The Eccentric, the Beauty, and the Detective: Kiriki Junka's Mystery Log Volume 2 Chapter 14

Afterwards, the real owner failed to appear by lunch. The drops of the season's rain finally cleared, the heavy clouds giving way to beams of light.

“Let's go, eh?”

Junka, Nao, Hinata, and I immediately went, the four of us lining up as we walked down the hall. I, having participated in Junka's interview that morning, was the only one aside from Junka who knew where we were going. He had told them they'd know when they got there, and had left without explaining, though they hadn't looked too happy about it. They were presently protesting with their gazes while following him with as little haste as possible.

He stopped.

“Here.”

We were at the art club's prep room, and Nao was dubious.

“Is there something here?”

“The person we're looking for.”

Junka knocked on the sliding door, a voice we knew well bit us entry, and so he did.

Inside, eating her lunch was Tajiri-senpai, and…

“Kanechiksensei,” Nao found herself blurt.

Kanechika Yuuko-sensei was sat on a chair, looking at us. I could see the turmoil in her eyes.

“Kiriki-kun…”

“Sorry for interrupting your meal,” he greeted, “We are the detective association, and we have come to deliver this to you, Sensei.”

With his announcement, what Junka drew from his Mito Koumon seal case was Kodairsenpai's student handbook.

“That's!”

She was speechless. Nao gave my sleeve a tug.

“Hey, Suzaku-kun, what's going on?”

“Junka asked around a bit this morning,” I told her quietly, “And what he learned was that Tajiri-senpai and Kanechiksensei are close and often eat together. That's where Junka reasoned it out from. Kanechiksensei had Tajiri-senpai substitute for her to retrieve the handbook.”

Even looking at her from the side, Kanechiksensei seemed surprisingly close to panic.

“Eh? What? How did you know it was me?”

It seemed she'd realised that her spontaneous statement had confirmed everything.

“So I was right.”

Junka returned the handbook to his pocket, and Kanechiksensei looked like a cat who regretted taking some bait.

“You are in love with Kodaira Shinji-senpai, are you not, Kanechiksensei?”

The bomb Junka had dropped knocked Kanechiksensei up out of her chair in a fluster.

“What! Such a…!”

She was red through the ears. Tajiri-senpai gasped in shock at the sight of her beloved teacher being in such a state.

“Sensei, please calm down a little.”

“But,” she pouted, “Kiriki-kun said such a shocking thing.”

Junka pressed her, “Please come clean about your relationship with Kodairsenpai. If you don't, I'm not handing over the book.”

“Really?”

She plopped down on her chair. It creaked a little.

“I have to talk?” she sighed, head hung.

“Naturally.”

With another breath, she showed us a smile.

“Right, well, I was the one in the wrong for not coming forward the first time, I suppose. All right, I'll confess.”

She looked over the detective association.

“You're right, Kiriki-kun. I fell in love with Kodaira Shinji-kun, who entered class 1, 2 two years ago.”

Hinata's eyes were sparkling, and her hands were knit together, “It just grips the heart!”

Kanechiksensei's cheeks were flushed.

“At first I didn't think much more than ‘a cool student joined the club,' but when I watched his simple, single minded effort to get good enough for a contest, I found my cheeks growing hot at his sight. A time passed when I left things vague like that, until September 17th. It happened to be my birthday, and Kodairkun gave me a portrait for which I had been the model as a present.”

She took her face in both hands.

“He'd painted it himself using a photo he'd taken of me on his smartphone as reference. Looking at the depiction of my own smiling face was the key that made me realise that the pain in my chest was that of a maiden in love. After all, the painting clearly showed a pure, girlish love. I am in love with Kodairkun… For minutes, hours, I looked lovingly at the painting that Kodairkun had painted for me, yet I tried to strangle those emotions. I was his teacher, and he was my student. Romantic love is not appropriate. So I tried to distance myself.”

Junka was silent as he listened to her confession, and there was no need to nod to bid her continue.

“Having noticed, one day when we were alone together, Kodairkun asked me, ‘did my portrait of you bother you that much? If it did, I apologise. I would like for you to cheer up and guide me like you did before.' He'd cornered me, and I regretted my honesty. That was when I broke down in tears, saying nothing. I simply cried. That was when it happened: he wrapped me in his arms, and held me close.”

Hinata was swooning. Nao was leaning in to listen. I mused over how they really liked such talk.

“Then he told me, ‘Sensei, I love you. For a long time now, no, from the moment I saw you. This might be a bit sudden, but please marry me.' My joy rose to the heavens at hearing what I had most wanted to hear made reality. As an adult, and as a teacher, though, I had to maintain my dignity: ‘I'm a teacher, and you're a student, Kodairkun. We can't.' His response was, ‘I'll wait. I'll wait till I graduate high school.' Then he… well, he, uh, ki… kissed…”

She stood, red in the face, and smacked Junka's chest.

“What are you making a teacher say!?”

Even though she was the one who chose to say it.

Junka took control with a bitter smile, “I see, so that's how it was, eh? Still… you two had trails to come. Kodairsenpai would move; he would transfer schools. That was right around second year.”

Kanechiksensei sat once more.

“Yes, but neither Kodairkun nor I were going to give up on love. That was when he gave me his handbook.”

That was enough to satisfy me. The owner of the notebook was Kanechiksensei…

“At that time, to admonish ourselves, we didn't exchange phone numbers. The idea was that if our feelings would cool because of a lack of contact, we would just give up…”

Junka clearly acknowledged her, “I understand. It was something I had considered since this whole matter would have ended quickly if you'd been able to contact each other. The reason you hadn't collected it after three broadcasts was to protect your image as a teacher?”

“Of course. There's no honour in being a teacher who fell in love with a student.”

She was fidgety.

“Isn't that enough, Kiriki-kun? Please give me the handbook.”

A menacing smile floated across Junka's face.

“It's an important handbook, after all. Returning it to its owner is most important. Kanechiksensei, we're now going to head to the school gate. Kodairsenpai is waiting.”

We, Kanechiksensei and Tajiri-senpai included, were about to be utterly astonished.

Translator's Note:

It's good to be back at this. It's a bit of a pain, but it serves as proof to myself that I'm on top of things enough to spare the time for it.

Editor's Note:

I wrote that translator's note ages ago… to the point that it applies again…

Chapter end