The morning after the music room encounter, Shirokuma High felt tense. Students whispered nervously in the halls, sensing the lingering presence of something unseen. Hiragi, as always, walked calmly, eyes scanning every shadow.
He gathered the key students who had been involved in prior incidents: Ren, Airi, Souta, Yuna, and Taku. "Today," he said, "we'll piece together what we know—and follow the patterns the mastermind left behind."
They began by reviewing all prior clues:
The broken baseball bat. The stolen artifacts. The poisoned tea. The midnight footprints. The subtle disruptions from the "Silent Game."
Hiragi asked the students to describe everything they remembered, no matter how minor. As each spoke, Hiragi's mind linked inconsistencies and patterns. A seemingly minor detail—a note's handwriting, a misplaced object, even the faint smell of ink—formed a hidden trail.
Suddenly, Hiragi paused. "Notice this," he said, pointing to the patterns. "Every disturbance, every cryptic note, aligns with one person's movements—Daichi. But the key is not just observing him—it's understanding his motive."
Ren frowned. "But why go this far? Why involve all of us?"
Hiragi adjusted his hat. "Because the mastermind doesn't just want to confuse. He wants to test perception. Every action you took, every reaction, was recorded mentally… forming his own puzzle."
A faint sound came from the library door. Hiragi's eyes narrowed. "He wants us to chase him—but the real lesson is in what we notice, not what we catch."
He led the students through the hallways, tracing the faint traces Daichi had left: subtle shifts in furniture, dust patterns, tiny ink smudges. Each clue revealed not just location, but psychology—how Daichi predicted reactions.
Hiragi stopped at the empty auditorium. On the floor was a new note:
"Patterns are clear to those who see. But do you understand the shadows or merely the surface?"
Hiragi picked it up, reading silently. His eyes gleamed. "This is the breakthrough. He's leaving clues intentionally, but he's testing our minds more than our eyes. The web is still tangled, but the threads are visible."
The students felt both excitement and unease. Each realized the mastermind was not just clever—he was watching their minds, predicting behavior, orchestrating a psychological maze.
Hiragi spoke calmly, yet firmly: "We follow the shadows, not blindly, but with understanding. Every clue points closer, but the real test is patience and insight. Daichi wants us to chase him, but we must unravel the mind behind the web."
As the students left to continue their day, Hiragi lingered, studying the traces on the auditorium floor. The shadows stretched long, folding in ways that seemed almost deliberate. He whispered to himself:
"Every shadow leaves a mark… and every mind can read it. But the deepest secrets are always hidden in plain sight."
The chase was far from over, yet for the first time, Hiragi felt the threads of the web loosening—just enough to glimpse the mastermind's next move.