The Eccentric, the Beauty, and the Detective: Kiriki Junka's Mystery Log Volume 2 Chapter 20

Pre-chapter Eccentricities:

“Boys, be ambitious!” are the famous parting words of Dr. William Smith Clark when he left Hokkaido, Japan. He established Hokkaido University (Sapporo Agricultural College, at the time in 1876), and spoke those words to his students, apparently on horseback. Japanese to this day all know the phrase, so it wouldn't count as an eccentricity in Japan. In fact, I'd heard about this guy myself in a Japanese sermon, of all things.

“Tatsuno-san's enemy is sure to strike again.”

We had no way of hunting the culprit no matter what Junka said. The threads had not woven together in such a way as to allow us to give the insolent ruffian what he deserved.

“Don't say ‘cute!'” came a sudden cry from the back of the room.

Sannomiya Eiji had cut off the conversation with several girls, it seemed.

“I am a man! You don't call a man ‘cute,' but ‘cool!'”

The girls pulled back from the spray of words, distancing themselves in fear. It looked like Eiji hadn't yet come to terms with his looks. I personally wouldn't mind being called cute if it meant they liked me.

Kanno Yuuki was attending to him in various ways as she shadowed him like always.

“These girls said it out of good will, Eiji-sama. Don't be so angry.”

“I know that… but they are irritating, and they simply grab people with no respect for dignity. This is why women are so…”

The remaining girls redirected the conversation.

I still had the possibility of Eiji as the culprit in the back of my mind. The two victims so far had been female. It felt like the Eiji hypothesis was becoming more concrete. Maybe he had a motive like: “women don't respect my dignity,” or something. I shook my head. There was no proof, and so there was no way to say for sure. I was even the one to remind Junka about that.

After school, we held a detective association meeting as soon as Hinata, back from her absence, arrived at class 3 to meet with Junka, Nao, and me.

“Should we let Sannomiysan into the association?”

Hinata looked shocked, and Nao wasn't going to be outdone either, horrified.

“That uppity shrimp?”

Oi, that'd get more than just anger out of Eiji if he had been here.

“Iidsan, Tatsuno-san,” Junka began his argument, “It's simple. The article you made, and the third generation leaflets Kanechiksensei made have done nothing for our membership. It wouldn't be assuming much if we predicted summer holidays arriving without a single new member.”

Nao's expression was complex. Hinata's attention was highly focused.

“Here we have Sannomiykun. He's come to this school, and entered straight into the going-home-club. I'm guessing he doesn't want to abide by his senpais' authority. That aside, he is still free, and seems like the type of person who could be counted a member of the detective association. Need I say more?”

Junka surveyed his audience.

“Also —and I confirmed this with Rouji-kun— he has some useful skills. He seems to even have an interest in solving riddles. What do you think?”

“Of course, he can always refuse our offer,” Junka concluded.

I was a bit conflicted. It seemed as if Junka had entirely given up on his Eiji hypothesis, and was going to invite him into the detective association. I wondered what he was up to.

Junka seemed to read my thoughts from my expression.

“What? It also serves as an opportunity to watch him.”

That I could accept. It made sense. If Eiji was the culprit, it would serve to weigh him down and prevent him from acting again. Junka had thought that out.

Nao was a living picture of being disturbed.

“Bringing Sannomiykun on board, eh? I'm against it, I guess. I would like some new members, but… I think the four we have now are the best option. What do you think, Hinatchan?”

Hinata shrugged.

“I don't really know Sannomiysan very well, but I have heard talk of his poor reputation; that he has a bad habit of lashing out at people, and such… in all honesty, I'd like to leave the decision to you, Kiriki-san.”

Junka stood on a nearby desk, faced a wall, pointed, and shouted, “Boys, be ambitious!” before firing an imaginary finger gun with a “Bang!” and blowing away the imaginary smoke. Junka looked satisfied in the silence before sitting down.

I wanted him to apologise to Dr. Clark.

“Okay, so we'll invite him in. That settles the important matter for the day.”

“Should we head home, then?”

We took our bags and stood when our ears were racked by a piercing scream, and the reverberation of a hard impact.

“What was that?”

Junka was the only one to break away and rush into the hallway as we stood there.

“Let's go!”

Hinata's voice broke our enchantment, and we all ran out after Junka. He rushed down the stairs, and we followed in hot pursuit.

There, on the landing in between the first and second floors, we reached the scene and were astonished. There lay a girl on her side, clutching her knee. She had black pigtails. Junka was tending to her with an unreadable expression, having been the first on the scene. She didn't seem to be winded, and she called for us to get a teacher as soon as possible.

I nodded and headed off for the staff room. Given the circumstances, it was clear she had been pushed down. That made her the third after Hatanaksensei and Hinata. I could hardly get my head around the casualties of the case. It meant that there had to be a serial shover in the school.

Afterward, we reported our information to the teachers in the staff room. They also knew what it meant. The victim this time was Amane Eikyuu, class 1, 2. Apparently, she had been chatting away with some friends, and when she went by herself to go home, she got pushed. As there was a chance she had broken her knee, she was driven to the hospital by one of the teachers.

“We can't keep a lid on things at this point, eh?” predicted Junka as we went home.

“The school itself hadn't acknowledged there was a serial culprit, since people would begin to question the faculty's ability to supervise us. Hence Hatanaksensei's claim that she'd fallen on her own. Now that it's been her, Tatsuno-san, and finally Amane-san, there have been three cases of people being pushed down the stairs; two confirmed by the victims. There's no real way to cover this up any more. We're bound to have a school assembly. Maybe the school will even begin to deal with things properly. The principle might froth at the mouth and collapse.”

“You think it's Eiji after all?”

“He apparently left for home right away, so he seems unrelated this time,” spoke Junka discreetly, “That doesn't make him 100% free of suspicion, of course, but we can't say he's guilty either. Tatsuno-san was quite lucky, now that I think about it. She had her trash bin to cushion the fall so it only resulted in bruises.”

An emergency school assembly was called the next day as per Junka's prediction. The principal Maetani Shouichirou himself stood at the microphone to explain.

“This is a serious matter. In the past week, there have been three instances of people being pushed down the stairs. We do not know who the culprit may be at this point.”

The whole student body stirred. Those who would normally hear the long winded speeches of the principle with one ear, and vent them out the other, were now interested in what he had to say, and were patiently waiting for his next statement.

“Miss Hatanaka; a student in class 1, 1; and a student in class 1, 2 were all pushed from behind when attempting to descend the stairwells. The injuries include bruises, and even broken bones. This is a message to all students: when you go down the stairs, watch your back…”

Translator's Note:

It'd probably be referred to as a series of assaults in English, as opposed to the Japanese specificity of the shoving. It feels a bit unnatural to go with the Japanese, but I don't want to replace a word in the title just yet. I might be experimenting with dynamic translation, but I'm not that bold yet.

Editor's Note:

Almost nothing to edit again today. Good going me-from-the-past. Editing is easy if you put in a bit of effort up front. It's even easier when somebody else does it, but I'd have to look it over anyway just to make sure nothing gets accidentally skewed.

Chapter end