——This guy, really is a nutcase.
Under the disdainful gazes of others, Nagono Kawai flashed a brilliant smile. Anyone could tell that her smile was very fake.
Minamoto Tamako knew that those two sentences from Kawai were directed at her.
Once she confessed, then the private investigation of Instructor Sakurai would be exposed, and the final result would be predictable:
——The deduction team of three would be expelled, and the one who sent the anonymous letter, Ishizuka Yoshio, would also lose his job.
Most importantly, the hit-and-run case from sixteen years ago would continue to be sealed away until the victim was completely forgotten by the world.
In any case, Minamoto Tamako couldn't accept such an outcome.
Her nose tingled, and tears blurred her vision.
On stage, Instructor Sakurai publicly stripped Nagono Kawai of her uniform on the grounds that she was not fit to be a police officer.
She sat in her sports bra, even though her body was shivering from the cold, her back remained straight as a rod.
Minamoto Tamako gritted her teeth, forcing herself to lower her head, swallowing down the words that had rushed to her throat.
The 'interrogation' lasted for two hours, only coming to a hasty end when the instructor intervened to dissuade it.
Fushimi Roku had been observing silently from the start.
There were several times when Fushimi Roku thought that Nagono Kawai would give him up. In this way, she could suffer less and protect Minamoto Tamako, which could be seen as a win-win.
But Nagono Kawai said nothing.
When Fushimi Roku was a lawyer, he encountered many tough ones. But those people either had unavoidable reasons or clung to their positions and wealth.
"Why didn't you give me up? Was it to protect Minamoto Tamako? Is it necessary? This whole thing started because of Minamoto Tamako. Doesn't she feel any resentment in her heart?"
"Was it for Ishizuka Yoshio? They've never even met, so why not give Ishizuka Yoshio up?"
"Then why did she do it? Could it be for so-called 'justice'? That's just too naive..."
The demon in Fushimi Roku's ear babbled incessantly, saying that Nagono Kawai was a complete fool. Who would be stupid enough to steal from the instructor's dorm? Especially for a stranger, what was the point in suffering so much? Wasn't Instructor Sakurai still continuing as an instructor?
The instructor announced dismissal, and the crowd dispersed in twos and threes.
Fushimi Roku spotted Minamoto Tamako, standing in the front row, motionless, being glanced at several times by passing students.
He quickly stepped forward, tugging at Minamoto Tamako's coat, and whispered, "Let's go."
"Okay."
Minamoto Tamako's voice was nasal and heavy.
The two returned to their dormitories separately, and Fushimi Roku lay on the bed, still tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
He certainly wasn't sad for Kawai. After all, he wasn't really close to Kawai; he just vaguely felt like he had forgotten something.
Exactly what did he forget?
Fushimi Roku sat up again. Outside the window, the sky was dim and blue. He decided to take a walk on the playground.
...
Early the next morning, the assembly bell rang promptly at six-thirty.
The trainees were, as usual, on the playground for inspection. The wooden platforms, tables, and chairs had been removed, and Nagono Kawai was nowhere to be seen, as if nothing had happened the previous night.
Today's morning classes were disaster site drills, water rescue practice, and a Patrol Police legal theory class.
During recess, the school broadcast announced that, unsurprisingly, Nagono Kawai was expelled. The trainees crowded by the windows of the teaching building, watching her being escorted out of the school gates by two instructors.
"Well, I guess I'm the next one in line."
Fushimi Roku felt a sense of shared fate as Instructor Sakurai was going to give him 'special guidance' that night... It seemed he would be punished too.
Over the next five months, Instructor Sakurai would undoubtedly find ways to turn him into a dog.
Fushimi Roku turned to look at Minamoto Tamako, who no longer chattered incessantly to him but stared out the window, silent and lost in thought.
His ears found peace, or rather, it was too peaceful, which made him uncomfortable.
By lunchtime, Fushimi Roku was holding his tray, ready to return to his dormitory to eat, when he ran straight into Minamoto Tamako.
With her only good friend gone, she looked around cluelessly, not knowing where to sit and eat.
Fushimi Roku sighed, patted her shoulder, and proactively invited her, "Let's eat together."
"Eh? Okay..."
The two found a relatively secluded corner and sat facing each other.
Minamoto Tamako poked at her broccoli with a heavy heart, racking her brains on how to expose the true nature of Instructor Sakurai—a pervert using Water Magic in the office, a hit-and-run killer from sixteen years ago, and a woman who abused her power to reprimand students. How could she be a police school instructor?
Fushimi Roku saw that she still hadn't started eating, and reminded her, "Stop thinking about it, eat first."
"How can I eat?" Minamoto Tamako puffed her cheeks, her little eyebrows drooping in a pout, muttering silently, "Last time was the same, I couldn't do anything…"
"Last time?" Fushimi Roku asked.
"It was about her brother's car accident."
Minamoto Tamako poked the broccoli straight through with her chopsticks, her thoughts drifting unknowingly to more than ten years ago.
Back then, she and Kawai weren't close; they attended the same elementary school but were in different classes.
Kawai, as a child, played especially wildly, like a dark version of Crayon Shin-chan, troubling both teachers and parents;
whereas Minamoto Tamako was the opposite, extremely introverted, speechless even under pressure. Her deskmate secretly put a frog in her backpack, she cried but didn't dare report it to the teacher.
Once, a few boys surrounded her, sticking gum on her hair. Kawai saw this and fought with those boys. She wasn't avenging Minamoto Tamako, but because those boys had stolen her gum.
The next day, Minamoto Tamako wanted to thank her, but found that Kawai had become a different person.
"I remember it very clearly. It was the Obon Festival. Monks were chanting sutras for the dead spirits. People gathered near the temple, wearing yukatas, dancing hand in hand to the rhythm of the taiko drums. Kawai sat alone on the temple steps, silently gazing at the golden statue of Buddha in the main hall."
"And I couldn't do anything, I didn't even have the courage to approach her and say a few words of comfort. She surely could empathize with Mr. Ishizuka, couldn't she? Both of them had lost their most important loved ones, silently enduring while the perpetrator remained free..."
As Minamoto Tamako spoke softly, tears fell one by one.
The miso soup in the porcelain bowl rippled, turning its taste bitter.
...
"Why are you crying?" Fushimi Roku sighed and said, "Kawai isn't dead; why make it so tragic?"
"Why are you so cold-blooded..."
"Besides, she left us with a clue."
Fushimi Roku's mouth curved into a smile, biting into tempura, teeth and batter meeting, making a sound like chewing bones. Minamoto Tamako stared at him dumbfounded, noticing a change in the air about him, as if something hidden in his eyes was itching to break free.
"She gave me a page from a diary."
Fushimi Roku spoke unclearly, like a wolf gnawing on bones and sucking blood.