Kaho felt her heart leap into her mouth. Ours. She turned to face him, her eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky. She felt tears prick her waterline.
"Yours, Aigawa. Yours."
"Sure," Kaho said, crossing her arms across her chest.
"They're not my team."
"Sure they're not your team," Kaho said, elbowing him.
"I mean it. They're not."
She huffed and crossed her arms. Just as Mr Sato came in, holding a bag of frozen peas.
And with him in the room, he seemed to suck the air out of the room. Kaho tensed. Naseru raised a brow and glanced at her.
"What?" he asked.
Kaho shook her head and clenched her teeth, trying to keep her angry, churning insides from fighting against her. She felt sick again.
Behind Mr Sato was a police officer.
"Sorry to disturb your games, kids," the officer said, jovially enough, "And sorry that this whole thing has put a downer on your trip, but Detective Asakura wants to see everyone in the dining room."
"I guess that's time then," Coach Tomogawa said with a shrug, "I'll call it. Hanagwa wins."
Captain Isamu crossed his arms and huffed off the court, grabbing his backpack and shuffling to the door. He didn't care to clean up.
"Don't worry about the mess, you can tidy up after your evening meal-" the officer said gently as Fumiko, Kaho and Akane began to collect bibs, balls and cones.
"If need be, I'll help," the officer said with a smile, "I just- he doesn't want to wait."
Kaho put the balls in her hands back in the basket. Seiran and Kuroyama were slowly coming together in their huge queues. Kaho joined the Hanagawa line, bringing up the rear with Fumiko. Most of the kids were single-file, but Sunada stood beside Omura, helping hold his weight as he shuffled forward. Taiga shoved the frozen peas back into Kenta's arms and joined Sunada in supporting Omura.
"Iwao, put your arm around his waist, too, okay?"
"Yes, Coach."
"Oh come on," Omura whined, "I don't need all this fuss."
"Better fussing you now, Nobu, than you hurt yourself irreparably," Sunada said.
"You'll need to take another register once inside," the officer said gently, "If you'll follow me, Mr Tsukishima and Mr Shirotani will see to you and get you sat and fed."
Kaho glanced at Fumiko, who pursed her lips. Kaho grabbed her hand, "I got a letter this morning."
"Was it important?"
Kaho nodded and let go of Fumiko. She took a deep breath and prised her phone out of its case. She handed the letter behind her, to Fumiko.
"I didn't know your Previous Timeline Self had such strong feelings," Fumiko whispered.
"Keep reading," Kaho hissed, "The first two paragraphs don't matter right now."
Fumiko was quiet as she squinted at the sheet of paper before her. There was a lot to take in there. She swore and handed it back.
"This needs to go to everyone. I don't remember what the rules were about sharing this stuff, but everyone needs to know. We should call a team meeting after this is over. With your brother."
Fumiko hid the letter in a pocket and nodded at Kaho. She nodded back.
They paused by the French doors to the dining area, where the respective schools slunk in, heads bowed, in single file. There were no tables out to be seen, instead, they all seemed to have been cast aside. Mismatched dining room chairs were set out in horizontal lines, facing the main entrance to the dining hall. The guests who had paid to go to the reserve were sat at the front, eating fancy meals off plastic trays. Most looked exhausted.
At the front of the room stood that detective she had caught a glimpse of earlier. He stood at 5'8" and had an unruly undercut, the strands of hair at the front hang messily over his forehead, like he'd ran his hands through it dozens of times. The sides were neatly trimmed, and his suit and jacket were designer, even if his shirt was untucked. He wore his tie a centimetre too loose, but his top button was done up. He nodded as the procession of high schoolers made their way inside. Their coaches proceeded to start calling names, ensuring everyone was there. That was something Hanagawa had an advantage in, Taiga could easily just do a headcount. He helped Omura onto a chair with arms and procured him something to rest his leg on, an upturned bucket from outside. One of the officers clicked their tongue, but Taiga didn't pay them any heed.
"All of mine are here," Coach Tomogawa said.
"Mine too," said Coach Itomi.
Taiga ran a hand through his hair, "Azumi? Hisashi? Michio? Kousuke? Nobu, obviously. Iwao, thank you for helping him. Satoru? Yep. I can see Matsuoka, Ryota, Eiji, Yuta, Ren. There's Kaho and Fumiko. Yep. We're here."
"Coaches, please be seated." The officer who had accompanied the teams in said. He elbowed Kenta, who was still standing wide-eyed and open mouthed, holding a dripping bag of frozen peas.
"Ah! The kid!" Kenta said, handing Taiga the bag of peas. Taiga unceremoniously thunked the thawing peas on Omura' knee. He relaxed, tension melting like the freezer burn. He slid down in his seat, getting more comfortably at the relief.
"Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, children. I am Detective Asakura, and I have taken on this murder case to ensure justice prevails. I am speaking to you all now to inform you that everyone in this room is hereby detained until this investigation concludes. The police department is issuing a statement, which will be available to send to your employers, childcare providers, schools etc. Nobody is checking out until the perpetrator is in cuffs. If anyone needs to leave the premises for… medical reasons," Detective Asakura glanced at Omura in the back. He slunk out of his gaze, "Will be escorted by a member of the force, and, if necessary, have a guardian accompany them."
He paused and took a moment to nod at Taiga, Coach Itomi, Akane and Coach Tomogawa.
"We will be issuing a suggested curfew for our guests, and expect you to cooperate in assisting us with our enquiries."
He turned to the police officers around him. One produced a corkboard, on which was a blown up image of Mr Tanaka, the victim, the man who had been sopping wet in that very dining hall the previous morning. Kaho grimaced. If she and the rest of the team weren't going to be able to keep Akane safe, then her face would be up on the board too. And somehow, the murderer would escape justice by pinning both deaths on a teenager, being eaten alive by despair.
She clenched her teeth and lowered her head. Fumiko bumped shoulders with her and offered her hand to squeeze. Kaho took it, screwing her eyes shut and sending some of her anxious energy Fumiko's way as she squeezed her fingers.
"Our victim was the late archaeologist, Mr Tanaka Hiroshi, a loving husband. He leaves behind a dedicated wife, who has requested she be left alone in her grief, She has been moved to a new suite. None of you have or will be given the details of her new suite." Detective Asakura said, "Now, most of you in the front, have already been privy to this information, but for the benefit of the children in the back – I must inform you that you are expected to give a formal, written statement about your whereabouts yesterday evening, into the night. Mrs Tanaka has made it clear the last time she saw her husband alive was before she went to bed at nine PM. I need factual information to construct a thorough timeline. For you children in the back, since you have yet to give any form of statement, you will be given clipboards and pens once the other guests have been dismissed. We must assure you that we don't care if you broke rules or caused a ruckus. What we need to know is where you were and if you were with other people."
Kaho grimaced. The statements from Hanagawa were going to clearly acknowledge that Taiga had the team go behind Coach Itomi's and Coach Tomogawa's backs to look for the fish. Furthermore, since the curfew was only a recomendation, and not something enforceable, Kaho was sure that Taiga would want to get a few of the team out at the pools again. She sighed.
She wasn't focusing on the right things. A man had died. Kenta would try to kill Akane if he wasn't careful, and to make things worse, she was terrified to make herself a target.
Being safe under the radar was better than drawing attention to herself.
"Before I dismiss you, I must insist that none of you contact the press about the ongoing investigation, or attempt to humour them at the barricade. Everything remains strictly confidential."
Akane raised her hand.
"Yes, young lady in the back?"
The crowd all seemed to turn and stare at her. Akane leapt to her feet and bowed quickly, "I am Kiminara Akane of Kuroyama Academy. Our trip to this reserve also included a number of activities. Will those still be occurring now that we are being held on the premises."
Kaho bristled. It seemed Akane was just as prickly and frosty with others as she had been when dissing Taiga to Kaho's face earlier.
"Thank you for your question, Miss Kiminara," said Detective Asakura, diplomatically, "Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the continuation and successful completion of all your activities at this time, however, we will have further conversations with your coaches and the staff here to ensure that you still get what you paid for."
Akane nodded, thanked the detective and lowered herself back into her seat.
Detective Asakura dismissed Mrs Tanaka first, and allowed the bereft woman the luxury of a few minutes head start to her new room. He watched the hands on his watch whirr round for two minutes before allowing each individual row of guests the ability to leave the dining hall. Mr Shirotani and Mr Tsukishima were stood beside a towering rack. A few empty dishes already sitting on the bottom of the trolley. They gestured for the trays to be plonked on there. Most of the guests complied, but a few stray trays were abandoned under chairs.
Detective Asakura turned to the officers and beckoned them over. They had their arms filled with clipboards from the retreat in their arms. They handed out the clipboards to each row of basketballers, allowing each student to write down what it was they were doing the previous night.
There weren't enough clipboards, so everyone took turns writing up their statements, and handing them to their coaches, to pass them onto the officers. When Kaho finally got a sheet of paper and a clipboard, she pursed her lips and began to recall the events of the previous evening.
Kaho wrote up her statement, listing off everyone who went with her on Taiga's fishing expedition. She wrote the full names of everyone she'd been with that evening – Taiga, Naseru, Eiji, Yuta, and Omura. Kaho also made a quick note that as far as she knew, the rest of Hanagawa remained under Fumiko's care, meditating. She wrote how she'd been escorted from the pools to her room by Naseru and, just to ensure she had nothing to hide, wrote about her chasing Eiji that very morning, completely unaware that someone had died.
She glanced over at Fumiko's paper which had a vague itinerary of what happened, from Matsushita ripping his tracksuit bottoms doing the downward dog pose when she transitioned them from reluctant meditation, to incandescent yoga. Kaho stifled a giggle at how the rest of the team concluded their night, splayed out on their backs, in a circle the grass outside, straining to see stars and sharing secrets. Kaho smiled. That sounded wonderful.
She felt a pang in her chest, a longing to go and do that exact same thing, lay on the cool floor and talk where the only witnesses were the people in her company and the stars above. It reminded her of that evening on the grass verge after her one-on-one with Naseru. That felt like it was forever ago.
She pursed her lips and handed her statement to Taiga, and handed the clipboard over to Naseru. He nodded and wrote a very curt, clear-cut series of events on his sheet of paper:
'I am Matsuoka Naseru, I am sixteen years old and attend Hanagawa High School. Last night, I was looking for the glowing fish I'd been told about, with other members of the basketball team, Aigawa Kaho, Omura Nobuyuki, Yoshitani Eiji and Nakamura Yuta, supervised by Coach Aigawa. Kaho fell in the water, and I took her to her room, and went to bed. I texted my brother when I got to bed at 11:07 PM.'
Naseru handed his sheet of paper further down the line, toward Taiga. Kaho glanced over at him for a moment. She ducked her head and averted her eyes. She pondered over whether Naseru had done this before. When they'd spent the night in the cell a few weeks ago, she'd learned he was a delinquent. But had that been clear when he'd nearly run her over on his first day of school.
His statement was quick and concise, highlighting everything in enough detail, he'd even said he'd sent a text, which could be authenticated by checking his text records. Had he known something was amiss? Or had he actually wanted to talk to his brother?
She wondered, for a moment, which of his brothers Naseru had been texting. Naoru or Aya. Probably Aya, since Taiga had said he'd fallen into the pool himself. And it wasn't like Naseru was the only person who had digital records to confirm his location, Yuta and Eiji had taken a selfie, too!
"Once you have filled in a statement, please, eat," Detective Asakura said, gesturing to more aluminium serving trays, piled high with sticky white rice. Kaho took a deep breath. Her stomach growled. She wasn't sure what was for dinner, but she didn't care.
Kaho reached for Fumiko's arm when they went up to get some food, the smell of roasted vegetables in chilli sauce was magnetic. Both girls scooped generous helpings onto their plates, and glanced out at the mess of a dining hall.
"Sit wherever you like, but don't disturb the kids still writing their statements," said Detective Asakura.
Kaho and Fumiko zero-ed in on one person, sitting all alone at the end of a row, munching on some roasted veg. She craned her neck back and let out a satisfied moan. Akane.
They walked over to her and Akane's eyes snapped open. She arched a brow.
"You just gonna stand there?" Akane said.
Kaho shrugged and plonked herself down in the row behind her, "Hi Kiminara."
"What?" she said.
"Got any plans tonight?" Fumiko asked.
"What are you? Stupid? They've just said we can't leave, what do you think I'm going to do?"
She had her hackles up. Kaho glanced at Fumiko who nodded quietly, "I'm going to watch a movie in my room with Satoru. I thought you might want to join us?"
"What? Third wheel your date? I'd rather sleep with the boars."
"We're not dating, and we were going to watch that new Yamota Hakuro movie, you know the one with Kokuro Daisuke in it."
Akane froze, losing her grip on her chopsticks, they clattered against her bowl, sending individual rice grains skittering along the floor.
"Kokuro Daisuke?" she said, "He's so hot, I mean, if you're into that."
Fumiko grinned and took Akane's hands in her own, "You have to come watch it with us. It came out on DVD on Friday and Satoru was late to practice to buy it before the retreat!"
"I'm in," Akane said, "I'll see you there, at let's say, nine?"
Fumiko nodded, rearing her head around, looking for Konoishi. He was still writing his statement. She pursed her lips, reached into her pocket and produced her phone, handing it to Akane.
"Put your number in here, I'll text you!"
Akane nodded and inputted her number. Fumiko winked at Akane. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep her safe…