5 Old Habits Die Hard
Teacher Akihiro looked a bit surprised. He then smiled and said that they based it on a genuine case.
“Of course, it was much easier to solve before we hid most of the details important to the case. How did you guess this was a real case?”
“Usually, mathematical questions would have one solution to them, but this one asked to list what three answers were the most likely.”
“Hmmm…
The answer you picked was correct. It was in the Philippines.”
“Ohhhhhh” The students howled.
Hikaru waited for the class to quiet down.
“So, which one was it? An independent killer or a hired assassin? Did they find who did it?”
“They never found the culprit.”
Hikaru was calm and didn't react at all, but it piqued his curiosity.
“The victim was poisoned by a paralytic agent and the same poison was found in the wine bottle. Although the dose would have killed him in ten minutes if he had just drunk a mouthful, he drank the whole wine glass which killed him in 2 minutes.
“By the time he realized it wasn't a panic attack, he had lost control of his limbs and his ability to speak. Then finally, his lung muscles stopped working.”
“I assume they interviewed the passengers and staff members,” Hikaru said.
“Yes, they did background checks as well, but the alibi of the staff members all checked out… The working theory was that two or more of the staff members were involved.”
“That would mean they had the backing of someone who had a big enough wallet to pay for the entire flight crew's loyalty.”
“Indeed.”
“Who was this business executive?”
Akihiro paused for a moment.
“You're not looking for his name, but you're asking who he is hmm… He works for Quadcell industries.”
A flash went through Hikaru's head, and in a second he lost all interest.
Word was that Quadcell industries was about to be swallowed up by a rival giant corporation called RedNA. A multi-national biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and engineering science company.
Quadcell industries is an international technology company that's losing in all aspects including their specialization into robotics, in all branches, even their headquarters in L.A. — the City of Angels, to RedNA.
The obvious culprit was RedNA, but the police had no power over them. Even the government would turn a blind eye as RedNA was one superpower of the world. Those generous donations couldn't be ignored.
The other reason Hikaru is the no.1 student in Kirigaoka junior high was…
“So smart and sooo handsome!”
“Ahhhh! I want to marry him!”
“Ahhh~ What I would give to be just as half as cool as Hikaru!”
“I don't care if it's a one-night stand. If I could just have his child!” One girl said it loud enough for him to hear.
A group of girls got jealous and punched her in the head.
After receiving compliments from the classmates behind his chair and acting humble, he propped his elbow on the table and leaned his chin on his palm as he gazed out the window.
The cherry blossom trees will soon shed their petals as it was spring, and they predicted the blossom season to be tomorrow.
A stray petal fell into his view. It reminded him of an “accident” two years ago.
'How boring.'
Hikaru looked at the clock on the wall. Less than 5 seconds to the bell.
4
3
2
1
…
*Chimes*
Surprised, Hikaru checked his smartwatch. It was exactly 3:15:02.
Why would anyone be surprised? After all, it was the time school was supposed to finish.
Only Hikaru would find this strange.
While everyone knew that the school bell would be a bit delayed, no one knew by how much. No one knew what really goes on in Hikaru's thoughts much less the fact that he calculated a 95% confidence interval of the delay.
The reason was that the school was old and understaffed. Midori ward was a town that no one would care even though it wasn't a country town. So, the school janitor, Taiyo would take care of the reception duties after lunch period.
Taiyo's nickname is known throughout the school as Taiyona. The name ending with the last syllable for taidana (lazy). Thus, the school bell would ring 30 seconds late or early consistently and occasionally a minute difference.
Old habits die hard. Yet did Taiyona decide to change his patterns for one day or was there someone else at the reception desk?
***
Upon hearing officer Yasu's call for backup, three police cars arrived at the front of the house.
Three pairs of police officers got out of their cars and equipped their revolvers. All were senior officers who were colleagues and graduated from the academy in the same year. One of them was a female.
They all inspected a police car of their comrades that had a broken window and blood splattered over it.
“They were attacked in their car?”
'Did it mean that the moment they arrived; they were attacked? Or was it when they were about to leave' thought Eito.
“Where did they go?” asked Chizu.
“HUH HUH HUH!”
They all turned back and pointed their guns at a man who climbed out of the boot puffing.
“Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!” The panicked man wailed.
“What the hell!” Denji exclaimed. “What the f*** did you do!”
“No! It wasn't me! I'm the cameraman Saku!”
“What!”
“Yasu and Mochi were supposed to have a camera crew follow them to film a documentary tonight. He's the cameraman.” Chizu explained.
Denji reigned himself in for a moment and asked: “Do you know what happened here?”
“We went inside that house,” Saku pointed with his shaking hand. “There was a guy, he! He was covered in blood, and he bit Yasu in the neck!”
“What the- Speak clearly! You're not making any sense!”
“I am! You're not listening! That man is a cannibal! He tried to eat us, and he killed everyone!”
“What the hell did you just say!”
Denji lost his nerve and grabbed Saku by the collar and pointed the gun to his temple.
