When The Snow Falls

"How gory do you think the murder will be?" Oliver asked eagerly.

Daniel exchanged a long suffering look with Felix.

The Mystery Club were celebrating the end of school and were on their way to an island in Japan for a murder mystery event. This had been planned for weeks and Oliver clearly had been finding the secrecy surrounding the event a source of annoyance.

"The organisers didn't say in the promotional material," Meredith pointed out yet again. "It does have an age limit on though so there could be some."

"Oliver, just shut up about blood," Amien sighed. "I didn't come here just to hear you going on about things like that again. I took holiday from my job for this."

Amien was now an honourary member of the Mystery Club as he had graduated from the school a whole year before due to his age.

Much to most members' disappointment, a true mystery had never appeared in the remainder of their time at the school. It had been disconcertingly normal one and a half years.

"The murder isn't supposed to happen until tonight's dinner," Felix spoke up. "We should get some clues before then. That is if Daniel can read them."

The murder mystery event was completely in Japanese. Felix had declared it a chance for him to practise his Japanese. Daniel was of the opinion that Felix wanted to solve a mystery before him and was willing to use a language barrier as an advantage.

Their relationship was still going strong and had developed a lot after solving the last mystery. Daniel was still actively avoiding telling the Earl that Felix was his boyfriend and not just his best friend though.

"Daniel's one of the smartest here," Amien said. "It's the other three I have worries about."

Daniel grinned at him.

"Thanks. That's a high compliment coming from you."

Amien raised an eyebrow and returned to his book on accounting. The honoury member of the club had moved away from Tokyo and worked in an international bank.

The rest of them hadn't quite worked out what they were doing. Vanessa and Colin were looking to stay in Japan for at least a few more years. Felix hadn't announced his intentions and Daniel had the feeling the Earl had something planned for him as he had been told to not apply to any universities until they had spoken about it fully.

"Have you heard back from that university yet?" Harry asked Oliver.

The current Mystery Club leader shook his head.

"Not yet. I don't want to go into engineering though, I want to be a private detective."

"That won't work out. Daniel and Felix are the best mystery solvers and they don't want to be private detectives," Harry scoffed.

"Engineering is really employable," Meredith answered. "You can earn lots of money from it and then be a private detective."

Oliver's face lit up and Daniel wasn't sure he could pay any more attention to the conversation. His dream in his first life had been to be a private detective and that hadn't ended well to say the least.

He fixed his gaze on the approaching island. It mostly seemed to be trees with a group of white buildings on one side. The boat was fast approaching an area with a wooden dock. The idea of a murder mystery event had been something to look forward to and he was keen to get started.

The boat arrived at the island a few minutes later and they stepped onto the dock with their suitcases. The island was very quiet with only the wind whistling through the trees and the water lapping against the dock. Daniel found it calming, but slightly strange at the same time after spending two years living in a bustling city.

"I think the organisers were coming to meet us?" Oliver said unsurely after looking around at the deserted area.

"We were the only people on the boat, maybe we are the only ones taking part," Felix suggested. "Let's follow the path, we should find something soon. I did see some buildings from the boat. One of them should be the lodge we are staying in."

Daniel couldn't see anyone approaching them and the boat had already departed. His stomach rumbled and made up his mind for him.

"Let's start walking. We should find the lodge soon."

He pulled out the handle on his suitcase and started walking. The air was still cold as it wasn't quite spring yet so he was keen to get moving, especially because there was a very black cloud in the sky. Felix followed suit and the rest of the club did the same.

"Do you think it's started already?" Meredith asked eagerly. "We might walk into the lodge and find there's already a 'dead body'."

Daniel exchanged a look with Felix. That might make sense. It was an interesting twist.

"The information definitely said the mystery would be hinted at in the afternoon and the actual event will start at dinnertime," Amien pointed out. "It's unlikely. I think they just forgot to greet us."

The lodge came into view a few minutes later and Daniel knew something was wrong. The building itself was attractive enough with white wood window shutters and a red tiled roof, the problem was that sitting on the benches outside was another group of people with suitcases.

"It looks like no one came to greet them either," Felix said in a low voice.

They approached the lodge and Daniel realised that the other group of people were not Japanese.

"I think we have a rival international mystery club," Oliver said. "One of the boys is called Ethan- he used to go to our school and left for a different international school. I swear that the other school also has a mystery club."

Daniel looked over at the group again. All the people looked to be around the same age as them. The group was definitely more mixed gender than theirs with an equal number of females and males.

One of the males sprung off the bench and came towards them. He was tall and very pale with black hair.

"Is the mystery club from the British International School?" he asked in a snarky tone. "Well, I know who you all are, you lot were all over the news last year."

Daniel narrowed his eyes. He was sensing a lot of animosity.

"Ethan, have you seen the organisers yet?" Oliver asked, choosing to avoid the rivalry issue.

Ethan crossed his arms.

"Oliver, I think the mystery has started already," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Come and look at this."

He gestured and they all followed him to peer in the one of the lodge windows which was closed. Daniel noticed a prone figure on the floor of what had to be the living room. He realised it was a dummy and knew the mystery event had already started.

He stepped closer to see if he could observe anything else inside and something crunched under his foot.

"Oh great, he's stepped on the clues," Ethan said with an eyeroll. "Anyway, we're close to solving it. You should have got here earlier."

Daniel glared at him and looked down. He had stepped on a CD and cracked it in half. Next to the CD was a twig, a rock and a roll of fishing thread.

He understood now. The organisers wanted them to solve how the murderer had got out the window and closed it from the outside.

"So this is a locked room mystery scenario?" Felix asked. "Those things are the clues?"

"That's right. The window is the exit used and they wanted us to put it together," Ethan said. "What do you all think?"

Daniel looked over the window. The window was made up of small square panes and the latches on the inside were in the locked positions. He tapped the first glass pane experimentally.

"Aw, he thinks he's Sherlock Holmes," Ethan commented and there was sniggering from the rest of his club.

"What school do you go to?" Felix asked and Daniel resumed his tapping.

"Tokyo International School, at least our school isn't as corrupt as yours," was the reply. "We're the Mystery Club and came out here to solve a mystery. I had no idea you lot were the other group coming here."

"Has your lack of mystery solving abilities really led you to become such a snob over a manufactured murder mystey?" Felix asked. "Your disdain and attitude isn't needed. Grow up."

Daniel found what he was looking for as Felix finished speaking and turned around with a grin.

"How long ago did you all get here?"

"Half an hour," another member called out.

"So you've failed to solve this simple mystery in half an hour. I've solved it in a minute," Daniel announced and folded his arms.

He was going to enjoy this trip.