On the ground, there was a victim: a guy wearing a suit and a fedora hat. The moment a maid entered and saw the blood underneath, she dropped the dishes in shock and screamed loudly.
Then, a voice behind her said suddenly:
"Doyojaboy, young lady."
Instantly, she turned to the voice, seeing a detective and two policemen.
"Everything is under control," he comforted. "That's because... VincyHolmes is here! Booyah!"
"Oi, kisama, stop speaking Japanese," the maid replied, removing her hair. "It's daijoubu, baka."
The maid was Yukiko, cosplaying as one. Vincy was dressed as a detective and acting like one. The two policemen behind him were Taro and Ema.
In addition, that dead guy was a student in the same class called Steve, playing dead. The blood underneath was ketchup, and they were in the PE room.
Then, Vincy yelled, removing his sunglasses:
"HEY! DON'T RUIN THE SCENE!"
"Vincy... what kind of scene is that?" Ema interrupted. "Nobody enters a criminal case and says everything is under control. Plus, shouldn't we wait for Yukiko to do a fake call? That's too early and doesn't make any sense."
"Camero yapping, nerd," he responded, misspelling. "It doesn't need to make sense, it must be exciting and cool like in the shows!"
"What type of shows are you watching?" Ema muttered, facepalming.
Then, the PE teacher shouted:
"Hey, stop messing around and continue!"
"Sorry, teacher!" Vincy and Ema replied.
Why am I supposed to be silent anyway?Taro thought, unimpressed.
At morning... (Flashback)
On their way to school, they began chatting about the school's special activity.
"What do you think it will be?" Ema asked.
"I hope it's soccer or basketball... or even dodgeball!" Vincy responded.
"Is there cosplaying like Japan?" Yukiko asked.
"I... don't know honestly," Ema answered. "What do you think, Abodo?"
"Who knows... I'll be fine as long as it's not drawing," Taro said.
Afternoon in the classroom, the activity was announced... and it was murder mystery.
"M-MURDER MYSTERY?! NANI IS THAT?!" Vincy shouted, irritated.
"Oi, why are you using Japanese?" Yukiko asked, surprised.
"Hmm... that's new," Ema commented. "I've never seen that activity before."
"Not bad... especially for you, Ema," Taro said. "You'll earn high marks with that."
"I don't think so," she replied. "I'm not interested in solving murder cases."
"Aw man, and I was the one waiting for soccer or something," Vincy muttered.
"Vincy... you can literally play every Tuesday," Ema replied.
"Yeah, but it's not something like a tournament," he said. "Ugh, whatever, let's just go."
After that, the whole class headed to the PE room. The teacher told them to pick a random card for each student. On each card, the roles were written. Steve was the victim, Vincy picked the detective card, Ema picked the inspector one, and Yukiko picked a civilian card... wearing a maid outfit as her role.
For the suspects, there were four students acting like people close to the victim: his wife, his brother, his friend, and his neighbor. One of them was the murderer, including the maid Yukiko, since she was the one who found the body.
Finally, Taro picked the silent policeman role.
"Excuse me, sir," he said, raising his hand. "What's a silent policeman?"
"The one who obtains this role can't say a single word until the end of the activity," the teacher answered.
"N-No way!" Vincy exclaimed.
"Sonna! That will be difficult without Taro!" Yukiko replied, shocked.
First, Armageddon's curse... and now a terrible role, great...Taro thought, smiling faintly.
During solving, there were four rules to follow. The first was that only the detective must be the one who reveals the murderer. The second rule forbade the others from leaking the murderer's identity if they solved it.
For the third rule, the detective had two hours to discover the murderer. If he was late or surrendered, the murderer would win. Last but not least, the non-participating students couldn't join at all.
Back to Vincy's investigation, he began roaming around the victim, took a closer look at the knife beside Steve, and began tasting the fake blood... for some reason.
After that, he approached the others and began... sucking the ketchup on his finger:
"As you see, ladies and gentlemen... the victim... IS KILLED! And the killer's weapon... IS THE KNIFE!"
"Dun dun duuun... we know, genius! The knife is literally covered with the blood beside him!" Ema shouted, being sarcastic. "Who is THE MURDERER?!"
"Sheesh... calm down, I don't know yet," he responded. "Tomykiki... let's investigate with them."
"To-ni-ka-ku..." Yukiko spelled aggressively.
Suddenly, Ema's senses went wild, a sign of portals nearby. She went to Taro and whispered:
"Abodo... an emergency! Only you can go."
Then, he raised his hand, pointing at the restroom.
"Go ahead... you're useless anyway," the teacher replied.
Thanks for the compliment, teach! Taro thought, being sarcastic.
Instantly, he rushed outside the school.
Yukiko went beside Ema and whispered:
"Ne... where did Taro go?"
"There's a portal nearby," she responded quietly. "He will take care of it."
"Demo... Taro doesn't have his sword," Yukiko replied.
"Oh... this is bad," Ema reacted.
Meanwhile with Vincy, he started with the victim's wife.
"Where have you been before the victim's death?" He asked straight.
"I was–" She tried.
"AHA! SO YOU KILLED HIM!" He interrupted.
"What's wrong with you? She didn't say a word yet," Ema replied.
"Oh, my bad," he whispered.
The wife sighed, then began:
"As I was saying... I was in the bedroo–"
"AHA! YOU WERE THE NEAREST!" Vincy interrupted again.
"Shut up and let Suzie finish!" Ema shouted.
"Tsk... fine," he muttered, arms crossed.
She took a deeper breath, then continued:
"I was in the bedroom reading my book... until I–"
"AHA! UNTIL YOU FOUND THE PERFECT CHANCE AND–" Vincy interrupted once again.
Instantly, Ema smacked his head and bound his mouth with tape.
"Sorry for that, Suzie, please continue this drama," Ema apologized.
After she told her everything according to her paper, Ema thanked her and moved to the next suspect: the brother.
"So, where have you been, sir?" Ema asked.
"I was chatting with him in the living room," he began. "Then I paused and went to the bathroom for a few minutes. When I finished, I heard screaming and ran toward it, finding my older brother dead."
"Thank you. Next!" Ema said.
For the victim's friend, he declared that he wasn't there at all. Yet, he received a call from the victim to pay a visit. Meanwhile, the neighbor heard the maid's scream and went to check, proving how he was completely innocent... unless he was lying. Finally, Yukiko explained what happened before Vincy would ruin the dialogue.
Meanwhile with Taro, he realized how he forgot to wear his outfit, in addition to bringing his sword. When he reached, he saw a bunch of tiny elves with various weapons invading nearby the park.
He had no other choice but to use his {Azure Shield} along with his fists. Without wasting a second, he rushed forward, defeating them quickly by using their weapons before returning.
Thirty minutes passed already, and Vincy didn't find the murderer yet.
"Who do you think the murderer is?" Ema asked.
"No idea, I'm not a real detective anyway," he responded.
"Think, Vincy," Ema replied. "We will fail if you don't solve that!"
"My brain is not brainning like you," Vincy said. "Besides, aren't you smart enough to solve it?"
"I can't solve it because you are the detective," she responded. "You have to solve it yourself!"
"Sigh. In that case, we need to dive in," Vincy replied, grabbing a notebook.
After they checked the made-up crime spot, Vincy began discussing and writing about the suspects:
"Alright... we got the wife first. She declared that she was in the bedroom reading a book. After she heard the screaming, she went in a hurry... seeing the body and the maid."
"Not 100% guilty, yet not safe either," Ema replied.
After that, Vincy said:
"Then, we have the brother who was with the victim before his death. He excused and went to the bathroom. When he returned, he saw the victim dead."
"Kind of suspicious... but no evidence," Ema commented.
"Yeah, the bathroom one felt too cheap," Vincy replied. "Anyway, the friend said he wasn't there and joined them later."
"This one is innocent indeed," Ema said.
Then, Vincy began:
"For the neighbor, he wasn't even there too and only went when he heard the maid screaming."
"Again, another innocent," Ema replied.
"Finally, we have... her," Vincy said, staring at Yukiko.
"Nani...? Do I look like a killer?" She asked.
"Trust me, yes!" Vincy answered.
"Don't worry, Yukiko," Ema replied. "Nothing here is true."
"Well, maybe she committed her crime and pretended to be shocked," Vincy said.
"Maybe you're right," Ema agreed.
"OI! SHOUTO!" Yukiko shouted.
Then, the teacher said suddenly:
"One hour left! Find the murderer before the time runs out!"
"This is bad, Vincy," Ema replied. "We need to hurry!"
"It's not an easy task," Vincy said. "We still need to figure out who the imposter is."
After a few seconds, Taro returned and joined them.
"There you are. Where have you been, Abodo?" The teacher asked.
Taro raised his finger, trying to answer.
"Actually... nevermind, you still can't talk," the teacher interrupted. "Stay useless."
Again useless? He thought while lowering his finger, unimpressed.
"Yo, Taro, we need your help!" Vincy said.
They began telling him everything and all details. He had no other option but to listen, since he was not allowed to speak. Time was running out, and they had to think quickly...
...before the murderer would escape!
(To Be Continued...)