Underhanded Graduate

V

Well, at least I didn’t have to worry about being the first one dead.

That of course wasn’t my first thought after seeing the corpse of the annoying weeb. My first thought was more along the lines of; OH GOD THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

We all were frozen. And then the announcement went off on the monitors, except the broken one in the bathtub of course.

“ATTENTION STUDENTS. THERE HAS BEEN A DEATH. CAMU MARIKU, THE ULTIMATE GEEK. PLEASE ASSEMBLE IN ANGENOID’S DORM BATHROOM FOR AN INVESTIGATION.”

I was in shock and didn’t come out of it until people were pushing past me to look. Aino pushed through people and found me.

He gripped my shoulder, “Eliza, are you okay? What happened?”

“M-Maya opened the door and… Th-there was a sound… C-Camu is…”

Aino’s grip on my shoulder tightened, “He’s dead?”

I nodded in the direction of the bathroom and he followed my gaze. Aino shifted and got a look inside, before quickly looking away.

Tadashi was then standing in the middle of everyone, arms in the air. “Everyone!”

Everyone looked at him.

“Look, I know we kind of just found out that someone has been killed. I realize you all must be freaking out right now, and I am too. But if we’re going to live through this, we need to figure out who the killer is. I’d say there are too many people in here for an investigation.”

Everyone listened to Tadashi intently as he took charge. At this point, everyone was so freaked out, I’m pretty sure they would have listened to anybody.

Tadashi pointed, “Okay, for starters, I want whoever was in here when the announcement went off. That should leave at least three people… the three non-killers who saw the body. I also want Angen. I mean, this is his room.”

People slowly began to leave, but I stayed. Aino was about to head for the door when I caught his arm. “Stay with me,” I begged.

He locked eyes with me, then nodded. I sighed in relief.

Kuri came up on my other side, placing a hand on the small of my back, “Hey, you feelin’ all right?”

I looked at him gratefully, his hand comforting against my back. “I’m fine. Uh… I have some, questions. That’s for sure.”

Tadashi watched everyone leave, before turning to us. He gave the five of us a stern look.

“Okay, so there were five in here when this happened?” He asked.

Aino shook his head, “No, I was in my room. Eliza asked me to be here for her.”

Tadashi rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Okay. So what happened?”

Maya provided an explanation, starting with the moment Angen had come to us in the lobby. By the end of the story, Kuri’s expression had twisted.

“I think it’s kind of obvious Angen did it.”

I look up at Kuri, “We don’t really know that for sure. What if someone killed him in here to frame Angen?”

“He told us that his door was stuck,” Kuri said. “In case you weren’t paying attention, Maya opened that door no problem.”

“She punched it!” Angen cried.

I waved my hands in the air, “Guys, stop. Angen, I thought you had to pee.”

When I said that, Angen’s eyes widened and he looked down, as if making sure he hadn’t peed himself. He then rushed for the door, “I’ll be right back!” He called.

Tadashi rolled his eyes, “Anyway. So Angen interrupted you guys right before you left to go to your dorms?”

I nodded, “Right. What’s that have to do with anything?”

“Every fact is important,” he said as he turned to the crime scene. “Now…” His eyebrows narrowed, “Rope? What’s with the rope?”

My eyes followed Tadashi’s, and found that there was a rope in the room. Upon closer inspection, you can see that part of it was tied around the inner door handle. It streams up and had probably been connected to the TV.

I tilted my head, “Uh, I don’t understand.”

Kuri rolled his eyes, “Clearly Angen used the rope to pull the TV into the bathtub to electrocute the idiot.”

Maya took a step toward the corpse, “Are you sure? There’s a wound on Camu’s head.”

Indeed there was, and it was red, bloody, and swollen. It looked as though someone had hit him pretty hard with something. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I turned and looked around the room for something that could have inflicted the wound. It was pretty clear Angen couldn’t cause that much of an injury.

Sitting by the door, was a bloody hammer.

I slowly walked over to it, bending down and looking at it. There really wasn’t much blood on it, only on the metal part.

“Hey guys,” I called. “I think I found what hit Camu. Can we take fingerprints?”

Tadashi shook his head, “No, I don’t think we’re that advanced. Besides, I’ve already been in the nurse’s office. There isn’t any like, powdery stuff we can use.”

Kuri smirked, “There’s a nurse?”

“No, just a small room.”

“Oh.”

I rolled my eyes, “This is getting us nowhere.”

Tadashi looked around the room again, “Okay, I’m going to go ask some people about their alibis. But you four are my biggest suspects.” He glares at us.

Kuri narrowed his eyebrows, “Look buddy, how do we know that you’re not the one who did this?”

“Yeah,” Maya agreed. “This could be a cover up.”

I shifted my weight nervously. Did Tadashi murder Camu in Angen’s bathtub for whatever reason, and then try to frame the four of us? What the hell did we do to him?!

Tadashi balled his fists, “Excuse me? If I did this, then why would I still be in the room? Don’t you think I would have fled the scene by now?”

Kuriama got up in Tadashi’s face, “I don’t know, ********. Why are you still here?”

“My name is NOT Tadashit!!!” His voice went up an octave to go with his annoyance and anger.

Kuri snickered at the reaction, stepping back, “Whatever. It’s late and I need my beauty rest.” He flipped his imaginary long hair.

Maya smirked at him, “Yeah, we could use some sleep. Let’s go, Kuri.” She sashayed out of the room, the ultimate mercenary in tow.

Next to me, Aino sighed and leaned against my arm for support. I looked down at him, realizing he looked just as terrible as I felt. I pat his head, giving a tired smile. Tadashi rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath, stalking out of the room.

This left me and Aino, at least, until Angen returned, looking disheveled. Most likely wondering where he’s going to sleep.

I nudged Aino with my shoulder, “Hey, let’s go to bed, too.”

The boy yawned and nodded, leaning on me some more. I smiled softly at the sight, thankful that Aino hadn’t been a target. There were only two people I really cared for, that being Aino and Kuri. Yeah, Kuri might be with Maya… but I still have a chance. But, if either of them die…

No, I’d rather not think about that.

I slowly led Aino back to his dorm, we exchanged ‘goodnight’s, before I finally got to my room and flopped onto my bed to pass out.