It began when a little boy woke up his parents in the middle of the night. The boy had gone into the kitchen to secretly grab a late night snack, but was instead dished a pile of trauma. In the kitchen laid an old man, his grandfather, who was visiting Berrymarrel from out of town. It wasn't unusual for a man in his elderly years to die, but it was unusual to lie on the floor with a knife stuck in his head. Especially if it is later revealed that his body had been seemingly drained, not an ounce of blood was left in him before he was even stabbed.

This strange case would not be the first.

Almost every month, sometimes twice a month, a child would cry that they had found a corpse lying around somewhere. Whether it be in a household, in a store, on the streets…

At some point, children began to lose their fear and instead started treating each incident like a game, much to the chagrin of the adults in town who were trying to actually find the one committing these atrocious acts.

Whenever a child reported a dead body, there's a good chance the kid would lie. The police ended up distracted with a bunch of false reports while trying to investigate murder scenes with absolutely zero clues. It made everyone wonder, was there even a murderer at all? Obviously there was, but less and less people searched for the one at fault.

A joke had been made one day, a joke that spread. "Perhaps it was just a wild animal, a wolf from the woods!"

The children who cried lies, every day they'd say the wolf has come and struck again. Despite the gruesome reality, the kids continued to pretend to live in a world of fantasy. That is until the day someone closest to them died. The Wolf had found the one that spread the name, after that man's death…dry bodies stopped showing up.

Perhaps whoever was responsible for the murders began to feel threatened after having been given a name. Perhaps he had felt ridiculed by it. Whatever the reason was, Lukas Archer was his final victim he'd taken before seemingly vanishing.

"…It's been two…maybe three years since the last case, so the police had given up searching. They could never find any clues; No prints, no hairs, nothing." Lucia spoke as her last lines, recalling the tale of The Wolf. "After the cops gave up people started blaming each other left and right…"

"I see, I see." Ichigo nodded. "So then…is that why my aunt was rumored to be a killer?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Ms. Hanagaki moved to town right after my dad died and became a new teacher here. Some started making up rumors that she killed him specifically to get a job."

"What?! Is that true?"

"Of course it isn't true! This school is understaffed as is, she would've gotten the job regardless. In other words, no motive for murder." Lucia explained to Ichigo, who seemed excited at the potential fact that her aunt really was a serial killer. "She moved to town just as that last murder occurred, even that stupid rumor site said how it couldn't have been Yumeko as she had lived in a different state, far away from Wyoming, during all the other incidents." Ichigo's smile drooped down, she was clearly disappointed.

By the time Lucia had finished, her shoe had dried out. Perfect timing as recess was about to end. Sieglinde has been standing silently for a long time now, her face deep in contemplation. Lucia and Ichigo were about to leave when they noticed Sieglinde still standing motionlessly. "Lin, aren't you coming? Do you actually need to use one of the stalls?" Ichigo asked.

"Something isn't right." Sieglinde answered. "There's something…different."

"Different? What is?"

"In the past incidents, the killer only sucked out blood, right? Then the body would usually be stabbed afterwards…So what's with all this new stuff at the mansion?"

The first body at the mansion had been confirmed to have died due to blood loss from a stab wound, the rest of her blood had been taken after death. Then there's the second body; Although she lost a lot, she didn't actually lose all her blood. Finally, the organs. In none of the previous cases has there been mentions of The Wolf cutting out organs and doing something as elaborate as nailing them to a painting.

Drained veins and a stab to the head, that was all. The drawing on the wall, the thing with the organs and the locked doors…What's with all that stuff? Everything about the murders seems so inefficient and unnecessary. A bunch of completely nonsensical acts just done for dramatics.

"This isn't how he did things, none of that stuff fits. The Wolf never made his murder scenes look like a horror room attraction at a theme park." Sieglinde argued. "Let's say he just wanted to switch up things if he were back, why would his new methods be so vastly different?"

"Hold on just a second!" Ichigo got her face close to Sieglinde's and stared her down. "Are you trying to convince us that this wasn't The Wolf? What the heck! You liar, you said you finally believed me."

"That's because I didn't notice…" Rather, she didn't remember. "…Just how different the murders were."

Lucia pulled Ichigo back, who was looking absolutely livid. "If this wasn't The Wolf, who could it possibly have been then? Not just that, why would they pin the incident on him?"

To that Sieglinde couldn't find an answer. Rather she didn't want to consider the obvious answer if this wasn't the previous killer of town.

"…Ooh…Maybe…" Ichigo began to whisper to herself. "A copycat? Or someone who heard of the tale and is trying to use The Wolf as a scapegoat? People who commit this kinda stuff wanna usually get off scot-free after all."

In other words, a new killer. Someone completely different with new methods and possibly different rules. Someone unpredictable…it could be anyone in town…

"Ahh~ If only I could use my angelic powers to find out who it is! Sadly, all I can rely on is my keen sense of getting to the right place at the right time." Ichigo said with a shrug.

"Guys, let's stop talking about this." Lucia said firmly. "W- We're gonna be late for class. Let's just forget all this stuff for now."

Sieglinde's eyes went wide "Forget?…Luc, this is serious. We can't just ignore some new killer going around."

"Why can't we? Just a second ago we all thought it was The Wolf, we could just leave it at that."

"But this isn't his style! I know movies and books aren't real but…typically killers stick to their own rules."

"Are you scared or something, Lin?" Luc suggested, sounding annoyed. "Worried that the killer will seek you out again?"

"Yeah, I am. Do you wanna know why? Because when they did it the first time, they killed two women who just happened to stay at my home."

"…What're you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting," Sieglinde began. "That this is someone who might kill you, Lucia. Maybe Mrs. Archer too."

"!…"

"Hey, what about me?" Ichigo asked. "Won't I be killed too since I'm also staying at Lucia's home?"

"…Probably, yeah."

"Wow!"

"Stop it, Lin! There's no guarantee that they sought you out on purpose anyhow. Maybe they'll go after someone else next time."

"Who then? Who would you rather die next while we stand around and pretend like nothing is wrong?"

"I don't want anyone to die!"

Sieglinde held Lucia's shoulder, raising her other hand to gently hold Lucia's cheek. "I don't want to follow the same mistake from three years ago. Someone will die and it will be someone that we will never meet again."

"But you didn't even-" Lucia held her tongue, words dying in her throat. Instead she simply gave in and lay her face on Sieglinde's palm. "I don't understand, Lin…are you suggesting we become like…vigilante junior detectives or something?"

"At the very least we should find out how to stay safe…if we happen to find out who is committing these new murders, even better."

Ichigo interjected by coughing loudly. "Guys, I just thought of something." Lin and Luc turned towards the pink haired one. "Is there even gonna be another murder at all? Maybe this really was just a one time prank or something."

"You're seriously gonna bring that up now?!" Lucia and Sieglinde yelled both at the same time.