#32

I was hiding behind a tree just next to the house gate of my next target girl. Rika indeed was pretty bad. The girl she picked was none other than her friend that I saw many times before, the one who always stood next to her and called me a jerk – the one that first pushed me onto the ground after I kicked a ball onto Rika's face, making me pass out. I don't know what grudge Rika held against her despite hanging out with her all the time, but I didn't like her either, and if Rika says she's a bitch deserving to be killed, then I believe her.

I was holding an aluminum baseball bat on my one hand while peeking out from behind a tree. I've already used the same knife to kill three people, and maybe I could throw the cops off a bit by doing things a bit differently this time. It was a dark cloudy night, luckily for me, but not for her. Today was the day of the week where this bitch normally studied until late in the cram school, and with Rika's tip, I knew exactly when she would return home.

I saw a silhouette of a girl walking towards the house of the girl – this must be her. As she was getting closer I could hear her talking on the phone, I recognized her voice since I'm pretty good with these things.

".. and so I was like, so creeped out you know? That guy's disgusting.."

She's bitching about someone over the phone – this girl seems to be bitching about one man or other all the time. Gees, get laid or get fucked, in different ways.

"anyways, I'm almost at home now – I call you later after shower"

Can't she just shut up and go to sleep? Why does she need to be constantly talking? She's probably gonna start bitching about something, or someone else later on the phone, but well, there won't be later for her.

As she was taking the house key out of her pocket I jumped out from behind the tree and viciously struck her head with the baseball bat.

"Sike! Motherfucker!" – heh, I always wanted to say this again.

She fell instantly to the ground, but the bitch was strong-willed, which I did not expect. She grabbed my trousers around the ankle area and started to pull her body up. Shit, I was supposed to end this quickly and make a run, I can't do that if she dies and I have to pry her dead fingers off my trousers. So I started to mindlessly beat down on her with the bat, again and again. She was screaming like a pig getting slaughtered, and that sent me more into panic, and I frantically sped up beating her head with the bat. If Rika saw this she probably thinks it's funny, as the way I was beating her was like those double speed old black and white films, except that it was anything but silent. Then I heard someone running towards the gate of the house in desperation, with a cracking female voice screaming "Is it you Tika?! Are you okay?!" – this must be her mom, and I didn't want to hang around any longer. She was now laying flat on the ground facing up, blood flowing out from her obviously cracked skull.

"you…" I think she recognized me for that moment, too bad bitch that the last face you see in your sorry life is mine – then I whacked her nose down with the top of the bat in a planting motion. The gate was rattling now and I was running down the street, and just as I was turning the corner I heard a soul-crushing scream of a mother.

Next day in the classroom, everyone was in viral shock and irresistible gossip about the news of yet another girl who was murdered last night. I overheard conversations of some boys theorizing whether this was the same serial killer from before or not, with one boy saying that it can't be as serial killers tend to be obsessed with using the same method, while another boy chimed in to say maybe he did this to throw cops off the trail a bit.

Then the teacher walked in to begin the homeroom

"Everyone – be quiet and return to your seat. Now"

We all scuttled back into our seats and the class rep stood up to do the routine greeting, but the teacher waved her to sit down.

"We will skip that for today"

The class rep looked a little confused, then sat back down.

"I'm sure you've all heard about another horrible incident last night, again, involving a student from our school"

Everyone was silent.

"The police officers have come to our school today, and as of this moment, they are standing guard by all the gates around the school"

Oh? They think everyone needs protection now?

"Listen very carefully. We have been told by the police officers that there is very high chance that this dangerous criminal is in our school"

What-? Some students were visibly unsettled and whispers and murmurs filled up the room

"Quiet!" The teacher raised his voice as he slammed the attendance record book on the podium in front of the classroom.

"They have good enough lead to be sure about this, and believe in the good nature of normal students – this disgusting criminal is an exception like I have never seen among young people in my twenty years as a teacher"

All the students were listening attentively.

"Now. Class rep, come out to the front"

The class rep hurriedly jogged to the front and stood next to the teacher.

"You will take this stack of paper and give one to every student"

She hastily obliged. What's all this about?

"Now listen very carefully. This criminal, no matter how long you've known him, or how close you are to him, he is not someone you should hide, keep secrets for, or protect"

He said…. Him? Well I guess it's usual to suspect that it would be a man behind such brutal murders. I shan't think anything much of this

"That's right. We know that it is a he – this criminal is a boy in our school. Confirmed. I think there is a good chance that some of you may recognize this guy by the specific expression he used. We know it is a common slang, but he said it to a girl, which is quite odd, so we suspect this is a habitual expression this culprit uses"

Uh oh

"Now, I want you to write down the name of any boy, that you have ever heard saying, 'Sike, motherfucker'".

Shit.

#33

"What the fuck were you thinking?!" – Rika exploded on me, in a whisper.

"Sorry, I have no idea how this happened"

"Somebody must have fucking heard you!"

"But I'm certain there was nobody around.."

"Actually, I know"

"…what?"

"It's Mila. She was on the phone with Tika. Mila's the one who told the cops. She was on the phone with Tika and says she heard some male voice scream Sike Motherfucker, which I, and only I, for now, know for a fact that was you"

"Shit"

Rika was eye balling me hard.

"Shit.. how did they know it's someone from school?"

"Did you get seen?"

"I don't think so. Her mother came rushing out but by then I already turned the corner and was out of the street"

Rika seemed unsatisfied with the answer and looked at me up and down, and then she frowned.

"Your trousers, your trousers, you silly boy"

"huh?"

"Look down on your left ankle"

I looked down and noticed that it was slightly torn

"Did she grab you?"

Oh fack.

"Yes"

"Great. Now they have physical evidence. Take off your trousers"

"Now..? here..?"

"No dumbass, follow me"

Rika then led me around to the usually not visited area at the end of the hallway on the ground floor, where I noticed for the first time there was a steel door with a number padlock on it. She looked around quickly and pressed a few buttons and took the lock out, and hurriedly rushed me into the room. It was very dark inside as she closed the door.

"What is this place?"

Rika took out her phone and turned on the flash.

"It's an old storage room that's no longer used. Some bad shit happened here before a long time ago and the school doesn't use it anymore"

"How do you know? And how did you know the pin for the lock?"

"Because I put that lock on. It was a long time ago. Too long time ago for any of the current staff to know why we have this room closed out. It's just accepted over the years that this area is off-limits"

"You sure know some weird shits"

"sigh.. when you've been around as long as I have, you just know shits. Beside, I have been coming to this school for the past 117 years"

"Jesus.. you are the first graduate from our school?"

"I never graduated. You should know that. And of course, I was. I've been in this town for centuries before such an education system even existed for the common people. Now, just shut up and take off your trousers"

"Er… is this the right place and time..?"

"What the hell are you thinking you pig?!" Rika gave a slap upside my head, so I duly obliged and took off my trousers. She took out a sewing kit from her skirt pocket and quickly went on to cut the end bit of the trousers as little as possible, folded it in, and started sewing it back.

"Wow. You sure are skilled at this"

"Because I have been going to home economics class for 117 years now dumb ass"

"Right, I will shut up"

"Ok, there, done. Put this back on. Nobody would notice anything, but if they really got onto you and examine it properly, they will be able to tell it was altered. So wear your spare school trousers from tomorrow on, and trash this one safely"

"Gotcha"

"And don't say anything stupid like Sike Motherfucker ever again"

"Sorry"

A moment of silence

"Do you think… that could lead the cops to get on my tail?"

"No. They will get on to a wrong guy"

"Huh?"

"The blonde dickhead. I wrote his name down"

Oh.

The same afternoon. The cops dragged the blond dickhead out of the school building and threw him inside the transport truck. They probably should have been more discreet about it, as, well, innocent until proven guilty – that sort of stuff, but maybe they had no choice as the dude went on an absolute mental state screaming he was innocent again and again like a lunatic, which did make him look more suspicious and made it impossible for all the students to not notice who the police got on to.

After that eventful day, I kept a low profile as Rika instructed, and there were no further instructions to kill anybody. Rika told me it was too risky to do anything further, and that she was quite certain about her theory that further killings may not be necessary now – but she wouldn't tell me what her theory was in the first place.

In any case, the killings stopped, naturally, which probably piled more unwarranted suspicion on the poor sod. Sorry, I vomit on your head before, and now I shit down on your life.