Inside Class 2-A of Teitan High School, the girl seated by the front window absentmindedly spun the ballpoint pen in her hand. The notebook spread open before her remained completely blank. Clearly, she understood that she would soon be leaving school to pay the price for her actions.
So whether she took notes or not no longer mattered.
With long black hair and faint freckles on her cheeks, she was Akitani Yuri.
She had expected the police to come for her quickly, yet even after the bell rang for the end of the second afternoon class, no uniformed officers had appeared.
Could it be that the detective in charge was incompetent? Or perhaps they had never connected the case to Takahashi and therefore failed to trace it back to her?
Yuri sat at her desk in a daze, not bothering to pack her textbooks into her bag. Only after every classmate had left did she rise and walk over to Saki's seat. Resting her cheek against the desk, she tried to feel the lingering presence of her best friend.
Best friend? No, she didn't deserve that word at all. She was the one who had pushed the most important person in her life off a cliff with her own hands.
Thinking of everything written in that diary, tears welled up in Yuri's eyes.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
'Who would come to the classroom at a time like this?'
Slowly lifting her head, Yuri saw a silver-haired young man standing at the podium. Remembering the discussions on the school forum, she realized the man before her was a police officer.
So they had discovered it after all. But then why wait until now to come for her?
"Looks like I won't have to waste my breath convincing you to turn yourself in. You were already prepared."
"Officer, may I ask you something?"
Ritsu rested both hands on the desk. He had plenty of time today, so answering her questions posed no inconvenience. Rather than replying immediately, he simply gestured for her to continue.
Yuri asked curiously, "You clearly knew I was the killer long ago. Why wait until after school to come get me? Police care a lot about performance records, don't they? Solving the case earlier would've looked better on your resume."
"My resume is already impressive enough. So, do you want to hear my answer?"
"Please tell me."
Looking at the girl before him, he seemed to catch a glimpse of his younger self.
Sitting by the window in the back row of the classroom with noise-canceling headphones on, isolating himself from the class before anyone else could reject him first.
Back in middle school, there actually had been people who reached out to him. But he had been too afraid that if he grasped their hands, they would only throw him away again. So he chose loneliness.
Thinking back to that night by the riverbank in Beika Town, he suddenly recalled how he had come to realize,
That person would never let go of his hand.
Warmth touched his expression as Ritsu curved his eyes into a faint smile.
"To you, today is very special. Not only did you get revenge, but you also ended your nightmare. So I wanted time to move a little slower, so you could enjoy the last bit of peace before carrying the burden of murder."
Killing someone was never a pleasant thing, even if it was revenge.
If revenge became the entirety of your life, then the moment you ended someone else's life, you also killed yourself.
Because, if revenge was all you wanted, then once everything was over, your own existence lost its meaning too.
"And besides, there's someone else who wanted to apologize to you. The apology came very late, but I suppose it still means something."
With his hands in his pockets, Ritsu walked to the doorway. Glancing sideways at Nakamura, who had been eavesdropping nearby, he coldly said,
"If you're apologizing, stop dragging your feet and get in here already."
"O-Okay…"
Keeping his head lowered, Nakamura stepped into the classroom. He didn't dare look Yuri in the eye as he muttered softly,
"Akitani-san, I'm sorry."
Memories flashed through his mind, how he had refused to listen to her explanation and merely stood by coldly while Kawai beat her in the boys' restroom.
Nakamura felt utterly unworthy of even raising his head before her. He bent over even lower, like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand.
Was there any point in apologizing now?
Obviously not. Yuri's expression made that painfully clear.
Everything was too late.
What had been destroyed wasn't just Yuri's life, it had completely ruined Saki's life as well, along with the future of their families.
"Akitani-san, I know you won't forgive me, but… I still wanted to apologize to you in person. If I had listened to your explanation back then and realized Kawai was lying, then I—"
"If? Back then?"
Yuri rose to her feet expressionlessly. After stuffing the last textbook into her schoolbag, she sneered.
"There's no 'if' and no 'back then.' Do you really think those pretty words matter now?"
Slowly raising his head, Nakamura met a pair of hollow eyes devoid of emotion.
She had once shown him shy smiles. She had once cheered him on during soccer club activities. Those eyes had once been filled with joy whenever they looked at him.
She once had. She once had…
But only once.
Without expression, Yuri extended both hands calmly.
"Officer, I want to turn myself in."
Leaning against the doorway, Ritsu didn't even have time to light a cigarette. After taking out a pair of handcuffs, he put them away again and waved dismissively.
"Just come with me. We can put them on after we reach the Metropolitan Police Department."
"Okay. Thank you."
'Thank you for letting me leave this place with at least a little dignity left.'
Inside the classroom, Nakamura crouched down, fingers tangled in his hair. He bit his lip in frustration. Nothing he said now mattered anymore.
It was all too late.
Only after walking out through the school gates did Ritsu suddenly remember something.
He didn't have a car.
Squinting at Yuri beside him, he asked, "Is taking the subway okay?"
"Huh?" Yuri blinked in confusion. Shouldn't she be riding in a police car or an unmarked investigative vehicle? Why the subway?
"I don't have a car." Ritsu spread his hands with a grin so irritatingly smug it practically begged for a punch. Especially when he flashed those absurdly white teeth, yeah, we get it, your teeth are white, stop smiling already.
"Then let's take a taxi. I'll pay."
Ritsu nearly blurted out, "Then I won't hold back," but he restrained his acting instincts in front of someone unimportant. Letting the grin fade, he lazily replied,
"Taxi it is. But you don't need to pay."
'This police officer really is strange,' Yuri thought.
By the time they returned to the Metropolitan Police Department by taxi and finished all the procedures, night had already fallen.
Having barely eaten all day, Ritsu felt starving. He had planned to catch a ride home, only to discover Takagi had already left.
'Forget it. I'll just grab something nearby before heading home.'
Strolling through the streets like this was rare for him. Besides, early tomorrow morning he would be departing for that island rumored to have mermaids.
Standing at an intersection, Ritsu pulled out his cigarette pack. Before he could place one in his mouth, he spotted several familiar faces across the street.
Unfortunately, they were exactly the kind he didn't want to see.
"You bastard, Ichiro! You were sneaking around with another woman behind my back?! You've got some nerve! If you've got money for those sluts, why can't you pay the rent?! I already pawned my last luxury handbag to pay debts, and you still—I'll beat you to death!!!"
"That's enough! What are you trying to do in the middle of the street?! Aren't you ashamed?!"
Naomi's obese body trembled with rage as she slapped Ichiro across the face. The rebound from the wobbling fat made her palm go numb, it was almost like there were springs hidden in his cheeks.
"You crazy shrew! Y-You… I'm divorcing you!"
"You think I want to stay married to you?! Fine, divorce it is! I'm going right now to calculate Aoko's child support payments!"
"Are you insane? Aoko's already thirty-three years old! Child support my ass! You should go to a hospital and check if your brain's clogged with fat!"
Ritsu silently watched the two brawling in the middle of the street, losing even the desire to smoke.
Chuckling softly, he slipped the cigarette pack back into his pocket.
Sure enough, this outcome was exactly what he had imagined back when he slammed the door and walked out at fourteen years old.
They had grown accustomed to extravagant living and to surviving off the money given by their parents.
For people like them, the greatest punishment was probably abandonment, to leave them to fend for themselves until they rotted away, living worse than dogs.
This was their retribution.
----
bonus chap every 20 PS
chek out my pa reon @Siamus404 for more than a hundred chaps