Romania, 9 AM
Somewhere in the mountains

With the rise of the still sleepy sun from behind the snowy mountains, life resumed once again in the mansion hidden in the depths of the forest.

In the dining room, the master and owner of the house was enjoying his breakfast: French toast served with a cup of black coffee. Probably not the most appropriate breakfast for the splendour of the 17th-century mansion; however, the master wouldn’t accept anything else - it was his favourite dish since childhood. Living in this house wouldn’t change his tastes, especially as he was simply living there to fulfil his obligations to his own flesh and blood and the heavy curse it carried.

Mikami Saizou, a healthy ‘17 years old’ boy, lived in this huge Romanian mansion and took very few visitors. Maids and gardeners were staying at the servant quarters - their ancestors had been employed by his family and it carried on until the current generations. Saizou had stayed there for close to five years now, simply to look after the only truly meaningful possession his family had left: the house itself and the land it occupied.

Saizou ate his breakfast while absent-mindedly looking outside the window. He was observing how the small snowflakes piled up on the ground of the spacious porch when his butler, Klaus, knocked on the wooden door and stepped inside of the dining room. Klaus placed a silver plate on the table with a single white envelope laid at the centre.

“Saizou-sama, this letter arrived this morning,” announced the butler in a baritone. “It is addressed to the Master of the House.”

“A letter?” repeated Saizou, arching an eyebrow slightly. He rarely received letters during this time of the year. “Who is it from?”

“I am terribly sorry, but I do not know. I can tell you, however, that it was posted from Japan,” explained Klaus, his expression remaining the same throughout the whole conversation.

“Japan?” His eyebrow raising even further, Saizou dropped his gaze to the plate and the envelope laid on it.

“Yes, Master,” acknowledged Klaus, stepping back to provide his employer privacy as he opened the letter.

Saizou picked up the envelope, immensely intrigued by its far-away origins. And it had to be from that country in particular. Japan was where his family originated from, and where he had been born. He had not been there in a very long time - not since his family gained the rights to that piece of land, to be more precise. He turned the envelope around in his hand, taking in all the information he could from its exterior. It was sealed with a wax seal featuring an eagle, surrounded by some small and illegible letters.

When he turned it around once again, he saw a small blur of blue paint in the bottom left corner.

‘Kantetsu… Academy’? So it’s from some sort of school, I suppose.

Saizou started to open the latter with extreme caution. He didn’t want to damage the seal in any way, so he could later try to decipher the tiny letters it featured. When he took the piece of paper from inside, unfolded and started reading its contents, his eyes grew round and his heart skipped a beat.

Greetings.
This letter is intended for Mikami Saizou, Mikami Inori’s younger brother.
First of all, I would like to express my belated condolences for your older brother’s passing. His loss will be felt by the world and, most of all, by those who held him dear. I am one of them.
I need to be as direct as possible with this letter so please excuse me for the rudeness of putting further pleasantries aside and going straight to its purpose. I was told by Inori himself to only disclose this information to you under certain unfortunate circumstances. These have, to my great displeasure, occurred.
The person you are looking for is here. Inori’s murderer is currently in Japan.
If you wish to obtain further information on this matter, I would advise you to come to Kantetsu Academy. I can’t disclose more than this through a letter.
I await your visit,
Iwaaki Daichi, Kantetsu Academy’s Headmaster

His head spinning, Saizou dropped the letter on the table and ran his fingers through his brown hair. Klaus immediately stepped forward and filled a glass with water, putting it within his employer’s reach. Saizou gave a quick, disoriented nod and gulped it down.

“The person you are looking for is here. Inori’s murderer is currently in Japan.”

Saizou simply didn’t know how he should react to this. Shortly after his family had moved to Romania, his parents passed away in an accident. After that, he lived there with his older brother, Inori. After his brother’s sudden death during a business trip, he became an almost permanent recluse in the mansion. And yet…

How come someone he had never met before knew so much about his private affairs?

Saizou had used every method possible to access private files and reports being kept in several security companies and departments throughout the world. He broke through others’ personal information, compromising their privacy just so he could obtain answers for all the questions spiralling around his older brother’s death.

However, the more he searched, the more he came to realise there were no answers. The truth was so well hidden that not even the most influential security organisations had information on it. The murderer had so much power that they could manipulate information channels in their favour.

“Saizou-sama…” The worried old butler softly murmured, his features finally breaking out of his usual poker face to shape a grimace.

With his master’s reaction, Klaus knew instantly the contents of the letter. Only mention of his deceased older brother could ruin Saizou’s enjoyment of his favourite breakfast. However, there was nothing he could do. He could grieve over his master’s suffering but he couldn’t ease it. Saizou no longer had any living relative from whom he could seek comfort to heal the wounds caused by death.

The quiet stretched on for endless seconds, only the soft tick-tock of the big, old grandfather clock breaking up the silence.

“Klaus,” called Saizou, lifting his gaze from the fallen letter to look at the white-haired older man.

“Yes, Saizou-sama?” answered the butler, his back straightening slightly at the authoritative tone in his master’s voice.

“Please pack my clothes and go get my passport from the office on the second floor,” instructed Saizou as he got up from the table, his half-eaten breakfast already far away from his thoughts. “Also, contact the airport and reserve a seat on the next flight to Japan. Immediately!”

Giving a soft and discreet smile, Klaus bowed obediently. “Yes, Saizou-sama.”

It appeared the letter and the news in it had brought back the sparkle that had disappeared from Saizou’s hazelnut eyes upon his older brother’s death. Klaus couldn’t be happier for his master.