Chapter 7

-Next week-

In front of her house, Mallory sees a girl holding a book. It’s Remon.

"Mallory."

Remon’s voice was unusually serious. Mallory turned her gaze toward her.

"I need you to finish this book and publish it."

Mallory blinked. "Eh? Isn’t it Rein’s?"

"Yes, but it seems he stopped writing ever since he met you. If you read it… you’ll understand why."

Mallory hesitated.

"That’s why," Remon continued, "I think the only person who can finish this book, the only person who fits to end it, is you. Please, Mallory. His dream was to get his book published."

"…I’ll think about it," Mallory finally said.

Remon gave a small, relieved smile. "Thank you."

A silence settled between them before Mallory spoke again.

"By the way, Remon… how do you know so much about Rein? Are you…?"

Remon let out a small chuckle. "Mhm. I was a fan of his writing. He used to upload some of his work online, but he always abandoned them."

"Since when did you know he liked to write?"

"Hmm… I don’t remember exactly, but there was one time I accidentally found his writing in the school library. I read it, found it interesting, and kept waiting for his updates."

"Oh."

"…Don’t take it the wrong way," Remon added quickly.

Mallory didn’t respond right away. Her mind was stuck on something else.

"You said he stopped writing after he met me, right?"

"Yes."

"Hm." Mallory fell into deep thought.

After a moment, she finally spoke. "Alright. I’ll read it. Not today though… maybe… I don’t know."

"It’s okay. Take your time."

Remon hesitated before adding, "...And thank you."

With that, she turned to leave, disappearing down the road.

Mallory stayed behind, staring at the book in her hands—the book she still hesitated to open.

-Next Meeting on Weekend-

Mallory sat up abruptly, heart pounding as her phone screen lit up with frantic messages.

Remon: Mallory

Remon: come here

Remon: quick

Remon: RIGHT NOW

Without hesitation, Mallory grabbed her jacket and rushed to Remon’s house.

SLAM!

The door burst open as Mallory stormed in, breathless.

"WHAT HAPPENED??!"

"Come here." Remon gestured her over to her laptop screen.

Mallory squinted at the glowing screen. An account under the name ‘Malvine’ kept mentioning Rein over and over again.

"Who is this?" Mallory frowned.

"That’s exactly what I was going to ask you."

Mallory shook her head. "I don’t know anyone named Malvine."

Remon hummed, scrolling down. "Hmm, interesting… Anyway, look at this."

Mallory leaned in, eyes widening as she read the posts:

"Rein is so dumb"

"Why is there even a person like Rein, lol"

"Rein is so useless. He can't even run 100 meters... weak ass"

Mallory’s hands clenched into fists. "WHAT THE HELL? WHO IS THIS FREAK?!"

"Are you sure you've never heard this name before?" Remon asked.

"No! Have you?"

"I—of course not! You have a bigger social circle, I thought you would know."

Mallory clenched her jaw. "I don’t recall knowing anyone named Malvine, but now I really want to throw hands at them."

Remon sighed. "Hey, hey. I know you’re mad, but if that’s the case, we need to find out who this Malvine person is and why they hated Rein so much."

"And then push them off a building."

"Mallory."

"Sorry."

As they scrolled through the account, they uncovered more personal posts.

“So, who’s Malvine?”

“I don’t know. But it seems like he knew Rein personally. He mentioned, ‘Rein can’t run for 100 meters.’… Could he be in the same class as him?”

“I’ll ask someone from that class,” Mallory said, grabbing her phone.

Remon stopped her. “No, don’t. We should figure this out ourselves.”

“Eh? But why? Wouldn’t it be easier to just ask someone in that class?”

“No. If he gets suspicious, it’ll make things harder.”

“Why, though?”

“What other reason would he have for sabotaging the driver’s brakes if not to cover his tracks? Do you remember when the police said the brakes failed? But they never found a reason, and we get a suspicion of a possibility if there's someone who tampered with them?"

“…If that’s the case, aren’t his posts revealing too?”

“Right, which is why his account is private. I just managed to log in.”

Remon scrolled further down, digging through older posts. One of them was a photo of Rein, covered in hateful words.

Mallory felt a sharp sting in her chest.

“I guess he never bothered to delete these. Since his account is private, he probably thinks he’s safe.”

“He’s dumb then.”

Remon just nodded as an answer.

“So… should we sue him now?”

“Not so fast. We don’t have enough evidence yet. We need proof of how he tampered with the driver’s brakes, whether these posts are connected, and why Rein? Actually, there’s a lot we still need to figure out.”

“Ah… right.”

Mallory frowned. She had hoped this case would be over soon, but it was turning out to be much more complicated than she had expected.