I played the next video.
Some ways away from the camera were Yui, Akira, and that blonde surrounding a BBQ grill. There was also a tall but slender man. They seemed to be at the sandy beach, where the sun has completely set and night has fallen, but their surroundings were kept brightly lit by several floodlights.
The camera zoomed in, and the blonde could be seen happily talking with the slender man. But because of the distance, their voices couldn’t be heard.
“What’s with her? Having fun like that…” The bearded man could be heard grumbling.
The slender man had a handsome face and a good physique, giving him the air of an agreeable youth. He was also wearing a pair of white working gloves and took the initiative to handle the barbecue, so he gave off a good impression.
“Is a man like that good?”
The camera zoomed out again, and this time a new person appeared from the edge of the screen. It was a woman wearing a pair of glasses. In her hands could be seen a video camera.
Apparently, she was also recording. The video camera was in the way, so it wasn’t possible to get a good look at her face.
The glasses woman approached. “Do you know where June and the others went? I went to get my video camera, but when I came back, they were gone.”
“They finished eating and went there,” the bearded man said. “Apparently, they want to light some fireworks.”
“Fireworks, huh? That sounds nice,” the glasses woman happily nodded. “You’re not doing it?”
“I’m going to enjoy the air here for a good bit more. You go ahead.”
“Okay. See you later then.”
“Yeah.”
As the glasses woman left, the camera followed her back and quietly watched as she disappeared into the darkness. Before long, her figure vanished, and the camera turned around. This time that blonde woman suddenly appeared from right in front, and the bearded man screamed. “Don’t scare me, sheesh. Anyone would get scared if you pop out of nowhere like that.”
“What do you mean by pop out of nowhere?” The blonde unhappily said. “I’ve been here for awhile now. It’s your fault for being so caught up in your camera that you didn’t notice me.”
The bearded man sighed. “So, did you need me for something?”
“What? Am I not allowed to talk to you without a reason?” The blonde said provocatively. “And here I was being nice calling out to you since you looked so lonely by yourself.”
“You didn’t have to. More importantly, are you sure?”
“About what?”
“Weren’t you have fun talking with that guy?”
“Who you talking about?”
The camera moved again to show the slender man manning the BBQ grill. A few seconds later, the camera turned back to the blonde.
She chuckled. “Is someone jealous?”
“As if!” The bearded man vehemently protested.
The blonde giggled, while the bearded man made excuses, and a figure that appeared to be a man passed by behind the blonde. But everything from his shoulder up was off-screen, so there was no way to tell who it was.
“Sure, sure…” The blonde said. “By the way, where did everyone go?”
“They’re playing with fireworks over there.”
“Oh, lucky.”
“What is?”
“The thing is…” the blonde nodded. “My lucky item for today is a flower.” (Note: The Japanese word for fireworks contains flower.)
“I see you’re still into fortune telling,” the bearded man said in a fed-up tone. “Maybe you should get bored of it already.”
“There’s no way I’d get bored of it. I love fortune telling. Weren’t you into it too when we were kids?”
“Yeah, when we were kids. We’re adults already. How about graduating from fortunes too?”
“How about you quit finding fault with people’s hobbies? Anyway, let’s go already.”
“Go where?”
“Didn’t you say it just now? Fireworks. Let’s go together.”
The bearded man took awhile but eventually said, “yeah, let’s go.”
“Don’t just keep playing with your camera. Let’s hurry up and go already.”
After saying that, the blonde left the screen, and the video ended.
I played the next video. On the screen could be seen two young men preparing to play billiards. One of the men had a scar from some blade on his cheek, while the other had long hair. This video seemed to have been taken in the recreation room.
The long-haired man finished setting up the billiards table with balls, while the scarred man turned to the camera.
“Be sure to get a good look,” the scarred man said. “You suck at billiards, so I’m going to show you the perfect break shot, so you can review it as many times as you want later.”
“If you can do it that is,” the bearded man laugh. “If you get too nervous because you’re being recorded and mess up, I’ll show it to everyone and make you the butt of the joke.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
The camera zoomed in on the scarred man. The scarred man had a short-cropped soft Mohawk haircut, and with his rugged face and scar and muscular body, he exuded an unapproachable air.
The scarred man held the cue stick and struck the cue ball with great strength, launching it into the rest of the balls, giving rise to a high pitched noise as they were all sent flying everywhere. Before long, the sound of one of those balls falling nicely into a pocket could be heard. The scarred man looked triumphantly at the camera. “See that? That’s a break shot. Be sure to review it later.”
“It’s good that you’re so full of confidence,” said the long-haired man partly caught by the camera. “But this is the ball that went in.”
The camera turned to the long-haired man to see him lift a white ball to eye level.
“Wonderful,” the bearded man said with amusement. “I’ll review this plenty later with everyone.”
“Damn, this is the worst,” the scarred man said with frustration.
The bearded man laughed, and the camera zoomed in on the long-haired man. The long-haired man had hair that loosely fell to his shoulders, and coupled with the gentle smile on him, he gave off the impression of a calm adult.
“Be sure to get a good look at this,” the long-haired man said. “Billiards isn’t about power but technique.”
As soon as the long-haired man placed the cue ball on the billiards table, he formed a bridge with his hands, took a stance, and quickly shot the cue ball. Ball#1 quickly found its way into a pocket, but the cue ball wasn’t done. It bounced off the cushion and hit ball#9, sending it too into a pocket.
“And with that, this game is my victory,” the long-haired man smiled triumphantly. “This time you set the balls.”
The long-haired man pointed to the scarred man, and the camera zoomed out. The scarred man unhappily prepared.
“Come to think of it, the others aren’t awake yet, huh,” the bearded man said. “It’s past afternoon already.”
“Yesterday, after drinking with everyone,” the long-haired man said. “They went into their room and drank some more. Sumire and the others probably still can’t get up.”
“The women are such terrible drunkards. They forced me to drink too even though I can’t hold my liquor.”
“Oh yeah, you went back to your room while we were all drinking.”
“I can’t help it. I was at my limits already and was getting sleepy.”
As the long-haired man and the bearded man talked idly, Akira appeared with an uneasy expression.
“Umm, guys,” Akira said. “Have you seen mother?”
“Yui?” The scarred man turned to Akira. “No, I don’t think so.”
“I haven’t seen her either,” the bearded man said.
“What’s the matter, Akira?” The long-haired man said with concern. “Did something happen?”
“Actually, I haven’t seen mom since this morning. She wasn’t in her room either. I’ve been searching the mansion for awhile now, but I can’t find her anywhere. She left her phone in the room, so there isn’t even any way to contact her.”
“That’s weird,” the scarred-man’s countenance turned grim. “Where could she have gone?”
“She’s probably just out on a walk,” the bearded man said. “If you’re so worried, we can all go look for her.”
Akira turned to the camera. “Is that alright?”
“Of course. Right, guys?”
The scarred-man and the long-haired man looked unhappily at the camera, then the video ended.
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