The paintings

Everyone began to disperse.

"YEA! My room is the best!", Yuki screamed in victory, elated at his recent victory in securing the best room in the mansion.

"Damn it. I wanted to be alone."

All of them were so eager to explore their rooms. Except for the three boys who had to share a room.

"Listen, I'm NOT sleeping on the floor. Get it? You guys can make due."

"Fine.", Naoe retorted while Ishida remained silent, clearly too afraid to speak up.

"What a child, bickering about who gets the bed", Naoe silently told Ishida.

"Hopefully, he doesn't murder us in our sleep."

"Heh. He can try."

"Eh, I actually believe he just might do it."

"WOW! Is that your room?", Kasumi and Akari both shouted in sync with each other as they stared intently at Miyuki's room. "So gorgeous!"

Everyone stayed on the same floor. The stairs from the ground floor led to the living room on the second floor, further down the living room was the corridor in which all the rooms are found.

On the extreme right, the largest room was located. Coincidentally, this room is also Yuki's room. The layout of the room is very peculiar. It is a room within a room. When the door is opened, the first thing everyone would notice is that there is a window located directly opposite the door. What is strange is that there is only one window equipped with an L shaped window latch, which is used to lock the window. On the right side of the room, there is a circular table placed neatly in the middle. Immediately, anyone would suspect that this is a study table. Equally puzzling is that there a window pane connecting this room to the corridor outside. This window pane cannot be moved and is securely locked in position. Beyond the table, however, is a solid white wall that separates this room into two sections. The door is located on the left side of this wall, which is connected to the next section of the room. Yuki's 2 keys are used to open both the main door and this door. The smaller section houses only a bed and a cupboard.

Continuing down the corridor, the next room would be Naoe's room. A small room with nothing but a bed and a cupboard. Ryoma is definitely going to sleep on the bed while Naoe and Ishida will sleep on the tatami floor.

Almost every other room would look the same as Naoe's room. Only Yuki's room was special. Perhaps it served a special purpose.

From the right, the people occupying the rooms are Yuki, Naoe and friends, Takahashi, Chihako, Miyuki, Kasumi, Akari and Yui respectively.

After everyone settled into the room and placed down all their belongings, they all rushed to the beach, equipped with nothing but their swimsuits. All except Naoe and Takahashi.

"Naoe, you really should join them. What are you going to do in this mansion alone?"

"Nothing much, maybe I will explore the mansion a bit. Besides, you should know that I don't particularly enjoy the presence of others."

"This is precisely why they don't really like you, you know?"

"And I don't really care."

"Well, you do you. I'm going to follow them. Try not to make a mess of the mansion."

Shirakosu island, 11 am.

"Let's see. So on the first floor aside from the staircases, there's only the kitchen, the dining room and another living room."

Naoe ponders to himself as he strolls, taking in every detail to make a mental map.

"The living room is really identical to the one on top eh? Just chairs and tables and sofas."

As Naoe thought to himself, a sudden chill went down his spine. It was as if someone was watching him. Someone closeby. Instinctively, Naoe turned around and fell to the ground in shock. Behind him stood a majestic painting, one so big it easily covered half the wall. It was a picture of a knight holding on the hair of a decapitated head. The knight looks eerily like King Arthur from the famous medieval stories.

"Another knight huh?"

Naoe regained his composure and began to study the painting.

The epitaph of the painting wrote:

"The battle of Castillon

Sir John Talbot, fell in battle

The loss of the English

Soul of man, oh so brittle

What do you say

To what we relinquish

To regain what we lost

On that one fateful day"

"Oh? A historic painting eh?", Naoe sighed as he began to recover from his shock. Nothing ever scared him that hard. Maybe he wasn't as tough as he thought.

In the kitchen, he saw another painting. This time, however, it wasn't as gruesome as the one in the living room. This was simply a picture of a king.

The epitaph:

"Henry VI

Witness the descent of sanity.

The Tower of London."

As if it wasn't surprising anymore, in the dining room, there stood another painting. The final painting.

"Edward IV"

The rest of the epitaph was scratched off and could not be read.

The previous owner definitely loved his medieval lore, Naoe thought.

"Are those paintings connected in any way?"

Naoe rushed out of the mansion as he wanted to scrutinise the statue located outside.

But right as he exited the mansion, he saw his classmates and teacher strolling back.

What coincidence just when I'm about to leave, Naoe thought before returning back into the mansion. Without even looking behind, Naoe ran back into his room.

Shirakosu island, 12 pm.