The Eccentric, the Beauty, and the Detective: Kiriki Junka's Mystery Log Volume 2 Chapter 22

Pre-chapter Eccentricities:

Zaibatsu are not an eccentric bit of information. They are the Japanese equivalent of military industrial complex, and are large corporate conglomerates. They were prevalent in Japanese economic strategies before the war (WWII if you didn't know) and worked closely with the government to control the economy. These are multinational corporations like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (famous for manufacturing the zero, a Japanese fighter plane), and have many subsidiaries. They were briefly broken up in the early days of American occupation, but were reinstated during the reverse course under General Douglas MacArthur when America decided that Japan would be a bulwark against communism, and therefore needed to be less liberal than they had made it when attempting to undo the ‘feudalism' of the previous right-wing military dictatorship. “They're too far right, make them more left!” “Now they need to fight the commies, make them right again!” And so, the zaibatsu returned. You probably buy their products.

I'd been pretty nervous for the stakeout at first, but after 15 minutes or so, I was bored. The last person to pass by had done so five minutes ago. I figured it'd be okay to chat if we did it quietly, so I tried probing Eiji.

“So, Sannomiya, what school were you going to before, and why did you transfer?”

“What's up with that question? You curious about me?”

“Not particularly.”

I was worried he'd be mad at me, but it seemed like he'd also tired of the silence, so he responded in a low voice.

“I went to a private school in Tokyo: Engahama. It's for students aiming at university entrance, but my dad said that ‘it's better for you to go somewhere with cleaner air. If you study properly, you can get into university from any high school,” so we checked out every school in Japan before transferring me here.”

He seemed to be pretty upper crust.

“You always have some expensive looking lunches. How much do they even cost?”

“More than most could afford. Apparently, my disposition is slightly different from others'.”

“What, so you're rich?”

“My father started a ship manufacturing business which succeeded, and due to his clever management, it grew substantially. Let's just say it's a sizeable estate.”

“What about your friends?”

For some reason, he was quiet when asked that. Finally he opened his mouth.

“I just transferred, so…”

That meant he had none.

“What about your other school?”

“I had a few.”

I wondered if that was really true.

“They called me Eiji-sama and followed me around. They were always happy when I bought them stuff.”

I had a feeling those weren't real friends.

By the time our stakeout had ended, it was 6:00pm, and our three hours of labour amounted to no more significance than the foam of a rushing river.
　もし英二が犯人だとしたら、成果なしは当たり前となる。俺は心中密かにこの背の低い同級生への疑いを濃くした。もっとも、真犯人が成算のないと知れている張り込みに一生懸命になるかどうかは、また別の問題だったが……。
If the culprit was Eiji, that'd be obvious. I secretly deepened my suspicion of the little classmate beside me. It was a completely different matter as to whether anybody could handle stakeout duty while knowing he was the culprit…

The detective association worked with Eiji and Yuuki in our after school stakeouts for the following week as well. This time, Hinata and I were with Yuuki on the second floor; Junka, Nao, and Eiji being on the third.

Since we were free as always, I decided to chat with Yuuki.

“Kanno-san, you're Sannomiya's maid, eh?”

She pushed up the bridge of her silver rim glasses to adjust them.

“Yes, I am in his employ,” she answered without hesitation, “I am a high school student hired by the zaibatsu. Though I say that, the whole arrangement began with my grandmother's generation from what I've heard. As the Kanno house has served the Sannomiyas for generations, they trust us with all their daily needs.”

That was one hell of a household.

“Don't you get tired of dealing with Eiji?”

“That is to say?”

“A runt with a will like that has got to be hard to handle, is all.”

In the next moment, I was surprised by a slap to my left cheek. The sound echoed through the hall.

“What was that for!?” I protested, a hand to my cheek.

She glared at me, a bundle of anger, “I won't forgive any slander of Eiji-sama!”

She immediately turned to observe the hallway without further utterance. All I could do was glare angrily at her back.

“Are you okay?” came Hinata's sympathetic voice.

I nodded, and got back to the stakeout.

That day, however, the culprit did not appear. Perhaps he'd heard us, and stayed quiet to avoid the danger.

“Aren't you coming home late a little often recently?” my mother asked as soon as I opened the door, “I can't help but worry.”

“Sorry,” I apologised, “I've been hanging out with friends.”

I couldn't tell her that I was on stakeout to catch someone who serially shoved people down the stairs.

“The world has gotten dangerous recently, so make sure you come home quickly, okay?”

I guessed it was dangerous for both of us.

“Got it. Am I in charge of dinner tonight? If so, I gotta get on it.”

I went to my room, dropped off my bag, and changed into everyday clothes. Down in the kitchen, I got out the cookery and put on my apron.

“Oh yeah, we got a package from Ken earlier, for you.”

“Ken, eh? What's in it?”

“Isn't it a birthday present? It's July 9th, remember?”

That was true, now that she mentioned it. I stopped cooking for the moment, and accepted the small parcel.

“It's…!”

They were shoes from my favourite brand. They cost over 10 000 yen. I did a little dance with joy.

“Awesome! That's my brother!”

“Take care of them, Suzaku.”

The birthday card came with a photo. I looked at it, moved. My father and brother were living well in Tokyo. They invited me to come over let them show me the sights in Tokyo over the summer. My brother asked if our mother was still healthy and hadn't gotten fat. He encouraged me to do my best.

My mother laughed with a nostalgic expression when she heard the contents.

“I'm not fat, you know, Suzaku.”

I avoided debating that, and instead laced up my shoes and walked around the room. It felt like I was walking on clouds.

Junka was the first to speak the next day.

“Finals are coming up soon, so let's stop our stakeouts after today. We are members of the detective association, but before that we're students here. There are limits to what we can do.”

Dissatisfaction danced through my soul.

“You'll lose to Sannomiya if you do that.”

He didn't seem to care.

“So we'll let him catch our man. Of course, it isn't like we're going to give up the search; just the stakeouts.”

Our final stakeout began thusly: Nao, Eiji, and I on the third floor; Junka, Hinata, and Yuuki on the second.

“Oh, so you're giving up the stakeout?” Eiji snorted in mockery, “That makes the probability that I'll win go over 90%. I guess he's given up if he's willing to forego all these opportunities to catch the perp.”

He already seemed to be gloating over his victory, and I clammed up.

We sat idly by in the July heat, sweating.

Nao patted me on the shoulder.

“I'm going to the washroom.”

“Okay.”

Nao passed the stairwell on her walk to the toilet.

That left us with two guys like some police drama.

“So, you like her?” Eiji asked as he watched the hall.

I stiffened up at the suddenness of it.

“W-why?”

“Bulls eye, eh? You're an easy read, man.”

He gave me a demonic smile.

“All of your body language just screams ‘I'm into this one,' like you're the very picture of the emotion. It's so easy to see, it's funny.”

I was starting to break out in a cold sweat.

“Well, I'm sorry,” I didn't like him teasing me, “Don't even think about telling her.”

Eiji put up his hands.

“Don't worry, I don't care for that… that aside, it's all quiet on the western front, eh?”

It'd been about an hour since homeroom, and there wasn't a soul in sight when it happened.

“Aaaaah!”

A female scream pierced our ears like lightning, and we heard thunder like a stone rolling down the mountainside.

“She's down!”

Eiji shot out like a bullet, and I was right behind him. I made record time through the hall as I danced my way into sight of the stairs. There was nothing in sight. The sound had come from the lower floor, so I went down.

When I got on the scene I came to understand our naivete.

Before my eyes lay a girl clutching her arm, moaning as she was lying in a growing puddle of blood around her temple. I saw Junka nursing her, and Hinata wasn't around, likely because she was getting a teacher.

“Junka, she's…”

“Been pushed,” he bit his lip, “but we weren't able to catch the culprit. We've failed miserably!”

Translator's Note:

This most recent victim seems like the only potential suspect at the moment since there's no evidence anyway. If she's a red herring, it'd be more interesting to make one of the earlier victims the culprit, but it could just turn out to be some random guy. This particular plot doesn't feel so much like a mystery novel so much as a character drama with some ‘mystery' theme in the backdrop.

Editor's Note:

I'm barely editing things at this point, but it's a daily discipline to get at least something done, so that's important. Real editors will one day come, I'm sure, but until then you're stuck with me for all these little filler bits.

Chapter end