When the Detective Work is Done, I'll Die

Chapter 28

Did Chikage-detective think my statement was just a bluff? Her eyes had gone round at first, but a smile gradually spread across her face.

"Interesting. What evidence could you possibly get that SNS can't? If you've got something, hurry up and show it, amateur-detective."

"Yes. For that, there's somewhere I'd like you to come. For now, everyone here—except the officers preserving the scene—please head to the gym."

The detective didn't seem to understand the intent behind that statement. "What are you planning to prove and how?" she muttered, tapping her fingers against her lips.

Without time to think, I led everyone to the front of the archery range in the gym.

A battered door we had once come to check. Bloodstained here and there. It looked as though Chikage-detective had finally grasped the reason for my actions.

"So that's what you mean...!"

Vice-Principal Kanou alone yelled, "W-who did this!? Who wrecked the school equipment!?" Since he's asking for information, let me tell him too.

"Vice-Principal Kanou. Was it the victim, coming to retrieve her arrows, who broke this?"

"I-is that so...?"

"No, if that were the case, would blood have gotten on the door?"

"Hmm...? It wouldn't be strange if it did! She was stabbed and covered in blood!"

"Not necessarily. If Kanbara-senpai had come here to prepare the curse, she would have arrived before the culprit attacked her, right? Because what she was carrying when she was stabbed was dropped at the scene. In that case, would blood get on the door? Before being stabbed, she didn't have a single injury."

"Hmm...!?"

Vice-Principal Kanou pondered until his eyes were bloodshot. Looks like his mind won't move any further.

"Look at it like this and everything fits. The culprit, splattered with Kanbara-senpai's blood, came to the archery range seeking arrows in order to fake a werewolf setup! There's no way Kanbara-senpai, after being stabbed and near death, could have moved enough to smash the door. It has to be the culprit."

There's no doubt the culprit came to the archery range after stabbing Kanbara-senpai.

When I said that much, Chikage-detective slammed her fist against the floor. It didn't make a loud sound, but it had a certain force.

Maybe that's why I tensed up again. I thought a fist might fly at me like Azuma had done.

But such worries were unnecessary. She was simply trembling.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! To overlook evidence like this... Relying only on SNS! I messed up! Ahh, how embarrassing!"

She's shouting a bit, but it doesn't seem aggressive. Rather than resenting me, she's angry at herself for slacking on the investigation.

"C-Chikage-detective?"

She responded to my call while tugging at a strand of her own hair.

"I-I let my guard down because I thought you were just an amateur. N-next time I'll give you a proper proof, so be ready!"

"Um... I don't really need to be ready, do I? Isn't the one who'd hate being proven wrong the culprit?"

"...Pardon me. That's right. How should I put it? Next time I won't be outdone by your evidence."

"That would make the culprit the one who loses to evidence, right? Was the culprit someone who lost to your evidence, Chikage-senpai?"

"N-no... Huh? Um..."

The detective twirls her finger, flustered. Serves her right.

Just as I was about to savor the superiority of having beaten the detective, I hit on something that felt off. I hadn't opposed her opinion merely to tease her.

It was also to draw the police's attention to my own reasoning.

If I could present evidence better than the detective the police relied on, their eyes would naturally turn to me. And if I then told them my investigation plan, things should change considerably.

Even so, did I have an investigation plan I could actually offer?

Insider or outsider? Vice-Principal Kanou claimed it was an outsider to protect himself. Following that, Detective Chikage reasoned the victim herself had brought the tools, which made the possibility of anyone other than an insider seem high.

Yet now, neither the detective's nor Vice-Principal Kanou's story held any persuasive power.

I should be able to convey that it was definitely an insider.

Still, was it truly not an outsider? I'd denied it thoroughly, sure. But that was because everyone had been trying to eliminate the insider theory entirely.

I mustn't let rumors sway me so much that I lose sight of the real truth. If I overdo it, I'll make the same mistake Detective Chikage did. Learn from others' faults, as they say.

Let me think.

Picture the crime scene in my mind and look for evidence that it was an outsider.

"But seriously, why was it broken? I'm going to take a look. The gym key was open... so why did they have to smash it..."

After pulling herself together, Chikage-detective left the detectives and went off in search of something. She exited the gym.

If I don't hurry, the detectives will be gone too.

Any evidence the outsider left would do. Something, for example, that absolutely couldn't be brought in from outside.

Or a method of staging the werewolf that's unique to the region.

Something no one else knows. Something the police couldn't figure out. Yet something I would understand.

Just as I was about to dismiss the idea that anything so convenient existed, a phrase flashed through my mind.

"Wait a minute..."

The instant I raised my head and spoke, the name of a suspicious person surfaced. I quickly jotted it down in my memo.

Murayama Hitoshi.

Urakawa Naiki.

Ishii Tatsuya.

Those three.

If my reasoning is correct, among the three—or rather, as a possibility, there's one more. Someone who might have been on the scene.

Vice-Principal Kanou. He becomes an important suspect as well.

Four in total. Kanou is possible. If he was pretending to hide the school's wrongdoing in order to muddy his own crime, then blaming an outsider and silencing others makes sense. His actions up to now are consistent.

Having narrowed it down to four suspects, I found myself shouting toward the female detective before I knew it. My heart was racing.

"Excuse me! I just remembered something outrageous!"

The female detective, addressed from behind, hunched her back with a jerk, showing a truly awful startled reaction.

"Wh-what is it? Wh-wh-what do you mean outrageous... what is it?"

"Right now! Right this instant! Please question Senior Murayama and Senior Urakawa—members of the same club as the victim who are trying to leave the school—along with Vice-Principal Kanou and President Ishii who's right here! That should reveal the truth!"