Chapter 15:

Those Summer Nights

Those Summer Nights


When I came to school this night, I have not imagined that everything would end today. I know who the killer is, so I got my phone and sent some messages. And while I waited for replies, I changed Hina’s position so she could lie down.

While I made a silent prayer for her, I received a reply.

“I was awaiting for you in the place where everything started.”, I read the message to myself.

Like Mei… No, I imagined, the killer murdered Hina to make me finally realize who he was. He didn’t even try to escape and was waiting for me in the place where I wanted to meet him.

I looked one last time to the night sky and went to the first building. Reaching the rooftop should’ve something fast, but the tension made everything seems slower. While I was going upstairs, I remembered when I walked this same path with Hayato. I remembered the days when I went downstairs talking with Hina and Naoto. I remembered reaching the third floor and seeing Mei talking with Sakura in the corridor, Mei stopping to say “good morning” to me. Memories of days that would never return.

Finally, I stooped in front of the closed door leading to the rooftop. After I took a deep breath, I opened her and there was no one there. I walked under the night sky in the direction where I had found Mei that day. It was like a repeat of that night: The silent dark school, the clear sky and the moonlight showing the way.

Before I could reach the place where I found Mei’s body, the door behind me closed and I stopped.

“So we meet again, my friend, Naoto.”, I said while turning back.

He was there, in front of the door. Naoto was using his school uniform and keeping both hands in the pockets of his pants.

“I was really looking forward for this encounter, but after waiting so much, I was losing hope, my friend, Souma.”

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“Killing Hina was a high price to pay, but it worked. And you look different from the Souma of those past weeks. How should I say this…? You look stronger. The price was high but it was worth it.”

“’Worth?’ You make me wanna puke.”

“Don’t say that, didn’t you had fun? With our little game.”

I clenched my right fist. He was provoking me, but I wouldn't fall for that.

“Can I ask something? I finally found out that you were the one who killed everyone, but I still don’t know your motive. Why did you kill Mei? What did she do?”

“Mei didn’t do anything. It was just a sad accident.”

“An accident!? How can you say that!?”

“Because it was. Mei saw something she shouldn’t have seen, so she died.”

“Naoto, you…!”

“I understand you hating me, but I didn’t want to kill her. I’m a victim too.”

“You? A victim?”

“Well, there’s no point in hiding this. And I wanted to tell this to you anyway.”, Naoto finished with a laugh. “Pay attention Souma, this is the truth you wanted so much to know! A very stupid story!”


“It’s so hot, I really hate summer.”, I said to myself while walking to school. “And I have to go shopping later...”

When I finally arrived, a girl was waiting for me in front of the gate.

“Ah, Naoto! Good morning!”

“Good morning, Rin.”

“You didn’t forget our promise, right?”

“Promise?”

“Hey! You promised me you would help me choose a gift after school!”

“I know, I know! It was a joke.”

“Really? So I’ll be waiting for you here after classes end!”

“Sure.”

Rin is a girl from the first year, but I know her since middle school. We’re long time friends.

I went to the classroom and after greeting some friends, Hina came rushing in my direction.

“Hello, Naoto! Here.”, she said giving me an envelope. “And yes, it’s another one.”

“Thanks, Hina.”, I said sighing and getting the envelope from her hand.

I went to my desk, but I greeted Souma first. “Hi, Souma.”

“Oh, Naoto. Is that another love letter?”

“I think so...”, I said while sitting.

I opened the envelope and checked the letter. And yes, it was a love letter from a first-year girl.

“Another first-year.”, I commented.

“That’s make sense. They are new in the school and don’t know about you having a girlfriend.”, Souma said.

“People knowing about that doesn’t changed anything, every now and then a girl who knows about that confesses her feelings to me, hoping I would change girlfriends.”

“It must be nice to be so popular.”, Hayato, who arrived just some moments ago, said.

“I would give to you this popularity right now if I could.”

The conversation continued until the teacher arrived, and after some hours, it was lunch break.

Because of the letter, I went straight to the place where the girl asked me to meet her.

What happened there was a repetition of events I was tired of seeing: The girl confessed her feelings and asked to be my girlfriend, I rejected her and told about already having someone else.

After that, I went to eat alone to have some time for myself.

When classes finally ended, I went to the school gate to wait for Rin, but for my surprise, she was already there.

“Oh, there you are!”, she said.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“Ah, I just arrived, so it’s fine. Now, let’s go?”

“Sure. Just show the way.”

Rin had told me she wanted my help to buy a gift, but after looking some stores’ displays, we stopped at an arcade and then we got something to eat.

“Today was fun!”, Rin said while we walked in the street.

“Rin, we didn’t came here to buy a gift, right? What do you really wanted to do?”, I asked.

Rin stopped some steps away, keeping her back to me.

“Ei, Naoto, did you have fun? It’s fun to be with me?”

“Huh? Yeah, I had fun.”

I don’t like where this is going.

“Naoto!”, she turned around. “The truth is...”

Please, stop, don’t say anything else.

“The truth is that I like you since middle school!”

“Rin, you know that...”

“I know! I waited and waited, hoping I would have a chance someday… But it never came… And now, I don’t think it will ever come...”

What could I say to end this without destroying our friendship?

“If you give me a chance, I’ll make you so happy you’ll forget about your girlfriend!”

“What!?”

It was so suddenly I couldn't react in time: Rin hugged and kissed me. I didn’t want to betray my girlfriend, I love her, so what I had to do was obvious. But when I was moving my hands to pull Rin away from me, something got my attention: Across the street, with her phone in her hand, a girl from my class was looking at us. It was Mei.

Realizing that I looked in her direction, she got surprised and left in a hurry. I got desperate and pulled Rin away from me.

“Stop! I’m really sorry Rin, but I can’t do this!”

“I knew you would say that, but I still… I still… I’m sorry… I’m really sorry!”, she said while starting to cry.

Rin went away running.

“Rin!”, I yelled but I couldn’t go after her.

What should I do now!? Mei saw that and she could have taken a picture! If word about that gets out, I will be finished!

I was nervous beyond belief, my brain working really hard trying to find a solution.

I need to talk with Mei… but I don’t know where she lives! Maybe I can get her phone number or email address… But if she already told someone about what just happened, would Rin help me on undoing this misunderstanding?

Staying here wouldn’t help, so I went home. But while I walked, I sent a message to a friend who gave me Mei’s email address.

“Mei, I need to talk with you! What you saw isn’t what you’re probably thinking, so let me explain! Please, answer this email.”, I read to myself the email I wrote. “I think it’s good enough, I need to see her in person for a better explanation.”

I sent the email, but an answer from Mei never came.

Why she doesn’t send a reply? It seems I’ll need Rin’s help.

Worried with what would happen next, I couldn’t even sleep that night.

And on the next day, Rin skipped school. She didn’t answer my calls either. But I spoke with Mei, alone.

“Mei, about yesterday...”

“Ah! That? You don’t need to worry, I won’t tell anyone about that. So, if you excuse me...”

“Wait!”

Mei ignored me and returned to the classroom.

Could I really trust her? The answer was very easy: I couldn't.

Mei was avoiding me and she could have a picture of that moment. So my life could be ruined at any moment.

I tried to talk with her again during the lunch break, but she was always near someone else. Rin wasn’t replying me too, but the problem was really Mei. Even if Rin tells anyone about the kiss, the chances of someone believing her was very small. But Mei could spread some bad rumors and destroy me with the picture she probably took. Mei needed to disappear.

Before lunch break ended, I wrote a message for Mei in a piece of paper and left it on her desk without letting anyone see me doing this. What I wrote was basically a little love letter that, in the end, asked her to come to school this night, and I signed it with an “s”. She probably knew about Souma’s study session this night, so I was expecting her to believe that Souma wanted to confess his feelings for her.

This plan could fail if Mei ignored the message, so I needed to watch her reaction.

When Mei returned from lunch break and sat on her desk, she found the paper and read it.

She took the bait!

Mei’s face turned red and she looked at Souma, but him didn’t noticed that. Mei read the letter again before putting it inside her bag.

Everything went well after classes ended: Mei didn’t try to speak with Souma and she didn’t even show the letter to anyone else.

Now I needed to prepare, but first I had to study a bit with Souma and the others. Souma would probably stay studying until 09:00 or 10:00 PM, but I went home a lot earlier than that.

My parents weren’t at home yet, so I got some plastic gloves and a knife and left to the city park. There, I rethought my plan to make sure it could work. I was betting my life on it, after all.

I’m sorry, Souma. But I’ll sacrifice you.

After waiting until 8:00 PM, I went to school. There was two obstacles left: The night guard and Hayato. Souma would stay until later, but I didn’t know when Hayato would leave.

I stopped in front of the gate and peeked inside, I saw Akira sitting on a bench near the gate and he was looking something on his phone, so I used this opportunity to sneak in.

Now for Hayato, I just had to not cross with him. But when I entered the first building, I saw him entering the toilet. Luck was with me, so I went to the rooftop to wait for Mei.

Not a lot of time passed before Mei arrived. I was near the railings, with my back turned to Mei.

“Hello, is that you, Souma?”, she said approaching me.

I didn’t say anything, I just turned around and stabbed her. I pressed the knife with all my strength to kill her immediately. Mei didn’t even have time to scream, dying without understanding why.

With Mei dead, I threw the knife in the darkness and was about to go downstairs when I saw Souma coming upstairs.

Why is he coming here!?

I reacted fast and hid in the shadows near the entrance, waiting for Souma. But some time passed, and nothing happened.

Why is he taking so long?

Finally, Souma went outside. I waited for him to move away a bit and went downstairs.

That was nerve wracking, but I think that will be even better for me!

When I was about to leave the building, I saw Akira coming. I returned to inside and hid inside the girl’s toilet, but as soon as Akira went upstairs, I left the school running.


“I’m sorry, my friend. But I was desperate and framing you for the murder seemed like a good idea. But even with you helping me by going to see Mei, I failed.”

“You really killed Mei because of something stupid like that!? Why didn’t you believe in her!?”, I yelled in rage.

“Believe in her? Let me ask you, why would I believe in her? There was no reason for me to do that.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you! I thought you were smarter, Naoto!”

“Me, smart?”, he laughed after saying this. “After I killed Mei I saw how stupid I am. I didn’t think about all the details and I made mistake after mistake. That’s why we’re here talking today.”

“You continued to kill still hoping they would believe that I was the killer?”

“That’s right. You gave me a lot of trouble... But after I killed Sakura and you were still free on the next day, a part of me already knew I would lose in the end.”

“You’re insane!”

“Maybe. You know, after I killed Mei, I felt really bad about that. But after I killed Sakura, I hadn’t the same feeling. And I felt absolute nothing when I killed Hayato. It’s crazy how fast I got used to killing.”

“You…! How could you keep doing that?”

“Like I said, I was desperate! People do stupid things when they are cornered!”

“I’ll never forgive you! Never!”

“I don’t want your forgiveness. I just wanted you to find me before the police when I noticed that I wouldn’t escape from justice. But you kept me waiting.”

“I was right in thinking about this as a bloody game.”

“It was exactly that.”, Naoto looked to the moon. “But why that detective believed so much in you?”

“I don’t know either. Maybe it was because of Sakura?”

“Sakura… She told the police that you couldn’t be the murderer, right? I wonder why she said that... Well, I could’ve asked her before I smashed her face, but I didn’t want to waste any time.”

I wanted to punch Naoto in the face, but I held back my feelings and continued to talk with him. “How could Sakura’s body appear in the dumpster near my house?”

“Appear? You are funny. I got Sakura’s phone number with someone else and sent a message to her, saying I had some info about Mei’s murderer. I asked her to not speak with anyone before talking with me. We met at the city park, and I killed her there. Ah, you don’t know, but I have a bike. So I covered her with a blanket and carried her to that dumpster. It was something very risky to do, but I thought it would be worth it.”

“The more I listen to you detailing all this, the more I want to give you a good punch.”

“Oh? Are you not happy with the prize for beating the game?”, he said with a twisted smile in his face. “Ah, but now I want to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“Since when you suspected me?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. When you told that absurd story about Akira being killed, you were analyzing our reaction, right? You suspected that one of us could be the killer. But I think you exaggerated too much with the footprints appearing out nowhere and the murder scene.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say. Akira is dead, right?”

“Dead? Akira?”, Naoto laughed out loud. “Of course not!”

“What!? But I never saw him at school again!”

“Wait, you don’t really know about him? And everything was just a coincidence?”

“I was certain he was dead.”

“Now I’m not fully understanding you. I had thought that you came with that story to see our reaction, because the true killer would find strange that someone died but it wasn’t him. And when we confirmed that Akira was missing, maybe I would make a mistake and reveal myself. I thought you already knew about Akira leaving and used that in your favor.”

“Akira leaving?”

“The next day I asked someone from the school staff about Akira and the guy told me that Akira resigned from his job because he felt guilty about the murder that happened inside the school. But I wanted to keep playing with you, so I told you that lie. Good thing you never checked it.”

“So the reason the school still doesn’t have a night guard is...”

“I can’t answer that. But I would guess the police has something to do with that.”

Our conversation finally stopped and Naoto’s eyes were fixed on me. But I still needed more time, I have to keep talking.

“Why do you wanted me to find you first?”, I asked.

“Isn’t that obvious? I tried to frame you, so I wanted you to bring an end to this. Just a whim of mine.”

“Was it really for that reason only?”

Naoto once again looked to the moon before speaking. “I lost when they didn’t arrested you after I killed Sakura. But some part of me still believed that I could escape, that’s why I continued to kill. But was that really the only reason…? Maybe I wanted to see you surpass all the sadness, all that madness and reach your revenge in the end.”

“And you even killed your friends just to do that!?”

“That’s your fault. You were taking so long to reach me that I had to kill Hina today. That was my way to tell you to wake up and face me, or give up and embrace your worthless existence!”

“You…!”

“Why didn’t you find me earlier!? Why didn’t you stop me!? Why did you let me keep killing!?”

No matter what I say, it’s no use. Naoto is exactly how I was just moments ago: broken. He was easily consumed by despair and killed someone, now his entire logic is twisted.

“I’m sorry for not noticing you suffering.”, I said while still trying to buy some more time.

“I’m glad you are sorry for this! Because it was really hard to speak with you those past weeks! You were acting like you were the most miserable person in the world! Truly pathetic!”

“I won’t deny that. After I saw Mei dead, I got consumed by grief and started to lose my mind. But I finally surpassed that.”

“But you really took your time. After I killed Hayato, it should’ve been really easy for you to connect the dots and see me as the prime suspect. But you were useless and couldn’t even help the police.”

This is bad, I’m feeling our conversation is starting to repeat the same points. If Naoto get tired of this... How much time I still need? How long have I been here talking?

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to suspect my friends.”, I said to keep the conversation going.

“Too naive. You were too naive! I hope you learned your lesson, Souma!”

“Yes, thanks to you, I’m no longer the Souma from before.”

“I’m really happy to hear that, so… Let’s end this.”, Naoto’s expression got pretty serious.

This is really my limit, but I think it was enough, barely.

“End this? I won, right? What more do you want, you murderer?”

“Oh? You are finally getting a little bold. But let’s see what you can really do.”

My heart was beating really fast, sweat running down my face without stop.

“Souma, I’ll kill you right now. Can you stop me?”

“Kill me? After you worked so hard to make me find you?”

“You already found the truth, your prize. Now if you stay dead or alive... it doesn’t matter.”

He is really crazy!

“Don’t think I’ll go down without a fight.”, I said.

“A fight?”, once again, Naoto laughed really hard. “There won’t be any fight! Look where my hands are! They are in my pockets from the beginning for a very clear reason.”

If he has any weapon, I really have no chance, but…

“You are right, there won’t be a fight.”

“Why are you smiling?”

For the first time since this conversation started, a big smile had appeared in my face.

“Because I’ll win.”, I said.

“Oh? Now I’m curious! So let me repeat! Souma, I’ll kill you right now! What are going to do to stop me!?”

“Me? I’m not going to do anything.”

“What?”

“But… I know some people who will!”

Nothing happened for a moment, it was just me and Naoto bathed in the moonlight. But something finally broke the silence: The door opened violently.

“Freeze! Raise your hands and put them in your head, slowly!”, a cop yelled while pointing his gun to Naoto.

It wasn’t just one, six cops came out of the stairs, surrounding Naoto. All of them with a gun in their hands.

Naoto didn’t say anything and kept standing still. I looked at his face but I couldn’t see what expression he was making.

“I said to raise your hands and put them in your head!”, the cop repeated.

Naoto stayed quiet and the tension started to raise.

Just give up Naoto, don’t try anything stupid.

The silent continued.

“Don’t make me repeat again!”, the cop said.

“Ha ha ha!”, Naoto started to laugh. “So this was your plan!”.

Now I could see a twisted smile on Naoto’s face. And he started to remove his hands from the pockets, very slowly.

Would him try to attack me? I couldn't tell.

The tension was reaching its limit and the cops were ready to shoot.

Does he have a knife?

Finally, the hands left the pockets and they were empty. But Naoto didn’t put them in his head like the cop said, he started to clap.

“Wonderful! After falling in despair, you finally trusted someone else and sought their help! Congratulations for you victory, Souma.”, after saying this, Naoto put his hands in his head. “I’m the one you guys are searching for! I killed them all! And I surrender!”


After a bloody summer, the madness came to an end.