Player Vs Player

Once again, I couldn't sleep well. I had trouble falling asleep because I kept thinking about my encounter with the detective. And when I was finally sleeping, the continuous nightmares tormented me.

When I finally went to the kitchen to prepare my breakfast, someone greeted me. “Good morning.”, it was Mei. She was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

My mind went from creating the absurd situation of Mei waiting for me outside the house to something completely impossible. Knowing I can’t do anything to erase Mei for now, I replied to her: “Shouldn't you be waiting for me outside?”

“Here is more comfortable.”

“Do you want something to eat?”

“No, thank you. I already had breakfast.”

Do you really think I would believe in that?

While I was doing my morning routine and when I was walking to school, Mei talked with me and I accepted that like it was something normal.

Nothing really different happened until the class started. It was another hot summer morning, Tama was missing and I don’t think I want to see him ever again, the school still seems to be mourning for everyone who died and I talked a bit with Hina and Naoto before the teacher arrived with some terrible news.

“The tests will be this Friday, so be prepared.”, the teacher announced.

Because of everything that happened, the tests got postponed and I even forgot about them.

I need to study again… No, I don’t have time for this.

I had decided that I would end the killer’s game and my resolve hasn’t changed.

During the lunch break, I went to eat alone in the rooftop. I say alone because I won’t count Mei. Meanwhile, Arata and the other detective were talking in a cafe.

“I know, you still think that Souma is the killer, but if you keep acting like that, he can give up on trying to do anything.”, Arata said.

“I do think I exaggerated a bit yesterday, but I don’t want to let more people die. This case is being a disgrace to the police.”

“Having more dead people would be really bad. But if Souma is the killer and you keep showing that he is being watched, he won’t make a move.”, Arata took a sip of his coffee. “And I want him to make the killer act, we just need a small mistake from them.”

“I’m really tired of this game of waiting.”

We had another dull afternoon class and then I went back home. Mei was still with me, speaking a lot and acting more friendly than yesterday. I wanted to make her disappear, but it’s getting worse.

After waiting until 10 PM, I went to school once more.

“Why are we here this late today?”, Mei asked after we jumped the gate.

“I’m trying to avoid that detective. I think there was a good chance of him visiting here at the same time as yesterday.”

“I understand. But speaking of that… The school still doesn’t have a new night guard and that’s a little weird.”

“Maybe no one wants to work here because of the murders? The previous night guard did get killed.”

“That makes sense.”

We were once again in the dark school grounds and today I had a better plan.

“I divided the school in 4 parts, let’s start our search with the southwest part.”

The school area is a rectangle, so I just divided it in half horizontally and vertically.

“It’s still a big area to search in this darkness...”

“Yeah. Let’s begin with the outside area of the first building that is within our area of search. Doing this, we’ll be near the gate when we finish.”

We started our search. It was really hard with only a flashlight and the very few lights illuminating the school grounds. And because of yesterday, every time I would look around me, giving special attention to the windows. I was wasting some of my focus trying to hear any small sound too.

In front of the first building, I stopped to look at a small garden full of recently planted flowers.

“Huh… I don’t remember when they planted this.”, I said while moving the plants out of the way so I could take a look at the earth.

“Please, don’t damage them.”, Mei said.

“I know.”, I said while digging a hole with my hand.

The wind got stronger, making a sound. That was enough to make me stop what I was doing.

I once again looked around me, but there was no one there. And one more time I looked at all the windows I could see from where I was and darkness was the only thing present in the buildings.

“Are you nervous?”, Mei asked.

“After yesterday, I keep feeling like someone will appear at any moment.”

Mei started to look around too. She even walked away a bit, stopping to look in the direction of the gate.

Absolute silence. Even the wind had stopped.

She turned around to look at the second building, checking window by window.

I found nothing where I was searching and after I turned around, I saw Mei.

What is she looking at?

I approached her and moved my eyes to the second building too. My heart started to accelerate and I could feel a cold sweat.

Is there another shadow there?

The tension increasing every time I checked a window.

Nothing?

Then, someone broke the silence.

“Oh, it was nothing.”, Mei said.

Because I was so concentrated, I had the scare of my life.

“I thought my heart would explode...”

“Huh? What happened?”, Mei asked without understanding the situation.

“Forget it, let’s resume our search.”

And after some time, we finished without anything happening.

“That was a bit unexpected.”, Mei said while we returned home.

“What? Us not finding anything?”

“No, not happening.”

“Yeah, it’s seems every time we go there, something happens.”

“The killer should be having a hard time acting right now.”

“It’s better this way. Now we just need to find what you hid and pray for it to be enough to end this madness.”

In the dark summer night, I wished for nothing bad to happen anymore, but no one would answer that wish.

Another morning, another day starting. Once more Mei was inside my house and it was scary how quickly I got used to her presence.

“Can’t we search during the lunch break too?”, Mei asked while we walked to school.

“I don’t want a bunch of people seeing me digging holes in the gardens.”

Arriving in the school, something was different.

“The heavy atmosphere seems to be dissipating.”, Mei commented.

“People can’t stay gloomy forever. But we still have things to do.”

When I entered the classroom, Hina and Naoto were already there, so we chatted until the teacher arrived.

After two days of eating alone, Hina and Naoto joined me for lunch. I couldn't keep rejecting them, so I had to try to ignore Mei who was sitting besides me, with her shoulder almost touching mine. Since the beginning I found the existence of that Mei strange, a daydream of mine, but the fact I never questioned how I could touch her was curious. Not that it would change anything.

“Are you guys prepared for the test?”, Hina asked.

“I’m always prepared.”, Naoto answered.

“I think… I’ll be fine…”, I said showing no confidence.

“You’ll fail.”, Mei said to me, but I ignored her.

“Really? Don’t you need to study more, Souma?”, Hina asked showing concern.

“Like I said, I’ll be fine. I’m paying attention in class.”

“I don’t think looking out the window counts as paying attention.”

Please, shut up, Mei.

“Well, if you’re doing the homework you should be fine, really.”, Naoto said.

“I’m doing it.”

“You’re a not.”

Mei, give me a break, please!

And this continued until the lunch break ended.

Another day of school ended. The students chatted happily as they went on their way. Everything seemed like an ordinary summer day.

“Everything seems too calm, no?”, Mei asked. She was sitting at the table, using her hands to support her head.

“And is this a bad thing?”, I replied while making some tea.

“It’s not. But since the summer break, the killer got a lot less active. After killing a bunch of people one after another, that’s a bit strange.”

“I want to say the killer doesn’t want to be careless, but killing Hayato was the opposite of that.”

“Did something besides the police made harder for the killer to act?”

“I think the police watching everything made it harder enough. Oh, speaking of that...”

“What?”, Mei asked while observing me walking to the window.

I looked outside but the man I saw many times watching the house wasn’t there.

“I just wanted to check something.”

We waited until the same time as yesterday to go to school.

“No one here again.”, Mei commented when we arrived.

“I can’t believe the police isn’t watching. There are no cameras in the school, so they’re probably hiding somewhere observing us jumping this gate.”

After entering, we once again walked until the middle of the schoolyard.

“What area are we going to search today?”, Mei asked.

I didn’t answer and I just continued to look around.

“Hey, did you hear what I just said?”

Mei’s words couldn't reach me. A cold sweat appeared in my face while I tried to find something in the darkness.

“Hey!”, Mei yelled as she kicked my left leg.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you say anything?”

But wait, she kicked me and I felt it? What’s the problem with me?

“Forget it, why are you so distracted?”

“There’s something wrong here.”

“Something wrong?”, Mei started to look around her.

“I’m having a strange felling… Like someone is observing us right now.”

“Maybe is that detective?”

Still looking around, I started to slowly move in the direction of the school gate.

“Maybe it’s just my imagination?”

At that moment I stopped because something had entered my field of vision. I turned myself in the direction of the first building and there I could see someone in the shadows looking in my direction.

It’s the same as that day!

When I thought about running towards the person, the shadow hid behind the building.

Not again!

I started to run, but this time I wouldn’t just chase it, my objective was to go to the other side of the building to try to intercept the shadow.

“What happened!?”, Mei asked as she started to chase me.

“I just saw someone!”

An expression of surprise appeared on Mei’s face, but she didn’t say anything.

“I got you!”, I said while arriving at the other side of the building. “Wait, no one here!?”

I went to the back of the building but I couldn’t see anyone, just darkness waited me there.

“This happened again? How can someone disappear like this?”, I said while turning on my flashlight to have a better look at the area.

“Did you find it?”, Mei asked while walking with me to the back of building.

“It escaped.”

We stopped halfway and I looked around us.

“There must be a trick for it disappear...”, I said.

“There! An open window on the first floor!”

“What?”, I went running to the corner of the building where an open window was easily accessible for anyone outside. “It’s true… So the one watching us did the same thing last time? Well, but this time he or she forgot to close the window.”

“Are we going inside?”

“Yeah, but there’s no reason to use the window.”

We entered the building using its entrance and we were welcomed by an absolute silence.

“Has the shadow left already?”, Mei asked.

“It’s a possibility. Let’s go to the classroom with the open window.”

I couldn’t hear anything in our way to the classroom. And there, I closed the window.

“What now? Are we going to keep looking for the shadow?”

I thought for a moment before answering Mei. “I think I’ll just look for the hidden object until the shadow appears again. We don’t know where the shadow is right now, so we’ll just waste time if we search for it.”

With that, we left the first building, but it didn’t take long for me to stop and look in the direction of the second building. On the third floor, I could see a shadow looking at us from one of the windows.

“You’re kidding me...”, Mei said.

I didn’t say anything and just went running to the second building, but when I was approaching it, the shadow disappeared.

If you’re not going to leave me alone, I won’t let you escape this time!

Entering the building, I went straight to the second floor. There I looked to both sides of the corridor using my flashlight to illuminate them.

“All doors are closed.”, I said and Mei appeared on the stairs.

“Wait for me...”, she said breathing heavily.

“Let’s go to the third floor. But stay silent so we can hear any sound coming from this one.”

“I… understand...”

Arriving in the third floor, I once more looked to both sides and didn’t see anything strange. Still, the feeling I had when I arrived in the school was growing stronger again.

What should I do now?

I couldn’t hear anything, it was like me and Mei were all alone in the world. But this feeling… This feeling of dread is getting out of control.

“How about we check the roof?”, Mei whispered.

That wasn’t a bad idea, so I went upstairs. The door leading to there was closed but not locked, so we could take a look outside.

“No one here.”, Mei said.

I went to the other side to have a look at the school grounds, but halfway from there, the door slammed shut.

“What?”, I said while returning.

I put my hand in the knob and it opened. Finding this strange, I looked to the stairs but I couldn't see anyone there.

“Was it just the wind?”, as soon as I said this, Mei who was beside me, pointed to something near our feet, she was trembling.

I used the flashlight to illuminate the stairs, revealing some red dots on the floor.

“This wasn’t here before.”, I said while crouching to give a better look.

“It’s blood...”, Mei said.

I imagined that as soon as I saw this, but confirming it made me a lot more nervous. My heart started to accelerate.

“Let’s follow it?”, Mei asked.

I nodded to her and we went downstairs, slowly. When we were near the third floor, we saw a shirt on the floor.

“Is that a trap?”, I whispered.

Arriving in the third floor, I looked to both sides as always to confirm we were alone. Then, I grabbed and immediately dropped the shirt. Looking at my hand, I could see a crimson red.

“What’s the meaning of this!?”, I asked.

“A bloody shirt… The shirt of a male uniform from our school.”, Mei said.

“There’s a toilet on this floor, right? I need to wash my hand.”

“I’ll wait for you outside.”

I entered the toilet and washed my hand while trying to understand the current situation.

There wasn’t any blood when I went upstairs!

“What are we going to do about the shirt?”, Mei asked after I left the toilet.

“Leave it there.”

We returned to the stairs and the trail of blood continued downstairs.

“This is madness...”, I said.

“Let’s go.”, Mei said as she went to the second floor.

There wasn’t anything strange waiting for us there, but the trail of blood ended.

“How it can end at the base of the stairs?”, Mei asked while I was checking the corridor.

“Impossible...”, I said.

“What?”

“The doors...”

“Huh?”, Mei asked as she went to have a look.

Every single door on this floor is open.

“This can’t be...”, Mei said surprised.

“This must be a nightmare!”, I said while running to check inside and close every single door.

“Nothing here.”, I said checking one. “And here.”

Everything normal with another one. And the next.

“A nightmare… This has to be a nightmare!”

Another one checked and nothing, and another and another...

I closed every single door and returned to the base of the stairs.

“This has to be joke...”, I said.

“The blood… There’s blood downstairs now!”

Unless the shadow we’re trying to find is the one bleeding and making this trail of blood on purpose, this doesn’t make any sense. No, if the shadow is the killer, this makes even less sense!

Without any other option, I went downstairs and Mei followed me. Once again, the blood ended when we reached the first floor and when I checked the corridor…

“Give me a break...”, I said.

“One door open… The last one of the left side.”

I went in its direction slowly, it was like I had no more strength left.

“Mei, do you have any plausible explanation for this events?”

“I’m as lost as you are!”

We entered the classroom and there was nothing there besides something written in the blackboard.

“‘Are you having fun?’”, Mei read the message.

I rushed outside and it was there. Someone in front of the stairs leading to the second floor, a shadow looking in my direction. But before I could see whoever was there, the shadow went upstairs.

“It’s playing with me!”, I said while starting to run.

“Hey!”, Mei yelled as she went after me.

On the second floor, I looked to both sides but I didn’t see anything strange.

“What now?”, Mei asked.

Without answering her, I went to the third floor, but when I was still on the stairs, a sound of something falling came from the first floor.

“No way… This is impossible! How can the shadow be there!?”, I said while going back downstairs.

Back to the first floor I immediately heard a strange sound coming from outside and I went to left the building, but I stopped as soon as I approached the exit. I used my flashlight to try to have a better look outside and there was no mistake: someone was lying on the floor.

Mei arrived and before she could say anything she saw what was outside and she blocked her mouth with both of her hands.

Holding my breath I approached the person. And when I got a better look, I looked away.

“Is this really a game for you!?”, I said trying to not look.

Mei was still frozen behind me.

“I’ll never going to forgive you!”, I still couldn't look.

In front of me was a shirtless boy, a body missing its head.

Still incapable of looking to the body, I left the building with Mei.

“Should we call the police?”, Mei asked while we walked.

“While I hate to do this, let’s not. I don’t know how they would react with us here at this hour. Let’s forget this and go home. Today, we lost.”

“I understand... In the end, we couldn’t do anything today.”

After she said that, a feeling of impotence dominated me. More than that, I was angry for being toyed with, for failing in doing something to stop this.

I stopped when I was in the middle of the schoolyard to have another look at the second building. And I saw it, the shadow was on the second floor, looking at us from a window. My angry turned into rage and I was ready to return there, but Mei grabbed my left hand.

“No! Remember what you just said, we lost today! Let’s go home before something really bad happens!”

She was right. I was letting my emotions take control of me and I stopped thinking logically.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The killer can’t keep playing like this every day, so tomorrow we’ll return and finish our search. I’ll stay here until dawn if I need to. I’ll find what Mei hid and end this stupid game with my own hands.

I decided to do this, but maybe I won’t even have the chance. When the gate was visible to us, we saw someone opening it, so I grabbed Mei’s hand and hid with her behind a tree.

The person entered the school and soon after we could clearly see the detective that hated me.

Couldn’t be a worse time for him to arrive!

If he sees me hiding when there’s a decapitated body in front of the second building, it will be the end for me.

Holding my breath, I moved slowly in the direction of the gate while trying to stay hidden behind the plants and trees. The detective was walking really slow too and he was looking to the sides while doing so.

When Mei and I got near him, we stayed behind a tree waiting for him to pass by us, but he stopped. I couldn’t try to take a look without revealing myself, so all I could do was to pray for him to go away. But he wasn’t moving.

The seconds felt like minutes, minutes like hours. My heart was ready to explode of stress.

Go away please.

The tension increasing and I could feel Mei’s hand shaking. The absolute silence was too oppressive.

What is he doing!?

The sound of a step.

Is he coming here?

Another step.

Please…

The steps continued and the detective went away in the direction of the center of the schoolyard.

I felt an enormous sense of relief, but it wasn’t time to celebrate yet. Together with Mei, we slowly moved in the gate’s direction while keeping our attention in the detective.

“Just a bit more.”, Mei whispered.

After confirming we were safe, we left the school. And outside, we returned home running like our lives depended on that. Or should I say my life? At this moment, I couldn’t tell anymore.