20 anguishing minutes go by before the ambulance arrives, despite my efforts to keep him from bleeding out, Kintaro is dead… and with him the secret, now I see the limits that these puppets are pushed, the level of manipulation the killer plays in them is too high. Without more to do I leave the body for the specialists to examine, then I head to the restrooms of the school to wash my hands.
-Guty: …
As I wash my hands my gaze is lost on the water before me and how the blood from Kintaro sweetly blends on it, in that moment hundreds of questions go through my head which… cannot remain unanswered. Once I finish washing my hands I go to the principal's office, there are some inquires I need to make, I go through the halls of the school peacefully now that Kintaro is dead, I must start again… I need to break this infinite loop that makes me go back over and over again to the beginning, otherwise… it will never end.
When I arrive to the office of the principal, I find it crowed to the top, I think it is because the incident that just occurred… I could interrupt him and ask for an audience but that would be imprudent of me, I think it is best not to draw to much attention... so I will take the opportunity to investigate a bit more about the mysterious boxes that they placed inside the cafeteria, I have the feeling that it is something I should know.
-Guty: Let's see…
I take a seat on a couch just outside the office and take out my laptop. Finding in some browser will only make my research slower, the best choice is to look directly into the records of the pharmaceutical industry.
-Guty: The route seems to be encrypted…
Using my informatic skills I manage to penetrate the firewall into the industry archives finding the full file about the medicine << The benzodiazepines are psychotropic medicines that act on the central nervous system, with sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic, anticonvulsive, amnesic and muscle relaxing effects. For that, the benzodiazepines are used in medicine to treat anxiety, insomnia, and other affective states, as well as epilepsy, alcoholic abstinence, and muscle spasm>> I cannot believe what I am reading…
Now I understand it all, the reason why the students have not gone mad yet despite being under such stressful situations…, it is because of this that everyone in school no matter what happened they go back to their daily tasks as if nothing happened, it is incredible that they reach this point so that no one speaks up. Medicating the students behind their backs is an attempt to their integrity.
-Principal: Agent Guty?
-Guty: Principal, I was looking for you.
-Principal: Please, come inside.
-Guty: Alright…
I quickly save the file about the medicine and put the computer on sleep mode to continue the investigation later, then I covertly put away my laptop in my backpack to access the principal's office.
-Principal: I imagine you are here to talk about Kintaro.
-Guty: Indeed…, with his death, truth died with him.
-Principal: It is a shame that young Kintaro perished but lamenting will accomplish nothing, it is best to start again.
-Guty: I am glad to see you take things with such optimism, you almost made me believe you.
-Principal: Even if you find it difficult to believe Agent Guty, I only want what's best for this school.
-Guty: The best for the school you say…
I slowly approach his desk, it is incredible how he paints himself as the hero saying all this garbage, when his actions demonstrate otherwise, the way I see it, he has the highest chance to be the killer, however I have never based myself on mere speculation, until I have consistent proof, I cannot confront him directly…
-Guty: The best for the school or for your pocket?
-Principal: What?!
My comment did not seem to sit well with him, but what I said was not out of place… I am not blind to not realize that somehow, he's profiting from keeping this school operating…
-Principal: How dare you insinuate that I receive illicit money?
-Guty: Please… Do you really believe this is my first job with the agency? I have seen what money does to people and believe me it never ends well for them…
-Principal: Do you have any evidence that proves this claim of yours?
-Guty: My job is not to prove whether or not you enrich yourself with illicit money, my job is to catch the murderer that is behind all this… but trust me that if I wanted to find proof against you, it would not be such a hard thing to do.
Each one of my words seems to fall on him like a bucket of ice-cold water, his face shows the anger burning within him, however he prudently decides to not continue with this conversation and changes the subject.
-Principal: And… what would you like to know about Kintaro, I think you already know of his tragic passing.
-Guty: I want to know if he had any close ties with any teacher in the school, a tutor, or a coach perhaps.
-Principal: Kintaro did not bond much with the teachers… he was always a lonely student, even failed to attend the meetings with his tutor to evaluate his performance, there where even some occasions I sent him to the school's psychologist, but he found nothing wrong with him.
-Guty: Hmm… another dead end, ah…
A small sigh escapes my mouth, despite the recent events, the progress on this mission is not what I expected, I am moving slower than I thought, although I also must consider that this is my third day in this place, I guess it is still too soon to have proof of solid evidence…
-Guty: By the way principal…
-Principal: Yes agent…
-Guty: This morning I saw some strange trucks entering the school… I followed them and I noticed the materials they were transporting.
-Principal: Those were supplied for the nursing office…
-Guty: Oh… yeah, I see, although I find the way that you store the medicine a bit strange.
-Principal: What do you mean?
-Guty: The kitchen is not precisely a good place to keep these medicines…, and as far as I know benzodiazepine doesn't really add a good flavor.
-Principal: What are you saying?
-Guty: This morning some trucks entered the school transporting benzodiazepine; they unloaded it on the school kitchen and administered it on the food they serve on the cafeteria.
-Principal: I cannot believe what you are telling me agent Guty, the cooks are medicating the students? Who would do something like that?
-Guty: I wonder the same thing sir, why? Who ordered this? And just now my main suspect is…you.
-Principal: What are you insinuating, now you believe I am the killer?
The wrath of the principal explodes inside his office, in a frenzy he pushes down his desk and all the papers on top of it, but despite his anger I remain still and only abstain myself to watch. Until he manages to pull himself together...
-Principal: I have ordered no such thing, I have only asked for the resupply of the nursing office, nothing more, I was not aware of all that.
-Guty: Then… if you were not aware will you help me find the one guilty of this, right?
-Principal: Without a doubt agent Guty, I will clean my name and will help you find the one responsible. Let us go to the cafeteria in this instant and sort this out once and for all.
-Guty: Sounds good to me…
Without another word we step out of the office and head over to the cafeteria, the principal is trying to act as natural as possible, but I can see in his face that he is nervous he even started sweating, which is a clear symptom of his nervousness, I think I should push him a bit more…
-Guty: You know that the discovery of this could solve the mystery of the school…
-Principal: Are you sure?
-Guty: I am 60% sure.
-Principal: Just because of the medicine? Benzodiazepine has a calming effect; how could that negatively affect the students?
-Guty: I see you know the medicine well principal…
-Principal: It was prescribed to me during some very stressful days by the school nurse.
-Guty: Oh… I see, I'll explain you how this can easily be turned around, from tranquilizing the students to turning them into cold blooded killers…
-Principal: Go ahead.
-Guty: I wonder how hard could it be, to change the <
-Principal: That sounds very convincing…
-Guty: However, if I am wrong and this was about different people… that does not mean that medicating people behind their backs is not illegal. A couple of years ago a medical health institution medicated a patient without his consent causing him death, upon the discovery of this a trial was carried out were the judge dictated 200,000 euros fine to the institution for such aggression against their patient… and condemned the responsible to a lifetime in jail, now if we multiply this for each student in this school, I think… now you understand the gravity of the situation, don't you Mr. principal…?
-Principal: I perfectly understand agent Guty… and I will cooperate with you in everything I can to catch the one responsible for this.
-Guty: That's good to know…
His face has turned pale, I thing he is even more nervous now than before, however he is cooperating quite much with me despite my suspicions about him, although it is also worth mentioning that he has always cooperated since my arrival to this school, which is why I never suspected about him, that could be a relatively easy way to stay in my blind spot…, but there is something that does not add up, this is getting very controversial… Could the principal of the school be the murderer? If you analyze it from the point of view were the principal is guilty of such thing, a lot of things could fit in this puzzle, first one being the silencing of the media through the support he has of the Japanese government to continue creating super-entrepreneurs, using as a smoke screen the excuse that he does not want a bad reputation on the school and with that he could continue with his criminal life without anyone noticing, he would be manipulating the government, the school and everything around him…
Sounds very convincing does it not? Now if we put over the table the fact that this new incident with the medicine, secretly behind their backs so they do not fall into depression or anxiety by these cold-blooded acts also hiring a psychologist who can treat the students that do get traumatized and channel that to convert them in super-entrepreneurs… seems like a perfect plan… does it not? However, things are not so easy… a criminal of this caliber would not create such a weak defense with all these years that he had to settle in his own territory; Perhaps the principal is behind the medication of the students, but I do not believe he is the responsible of all those deaths…
-Principal: We have arrived at the kitchen agent Guty, I will call the cooks immediately.
-Guty: Ok.
Without wasting time the principal takes care of gathering the workers of the kitchen, although maybe he will use this scheme to get away from my sight and hide the true responsible of the kitchen.
-Principal: I have been informed that you are combining the food from the cafeteria with some sort of medicine, Is this true!?
-Cook: Principal… we were only doing as we were told; we didn't know why we were doing it, we were just following orders…
-Guty: Where is the office of the head cook?
-Principal: It is just by the door on the left.
-Guty: Thank you.
When I arrived at the door I verify if its locked…, seems like it is open so I go inside and I see that there is no one there but I find many documents regarding the medication aside from receipt signatures with the name <
>, look at that, so clever she did not sign any of these documents with her name, I think they knew that sooner or later this could happen and they took their security measures, one mystery leads me to another… I will have to write this down in my notepad << Once again I find myself between two paths, I can take and both with a big chance to be certain, on one side is the principal as the murderer and another with the actual one making the principal look like the guilty one to deceive me>>.-Principal: Agent Guty, have you found anything?
-Guty: I want all possible information about the head cook…
-Principal: Good, I will have it in a couple of hours.
-Guty: I will call the agency, so they get rid of all this medicine.
-Principal: Very well…
After 20 minutes undercover agents from the Japan agency arrive to clean the kitchen, I remain there to supervise for a while. While doing so an agent asks me about what happen to which I answer << They were medicating the students without their consent>> the agent could not hide his expression of surprise in his face and at the same time of anger, I asked him what the sentence could possibly be against whoever did something like this to which he answered << Probable would be hanged>> in that moment I remembered that Japan has the capital sentence. Japan is a very strict country, it does not have sympathy for those who choose to break the law, they even wanted to apply the capital sentence on minors but after the signing of the rights of the children and the international pact for civil rights, it prohibits the executions for crimes committed by underaged people, Japan established the minimal acceptable age for applying the capital sentence to be the 18 years of age,
I find it very strange that such a strict country like Japan would want to sacrifice the life of young students to keep the one of a criminal that creates super-entrepreneurs from the collateral damage of his crimes…; I do not want to dive deeper into this matter so I will leave it be …
The authorities finally removed all the medicine from the kitchen and disposed of all the food made with them. Despite all the police movement the classes continued without interruption, it took me nearly three hours to finish all the paperwork and reports about the case aside from helping with the kitchen cleaning. It is almost 12 in the noon, and I told Akasha that I would go and see her fight in the school Gymnasium, but it is too late now, I think I have missed it, I will apologize later; After finishing with everything and receiving the thanks from the Japanese police department I am heading back to my classroom. When I walk in I arrive at the sight of the corpses of two students brutally massacred.
-Guty: What the…!?