Just like that, two months passed.
She spent most of her time with Ranni, but also spent time with Evvls and Shinto.
She kept her distance from Akatsuke and Akio—something about them always felt off.
Travis, on the other hand, she spoke to a couple times, but it wasn't memorable to her.
She didn't have any more dreams either. She just assumed that this is what the original Akari meant by she needed time to recover.
Akari walked into the gym as she waved at Ranni.
"Hey Ran, working out this early?"
Ranni racked her weights and said,
"Yeah, you know I hate working out late. It's such a trashy way to end off the day."
Akari giggled.
"Heh, got room for one more, or are you done?"
"I'm actually just getting started!"
Ranni beamed as she tossed Akari a bottle of water.
"Sounds good to me. Thanks."
Akari smiled as she caught the bottle.
Before she could join her, the gym door slammed open.
"Akatsuke! He died!"
It was Akio. His pupils were dilated, and he was breathing heavily. His face was covered in even more marks than it had been two months ago, some deeper than others.
Ranni's face looked shocked. she stammered,
"R-Really…? Is the body still out? How'd he… die?"
Akari could see shock, worry, and extreme fear in her eyes.
"Why does she look so terrified? She never even seemed close to him…"
"The guards already took his body… but they're not even investigating it!"
Akio sounded like he was on the verge of tears, yet his eyebrows were still furrowed. All Akari could see was a mixture of sadness and anger.
"C'mon. I'll show you where it happened…"
Akio said as he walked off, scratching his forearm.
As Ranni started to follow, Akari joined her, grabbing her hand…
Ranni's grip was tight, but not tight enough to hurt.
Something told her this death wasn't natural.
***
Akari, Ranni, Evvls, Akio, Shinto, and some other kids surrounded the bloody spot.
"Ugh… I knew it…"
Ranni muttered this while covering her mouth and nose.
There was blood in the hallway. It was darker than normal—mana ran through it, threading the blood like veins of smoke.
This was what gave the blood its darker color.
'This… feels off…"
Akari let go of Ranni's hand and reached toward the blood.
Ranni's eyes quivered. Akari caught the reaction, pulled back, and rubbed her fingers clean on the ground.
Then she gently grabbed Ranni's hand again with the opposite hand and whispered,
"Sorry."
Ranni sighed. "It's fine… so, what's the story?"
Akari turned to Shinto and Evvls, both of whom had arrived before her.
Shinto crouched beside the blood. "Looks like a sword did this. See how the blood splattered?"
Akari looked closer.
'It does seem like that. The blood spray seems a bit too straight, especially this one.'
Akari stared at a straight, yet slightly curved line.
She pointed. "The killer probably cleaned their blade by swinging it. Here."
Shinto nodded. "Yeah, I think so too. Welp, that narrows it down a ton."
"Huh? How?"
Akari was baffled. How could he already begin to narrow it down just like that.
'What is he, the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes?'
"I won't say my theory until I'm sure," Shinto said with a grin, resuming his search.
That's when Akari noticed something strange—Evvls was silent.
"Whatcha thinking about, Evvls?"
He looked at her. His eyes were calmer than ever.
"This… Forget it. Not the time."
Akari stared at Evvls a bit longer before turning back to the scene, then back at Ranni.
'Ah right, she did mention not liking blood…'
"C'mon, let's think about this somewhere else," Akari said as she pulled Ranni away.
"...Alright."
Ranni's hand was shaking, and all Akari felt she could do was hold it. She wasn't good at comforting people, even in her past life.
Shinto walked to the girls and asked,
"So, what's your alibis?"
Akari narrowed her eyes, replying,
"You're considering us suspects? We didn't even talk to him much."
Shinto shrugged, "Look, I'm just being fair."
Akari sighed, "Whatever, when do you even think the murder happened?"
"Definitely last night, a lot of the blood dried up already and the guards found his body this morning."
Akari raised an eyebrow.
"You gather information quickly, why are you so invested in this case?"
Shinto smiled, Akari seeing a hint of embarrassment.
"Well, I want to be… a hero! What kind of hero wouldn't help find the culprit in this situation?"
Akari's eyes widened and Ranni chimed in,
"Well, me and Akari were in our cells that night. I remember us going back early because we felt strangely tired…"
"Well, that sounds about right… Everyone felt strangely tired last night… Except for one."
Akari was curious at this point.
"Who?"
"Now why would I spoil it so early? Let's have some fun, yeah?"
Akari sighed and Ranni smiled. She was beginning to get her color back.
Akari noticed and smiled too, quickly going into her thoughts as Ranni and Shinto began chatting.
'So the weapon was likely a sword… Who even uses a sword?'
Akari was beginning to try and bring the clues together.
'The guards aren't investigating, but why?'
Looking back on the guards, they always were strange. They were in prison, even if this area only has children, altercations were sure to start.
Yet, whenever they did, the guards did nothing until blood was shed. At first Akari thought this was because they wanted to give the kids a certain level of freedom and independence, but it seems strange now.
"-Ari."
'It's almost as if they are forced to follow exact orders…'
This brought Akari to the next phase. If this were the case, someone would need to control them. That'd likely be someone in a higher position… like the warden.
'Is Ken behind their lack of involvement?'
"-Kari."
'Why was Akatsuke of all people targeted? And what's with the guards? It's like they aren't even human..'
"Akari!"
"Huh?"
It was Ranni. She looked as if she'd been trying to get Akari's attention for a while.
She looked as if she had new information to share.
"Akari, were you even listening?"
"No, sorry, I got lost in thought."
"It's whatever, but Shinto let it slip that dark magic was involved!"
"Dark magic?"
Akari had only ever seen two types of magic up to this point, blood and healing magic, yet neither felt anything like this.
Dark magic sounded ominous—but thinking back, it made sense.