Hayato the Serial Killer?
(Based on the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode 'Mac is a Serial Killer'.)
"Let's hear it for Haru and Makoto!" Ann cheered as she, along with her friends raised their glasses containing alcoholic cocktails before drinking up.
"Thanks for the party everyone," Haru said gratefully.
"You really didn't have to do this for us," Makoto said.
"You girls are worth it," Yusuke said with a smile.
"I'm so proud of you both, especially you, Makie," Ryuji said as he gave the brunette a kiss, causing her to blush.
Our favorite group of young adults and one cat were currently gathered at Cafe Leblanc after hours to partake in cocktails and Hot Pot foods in celebration of Haru and Makoto graduating from college and taking their next step on the long, winding road we call 'life'. Everyone was currently having a blast, listening to music on the radio, eating good food, playing games like 'I Never' and 'Papers Against Humankind', and just talking about how their respective lives and college careers are going.
There is one person missing from this group of partiers, however, and that persona is Hayato Yajima.
"Where on Earth is Hayato," Yusuke wondered, "He's missing out on all of the fun."
"He texted me saying that he'd be a little late," Hifumi, Hayato's girlfriend, said, "But you are right, I thought he'd be here by now. I hope he's alright."
Meanwhile, in another part of the party, Makoto gets a notification on her phone from a news website that she subscribed to. Ryuji catches her looking at her phone and goes over to see what's up.
"What are you doing looking at your phone, babe?" Ryuji asked, "The party is going on right in front of you."
"I just got a news update in regards to that serial killer who started his rampage a few weeks ago," Makoto said.
Upon hearing the words 'serial killer', the whole party just stopped and all eyes were on Makoto.
"He killed another woman last night," Makoto continued as everyone leaned in to listen, "This woman brings the killer's kill count to '18' and he's targeting young, attractive girls with orange dyed hair."
Hearing that made Futaba's blood run cold as all eyes were now on her.
"Futaba," Yuuki said, "I don't want to scare you, but…"
"I know I fit the bill, Yuuki!" Futaba snapped, "That killer is going to come after me next if I'm not careful."
As Futaba began to panic, Yuuki walked up to his girlfriend and hugged her in an attempt to comfort her.
"Futaba, I don't think you have anything to worry about," Ryuji said, "You don't really fit the description."
"What are you getting at, Ryuji?" Futaba asked.
"You do have orange dyed hair, yes, but you're severely lacking in the…you know," Ryuji said as he pointed at his chest.
"Breasts alone does not an attractive woman make, Ryuji," Makoto scolded.
"Yeah, Ryuji," Yuuki said, coming to the defense of his girlfriend, "I love Futaba for who she is on the inside. She's nice, bubbly, and to top it all off she's someone I can geek out with. That's honestly what I like most about her."
"Not to mention where I lack in breasts, I make up for in the facial department," Futaba said as she gave a cute smile.
"You do have a very cute face, babe," Yuuki said as he and Futaba gave each other a loving peck on the lips, "And don't you worry, I'll make sure that that serial killing creep doesn't lay a finger on you."
"You promise," Futaba asked cutely.
"I guarantee it," Yuuki said, "Nothing's going to happen to you while I'm around."
"Wow, Mishima's been getting a lot more confident and sure of himself lately," Haru said impressed.
"That's because he usually tags along with Sumi and me when we go to the gym," Ichiro said.
"He does look like he's been putting on some muscle since our days at Shujin Academy," Ren said.
"Yeah," Morgana concurred.
As the group continued to converse, the front door to the cafe opened up, and Hayato finally appears.
"Hey guys," Hayato said as he waved at his 13 friends and one cat.
"Hayato, you finally made it," Hifumi exclaimed as she ran up to her boyfriend and gave him a hug and a kiss.
"So where have you been bud?" Ryuji asked, "This party just wasn't the same without you."
"Oh, you know," Hayato said as his eyes darted back and forth, "I just had some stuff to take care of."
As Hifumi continued to hug her boyfriend, she looked upon his neck to find scratch marks on the side of it.
"Oh, baby," Hifumi said sadly, "Where'd you get those scratch marks."
"Huh?" Hayato said nervously, as he placed his hand over his scratch marks.
"You have scratches on your neck," Hifumi said, "What happened?"
"Did you get into a tussle with someone?" Daisuke asked, "Was it one person? A gang of people? You want us to help you take them down?"
"I-It's nothing, really," Hayato said nervously as Hifumi released him from her hug. When she did that, Hayato walked over to the cafe's bathroom with everyone staring after him, "Why are you guys staring at me, I'm alright, really."
He gave his friends a reassuring smile before going into the bathroom to take care of the scratches on his neck. His friends stare at the bathroom door with looks of worry and confusion on their faces.
"Well, that was weird," Shiho said.
"Shifty behavior and mysterious scars on his neck," Sumire said, "That's never good."
"I know," Hifumi said, "He's been acting like that a lot lately. I just don't know what's wrong."
"I might know," Ryuji said as everyone looked over at him, allowing him to give his answer as to what was going on with Hayato. All the blonde haired man said in a low but audible whisper was, "Serial killing!"
Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Hayato had just finished cleaning the scratches on his neck with warm water, and dried it with a paper towel before wrapping some toilet paper around his neck to cover up the scars.
With his injuries taken care of, he pulls out his phone and logs into the Jobbunny (Taskrabbit) app. Jobbunny was an app that offered freelance house cleaning, babysitting, and pet sitting jobs among other common household tasks.
"Let's see if there's anything new," Hayato said to himself as he scrolled through the available jobs until he found one he liked, "Oh, someone is looking for someone who can watch his pet parrot for the night while he does the night shift at the supermarket. Sounds like a job for me. Can't be any worse than that cat who gave me those scratch marks. That thing was a rascal and a half."
With that, Hayato clicked 'Accept', meaning he had a new job to do.
As that was going on, the 13 young adults and one cat were discussing the possibility of Hayato being the serial killer in question.
"So let me get this straight, Ryuji," Hifumi said, "You think that my boyfriend is the one responsible for all these killing that are happening recently?"
"Think about it, Hifumi," Ryuji said, "He's late to the party, when he appears he has scratch marks on his neck, and when questioned about it he did everything he could to avoid giving a concrete answer. You can see how this doesn't look good for him."
"It could all just be coincidence, Ryuji," Yusuke said.
"Yusuke's right, babe," Makoto chimed in, "We shouldn't accuse Hayato right away, especially if we don't have that much evidence."
"Well, all we need to do is get a confession out of him," Ryuji said, "Now how shall we do it?"
"We just need to add a little bit of pressure," Haru said, "I say we get a chainsaw, and…"
"A chainsaw, really?" Yusuke said in disbelief.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, love," Haru said.
"You can't just torture someone if you think they're guilty," Hifumi said.
"You've just got to trust me on this one, guys," Ryuji said, "I have a hunch about this."
"Oh yes, let's cut off Hayato's toes with a chainsaw and make all our decisions in life based on a hunch," Makoto said sarcastically.
"Listen, everyone," Hifumi said, "I've known Hayato way longer than any of you have. He's a complete and total sweetheart."
"It's always the quiet ones," Futaba said.
"I know for a fact that Hayato is innocent," Hifumi said as she made her way out of the cafe, "And to prove it, I'm going to go out there and clear his name!"
"Wait for us, Hifumi," Makoto said.
"We're coming with you!" Yusuke chimed in as he and the brunette followed the Shogi player out of the cafe.
"Well, I guess those three are out of my plan," Ryuji said.
"What is your plan to convict Hayato exactly?" Yuuki asked.
"Easy," Ryuji said, "We're just going to follow Hayato around and see where he goes, and hopefully we'll catch him in the act."
"I like it," Futaba said, "I'm in!"
"Me too," Yuuki said as Haru joined the trio.
"Alright, that makes four of us," Ryuji said as he looked at the other six people and one cat, "What do you guys say? Are you in or out?"
"We're going to have to side with Hifumi on this one," Ren said, "We shouldn't convict someone based on a hunch. And besides, I really don't think Hayato has it in him to kill someone."
"That said, I think we should try and find the real killer by using some good old fashioned textbook psychology," Daisuke said as the other remaining five people agreed with him.
"And you're sure that's a smart idea?" Yuuki asked, "Life isn't like a Spooky-Coo episode (Scooby-Doo). This is real life where people can actually die."
"Since it's one killer, I highly doubt he can take all six of us in a fight should we cross paths with him," Sumire said.
"Not to mention if we catch him, I'm sure the six of us will be handsomely rewarded," Ichiro said.
"Come on, everyone," Daisuke said, "Let's go back to my place and come up with a plan."
"Okay," Ren, Ann, Shiho, Sumire, and Ichiro said as they ran out of the cafe…but Morgana stayed behind.
"I would've thought you'd go with them, Morgana," Ryuji said as he looked down at the cat.
"I would," Morgana began, "But my need for wanting to see you guys' plan blow up in your face outweighs my need to help those six on their plan."
"You'll see, Morgana, Hayato is guilty as sin," Futaba said to the cat as Yuuki looked over at her, confused as to why she's talking to a cat. Nevertheless, he shrugs his shoulders and acts like nothing happened.
Speaking of Hayato, he finally comes out of the bathroom to see that the only people left in the cafe were Ryuji, Haru, Futaba, Yuuki, and Morgana.
"Where did everybody go?" Hayato asked.
"They had other things to do," Ryuji said, "So, what took you so long in the bathroom."
"Nothing important, really," Hayato said, "Anyway, I have something I need to do later tonight, so I'll catch you guys on the flip?"
The four people and one cat didn't respond to Hayato's question and instead just looked at him. As they continued staring at him, Hayato just gave a wave before running out of the cafe in a hurry.
"Ho, ho, if we prove he's guilty we're going to torture the hell out of him!" Haru said with glee, briefly disturbing the other four with her.
"You seem just a little too excited for this," Yuuki said before the group of five left the cafe to follow Hayato, with Futaba making sure to lock the door.
With everything said in done, the following groups include…
The group who want to prove Hayato's innocence (Group A): Hifumi, Yusuke, and Makoto
The group looking to prove Hayato is guilty (Group B): Ryuji, Futaba, Yuuki, Haru, and Morgana
The group who wants to find the real killer (Group C): Ren, Ann, Shiho, Daisuke, Ichiro, Sumire
We start with Group A who are approaching the entryway to the cinema where Hayato worked during his high school days.
"To prove Hayato's innocence, we need to get testimonies and confessions from people who are close to him," Hifumi explained.
"And other than you and me, who would those be?" Yusuke asked
"I've narrowed it down to three people," Hifumi continued, "His mother, his college writing professor Miss Inoue, and the manager of the movie theater Mr. Yamaguchi. The latter of whom we're seeing now. Come on, you two, let's go inside.
Like a gentleman, Yusuke held the front door open for Hifumi and Makoto before following them into the movie theater. When they got there, they found Mr. Yamaguchi talking with an employee.
"Make sure you get that soda machine refilled before you leave today, okay?" Mr. Yamaguchi instructed.
"Got it, bossman," The employee said before going about his business.
When Mr. Yamaguchi turned around, he was met with Hifumi, Yusuke, and Makoto.
"Oh, I remember you lot," Mr. Yamaguchi said in a friendly tone, "You're Hayato Yajima's girlfriend, his best friend, and his other friend who is an overly enthusiastic film watcher."
"Can't help a girl for getting into the flick she's watching," Makoto said with the shrug of her shoulders.
"Right," Yamaguchi said, "So, how can I help you three?"
"We actually have a few questions about Hayato," Hifumi said, "Can we talk to you in private?"
"Sure," Yamaguchi replied, "Please, step into my office."
The trio followed the cinema manager into his office and they took a seat in front of his desk while Yamaguchi got into his chair behind the desk.
"So, what about Hayato do you three want to know?" Yamaguchi asked.
"You see, sir," Yusuke began as Makoto took out her phone and pressed the record button to record their conversation, "Our friends are accusing Hayato of all these serial killings that have been going on, and the three of us are out to prove his innocence."
"Hayato, a serial killer?" Yamaguchi said incredulously, "That's preposterous! For as long as I've known Hayato he's easily one of the nicest employees I've ever hired. He worked so well with his co-workers and the customers. I never really had a problem with him."
"Has there ever been a time where Hayato would display aggressive behavior?" Makoto asked.
"Oh, heavens no!" Yamaguchi said, "He always came to work with the same smile on his face, and the same can-do attitude. The only time I ever saw Hayato get angry was when we had these rebel rousers come into our theater and he had to shoo them out."
"So he only got angry when there was a legitimate need to be angry," Hifumi said.
"Exactly," Yamaguchi said, "And even then he never engaged those ruffians in a fist fight. He just raised his voice, pointed towards the door, and threatened to call the cops."
"So he never resorted to physical violence," Yusuke asked.
"Nope," Yamaguchi said, "Someone who doesn't resort to physical violence unless absolutely necessary. Tell me, does that sound like someone who would be serial-killer capable?"
"No sir," Hifumi said as she and her friends got up from their seats and Makoto stopped recording their conversation, "Thank you for your time sir. We hope we weren't a bother."
"Not at all," Yamaguchi said, "Anything to protect the good name of one of the best employees I've ever had."
"Alright, guys, let's get out of here," Hifumi said as she led Yusuke and Makoto out of the office and out of the cinema.
As that was going on, we cut to Hayato, who is walking down the streets wearing a hooded jacket, with his hood up and over his head. The hooded scarlet haired man approached a house and knocked on the door, allowing a man who appeared to be in his late 30s to answer the door to let him in.
"Are you the Jobbunny, guy?" The man asked, "The one who can look after my bird for the night?"
"That's me," Hayato said enthusiastically.
"Well, come on in," The man said, stepping aside so Hayato could enter the house before the man closed the door behind him.
Little did Hayato know, however, he was being watched by the likes of Group B, who were currently watching him from Ryuji's car.
"The eagle has landed," Ryuji said to the three people and one cat with him, "Now we wait."
While Group B continued to think Hayato has 'claimed another victim', inside the house, the man was giving the scarlet haired man instructions on how to take proper care of his bird.
"It's really a do-nothing job," the man explained, "All you need to do is give him food and water and clean out his cage. I gave him food about two hours ago, so I'd say feed him again about four hours from now. He should be good until I get back. And if you get hungry yourself, you can help yourself to whatever I have in the fridge. And before you ask, no I don't mind. I have a tendency to buy more food than I need, so it'll put my mind at ease if the food doesn't go to waste."
"Sounds good, sir," Hayato said.
"Thanks for doing this man, there aren't a lot of people who are willing to come here and stay up until my shift ends at around 2:00 A-M."
"Hey, I'm a night owl myself, it's no big deal," Hayato said, "Besides, this particular job will give me the last bit of money I need to get my girlfriend 'something great'.
"Can I ask what?" The man asked.
"I've known my girlfriend long before she even became my girlfriend, when we were in elementary school," Hayato explained, "We started dating in high school and have been going steady ever since. But now, I think I'm ready to pop the question."
"Hey, good luck to you man. And if there's anything you need in regards to my parrot just text me," The man said as he started to look in his closet for something.
"What are you looking for?" Hayato asked.
"My jacket," The man said, "I can't seem to find it."
"You can borrow mine," Hayato said as he handed the man the jacket off of his back.
"Really?" The man asked.
"Yeah, we seem to be about the same size," Hayato said.
"Thank you man, you are a lifesaver," The man said happily as he put Hayato's jacket on before shaking his hand.
Back outside, Group B was still waiting in Ryuji's car for any kind of activity from, or a sign of, Hayato.
"He's been in there for a while," Yuuki said, "You think he's in there killing someone as we speak?"
"I don't know, babe," Futaba said, "But honestly, I'm more preoccupied with the fact that Haru actually brought a chainsaw here!"
Everyone looked over at the floofy haired woman, who currently had a chainsaw sitting on her lap.
"Just didn't know how soon we needed it," Haru said.
"Would you put that away, Haru?" Yuuki said, "I think we should only use that in case Hayato spots us and comes at us."
"Fine," Haru pouted.
"Wait, before you do, Haru, can one of you take a picture of me with it?" Ryuji asked.
"I'll do it," Futaba said as she pulled out her phone and turned on the camera feature.
Haru handed the chainsaw to Ryuji, and as he was trying to figure out what pose and face he should make, Yuuki looked over at the house to see someone wearing Hayato's jacket leaving the house and walking down the street.
"Guys, Hayato's on the move," Yuuki whispered to his friends as they all looked out the window to see 'Hayato', completely unaware that it's just the man who was wearing his jacket while the real Hayato was still inside the house parrot-sitting.
"I can't believe he could just walk away from a murder scene that he caused without showing any signs of remorse," Futaba said, "You think you know a person."
"I think we've seen enough here, guys," Ryuji said as he turned his car back on.
"Are we going to follow him?" Haru asked.
"No, we'll let him go for now," Ryuji said, "But for right now, we're going somewhere else."
"Where?" Futaba asked.
"Hayato told me that his mom and him got a storage unit sometime after he graduated from high school," Ryuji explained, "He even took me to it once to retrieve that keg we used for Sojiro's birthday last year."
"What a fun party that was," Futaba said before Ryuji continued.
"It wouldn't surprise me if he left things like murder weapons there among other bits of incriminating evidence to prove that he's guilty," Ryuji said.
"What are we doing just sitting here?" Futaba asked, "Punch it!"
And with that, Group B drove off for the Yajima's storage unit.
Meanwhile, with Group C, we see Ann, who was wearing a very short and revealing red dress and whose hair is currently dyed orange, standing on a street corner. In Ann's right ear she has an earpiece which she talks into.
"This is Red Rose to Sharpshooter," Ann said into the earpiece, "Red Rose to Sharpshooter come in."
'Sharpshooter' in this instance was Ichiro, who was currently perched from atop a building across from the street corner where Ann was standing. Ichiro was currently laying on his stomach as he took aim with a sniper rifle, which was currently armed with some tranquilizer darts.
"Sharpshooter here," Ichiro said, "I have you in my sights so if the serial killer comes in, I'll shoot him with a tranquilizer dart. He'll be out like a light in a matter of seconds, and then we can take him to the police and claim our prize."
"Sounds good," Ann said from her end, "Just make sure you pay attention to where you're aiming."
"Don't worry, I will," Ichiro said, "You just keep standing there and looking pretty."
"Alright Ichiro," Ann said, "Over and out."
With his transmission with Ann over, Ichiro continued to take aim, his crosshairs never leaving Ann for a second.
Behind where Ann was standing on the street corner, was some bushes, where the likes of Ren, Daisuke, Shiho, and Sumire were hiding.
"Are you guys sure about this," Ren asked, clearly worried for his girlfriend's safety and well-being.
"Of course we are, Ren," Sumire said, "This is the neighborhood where most of the killings occurred."
"I know, which is why I'm nervous for Ann," Ren said, "I know Ichiro is up on that rooftop ready to snipe the killer down, but what if something goes wrong?"
"That's why the four of us are hiding in these bushes, Ren," Daisuke said, "So if Ichiro misses his mark, we'll jump out and bumrush the killer ourselves."
"He can't take all four of us," Shiho chimed in.
"I hope you guys know what you're talking about," Ren said, unsure, as he continued to eye his girlfriend from the bushes.
As that was going on, we cut to Group B, who made it to the self-storage facility where Hayato and his mother's storage unit was located. The four humans and one cat are walking along the hallway until they come across the Yajima's unit.
"This is it," Ryuji said.
"Are you sure?" Yuuki asked.
"Yes, Mishima, I'm sure," Ryuji said.
"Well how are we going to get in?" Futaba asked, "It's a combination lock."
"So what do we do?" Morgana asked, "Do we just put in random numbers until the door hopefully opens?"
"Don't forget I actually came here with Hayato once," Ryuji reminded the group, "So I remember the combination."
Ryuji walked over to the lock and entered the three numbers needed to open the door, 0-6-9. And with that, the door opened.
"Of course it's 069," Yuuki said.
"When Hayato showed me I couldn't stop laughing for five whole minutes," Ryuji said as he chuckled to himself.
"Of course you'd find joy in that," Morgana said to the laugh-happy blonde man.
"Well, let's go inside and check things out," Ryuji said as he, Haru, Yuuki, Futaba, and Morgana entered the storage unit and took a good look around.
"I don't see any murder weapons," Yuuki said.
"Evidence doesn't have to be just murder weapons," Haru said, "Look for anything suspicious."
"Oh, I think I found something," Futaba said as she saw something resembling a gun handle sitting on a shelf. She grabbed it only for the gun in question to be a water gun, "Nope, just a water gun."
"Hold the fucking phone!" Ryuji shouted as all eyes were on him. From another shelf, Ryuji pulled out two books and in a sing-songy tone, he said, "And bingo was his name-o!"
"What did you find, Ryuji?" Yuuki asked as the blonde man presented his friends and cat with a cookbook specializing in meat dishes as well as a book all about human anatomy.
"'The Human Anatomy' and '1,001 Ways to Cook Your Meat'!" Ryuji said, reading the titled, "He probably bought this anatomy book to figure out what makes a body tick so he can find the most efficient way to kill someone, and based on this cookbook, this sick bastard probably cooks whoever he kills!"
"So you're saying Hayato is not only a serial killer but also a cannibal," Haru asked.
"My God, this is worse than we thought," Futaba exclaimed.
"I think we got what we need everyone," Ryuji said, "Let's all go home and continue our quest tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good," Yuuki said as the group left the storage unit, making sure to close and relock the door behind them.
Back with Group C, Ann is still standing on the street corner when a well-dressed pimp approaches her. From his rooftop perch, Ichiro can see the man walking up to her.
"Red Rose to Sharpshooter," Ann said, "Someone is coming up to me. You think this is our guy?"
"I don't know," Ichiro said as he continued to aim with his sniper rifle, "But play it cool for right now."
Back on ground level, the pimp started to walk circles around Ann, eyeing her up and down.
"Mmm, you lookin' good baby," The pimp said, "Who are you with?"
"Oh, uh, I'm sorry sir," Ann said, nervously, "But I think you have the wrong idea. I'm not with anybody."
"Oh, so you're a 'Little Miss Independent'," The pimp said, "Well it's a dangerous world out here, babygirl. Come roll with me and I'll show you the way to the good life."
"While the offer is tempting, sir, I'm going to have to pass," Ann said.
As Ann continued to reject the pimp's advances, Ren was watching this all unfold from his, Daisuke, Shiho, and Sumire's hiding place in the bushes.
"Oh hell no, that's my girl!" Ren said to himself as he came out of hiding.
"Ren, wait a minute," Sumire said as she, Daisuke and Shiho followed Ren out of the bushes, just in time to see the bespectacled man confront the pimp trying to accost his girlfriend.
"Step away from the lady, asshole," Ren exclaimed, "She's mine."
"Who's this now, babygirl?" The pimp asked Ann, "I thought you were an independent hoe."
"Don't call my girlfriend a hoe, man," Ren said before Daisuke got between him and the pimp.
"We're sorry for the misunderstanding here, sir," Daisuke said, "If you don't mind we're just going to get out of here now."
The group of five were about to leave when the pimp suddenly ran up in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.
"Hey now, hold on a minute," The pimp said, "I don't like to be led on or tricked. Because when I get led on or tricked, I get angry. And when I get angry, I feel the need to cut a bitch!"
At that point, the pimp pulled out a switchblade as he continued to walk towards the group of five, who were backing away from the pimp in fear.
"Alright, alright, let's be cool now," Ren said, "Things don't have to be this way. I'm sure we can settle something if we-"
"DOH!" The pimp shouted before falling forward to reveal that he's been shot in the butt with a tranquilizer dart, courtesy of Ichiro, who took the shot from his rooftop perch. The group of five look up at the sniping male gymnast who smiles and waves down at his friends.
"Nice shot, Ichiro," Shiho shouted up to him.
"I didn't get the Tanuki Scout's 'Marksman Badge' for nothing!" Ichiro shouted back, "Let's get out of here."
"Way ahead of you," Ann said as she, Ren, Daisuke, Sumire, and Shiho ran out of the area, with Ichiro climbing down a fire escape and following them, before the pimp woke up.
The next morning, Group C were seen sitting on a bench in Inokashira Park as they tried to figure out their next course of action in finding the real serial killer. Ann washed her hair of the orange hair dye last night, so it's back to its usual platinum blonde color.
"So guys, I've been thinking last night after our run-in with that pimp," Shiho began, "I feel like we've been going the wrong way when hunting down this killer."
"What do you mean, babe?" Daisuke asked.
"I mean instead of trying to lure the killer to us, what if we became serial killers ourselves," Shiho asked.
"Shiho, you're scaring me," Daisuke said, nervously.
"I don't want to kill anyone," Sumire frowned.
"No, we're not going to kill anyone," Shiho explained, "I'm saying we adopt the mindset of one. Go through the steps that a serial killer would take when going about with his killings so we could properly understand his thoughts. And once we've perfected that mindset, we'll use it to track down the real killer and prove Hayato's innocence to our friends."
"That's actually not a bad idea," Ann said as Ren nodded in agreement.
"Alright, Shiho, you came up with this plan, tell us what the first step is," Ichiro said.
"Well, we first need to pick out a victim," Shiho explained, "Someone we would want to kill. So let's put our heads together, gang, if we could kill someone right now, who would it be?"
As if on cue, Suguru Kamoshida came running past the group of six. As they watched the former Olympian run off, they all get wicked smiles on their faces as they know what they have to do next.
Elsewhere, Group A is seen getting off a bus and walking towards an apartment complex.
"If I remember correctly, I believe Miss Inoue lives in apartment 32 of this apartment complex," Hifumi said as she, Makoto, and Yusuke walked up the stairs to Inoue's apartment. When they make it to her door, Hifumi knocks three times and a beautiful woman in her late 30s comes to answer the door.
"Hello?" Inoue asks.
"Are you Miss Inoue," Hifumi asked.
"Who wants to know?" Inoue asked.
"My name is Hifumi Togo," Hifumi said, "And these are my friends Yusuke and Makoto. We're here on behalf of Hayato Yajima, my boyfriend."
"Oh you're Hifumi," Inoue said happily, "Hayato has told me all about you. He's really in love with you, you know that?"
"Of course," Hifumi smiled, "He's the best thing that ever happened to me. But right now, our friends are convinced that he's guilty of the recent serial killings that have been going on recently and we were hoping we could get some testimonies from you to help prove his innocence."
"I'd love to help you anyway I can," Inoue said, "Please come in."
Inoue lets the three young adults into her apartment and they sit on her couch while Inoue sits on the chair across from them. Once everyone is seated, Makoto takes her phone out again and begins to record the conversation.
"So, how would you say Hayato behaves in class," Hifumi asked, "Does he get along with his classmates well?"
"I don't really see him talk with that many of his classmates," Inoue answered, "They all seem to be more into the partying aspect of college while Hayato is more focused on his grades. He's one of my more respectful students, you see. He always raises his hand to answer a question, and he always helps me clean up the classroom when everyone else leaves. He's also very enthusiastic when it comes time to share his writing assignments."
"And about those writing assignments," Yusuke asked, "What do they usually entail?"
"Most of the stories and poems Hayato has written for me involve one of three genres, romance, adventure, or fantasy. Sometimes he'd write about all three at once. There was one instance where he tried to branch out and do horror, but that was easily his weakest assignment. I had to give him a C minus on that one. Between you and me I don't think he can do horror. That sweet boy doesn't have it in him to write gruesome scenes."
"Hayato never really was a fan of horror movies," Hifumi said.
"So since Hayato isn't a fan of horror, guts, or gore, he can't be the serial killer," Makoto said, "They practically thrive on that kind of stuff."
"I'd say we're one step closer to proving your boyfriend's innocence, Hifumi," Yusuke said.
"I think so too," Hifumi said as Makoto stopped recording the conversation, "Thank you for your time, Miss Inoue."
"You're so welcome, Hifumi," Inoue smiled, "Tell Hayato I said 'hi' if you see him."
"Can do," Hifumi said as she and her two friends left Inoue's apartment.
Elsewhere with Group B, the four humans and one cat have tracked Hayato down to the mall and are currently following him as he makes his way towards one of the stores.
"What do you think Hayato is doing here?" Futaba asked.
"He's probably shopping for more potential victims," Ryuji said, "There's a lot of people here today and there's a sucker born every minute."
"But he's not paying the other shoppers any mind," Futaba said, "What's he really up to?"
"Guys, look," Haru said as she pointed at Hayato, who was making his way towards the sporting goods store, "He's heading towards the sporting goods store,"
"Doesn't that store sell guns?" Yuuki asked.
"I think so," Ryuji said, "He's probably heading to that sporting goods store to buy another murder weapon."
"Uh, guys, where's Morgana?" Futaba asked as she and her friends had to take their eyes off of Hayato for a few minutes to look for Morgana. Suddenly they hear shouting, or in Yuuki's case frightened yowling. It was Morgana, and he was in the arms of a pet store owner.
"I don't know how you got out of your kennel, little one," The pet store owner said, "But it's time to go home now."
"Help me, guys!" Morgana screamed.
"Hang on, Morgana, we're coming!" Ryuji said as he, Yuuki, Futaba, and Haru gave chase to the pet store owner.
This unfortunately means no one is watching Hayato as he walks past the sporting goods store and instead goes to the jewelry store right next door.
The scarlet haired man walked into the jewelry store and saw the owner, Mr. Myoga, taking inventory.
"Hey Mr. Myoga, I'm here," Hayato said as the jewelry shop owner looked up from one of the display cases to address the scarlet haired man.
"Ah, Hayato," Mr. Myoga said, "So nice to see you again."
"You have my ring?" Hayato asked.
"That depends, you have my money?" Myoga asked.
"Got it right here," Hayato said as he pulled a wad of money out from his pocket and handed it to the jewelry shop owner.
"Very good," Myoga said before heading over to the cash register to put the money in.
"Yeah, I've been doing a series of jobs on Jobbunny in order to pay for this ring," Hayato said.
"I can relate," Myoga said as he finished counting the money and putting it in the register, "I had to do the same thing when trying to buy a ring for my own lucky lady."
After putting the money in the register, Mr. Myoga walks over to a cabinet to pull out a ring with a silver band and a blue topaz jewel in the shape of a heart with two small diamonds next to it.
"This is the one, right?" Myoga asked.
"Yes sir," Hayato said as the man handed his scarlet haired shopper the ring, which he put in a small jewelry box, which Hayato then put in his pocket along with the receipt.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Hayato," Myoga said.
"Thank your sir, have a nice one," Hayato said as he made his leave.
Back with Group B, they just got Morgana back from the pet store owner as they sat near a fountain to discuss what they just saw in regards to Hayato, blissfully unaware of what the scarlet haired man was actually doing.
"So now we know Hayato gets his weapons from," Ryuji said.
"Never would've thought Hayato would use guns to go about with his killing," Yuuki said.
"They're quick and easy," Futaba said, "They allow you to kill without having to get up close and personal."
"Don't look now, everyone, but Hayato is coming this way," Haru said as she pointed towards Hayato, who just walked right past them.
"He didn't even acknowledge us," Ryuji said, "He's definitely guilty of something."
"I also couldn't help but notice that his hands were empty," Futaba said, "I thought he was buying a weapon."
"Maybe he didn't like the gun selection this time around," Ryuji said.
"Or maybe he brought like a tiny hand held gun that he can hide in his sleeve and then whip it out when he found a victim," Yuuki said.
"Maybe," Ryuji said.
"Probably," Morgana said.
Hayato wasn't the only one doing some shopping, as we cut to Group C, who was currently at a hardware store shopping for 'murder weapons'.
"You sure it's a good idea to buy weapons?" Ichiro asked, "I feel like serial killers would make use out of anything lying around the house, because whatever they buy can get traced back to them."
"Don't worry, we're not going to buy anything," Shiho said, "Futaba told me that a neighbor of hers works here and he's desperately in love with her. I think she told me his name was Aoki."
"Is this Aoki fellow aware that Futaba is in love with Mishima?" Ren asked.
"I don't think so," Shiho said, "But I figured we'd get what we need here, then coerce Aoki into giving the stuff to us for free by using Futaba as leverage."
"Man, babe, I had no idea you could be so underhanded," Daisuke said, "I don't know whether to be disappointed in you…or absolutely turned on."
"Can you be both?" Shiho teased as everyone else chuckled.
"Alright guys, let's get serious," Ren said, "We need to figure out an identity for our serial killer personalities. For example, I'm going to dress up as a butcher with a bloody smock and everything. My story is that I've grown bored of cutting meat and looking at the insides of animals my whole life, and now I'm curious as to what it's like to cut humans and see what their insides look like."
"Oh, that's pretty spooky, Ren," Sumire said.
"What about you guys?" Ren asked.
"I'm thinking mine should be a shell shocked war veteran," Ichiro said, "Someone whose psyche was so shattered during his time overseas that he still thinks he's in the war and everyone around him is a bad guy."
"Interesting," Ann said, "I think I'll base mine on this killer bride from a theme park ride I went on when I was little. Basically the bride would marry a rich man, decapitate him with an ax, then collect the profit."
"I think I'll make mine this sort of hunter-type character," Daisuke said, "Where I get bored of hunting animals and decide to hunt humans instead since they not only think like me, but can also hunt me back."
"So a 'Least Safe Game' (Most Dangerous Game) type situation," Shiho asked.
"Exactly," Daisuke said, "So what's your killer going to be, babe?"
"A psychotic scientist who not only kills her victims, but experiments on their bodies before doing so," Shiho answered.
"Mine is going to be this woman who constantly got bullied in her youth by jocks," Sumire said, "So at night she dresses in her old school outfit and goes out to kill anyone resembling an athlete."
"Sounds like we all figured out what our characters are," Ren said, "So all we need now are murder weapons and some costumes."
"Hey guys," Ichiro said, "Check out this machete."
The male gymnast grabbed the machete from the shelf before showing it to his friends.
"Looks pretty sharp," Shiho said.
While the group continued to look for weapons, one of the employees, a portly man, comes over to them. On his shirt he wore a nametag that read 'Aoki'.
"Finding everything okay here today?" Aoki asked as the six turned in his direction.
"Yes sir, we are," Ren said.
"Hold on a minute," Shiho said before Aoki had the chance to walk away, "Aren't you Aoki, Futaba's neighbor?"
"You guys know Futaba?" Aoki asked.
"Yeah, she's a friend of ours," Shiho said, "And we know you have the hots for her. So here's the gauntlet we're laying out for you. We take what we need on the hush-hush, and we put in a good word for you."
"And by hush-hush, you mean what exactly?" Aoki asked.
"For free, you know," Shiho responded, "You'd be doing us a huge favor and like I said we'll put in a good word for you with Futaba."
"Oh, okay," Aoki said, blushing at the thought of Futaba.
"Great, thank you," Shiho said as Aoki left the aisle to get back to work.
"Well Shiho, I speak for all of us when I say that this is probably the worst thing you've ever done," Ichiro said.
"I'm allowed to be bad every now and again," Shiho said as she and her friends continued looking for 'murder weapons'.
Back with Group A, they're about to interview the last of the three people they need to prove Hayato's innocence. And that person is Hayato's own mother, Reina Yajima. The trio are currently seen inside the living room of the Yajima Residence as Reina places a charcuterie board in the table in front of them.
"So nice of you three to drop by," Reina said, "I feel like I don't see enough of you three these days, especially you Hifumi."
"Well, college has got us pretty busy, Mrs. Yajima," Hifumi said.
"Oh, please, Hifumi," Reina said, "You're in your twenties now, I think you can call me Reina from here on out.
"Sorry, force of habit," Hifumi said.
"So, what brings you all here?" Reina asked.
"Our friends are accusing your son of being a serial killer," Yusuke said.
"Not my Hayato," Reina said, "My son is one of the sweetest people you've ever seen, unlike his father."
"What do you mean by that?" Makoto said as she started recording the conversation.
"I don't know if you know this or not but the reason Hayato and I moved to Tokyo to begin with was to escape his abusive father," Reina explained, "But as he grew up he vowed to never become someone like him."
"Hayato's father was abusive?" Yusuke said, sadly.
"That's rough," Makoto concurred.
"I remember Hayato telling me something like that when we went on our first date to Big Bang Burger all those years ago," Hifumi said.
"And so far I'd say he lived up to his promise," Reina said, "He treats everyone he meets with respect, especially me and you, Hifumi. He always works out and strives to be the best person he could be. So I know for a fact that my baby boy would never become a serial killer. And you can take that to the bank."
"So he was never an angry child growing up?" Makoto asked.
"No," Reina answered, "He was always the shy and quiet kid who never bothered anybody growing up."
"And he never exhibited any hatred towards anybody?" Makoto continued.
"My son is a lover, not a fighter," Reina said, "Very rarely have I heard the word 'hate' come out of his mouth."
"Alright then," Makoto said, "I think we have enough information to prove Hayato's innocence to our friends, what do you guys think?"
"I think so, Makoto," Hifumi said, with Yusuke nodding in agreement, "Thank you Reina for your help."
"My pleasure, Hifumi," Reina smiled, "And now that summer's here, don't be afraid to come by here so we can chat and catch up."
"You got it," Hifumi said as she and her two friends left the house.
Later that night, with Group C, they are seen wearing their serial killing costumes and hiding behind a dumpster as they stare at the gym across the street; this gym is one that Kamoshida frequents. True to what they said, Ren is dressed like a butcher, Ann is wearing a bride's dress, Ichiro is wearing army fatigues, Sumire is dressed like a schoolgirl, Daisuke is dressed in hunting gear, and Shiho is dressed like a mad scientist.
"According to his social media, this is the gym that Kamoshida usually visits," Ann says, "Hopefully he's still in there."
"If he is, he should be coming out soon," Daisuke said, "It's almost closing time."
As the group waits, Ren is staring lovingly at Ann.
"Ann, if I haven't said it yet, then I'll say it right now," Ren began, "You look absolutely perfect in a wedding dress."
"I look even better with it off though," Ann teased.
"Focus, you two, I think I see him coming now," Sumire said.
Sure enough, they see Kamoshida coming out of the gym and walking home, his gym bag in hand.
"Alright, get your game faces on, everybody," Shiho said, "What's going to happen now is we're going to follow Kamoshida, and then we're going to jump him."
"Jump him?" Ichiro asked, "I thought we were just going to scare him until he cries and maybe wets himself?"
"Right, right, sorry," Shiho says, "Sometimes my hatred for Kamoshida boils over to the point where I let my emotions do the talking," She then turned to Daisuke, "Babe, if I go off the wagon or if I show signs of it, do me a favor and hold me back."
"No problem," Daisuke said with a nod.
"Alright, people, let's do this," Ren said as the group of six came out of hiding and started following Kamoshida.
As Kamoshida continues to walk down the street, he suddenly hears the sound of footsteps behind him, getting closer and louder the farther he walks; the group of six are quickly gaining on him. Nervous, Kamoshida turns around to find that no one is following him. With his guard up, Kamoshida continues on his way as the six 'killers' come out from an alleyway that they hid in and continue following the former Olympian.
The longer the chase lasted the more afraid Kamoshida became and the faster he walked, forcing the group to pick up their own pace.
The chase eventually took them to a really dark and seedy part of the city, at this point Kamoshida was practically sprinting and the group of six were starting to have trouble keeping up with him. They eventually see Kamoshida turn a corner, and the six quickly follow after him, only to be met with…
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kamoshida screamed as he pulled out a can of mace from his gym bag which he sprayed into the six young adult's faces, causing them to scream in agony. After he finished spraying them, Kamoshida runs away, leaving the group of six screaming and crying as they rubbed their eyes in pain.
Group C, still in their costumes, later regroup at Cafe Leblanc where Ren, Daisuke, and Ichiro are seen washing their eyes in the kitchen sink while Ann, Shiho, and Sumire are in the bathroom washing their eyes out. The girls come out from the bathroom to see how their boyfriends are doing.
"How do your eyes feel, girls?" Ichiro asked.
"My eyes still feel like they're on fire," Sumire groaned.
"Yeah well, being sprayed with mace is more merciful than the abuse Kamoshida subjected me to," Shiho said.
"Guys, I don't think we're going to find the real killer," Ren said, "Everything we've tried has backfired on us."
"So what do we do now?" Ann asked.
"First order of business is get out of these costumes," Ren said, "Then I say we find Hifumi, Makoto, and Yusuke to see if we can help them in proving Hayato's innocence."
"Or you could help us in proving that he's guilty," Ryuji said as he entered the cafe, with Morgana, Futaba, Yuuki, and Haru following him.
"You guys are still convinced that Hayato is guilty?" Daisuke asked in an annoyed tone.
"We know he is," Futaba said, "We followed him last night and he entered someone else's home before leaving shortly after. He killed someone, we know he did."
"On top of that we paid a visit to his and his mother's storage unit and found these," Ryuji said as he held up the cookbook and anatomy book he found.
"And we followed him again earlier today, and he went to the mall to buy a murder weapon. Likely a small handheld gun that he can hide in his sleeve," Yuuki said, "Also, he walked right past us without paying us any mind. He's clearly guilty about something."
"Look all of these 'clues' can mean anything," Sumire said, "That house that he entered could belong to a friend of his, he could just be interested in cooking and learning anatomy, and just because he goes into a sporting goods store doesn't mean he went there to buy a gun."
"You can try and dissuade us as much as you want, but we still think Hayato is guilty," Ryuji said.
Ren then groans and says, "Look Ryuji, if it'll make you all feel better, what do you say we get Hayato alone somewhere and question him about all of this."
"I like this plan," Haru says with a nod.
"We can use my neighbor Aoki's apartment," Futaba suggested, "He usually works late and asks for me to water his plants…which I haven't done at all today because we were busy with this…I am in trouble."
"You can water them while we're there, babe," Yuuki said, "But back onto the topic at hand, we need to lure Hayato in on the phone."
"There's just one problem with that, Mishima," Ryuji said, "I'm pretty sure Hayato has hung around us all long enough to recognize our voices."
"Well lucky for you, one of the many badges I got during my tenure as a Tanuki Scout was the 'Mimicry Badge'," Ichiro explained, "For example, one minute I could be Ichiro, ahem, and the next I could be Ren."
Towards the end of that sentence, Ichiro's voice changed into that of Ren Amamiya, amazing everyone.
"That's amazing!" Sumire exclaimed, "Do me next, babe, do me next!"
Ichiro cleared his throat again before talking with the voice of his girlfriend, "Hey, Sumi, you lookin' good, babe!"
"And you sound even better," Sumire said.
"Well I bet you can't do my voice," Ryuji said, only for Ichiro to clear his throat again and say the blonde man's famous quote, and in his own voice, "For real?"
"For real?!" Ryuji asked in amazement, causing everyone to laugh.
"Can we focus our attention back on Hayato please," Futaba asked, annoyed.
"Right, right, sorry," Ren said, "Ichiro, call him up."
"And make sure you type in *67 before you type in Hayato's number," Shiho said, "Can't have him tracing the call back to us."
Ichiro took out his cell phone, got a new voice at the ready, and typed in Hayato's phone number, making sure to type in *67 before actually entering in the number.
With Hayato himself, he's seen in his bedroom looking at the ring he bought earlier that day.
"Yeah, Hifumi's really going to like this," Hayato said with a confident nod.
As he continued to admire the ring, his cell phone started to vibrate, meaning he was getting a call. He takes it from the nightstand and looks at the Caller ID to find 'Private'. Nevertheless, the scarlet haired man answered the call to see who it was.
"Hello?" Hayato asked.
"Yes," came a feminine sounding voice, "Is this Hayato Yajima?"
"May I ask who this is?" Hayato asked.
"My name is Hina Shimizu, and I'm a friend of your mother's dear," the voice said.
"Then how come I haven't heard of you," Hayato asked.
"I'm a new friend of hers. We met earlier this week," the voice explained, "Anyway, I went out with her earlier today and she said that you can help me with moving out of my apartment."
"Moving, huh?" Hayato asked.
"Yes, I'm changing apartments later this week," the voice continued, "My neighbors are awfully noisy and I can't get a wink of sleep. It's just me, though, and I'm afraid I won't be able to have everything packed before the deadline. I'll pay you handsomely for your services."
"I do like to get paid," Hayato said, "When do you want me there?"
"Right now if that's okay with you?" the voice said.
"You're lucky I'm a night owl," Hayato said, "But I'll be there."
"Wonderful," the voice said, "I'll text you the address of my apartment in just a few."
"Sounds good," Hayato said.
We cut back to Cafe Leblanc where it's revealed that the feminine voice over the phone was just Ichiro, who disguised his voice so Hayato wouldn't recognize him.
"Don't keep me waiting too long," Ichiro said in his feminine voice.
"I'll be there soon," Hayato said, "Later."
With that Hayato hung up and Ichiro turned to face his friends.
"So how did it go?" Ryuji asked.
"Ladies and gentlemen…we got him," Ichiro said in his normal voice, causing everyone to voice their approval, "Now I'll just send Hayato an anonymous text telling him where to go, and then we'll head to this Aoki guy's apartment."
"You guys do that, but Ann, Daisuke, Shiho, Sumire, Ichiro, and I have to get out of these costumes and get back into some more presentable clothes," Ren said.
"Yeah, why are you guys in costume anyway?" Haru asked.
"Long story, we'll tell you all later," Daisuke said.
"While they get changed we should also call up Hifumi, Yusuke, and Makoto so we can rub it in their faces when we prove that Hayato is guilty," Futaba said.
"Sounds good," Yuuki said.
"Alright team," Ryuji said, "Let's go catch us a predator."
Sometime later, Ryuji, Futaba, Yuuki, Haru, Morgana, Makoto, Yusuke, Hifumi, Ren, Ann, Daisuke, Shiho, Sumire, and Ichiro (The latter six back in some street clothes) are seen approaching Aoki's apartment. Haru has a large duffle bag in her possession, and Yuuki has a suit and tie hung up on a hanger in his possession.
"This is it, guys," Futaba said as she took out the spare key Aoki gave her to get in and out of his apartment, and she opened the door to let everyone in.
Once inside the apartment, Futaba wastes no time in watering Aoki's plants.
"I can't believe you guys convinced Makoto, Yusuke, and I to tag along with you," Hifumi said, "We told you that Hayato is innocent. We have testimonies from his mom, his writing teacher, and the manager of the cinema that he used to work at."
"Did it ever occur to you three that they were feeding you nothing but lies and they're just covering for him?" Futaba asked as she watered Aoki's plants.
"I bet my soul that Hayato is innocent, Futaba," Makoto says.
"Well them prepare to lose your soul," Futaba said as she finished watering the plants.
"Alright, places, everyone," Yuuki said, "Hayato is going to be here any minute."
"I'm going to oil my chainsaw before he gets here," Haru said as she followed everyone into the other room.
"Are you kidding me?" Hifumi said, annoyed.
"We don't need a chainsaw, love," Yusuke says, "Is that what's in that bag?"
"Yes, and we do need it, darling," Haru said, "I'm ready to get a confession out of Hayato by any means necessary."
Haru walks into the other room to get her chainsaw ready with the other 13 with her just staring after her in a mix of confusion and horror.
"Yusuke, your girlfriend is horrifying," Morgana said to the blue haired artist.
"I know," Yusuke said, "But a part of me can't help but love her for it."
"You are so weird," Morgana said as everyone followed after the floofy haired woman to hide.
A few minutes later, Hayato arrived at the apartment. When he came to the door, he saw a sticky note that read 'unlocked'. The scarlet haired man opened the door and stepped into the apartment.
"Hello, Miss Shimizu," Hayato called.
"Oh, Hayato, you're here," 'Shimizu' said from the other room, "I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up."
"I'm not one to stand someone up," Hayato said,
"Well, did you eat," 'Shimizu' asked, "I made some cookies."
Hayato looked at the table in front of him to see a plate of cookies and a pitcher of lemonade next to it.
"You're going to need to keep your strength up if you're going to help me move out of here," 'Shimizu' continued.
"Oh, much appreciated, Miss Shimizu," Hayato said as he reached for the plate. But before he could grab a cookie, Yuuki came out from the other room, dressed in a suit and tie.
"Hello, Hayato," Yuuki greeted.
"Mishima," Hayato asked, "What are you doing here?"
"We'll be asking the questions here," Yuuki said, "Why don't you have a seat, and help yourselves to some cookies and lemonade."
Hayato did as he was told, taking a seat on one of the chairs around the table, before Yuuki continued talking.
"So, who are you here to see?" Yuuki asked.
"My mom's friend, Miss Shimizu," Hayato answered.
"Miss Shimizu," Yuuki repeated in a rhetorical manner, "Tell me, is Miss Shimizu a young, attractive woman with orange dyed hair?"
"I have no idea, dude," Hayato said.
"Oh, Miss Shimizu," Yuuki called, "Would you come out here please."
With that, Ichiro came out of hiding holding a video camera, and in his feminine voice, he said to Hayato, "Surprise, surprise."
"Ichiro?" Hayato said, confused, "Since when could you change your voice on a dime?"
"You pick up a lot of skills when you've been in the Tanuki Scouts for as long as I have," Ichiro said, now back to his regular voice.
"Why are you guys here, what is going on?" Hayato asked, "Wait a minute, are the rest of our friends here too?"
As if on cue, Ryuji, Futaba, Morgana, Makoto, Hifumi, Yusuke, Ren, Ann, Shiho, Daisuke, and Sumire come out of hiding, with Haru not present.
"What are you all doing here?" Hayato asked, "And I'll ask again, what is going on?"
"Just what were you planning on doing to 'Miss Shimizu'," Yuuki asked.
"She called me saying that she was a friend of my mom's and she needed help moving out of her apartment," Hayato explained.
"You sure you weren't looking to treat this 'cry for help' from 'Miss Shimizu' as an excuse to kill again?" Futaba asked.
"Kill again?!" Hayato asked incredulously, "What are you talking about?"
"Calm down, Hayato," Ryuji said as he took out his cookbook and anatomy book and placed it on the table, "How about a little light reading to calm your nerves."
"What are you guys doing with my books?" Hayato asked, "How did you even get them?"
"Oh you know where we got them, Hayato," Ryuji said as Haru came from behind the interrogation group, chainsaw in hand.
"Tie him up!" Haru exclaimed.
"Tie me up, what?!" Hayato asked.
"We're not getting any results from this interrogation, everyone," Haru said, "It's time we bring out the big guns."
"Okay that's enough!" Hifumi shouted before looking over at Hayato, "Hayato, the reason all of this is happening is because Ryuji, Haru, Futaba, and Mishima are convinced that you're the serial killer that's been killing all of these girls with orange dyed hair!"
"What?!" Hayato asked, "I'm not a serial killer! Why would you guys think that, tell me honestly?!"
"Don't lie to us, Hayato," Ryuji said, "The shady behavior, the books, going into other people's houses, your visit to the mall earlier today, they all point towards one thing: Serial Killing!"
"Well, did it ever occur to you that these books were for a cooking class and a health class that I took as electives last semester in college," Hayato asked.
"Huh?" went Ryuji.
"Yeah," Hayato continued before taking out his phone and logging into his college's online portal to show his friends his classes and grades, "And if you don't believe me, take a look at this."
He passed the phone around to show his friends his transcript before the phone gets passed back to him.
"Alright, so that explains the books," Futaba said, "But what about when you went into that guy's house last night."
"And when you came out shortly after," Yuuki chimed in.
"I took up a job as a freelance worker for Jobbunny so I could make some extra cash," Hayato explained, "And that guy couldn't find his jacket so I gave him my jacket, hence why it looked like I was in that house for a limited time, when in actually I stayed in that house for the majority of the evening looking after his pet parrot. And before you question me about it, the scratches you all saw on my neck was from one of my clients who had a cat. I tried giving him his ear drops, the cat got mad, and he scratched me right on the neck."
"Okay, well what about your appearance at the mall," Ryuji asked, "We saw you heading towards the sporting goods store. What, were you going to buy a gun or something?"
"If you guys paid so much attention to me, you would've noticed that I walked right past the sporting goods store and went straight for the jewelry store next to it."
"What were you doing at the jewelry store, babe?" Hifumi asked.
With a deep breath, Hayato got up from his chair before walking towards his girlfriend.
"This isn't how I thought this thing would go down, but I guess there really is no time like the present," Hayato said as he approached Hifumi, and took his hands in hers.
"What are you doing?" Hifumi asked.
"He marked you for his next victim!" Ryuji shouted.
"Babe, I love you, but seriously, shut the hell up!" Makoto scolded as everyone continued to let Hayato talk.
"I had a very good reason for why I was acting suspicious, and for why I took up those Jobbunny jobs," Hayato said to his friends before turning back towards Hifumi, a loving smile on his face, "Hifumi, we've known each other for so long, and I knew from the moment I met you that we'd be together. We started as just friends, but we then our friendship turned into a glorious courtship that I wouldn't change a thing about. These last few years have been the best years I've ever had, and that's because you were there by my side for all of them. I love you, Hifumi Togo, with all of my heart and soul, and I'd do anything for you, even lay down my life at a moment's notice. You've changed my life in the best possible way and we've made so many wonderful memories that I'll cherish until the day I pass on to the next life. But until that day comes, which hopefully won't be for a very long time, I want to spend the rest of my time in this world with you, making many more unforgettable and happy memories. With all of that said, I just have to ask…"
With that, Hayato got down on one knee and reached into his pocket to pull out a small box. Before he even took the box out, Hifumi had her hands over her mouth in amazement, tears of joy welling in her eyes, as the other 13 present gasped and stared in awe at what was coming next.
Hayato opened the small box to reveal the wedding ring that he purchased earlier, and then he asked, "Hifumi Togo, will you marry me?"
"Oh my God!" Hifumi said, the tears in her eyes now flowing down her face, "Yes, Hayato! Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!"
Hayato took the ring out from its box before placing it on Hifumi's finger. With the ring on her hand, Hayato and Hifumi's lips met in a passionate kiss as everyone watched, their hearts properly warmed.
"So Hayato took up those jobs on Jobbunny to pay for Hifumi's wedding ring," Ren said, "And the shady behavior was likely because he was nervous and didn't want to spill the beans about the proposal."
"That sounds about right," Morgana said to his owner.
When Hayato and Hifumi stopped kissing each other, they turned to face their friends, who applauded and congratulated them on their engagement.
"Congratulations, you two," Sumire said.
"Yeah, you two are going to be a great couple, I know it," Daisuke said.
"Sorry we accused you of being the serial killer, Hayato," Yuuki said remorsefully.
"All water under the bridge now, Mishima," Hayato said, "I'm so happy right now I don't think anything can bring my mood down."
"What do you guys say we regroup at Bikkuri Boy and celebrate?" Ann asked everyone.
"Why wait," Ryuji asked, "I'm sure this Aoki guy has some cold ones in his fridge. I'm going to go take a look."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Makoto warned.
"Ah, what's the worst that could happen," Ryuji asked as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it up…to reveal a stash of dead, disembodied heads inside, all of them female, and almost all of them with orange, dyed hair. Seeing this made Ryuji gasp loudly before closing the refrigerator door.
"Uh, no, no beer," Ryuji said in a panic, "But there's a bunch of severed heads in there."
"What?!" Ren asked as everyone stopped celebrating Hayato and Hifumi's engagement.
"Yeah, there's about 17-18 severed heads in there," Ryuji said as everyone followed him over to the refrigerator to take a look.
Makoto opened the door and everyone gasped at what they saw. Ryuji was telling the truth, and there were 17-18 decapitated heads in the refrigerator. After getting more than an eyeful at the horrifying site before them, Makoto shut the refrigerator door and turned to face everyone else.
"Oh my God, there's heads in there," Makoto said in disbelief.
"See, I told you!" Ryuji exclaimed.
"And did anyone happen to catch what hair color and gender those heads were?" Daisuke asked in horror.
"Female." Shiho said.
"With orange dyed hair," Yusuke chimed in.
"Guy's we're in the killer's apartment right now," Hayato panicked.
"Wait a minute," Futaba said, "Does that mean Aoki is the serial killer?!"
"I think so babe," Yuuki replied.
"Oh my God!" Futaba panicked.
As the group of 14 humans and one cat continued to panic, trying to figure out their next move, outside they heard the sound of jingling keys. They stopped panicking and turned to look at the front door.
"Guys, sshhh, sshhh, sshh," Ren said, silencing everyone, "I think I hear keys."
All eyes were on the front door as it opened up to reveal Aoki, who just came home from work. The group of 15 just stared at Aoki in horror as he stared back at them in confusion.
"What are you people doing in my apartment?" Aoki asked.
The 14 humans and one cat just continued to look at Aoki, absolutely speechless. But Haru, who still had the chainsaw in her hands, looks at Aoki in rage before grabbing the tool's pull cord to start it up. The chainsaw begins to rev up as this fanfic comes to a close.
END