. "Yuki and Akito."

"You think Yuki…"

Hiro shrugged and nodded. "I mean, it only mentions the rat, and God. I thought it was Kureno or Hatori, but there's no rooster or dragon in any of these clues."

Kyo coughed, and in doing so, realized something strange about the middle sentence. "Rat Is Our… Any. 'Any' kinda sounds like 'Enemy'."

"It's Yuki. It has to be."

"Yeah! And on the day Akito died he had said he was 'taking a walk!' I can't believe it's actually him and I didn't have to say that just because I hate the damn rat!"

Hiro gave him a high-five as a knock was heard from the door. "Quick! Hide the pieces!" Kyo hissed, and Hiro crumpled them up and sat on them.

"Come in!" he shouted.

It was Kisa and Hatori.

"Did you guys find any clues on the floor… or in Kagura's pocket?" Kisa shot a vicious look at Kyo.

"Uh… no…" Kyo lied, making sure they were completely concealed under Hiro's butt.

"Are you sure?" Hatori furrowed his eyebrows. "We don't care if you have them. We just want to make sure so nobody else sees them."

"Haven't got a clue where they could be," Hiro chuckled at his own joke.

"Well… alright. Just… keep an eye out, okay?" Kisa gave up. She and Hatori left the room.

Before they could sigh a breath of relief, Hatsuharu entered the room.

"Hey guys, I was just wondering… do you know who Yuki has a crush on?" he asked with a hint of worry in his voice. He was going to find the answer if it was the last thing he ever did!

Where is he going with this? "I have no idea. Why?" Kyo snapped. "I thought he liked Tohru."

Kyo smiled at how easy it was to cover up his own crush by throwing Yuki in there.

"Does he like Rin?"

"No… I thought they hated each other. Why? What do you know?"

"Nothing!" Haru exclaimed. "So… uh… what's up?"

"We just figured out who the murderer is," Hiro said before he noticed what was coming out of his mouth. "Too bad for you."

"I don't care," Haru replied simply. "Ritsu's a dud partner. Besides, you don't even know if you're right. We've only been living here for… a little bit."

"We're right," Kyo was sure. He didn't want Hatsuharu trying to act all cool.

"Then who is it?"

"It's that damn Yuki!" Kyo blurted, not realizing his stupid mistake until Hiro attacked him, yelling swear words while chasing him around the room.

Haru smiled, an extreme joy erupting inside of him.

Rin would never be in love with a murderer.

He just needed to tell her.

-+-

Do Ago Held Trustworthy?

"Um… hi, Miss Honda. Do you need something?"

"Yuki… I… is Rin around?"

"No, actually, she's down the hall in the shower. Do you need her?" Yuki and Rin's room was the only one without an attached bathroom.

"No… I need you to help me."

Yuki hesitated, but opened the door for her to come in.

"So… what do you need?" he closed the door.

Tohru began to cry.

"Miss Honda… what's wrong?"

"Kureno won't help me figure out the clues! He told me that he already knows who it is, so I have to figure it out all by myself!"

Yuki looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "It's okay, Miss Honda. I'll help you, I promise I will…"

"He told… He told me that somebody else is going to be killed!"

Tohru cried into Yuki's shoulder, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her.

A hug.

Yuki prepared to be transformed into a rat, but instead, all he felt was a little bit of sickness in the pit of his stomach.

No transformation.

"Tohru… I… I can hug you."

Tohru's tears stopped and Yuki released her.

He was still a human, and now the sick feeling was gone.

"Is the curse broken?" Tohru asked in barely a whisper.

"I… I suppose…"

Yuki embraced her again, and now there was barely any sick feeling.

If his assumption was correct, the curse had only been lifted temporarily as a cover.

If he was incorrect, Akito really was dead, and not hiding and only using the game as torture.

Either way, it saddened him to know that now he could hug Tohru, but all romantic feelings he had had of her had disappeared so recently.