The three of them searched every corner of the theater for almost an hour, but the place was completely clean. There wasn't a single trace of ether, nor any clue that could lead them to the culprit.
As they left, Zeke carefully closed the door so it wouldn't be noticeable that it had been opened.
—It's so frustrating not finding anything… —Miyu complained, pouting a little as she puffed her cheeks—. So where are we supposed to look now?
—I still have a few places in mind —Zeke replied calmly—. Our next stop will be the classroom of the professor in charge of the theater. His office should have notes and records about the students… maybe we'll find something useful there.
As they walked through the silent hallways, Mochi suddenly froze. Her ears twitched slightly.
—Wait… I hear footsteps —she whispered.
Immediately, Zeke and Miyu stopped dead in their tracks, waiting in silence. Mochi closed her eyes for a moment, sharpening her hearing to pinpoint the direction of the sound.
Miyu, unable to resist, glanced at her companion. Her eyes lingered on Mochi's feline ears, which moved with every noise, so expressive they seemed to have a life of their own.
She's so cute… Miyu thought, feeling a warmth in her chest. I really want to touch them… I wonder if Sempai would let me if I asked.
—They're a woman's footsteps… she's wearing heels —Mochi reported after a few seconds—. They're coming from the front, but moving away.
—At this hour, no one should be here —Zeke muttered, frowning—. Let's move carefully so we don't get discovered. Little Noa, you go first.
The three of them turned off the flashlights on their phones. The hallway was plunged into shadow, but that wasn't a problem for Mochi: she could see clearly in the dark. She moved lightly, guiding the group until she stopped in front of a door. A thin glow of light seeped from beneath it.
—Someone's inside… —Mochi whispered.
—That's the office of the performing arts professor —Zeke murmured. But he didn't have time to continue; noises started coming from inside, someone was heading toward the door.
—Quick, hide! —he ordered.
The three of them hurriedly backed away, trying not to make a sound. The problem was, they were on the second floor: there were no furniture or corners to hide behind.
—Upstairs, the stairs!
They followed Zeke, rushing up to the next floor. From there, they watched as the door opened. A tall, thin man stepped out of the office, carrying a folder stuffed with papers under his arm. He looked around cautiously, as if expecting to find someone spying on him. Then he turned off the lights, locked the door, and started down the stairs without noticing them.
"That's strange, I could have sworn the footsteps I heard were from a woman," Mochi remarked as she got up to follow the others, who had already begun descending the stairs. She was convinced of what she had heard: the tapping of heels on the floor. However, the person they had seen was wearing sneakers.
"Maybe you were mistaken, Sempai," Miyu interjected before turning to Zeke. "Do you recognize that person?"
"Actually, yes. I looked into him since he was close to several of the deceased. His name is Shūen, the professor in charge of the theater department," Zeke replied confidently.
"What do we do? Should we follow him?" Miyu asked, somewhat uneasy.
"No, that would be too risky. With how quiet this place is, it's very likely he would notice us. It's better to let him go; if he suspects we're watching him, he'll become more cautious, and that would make the investigation even more difficult," Zeke explained as he opened the door to the office the professor had just left. "Let's check what was so important that made him sneak into the university at this hour."
Shūen's office didn't look much different from that of any other teacher: a neatly organized desk, a metal cabinet, and several bookshelves crammed with books that gave off the smell of old paper and dampness. Nothing stood out at first glance.
"Alright, we need to split up," Zeke ordered firmly. "Little Noa, check the cabinet. Miyu, take care of the shelves. I'll search the desk. Look for any files or notes about the students. Even the smallest detail could give us an important clue."
Several minutes passed as they rummaged through drawers, folders, and piles of papers until they came across a file filled with information: academic lists, medical records, and even personal notes Shūen had written about his students. However, they soon noticed something strange.
"They're missing… This is definitely odd," Zeke said, frowning. The file contained data on all the performing arts students except for those who had died. "It's very likely that the documents he was carrying in that folder were exactly those missing records. We won't find anything else here."
As he looked up, Zeke's eyes fixed on a security camera installed in a corner of the ceiling.
"Let's go to the security office. We'll check the footage from these cameras," he proposed.
They left the office in silence and slowly descended the stairs, alert for any movement in case they ran into the professor again. Nothing happened. At last, they left the building without incident.
As they crossed the inner courtyard, they ran into the security guard who, hours earlier, had given Zeke the card. The man was sitting on a bench, legs stretched out, calmly drinking a can of beer. He looked relaxed, as if nothing unusual was happening around him.
When the guard saw them approaching, he stood up with a tired air.
—"Done with whatever it was you had to do?"
—"Almost. I just need one more thing," Zeke replied as he handed over the card he had been given earlier. "What I need now is for you to let me see tonight's security footage."
The guard took the last sip of his beer, crushed the can lazily, and tossed it into the bin.
—"Alright, follow me."
He led them down a hallway to his office. Just as he was about to open the door, he stopped abruptly, frowning.
—"That's strange…"
—"Something wrong?" Zeke asked, intrigued by his reaction.
—"The door was open. I'm sure I left it locked," he said with some doubt, though he quickly brushed it off and entered anyway.
Inside, several screens displayed live images of the campus. The guard dropped into his swivel chair in front of the computer and began typing quickly.
—"Now this is strange…" he muttered, scratching his scruffy beard. "Tonight's recordings are gone. They've been deleted."
Zeke leaned over the guard's chair, his expression serious.
—"Then check the security videos from the days when the suicides happened."
The guard complied, browsing through folders and records. But the result was the same: all the recordings from those days had also been erased.
—"Does the system keep any logs? Something that says when the recordings were deleted and which user did it?" Zeke asked in a calculating tone.
The man let out an annoyed sigh and checked again.
—"We don't use individual accounts, just a general user. So we can't tell who did it… but we can tell when. Let me see… here it is." He paused and looked up in surprise. "They were deleted a little over an hour ago."
Zeke turned to Mochi and Miyu, lowering his voice.
—"That was right around the time we arrived at Shūen's office. The timing matches for it to have been him, right after leaving his study."
After that, the three of them left the university. Although they hadn't obtained concrete evidence to help with the investigation, they had managed to identify a suspect. Professor Shūen had not only taken the files of the deceased students, but had very likely erased the security recordings as well.