It's still the 31st for me, but for some of you I'm sure it's past midnight already so-Happy New Year! I hope you'll enjoy this update!

Mai

I woke up slowly, not quite understanding where I was. The lights were too bright and white, and for a moment everything was blurry.

"Mai? Are you alright?"

Juro. That's Juro's voice. I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision, and sat up slowly.

"Mai?"

Juro's face swam into focus. He looked pale and worried, his green shirt rumpled and all of a sudden it hit me.

"Akio! Where's Akio?"

I shot up straight and Juro put his arms around me.

"Shhh, it's okay, we're still looking."

"Yeah, don't worry. "

I blinked again, not having noticed that Evalynn was here at all. But sure enough, she was, leaning against the wall behind Juro, arms crossed loosely, jacket over her shoulders like a cape. Another memory.

"You…you know…you were asking me…"

Juro released me, but kept his hands on my shoulders as he looked at me.

"Shh, don't worry about that now," he soothed. "Don't worry about that now."

"But-"

Juro knew. I didn't remember how or when or why but somehow they ahd found out about the agreement me, Friede and Takaaki had come to and had been asking me about it and…I wasn't sure what had happened next.

"Listen, Mai."

I startled at Evalynn's abrupt tone as she pushed herself off the wall and came to stand by Juro's chair.

"This one, right?" she poked Juro's arm roughly. "He's one of the good ones. Has only been trying to protect you all this time but, he's also an absolute shit at basic communication-"

"Hey-"

"An absolute shit at basic communication," Evalynn went on as if Juro hadn't protested. "And now look where we are so. I'm going to go carry on helping to figure out where your son is, but in the meantime it's your job to talk it out. Then hopefully go home if the doctor says so, get some rest, a little romance in there too to rejuvenate…and then, we'll need you at your strongest so you can help us help find Akio and his friends. But first…communicate!"

My mouth was hanging open by the end of this, but Evalynn gave me no time to respond, instead grabbing a small handbag off of my bedside table and sauntering out. At the door, she stopped and turned to wink at me, but just as she turned back again, she paused, and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Yeah, it's Detective Dupont. What is it?" she answered the phone as she went out.

When she left, I turned to Juro, who now looked worried. There were so many things I wanted to say and ask, but I didn't know how to verbalise most of them. So I asked the most immediate question:

"How did I get here?"

"Oh, right. Evalynn and Nobu-san were asking you about Anabuki-san's allegation, and you had a panic attack and fainted. You did wake up earlier, but you just had another panic attack and the doctor had to sedate you. I'm so glad you're alright now. I'm so glad…oh Mai."

Juro took my hands in his, clasping them and then lowering his head.

"Mai, I…I messed up. The others have been saying I messed up and they were right. I wanted to shield you from all of this, that's all. I wanted to keep the investigation away from you as much as possible because I knew it was hurting you, so I thought I had to keep myself away but I was wrong, wasn't I?"

"I thought you were getting tired of me!" I burst out. "I thought that you were avoiding me, because you were tired of always having to look after me, because of all this, and I thought you'd hate me once you found out and…"

I trailed off, a new horror dawning:

"You know."

Juro didn't ask about what, thankfully. I was not sure I could handle having to say it out loud. Instead, he hugged me tight.

"I know." He murmured.

I stiffened.

"And…and you don't hate me?"

"Oh Mai, how could I hate you? I just…I should be sorry, really."

"You should?"

"Yeah. I should."

"B-but why? You didn't…I did…I almost did something really bad, Juro, I was…I was…"

"We should have found you all earlier, before you had to reach that point. The fact you made it that far without breaking, after everything you've been through…you've always been fragile, but you've also been really brave. I never realised how brave, until now. But you shouldn't have had to have been, Mai. So I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we didn't find you earlier."

At those words, something broke in me and I started to sob, clinging onto Juro for all I was worth. He held me tighter, and rubbed my back in circles and all the while he murmured I'm sorry, I'm sorry over and over.

…

Once the doctor had seen me and confirmed I was alright to go home, Juro helped me get myself together and we headed down. When we got to the lobby, however, I realised that there were people waiting.

Azami, Eizo and Ayuna all got up and gathered around us.

"You're alright!" Eizo exclaimed. "We were worried when we found out you fainted, right, Azami?"

Azami nodded. I noticed that she was holding a small bouquet of flowers, but she made no mention of it and so neither did I.

"You're going home to rest now, right?" she asked.

"I'm going to try," I said honestly. "But I don't know how I will-"

"I'll be with you, Mai, don't worry," Juro said. "I'm not leaving your side."

"That's good, "Azami said.

Eizo jumped in next:

"We're all hoping that they'll get the children back. They're fairly sure now, that Akio-kun is with all the other kids who turned up at yours the other day. "

"Eizo was able to help with that a little, because of how he was doing the security there."

"Ah, I just asked for a couple of favours, that's all. And actually, something strange came up between one of them and Hanamura, which is why he's not here. I don't know what it is, though."

"Ahh…and what about Friede-chan? Jinsai-kun?"

"They're still questioning Friede-kun about…well…you know."

Ah. Of course they know. I felt sick, suddenly, and my knees felt weak. Thankfully, Juro was there, and he put his arm around me. I leant into him and looked at the faces of my three friends. They all looked worried, pensive, but I didn't know what to make of that.

"What about…" I stammered. "What about Jinsai-kun?"

"They were also questioning him about the same thing, but he absconded." Ayuna said. "Anyway, speaking of that-Mai, what the hell?"

"Hey, Ayuna-" Eizo started.

"Mai, what the hell, a suicide pact? Without telling us?"

Even though she kept her voice low, the anger in it was clear, and even as I tried to protest I knew it would be feeble in the fact of what was quite a reasonable reaction, actually. Still, I stammered:

"You wouldn't have agree-"

"Damn straight I wouldn't have agreed! That's not a decision you should have been making for us, and especially not for Az-"

"Aozaki-san, I understand how you feel, but-"

Juro tried to intervene, but Ayuna didn't look happy about it. Then, unexpectedly, Azami stepped in front of me, facing Ayuna.

"You're talking from the viewpoint of the people we all are now. But think about it from the viewpoint of who we were then."

"I-you what?"

"Obviously, hearing what was going to happen makes me upset, but this is twenty years later. Back then, I wouldn't have known at all, would I? Back then, if I'd had any shred of awareness…I think that I might even have been glad."

"Azami…" Eizo started.

Azami turned her head to him, shook it slightly.

"No, it's true. I know you both wouldn't have wanted that to happen, and neither would Hanamura-kun but…think about it. If you think about it, you can surely understand why they thought that, right?"

Ayuna sighed, face creasing but not quite crumpling.

"That doesn't make it right, though."

"No," Azami agreed. "And from where I stand now, I am still glad that she didn't go through with it. But, still. I understand why they all may have thought of it in the first place."

Azami looked at me questioningly, and I tried to smile. She smiled back just as uncertainly, and then looked down at the flowers in her hands and abruptly held them out.

"We didn't really know what had happened with you if you were actually sick or something so I bought these. You should still have them though because you're still having a hard time."

"Oh, Azami-chan."

I took the flowers, the plastic they were wrapped in crinkling. Holding the flowers to my nose, I inhaled their sweet smell and then looked down at them. They were likely cheap flowers, probably from the hospital shop, but they were so pretty. Most importantly, they'd been chosen for me.

"Thank you." I said.

"You're welcome." Azami said, blushing slightly.

I smiled at all of them, and then turned to Juro:

"Let's go home now."

…

Takaaki

I looked up as the two detectives came in. I'd already forgotten their names, as they weren't any of the detectives that I had been talking to all the other times. In my head I named them Aristotle and Kant, for no other reason than one looked like he'd make more sense in those tunic-toga things Ancient Greeks wore and the other because I thought maybe his name was one that would begin with a K in English.

Aristotle was the first one to speak, asking:

"How would you describe your relationship with Friede Anabuki?"

I stared at him.

"Until this investigation started, I didn't have one."

"Yes, but you've re-united now, haven't you?" Aristotle said.

I opened my mouth to protest this, but Kant cut in smoothly:

"Alright, let's put it this way, Jinsai-san. What was your past relationship with her?"

There was something hidden beneath the question, and I didn't like it, whatever it was.

"How would you define 'relationship' in this context?"

"Look, drop the act-" Aristotle snapped.

"Oi, hold on, we have to get him to admit it."

"Nah, he's just going to lead us in circles! You know what Kurosawa said about him!"

Aristotle returned his glare to me and said:

"Look, Friede Anabuki admitted it, alright? She admitted that you, her, and Mai Arisato were plotting a murder-suicide pact. Except it wasn't a pact, was it? Because you were going to include the other survivors and you didn't tell them."

Looking around first to make sure that the others weren't near, I rushed into the kitchen to where Sadie and Friede were making dinner and asked:

"Why are we still alive?"

The girls exchanged a look with each other, and then Sadie said:

"We couldn't do it. We were…too scared."

"Tomorrow, though," Friede said. "We'll do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." I repeated.

"Yeah, tomorrow."

Sadie's voice shook, and Friede put a hand on her shoulder, before turning to me.

"If you're coming to make a fuss, you may as well stay and help with dinner."

"Since it's the last night I'll have to, then sure."

The room was too small, suddenly. I needed to get out. Not just out but far, far away but the doors were closed and the detectives were there and they were glaring at me and they wouldn't let me leave not when somehow they knew and-

The window.

The window. It was a normal window, they hadn't shoved me into the type of room they would have put me in if they were arresting me, and there was a window. I got up, vaguely aware of the chair clattering and went to the window, discovering its handle and using it to shove the window open. I heaved myself through, leaning on the sill for a moment, only long enough to be sure that I wasn't too high off the ground before I then leapt out.

As I hit the ground I heard a commotion, above it all someone yelling: HE'S JUST JUMPED OUT OF THE WINDOW! To which I thought, yes, very observant. But somehow feeling as if my blood was fizzing and threatening to explode out of me, I immediately leapt up, somehow knowing that I was winded and bruised, but not allowing myself to feel it. I couldn't even allow myself to see, or think. I just ran and ran. My blood kept fizzing, and I kept going until I found I couldn't keep going.

All the aches and tiredness crashed into me, and it took all I had to keep upright as I staggered to a vending machine. I had my wallet with me, miraculously, still in my shirt pocket, so I leaned against the vending machine, scooped out some coins and then shoved them into the machine before pressing buttons at random. A can of soda and a chocolate bar popped out, and I bent down to grab them. First opening the drink, and then unwrapping the bar, I took a bite and a gulp almost simultaneously. I had no idea how it tasted.

I felt very far away from myself, somehow.

I closed my bedroom door behind me, then immediately re-opened it. Satisfied that it worked still, I closed it again. Then, leaning against it, I took the vial out from my pocket and stared at it. Would we really go through with it tomorrow, or would we end up putting it off again? Sadie clearly was not only having second thoughts, but third and fourth ones too. It didn't surprise me. I couldn't quite believe that she had agreed in the first place-she was far too motherly for such things. Friede I wasn't so sure about at all. On the other hand, I was even less sure about me.

Surely this was for the greater good, a perfect example of utilitarianism. After all, at this point, rescue was unlikely, and we were all probably just a thread or two away from completely snapping. I knew that I was. The cycle of suffering would surely continue.

On the other hand, I knew my thread was snapping, I could feel it. I didn't know about the others, but mine definitely was. Therefore, in truth, it was I that was the biggest threat to their suffering. So perhaps it did not need to be all of us.

I found myself thinking of Kimiko as I took the lid off the vial and slowly lifted it to my mouth, and this made me pause. She wouldn't agree with the conclusion that I had just drawn, and would have challenged me on it if she had been here to do so. But she wasn't here. That fact had left me with a strange hollow, a feeling I couldn't name, no matter how much I tried. And I tried again now, with poison halfway through my lips.

"It doesn't seem worth living without her."

That wasn't right either. The hollow within me was jagged and spiky and deep, and the shape of the feeling of those words was soft and blue, blurry at edges that I couldn't grasp. The feeling in the shape of those words was a silk scarf that choked me. I could not squeeze it into the edges of my hollow. Still, I tried saying it again.

"It doesn't seem worth living without her."

And it still wasn't quite right, and it wasn't quite truth but it wasn't a lie, either. Kimiko's death was different to everyone else's death, because she was Kimiko. The hollow had come to be because of her death. But at the same time, it meant nothing. It meant nothing, because nothing would change that. There was no way to go back and save her, or any of them.

There was no saving any of us.

So what was I doing, being so selfish? I moved the bottle away from my mouth and closed it again. Minimise suffering, maximise good. That was all I could do now. So I opened my door again, and headed back to the kitchen to put the bottle back.

I couldn't wait for tomorrow.

Feeling a little more real, but not quite, I looked around me. I wasn't sure where I was, but I could see a train station. More importantly, I didn't see any policemen or detectives rushing after me. Which was good because I needed to keep going. I needed to go far, far away. I knew I couldn't shed my body and brain but the further away I got the closer I could get to that. Maybe, probably. But it wasn't even as complicated as that. I just needed to get away.

So I headed into the train station, bought a ticket that covered as many stations as I could get, hopped on one train, sat on it for a few stops, got off and found another train, rinse and repeat. Eventually, I got a bit tired of trains, so I exited the station and went to sit outside. My stomach was rumbling, vaguely, but the hunger felt too vague to do anything about, so I decided to wait until it got more annoying. I watched the world go by for a little while, staring right at the people who stared at me before starting to feel like it was rather cramped underneath the bench. But as I squeezed myself out, I heard a gruff voice saying:

"The 'beginning' is Shirohata. That's where it all happened. Right? So that's the beginning. She's in Shirohata. Maybe with those other kids, or maybe not."

The guy was coughing a lot, whoever he was, but even though he continued talking, I didn't hear those words. Just what he had said about Shirohata. Those children, going to Shirohata. Their apparent disappearance was the entire reason I'd been confronted with the one thing I had thought would remain my secret, but I hadn't even thought about those kids.

What would Kimiko say to that? I wondered. I rather suspected she'd be disappointed. Would she be worried, too? It was Shirohata, after all, where everything had happened. And since we'd have known about it if the courtroom had been discovered, everything was still there, including the devices used for execution. So, if they were there, they were undoubtedly in danger.

I walked up to the old man who had been saying those things on the phone. Something about him was unfamiliar, but it wasn't until he hung up and looked at me that I realised who he was. The first words out of his mouth to me just confirmed that.

"You're one of them. The survivors. Moeka's friends."

"The missing children. The sons and their friends. You think they're in Shirohata. "

"What's it to you?"

"If you're going to rescue them, can I come with you?"

Tetsuji Kamiya frowned at me. I gazed back at him, and waited. Eventually, he asked:

"Why?"

"Why not?"

I looked down at my bowl. The food inside was perfectly ordinary-looking. You'd never know that there was poison in it. I lifted my spoon up, then sighed and put it down again.

"What's wrong?" Ayuna asked. "You not hungry?"

"Not really…"

"We have to eat, keep up our strength. Come on."

I watched Ayuna gamely take a mouthful, grinning at me in a way that was clearly meant to be motivating. I watched her, waiting for some trace of the poison working. But maybe it was too soon. Maybe it wasn't enough.

What are you doing, I berated myself, stop being so afraid. This is what you want, so just eat it! Remember, this is for the greater good. I sighed again, and lifted up my spoon once again. I put the food in my mouth and swallowed, then did it again. And then, suddenly, Eizo said:

"Hey, do you hear that?"

Here in the present, I had a new question for myself. What if there was a way to fix things? I couldn't go back and save the others; I couldn't go back and be brave and join Ayuna in her escape efforts instead. But I could still maximise the greater good now. If I went with Tetsuji and saved those children, I'd be able to minimise suffering. What would happen if I attempted not to take a life, but to protect it instead? Would things be different?

There was only one way to find out.

"I want to get them back too."

"Whatever. A young person to run fast could be useful. But don't hold me back." Tetsuji said gruffly.

"I won't."

"Then, what are we waiting for? There's still one more train to get. Oh, and one more thing."

"Yes?"

"As soon as we're on our own, you're telling me everything about twenty years ago."

Everything? I thought of gaping, burning hollows and soft, silky-blue grief. Promises made and broken, questions asked and not answered. I remembered Ayuna asking us, but aren't you tired too? Yes, yes I was tired. So, I said:

"Sure, I'll tell you everything."

…

Ritsuka

When Rieka made that pronouncement, Mitsuhide, Otsuka and Akio all exclaimed, and rushed to the bottom of the stairs to call out. I couldn't blame them for it, really, but I had a feeling that there wasn't much of a point in doing so. Sure enough, after a few moments they all seemed to deflate, sitting back down on the floor.

"Why would someone do that?" Akio asked. "Was it a mistake."

"I don't think so." I sighed.

Akio looked at me.

"You don't?"

"You're saying they trapped us here on purpose?!" Mitsuhide yelled. "Why would someone do that?!"

"Perhaps because they don't want us to tell anyone about what's here." Akemi murmured.

We all stopped to look at her. She had, at some point, started wandering around. She was standing by what quite frankly looked like some medieval European torture device. Or what I assumed such things to look like-it wasn't as if I was a historian.

"This is most likely where a lot of them were killed," Akemi continued. "Especially those whose deaths were a lot more violent than the others. Amasaki-san, your uncle speculated about torture in the notebook, right?"

"Yeah…" Rieka said. "So this secret room is where it happened? Do you think they knew about it?"

"The ones who survived? Probably? They may even have been threatened with this place themselves."

"Is that so?" I asked coolly.

Akemi looked at me uncertainly, and then said:

"Well, I cannot be sure, but it is likely. "

"It makes sense to me," Akagi said. "It would explain why our mothers never wanted to talk about it."

I had my phone out, and discreetly checked it. No signal. No surprise there. We were essentially underground after all.

"Is there a signal?" Otsuka demanded.

"Nope." I said.

"Ugh, great. Alright. Well, let's look around a little."

"That's a good idea, hold on."

Rieka got her camera and then frowned at it, even as she held it up and started wandering around the room.

"There's not much battery left-I have spares, but I think I should save those for now. Oh well, let's use what's left for now and look at this…creepy-ass torture room. I mean, there's still blood on most of these weird contraptions, and they all look pretty painful to be caught in. I mean, geez! Look at all these."

There seemed to be contraptions for holding people in, both upright and lying down, and remains of what were straps to hold them in. There were blades and weights and levers and buttons and all sorts. Most of it looked very low-tech, not connected to any computer systems that I could see. Or if they had been, those had clearly been removed in the intervening years. Either way, if the blood on the floor, walls and devices themselves were anything to go by, they had clearly succeeded.

We all wandered around for a little while, Rieka making a commentary about what she saw, and trying to get the rest of us to offer theories. Not that we had very many of those. All we could be sure of was the fact that some of the deaths had happened here, and that they were undoubtedly gruesome. I found myself following one particularly large old bloodstain with my eyes as it travelled up the wall-which was when I noticed something else.

"Look, what's up there?"

Rieka rushed over immediately, frowning at what I was pointing to.

"What are those?"

"Looks like a holder of some sort." Akio said.

"Yes, it's a wall bracket." I said. "What's it doing up there?"

"Maybe they strung people up on the ceiling?" Mitsuhide said. "I mean, there is a pulley-like system over there."

"Or perhaps they had cameras there." Akemi suggested.

"Cameras?" Akio asked. "What for?"

"What for? What for? My friend, what do you usually use cameras for?" Mitsuhide asked.

Akio frowned up at the ceiling, and then horror dawned:

"But why? Why would you record something like that."

"There are many, many sickos in the world, sadly." Rieka said, patting his shoulder a little too vehemently.

After a little wandering, Rieka went to a corner as far from the torture devices as possible, taking off her bag. The rest of us wandered over and also sat down.

"What are you doing?" Mitsuhide asked.

"Getting something to eat."

"But we can't eat now!" Mitsuhide said. "What if someone comes? And we can go?"

"Uh, if someone comes it will probably be to kill us." Rieka said. "So I may as well die on a full stomach."

"Have you all considered that whoever it was may just be leaving us here to starve to death?"

After I pointed this out, the silence was deadly. Eventually, Akagi said:

"So…we should try to save the food, right?"

"Yeah, I think so. Maybe we should just like, rest or something?"

"Sleep? It's still so early!" Mitsuhide protested.

"I guess that could be useful, actually. We should conserve our energy," Otsuka said. "But we should also take it in turns to keep watch, you know, just in case."

"I guess if we're asleep, we don't need to eat. And, this has kinda tired me out, to be honest." Rieka said.

"Then, you sleep, Amasaki-san." Akemi said earnestly. "I'm happy to take first watch!"

"Perfect. Anyone want to keep her company?" Otsuka asked.

For some reason, this ended up being a big debate, but in the end I found myself volunteering to do it. It was also agreed that we would take turns keeping our phones on in case we managed to get a signal. So everyone turned off the torches, lay down to sleep, and Akemi and I sat a little distance apart from them and each other.

And…it was awkward.

Normally, I'd ignore others and browse on my phone to avoid awkwardness, but given the gravity of the situation, I didn't want to waste battery. I thought of the fail-safe emails that I had ready to send, and cursed setting them so far off. If our captors' goal was just to have us starve here, then it would be too late by the time they got those emails. I hoped that Otsuka's fail-safe messages were set to send out sooner or failing that, I hoped that at least some of the others had set up something.

I somehow didn't think Akemi had, though. I looked at her, staring off into the distance. Even the way she sat was perfectly poised, as if she was posing. Suddenly, she turned to me. After a moment's hesitation she stated, quite simply:

"You don't like me."

"…"

"You don't. I know you don't. It's fine though, really."

She gave me a beatific smile, but it was strained. Her lips seemed too thin, somehow, and that irritated me.

"You're right," I stated. "I don't. Don't get me wrong, it's not special, though."

Akemi tilted her head, and then nodded:

"That's understandable. I could probably list the usual reasons, and you'd be able to identify with all of them, right?"

"Yes, but let's not." I said. "That would be irritating. What I want to know is, why did you do that?"

Akemi blinked, but I wasn't having it. That coy manner, so perfectly innocent, a clearly manufactured response, that was definitely one of the things that I didn't like. Not hated, she wasn't worth hating. But for some reason, seeing her destruction of her phone was irritating. So, I wasn't having it.

"Your phone. I saw, and you know I saw. Why'd you do it? And actually, what's up with the haircut, and not wearing make-up? Is it some new strategy? I saw you looking around, seeing if people recognised you. Are you carrying out some kind of stunt?"

In all fairness to her, she'd seemed pleased to not be recognised, which was something that didn't make any sense to me. It was still really strange and now, stuck in the dark of a secret underground room of a place where nobody knew we were, my mind was trying to make connections, even though there wasn't nearly enough to make those connections. It couldn't be denied though, Akemi had been acting strangely.

"Are you accusing me of this?" Akemi asked.

"Possibly."

There didn't seem to be any sense in sugar-coating it. The others were asleep, so it wouldn't cause hysteria, but I wasn't going to dance around it now. Akemi blinked at me again, but there was something shadowy in her expression. She bit her lip, but too hard, not in that cutesy-trying-to-be-brave way she sometimes had on TV. When she stopped biting it, I could see a little bead of blood, but she didn't notice. Instead, she looked over at the others' sleeping forms and then sighed. Unexpectedly, she tipped her head forward, and parted her hair.

"What are you do-"

I swallowed my words as I realised what she was showing me. Even with her hair parted, it was hard to see, and the darkness certainly didn't help. But I lifted my phone up, using the light from the lock screen, and then I understood what I was looking at. A light pink-white line, slightly raised, running across her scalp. A scar.

Akemi straightened, letting her hair fall back in place, though messily. She looked right at me. Her face was stripped away of all expression, but still managed to be the saddest look I'd ever seen.

"You're all right, those of you who dislike me. I'm a fake. More so than you think."

"How does that scar prove that?"

"It's the reason I am how I am. I wasn't born with it. That's just the lie we tell to make me more…marketable."

Bitterness laced that last word, and she sighed. There were expressions on her face I had never seen before, and they made her look like a stranger. I realised that in a way that was accurate. It was the most truth I had ever seen from her. I didn't know what to do with it.

"Don't you…." Akemi said some time went by. "Want to know the story behind this?"

"Not particularly. I suppose you want to tell me anyway."

Akemi frowned at me, again pretty with it, and then shook her head.

"Truth be told, I wanted to tell Arisato-kun first…"

"Because you have a crush on him?"

Akemi spluttered, and I imagined that in better light it'd be clear that she was blushing. As it was, she rubbed her face and then smiled.

"Yeah. Silly, right? My first crush, and it's not only with someone un-interested, but with the first friend I've ever had. Since the accident, anyway."

"You don't have friends?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nishimiya-san, of course I don't have friends. I have fans. "

In another unexpected gesture, she rolled up her sleeves and her leggings, and I had to get my phone out. This time, I turned on the torch, but only briefly to glimpse countless scars on her arms and legs, before turning it off again quickly so as to not lose battery. But I wasn't quick enough, because the torch caught a glimmer of tears in her eyes, just before I plunged us both back into darkness.

"I won't bore you with what my life has been. But I'll tell you this much, I'd rather go back to the ordinary child I was, with the ordinary family I had rather than be the star of the show, this 'genius' that I am now. Truth be told, sometimes I think I would have preferred to have not survived the accident than be here now."

Bloody hell, was the accident that severe? I thought, before the words really sank in. I just stared at her for a moment, even more uncomfortable with what was the strongest truth out of all these new truths she had just shared with me. I didn't want to know these things, I didn't even like her. Not even knowing that she wasn't the prissy little diva I'd assumed she was would make me like her. But it was for that reason that I knew I didn't deserve to hear these things. Such sad, lonely things…she should be saying them all to Akio, someone who did actually like her, even if it wasn't in the way that she wanted.

Akemi sighed, looking off into the distance. When she talked again, I got the sense she wasn't talking to me anymore. She just needed to get the words out:

"Well, I say that but…you know, before we got trapped down here…it sounds so silly because we're trapped here but, this whole journey is the freest I've ever felt. I've never been so happy and well…I don't want to go home. No, I don't want to go home at all."

Then, all of a sudden, she got up and went back to the staircase. Experimentally, she began to climb up them, almost crawling.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Trying to see if there's a way out I hadn't thought of." She said. "Or a way of pushing those floorboards apart."

"You're going to wake everyone up though!" I protested. "Those stairs are creaky!"

Akemi paused and turned to look at me. She sighed and then came back down the staircase. She returned to where she had been sitting before, but was still clearly looking around.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'll do my best to make sure you all get out. The last thing I use my 'genius' for, it will be for making sure you're all safe. So don't worry, Nishimiya-san."

"I'm not worried." I muttered, though obviously I was.

"Don't worry, Benbow-kun…"

I realised that once again she wasn't talking to me, so I just listened as she told everyone else to not worry by name, voice getting quieter with each one until finally, she said:

"Don't worry, Arisato-kun. I'll help you. I'll help you all."

Akemi then got up and stretched. Walking slowly and carefully, she began to wander around. I thought of saying something, but decided to leave her to it. If she wanted to act the hero, then why not let her? As long as she didn't do anything else suspicious or strange, then it was no skin off of my back. I turned my back on her and concentrated on watching the staircase, as if she wasn't there at all. Yet, one particular thing she'd said kept looping in my mind: The last thing I use my 'genius' for. I didn't know why, or what it meant. But somehow, those words chilled me to the bone. If I thought deeply enough, I could probably infer what she meant.

But I didn't want to.

…

Tetsuji

Takaaki finished his story finally, and that was that. He didn't turn to look at me, to try and gauge my reaction or even beg for forgiveness. He should have been, though, he should have been. Right from when he'd started, back when we'd gotten into this car we'd rented from Mino Station and begun hurtling our way to Shirohata, I'd wanted to run this car off of the road. I'd wanted to make him suffer, the way he and the others had made Moeka suffer. Oh, I believed him, when he said it had been under duress and they'd all been scared for their lives, I believed that they truly felt that they didn't have any choice and that they hadn't wanted to, that they regretted it now. But that changed nothing. I wanted to kill them, I wanted to kill them all, and Takaaki was right here, the perfect place to start.

"Give me one good reason," I gritted out. "That I shouldn't kill you right now."

"There isn't, really."

I had been all geared up to really let rip into Takaaki, but that response made all my angry words wither away in my throat. I cleared it a few times.

"Yes. Well. We're nearly there, I think."

Finally, Takaaki turned, looking at the satnav.

"Yes, we are. I almost did kill us all, you know. After her death. Well, after a few others too."

I blinked.

"What's that meant to mean?"

"We were going to poison ourselves. Stop any of the motives from getting to us, prevent the captors from messing with us and making us hurt any more of each other. But we didn't in the end, and then we got rescued. Perhaps that was too merciful. Or cowardly. It wouldn't have brought your daughter back, if we had, but perhaps it would have been a better sort of justice for her."

Hanami and I peered over the phone as Moeka's face beamed out at us.

"What was so urgent you had to video-call?" I asked gruffly. "It's so fiddly to use."

"Oh Dad, don't be grumpy! Besides, Mum answered it, right?"

"Yes, I did. But we're being terribly rude. Hello, Moeka. How are you settling in?"

"Oh, I'm absolutely awesome!" Moeka exclaimed. "And I had the best news! Guess what!"

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm Class Rep! Well, one of them but yes, I'm a Class Rep too!"

"That's really good, well done." Hanami said.

"Thanks, Mum!"

"Yes, that's very good. I would have been surprised if they didn't pick you!"

"Aww, thanks, Dad!" Moeka said. "You know, I was surprised too. There are some very serious, responsible types here and I thought they'd go for it for sure, but no, it was me they chose."

"You're serious and responsible too. That's how you got in, after all." Hanami said immediately.

Moeka giggled, which somewhat contradicted that but of course, Hanami was right. Our sunny girl could be serious and responsible when she needed to be. And she was also our sunny girl, cheerful and friendly and no doubt popular already. It was hardly a surprise she'd become a Class Representative.

"Who's the other representative then," I asked. "I hope he or she is someone who likes you."

"Oh, Komiya-kun! His name's Katsuya Komiya-that's funny, isn't it? Komiya and Kamiya, being class reps! But yes, we get on really well, and so does everyone else, mostly. I mean, we're all still getting to know each other, but we'll be proper friends soon enough!"

I cleared my throat and tried to push the memory away. I checked the sat-nav, and didn't say a word as we kept driving. Eventually, we got closer to where Shirohata was, and I took the car off of the road and onto the paths, looking for a place to park. Takaaki just returned to staring through the window throughout all this. I eventually found a place and parked, and staggered out. My legs felt stiff, and I took a moment to lean against the car and steady myself.

"We should leave a note."

Takaaki seemed to stare right through me for a moment, and then dug in his pockets, producing a crumpled convenience store receipt and an ink-splattered biro and wordlessly handing them over to me. I scribbled a note, and then leaned into the car to place it on the dashboard, so that it would be seen under the window and hopefully not get taken away by unexpected wind or rain. Then, I slammed the door shut and made sure the car was locked properly before going around to the trunk, taking the small bag I had packed and shoving it at Takaaki.

"Make yourself useful."

Takaaki nodded, slinging the bag onto his shoulder. We began walking through the overgrown plants. I knew that much of this landscape would have changed over the past two decades, but nonetheless I searched for commonalities between what I saw now and what I remembered. Eventually, I pointed over to a cluster of rather twisted looking trees that I vaguely recognised from the pictures.

"There," I said. "We need to go that way."

The ground became a little lumpier as we got closer to the trees, and eventually I had to stop and get my foldable walking stick out from the bag Takaaki was holding. Once I had it put together, we advanced further until Takaaki suddenly crashed into my back. I swore at him, but when I straightened, I saw what he saw:

A white van.

It was clearly meant to be hidden, but now we knew it was there, I was able to spot tire tracks on the ground leading up to it, flattening the grass and other plant life. I went up to it, and peered through the windows, spotting a bin bag full of snack wrappers, a couple of hoodies, hair accessories and a couple of other items that I couldn't immediately identify. I couldn't tell if these were the things of Otsuka and her companions specifically but to me, they looked very much like teenager things.

Immediately, I stepped back and got my phone out to call Kenichi. He answered immediately:

"Tetsuji! What are you doing?" Have you really gone to Shirohata?"

What's with the familiar way of addressing me, I thought, but pushed that thought aside and answered:

"I am here already. There's a van, parked nearby. It might be theirs. They might have rented it. We'll send pictures."

"Hold on, hold on a moment-at least wait, let me tell the Superintendent, send you backup!"

"What do you mean, wait? Are you stupid? I'm not waiting, you can't stop me!"

"You don't know what the situation is, and you can't go down there on your own, in your age and condition!"

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you. I have someone with me, too."

On the other end of the line, Kenichi spluttered, but I hung up before he could lecture me more. Wasn't he an investigator still? And he'd spent time in the field a lot, when we were both younger. He of all people should have understood the urgency. I turned to Takaaki, ready to ask him to send photographs, but I saw that he was already taking pictures of the van.

"Make sure you get pictures of the license plates too." I told him.

"On it." He said. "I'm sending them to Ayuna, and to Hanamura and telling them both to send them to the police."

"Who-wait, never mind. Hurry up."

"Time cannot be rushed, it just is."

I wasn't sure what that was meant to mean, but luckily Takaaki finished taking pictures shortly after. Coming back around the van to stand next to me again, he frowned at his phone for a few more moments, then smiled with satisfaction before tucking the phone away.

"Are they sent?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then, let's go."