Chapter 36
The next morning, Laura returned from the bathroom.
Rina spent the whole night scrolling through her phone, then pulled back the curtain and sat on the narrow single bed for a while.
Laura looked at her with some concern. "Didn't you sleep well?"
Rina: "Habitual insomnia."
This bed creaks and groans even when you just turn over, it's so annoying.
And this room also has a damp, musty smell.
Laura smiled upon hearing this: "It's the end of the month today. The vice dean will be treating everyone to dinner tonight. Although it's the cafeteria, the dishes will be even more plentiful."
Rina nodded, took the basin to the bathroom to wash up, and observed the surrounding environment.
The cement plaster on the shower area has peeled off, and several tiles have fallen off the edge of the pool, exposing the cement underneath.
The thermometer needle on the wall was also stuck and wouldn't move.
The staff dormitory on the second floor is very different from the children's dormitory on the first floor.
No wonder the employees don't live in the dormitories.
The tap was running, and Rina was brushing her teeth with a plastic basin underneath it to catch the water.
“You’re not here for a job interview,” Anne said, standing in the bathroom doorway. “If you have other motives, I advise you to leave immediately.”
Rina rinsed her mouth slowly, and after a while, she asked, "Would you mind telling me why?"
Annie's hand, which was in her pocket, twitched. "You're in my way."
Rina turned off the tap and chuckled softly, "If you need help, you can come to me."
Annie didn't even glance at her and left the second floor directly.
Rina turned on the tap and then washed her face.
This time, it was Kobayashi Wakaba who stood at the door, a hint of expectation in her eyes. "You, are you a reporter?"
Rina paused for a moment, looked up, and saw water dripping from her chin, flowing down her neck and into her clothes. She shuddered.
He's still a student after all; he can't hide his feelings on his face.
She replied, "Yes."
Kobayashi Wakaba stared at the other person's face for a few seconds, then asked softly, "You came here to investigate Xiangcao?"
Rina wiped the water droplets from her face with the towel around her neck. "How did you know I was a reporter?"
Kobayashi Wakaba's face paled slightly as she said, "There was a reporter who pretended to be a teacher before, but she disappeared very quickly."
Rina asked, "How long ago was this?"
Kobayashi Wakaba: "Two years ago, around November."
The girl named Bella was involved in an accident in October.
Rina: "How much do you know about vanilla?"
Kobayashi Wakaba: "I...I, I asked her some questions before, because she always sneaks out on Saturdays and Sundays. The orphanage prohibits people from going out on weekends unless they are accompanied by a teacher."
Rina: "What are you going out for?"
Kobayashi Wakaba: "She said she went out to work, and every time she came back she would bring some delicious food to share with us."
Rina: "Where exactly?"
Kobayashi Wakaba: "She never says anything."
It is illegal to hire a 16-year-old underage girl, and that's probably where the problem lies.
Rina: "Any other discoveries?"
Kobayashi Wakaba bit her lip, trying hard to control her emotions. "All of Vanilla's things have been locked up in the cellar by Miss Laura—"
Before she could finish speaking, footsteps approached, and Laura interrupted her, "Miss Arisu, how's your packing going?"
Kobayashi Wakaba subconsciously tensed her body.
Rina made a shushing gesture and pointed to the shower area. Only then did she realize what was happening and ducked inside.
Laura stood in the doorway and looked around inside: "Are you talking to someone?"
Rina wiped her face with a towel, seemingly not having heard, "Miss Laura, is there something you need?"
Laura watched her intently: "Don't take too long, or the cafeteria will be out of food if you're late in the morning."
"Thank you so much. My stomach hurts if I don't eat breakfast in the morning," Rina said as she walked out.
Laura stared at the shower area, about to walk forward, when suddenly her phone on the shelf vibrated.
She turned around, picked up her phone, and suddenly felt nervous.
Rina quietly peeked out, revealing an innocent smile, and suddenly said, "Look at my memory, I actually left my phone here."
Laura broke out in a cold sweat and stammered, "I was just about to bring it to you."
Rina nodded her thanks. "I believe Miss Laura. Although there are many secrets in the phone, I'm sure Miss Laura isn't interested in that kind of thing."
Laura said jokingly, "Now that you put it that way, I'm intrigued."
Rina smiled at her, took the phone, and Laura followed her out of the bathroom.
After everyone left, Kobayashi Wakaba, with a heavy heart, ran downstairs quickly to find her friend.
She said breathlessly, "The new teacher said she's a reporter."
Nagisa Yamazaki shook his head. "...It's better to be careful. She doesn't seem like a good person."
Tanaka looked around warily, making sure no one was following, and gently closed the door: "That's what I think too. She might be in cahoots with those people. When I got into a fight with someone during evening self-study yesterday, she was just watching and didn't stop me."
Kobayashi Wakaba: "But she seems to have sensed something."
Tanaka: "What's going on?"
“She suspects Laura,” Kobayashi Wakaba said, pursing her lips. “Laura suddenly came to us in the bathroom and told me to hide.”
“If that’s the case, then we have no idea what her position is,” Tanaka paused for a moment. “Hopefully she can play a role. I’ve tried to pick the lock on the cellar door a few times, but I haven’t been able to open it. What Vanilla wants to show us might be hidden there.”
Nagisa Yamazaki: "If she is trustworthy, we should still try to win her over."
“Better safe than sorry,” Tanaka frowned. “Don’t forget how that reporter abandoned us before. This is our only chance.”
Two years ago, Bella had an accident, and a male reporter went undercover to investigate, with them responsible for providing information.
Just as they were about to see the truth, the reporter left them a letter and ran away.
If the truth had been uncovered back then, perhaps Vanilla wouldn't have met with this accident.
“We should be thankful that the reporter didn’t tell Laura about the information we provided, otherwise we would definitely have been kicked out of the orphanage.” Nagisa Yamazaki took out a notebook from his pocket, looked through it carefully again, and then continued, “It’s impossible for the three of us to catch the mastermind. That reporter must have found out something before, so he left here.”
He handed them a crumpled card from his notebook.
This was the last message Vanilla left for them.
—Meet at the lotus pond in the backyard at noon, XC.
“She must have been followed when she did this, and then someone pushed her into the water,” Kobayashi Wakaba suddenly thought of something. “Hey, Annie is also keeping an eye on that new teacher.”
Tanaka said, "I think Annie and Laura are in cahoots, and she sometimes keeps an eye on us."
Kobayashi Wakaba sniffed. "Her eyes are always fierce, like a wild wolf in the mountains."
The room was quiet for a moment, then Tanaka said, "No one can stop me from killing Laura."
After queuing up for her food, Rina sat on a bench in the cafeteria, her eyelids twitching incessantly.
She had only been here for a day when she was targeted. Four kids and a woman were watching her eat from all sides.
What a miserable life they must be living.
The others were alright, except for that girl named Annie.
The aura she exudes is somewhat similar to... Kurosawa Shiran.
They were all the kind of people who tried hard to minimize their presence, but the chilling killing intent emanating from them could not be hidden no matter what.
After finishing her meal, Rina was scheduled to attend a meeting in the director's office.
The meeting lasted for half an hour. After the meeting, Eileen arranged for her to teach the children to read and write.
She thought about it and decided not to sneak away.
After all, these are just six or seven-year-old children. If something goes wrong, no one can afford to take the blame.
Rina stood by the window, observing everything in the backyard without making a sound, especially the cellar.
But perhaps because of the heartbreaking accident, everyone was a little wary, and only five people went in and out of the backyard all morning.
Three caregivers took a break from their busy schedules: a cook fed stray cats, and a cleaner cleaned the house.
No one approached the cellar.
Rina tapped her fingers rhythmically on the table, looking somewhat irritated.
After a while, a girl carrying a small notebook came up and asked, "Sister, could you teach me again why two plus nine equals eleven?"
Rina: "......"
Before she could refuse, her soft little hand had already grasped her palm.
The little girl called out sweetly, "Sister?"
Rina hummed in agreement, swallowed hard, and felt inexplicably guilty.
After lunch, Rina leaned back in a comfortable chair, quietly waiting for everyone to begin their lunch break.
Laura walked over, sweating profusely, and said excitedly, "Miss Arisu, have you read today's newspaper?"
Rina: "Not yet."
She hasn't had a moment's rest all morning.
Laura said with a pained expression, "It was a high school. A girl jumped off a building because of bullying."
As she spoke, she made the sign of the cross with both hands in front of her chest.
Perhaps due to its founder, most of the leaders of this welfare home are British.
Laura is the head caregiver, and it's easy to see during meetings that she and Eileen are on equal footing.
Upon hearing this, Rina sat up, picked up the newspaper from the table, and quickly glanced at it.
Laura sighed and said with pity, "What a poor child."
Rina replied politely, "The director specifically emphasized this matter during the meeting."
“Could Vanilla be upset because she was bullied?” Laura hesitated for a moment, then quickly denied the idea. “Tanaka may have a bad temper, but he’s definitely not a bad kid. I believe him.”
Rina lifted her eyelids and glanced at her, giving a cryptic smile.
Laura was taken aback, pondering for a long time what she meant. After thinking for a while, she continued, "His father was sentenced to death for domestic violence while drunk, beating his wife to death. Because of the severity of the crime, he had no family and was eventually sent here."
"He has such an experience?"
“Police investigations say he witnessed his mother being beaten while hiding under the bed,” Laura said. “He was only seven years old at the time.”
Rina closed the newspaper.
Laura rubbed the bridge of her nose and said, "I should take a day to talk to him."
Rina watched her retreating figure until she disappeared from sight, then slowly stood up and went to the backyard.
As she passed the lotus pond, she strolled around the area again, with three little tails secretly following her closely.
Lina pretended not to notice anything, squatted down, and checked the lock. She found nothing unusual.
It can be opened with a wire.
Rina quickly removed the lock. "If you don't come out, I'm going to lock it again."
"No!" In a moment of panic, Kobayashi Wakaba emerged from the bushes.
Before Yamazaki Nagisa could stop him, he followed her out.
Rina: "There's one more."
Tanaka walked out from behind the house across the street.
Nagisa Yamazaki explained, "We just wanted to find something."
Rina beckoned to Kobayashi Wakaba, "Equivalent exchange. Come down with me, you two stay outside and keep watch."
Nagisa Yamazaki raised his hand to stop Wakaba Kobayashi and said, "I, I'll go with you."
Rina smiled. "No."
One stutters, which is a waste of time, and the other she might not be able to beat.
Kobayashi Wakaba mustered her courage and said, "It's okay, I'll go down with her."
"Don't get your hopes up too high," Rina turned on her phone's flashlight and shone it around the cellar. "There's a burnt smell; the stuff has probably already burned."
Tanaka: "Burned?"
"We still need to take a look." Kobayashi Wakaba walked ahead of Rina and went into the cellar first.
Rina glanced at the boy's expression and then went down the ladder into the cellar.
Kobayashi Wakaba fumbled to turn on the light, but the light was extremely dim, barely enough to see anything.
Along the wall of the cellar was a row of old wooden crates filled with pickled vegetables and jam, and then there was that dark iron barrel.
Kobayashi Wakaba choked back tears as she said, "Xiangcao's clothes and books were all burned..."
Rina handed her the phone. "Take this."
Kobayashi Wakaba was taken aback, took the phone, and helped her turn on the light. "Sister, are you really a reporter?"
“Law-abiding citizen.” Rina put on gloves, picked up a wooden stick next to her, covered her mouth and nose with one hand, and used the stick to rummage through the iron bucket with the other.
Finally, they found an iron plaque among a pile of ashes.
Rina rubbed the ashes off with her finger.
I noticed that the number nineteen was engraved on it.
It's a number plate.
Kobayashi Wakaba: "What is this?"
"Let's go up first," Rina said.
After a while, Tanaka pulled Kobayashi Wakaba upstairs. "So? Did you find anything?"
Kobayashi Wakaba stumbled backward, steadied herself, dusted herself off, and said, "Everything was burned, but that person found a number plate."
Nagisa Yamazaki: "Number plate?"
Rina reached out her hand, and finding no one to help her, she climbed up herself.
Tanaka locked the cellar door again and pressed, "What's that number plate for?"
Rina turned her gaze away and looked at the high school students beside her who had completely shed their childishness: "What are you doing?"
His gaze wasn't gentle; rather, it carried a hint of scrutiny.
Tanaka hesitated for a moment, then said, "What can we do? We're all students. At most, we just want to know what happened to Vanilla."
Rina tentatively said, "Suicide or an accident."
Kobayashi Wakaba: "No, Vanilla will never give up hope so easily."
Rina smiled faintly. Yamazaki Nagisa said, "She didn't say anything to us, but every time she came back at night, Wakaba could always smell an unpleasant smell of alcohol or perfume on her."
Kobayashi Wakaba: "I asked her, but she would cry very sadly and wouldn't tell us anything."
Rina: "How long has it been?"
Tanaka counted on his fingers and said, "More than three months."
Nagisa Yamazaki asked, "Um, what's with the number plate?"
Rina didn't answer, but instead continued to ask, "You suspect that Laura hurt her?"
Kobayashi Wakaba: "Vanilla said we should stay away from Laura, she's dangerous."
Rina withdrew her gaze and squeezed the number tag in her hand.
After a long silence, she said, "Perhaps you should behave yourselves. Disobedient children will be arrested."
"Hey!" Tanaka's tone was clearly agitated and indignant.
But the person has already left.
Nagisa Yamazaki clenched his fingers, his face filled with unease.
In the evening, Lina followed Laura to the cafeteria.
When he came in, Durand was talking to Eileen, but something they said seemed to have angered him. His chest heaved violently, and he slammed his briefcase on the table.
Eileen was startled and took a step back.
Durand strode toward them and said, “Come with me.”
Laura didn't ask any more questions and turned to follow him.
Soon after, Eileen also left, and Rina sat down in a chair and looked around.
For a moment, only a few caregivers remained in the cafeteria, staring at each other blankly.
Lina glanced at the time, just as Damian sent her a message.
The teacher described Vanilla as having symptoms of pregnancy.
Rina immediately stood up and left the cafeteria.
Just then, Durand stepped onto the stairs and suddenly heard footsteps coming from the end of the corridor.
A dark figure was slowly approaching.
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