Chapter 9 | Contents | Chapter 11
I couldn’t turn on the lights. In this dark room, I wouldn’t be able to write anything even if I opened my notebook.
Thus with my head on the pillow, I gazed up at the ceiling and started recalling the past again. How did the case of three years ago end?
The day after I was told to back out of this case at the Inaba River Hotel, I received a phone call from Osanai-san in the late afternoon.
“Sorry for the sudden call.”
“It’s fine. What’s the matter?”
“I got a call from Asoya-san. She wants to talk.”
I tried contemplating about what Asoya-san could want of Osanai-san. I couldn’t be certain, but it wasn’t likely to be anything good, so I asked.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to talk on the phone?”
“That’s what I said too, but she said that she can’t talk about it on the phone, and wants to do it face-to-face.”
That sure sounded risky.
Previously, when Osanai-san obtained the security camera footage from Asoya-san, I played the role of a bodyguard. I wasn’t exactly blessed with an exceptional physique, nor did I possess a vicious face, but simply standing around as a male seemed to exert a great deal of pressure on Asoya-san. Thinking back to that time, I made a suggestion.
“Call me anytime if you need me to stand around silently.”
Osanai-san did not seem touched by my warm offer. She answered, “Okay,” as if she were asking about the weather, then continued.
“See you in school in thirty minutes then.”
Remembering that it was close to dinnertime for me, I was about to persuade her, but the line went dead, so I lost my chance to do so.
After quickly changing my clothes, I snuck out of the house and rode my bicycle on the route I usually walked to get to school.
I’d hardly given a thought about Asoya-san up till now. Why? There were many possible reasons, but it was most likely that I was lying to myself. As for why I would shut Asoya-san out of my conscious mind, there was only one reason: because she was a person related to the security camera.
We’d received the security camera data from Asoya-san, but the culprit who should have been captured in the footage could not be found, and I still had not figured out why. Because deducing that Hisaka-kun had not been alone at the moment of the accident and identifying the companion linked to that took up attention and time, I’d put the mystery of the surveillance camera on the back burner… that was no lie.
But to be honest, I simply could not solve it.
When I walked along the embankment road with Osanai-san, we determined that cars going upstream would definitely be seen on the security camera installed at the convenience store. Yet it was not there, so it must have turned around at some point, or just completely vanished. Additionally, the consideration that the car took a U-turn was not feasible, because the path from the embankment road down to the riverbed was locked off due to the river swelling.
On that day, the road was an enclosed space, so to speak. How did the culprit escape from it, and where did they go?
But I couldn’t come up with anything to answer those questions. Because I’m not familiar with cars… because I don’t know the terrain… because thinking about something else would lead me to the culprit more quickly… all I did was repeat these excuses to myself, and thus I turned my eyes away from the fact that I’d abandoned this mystery.
That was also why I didn’t remember Asoya-san.
As I headed to school, which was our meeting place, I felt a great deal of hope, as well as an almost equal amount of dread. My pedaling was light at times, heavy at others. The situation might change with Asoya-san calling out Osanai-san. Perhaps she’d obtained a clue for solving the mystery of that enclosed space. That was the hope I possessed.
On the other hand, I was fearful that I wouldn’t be able to solve the mystery even with such a clue. No matter how superior my powers of observation and thinking, I wouldn’t be able to find the truth if I didn’t have enough clues, and there wouldn’t be anything I could do. But what if… what if I obtained the clues but turned out to be unable to solve the mystery? What would that mean?
At the junction before me, a car ignored the obligation to stop and sped forth, but I managed to brake just in time. A high-pitched screech sounded, but the car continued zooming forward without letting up on its speed.
That was close. From that point on, I stopped mulling about that unsolved mystery, and concentrated on pedaling.
Since it was Sunday and the sun was about to set, we were unable to enter the school. I was wondering where exactly we would meet, when I spotted Osanai-san standing in front of the school gate. She was clad in quite a simple outfit, with dark-colored denim jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of sneakers on her feet. It seemed like clothes one would wear in their neighborhood, or to put it another way, her outfit looked very easy to move around in. It could be a precaution, in case she had to make a quick getaway, though I might be overthinking it.
Osanai-san greeted me by lowering her head.
“Sorry for suddenly calling you out on a rest day.”
“Don’t worry about it. That’s what a mutually beneficial relationship is for.”
Asoya-san was not here. We would probably still have to move to another location. I couldn’t see Osanai-san’s bicycle, so the next meeting place was probably at a walking distance. Without waiting for a reply, I asked.
“Do you have any idea about what Asoya-san wants to talk about?”
Osanai-san tilted her head.
“I’m not on such friendly terms with Asoya-san. We only know each others’ names because of something that happened in the past. I only found out that her parents operate a convenient store during this investigation. I’ve only had that one point of contact with her.”
“So it’s about the security camera, right?”
“Probably… we’re getting late. This way.”
She started walking off, and I followed after her while pushing my bicycle. This walkway was not very wide, so I was unable to walk side-by-side with Osanai-san in that state.
An unwarranted guilt gnawed away at me as I looked at her from the back. When Asoya-san contacted her, she immediately called me out even though it was dinnertime. Of course, I could interpret it as her taking a precaution in case Asoya-san resorted to violence. However, you could say that Osanai-san had kept her promise in this case by helping me in the investigation and sharing information – unlike me.
It wouldn’t be too late now. I talked to her back.
“Osanai-san.”
There was no response, but I could tell she was listening.
“I have something to tell you. Hisaka-kun’s father called, and we met yesterday.”
She looked over her shoulder.
“So, what did her say?”
“He told me to back out of this.”
She turned back to the front and walked on for a while before giving an indifferent reply.
“Is that so?”
I’d gone into this investigation for the sake of finding the truth behind Hisaka-kun’s accident, and to make that truth widely known, so it was related to Hisaka-kun’s father. However, Osanai-san was in it to pinpoint the driver who had almost run her over, and make them pay, which was unrelated to Hisaka-kun’s father. Perhaps her “Is that so?” really meant she had no comment on that topic. She also did not take me to task for meeting him alone.
Along our path was the tip of an area surrounded by a stone shelf – I learned later that it was called tamagaki1 – and was lush with trees. It was a shrine. I’d never noticed that there was a shrine near our school. The shrine was not very big, and there was not a soul in sight at this time in the evening. Osanai-san entered the grounds looking unafraid. I propped my bicycle against the stone shelf and followed in her wake.
Asoya-san was standing in front of the offertory box, in between a pair of komainu2. She was wearing a baggy shirt with a black-white striped pattern and short pants, and clearly looked grumpy. Upon catching sight of Osanai-san, Asoya-san immediately went ballistic.
“Why are we meeting at a shrine!”
So Asoya-san was not the one who decided on this location…
Osanai-san answered in an unconcerned manner.
“Weren’t you the one who said that you wanted to meet in a place where we wouldn’t be heard by others, but not at your house or at the shop, Asoya-san?”
“We could’ve met at the station!”
“You could have said so then. The station is quite far from my house, so it didn’t come to mind.”
I still didn’t know Osanai-san that well, but observing how obviously frightened Asoya-san looked, I felt that this spot was chosen to inflict psychological pressure on her.
Asoya-san was not happy with this location, but did not seem surprised that I’d come along as well. Perhaps she’d been told beforehand, or perhaps she just didn’t care.
Without any preface, Osanai-san asked.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
Again, Asoya-san did not beat around the bush.
“What are you two doing?”
“Being troubled because we were called out even though it’s dinnertime.”
“Cut the crap. You’re doing something dangerous, aren’t you?”
“Sorry Asoya-san, I don’t know what you’re trying to ask.”
Asoya-san swept her hair back irritably.
“The police came over to our place. Or rather, our shop. They told us to hand over the security camera footage. Ah, that was just a summary, it was actually more polite than that. Anyway, they wanted the footage taken on the 7th of June from 5pm onwards, and the camera they chose was exactly the same as the one you asked for. So it wouldn’t be weird to think that you’ve gotten in trouble with the police. What happened on the 7th of June? What did you do?”
Osanai-san glanced at me. The fact that we were investigating Hisaka-kun’s hit-and-run accident was not a secret or anything. I nodded with the implication that it should be fine to tell her. However, Asoya-san wholly misinterpreted our eye contact.
“Just saying, but I’ve also seen the video. The police said they wouldn’t accept a copy, so they took the whole recorder, but I saw the video when I made the copy for you. Nothing weird happened in it at all. It just showed some normal cars going around normally. First you came for such footage, then the police. I have a bad feeling about all this. I don’t want to cause any trouble for my dad. What am I supposed to do if the police somehow find some trace of the video being copied before?”
I didn’t know how good-natured Osanai-san was, but at the very least, she didn’t seem to be so sadistic as to gain pleasure from ignoring a frightened Asoya-san. As soon as her statement ended, Osanai-san gave a brief response.
“A hit-and-run accident happened during that time.”
“…A hit-and-run?”
“It happened on the walkway south of Togou Bridge. The victim was Hisaka Shoutarou, who’s in class 3-1 in our school. The culprit escaped in the upstream direction of the embankment road, and hasn’t been caught yet.”
Asoya-san raised her eyebrows, a perplexed look on her face.
“So what does this have to do with our shop?”
“On that day, there was no way for a car to get off the embankment road if it went upstream. The culprit could only follow the road and had to pass by the Nanatsuya Town Store which your parents operate.”
Asoya-san placed a hand on her lips.
“Hang on, so basically you’re saying that the culprit was caught on our security cameras, right?”
“But they were not shown on the footage.”
Asoya-san stomped down on the stone paving. Wow… that was probably the first time I saw someone actually stamping their feet in frustration.
“What’s going on? Your story doesn’t add up at all.”
“As I said…”
Osanai-san spoke in a way that was easy to understand.
“The culprit’s car which should have definitely been on the video was not there. The culprit escaped from the embankment road without passing the convenience store, but we don’t know how yet.”
“You don’t know, you say?”
Even in the dim environment, I could tell that the blood had drained from her face.
“So that’s why you…”
For the first time, Asoya-san looked at me.
“Or rather, you two. So you two are looking into how and where the culprit escaped?”
Osanai-san and I nodded in an uncoordinated manner. Asoya-san then pointed at us with a half-extended finger.
“And you did it over several days?”
I had a bad premonition about those words. But before I could figure out exactly what it was, Asoya-san exploded.
“You guys must be idiots! For something like this… there’s only one answer for something like this! You all even investigated so much and still don’t know why it wasn’t on the video… that’s gotta be a joke, right?”
It was not a joke.
Unfortunately, it was not a joke, and I still didn’t know why. But if so, no one else should know as well. Without thinking, I asked.
“Do you know something about it?”
At that moment, Asoya-san looked at me, her eyes brimming with pity.
“’Course not, this is the first time I’ve heard of it. But if you’ve seen the video, there’s only one conclusion you can get, right? Damn!”
She kicked the stone floor again.
“Sorry, but I don’t have the time to talk to you two now. Bye! Sorry for calling you out at a weird time!”
With just those words, she waved and ran further into the shrine grounds. There was probably be a shortcut in that direction.
– That was all I knew. I had completely no idea what Asoya-san had realized. As for Osanai-san, her eyes were wide open and her body was stiff. Asoya-san’s words and actions must have been utterly unexpected for her.
Asoya-san had reached a conclusion.
But there were no conclusions that could be drawn at this point of time. Her conclusion had to be premature, or based off unfounded assumptions. Since Asoya-san had only learned of this case and didn’t even know that the culprit drove a sky-blue light wagon car – there was no way her conclusion was correct.
It was quiet in the hospital room.
Being used to the silence, my ears became able to pick up sounds that I wouldn’t normally hear. I could hear singing from somewhere… it was probably the Red and White Song Battle. Lights out at this hospital was at 9pm, and it wasn’t a problem for anyone to watch television before that.
I placed my arms between my head and pillow, and rested my head on them. Now I would almost never feel a shocking pain in my ribs no matter how much I moved my arms.
It was good that the room was dark so I couldn’t open my notebook. All that was left were things I didn’t want to write down, anyway. I traversed my memory to the day after we met Asoya-san.
I was unable to sleep on Sunday night. The last time I looked at my clock, it was four in the morning. I knew that Asoya-san couldn’t have instantly solved a mystery that I failed to solve after several days, but no matter how you looked at it, my mind was preoccupied with whatever she’d noticed in that moment.
It was a Monday when the sun rose, so I had to attend school. After changing into my summer uniform, I grabbed my bag and left the house. Since I hadn’t had enough sleep, the summer sunlight was harsh on my eyes.
I reached my classroom later than usual. Almost no time passed before homeroom started. However, that short amount of time was enough for me to notice a stir in the classroom. The reason for that was obvious. On that day, class 3-1 had no absentees – Hisaka-kun was present.
Hisaka-kun did not have a walking stick, bandages or anything that would make him look like an injured person. There should be a crack on his skull, but his hair was not cut short, and he was sitting at his desk as if the hit-and-run accident hadn’t occurred.
Many classmates congratulated his return, and at the same time tried to sate their curiosity.
“Welcome back!”
“Good to see you again!”
“Did you talk with the cops?”
“You poor thing.”
“Are you alright?”
“I was worried about you.”
“What was it like?”
“How’s your injury?”
Hisaka-kun did not act coldly towards all those voices, but also did not treat them with much consideration, only giving vague replies in general.
I put down my bag and sat at my desk. When I turned to glance at Hisaka-kun for a moment, our eyes met. He was looking at me. I gave him a light smile and raised my hand a little, but he averted his eyes, as if he didn’t see my actions.
This happened multiple times today. Hisaka-kun would look at me, but whenever our eyes met, he would look away.
That could not be said to be a friendly gesture.
And then school ended.
I thought that if Hisaka-kun was avoiding me, there was no need to come into contact with him. Time solves all problems, as they say. Hisaka-kun got discharged without any complications and could live his high school life without any problems, though he could only observe the physical education class. Seeing that strangely gave me peace of mind, although I’d done nothing to help him recover.
However, he approached me as I was packing up my things and getting ready to leave.
“Kobato, could we talk for a bit?”
I replied while placing the textbook in my hand into my bag.
“Of course. Here?”
“…No, let’s go somewhere else.”
After a pause long enough for a thought, Hisaka-kun left the classroom, and I followed.
All sorts of sounds could be heard after school, like the voices of schoolmates exchanging the phrase, “Let’s go home together,” the clangs of a metallic bat hitting a ball, the sounds of people going down the stairs. I noticed that amidst that cacophony, I could not pick out the sounds of shoes rubbing on the gymnasium floor and the plosive sounds of a racket hitting a shuttlecock. That said, those sounds were probably still being made, and Hisaka-kun was just not at that location.
Hisaka-kun walked at a slow pace. He might be taking his time to walk, or perhaps due to the accident he could only walk slowly. At this point, I couldn’t find any clues to tell which theory was right.
We didn’t go very far. Hisaka-kun only walked to the dead end of the corridor in the General Block where the third-year classrooms were located. When there were more middle school students in this city, there would be classrooms all the way to the end of this corridor. Now, these rooms were not in use and were locked so they could not be entered. We’d only walked down the corridor from our classroom, but this area was quiet and made me feel that we were isolated from the rest of the school.
Hisaka-kun turned around, and I finally said what I’d wanted to say for the entire day.
“Congratulations on getting discharged.”
Hisaka-kun’s expression did not change.
“Thank you.”
“When did you get discharged?”
“On Saturday morning. There was a bit of a swelling when you came to visit, which delayed my getting discharged.”
“It’s fine now, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good.”
After saying that, I felt something like an electrical shock go through my body – Saturday morning?
That wasn’t possible. Hisaka-kun should have still been in hospital on Saturday morning. But he had no reason to lie… That meant…
That was a clue. An absurdly huge clue, at that.
Frankly, I’d thought something was suspicious before, and with this new clue, that doubt could be explained.
Hisaka-kun opened his mouth.
“Say, Kobato…”
Hisaka-kun was the one who wanted to talk, so I knew that he should have the priority, but I held my palm towards him, forcefully buying some time to think.
I see. So that’s what it was.
“…I met with your father on Saturday afternoon.”
A dangerous look immediately appeared on Hisaka-kun’s face.
“What did you say?”
“Someone called me on the phone and claimed to be your father. But it was a little weird. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but now I know. That person who claimed to be your father didn’t know that you were discharged.”
That man had mentioned that he couldn’t say when Hisaka-kun would be discharged because it was dependent on the doctor’s judgment, but Hisaka-kun had already been discharged at that point in time. It was unthinkable for a father to be unaware when his son got discharged from the hospital.
If that person was really Hisaka-kun’s father, that is.
“That person was probably an impostor.”
That was what had caught my attention. That man had introduced himself as Hisaka-kun’s father, but I didn’t think that they particularly resembled each other, and I hadn’t checked his identity card or other documents to ascertain his actual name. If Osanai-san knew of this, would she say, “You should have checked”?
I’d put up a poster in front of Ouyou High School with my mobile phone number and given my name as Kobato. Conversely, any person who saw that poster could make a phone call to me.
“I wouldn’t imagine that a mere passerby called on a whim or to play a prank. Taking the trouble to get a seat at the Inaba Hotel lounge and inviting me over would not be just for a prank.”
I rattled on to the silent Hisaka-kun.
“That man wanted to know the investigation’s progress. He said that because his son… or Hisaka-kun got into a hit-and-run accident, there was a need to inform the insurance company of the situation. But if that person isn’t your father, that would make the story about the insurance company a lie. So who exactly would want to find out about how the investigation is going?”
I felt a shiver run down my back.
“I think… I might have met the culprit.”
Hisaka-kun was looking down at the ground.
To hear that the culprit who’d run him over claimed to be his father to get into contact with a classmate… it must certainly not be very pleasant for Hisaka-kun. However, that information could be the trump card in arresting the culprit.
A somewhat tired smile drifted onto Hisaka-kun’s face.
“…Amazing, Kobato. You managed to deduce all that from me saying when I was discharged. I think it’s brilliant, really.”
Apparently satisfied, he nodded and continued.
“Thanks for putting in the effort to think about the case for me, but grit your teeth.”
“Huh?”
A vapid clap sounded.
Hisaka-kun had hit my cheek with his right hand.
It was not painful… that slap was so weak it was almost like a light touch. I staggered, not from the pain, but from the shock. Hisaka-kun stared at his palm.
“How pathetic. I couldn’t snap my hand back properly, so it hurts. Well, it’s not like I injured my tendon, so it’ll heal.”
He then put on a melancholy face.
“Hey, Kobato, did I ask you to do this? You assume that everything I say is a clue, and even met with some person in a hotel on a rest day. Did I tell you to do that? Quite the opposite, wasn’t it? I said the exact opposite to you, didn’t I? – Don’t do anything unnecessary, I said. Did you forget?”
I froze and kept silent, allowing Hisaka-kun to continue with his monologue.
“I remember it clearly. When you came over to visit me in that hospital room and told me you were looking for the culprit of my hit-and-run accident, I told you. Please, don’t do anything. Please, stop this. You won’t say that you forgot, right?”
Hisaka-kun was not a talkative person. His speech were not fluent, and the words fell out of his mouth in staccato.
“I properly told you not to, so why did you do something like this? Why? I heard from Ushio. He was the first one to suggest looking for the culprit, but he gave up immediately, and the one who did almost all the investigating was you. That’s correct, right? No problems with that story, right?”
“…”
“I also heard from Fujidera-kun. I told him not to talk about it, but he revealed everything to you.”
“Fujidera-kun isn’t to blame.”
“I never said that. But I’ll bear a grudge at him. And at you, of course. You sniffed all around and made the guy I told to keep quiet about it spill the beans. Why?”
It was to capture the culprit of the hit-and-run. And then…
What exactly did I want to do?
Hisaka-kun caught the rays of the eastern sun from the window.
“You know, Kobato, I’ve been quite unlucky already. I was just walking, but I got run over by a car. That ruined my chance to participate in my last tournament of middle school. I wanted to go to the Nationals. Of course, I don’t think I can win against the strongest players in the country, but I thought I would be a good opponent for them. There was also a chance that I could get a sports referral based on the results of the summer tournament. But that’s gone as well. I didn’t start playing badminton because I liked it, but I immersed myself in it for the whole of middle school, and I lost it all.”
Hisaka-kun repeatedly opened and closed the hand he’d used to slap me. It must hurt for him.
“But to be honest, I’m fine with all that. No, not exactly fine, but I’m resigned to it. I had an accident, so there’s nothing I can do. It’s enough for me to be alive after going through that… But you meddled in my affairs. I told you not to, but you still went all the way to do it.”
“I was…”
The words wouldn’t come out. Hisaka-kun asked a question, as if he was curious from the bottom of his heart rather than resentful.
“Did I do something to you? Something that made you hate me? I’m not a very considerate person. I completely rely on Ushio to handle the club. So I might have done something bad to you. I would understand if you say you wanted to vent your frustration at me.”
“It’s not like that.”
“…I know. I know that you didn’t bear any ill will towards me. And that’s what pisses me off. You look confused, Kobato. It’s like you don’t even understand what you’ve done, isn’t it?”
Hisaka-kun looked like he was laughing and crying at the same time.
“You’re just annoying.”
“…”
“I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. This will be the last time I say it.”
He put on a tone of voice one would use to persuade a naughty child.
“Just leave me alone. Please.”
Hisaka-kun slowly walked away, with a bit of a limp. I touched my cheek with my hand. There was no pain at all, but the part where Hisaka-kun had struck with his palm felt awfully hot and strained.
Eventually, Hisaka-kun went off into the distance. I stood still in the corner of the hallway after school, alone.
I…
It was exactly like he said. I didn’t know what I did.
Why was Hisaka-kun so opposed to me investigating his hit-and-run accident? Why did he make such a pained face?
As he disappeared into the staircase, I started walking.
…Based on the investigation I’d done thus far, it was highly likely that Hisaka-kun had not been walking with his girlfriend Okahashi-san, but with another female student. From the fact that he’d tried to hide her existence, and that she’d swiftly run away from the scene of the accident, it was difficult to imagine that the girl was Hisaka-kun’s elder or younger sister, or someone he didn’t need to hide. As Fujidera-kun had guessed, he was probably cheating on his girlfriend.
But was he really be so depressed because his two-timing was revealed? Did that really cause him to resent me so much that he slapped me with the palm of his hand that he couldn’t even snap back properly? I hadn’t talked about the investigation to anyone. Fujidera-kun and Osanai-san probably hadn’t done that, either.
I vacantly walked down the corridor. It hadn’t been more than ten minutes since I’d gone to the end of the corridor with Hisaka-kun, but it was now strangely quiet.
I stroked my cheek.
My thoughts were all over the place. Why was it necessary to figure out the reason for Hisaka-kun’s anger? And why was I so shaken by this? My feet were wobbly and unsteady. Was it that much of a shock to have violence inflicted on me? I didn’t think so, but no other reasons came to mind.
I entered the 3-1 classroom. There were a few students when I left with Hisaka-kun, but now only one person remained. That person was standing in front of my desk with a somewhat pale face. It was Osanai-san, and she was holding a newspaper.
“Osanai-san.”
I greeted her, but all she did was wordlessly spread the newspaper she was holding and use a finger to point at one part of it. Thinking that it was quite thin for a newspaper, I realized that it was the evening edition.
| (19 June – Gifu Newspaper, Local News Section) On 19 June, the Kira Police Department arrested Nagahara Takuma (21), a part-time employee living in Kira City, under suspicion of being in violation of road traffic laws (in a hit-and-run accident). At approximately 5:06pm on 7 June, the suspect allegedly ran into a middle-school student on Togou Town’s embankment road with a car, and drove off without trying to rescue the victim. The suspect partially disputed the police investigation, and claimed, “The accident happened when I was looking at my phone, but I don’t remember running away.” |
21 years old.
The man at the Inaba River Hotel was over forty years old no matter how you looked at it. Thus the deduction of that man being the culprit was completely off the mark.
The case was over. Our investigation did not even reach the culprit’s shadow.
All I did was hurt Hisaka-kun…
In the end, that was the only thing I accomplished.
That was the end of the story surrounding Hisaka-kun’s hit-and-run accident.
Three years ago, I avoided getting caught up in the mystery of why the culprit’s car was not captured on the security camera. I didn’t even proactively try to obtain new clues regarding that, because if I managed to gather all the clues but was unable to solve the mystery, it would only prove my lack of ability. And that was exactly what happened. I witnessed Asoya-san, who should have only possessed the same clues I did, instantly figure it out just by listening to the situation. It was probably no coincidence that the culprit got arrested the day after that.
On top of that, after giving up on sticking to the mystery I couldn’t crack, I devoted myself to finding the companion who was at the scene of the accident. Even now, I don’t think it was entirely on the wrong track. However, at the root of that choice was escape from an unsolvable puzzle. Doing so invaded Hisaka-kun’s privacy, but proved no use at all in solving the case.
In other words, all I did was expose others’ secrets.
The investigation ended in abject failure. Even with the overflowing self-confidence I had during my middle school days, I wasn’t even able to console myself my saying that at least some part of it was successful. It was that much of a failure.
Unable to directly look at the situation, I refused to learn anything new about the case, averting my eyes and covering my ears. As a result, all I knew of the supposed culprit of the hit-and-run accident, Nagahara Takuma, was what I’d read from the newspaper, and I never talked to Hisaka-kun after the suspect was arrested. Though in the latter case, the person in question might not have listened no matter what I asked of him. After the incident, Hisaka-kun became a lot less talkative to everyone.
– Looking back at my time in middle school, there were cases where brilliant successes led to a disastrous result, or cases where the only reward for my efforts was a shower of abuse, and a few others I never want to remember. However, it was because of this case that I became hesitant to uncover the truth behind complicated mysteries.
This incident also left a scar on Osanai-san. She lost her dominance over Asoya-san… Osanai Yuki became someone not worth fearing. At that time, I didn’t know the details of how Osanai-san was placed in that situation. All I knew was that after losing her dominance over Asoya-san, she started getting exposed to physical danger. After the arrest of the hit-and-run suspect was reported, Osanai-san did not come to school for a week.
The two of us became mentally worn out, and on a day before our middle school graduation, made a pact to seal away our weird tendencies. We promised to help each other and become petit bourgeois.
And three years after that, we came to face the absurdity of the motto we held above our heads. But that is another story, I suppose.
I could hear the muffled sounds of the Red and White Song Battle (or whatever it was) coming from somewhere. In the dimly lit room, I looked up at the ceiling. I did not feel sleepy.
Now I was certain. What did I do to Hisaka-kun three years ago?
I exposed the fact that those two were dating… but that wasn’t it.
That was what the past me thought, but I was wrong. At least, I don’t believe that was what angered Hisaka-kun. But if not, what exactly did I do?
I hadn’t noticed before because I was never awake at night, but the wall clock in this hospital room was painted with fluorescent paint. The time was 8:47, meaning that it would be lights off soon. The television could not be turned on past nine o’clock, so I wouldn’t be able to overhear those singing voices. It would be a maddeningly long night until daybreak.
Without a knock, the door softly opened. Light streamed in from the corridor, causing me to cover my eyes with my palm.
In the doorway stood a person wearing a hooded fur coat. They were against the light, but there was no mistaking that figure. I greeted the visitor.
“Good evening.”
Osanai-san tilted her head and answered stolidly.
“O-wah, good evening.”
Chapter 9 | Contents | Chapter 11
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Editors (Tier 2): Suleman, Dedavond
Assistants (Tier 1) : Rolando Sanchez
Thank you very much for all your support!
Obrigado pelo capítulo! Ansioso pelo próximo!!! 🥂☺
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoy this translation 🙂
What a climax! Just what did Asoya realize from the security footage? Who was the man Kobato met with last chapter? Is there any special meaning to Hisaka’s anger? What was the deal with his female companion at the time of the incident? Is he really dead in the present day? Why the eerie similarity to our flight in the prologue? So many unanswered questions swirl around this mystery from the past: the bona fide origin story of our dynamic duo, the great, galvanic failure that led to the mutualistic vow of normalcy that forms the bedrock of the series, contrastingly told in reminiscence by our narrator as he languishes in the rote isolation of hospitalization.
Just when every possible question seems to have been raised with only a single chapter remaining, who shows up but our favorite diminutive deuteragonist, in the flesh for the first time since the prologue! What revelations does the wolf bring? Will she finally explain her cryptic card-form communications? Perhaps her penchant for action had already cracked the case wide open while Kobato soliloquized for the past 10 chapters? More importantly, will our petit bourgeois really be splitting up for college? Right when they finally seemed to be warming up to one another as irreplaceable tools???
Needless to say, I’m at the edge of my seat in anticipation for the next translation! Thank you so much for your fantastic work!
So many questions, and only one long chapter (and the epilogue) left to answer them. It’s certainly an exciting climax and I hope to deliver well on the translation of the denouement.
Thank you very much for the translations. Something I noticed – the name of the police officer from chapter 1 is Katsuki Akihiko, and the girl from Ouyou high school is Katsuki Aaya. The person Kobato met in the previous chapter might be him. And Eiko from N course as in Nursing might be the one assigned to Kobato, although those are too many coincidences.
Kind of like what’s on the cover of the novel? Osanai against the bright light. Excited for the next chapter! Thank you again for the translation!
WOW yes!
A very interesting chapter. I knew there was something off with Hisaka’s dad hehe.
Waiting for a resolution of this story. Thanks again for the hard work translating these Pigcowhybrid.