Hina had been busy trying to piece together whatever she could about the guy. Since Sayo's death, she had been working nonstop on figuring it out. She was getting somewhere. She had managed to make a connection in terms of location. He only targeted people in certain areas. The ones far away from those areas were fine, even if they were popular.
She made the confirmation that he was indeed targeting people based on ranking for band and guitar. Now, she just had to figure out where he might be living. She knew he was in the area. He had to be. If he was going to target another here, he'd be somewhere nearby.
Hina hadn't made a connection to the other deaths, though. She didn't realize that he had an assistant that would help. Those deaths were just a separate case to her. That could prove to be her downfall if she didn't tread carefully.
Hina had ended up deciding she needed help with this. She could only find so much on her own. Maybe having another person on the team would help. Hina wasn't sure who to talk to about it. Who would be willing to help her out?
Later that day, Hina ended up telling Kaoru about what she was doing. It just slipped out of her mouth while they were talking one day. Kaoru was more than willing to assist her in finding out who was doing it.
The two of them met up and discussed what they had found. They researched whatever they could. It was a slow and tedious process, but it was paying off. Hina felt like they were getting closer to solving the mystery. It was only a matter of time before they found out who the guy was.
Unfortunately, neither knew they had made themselves targets. Well, they would've ended up as targets eventually, but now they had been put on priority. The assistant had caught wind of someone investigating and started searching. He had located the two of them and knew they were behind it.
He had to get rid of them before they found out. So, now he just had to plan how to do so. He knew he had very limited time. They were getting close to figuring it out. That was something he knew he couldn't allow.
Meanwhile, Rokka was extremely panicked. Moca and Sayo hadn't come to tell her what they had learned yet. Rokka tried her best to not let anyone else know what was going on, but she couldn't hide her nerves all that well.
She knew she couldn't tell anyone. That would just cause them all problems. She couldn't bring herself to risk anyone else's life. She had to figure it out on her own.
It was a few hours after Sayo had learned of the time. Her and Moca had gone back to see if there was anything else they could find, but that was all he had written. No matter how much they searched, there was no other information. They didn't know how he planned to do it.
After they finally admitted defeat, they went to tell Rokka what they knew. It wasn't much, but it would help her prepare better. That's what they thought, at least. Both had doubts. Rokka wasn't that strong. It didn't seem likely that she would be able to fight off the guy if it came to that.
They found Rokka hanging out with Poppin' Party. Neither knew how to approach her. How would this work? She'd have to make an excuse to leave. They decided to wait for a bit and see if maybe the others would leave.
After a while, they did. That was a relief to them. Now it was easier to discuss this. They were alone with her. Moca entered the room first. Sayo followed behind her. Rokka jumped slightly as they appeared. They did just walk through a closed door, so they couldn't blame her for being a bit spooked.
"So... you got more info?" Rokka asked quietly.
"Yeah. Not a lot, but a little bit." Sayo nodded.
"What did you find out?"
"He's planning to kill you in two days." Sayo stated.
"When? How?" Rokka gulped.
"Not sure. Well, he only does home ones at night." Moca said.
"So... two days... that's not a lot of time..." Rokka sighed.
"Unfortunately."
"What do you think I could do? There's no way I could fight back..." Rokka mumbled, "I know I'll be too weak to escape if he grabs me."
"The best you can do is hide. If you could make him think you aren't there, you might buy yourself some time. If you could hide and call the cops, he might just get caught." Sayo suggested.
"I'll try. But, there's not really anywhere to hide." Rokka said.
"Make somewhere then. You have two days. Use them." Moca said.
"I'll try." Rokka promised.
"Oi. Who the hell you talkin' to?"
The three of them froze. Looks like they weren't all alone. Rokka had forgotten about Masuki being there. She had been silent the entire conversation, so she had forgotten she was here.
"I um... I was just... um..." Rokka had no idea what to say, "Um..."
Masuki raised an eyebrow at her. Rokka was stuttering as she tried to think of anything to say. Sayo and Moca had nothing to offer. They also had no clue what she could say to her.
"I... I'm talking to some ghosts..." Rokka eventually admitted, "If you'll believe that."
"Honestly, I don't care who you were talking to. Just what the hell were you talking about?" Masuki brushed off the answer.
"Oh... um... just something." Rokka said.
"You were talking about having to hide from someone. What's that all about?" Masuki asked.
"It's nothing." Rokka lied.
"You sounded scared. I don't think it's nothing."
"Maybe you should just run off?" Moca offered.
"That'll make things worse, you idiot!" Sayo whacked her on the back of her head.
"It was just a suggestion." Moca stuck out her tongue.
"There's nothing to worry about. I promise." Rokka said as confidently as she could.
"Who're these ghosts anyway?" Masuki obviously didn't believe her, but decided to leave it at the moment.
"U-um..." Rokka wasn't sure if she should tell her.
"Say you don't know. She doesn't need to know it's us." Sayo said.
"I don't know their names..." Rokka lied.
"Then ask 'em." Masuki stated.
"They left already." Rokka said.
"I don't know what going on with you, but I know something's up." Masuki said, "I'll be keeping a close eye on you."
With that, she left the room. She walked right through Sayo and Moca to leave. Masuki didn't react other than a slight change of expression from the sudden cold.
"That was close..." Rokka sighed once she was sure Masuki had left.
"Yeah." Sayo and Moca nodded.
"If she found out, what would happen?" Rokka asked.
"It depends. If she tries to protect you, she's gonna end up getting killed too. If she investigates and gets somewhere with it, his assistant is going to kill her." Moca explained.
Sayo froze up. She was panicking now.
"What's wrong, Sayo?" Rokka nodded.
Moca glanced over at her, "Yeah. Something wrong?"
"H-Hina's trying to investigate..." Sayo admitted.
"Fuck. That's bad." Moca groaned.
"What should we do?" Sayo asked, "If she's already made progress... stopping now won't change anything..."
"You go see what she's accomplished. We'll continue to think of what to do." Moca waved her off.
"Okay." Sayo didn't need to be told twice.
She rushed home to see what was going on there.
"Can we go to my room?" Rokka asked, "It's more private..."
"Sure. Let's go!" Moca nodded.
The two of them made their way to her room. Once they were inside they continued the conversation.
"Moca, is there a chance he'll attack early?" Rokka asked.
"Yes, there's always a chance." Moca nodded, "But, unless you make him worried, he won't change his plans. Hell, I found a murder scene of his one time and he still took two weeks to kill me after that."
"Really? Why?" Rokka asked.
"Because I told no one. If I had told someone, he definitely would've attacked me sooner. Well, he actually did. If we're right with the way he chooses his target, I should've been third, not you. It should've been Sayo, you, and then me. Moca said.
"I see..." Rokka nodded, "So, um, can you tell me what he did to you?"
"I guess." Moca replied, "He broke into my room and gouged out my right eye. Then he shoved the knife down my throat and twisted it."
"Oh... was... was Sayo's death as bad?" Rokka stammered.
Moca nodded, "Yes. Her throat was cut open and the inside was all cut up."
"While she was alive!?" Rokka's eyes shot open wide.
"Yeah..." Moca nodded solemnly.
"So... my death is going to be... like that?" Rokka asked in fear.
"Most likely." Moca said, "He's done it that way to all his victims."
"I'm scared..." Rokka whimpered.
"I know. Why don't we see what you could use to hide?" Moca suggested.
"Okay." Rokka agreed.
That's what the two of them did. There wasn't much to work with, so they started thinking of things they could put in the room to make a hiding place.
While they were doing that, Sayo was making her way to her house. She was going as fast as she could, but it was pretty far. She was worried. Who knew if she was already a target?
Sayo made it to the house. She ran inside. It felt too quiet. Way too quiet. She ran upstairs and was going to run into Hina's room. She stopped. What she saw was not what she wanted to see.