When the Detective Work is Done, I'll Die

Chapter 30

I spun around right away, but no one was there. The president hadn't followed me either, concerned about my back. No, he's right in the middle of questioning. He couldn't possibly come.

Yet when I turned forward again, that awful feeling on my back returned. Someone 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 amazement, 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 memories inside my head; my heart was in turmoil.

She had been the first to discover the body. Why had she been watching me? 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-time 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 me 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 met and talked with some senpai from the drama club, right? Those senpai asked me 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 same grade. Well, whatever. What's the point of watching me?"

"Keeping you from solving this mystery is the top priority. After all, do you even know why this incident happened?"

"...What do you mean?"

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 me."

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 me for some 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 someone. She tried every one of those tricks on him. Sometimes she'd blame 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 achievements.

A heavy anger welled up. Why heap that on someone innocent—no, even if he'd been guilty, no one, not even Kanbara-senpai, had the right to blame him. "Something happened" is no excuse. Bullying is the lowest crime.

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 become the next target. No way to stop it. Some 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 became peaceful. This was righteous murder."

"Whaaaaaat!?"

The moment "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 overcome the grief some 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 games, haven't you? Same 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 blame 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 someone dies!?"

She flared right back at my anger.

"Then come up with another way! Can you deny the possibility she might've gone on killing more people? The culprit killed only one. Some will grieve, including the culprit, but that's just the families of culprit and victim. If Kanbara-senpai had kept on murdering under the name of bullying, how many more would've cried? Tell me you know!"

"Ugh..."

"I've always wanted to say that to a detective preaching justice. Got any comeback?"

"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 me 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 me 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!"