When The Snow Falls

"If I didn't know any better, I would think he had a crush on you," Felix observed once they were back in their room.

Daniel rolled his eyes.

"He's just an egomaniac that wants to exert authority on others. The rest of his club looked so done with him so he's probably just moved onto me. It's no wonder they all left the table first."

Felix sat down on his bed.

"Please get it right first and rub it in his face," he requested. "If I get it first, I'll tell you."

Daniel grinned.

"Of course."

His eye was attracted to the window and for a moment he was sure he could see someone moving around outside in the semi darkness. By now it was nearly dark and it was an hour before the event was about to start.

"So the hints this afternoon were 'star' and 'mirror'," he summarised after stepping away from the window. "I must have imagined seeing someone out there."

"It's quite windy," Felix said. "It was probably the greenery outside being blown around."

"I wonder what those hints mean," Daniel said thoughtfully.

"Yamamoto said they could be red herrings again," Felix quipped. "So maybe they mean nothing at all."

"The event organiser is definitely creative so it should be good," Daniel said and sat down at the desk. "I'm looking forward to it.

"That is if you can understand it."

Daniel reached over and threw his pillow at his boyfriend. Felix still enjoyed teasing him for his lack of Japanese fluency. It was one thing to understand everything, speaking it fluently was another level of difficulty.

"I'm going to read my book and ignore you," he said and picked up the book he had started on the boat trip.

He had brought one of his most read mystery novels with him so his mind would focus on the new murder mystery better. The book was the final Poirot mystery and was one of his favourites for the plot twist and tight writing as well as the emotional scenes. It was a novel that had taught him the difficulties that came with being a detective and one of them was one he was very keen to avoid.

Felix came over once to pick out a horror book from his own collection and they spent most of the next hour reading in a companionable silence until there was a knock at the door.

"Bet it's Oliver wanting to make sure we get there before the other club," Daniel said as Felix got up and opened the door.

The other members of the Mystery Club were outside already in their coats and scarves.

"Hurry up, the other club haven't left yet," Oliver said. "Amien wants us to get somewhere before them for once."

Daniel glanced out the window and saw it was now pitch black.

"Let's go," he said and retrieved his coat.

***

The theatre turned out to be a short five minute away from the lodge down a cobblestone path that was lit by streetlights. The building was small with a slightly musty smell and a dark entryway.

Daniel pushed open the door and was met by a well lit corridor which he followed to another door. Oliver always seemed to disappear to the back when met with unknown situations so he had to take the lead in situations like this.

The next door opened out into an area with a stage and a floor space covered in small tables. The scalloped curtains on the stage were down and he knew they were in the right place.

"Welcome," Yamamoto said from behind them. "You are slightly early. Did you want to outdo the other club?"

Why did he feel like the event organiser was getting a kick out of their rivalry with the other school?

"Just a little early. I'm sure they are at the door now," Felix replied. "Do we sit anywhere?"

"Please do. I will bring out the menus shortly."

Oliver walked over the table that was slightly closer to the stage that the others.

"Right, I want our two smartest members closest to the stage so they can see everything the best."

Daniel sat down and Felix sat down next to him.

"It isn't always an advantage to sit closest to the stage," Amien pointed out. "If they are too close, there could be some things they miss."

"Um, that's true," Oliver said. "Maybe not that table."

"Hurry up with it, I can hear other people in the corridor," Amien said with a scowl. "I'll sit at this table and they can sit at the one next to it with someone. Then the remaining two take the third one and then we have all the front tables."

They finished that seating arrangement as the other mystery club filed in. Daniel hadn't seen much of a benefit in where they all sat as the tables would have all been positioned to have a clear view of the stage, but he had enjoyed watching Oliver being petty. Ethan didn't bother making eye contact with him, but the rest of the club were happy enough to greet them before they all sat down.

"Nudge me if you need any quick translation," Felix said as the lights dimmed at the play started a while later.

The play started out simply. The actors were playing characters that were stranded in a manor house due to heavy snowfall which Daniel recognised as a classic setting.

One of the characters was a playboy called Akira who was cheating on his wife with another woman at the manor house called Hina. Another character was a con artist called Daisuke who had cheated another character out of a large sum of money. The owners of the house were actually con artists impersonating the real owners of the house who had died in an accident a few years before. Another character called Haruka was the daughter of the real owners in disguise. There were also the people working at the house; a maid and housekeeper with minor connections to the characters.

Daniel was actually unsure who was going to be murdered after the first hour. Having to translate quickly spoken dialogue and add every linked character to a mental mind map was proving to be difficult.

"Are you keeping up alright?" Felix whispered after another scene started.

"Barely," he admitted.

He looked around the seating area at the others. Amien was watching intently whilst the other three looked a little lost. He turned his head to check out the other club. Ethan, his self proclaimed rival was barely paying attention, the blond boy next to him was watching with a small smile and the rest of the club were a mixture of bored or confused. It appeared that he wasn't the only one lost in the fast Japanese dialogue.

He turned back to the stage to find that the cheating couple had been caught by the playboy's wife.

"I'll kill you!"

There was definitely murder potential there.

Then the scene was interrupted by the daughter of the real owners of the manor finding a newspaper clipping about the con artists and a bill for plastic surgery.

"You're impersonating my parents!"

There was also murder potential there.

The scene was further interrupted by the con artist being revealed by the character he had cheated.

"I'll report you to the Police!"

That was another murder set up there.

Daniel was quite caught up in it. There was only one character left with no link to the others. He was prepared to guess that the character Takeshi was an undercover Police officer as he spoke formally and wouldn't let anyone look at something that had dropped out his coat that Daniel was sure was a Police ID badge.

"Who do you think the murderer is?" Felix whispered at the scene wound down with slow music and the characters leaving the set.

"I'm not that quick," Daniel whispered back.

A moment later the playboy husband walked onto the set alone and sat down on one of the sofas with a cigarettes. Then the lights dimmed until only the light of the cigarette was visible.

"Who turned off the lights?" Akira demanded loudly.

A spotlight shone on the playboy who was now looking confused. Then a gloved hand with a knife became visible and Daniel tensed up.

"What are you doing!?"

The knife slashed a red line across Akira's throat and he dropped to the floor and the spotlight disappeared. The recorded sound of a door closing played and then the lights illuminated the stage fully again.

The playboy character was lying prone on the floor in a rapidly filling puddle of blood coming from a deep slash on his throat. Daniel was about to mentally applaud the special effects when Felix suddenly stood up.

"That's real blood!"

Daniel sprang into action. The slash on the neck was across the carotid artery and was still spurting blood. The actor's c.h.e.s.t wasn't moving either and he knew Felix was right.

A genuine murder had been committed.