HIBARA
“SEE YOU WHEN I see you, detective wannabe,” I smirked and left him standing there. When I arrived at the top, a female voice rang in my ear.
"Yeah, I just stole seven original shoes. Selling these at their real prices would give me enough money to buy an elegant gown for the ball, Indigo."
I leaned on the wall of the Sports Office. Its door was slightly opened. “Yes, yes. Black helped me in picking the locks,” the female voice spoke once more. She’s on the phone which is why I can’t hear the other end of the conversation.
“Alright. I’ll send you pictures of the items.” I heard footsteps coming and the beeping sound of the call ending. I quickly and quietly rushed downstairs. I looked around to find an unfamiliar face but found none. I sighed. Looks like I got no other choice.
“Jacob,” I called the man standing by the gymnasium’s entrance.
“Wow. You didn’t call me a ‘detective wannabe’ now. You must need something,” he smirked and I rolled my eyes.
“The last suspect that I haven’t interrogated yet had just finished talking to someone named Indigo on her phone. I overheard, it's about selling the stolen original shoes to buy an elegant gown for a ball. She also said something about Black helping her pick the locks. She’s a classmate of mine, so there’s that,” I explained. If he’s what he claims to be, then he would know what I need.
“Ah. You needed an unfamiliar face to borrow her phone and find information about the caller or whereabouts of the stolen items. She wouldn’t let you borrow her phone because she knows that you have yours. The same situation if you ask your other classmates to help,” he said, smiling.
I pushed my glasses and spoke. “It’s good that you know. If my calculations are right, she will be passing by us…now.”
As if on cue, Irish Francisco walked past us without taking a single glance. She didn’t find us suspicious. I gave the detective wannabe a nod and he approached Irish who stopped her tracks by the stairs that lead to the cafeteria. I followed and hid behind the stairs.
"Hey, Miss. I wonder if I may borrow your phone. Mine's dead and I need to contact my girlfriend," he began. Hmm, nice lie.
"Uh, y-yeah sure..," Irish is obviously hesitating to lend her phone but did anyway. Definitely hiding something.
The detective wannabe typed something on her phone and then returned it with simple thanks. He walked up to the cafeteria and Irish walked toward the direction of the Square (It is a place with trees and benches in front of the SHB).
“You don’t have a girlfriend. You texted your secretary,” I deduced as I approached him.
“Well, you’re right about that. I won’t deny it. I told Zia to research about your classmate and that mystery man named Indigo,” he responded.
“You also told her to send the information to your phone. It’s not dead. Of course, assuming that you’re a detective wannabe, you have deleted the text you sent so she won’t know its contents. Did I get that right?” I smiled when he slowly nodded.
I am confident that I’m a good detective and probably next to the great Sherlock Holmes. Similar to him, I have always worked my cases alone. That is until he met Dr. John Watson, which apparently I don’t have.
“You’re amazing,” the detective wannabe praised out of the blue.
"Are you drunk or has an alien invaded your mind?" I asked and he just shrugged.
Praising me or my skills is probably in the last of his to-do list, but then he suddenly did. He did not give my question an answer and walked away instead. I didn’t mind it anymore and walked back to our classroom, Room 401. I still have a case to solve to bother myself with his weird change of attitude. After almost fifteen minutes of being alone, my classmates came back in their usual daily uniform.
“What did Esmilzo mean when he told Mrs. Torres that you were solving something? Do we have a Math assignment?” Loiella asked as she sat beside me.
“No, I’m actually not yet done with what I’m solving. It didn’t occur to me that finding a shred of evidence for this case to prove who the thief is will be quite difficult,” I replied. My eyes widened when I realized what I just said.
“Wait. Evidence? Case? Thief? Did you join The Forensic Club?” She asked in confusion.
“Ah, right. Yes, I’ve met with the club president during our P.E. class and submitted my membership application. Our active case right now is about the stolen original shoes. We gathered some information that they are to be sold to accumulate an amount right for a ball gown,” I informed. I don’t think she will see through my lie because she definitely doesn’t have such skills. Also, I have only been with them for a week. They don’t know anything much about me so they will believe every word I say.
“Really? Jacob accepted a Junior High’s application? Whoa, that means you’re intelligent!” Loiella’s eyes sparkled and I simply smiled. See?
We composed ourselves when our Christian Living and Values Education (CL/VE) teacher, Mr. Josefino Palabras, entered our classroom. I’ve had this subject before, in my Grade 9; both CSD and AMU are Dominican schools.
"Good afternoon class!" He greeted. We were about to stand to greet him back, but he spoke before we did. "Today, we will start our discussion with Human Dignity."
And just like he said, he immediately started. "Our dignity is inalienable, inviolable, inherent, and universal. It means no one can ever take our dignity away from us. Those who are saying that their dignities are gone when they got abused are wrong!”
His voice started to fade in my ears. My apologies, Mr. Palabras, but my mind is focused on the Lock Picked Locker case right now. I have to devise a plan to catch Irish Francisco and also to find out who Indigo and Black are.
I took out my CL/VE notebook and pretended to take down notes when in fact, I'm writing the names of Irish, Indigo, and Black. I began listing down the reasons why these three are in contact with each other and what the said ball all about is. I also wrote all the information I have gathered about the case. It kept me occupied until…
"Hibara, what is our own free personal response to God's love?" Mr. Palabras called my name. Oh no.
I stood up as I quickly wandered around my data fortress. Come on, it has to be here somewhere! How do we respond to God’s love? We praise Him even without knowing of His existence. Aha!
“Faith,” I answered and Mr. Palabras smiled and told me to take my seat.
"Well, that is right. So, we should…" And his voice faded once again.
I went back to my notes, thinking about ways to capture the thief and her accomplice. All persons have their weaknesses and I must find Irish Francisco’s.
A knock on the door got everyone’s attention. A tall male student was standing by the open entrance. “Excuse me, Mr. Palabras. The Forensic Club sent me to hand over this document to your student, Hibara,” he announced.
“Hibara, you may leave your seat,” Mr. Palabras said and I approached the student. I took the white folder, said my thanks, and went back.
“Now, back to the discussions…” Mr. Palabras’ voice faded in my ears again as my focus went to the one piece of bond paper inside the folder.
IRISH FRANCISCO y ZAPANTA
Deleted messages retrieved (as of today):
Deleted call logs (as of today):
“Why can’t it be traced? Why?” I mumbled in disbelief after reading the last entry.
I turned to the back page of the paper and found the detective wannabe’s handwritten notes. Yes, I deduced it’s his because it’s messy and his other two members seemed to be organized.
“I have a digital copy of this document on my cellphone,, we don’t know your e-mail so here’s the printed version,, Indigo’s number is strangely secured,, either they used a burner phone or their number is just really untraceable..”
“Moron. If they used a burner phone, it won’t even be saved in Irish’s contacts. It is obviously named Indigo in the call logs. And you’re using an excessive number of commas!” I rolled my eyes and wrote down some deductions in my CL/VE notebook. So far, here are my notes:
Irish – the mastermind of the Lock Picked Locker Case, she did it for Indigo’s ball, codename White, she’s not as competent as Black, they met at the cafeteria around 9:30 and stole shoes together until 10:30 (not yet class hours; probably entered the campus earlier along those who have morning classes and stole from afternoon class students), she took Esmilzo’s shoes five minutes before the class started
Indigo – the host of the ball that Irish will be attending, the ball might be a debut since gowns are involved or maybe a costume party and Irish wants to play a princess, there is a probability that he/she is Black and White’s leader, his/her phone number is untraceable which means he/she has some sort of computer-literate companion
Black – Irish’s accomplice, has a name initial of L, probably male (if and only if White is the codename for females), he did the lock picking (clearly not an expert), he’s not good with punctuations or just lazy to use it in texts, he doesn’t care about his classes so probably he’s someone who’s frequently late, they get paid for doing crimes
I placed my pen down and took a deep breath. Then, I started to analyze what I’ve written so far.
I need to investigate our section. If Irish kept telling Black that “they” will be late, then they are in the same level or same class. I must have a starting point for the search, so I’ll begin with 10-I. If I find who Black is, then he can tell me where Irish hid the stolen shoes. Surely, the thief will not disclose such information so I’ll ask the accomplice. Now, we only have seven boys here and only two with the initial L: Levy and Luke. The Major was with me in the suicide case earlier so he’s out of this. Levy, however, is also on the suspects list so there is a high probability that he is Black.
KRRIIIIING!!!
Perfect. It’s recess time. I can interrogate him out of anyone’s earshot. I looked in his direction and to my astonishment; his auburn eyes are staring right into mine. I also caught a glimpse of his gold L necklace which I didn’t see earlier in P.E. class. I smirked at him and stood up. When I did, he suddenly dashed out of the room. I didn’t move and just watched him escape my sight.
I dialed a number on my phone. After three rings, Chief Andrew Velasquez, the Head of the Campus Police picked up. “Chief, I have a report regarding a theft case that occurred just about four to five hours ago. I would like you to take Irish Francisco and Levy Ray Ticcus of 10-I into custody. I’ll meet you in twenty.”
I made a mental note: Black is Levy Ray Ticcus.
HIBARA “LEVY TICCUS!! YOU said we’re going to take recess together!” Someone shouted from behind and suddenly there was another person dashing through the hallway. Was that Janden Vher? I think I also saw his photograph on the CAT Officers board. “You know why Levy ran. I saw you staring at him before he ran. What is it, Detective? Are you on another case that involves our classmates?” The Major said as he stood behind me. “Alright there, Major. How about you stop prying on my business or refrain from being stupid, stop asking, and start thinking?” I retorted without looking at him, then took the white folder from my desk and left the classroom. Of course, he’s gonna be following me. I smiled mischievously as I started running. “Hey!” He shouted as he chased me down the flight of stairs. “Detective! Stop running!” I stopped abruptly by the second floor and he lost his sense of gravity, thus failing to acknowledge the final three steps of stairs and thumping on the tiled hallway. I
HIBARA I PRESENTED MY ID as I reached Gate 1, which I calculated to be the nearest from Gate 5 and was also the roadside one. As soon as I got out, I looked around the vicinity, trying to deduce where they might have gone. I smirked as I thought of a place where they can enter without anyone asking if their classes are through. “Oh, hello… White and Black,” I greeted as I stood outside the noodle shop where they were sitting. They quickly stood up and dashed. I tackled Irish onto the ground but Levy managed to flee. “Do not try to escape now, Irish. You know you can’t,” I warned as I pulled her up and dragged her towards the nearest entrance, Gate 3. I presented my ID to the security and we entered the university. I brought her to the Campus Police Station and Chief Velasquez made her sit in one of the rooms. I passed by his desk to take the white folder I left and followed. “This is quite small for an In
LUKE MATTHEW BLACK AND WHITE Mystery… My very first case! I’ve never felt such tremendous adrenaline as when I went to rescue Janden. I want to feel it again; the rush, the thrill, and the way it felt like it’s just me against the world— it was amazing. And if this insulting, unpleasant child will give me this high school adventure I’ve been yearning for, then I’ll stick with her. Hibara White Cake is the detective; a magnet of tragedy after all. “Do we still need to attend classes? Why don’t we just proceed with the case?” I asked the Detective as we climbed up the stairs leading to the fourth floor. “Well, if you want to graduate, you know the answer. If you want to repeat, you still know. Besides, without Levy, we don’t have a good lead. If we can’t find him, we’ll just have to wait for the masquerade,” she answered and then entered the classroom. I sighed and followed after. “Why don
LUKE MATTHEW WE STOOD IN front of the huge Baskerville Apartments. There are six floors with five flats each. The address numbers of each floor are visible to the street. “It’s my first time here. I just know about this place because of the advertisements on the internet,” I said. “Well, I live there,” the Detective pointed at the second floor; “in the second unit of 21b.” The ground floor was 21a; the third was 21c, and so on. “You live here? Why are we led here by the code then?” “Levy must have visited my place or maybe he lives here. My bet is on the first one.” “You don’t know your neighbors, don’t you?” I teased but she didn’t seem to like it. “Detective?” She faced me, “I’m antisocial, isn’t it obvious? Moving on, we still have a mystery to solve,” and then entered the gates of Baskerville Apartments. I was about to follow when the security guard stopped me. “Log fir
LUKE MATTHEW “WHAT ON EARTH are you saying? That is preposterous! Don’t give me this kind of disagreeable information.” “But why, Miss Cake? Is the young detective afraid of the truth now? Didn’t your father tell you that when you have eliminated all which is impossible—” “—then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. I KNOW, DOCTOR! And it isn’t Dad; it’s from The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.” “What’s going on?” I asked as I woke up from all the noise. I didn’t even notice that I fell asleep earlier. “Oh, did we wake you? Sorry about that, Major. I just had a talk with a demon!” The Detective spoke sarcastically. “A demon?” I asked, confused. I looked in her direction and she’s standing beside Dr. Marquez, one hand clutching her side and the other on the bed’s railings to support her balance. “I am pertaining to this doct
LUKE MATTHEW I RAN OUT of the street to the busy road and hailed a cab. It was just a few minutes past eight when I arrived at the mall and I still have enough time before nine strikes. I headed for the arcades, like what Mrs. Ticcus informed us. There were two here and I found Levy on the hoops of the first. I approached him as discreetly as possible. “You’re here for the masquerade invitation.” My eyes widened when Levy spoke. He faced me with a devilish smirk on his lips. “You won’t take it from me while I’m alive.” “Levy, let’s not make a scene here. Just hand over the invitation and we’ll end this criminal business you’re in. We’ll set you free!” I tried to talk to him but my words may have just fallen on deaf ears. “Set me free? from what? Did it not occur to you that maybe I joined because I wanted to? This is not as simple as you think, Luke. You and Hibara will find yourselves tangled in
LUKE MATTHEW THE DETECTIVE WOKE up the next afternoon. I had sent an excuse e-mail to our class adviser and Math teacher, Mrs. Bonifacio, with an attached self-camera photo of me and a sleeping Hibara on a white hospital bed this morning. “Could you tell me exactly what happened?” She asked, holding her head while sitting up. I gave her assistance to which I received not even a simple ‘thanks’. What do I expect anyway? I chuckled lightly as I sat back on the monobloc chair, “I’m gonna tell you one thing: you told Irish, ‘I don’t believe in heroes; they don’t exist,’ and then you went running to save a lady from an about-to-explode street. Do you see the irony?” She turned her head to the opposite side and spoke in a husky voice, “That was unintended. It was impulse; I failed to plan ahead. I should have thought of the probability that there might be people arriving, like from work or wherever.”
HIBARA I RODE A taxi to my former abode, the Cake residence: a place which I found unworthy of being called “my home” since my return to the Philippines. But tonight, I am facing the same old doors with the purpose of opening my eyes to the truth regarding my dear brother, Joro. I entered and the wooden walls and furniture around the living area still looked the same. I removed my belt and the straps around my legs and dropped them at the side. “Hibara, oh my God, it’s been a while!” Mom greeted me as soon as she found me by the entrance. “Oh, hey, Mom, we have to talk,” I said in a serious tone. My mother swung her arm around my neck. “You sound so serious, my child. Let’s have that talk tomorrow, alright? For now, let’s have a nice dinner together. I missed the days when the three of us sit at one table.” “Dad still skips the everyday family dinner, of course. What do I expect from him?” I uttered bitterly. “Don’t be so harsh on your father, child. He’s just busy—” I stepped