Chapter 24

Friday 10/16/20 8:30. 

After getting ready and hiding the weapons and ammunition in their clothes, the three went to the lobby where Marie sat waiting for them. 

-Yoo!! Apologies for the delay. (Ryusaki) 

-No, it was nothing. (Marie) 

-So where do we go first. (Souta) 

-To a dead end. (Marie) 

I suspect!! (Souta) 

-What exactly is the reason for us to go there? (Akemi) 

-The truth is that it was in this place that a tourist was cornered by the monster and killed. I thought it would be good to look for clues. (Marie) 

-It's a good idea. (Ryusaki) 

-Fine, then let's go. (Akemi) 

-Yes. (Marie) 

Marie takes them to the place. The atmosphere was really peculiar, worthy of a movie scene, the trees were drier and thinner, and the blocks of roads and houses were darker than those in the rest of the city. However, they realized that they were not alone in this place, there was a team of people carrying a bucket of white paint. 

-Excuse me, what are you doing here? (Marie) 

-Ohh! Marie! (painter) 

The painter realizes that she was accompanied by strange people he has never seen in his life. 

-Who are these people? (painter) 

-They? They are my friends. (Marie) 

-To me these hillbillies look like tourists. (painter) 

-TOU-RIS-TS!? (Ryusaki) 

Ryusaki advances at the painter while screaming. 

-Listen you s***! Compare me to these despicable beings again to see what happens! (Ryusaki) 

-No, they definitely aren't tourists, I'm sorry for the rudeness. (painter) 

-This time it passes, but be careful, next time there won't be forgiveness. (Ryusaki) 

Ryusaki opens his jacket slightly and reveals the hidden pistol.

-KYYAAA! Yes, you can let that there won't be a next time. (painter)

-Great, now why are you painting this area? (Ryusaki)

-It was a request from the mayor, he said he wanted to make this part of the city less gloomy so that people could start using it more. (painter)

-I see, so the mayor told you to come paint here. (Marie)

-Yes. (painter)

-Boss, it's 9:30. (painter 2)

-We're already late. Collect all the cans and take them to the truck. Sorry about that, but it looks like I'll have to say goodbye now. (painter)

-Do you have an appointment? (Marie)

-Yes, in fact, we were told by the mayor that his office would need a touch-up on the paint. That's why he told us to stop by at ten o'clock sharp, as he wouldn't be in his office at that time. (painter)

-I see, have a good job. (Marie)

-Thank you, now if you'll excuse me. (painter)

The truck drives away, leaving that part of town deserted again.

-Maybe this mayor is smarter than we thought. (Ryusaki)

-What do you mean by that? (Marie)

-They weren't just here to paint, probably their goal was to hide any kind of evidence of the murder. (Akemi)

-Which?! So you mean we won't find anything here? (Souta)

-Probably. (Ryusaki)

-That can't be true. (Marie)

-Well, it doesn't matter, anyway, let's look for something. Even though they've hidden most of the clues, maybe there's still some they didn't notice. (Akemi)

-OK. (Marie)

-Yeah, I'm sure we'll find something. (Souta)

-Yes. (Marie)

-I vote for us to give up and come back. (Ryusaki)

-What are you talking about? (Souta)

-You know... a person has already been killed here... maybe this isn't the best place for us to stay. (Ryusaki)

-So you're just scared, if you want to go you can leave. (Souta)

The three go ahead, leaving Ryusaki behind.

-What?? Wait there! Don't leave me alone! (Ryusaki)

They begin their search for clues. Behind rubble, searching through the bushes or even the blocks to see if any attack marks were left. However, nothing was found, not even a hair of the victim was found. In the end, 3 hours had passed since the start of the search.

-Damn we didn't find anything here. (Souta)

Souta looks to the side and sees Ryusaki down sitting on a bench, he looks really sad about something.

I think I was very hard on him, after all he was the only one who saw the monster up close. He is already very afraid of these things and had to go through a life or death situation. (Souta)

-Hey, Ryu!! Did something happen? (Souta)

Ryusaki lifts his head and looks at Souta, he motions with his hand calling him. Souta goes to Ryusaki and sits beside him.

-So, why are you a bit crestfallen? (Souta)

-I ended up making a mistake. (Ryusaki)

-What do you mean? (Souta)

-It's fresh. (Ryusaki)

-What's fresh? (Souta)

-The ink... (Ryusaki)

A second of silence was introduced, until Souta suddenly got up quickly and looked at his ass, which was smeared with white paint.

-AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! (Souta)

Souta spins around and kicks Ryusaki in the back of the head, sending him flying forward face first. Ryusaki's pants were also stained on the back.

-WHY DID YOU DO THAT??! (Ryusaki)

-Because you're a son of a bitch, who asked me to sit down just to fuck me! (Souta)

-I just told you to come closer, in no time I asked you to sit beside me. (Ryusaki)

-Don't try to deceive me I know you, you ****! (Souta)

Akemi punches both of them in the head, making them stop fighting.

-Aiaiaiaiaia! That hurt. (Souta)

-Frankly, I understand your frustrations, but try not to draw so much attention fighting with each other like that. (Akemi)

-Yes, you shouldn't be fighting with each other. (Marie)

-I'm sorry for this. Did you get anything? (Souta)

-No luck. And you? (Akemi)

-No luck here too. (Souta)

Marie's phone starts ringing.

-Excuse me, I'll be right back. (Marie)

-OK. (Akemi)

-That makes things easier. (Ryusaki)

-What are you talking about? (Souta)

-There's something I've been wanting to talk about since we arrived. (Ryusaki)

The two were silent, just nodded to show that they were paying attention to what he was going to say.

-Don't you think it's strange that they went just today to erase the remnants of the clues left? Just the day we were going. (Ryusaki)

-Wait, wait, wait. I already know where this is going, you're trying to frame Marie again with this, but think to myself, she was the one who suggested we go to the place to look for clues. Why would she take us there then? (Souta)

-That's simple. Searching for the clues left at the site was something to be expected of us to do, so she just suggested it, however the team was still there which raised a lot of suspicion for her, I don't know if this was a failure of the team that didn't finish the job in the allotted time or a failure of herself for not understanding the situation well. But whatever it is, the person who has done and is doing all of this, from the monster hiding in the room to the cleaning crew, has full access to all of our actions. (Ryusaki)

-Yes, it's kind of unlikely that a person unaware of our schedules would have managed to do all of this. (Akemi)

-You're thinking too much. For starters, why would she have forwarded the request for help? (Souta)

-Was she really the one who asked for our help? The letter came unsigned. She could just be getting rid of all the letters that were sent out, but this one could have missed and with that she forced herself to make up for her mistake and has been deceiving us ever since. (Ryusaki)

Souta is silent for a while, until he speaks again.

-I was wrong about you Ryu, I thought you were more open, with your way of being I never expected you to distrust so much of other people. Why can't you trust anyone? (Souta)

-Because I know what people are thinking. I understand your actions and the reasons behind them. Humans are individualistic beings who live in groups for their own benefit, because that way they can take advantage of others to be privileged, it has always been like that. If we were not rational beings, we would act like wolves, we would form a small pack to protect ourselves, but as we can reason clearly we imitate the same system as the ants, in which "we work for the benefit and prosperity of society", but that is just a sentence beautiful to hide the truth behind it all. We work hours and hours collecting leaves, so that at the end of a long period we receive a small piece of a leaf, isn't that revolting? Have you been collecting countless sheets and in the end receiving a small portion of just one? But the question remains, what happened to all those leaves I collected? Well, according to the system they were used for the development of society, however the truth is that they ended up in the hands of the one who says these beautiful phrases, more specifically, in the hands of the one who uses the system for their own benefit. (Ryusaki)

Souta and Akemi remain silent, both were frightened by the answer given by Ryusaki. Both didn't understand why he started lecturing on that subject.

-Hahahahahahahaha. I'm sorry if I ended up scaring you, it wasn't my intention and also don't look at it as if I hate this system or extremely angry to the point of wanting to make a revolution, the truth is that I don't care about it. After all, anyone who was in the beneficiary's place would act the same way, everyone would harm others to get along, even me or you, because we are human, it is in our blood to be bad. So there's no point in hating this system, what people really hate about it is not being the ones using other people. That's why Souta, I can't trust other people, because all, without exception, are human beings. (Ryusaki)

The two looked coldly at Ryusaki, standing there with an expression of one who didn't know what to answer, while Ryusaki himself gave a slight and cold smile, in which he knew they couldn't dispute what he had said.

-I'm sorry for the delay. (Marie)

-Yoooo! (Ryusaki)

-I just received a call from one of the organizers of the meeting, he approved your entries and said that the event would take place today at 16 sharp. (Marie)

-Looks like everything's perfect then. I think it would be good for us to take a break from the investigation until it's time for the meeting. (Akemi)

-Ehh, I think so too. (Souta)

-Great, so I'll see you there. Here, a note I took with the meeting place. Until later. (Marie)

-Let's go. (Souta)

Ryusaki looks at his friends with a serious face as they walk ahead.