The Eccentric, the Beauty, and the Detective: Kiriki Junka's Mystery Log Volume 2 Chapter 23

The fourth incident of the case of the shovings garnered the attention of the mass media and the internet, quickly spreading throughout the country. On top of all that, some photos were uploaded of local police interviewing the teachers. The parents' association was going to have a meeting, and the principal apologised with the vice principal to the media.

“Things have gotten interesting.”

Hisakawa was seriously enjoying things. The other guys were also having fun, feeling a little unrelated since the culprit only targeted girls.

Kitakami Kouji-sensei from class 1, 2 and Hinata both had inroads so they brought us all sorts of information. Junka, Nao, and I all listened as we ate.

“The most recent victim is Mimata Kei of class 2, 2. She broke her right forearm. She reported that she'd been shoved from behind down the stairs leading to the first floor from the second.”

Junka chowed down on his peas.

“We also caught saw her go. She went out of her class, down the hall, and we lost sight of her from our hideout just as she went to go down the stairs, so we can confirm she was there.”

“That's true, I was there too. She was all by herself, that's for sure. She gave her story to the teachers after being treated at the hospital, apparently. She says the culprit is a short girl who escaped past her by running down the stairs as she lay there in pain.”

I stuffed a convenience store onigiri in my mouth.

“A short girl, eh?”

Junka seemed down.

“I never expected an unprecedented behavior like rushing past the victim down the stairs. We should have posted someone on the first floor too.”

“Where did she hide?”

“You and Rouji were watching the third floor, and we were watching the second, but we didn't see anyone behind her. Which means that the culprit likely knows of a blindspot near the stairs. Which is to say…”

Eiji cut in, smiling, “That's right. It means that the culprit was waiting for her prey to come by, and sprang into action as soon as Mimatsenpai went by.”

He'd voiced his theory, and feeling some guilt, I responded.

“That'd be bound to stand out. Just where could she go to avoid being seen by anyone?”

“The roof.”

Eiji sipped his milk.

“She goes straight to the rooftop after school and waits there before sneaking down and waiting for the lambs to come to the slaughter. Mimatsenpai said she was a short girl, right? That means this time she took quite the risk.”

Junka looked over at him, “What are you going to do now, Sannomiykun?”

“Our game is still on,” he smiled menacingly with a hand to his mouth, “Now that the teachers are taking shifts to watch the stairs after school, there won't be any more incidents. The stakeouts are over, and that means it's best to ask about who was on the roof at the time.”

He turned his back to us, but looked back over his shoulder to menace, “Don't forget: ‘the loser has to do what the winner says.'”

He went back to his seat and I felt an impending crisis.

“Hey, we're going to lose at this rate. Let's investigate too.”

“We don't need to rush, Rouji-kun,” Junka said to calm my competitive spirit, “I already said it, but I don't mind disbanding the association if our peaceful days can return. Shouldn't we hope the best for Sannomiya's work?”

“We can't have that,” Nao was belligerent.

“If you don't make a move, Junka, I will. Hey, Suzaku-kun, Hinatchan, let's protect this association together.”

Nao had supposedly been forced into joining after the incidents with the chalk, but she cared the most about the association. I pondered the nature of change. Naturally, I supported her.

“Okay, so let's split up. We'll send one person to the first, one to the second, and another to the third years to ask around. That way we'll cover more ground than Sannomiya since we have more people. As if we could lose to him! Let's give it our all!”

“We'll go all out!”

“I'll do my best!”

That was how we began our investigations. Junka shrugged, unable to stop us.

“The roof? Let's see… that day… I wasn't there, so I don't know.”

“I went up at lunch, but not after school.”

“I went straight home after school. Oh, wait, are you in the detective association?”

We were not able to get any good information. I was in charge of surveying the 3rd years, but most of them hadn't even gone on the roof. I was surprised by how unpopular the spot apparently was. Frustratingly, the result after my day's work going to four separate classes was zero; it was a bust. There weren't any 3rd years up on the roof at the time.

We had a meeting after school. Junka made an origami shuriken, clearly showing his total lack of motivation.

“Nothing from the second years,” Nao reported dejectedly.

She'd heard that nobody had gone up.

Hinata cleared her throat.

“As for the first years, there was somebody who went up on the roof after school to do a sketch of the sky for the art club. She matches Mimatsenpai's description of a short girl.”

“Seriously?”

Nao had straightened up. I too leaned in without thinking.

Hinata, however, shook her head.

“She reported seeing no one.”

I followed up with the obvious next step, “If she's the culprit, wouldn't she just lie?”

“At the very least, I got to look at her sketchbook. The scenery was depicting the sights from the roof. Not that I can confirm she did them that day…”

“Suspicious.”

I was captivated.

“First she went up and did some quick sketches before sneaking down to the second floor to lie in wait behind the fire door. The time matches, and so does her description, so I think it's clear she's our culprit. She… fled with her art supplies? How's that? I think it's pretty good.”

Junka hurled his shuriken into my stomach.

What was he up to?

“The information we got from Mimatsenpai was ‘a short girl' not ‘a girl with a sketchbook.' If your theory was correct, the most obvious thing to remember would have been the sketchbook. Since nothing like that was mentioned, it's highly likely the culprit was empty handed.”

“Maybe she hid her art supplies on the roof,” I persisted.

“Well, if you're going to doubt, you can doubt anything as much as you want.”

I muttered under my breath about how low I'd scored on my theory while I collected the shuriken.

I'm not a target, Junka.

“Are you talking about Kashiwagi Harumi of class 1,2?” Eiji butted in, “Seems like we've come to the same conclusion. We also asked around and it turns out that the only one on the roof was the art club's own Kashiwagi. We are considering her a possible suspect.”

I didn't know if I should have been happy or sad. Eiji seemed to be in high spirits, though.

“I plan on cornering Kashiwagi now, so how about you tag along? I want you to confirm your loss with your own eyes.”

Nao stood straight up, “Fine, let's go. I'm going to watch to the end even if I lose.”

Hinata and I went after them.

Junka, however, was seriously absorbed in making an origami samurai helmet.

“I'm fine. You go ahead, I'll be waiting here.”

Translator's Note:

I'd be willing to bet the culprit is Minamata. It better be now that we've got a ‘better' (at least more obvious) red herring.

Editor's Note:

Somehow, things got really messed up when I pasted stuff into this page, but I managed to sort it out, and it was a case of more appearing than I wanted, rather than less. Deleting the duplicates was no real trouble. This is still filler editor notage.

Chapter end