Kurama did not know what to expect when he sat in front of the kotatsu. Botan had a strong aura of positivity surrounding her, so he doubted his mother would question how sincere she was. Her natural charm would do wonders here, but there was still the obstacle of being convincing. Anyone could say they are struggling, or desperate, and be absolutely horrible at convincing someone of it. With his mother welcoming Botan to speak, Kurama kept focus strictly on Botan to monitor her efforts.
The slight gnawing she did on her lips would help sell the trouble this was causing her. The story was brief and not at all hard to follow, but what impressed him the most was how concise it was. Botan wasn’t wavering or stressing her pause. No tears were needed to capture his mother’s sympathy. One quick glance at Shiori told Kurama that Botan had done it; she looked to Botan with the affection and tenderness that only a mother could provide. It was tale that was bought before Botan had completely sold it, and in the end his mother leaned over to wrap her arm around Botan.
‘Good work,’ Kurama thought, smiling at the two whilst his mother welcomed Botan to stay. Shiori had asked him to accompany her while she got her things and returned them here. Everything had gone just as planned. “Of course, mother. We’ll be back soon.”
Joining Botan at the door and placing his shoes back on, the two had left as quickly as they had come. With Botan’s decision-making skills she had explained what she believed to be the best course of action. Kurama agreed. “I feel the same way. This is a good time to get started on the investigation.” he said. Once they got to her storage locker, Kurama wasn’t shy about examining what devices she pulled out from it. Recognizing them as obvious Spirit World tools—thanks to his bandit days, and a few uncomfortable calls against those searching for him—Botan spoke of the best way they could get a good idea of what happened: returning her to the specific areas Meiko and Anabe were found. It was the best start they could hope to get without any leads.
“I can’t say much for Anabe from personal experience, but I did hear that he was less and less sociable in the days leading up to when he was found. He wasn’t a rowdy boy, but he had a good group of friends. It went on for a few days just before what happened.” Kurama said. “It’s easy to rule it as suicide if they’re withdrawing from socializing, even with friends. Meiko was a lot more cheerful and I know that from having seen her myself a handful of times. The same thing seemed to happen to her; she was more withdrawn than usual, smiled less, and spent a good deal of time alone when she could.”
It was a good cover, yet his instincts and Botan’s own records were pointing them in the direction of a dark scheme. What was there to gain from this? Was it all just a thrill of causing suffering before taking their lives away? It was enough to make Kurama’s blood boil, and his fist tightened to reflect his train of thought. Yusuke and Kuwabara may have understood the significance of their peers suffering the most, especially when they weren’t cruel or malicious. They were innocent.
Botan mentioning never thanking him had snapped Kurama out of his internal anger. He kept alongside her, giving a glance of confusion that turned into one of understanding. “If you’re talking about staying with me, it isn’t a problem. You’re the most well-behaved and considerate out of our circle, so it wasn’t difficult to offer you a place in my home.”
She continued even after they had gone through the gate, expressing gratitude for the part he was playing in this investigation. It would be too odd for Yusuke or Kuwabara to appear here given their attending another school. Hiei was out of the question unless a challenge for him was in place—or worse, Yukina was threatened in some way, a death sentence for anyone who did not know of him. Botan had said how refreshing it would be to work with someone like him, as opposed to Yusuke. Kurama understood the significance this must have on her. It was mutual. “I’m happy to help you, Botan, truly,” Kurama said, returning her smile with one of his own. “While I appreciate Hiei’s insight and… unique perspective on problems and how best to solve them, your presence is refreshing. Let’s see how we perform together.” Kurama did not doubt they would make a good team.
When they finally entered the school, silence was the only thing that welcomed them. They had to have been the only two souls here. Kurama believed he would have sensed someone otherwise. Tomorrow, that was going to be different. “Since we’re on the first floor, we’ll start with where Anabe was found,” he said. Guiding her through the halls, passing posters that advertised various clubs and events taking place after school, Kurama could not find it in him to say much more. He was back to thinking about what made these students so special that they were targeted out of the lot. The significance was lost on him… yet somehow he believed he was missing something important with all of this.
“Here,” Kurama stopped just in front of the bathroom door before pushing it open. Immediately after doing so, the scent of bleach and multi-scented cleaning products overwhelmed his senses. Hitting the light switch just beside the door, they flickered on to reveal a pristine bathroom. The surfaces of all things seemed to glimmer. “Anabe’s death was two weeks ago, but it’s hard to...” Kurama searched for the proper word as he led her to the exact stall Anabe was found in. “To ‘get comfortable’ knowing that a peer took his life here. The faculty must have believed that freshening the place up would make things easier for the other students. I don’t think anyone’s touched it since then.”
The stall closest to the urinals just beside them was the one they would stop in front of. Kurama parted the door with the scent only becoming stronger there, a good indicator that it was here where Anabe was found if Botan had not pieced it together already. “He was sat here,” Kurama gestured to the glistening, closed toilet seat, “He bled onto the floor. The trail managed to extend to the urinal beside this stall before someone was alerted. I wasn’t a witness, but those that saw the body said that his expression was calm. No tears, no fuss. He looked content, with an emptiness in his eyes. The knife is in the hands of the authorities, and it’s beyond what I can accomplish as a student to get to you to examine.” Kurama frowned. “Maybe you can ask Koenma to get us a chance to examine it?”
It was probably better that way. He likely could have stolen it himself, but those days were something he wanted to put behind him unless absolutely necessary.
Taka
Dane
erikh