Early the next morning, police cars were parked outside the apartment building, and several officers were taking photos and statements at the scene.
Ririko walked over with an iced latte, slowing her steps as though she was merely passing by.
She moved half a step closer to the nearest officer. "Officer, what happened?"
The officer was writing something in his notebook. He glanced up at her and said coolly:
"Someone found a body. A Gotham University student. No external injuries. Our preliminary assessment is cardiac arrest... probably had a history of heart disease. No need to worry too much."
Ririko took a sip of her latte, the ice clinking crisply against the rim. "Oh."
She turned and walked away.
If Scarecrow had simply frightened a student to death on a whim, she had no reason to say anything more.
As far as she remembered, only Bruce could catch him. Little Fruit Bat still hadn't returned, so telling every police officer wouldn't help.
She followed the street toward the university.
In the classroom, Professor Crane stood in front of the blackboard.
He wore a white shirt and a gray vest that day, his sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, exposing his thin wrists.
When he saw Ririko enter the classroom, a little warmth appeared in his tired, sunken eyes, though his smile still looked somewhat weak.
Ririko nodded back and looked him over, making sure he didn't have a gun tucked into his pocket.
Klein's lecture that day was on literary psychology, analyzing how horror writers used descriptions of settings, pacing, and character perspectives to guide readers' psychological responses.
Sitting in her seat, Ririko's mind wandered, and she noticed Klein's long limbs, his frail posture, the way his shoulders moved in front of the blackboard...
He looked remarkably like the figure