The first lesson of the day is English. But instead of
focusing on the foreign language in front of us, Raiden and I spend the whole
lesson compiling a list of potential suspects. Girls we believe - or at least,
Raiden believes - could be behind the letter. Neither of us has any proof at
all that the sender really is a student from our school - or, for that matter,
a girl - but it's the only possibility either of us can think of. Whoever this
person is, they must know me from somewhere. Where else but school?
"It might be someone from the photography
club," suggests Raiden.
"This school has a photography club?" I
honestly didn't know that. I can understand Raiden's train of thought there,
though.
"Yeah, of course," says Raiden. "I mean,
they took all those photos of you, right? A photography club member would be
pretty good at that sort of thing."
"I guess so," I say, shrugging. "But why
send them to me?"
Raiden thinks about this one for a moment. "You know…
I'm not too sure about that one," he says eventually. "I guess, maybe
she just wants to show you how much she cares about you or something."
"And… how is sending me photos of me in my sleep
going to achieve that?" I ask.
"It's not," says Raiden bluntly. "But from
the sounds of it, she's nuts, so…" He shrugs, letting the sentence hang in
mid-air.
"Okay, fair enough," I admit. "So, the
photography club members are in the frame. Anyone else?" We think for a
few moments, and then, as I recall my initial suspicion, I'm struck by a sudden
thought. "What if whoever's doing this is just doing it to get to
me?" I suggest. "Like… they're not really obsessed with me or
anything, they just wanna get a reaction outta me."
"You mean like a prank?" says Raiden.
"If this is just a prank, it's going a bit too
far," I tell him, "but… yeah, something like that." I neglect to
mention that my initial suspicion was that Raiden was pranking me.
"Hmm… well, I guess it's possible," admits
Raiden. "I mean, if they're just trying to spook you, I dare say it's
working so far."
"It is," I assure him.
Raiden pauses for a moment, thinking. "Maybe it's
Harumi," he suggests. "She likes dicking with people."
"In both senses of the word," I remark, and we
share a quiet chuckle at my crude joke.
Harumi Nakata is the queen bitch of the third year.
Depending on who you ask, she's either the most popular girl in school, or the
most hated girl in school. She abuses her popularity in order to get her own
way. Even the teachers bend to her will most of the time. She has these two
girls that follow her around and do whatever she tells them to, out of sheer
adoration or something. It's kinda sad.
"Alright," says Raiden, "so, any other
initial suspects you can think of?"
I think for a moment more. "Uhh… no, not really.
No-one that springs to mind, anyway. I think, really, we need some kind of
lead. Something to point us in the right direction."
Raiden flashes me a confident smile. "Well, I think
I know a good place to start." He turns to the girl sitting in the seat on
the other side of him. "Psst! Hey! Meiko!"
Meiko turns round quickly to face him. "Yes,
Raiden?"
"You're in the photography club, right?" asks
Raiden. Ah, so that's how he know there was a photography club.
Meiko puffs out her chest, looking at us with a proud
expression on her face. "In it? I run it!"
"Great," says Raiden. "Could you get us a
list of all the girls in the photography club, please? Me and Ken are doing
some investigating."
"Ooh, is that so?" asks Meiko, intrigued.
"May I ask what you're investigating?"
Raiden glances at me before answering, seeking my
approval. I rpomptly shake my head. I don't want Meiko to know what's going on,
for two reasons. Firstly, she's pretty loud and talkative. If we told her, it'd
be five minutes before everyone else in the school knew, and I just couldn't deal
with that. Secondly, since she's a photographer herself, there's still a slim
chance that she's the one who took the photographs, and that she's the stalker.
It's only a slim chance, I know. But I can't rule anything out yet.
Raiden turns to give her the bad news. "Nope,"
he says. "Sorry."
"I see," says Meiko. "Well, I'll get you
the names at break. Have fun with your investi-"
The teacher suddenly clears his throat rather loudly,
glaring in our direction. Me and Raiden are pretty good at whispering, but
Meiko… not so much. She quickly flushes red and goes back to her work, and me
and Raiden do the same, putting our thoughts of the stalker to one side for
now.
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