CHAPTER 4

The next day, after an uneasy sleep, Lianne found herself in the library with Leali and Alix, telling them about the events of the previous night.

"And you can probably imagine my face. I mean, the blood was everywhere," she was saying in an excitable whisper, her reservations about the incident obviously forgotten in the light of day.

Leali nodded, wide-eyed. "Gee… that must have been awful."

"Okay, hold on. Describe that weapon you saw again," Alix said, brow furrowed in thought.

"It was about this big," Lianne said, holding her hands a short distance apart. "It was silver, metal I think. I couldn't see very well because it was pretty dark. But it was shaped kind of like a diamond and the pointy part was stuck in Kenji's back. On the other end there was this circle, that looked like it was for holding it."

Alix clicked his fingers, disregarding the noise he made as he did it. "A kunai."

"Huh?" Lianne looked puzzled.

"It's a weapon. It's like a throwing star, but these ones are much harder to master. Their shape makes them very awkward, but deadly. And that's what they're called: kunai."

"So does that mean Kenji was killed from a distance?" Leali said, not bothering to lower her voice.

Several people looked at her, but thankfully, not because of what she had said. They shushed her disturbance of the study environment.

Nevertheless, Lianne panicked. "Shh, Leali! You're not supposed to know, remember?"

Leali covered her mouth. "Oh yeah, sorry."

"So have you got any idea what your dad's doing about it?" Alix asked.

Just as Lianne shrugged her shoulders, wondering to herself why she didn't know what Squall was planning, the intercom buzzed again.

"This is Squall. Could all students please assemble in the auditorium in half an hour. We have some important matters that must be brought to your attention. This assembly is mandatory. That's all for now."

"I guess there's your answer!" Leali said, yet again at the top of her voice.

A few heads turned to her again. "Sshhh!"

"Sorry!"

At that same moment, a girl came into the library, with a worried and searching expression on her face. Lianne recognised her as Shin Akito, the girl who had been talking about her father in the Cafeteria. She came over to the table where the three friends were sitting, fiddling with her glasses in agitation. "Have any of you seen Dante?" she asked, in a shaky voice.

Alix shook his head. "No, we haven't. Why, what's wrong?"

"She's gone missing. I've looked for her everywhere," Shin said, pulling up an empty chair to sit down next to them. She took off her glasses, placed them carefully on the desk, and put her head in her hands, rubbing her hands over her exhausted face.

"Are you sure she hasn't just gone to the bathroom?" Leali asked innocently.

"She's been gone all day," Shin explained.

"Maybe it's… a really long bathroom visit?" Leali grimaced at her friends and shrugged.

Shin obviously wasn't in the mood. "I said I'd meet her in the Cafeteria in this morning, like we always do, and she didn't show up. And Dante never breaks her promises. She's not in her dorm, and she hasn't shown up to any of her classes today."

"You're just over-reacting. It's probably nothing," Lianne said, still struggling to like Shin after hearing her talk badly about her father.

"There might be a reasonable explanation," Alix said, reassuringly. "Look, here's a deal for you: if she hasn't shown up by curfew tonight, we'll help you look for her tomorrow, okay?"

Shin nodded, putting her glasses back in front of her watery eyes. "Yeah. Thanks, you guys. I just know this isn't like Dante at all. I'll catch up with you later then." And with that, she stood up from the table and left the library.

"Yeah, much later…" Lianne watched her leave with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, don't be mean!" Leali nudged her friend.

"I'm very sorry, but that girl has been criticizing my father!" Lianne said, incredulously.

"Oh, like you don't?" Alix almost laughed, raising an eyebrow at her.

Lianne chose to ignore him. "Besides, old specky here was probably just being a drama queen. She's just worked up because she's lost the only friend she's got and ever will get."

"Lianne, those are awful things to say!" Leali gave a rare disapproving frown.

"I don't care," Lianne said, standing up sharply from the table. "Now, are we going to the auditorium or not?"

When they entered the large audience space, it was filled with excitable whispers. As the three of them took their seats near the front of the crescent-shaped tiers, they could hear the other students discussing theories as to what Squall had called the entire population of Garden there to say. They soon realised they were the only ones who actually did know what was going on.

When Squall took the podium, Lianne had to smile to herself at the expression of absolute dread upon his face. She had a fair idea of what had probably happened beforehand. Cid had probably talked Squall into this with another one of his speeches about leadership and setting an example, all so he didn't have to take the trouble of delivering the terrible news himself. Still, at least Cid had the decency to show his face as he joined Squall on the stage, just out of sight.

Squall adjusted the mic, cleared his throat and began to speak, his voice unsure at first. "Attention, everyone."

It seemed a silly thing to say. Everyone was already hanging on his every word from the moment he took the podium.

There was an awkward silence, and Lianne cringed for her father. After seventeen years as the leader of SeeD, he was still awful at public speaking.

Squall eventually got his nerve, and continued speaking. "Thank you for coming. We have brought you here to bring your attention to a very important and tragic matter. We must ask you not to panic and to listen to our instructions carefully."

A few heads turned and whispers of confusion were heard as Squall spoke. Though no one knew what was going on, they could at least tell it was bad news.

"In the early hours of this morning, Garden Faculty on night patrol found the body of Kenji Toroshi, a student some of you may know. He was discovered in the dormitory corridor, lying in a pool of his own blood."

A wave of gasps went over the crowd, and more whispering started up. Lianne shook her head in disbelief at her father's bluntness.

"From the evidence we have, we think it's safe to assume he was murdered. We would like to urge anyone who has any information on this incident to come forward. We're going to putting this through a lot of scrutiny. All we know at the moment is that he was killed by a weapon known as a kunai."

Alix nodded proudly. His weapon expertise was as good as he thought it was.

"As far as we know, nobody in Garden uses this weapon, and anyone who could would have had to undergo years of training to use the weapon effectively. So, at the moment, we have no leads as to Kenji's murderer. We'd also like to set down some new rules while the killer is being hunted. Every student must be in their dorm rooms at curfew time exactly. There are to be no exceptions."

Lianne dropped her gaze as she saw her father throw a meaningful look in her direction.

"Try not to travel in groups smaller than three, if you can help it. All junior classmen must move around Garden in groups escorted by a member of staff or qualified SeeD member. We must take every precaution we can and remain vigilant. We may need to call meetings like this to update you on our progress with the search, so please try to attend them, as they will be important. But, our final instruction to you is this: do not panic. There is no need to worry if we all follow these rules. Your co-operation is very important. Now, before you all leave, are there any questions?"

An older boy sitting just behind Lianne put up his hand, and Squall nodded in his direction. "Is this connected to the Training Centre crisis in any way?"

Squall shook his head seriously. "There is no evidence to suggest that."

"But it's a possibility?" The boy urged.

"The timing of the incidents could be more than a coincidence," Squall was forced to concede. "But jumping to conclusions will only narrow our judgement. For now, let's treat them as separate cases."

Another girl on the other side of the auditorium was directed to speak next. "Do we still have to go to class?"

There were a few tense laughs. "All classes will continue as normal," Squall answered simply. "Any more questions? No. Then you may go."

And with a hustle, the assembled students began to leave, people from the back rows leaving the doors first.

"I think my dad handled that quite well, don't you?" Lianne turned to Leali and Alix as they joined the queue to leave.

And then, so suddenly, the panicked screams of some female students were heard up ahead, just outside in the corridor.

Squall, who had just been leaving the podium with Cid, turned his head sharply to look in the direction of the doors. Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped over the stage barriers into the seats, pushing his way through the gathered students who were craning their necks to see what was happening.

Lianne reacted like lightning, following hot on his heels. As Squall made his way through the throng, Lianne stuck close behind him to travel in his cleared path. Reaching the front of the crowd, she stopped beside her father with a gasp of horror.

On the floor, another pool of fresh, scarlet blood trickled towards the gathering students. It was dripping, and Leanne followed its path upwards to see something that made her cry out in dismay.

A girl was pinned to the wall. Through her heart was a kunai, holding her four feet above the ground. Her eyes were wide beneath large, black-framed glasses.

"Shin…" she breathed, a hand drifting up to her mouth to cover it, feeling like she might retch.

"Everyone, go back to your dorms!" Squall commanded, after a silent moment surveying this fresh tragedy. Nobody moved, all shocked into inaction. "Dorms, now! I mean it!"

Slowly, the students began to move away. The thin trail of students that picked their way across the blood-soaked floor kept their eyes on Shin's body the whole way down the corridor. Lianne, standing in her father's shadow, couldn't move. Suddenly she felt Alix's arm around her shoulders. "Come on, Lianne. Let's get out of here."

Leali, tears welling up in her eyes, took hold of Lianne's hand, trying to urge her friend away too. "Please, let's go."

Lianne could hardly hear her friends' voices. Her eyes were on Shin, who was fixed up on the wall like some kind of gory portrait. Lianne couldn't shake the thoughts of the horrific ways Shin could have died, judging by the glint of fear in her vacant eyes.

The rest of the students were moving quicker now, spurred on by disgust and terror now the initial shock had faded. Within a few minutes, only Squall, Lianne, Leali and Alix remained.

"Lianne, that includes you," Squall said, a stern look on his face. He watched her briefly, before realising she was too shocked to even move. "Leali, take her some place safe, would you? She just needs some rest."

Leali nodded and started, very carefully and slowly, to guide Lianne away.

Confident his daughter was now leaving, Squall turned back to the scene at hand. Alix scowled as he took one last look at Squall and followed his friends, noting Squall's intended ignorance of him.