The Eccentric, the Beauty, and the Detective: Kiriki Junka's Mystery Log Volume 1 Chapter 25

“The truth is that Sekimoto Ai from my class testified about the matter of Koshi Keisuke’s defenestration. Apparently he was thrown down by Mashima and Kahara.”

Junka didn’t seem troubled at all, by I, on the other hand, was in disarray. It was those two after all? Just where did Takada Satoshi come from then?

Junka enquired, “Why would that testimony come now of all times? I think there was plenty of time…”

“She says she was too scared to say. Apparently, she just couldn’t open up to anyone besides her homeroom teacher.”

Then rang the first bell. I hadn’t gotten to eat my lunch, but the information on Mashima and Kahara was so important I wasn’t even hungry.

After school that day Junka called Nao and me to class 1.

“This case is already over. All that’s left is to talk to Mashimkun and Kaharkun two, or three more times and we’re done.”

My eyes widened.

“What? I don’t get it yet.”

“You will soon enough. Um, the two are?”

The students of class 1 were harmoniously making ready to head home. Our target Mashima was spotted, but Kahara, the other, was not. Junka called out to Mashima as he was preparing to leave.

“Yo, Mashimkun, where’s Kaharkun?”

Mashima shook like a suspicious degenerate being called out by the police.

“He’s gone. Minakawkun said he had something to talk about and took him away.”

I had a bad premonition. Minakawa, that bastard, was he still bullying Kahara?”

Junka seemed a little uneasy.

“I see. Then I’d like to ask you something real quick, do you have time?”

Mashima sat back down to indicate his cooperation.

“Yeah, sure.”

Junka placed his hands on the desk and leaned in.

“You secretly watched a local anti-bullying programme when you were little, right? If I recall correctly, it was My Note, chaired by Takada Satoshi-san.”

Mashima seemed like he was trying to hold back his excitement.

“I did! I was bullied by my parents so I secretly watched it.”

“It’d be great if Takada Satoshi-san, one who doesn’t forgive bullying, was with you, or so you might have thought, right?”

“Yeah… but how did you know that?”

Junka simply pressed on, “Then Takada Satoshi-san was suddenly forced to resign as a result of assaulting a certain producer. I’m sure you got the details in your local paper. In particular, it was shocking that he had thrown the victim off a bridge and into a pond, was it not?”

Mashima’s eyes seemed locked on to Junka’s when, “Kiriki-san! Everyone! There’s trouble!” Hinata raggedly burst in, “Kaharsan is trying to shove Minakawsan off the roof!”

Junka’s complexion instantly changed. Neither Nao nor I could say anything at the fact that Minakawa wasn’t doing it to Kahara, but that Kahara was trying something on Minakawa.

“The roof it is, then!”

Junka ran out of the class like a hurricane, followed by Nao, Mashima, Hinata, and myself. Junka, in the lead, raced up the stairs and threw open the door with all his might.

The sun was high in the sky, and ten-odd students were watching Kahara and Minakawa from afar, calling out.

“Calm down!”

“Don’t be hasty!”

“A teacher’s coming, so don’t move!”

Their voices were all desperate.

Kahara and Minakawa had both climbed the fence and were standing on the lip of the roof. Only a few steps would send them headlong off the edge. Mashima was quivering, grasped by the scruff of the neck, their usual power dynamics reversed, Kahara in charge. Minakawa wasn’t that good at fighting, it seemed.

I shouted, knowing the imminent danger, “Kahara! Stop that! Calm down!”

Kahara didn’t look, but more importantly, there was something strange about him. Unlike how he had been so afraid of Minakawa before, he was now unperturbed and calm. He didn’t take a single look at the gathered students like he wasn’t doing anything special. Of course, he ignored me too.

I was going to try and get his attention one more time, but Junka raised a hand and cut me off.

“It’s pointless, Rouji-kun. He isn’t Kaharkun. He’s Takada Satoshi.”

I began to doubt my partner.

“What kind of ridiculous thing are you trying to say? That’s Kahara!”

“No, that’s a second personality that arose from his abuse as a child: Takada Satoshi.”

I was astonished.

“What?”

“And there’s one more Takada Satoshi, no, I should say, the other half is here. Right, Mashimkun?”
Junka turned and looked at Mashima who was clawing at his face, eyes wider than I’d ever seen.

“I’m… I’m!”

Junka shouted like the devil himself, right into Mashima’s ear, “Come, Takada Satoshi!”
Mashima’s eyes rolled and his mouth flapped, falling to his knees there, foaming at the mouth. I was concerned.

“Oi, you okay?”

I went to help him, but the hand I reached out was knocked forcefully aside. That hurt.

“Mashima?”

“I’m not Mashima. I’m Takada Satoshi.”

Mashima stood, I was surprised at the dramatic change in appearance. Such a docile, harmless face had, in an instant, changed to one full of self confidence, composure, and pride. With a smile playing on the corners of his lips, he calmly approached Kahara.

“Oi, are you stupid! Don’t get close!”

Kahara would throw Minakawa. I reached out to stop Mashima, but he left the crowd before I could grab him.

“Hello, other me.”

I saw Kahara smile for the first time since coming up to the roof. He welcomed Mashima, still holding Minakawa by the scruff of the neck. Mashima chuckled.

I was thoroughly confused, and Hinata and Nao hadn’t seemed to fully grasp the situation.

“Just what’s going on? Kiriki-kun, explain.”

“He, Mashimkun that is, is the other half of Takada Satoshi” Junka began to rapidly expound, “To put it simply, both Mashimkun and Kaharkun have a split personality. Dissociative identity disorder is what it’s called. The two of them were mistreated by somebody while they were still small. With all the pain and suffering, they unconsciously formed a separate personality that was calm and composed. It was embodied in the programme My Note. They both pretended to be the main actor in the programme set out to end bullying: Takada Satoshi. All because he was the hero who saved the bullied, and their dream. That’s why their separate personalities were based on Takada Satoshi, and they are so completely in harmony. Their honeymoon phase couldn’t last forever, though, and suddenly came to an end when Takada Satoshi assaulted someone and had to step down. With the only impression remaining one of ‘throwing someone hated off a bridge,’ the two grew up. Then they met and became friends in middle school.”

I listened on in horror to Junka’s explanation.

“Normally their second personalities would remain asleep, but after entering high school, in fact, just the other day, Kahara saw something. From that intersection, jut like a bridge, he saw Aoyagi-sensei fight Minakawkun. It was like a trigger, in that it resembled the case of Takada Satoshi. Basically, it caused the sleeping Takada Satoshi to awaken. Then, it turned into the matter of the defenestration of Koshi Keisuke.”

Junka’s deductions continued to flow without cease.

Translator's Note:

The junction is one of those connecting bridge-like things between two buildings. What are these things called in English? Aerial walkways? I need to put that in to the earlier chapters.

Editor’s Note:

Actually, I should probably have the editor do it, but Dr. MIA isn’t exactly super available, and our ninja editor doesn’t use wordpress. Filler, this is, as always. I do always make these, so they are at least 50% directed to the possibility that only the editor sees them, and 50% towards everyone else.

Chapter end