Seeking more Information (Mission)

He had finally finished the day's worth of classes as Jin finally exited the room sluggishly. It was good to finally leave, giving him more walking space as the students passed by his solitary figure. The substitute had a rather strong urge to dig into his pockets for his pack of cigarettes. As the school rules and ethics goes, this was not allowed. His left fingers twitched inside the concealing cover of his pocket while his right tightened harder around the handle of his suitcase. He was really eager to leave to finally get a puff. But it had to wait. Since he'd have to sign out, the trip to the office is most imperative.

As Jin finally passed through various hallways, staircases, and a host body of students scurrying about; he finally had his hand around the knob that would open his entrance into the administrative offices. It seemed to be just another mundane day. A boring and seemingly endless series of days being stuck with a horde of hormone-driven teenagers.

That is until he heard a commotion. The sound of someone trying to keep himself from vomiting. Of excuses. Of conjectures. Of flimsy reasoning.

The voices were familiar as he had stayed in the school enough to become accustomed to their existence. His curiosity finally got the better of him as he started to walk towards where all these sounds were coming from. And judging by the words he could hear, something had gone horribly wrong. It did not take long to finally arrive at the scene where the three teachers: Nola, Yui, and Mojii were with a few students. The first thing he noticed was his younger senior was panicking silently with gasps and sweating.The obvious signs of someone who had confronted a fearful scene. Then the substitute smelled strong iron. It was all too familiar...

Then he saw what Mojii had scared him. Despite the motley of students and teachers inside the room, Jin could clearly see the ultimately disheveled nature of furniture damaged and scattered about in its boundaries. But what had gotten his attention was the streaks of blood that adorned the harsh slash marks on every surface of the four walls of the room. Especially what seemed to be the lifeless figure of the principal. Everyone seemed oblivious to the fact he had quietly entered to the scene.

"A murder," his tone lacked much shock and horror that was befitting of the crime scene. He was already numb of this before he came here, his relaxed expression was a great indicator if one could notice. His first words would alert everyone of his presence after their hypotheses of the student's involvement.

Jin finally walked, past the threshold where Aburai was at, into the room with his eyes meticulously scanning for any clues. But all it bore was the signs of blood and the results of some sharp edged cutting tool. It was strange when he finally looked at the lifeless principal. There were no signs of harm or damage on his body or clothes. As if he were to have died in his sleep from old age.

"This isn't done by conventional weaponry," the man finally spoke, "He must've died from asphyxia. But that doesn't explain the blood and damage around here."

He paused to stare at the suspects that were in the room. They were young. And he noticed one of them were in the class he taught before. They certainly didn't seemed armed in some way. Not a rifle. An edged weapon. Or some gas canisters that would've taken up all the oxygen in the room to kill the victim.

"They're innocent," Jin spoke calmly at the distressed teachers, "But under normal circumstances that they normally do not have access to such tools. Which I won't be surprised. Though of course they're only innocent until charged guilty. Frankly, we can all agree this scene is most bizarre by many means. And I don't think I'd have to explain why it is."

He paused again to walk around for another analytical scan around the crime scene, carefully not touching anything in the room that could make things more troubling for the autopsy team.

"It would be best to leave the crime scene intact unlike what Ms. Shepard just did," he emphasized his suggestion with a passing look at the American teacher, "Call the police. And also do we have CCTV cameras installed in this campus?"

Kahn would go along with Lorielle’s plan for the most part, which was a relief. The last thing she needed was for him to screw it up and prevent their chances from being taken. Though the teachers may end up doing that in the end. She would however feel sympathy for the one shaking the Principal. It was hard to hope for something hopeless. But it was odd given his condition. ‘Where did all the blood come from? Not from him surely….’ She thought. But who then? Her thinking would be interrupted by one of her teachers, who seemed very upset on their arrival. It should probably expected of her to be accused being the first ones at the scene. Either way, she would defend herself. “We just came in here a second ago. Do you honestly think we would still be here if we committed the crime? I’d be running for the hills,” she argued. Thankfully, something she did not like to do was coming in handy for the most part. She had no idea where to begin, thankful that another teacher defended them, which hopefully would help raise their credibility.

“I know. But I promise, we did not do it. If anything, the real criminal might try to frame whoever came in first. If you guys came in, and someone else caught you, that might make you guys look off,” she tried to explain. She did not make it sound rude or anything, just arguing her point that who was first was not necessarily the culprit. But she did have to start somewhere and explain. And perhaps stretch the truth slightly. “Well, I was here to ask the Principal about the missing students in more detail, see if he knew anything,” she said. It would be best to come clean now, so maybe if they knew something, they could spit it out at her with the right push. “One of them was a friend of mine, and I am beside myself in worry,” she then lied, giving a frown. That was one way to go in getting information from them, and if not, she would have to think of something else. “We found the door completely broken, hanging there. And when we walked in, we found this. We got here literally seconds before you all did.” Apart from her sob story, it was the complete truth. What reason did she have to lie at the moment apart from gathering information from them?

Though another teacher would walk in. A black-haired man that she did not recognize in this school ever came in. ‘A substitute maybe? Weird…’ she thought. Though, he would basically explain what he thought was correct, which was namely obvious stuff. This blood may not be the Principal’s, considering he had no outside scars. Though something hit her at that remark. “Actually now that I think about it, maybe a cutting tool was used, but if the gashes are as deep as they are, surely the weapon would be very difficult to sneak in, at least considering if we had it on us without any method to hide it. Cause the weapon itself is probably not here. So maybe the weapon was something already here? Or did it sneak in some other way?” she spoke out loud. She was mostly thinking to herself, not really knowing what to think. The new arrival did actually defend them, which was only helping Lorielle’s and Kahn’s case. Though it nonetheless bothered her when he mentioned to call the cops. They would not have too much time to gather information about them and this room. She would have to try again. She would look towards the teacher that almost spoke by the door before her teacher interrupted him. “Did you know anything about the Principal at all, something that might have happened? Anything? Please, this will only help us in trying to piece together what even happened here. Should we at least look around the room in more detail in case we find something?” she said. She had to make any possible suggestion to either stall, or get info from them. Anything was useful right now. Then again it seemed rather pointless. No progress would be made. "Yeah though. We should probably call the cops."

Weakness:

Kahn watched some of the teacher's recover from their shock and terror...all except Yui. The pessimistic man that he was, who would assume that they had committed the crime until some real evidence came to light. He would nod at Lorielle's comment about if they committed it, they would most certainly not be here. "On that point, why would I call the cops from my own crime scene and increase the traces of my DNA? On a phone that could be traced back to me, no less?" Kahn would add to Lorielle's point. No criminal in their right mind would do something so foolish. However, Yui was not so easily convinced saying that he was pretending to call the cops.....that made Kahn a little upset...then again this was Yui. Of course he would think the worst of his own students.

However, Yui eventually got to asking questions about why they were here, and if they ever saw anyone leave or enter before they got here. While Lorielle was answering those question, the red haired young man thought back to the door. It was the best escape route that the culprit had at his disposal. Could he have used it to enter too? That would be odd because that did not explain the door...at all. After Lorielle, answered Kahn would explain his reasons as well, "I was here to ask about my roommate, and I was wondering what happened to him. I figured that the principal would know if my roommate was alright." He would explain, though Yui's next question stumped him. If not them...then who could it be. Well Kahn figured it was someone at his school, but he dared not voice that. That could incite a panic, and make it more difficult to learn about the principal. "Lorielle is speaking the truth, we noticed the doors out of place condition, and we entered the room just moments ago. To find....well...this mess." He would say before a person he had never seen before, but it was clear that he was a coworker considering how he spoke to the teachers. Whoever, he was he was on Kahn and Lorielle's side. He pointed out that principal died of asphyxiation, but that did not explain the state of the room.

Lorielle offered her idea about the state of the room, and it was a good explanation...however Kahn's mind drifted back to the door. Either that or the person had supernatural powers, granted such an explanation would never hold. However he could offer his thoughts about Lorielle's theory, "Now I'm no expert, but judging from the depth of the gashes it would have to be a rather large weapon with a lot of weight. Something that could not be concealed very easily, and the person would struggle with the weight. Furthermore, I don't see anything in the room that could be used to hold such a weapon. Granted, that does not it was impossible for such a weapon to have been hidden from view. I just believe it would be very difficult." Then again if they had access to the door that no one else seemed to be able to see then they could very easily take such a weapon out with them. However the cops were mentioned once more, and Kahn glanced toward his phone, when Lorielle began to ask questions again.

"Actually, I have a question or two that I would like to add to that. Did he have a meeting with anyone before this time? If you do not know, then do you know someone who might know the principal's schedule for today?" He would simply ask. He doubted the teachers knew such information, but if they saw him talk to someone then he might have a lead to who committed this crime.

Jin only returned a nonchalant look at the glare Nola she returned for his previous suggestion about the crime scene. From the next words she had chosen to speak to him, it seems she hasn't truly calmed herself enough to think rationally. But, of course, it would be awfully strange why some random person would show up here after all. The Chinese teacher was about to retort on his side, if it weren't for the more seasoned of the four effectively telling them to cut the chatter and giving respective orders on what to do.

The American left the room to inform the authorities of the kill. But what was most interesting was what Aburai said next.

"You know Yui, now that these kids said something I did see someone strange that seemed to be pretty mad leaving the Principal's office earlier today. I think she-..."

But he was cut off with a stern Yui, telling him to silence himself before adding any more possible damage to this current situation. It was then Jin has finally found himself with an order to get these students/prospective suspects to the murder. Shame. Now there wouldn't be a chance to gain any more information on what the third year teacher meant. Though this person incessantly sweating did bring some suspicion. Then again, most people aren't accustomed to the sight of corpses and murder.

"You two," Jin finally spoke to the young duo with a gesture motioning them to follow him, "Let's go."

Without another word, he walked towards the door and exited the room. The teacher waited there for the students to exit as well, so he could follow behind them to prevent them from actually getting away, in the case they did want to leave the campus. So then they left. Away from the noxious scent of iron and the scene of destruction.

Lorielle stayed lost in thought as Kahn spoke. It did not seem like they were getting anywhere, at least not without some help from the cops. Something would have to be done in order to figure out what happened. She could only agree with the fact that the weapon would have a hard time getting in here unless there was a method to get in here that Lorielle just could not see. Though, when Kahn decided to ask his question about the Principal and his time before he died, Lorielle paused for a moment. ‘He said he would be in the office since the assembly right? Not a lot of time between the two events, unless the meeting was not only quick, or it occurred in the room. But like the substitute said, the cameras may be able to speak for that,’ she thought. She would not voice her thoughts for the time being unless it came up or the teachers answered his question.

The teacher Nola, seemed to get a bit hostile towards the substitute. ’Jin Wong Wu. That was his name,’ she suddenly remembered in her head. Yui would stop her before it got worse, and suggested the authorities to be called, probably the best option for now. Something did catch her ear however when Aburai tried to say something, before getting interrupted by Yui who just told them to keep the info to yourself unless the cops ask before leaving. Lorielle would wait until Yui left, and Jin as well, as he remained outside, and looked back at Aburai. “Good point. Unless someone in the school like a student or a teacher had a vendetta against him. Maybe this has nothing to do with school….” She said aloud. It was an idea she had gotten a second ago. It was so odd how he had been absent, then the moment he gets back, he is killed. She thought at one point maybe the Principal said something that got him killed, but maybe this has nothing to do with the assembly. Aburai was telling them to go, but Lorielle looked at him more directly. “But wait a minute. You said something interesting. I know it may not be your place to say without the cops. But you said you saw someone leaving the office today?” she said walking to the door, acting as though she was perfectly willing to go, just not without her answer. “You said it was a girl right? Is there any way you can tell us what you saw? It would probably ease the both of us. Worse-case scenario, it turns out to be nothing, but maybe it is something. I am just curious is all. Sorry,” she said, ending with an apology to possibly soften her questioning. If Aburai refused to answer, she would probably have no choice but to leave and follow Wong Wu. But this may be a good opportunity to get at least something before the cops come and possibly keep her out of the loop. This was just far too weird to just let go on her own. So maybe Aburai could be her way out.

Nola seemed to argue with the new arrival, until she was silenced by Yui who calmly explained what the group should do. Then the second year teacher glared at Lorielle and Kahn...obviously irritated by their curious questions. He then told Nola to go make the call to the police, since Kahn did not make the call. The second year was not amused by this comment, then again Yui rarely amused anyone so why was he acting so surprised. The day Yui cracked a joke was the day the world was ending. Granted, even that may not faze the pessimistic teacher.

However, Abruai began to mention how a strange woman left the Principal's office, and she looked rather angry. 'That's a start, but could she be a witness or the culprit? Or maybe she was an innocent bystander...after all the culprit did have the perfect escape route through that door.' he thought, so maybe thinking this women was the culprit was getting ahead of himself. Whatever, if he was able to identify this women then maybe he could learn what happened to the principal, or at least get a better idea of what happened. However, Yui cut Abruai before she could finish, and then tasked this newcomer with escorting Kahn and Lorielle. Whoever, this newcomer was he seemed rather strict, and ordered the two students to follow him.

He was thinking of a way to ask Abruai a question, or a way to stall time, when Lorielle beat him to the punch. Man...he must have be off his game today. Oh well, at least now they had to wait for Lorielle's question to be answered. He would walk by Lorielle, and start to make his way to Jin, however when he "noticed" that Lorielle wasn't coming with him...he turned back to her and just shrugged before leaning against the wall. Well within earshot of Lorielle's and Aburai's postion. After all he wanted to hear their conversation quite clearly. Hopefully, Aburai would spill the beans so the two inquisitive students would get all the information they could before police questioning. What a fun time that would be.

It was obvious the kids were really interested in this mess. Of course, they were the ones that are possible suspects to the crime. But yet, normally they would stay quiet whether they were innocent or not. For fear that they would give out any implications that they were involved with the crime. However, they seemed just so enthused in such a strange way, that they did not seem to care that much. Could they really be involved with this crime? It was hard to tell with such a strange kill. Regardless of their questions, they were sent away from the room with Jin in tow behind them.

As they left, he could hear the second year teacher speak through the intercoms to stay in their respective classrooms. No doubt it would garner some form of curiosity in the student body. But what would have happened in that room will eventually become widespread later on. After all, Yui is just ensuring a form of damage control while giving the police ample space to get into the crime scene to do their work. As the trio continued to walk towards Yui's homeroom, someone called for them from behind. It would be no other than Aburai Mojii, who was most willing to give them the information of the previously mentioned girl.

"I see. Then let's make haste."

Speedily, no doubt with eagerness in the student's gaits, they scaled up the stairs to the oldest teacher's classroom. Jin slid the door open for the three, showing that it was mostly empty as the students would have already left for their respective clubs.

"Get in."

“To be fair, I would know the information that I was asking from you if I was truly part of this,” she debated back. She will never be over this until her guilt was disproven as well as she received the information she was looking for. Hopefully something would be figured out by the end of this. After Kahn had left, Aburai seemed to be hesitant in telling her what had happened. However, perhaps she had jumped the gun calling the student that had supposedly left a girl. Aburai was probably referring to Lorielle in that conversation, or someone else. For whatever the reason, he referred to the person as a “kid”. It could have meant a girl surely, or a boy, but Lori was still fairly unconvinced of either, at least until Aburai spilled the beans. Aburai did try to explain that no one should get up in arms over what happened. Lorielle hardly could believe what he said, and for once, she wholeheartedly disagreed, whether she was fluffing her story or not. “Sir, not only did our Principal pass on as it were, it could leave the students including myself in danger. I feel as though I have every right to want to know what is happening,” she explained. She was very argumentative about this, not just for the information, but really, there was no particular reason to shut them out when they themselves are suspicious as well. She just could not see it. However, she would leave it at that for the time being when Yui’s voice on the intercom told them to remain in class.

They really did not have much of a choice did they? Hopefully they would get something out of this soon….she would relent and follow Zong Wu and Kahn out to the classroom she was lead to. Though she would turn to Aburai when he did finally agree to give her something to chew on in regard to information. “Please do. Sorry to be so pushy, clearly you get that from you-know-who. Thank you for at least throwing us a bone,” she said gesturing indirectly to Yui. She only had his words to rely on for the time being until the cops got here. Who knows what he would have to say?

Weakness:

Jin had expected some form of information from his senior teacher as he felt the tension was still feeling stiff from the earlier incident back in the offices. Yet, it turns out he was just preaching to a young girl instead of giving any clues at the moment, as if he were forgetting it or trying to divert the attention away from it. But despite his appearance, Aburai was still a teacher with this sudden show of maturity.

"I'm sure she isn't that troublesome in my class," the Chinese wryly replied as he took the hand to shake, "But I appreciate it."

He let his fingers relax and release Aburai's hand to let him go on his way. But before he left, the scraggy male gave a last bit of advice to the Lorielle girl. While also giving out one clue of what he had promised: a certain Anya Satoshi. The identity of that female who had been fuming about the principal before the event of his death. But where has he heard of that name...?

Nothing could jog his memory to bring up any information about this girl. Perhaps she was a student of his class? Who knows? But as soon as the third year teacher left, Jin sighed. What a day. It seems he wouldn't be able to go home for a long while. Sluggishly, he leaned against a wall with a careful on the two students that he had escorted earlier.

"If you have homework, you may as well get to work on them right now. You're not going anywhere."

She frowned at Aburai. He was pretty much right. She really did not have much backing her aside from footage, and even then she and by extension Kahn may end up under suspicion. She remained silent until he was finished. “Sorry bout that….” She said once more. Maybe she was stressing herself out a bit. She forgot to realize that there are other people who have to know more than she does, like the faculty for one. He at least wanted the safety of the students, which was at least something. Who was that he mentioned? Anya Satoshi? ‘Yeah. Too much attention…gotta lay low I suppose…’ she thought, before nodding when Aburai finally left.

Once she turned to Zong Wu, she was a bit surprised to find him actually suggesting they start their homework. If she was anywhere else, she probably would not anyway, cause of her being lazy. But her point was that this seemed like a rather inappropriate time to do anything until this was settled. Either way, she would relent, and set her things down and pull out a textbook to read some pages from. Hopefully something would happen soon. She did not want to keep waiting here. As for Kahn, she would not really speak to him, unless he spoke to her. But right now, she did not picture either of them very talkative, at least not today. The matters would have to be solved first, or at least seen before anything was discussed.

Kahn would silently listen and follow the group as they began to walk. Lorielle was being quite argumentative with Aburai, which made Kahn smile softly, well at least she wasn't afraid to stick up for what she thought was right. Granted, he did shared some of the same concerns for getting blamed for this mess, but it seems as though Lorielle was doing a fine job on her own getting information out of the third year teacher. Either that or Aburai was weak willed and just hated to argue it was one of the two. However, he heard a key detail slip from Aburai's lips. He said "kid", some angry kid stomped off after seeing the principal. So it was someone younger than the students, or did the teacher just call everyone who was a student a kid? Suddenly the intercom came on with Yui's voice ordering all students to remain in their classrooms until further notice.

It was then that he heard Aburai say something else, he said he would throw them a bone if they went to class. However, he addressed Lorielle and Kahn as "kids", so if students were kids, then perhaps they were still dealing with a student. Granted, without any real evidence he was grasping at straws, but it was a little something to go off of. The group walked off, escorting Kahn and Lorielle to their previous class. While they did he would ponder what he had seen today. Too many questions and not enough clues, perhaps if he located this kid...then he could get more information. Eventually they reached the classroom, and Kahn started to pay attention when Aburai said, "Playing dumb". After a brief handshake with a new teacher, the often laid back, if not lazy, then began to preach a warning to Lorielle that she should not investigate further. He also said that he did not want her to become the next "Anya Satoshi"...didn't she disappear? Or maybe he heard a rumor about her being behind the disappearance. Perhaps this would require a bit more investigation into as well. Once Aburai left, he would make a simple comment.

"That man is either lazy...or a pushover. To be honest, I'm not quite sure which." Afterwards he would scratch the back of his head, as the new teacher suggested that they get into the class and do whatever homework they have. Since they would not be going anywhere, "Yeah, guess I should call my boss and let him know that I will not be on time today too." Kahn would not want to speak to Lorielle today, but after the questions the police may or may not have them....maybe he would invite her to grab something to eat? Who knows, but right now he had to make a phone call and think about what he observed.