Romantic Troubles of Duanmu-kun

“…What do you want to do?”

Mitsue-sama forced a cold, dignified smile, but her clasped hands trembled slightly in desperation. Her chest rose and fell in small, controlled movements as she held her breath, seemingly afraid that the art knife might cut deeper into the wound on her neck.

“Do you have any connection to the mass suicide incident involving members of a certain mystery novel research club that occurred yesterday at dawn in the underground parking lot of the Sun Tower?”

“N-no…”

Thick-Brows was clearly confused by Asami Yuko’s attitude, and the flood of information in her words left her momentarily speechless.

“Besides, what is that? I’ve never heard of such a thing…”

“Is that so? Hmm, I believe you.”

The girl brushed aside her long bangs to clear her vision and smiled.

“Relax, I know very well that you’re just a minor character.”

The other girl’s expression was anything but pleasant. Her thick eyebrows nearly knitted together into a single line.

Asami Yuko patted her shoulder, then smoothly moved behind her, closing the door completely.

“Let me and that boy over there leave this place without trouble. Don’t let the remaining girls notice that I’m holding you hostage. Is that okay?”

“…”

“Ah, please don’t worry about the money. I won’t take it back. Just consider this a rare amusement facility, and I won’t tell the police either. How about it? You won’t suffer any loss at all.”

“…I-I understand…”

“Ouch—”

The Novelist, returning along the original path, constantly moved his body and stretched his limbs. He felt like all the bones in his body were crackling. His compatibility with rooftops was terrible—nothing good ever happened up there.

…Especially when it involved the opposite sex.

“When you’re in front of a girl, a guy should show more backbone, Assistant-kun,” Asami Yuko said with a yawn, walking unsteadily beside him.

“Easy for you to say, Asami-senpai. But could you really have escaped from that situation so easily? I thought if I hadn’t shown up, senpai would have been violated by that thick-eyebrowed woman.”

“It’s simple. First, I’d shoot playing cards with a gun to quickly repel those two big guys, then fly away from the rooftop using a hang glider—”

“That sounds like something a stylish phantom thief would do!”

The last ray of sunset enveloped the road home. The station signboards cast long, drawn-out shadows on the stone-paved ground.

“Oh right—this is just a minor matter. Why were you there, Assistant-kun?”

“…It was a coincidence. I was passing by. I happened to see senpai joining a suspicious group of girls, and I was concerned, so…”

“You’re lying.”

Asami-senpai’s manner of speaking and tone were not as languid as her attitude, but sharp and cutting.

“Assistant-kun is lying. The distance between Yuihara Private High School and Harumida High School takes about five minutes by bus and twenty minutes on foot. Time-wise, I appeared at the school gate half an hour ago. It couldn’t have taken that long to follow me to the school building. But if we factor in the round-trip travel time, it matches up perfectly with your arrival time… Assistant-kun doesn’t have a perverted hobby of peeping at high school girls after school, does he?”

As she spoke, a gust of wind swept by, lifting her long hair. Asami-senpai had to use both hands to hold down her flying strands. And so, her defenseless sailor uniform skirt transformed into a butterfly with brilliant wings, fluttering upward—

It was white.

Pure white, pristine white, solid white.

But it didn’t feel childish at all. No juvenile patterns or fancy designs. Just below the snow-white waistband was a small, light blue ribbon.

The fabric looked high-quality, surely as soft as the girl’s skin it was wrapping.

This was a scene all boys fantasized about—not looking up stairs or someone falling at a corner, but appearing unexpectedly in an unintentional moment. This exquisite timing was like a flash of inspiration in an artist’s mind.

Without exaggeration, he could have written an entire light novel just to describe this scene. No, not could have—needed to.

Even if it meant replacing the afterword and acknowledgments with thoughts about underwear.

Even if his eyeballs were transplanted to someone else after death, that pure white would still remain on his retina.

The pure impact possessed supreme destructive power.

“You might as well be called the Underwear Novelist!” Even if his work were published and faced such baseless accusations, he would never change his mind.

…

—How much do you want to describe senpai’s underwear?! This line of thought was interrupted by his self-talk, “That’s so like me!”

When the skirt had just been blown up, Asami Yuko’s body froze for an instant, but after considering briefly, she probably thought, “It would be awkward to press down my skirt now—better wait until the wind stops.” However, that was a mistake. So senpai continued pressing her hair without lowering her hands. But the wind didn’t comply with her wishes, “whooshing” continuously for several seconds. The sailor uniform skirt swayed back and forth like a swing, refusing to settle down.

Those few seconds carried the intensity of a lifetime, perhaps even lasting until the end of time. Simply put, it would never be forgotten for a lifetime.

The skirt returned to the girl’s thighs.

Silence filled the atmosphere between them.

Just now, his attention had been completely drawn by the wind, staring fixedly at the bottom of Asami-senpai’s skirt.

He had thought, “Looking away now would actually be more awkward, better wait until the wind stops.” The problem was that only nonsensical lines floated in his head. Even if he wanted to explain, he didn’t know how to begin.

Since the duration of the incident and the ensuing silence were equally long, pretending nothing happened or ignoring it seemed difficult—

“…Assistant-kun appeared there because you heard rumors about ‘a strange group of girls,’ right?”

Amazing! She really ignored it! As if the underwear exposure event never happened! Without any awkwardness in her attitude, Asami-senpai continued in a calm tone and expression.

“…Yes.”

The Novelist nodded.

Lying had no value.

“Going further, this is just my speculation. I think Assistant-kun is also investigating matters related to the serial mass suicide incidents, correct?”

“‘Also’ means…”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Assistant-kun, would you like to be my assistant? To uncover the truth behind these incidents, perhaps two people working together would be better.”

“…It’s better not to get involved in such dangerous matters. This isn’t some game…”

“Then let me phrase it differently.”

Asami Yuko turned her head, looking at him with a somewhat serious expression.

“Would you like to join the Mystery Novel Research Club?”