Who killed Cock Robin?

The phrases flashed via my thoughts. Shizuki’s hand trembled. I assumed again in regards to the incident. Tsubaki, Ruiko, and Kotori not directly killed Saori.

That was what Shizuki instructed us.

“What? What are you saying?” Shizuki mumbled. “I don’t know something…”

“There you go once more. Bailing your self out. You realize, till now I assumed it wasn’t doable. You adored Saori. I assumed you wouldn’t do this. I believed that there was one thing improper with my recollections. However…”

Kotori’s smile deepened. A smile that didn’t contact her eyes. There was solely a chilly glint in them.

“Again then, once they have been arguing, you handed Ruiko the stone. Am I improper?”

I remembered a lady swinging a stone up within the air.

The scene I noticed via Kotori’s reminiscence unfolded earlier than my eyes. The women have been arguing with one another. Ruiko was hitting Saori, and Shizuki moved nearer to cease her. She grabbed Ruiko’s hand and let go. Two arms separated, and the following instantaneous, Ruiko raised a stone overhead.

I forged my thoughts again to what Shizuki mentioned.

It was in all probability an accident. There was a bloody stone close by, however Shizuki believed that it was an accident.

She despised Ruiko and the ladies, referred to as them murderers. However once we questioned her again then, she instructed us it was an accident, and solely gave a imprecise account of the combat.

Why did she not go into element in regards to the women’ actions in that individual second alone?

Why did she subconsciously keep away from utilizing the phrase ‘assassin’ when explaining what occurred?

“No… you’re improper… I left the academy with them, however I… I didn’t kill Saori. I had no motive to! None! I used to be concerned, sure. I might need brought on Saori’s demise, however I’m a sufferer. I didn’t kill her.”

“You probably did. You had a motive to kill her.”

Shizuki’s physique trembled tougher. Kotori descended down the steps and stopped the place she may see Shizuki’s face. Her smile widened. A chill ran down my backbone. I put my foot on the staircase to cease her, however Shizuki pulled my proper hand again laborious. Her energy was irregular.

“Cease it, Kotori-san!” I cried.

“You appreciated Saori,” Kotori mentioned with a merciless smile. “However she didn’t such as you in any respect. That’s why you wished her corpse. Am I proper? A lifeless physique wouldn’t scorn you.”

I ought to have coated Shizuki’s ears. I ought to have shouted out loud to drown out Kotori’s voice.

But it surely was too late.

Shizuki’s hand went lax. Her fingers left my hand.

It was as if one thing had damaged inside her.

Kotori was smiling in entrance of me. I knew nothing about Saori, as a result of Shizuki didn’t discuss her. She mentioned she cherished Saori, however she didn’t inform us something about her. I seemed behind me and grabbed Shizuki’s shoulder.

“No matter,” she murmured. “I don’t care anymore.” Her voice was chilling.

She raised her head. There was no mild in her eyes.

“I’m performed,” she mentioned indifferently. “So the place’s Saori’s fingers?”

The hair on my physique bristled. There was venom in her query.

Kotori couldn’t have recognized something about that. The cat took Saori’s fingers. Kotori didn’t have the reply to her query. However she went on anyway.

“You all the time cherished the fingers that the flowers spat out,” she mentioned in a loving tone. “You admired them day in and time out. Unlucky, although. After speaking to the feline woman that day, my thoughts went hazy. In my daze, I believed I needed to eat flowers. So…”

I hurriedly reached for Shizuki’s ears, however she slapped my arm with the swiftness of a machine and forged a stare upon Kotori.

Kotori laughed. Laughed like a madwoman. Her shrill voice jogged my memory of Ophelia’s tune.

However her subsequent phrases have been as calm as the ocean.

“So I ate the flowers out of your hospital room first. I tore the flowers off, plucked them, and dropped the pot out the window. I’m certain somebody already cleaned it up.”

She sneered. The concern that had plagued her all this time turned to rage.

“Serves you proper,” she spat.

Shizuki bounded. She pounced on Kotori like a beast, pushing her down, sending them each tumbling down the staircase. Even after falling to the underside of the steps, they have been nonetheless going at it, shrieking. Kotori’s negligee was torn, and Shizuki’s gloves flew off.

Shizuki mounted Kotori and repeatedly punched her within the abdomen. Kotori curled up. However she didn’t cease laughing.

“Give it again, give it again, give it again, give it again, give it baaaaaack!” Shizuki screamed.

I scrambled towards them and sure Shizuki’s arms from behind. She flailed round as I pulled her away. Kotori bent and hurled on the spot.

“G-Go to hell!” Kotori shouted, wiping her mouth. “You have to be the one dying. You killed Tsubaki and Ruiko. You need to kill your self!”

“That’s sufficient, Kotori!”

Then out of the blue, Shizuki put her weight behind me, pulling me backwards with all her energy. My legs tangled. Shizuki took the chance to rise up. I grabbed her left hand.

“Shizuki-san!”

My hand slipped via.

“…Huh?”

Shizuki’s hand was oddly tender and moist in a single space. I felt one thing being torn. And solely fingers remained in my hand.

I checked out Shizuki’s left hand, now not hidden inside a glove. It was moist with blood and pus. All her fingers had been severed, changed by decomposed fingers, sewn to her hand.

She mentioned she wanted them. She mentioned she didn’t need to lose them.

Having misplaced the flower, she now not had entry to new fingers. She solely had the fingers that the flower spat out final. She didn’t need to lose these both.

So she sewed them into her hand.

She severed her personal fingers.

“Shizuki-san…”

Her insanity left me paralyzed, delaying my response.

She ran away from Kotori. She didn’t attempt to hit Kotori any extra. She simply scurried away. Greedy the fingers in my hand, I went after her.

Shizuki ran, screaming like a damaged lady. I heard one thing crawling on the finish of the hall. A child was crying. She didn’t hear it.

“Shizuki-san! Cease, it’s harmful!”

She tripped over the doll, sending them each rolling on the ground, sliding throughout till they hit the wall. Weeping, Shizuki hugged the doll. It was convulsing because it cooed. It didn’t appear to imply any hurt.

They have been twitching like bugs.

Shizuki sobbed whereas the child babbled. I touched her again. She didn’t reply. Her left hand was moist with blood and pus, however her life wasn’t in any hazard. There was nothing extra in her teary eyes.

She had misplaced the whole lot.

There was no hint of her happy smile anymore.

“Cease being tough. I didn’t do something! It was all Shizuki’s fault!”

I opened the door. “Mayu-san! We’ve to go away and get Shizuki-san to a physician!”

Dragging Kotori with me, I climbed as much as the sixth flooring. My legs have been numb from all of the operating, and I used to be respiration raggedly. I lay Shizuki down within the automotive and returned with Kotori. I wished to name an ambulance, however I had Mayuzumi to consider. Sirens have been a no-go.

The person with the knife was nowhere to be discovered.

Mayuzumi and the cat alone have been dealing with one another.

The women glanced again at me curiously.

“Ah, I see,” the cat mentioned when she noticed me and Kotori. “In order that’s what occurred. I knew all alongside. She was the one one grieving? What craftiness.” Her tone was melodious.

She claimed to be unhappy as a result of she wished to be seen as harmless.

So she was a sparrow, not a dove.

I didn’t know the place the person went, however this was good. I strode as much as the cat. I let go of Kotori’s hand, and she or he plopped down a brief distance away. She seemed grumpy, however she now not had any intention of taking revenge on Shizuki.

“Why are you mad at me?” the cat mentioned. “I didn’t do something, cutie. Oh, for those who’re in search of that man, I instructed him to go away. I wish to ask you to chill out, however it doesn’t appear like you’ll hear. Really unlucky.”

Shizuki minimize off her fingers and ultimately broke. It was her fault for killing folks, Kotori’s fault for taking revenge, and my fault for taking care of Kotori.

However wasn’t the cat on the root of all of it? I silently approached her.

Proper earlier than I raised my fist, she mentioned, “Relax, cutie. You might be extra confused than you suppose. She minimize her personal fingers and changed them with the fingers of the lifeless. It was Ms. Kotori who ate her flowers. Her unconscious anger compelled her to do it. I did nothing. All I did was give Ms. Shizuki a letter saying I knew the place the flowers have been and led her to this place. I instructed you: there aren’t any guidelines. I simply left details about the efficiency.”

Who killed Cock Robin?