As Richie closed his eyes, he heard thunderous applause. In fact, every student and teacher had spontaneously risen to applaud him.
Sadly, Richie never saw it.
Richie collapsed onto the floor, and a commotion broke out in the audience.
Twilight and Yor abandoned all concern for appearances and leaped straight over the heads of the other students' parents.
Many members of the event staff also rushed up to see what had happened.
When Twilight reached the stage, the first thing he saw was Richie's blood-drenched hands. In an instant, murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
His heart aching, Twilight lifted Richie from the floor and placed him in the arms of Yor, who arrived right behind him.
Twilight saw fresh blood mingled with dried blood on the piano keys. Lowering his head to look from the side, he saw steel needles gleaming coldly between them.
Twilight pulled a steel needle from between the keys. It was as long as an adult's hand.
His gaze turned icy. He picked up the microphone resting on the piano and spoke in a chilling voice:
"I found steel needles this long in the piano. They're so thin that you can't see them unless you look closely.
Perhaps you think I'm holding nothing at all, but the blood on the piano keys proves otherwise, as does the blood covering my son Richie Forger's hands.
I expect Eden Academy to give us a satisfactory explanation for this. Otherwise, we will not let the matter rest."
Beside him, Yor used a handkerchief to wipe the blood from Richie's little hands. At some point, Anya had also run onto the stage.
Yor was already a sobbing mess. So much blood, so many needles-how much pain must Richie have been in just now!
Anya's eyes went wide as fried