[_]ARC 1

[_]CHAPTER 2

[_]BOMBS GALORE

Eighth period rolled around, and Hakuba huffed out a sigh of relief. Still no sign of Kuroba coming back (he had been sent to the nurse's office, but Aoko-chan, who had brought him there, reported back that he had not been sent home as of yet... something about his mom not being there and it being safer in the long run to just keep him at the school) so that was always something to be grateful for. The guilt had settled in hours ago – he did trip him on purpose, after all – so he couldn't help but worry about him. Still, it was pretty nice not having to worry about what tricks the guy was up to.

Aoko-chan was looking down and he knew it was because her best friend was hurt. She probably blamed herself for what happened. He went through the conversation in his head to console her ("Aoko-chan, it's not your fault." "I know that, Hakuba-kun, but still..." "Don't be that way. He deserved it, anyway." "That's true. You're always right, Hakuba-kun. And smart. Can I call you Saguru, please? You're so hot. I absolutely love you -") but it ended up getting weird so he chickened out. He didn't even like Aoko-chan, at least not in that way. He liked her as a sister. No more, and no less. Perhaps he liked her as... something else before, but that was then. This was now. He was a logical man and knew when to give up on something.

The teacher was blabbing on about history – he wasn't even listening closely to tell what the topic was even about – and he found his eyes trailing over to the window. The window was... odd. Something was off about it. What? But why... why would something be wrong with the window? He was being ridiculous. Over-tired, or something. Nothing was wrong with the window, it was the same as it always was. He blinked a couple times and rubbed his eyes out. Nope. Still there. What was it that was making him feel that way? He made a mental note to go check it out once class was over. He doubted there was anything wrong, but still... you could never be sure. Hunches sometimes turned out to be correct.

Tick tick tick. Time was going by really slow. Tick tick tick. Couldn't he, say, just get up and walk over to it and see what was up? Tick tick tick. Kuroba was really good with distractions. If only he was still here... but what was up with the window? Why – why was it sticking in his brain like that, like it was super glued in? He wondered if anyone else noticed, but he doubted they did because he was pretty sure he was going crazy. Kaitou Kid tended to do that to people, and after all, his latest heist was last night. So there. His answer. Nothing wrong with the freaking window. All Kid's fault. Case closed, la-da-da, matter put to rest.

He stared at the blackboard and tried to make himself concentrate. Tried to take his mind off the simple glass pane. Nope. Not happening. He turned his attention to his paper. Tried writing some notes that the teacher was lecturing about. Half-assed. Still not working. It bothered him, anyway, that his paper was almost completely blank while the rest of the class had practically-black pages. Jeez, he was going to fail the next test, wasn't he...

Tick tick tick. Widened eyes turned towards the clock. What? Something about it. Strange. He was getting paranoid, wasn't he? Why was this happening? The anxiety was only settling in now, so it couldn't have been anything he ate, couldn't really be anything that had happened... something Kid had pulled last night? Was something like that possible? Did something like that even exist? He was being stupid. Kid didn't do things like that. He would never just pull a prank on someone and have the effects only settle in hours after the heist. It didn't make sense. Kaitou Kid may act crazy and sporadic all the time, but he sure did have his crap together. He wasn't insane, and he sure wouldn't do that. Besides, what would he have even used to induce this level of anxiety on him? Nothing like that existed. Hakuba gulped. So was he really crazy, then? His mind continued searching for the answer.

But the clock, keeping its tick tick ticking, still bothered him. And the window. Why. Why. Why. He was going crazy. The last minutes of class were coming to a close. The teacher was saying close your books. He silently thanked her for being generous enough to give them the last couple moments of class to relax and talk. He stood from his seat and ran to the window, way past curious and absolutely needing to know what the hell was bothering him. Why did everything seem so wrong about this situation,

Okay. Why the hell was there a piece of paper taped to the outside of the window. His mind was going a mile a minute as he cracked the pane open and reached out to grab it ("Paper on the outside... that means a passerby put this here, not one of the students..."). A minute left until the end of class. He unfolded the note and read it.

Hakuba Saguru:

This is our first game to play. If you can figure it out, I'll set another one up. If you can't, then you're going to lose a lot more than you want.

-The Sandman

PS: Time is running out.

This was...!

How much time was left? He glanced up at the clock, as if that would hold the key. Stupid! What game was it that they were even playing? 'Lose a lot more than you want' – what could that mean? People's lives at stake? God, he hoped not... tick tick tick oh crap that's what it meant.

Twenty seconds, not enough time if he waited any longer. "Everybody, get out!" he shouted. His classmates just gave him blank stares, some of them not hearing him since they were too engrossed in their own conversations. Fifteen seconds. They were all going to be screwed if they didn't get out of there as soon as possible. "Guys, get out! Now! There's a bomb!"

Of course, he could just be overreacting. But then again, it could all be real. But there wasn't much time left to ponder this, and he set about trying to herd everyone into the hallway. Some people listened, but others refused just because they were stubborn. Five seconds. He cursed rather loudly but just kept screaming for everyone to leave. People were getting pretty scared at this time, now, and were actually taking him seriously. But there wasn't enough time. He was too late. He was too late. He moved himself towards Aoko-chan, who was frightened herself, but busy trying to persuade people to get out. He pulled her wrist away and dragged her under a desk with him just as the bell for the period to end sounded.

Everything happened so fast that he wasn't even sure at this point if he was imagining it or not. A bright flash, a loud sound that seemed a lot like thunder even though there wasn't even a storm outside, and numerous hard objects crashing into him. He hugged Aoko-chan close – dammit, even if Kuroba wasn't here someone had to take care of her – and forced them both to the ground. He knew they would be hit with less... stuff if they were like that. The desk overtop them had long flown away, it felt like.

People were screaming, people were crying, people were hurting. They were moaning and moaning and wailing in agony and dear God it was all his fault. His eyes were shut tight and he didn't really know why but he was thankful that they were. He gathered his courage to open them and survey the damage done. They peeked open slowly, vision blurry but able to see all the same. He stared at Aoko-chan first.

Damn, she looked awful. Scratches and scratches and all this blood on her. He wondered if it was even all hers, the amount that was puddling around her. He was suddenly very scared, more scared than he had ever been before. Scared that someone so close to him – someone he thought of as a sister – could actually be gone. What if? The what if's flooded his mind. It was all his fault. He should've trusted his instinct and checked it out sooner. Why did he wait so long? This... this could have all been avoided. But he just wanted to save face, and...

He stared down at his own hands. They were covered in maroon, the color of fresh blood. So fresh. Blood that would never enter a body again. Once it came out it never went back in. His eyes widened as he looked more and more and then started looking around the classroom. Everything was gone. Ruined. Destroyed. It was all his fault. Why? Why had he allowed this to happen? People were by the door, sitting up slightly, not able to get up all the way because they were in too much pain. He didn't feel anything. He didn't feel any pain at all. He was too numb, because dear God it was all his fault.

He held his hand to his side, where he felt a cold faucet of not-blood (it wasn't blood it wasn't blood it wasn't blood) and tried to stand up (if it wasn't blood then it didn't happen). He collapsed back onto the floor because his legs were too weak to stand the pressure (if it didn't happen it wasn't his fault). He put his other hand to the floor instead to try to steady himself and get his head clear (not his fault not his fault not his fault). Years and years went by and then Aoko-chan opened her eyes and thank God she wasn't dead. She murmured slowly, "What... happened?"

"I didn't," know, he wished, "think."

She gaped at him, some sort of betrayal dancing in her eyes. Like she couldn't believe him. Like she thought he was a monster. "What do you mean?"

"I," that seemed like all he could say. He held his hand up to his forehead, headache coming in at full stride. "I."

'I' a million times over. If only it was just him. That would've been fair. But that person – that... the Sandman. That guy. The Sandman. He didn't want a fair fight. He was using everything and anything against him. And it was timed just right. At the right place and at the right time. That was certainly something scary, and certainly something that he really didn't want to think about. But yeah, it was one of those things that he was going to have to face eventually. If... no, when he solved this mystery. This crime. This... unspeakable act.

Aoko-chan's face softened considerably. "Are you – are you okay, Hakuba-kun? This was... planned, wasn't it?" He nodded, suddenly rendered speechless. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. "But, we'll find the guy that did this, right? We can't let him get away. So don't worry about that, Hakuba-kun. And it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You... there was a note, right? That's what you were looking at before, weren't you? It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known. It's not your fault."

He coughed a little, into his balled-up hand, specks of reds flying out but he couldn't find it in himself to care. "But... it's my fault. I knew something was wrong. I could've done something sooner. It's... hard to explain. But now, now everyone's hurt. I'm hurt. You're hurt. We could've all gotten out. But... I was too late. Dammit. It's all my fault. And don't try to say it isn't, because it is."

"You couldn't have known. You didn't know about the note." Her eyes pleaded to him, asking him to agree. He closed his eyes and sighed. No need, no sense worrying her more. Don't get her too excited. Don't get into a fight. "I guess." And that was just about all he could say, to keep himself from lying any more than he had to.

More groaning came from all around him, as people awakened from bouts of unconsciousness. He stared at the ground, quite pissed at himself in general. He commanded his legs to hold himself up, and they reluctantly obliged. He didn't have anything to help himself up with (all the desks were either broken into teeny tiny pieces or crowded against the far wall... he thought back and discovered he couldn't really remember the desk that had been sheltering them getting moved) so it was quite a painful process (in the literal sense and not). He held his hand out to Aoko-chan. "Are you well enough to get up?"

She thought about it for a moment before quickly nodding. "I'm just a little hurt here and there, nothing big. You look terrible yourself, though," she added as an afterthought.

Well thank goodness she was okay. But apparently he wasn't...? He looked down at himself, able to see more clearly now that he wasn't sitting / laying down. The first thing that registered in his mind was that, for having such a black outfit, blood really did show through clearly. He shivered as he took in the sheer amount of it. That was a lot. Wow. But there were more important things right now. "Aoko-chan, are you sure you're okay? If you are, then we can help the others out."

She nodded again, not missing a beat, but stared a while in worry as it occurred to her how hurt he was and that he wasn't even going to think about helping himself out. She crossed her arms over her chest. "You mean, I'm going to help the others out while you stay here and try not to injure yourself more than you already are, right?"

That was a scary look she was giving him. He wasn't in the mood to start a fight with her so he just went along with it. "Fine, but that goes for you, too. Don't push yourself too hard."

"Good," and she limped over to another classmate who was still unconscious (he wasn't imagining the limp, right...? He was going to have to make her get that leg checked out later, then, but if it wasn't hurting her too much right now, he would let it slide. He would just keep an eye on it for now) and tried to gently lull them back to the real, awake world. Hakuba watched on, alone now except for his thoughts. The thoughts that it was all his fault

And, of course, the stupid note that had somehow wriggled its way into his pocket.

…

AN: That bomb just got there. Seriously. No but really I'm going to have to change the summary of this story if things keep happening like this. I don't know how that bomb got there but it just did. Hakuba was supposed to just be having a panic attack. His hunch wasn't supposed to be correct.

Anyway, coming up: Hakuba blames himself, Aoko... is Aoko, and more! I really have no idea what's supposed to be happening next chapter but I guess the fuzz are supposed to show up! I mean seriously there was a bomb. What do you expect – Edogawa Conan to randomly just show up? Jeez, just because he's mentioned as one of the characters in this story doesn't mean he's going to be in it (yes it does)!

Finally, everybody congratulate me. Now. This, I think, is my longest chapter I've ever put up! Like, not counting one-shots or anything. And this didn't even take that long to write (haha it shows, doesn't it) so maybe... this'll be how it is from now on? Maybe. I don't know. 2 CRAY CRAY 4 U