Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni: Sedai (A Murder Mystery)

[SilentTrinity]

"Done." Jin said as he finished his game of Solitaire. It took him a few tries but he finally did it. He sighed and relaxed in his empty house.
"Maybe I should get a cat or something." he said out loud to make himself not feel so alone. He sat in that house which his parents had payed for and was thinking of memories when he got a phone call. He looked at it for a few minutes. Who would be calling me at this hour? He thought.
"Hello?" He said as he answered the phone. Silence.
"Is anyone there?"
"Be careful this year, Jin." A voice was heard.
"Wait who is this? HEY!" He said as they hung up. What did that person mean by that? Be careful this year, like he wasn't already careful. It must of been a prank call from the nearby city. He hated those people always trying to get a laugh out of someone else misery and time. He sighed as he put down the phone and got up to his balcony and watched the sky.The one thing he loved more than games was the sky.He loved stories about gods and goddesses. Especially about Oyashiro sama. It was a good story that his mother always told him when he wanted to hear about a god or goddesses. It would scare his sister, which she would then hide under the sheets. He on the other hand would sit up attentive to each detail. He was smiling for a minute til he realized that they were gone and he became depressed. His loneliness would end one day. He began to cry as he remembered how they died.
"it..wasn't my fault." he said through a bunch of tears. He then remembered how Keiichi was nice enough to let him come over everyday. It would allow him to forget about his troubles and have fun. Even if Keiichi was a bad gamer. He was like the brother he never had, since Keiichi was always acting like a kid. He laughed at what Keiichi looked like when he was a kid. He had calmed down and he realized that he was in the bathroom and he had punched the mirror. It didn't bleed but the mirror was broken.
"When did I do that?" he asked to himself.

 

[Szayel Aporro]

Four Days have Passed ​

Nana sat rather quietly in her seat, at school. Staring at the clock anxiously for what? So she could rush back into her lonely home and do nothing but watch soap operas all day that reminded her of her mother? So she could stare at the blank walls trying to think of some sort of a solution for the upcoming week?
She knew that her friends were probably going to stay behind and continue the weekly after school club, but, Nana just felt as if she didn't have the energy to do it. She rubbed her eyes, trying to not seem so suspicious.
"Nana, if you're going to sleep all class, perhaps you should go to the medic office so we can call Grantz-sensei."

The blue haired girl's head snapped upwards, looking at the teacher. She shook her head and smiled, "Nono, sensei! I'm fine! See? Hauu!"

A bit of laughter came from the class, obviously humored by Nana's straightforwardness. Nana blushed, but continued to grin, causing even the teacher to chuckle a bit.

Szayel entered the clinic, exhausted, he hadn't been able to sleep; with his troubles with Nana and his very pregnant girlfriend. Heading straight to his desk, he nearly collapsed head first onto it's surface.
He still wasn't finished creating the "final cure" for Hinamizawa Syndrome, since, the disease had mutated and become immune to the former clinic head, Irie's, original vaccination.
He was trying his best to keep all of his patients under control, low on stress levels so they wouldn't go further than level 3, so they wouldn't worry about the murders that had only recently came to an end.

But even he knew that something bigger would happen during the Watangashi Festival.

 

[SilentTrinity]

Jin had been so focused on that days new game that he hadn't heard the laughter that was going on around him. He looked up and, trying to go along with it began to laugh to. He then saw Nana blush, but he could see what truly lay in her heart. Something was bothering her. He sighed and continued to work on his new game that he was trying to make. He had to let the others win today, the game was going to be different due to the club pres was going to use a punishment game on the loser. He began to worry about what it was going to be this time. He shook the thought away. It would happen later. He then realized that he was doing his class work on his game plan. He began to worry only a little when he felt a little uneasy. His head began to hurt.
"Sensei, May I go to the nurse? I'm not feeling so well." He said trying to block out the pain. It was useless.
"Of course Jin."
"Thanks." He said as he walked out of the class room. Since that first day, when he had joined the club he had gotten this major headache. He hoped it was just a normal headache but every time he had the feeling that someone was watching him. He shook the feeling away when he walked into the nurses office. She wasn't there so he began to lay down on the couch. He hoped the headache would go away after a little bit of sleep.

 

[Raiko]

Light laid back at his chair and stared at the ceiling, thinking of a way out of the punishment games should he be the loser once again. The light came through the window and onto he eye. He closed his eyes as the sun penetrated through the clear glass. The light suddenly disappeared and a shadow was in front of him. He opened an eye and saw the Sensei standing in front of his desk, her arms were folded across her chest.
"Light, what are you doing?" she asked lending towards him.
"Umm nothing!" he replied without hesitation.
"Daydreaming again I guess," she chuckled. "Better get on with your work or you'll be staying behind cleaning." She continued her round going over to Nana's desk.
"Nana, if you're going to sleep all class, perhaps you should go to the medic office so we can call Grantz-sensei."
"Nono, sensei! I'm fine! See? Hauu!"

The class let out some giggles and carried on with their work.
Light sat up and looked at the clock; he tapped his pencil on the table.

Tick tock tick tock

He sighed in boredom and rested his face on the cool desk. He closed his eyes and waited for the bell to ring.

----------------------

Seto was sat on his royal blue swivel chair, sipping his hot coffee. Someone knocked on the door and he spilt some of the hot liquid on his clothes. As the coffee travelled down his clothes and touched his skin, he jumped and fell off his chair, spilling the rest of his coffe on the carpet.
"Oh damn." he cursed and wiped off the table and the carpet. He looked over the desk and found that the file got soaked through. His eyes widened in fear. He took it off the table and flicked through it with a hairdryer he found in the drawer. Nevertheless, the ink was now nothing but a huge ink blot. "That's even worse!"

 

[Szayel Aporro]

The bell would ring at any second, any second. But not soon enough. After humiliating herself in front of the class.
The throbbing headache, the anticipation.

"Okay, class dismissed."

Students looked around the room, no bells had rang, the head of the school hadn't come around to dismiss them. Just what was going on?
Though, they didn't question with her authority, so the students all silently headed out of the classroom.

"Nana... can I speak with you a minute?"

"Huh?" Nana turned around, finding the teacher with her arms folded across her chest, looking quite remorsefully towards her.

"Nana, I'm worried about you. As far as we know... you're not living with any adults, after the death of your mother... And I know about the Watangashi Festival... you must be scared..."

"I'm fine, sensei. Really. It's when people worry about me that I get stressed out. Thank you for your concern though, Sensei!"

"But Nan..."
Nana had already ran outside.

Honestly, she didn't mind when people were concerned for her, but it just seemed like her life lately.
Running to catch up to her friends, she had noticed that they were all stopped, and beyond the crowd of comrades was Szayel-sensei.
What was he doing there? What did he want?

Szayel sighed, with his arms folded over his chest, staring towards the ground. He wanted to make this short and to the point.
Hinamizawa Syndrome, watching as Nana ran to catch up with her friends, he waited to start.

 

[SilentTrinity]

When Jin woke up he looked around to see no one was there. He then saw that the clock said that school was over.
"Well, I feel a little better now." He mumbled to himself. He got his backpack and began to head outside where he saw his friends grouping around Syzayel, the head of the clinic. He was wondering why he was here. It was odd for him to be out of his office working on some sort of vaccine for a certain disease but Jin never really asked him what it was. He shrugged his shoulders and went towards the group wondering what he had to say to them.

 

[Death]

Hiro came Into Seto's office. He saw how he spilled his coffee all over himself his rug. " Ha you don't like it when your RUG is dirty huh. Your lucky i can't demote you. I still smell the Soda scent my car." Hiro said in an angry passion. He sat on the chair in front of Seto's desk. " This week has been dull. There have been no cases whatsoever. THe only case we had was the Keiichi case that came out as a dud. Well at least the Festival is closing up. "

 

[Zeph]

The small bell attached to the door of the clinic rang, announcing somebody’s entrance. Glancing up from the paperwork she had busied herself with, Ryo saw the tall, pink-haired head of the clinic whom she still referred to as ‘Grantz-sensei’, because despite him being a year younger than herself, he was still her boss. Chiming in a quiet greeting, she noticed, as he passed, that he had some rather significant shadowing under his eyes. Golden eyes blinking once, she stared after him for a few minor seconds after he breezed into his office, wondering if she should offer to make him a cup of tea or perhaps coffee.

Brrring. Brrring.

The harsh ring of the telephone brought the woman out of her thoughts, and she reached out to answer the phone before it could disturb Grantz-sensei. It was a brief conversation, the gist of it being that there was a student who was in need of some assistance at the school infirmary. She glanced back and forth from the office door to the window, wondering if she should disturb Grantz-sensei to let him know she would be going. After all, there was still another nurse or two even in this small-town clinic, but in the end, she decided that it was only right to let her boss know. Tapping lightly on the door, Ryo opened it slightly and poked her head in. “Excuse me sensei, there has been a call from the school requesting a nurse. It appears one of the students isn’t feeling well, so I’ll be taking the call, if that‘s all right with sensei.” She bowed before closing the door, and then exited the clinic.
In a small town such as this during the summer, there was really no need for a car. Or at least she had never seen the need for a motor vehicle, when using it to go such short distances would only be a waste of gasoline and money, so Ryo’s preferred mode of transportation was her bicycle. It was efficient enough, and it let her enjoy the pleasant feelings of summer. Such were her thoughts as she pedaled her way towards the Hinamizawa school buildings and before she knew it, she had reached her destination.

She stepped quickly but lightly through the hallways, and when she arrived at the school’s clinic, she found the lights were already on. Judging by the door standing slightly open as well, it was obvious that the student in question had already entered, which didn’t bother her in the slightest. Still though… it might be best to knock first… just in case.
No answer. Perhaps the student had come and gone? Taking a quick peek inside, she saw that the room was indeed empty; maybe the student had just used being ill as an excuse to skip class. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t any of her concern any longer so she flipped the light switch off and exited the building. To her surprise, there stood Szayel-sensei.

FINALLY POSTEDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Raiko]

((OOC: OMG Zephyr thats one long, detailed post ))

"Okay, class dismissed."
Light's head snapped up in surprise and looked around. The bell hadn't rung but the Sensei said it so it must be true. Everybody got up and silently walked out of the room, Light quickly got up from his chair and nearly knocked over the desk. He grabbed the table leg and placed it down flat on the floor again. He felt that someone was watching him so he smilled casually, his hands behind his back and ran out.

Light grabbed his shoes and put them on outside the entrance and saw a familiar figure up ahead of him. He had shoulder lenght pink hair, and white angular glasses; the lenses reflected off the sunlight. Light walked towards the doctor and heard footsteps coming from behind him. He glaned back and saw Nana sprinting her way towards him and his friends. He stopped and looked infront of him.

"Szayel-sensei?"

--------------------------------

"Ha you don't like it when your RUG is dirty huh. Your lucky i can't demote you. I still smell the Soda scent my car."
"Of course not Hiro, How would you like it if you spilt paint all over your car?" Seto laughed. He lifted his legs up and placed them on the table. He leaned back on his chair and thought about something
"How the heck can Keiichi be alive and have a death report file?" he thought to himself. Then Hiro spoke and he sat up properly on his chair and turned serious.
" This week has been dull. There have been no cases whatsoever. THe only case we had was the Keiichi case that came out as a dud. Well at least the Festival is closing up."
"We better watch out for that. I've read that when someone goes missing, someone else would die. In some cases, like, two people goes missing, two people will die. I think we should take precaution."

 

[Szayel Aporro]

He couldn't even keep himself up straight, nearly falling over with each step he took. He finally found a comfortable tree to rest on, but by the time he had relaxed, the kids that were more familiar with him came up to him. Of course, if a doctor was there, something was up.
His heart nearly broke when he saw all of their confused faces, and when Nana came up to him; they had all been going through hard times. And he wasn't sure what this would do to them, especially the older kids who would probably take the news much harder and seriously than the younger ones.
'Szayel-sensei?' Light finally broke the ice.

"Oh, I was a bit zonned out, forgive me..." He muttered, shifting his weight onto both of his feet. "Um... I need to talk to you about something."


Nana linked her hands behind her back, looking around innocently at the others, and then to Szayel. She knew what was coming. But why now? Even she knew that just bringing up this news would stress everybody out to an even more extreme.
Baka, baka, baka, baka!

"Sensei, this isn't the best time..."

Szayel ignored her, it was the only chance; have everyone injected now before things got out of hand.

"I'm sorry, Nana; but this is important." He sighed, looking towards the distance, he saw the nurse who worked at his clinic there too. Ryo.

Maybe now wasn't the time for going on about the disease.

"Hinamizawa Syndrome, have any of you ever... heard of it?"

 

[Death]

Hiro noticed that Seto was right. " We need to sort of watch what's going on in the Festival without ruining the party with millions of policemen outside. We should put some surveillance cameras.And we should be in the festival ourselves. We do need a little break. And we can also look for any Suspicious people lurking in the shadows. " Hiro said as he tried to make up an excuse to go. He began to wonder who he should go with. " Since we are going to the festival who are you going with Seto ? " Hiro asked.

 

[SilentTrinity]

"Hinamizawa Syndrome, have any of you ever... heard of it?"

Jin froze at the mention of that name. Why would that trigger some reaction in him? Well due to the fact that he had learned about it From Keiichi. Keiichi talked about it once when they were playing a long game. He mentioned it then became silent. When asked about it, Keiichi changed the subject and then lost the game. Jin had felt weird about how his parents old friend had acted that way towards this disease. It was in fact a native disease to the town and was found in every person living there. He had known about it from Keiichi and discovered something odd. Nana's mother was apart of the disease. Though all the information about it was hushed up. He shook his head back from his thoughts and began to think why he would mention it. It really wasn't a good idea to talk about such a disease and tell the little kids about it. The stress of knowing such a thing was hard to deal with especially to the older ones, who took it much more serious then the younger kids. He looked to see that Nana was uncomfortable about hearing Syazel talk about it. Most likely due to the fact that her mother was involved in the research of the disease. He gulped some saliva and began to form words.
"What is it Syazel-sensei?" Jin asked a little curiously. True the mention of the disease was odd and he didn't care much about it, but if the head of the clinic came down to discuss the thing then something must of happened.

 

[Zeph]

Ryo was relatively baffled as to what Szayel was doing here; if he had to check up on a student, he could have asked her to do so since she was already going to be here… Her thoughts continued in that manner while she continued to stand there, pondering what sensei was up to. He did not look as if he were feeling very well either, so he really should be resting so he wouldn‘t become ill. Wagging her head from side to side, Ryo began stepping forward into the crowd of students to see what was going on.

"Hinamizawa Syndrome, have any of you ever... heard of it?"

B-bmp.

Hearing the name of that dreaded disease stopped the woman in her tracks momentarily. Her mind raced back to the winter she had turned eight and unconsciously, her hand slipped up to her throat; she could still feel the knife cutting through her skin as if it had taken place seconds ago. Even though everyone had said it had nothing to do with Hinamizawa Syndrome, mothers did not just slice their daughter’s throats on a whim. But maybe the woman really had just gone insane. Inhaling sharply, Ryo returned to reality. Szayel-sensei was going to discuss Hinamizawa Syndrome with the students when he was clearly feeling out of sorts like this? What would he do if they grew overly alarmed and began to panic? Moreover, why was he choosing now of all times to bring that up? It was obvious that something was going on. She caught herself though, and shook her head slightly as she realized that it was not her place to question him. It would probably be best if she were to return to the clinic, but she was mildly curious to see what Szayel had to say. She was a grown woman and could fully handle whatever it was about the disease he had to say. Besides, he had seen her; she noticed that and hoped that she wouldn’t be reprimanded for shirking her duties at the clinic due to curiosity.

 

[Raiko]

"Hinamizawa Syndrome, have any of you ever... heard of it?"

Light stared blankly at Szayel for a moment, and looked around at this other friends. Most of them were quite shocked at the mention of this disase. He didn't know what was going on, however, he remembered that he had such a large collection of books that he must have come across the Hinamizawa Syndrome. Still, with only that tiny amount knowledge about it. Why would he ask about this now? With only a couple of days until the festival, maybe something thats connected with this will happen.

"What is it Syazel-sensei?"
"Yeah, and does this have anything to do with us?" Light suspiciously asked.

-------------------------------

We need to sort of watch what's going on in the Festival without ruining the party with millions of policemen outside. We should put some surveillance cameras.And we should be in the festival ourselves. We do need a little break. And we can also look for any Suspicious people lurking in the shadows. " Hiro said as he tried to make up an excuse to go. He began to wonder who he should go with. " Since we are going to the festival who are you going with Seto ? "

"And where in this village would you find surveillance cameras in time for the festival?" Seto asked curiously. "I think we should go in person there anyway...so that i dont spill anything on your car. I dont actually know who im going with. Maybe you?"
Seto pushed himself away frm the table and spun around on his swivel chair like a little child. He stood up and walked to a book shelf on a corner of the room. He ran his finger across the books until he reached a certain one: "History of Hinamizawa". He flicked it open to where a blue tag was and scanned the page for something and gave it to Hiro.
"Have you read this? Im sure you know about it since you were born from here, but a recap won't hurt."

 

[Finland]

A green-haired, slender figure was lying on the living room couch, covered with several blankets, her head on top of two soft pillows. She was as pale as snow, her emerald eyes having dark rings below them. She looked fragile and weak, yet her eyes were wide open; she glanced around the room all the while, her gaze never stopping. She could hear it, walking around her, whispering her name, blowing cool air into her face... It didn't go away, not when she closed her eyes, not when she blocked her ears. She was frightened, yet somehow she wanted to be near that something which was haunting her so. It was comforting and scary at the same time - as if feeling completely safe in the middle of danger.

"Kiki-chan, I have to go to school now..." a small voice was heard from the door. "Mommy will make you some food when she wakes up." Masako gave her sister a small, encouraging smile. "Will you be alright?"
Sakiko looked at her sister in a pleading way, wanting her to stay. She was afraid of being alone in this state. Masako sighed, shook her head, and waved goodbye. Sakiko clutched the blanket, a shiver running down her spine.

"Wake up, mom..." she whispered with a weak voice, looking around her frantically as she heard the footsteps again. "...please wake up..."

***

Masako walked out of the school building, smiling cheerfully as always. Fortunately she hadn't remembered what had happened during the paintball war four days ago; when she had come home and seen her twin crying on her mother's lap, as white as a ghost, she had been deeply confused. Mion, being informed by the memory loss by Szayel, had explained that Sakiko was just in shock because Masako had fallen and hit her head during the game badly. She had believed her mother, not brining out the subject anymore. The next morning, when she went to wake up Sakiko, she wasn't in her bed. After a while of searching she found her sitting in the corner of the living room, curled in a ball, her arms wrapped around her legs, muttering silently as tears fell down her pale cheeks. From that day on, Sakiko had stayed home, not going to school or outside. Mion said that she was very sick - when Masako asked what could have caused it, her mother lied again, saying she didn't know and quickly changing the subject. Masako was slightly suspicious because of the way Mion was acting... yet she didn't want to ruin the beautiful day by thinking about saddening stuff like that.

Still, she couldn't avoid bad things that day.

Masako tilted her head in surprise, as she saw the town doctor, Szayel, standing in the middle of a small crowd of children. The shyness she had felt at the clinic came back as she saw the pink-haired man - still, she walked closer. He must have important news...

"Hinamizawa Syndrome, have any of you ever... heard of it?"

Masako had reached the group of people, her body stiffening as she heard Grantz-sensei talk about the disease Mion had mentioned to her a few years ago. She didn't quite know what it was, but it sounded like a horrible thing. Looking around, she saw confused and shocked faces, as well as the new assisant of the town doctor - Aihara-san. She started to hear questions, asked by Light and Jin.
"What is it Szayel-sensei?"
"Yeah, and does this have anything to do with us?"

Masako wanted to hear his reply, gently shoving herself closer towards Szayel. As she made her way through the children, a thought formed in her mind. A terrible thought, something she didn't want to think about, yet what could be true.
What if Sakiko has the Syndrome?

 

[Death]

"And where in this village would you find surveillance cameras in time for the festival?"" Technology these days my dear friend." Hiro said as he laid back into the chair and began to close his eyes.
"I think we should go in person there anyway...so that i don't spill anything on your car. I don't actually know who I'm going with. Maybe you?" " I'm thinking we should go in our own cars. I don't want to have the same accident .. AGAIN ! " Hiro said looking at Seto with a serious and angry face. " I don't know. I'm trying to find a date. Not a lot of Women here. " He said.

"Have you read this? Im sure you know about it since you were born from here, but a recap won't hurt."
" Oh yes History of Hinamizawa. In Elementary school they made us read a the whole text book on our history. It was boring. But i learned a lot. And I learned to NEVER EVER read this town's history again." He said throwing the Folder back at Seto's face. " I don't need to learn about history right now. It's too boring." Hiro said looking around the office.

 

[Raiko]

" I'm thinking we should go in our own cars. I don't want to have the same accident .. AGAIN ! "
"I said I was sorry!" Seto reminded Hiro.
"I don't know. I'm trying to find a date. Not a lot of Women here."
"Well be more social or find a date ON the night or before that," he suggested.
Seto watched as Hiro flicked through the whole history and aimed for Seto's face. The folder whirled through the air and he lifted his hand to catch it. The force pushed it against his face and whacked him on the nose.
" Oh yes History of Hinamizawa. In Elementary school they made us read a the whole text book on our history. It was boring. But i learned a lot. And I learned to NEVER EVER read this town's history again."
"Well THAT'S boring." Seto looked at his watch and placed the book and file back to the shelf where it belonged. "We have to do our rounds now"

 

[Szayel Aporro]

"What is it Szayel-sensei?"(FIX'D)
"Yeah, and does this have anything to do with us?"

He cringed, eye twitching. Even thinking about the syndrome put him in one of his most vulnerable moments. Just about everybody in this god forsaken town suffered from that damn disease; even himself. Just bringing up the subject made him seem himself covered in his own brothers blood.
Szayel didn't want to make them panic, but they had to know about it. To save themselves from any type of danger that they were in. If one of them were hallucinating, they would know to stay away from the one infected.

"You see... everybody who was born in Hinamizawa, even if you left for a long time... is infected. Though... most people who leave Hinamizawa don't usually survive very long outside of town..."
He said, looking at the others.

"And those... who are stressed for a long time get these... symptoms. I would know... I suffered from them a while ago..."

What was he going on about?! What was he doing?! Grantz-sensei new very well that if he were to go on about the disease, it would only cause the children to panic and create chaos throughout the town.
Before the festival.

What she didn't know was that he suffered from the disease.
"...You... had the disease?"

Oh great, and Nana knew that it was her families fault for the disease. That damn demon blood that ran through her veins caused it.

 

[Raiko]

Light listened carefully as Szayel-sensei explained about this disease. He stared at the doctor in confusion. he looked around to see people's faces, then the doctor spoke.
"You see... everybody who was born in Hinamizawa, even if you left for a long time... is infected. Though... most people who leave Hinamizawa don't usually survive very long outside of town..."
The thought of people going mad, people who massacre other people, people bleeding heavily as if was a red waterfall and people being oblivious rushed into Light's head. "What if one of us was to turn into a psycomaniac because of the Hinamizawa Syndrome?" He asked himself. He suddenly realised that he didn't know were he came from. He could have been born in this village, could he have this disease in him? "No, Wait...Am I..."
"Sakiko has the Hinamizawa Syndrome...hasn't she?" Light asked as he cockced an eyebrow and crossed his arms across his chest. "She has experienced level 3."

 

[Zeph]

"You see... everybody who was born in Hinamizawa, even if you left for a long time... is infected. Though... most people who leave Hinamizawa don't usually survive very long outside of town..."
He said, looking at the others.

"And those... who are stressed for a long time get these... symptoms. I would know... I suffered from them a while ago..."

Ryo had stayed back to listen, but now she wondered if perhaps that hadn’t been such a good idea. She was old enough to remember killings taking place during the Watangashi Festival… and the reports were never pleasant. What was it about this little town? As a grown, mature woman she no longer believed in things such as curses, but these circumstances were enough to make anyone wonder. No, she didn’t want to be here in this crowd of children, listening as Szayel-sensei unintentionally dredged up all the old memories. She knew most of the details about the disease and didn’t want to hear about it again; she wanted to sit down with a hot cup of tea and forget. But she knew that wasn’t possible. No one in the quaint, peaceful town of Hinamizawa could ever forget the dark secret lurking just below the surface. Regardless, Ryo could figure out that what Szayel was doing now, he did for the sake of the students… so that they would know and be aware. That had to be his reason, because she was looking directly at him, and he wasn’t having an easy time discussing this. No, the children here were older, and wouldn’t panic. She didn’t need to be here any longer-

"Sakiko has the Hinamizawa Syndrome...hasn't she?" Light asked as he cockced an eyebrow and crossed his arms across his chest. "She has experienced level 3."

“What?” she murmured, surprised at this. Someone had already experienced Level 3 of the disease? Though she didn’t know Sakiko personally, this was a small town where everyone pretty much knew everyone so she recognized the name and could picture the girl’s face. Ryo had stopped making her way out of the small crowd, and turned to look at the boy who had made this statement. Light Yagami. How was it that he knew the girl had gone to Level 3 if she didn’t even know that? Maybe they were close friends and he had been told? Vaguely alarmed, Ryo directed her gaze back to Szayel to see what he would say to this.