The Eccentric, the Beauty, and the Detective: Kiriki Junka's Mystery Log Volume 1 Chapter 22

Kahara nodded, “We admire Takada Satoshi.”

The light in his eyes had intoxicated him into a trance.

“That’s right. He punished Koshi-kun to save us…”

That’s where we got interrupted, “Hey, hey, why’s someone from some other class asking about my boys?”

The student who had butted in was distinguishable by his lack of eyebrows. He was the one from class 1 who had a fight with the now disciplined Aoyagi-sensei: Minakawa Gengorou.

“What, some girly faced fuck? You some kind of faggot?” appraised Minakawa offensively as he stared at Junka with his hands in his pockets.

“I don’t know who you are, but go back to your class. You’re bothering Mashima and Kahara. Get it!”

Their eyes of adoration vanished, replaced with cowering and trembling. They clearly paled with fear.

“Uh, y-yeah… it’s awful to question people… so much…”

“T-that’s right. Don’t worry, Minakawkun, we haven’t said anything…”

“Of course not,” Minakawa heartily laughed, or so it would seem, but he suddenly stopped and turned to us, “You heard them. Buzz off. You’re a nuisance.”

I noticed that all the eyes in the class were fixated on us, the room painfully silent.

Junka shrugged, “Let’s withdraw for today. I’m going back, Rouji-kun.”

“But…”

He took my wrist and pulled.

“Come, don’t dawdle.”

“All right.”

So we left the class as if we had been chased away. I could hear Minakawa laughing.

“What’s with him! He treated us like trash,” Nao angrily spouted, and downed some packaged coffee from a vending machine as if she wanted to burn herself.

I followed along, my mind astir with what I’d heard earlier from the two.

They practically worship Takada Satoshi from class 2… He is fat, but he certainly did have a kind of charisma.

“Mashimkun and Kaharkun both went along with that horrible guy. What cowards!”

Nao still hadn’t calmed down.

Looks like class 1’s all terrified of Minakawa. Well, I guess there isn’t anyone who really wants to go up against such an intimidating guy.

Junka leaned against the wall, rubbing his chin, deep in thought.

“All right…”

Having come up with something, Junka headed back into the hall.

“Where are you going?” I enquired of his back.

“Class 2.”

He was probably going to interview Takada Satoshi. I drank my milk box while watching the hall. I wanted to grow a little taller, after all.

Junka went in class 2, and right away came out with a fat guy. Oh, was that guy Takada Satoshi?

Junka took the dude into class 1 as I stood their blinking. What was that? Junka, what are you doing? Tossing aside what little milk I had left, I raced at full speed to class 1.

“Suzaku-kun?”

I even ignored Nao. I sprinted down the hallway like a professional athlete. Shouts and screams could be heard in class 1. My heart ringing like an alarm, I threw open the door.

The commotion entered my field of vision. The fat one had both hands round Mashima’s neck, and was pressing him against the window. Junka, Minakawa, and the rest were all watching from a distance. I grabbed Junka’s shoulder.

“Oi, Junka, what’s all this? That fatso’s Takada Satoshi?”

Junka was extremely calm, “That’s right. He’s Takadkun from class 2. I said to him, ‘hey, Takadkun, I know the two who told Kitakami-sensei you were the one who threw Koshi-kun out the window. Mashimkun and Kaharkun from class 1. I’ll point them out,’ and this is what happened.”

I couldn’t shut my gaping mouth, “Are you retarded!? He’ll half kill Mashima and Kahara!”

“I’ll stop him when it gets to that.”

I looked to Minakawa beside me, and all that force and coercion from earlier was gone. He just stood there, huddled up, looking away from the blackboard like a small animal. He wasn’t protecting Mashima or Kahara, but just letting the intruding Takada do as he pleased.

I scorned him. He was as violent as a yakuza with the effete Junka, but when Takada, a member of the Next Wicked Dew gang, appeared, he cautiously avoided saying anything. He acted weak near the strong, and strong near the weak. He was the model of cowardice, an incredibly shameful boy.

Kahara was in a panic seeing his partner getting assaulted. No, Kahara wasn’t the only one, the entire class wasn’t making a move.

Takada put some extra force into his grip, “You, you’re the fucks who tried to frame me, are you?”

Mashima’s face was warped with pain, “Not framing. The one who threw Koshi-kun out the window is Takada Satoshi.”

“And that’s me! Don’t involve my great self in something I had nothing to do with, asshole! You trying to pin it on me cause our groups are opposed?”

Mashima’s pain seemed to finally be pushed to the limit as he pressed his story, “No, you had nothing to do with it. A different Takada Satoshi appeared right in front of us. In front of Kaharkun and Koshi-kun and myself.”

Takada loosened his grip a little, “So you’re saying it’s some other Takada Satoshi?”

“Yeah, that’s right. The guy was Takada Satoshi, but he couldn’t forgive Koshi-kun, so he punished him.”

Takada looked like he had something else to say, but the bell rang to end lunch. He released Mashima with a tut, who lay there coughing violently. Kahara knelt down to help him out.

“This isn’t a show!”

The students in the room looked like Takada’s shout had shaken the class itself. Takada dusted off his shoulders and left the class. The tension in the class released like a balloon finally bursting at last, and everyone relaxed amidst a cacophony of sighs of relief.

Junka scratched his chin.

“Let’s go back now, Rouji-kun. Afternoon class is about to begin. Sorry for the intrusion, Minakawkun.”

After mocking Minakawa, Junka left the class, as did I.

A different Takada Satoshi, eh?

I milled over Mashima’s words as I gazed at the sky over Junka.

But the two who fled were Mashima dna Kahara, and the one dropped was Koshi, for a total of three. If there really was some other Takada Satoshi, how did he throw Koshi out the window, and how did he get away?

The window revealed good weather. A fine spring had ended, and a ferocious summer had begun. The fleeting seasons quietly moved on.

Yeah, the biggest question is how he did it. Koshi’s the best fighter, well rounded. The matter of being ganged up on aside, there probably wasn’t a Takada Satoshi who could take him on by himself. No, even if Takada Satoshi was better at fighting, he wouldn’t be able to easily toss Koshi out a window. Only some superhuman could…

The bell rang as I was lost in thought, ending class for the day.

I went to class 1 with Junka to go and finish our talk with Mashima and Kahara that began at break. Minakawa had a glint in his eyes, but perhaps out of embarrassment for his pathetic display earlier, he didn’t stop us this time.

We called out to them as they were about to happily head home together. Mashima glanced at Minakawa.

“He’ll be angry…”

“It’ll be fine,” Junka insisted, “He won’t get away with anything this time. That aside, we would like to ask a little more about what happened at the scene.”

“All right…”

“Then first… So is the Takada Satoshi you’re talking about a student here? Or is he an old boy?”

Kahara replied, “No, he’s not affiliated with this school.”

I couldn’t unsee the adoration in their eyes. Junka let fly is next question.

Translator's Note:

I would have had Junka ask if Takada Satoshi is an alumnus, but he straight up said OB (old boy) even in the roman alphabet.

Editor’s Note:

Filler Editor’s Note here. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that some of these placeholder notes end up longer than my actual translator’s notes. Do I really have more to say about work left undone than done? I accidentally had this scheduled early again, so more slightly early posts that I’m fairly confident only one person will even experience.

Chapter end