Finally, on February 27, 1900—
Manabu took leave from College at the third period. And Leon hadn't come at the firt place. Taiju and Mai were in a different section so Mion wouldn't know if they were there or left.
She had completely forgotten about her birthday, lost in her apathy. The teachers and students, however, were prepared. Everyone brought a gift.
As the college day ended, three girls were given the job to take Mion along with them, taking a long route to the place so she wouldn't guess. They did as they were instructed. Yokoya reached her with a mysterious smile and said, "Hey Mion, come with us; there is something we need to talk about."
Mion wasn't comfortable as their approach was kinda suspicious, also they insisted she go with them. Mion had been holding a sharp piece of blade, and she had been holding in her fist all the time, as she was being taken. She couldn't trust them for some reason...
On the way, Mion kept asking, 'What's going on?' Where are they taking her, but they ignored her questions and talked on ridiculous topics. They led her to the 23/20/ block-F, Commoner Street. Now Mion could slightly recognize the alleyways, and just as they passed by the post office, Mion realized she was now standing in front of the very place she cherished so much. As they reached the entrance, the lights were off. Just when the door swung open, and in unison, everyone inside shouted, "Surprise!"
Mion froze for a moment; she just stood there processing. All the familiar faces, the decorations. She immediately slipped the blade into her clothes, in a tiny hole near her waist. Her gaze fell upon a beautiful cake at the table in the center of the room, and right beside it, a framed photo of Naomi and Mr. and Mrs. Futaba.
Manabu stepped forward and wished her, "Happy Birthday." Mai, standing next to him, punched her face, saying, "You're not alone, you moron! We're here, aren't we?"
Just as the punch landed, Mion began crying (for joy). Though Mai thought it was her, and panicked. "What! Wait— was it that hard?!"
"No, you moron!" Mion said, now she began laughing. She looked genuinely happy. Leon was glad to see her laughing; he had spent much time to unite the class, decorating everything and stuff. This bakery no longer sells cakes; Leon made it himself. Though he never told them.
Mion smiled brightly through her tears and clutched Mai tightly. Mai consoled her. And as for her birthday gift, she gently ran her hand over Mai's hair braid as Naomi used to.
Mion cut the cake and, as a sign of affection, she offered the first bite to Mai, whispering, "Forgive me, Mai, for everything. You guys are enough for me. I was mistaken for being rude to you all." Then she smudged the cake cream on Mai's whole face, and apologized. "Nah! This ain't friendly fire!" Mai yelled and grabbed a whole chunk of cake and tried to(pretended to) smash it on Mion. But she (intentionally) smeared it on Taiju's face.
Everyone laughed and yelled; the place became total chaos. Mion, in such a long while, laughed really hard. The bakery master had removed all tables and chairs, rearranging furniture to make space for them. He had known Naomi and Futaba, and he felt genuine sorrow for Mion.
As everyone was enjoying themselves, Taiju took a moment to mention, "Leon was the one who came up with this entire plan. He wanted to help you, so he arranged everything himself."
Mion thanked Leon with gratitude. "And forgive me for being so rude to you, all this time," she said.
"No, it was nothing! I just wanted to help one of my classmates." He then began blushing and it was clearly visible. Mion's tears glistened in her eyes. She hugged him.
Seeing them, everyone else felt a little jealous. "We want a hug too!" so they jumped on them for a hug, falling on each other. It was a wholesome sight.
The party lasted for hours, and everyone enjoyed themselves to the fullest.
Eventually, it was time to leave, and one by one, the students departed. Mion, feeling lighter than she had in months, headed home. Mr. Daima looked quite content. Leon decided to hang out with Manabu and the others for a while, so Daima left for home alone.
After the party, the group (Manabu, Leon, Mai, Taiju) walked together down the street, for Manabu's place. Leon was excited because he'd gotten Mion's cell phone number. The four of them climbed up to Manabu's apartment, lounging around and talking for hours. His apartment was small but comfortable. Manabu managed things quite nicely. Everything was properly placed.
After long chattering, the conversation brought up Mr. Santa's case and eventually Naomi's story. Leon heard everything then asked a thoughtful question about the case out of curiosity, "So there is supposedly a scumbag, who you guys believe to kill Futaba and Naomi. And this case had nothing to do with the Mr. Santa Case?"
Taiju shook his head. "Not really."
Leon proposed another question that had lingered in his mind. "As you guys mentioned, that you believe there is a copycat, because the legit, real Mr. Santa only had been seen murdering criminals or immoral people—but... What if it was Mr. Santa after all? And there's NO copycat?"
Manabu, resting his chin on his hand, thought for a moment before replying, "The chances of them being the same person are slim. Besides, what reason would the real Mr. Santa have to kill Naomi or her father? If you look at the tracking records of Mr. Santa, he's not stable in one place. He had killed in many different regions of Feropia."
Leon nodded in agreement. "Yeah… I know that doesn't make sense. But what IF the police department never revealed the true crime records? And has been hiding something from us, the commoners? Maybe Mr. Santa is killing innocent people too, but the authority is using his image as a Criminal Hunter to provoke criminals, or reduce crime in Feropia while also trying to catch him."
Taiju was taken aback; it was a thoughtful point. "If that's the case, everyone's doomed," he said.
Just then, Leon glanced at his watch, "Crap! It's already 8 PM. If I don't get home now, I'm going to get in trouble!"
Mai asked why he was wearing his watch facing down to his wrist. Leon replied, "There's no reason; it's just a habit."
Mai and Taiju realized the time as well. "We should leave too," she said. They all parted ways.
As Manabu closed his door, he felt an eerie sensation, as if someone were watching them... His apartment was on the third floor, and many people lived around. He glanced everywhere but saw nothing unusual. He thought he was imagining things and went back inside. As he went inside and locked the door, unbeknownst to him, a figure stood on the fifth floor of the building across the street, lurking in the shadows. The figure watched them closely and then left...
The next morning, for the first time in a long while, Manabu had slept so peacefully without nightmares haunting him. He woke refreshed, after everything. Mion would finally be able to recover completely. As usual, he picked up the morning paper. A particular headline reads: ("No More Murders Since Christmas: Has Mr. Santa disappeared?")
Just like the actual Santa Claus, no more appearance after Christmas ends. Manabu thought.
He gets prepared and left for College. The final exams were just around the corner, likely at the end of March. Despite everything that had happened over the past few months, he had remained focused on his studies and completed most of the syllabus. Upon reaching, Manabu finds Mion already there, talking to everyone— this brought genuine warmth to his heart. Just like before, their group was complete, and for once, life seemed calm. He dropped his bag and jumped into their conversation. Everything seemed smooth and resolved... Until,March 2, 1900, 10:58 PM...
At night, Mion was preparing for the upcoming examinations but found herself exhausted and tired of these numbers and equations. She was never good at academics—she always found study and homework tiring. But she was good at practical stuff. Painting was like a magnetic force to her, always drawing her in. She had participated, and won many prizes in painting and calligraphy.
With college exams approaching, fear often made her overthink her future. For a while now, she'd been considering taking up painting again and dropping her studies. 'This is not my cup of tea,' she thought.
All of a sudden, a message on her cell phone appeared. It was a message from an unknown sender. The contents sent a chill down her spine:
"Meet me at the St. Joseph College and University gate tonight at 1:20 AM. I'll tell you everything I know about Naomi and Futaba's murder. Come 'Alone'..."
Mion got chills reading if. Who is this? What is he talking about? What does he know about Naomi and Futaba? How did he get my cell phone number? Her mind raced with questions. It was quite a stressful situation. At first, she considered calling Manabu and others, but she knew better than to tell her friends—she couldn't risk their safety. After much contemplation, she made a cautious decision and dialed Mr. Kenzo's number, written in her classwork notebook. She remembered Kenzo giving them his personal contact number... She immediately dialed it and, after a few rings, Kenzo picked up.
"Is this Mr. Kenzo speaking?" she whispered, "Something's wrong. I just got a message from an unknown sender, and they say it's about Naomi and Futaba… could you help me?"
Kenzo asked who she was and what the message read. Mion explained everything: her identity, the message, and what it said.
His voice was stern but reassuring. "Listen carefully, Sayuri Mion! Don't dare to go outside until I get there. Text me your location now; I'll visit you right now, and I'll go with you. Stay put. Lock your windows and doors, and don't open them until I arrive, no matter what. It is a protocol!"
Mion followed his instructions.
Around 11 and a quarter, Kenzo arrived at her doorsteps and rang her doorbell. She grabbed her Safety-Gear (knife) with her and unlocked the door slowly. It was Kenzo indeed. Kenzo sees everything and tells her to do as he instructs her...
They waited until it hit 1 AM. Then headed to the St. Joseph's gate together, planning to reach the gate before the sender. Kenzo looked so serious, which made Mion feel a little uneasy. She trusted Kenzo but she was concerned about her safety, so she brought her gear with her...
Kenzo reminded her of the instructions once again, "You'll stay at the gate while I hide nearby. If anything happens, make a loud noise. So I'll know and capture the sender."
Mion nodded.
At 1:23 AM, at St. Joseph's front gate, the street eerily silent under flickering lampposts. Mion stood still, her heart pounding. She kept looking at the text on her cell phone, wondering 'who it might be.' She glanced around anxiously. The time surpassed 1:30 AM. Suddenly, footsteps echoed from behind her, which Kenzo could hear but Mion didn't notice. The figure approached closer to her, clad in a black shirt and a blue cap, he calls out, "Mion?"
Fear gripped her; she screamed and stumbled down on the ground. Kenzo thought she was attacked, so he bolted from his hiding spot, dashed at the sender. Twisted his ankle but tackled him to the ground. Yanking off the cap, he saw the sender was none other than Leon...
Kenzo thundered, "Leon? Bloody hell! What the hell do you think you are doing?!"
Leon startled. "Could I ask you the same?! Why the hell are you here?"
They stared at each other, confused. Kenzo shouted, "Have you lost your sanity to call out a lone girl at midnight?! Is she your girlfriend or something?"
"Hell with you, No! I just wanted to talk to her about something important! Why are you here? How do you know?"
"Mion called me. Do you even realize that how much you scared her with your stupid text?"
Leon was slightly confused. "Why would it frighten her? Didn't I tell you it was me? I even mentioned my name as I remember." He brought out his cell phone from his pocket, showed them the text, which read:
"I apologise for calling you out at this moment, but there is something I wanted to talk about. This is Leon, It's my personal cell phone number, save it by my name—Leon."
Leon claims he sent this one first and later he sent the other text. But Mion says she didn't get the text. She brought out her phone and checked all messages but the text was unavailable. (Apparently, cells at that time had a particular glitch issue; it often happened that recently received texts disappeared or never reached due to packet loss issue. This caused such a big misconception.)
Kenzo sighed and said, "Now, Hãyder(Leon) what was this so important thing you wanted to talk about? First, let it go to my ear."
Leon didn't want him to know; he knew Kenzo would never allow it. But still he told him the reason he called her here. He whispered into his ears. Kenzo's expression took an unexpected turn. He yells, "No way! Not happening! Nope! Hell no!" He shook his head continuously in denial. He tells Mion to return home. But Leon persisted, "Uncle, they were Mion's family... She deserves to know!" He even pleaded to him, grabbing his hands, but Kenzo jerked it free, and crossed his arms. "Absolutely not! She's a kid. It is not a good decision, Leon."
Mion, who had been watching them deal silently, grew impatient.
She remembers what Leon had called her to tell her about Naomi. So spoke up, "Mr. Kenzo, I want to know what happened to my sister and father. Please let him speak. I won't tell anyone about any of this, but please... I want to know."
Kenzo was not in support of sharing such sensitive, yet traumatic information. He had to think for a long moment, but eventually refused again and again. Leon pleaded continuously, until finally, Kenzo sighed in defeat. He'll let him tell if he follows these conditions. "Only the facts about her sister and father. No further unnecessary details. And you'll immediately pause when I tell you to... I don't know why I'm doing this. It's such a mess. It's so wrong..."
Leon nodded and promised he won't tell anything further than she deserves to know. Then he turned to Mion and asked quite a random question.
"Tell me, Mion… what kind of person do you think our principal, Hojo Tetsuya, is?"
Mion blinked at the question, confusion clear on her face. "I think… he's strict but a genuine person. Maybe a bit too serious, but he means well," she said, never having thought so deeply about Hojo's character.
. Leon's expression tensed as he said, "What IF I told you that Naomi, and Mr. Futaba, were murdered by none other than the principal, Hojo Tetsuya?"
Mion froze, unable to process his words quite well. Her mind went blank as Leon continued,
"Hojo is the murderer of Naomi's and Mr. Futaba's and the COPYCAT."