Following the direction Teacher Jodie had pointed, Mouri Ran searched her way over. Before long, at an intersection clogged into a mess, she spotted the car Dr. Araide often drove.
She jogged over quickly... then, when she saw the driver through the car front window, she stopped in surprise.
Mouri Ran stared at the unfamiliar bald, burly man in the car. "..."
...Who was this?
"Could Dr. Araide actually be bald, and usually show up wearing a wig?" Mouri Ran tried to come up with a logical explanation, but that assumption was quickly overturned—as she got closer, the person in the car came fully into view. He was clearly a complete stranger with somewhat mixed-race features, utterly unlike Dr. Araide in every way.
"Why does he look like a foreigner..."
Only then did Mouri Ran realize something. She circled to the front side and looked at the license plate. Sure enough, this was not Dr. Araide's car. It merely happened to be the same model and color.
"Looks like Teacher Jodie mistook it too." Mouri Ran did not feel comfortable staring any longer. Leaving the car behind, she stood on tiptoe and looked around. "But I remember Dr. Araide's home really is in this direction. If he set out from home, he should be stuck somewhere nearby too."
Thinking like this, Mouri Ran continued searching.
Yet even when she had nearly reached the end of the street, she still had not seen the long-overdue male lead of the Stage Play. Instead, as she passed an alley, she heard some strange sounds.
"Did I just hear someone calling for help?" Mouri Ran's ears perked up as she looked toward the depths of the alley.
Unlike the screams she usually heard, this voice was faint and low. She could barely hear it