warnings: swearing, mentions of murder, and the usual.
author’s note: there’s another chapter!!! hope you guys like it! i wonder if you’ve figured out who the killer is yet… hehe. also there’s things that might be confusing in here, but as usual, it’ll be explained later on! thank u for the support as always <3
The questioning went smoothly. On your end, at least.
“You should thank me.” you yawned as you stepped out of what they called the “interrogation room” (which, really, looked like one, but was a random room in the restricted floors upstairs of the school). You turned to Kunikuzushi, who only huffed as he tried to comb his fingers through his hair. “Without my great acting, they would’ve questioned why you were trying to run away for at least one more hour.”
warnings: swearing, mentions of killing, murders, death and anxiety.
author’s note: it’s been a while. hiya
Kunikuzushi did not like the idea he got the moment he sat down in the makeshift investigation room of Teyvat Academy’s students. He did not like the idea that created in his mind– Or rather, he did not like the way the pieces of the puzzle he’d been trying to solve finally came together, forming something he had thought of before but decided to ignore.
A member of the aforementioned unofficial investigation club being the killer.
Yet, it made sense.
He looked up at you, palm against your desk as you waited for him to speak. Your expression was indifferent, up until then, but the moment you made eye-contact, Kunikuzushi saw you smile. It left as fast as it came, making him question if he’d just imagined it. But it felt real. It felt like you’d read his thoughts. It felt like it was only the two of you in the room, in the world, and that Kunikuzushi had come to a conclusion you knew was right but no one would believe. He felt cornered, stuck, suffocated.
But then,
“What’s up?”
nothing.
He cleared his throat and shook his head a little. “Nothing, sorry.” he said, sighing.
“It’s fine.” you said, sitting down in your chair.
He fiddled with his fingers on top of the center table of the room, gaze fixated on the wooden surface but hazy. His teeth chewed painfully on the inside of his lip. Now, what caused Kunikuzushi such sudden anxiousness, one may wonder?
Logically speaking, only someone already present in Dottore’s room could have killed him. There was no real sign of intrusion, apart from the one the killer had clearly faked to throw off the investigation. But there was something about it that was odd. Dottore was someone who disliked people– That much, Kunikuzushi knew of. He’d known the boy for long enough to have the pleasure of getting to know his antisocial tendencies. Therefore, there couldn’t have been anyone locked with him in his bedroom. So then, the killer would’ve had to come through the window. And to get to his room, you’d either have to be on the same floor as him, or be awfully good at climbing. The way the walls of the school were made rendered it practically impossible for someone to go from down, to up. The walls were too slippery and there was nothing to actually hold on to to get up. The higher floors had a few bricks off, and if you were tall enough, you could hang from your window or balcony and get your feet to touch your downstairs neighbor’s one.
There were only two people capable of achieving such a feat in the school.
“So I stepped over the windowsill and grabbed its edge, and waited for Ajax to leave.”
“Yeah, I can get anywhere with just the school’s windows! It’s pretty easy, as long as my starting point is a room from the upper floor.”
You.AndFischl.
His fingers nervously drummed against the table as he thought. Fischl had nothing of a killer. From the attitude, to the motive. But then again, that was something he couldn’t be sure of. And as annoying as it was, everything about you seemed awfully suspicious in Kunikuzushi’s eyes. He couldn’t help but think about all those times something was off but he overlooked it. And he was certain one person could help him with solving this.
Xiao.
That night, Kunikuzushi stayed back at the investigation room, to search more. And the cycle went on for days on end.
Questioning, questioning, and more questioning. He asked people things. Random things. He asked questions to students and club-members and school staff and even the detectives and the lawyer. He needed something, until his lead would finally come to him. So he gathered informarion, unconsciously trying to get more about you.
It was just as Hu-Tao said. You could practically not get anything about you from asking around the school. A mere picture— Student Council President. Strict but kind. Understanding and hardworking.
But that was only if people didn’t know you.
“[name] has to go see Director Kamisato really often. Once, I was up at night and they were going out of their room at the same time as me. They asked me where I was going and I said I needed some fresh air, and I asked them. They said they had some reports to give him.”
“Uh, well… I dunno. Prez has been attending Teyvat Academy since elementary school, I think. That’s pretty cool, right? Teyvat’s a prestigious school.”
“I know them from kindergarten! Always quiet— Much more than now. Now that I think about it, they always hung out with that green-haired dude. Dunno. They weren’t the same, much less approachable than they are now. Why are you asking, by the way?”
“A-Ah? Nothing, just those stupid Detectives making me run errands.” Kunikuzushi hurried, laughing nervously. “Speaking of, did the Detectives ask a lot about [name] too?”
“Uh… They did, at first, but then not at all anymore.”
“Yeah, I tried talking about the Student Council’s involvement, y’know, hardwork, in all this, and that detective Hu-Tao immediately changed the subject.”
“The Student Council members are totally free of suspicion it seems. I mean, it’s understandable, right?! They are all very great, responsible hard-workers. It’d be unfair to suspect them? No?”
“If you ask me, it’s a bit odd, but I think Prez’ isn’t getting suspected at all.”
Mona Megistus was a friend of yours. Surely, this was gonna lead somewhere. Kunikuzushi tapped his fingers on his phonescreen, “Do you mean they’re getting, like, protected?”
“Yeah. Basically.”
Kunikuzushi furrowed his eyebrows. “By who…”
“Kamisato?” Mona proposed. The boy looked at her with confusion, and she scoffed. “What? Our dear Student Council Prez’s hatred towards the Director could be an act. A disguise. Y’know?”
Kunikuzushi had to tell himself he was much too focused on you after his fifteenth interrogation of the day, and finally started to ask around about Fischl.
But everything about her was… Not fishy at all.
“She’s really bubbly. She spends most of her time creating cool stuff. I think she’s a really cool person.”
“I dunno her really well. She’s a bit of a Chūnibyō, but, well, y’know? It’s cool anyways. Behind her grandiose act and everything, I think she’s a real genius.”
“She helped me fix my drawing tablet once, and ended up adding even more helpful features! She’s really nice. Don’t know what’s up with her and that Oz… Thing? App?… But I like her! She’s very friendly, too.”
“Fischl’s been at Teyvat Academy since the first year of High School, I’m pretty sure. Just like Diluc and most of the Student Council. Except Prez. Y’know, elementary school and all that.”
Argh, how did this somehow go back to youagain?!
After a tiring day of investigating, Kunikuzushi was sitting at the center table of the Investigation Room. He reviewed notes on his phone.
“Hi.”
“Fuck’s sake, [name]! You scared me.”
You laughed. “Sorry. What are you up to? I saw you asking people stuff all around the school while I worked. Investigating?” you asked. He nodded, shifting in his seat a little.
“Yeah, and about that— There’s something I think we should talk about.” It seemed as normal as the rest of the investigation, so he eventually brought it up.
“I think we should start giving out our own alibis.”
Diluc, Fischl, Ajax and you all looked up at him at the same time. Kunikuzushi gulped silently but pushed down his nervousness. It had to go well.
“Yeah.” you said, nearly startling him out of his skin due to the silence before you started speaking. You smiled at him, and it was the exact same as usual, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was off. “We should. Actually, we’ve seriously been overlooking this.”
“I was at Aether and Lumine’s to confirm their statements again around an hour before Dottore was killed.” he said calmly, brewing something that looked more like a mix of drinks than coffee or tea. He looked up at Kunikuzushi and everyone else, “I was in my room at the time of the murder. I’m pretty sure the CCTV shows that.”
“If it wasn’t messed with, then sure.”
It was too quiet for anyone to catch it but Kunikuzushi was sitting close enough to you to hear. You were fiddling with your fingers on top of the table, seemingly smiling to yourself.
“Well, I was in my room the whole time. I had a basketball match in the evening with the rest of the team and went straight to sleep afterwards.” Ajax said. He and the rest of the group were clearly not on good terms after the whole Kaeya situation, but he was still part of the council.
“I was finishing up some reports in my room. Stupid Director asked me to finish them up last minute and I spent most of the night on them.” you stated, smacking your lips and smiling. Then you tilted your head towards Fischl and Kunikuzushi’s gaze sharpened.
“Fischl?”
“Ah? I was fixing some stuff with Oz. I actually added some more functions to him!” Fischl said excitedly, as if she wasn’t just asked for her alibi at the time of a murder. None of the group was really surprised. Kunikuzushi squinted and then looked up at the girl’s face.
“Is this what you’ve been… Tinkering with for days now?” the boy asked, brows furrowed. Fischl had, in fact, been paying more attention to the robot parts on her desk than the files she had to organize for at least a week now. She chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of her neck.
“That’s right. I actually added a PSS to the school.”
“Product-service systems?”
“Post-scriptum scriptum?”
“A private security system, you idiots.” she huffed, then she pointed at the corner of the room ceiling. Kunikuzushi squinted, and slowly shook his head.
“Sorry but, what am I looking at exactly?” he asked.
“Our personal security cameras. Or at least, one of them.” she said. “Since a lot of them are defective around the school and Director Kamisato apparently has no intention to fix them despite the two murders that happened in the school— I decided to make new ones myself!”
Kunikuzushi was extremely impressed, to say the least.
“These babies will not only provide us visual on every single corridor and club room, but also audio input. Add to that, they’re practically invisible, and with how high the walls are in this school, I think it’s a pretty long shot to think anyone would actually notice them.”
“This is invasion of privacy.”
You were the one to say that. Diluc frowned and crossed his arms, leaning against the brewing table in the room. “You’re saying this? It’s out of character of you, [name].”
“No, it’s not.” Kunikuzushi suddenly said, smiling. It was tight and forced but no one noticed. He was an ace at acting, after all. “[name] is an annoying stuck-up fucker, after all. Student Council rules must’ve gotten to their head after all this time.” he joked.
Ajax laughed and Diluc furrowed his eyebrows, gaze lingering on you and Kunikuzushi for a bit longer before looking away. “It’s okay, Fischl. It technically isn’t considered so— None of them are put in club rooms, even less bedrooms. It’s just a normal CCTV system.”
“Aprivate one.” she insisted and Diluc waved her off.
Kunikuzushi’s fists were tight on his legs under the table, gaze fixed on the wooden surface. He slowly brought it up to you, who remained completely silent. You stared at the wall blankly, seemingly displeased.
“[name].”
“What is it, jackass?” you retorted, not looking away.
He furrowed his eyebrows.
Fischl was off the list.
“What reports did the Director want you to finish up exactly?”
“Huh?” you turned to him with a slightly startled look, “Just… Reports. Ones about students’ activity, if you want me to be precise. I have to make them at the end of every month to give to him. Stop acting like I’m suspicious, you idiot.” you ended off with a smirk.
He scoffed and looked away. You hummed, “What about you, Kuni? What’s your alibi?”
He froze a little, put on the spot. Then his eyes widened and his brows furrowed as he turned to you, “I literally reported the murder! You know my alibi already. The police asked me tons of times, too. You were with me!”
“Just saying. Reporting a murder you committed yourself is a technique like one another.” you laughed, “My point is even if someone reports a murder, don’t overlook their involvement in the case just because of that, okay everyone?”
“Got it, Prez’.”
Kunikuzushi understood from the mood, and your smile, that you were just trying to get him to say his own alibi in case him not saying it was brought up against him later, or something of the sort. And maybe as a way of getting back for clearly suspecting you a few minutes before. He clicked his tongue and scoffed a little.
What an idiot. What a stupidly smart idiot.
Twelve hours passed.
It was five in the morning. He waited at the entrance of the school, back leaned against the brick wall and arms crossed. He checked his watch again and scoffed, before looking up. His eyes widened and he pushed himself up.
“You’re here.”
“I’ve already got someone waiting for me on my first day? Are you a guide or something?”
“No. I’m part of— Err, honorary member of the Student Council. I’m here to ask you questions about something that happened a few years ago.” he asked, realizing he sounded like some sort of reporter, then he shook his head. “Sorry, I just need to know your side of the story on something. Several things. It’s important.”
The stranger nodded. Kunikuzushi smiled tightly and held out his hand, “I’m Kunikuzushi.”
“…Xiao.”
“So I’ve heard.”
And that was where the investigation really began.
