Chapter 30
I spun around right away, but no one was there. The president hadn't followed either, concerned about my back. No, he's right in the middle of questioning. He couldn't possibly co.
Yet when I turned forward again, that awful feeling on my back returned. Soone was definitely watching.
I backed into the classroom while looking over my shoulder, then quickly hid behind the door that separates the room from the corridor.
Then, exactly as I'd expected and to my amazent, the likely source of the gaze appeared. A girl with wheat-colored skin.
"Ah... that's right, she was..."
With a start, I sorted through the mories inside my head; my heart was in turmoil.
She had been the first to discover the body. Why had she been watching ? There was only one way to find out—ask her directly.
"No way—where'd you go?"
I stepped out in front of the flustered first-ti tail, who was glancing all around, and asked,
"I'm right here. What do you want?"
"Ah...!"
She clapped a hand over her mouth, startled by my sudden appearance.
"'What do you want?' Would that be better? Could you explain why you were following so sneakily?"
"...Of course I was watching you. You're investigating this case, aren't you?"
She'd hesitated at first, but maybe she'd given up since I'd already seen through her; she began to rattle off her purpose.
"How do you know?"
"You t and talked with so senpai from the drama club, right? Those senpai asked to keep an eye on any kid wandering around instead of attending club. A first-year kouhai can't exactly refuse, you know."
"Ah... so you're in the sa grade. Well, whatever. What's the point of watching ?"
"Keeping you from solving this mystery is the top priority. After all, do you even know why this incident happened?"
"...What do you an?"
A revenge play. I'd known, but pretended I didn't. I wanted unknown information, and figured her talkative personality would open up if I acted natural.
"You really don't know anything, do you?"
"No. Please tell ."
The type who'll say anything once she feels superior, I thought. My hunch was dead on. Rising onto her tiptoes to stand taller than for so mysterious power play, she began.
"What that senpai did—she crushed anyone who opposed her by doing the exact opposite of what they expected, always figuring out how to hurt their hearts without getting caught."
"For example..."
"Ostracizing, hiding things, locking you in the bathroom, tossing stuff in the trash—once I heard she even pretended to trip while running so she could dump garbage on soone. She tried every one of those tricks on him. Sotis she'd bla the whole group's mistakes on him. Yeah, even shoplifting. The senpai really went all out."
"...'went all out,' you say...?"
She spoke so eloquently about such cruelty, her eyes sparkling as though praising the senpai's achievents.
A heavy anger welled up. Why heap that on soone innocent—no, even if he'd been guilty, no one, not even Kanbara-senpai, had the right to bla him. "Sothing happened" is no excuse. Bullying is the lowest cri.
At first she sounded approving, but halfway through she began condemning the acts.
"But after doing all that, she ended up dead. No suicide note, so you can't even say the bullying caused it. There's no proof, and the school covers it up. If anyone stood up to Kanbara-senpai, they'd beco the next target. No way to stop it. So couldn't stomach it, others absolutely couldn't forgive it."
"So...?"
"So killing her was the only way. Once that senpai died, the bullying group disbanded and the school beca peaceful. This was righteous murder."
"Whaaaaaat!?"
The mont "righteous" and "murder" linked up, a weird sound slipped out. I couldn't grasp her thinking at all, nor understand why she was grinning.
"What? Or could you overco the grief so other way? Kanbara-senpai and Urakawa-senpai, mourning a friend and comrade. Kitsunesaki-sensei, heartbroken over the one she loved. If they'd tried to avenge that hatred another way, they might've been killed themselves."
"Might've been killed...?"
"In other words, this counts as self-defense, right? You've heard of werewolf gas, haven't you? Sa thing. Everyone wanted to hang Kanbara-senpai. The culprit got their hands dirty to protect themselves—to protect everyone. We're just grateful to the culprit."
"...So you're saying we shouldn't bla whoever killed her?"
"Exactly. You're an outsider—you mustn't touch this case! This incident should end by being buried in the labyrinth."
...No need to keep the gentle act any longer. She's probably said everything she thinks.
Realizing that, I let my voice turn rough.
"Cut the crap! What do you think human life is!? How many people do you think grieve when soone dies!?"
She flared right back at my anger.
"Then co up with another way! Can you deny the possibility she might've gone on killing more people? The culprit killed only one. So will grieve, including the culprit, but that's just the families of culprit and victim. If Kanbara-senpai had kept on murdering under the na of bullying, how many more would've cried? Tell you know!"
"Ugh..."
"I've always wanted to say that to a detective preaching justice. Got any coback?"
"Ghh... but murder is...!"
"You can only see the person in front of you. Ever heard the trolley problem? Kill five or kill one? You'd kill the one to save the five right in front of you, never knowing those five might later go mad and commit terror or atrocities. That's you. I know—that's what detectives are like!"
Detective—no, I'm not a detective.
I'm not a detective. I'm not like those rotten people. Don't lump with detectives who let masses die.
I wanted to shout that, but unless I solved this problem, I couldn't move from that spot. All I could do was watch her skip away.
I finally managed to move only because a certain detective gave a push from behind.
"What's wrong, standing there in a daze? Aha! Out of clues and in despair? Well, I've already found the key to victory!"
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