Adrian was busy brushing his teeth the next morning when the bell rang throughout the mansions, signifying its residents that it was time to wake up. He ignored the bell and continued scrubbing his teeth when a frantic knock on caught his attention.
“Adrian! Adrian!” a voice called repeatedly.
The brush still in his mouth, Adrian exited the room and walked up to his door. He opened it, expecting Hunter or someone else with news on whoever had died the night. Instead, he found himself looking at ten faces whose expressions changed from worried to relieved upon seeing him.
“You thought I was dead, didn’t you?” he asked, removing the brush from his mouth.
“You were the only one who didn’t open their door even after the bell rang,” Antione said. He was at the very front of the entire group. “I see you were busy … brushing your teeth.”
The crowd dispersed, each individual walking back into their room to freshen up. Only Hunter stayed back; Adrian motioned for him to come in.
“So, nobody died last night,” Adrian commented as he walked back into the bathroom.
“No, which means someone will die during the day,” Hunter replied. He flopped down on the nearby bed which had been neatly made by Adrian a while ago. “And we have absolutely no clue as to who that’ll be.”
Adrian said nothing; he kept brushing while staring into the bathroom mirror. He rinsed his mouth and proceeded to wash his face. He was finished in a minute and joined Hunter, who sat leaning back on the wall on his bed, humming to himself quietly.
“Come on, let’s go downstairs. I’m starving,” Adrian said, wiping his face with a towel.
“Who do you think will die? Considering that it’s not us two,” Hunter queried as they both walked downstairs.
Adrian shrugged and continued walking on quietly. He didn’t like to talk when all he could offer was a prediction that could prove to be wrong. It was a trait that his friends found annoying, especially his old friend Peter who often complained that Adrian always kept vital informations or ideas about a case to himself, refusing to reveal it to anyone else until he had solved it.
“You go on ahead to the kitchen. I’ll go put my pyjamas in the locker,” Adrian said to Hunter.
Hunter nodded and walked to the kitchen while Adrian headed to the pool room. Inside, he found Richard chatting with Akiko. Richard had a bundle of clothes under in his arm. He was here to put away his own pyjamas like Adrian.
“Boy, you sure gave us a good scare back there,” Richard said, addressing Adrian.
“Good morning Adrian,” Akiko said with a smile and a short bow.
They bow a lot, Adrian thought to himself as he returned the greeting and the gesture. Akiko then excused herself with another bow and left the room. “You here to put away your pyjamas too, I see,” Adrian said to Richard after Akiko had left.
“Yeah. Boy, with all the bowing she’s doing, she’s going to develop a hunched back,” Richard said as he entered the locker room.
Adrian walked after him. “Bowing denotes respect. It’s in their culture to respect everyone, be it young, old, family or strangers,” Adrian replied, slightly offended at Richard’s remark and the tone in which he had said it. Adrian was an Asian himself and the culture of respecting others, especially strangers and people who were older even if by a small margin, was something he shared and empathised with Akiko although in his country, people didn’t bow as often.
“Well, I don’t think one needs to bow to others to show respect,” Richard commented, walking to his locker. “Besides, respect is earned. I’ll only show respect to a stranger when I feel he deserves it. Until then, I’m–”
A blade as large as a meat cleaver sprang out of the locker as soon as Richard opened it, burying itself inches deep in his neck. With a yelp, Richard pulled back instinctively – the blade came off his neck and, in doing so, the jugular artery in his neck that had been severed started spraying blood over his shoulder and onto the ground.
Adrian knew there was nothing he could do except stand and watch helplessly from a distance as the man before him bled to death.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
