Chapter Text
I was always the first one to get up in the morning, though it's not like I really minded it to be honest. The sun often was the one that wakes me up, so it was only natural that I'd be the first witness of a brand new day on the Nocturne Express. I get up, make my bed and head out. My staff cabin is found in the tail end of the hotel car, just before the door to the VIP car. I stretch my legs and head outside.
The first duty of the person who wakes up first is to wake up all the others. Image and Machan often overslept, so they're always my first stop. It's not like I have to wake up anyone else. I'm just hoping the killer would turn themselves in already. The inaugural re-opening of the express and we're already experiencing an incident.
Goddesses, what do I tell the owners?
The distance between the Hotel Car and the Crew car feel different today. I want to linger in the Parlour car for just a moment longer. I need to brace myself for that scene again. The Parlour car was the last car before the scene of the tragedy.
I need to trudge on.
Something was wrong. The doors between the cars were unlocked. I was sure I locked the doors before I went to bed. I shake my head and walked into the Dining car. Maybe Machan or Image needed to deliver a meal late at night? I don't know. The air smelt different in the Dining car. I snap to the front of the room, where the VIP tables and the Bar was. The bodies are gone. I cleaned the surroundings, mopped up the blood but I left the bodies alone. I wanted everyone's opinion first. Now they're gone. The howling of the blizzard outside grew stronger. I need to go check up on everyone.
I dashed past the suspiciously clean Dining car and head straight into the Crew car. Normally I'd see three sets of doors, One for Image and Machan, one for Monument and one for Beetle and Flash. Two obviously were left vacant, but one, one should still have life in it.
But the blood on the door suggested otherwise.I need to get the passengers.
I wake up to hurried knocking on my door. It made me jump from my deep sleep. I hurriedly sit up from the now cold bed. The blizzard outside casts the room in darkness, only fought back by the dim bedside lamps and what little sunlight manages to pierce through the winter veil. The knocking turns louder. Pisa placed a bookmarker on her book before she got up with a huff. She removed the chair from underneath the door handle.
"Yes?" She says in an annoyed tone.
I shift in the bed, not quite leaving behind the safety of the sheets. I think I hear Rickey's voice?
"Who's there?" I ask, mustering everything to slip out of the duvet.
"It's Rickey." Pisa answered. I slip on the long coat from the coat stand and join them by the door.
"What's going on?" I scratch the back of my head. It's so incredibly chilly. Rickey was at the door, visibly shaking. Oh no. Oh no no no no no don't tell me—
"Everyone has to see this."
Everyone was gathered in the dining car. Some of them, namely Blossom and—
"Wait, where's the red lady?" Rob Roy asked, looking around the room.
"She… She didn't respond to my knocking." Rickey responded.
"Well then go get her!" Lady Blossom continued.
"Her door is locked, and I make sure that every staff key is on the key board before I lock it up at night." Rickey explained. "And well when I went to go grab them…"
She shook her head. "It's best if I just show you."
She took me, Pisa and Arove towards the staff car. The others elected to stay put. The Crew car was far louder than the other cars, it's interior filled with the mechanical sound of the train barrelling towards our supposed destination despite the frigid blizzard outside. It was also far colder than the other cars, I huddled together with Pisa for a bit of warmth to leak through our coats.
The door was covered in thick red blood. It looked dark and sticky, almost frozen in some thin areas. I didn't even know blood could do that.
"This is what I found this morning." Rickey explained.
Pisa was the first to step out from all of us, examining the blood pooled at the door's feet. "It looks older, see how it's coagulated and almost dry? It's been here for a good while."
She got up and opened the door.
What first hit me was the stench. It reeked of death and decay in the room. It was so incredibly red. What little light came through the window was filtered through a layer of blood. Aston Machan was slumped over the desk, the back of her neck open. Mirror Image wearing a large jacket similarly was half fallen from the bed, her neck at a weird strange angle with blood pooling from underneath her legs, staining the white mattress a deep crimson.
I didn't go in. My legs wouldn't have carried me even if I wanted to. I turned my attention to the wooden floorboards, tracing the little contours of the wood thankfully not stained with blood. Oh god there was so much I can see it between the grooves—
Arove pulled me away as Pisa closed the door. I gasped for air. i was holding my breath all this time.
"I don't think I have to tell you that they're… expired." Pisa looked crestfallen. "Judging from the blood, sometime last night."
The door swung open again. Pisa tried to close it again. It wouldn't lock. The door handle was busted.
"That's… odd." Rickey examined the handle. It wasn't forcefully removed, but someone had clearly tampered with it. However the extent of the damage was more fine tuned, as if someone snapped the very core of the mechanism leaving everything else magically untouched.
"We should head back." Arove replied.
Rickey took her staff key from the full key board and we all returned to the others.
The Dining car felt larger. Or maybe that's because there's fewer of us to fill it. They surprisingly weren't bickering amongst themselves. We sat onto one of the couches while Rickey elected to stay standing, eyes gazing back to the pathway towards the Crew Car.
"So?" Blossom asked, still glancing back at the entrance, seeing if the last member would kindly join them. She did not.
"Mirror Image and Aston Machan are gone." Pisa spoke. "Both in their room."
The room felt a little colder after that, with everyone whispering amongst themselves. Copano Rickey was first to break the gridlock.
"I did a full sweep of the cars as I locked up last night, it was around midnight. I did not see anyone outside their rooms." She said.
"I was in my room all night." Said Blossom, "I didn't even hear anything weird and I slept pretty late."
"What were you doing?" I asked.
"What else?" Blossom scoffed. "Trying to sleep. I'm sorry it's a bit hard to sleep when your bed that was supposed to be for two is only for one."
"I heard something last night though." Mejiro Journey spoke up. "Some clanging sound late into the night. I spent it reading this book on—"
"Oh! I know that one!" Rob Roy perked up when Journey showed off the book. "That's the book one the detective, right?"
"Mhm, I thought it'd be… relevant given our situation." Journey replied. "I don't think… it's relevant though."
"I was also reading up on what this all could mean." Rob Roy continued. "Can you tell me what was on the door for this… incident?"
"Oh, here I noted it down." Pisa took out her notebook—She HAD ONE?!—and flipped to a page containing notes about today's incident. It was meticulous, including even a drawing of the symbol that was noted down to be drawn with blood.
"Hm. This one is a slightly modified version of the one we found yesterday…" She took out her own notes and set them side by side. The symbols are similar, but this second one was slightly different, some symbols around the central circle were changed. "Yes, it means the same thing but the runes have progressed further."
"So what you're saying is this imbecile is taunting us?" Arove spoke up. "Tch. Come Still, let's go head back."
With that, Admire Groove and Still in Love left the room.
"A–" I reach out to them before Pisa took my hand.
Eh. Why is my heart beating so quickly all of a sudden?
NOW'S NOT THE TIME!
"Let them, they have plenty to think about too."
"Right." I sit back down. This was going no where. There was still someone we haven't asked. "Why don't we visit Shion? Maybe she would know something."
"Or maybe she did it." I hear Blossom mutter something underneath her breath.
"Hm? What was that?" I ask, a little annoyance in my voice.
"Maybe she did it! She's not here right now." She crossed her arms. "It's a tad suspicious no?"
"Or maybe accusing each other will only make us divide even more and so the real culprit can pick us out easier?" I retort.
"Look. I didn't mean anything by it but you can't say it's not suspicious. She was really annoyed the first time round too."
"Right right." Pisa grabbed my shoulder. "Why don't we just visit her? Rickey, you have your staff keys right?"
"Yep! All the staff keys are identical, and can unlock almost any door in this train."
"Eh? But I have a deadbolt in my room?" Blossom asked.
"Correct, the VIP Suites have deadbolts." Rickey explained. "Mostly for security reasons, in the past we've never really had to use the deadbolts before."
"Right." I note it down on my own notes. "Let's go pay her a visit then."
It was my first time in the VIP car. It was very warm, warmer than the other cars. The Carpet was thicker, the glass double sided with a visible gap in between. The wall Sconces fill the tight hallway with their amber light, fighting the frigid howls of the blizzard raging outside. There were three suites, one of them reportedly unoccupied. Suite 1 was for Blossom, while Suite 2 was the unoccupied one.
Finally, we reach Suite 3. The little brass holder held three names:
Win Variation
Orfevre
Spark Drive.
I knock on the door. No response. I knock again. No response. The door was strangely cold. When I knock, the chill went through my arm and down my back. I try again. No response.
"Here. Let me just…" Rickey took out her red key and unlocked the door. I tried the handle and it opened, but it was stuck.
"Shion? Are you in there?" I yell out, trying to get the door open. I push with my shoulder, it won't budge. "Shion! We just want to talk."
"Oh for the Goddesses sake let me at it." Blossom pushed me aside and rammed the door with her shoulder. It burst open. "See? You just need a little more mass. Have you been eating alright?"
E-excuse me?
"No, she's fine." Pisa retorted. "But uh…"
She tugged on my sleeve.
Win Variation was tied up to a post on the post bed, her stomach sliced open—bleeding out onto the carpet below. It was still spewing blood, albeit just a trickle. Another symbol drawn in blood was on the bed covers. It was tidy and neat.
Pisa moved first, instantly pushing past me and onto the body. She checked for a pulse. She shook her head.
"She's still warm. This was recent I think." She said. I took a deep breath.
Steel yourself Waltz. Put on a brave face. I enter into the room with Pisa. The room was extremely cold, colder than even the crew car earlier. I see the broken deadbolt on the floor, a piece of the doorframe taken with it. It was still extended.
"If the deadbolt is closed, no one could enter correct?" I asked.
"Y-yes." Rickey shakily replied. I show her the deadbolt. "Then how is this possible?"
"A classic locked-room mystery." Pisa took a closer look at the deadbolt while I investigated the room. It was clean, aside from some wet spots on the carpet and frosted edges on the windows. The Duvet was nearly spread out, the symbol hastily drawn in blood on it.
"I found something." Rob Roy called out. It was a bloodied piece of glass hidden amongst the carpet. I didn't dare touch it.
"So we have the murder weapon but just how did they…" I mutter to myself. The room was locked on the inside with a dead bolt. Rickey said there was no other way of getting in if that door is locked. I take one look at the body. There was no way she could've tied herself up like that.
"She couldn't have." Pisa said, answering that thought. She was still crouched by the deadbolt, examining the mechanism. "The complexity of the restraints alone makes it physically impossible. Someone tied her here and she couldn't have freed her hands to do any of this herself."
"So someone was in here with her." I said.
"Yes."
"And left through a locked door."
Pisa looked up at me. "Yes."
"Then where did they go?" Blossom asked. "Locked rooms always have an exit."
"Well if you find one, you can share with the class." Journey replied, already backing away from the doorway.
"You heard clanging last night, right?" I asked Blossom. "What time?"
"I don't know, but it was pretty late." She replied. "Maybe before midnight?"
"Is that possible?" I turned to Rickey.
"That was before I locked up, so it's possible." She answered.
"Okay… Okay…" I write everything down. Pisa took my arm.
"You okay?" I didn't even notice my legs were wobbly.
"I'm… yeah I'm alright. I guess we should just… head back to our room."
The day went by thankfully uneventful. The afternoon went by in a blitz, with me pacing around the room consulting both my and Pisa's notes. She had much prettier handwriting than mine. Dinner was served to our room like yesterday, but the food tasted different. I guess Machan and Image couldn't make the food today. It wasn't bland, just… it's not the same. It was a stark reminder of the day's events. Three left us today. I take another look at the letter.
"and on the fourth stop, a trio."
A trio.
A trio.
No. I won't let this continue any longer.
"Come to bed." My haze was broken by Pisa's beckon. My shoulders were heavy.
Victoire Pisa was the only comfort left in this train.