Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Yami no Kenzoku ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Notes: Usually, I try not to use too much Japanese, considering that I'm writing in English, after all. Not that I have much comprehension of Japanese anyway. But when it comes to something a person would call another affectionately, as in the case of a girl calling an older brother oniichan, I keep it as oniichan. In this case, when Tsuzuki refers to his older sister, he always calls her 'neesan.'

This part mentions that Hisoka is familiar with kendo, aikido, kyudo, naginata, and judo, and I kept those as is too since they are technically an art. Kendo, of course, is swordsmanship or fencing. Aikido, from all I can understand, is some kind of way of harmony with the universe (O.o;;). Kyudo is Japanese archery; naginata is a long sword or halberd, so I assume that means he's familiar with that weapon. Lastly, I'm not very sure on a literal translation of judo, but if it means the martial arts form, that'd be the art of throwing or something. *sweatdrop* Er, don't hold me to that. In any case, I read that he knows these from a thorough character profile of him, so I suspect they're correct.

Also, though this story is said to be a continuation of the TV series, I've included parts of the manga that was excluded from the TV series. So basically, you could say it's a continuation from the Kyoto stage of the manga, if you want to be technical. ^^

Yami no Kenzoku

Chapter One

The triumphant return of Tsuzuki to work as a shinigami and to field duty was celebrated with a pair of cheesecakes, courtesy of Wakaba. Tsuzuki devoured a good four pieces until he actually thought to push the wonderful dessert away. The others - which included Konoe-kachou, Tatsumi, Watari, the Gushoshin, Terazuma, Wakaba, and of course Hisoka - ate much more modestly than the overenthusiastic shinigami. The return was as well celebrated with a new assignment for he and Hisoka, which for once in his life, Tsuzuki was actually eager to get started on.

"I think we've wasted enough time for one day," Tatsumi began, but he smiled warmly at Tsuzuki, showing very clearly to all of them that he wasn't very disappointed about losing work time. Which was, like Tsuzuki being eager to work, a once in a lifetime feeling for him. He was simply as relieved as any of them that Tsuzuki was all right and in fine spirits at that.

Tsuzuki sprouted his well-known puppy ears and tail. "One more piece of cheesecake?" he begged, the effect of sad puppy eyes coming off quite well considering.

"You'll explode if you eat anymore," Hisoka said pointedly.

The puppy ears drooped. "Maybe," Tsuzuki agreed, his paw sliding away from the last piece of cake. He knew that he had already had more than his share, or otherwise he might have argued the point further.

"Poor Tsuzuki-san," Wakaba said sympathetically, reaching over to pat him on the head. "I'll make you some cookies later, okay?"

The ears perked up and the tail began wagging at a mile a second. "Wai! Sankyuu, Wakaba-chan!"

Konoe cleared his throat. Taking his meaning, the girls shuffled out of the room to leave the men to their meeting to discuss this new assignment Tsuzuki and Hisoka were being given. Wakaba took with her the remains of the cheesecake, much to Tsuzuki's displeasure, but once they were gone he sobered up and dedicated his attention to Konoe.

"There seems to be some kind of disturbance happening in Nagasaki," Konoe began. "We don't know much about it right now, but students have been dying more and more frequently. So far two have died in the past two months in a single school, and we think there's reason to believe there's some outside force causing the deaths."

"Well, how are the kids dying?" Tsuzuki asked.

Hisoka glanced at him sidelong, wondering whether or not he was uncomfortable with this information. Tsuzuki suffered all the same no matter what it was that they were assigned to do, but when it was young people involved, he tended to take it more to heart than usual. But with Tsuzuki blocking him, he couldn't tell what the older shinigami was thinking.

"There's nothing to lead us to believe that it's murder," Konoe replied, "and there's no reason for us to think that it's illness. When autopsies were done, there was nothing wrong with them at all. Everything was in perfect working order and not a single blemish to make us suspect whether or not it was foul play."

"We have reason to suspect that it will happen for a third time, quite likely in the same school system," Tatsumi added.

"So we're to find out what's causing the deaths and then prevent it from happening again," Tsuzuki confirmed.

"Correct."

Tsuzuki flashed a smile. "Well, that shouldn't be too hard, ne, Hisoka?"

Hisoka was seated across from him, arms folded across his chest, head bowed and eyes closed. He glanced up as Tsuzuki spoke to him, a sour look overcoming his expression.

"Shouldn't be too hard?" he repeated. "With /that/ much information they should've just thrown us into a haystack and told us to find the needle."

Tsuzuki frowned slightly; Hisoka seemed more and more distant as of late. He had become inured to the abrasive demeanor of his younger partner, but more and more often lately it seemed that Hisoka was even more short-tempered than was usual and quick to make a biting remark. The others had noticed it as well, but no one had approached him to ask what was wrong. Incidents in the past of having done so and receiving a very cold rebuttal kept them from trying.

"We don't expect you two to crack this case in a day or two," Tatsumi put in. "But we do think you are the most qualified for the job."

Tsuzuki brightened up considerably at this compliment. "But of course," he said, puffing up and appearing rather smug.

"Here's what information we do have," Konoe said, holding out a manila folder to Tsuzuki, "as well as your covers while you're on Chijou."

"Let me guess," Hisoka sighed. "I'm the student."

Tatsumi smiled that smile that was more inclined toward a smirk.

"Naturally."

"Naturally," Hisoka repeated, tugging irritably at the collar of his new school uniform.

Tsuzuki smiled at him. "Cheer up. It could be worse."

"Easy for you to say. You get to pretend to be a nurse again and spend all day doing nothing but chowing down while I do all of the real work."

"I work!" Tsuzuki exclaimed, indignant at the abuse. "You forget I'm an elite shinigami."

Hisoka sighed and looked away. Elite was one way to put it, he supposed. Tsuzuki was, after all, the single most skilled and powerful of all of EnmaCho's shinigami, though no one would have thought it looking at him. But, Hisoka reminded himself, Tsuzuki had not turned out to be the slacker that Hisoka had thought him to be when he had first met him. Tsuzuki was the kind of person that gave new meaning to the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover.'

His gaze turned to regard the school where the disturbances had been taking place. It seemed familiar to him somehow, as though he had been here once before, and not that long ago at all. He frowned slightly to himself and searched his memory. Unfortunately, nothing came to him.

"Tsuzuki, have we been here before?" he asked.

Tsuzuki scratched thoughtfully at the back of his head, a nervous habit he possessed. "I think so. It was awhile ago, wasn't it?" He paused and considered for another moment before suddenly he became more animated, smiling and snapping his fingers as realization dawned on him.

"This is Hijiri's school!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Hijiri," Hisoka repeated in a quite voice.

Minase Hijiri was the prodigious young violinist he and Tsuzuki had met on only the third or fourth case they had worked on together. It had turned out to be one of their worse when a demon of Makai had been involved in the entire ordeal. Hisoka wondered whether or not Hijiri had something to do with what was happening at the school now.

"He can probably help us figure this out quicker," Tsuzuki said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket and continuing down the path they were taking in direction of the school. Hisoka hastened his steps to catch up with him.

"We shouldn't involve him," he said, a little breathlessly. Tsuzuki oftentimes forgot that he had to take much longer strides to keep up with those Tsuzuki took naturally. "Not after what happened last time," he added, not meaning to hurt Tsuzuki by saying so, but making a known fact clear. There would only be more trouble the more people involved.

"Aa, maybe not," Tsuzuki replied. "It'd be nice to see him again anyway."

Perking up, Tsuzuki whirled on Hisoka and said cheerfully, "Let me see your schedule!"

Hisoka, startled at his sudden change in demeanor, took a moment to recover and pass along the schedule to Tsuzuki. The older shinigami looked it over skeptically for a few moments, nodding to himself and murmuring a few things under his breath as he did so, not to mention narrowly avoiding walking into telephone poles as they continued along the pathway. Hisoka had to keep steering him back to the right direction.

"They're got some weird classes these days," Tsuzuki said, frowning thoughtfully and passing it back to him.

"Not really," Hisoka shrugged. He tucked the paper back into the front pocket of his uniform jacket. "Same courses that I was taught."

He didn't say the same courses that he had been taught at school, because he had never attended private nor public school. Elementary school was one thing, but his ability as an empath had been discovered when he was seven years old. The remainder of his education as taught through the few books and worksheets his parents would give him.

"I never went to school," Tsuzuki said, as though he knew what Hisoka was thinking. "My sister taught me."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Aa. My neesan. She died when I was a kid."

"I'm sorry."

Tsuzuki grinned. "It's been seventy years. I'm over it. She wouldn't want me to keep being upset about it anyway. Ah, here we are."

They had arrived at the school entrance. The morning bell had already rung, which meant that Hisoka would be late for his first class, but he didn't particularly mind. It was not as though he intended to learn anything here. Once he and Tsuzuki had solved the case, he would leave the school and disappear from the memories of all those that attended there. Oftentimes memories were completely erased, less someone become suspicious of a boy coming to school and attending for only a month at the most, but for the majority of the time that procedure was unnecessary.

"Why didn't they tell us it was happening at Hijiri's school?" Hisoka voiced his curiosity as they entered the building. Students were disappearing into their classrooms, leaving Tsuzuki and Hisoka to walk the halls in private.

"I guess they didn't think it was that suspicious," Tsuzuki answered with a shrug. "I doubt it's got anything to do with Hijiri."

"But he . . ."

"That demon is dead," Tsuzuki said firmly. "So it can't have anything to do with Hijiri or Saagantanasu. It's just coincidence."

Hisoka wondered whether or not Tsuzuki was right. It could have been coincidence; that was true. However, it could /not/ be coincidence and there could possibly be a connection to Hijiri somehow in this case. The how was what Hisoka had no idea about. When they had departed from Hijiri, the case had been solved and everything laid to rest. They had made sure there was no chance of anything happening to Hijiri again.

"Better get to class, Hisoka," Tsuzuki said, turning to him with a smile. They had arrived at the infirmary. Tatsumi had already taken care of the school's full-time doctor, giving him a rather extended vacation as long as Tsuzuki needed a cover. The man was probably off playing golf blissfully somewhere.

"Whatever," Hisoka muttered below his breath.

Tsuzuki reached out and ruffled his hair. "Do good and come have lunch with me!" he said cheerfully. "And when you get study period too. I'll help!"

". . . you?"

"Me," Tsuzuki said proudly.

"I'll fail."

Tsuzuki deflated. "Waaaaai, Hi-so-kaaaa, you're so mean . . ."

Hisoka sighed. He had never thought he had ever been more bored in his entire life.

He would have found the subject material the monotone voice was droning on about more interesting if he did not know the material inside and out. History was one of many subjects he excelled at, as a good many of the books he had read growing up dealt with the history of the world. When not reading a history of the world, he was reading the history of specific countries, and then of specific areas, and then of specific cities. He had a feeling he knew more than this teacher could ever hope to comprehend in his entire lifetime, and that was not an arrogant thought on his part. It was the truth.

He wondered absently what Tsuzuki was doing. Probably catching a nap or eating cake or something like that. Tsuzuki had it easier than he did, posing as a nurse as opposed to a student. But Tsuzuki always had it that way, and Hisoka was realizing more and more often that he would forever be the one posing as a student.

He was only sixteen, not including any death years, since he had not even been dead for a full year but only the span of several months. But what happened when four years passed in the afterlife, and he would be twenty years old? He would still have the appearance of a sixteen-year-old boy. Same blonde hair, same innocent eyes, and the same painfully thin frame. Someday, he supposed he might consider it a blessing, when he was as old as Tsuzuki was in afterlife years, but right now he found it infuriating.

The bell rang, announcing the end of class and beginning of lunch. Hisoka gathered his books together and more than gratefully left the classroom. He headed in the direction of the staircase to join Tsuzuki in the infirmary, but with his inevitable bad luck, the moment he turned around the corner to start down the stairs he had collided with a girl coming up.

On instinct, Hisoka reached out and caught the girl by the wrist before she could fall backward and down the long flight of stairs. Her books, however, where knocked out of her arms and fell the distance.

"Are you all right?" Hisoka asked.

She looked up at him, having been watching disappointedly as her books bounced down the stairs to notice her savior. A bright smile illuminated her young, attractive features. She reminded him of Saya, one of the two pieces to the ninth block partnership in Hokkaido. Same eye shape, same shape of face, but the eye and hair color was wrong. Saya had blue eyes and blonde hair, but this girl had brown eyes and auburn hair.

"I'm fine," she said. "You? I didn't mean to slam into you like that."

"No, I'm okay," Hisoka said. He started down the steps, retrieved the girl's books, and brought them back to her, playing the part of a perfect gentleman. "Here you go."

She rewarded him with another smile. "Thanks! Most people would've just kept on walking. I haven't seen you around. Are you the new transfer student?"

"A-aa," Hisoka confirmed, a little surprised at how quickly news was passed around the school. "I'm Kurosaki Hisoka."

"Iida Yuanyi," the girl said, holding out her hand to him. "Nice to meet'cha. Are you on lunch break now, Hisoka-kun?"

"Yeah . . ."

Hisoka was somewhat bewildered. He did not think he could ever recall a person being so enthusiastic to merely meeting him, but that was not including Yuma and Saya. Not that he wanted to include them anyway. They had frightened him to death. Yuanyi was simply being remarkably kind for having just met him, which surprised him.

"Same here," Yuanyi said, starting down the stairs. Hisoka followed, assuming that was what she expected him to do. "You can sit with my friends and I, if you'd like. I know what it's like being a new student. Not much fun to be all alone."

"Oh . . . ah, thanks, but I was going to . . ."

"Go to the library and sit lunch out, I bet!" Yuanyi said, flashing him another bright smile. It was a smile that rivaled Tsuzuki. "Well, if you /really/ want to, I won't stop you."

Hisoka frowned slightly. They were approaching the infirmary now. Tsuzuki would be disappointed if he did not come like he had promised, but he had the chance now to learn more about the deaths of the two students if he were to go to lunch and overhear their conversations. Since it was work related, he was sure Tsuzuki would forgive him.

"I'll come," he said. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," Yuanyi said, still smiling. "Come on, cafeteria's this way."

Before Hisoka even knew what had happened, Yuanyi had dragged him through the lunch line, filled up his tray with some rather health-harming substances, and then sat him down at one of the many round tables across the cafeteria beside her. The next thing he knew she was introducing him to all of her friends, boys and girls alike, and he caught all of two names before he gave up on trying to remember at all.

"So where did you transfer from, Hisoka-kun?" one of the girls asked him. Dark eyes, dark hair, not quite as attractive as Yuanyi, but Yuanyi struck him as the kind of person that accepted all people alike, no matter what their appearance or background was. The group of people around him being a rather odd assortment confirmed that thought in his mind.

"Kyoto," he answered off the top of his head. "My father's job moved him to Nagasaki."

"Do you play any sports?" a boy, Kensou, inquired.

"I . . . er, well I fence," Hisoka answered. "And some other stuff . . ."

Sports had not been amongst the things his father had thought was proper for a boy to learn, a boy that was to be the future head of their family at that. He had been taught kendo, aikido, kyudo, naginata, and judo aside from what education he already had. Sports had not been on the curriculum.

"What else?" another girl asked curiously.

"Judo . . . kyudo--"

"Kyudo!" Yuanyi interrupted. "You should go out for the school archery team! Are you any good?"

That was a rather stupid question, Hisoka thought. "Yeah, pretty good," was what he answered modestly however.

"Akira is on the archery team," Yuanyi said, pointing to a boy that was seated with them. Akira smiled.

"I could introduce you to the coach," he said. "We've been needing some new archers or else we can't go to the district championship. If you're free after school, you can come to the practice."

Hisoka was startled into responding with a lame, "O-okay . . ." before the others decided to let him be to have his lunch while they went on to talk about other things.

He was honestly . . . surprised, he supposed the word was. He had never had people be this open and accepting to him before. Even Tsuzuki, the one person that seemed to have a smile for the entire world, had been difficult to accept him in the beginning. It was Hisoka's fault entirely for that as well, which was why he was so startled that these people accepted him without hardly knowing him at all. He had done nothing to make them like him, yet they were making a genuine effort to be kind and involve him in their activities. It was a strange feeling he couldn't quite identify that these people had.

The end of lunch bell rang. Everyone hopped up and began to gather their things. As they drifted away, each said good-bye to Hisoka in turn, which succeeded in dumbfounding him only more. At last only he, Yuanyi, and Akira remained.

"What class do you have now, Hisoka?" Akira asked.

Hisoka looked quickly at his schedule. "Um . . .advanced algebra," he answered.

"Advanced?" Akira repeated, surprised. "You've got to have some real smarts to be in that class. Yuanyi's got it too. Even if she does have that pretty face, she's a real nerd on the inside."

"Shut up!" Yuanyi exclaimed. Her cheeks flamed red and she reached out to thwap Akira upside the head. Sticking her nose in the air, she turned her back to him. "You just go on to your language lessons, ne? I hear your English is something awful."

Akira stuck his tongue out at her, which Yuanyi returned with an equally disgusting face. But as Akira departed from them both were smiling. Hisoka had never had friends before. He supposed that was what it was like, to have a friend.

"Come on, Hisoka-kun," Yuanyi said suddenly, tugging on his hand, "or we'll be late for algebra!"

"So last period turned out to be self-study, huh?"

Hisoka glanced up. Tsuzuki wheeled around in his chair, pinning a smile on him.

He was dressed the part for a school nurse, of course. White jacket over a suit, glasses perched on his nose, stethoscope around his neck. Hisoka thought he almost enjoyed the part too much.

"Yeah," he answered, slipping inside the infirmary and shutting the door behind him. "Sorry I didn't come for lunch. I got distracted."

"That's okay," Tsuzuki said, still smiling. "Did you find anything out?"

Hisoka settled down on the bed in the corner of the room, placing his books beside him. He had been given a load of homework despite the fact that it had technically been his first day. If he paid the Gushoshin enough, he wondered if they would do it for him.

"No," he replied. "For two kids dying here recently everybody's really . . . nice and happy."

"Well, maybe the Gushoshin or somebody else found something out to give us a hint in the right direction," Tsuzuki said optimistically.

Tsuzuki stood up and stretched. "Well," he continued, "we might as well head to the hotel Tatsumi booked us since you're all done."

"Ah . . ."

Tsuzuki turned and blinked. "Hm?"

"I sort of promised this person I'd stay after for the archery practice . . . they want me to be on the team, and I don't know, I just said okay . . ."

Hisoka ducked his head. Tsuzuki was looking at him in that odd way of his again, looking a cross between puzzled and amused. Finally amused won out and a huge smile spread across his face.

"That's great! You really should try to get on the team. You're a really good archer."

"Y . . . you think so?"

"Of course! And I'm glad you're making friends."

Hisoka's cheeks flushed bright red. "It's not really like that . . ."

"Waaaaai, can I stay to watch? Or are old men not allowed?"

"…….idiot."

Yuanyi and Akira were waiting for him on the field when Hisoka and Tsuzuki emerged from the building. Tsuzuki gave him a smile and told him to do his best, then disappeared to the stands to watch the practice. Feeling the same blush on his cheeks, Hisoka made his way across the field with his head bowed and praying that the flush went away before he reached Yuanyi and Akira.

Akira was dressed in a school P.E. uniform while Yuanyi had changed out of her uniform into something more comfortable. There were a few other people he recognized from lunch seated in the stands, but aside from those few, he did not recognize anyone. He made a mental note in his mind to remember that he was here to /work/, not to make friends or waste his time on archery. All of this was a part of work, nothing else.

That, at least, was what he would keep repeating his mind. Possibly he might come to believe it.

"Who's that guy?" Yuanyi asked, gesturing to Tsuzuki.

Hisoka faltered for some kind of lie to give. "Oh, he's uh . . ."

"I get it," Yuanyi interrupted, smiling broadly. "He's way cute. You bagged a good one."

Hisoka did a double take, just nearly colliding into the ground. "Tsuzuki and I aren't like that!!"

Yuanyi did not believe him, but she did not continue to tease him. She simply smiled knowingly to herself and gave Akira a nudge in the side, who nodded in agreement. Hisoka could feel his blush returning in full force.

"Here, Hisoka," Akira said, holding out a bow and quiver of arrows to him. "I've already told coach about you and he wants me to evaluate you. Try to hit that target down there."

At the far end of the field a bright target gleamed at him. Hisoka tested the string of the bow before settling an arrow onto it. Drawing it up beside his ear, his eyes narrowed in on the yellow center of the target. What made him a good shot was that when he focused on something, all other distractions faded away, until all he could see was that yellow circle.

He released the string without hesitation and the arrow whistled through the air. The tip embedded into the very center.

"Whoa, you really are good!" Akira exclaimed.

"Way to go, Hisoka-kun!" Yuanyi put in cheerfully.

Hisoka felt himself blushing again. He tried to make some modest remark to escape their praise, but nothing seemed to come out of his mouth. He honestly was pleased by their words.

"Hey! Hey, we need the nurse!"

A voice calling from down field caught their attention. The three teenager turned to find someone at the far end of the track standing up and waving his arms frantically to catch someone's attention. Akira dropped his bow and immediately began to spring across the field, and Yuanyi needed only to tug on Hisoka's arm to get him to follow them.

Tsuzuki had also heard the plea for help, Hisoka noted. He could see his partner approaching from the bleachers as he glanced over at the stands. Despite the fact that he was posing as the school nurse, he actually knew a thing or two when it came to health issues and actually would be of help. Hisoka breathed a sigh of relief that he was there and had not gone on to the hotel without him.

"What happened?" Tsuzuki asked as he came closer.

The boy waving his arms gestured to his friend, another boy lying on the ground holding his ankle in hand and moaning in pain. "We were running around the track, and he tripped over that," he explained, pointing a jagged rock a few yards from them. "But we checked the track before we started! I thought we got it out of the way!"

Tsuzuki smiled. "Don't worry, it's not your fault. Just let me take a look at him."

The boy moved aside to give him room. Tsuzuki kneeled down. Both he and Hisoka nearly gasped at the same moment.

The other boy was Hijiri.

"Tsuzuki?" Hijiri asked, surprised. "I'm not in so much pain I'm hallucinating, am I?"

"You guys know each other?" asked Yuanyi.

"Ah, let's get him inside," Tsuzuki said quickly. "You two, go get a stretcher so we can carry him in. Don't worry, kiddo, you'll be fine."

The fall had caused Hijiri a sprained ankle, fortunately nothing severe. Once his wound was wrapped and he was given a few painkillers, he was fine and talking quite animatedly in the infirmary. One by one his friends departed to go on home, sure that he would be fine, until Tsuzuki and Hisoka were left alone with the prodigious violinist.

"I'm really surprised to see you guys," Hijiri said, smiling. "What're you doing here? How's Kazusa? You can see her, can't you? I mean, since you're well . . . dead and all."

"Shinigami are not allowed to associate with the dead in Meifu," Tsuzuki replied. "I'm sure Kazusa's doing fine, though."

"Oh. Well, that's too bad. But I'm still glad to see you two!"

Tsuzuki smiled. Hisoka did not. He was seated in the desk chair, arms folded across his chest and gazing at Hijiri evenly. Something about the other boy had always bothered him. Perhaps it was that they were so alike in appearance, yet so different. Maybe it was because of the way Hijiri looked at Tsuzuki.

Now I sound like a jealous idiot Hisoka thought sourly.

"So why are you here?" Hijiri asked again.

"We were sent here because of the deaths of two students here," Tsuzuki replied. "Do you know anything about it, Hijiri?"

The boy sobered at once. "Yeah, of course. The first to die was a girl named Ikaruga Mai. Then it was Nagumo Takujii. Nobody knows how they died. They just did. And only in the span of a three weeks. It's been two weeks since. There are rumors flying around the next person's going to die soon. Everybody's afraid it will be them."

"Why do they think it will happen here again?" Hisoka asked.

"Well, because it's strange, isn't it? Two kids die, both in no way even a doctor can tell, and only in the span of three weeks. And both came to this school! It's like we're cursed or something."

"Cursed," Tsuzuki repeated. "Maybe a curse, but I don't know anyone that could do something like /this/ . . ." He glanced at Hisoka, knowing what his younger partner was thinking. "Not even him."

Hisoka resisted the urge to shudder. "Well, maybe a serial killer or something."

"That's a real talented serial killer," Hijiri said dryly, "to kill people without leaving a trace."

Hisoka fixated a rather foul look on him, which went unnoticed to both he and Tsuzuki. Hijiri's attention had been caught by Tsuzuki once again, who was pacing back and forth across the room alternating rubbing his chin or scratching at the back of his head. Hisoka thought again how much he did not like the way Hijiri looked at Tsuzuki.

"Has anything strange been happening around here lately?" Tsuzuki asked.

"Not really," Hijiri replied.

"Anything the people did or acted like or looked like in those weeks before they died?"

"I didn't really know Mai, but Takujii was in orchestra with me. He didn't act much differently than he always did, but he did get tired a lot more often. He even passed out once during class. That was a few days before he died."

"Has anyone had symptoms like that lately? Getting tired easily?"

"Ummm . . . hey, yeah, one person."

Hisoka looked up. "Who?"

"Iida Yuanyi."