The murders continued all across the military base. No one knew who the killer might be or when they themselves might become the next victim. The brothers were walking down the hallways, an eerie silence between them, until the older one spoke:
— Arold… I don't know if what I saw was real or not, but there's something wrong with Itadaki.
Because of the tone in his brother's voice, Arold was immediately alert and paid full attention. Kura continued speaking:
— You know, right when I was going to thank Itadaki for helping us… I saw him injure his hand—and then regenerate it, right there on that nail in the cafeteria.
Arold kept looking at his brother, calmly processing the information. He replied slowly, and with a hint of disbelief:
— Okay… So what are you trying to say, brother?
Kura stared directly into Arold's eyes, speaking seriously and a bit irritated—he thought it was obvious where he was going with this.
— Isn't it obvious?! We need to investigate him. See if there's something wrong… maybe he is the killer!
Arold made a disapproving face, as if what Kura was saying was absolutely absurd. To him, it seemed like his brother was making a baseless accusation against friendly, cheerful Itadaki—someone he believed could never do such a thing.
— Huh?! Investigate him, brother? He would never do something like that. He's a completely good person!
The only expression on Kura's face was one that screamed "wow, you're an idiot." He put a hand on his face, furrowing his eyebrows, letting out a long, annoyed sigh before giving a quick reply:
— Alright, alright, alright… Let's do this: we'll investigate the murders and see if we find anything on him. Just know that if we do find something linking him to the murders, you owe me a bottle of soda.
Arold agreed to that. After all, he was certain that Itadaki wasn't the terrible murderer his brother suspected.
Two days passed. The brothers were investigating as much as they could, though no evidence had surfaced that pointed to Itadaki as the killer. They were walking down the hall during break when they ran into Itadaki himself. His hair looked slightly different—specifically the color: one strand of hair was blonde, a natural blonde. That was strange, since his hair was normally pitch-black. It immediately caught Kura's attention, and he asked, pointing at his hair:
— Hey, good morning Itadaki! What happened to your hair?
The man stayed silent for two seconds, then ran his right hand through his hair and responded calmly and serenely:
— Oh, this? I just dyed it. Nothing special, you know?
The brothers heard that. Arold accepted the explanation without question. But the ever-suspicious shorty had his doubts—he didn't think Itadaki would change something like that without a reason. Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of two more people: Aki and his sister, Ali. Aki was a close friend of Itadaki's, while Ali was totally indifferent toward him.
— Cool hair, Itadaki!
Aki chimed in, interrupting the discussion Kura and Arold were having. It didn't matter much in terms of their goal, but Kura mentally filed away the hair detail, thinking it might prove important later.
Two more weeks passed. Kura had pretty much given up on hunting down the killer. He was walking toward his classroom, having skipped class again with the excuse of a headache. His face still carried that dead-fish look—you could feel his boredom from a mile away.
Then he heard a noise coming from one of the bathrooms—a scream of fear. It caught everyone's attention. Since he was closest, he was the first to arrive.
— Hey, what happened?!
He shouted as he entered the bathroom. What he saw was a single hair falling to the floor while a dark figure jumped out the window. Kura ran to the window to see who had escaped, but there was no one outside—as if the person had vanished into thin air.
He turned back to the body in the stall and began examining it. He found the hair—it was blonde. This only raised his suspicions about Itadaki even more.
— Now he won't get away!
He presented the hair to his superiors, who had arrived at the scene. With their permission, he submitted it for DNA analysis to determine who had been committing these murders. He waited in the lab, confident the result would confirm his main suspect. But…
— Well, Mr. Kura, we analyzed the hair sample as you requested… but it doesn't match Mr. Itadaki's DNA—or anyone's in the entire military database.
Kura was stunned. The only thought running through his head was:
"So I was suspecting the wrong person this whole time??"
But the bombshell wasn't over yet.
— In fact… it's as if we have an infiltrator here at the base—even though that should be impossible due to our DNA-based security protocols.
After that, Kura simply thanked them and left the lab, deep in thought. The killer wasn't Itadaki. He had no idea who it could be. Yet even with that knowledge, something in his subconscious still told him it was Itadaki—leaving him in a state of inner turmoil.
"Will I ever be able to catch this killer?" he wondered.
Elsewhere, deep inside one of the base's ventilation systems, an eye watched him. In total darkness, a voice echoed:
— So, he found my hair? What a shame. Looks like he'll be my next target very soon!
The one who spoke was shrouded in darkness, making it difficult to distinguish their appearance. But it was someone tall, with semi-spiked hair and one arm larger than the other—as if it had been attached separately. This right arm bore a mark: the mark of a time capsule. Who is this person? And what are their goals?