Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Fort Kearny Mystery Stories Case #1 ❯ The Fan Girls and the Victim Doppelganger ( Chapter 2 )

THE FORT KEARNY MYSTERY STORIESCASE #1: The Rising Star Mystery

CHAPTER 2: The Fan Girlsand the Victim Doppelganger(Airi)

 

Fort Kearny Academy (Room 2-B) - Monday, few minutes before class begins

 

Last week on the first day of our second year of high school, our classroom was half-empty.

 

This week, those empty seats will be filled with assigned Silver Hawk idols once they reach the classroom. Not that I do care who would be in my class but I would like to know what the new roster would be like. I took a glance at the teacher's roster last week while I took the time to ask some questions regarding the latest lesson in World History and the list barely had any names in it.

 

When Eljin, our friends DJ Davies and Aisling Harris, and I arrived at our classroom we were a bit surprised that there were only about seven of us present in the classroom. I wondered where the other fifteen went. They were probably one of the spectators waiting outside for the limos and the Rolls Royce cars to arrive. The entire entrance of the school reminded me of those gatherings during a concert or something.

 

I remembered at one point that Mom mentioned that it's possible that Julian may even be in the same class as us. You see, the entire Horie Family, no matter how people judge us by looks (more of like the “Hawke” side that is), is also a family of geniuses. Alaric, even if he started off homeschooling, was a brilliant student always brimmed with ideas and theories regarding the subjects he studied. Julian and Tristan were sent by the relatives over there to one of the best schools in that area (I'm not sure if it's the entire nation so I can't make that claim) somewhere and passed a lot of entrance examinations before they entered here. The counselor, according to Mom, determined that Julian and Tristan were qualified to start at grade levels that are a year or two advanced than their average age after they took the entrance exams to be admitted in to this school. Tristan may probably be in first year high school (when Julian should start in the first place). Of course, we'll have to wait and see.

 

When we took our seats I noticed Eljin lowering his head towards the surface of his desk with his arms crossed. He was going to take a nap again before the bell rang. DJ placed his headphones and turned on his portable game console and played his videogames. Aisling reached for her diary in her bag and started to write again. Even though blogs are more of the “in” thing now she's one of the few who rely more on pen and paper right up front without staring at a computer screen. I, on the other hand, reach out for a copy of the book we were reading for literature class and read the next assigned chapters up ahead.

 

Any time now these “celebrity kids” will be arriving in these classrooms. I can sense that the atmosphere of this entire school is going to change. Eljin was already irritated by the whole thing, but as for me, I had to experience this new change first before I can make my own judgment. Maybe we can ask the parents if we can go to a public school instead if things get really bad here from our end.

 

First class is World History. Our first assignment was mainly reading material from the provided textbook. After that we answer the end of the section questions and jotting down the answers on paper so we can have some notes for the lesson and discussion. Second class is literature, in which we are reading a classic novel that takes place at a particular segment of history that we're studying from the first class so everything is connected, assuming that this method will help the students pass this school year. After that the homeroom class will be split in to different classrooms for math class. Since each of us is different in terms of personal academic levels we're assigned to different math classes. Eljin and I are in Honors Geometry, while DJ and Aisling are in regular Geometry class. I wished the counselor just placed me in regular Geometry because math is not my favorite subject and Geometry as of the first five chapters is already killing me.

 

Afterwards, we have a fifteen-minute break in between classes. Next we have the rest from different science classes, different times of Phys Ed, and different electives with lunch period in between at exactly twelve noon. In this school everyone has eight classes in a schedule with the exception of the “talented and gifted” students where they are required to have an extra class. We have extracurricular activities in school as well as community service so we can't afford to have a ninth class. It's just too much for us.

 

Fort Kearny Academy, like many private schools there, is also selective with their students. The school is sponsored by Fort Kearny's wealthiest families (and my family is definitely one of them), however this school only selects students with very high marks. To the school officials it didn't matter if the applicant student was from the wealthy class or the low-income class. The school values education here and if the student does not show proof of his or her motivation to succeed in education then that student's application will be rejected. When it came to tuition payments, if the student is from a well-off family there are a variety of payment options available, but if the student is from a low-income family then the student is given the chance to apply for various scholarships that the school sponsors, which also includes a full scholarship, which means that the family would not have to pay at all. In short, anybody who's devoted to their studies and have high hopes of becoming successful in their future can be admitted to this school. This school does not care if your family is rich or has high reputations or not. The school cares more about the student than the parents of the student. The student is the main character of the story while the parents and the teachers are the supporting characters.

 

Aisling Harris was the only person in our small circle of friends who wasn't from a wealthy or a well-to-do family, but honestly I am more envious than sympathetic. She was the fourth child among her seven siblings and her entire family was very close. Although I also love my family, I feel more attached to my mother and my twin, Eljin, since we were the only three who were not on the same field as the rest of the family. I barely see my father or the rest of my brothers because they were too busy with their celebrity careers and I always had a hard time trying to connect to them as much as I am connected to Mom and Eljin.

 

Regarding Aisling, I always thought farms and the farmers who own them are also wealthy themselves. The Harris Farm was a main provider of local crops from fruits and vegetables to fresh eggs that feed the mouths of Fort Kearny. Without these farms, no one will survive at all. She wanted to have her own farm and her own science lab when she finishes her academic years. She wants to be an organic cosmetologist, creating health and beauty products for everyone using only ingredients that were carefully grown in her farm and eventually, health foods. In school, she had the highest marks in academics among us too, especially in math and science, which was why I look up to her a lot. She also took piano lessons every week, which was why she is our keyboardist in our “community service” sixties-influenced band known as the YoungIns!

 

Aisling was my best female friend. To be honest though, she was the only female friend I had. We met somewhat in a strange way. We met when we were about four or five-years-old during one of Mom's cases involving Aisling's father, who was framed for fraud regarding a part of his farm land and some land developer. I don't remember all the details, but during those times Mom was kind enough to open our house for Aisling and Mrs. Trenchbull also took care of her along with the rest of us. Of course, that entire case was all over now and Aisling's family won back part of their land. Ever since then we continued on with our friendship even if we attended different schools. Not anymore though. Thanks to Aisling's almost perfect marks in school she won a huge sum scholarship to enter Fort Kearny Academy last year. This is also her second year here and she still is doing better in classes than I am.

 

Aisling, in my opinion, was definitely one of the top ten beauties of Fort Kearny Academy. She had shoulder-length red hair which she would usually put it up in a bun and gray-ish blue eyes that somehow become noticeable whenever she smiles at you. She always wore really nice, coordinated clothes that seriously make her stand out from the rest of the girls (that is, outside school, since we had to wear uniforms). Though were not very aware since it was just only the four of us circle of friends other boys would pass by us and take a glimpse of Aisling too. She wasn't interested in getting in to any relationship for now because she was always too busy working hard to pass classes and always busy helping the family tending their farm.

 

Most of the girls in this school were vain and selfish snobs, especially our class president, Celina Duffy. Not only was she vain, selfish, and overall annoying, but what annoyed me the most is that she declared herself as “the destined love of Cai Aneirin.” In short, she is the “ultimate” fan girl of Cai Aneirin. She is also an obsessed fan of Alaric if she gets her heart broken by Cai. Now this I gotta see. It would be the greatest laugh I would ever have towards her, really.

 

Who is Cai Aneirin? I'll tell you more about him later. I'd eventually see him somewhere later today anyway, since he returned from England. Thanks for letting us know that you're coming back home for good, Cai. You're a great pal, really.

 

“Airi,” I hear Aisling calling my name at the desk across from my left. I turned my head to see her usual cheerful smile. “This weekend is my parents' wedding anniversary and they asked me to invite some friends if I wanted. We're going to have a hearty dinner party at the farm so everything is going to be made from scratch and everyone who attends gets to chip in to the preparation. It'll be a lot of fun. I was wondering if you and Eljin would have some time this weekend.”

 

“Sounds fun,” I answered immediately towards her. “Can I be one of the harvesters at your fruit trees and pick the ripe fruits?”

 

Aisling gave a light laugh. “As long as you think you can do the job--- you know that there is no domestic help at the farm unlike your house.”

 

“I've been training in martial arts since I was a kid so I do know how it feels to be tired and sweaty and completely drained out of energy. I learned what hard work means in general through that. At home we only had Mrs. Trenchbull to deal with the cooking in the mornings when we all head out to school and work, but Mom does the cooking during dinnertime on weekdays unless she had to stay overtime at the police department working on one of her cases. In that case it would be Mrs. Trenchbull preparing dinner. If I had free time after homework I'd join her in the kitchen.”

 

“What happened to all your domestic help, servants and all? You used to have a lot of them a long time ago. I mean, whenever DJ and I come over to your place it was right straight to the basement and we don't really notice about the servants in your house anymore.”

 

I explained to her that my mother transferred many of the servants in the house to other places within the estate because she believed that we have to look and take care of ourselves now, which I also agree. I made friends with them when I grew up and I would visit them sometimes at their new assignments whenever I can. I've learned a lot from them about life in general and what it means to be an individual living in a difficult, imperfect world. In the main house, Mrs. Trenchbull is the only domestic help that we have left, but even her job is more of a part-time job now. She only works in the mornings on weekdays and works occasionally at night whenever Mom had to work overtime. We invite her in family gatherings as we already consider her part of the family already. She started off being our governess first when we were little, but as we grew, her tasks were switched to just being a cook. She was recently widowed though but she has three children (all boys) in a public middle school now. She hoped for her children to do well in school so they can earn scholarships to enter Fort Kearny Academy. That would be a huge accomplishment for Mrs. Trenchbull as a mother, that's for sure. I see her children on occasion whenever Mrs. Trenchbull brings them over to the house. They're about Tristan's age, I think.

 

“Okay then,” Aisling continued on with our small talk. “I'll let my parents know that you and Eljin are coming. I mean, I'm really glad you would take some time to spend with the family. I mean… I don't want to get stuck with DJ alone… my family always try to make an effort to tease me with him.”

 

I gave a slight gaze towards DJ, who was completely immersed in to his portable video game. I found Aisling gazing towards him as well. At this point I started to ask myself how DJ completely changed from the kid we used to know when we were little. When we were still children those years ago DJ used to be a scrawny kid who would always follow Eljin around and didn't have much sense of thinking for his own self. But you know, even the meekest kid can really change in to someone unexpected. DJ was actually the first friend that my twin and I met all the way back at the daycare times. He was the only child of a high-profiled foreign diplomat and a fashion designer, so you can already guess that his family is one of the very well-respected wealthy families residing in Fort Kearny. His favorite hobbies were computers and videogames, but he has a natural talent in music, most especially his singing and his bass guitar playing. He's our lead singer in our “community service” band at Cool Chimes as well as our bass player.

 

Between DJ and Eljin I do feel that DJ matured quickly than my twin did. He used to be short and skinny, but when he hit thirteen his height towered over Eljin and his body developed well. Now he was the tallest among the group, with his dark brown hair styled almost identical as Alaric and some of the more popular male teen idols. Cai also had the same hair style as DJ at the latest teen magazine cover that I took a glimpse at one of the newspaper stands at one point. To majority of the girls in class they predicted that DJ would be the next Silver Hawk idol in the near future right after Cai's name becomes a household name now that he debuted as one officially as of… very recently, I guess. For Eljin, Aisling, and me, we all hoped that would not happen. Besides, DJ wanted to be a computer programmer or engineer in the future, so I don't think stardom would interest him at all. He also owns two laptops--- a mini-laptop (the ones that fit right at the palm of your hand) and a standard seventeen-inch laptop. In the YoungIns League (our underground detective club) he was our… computers expert… so to speak. The entire female population of this school first took notice of DJ when we first debuted as a band at the Cool Chimes Gelato Shop as part of our community service requirement to graduate from school. He had a voice that can really get to you, it's hard to explain. It's one of those quite deep, baritone voices that would attract music industry agents to represent you and sign you up at some major record label. Luckily the agent thing hasn't happened yet.

 

Aisling and I immediately turned our heads away right when DJ turned his head slightly towards our direction. I took a side glimpse quickly and noticed he was removing his headphones. He then started to join in our conversation.

 

“Frankly I'm happy that these Silver Hawk idols are fellow students in this school as of today,” DJ began his opening statement.

 

“Why do you say that?” Aisling responded immediately.

 

“Because,” DJ reacted the same, “these crazy girls are going to start bombarding these other guys' emails and IMs with crazy and scary `love declarations' or something. I don't know what these people see in me anyway.”

 

I smirked and slightly turned my head away from him. “They think you're the next Cai Aneirin… or even any one of the Hor--- Hawke Brothers.” I almost forgot that there were students present in the room right now aside from the four of us. I had to control myself and be careful.

 

Here was the deal with our family, which was why I really envy Aisling's family. Our late grandfather, Soun Hawke Horie, declared some kind of a deal with Mom when she was given concent by Dad's family that they are allowed to marry. From what I can remember, in order to protect the privacy of everyone in the family that non-celebrity Horie Family members must not reveal or mention that we were even related. It makes sense, somewhat, but Eljin and I were born to hate liars and we have been really careful liars ever since we were little. We can't even say the real names of the Hawke Brothers or even the real name of the Silver Hawk Entertainment's CEO whenever teachers ask us about our family. As far as I know only Aisling and DJ were the only ones who know about this little secret, since both of them practically grew up with us almost our entire lives. In fact in public Eljin and I had to call our father as “Mr. Hawke” while Alaric, Julian, and Tristan had to call our mother “Detective Horie.” At home we go back to just plain “mom” and “dad.”

 

Why use the name “Hawke” as a pseudonym for the celebrity family members? I'll tell you more about that later but here is the brief story behind it. It's a family legend about our head ancestor, Gardner Horie, who moved to the newly-established town (or village?) of Fort Kearny for the first time as a poor farmer. He had a pet hawk which was as white as snow with a bit of shimmering gray (which gives the bird's “silvery” color). Maybe it's a family children's story or something, but it said that his pet hawk had given him good luck and prosperity as he continued to work as hard as he can to make ends meet, along with a beautiful wife (who was a farmer like he was) and seven devoted children. He made a lot of money by opening a small farm and selling fresh milk from the cows his neighbors and friends provided him as a start for his farm. Back then there weren't any dairy companies or dairy farms and a lot of the townsfolk relied on Gardner Horie's farm for their milk and all their dairy needs. He also sold eggs from his chickens and in the later years opened his own ice cream shop within the farm. All of these made the Hories become wealthy and eventually expanded his ranch. After his pet hawk died he renamed his farm from the Horie Dairy Farm to “The Silver Hawk Dairy Farm.” As years and years passed of course there were a lot of changes with a lot of different plans from descendant to descendant. The farm transformed itself to The Silver Hawk Estate and sold the dairy farm to local dairy companies. Today the Silver Hawk Estate houses all the agency's idols, employees and talent agents, and entertainment training centers. The Silver Hawk Entertainment Agency main headquarters is also located here. The main farm house eventually expanded and it became a four-story mansion (the fourth floor is the attic and the “first floor” is actually the basement).

 

Maybe that's why I was looking forward to spending the entire weekend at Aisling's family farm. Maybe the spirit of Gardner Horie from a hundred years ago had resided within me and somehow awakened the farmer inside of me. Either that or maybe I hoped I would become a farmer and open my own farm. I'm not very sure myself.

 

“It's not funny,” DJ frowned in discontent in response to my little statement. “They kept comparing me to Cai Aneirin all the time for some reason.” Right when DJ mentioned Cai Aneirin's name that sparked an idea in my head.

 

“Hey Aisling. I was wondering if it's okay if I can bring someone along too…” When I mentioned that statement I was thinking of inviting the brothers—most notably Alaric--- and if possible, Cai too. But if I do that then Eljin would not be happy. On the other hand, my bitter twin brother really needed to get over his annoyance with Alaric. It was getting really old already. On the other hand, I can feel what he's feeling too.

 

“Why?” Aisling gave me an immediate smirk on her face. “You're thinking of bringing Cai Aneirin too? By all means, go ahead!” Immediately I recognized that gesture coming from her. She is thinking of some thing different from my way of thinking. Every time I would ask her if I can invite anyone at one of our hangouts she would immediately think of Cai, even if he had lived much of his young life in England. From what I'm told Cai went to the same school as Julian and Tristan did, so obviously they know each other pretty well. It wasn't fair that none of the brothers would even take the time to send me an overseas email letting me know how Cai was doing. It also made me wonder why he gave me a necklace with three charms as his last gift to me before he immediately stopped writing letters and giving me gifts (which are actually handmade art (like paintings or just random black and white photography that he developed himself and mini-sculptures that he likes to do and I return those gifts with the same homemade stuff. We took private art classes together along with our martial arts classes when we were little and we always competed against each other to see which one of us is the best martial artist as well as the best fine artist). I never thought that he would give me something that would cost money at all, and now I'm wearing that particular necklace around my neck everyday now.

 

“Hey, I was thinking of inviting Alaric, Julian, and Tristan too even if it annoys Eljin to the core,” I told her promptly before she gets the wrong idea. “Besides, they need to experience real farm life and not rely on domestic help all the time.”

 

“Oh come on,” Aisling returned with another giggle, “it's no secret among us friends that you obviously miss the guy. I had to admit he was a really nice boy when we first met during your seventh birthday. It's too bad that he and his family had to relocate to England a week later… and then he had the nerve to come here for a visit during the summer and not even bother show his self to you but he shows himself to Alaric? What's up with that?”

 

I knew that Cai had his reasons why he decided not to meet me during his visit that summer. But what really got stuck in my head about that particular year was the incident that really haunted both Eljin and me for practically the rest of our childhood lives. Even until now Alaric hasn't exactly given us the real reason why we had to keep our mouths shut from the police in order to protect Cai's name. That was one of the reasons why Eljin is furious with him, but I do know there were more to that.

 

Now that Cai had returned to Fort Kearny--- officially, I'm assuming--- I'll just have to ask him about his connection to Yukina Hutton (unless if he had forgotten about it, this would help me lead the conversation to that fateful night eight years ago at Kearny Beach). Yukina was a Silver Hawk idol, which was the only fact I learned about her through those quick autopsy reports that Mom accidentally left on her desk at her den in the open one day. Then Alaric gave us the lead that the victim was (supposedly?) very close to Cai and yet he wanted us to keep quiet about it. We (as in us, the YoungIns League) would have made our move by investigating all around Kearny Beach but we were not allowed to go there during the investigation. Ever since that day, sadly, the private beach spot had been closed down. The business went down as the locals and even the tourists began having fears of a possible danger that may happen to them thanks to the Yukina Hutton murder. We would have began with the Silver Hawk Estate instead and sneak around Dad's den in the house for any information that we can gather about Yukina Hutton, but we realized then that we would not succeed because Cai was no longer in the country.

 

The YoungIns League hadn't had a case for the past month now. I guess Fort Kearny was finally rid of the petty criminals and other crime scenes to this point. On the other hand, we may never really know. The Yukina Hutton murder case had been long closed as a cold case, which to my mother was a heavy blow to her as a detective. I have been carrying the guilt of keeping my mouth shut ever since then, but at the same time I would be hurting Cai if I do tell Mom about the connection.

 

I wondered to myself why Cai had come home this year, and not only that, a student of Fort Kearny Academy? I wondered if he came back home alone or if his entire family had come home. I wondered if he would spill everything to me if I do ask him about what happened eight years ago. Let's not be hopeful just yet, Airi.

 

“On the other hand,” I altered my answer a bit, “if I do ask Cai to come over to your parents' anniversary dinner party we can use that chance to ask him a lot of questions…”

 

Aisling was silent at first, probably wondering what I meant by that. A few seconds later she finally realized what I meant.

 

“… About the murder eight years ago, Airi?” I nodded. “Girl, you and Eljin are seriously obsessed with that murder case! It's been way too long already… you guys should stop keeping quiet and why not tell your mom about it? I know it's going to involve Cai but still. We are talking about justice here for a life taken away!”

 

“I know, Aisling. This is why that now is our chance to reopen the case ourselves. I want to prove Cai's innocence with this case first before we tell Mom about what we found…”

 

Aisling shook her head at me. I was expecting that reaction from her once I stated that I think that Cai is innocent with the involvement of Yukina Hutton's murder. I would say that it is common sense that an eight-year-old child cannot possibly be involved in to something deadly such as a murder of a celebrity teen girl, but then again we may never know. But in this case, somehow my gut instinct is telling me that Cai Aneirin is innocent. I knew Cai like I knew the passwords to my online accounts everywhere than everyone else. I knew he would not get himself involved somehow like that.

 

I also wanted to ask Yukina Hutton's spirit this question: Who are you and why were you one of the most watched idols by the media during your time? What was your relationship towards Cai? I wish you would show me some sign or something. I was pretty sure that Dad would still have her file in the agency archives somewhere. I just needed permission from him and if Dad disagreed then I would have to make up an excuse for it. I did plan to tell the rest of the YoungIns League about this plan of course. We can start from there if Cai decided not to talk to me about the murder.

Between Eljin and me I actually have a clearer, more vivid visual memory of whatever we experienced during our lives (whether we were together or we were apart). He can only remember the facts and even the visual memories of what we experience, but as for me, even the smallest of details I can still visualize and remember. Even until now I can still see Yukina Hutton's lifeless expression on her face, the dark ring-like mark around her neck which showed that she was strangled to death, and the pool of blood flowing from her head after the impact she had when she hit her head on the sand and her heavy legs on to our sandcastle. She was a brunette, with yellow barrettes holding her two slightly curled pigtails and bright blue eyes. She wore a white blouse with pink and purple flowers on it, and a striped lavender skirt. She also wore a pair of lavender striped sandals on her feet, one of them with a broken heel, probably caused by the impact of her fall. Above us was a cliff and there was no way in hell that Yukina would have just appeared from the ground and trip herself on to the sandcastle. With the location and setting and the position of her body on to the ground obviously she was being pushed or dumped by the murderer from the top of the cliff. I can even imagine how she must have looked like when she used to have living colors on to her. She was definitely a beautiful young girl who provided such color on every single page of teen celebrity magazines and a whole lot more and there was no doubt that every teen boy back in those days were falling for her beauty. Just by judging by her clothes and a white gold bracelet around her right wrist she was not at work, but she was dressed casually. The white gold bracelet had a very intricate design on to it which already gave me the perception that she came from a very wealthy family. I also perceived that Yukina was a happy, cheerful girl, only because she wore her hair in pigtails. Otherwise she wouldn't wear her hair that way at age sixteen. That's all I can remember for now, but I'm sure more things will come up as time passes.

 

I was too young to even hear and know the name of Yukina Hutton. I was even more aware of my father's talent agency business but I was never aware of who was signed under his agency management label. The only ones I know who are signed under the Silver Hawk Entertainment management are my brothers and recently, Cai Aneirin.

 

Cai Aneirin… I get to see him today in school. I wonder what classroom his homeroom class is located. Alaric's new French girlfriend, Monique Glavier, would probably be in the same class as Cai, since they're both the same age. While Eljin continued to mope and complain about Alaric's presence in the family I actually paid attention to the rest of my family. Monique was Alaric's fourth girlfriend. He started dating at the tender age of eleven, but I hated his first three girlfriends. They were not just a bunch of snobs, but they also had their own personal stereotypes against “non-celebrities” like Eljin and me. The recent girlfriend before Monique was very controlling and she hated how Alaric would pay attention to other people, even if they were members of his own family. She hated how he always kept an eye on Eljin and me (despite Eljin's chagrin) whenever she visited our house to see him. I almost threatened her using my martial arts training, but I had to keep in mind that I should only use my self-defense skills when I'm in danger. I complained, then later Eljin complained, to Alaric about her but he didn't believe us then. Dealing with this third girlfriend was actually one of our cases that we had to work on as the YoungIns League. Aisling witnessed one day that this girlfriend was actually two-timing behind Alaric when she started flirting with another boy who looked like someone from our school. We trapped her on the spot and Alaric witnessed everything and we made her confess about her second affair behind Alaric's back. We never heard or saw her again ever since that day but it was already obvious that Alaric was ready to move on with his life without her. As for the younger brothers, Julian and Tristan, I still have yet to learn their personal stories, but that'll have to wait later.

 

“Alright then,” Aisling gave a nod to me. “I understand what you're intending to do. Man, I can't believe Cai Aneirin is back! I have a lot of questions myself too…”

 

“Really? About the murder?” I asked curiously.

 

“No, I'm going to ask him about how he truly feels about you, Airi, what else?” Right then Aisling burst in to laughter, which irritated me a bit.

 

“Whatever,” was all I can say to her, ignoring her throughout the last few minutes until the tardy bell rang.

 

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The first tardy bell rang and our classroom was already occupied. At this time students would be rushing to get to their classrooms before the second tardy bell rings, but as of this day, that was not happening. Some of the teachers and ground supervisors had to restrain the nutty, screaming fan girls in our class from outside the doors to let the celebrity kids inside the classroom. Eljin woke up from his desk nap from all the screaming and he looked a lot crankier than he was earlier this morning.

 

“What the hell,” I heard Eljin squirming as he rubbed his eyes from his short nap. “These people… You'd think it's the end of the world if you don't get to see your favorite teen star in this school. These fan girls seriously need to get a life!”

 

“It's a teenager thing, Eljin,” I heard Aisling make a slight sarcastic remark. “It's natural.”

 

“Well it's obviously not normal if you threaten to kill yourself if you don't get to see your favorite idol, seriously. I mean, what's the big deal? They're just people like us…”

 

“Except they're people more famous than you, Eljin,” DJ made his remark, which really made Aisling and I laugh. Though it may be a funny statement, it is the truth after all.

 

“I'm gonna sack that smirk off of your face for saying that, DJ,” Eljin made his little threat. “But since you're not as annoying as Alaric I'll spare you.”

 

“Eljin,” now it was my turn to speak, “why is it that you make such violent threats and yet you can't even throw a single punch at the one you just threatened? You're embarrassing yourself every time you make remarks like that, seriously.”

 

“Which side are you on, Airi?” Personally, even if I am his twin sister, the younger one even, I would still not hesitate to smack his head upside if I had to just so he would shut up.

 

Just as Eljin was about to continue his complaints we were interrupted by another fan girl crying outside the classroom. The girl just announced to the other fan girls that Cai Aneirin had just entered the building and right on the same floor as our classroom. For some strange reason his name made my heart give a huge bump. At the same time deep inside a voice was telling me to stand up from my seat and get outside the classroom to find him. Then again Cai did not exactly visit the Silver Hawk House to say hello to us, therefore I should make the greeting move. Subconsciously I stood up from my seat and making my way to the door.

 

“What do you know?” I can hear Aisling snickering behind my back. “It looks like your destiny has arrived, Airi! I gotta see this!” I did not pay attention to what she said but she followed me from behind anyway.

 

The screaming of the fan girls became louder just as Aisling and I arrived at the door. Then, just as we were heading out we noticed that the screaming of the fan girls changed tone in to something sad and disappointing. We wondered why the sudden change of the screaming tone at first. We walked through the huge crowd so we can have a clearer view. Approaching our way was a familiar face to practically every girl here. He was making his way forward to our direction and as I was able to capture his face closely I nodded to myself.

 

The older teen boy stopped a few inches from where Aisling and I stood and gave both of us a slight bow and a humble smile. The fan girls were shocked to see one of the country's most popular teen idols had just slightly bowed to two nobodies like Aisling and me. We returned the bow to him, and then he spoke to us.

 

“It's been awhile, Airi Horie,” the boy spoke to us in a familiar tone. I have not seen this particular boy since I was seven, and it was an obvious reason why.

 

“It's been awhile indeed, Colwyn,” I returned the greeting towards him. This teen boy who just said hello is Colwyn Aneirin, Cai's older brother. He was one of Alaric's closest friends and one of the “main figures” in Alaric's childhood circle eight years ago. Colwyn is a year older than Alaric though. “Welcome to Fort Kearny Academy.”

 

“It's good to be back,” Colwyn responded with a smile. According to Aisling some of the fan girls behind us just fainted. Well, I guess that's how fan girls are.

 

I turned to Aisling, who remained smiling humbly at the same time, then gazed back towards Colwyn. “You remember Aisling Harris, right?”

 

Colwyn extended his hand, offering a handshake to her. “Of course I do. I can't forget that fiery hair anywhere. It's nice to see you again, Aisling.”

 

“Same to you,” Aisling responded as the two shook hands. “You look different since the last time we've seen you.”

 

Colwyn chuckled softly. “Well, how old were we the last time we saw each other? I was ten and you were seven?”

 

“Good point,” Aisling chuckled in return. Colwyn turned his head back to me.

 

“You still look the same,” Colwyn made a compliment towards the fifteen-year-old version of Airi Horie.

 

“I guess that's a good thing,” I said to him with a slight chuckle.

 

“Cai would be very pleased,” Colwyn added from his previous statement, which made me become suspicious.

 

“Where is he anyway?” I asked him curiously with my arms crossed. “How come he didn't come over to visit us when you guys arrived?”

 

Colwyn just shook his head. “He's had a busy schedule ever since his arrival. We were still settling our new house down. Did you know we have a house constructed within the Silver Hawk Estate grounds? We'll be close neighbors now!” I shook my head. Seriously anything that involved Cai in it had become unknown to me now. “Alaric didn't tell you?” I shook my head once again. “I apologize for you not knowing…”

 

“Don't worry about it, at least now we've met again,” I responded with my humble smile. Going back eight years ago when Alaric made us promise that we would not reveal this somewhat vital piece of information regarding Cai's involvement with the victim, Yukina Hutton. When Alaric had a meeting with us, Colwyn was present among his circle of friends. Eljin did not notice it because he was too busy listening and arguing with Alaric at that time but I somehow got rather uncomfortable with Colwyn's slight expression on his face back then. It was telling me that he knew something about the murder or even about Cai's relationship with Yukina Hutton that Alaric didn't know but I didn't want to assume anything then. Now that he is standing right across from me it was the perfect time to bombard him with questions about Yukina's murder. On the other hand, this was his first day of school and I did not want to attack him just yet.

 

“Well then,” Colwyn changed the subject. “I have to head to my homeroom class now. It's actually the classroom all the way at the end of this hallway as I was told by the other students who were not fan girls. Cai's homeroom class is right across from yours.”

 

Aisling and I turned our heads and found the classroom number. So, Cai Aneirin's homeroom class is just across from ours. How convenient.

 

“Thanks for letting us know,” I thanked the older brother for the tip.

 

“Good to see you two. We'll meet again.” We shook hands again as he made his way. Aisling turned to me with some kind of suspicion on her face.

 

“You know…” Aisling began, “there's something about Colwyn that I'm kinda having a suspicion on…”

 

“You're not the only one who thinks that way,” I told her about what I felt as well.

 

“Then I'm not insane then!”

 

“No, you're not. In fact, I've had that same suspicion with him eight years ago but I didn't want to assume until I was sure.”

 

“Hm… I wonder what that can be…”

 

Aisling and I peeked through the classroom across from us to see if Cai Aneirin was already inside. Right then we spotted Monique Glavier surrounded by other girls in her class, introducing themselves and asking her for an autograph. As she was being bombarded she took a glimpse and found us at the door. Right then she gave us a friendly smile, saying “hello.”

 

Right as we were heading back to our classroom we got another interruption again. The fan girls surrounding us started to scream again--- some with happiness and some with disappointment. I ran immediately in front with Aisling behind me and ended up standing in between the leader of the Cai Aneirin fan girls present.

 

“Who is SHE?” I heard one of the fan girls call out from behind us. “HOW DARE SHE!”

 

Right from the distance I can see two figures. At first I thought that they were just random students holding hands, but as they got closer, my eyes widened immediately. Now I end up as a curious fan girl myself. Who is that girl with Cai Aneirin…?

 

“Whoa,” I heard Aisling speak next to me. “That's Cai Aneirin alright… and who's that girl with him…? You've got to be kidding me--- Cai has a girlfriend?”

 

As Cai and the girl got a lot closer, heading towards our direction, a spark of lightning suddenly hit my spine right when I spotted the girl's face. Long flowing slightly curled dark brown hair worn lose with a headband… flashy blue eyes… porcelain-colored skin… those general features somehow reminded me of a very familiar figure. Even the face is very, very uncanny.

 

Yukina Hutton…?

 

Somehow I found my eyes completely hypnotized by the vision of the girl Cai is flirting with (and the other way around) as if it was completely normal, but to me, it looked like Cai was being bewitched by a ghost. His eyes were completely fixed to her like he was being commanded to do something. And as I was witnessing this very small, minor moment I started to feel major chills crawling down my spine as if this spirit was commanding Cai to inflict harm towards me for no particular reason. I grew up never believing in ghosts or anything like that, but there was a moment in my life where my mother and I visited one of my mother's old friends who happened to work as a psychic reader or something. Mom's friend had my palm read and quickly determined that I had a hidden ability to be a medium and a profiler of some sort. I didn't buy the idea right then and just dropped the thought. But what was happening right now may probably confirm that my mother's psychic friend may be correct.

 

I wanted to step forward to greet him right away regardless if that girl was clinging on to his arm or not but I could not even move. It was like my legs were glued to the floor, unable to step forward or escape. It was like this particular force overtaking me was telling me that this was fate and it should happen right now. I could not even find myself open my mouth just to say a single hello. Few seconds passed and I can feel the two forces heading towards me. Just as they were only a few inches close, the force somehow broke when the fan girls behind us pushed through Aisling and me and made their way towards Cai and the mysterious victim-look-alike. On the other hand I remembered what was asked back home to not make it too obvious that we had close connections for security reasons. With all these crazy fan girls gathering at the pair I knew this was not a good time to confront him about the murder.

 

“So, did you get to say hello to Mister Childhood Loverboy over there, Airi?” The snickering voice of my twin brother suddenly spoke from behind me. Immediately I was snapped out of trance. Right as I opened my eyes, that ghostly presence had disappeared all over me. I took a glimpse towards Cai and the fan girls and unfortunately, that Yukina Hutton look-alike was still there with the fan girls and Cai.

 

“Shut up, Eljin,” was all I can say to the twin brother, who was already snickering at me behind my back. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't the only one in the family who loves to tease me about Cai. That particular moment was probably the only time that he and Alaric would get along very well. Idiot brothers.

 

“Oh come on now, Airi,” Eljin patted me on the shoulder. “Well? Did you say hi or something?”

 

I shook my head, watching the fanatics screaming for an autograph and a photograph from their cell phone cameras. “It's time for class anyway. I'll meet up with him like in break time or something.” I turned around and headed back inside the classroom.

We sat at our desks, getting ourselves ready before the teacher arrived. Despite of it all I can still feel that major chill in my spine during my first glimpse at Cai's new girl friend. It was just too strange and seriously coincidental--- or was it--- that the murder victim in which Cai was somehow involved eight years ago would be the type of girl Cai decided to date. At the moment Aisling and Eljin seemed to be more upset with my not having a chance to meet and say hello to Cai than I was. My eyes and mind were primarily transfixed towards his new girlfriend instead of him, which was absolutely not normal. I was the only one who wasn't staring at Cai unlike those other fan girls then. Aisling was staring at Cai too, I can tell, otherwise she wouldn't be teasing me about him. I felt like I wanted to go to a corner and bundle myself with a blanket to get rid of that chill out of my spine right now.

 

“Did you guys notice Cai's new girlfriend?” I asked the rest of the YoungIns about my brief experience earlier.

 

“Cai has a girlfriend…?” Eljin gave me a rather confused look with an eyebrow raised.

 

“Seriously? He's got a girlfriend now?” I heard DJ join in the conversation with a smile on his face. “Man… that sucks!”

 

“I know…” Aisling gave a slight frown and crossed her arms. “The nerve of that jerk… didn't even bother to fight the fan girls through and meet with his long lost childhood gir--- erm--- best friend! If I were you Airi I'd use one of your signature punches and knock out his senses and get back to reality, you know?”

 

“Guys, leave him alone,” I warned the other three. “I'm not here to talk about him; I'm here to talk about his girlfriend…”

 

“Who the heck would want to pay attention to his girlfriend, Airi?” Aisling made her reaction. “You know, you're supposed to just go ahead and flash your natural smile at him before the fan girls did. We all know that's one of Cai's major weaknesses… he loves your smile!”

 

“Aisling, you're losing it, really,” I shook my head at her. Sure, Cai was my childhood best friend. He was my martial arts training partner for crying out loud. We formed our special friendship bond together by beating each other up in formal spars and martial arts competitions. Now that reminded me. Despite that he's the new face among the collection of Silver Hawk “Cuties” (apparently that's the media's nickname to all the teen celebrities under the Silver Hawk management) I wondered if he halted training in martial arts. Maybe that's an idea for me to make him talk to me about the murder eight years ago. I know he is no wimp so he'd better be acting like a real man once we confront each other one of these times.

 

“His girlfriend, guys… she really looks like Yukina Hutton!”

 

“… Who?” Both Eljin and DJ looked at me with confused reactions.

 

“Are you guys that dense?” I felt myself getting frustrated at Eljin's and DJ's attention deficiency problems. “You know---- THE VICTIM!”

 

Right when I mentioned the last two words practically the entire class fell silent and all their eyes were right at me. I felt myself freezing up again when Eljin spoke up to save my life.

 

“FAMILY TALK, DANGIT!” Eljin shrieked at the rest of the class. “MIND YOUR BUSINESS!” Just like that the rest of the class turned away, going back to what they were doing at this point.

 

I shook my head immensely. This was just way too weird, what I just saw earlier today. Cai and a new girlfriend who looked practically like the murder victim from eight years ago. I have to convince Mom somehow to reopen that cold case because as of this point I can feel that we may actually get new leads after eight years of being silent. But first I want to know what the deal is with Cai and what he knows about Yukina Hutton. He needs to talk before we end up breaking Alaric's promise and tell Mom of this new lead. He can't back out of this one anymore. He can't run away back to England anymore like he did back then. And most of all, he can't ignore me because I am going to be tailing him wherever he goes until he speaks up.

 

“Eljin, guys, seriously, we have to reopen the Yukina Hutton case… we have to convince Mom to reopen it… it's been way too long already and Yukina Hutton's image kept hanging around in our nightmares for the past eight years. We have to break the cycle like right now!”

 

Eljin sighed, shaking his head at me. “Look, Airi, we can't just all of a sudden reopen the case… I mean it's not even our case to begin with. That's Mom's case. We're not allowed to get involved in something major than that…”

 

“But still, Eljin… we're detectives too somewhat. We can't let the authority deal with this case, otherwise we wouldn't be dreaming about her and how she looked like when she died. There has to be some kind of meaning as to why we kept dreaming about her. Maybe it's a sign…”

Silence fell at first as Eljin finally nodded a few minutes later. “Alright then. Later at break time we confront Cai and his girlfriend about the murder… well, mainly Cai first. Maybe the look-alike isn't familiar about this entire murder case. I'm ignoring Alaric's promise of `please don't tell Mom' about Cai and Yukina-what's-her-face if he and his celebrity posse ever come by us."

 

“Ah, finally,” DJ exclaimed happily, cracking his knuckles at the same time. “The YoungIns League has finally got a case--- and a seriously major one too! An eight-year-old murder mystery!”

 

“Yeah…” Aisling nodded in agreement, “An eight-year-old murder mystery with the four of us being the main witnesses… sort of.”

 

“All we did was found the body, Aisling,” Eljin corrected her. “We didn't exactly witness what exactly happened to her. Our mission is to find the truth: who is Yukina Hutton, that is, as the person herself, not the teen idol that the entire world knew, but the person herself; why was she murdered brutally like that, and most important of all, who did it and the motive behind it. We already know how she was killed thanks to the autopsy report that Mom acquired from the coroner's office years ago and where she was found. The police had acquired some evidence, which was mainly the clothes she wore, sample of her blood dried up against the sand of our now ruined sand castle, and some of her personal belongings from her quarters somewhere in the Silver Hawk Estate…”

 

We fell silent right away when Eljin mentioned the last three words in his sentence. I had a feeling that we were all thinking the same thought. Why didn't we continue the investigation of Yukina Hutton's murder after the police was forced to close the case as a cold case ourselves? I mean Eljin and I live within the Silver Hawk Estate ourselves and we didn't even think of sneaking in through Yukina Hutton's old quarters at the residential building of the Silver Hawk Entertainment Agency idols all this time?

 

“Of course we didn't think of continuing the investigation ourselves back then,” Eljin frowned, crossing his arms. “Because we were only seven back then and we were plain naïve. We had no clue what it means to be a detective and we didn't want to bug Mom about it because it may upset her even more that she couldn't succeed in solving this case. At least now that everything seems to be coming back to us now we can finally act. We've been keeping our mouths shut for the past eight years because Alaric told us so and to save Cai's reputation but still, that's no excuse to leave Yukina Hutton's death in vain. Maybe that's the reason why she still haunts us in our sleep. Maybe she was trying to tell us something.”

 

“Maybe she wants the four of us to solve this murder mystery ourselves without Mom's help or help with the authorities,” I continued from where Eljin left off. “Because we were the ones who saw her body first after the evil did was done to her that can also mean that we should be responsible for solving her murder. I think we should seriously reopen the case, Eljin.”

 

We turned our heads to each other and a few seconds later, we nodded in agreement. We placed our hands together at the center, keeping an oath that we will put our heads together in finally solving this eight-year-old case that had been haunting us since childhood. Because Cai had returned to Fort Kearny with a new girlfriend who looked so much like the victim, this was definitely the sign that it was truly time to go back and reopen the case once again.

 

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

A very long chapter, but I guess this would help providing all the missing information and a slight insight of the murder that occurred in the Prologue. I know, still needs some tweaking to do but this will do for now.

 

And again, more stories to come later. I created two “promo posters” for the fic with two characters for now. I plan to make more later. The promo posters are posted in my DeviantArt account - http://adrimarie.deviantart.com