When The Snow Falls

The discovery meant that the club had an emergency club meeting before school the next day. Daniel welcomed the chance to discuss the skull in the well, but he knew it might mean that the Mystery Club would stop investigating.

"On the positive side, we now know why opening the cover is worthy of an expulsion," Meredith said brightly once they had all gathered.

Daniel raised an eyebrow while the other members remained silent and Amien glared at her.

"That's one way of looking at it," Felix said to her. "Would you like to investigate further?"

Her face flushed red and she twisted her hands awkwardly. "Maybe."

Yet again, Daniel wondered what discipline system the school had in place. It worked very effectively.

"Is the headmaster really scary?" he probed tentatively.

She shook her head. "When I attended the school, the deputy head was all we ever saw. She was very strict and severe. I've never seen the actual headmaster."

If he remembered his conversation with Willum at the party correctly, the headmaster had owned a pharmaceutical business and the old school building was where it had been housed. The more he thought about that detail and what he had seen, it added some significance to that piece of information. Was the skull connected to the company?

Or was it Carter Emberry's?"

"Has anyone ever met the headmaster?" he asked curiously.

"I was under the impression he is never here. It is the deputy head that does everything and appears in the promotional material," Amien replied.

There went Daniel's plan of going through the website and prospectus again. Harry raised a shaking hand.

"I've met the headmaster."

Next to him Oliver was nodding.

"He has. He nearly set fire to one of the science labs and blew up a lot of expensive equipment."

Daniel recalled being told that on his first day. The next question was why Harry had gone pale all of a sudden and looked unwilling to speak. Daniel looked at him and Harry let it all out at once.

"It was scary, his office was scary and he was scary. I can't remember much besides being scared. Everything about him was intimidating. I don't think I can remember his face anymore. He had white hair and that's all I can remember. Sorry."

Oliver screwed up his face in concentration.

"...I swear at the time you told me after that he recited everything you had done, the cost of everything you had broken and how close you were to being expelled. Didn't he threaten to bill your parents as well?"

"Maybe?"

"Never give evidence under oath," Amien commented unkindly. "You would be a very unreliable witness."

Daniel could sense by now that the conversation was about to descend into rapid trading of insults and there were only two minutes before the bell so he pressed forward with what he wanted to know.

"Who wants to continue with the Seven Mysteries?" he asked.

"I do," Felix said instantly.

That had been agreed between them. Felix had reservations about how safe it was, but had agreed to continue until they met Lily Emberry.

"I will," Oliver said.

"Me as well," Meredith agreed.

Harry and Amien stayed silent. Harry was avoiding eye contact whilst the other looked straight ahead.

"We all want to so you are both outvoted," Daniel said with a tight smile. "You two can sit this one out if you like."

***

The next day was finally Saturday. Daniel was on the excited side of the scale whereas Felix was more subdued. Daniel knew the skull in the well was bothering him and didn't know what he could say to change his mind on the matter.

"Are you two going anywhere today?" Vanessa asked cheerfully.

"Harajuku," Felix replied and picked up his toast.

Vanessa dropped her own slice of toast in surprise.

"I never thought my son would go there. Are you finally taking an interest in dressing fashionably?"

Felix rolled his eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with how I dress."

Daniel didn't mind how Felix dressed. It wasn't over the top and wasn't too formal either. Then again Vanessa was always fashionably dressed so having a son with no interest was probably not much fun with her.

"Well that's true," she conceded. "You did get rid of all those hoodies you had with cats on when you came here."

Felix looked guiltily at Daniel.

"Did you just do that because I dislike cats?" Daniel asked in bewilderment.

His boyfriend nodded and Daniel nudged him.

"You didn't have to go that far for me."

"You two are so sweet," Vanessa said happily and became more serious. "Are you taking the Yamanote line? It's going to be busy."

According to most of the guidebooks about Japan that Daniel had read in preparation, ticket machines at train stations were difficult and should be avoided by using a rail pass. Daniel simply found the Yamanote line map and counted the stops and input the appropriate fare on the machine. Guidebooks must take tourists to have no common sense.

The train was not overly crowded. He did feel awkward crammed in between an old lady and Felix, but it could have been worse.

He was thankful when Harajuku was announced as the approaching stop. They emerged out that station and Daniel immediately spotted Takeshita Street which looked to be an interesting sight, but they walked past it in the direction of Omotesando Hills.

Once they were outside the giant shopping centre he looked around for a female that could be Lily Emberry. There were plenty of young females around, but they were in groups and some were in school uniform. There were some obvious overseas tourists too. Felix should have asked what she looked like.

A blonde curly haired woman dressed in a pink frothy dress approached them. Her straw hat covered half her face so he couldn't see her properly.

"Felix Albury?" she asked.

Felix pushed forward with his hand outstretched.

"It's nice to meet you. I am Felix," he said and they shook hands.

Daniel could see her eyes now and they were looking at him. He stepped forward.

"I'm Daniel Entwhistle," he introduced himself. "You are Lily Emberry?"

There was still a chance she was someone completely different.

"Naturally," she replied. "We'd better hurry up before the queue gets too long."

She led them into the busy shopping centre.

"Where are we going?" he asked and tried not to lose her in the steady stream of people leaving. She walked fast for someone wearing heels. At least her hat made her easier to keep track of.

"There's a nice patisserie on the third floor. I will buy you two lunch," she said when they had caught up with her.

"It's all right. You don't have to," Felix said.

"In return you have to tell me everything you know."

The offer didn't sound like a favour now she had said that. After three escalators where everyone stood on the left and a short wait outside the patisserie, they were seated at a table for three and had three glasses of water.

"How much Japanese do you two speak?" she questioned suddenly. "Neither of you two have been here for long."

The question reminded Daniel that she had known what they or at least Felix had looked like. If they were all on equal footing she should have had the same problem finding them outside like they had looking for her. Instead she had walked straight up to them.

"My boyfriend only knows very basic Japanese," Felix explained. "I'm a little more fluent."

Lily nodded. "I will have to order for both of you. Let me know what you would like, the cake here is good."

The mention of good cake made him put his questions to the side. Fortunately the menu had English translations although he could now recognise the characters for 'cake'.

"I will choose the lemon drizzle cake," he requested and looked at Felix.

"I like the sound of the petit fours," Felix said.

Daniel watched as she conversed with waiter. Her Japanese was fluent; clearly she had practised a lot and from what they knew about her, she must have spent a few years in Japan. Her English accent when speaking her native language was unusually strong despite that.

"You probably want to know how much I know about you two," she said after she had finished the order. "I only know a little about Felix. I don't know Daniel."

She pulled her phone out from her handbag. Her phone case was one of the pinkest things he had ever witnessed. It matched well with her outfit which he assumed was the purpose. Lily brought up a photo of them at the social event a few days ago.

"I asked my parents if they knew a Felix Albury or anyone with that surname. Whilst my father is not overly active at Ember's Toys, he does keep up to speed with potential rivals or partners. Felix's family arrived here a week ago and started sniffing out investors. Again I don't know anything about Daniel besides his name."

"I just came along," Daniel explained. "I'm just his boyfriend."

"Did you find out anything else?" Felix asked.

"You are barely nouveau riche. My father would say that though- Ember's Toys has been going for over a century."

Their orders arrived just then. Daniel took a curious look at hers. He was sure it was a Strawberry Shortcake. It was confusingly named for someone from England as it was more like a Genoise than a scone.

She waited until they had all started their cakes before going straight in.

"What do you know about my brother?"

They didn't really know much, but they had both agreed not to mention the skull in the well.

"He disappeared six years ago and the British International School deny he ever went there. Can you tell us more?" Daniel asked.

Lily put down her fork and sat up straight.

"My brother was 16 when he went missing. There was one year difference between us. He was adorable and if he was ever annoying, he never showed that side to me."

"How long did he attend the school before his disappearance?" Daniel questioned.

"About a month and a half. He was doing relatively fine there- he had made one friend."

Daniel was beginning to build a mental image of Carter Emberry's personality. It might help piece together what had happened once they knew more about the past.

"That was good for my brother. He never took kindly to idiots. He was overly clever for his age. I sometimes wonder if that caused his death."

Lily had a good point. There was a high chance he had found something out about the school and had been killed for it.

"Did he ever discuss his work with the Mystery Club?"

"He did," she replied and her eyes narrowed. "But first, I would like some information from you two. How do you know about Carter?"

Her question had come later than he had been expecting. It seemed like she had been observing them first before asking. It was evident that behind the blonde pink loving facade she was smart.

Between himself and Felix they explained everything they had found, making sure to exclude the skull. Daniel produced all the physical evidence they had found which she looked thoroughly over for a few minutes and appeared to be satisfied.

She took a sip of water before saying anything.

"I understand now. I think I can tell you two everything I am aware of. At the time of his disappearance, the club was investigating the mysteries of the school which is apparently quite a tradition in Japanese schools."

"I'd gathered that," Daniel commented dryly.

"Carter was not fond of the club leader and was determined to get one up on him so he put a lot of effort into investigating the clubhouse."

Her description matched with what they had found out so far. However she wasn't telling them much more than they already knew.

"One day, he didn't return home from school," she sighed. "I don't know much else. I was in England myself and I assumed that my parents would take care of everything- that they would investigate it and find out what happened. I came here after a while because they didn't."

Daniel agreed that the Emberries' lack of action was highly abnormal. They had given up too quickly. Almost too quickly. Clearly they knew something.

"Why do you say he went missing yet refer to him in the past tense?" Felix enquired.

"Because my parents do and I know they know something they aren't telling me about this whole affair."