After asking, Fushimi Roku stood up to leave.
Minamoto Tamako, still unclear, continued to chatter as she followed him.
The latter descended the stairs without a word, and just as he stepped through the main entrance, he suddenly retraced his steps.
"Ah, it's raining," Minamoto Tamako said.
A gray dot appeared on the white floor tile, soon followed by a second and a third... The raindrops connected into lines, weaving a heavy curtain of water.
The sun was obscured by dark clouds, which hung oppressively low.
Fushimi Roku looked up, feeling as if he could touch the clouds from the rooftop.
"What are we going to do next?" Minamoto Tamako urged.
She had no idea how to investigate the case, her reasoning skills useless, and she could only follow behind Fushimi Roku, incessantly asking why like a fool...
Despite feeling resentful, she would endure this slight discomfort if it meant bringing the culprit to justice!
"Do nothing," Fushimi Roku said.
"Huh? Are we really just going to watch her get away with it?"
"Yes," Fushimi Roku turned his head and asked, "Hasn't she gotten away with it for sixteen years, what's a few more days?"
"What do you mean? Is there new evidence coming in a few days?" Minamoto Tamako was confused.
"Just wait, wait until the rain stops first."
Fushimi Roku finally pieced it all together, connecting the hit-and-run sixteen years ago, Ishizuka Yoshio's revenge plan, and Nagono Kawai's game of deduction in his mind.
Beneath the truth lay an intricately crafted lie.
No matter how Minamoto Tamako asked or pleaded, he wouldn't reveal a single word, leaving her sullen and unhappy.
The afternoon consisted of a regular firearms operation class and two theory and practice lessons, school ended at five-thirty.
Minamoto Tamako was not going to give up easily, persistently following Fushimi Roku, until he could no longer tolerate her pestering and exclaimed:
"Instead of trying to pry answers from me, why don't you use your brain to think for yourself? Aren't you the so-called genius of deduction? How can you not see through such a simple puzzle?"
Minamoto Tamako froze, a deep sense of frustration welling up inside her.
Recalling Kawai comforting her in the cafeteria, she found it especially ironic.
Kawai believed in her so much, yet she couldn't understand the clues he left behind...
Minamoto Tamako stood in the corridor, lowering her head, allowing Fushimi Roku to walk away.
The rain continued to pour, lightning cut through the clouds, turning the world black and white in an instant, stretching their shadows. Seconds later, the hallway was lit again by the thunder, leaving only Minamoto Tamako's shadow swaying.
She wiped her tears away, her gaze determined, and turned back towards the classroom.
Even without Fushimi Roku, even fighting alone, she would find the clues and make the criminal face justice!
The classroom was empty, the students had all gone to the cafeteria for dinner. Minamoto Tamako walked to the podium alone and laid out the page of the diary.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and cleared her mind of all distractions.
This time, she would review the old case from a completely objective perspective—after just a moment, she opened her eyes again.
As Fushimi Roku said, it's just a "simple puzzle."
Sakurai Chizuru couldn't possibly have kept a diary from sixteen years ago, much less recorded her criminal process in it. Who would put their true thoughts in a diary? How could what's written in a diary be the true thoughts? From the start, stealing the diary was destined to be futile.
So, who misled her into believing there was a record of crime in the diary?
First, Fushimi Roku.
He likely wanted information on Sakurai Chizuru's private life, thus urging her to take the unwise move, temporarily eliminating suspicion.
Second, Ishizuka Yoshio.
Stealing the diary was part of his revenge plan, but why was he certain that "a lot of unspeakable scandals" were recorded in Sakurai Chizuru's diary?
Moreover, there were only two copyists at the police academy, pasting the diary onto the bulletin board was like walking into a trap himself.
Tracing back further, when Fushimi Roku inquired, Ishizuka Yoshio cooperated completely, answering everything asked, reminding Minamoto Tamako of Shiseki Hideo.
No matter what Fushimi Roku asked, he only answered "yes."
—What if Ishizuka Yoshio was lying?
—What if his daughter didn't die in a car accident?
"When a clue directly points to another clue, there's a ninety percent chance it's fabricated, the connection between two clues is an extremely rare coincidence, seen only in detective novels."
Fushimi Roku's words resonated in her ears.
The anonymous letter pointing to red ink, red ink leading to Ishizuka Yoshio, Ishizuka Yoshio revealing a murder case and pointing to the diary, the chain unmistakable—there was Kawai's shadow in every link.
It was Kawai who told her, the class monitor was privately helping Instructor Sakurai investigate the sender;
It was Kawai who pried open the door, allowing them to find the anonymous letter hidden in the office;
It was Kawai who discovered only one person in the dean's office used the same red ink;
All the clues linked together too smoothly, like a play with a pre-written script.
...
"Instructor Sakurai has been employed as an instructor for five years, Ishizuka Yoshio worked at the police academy for eight years, over the years they've lived peacefully, why has Ishizuka Yoshio only recently thought of retaliating against her?"
Fushimi Roku's words echoed in her ears again.
This time, she found the answer.
—Because the avenger was not Ishizuka Yoshio, but Nagono Kawai.
She enrolled in early April, saw Instructor Sakurai, which led to the subsequent anonymous letter incident.
Nagono Kawai tearing this diary page was not without reason, July 13th to 16th coincided with the Obon Festival, and the diary started on July 12th, which was the day her brother died in a car accident.
—July 12th was her brother's memorial day.
Indeed, there were no crime clues in this diary page; but this page was Nagono Kawai's crime predication.
She had been silently hinting to Minamoto Tamako all along.
The hit-and-run murder case truly happened, but the deceased was not Ishizuka Yoshio's daughter, nor was it a sixteen-year-old cold case.
"Be prepared, I'll make you pay"
As Nagono Kawai said in the letter, she was going to avenge Sakurai Chizuru.
...
The above train of thought hardly counts as reasoning; it's Minamoto Tamako simulating Fushimi Roku's mindset, speculating step by step based on the principle that 'no one can be trusted,' ultimately concluding a "conspiracy theory."
Yes, this result isn't supported by evidence.
But Minamoto Tamako's intuition told her, this is the final answer.
Despite many uncertainties unresolved, such as why Ishizuka Yoshio would help Kawai lie, or why Nagono Kawai kept providing her with clues—however, at this moment, she couldn't worry about all those.
"I hope I'm wrong..."
With red-rimmed eyes, Minamoto Tamako dashed downstairs, braving the downpour as she rushed into the cafeteria, finding the class monitor under the surprised gazes of the crowd, urgently asking where Instructor Sakurai was.
"Ah, the instructor seems to be busy."
The class monitor scratched his head, whispering close to her ear: "She's giving special guidance to Fushimi."