When I was woken up by the sound of Noémie’s alarm clock, I found she had snuggled up against me during the night. It was cute, but I couldn’t help but worry she’d woken up, maybe even had nightmares.

“Noémie, it’s time,” I called softly.

She slowly opened her eyes, and smiled when she saw me.

“Hi, Pauline,” she whispered. “Thanks for putting up with me last night. I feel a lot better.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

We got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to brush our hair and our teeth.

“Look,” she said, “I know you don’t want to, but I’d still like to investigate Demasse’s murder.”

“What?”, I simply replied, confused. I really thought she’d drop it now that she was feeling better.

“Please don’t get angry.”

“I won’t,” I assured her. “Why do you want to do that?”

“We won’t feel safe until the dog who did this is behind bars, and I don’t trust the police to do their job. Actually, I don’t think we can trust anyone except each other. It couldn’t have been either of us ; we were together drinking bubble tea at the time of the murder, remember?”

“I do, but don’t you think we can trust Aoki as well?”, I tried, although I’d already guessed the answer.

“No way. Unless you know some things I don’t, we have no idea where he was at that time. And it’s making me very nervous that he’s been following us around since the news broke.”

“Okay, fine,” I sighed.

I had no choice but to help Noémie with this. She’d go crazy if she tried to do it on her own.

“What do you think we should start with?” I asked.

“To be honest, I have no idea. I was thinking of doing some research, to see if we can find any similar cases. Maybe that’ll give us ideas on how to find the killer.”

I wasn’t convinced, but couldn’t think of anything better myself.

“I’ll keep you updated if the police find anything new,” she added.

A few minutes later, we were ready for school and exited the house. That’s when we saw Aoki standing by the front gate, hands in his pockets, waiting for us.

“That’s going to be an issue,” Noémie mumbled.

“What is?” Aoki shouted from the front gate.

How did he even hear us? Did I have to add “superhuman hearing ability” to the list of his secret talents?

“Nothing to do with you!” she replied.

“Alright, no need to get defensive…”

We walked up to him and the three of us started making our way to school.

“By the way, Pauline,” Aoki started, “how about you come over to my place again this Saturday? I’ll be a little more prepared than last time!”

He laughed. I accepted without thinking, happy to have something to look forward to in the middle of this confusion. Only after I’d said yes did I notice Noémie’s disapproving look. I knew she didn’t trust him, but if he’d wanted to kill me, he would have had plenty of occasions to do so already.

At the end of the day, Noémie went home alone, and Aoki walked me back home.

“You know, I was thinking I should go inside with you,” he declared.

I gave him a look of surprise.

“I mean, Noémie has her parents, but you’re all alone all night,” he justified. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

As much as I wanted him to come, I wouldn’t be able to make any progress on the investigation if he was looking over my shoulder all the time.

“It’s fine,” I replied unconvincingly. “I’ll just lock the doors.”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“What?”

I was really taken aback. I knew he usually saw right through any lie I told him, but his question was just so sudden and accusatory.

“I know you’re on edge because of the murder, but you’ve seemed distant the entire day.”

“I’m not hiding anything,” I lied.

“Fine, I won’t insist. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you, though? You won’t even notice I’m there, I promise!”

I sighed. I really had a soft spot for him, and I was so exhausted by the recent events… I could definitely use some company. I just hoped Noémie wouldn’t be mad at me.

“Okay,” I said, “come in.”

He looked ecstatic that I’d accepted. We both went in and I locked the door.

“You’re sleeping on the couch, though.”

“Oh, come on,” he complained. “We’re dating and we won’t even sleep in the same bed?”

“We’re not dating!” I retorted.

“That’s news to me.”

He put his hands on my waist and kissed me on the forehead. I could feel myself blush and my heartbeat get faster.

“Well, call it what you like, my love,” he teased, leaving me to go lay on the couch. I followed him, wanting to sit with him, but he’d already made himself at home.

“Hey—you’re taking up all of the space! Make me some room!” I pleaded.

“No way. You’re not sharing your bed, I’m not sharing mine.”

“You’re so petty!”

I tried to forcefully move him so that I’d have room to sit, but he wouldn’t budge. Eventually, I gave up and sat on his shins.

“You underestimate me,” he said. “You can try anything, I’m not moving.”

“I’m not moving either.”

I was very uncomfortable sitting like this, but the war had been started, and I didn’t want to lose to him once again.

Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out to see a text from Noémie, saying she got home safe and started her research.

That’s right. The investigation. I had to get back on track.

“Is it Noémie?” Aoki asked. He had closed his eyes and looked like he was about to take a nap.

“Yeah. She says she got home safe.”

“That’s good.”

I got up to fetch my laptop.

“Looks like one of us lost! Guess that means the couch is mine,” Aoki joked.

“Shut up.”

I returned with my computer and sat down on the floor next to the couch.

“Come on, this is painful to see,” he said. “You don’t have to inflict this on yourself ; you only have to say a few words…”

“Okay, you win,” I conceded. “We can share a bed tonight.”

“Success at last!” he exclaimed.

He folded his legs so that I’d have enough room to sit. I thought he’d sit up, but he was probably very determined to have his nap. That was actually very convenient ; if he was sleeping, then he wouldn’t be able to see what I was doing on my computer.

I sat down on the couch and opened my web browser. I wasn’t really sure where to start, so I tried to find news articles about murders in the region. I saw a lot of sordid stories, but nothing stuck out to me as particularly relevant.

I decided to text Noémie. “I’m hitting a brick wall. Find anything?”

“idk, i did find an unsolved case in our town. check it out” she quickly replied, then sent me a link to an old news article. “nothing new from the police, either. told you they were useless” she added.

I opened her link to a story about a missing 12-year-old whose parents were found dead in a pool of blood. The kid was apparently never found, and no one had ever been convicted for the crime.

“What are you looking at?”

I jumped with surprise, and Aoki laughed.

“Sorry, did I scare you?” he apologized.

I was so absorbed in my research that I hadn’t noticed him waking up from his nap and sitting up to look at my screen. He was now reading the article that Noémie sent.

“An eight-year-old unsolved case? I didn’t know you were into true crime.”

“I’m not!” I exclaimed.

“Okay, I’ll pretend to believe you if it makes you feel better…”

“But it’s the truth!”

He clearly loved to see me embarrassed, and that made me want to punch him in the face. I was pretty lucky all he’d seen was an out-of-context article, though. I should have been more careful.

“Anyway, I don’t think you should be reading these kinds of things,” he said, getting up from the couch. “It’ll just stress you out more.”

He had a point, but I couldn’t let Noémie down.

“Where are you going?” I asked, seeing as he was leaving the living-room.

“I’m going to try and win you over.”

“That’s not an answer!”

I was confused until I heard his signature kitchen clanking. I hadn’t noticed how late it had gotten, and I did feel pretty hungry. It seemed letting Aoki stay over did have its pros after all.

“You’d better clean up when you’re done,” I warned him.

“Don’t worry, I will, my love!”

Never mind. There was not a single pro to be found.