"She... really died?"
Ueda could hardly believe it. Hideyo Kawai, the girl who always acted arrogantly and treated him like an errand boy, had actually died just like that.
"If you don't believe it, you can check whether she's breathing yourself," Ritsu said indifferently as his gaze swept over the corpse. "Though I wouldn't recommend it."
"Careful not to get the smell of death on you."
After a long silence, once he had finally processed the information, Ueda slowly began explaining his relationship with the victim. He didn't seem afraid of being treated as a suspect.
Compared to becoming a criminal suspect, he was far more afraid that Kawai might suddenly come back to life.
"Kawai and I were classmates. Since last summer, I've been targeted by her and..." Ueda glanced at the silent Nakamura, who kept his head lowered, then gathered his courage and continued, "...her and Nakamura-senpai didn't like me. They hated me..."
The moment he heard his own name mentioned, Nakamura suddenly looked up and snapped angrily,
"I hated you? Don't joke around! Why the hell would I hate you for no reason?! I hated you because you liked my girlfriend! Why're you pretending to be some innocent victim in front of the cops?!"
"I never liked your girlfriend! She made that whole thing up! But you never listened to my explanation, you just beat me up!"
Ueda's eyes reddened with frustration. Recalling that nightmare-like day, he clenched his fists and finally revealed the truth.
"Senpai, you never knew anything at all! That day, Kawai demanded that I help her cheat on the chemistry exam. Just because I refused such an unreasonable request, she made up the story that I was pursuing her! You were completely manipulated by her!"
Lowering his head, his voice filled with disgust toward the victim, he gritted his teeth and said,
"And I already liked someone else. But because of this whole thing... I never managed to gather the courage to tell her I loved her."
Nakamura opened his mouth, only to realize he had no response. It was obvious he had finally realized he'd been used.
"The girl you liked... wouldn't happen to be Takahashi Saki from your class, would it?"
Ueda looked shocked. "Officer, how did you know?"
"That last thing you said made me think of Takahashi, the girl who committed suicide during summer vacation."
"Yeah... I really liked Takahashi-san." Speaking about the girl he loved, Ueda awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "She was genuinely kind and cheerful. A girl that wonderful was still driven to—"
"Driven to death by Kawai?" Shinichi finished the sentence he couldn't bring himself to say and raised an eyebrow.
"Sensei, it looks like we should focus our reasoning around Takahashi-senpai. There's a high chance this case is connected to her."
"Yeah. Right now all we can do is wait for Takagi to return. I think he'll bring us some useful leads."
Ritsu didn't seem the slightest bit anxious. Pulling out a cigarette pack from his pocket and lightly shaking it, he said,
"I'm going outside for a smoke."
Standing by the window, he skillfully struck a match and lit the cigarette in his mouth. One hand tucked into his pocket, Ritsu looked toward Teitan High School's front gate and spotted Takagi driving his Nissan into the campus grounds.
Looks like the investigation results were in.
He had originally intended to stay there and finish smoking, but suddenly shrieks erupted from downstairs.
Looking downward, he saw several female high school students holding up their phones and taking pictures of him.
The moment he remembered the comments on the school forum, his desire to smoke instantly vanished.
Students these days really weren't focusing on studying at all, they spent all their time thinking about nonsense.
Ritsu quickly withdrew from the window and deliberately stepped farther away from it. Thinking back to the forum posts, a look of disgust crossed his face. He extinguished the cigarette after only two puffs and carefully placed it into a clean evidence bag before impatiently heading toward the stairwell.
"Takagi, hurry it up."
The echoing voice startled Takagi, who had only just stepped onto the first stair. Hugging the diary tightly in his hands, he rushed upstairs two steps at a time.
"Inspector Onizawa, I found the diary you asked for!"
"Mm."
Takagi cautiously observed Ritsu's expression.
'Was this case really that troublesome? Why was the inspector in such a terrible mood?'
Ritsu lowered his head and flipped through the diary in his hands.
The beginning entries talked about graduating from middle school and looking forward to high school life. From the words written inside, it was easy to tell that Takahashi had been a cheerful girl who loved small animals.
The first half of her first year in high school had passed quite ordinarily.
If there was anything useful to the case, it was the mention of Akitani Yuri.
The two had become inseparable friends less than a month after school started. There was even a part mentioning how Akitani had a crush on an upperclassman from the soccer club.
An upperclassman from the soccer club.
Ritsu glanced toward the chemistry lab.
'So this was how Nakamura became connected to Takahashi.'
Through Akitani, the two had formed a faint connection.
As he continued turning pages, he quickly understood why Kawai had begun disliking Takahashi. It was because of Akitani.
The realization reminded him of his own past.
A past he had no desire to revisit.
Ritsu looked at the tear stains on the final pages of the diary.
So she had read this diary before taking action.
Knowing full well the diary would eventually fall into police hands, why hadn't she destroyed it completely?
Had she already prepared herself to be arrested?
Closing the diary, he looked toward Takagi and said in a low voice, "Takagi, we can wrap this up."
"Huh? But, Inspector..."
Takagi couldn't understand. Hadn't the inspector formed any conclusions after reading the diary?
It was obvious that the girl mentioned repeatedly inside, the one named Akitani Yuri, was highly suspicious.
"I'll make the culprit turn herself in."
Ritsu lowered his eyes toward the time displayed on his wristwatch. After a brief silence, he slowly continued,
"Give her some time. Let her finish her final classes first."
"That's alright, isn't it, Takagi?"
'So Inspector Onizawa already knew who the culprit was?'
Takagi could only obey the order. He instructed all officers at the scene to withdraw while also having Kawai's already foul-smelling corpse sealed inside a body bag and transported away.
"Sensei, what are you planning?"
Ritsu patted Shinichi on the shoulder. "Go back to class. I'll handle the rest."
"So the culprit really is connected to Takahashi-senpai, right?"
Ritsu opened his mouth, then closed it again. Looking helplessly at Shinichi, he sighed inwardly. This kid really was stubbornly obsessed with uncovering the truth behind every case.
"Yeah. So can you go back to class now?"
"Is it Akitani Yuri, the one mentioned in the diary?"
Hearing that, Ritsu couldn't help glaring at Shinichi. "So you were sneaking a look at the diary from behind me? Nicely done."
"Hehe! Then I'll leave the rest to you, Sensei. Good luck!"
"Get lost already."
Pretending to lift his foot as if preparing to kick him, the boy in the blue school uniform laughed and hurried away. Even after reaching the stairwell, he still turned back and made a cheering gesture.
Ritsu shook his head with a bitter smile.
Was he really the type of person who needed encouragement?
Of course not.