A/N: I know this chapter goes through of the story rather slow, but it just works as a foundation on what happens in the story

CHAPTER:

II

The Beginning of The Plot Thickens

Like any High School in Japan, Yasogami High was rather generic. It wasn't special like the private schools back at Tokyo, but it was a school that I was obliged to go under parental wishes.

To spare you the question why I was obliged to study here. The answer was that my dad, Arata Ito used to attend here. His reputation was a class-clown if I remembered from one of his drunken slurs. He's not an alcoholic; he's just a man who couldn't hold his liquor.

As I approached the gates, the bell had suddenly rung. Students alike ran into the school to avoid themselves on being late. For me, I didn't care if I was late or not; like I said early on, smart grades do overlook tardiness.

However, I mentioned about a Mr. Morokin. Apparently I heard he had taken over my class as a homeroom teacher. I don't refer to him as Morooka-sensei since the honorific didn't fit his name; the reason why is that Mr. Morokin sounds like a title for a cartoon character of a children's T.V show, to which, I had to agree with myself since his appearance almost looked like one. Especially if you considered how bad his teeth were. We have a small history together, especially when he was my first teacher of my first year at Yasogami high.

"Your late young lady!" was his greeting. He (mostly) remembered me back then.

"Good morning to you Mr. Morokin." I calmly replied.

"I'm going to put you in my black book." He threatened.

"Didn't you do that so many times?" I retorted.

The class looked at me, stunned as they were. The people who hated Mr. Morokin were mildly amused. The rest had silently woo-ed me for his swift defeat by my words.

I closed the door with normality and approached my seat as though nothing happened. I could hear him mumbling something behind my back about how he should write punishments on a book dedicated to me. If I was sarcastic, I would be flattered, but a mild thought was a good replacement.

"Hey! Ito-chan!" a tomboyish voice whispered. It was sassy yet brash and belong only to one person, Chie Satonaka, Inaba's number one eater (and kung fu fighter if I heard her brag).

"Yeah?" I replied with a slight turn of my head; dark strands of black hair covered my face. Her brown eyes couldn't see my face clearly. However for me, I could see her face at the corner of my eyes.

"Good job on putting Moron King in his place." She grinned; a thumb's up was added to how glad she was.

"I wasn't even trying." Was my truthful answer, but Chie never bothered to listen. She began chatted animatedly to her best friend in front, Yukiko Amagi, the heiress of the Amagi inn.

Graceful and pretty; her intelligence doesn't cover for common sense. Fashion choices are typically associated with the shades of color red. Besides that, there's nothing much to talk about her.

However, what there is to talk was the guy sitting next to Chie. Usually that seat was empty until this day. He looked at me blankly with no emotion; similar like me except his eyes were grey instead of black.

Surprisingly, his hair color was the same as his eyes. The style of it was a modern and sophisticated bowl cut; I guess he was from the city.

The way he dressed his uniform probably told me that he came from a rather prestigious school, and the blank look on his face that he wasn't transferred to this school by choice.

"Yu Narukami." He spoke. No pleasantries needed; just like my style.

"Kaya Ito." I greeted back. Same monotone voice as well. We almost sounded as though we came from the same background.

"Nice to meet you…" he said without a second thought.

"Likewise." I simply nodded to him before I could turn away and walked off to my small corner table at the end of the classroom.

Even though we were strangers and merely spoke to each other on a whim. There was something about him that made me interested. As though he had more to tell beneath that face- a book that was left closed yet urge me to open. Attraction would be the word… a rather strange word regarding with feelings of mine.

Hours later after Mr. Morokin's talk was over. Everyone jumped up once we were dismissed. I let my mind wonder on what his lecture's will be like now, because if it takes that long to make an introductory. A lecture will be twice as long… I think. However he was a man of all talk and no bite, so his threats against me (and everyone else) are hollow, but no one knows that apart from me.

"Narukami-kun!" two girls chimed. Both had matching hairstyles in two different shades of brown. I had a sudden urge to go up there and tell them he was busy, but I must keep my composure to prevent my humiliation; especially when everyone stopped-dead to hear the notice.

"Attention all teachers. Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice"

"Hmh, you heard the announcement…" Morokin reinforced. He reminded us not to leave class until the PA said otherwise.

"He's seriously getting on my nerves…" one of the girls spoke after he left.

"I know right." Her friend agreed. She asked Yu for his opinion. He was going to agree until the sirens came in. Apparently, the police had called in the detectives to investigate.

Three boys went to the window to check it out. One of them asked what happened and mention the sirens sounded as though they were close by. He was rather excited since nothing happens much in this town. However the only complaint he made was the fog. It appeared to worsen a lot since this morning.

"Yeah, like every time it rains lately, it gets all foggy…"

"I beg pardon?" I inquired out of blue.

All of three of them were startled.

"Oh. Ito-chan. What brings you hear?" One of the guys asked. I believe his name was Ken, but all three of them looked the same to me.

"What did you say about the rain and the fog?"

"Oh. Haven't you notice? Every time it rains, fog comes along."

"No I haven't" I spoke with slight shame. I shouldn't have noticed that a lot sooner than expected.

"Well anyways, have you heard about the paparazzi looked for that announcer?" One of the boys (Shouta? I think) asked.

"Who hasn't," I shrugged. Everyone knows about small town gossip- particularly ones that deals with lust and affairs of other people.

"You mean Mayumi Yamano right?" the middle boy clarified. " I heard some guys spotted her in the shopping district."

"Shopping district?" I asked. I had to raise a dark eyebrow. So far I know, Mayumi Yamano hasn't been down at the shopping district ever since the pap's caught wind of her location, since then, she had been secretly hiding in the Amagi inn. (Courtesy of one of my beloved father's drinking buddy who works at the inn)

"Yeah. You know, late-twenties looking woman with short black hair and ruby red lips. I believe her clothes were a white shirt, black skirt and flats that match." Eric explained.

Ruby red lips were definitely the dead give away on what I saw. Short black hair however, I need more time to analyze that picture on my phone.

"H-Hey Yukiko-san!" Eric spoke. He managed to get pass by me while I was distracted.

The rumor-loving boy asked if the announcer was staying at her inn. Yukiko replied by saying that she can't say anything about it.

The boy nodded nervously and went back to his friends. Chie comes along and complains about how long would it take for her to leave. For me, I sat right back at my seat so I could observe the room. It's one of my many pastimes I do whenever I have to wait.

"By the way, did'ya try what I told you the other day?" Chie asked.

"?" A question mark had appeared on top of Yukiko's head.

"You know… that thing about rainy nights…"

"Oh… No, not yet. Sorry."

"Ahh, that's okay." Chie smiled, she was not bothered on what her friend didn't do yet.

"It's just, I heard a guy in the class next door yell something like, "My soulmate is Yamano, the announcer!"

Yamano? Soulmate? It seems the plot had thicken. Whoever killed Yamano must have seen her in this rumor. Stalker or satanic worshipper? That's the question I ask myself. As soon as I heard the ring of announcement, I head straight for the door. On the way to the shoe lockers, I heard people talking about incident. Words does spread quickly in small town like Inaba, and I fear, for some reason, that things are going to be a whole lot complicated then I expected.