Kaito called Naoki on the phone.
Kaito: Naoki, are you at home?
Naoki: Yeah
Kaito: Look, this may be hard for you, but...
Naoki: Cut it short.
Kaito: Ayato commited suicide.
Naoki: Well, and?
Kaito: You were friends after all... why did you react as if he was nothing to you?
Naoki: I'm already used to it
Kaito: Used to what?
Naoki: To the loss of people close to me.
Kaito: At least you should attend his funeral ceremony.
Naoki: I'll see, if I don't have anything to do, I'll go then.
Kaito: You really should...
Naoki: Probably.
Naoki hung up, he didn't care about Ayato's death, after his experiences in Geneva and Rotterdam, he got used to losing people close to him. Also partly due to Kiichisaburo's ideology, Naoki had this opinion about his deceased friends and other people close to him.
The next morning, Naoki received Ayato's farewell letter.
Naoki read it and then burned it.
Then he came to school, he was in a good mood despite the tragedy, some students, such as Mochizuki, began to think that the curse had returned.
Naoki entered the classroom and looked around.
Naoki: It's a little less crowded here now, isn't it?
Everyone looked at Naoki, some looked at him with anger, some with shock, and some with horror.
Yuuya: M-Muneysohi-kun... the curse has returned, I think... You seem happier than usual... are you sure you're okay after Anju-kun's death?
Naoki: I feel great. I'm fine.
Yuuya: Are you sure?
Naoki: Definetly.
Naoki sat down in his seat, crossing his legs. After a few minutes, Chibiki-sensei entered the classroom.
He announced to the students that there was a possibility of the curse returning, as Ayato and Naoki were the last to join the class, and Ayato committed suicide, Naoki was designated as a non-existent person.
Naoki didn't care much about it, he just asked if, as an ignored person, he would be able to do anything without any restrictions.
Yuuya: What exactly do you mean Muneyoshi-kun...
Naoya: Exactly, you're not going to do anything serious, are you?
Naoki: You'll see soon…
After class, Naoki met up with Mei in the old library, the place where Mei used to hang out when she was in the role that Naoki would be filling.
Mei: You're acting tough after Anju's death, right?
Naoki: You don't know anything, maybe that's even better.
Mei: I received his farewell letter yesterday, which is strange, especially since we didn't talk to each other very often.
Naoki: Have you read it?
Mei: Not yet...
Naoki: So read this if you have this letter with you
Mei opened and read the letter.
Mei: What did Anju do? That he wanted to hang himself? and why he apologizes to me.
Naoki: Think about it a little
Mei: He killed my sister in April?
Naoki: Yes, he was the one who poisoned Fujioka, he wanted to save me this way. I didn't ask him to do this, but he decided to act on his own.
Mei: In my letter he wrote that he didn't want to but had to do it. Maybe someone forced him to do it?
I doubt he's capable of killing anyone. But that would explain a lot.
Naoki: That's right, Ayato couldn't even hurt a fly.
But who could have done it? Kaito wouldn't be able to convince Ayato to do this, from what I know he's resigned to the fact that I'm going to die.
Mei: And that policeman who tried to convince Sakakibara that I poisoned her?
Besides, as far as I know, there was no police investigation into my sister's death, it was concluded that leukemia had killed her prematurely.
He probably knows more.
Naoki: It's also possible that the Hiiragi family is involved, if this policeman is from that family, then it's possible.
Mei: When they interrogated me about the death of Kubodera-sensei and the death of Sakuragi, I don't remember any policeman having that surname.
Naoki: But that policeman Sakakibara was talking about...
Mei: Hmm?
Naoki: He bore a striking resemblance to my father, however apart from Kiichisaburo and Kaito I had no uncles or aunts, and in 1977 Kiichisaburo and my father also murdered most of my clan.
Therefore, it is impossible that he is in any way related to me.
Mei: However, in case you didn't consider your father's death...
It's all starting to come together...
Naoki: Do you think my father is alive?
Mei: If we do not rule out such a scenario, then who could have done it?
Hironiwa Clan? but what would they have to do with Ayato?
He wouldn't do it for money, but to save you, Muneyoshi-kun.
Naoki: Right, but let's cross out the other options first, if I press Kaito hard enough, he'll say everything
Mei: Are you going to torture your own uncle?
Naoki smiled a bit.
Naoki: Not necessarily, but I know how to push him.
Mei: Then what will you do if Kaito is behind this?
Naoki: You'll find out
Naoki left school, Mei met with Kouichi to discuss Naoki's situation, many people want to kill him like Ms. Mikami was killed in July.
Kouichi: We will have to kill Muneyoshi-kun..Mei
Mei: No, we don't have to. He is not an extra person, and this is probably the only situation in history when there were two extra people in the class.
Kouichi: He is not?
Mei: He is not, I checked him with my eye.
Kouichi: So Anju-kun committed suicide not because of the curse?
Mei: Attributing everything to a curse is a pretty stupid idea, right? In addition, he had a mental breakdown and problems of this nature.
Kouichi: I see..Now I kind of feel sorry for Muneyoshi-kun.
Mei: He will do as well as I did, maybe even better than me.
Kouichi: You think so?
Mei: He had a really dark past... I suspect he lost a lot of important people in his life, and Ayato was just another important person to him that passed away.
Kouichi: When Anju-kun was alive, he didn't want to tell me anything about his past, Muneyoshi-kun himself is not very friendly towards others, so probably if I broke this rule again and talked to him, he probably wouldn't tell me anything.
Mei: Can you convince others not to kill Muneyoshi-kun?
Kouichi: It won't be easy. Mei.. is the curse still present?
Mei: I don't think so, but I'll check tomorrow to be sure.
Yuuna returned to her house after school.
She stood in front of her stepfather, who was currently reading a book.
Yuuna: Kobayashi... can you explain to me what's going on in this city?
First Ria died, then her brother, then her father, and now Yuka's brother… Is someone hunting members of the Great Clans?
Akira: Hmm, maybe, but I can't tell you that... it's a secret.
Yuuna: I'm afraid for my friend... What if this killer catches her in college? Or even here in Yomiyama?
Please tell me Kobayashi...
Akira: I'm not breaking the law. And besides, her brother committed suicide, he wasn't murdered. Yuukichi Hironiwa the same, someone was taking revenge on the Hironiwa clan. That's all I can tell you...
So you shouldn't delve into it.
Yuuna: I've had this feeling... basically since you first came into my life. That you're hiding something from me...
This chess confirmed it even more...
Are you Akira Kobayashi? or maybe you are someone else?
Kobayashi stood up and sighed. He removed his lens from his eye.
Yuuna: You had green eyes?!
A moment later, Yuuna felt weak, she felt Akira's will take over her mind.
She forgot about Ria, as well as Shion Muneyoshi.
A moment later, Akira put his lens back on.
Akira: Did you want something Yuuna? Be brief because I have to go to the ophthalmologist today.
Yuuna: Huh? What I'm doing here?
No, I don't want anything from you Kobayashi.
Akira: Great. Now I will go.
In the evening of that day, Naoki was waiting for Kaito when he returned from work.
Today he performed a complicated operation.
One of the debtors of the Hironiwa clan was shot in the stomach. It was a difficult surgery, Kaito returned home tired.
Kaito: Daamn… What a drag…
Naoki: Kaito
Kaito startled a bit.
Naoki: I'll ask directly. Were you the one who poisoned Misaki Fujioka?
Kaito: Wait... so she...
Naoki: You did it for me. I should be grateful to you.
Fujioka did well. I didn't feel anything for her, if her death was to save my life then I'm happy with it.
Kaito: Was she poisoned...?
Naoki: Indeed. Do you feel any remorse?
Kaito: Do you think I poisoned her?
Naoki: Who else could do it?
Kaito: You may hate me after what I tell you, but I would rather you die than her.
I took the Hippocratic Oath, I couldn't do it. Besides, would this in any way break the curse?
Naoki: Yes, you could save me by replacing her death with mine
Kaito: So if I had killed my schoolmates back in 1977, the curse wouldn't have hit our clan?
Naoki: It wasn't a curse, Kaito
Kaito: Huh?
Naoki: My father and Kiichisaburo did it
Kaito: What? But how? Kiichisaburo could do it, but not Shion
Naoki: My father wasn't what you thought
Kaito: Then why didn't they kill me too?
Naoki: I'm surprised myself. I even have a theory that...
Kaito: Enough… I had a hard day at work today, so you'll tell me tomorrow.