Now what?

Having discarded the idea of checking non-existent registers, what was left to do?

Getting to know each and every one of all the orphans who lived there? It wasn't that bad of an idea, after all. It would have took me long of course, but, since my mission had no time limit, that shouldn't have been a problem.

...come to think of it, that wouldn't have been an ideal solution either. If I had started socializing with everyone and asking disparate questions, I would certainly have raised suspicions about my true intentions.

Inevitably, a doubt came to my mind. What if the Masquerader had already started to suspect something and went rummaging through my things while I was still in the canteen?

"Excuse me" I asked Miss Hiromi "Where did that girl, Yori, take my luggage?"

"In the dorm, of course! Do you want to take a nap?"

"Kinda. Where is it?"

"It's on the second floor, behind the first door you see! You can't go wrong, angel!"

"I got it, thanks!"

Trying not to attract too much attention, I run up the stairs as fast as I could, found the door that I was told of, and knocked.

"Is anyone there? ...seems not."

I opened the door. The dormitory was a long and somewhat narrow room, with a single window in the back wall and four wardrobes that almost completely hid it.

At at first glance I saw at least twenty beds, divided into two rows, each with a backpack or suitcase full of clothes on the floor, and positioned so that between one bed and the other there was barely space for one person to walk.

I guess it won't be easy getting used to sleep here...

I walked across the room in small steps, looking right and left carefully; then, having reached the end, I repeated the process in the opposite direction, and finally found my bed: it was hidden in a corner, right behind the door I had entered.

Without wasting any more time, I opened the bag and stuck my head inside.

Let's see... Spare clothes, paper and pen for notes, my snacks... Everything is as I left it, thank goodness... !

At that moment the door opened again, hitting me right on the backside.

Very quickly I closed the bag and turned around, finding myself in front of a child who, as soon as he saw me, took a defensive stance.

"What are you doing here?!" he said, raising an arm as if to protect someone behind him.

"I... I was just checking my things..."

"The dorms can only be used to sleep in. If you have nothing else to do here, I'd like you to go! My little sister needs to rest!"

I leaned slightly to the side, and only then did I notice that, hidden behind his back, was a little girl half his height.

"O-okay, I'm leaving..."

Maybe realizing he was being a bit too abrupt, the boy seemed to relax and smiled.

"Thank you."

I looked at him better as he helped his little sister get onto the bed next to mine.

They weren't that much alike, to be honest.

He, physically similar to Isoka, had a square face, brown eyes and short black hair.

She, tiny but chubby, with her big blue eyes and her blond curls looked kind of like a doll.

The only thing they had in common, was the fact that they wore an identical golden bracelet on their wrists.

"Before I leave, can I... May I know your names?"

"Sure. My name is Nao, and she's Naoki."

"Nice to meet you! I'm..."

"Choji, we already know that. You told us at lunch, remember?"

"Oh, right, I'm so forgetful! ...well, I'll leave you alone. Bye!"

I saluted by opening and closing my right hand, and as I went out, I noticed with the corner of my eye that the little girl had imitated my gesture.

I had just closed the door, when a little doubt occurred to me.

"Excuse me, Nao," I said, peering inside the dorm once again. "But you are not sleeping..."

"I have permission to be with her! NOW GET OUT!"

"Hey there, Choji! How are you doing?"

I had not yet fully gotten out, when I saw Iwao coming up the stairs with his group of friends.

"So, do you feel at home already? Me and my peers were about to dive into our favorite activity, would you like to join us?"

In that instant, I came up with a nice idea.

"Can I ask you something, Iwao?"

"Sure, speak!"

"How long have you lived here?"

"How long, you say? Give me a second..."

Iwao looked down at his fingers, as if to count, but then took a quick glance at the friends behind him and gave up.

"For a long time, why are you interested?"

"Well... to be honest, I haven't quite settled down yet. So, I was thinking of asking someone to guide me through the orphanage... !"

Iwao patted me on the shoulder so hard, I almost fell to my knees.

"Ha ha ha ha! You've turned to the right person, man! Guys, go ahead without me! I'm taking Choji on a free guided tour of the place! See you later!"

As he greeted his group, Iwao wrapped an arm on my shoulders, spun us around, and then he led me step by step to where he wanted to take me.

I felt a little uncomfortable with all that overconfidence, but all in all I couldn't complain. Iwao seemed like a nice guy, and I was glad to know that he too had immediately taken a liking to me.

Also, because of him, I was about to visit in detail the building in which the murder had been committed, without being forced to explore it in secret. What more could I've ask for?

"This is the boys' dormitory," Iwao began solemnly, pointing to the door I already knew. "And next to it is the one for the girls. Unfortunately there's a very thick wall between the two dormitories, so don't delude yourself that you can make a hole in it to have a peek! On this other side there are the bathrooms. One for the boys, one for the girls. Be careful not get them mixed up! The last one who walked into the wrong bathroom got a beating on his hands that he will remember for a lifetime!"

I barely had time to swallow at the thought of that poor fellow that Iwao was already pushing me down the hall, where he pointed to a yellow stripe painted on the floor, beyond which a spiral staircase began.

"You must also be very careful not to cross this border... not even with your head!" he added while pulling me back by the shirt, as I was leaning over to see what was at the top of the stairs.

"Upstairs are Miss Hiromi's and Mistress Azumi's rooms, if it isn't obvious enough!"

"You mean... those two small towers I saw on the roof?"

"Yes, precisely those! Can you imagine owning your own tower? Anyway, we are strictly forbidden to enter. If you really need to talk to them, then you have to pull this rope and wait for them to come down."

Saying so, Iwao swung a rope that hung from a hole in the ceiling, similar to the one that Mistress Azumi had pulled in the main hall to announce my arrival.

Speaking of the two ladies, a question arose spontaneously.

"Are there any other adults here, besides those two?"

"No, don't worry! Apart from them, there's no one else!"

So, it's only the two ladies and Yori who run the orphanage, it's incredible... !

Just then, Iwao tightened his arm even more on my shoulders. I felt almost bursting from the heat, wrapped as I was in the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

"And if you behave yourself, there won't be no one else you'll need to worry about."

He gave me a wink, then broke his hold on me and started marching in the opposite direction, gesturing at me to follow him.

"Well, the boring part of the tour is over! From here on it's all fun!"

I followed him closely downstairs. There too I found a corridor, but with three doors instead of two.

Iwao stopped in front of the nearest door and with a nod of his head invited me to read the sign that was hanging there.

It was a metal plate with the words "Music Room" engraved on it. A piece of paper was also stuck under it, with handwritten "and Reading" on it.

"Can I enter?" I asked.

"You have to enter!"

I flicked the handle.

As soon as I opened the door, a violent gust of wind hit me, pushing me backwards.

"THE DOOR!" I heard shouts from practically the whole building.

I gritted my teeth and took one step at a time, until I could reach the room and lock myself in, to discover the origin of that of shock wave.

It was none other than the sound produced by drums, beaten by a boy who looked like he was having a great time.

"What kind of room is this?"

"Didn't you read the sign outside? Here you can play or read! Grab an instrument and go wild!"

Arranged on the ground in a pile, there were a lot of other musical instruments. In the left half of the classroom I also saw many piles of books, but no one was busy reading them. It was not difficult to understand why...

"A... Another time, perhaps... Bye..."

I exited the classroom, leaving behind the noise of the drums that made the whole orphanage tremble again.

Mustering all the strength in my arms, I succeeded in the task of shutting the door.

I turned to Iwao, only to find him rolling on the floor and holding his belly in a fit of giggles.

"Iwao?"

"Hahahahahahahah!... Uuuuhuhuhuh!..."

"Iwao!"

"Uh? Ah, sure, sorry! I just remembered something silly, forget it... let's continue the tour. This is the classroom dedicated to art."

We continued on to the second door, which like the previous one had a piece of paper hanging under the metal plate. In all, it read: "Painting Room - and Modeling".

This classroom was much busier than the other, but also much less noisy.

Over one side, two girls were focused on drawing a landscape on a canvas; over the other, on the floor, four children were cutting out tiny squared holes on a large upside-down cardboard box.

It was the latter that intrigued me the most.

"Hi guys!" I greeted them. "What are you doing?"

"We're putting on a show in honor of Mistress Azumi. Would you like to see a preview?"

"Sure, why not?"

I sat on the floor beside them, legs crossed, and watched as they brought two more boxes, on which they had drawn some trees.

The idea of me, a big tall boy, sitting there on the floor watching a puppet show performed by little kids, was silly to say the least. I couldn't help but smile, and probably I blushed as well.

"Here we go" one of the kids begun, opening his arms to bring my attention to the box in the middle "This is our orphanage, with all of us inside. Do you see us?"

I leaned to look closer. Indeed, the miniature orphanage was full of human figures made of wire and cotton.

"And this, all around us, is the forest. It's peaceful as always, until..."

At the signal of the "narrator", his two friends lifted the boxes with the trees, to reveal a dozen of colorful, stuffed dolls of monsters. The kids had dressed them with pieces of green fabric.

Which, on a closer look, uncannily looked like chunin vests...

"And here come the ninja ogres!"

"With their ugly faces and their ugly weapons!"

"They're about to stomp us all, but then..."

"Then... Out of nowhere, our heroine intervenes!"

From behind his back, the narrator pulled out and put on his hand a puppet, resembling an old yet combative lady, which immediately went on hitting the "ninja ogres" with her cane.

"Our beloved Mistress Azumi teaches the ogres a lesson they will never forget, and sends them back where they came from!"

"And we will never, ever be afraid of any war, because Mistress Azumi will always defend and protect us!"

After a collective "hurray!" the kids concluded they show with a bow.

"You did a very good work!" I said while applauding them. They deserved it.

"Thanks! We believe we can do better, but unfortunately we can't use many colors like we did before, and the girls who do painting refuse to let us borrow theirs..."

I turned to look at the two girls who were painting. They seemed as focused on their work as before, but I was sure they had heard the young boy's comments.

I got up and walked over to one of them.

"Nice drawing."

"Thanks. Keep your hands off," she added dryly before I could even pick up a tube of paint. "I have no intention of coloring anything that represents war, even if it has a happy ending. Mistress Azumi herself has told us several times that we must forget the past, and I fully agree. All I want is to be able to live the rest of my life in peac... "

Right then, the infernal din coming from the next room made the girl's hand tremble, and before she knew it, the once perfect landscape was tainted by a nasty scribble.

"CLOSE THAT DOOR!"

"Let's move on to the next classroom, shall we?" Iwao whispered, pulling me back by the arm.

Together we went out and stopped in front of the third and last door. Both the plate and the paper note attacked on it caught me by surprise.

"Grammar room... and gym"?! Now I really want to see this!

Intrigued, I opened the door without hesitation...

"Watch out!"

...and had my face smashed into a very hard, orange sphere.

"Oh my!" Iwao shouted. "Choji, are you okay?"

With both hands, I pried that thing off of me. It was simply a ball.

"...I'm fine, don't worry. My face has softened the blow..."

"Will you please give us the ball back? It's the only one we have!"

I passed the ball back to whoever had asked me, before looking inside with caution.

That room could very well have been mistaken for a real classroom, unlike the other two: a blackboard hung on the wall, school tables and chairs everywhere...

However, the latter were moved against the walls to make room in the center, where six boys were playing some kind of soccer.

"What exactly is going on in this room, Iwao?"

"Officially, this is where Miss Hiromi teaches the little ones how to read, write and count. Do you already know how to read, write and count?"

"Of course I know!"

"Perfect, then there will be no need to rearrange the tables to give you a private lesson. Until further notice, we are all free to use this room to play!"

Just then, someone kicked the ball so high that it nearly knocked out a light bulb.

"Wouldn't it be more comfortable... playing outdoors?"

"And risk losing the only ball we have? Believe me, it's much safer in here!"

We went out, making sure to close the door. Which, a second later, trembled violently under the blows of a particularly violent ball.

"...relatively safer. Well, let's move on!"

We went back and down the stairs.

"I guess you already know what the ground floor is about, but here's a quick review anyway" he continued to explain, as we emerged into the hall. "We have the canteen, the kitchen, the infirmary, other bathrooms and some closets. Nothing too exciting. So, let's go straight outside and take a breath of fresh air!"

Iwao was already marching briskly towards the exit, when I noticed a detail that I had previously missed.

One side of the hall was completely occupied by two bookcases, but there wasn't a wall behind them. There was another corridor.

"Iwao, wait. What is it over there?"

"Over where... Oh."

When he saw what I was pointing to, Iwao stopped smiling for the first time.

"That is a bookcase, it is used to keep books..."

"I know what a bookcase is, I want to know what's behind it."

Miss Hiromi, still sitting at the desk, all of a sudden dropped her knitting needles.

She looked scared.

I was about to help her pick them up, but Iwao took me by the arm to literally drag me as far away as possible.

"Come on Choji, let's go outside and play while the sun is still high!"

"H-hey! Take it easy!"

After exiting the main door, Iwao took me around the stone stairs and to the corner between them and the wall, away from everyone's sight.

"Forgive me for my rudeness, but I had to get you out of Miss Hiromi's earshot. She strictly forbidden us to speak on this subject in her presence."

"Subject?"

"Did you notice that the classrooms on the first floor are a bit small for practicing the activities we like?"

"I noticed..."

"Well, it wasn't always like that! We used to have all the space we wanted! Look!"

Iwao took a few steps back and spread his arms, to point at all the barred windows on the left side of the orphanage.

"When the west wing was open we had a classroom for everything, a huge gym with a locker room, but above all we had four dorms instead of two and we weren't cramped like sardines!"

"So half of the orphanage is practically inaccessible... But why?"

Iwao approached me again and lowered his voice. I never imagined seeing him so serious.

"It all happened... many days ago. One morning, just moments after we all woke up, Mistress Azumi ordered us to get our things and our beds and carry everything from one wing to the other. You can only imagine how tiresome it was... "

I widened my eyes and nodded, imagining the scene.

"With all those stairs, it must have been a torture!"

"You can say it again... then, she asked us to help her drag those two bookcases into the corridor to block access to the west wing, and finally she categorically ordered us to never come back there until further notice. Damn rats... "

"Rats?"

"Yes, rats! They told us that, during the night, a colony of rats dug a hole through the wall and invaded the gym and the locker room. Mistress Azumi managed to seal the hole and lock them in, but, just in case, she also decided that it is better to stay away as far as possible from that area, at least until she finds a poison to kill them all."

Finally, I felt like something was moving on in my investigation.

If Mistress Azumi and Miss Hiromi were seen burying that child's body, they must also have been the first to find it. Not understanding how he died, and in order not to scare the other orphans with the prospect of a killer hiding nearby, they must have made up the story of the rats... And they closed the west wing indefinitely to make the lie more believable. It makes sense!

If I wanted to, I could also have asked Iwao to drop the subject, given how uncomfortable it was. But that was the perfect opportunity to finally find out who was the little one killed by the Masquerader.

I had to choose my next words very carefully.

"Damn, what a story... I don't understand a thing, though. Why doesn't Miss Hiromi want to talk about it anymore? Did something bad happen?"

Iwao gave me a crooked look.

"...did you understand at least one word of what I just told you!? There has been an invasion of rats!"

"I get that! I mean... Did they do any damage? Any serious damage?"

"I... I can't follow you, Choji. What are you trying to ask me?"

I took a good deep breath. It was now or never.

"Those rats... did they... kill anyone?"

Iwao was stunned.

He continued to stare at me in utter shock. I couldn't blame him. In his place, I too would have had a hard time admitting that, yes, someone had died in the orphanage.

Then, Iwao took courage. Open his mouth...

...and bursted laughing in my face.