The Eccentric, the Beauty, and the Detective: Kiriki Junka's Mystery Log Volume 1 Chapter 19

Having sung poorly, I had hurt my throat, and I went home. That day my brother was in charge of cooking. I put on my regular clothes and headed for the kitchen.

My parents both sat at table with expressions so glum I might have believed that the world was about to end. My brother sat across from them silently. It looked almost like a silent all-night vigil over a body. Everyone turned to face me simultaneously, having noticed my entrance.

My mother spoke in a hoarse voice, “Sit, Rouji. We have something important to discuss.”

My high spirits had been doused in cold water. I had an idea about just what was so important. My father and mother exchanged glances.

“This time we’ve officially divorced.”

I felt darkness creep up from below, engulfing first my feet, eventually swallowing my heart. I regretted my naive optimism that had kept me from mediating, but it was already too late.

They had talked countless times for months; shouted. It had been the first step on the downward spiral to divorce. I looked at the two, there wasn’t a wedding ring in sight. I supposed that showed how resolved they were.

“There isn’t much time left, Rouji,” my mother looked at me, “Whom do you want to live with?”

There hadn’t been a more complicated question on any of my midterms. Thinking on it, I hadn’t had a crueler problem in my life.

I loosened my collar, feeling suffocated.

“I need to choose…”

Three pairs of eyes watched me. I was clenching and releasing a fist under the table. I couldn’t shout at them to cancel the divorce. They had already chosen the path that led to a life of hardships beyond what I had ever imagined.

My response was pointless.

“Give me time.”

My father let out a quiet voice, “I said to leave the matter to me.”

My brother was hanging his head in sorrow. My mother leaned slightly forward.

“You don’t have time anymore. We’re filing the divorce in the middle of next week.”

“I get it..”

My brother stood.

“That’s all for the talk, Rouji. Let’s eat.”

The family sporadically stood. I thought I might cry at the thought of never eating at that table again.

Checking the news online yielded reports on the incident with Koshi Keisuke, but nothing that Junka and I didn’t already know, not even any speculations in the comments. It was at times like that when I would hold my head in my hands at the stupidity of people on the internet. Well, I was one of them, though.

While we had had one day off school, it didn’t seem like there was any progress from what I’d seen on TV and the internet. Under a cloudy, but still acceptable sky, I spent the day listening to the new content in my classes. Junka and I had both concluded the culprits to be those two we had seen flee the scene, and so we went with Nao to class 1 to hear Hinata’s report.

“Did he fall all on his own?”

“Where did you get that from?” Junka asked in an unusually hysteric way.

Hinata replied, “

“Kitakami-sensei. Kitakami Kouji’s class 1, 2’s homeroom teacher and he specialises in English. He’s my uncle, actually, through marriage.”

Nao gasped.

“Is that so? I had no idea.”

Junka looked at her hopefully, “So you questioned Kitakami-sensei?”

“That’s right. He opened by telling me not to tell anyone, and then explained quite a lot.”

I was blown away.

“You just disclosed it, didn’t you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I primarily operate as a member of the newspaper club, after all. I haven’t told anyone else, so if you keep it a secret, it won’t be a problem.”

Junka happily rubbed his hands together.

“So? Kitakami-sensei said?”

Spake Hinata casually, “Right now, Koshi-san’s in class 1, 1, and the homeroom teacher’s away. Well, that’s because Aoyagi-sensei’s being disciplined for violence. That aside, Kitakami-sensei’s taken on 1, 1 at the moment.”

“That’s how it is,” Nao admired.

“That’s right. Kitakami-sensei went to Koshi-san’s hospital for a visit. Koshi-san seems to have told the nurse he didn’t want to meet anyone, but Kitakami-sensei somehow managed to push his way in for an interview with the aim of shedding light on the incident. Koshi-san apparantly complained and resisted questioning, but what he eventually said was…”

Junka interrupted, “That he fell on his own.”

“Yes. He said there might have been two others, but they had nothing to do with him. He jumped as a test of his own courage. Kitakami-sensei has his doubts, but has no real proof for any reason that he would be lying.”

Nao tilted her head.

“Could he be covering for someone?”

“Who knows. I haven’t a clue about that.”

Junka sat himself in the classroom that held nary a soul.

“Now on to what we asked of you. The matter of Koshi-kun’s interpersonal relationships.”

Hinata struck her chest.

“Leave it to me. I made sure to investigate thoroughly. Firstly, Koshi-san seems to be friendly with Minakawa Gengorou-san.”

When Minakawa was mentioned, what came to mind was his fight with Aoyagi-sensei. He didn’t have eyes, and clearly looked like a bad egg.

Junka further enquired.

“I see. Is he also a member of the silver shadow gang?”

“No, it seems that only Koshi-san is involved with gangs. While Minakawsan has been invited, he has yet to be inducted. While Koshi-san appeared to be slightly disappointed in that, their friendship seemed unaffected when they smoothly went off together to skip PE and hit on girls.”

I asked a midly prudent question, “Have the two said anything to you, Tatsuno-san?”

“Me personally? Not really, no. Either way, they aren’t attractive, so they probably don’t get any interest.”

I didn’t think so, but Hinata continued.

“Aside from that, when it comes to Koshi-san and who he interacts with, he often takes shots at Mashima Atsushi-san.”

I’d never heard of him.

“You mean they don’t like each other?”

“Not quite. It’s more of a bully-bullied relationship from what I’ve heard. Koshi-san uses Mashimsan as a gofer, or arbitrarily uses violence on him. It is a relationship that cannot be called healthy.”

Bullying, eh? I sense some cold nearby.

“There’s another who was bullied by Koshi-san: Kahara Ryouji-san.”

“I’ve heard that name before. Who was he again?”

Junka smoothly jumped in, “He’s the one who witnessed Aoyagi-sensei fight Minakawkun with Kagaya Manami-san.”

“Oh, so it was that?”

He had quite the memory. I was impressed. Hinata held up a finger.

“Kaharsan seems to have also been on the receiving end of unjust violence and threats from Koshi-san and Minakawsan. One time he had been given a swirlie, another time doused in a bucket of water… it seems to have been bad.”

It wasn’t like he was taking his lumps as a new member of some prowrestling group, so I wondered if that stuff still went unpunished.

Nao went pale and held both elbows.

“We’re only in the later half of May, but it seems to have escalated rather quickly.”

Junka didn’t seem to be shaken much.

“That’s how it goes with bullying. It starts with a reasonable request. So were they the only two targeted by Koshi-kun and Minakawkun?”

“There may indeed be more, but that’s as far as my research goes.”

Junka smiled at me.

“It’s probably those two, then. The ones who pushed Koshi-kun.”

I wondered if Junka was playing dumb.

“Why say that? Didn’t Koshi admit he fell all on his own?”

“About that…”

Junka sank into his chair, bringing together the fingers from both hands.

Translator's Note:

Fun fact: Japanese doesn't have a word for swirlies, and it had to be described in a sentence. Good work English.

Editor’s Note:

One day, I’ll bother to get specific about the actual hour that I post these so the editor can do them last minute and get it done before I do my ‘really don’t want to use schedule system’ unpredictable early post. Nobody reads this, so I doubt it’ll get noticed.

Chapter end