His plan had to be slightly shifted in terms of time due to detention. School ended at 3 p.m. but detention ends at 4.30 p.m. As soon as it ended, Kirill gets out of the school compound without changing his clothes. The curfew that the dorm set for all students is to return before 10 p.m. so he has plenty of time to trail back the trace of the last day his twin brother was seen. According to the investigation reported by his PI, right after the school ended that day, Kliment walked with Stepanov, Andre, Alberto, and Stanley to the library. 

Stanley and Alberto left early and went home. Kliment, Stepanov, and Andre left library at 6.30pm. Two students at the library confirmed of this timeline. Their last meeting point was at the bridge that separated the route between Stepanov and Andre’s house to Kliment’s house. Andre went home first, leaving only Stepanov and Kliment alone to smoke cigarette together at the bridge. According to Stepanov, he smoked and talked with Kliment at the bridge for about another 15 minutes before they separated. According to Andre, he saw Stepan reached his home around 25 minutes after they separated. 

That was the last time he was seen. If Andre lied, Stepanov might never got home within that time and God knows where he went or what he did. If both Stepanov and Andre lied, they might not even separate at the bridge at all. From 6.30 p.m. all the way to 8 p.m., within this frame of time anything can happen. They can be anywhere and they could have done anything to Kliment. And one more thing, let’s say if the two students at the library lied about seeing them leaving the library at 6.30 p.m., things could have been even more twisted, right? What Kirill was certain is that Kliment was attacked and murdered at exactly 8 p.m. This is the only information that no one can get. Not his PI and not even the police. This is only known by Kirill. 

They say twins are connected in the most complicated ways. 

Since Krasniy is located near Zabaykalsk which is at the border of China and New Russia, the town shares the same time zone with Tokyo in New Japan. Back then, at the same time when Kliment was attacked, he also felt the invisible grip around his neck. He was suffocated and he can feel the snap of the bones in the neck but it was all sensory. He is still alive and breathing when it was over. He remembered crying his eyes out as he screams out Kliment’s name, knowing deep inside that on the other side of the world, Kliment was no more. 

Normal people would have cried by now just by reminiscing the event. But Kirill is not normal. So, there’s no sadness on his face nor tears. There’s just pure determination. He turns around to face head on the guy who had been following him all along as he tries to retrace the steps of Kliment’s last day. Unexpectedly, the person who was claimed to be the last one to have seen Kliment is also on the same path as him. “Are you following me?” Kirill asked straightforwardly to the taller boy. 

The boy only smiles at him. Kirill can still feel some sort of danger behind the smile but he’s starting to get used to it. He no longer feels intimidated. “Is that a crime?” Stepanov asked him in return. 

“I don’t know. You tell me,” Kirill provoked. 

Stepanov chuckles in response to the provocation. Cute. Like a cat, he thought to himself. Unfortunately, I’m a wolf. “We haven’t properly introduced ourselves yet,” he said. “I’m Stepanov Chenkov. You can call me Stepan or Handsome or Baby. Whichever that suits you best,” Stepan flirted in his introduction and he offered his hand out for a handshake towards Kirill. 

Surprisingly, Kirill accepted his hand and gives him a proper two seconds of handshake before letting it go. Fuck with social distancing at this point. “You can call me Kirill,” he simply said, completely dismissing Stepan’s effort at flirting. He wanted to outdo that flirty mouth of Stepan at first but he is just too tired to do so. Sometimes the best way to deal with people like Stepan is to not react at all. So, he turns back towards where he was going while ushering Stepan to walk by his side. 

This act, somehow, is like a 360 degree turn for Stepan. It left him feeling uncomfortable now. And that is the first time. Ever. This is the first time someone makes him feel uncomfortable and intimidated. “So… I wanna hear from your own point of view of what happened on the day my brother disappeared,” Kirill begins to speak. This is an opportunity not to be missed. “You were the last person to have seen him, right? Tell me all about it,” Kirill instructed. In the spur of the moment, he decided to just face this son a bitch head on with a torpedo. 

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*Author’s Note: Originally, I didn’t make Stepan character to be like this. In my original idea, he’s a good boy who was madly in love with Kliment and got pissed off to see Kirill since Kirill looks like Kliment…like duh… And in my original idea, Kirill and Stepan kind of hated each other and always fight with one another. But then I changed it because I think that’s stereotypical ahahaha. Let’s save that kind of plot for another story in the future, yeah? -K