Kyungsoo’s first reaction was to fall to his knees. He covered his face, his heart thumping with fear as he started to gag. He had no idea that that sight would greet him, he had no idea that he would experience this.

Zitao’s body was lying on the floor, motionless, his face completely pale. There was a huge red patch on his abdomen, blood soaking through his shirt and he had a huge gash on his neck. Someone had slit his neck and both wrists as well, and that was probably why he looked so pale since the blood was all gone. It was gruesome sight, especially to someone as pure and innocent as Kyungsoo. Someone who wouldn’t even harm a fly, he had lost ability of speech and movements as tears streamed down his white face. He wanted to scream, to run away, but it was as though his body belonged to someone else. It refused to move, and he was afraid. What if nobody came in and he had to stay here at Zitao’s room, staring at the corpse until someone came in? How long would that take? He gasped, and then a weak ‘help’ escaped from his quivering lips. His body belonged to him again. He tried again this time, louder.

“Help!”

And then he waited. In other situations, he would have laughed. Shouting out help when he was alone with a corpse? That was completely ridiculous; he was in no danger at all. And then it burst out of him.

“HELP!!”

A loud scream that would have startled everyone, and he waited with bated breath for anyone to come in. What would they think? Would they think that he was the murderer?

“Kyungsoo!” The door was flung open as Jongin raced in, beside the trembling male in a split second. “What’s the mat – “ he was cut short as Kyungsoo pointed at Zitao’s lifeless body before him.

“Is that..Zitao?” Jongin’s voice was still steady as he helped Kyungsoo to his feet. “Come on, we need to get someone else.”

“I can’t move.” Kyungsoo admitted, tearing his gaze away from Zitao. Don’t look at him, don’t look at him, don’t look at him. “I can’t even feel my legs.”

Kyungsoo felt like a ghost. At least he knew that someone felt even worse than him, and that alone made him feel just a bit better. Luhan hugged his knees tightly against his chest, his face tear-streaked as he blew his nose into a tissue offered by a tall expressionless male called Sehun.

“We’ve been dating for a while now.” Luhan started, and unlike his vulnerable form, his voice was steady and calm and almost emotionless. “We signed up for this trip to grow closer.. But now he’s gone, I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel anymore. I suppose it hasn’t hit me yet, because it’s hard to believe that someone you knew and loved is gone just like this.”

Sehun’s face was cold, deprived of any emotions as he pursed his lips and nodded. Everyone knew who he was; he was the son of the smartest and most sought-after detective in Korea, and when Zitao’s body was discovered by Kyungsoo he immediately took over and started to interrogate all of them. All 11 of them in the tour group, excluding his own self.

“Kyungsoo,” Sehun turned to Kyungsoo, his eyes deadly cold. “Why did you enter Zitao’s room?”

Kyungsoo took a deep breath as he shakily placed his left hand over his right hand to calm himself down. And then an arm s around his shoulder, and he leaned against Jongin automatically. After he got over his trauma, he would thank Jongin properly for helping him through this .

“I was going to stroll at the beach with Minseok, but Minseok said that he wanted to introduce Zitao properly to me and sent me to his room to ask him along.”

“Why didn’t Minseok do it?” Sehun probed, and Kyungsoo let his eyes wander over to where Minseok was standing at the corner of the lounge, his face sad and anxious.

“I don’t know..” Kyungsoo whispered, shaking his head as he bit his lower lip. “I knocked on the door, but no one answered and then I just tried opening it. It was unlocked, and so I went in and then I saw Zitao…” His voice became smaller and smaller until it eventually trailed off, making Luhan burst into tears again.

“I went back to my room to get us some snacks to eat while we strolled, that’s why I sent Kyungsoo to get Zitao.” Minseok explained.

Sehun nodded swiftly to let Minseok know that he had heard his explanation and his expression softened when he turned back to the sobbing male. “Luhan, when was the last time you saw Zitao?”

“Around 3PM..”

“The two of you are sharing a room, right?”

“Yes,” Luhan wiped away his tears with the back of his trembling hand. “But I went out at 3PM to walk around this vicinity. Zitao said that he was tired and wanted to rest, so I went without him. I returned at 6PM and then everyone’s gathered here, saying that he’s dead.. I don’t believe it, Sehun. Although I saw his body, I don’t believe he’s dead..” Luhan messed up his own hair, his eyes red and puffy.

“Did anyone else see Zitao after 3PM?” Sehun turned his back to Luhan, obviously not interested in cheering Luhan up as he continued to study everyone’s expressions with his sharp eyes. Kyungsoo was biting his lip in such an awful manner that made Sehun think that he was going to burst into tears anytime, and Jongin had his arm around the former’s shoulder, gently squeezing it. Luhan was sitting alone, a tissue crushed in his fist as he sniffled. Minseok was still standing at the corner, arms crossed.

“I did.” Kris left the deepest impression on Sehun because hell, not only was Kris really tall, he was also really good-looking. Sehun always found it hard to look away when they made eye-contact because there was just something in Kris’s gaze that intrigued Sehun. Of course, though, there had only been less than 3 eye-contacts since they had met for the first time at 11AM, at Japan’s airport. Kris lifted his chin in a cocky manner as he looked right into Sehun’s eyes. “I went to his room at 4PM.”

“Reason being?”

“He borrowed money from me at the airport earlier.” The way Kris spoke was clear and loud, and very confident. His voice never wavered once, neither did his gaze. “He said he wanted to buy a stuffed panda as a souvenir from Japan’s airport, but he buried his wallet deep in his luggage and so he asked me to lend him first. He said to look for him after we settled down at the inn and he’ll return it to me.”

“Why did he ask you?” Luhan’s head snapped up, his brows furrowed. “He could have asked me..”

“I asked him that too, since the first time I met him was on the plane from Seoul. He said that you didn’t like it when he spent money on buying stuffed toys, so he asked me for a loan.”

While Kris spoke, Sehun looked at everyone else. By now, he had already matched all their names to their faces, considering the fact that they were going to be in the same guided tour for the next 2 weeks in Japan, Hokkaido. Also, it wasn’t too hard of a task when you were as good as Sehun at memorizing. Memorizing was his forte.

Skinny Yixing was standing beside Kris, and Sehun suspected that they had something going on between the both of them because they were always together. They didn’t have much physical skin ship like one of the couples there, but it was as though they were one. They moved together, they didn’t speak much either. They kept to themselves. While Kris stared at everyone with an arrogant expression, Yixing looked at everyone with a lazy expression, the I-am-not-really-interested in you kind of expression.

“How much did it cost?” Luhan hiccupped, his tears drying.

Another tall guy who was not yet as tall as Kris but still tall nevertheless stood beside a rather short guy, and they were holding hands. Park Chanyeol and Byun Baekhyun, the openly gay couple. To be honest, Sehun was rather fond of Baekhyun because Baekhyun was really cheerful and hyper. Not that he had talked to Baekhyun, but he found Baekhyun’s behavior rather lovable. Not to mention, Baekhyun had a really smiley face. Chanyeol cleared his throat and Sehun realized that he had been staring at the both of them for far too long. He looked away, his focus landing on another really short guy. Joonmyun.

“I don’t think that’s a concern anymore.” Kris rolled his eyes.

Joonmyun was chewing his finger-nails, looking lost in thought. Sehun liked him too. He was the first person to introduce himself to Sehun, most people don’t even bother introducing themselves to Sehun because they were afraid of him. He knew he looked cold, but he couldn’t change the fact that he was born with such a face. Joonmyun had introduced himself with a huge grin and Sehun had smiled back.

“I’m just trying to hold on to every little thing that’s left of him.” Luhan snapped a visible scowl on his face now as he glared at Kris. “I’m sure you would do that too, if you were in my shoes.”

Joonmyun had come with a friend. Kim Jongdae. They both looked nice, so Sehun wasn’t surprised that they were close friends. He wasn’t sure if they were in a relationship, but to Sehun they just looked like normal best friends. Jongdae stood beside Joonmyun, and he was openly staring at Kyungsoo who had stopped biting his lip in that awful manner.

“I can respond to that,” Kris brushed Yixing’s hand off, glancing at him before staring at Luhan. “But I choose not to.”

“So is the murderer among us?” Jongdae asked, running his fingers through his jet-black hair absent-mindedly before he realized that everyone was staring at him because of his one question. “What?”

“You do know you just said something that shouldn’t be said out loud, right?” Joonmyun nudged Jongdae’s elbow, frowning at his best friend’s carelessness.

Sehun just buried his face in his hands. There was an invisible gun there all along; and Jongdae had pulled the trigger by asking that question.

There was only 2 possibilities according to Sehun’s awesome deduction skills.

1.       The murderer had come from outside, which was rather impossible because Zitao’s room was on the 4^th storey and he would either have to jump down and break his limps trying to escape or get out through the lounge. Since Sehun had been at the lounge reading the entire time, he would have noticed.

2.       The murderer was amongst the 12. There was only the 12 of them there because the inn belonged to Joonmyun’s family and the tour guide didn’t stay in the inn with them.

But who..?

“Why don’t you wait until the Japanese cops get here, Sehun?” Joonmyun asked, not intending to be harsh or mean or bossy but just genuinely concerned.

Sehun smirked. “Let’s just say it’s training before I officially become a detective.”