Chapter Text
It was a strange thing. Caring about someone you were annoyed at for so long. Or maybe I wasn’t really annoyed at them and I just assumed that I was.
What I can say for certain is that the amount of devastation I have felt since she left us has pushed me to insanity.
Not the brink of it.
Not slightly over it.
All the way over it.
I am sure that if she was here, she’d have called me an idiot for falling into this state of mind.
But she isn’t here.
Kana-chan is gone.
It’s not her that is just gone. My joy is gone. My will to live is gone. I lost all sense of purpose and motivation in my life.
That sound of the stopped heart rate that I could hear through the doors, even though it should’ve been impossible…
I’d do anything to bring her back. Believe me, I would.
Time travel? Breaking some universal law to cheat death? I’d try anything to bring her back. Because as it stands right now, I cannot accept the fact that she is gone.
You’d think I wasn’t crying if you walked in on me. You’d be right. I’m not crying because I’m not sad. I simply can’t cry anymore from pouring my tears out for so much in the past few days.
I couldn’t stop myself from looking at the pictures of her I took. The way she seemed so happy with other B-Komachi members, the way she seemed to be genuinely having fun…
“Kana-chan…”
I held the phone closer to my chest. I couldn’t help but look at the social media. The news was pretty freaking big. I say, they aren't big enough. But in something like this that concerns Kana-chan’s death? It’d never be big enough.
The social media was in uproar. Demanding that the killer be brought to justice.
I don’t know if Ai had this kind of reaction when she died back then, but it’s honestly impressive to me how popular Kana-chan has been and how she became the talk of the country. I hope that it stays like this forever. And if it can’t, then I hope that it at least stays for as long as possible.
“...I can’t let my own inability stop me anymore. I may have failed back then, but I want to learn about Kana-chan now, more than ever. I want to honor her.”
I looked at the various notes I have taken recently, regarding Kana-chan. Things like her fashion sense, her way of acting, how she acts on stage or as an idol…
To me, she felt harder to impersonate as opposed to someone like Ai. Which is weird, considering there is far less we know about Ai. But that perhaps spoke volumes about how unique Kana-chan was too.
She said that she hated people like me the most back then, when we were kids.
To this day, I still wonder what she meant back then. What am I missing…?
…
I’m sorry, Kana-chan. I know you’d not approve, but… I have to be more like you. Because if not me, then who will?
I need to avenge you.
I need to kill your murderer.
I need to make sure they get the hell they deserve.
And if I’m going there, then I’m dragging them down there with me.
But there was just one issue. I didn’t have any leads…
Apart from him. But Ruby’s account made me think it wasn’t him. Then who could it be? Someone that works under him?
Then I have not one but two people I need to deal with.
I absentmindedly opened my phone, looking at Aqua’s contact info.
…
No.
I’m done trying to reach him.
This time, he’ll come to me.
And when he does…
I’ll be sure he does his part too.
. . .
I abruptly snapped out of my thoughts when I heard my phone ringing. It was Ruby-chan. I promptly picked up the phone.
“Ruby?”
“Can we talk?”
“What is it?”
“I know you’re not just planning to sit by and do nothing. Let me in on it.”
“What do you mean? I’m not planning anything right now. You’re just imagining things.”
“Have you already forgotten about what you told me back at the hospital? You’re not the one to back out, Big Sis.”
“That was just… a spur of the moment thing. I didn’t really mean it.”
“Tell me. Please.”
“You’re not making this easy on me, you know…”
“None of us is having it easy after how Senpai has passed away!”
“...I know. Believe me, I wish I could do something about it myself.”
“I get it. I’m sorry to bother you.”
“Wait, Ruby.”
“Hmm…?”
“How are you holding up? Do you need me to come over or anything?”
“No, that’s okay. Thanks for checking up on me.” She hung up.
I think Ruby was one of the people that was suffering the most from Kana-chan’s death. I heard how they were staying together at Kana-chan’s house when it all happened… I don’t blame her for lashing out on me like this. But I can at least be the cure for her if I kill the ones responsible.
Hikaru Kamiki. I know where you work. And with a little more prying, I can find out where you live as well. But you’re the last target I want to go after. First things first… is finding that whore.
And I had a hunch on where to start as well. It wasn’t a coincidence all of this happened when the auditions for the film were still going. I didn’t fully finish reading the script yet, but whatever answer I am looking for was surely in this.
“Ai was in B-Komachi. Kana-chan was too. So the link starts from there.”
I picked up the script, particularly focusing on the timeframe where Ai would’ve been still in B-Komachi. As I was quickly reading through the pages, one part of it stood out to me.
“...Niino Fuyuko. It seems she was jealous of Ai, based on the script. Or maybe that wasn’t what this was. But how interesting!”
I gripped the script tighter as I read more on the dialogue that Niino and Ai would’ve had in the film.
There was one slight issue.
That issue was the fact that this might have been a huge stretch or just a coincidence. But at the same time, is it really hard to imagine that she was the one responsible for killing Kana-chan?
“Then I should pay a visit to her, see if I can’t find out more from her perspective.”
Over the years, I had read books on body language and their indications. You couldn’t definitely say for sure that someone was lying from just one indicator. However, body language itself never lies. They always indicate something. I have to pay close attention to how she talks or looks at me.
And if my suspicions would increase further from that, then I have to take the initiative and corner her.
Kill her? No, of course not. Killing her would be too easy of a punishment.
I want to restrain her and have her scream how she is the one responsible for taking away Kana-chan’s life before I slit her throat. That’s the punishment that she deserves. If she is the killer.
The film’s production was held on pause for the time being, but I should still be able to find the directors and talk to them. I think they’d not deny my request for the time being.
. . .
The directors did accept my request and allowed Niino to schedule a visit to the set. It’s been a few days since I have been eagerly awaiting that day. Though for some weird reason, these past few days felt like I was being watched or being stalked by someone. Maybe it was just my own imagination, but I don’t know.
I have been awake for the past 2 days planning everything out. In practice, it was a simple plan, and I had no intention of pulling off the perfect murder or anything without leaving any evidence. Because that wasn’t the main goal. It’d take longer to pull that off too. I had no intention of waiting further.
I almost dozed off on my seat before I felt a tap on my shoulder, to which I gasped awake. When I looked up, it was-
“You asked to talk to me?” An old woman said, smiling at me as she sat next to me.
“Oh, uh… Yeah, I did.” I yawned a bit, before pulling out my notes and my pen. “I wanted to ask you a few questions, if that’s okay.”
This really was the make or break moment of everything. If this didn’t work, then I’d have to go after Hikaru Kamiki instead, but I doubt he’d tell me who his accomplice is either. But at the same time…
Isn’t it the case that in murder mysteries, the murderer is someone you already know?
“Yeah, that’s perfectly fine. What would you like to know about?”
“What did you think of… Arima Kana?”
I think I noticed a micro expression on her face where her brow slightly burrowed before she forced a smile. How did I know it was forced? Because her mouth wasn’t curving. This didn't fake her smile on stage. She had to do a genuine one.
“I think that… She was truly a rising star! That her fame was getting so popular that she could’ve…”
“...?”
“....Could’ve surpassed even the past B-Komachi!”
I jolted all of that down. To be honest, I already felt inclined to believe that she was the one responsible. And her hands seemed to be slightly shaky. I needed to see if the topic of Kana-chan was making her nervous or not, and so-
“Let me ask something else. Could you tell me more about Ai?”
“Ai? Well, she was…. Truly one of a kind. Hard to replace… No, Impossible to be replaced. I truly believed that no one was capable of surpassing her. I still do, as a matter of fact.”
She seemed more… at ease somehow, with this topic. But what she told me was also interesting. I jolted all of that down as well.
“Niino-san, I know you’re a busy individual so I won’t keep you here for long. Would you have an opinion on why you think Arima Kana was killed?”
She paused at that. There it was again. She didn’t want to talk about this.
“I think that… Maybe a fan saw her doing something wrong, and so they got enraged and went to kill her.”
“...I see.” I acted like that was a possible theory, but I knew better than that. “Thank you for your time.”
“Oh, thank you as well for listening to me.” And she went up to leave, rather in a bit of a hurry I think.
Now this was the hard moment of my goal. At the very least, she knew something. I took my bag with me, the knife hidden inside. I needed to stalk her. I had a hunch that, if she followed Kana-chan, then she’d know when someone is stalking her. That means I needed to be extra careful here.
I took my hat from my bag, as well as my sunglasses and went on my way to stalk her through the streets. It wasn’t a simple task at all. I had to constantly hide behind signs or walls I could find, but also making sure I wasn’t losing sight of her. I couldn’t have been seen even once, or she might get suspicious of me.
I saw her walking to an alleyway. That was strange. It almost… felt like a trap somehow. I did notice her glancing back a bit while I was following her, but was I seen?
No. I had made sure to not be seen. She wasn’t invincible. I needed to keep up the chase.
When I walked into the alleyway, she immediately turned right at me, smiling at me wickedly.
“Following me?”
“...No, I was just going this way-”
“Cut the crap. I know the intent to kill when I see one.” She said, laughing. I came closer, ready to take out my knife just in case I had to.
“You think I killed Arima-san, don’t you?”
“...I don’t know what I think.”
“But you do. You think I killed her.”
“...”
Her smile went away, giving way to a desperate look. Those eyes of hers lacked any soul behind them. It was like looking into the abyss. “Well, I did. I killed her.”
I felt like I became blinded by rage for a moment. Every sense in my body was telling me that this was a trap, that I should back out. But my irrational side was winning. Just that admittance made my blood boil. I immediately took out the knife in my bag. “FOR WHAT!?”
“Why would I tell you?”
That was the last straw for me. I immediately went to lunge at her, but she grabbed my wrist before I could stab her. She was barely holding me back. “I had no choice! I had to kill her!”
“You can’t be serious…!”
“But I am! If I didn’t-”
I genuinely had enough of this bitch. I forced the knife into her shoulder and she screamed for a moment, shoving me away as I fell to the ground. I hit my head to the opposite wall for a moment, feeling disoriented for a moment before I came to, barely standing on my feet.
“You…!” She pulled the knife with a grunt, holding her shoulder as she was aiming it at me.
She looked at me with disgust, her eyes twitching as she got that look on her face. That was the same face this bitch probably had when she hurt Kana-chan.
I stood my ground as she looked like a cat ready to pounce at me.