Part 1 - Chapter Two: First Clue

A picture of Azu in a basement that was taped to the bottom of the desk. She was dead because her head wasn’t attached to her body. Shio fell back in shock. Aneko was doing her homework that she didn’t do last night. Jiro was reading a book, and Aiko wasn’t even in class yet. Shio ran back to his desk and sat down. 

“Holy crap. Azu didn’t just disappear. She was murdered.” Shio took a second to recollect his thoughts. 

He walked back to the desk and quickly snatched the paper. He shoved it in his pocket and walked to the front of the room to the teacher. 

“I’m not feeling too well. Can I go to the nurse?” 

The teacher nodded, and Shio grabbed his stuff. He made his way down to the nurse and had his dad called. Shio’s dad came and picked him up. His dad was quiet during the ride. Shio didn’t mention the picture to him at all for some reason. When they arrived home, Shio bolted to his room. His dad was confused, but he just assumed it was teenage hormones acting up again.

    After hours of staring at this picture, Shio decided to put it away. He was trying to figure out if there were any clues in this picture. The only thing he could figure out was the chair in the middle of the basement. It looked very familiar to him. 

“Where have I seen this before?” He wondered. 

Suddenly, somebody knocked on the door to his room. It scared the crap out of him, and he fell off his bed. The door slowly opened, and Aneko walked in. 

“Hey, baby. You left school early, so I was worried about you. Are you ok?” She walked over to him. 

Shio nodded. “Yeah, I just had to take a break. I felt a little sick.” 

Aneko kissed his cheek. “You poor thing. I snuck out so I could come to see you. Do you need anything?” 

Shio shook his head. “No thanks. I should be ok.” 

Aneko spotted something in his pocket. 

“What’s that?” She pulled the picture out of pocket and examined it. “Why do you have this? Isn’t that Azu?” Aneko looked at Shio with a worried look. 

Shio sighed. “I found it under Azu’s old desk.” Aneko flipped it over and put it on the ground. 

“That’s hard to look at. I thought she moved... Does this mean she was murdered?” 

Shio looked up at Aneko. 

“I think so. I want to figure out who did it. Whoever killed Azu needs to be put behind bars.” 

Aneko nodded. “I agree. This is messed up.” She stood up.  “I’ll help you, but where should we start?” 

Shio looked down. “I don’t know. Maybe her house?” He looked back up at Aneko, and his eyes widened. 

Her head wasn’t attached to her body, and blood was spurting everywhere from her neck. He looked up, and an arrow was sticking Aneko’s head to the ceiling. He scooted back and bumped into somebody. Azu was standing there, staring down at him. 

“Hi, Shio.” 

Shio jolted up.  “AH- Azu... Hi. Hi Azu. Nice to see you again. Why are you here?” He tilted his head. 

Azu sighed. “You’re trying to find out who murdered me aren’t you?” Shio nodded. “I want to put this criminal in jail.” He said. 

Azu shook her head. “Bad idea. All you will find is pain and suffering if you keep going.” She walked up close to Shio and wrapped her arms around him. “Trust me. Don’t keep going.” She whispered in his ear. “Find me.” Then she disappeared and everything was back to normal. 

“Shio? Shio? Shio, are you ok?” Aneko tapped his shoulder. 

Shio turned to her. “Oh yeah... I’m fine. Was just thinking about stuff. We should go to her old house. We might find some clues there.” Aneko nodded. “Yeah. That seems like a good start.”