Spiral: Bond of Reasoning
Mystery of the Blade Children

“The Blade Children?” Sora asked nervously.

Sora wondered if these two knew about Keyblades, but the way Ayumu had said “Blade” was very distasteful, implying the “Blade Children” were enemies. If Ayumu was referring to Keyblade wielders, it was best for Sora and the others to lay low and not reveal their true identities.

“This really isn’t something students like you should be involved in,” Ayumu eyed the newcomers.

“Relax Narumi-san, these guys will be a big help, I can tell” Hiyono reassured.

Ayumu shrugged skeptically, explaining, “The Blade Children. Two years ago, my perfect older brother disappeared to find out about them. We have had a few run-ins with their kind so far, and they seem to be my only link to finding my brother.”

Hiyono pulled out her notebook back out to explain some of these cases, with the occasional nod to Zefferia who was observing the fruits of journaling labor. She ended with their latest findings that most of them were around the same age, and are missing a certain rib.

Sora breathed easier at the last bit, since he had all his ribs. Still, this meant that there was a mystery to be solved. What could these Blade Children be and what was their goal?

As it appeared the group was caught up with the situation, Ayumu stood and set his magazine on the table. He left through the door as he stated that it was about time for him to meet with the teacher.

“As a reporter, I should go along with him to observe this new information,” Hiyono instructed Zefferia, “but there is a mystery more pressing in this very room!”

Hiyono looked very serious. Her darkened eyes caused the others to break out in a cold sweat. She turned to face Kairi’s direction and raised her finger accusingly. She was pointing right at Mog.

“That creature right there…” hissed Hiyono. There was a tense silence for a moment. Suddenly her face transformed into cute sparkles as she squealed, “…is the cutest thing I have ever seen!”

Hiyono hopped in front of Mog to get a better look at him. She poked his belly and ruffled the red pompom on his head. Mog could no longer compel himself to be silent and flew up from the table in a fit of rage.

“Watch where you’re touching, kupo!” squealed Mog.

Hardly taken aback from discovering him to be real, Hiyono innocently tilted her head to the side and replied, “But you’re so cute!”

With the blown cover, Sora sighed and explained to Hiyono that Mog was a Moogle and that Moogles were known for their shops and synthesizing items. Hearing this, Hiyono smiled devilishly and brought her hand beside her mouth as if to make an underground deal with the little Moogle.

“If you set up shop here, with your craftsmanship and my information network of consumers, together we would be an unstoppable team!” she laughed.

Before Mog could reply, the door swung open. Ayumu stood panting in the doorway. He looked pretty shaken up, even though he still kept his composure.

“Narumi-san, what’s wrong?” Hiyono asked.

“It’s Imazato …he’s been murdered.”

“What?” screamed Hiyono.

“The culprit is a student who is still on the school grounds, near the scene of the crime during the time of the murder, which happened about the same time I left here. She is a girl who is under five foot one,” described Ayumu, “How far can you narrow down the potential suspects?”

“Are you testing my abilities?” Hiyono asked.

“I’m asking for your help,” stated Ayumu.

Hiyono thought then looked up, stating, “I’ll use all my information networks to narrow it to under twenty people…but now you owe me a triple chocolate strawberry banana soy milkshake!”

Hiyono winked as she went over to get research materials from the shelves. The others watched, still stunned at the fact that someone they had seen earlier that day was now gone for good. Ayumu, however, did not look phased at just seeing the corpse of one of his teachers. Instead, he held a serious composure. His quivering was not of shock or fear, but of fierce determination.

“The murder was committed by one of the Blade Children who did not want Imazato to talk to me,” Ayumu asserted, “We will catch her.”

Hiyono rushed back to her chair at the computer, handing the gathered materials to Zefferia then grabbing some discs that were in a box below. She piled them beside the computer then bustled bringing up files and programs to search the student database.

“Now you get to see where my records come in really handy,” she commented to Zefferia, “With these floppies, I’ll compile the measurements of all the students, then I can isolate all the females under five foot one. That will probably narrow our search down to over fifty suspects, but then that’s where I’ll really shine because I’ll carefully examine all their activities and map out their movements to see who would have crossed paths with Imazato-sensei within the time frame. Then I’ll do a breakdown of all the remaining suspects’ personal information.”

“I swear, your info-gathering skills are incredible,” Ayumu said in awe, “Even the police don’t compare.”

Hiyono calmly replied, “If you say that, then you should know you were pretty incredible too. You were able to quickly decipher so much about the criminal from the crime scene.”

“That was nothing,” Ayumu shrugged off, “He had been stabbed at close range and there were no signs of a struggle. Considering how wary Imazato was before of being killed at any moment, he had to have let his guard down. So that means the culprit was likely someone who wasn’t out of place and seemed incapable of murder.”

“Aw, so that’s how you figured out it was a student?” Sora interpreted.

Ayumu nodded.

“How about the time?” Kairi asked.

“The coagulation of blood: the density of blood changes in a matter of seconds, so based on its constitution when I arrived, gave me the time of death,” Ayumu explained.

“So what about the height?” Riku asked.

Ayumu continued, “The culprit discarded the knife on the back of the body. Based on the law of inertia, the blood would be cast off before the knife as it was thrown. The spatter made shows the direction, elevation, and manner of how it was thrown, giving me the height. At 61 inches, it’s hard to imagine a male did this.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Sora said, scratching his head, “but how do you know all that?”

Kairi incriminated, “See? That’s why you two need to go to school!”

Sora blushed, “Well, it’s not like you would have figured all that out either.”

Kairi sighed, “That’s true, but at least I’m trying.”

Riku stood up and joined Ayumu looking over Hiyono’s shoulder to see her work. She had already filtered out the students by physical description and was going through their lists of activities to see who would have been in the area at the designated time.

“The list is narrowing quickly, but how do you plan to find out which of the remaining suspects did it?” Riku asked Narumi.

“We’ll feel for which one has a missing rib,” stated Narumi.

At that moment, a timid knock came from the door. The door slowly opened and in popped the head of the little girl from before that Hiyono had identified as Takeuchi Rio. She inched her way in the room and looked around at everyone. Her hands clutched a small cat doll near her chest as she tried to stop shaking.

“E-excuse me,” Rio stuttered, “But this is the newspaper office, right?”

Hiyono turned in her chair to face Rio, asking, “That’s right. Is there something we can do for you?”

“Well, I found this doll downstairs, it had a note attached, saying to bring it here,” Rio shyly explained.

She gave a little gasp as she raised the doll suspiciously to her ear. Ayumu froze as if he knew what was going on and dreaded it. Before he could react however, Zefferia sprang off the counter to Rio and grabbed the doll, holding it high in the air.

“Kitty!” Zefferia exclaimed.

She twirled around as the shocked Rio tried to jump up and get it back. However, Rio’s hops could barely reach Zefferia’s shoulders, much less the doll as she spun around the room. Zefferia’s smile then disappeared as she donned a thoughtful expression.

“Hmmm…what is that ticking noise? It’s kind of catchy,” Zefferia thought out loud and then started chanting ‘Zef-Zef-Zefferia! Zef-Zef-Zefferia!”

Zefferia bobbed the doll side to side in beat with her chant. Oblivious to Rio’s continuous attempts to retrieve the doll, Zefferia cuddled the gray cat doll to her face.

“Oh wait, I found the source of the ticking!” Zefferia announced.

But it was too late. While Zefferia was extending the doll to explain that the ticking was coming from the stuffed cat, the bomb concealed within went off. In an instant, Zefferia was thrown back while the window on the door shattered to the explosion. Smoke filled the room and causing everyone else to have coughing fits.