“You’re saying… an ordinary high school student — who could have had such a deep grudge against him?”
Renji spoke, then suddenly paused before continuing.
When he asked this question, his gaze seriously fixed on Hachiman.
Hachiman fell silent upon hearing Renji’s words.
That made sense.
If it had been a simple accident, like a car crash, the atmosphere in the class shouldn’t have been as strange as it was now.
But if it was a murder, that would explain it.
As for Renji’s question, Hachiman shook his head.
He did have a few thoughts, but in the current situation, he couldn’t voice them.
“So where is the killer?”
Hachiman continued asking.
“I don’t know. There’s no news yet, but I heard that Tobe’s apartment showed no signs of forced entry.”
“Obviously, either the other party picked the lock, climbed in through the window, or Tobe knew the person.”
As Renji spoke, he pulled out his phone to search for related news, then held the screen in front of Hachiman to show him.
Hachiman looked at the phone Renji handed him, somewhat stunned.
This was the first time a classmate had handed him a phone like this, showing him its contents.
Hachiman hesitated for a moment, but still took the phone Renji gave him, quickly skipped past the unnecessary reports, and went straight to the most important topics.
“No signs of the house being ransacked, no financial motive, no signs of forced entry — suspected to have been done by someone familiar.”
“After several stab wounds, neighbors reported hearing short, unusual sounds and noises from inside the house.”
Hachiman quickly noted the key material reported in the news, then returned the phone to Renji.
“There are very few photos in the news — they’re even censored — but are there any uncensored original images circulating on the campus forum?”
“Like a photo of Tobe’s murder scene.”
Renji’s words surprised Hachiman a little — how could there be such photos on the campus forum?
Renji seemed to notice Hachiman’s confusion and began to explain.
“I heard that someone from our school has family working at the police station, so they got the original uncensored images from the inside.”
“Although the original image link has already been blocked on the campus forum, I still saved it.”
“Want to see it? I’ll send it to you.”
Renji’s words echoed in Hachiman’s ears.
For some reason, Hachiman instinctively wanted to see that frightening original image Renji had mentioned.
Hachiman nodded oddly.
“I forgot I haven’t added you as a friend yet. Come on, let’s add each other first.”
“I’ll also send you the campus forum link.”
Renji suddenly remembered that he hadn’t added Hachiman on LINE yet.
After adding Hachiman as a friend, Renji also forwarded him the school forum link and the original photo.
Hachiman first glanced at the campus forum that Renji had sent, then looked at the uncensored original HD image of Tobe’s murder.
After tapping to zoom in and examining it closely, he was shocked by several uncensored original images.
In the photo, Tobe lay on his side, his face toward the floor.
The T-shirt he was wearing was barely recognizable in its original color, stained with blood into a deep reddish-brown.
Hachiman counted that Tobe had been stabbed eight times in the back, and there were two stab wounds on his palm, apparently pierced through.
There were also several smaller knife wounds on his arm.
And that was without counting how many stab wounds he had received on the front of his chest in the photo.
As for the bruises, one could see that the corner of Tobe’s mouth seemed to have been hit hard, and one of his eyes was also bruised.
After Hachiman roughly glanced at Tobe’s tragic state in the photos, he quickly exited the chat and stopped looking at the rather frightening images.
From just that rough glance, Hachiman could feel how terrified and desperate Tobe must have been when he was killed.
“What do you think?” Isn’t it scary?
Renji also asked, seeing Hachiman put away his phone.
Hachiman nodded.
His mental fortitude was pretty good, but the photo still seemed a bit frightening to him, just as Renji had said.
“I can’t even imagine how many times Tobe was stabbed head-on. Who exactly did he offend to be deliberately killed by the other party?”
“By the way, did you see the comments under the original post with that photo?”
“Under that original image, the most liked and commented-on posts are supposedly about the killer’s appearance.”
Renji’s words instantly piqued Hachiman’s interest to its peak.
Since the campus forum even had uncensored high-definition images,
the description of the killer’s appearance might also have some accuracy.
As for why not everyone believed it, Hachiman wouldn’t think that a highly upvoted comment on the school forum was actually about the killer’s appearance.
With that thought, Hachiman quietly waited for Renji to continue.
Renji didn’t deliberately keep him in suspense and began to speak, though there was an indescribable meaning in his eyes.
“They say the killer was wearing a white mask with a screaming, distorted ghost face and a black cloak.”
“They say this news was leaked by Tobe’s neighbor. He saw it near the house when he went out late at night to buy beer.”
Listening to Renji’s words, Hachiman quickly pictured that terrifying scene in his mind.
A man in a white mask with a screaming ghost face, dressed in tight clothing and carrying a sharp blade, secretly breaking into Tobe’s home and committing a brutal murder.
It sounded like a classic scene from a horror movie, but now it was happening in reality — and to someone who sat in the same class as him every day.
Hachiman looked at the empty seat again, feeling a chill run through his heart.
“It seems like a premeditated crime — wearing a mask to kill someone, and with no signs of forced entry… it’s suspected to be someone familiar with the victim.”
Before Hachiman could finish his sentence, he immediately stopped himself, but inside, he couldn’t help looking at the small group of popular kids over there.
“It shouldn’t be possible… right?”
As soon as the hint of suspicion arose in Hachiman’s heart, he immediately shut it down himself.