When The Snow Falls

Ethan did not look impressed with him to say the least. He folded his arms and quirked his head.

"Out with it then."

Daniel knew he was being petty over it, but he couldn't help it. He looked past Ethan at the other students from his school. They were all watching with open interest.

"Did his incomplete theory have something to do with the fishing wire?" he asked loudly.

"It did," one of the girls called out.

Daniel felt a smirk growing on his face. He really shouldn't be enjoying getting one over someone at least 9 years younger than him, but he couldn't help it.

"There's no need for fishing wire when one of the window panes lifts out without it," he said and carefully moved the loose glass pane that was next to the window handle. It opened a large gap that was big enough to get a hand through.

He reached in and pulled the window latch and opened the window for extra emphasis. Ethan's face was now bright red.

"The items on the ground are red herrings," he added. "I hope you do not keep up this superior attitude the whole time we are here."

Ethan stormed off back to the bench to his club and Daniel turned to the members of his mystery club for their opinion.

"Do you think I went too far?"

Amien clapped his hands with a faint smile on his face.

"No, he was very annoying and that's a lot coming from me. Oliver would have crumpled under that pressure."

"I wouldn't have worked that one out," Oliver admitted.

"I think he'll recover from the realisation that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is," Felix noted and put his arm around him. "I can hear something from inside the lodge. I think someone was listening in on us."

The front door opened a few seconds later and a man with a clipboard came out with a broad smile on his face.

"Congratulations to the British International School Mystery Club for finding the solution to the mini mystery," he said in Japanese.

Daniel was pleased to find that he could keep up with it. Felix's relentless tutoring really had helped improve his Japanese.

"So the schedule you gave us was a lie?" Amien asked.

The event organiser wasn't fl.u.s.tered by the question.

"That is normally how we run the murder mystery event, but when I saw the names of the clubs booking and where they came from, I thought I would make it even harder as a test. You two are the only groups here so you will be working against each other the whole time."

Daniel was interested in the idea. If it involved getting one up on Ethan, he was willing to go along with it.

"I will be keeping score the whole time. Anyway, my name is Mr Yamamoto and I am the organiser of the event. The first point has gone to the British International Mystery Club."

Daniel looked over at Ethan who was not looking happy. The rest of this club seemed to be cheerful enough though. He was getting the feeling that the other members of that club didn't like Ethan either.

"Please come in and make yourself comfortable. Your rooms are all on the first floor with names on the doors. The Tokyo International School's rooms are on the left corridor and the British International School's rooms are on the right. There will be snacks in the dining room when you all come down after unpacking."

Yamamoto stood aside and they all filed in. Daniel made his way up the stairs first and saw the room arrangements. They were enough to make him grin. Yamamoto seemed to know a lot about them.

He and Felix were sharing the first room. Meredith had a room to herself and the biggest room was to be shared by Harry, Oliver and Amien.

"You mean I have to share a room with Oliver?" Amien griped. "Harry as well?"

The other two had similar feelings on the subject. Daniel shrugged and opened the door of his shared bedroom. It was small but not uncomfortably so with twin beds, two wardrobes,a desk and a dressing table with mirror. The wallpaper was definitely an interesting choice. It was covered in a hideous pattern that seemed like it was from another decade, but Daniel could tell from how clean it was that it was fairly new.

"It's cute. We can pretend it's our honeymoon," Felix said behind him.

"I am not sharing a single bed with you," was Daniel's reply.

"We can push the beds together and pretend it's a double," Felix replied quickly.

Their relationship had increased in amorous levels and Felix seemed to get endless fun out of teasing him over his embarrassment.

Daniel knew he was a fair amount older than 18, but it was his first relationship. Sometimes he swore that Felix was the one that had undergone a rebirth and not him from how calm and unruffled he was over everything.

"If the mystery level has been amped up, I think I'm going to need as much sleep as possible," Daniel replied.

He stuck his ear to the wall and heard arguing from the boys room next door.

"The walls are too thin here anyway."

Felix nodded in understanding and winked at him.

"I was only joking."

Daniel fought the urge to throw a pillow at his boyfriend and busied himself by opening his suitcase. He pulled open the drawer under the wardrobe doors and found a key lying in it. He took it out with a frown.

"Is this something to do with the mysteries?"

It was a small key that seemed like it would open something more like a jewellery box than a door. The ornate pattern of ingrained swirls added to that impression.

"So much for the mystery starting at dinnertime," Felix commented. "The organiser really went all out on it."

Daniel pocketed it and carried on with his unpacking. He opened everything else up to check for other keys and didn't find anything.

"Let's visit the others," he said after finishing. "They could have found clues as well."

He opened the door and found Meredith knocking on the door to the boys room. The door was opened by Oliver who beamed when he saw the three of them.

"Please come in."

Their room was much larger than theirs, but was mapped out the same otherwise with three of everything. Amien was on the bed closest to the window reading yet another heavy looking book about finance. Harry was lounging on the bed in the middle with earphones in.

"I found a key," Oliver announced proudly as he closed the door behind him.

"So did I," Daniel replied.

"There was one in my room as well," Meredith answered.

They all looked at each other.

"I think they all have a significance," Amien said without looking up. "The organiser certainly seemed to want to challenge us."

"Let's compare keys," Oliver suggested. "There could be a clue there."

They all pooled keys and Daniel was intrigued by the results. The keys were all slightly different. Meredith's was more like padlock key whilst Oliver's was like a door key.

"I wonder what it all means," Oliver said thoughtfully.

"For all we know they're a red herring like those other clues from the first puzzle," Amien observed.

"That is true," Danile acknowledged. "Only one of the keys might be necessary."

Amien was correct about the event organiser enjoying red herrings and clues that went nowhere.

"I wonder if they other school have them in their rooms as well," Harry said. "Oliver, how much do you know about Ethan? He wasn't there when I started."

"Nothing much," Oliver said. "Ethan didn't stay at our school for very long and he wasn't actually a member of our mystery club. He was very annoying- his parents are quite rich and he wanted everyone to know that. He had a controlling streak and one day he wasn't on the register anymore and the teachers said his parents had decided our school wasn't good enough and he was going to a different one."

Ethan definitely belonged at Kingston Royal Academy, Daniel decided. He would have fitted well into his first mystery in this life.

"You didn't recognise any of the others?" Felix asked.

"No. Our school tends to only get British pupils and ones from British territories," Oliver answered. "The other group looks more international. I do remember something else about Ethan though- there was a very brief rumour that his parents were worried about his behaviour and wanted him to go to a much stricter school and given our school's strict rules, they must have really been worried."

"That's interesting, he must have been there before I got there," Harry said and his stomach rumbled. "Can we go and find the snacks please?"

Daniel was in agreement and opened the door. Hopefully snacks meant something sweet.

The other school was already sitting at the table when they arrived at the dining room. By now it had become colder and darker. Ethan was sat at the head of the table with a blonde boy in his right and a brown haired girl on the other.

"You lot are late," he complained. "We've been waiting to hear the hints."

"He's lying," one of the girls piped up. "We've only been here for a few minutes and we're mostly waiting for the snacks."

Yamamoto came into the room with a loaded tray of snacks which he placed in the centre of the table.

"You're all here now," he beamed. "Please sit down."

Oliver sat down at the other head of the table as their leader and they all sat around him. Daniel ended up next to a member of the other mystery club with Felix on his other side.

"The mystery will be performed as a play in the theatre on the island. It will be done in two halves. Dinner will be after the first act. You will be given hints if needed in the dinner before you all submit your answers. Your scores will go down based on how many hints you request. Are there any questions?"

Daniel took an extra few seconds to translate it all and digest it. He was a fan of the idea. He exchanged a smile with Felix. He had no doubt that he would solve the mystery.

"Daniel Entwhistle!"

Daniel looked at the other end of the table where the shout had come from and saw Ethan staring daggers at him.

"I'll challenge you. Whoever solves the mystery first is the winner between us!"

"You're on," Daniel said smugly.

He had no idea that the simple bet would prove to be so lethal.