UPDATE: Whoops, for some reason, when I originally posted this it came up being the same as the first chapter. Sorry about that! Here's the REAL second part.
I had peeled away most of the orange's outer covering, discarding the little bits to the street below. A trail of orange peels had begun to form behind me as I made my way into the northern part of the central shopping district. The wind began to pick up, and some of the peels were blown around and scattered in all directions. I didn't mind leaving them around; they would either erode away or be eaten by animals in time anyway. The shopping district was also barren and devoid of human life, it seemed, as well, but it was a beautiful morning. Sunlight was beginning to flood over the horizon, and the earthy smell of fallen leaves had begun to linger in the air. Autumn was very close, and the temperature had become cooler over the past few days.
The orange was now completely peeled and ready to be eaten. I delicately separated one segment of it and raised it to my mouth. However, before I could take a bite, something caught my eye which made me stop in my tracks. I peered over to the side of the street, where the big, red arch of the Tatsuhime shrine stood. Beneath the shrine was a small animal, not much bigger than a large cat. It had been staring at me. This animal was a little red fox, covered in strange scars, wearing what looked to be a small red apron of some sort. The sight somewhat startled me, and all I could do was stare back at it. It did not move; it only sat there, its head down, staring up at me with a modest expression.
I looked at the segment of orange I held in my fingers, and then back to the fox. It looked as if it was fairly urbanized, especially since it did not seem to fear me. After hesitating, I approached it with caution, reaching out the orange segment as far as I could, should it have snapped at me. The fox took its eyes off me to look at the orange segment I held in front of its snout. It examined it, unmoving.
"Do you want some?" I asked quietly. I tend to be somewhat of a considerate person... On my sixteenth birthday at the end of the past April, for example, I had felt awkward and guilty having to accept the gifts my visiting family members gave me, especially considering the fact that they seemed rather expensive and valuable. My family is fairly wealthy, the gnerations before me being notorious detectives, but recieving such gifts always tends to make me a bit squeamish. I am more of a giver than a receiver, though I like to make things rather than buy them.
The fox sniffed at the orange. "You can have some of it," I said, "Go on, it's alright." It looked up at me again before quickly snatching up the segment. I flinched and pulled my hand away from its jaws, but then saw that it had only taken the small orange segment from me, and began to nibble at it when it placed it on the ground before its dark paws. I smiled softly, and when the fox had finished, it looked back up at me and trilled out in appreciation. Then, it rose to its feet and scurried off in the dirwction of the shrine.
As I watched the little red fox disappear into the brush, I remembered the old ghost stories my grandfather would tell me when I was a child, about kitsunes and how you must always treat them with respect, as they can be guardians to watch over us and protect us, as well as symbols of good fortune and loyalty. Grinning at the silliness of the subject, I shook it out of my mind. Kitsunes... Nothing but more childish nonsense. Peeling another segment away from the orange, I continued walking through the shopping district and started on my breakfast.
I downed the orange rather quickly and reached my first destinaton, Samegawa flood plain, in due time. There wasn't a soul to be seen. "Perfect," I mumbled under my breath. It seemed that getting up early had been a promising decision. This way, I could wait in the peaceful quiet of somewhere concealed, before the students began to arrive and follow me around again from all directions. I eyed a sizeable tree, and without hesitation, I approached it and ducked behind it, so that I may have been unseen from the road.
I waited there, in the shade of the tree and the peace of the natural ambience around me. I thought about many things. I thought about the case, mainly, as lately it seemed like my brain would not stop analyzing it. I thought of prior theories and current theories over and over. I also thought of the talk show I had been on the previous day. I would have rather not done it, but it was a necessary sacrifice... I thought of the group of students I had been hoping to have a word with, which was the reason I was here as my first matter of business for the day, and I thought of what skipping school would potentially do to my grades. No matter, I would just make up whatever I missed; I have a very advanced mind for my age anyway. Academic matters came rather easily to me. I thought of my Grampa and Yakushiji-san, and my chest tightened when I remembered the conversation I had with Yakushiji-san that morning. I also thought of many other things, of the girls who always followed me around, stared at me, whispered about me, flirted with me... They were relentless, and refused to leave me alone. The things the girls would say about me were always good things, never bad things... But I had no interest in them. I had no interest in anyone, unless they were a factor in this case.
Birds had just begun to awaken, and were singing quietly in the canopies. Slowly, the small town of Inaba began to rise from its sleep, and it was somewhat fascinating to listen to it. The sounds of car engines starting echoed in the distance, and soon, the casual sound of them making their ways to their countless, varying destinations filled the air. A small drop of dew splattered on the peak of my cap, taking me by surprise as it splashed the tip of my nose. I looked upward, toward the rustling leaves of the tree, which were glittering with dewdrops and glowing a bright, yellowing green with the sunlight that shone through. They were just beginning to change colors, but they were still strikingly green. I stared up at the twisting branches, feeling a sort of noatalgia and longing. Examining the great boughs of the tree, I considered climbing up into them. I could look down to the road below that wa, without being seen by anyone. The leaves and branches seemed to be just thick enough to cover me- No. Th thought was childish. You don't have to climb trees, Naoto, you are well hidden the way you are. I sunk down against the base of the tree and sat between its roots, wrapping mt arms around my knees. Still... It was so very tempting, to be up in that high place, without anyone seeing me. I waited in the shade as students' voices began to ring out and draw closer. Soon, the road beside me was filled with walking teenagers on their way to school, all talking about their own individual conversations. Meaningless things, I kept thinking to myself. They're all talking about such meaningless things as gossip and rumors and only spouting hot air, while I myself am on important duties. Why are they so ignorant? They're only an nuisance to me...
Soon, I heard a familiar voice. I instantly realized that it was the voice of Rise Kujikawa. Other familiar voices soon chimed in, and I peered out from behind the tree. Sure enough, some of the students I had been keeping my eye on, whom I had associated with during the school trip to Tatsumi Port Island, were conversing together. The students I saw were as follows: Two of the suspected victims, Rise Kujkawa and Yukiko Amagi; as well as three of the others I had only been recently introduced to, who as I recall were named Chie, Yosuke and... The last student's name I could not bring myself to remember, but he was the peculiar one who had caught my eye early on in the investigation, the quiet, androgynous student with plain, silvery hair.
I stood, stretched, and walkd out from behind the tree. As I approached them, I saw that they were talking deeply about something, but I could not make out the words they were saying. They did not seem to notice me, surprisingly, until I spoke up.
"Good morning," I said as I neared them. They all turned their heads to me as I came closer, and then I stopped, just short of their group, my hand placed inquisitively on my waist. "I've been waiting for you all," I continued when they did not say anything, but rather looked at me as if they were surprised to see me. Did they not know what I was here to do? Shouldn't it have been obvious? I am a detective, after all. "There's something I needed to discuss with you regarding the case."
Yosuke, the student with the rather long, unkempt brown hair, spoke up. "Discuss? Dude, we'll be late if we talk too long..." He looked worried, and then seemed to notice my casual, bright turquoise shirt. "Hey, where's your uniform?"
"Could you please indulge my current theory on the matter?" I insisted.
"What is it...?" Yosuke asked.
I turned away, pondering what needed to be said. "First, as regards commonalities between the victims, all of them were kidnapped before they were murdered. The victims were all locals who had been the focus of recent media attention, becoming suddenly well-known... That is the most likely scenario." They listened to me, but didn't seem too interested. In fact, they even seemed to be a bit annoyed. "I don't believe there is anything intrinsically uniquw about the victims themselves." I looked around at th lot of thim, but they still did not answer immediately. Turning back to face them, I attempted to provoke feedback out of them. "...Haven't you all come to the same conclusion?"
"Yeah, we did," said the silver-haired student. The others looked at him uneasily.
I nodded. "Then, allow me to state my point. Will you admit that a number of you fit these identical circumstances? There was a long interval between the second and third deaths in this case. But after I applied the aforementioned criteria, I discovered several similar disappearances had taken place." I looked around at each one of them. "Yukiko Amagi. Kanji Tatsumi. Rise Kujikawa. All of you disappeared shortly after being shown on TV... Either you escaped death, or you faked your own disappearences in order to divert attention from yourselves. Since some of you had ties to the victims, there came a point where I suspected one of you must be the culprit."
"You thought one of us was the killer?!" the small brunette girl, Chie, piped up. "You can't be serious!"
"This was a prior theory, since discarded," I quickly stated to avoid conflict. "Putting together everything I've learned up until this moment, I believe exactly the opposite. You aren't the culprits. You may, in fact, be the only ones with the means to pursue the true perpetrator... Seen as a joining force between the rescued, everything falls into place. ...Of course, this is all speculation." I turned away again, letting myself think. "There in fact is a flaw in the theory. It doesn't account for the third incident, Mr. Morooka's murder. He has never been broadcast on television, and neither did he ever disappear. We must also consider the condition of his corpse. Th first two victims are still listed with an unknown cause of death... But Mr. Morooka died of an easily identifiable blunt force to the occipital cranium. The police have not yet satisfactorily resolved this discrepancy, yet they are desperate to close the case. Further action will be necessary to obtain some sort of decisive evidence."
Chie spoke up again. "Further action...? What do you mean?"
"Well," I said, turning back, "Whatever the outcome... The evidence should come to light." I was silent for a moment, and swallowed hard before looking at Rise and Yukiko with a sharp expression. "...You said something interesting to me not long ago." After that, I began to walk past them, breaking eye contact after a few seconds and proceeding to walk away.
"Hey," said Yosuke, "Where are you going?"
I narrowed my eyes without a glance back, and stopped. "This is not a game for me, either."
"Naoto-kun...?" said Yukiko. Without another word, I proceeded onward up the road.