The stage

"What is this?", asks Naoe Higashino as he stares at the gruesome scene before his eyes. Feelings of anger, confusion, frustration all overwhelmed him at once. Unable to sort out his emotions, he slammed the floor with his fists, clenching them so tightly his nails clawed into his flesh forcing a few drops of blood to seep out. "Who could have done this?", he shouted with all his breath all while staring at the blood-stained floor. Slowly but steadily he raised his hands up and saw blood dripping off his delicate flesh. As his gaze shifts upwards towards the lifeless body he saw before him, he heard footsteps travelling closer and closer.

"This...this person... I will never forget about this. I promise I will hunt your damn ass down and end your sorry life."

Three days ago, 18 October 2013. To Naoe Higashino, the day is like no other. He strolls into class all the while having his usual monologues. While he was lost in thought, he suddenly heard a loud noise emanating from his classroom.

"Those monkeys are at it again.", sighs Naoe as he opens the door and proceeds to enter the class. Without even opening his eyes, he walked over to his table and dumped his bag on the floor. The 'thud' sound produced from the impact of the bag hitting the floor was drowned out by the noise his classmates were creating. Naoe sighed condescendingly at his classmates and proceeds to deafen the surrounding noise by plugging his earphones.

His class is a small class with only 9 students. It startles Naoe to this day that 8 high school students could create noise that rivals that of jet engines. Chuckling at his own little joke, his thoughts were disturbed by a light tap on his right shoulder.

"Naoe, class is starting soon! You should remove your earphones.", whispered Ishida.

Kuroe Ishida, the top student in the class. Well-known for spending 8 hours of his life every day on his studies. It is not surprising that Ishida consistently tops the class in every subject. Even Naoe can't help but feel a sense of respect for Ishida's determination and dedication.

The bell suddenly rang, signalling the beginning of the school day.

What impeccable timing.

"Must I see him again? Is he even qualified to be a teacher? He bores me to death!", proclaimed softly by Naoe assuming that no one could overhear his insults as he proceeds to take out his textbook.

"Naoe, that's not a nice thing to say about your teacher.", ejaculated Ishida who had 'surprisingly' overheard his earlier statement. What sharp ears. Completely ignoring the person beside him, Naoe twirled his pen around his right fingers while gently tapping his textbook with his left hand. Impatiently.

His homeroom teacher, Shidou Takahashi walked into the class. He is the type of man that gives off a pretty boy yet intelligent vibe. A tall man of a sturdy build with long gelled hair that makes him look like a pop idol. Unlike most pop idols, however, Takahashi dons a pair of nerdy rectangular spectacles, those similar to Ishida's. Well, without a doubt, the spectacles made Takahashi all the more charming, completely having the opposite effect to that of Ishida's. All the girls in the class fall head over tails for him. ALmost. He exudes charisma and charm everywhere he goes, sort of like a nuclear warhead releasing radioactive substances every minute. How can someone be so likeable without even speaking at all? That's a mystery we may never solve. His greatest charm point however is his custom made metallic green braces attached to his already straight teeth, to which the girls describe as angelic.

"Seriously, I really don't understand girls.", thoughts Naoe. The cologne that Takahashi sprays is so choking that he has to hold his breath every time he is in close proximity to his teacher. The boys even had a small competition to see who could hold their breath longest around him. To Naoe, Takahashi is everything he does not want to become, which is exactly why he doesn't understand how someone like Takahashi can release sparkles and stars and charm.

Unknowingly, as Naoe insults Takahashi in his mind, he was staring at his teacher furiously, as if he wanted to cut a hole into his heart.

"Higashino, do you have something you need? You could impale me with that sharp, sharp gaze of yours.", Takahashi chuckled with an elegant tone. What followed that witty statement was giggles that can only be produced by his small little fan club.

Naoe scorns at his teacher, even more so than before.

"That's enough." Takahashi commanded while clapping his hands, "Fun and games are over. It's time for class.". Completely brushing off Naoe's aggressiveness, he acted as if nothing bothered him at all.

"Instead of the usual Civics lesson we have, today is a special occasion. As we all know, our annual class trip is in 3 days. As such your class chairwoman and I have come up with a fun and enjoyable itinerary for the whole class.",he pauses. "One that I bet even Higashino would enjoy. We, however, want you all to decide on the location."

"Chihako please."

Chihako Matsumoto is the class chairwoman. She is from a rich family and is extremely well mannered, eloquent and in all ways perfect. Yes, she is the perfect girl every guy envisioned in their dreams.

She carried her folder and walked towards the majestic whiteboard situated in the front of the class. She took out 4 pictures the size of her head and pasted them on the whiteboard in a swift fluid motion. If Takahashi is the girl magnet in the class, Chihako is the boy magnet. Even Naoe couldn't help but feel attracted to her. Even Naoe.

"These are the four locations our teacher and I have decided on. These are the pictures of those four locations," says Chihako gracefully. The males in the class had never been this attentive, with their backs perfectly straightened. The power of beauty trumps all.

Chihako continued, "The first location here is a remote island with a beautiful resort. A mansion surrounded by nature and a stunning beach where we can all unwind and relax after a long day."

Chattering noises started as students start to discuss with one another. Naoe stares at the picture and unconsciously moved his eyes towards Chihako. Once his consciousness returns, he immediately snapped his eyes back and looked away in embarrassment. Island or not it doesn't matter. Anywhere would be fine. Honestly.

"What a pain.", Naoe whispers. "Does the location really matter?"

"The second location would be in Kyoto where we will be residing in this luxurious 5-star hotel. We will be visiting national heritage sites as well as religious sites.", sang Chihako. The moment she spoke, the class deafens. All the noise present in the class a few seconds ago immediately dissipated.

"The third location would be in a mountain town in Kanazawa. Where we can soak in the onsen and have a wonderful time together."

"The fourth location would be in a cruise. We will be travelling from Tokyo to Hokkaido. Plenty of time to relax and enjoy our lives.", recites Chihako.

With such fluency and perfection in her little presentation, Naoe can say for certain that she had definitely practised this speech over and over. "So this is the difference between elites and commoners.", Naoe thought as he stood awestruck by her performance.

"Without further ado, please discuss and commence on the vote.", Chihako recited and gave a slight bow before returning to her seat, having her every movement scrutinised by the boys in the class. Naoe himself couldn't help but turn his head to follow her movement with his eyes, before abruptly stopping as he heard his name.

"Naoe, where do you want to go? Tell us, tell us!", a group of girls suddenly yelled while walking over to the corner where Naoe was sitting.

Unseen by others, Naoe gave a slight frown before proceeding to reply them, "It really doesn't matter, does it? As long as everyone has fun.".

Naoe fluently told a lie as if it was second nature to him. Completely ignoring his statement however, the group of three girls ran over to Takahashi to engage in their "small talk", no doubt a facade to cover their true flirtatious intentions.

Those three girls are Miyuki Tanaka, Akari Suzuki and Kasumi Ito. All three of them are typical wild party girls. They are well-known for spending a lot of their free time clubbing and partying.

"Tsh, messing with me again."

"Just ignore them."

Yui Otosaka gently whispered into Naoe's ears.

The vice chairwoman of the class approached Naoe from behind, curious by the conversation they had.

"Have you decided where you want to visit?"

"Not really interested in it."

"Surely you must have a preference?"

"My preference would be not going at all."

"Why not? Isn't it a good chance to unwind and actually make friends?", chided Yui.

Naoe turns silent and looks away while Yui proceeds to leave.

"T-the island."

Yui stopped dead in her tracks and started to grin.

"I see...", Yui chuckled.

She is the only girl that is nice to me, he thought.

It was a landslide, the island received 5 votes, a large majority.

"Man, I really wanted to visit the mountains.", exclaimed Ryoma Yamamoto.

His deep and masculine voice echoed into Naoe's ears.

Naoe slanted his eyes to stare at Ryoma, mouth slightly open and about to speak when he heard a soft voice from the right.

"A sport otaku like him would definitely want to torture himself on the mountains," Ishida whimpered.

Naoe nodded in agreement.

"Awww, I really wanted to travel on the cruise.", sighed Yuki.

Yuki Fujiwara is a stereotypical playboy. Dyed gelled hair, cologne, expensive clothes, he has it all.

"Dancing with Chihako in the ballroom, circling my arms around her waist while sniffing on her fragrant hair. Ahh, what bliss."

"So it's settled. Shirakosu island it is." Takahashi clapped his hands while proceeding to stand up from his chair which he had been residing on for a while.

"That's it for me today. Pack your items during the weekends and we shall meet in school on Sunday to prepare for our trip. Use whatever time you have remaining to discuss the upcoming trip."

Instinctively, Naoe took out his headphones to cut himself off his surroundings, before proceeding to leave the class.

The stage is set. All the pieces are in position. The timebomb has been activated.

Act 1 begins.