He sighed.
Disappointment.
The tension drained from his shoulders, his fists unclenching. His expression, which had flickered with something almost human, smoothed back into that familiar blank mask.
"You're not the killer," he said. His voice was flat, emotionless, the voice of someone delivering a verdict. "I knew that before I came here."
Neila's smile flickered. "Then why-"
"Because you're the only one who might know who is."
The silence stretched between them.
Neila returned to her chair, her movements deliberate, controlled. She smoothed her shirt where his fingers had creased it, adjusted her twin-tails with quick, practiced motions.
When she looked at him again, some of the sharpness had faded from her expression.
"What makes you think I know anything?"
"You're trying to avoid my question on purpose." Hoshimi leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, his posture deliberately casual. "Either you're too lazy to tell me or you want something else from me."
"Want something from you? What more do you even have to offer? You're broke, boring, and emotionally stunted."
She paused, considering.
"Actually, that last one might be a selling point for some people. The silent, brooding type. Very popular in romance novels."
"Are you finished?"
"Not even close." But she was smiling now, a real smile, not the sharp thing she wore like armor. "Guess what? I'm feeling nice today. I'm having quite the good day, so I'll tell you without any strings attached."
"Really?" Hoshimi raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you do anything without strings?"
"Since I realized you're more useful to me alive than dead." Neila's smile widened.
He paused. "Who's been acting strange? Since the Mirlo estate. Since the invasion. Who's been different?"
Neila was quiet for a long moment. Her gaze drifted to the boxes lining her walls, the jewels gleaming in their velvet case, the small mountain of wealth she'd extracted from a family's tragedy.
"It's Lucy."
"Oh is it?"
Another pause. Longer this time.
"Yep, there's no doubt."
"I notice everything." Neila's voice was sharp again, defensive. "It's what I do."
"What evidence do you even have?"
"My gut feeling."
"So your claim is baseless."
"I mean." Neila shrugged. "I wouldn't say that."
He sighed.
"You're useless."
"Come on, don't be like that." Neila slapped his back, grabbing onto his shoulder, her eyes glowing an unnatural blue. "Fine, I'll tell you something." She tilted her head, "Dominic's being weird, weirder than usual, ever since our mission during the Mirlo household, something seems off."
[She said the same thing, there's been something off with Dominic. I'll ask Seraphina about it later, Lucy didn't seem to know anything about him though. Just being a little off isn't enough]
"Off how."
Neila shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? It's not like I'm staring at him all the time. I just told you that he's being a little weirder than usual."
"Are you trying to be intentionally vague? Anything you notice about him?"
"I mean.. He spaces out sometimes and stares at nothing." Neila looked away from him. "That's unlike him, I guess. I dunno."
"This didn't help in the slightest." Hoshimi moved toward the door, his footsteps silent on the polished floor. "But at the very least I feel like I'm getting closer."
At the threshold, he paused, looking back.
"The jewels," he said. "From the Mirlo estate. You could have sold them. You could have hidden them away where no one would see. But you didn't."
Neila's expression shuttered. "So?"
"So you keep them on your desk. Where you can look at them. Where they remind you of something." He met her eyes.
Neila raised an eyebrow.
"So what? You judging me?"
Hoshimi nodded slowly.
"No I'm not, goodnight, Neila."
The door clicked shut behind him.
Hoshimi stood in the empty corridor, the fluorescent lights humming their eternal song, his reflection staring back at him from a dozen chrome doors. Somewhere in the building, a door opened and closed, footsteps fading into silence.
His footsteps silent on the cold floor.
[I'll find them.]
He pulled out his phone.
23:58
Hoshimi slipped the phone back into his pocket and began to walk.
Hoshimi stood for a moment, his hand on the door handle, his violet eyes fixed on the chrome surface of Neila's door.
[Has Neila been deliberately withholding information?.]
[But she's not the killer. She wouldn't risk her position, her wealth, her carefully constructed power base for something as messy as murder.]
He walked back toward his room, his footsteps silent on the polished floor. The common room was dark, the chairs where they'd gathered hours ago empty, abandoned.
The corridor stretched before him, endless, identical, a maze of closed doors and hidden things. At the far end, the common room sat empty, the remnants of cold tea and half-eaten toast still scattered across the table.
He stopped at Kira's door. Listened. Through the thin walls, he could hear her breathing, slow and steady, finally asleep after hours of restless turning.
He moved on.
Lucy's room was dark, the lights off, the silence absolute. He pressed his palm against the door, feeling the faint warmth of residual mana from the barrier she'd woven to keep Neila out, or perhaps to keep something else in.
Sarah's room was at the end of the corridor, door closed, lights off. No sound came from within, no mana signature he could detect, no sense of presence at all. It was as if the room was empty.
[Who the hell even is Sarah? I did research before I even went to the entrance exam, yet I don't remember her name even being on the registration. She's not from any well known family or is even connected with any powerful people, some random witch]
Hoshimi stood at the end of the corridor, his violet eyes fixed on the closed door, his reflection staring back at him from the polished chrome.
At his own door, he paused.
[I wonder what I even want]
His hand found the handle of his door. Behind him, the corridor stretched into darkness, a maze of closed doors and hidden things, of secrets that would not stay buried.
He opened the door and stepped inside, letting the darkness swallow him whole.
[I wonder if I'll ever have any dreams]
He lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, counting the seconds between the hum of the fluorescent lights.
[I wonder what my purpose is. If I even have any]
[But my purpose for now… is to find the killer.]
He closed his eyes.
[I'm sleepy]
The fluorescent lights hummed.