Jogakusei Tantei Volume 3 Chapter 3

Happy Friday the 13th! (What do you mean that was yesterday?) I finally finished the conclusion to this thrilling haunted mansion murder, and with it, the novel! It only took me whole three years!! Thanks for sticking through with me!

Teniwoha’s novel for his Schoolgirl Detective Series, “The Schoolgirl Detective and Eccentric Author – Night Before The Murder Case at the Mansion of Antiquarian Books,” acts as a prequel to the first song in the series, “Murder Case at the Mansion of Antiquarian Books,” and follows the events between the schoolgirl detective who loves mystery novels, Hanamoto Hibari, and the extremely s.a.d.i.s.tic mystery novel writer, Kudou Renma.

The third part in this three-part novel is called: Murder Case at the Ryougoku Haunted Mansion.

“Hibari and Kudo head to Ryougoku on an errand for Kares.h.i.+ma, who runs an antique book store. Coincidentally, it’s also the Sumida River Fireworks Festival.
To Hibari, it almost feels as if they’re on a date, but when they reach their destination, they discover the corpse of a shooting incident….”

This part is further divided into three chapters, so here’s the third one! Masterpost with links to all the translated chapters can be found .

＊If you can, I highly encourage supporting the creators by buying the book for yourself at or !

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Chapter 3: With Those Small, October Maple Leaf Hands

It felt like a small firework had gone off above my head.

In order to start to explain everything again while that flair was still visible, I spread out the map on the tea table in the tatami mat room.

“What is it? Now what’s going on?”

Detective Innami came over when he noticed what I was doing. After him followed the Nagao family, and they each looked down at the map. It was like everyone was looking down into a dried-up well, waiting to see if even a single drop of water would come forth.

“The Nagao’s house is here. And behind it, the house on the other side of the street is where the Sanadas live. From what I saw, it was a big house with two stories. While I don’t know much about the actual family, earlier this evening, I spoke a bit with the old man who lives there.”

“Oh, you mean Old Man Sanada. Whenever I run into him on my way in and out of the house, he always tries to make a pa.s.s at me by commenting on how young I look that day. It’s such a bother.”

Despite what she said, the wife didn’t appear bothered in the slightest. And also, rather than a making a pa.s.s, he could just be trying to be polite.

However, all of that aside—

“He seemed rather hearty for his age.”

“That geezer’s just downright unfriendly towards me, though,”

Tetsuta-san said with disinterest.

“Enough dawdling. Just spit it out already,”

Detective Innami said while rolling a match in between his fingers. It looked like he had been trying to smoke, but the match must have gotten damp, because he was unable to get even a spark.

After waiting for him to give up on smoking, I said,

“I’ve figured out where the culprit lives.”

And as soon as I did, everyone that was looking down at the map each raised their voices in surprise.

“Just so there aren’t any misunderstandings, I would first like to say that the Sanada household is unrelated to this case.”

“The culprit lives in this neighborhood?!”

“I wasn’t thinking outside of the box. I was too set on there being an intruder. Because of the fact that all the necessary elements were already lined up in this house when the incident occurred, I had a.s.sumed that the truth was also hidden somewhere within this house.”

“All the necessary elements?”

Detective Innami was scratching his head with blatant bewilderment.

“Both the body and the weapon were found in this house. Furthermore, the circ.u.mstances wouldn’t lead you to see it as a homicide at all. That was why the detectives first a.s.sumed it was a suicide.”

“Ah, I get it now….”

“Everything was lined up too perfectly. However, the culprit was the only thing missing. The culprit was actually outside of the Nagao’s house all along.”

“But we already verified this at the very beginning, didn’t we? There were no footsteps belonging to any outsiders around this vicinity, and even if they had taken some extra measures to avoid leaving behind any footprints, we established that it would have been impossible to do so without drawing too much attention. There couldn’t have been an intru—”

“That’s correct. There was no intruder.”

I paused then to look around at everyone in the room. I wished I had some time to collect my thoughts.

“Culprit and intruder. Naturally, these two words have completely different meanings. However, in this case, we somehow started to a.s.sume they meant the same thing. There must have been an intruder, we thought, and the intruder would have to be the culprit. A culprit must exist, and in that case, there would be traces of their intrusion. However, the culprit never took a single step into this house to begin with. They were outside the entire time, and they murdered the professor without ever setting foot into the Nagao’s house.”

“How did they do it?”

Detective Innami asked while slamming his hands down on the tea table. His voice was low, as if he was trying to stifle it.

“He was shot. With that Type 99 Rifle.”

“We already knew that! But Professor Nagao was the one holding that gun. Even if the gun had been thrown into the house after he was shot, it wouldn’t have been in that position. And besides, doing that would have immediately drawn the suspicion of people pa.s.sing by. Even with a disguise, they would have needed to enter the house either way!”

“But what if Professor Nagao hadn’t been murdered with the gun he was holding?”

“….What did you just say?”

I heard the sound of someone gasping.

“Someone could have shot Professor Nagao from somewhere else with another gun. If that’s the case, it would explain why there aren’t any traces of an intruder.”

“So you’re saying the culprit went out of his way to prepare the same gun? While it’s true that it would take longer to identify the ballistic markings of the bullet if it came from the exact same gun model…. Didn’t they consider the fact that they’d eventually be tracked down through how they acquired the gun?”

“It’s actually the opposite. I believe that the culprit came up with this crime specifically because they knew that Professor Nagao owned the same gun as them. First, they decided on the murder weapon, and from there, they came up with an elaborate scheme and carried it out.”

They had specifically waited until the day of the fireworks show, and carefully created a setup to shoot him with that gun. A culprit that meticulous wasn’t likely to risk something as dangerous as personally acquiring a gun to use as the murder weapon.

“So….? Where exactly did the culprit shoot from?”

“That’s what I’m going to explain next.”

I stood up, headed for the rear garden, and putting on the sandals again, I went to stand next to the hedges. Everyone followed me to watch from the veranda.

After waiting for everyone to gather, I pointed out the single branch that was in poor condition.

“This house is surrounded by these camellia hedges. However, this section here stands out with how low the branches are.”

“Now that you mention, I’ve noticed that for a while, as well. About how that part’s been growing so poorly, I mean. If I remember, Chikage, aren’t you the one who’s always watering the plants in the garden?”

Without thinking much of it, the wife casually turned the topic to Chikage-san. However, Chikage-san looked down without answering.

“Chikage? What’s the matter?”

“Chikage-san, during this summer—no, perhaps starting even further back—you haven’t been giving much water at all to this one plant, have you?”

“Th-that’s….”

“Chikage…. But haven’t you always taken such good care of them?”

“Girly, what’s the meaning of this….?”

Both the wife and Tetsuta-san were looking increasingly concerned about Chikage’s behavior.

“Why would she do something like this? The answer to that is as you can see here.”

I pointed beyond the wilted branch.

“It was to make the hedges low enough to see what was on the other side. That was her objective.”

As Chikage-san was addressed again, she nodded in resignation.

“But why would my daughter do such a thing….?”

After the wife asked this, the fireworks stopped for a time, making a strange stillness linger in the air. Chikage-san clenched her left sleeve with her right hand without answering. She wore a sorrowful expression on her face, as if desperately waiting for something terrifying to leave.

“It was to see the face of the person precious to her.”

I was only able to hear Sensei’s voice as he said this from within the house. I couldn’t see him from where I was standing. Sensei’s words rang out through the serene garden like a verse from a poem. And at the same time, they served as the ruthless words to force those who hesitated to move, to go forward towards the next stage.

“She calculated it so that particular branch wouldn’t grow during the summer. For what reason other than a love affair would a young woman go to such lengths?”

Sensei a.s.serted. He made it sound as if she had done so deliberately.

I continued where Sensei left off in a very natural manner.

“Chikage-san would always secretly wait, at this very spot in the rear garden, for her lover to pa.s.s by on the other side of the hedges. At times, their meetings would be by coincidence, and at others, they would be arranged. And so, during these brief moments, they would be able to see and exchange some words with one another, without anyone in her family finding out.”

“Without anyone finding out….? But she’s formally engaged to Kuromine-san, and both families warmly support their relations.h.i.+p. There’s no need to be meeting behind everyone’s backs like that….”

“Ma’m, your daughter hasn’t been meeting with Kuromine-san, or whatever that man’s name may be.”

“What?! Sensei, what did you just say?!”

The wife turned around to look at Sensei with an expression that indicated that this was the most shocking bit of news she’d heard all day.

“D-d-do you mean to say that…. my daughter has been having an illicit affair with another man….?!”

As the wife pressed him for an answer with great disappointment, Sensei replied quite nonchalantly.

“Speaking of which, that man named Kuromine, he isn’t from around here. Also, he’s the same age as Chikage-san. Isn’t that right?”

“How do you know….?”

“You were the one who told us so. Today, you said they were going to see the fireworks together while Chikage-san showed him around these parts. You also said that since they’re both young, they could always see the fireworks again next year.”

Right, if he also lived in this area, he wouldn’t be needing a tour.

“In comparison, the culprit—the man that Chikage-san loves—lives here in this neighborhood, and is likely in his mid-thirties or older.”

Chikage-san’s shoulders trembled slightly.

The man that she loves. That’s right, he had come up during the conversation we’d had at the front entrance when we had first visited this house. And that was when Chikage-san had said so herself, that she was going to see the fireworks with a man that was about the same age as Sensei.

“In the first place, Chikage-san hadn’t brought this up herself. It was Sensei who had guessed correctly after some deduction. Although it was only about his age, I’m certain that Chikage must have been both shocked and panicked that he had so quickly found out about the lover that she’d been keeping a secret from even her family. I think that afterwards, she really regretted confirming that fact so unwittingly.”

That said, I doubt she would have even imagined that bit of information would become the key to unveiling the truth of this case.

Chikage-san, with her pale lips quivering, somehow managed to remain standing by holding onto the sunburnt sliding door. Sensei approached her in this state, and asked her a question.

“s.h.i.+nokawa Momoya. That’s the name of the man you truly love. Isn’t that right?”

“H-how do you even know his name….?!”

Chikage-san looked up at Sensei with a pained expression. Sensei, completely unfazed, remained smiling as always.

“Where does he live? To tell the truth, I found out the answer to that through a certain deduction. So while I was visiting Michiyo-chan’s house, I took a bit of a detour to take a look at the nameplate. I asked around with the neighbors, as well. s.h.i.+nokawa Momoya. He turns thirty-five this year. No parents. He moved into a vacant house in the neighborhood this year. This information matches up perfectly with what Miss Detective Hibari gathered through her findings.”

I was curious as to why he said that I was the one to figure this all out, but I decided not to say anything for the time being.

“s.h.i.+nokawa? You mean, that man….!”

After hearing this, the wife raised her voice as if remembering something.

“Ma’m, does that name ring a bell?”

“Ah, no, well….”

At Detective Innami’s question, Otoe-san averted her eyes slightly as she answered.

“s.h.i.+nokawa Momoya. Several years ago…. I suppose it’s already been ten years since then…. He used to be Chikage’s home tutor. But after a while, his father, Momosuke-san, wasn’t doing so well with his business, and I had thought he had moved to another region with his family.”

“Correct. However, at the beginning of this year, he returned here, alone. He did it, of course, for Chikage-san’s sake.”

“Right…. Yes, that’s right! I had heard about someone new moving into the neighborhood. I don’t mingle with the neighbors much, and I’m so busy with work, so I didn’t pay much attention to that…. If I recall, it was the house behind….”

“The house behind Sanada-san’s.”

In other words, the houses belonging to s.h.i.+nokawa, Sanada, and Nagao were all directly adjacent to one another.

“And the one who shot Professor Nagao in his home from the s.h.i.+nokawa’s residence, which lies on the other side of the Sanada’s residence, is none other than s.h.i.+nokawa Momoya-san himself.”

Although, to be more specific, he was the only one that could have shot the professor during that time frame.

“The culprit is Momoya-san.”

“That’s a lie!”

That was when Chikage-san cried out in a voice close to a scream. She was trembling, with her nails dug deeply into the pillar on the veranda. Her black hair falling from her brow to her cheeks made her look almost like a beautiful ghost picture.

“Chikage! Pull yourself together!”

The wife frantically held her by the shoulders.

“You’re saying that he was shot from two houses away? Don’t be ridiculous. The Nagao’s residence is a one-story house, while the Sanada’s house, which stands in between them, is two-stories tall. No matter how he tried to fire, it would have been impossible with a building in the way!”

While Detective Innami argued this point, I faced the neighboring house beyond the hedges and waved my hand in a wide gesture.

“….Hey, wait a minute! Are you listening to me?!”

It was dark out, but thanks to to the moonlight and the light of the fireworks, I was able to see the response to my gesture.

“What is she even doing? This girl’s really been acting strange for a while, now. I think she really must be possessed by a ghost or something….”

Tetsuta-san said, fear finally seeming to have settled over him. However, I continued waving nonetheless. After I finished doing so, I quietly took a deep breath and turned back around to face everyone.

“It would seem that s.h.i.+nokawa-san is still in his house.”

“What?!”

“I received the signal just now from his garden.”

“Wait…. Just hold on a minute! I demand a proper explanation! We’ve been left in the dark this whole time without the faintest clue as to what’s going on! A signal? From who?!”

Detective Innami stepped forward and yelled, seemingly unable to take the suspense any longer. I spoke clearly so that everyone present could hear.

“Kaburagi-san was the one who gave me the signal.”

“Kaburagi….? Ah, now that you mention him, I was wondering where he’d gone!”

“In any case, if you take a look from where I’m standing, I believe that everything will make sense.”

“Look beyond the hedges….? Not lying, are you? Because if you are, I’ll be dragging you down to the station instead!”

Detective Innami quickly put on his shoes at the entrance and stepped out into the rear garden.

“So? What exactly can you see from there?”

“s.h.i.+nokawa-san’s house.”

I stepped aside so that Detective Innami could stand in my place.

“Huh? From here, you can only see the roadside and the fence of the Sanada’s house that’s behind this one, right….? Well, either way, I’ll know for sure once I see with my own two eyes.”

And so, he reluctantly looked to see what was beyond the hedges.

“As I thought, all I see is a wooden fence and the Sanada’s house…. Hmm? ….AHH!”

Detective Innami started to grumble some complaint that he must have prepared beforehand, but eventually, he stopped mid-sentence and cried out in shock before turning around to face me.

“I-I can see. I see it! I can see everything!”

He exclaimed, and went back to looking intently beyond the hedges.

“That idiot Kaburagi is waving at me! What’s he so worked-up for, anyway!”

“Why, you’re just like a child looking through the binoculars from the roof of a department store.”

“Shaddup!”

Even as he cursed at Sensei for ridiculing him, his eyes remained glued to that spot.

“What is the meaning of this?”

The wife had been silently watching the exchange between Detective Innami and I as if she were a spectator watching a play, but it seemed that at long last, she couldn’t help but speak up.

“Just what on earth can you see from there?!”

“As Innami-san said, first you will see the fence of the Sanada’s house. Only an old fence blocks your vision. Normally, that’s all you would see. However, today, it’s different.”

“The fence is broken….”

Detective Innami mumbled as if talking to himself.

“Last night, there was a minor incident in which the fence in the rear garden, that it to say, the side facing the north, was broken. Due to this, the Sanada’s house is now visible.”

“The fence was broken?!”

Tetsuta-san said with his mouth wide open. It seemed like this was completely news to him.

Right now, Detective Innami should have been able to see the veranda of the Sanada’s house on the other side of the broken fence. When I had taken a look just a moment ago, Old Man Sanada had been enjoying an evening drink along with the fireworks and some pickled vegetables.

And even further beyond that was—

“I tried remembering my conversation with Old Man Sanada when I spoke with him earlier. He said that the front entrance of the house wasn’t blocked by anything. Which means that the house isn’t so strictly enclosed on all sides. That seems to say something about the old man’s personality, or perhaps he isn’t too worried about being seen by his neighbors.”

“And so what if he isn’t?”

Tetsuta-san still didn’t seem to understand, and pressed me to get to the point.

“The person that broke the fence had to have been the culprit. Furthermore, he carefully calculated where to break the fence to make it convenient for him to aim and shoot at the professor. Of course, had it been any other hour or day, the door to the veranda, as well as other screen doors, might have been closed and gotten in the way. However, today, that was not the case. The culprit knew that today was the only day that every door in every house would not be closed. In reality, everyone had, in fact, left all their doors wide open, be they shutters, sliding doors, or sliding panels, and were all looking up at the sky.”

Another large, lively firework went off up in the sky. It echoed throughout the town like the sound of falling raindrops.

“It was so they could all enjoy the fireworks together with the summer breeze.”

The Sanada’s house had all of their doors open, making it like a tunnel, such that a wind entering from the south could pa.s.s straight through to the north.

It had become a path that directly connected the s.h.i.+nokawa’s house to the Nagao’s house.

That also applied for the bullet fired by the culprit that pa.s.sed through the Sanada’s house without being obstructed by any doors or panels, through the gap in the broken fence in the rear garden, through gap in the wilted hedges outside of the Nagao’s house, before finally lodging itself into the head of Professor Nagao, who had been in his room.

”You’re not telling me he actually made that shot? That would be like firing through a hole made by a needle….”

“It was hardly that small. Just by eyeballing it, both the gap in the broken fence, as well as the s.p.a.ce between the hedges, is about fifty centimeters wide. At a glance, it might seem like quite the difficult feat, with things like the fence and the hedge in between, but from the culprit’s point of view, he already knew that there would be nothing to get in the way between him and his target. The moment he fired, every member of the Sanada household was sitting still somewhere to watch the fireworks, and although there were many bystanders, he a.s.sumed they would all stop moving to look up at the sky.”

In fact, I had also stopped on the side of the road to look up the sky during that moment.

“Furthermore, the distance to reach Professor Nagao was less than around fifty meters. A mere fifty meters. Again, I’m not very knowledgeable about guns, but isn’t the firing range for the Type 99 Rifle well over a couple hundred meters?”

After I asked him this, Detective Innami found himself at a loss for words. I took that to mean to a “yes” in regards to my question.

“A gun that’s able to hit a target from so far away, and a culprit that has the knowledge and skill to handle such a weapon. Under such conditions, shooting a target sitting in a room two houses away should not have been such a difficult job. “

“Makes sense. It probably wouldn’t have been that hard, then. That is, only if the culprit did possess that kind of knowledge and skill. Girly, what reason do you have to make that a.s.sertion?”

“It was s.h.i.+nokawa-san’s age that made me think of this.”

“His age? If I remember right, you said he was thirty-five. ….Ah, I get it now! The military!”

“It wouldn’t be odd for a man that age to have had experience handling a gun before.”

“He was in the military during the war, wasn’t he?! So he must be experienced with firing guns….”

Up until about fifteen years ago, j.a.pan had fought in the Greater East Asia War against the allied nations. During that time, many young people were drafted into the military.

Any healthy, young man from that time would most likely have experienced that.

“Seeing as how his family had once been so poor that they were driven out of their home, and the fact that he’s living in that small house all by himself even now, I doubt that s.h.i.+nokawa-san started a personal gun collection. I think that he secretly kept the gun that he used to fight during the war. Perhaps he had a specific goal in mind, or perhaps he kept it simply to protect himself during those chaotic times. That is something I do not know.”

I glanced down to see a tree frog waddling along on the muddy ground. Although the evening shower had drawn him out, he seemed to have lost sense of where to go. While I spoke, I lifted the frog up on my finger and brought him near the camellias. The frog hesitantly jumped up onto the leaf.

“s.h.i.+nokawa-san must have been waiting for this day to come. Since he used to live in this neighborhood, he was very familiar with when the Ryougoku River-Opening fireworks would start, and what they would sound like. He also knew about how the nearby houses opened up their verandas to enjoy the fireworks, and that the professor always took down the gun in his room at a set time. That’s why he used that to his advantage. He used the fireworks to cover up the noise when he pulled the trigger, and almost as if weaving the bullet through the gaps in the houses and hedges, he shot the professor. While everyone was busy looking up at the fireworks, he had just accomplished a terrifying crime down below. Of course, this is all based only on circ.u.mstantial evidence. It would be best to confirm all this in-person with s.h.i.+nokawa-san afterwards, along with what his motive was.”

“Wait!”

Detective Innami raised his voice as if to interrupt me.

“There’s still one thing that doesn’t add up. The room that the professor died in should have been completely closed off!”

“The answer to that is simple. His accomplice closed all of the doors after he was killed.”

“Accomplice?”

I was hesitant to say the person’s name aloud, but in the end, I ended up saying it anyway.

“It was Chikage-san.”

Upon hearing this, both the wife and Tetsuta-san cried out. They both looked like they had just been splashed with cold water.

“B-but she has an alibi—“

The wife stammered, but that was all she managed to say.

“Since she was only altering the crime scene after the fact, there’s no need for her to have been there at the time of the murder. Therefore, Chikage-san’s alibi becomes meaningless. Also, there are still some things that we’ve left out.”

I faced my entire body in Chikage-san’s direction, so that the wife, Detective Innami, and the others would understand. As I looked at her, Chikage-san stared back intently at me without running away.

“You mean how her yukata doesn’t have any blood on it….?”

“Since she had an alibi, that fact was overlooked before, but in the end, it’s difficult to explain why her yukata is so unnaturally clean. But, as I just proposed, if she had already known about her father’s death, it makes sense.”

It was likely that after Chikage-san had gone back inside the house, she had first confirmed that her father had been shot in the head, before immediately going around the room to close all the doors. And after a short while, Sensei and I came in after her.

“Then how you do explain the suicide note?!”

Detective Innami exclaimed angrily once more. The tone of his voice indicated that he was no longer holding anything back.

He must have become fed-up with listening to a foul-mouthed writer and a little girl explain things away. He had a menacing look on his face, as if he was the one being suspected.

“Detective, that’s enough,”

At that moment, Chikage-san, who had been looking down the entire time, quietly spoke up.

That’s enough, she repeated a second time, and smiled.

“Cute Little Detective, we lose. You did a very good job seeing through our plan.”

She looked like someone who had just accepted defeat.

“Chikage…. Did you really….?!”

The wife shook her daughter by the shoulders with all the strength she could muster.

“It’s true that I closed to doors in my father’s room, in order to make it look like a suicide. That’s right. I share the same crime. I am a criminal that has murdered her own father.”

Chikage-san calmly freed herself from her mother’s hands, and stepped forward to say this. Meanwhile, the wife collapsed on the spot.

“I have someone who I love. For a very, very long time, I have loved them. Ever since I was a little girl. A man named s.h.i.+nokawa Momoya.”

She spoke in a sad voice, as if telling a fairy tale that she had never told before.

“Momoya-san was my home tutor, and I was still just his young student. That person not only helped me with my studies, but he also taught me things like clever ways to play with books, the ways of the world…. and what it meant to love someone. At first, it was just one-sided feelings on my part. Back that, I was such a little tomboy, he wouldn’t take me seriously at all. But, even if he only saw me as a child, I was wholeheartedly in love with him. Without anything to be ashamed of, I was earnest about it, in my own way. But at the same time, I kept my feelings a secret.

There were times when that person would get a dark look in his eyes. At first, I didn’t understand why. But one day, I learned that it was the harsh experiences he’d had on the battlefield that gave him those eyes. After that, my feelings for him only grew stronger. I began to think, from the bottom of my heart, about how I wanted to protect him.

But when I was fifteen, he moved away, and I cried terribly. I cried so many tears, I thought they might even be enough to make the Sumida River overflow. But neither my family nor anyone else thought much of the tears of a little girl. They tried comforting me, saying I must be feeling sad to have to say goodbye to the older brother figure that I’d grown attached to. They even told me, ‘I’ll buy you a new set of clothes if you stop crying.’ Meanwhile, I felt as if I were standing at the edge of the end of the world. I felt like I would fall into the pits of h.e.l.l at the slightest gust of wind. Just when I thought to myself that after a couple more years, that person would finally start to see me as a woman. Just when I thought that we would finally be able to walk alongside the river as equals.

But after a few years had pa.s.sed, I reunited with that person during the spring one year. On the bank of that river.”

She glanced vaguely in the direction of a certain spot along the Sumida River. And then, she stepped down into the garden, barefoot, but no one stopped her from doing so.

“I had just entered university, and he had just started teaching at a nearby middle school. We would find times to meet inconspicuously when we were outside. When I told that person, ‘You haven’t changed a bit,’ he told me, ‘As for you, you’ve changed a lot.’ I realized that he finally saw me as an adult, and I could barely contain my happiness. From now on, I could stay with this person forever, without any consequences! Forever and ever!

But that didn’t happen. The following spring, Father found out about our relations.h.i.+p. And this is what he told me. ‘I won’t give up my daughter to a man who’s fourteen years older than her. To begin with, it’d already been decided who you will marry.’

Everything before me become enveloped in darkness. I had heard nothing about how Father had decided my marriage without even consulting me about it. It was very difficult for me to remain calm. I tried persistently to convince Father otherwise. I dug my nails into the tatami mats and pleaded with all my might. But it was no use. ‘I’ll keep this matter to myself, therefore, never meet with that man again,’ He said to me clearly, and slammed the sliding screen shut.

After that, it became difficult to meet with that person. Whenever I tried to go out, Father would give me a warning, because I had to be careful of the neighbors seeing us. As the days where I couldn’t see that person continued, my heart shriveled up like a flower without water. I was so lonely, and frustrated, and even started to harbor a hatred towards Father. Because of that, I couldn’t put any effort in helping out around the house, or watering the plants in the garden. I would often find myself in a daze, staring in the direction of that person’s house beyond the hedges. Before I realized, the hedges that I had been neglecting were almost close to wilting. When I saw that, I thought to myself, no matter how depressed I am, it won’t do to just let the hedges wilt like this. After all, I had taken care of them for so long. At the time, I genuinely thought that. But I soon thought otherwise.”

Chikage-san reached out for the wilting camellia in front of her, and pulled off one of the faded leaves. She made it look like such a cruel act.

“If I don’t water just this one plant, and just let it wilt, perhaps then I would be able to see what was on the other side of the hedges. And then, I would be able to see that person’s face when they walked past. It was a childish idea that wouldn’t actually solve anything, but if that was all it took to allow me to see that person’s face, I didn’t mind—That’s what I thought to myself,”

She said, toying with the dried-out leaf between her fingertips. Although that leaf had finally been given some water after today’s rain shower, it must have already been too late, as the leaf looked completely void of moisture.

“Before sunrise or in the middle of the night, I met and talked countless times with that person on the other side of the hedges. We even shared the most pa.s.sionate kisses,”

She added, staring at her mother and younger brother as if to challenge them. I found myself stealing a glance at Sensei, before immediately looking down.

“He was always quick to leave, before anyone else could come, but those short moments were my salvation, more than anything.

Naturally, all during that time, I would bring him up with Father at every opportunity. I thought I could convince him somehow, and make him understand. However, I couldn’t make any progress at all. I couldn’t understand why Father hated him so much. But I couldn’t help but wonder, so I tried asking Mother and people from the neighborhood. Perhaps something had happened between them in the past, I thought.”

I stole a glance at Otoe-san. Even just looking at her from the side like this, it was very easy to see that she was growing upset by her daughter’s words.

“And then, just as I had thought, I learned that an issue had come up in the past. Between Momoya-san’s father, Momosuke-san, and my own mother…..”

“Stop it!”

It was Otoe-san who screamed. As I watched her with stolen glances, I could see her face growing paler and paler before my very eyes.

“Wait, are you telling us…. that Mom…. slept with the husband from the s.h.i.+nokawa family….?”

Tetsuta-san looked back and forth between his mother and the direction of the s.h.i.+nokawa’s house with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“That’s…. No, I would never….”

For a while, the wife, Otoe, could only let out choppy words that were neither ones of denial nor excuse, but at last, she drooped over and admitted this:

“It was…. A one-time mistake….”

Because her voice was so small, had she not said it in between the exploding fireworks, it sounded like it might disappear altogether. Seeing her mother like this, Chitose-san stared at her with bleary eyes.

“It’s fine, Mother. You don’t have to blame yourself for that anymore.”

The look she gave her wasn’t one from a daughter to her mother, but from one woman to another.

“And that was when I realized. Ah, Father must not be able to forgive any man from the s.h.i.+nokawa family. Since then, I had half-given up on persuading him any further.

‘I’ll go and convince him myself.’ Even after learning of the circ.u.mstances, that person told me this, but I could see things turning ugly, so I kept on consoling him. He tried to get me to elope with him more than a few times, but I could never say yes. No matter where we went, Father would find me and bring me back. As his daughter, I knew this would be the case. That’s just the kind of person Father was. It’s the same with the ghost paintings. I’m sure he just wanted to keep me somewhere close to him, like a decoration.”

Or perhaps, from her point of view, it was as if she had been haunted by her father.

“But then—Yes, I believe it was around the middle of last month. That person had an unusually dark look in his eyes, and he said to me, ‘I’ve finally made up my mind. You don’t have to worry anymore.’ The entire time, I couldn’t let go of the bad feeling I had. I had never seen that person with those eyes before.

And then, today, after I came back home once the fireworks had started, I found Father dead in his room.

However, the idea of suicide didn’t cross my mind. I then remembered how that person knew how to use a gun, and I figured it out immediately.

This wasn’t a suicide. That person had shot him!

Even I don’t know whether or not he secretly owns a gun. But when I saw the broken fence on the other side of the hedges, I knew for certain. He must have come up with the idea of shooting Father from afar when he saw the gap in the hedges. That was why he broke the fence in the middle of the night, in order to create ‘a direct path for the bullet to pa.s.s’ from his house to Father’s room, and why waited for this very day to shoot between the gaps in the fence and the hedges.

The moment I thought of this, I closed all the doors around the room, as if by reflex. I didn’t do it with any significant motive in mind. All I could think of was how I had to hide the terrifying thing that person had just done. But after doing so, I suddenly remembered. About that thing that Father had written before for fun.”

She slowly s.h.i.+fted her gaze to the back of the room. It almost looked like her eyes were following something that the rest of us couldn’t see, and just watching her made a chill run up my spine.

Her eyes stopped to rest on Professor Nagao’s suicide note, which had been left on top of the tea table.

“It was the suicide note that Father had written.”

The wife, who had collapsed on the ground, stared vacantly up at her daughter. It looked like she was staring at a woman she didn’t even know. It must have been because her daughter was making a face that she had never seen her make before.

“I accidently found it while I was cleaning a long time ago. However, it wasn’t written like a real suicide note. The note I saw back then, and the note that was found today are completely different ones, and the wording is different as well, but they were both written as jokes, full of twists and word play. He must have written them from time to time for fun, like how one recites haiku for leisure.”

Now that I thought about it, the wording had been a bit too humorous for a suicide note. He hadn’t mentioned a word about his inheritance, and I found the line, “I will return to see the camellias in the garden again next year” to be particularly strange.

Spirits were supposed to return home during Obon season, which made it unfitting to return when the camellias bloomed in winter. Would a professor devoted to the research of ghosts write such an inarticulate suicide note?

Perhaps he had purposely written it inaccurately to show that it wasn’t a serious note, in case his family ever stumbled upon it.

“Father was an eccentric, and whether he was asleep or awake, all he could go on about was ghost, ghosts, ghosts. He hung ghost paintings all throughout the mansion, and collected any and all books that had to do with ghosts. He must have wanted to do all he could to get closer to the ‘afterlife.’ Perhaps he even wanted to experience what it was like to die, even if it was just the feeling. In any case, the moment I saw that Father was dead, I remembered the suicide note I had found before. If the room were to be searched, they would naturally find the note. With that in mind, I decided to make Father’s death seem like a suicide. I a.s.sumed that the police would also come to that conclusion—”

Perhaps because she had talked so much, Chikage-san’s voice had gone rather hoa.r.s.e.

“However, I greatly miscalculated. I never would have expected that today of all days, detectives such as yourselves would come to visit us.”

“Chikage-san…. I….”

Unable to say anything more, I bit down on my bottom lip. Her feet, dirty with mud, looked like they hurt.

“That person killed Father. But rather than hate, I felt a deep love for him. My heart pounded at the thought of our future together. It was from that moment on that I’m certain I stopped being a human. I became a ghost, bound to this world by pa.s.sion.”

She was saying that she had become a vengeful spirit.

“Do you think me mad for killing my father just so I could be with my first love for the rest of my life? Do you see me as a delusional young woman caught up in a delusion? But is there any kind of love that isn’t delusional?”

I had nothing to say in reply to those words. Compared to Chikage-san, I was far from being even a young woman. I was just a child that didn’t know the first thing about love.

At last, Chikage-san stood in front of Detective Innami and held out both of her hands.

“That is the end of my story. Now then, Detective, please arrest me.”

Seemingly taken aback by the suddenness of it, the detective spoke uncertainly as he scratched at his stubble.  

“Well, if everything you said is the truth, you’ll be charged with the offense of withholding evidence, along with being a suspect as an accomplice to murder…. But, since you don’t seem to any intention of running, first, we’ll hear s.h.i.+nokawa’s confession, and we’ll deal with the complicated stuff after that. If possible, we’d like you to come with us to s.h.i.+nokawa Momoya’s residence and get him to come out peacefully.”

He must have been considering the possibility that s.h.i.+nokawa-san had a gun on him. The detective carefully chose his words as he spoke.

“….I understand.”

“That’d be appreciated. By the way, there’s one thing that I’ve been wondering. Why didn’t s.h.i.+nokawa escape after shooting the professor? He would’ve had more than enough time to run away to another city. Instead, he’s still sitting in his home. I just don’t get it. Did he think he wouldn’t get caught, trusting that you would definitely make it look like a suicide?”

“That’s….”

“Ah, well. We can hear all about it later.”

The detective then let out a heavy sigh, and glared at Sensei and I in turn.

“Listen, you two stay here. Don’t you go sticking your noses where they don’t belong any further.”

After being told this, I finally relaxed the tension in my shoulders. The hedges, the fence, and the person that Chikage-san truly loved. It would seem that I was had managed to make the correct deductions about those things.

And with that, the case was solved—

“Um, Detective.”

Just as that thought pa.s.sed through my head, Chikage-san asked Detective Innami this:

“Will I be charged with the same crimes as that person for what I’ve done?”

“No, from what I’ve heard so far, the real perp here is s.h.i.+nokawa. He was the one who planned the murder, after all. If all goes accordingly, he’ll likely spend several years in prison. But you don’t have to worry. Compared to him, your crimes are much less serious.”

The detective answered her question in a casual and tactless manner. He must have a.s.sumed she asked because she was concerned about what was going to happen to them from now on.

However, upon hearing this, Chikage’s expression changed into one which I’m unable to describe with any words I’m familiar with. She looked as if was watching the s.h.i.+p she’d been waiting on for ten years leave without ever stopping at the harbor where she stood, or perhaps as if she had just witnessed that s.h.i.+p sink before her very eyes. If it was Kudou-sensei, that might be how he would describe it.

“….That person is the only one who is going to spend years locked behind bars?”

“Right. No matter what his motive was, s.h.i.+nokawa killed another man. Atoning for his crimes in jail is the best….”

“So that means, we’re going to be separated again.”

It didn’t seem that she was listening to what the detective was saying anymore. What had gotten into her? The moment I thought this, she suddenly turned in my direction and reached out for me.

“AHH!”

I backed away by reflex, but I wasn’t fast enough. She grabbed me by the arm with strength unusual for a woman, and before I realized, she had me restrained from behind.

“Oi, what do you think you’re doing?!”

Detective Innami looked in our direction, leaning forward as if ready to spring into action. The wife also let out something close to a scream, and was shouting something along with the others, but I wasn’t in any position to try and make sense of it.

“You were hiding something like that?!”

There was a sharp fruit knife being pressed up against the back of my neck. The moment I realized this, my entire body felt very hot, and then immediately broke out in cold sweat. She must have hidden that knife in her sleeve from the kitchen after using it to peel the peaches.

“Chikage-san…. Why are you doing this….?”

“Be quiet. Don’t try and change my mind! I’ve decided. I’ve already decided that I’m going to do this. Hibari-san, I’m sorry that it has to be you, but….”

As she whispered in my ear, I could hear a touch of madness in her voice.

“Detective…. Tell me, Detective! How can I increase the severity of my crimes? If I cut this girl’s face up so badly it would never heal in a lifetime, would that make it the same as that person? Or should I brutally stab this pretty throat of hers? Tell me! Let me hear it! What do I need to do in order to shoulder the same number of crimes as that person, to receive the same judgement as that person?! Just tell me, what do I need to do?!”

She screamed. It was if she was was desperately shouting for the s.h.i.+p to return as it sailed away.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the wife faint from the sight of Chikage-san’s uncontrollable, violent eyes. Tetsuta-san rushed to try and hold her up.

“Oi! Don’t do anything ras.h.!.+ Listen, calmly hand the knife over to me. There’s no reason to be committing another crime like this.”

Although Detective Innami tried to persuade her cautiously, not a word of it reached her ears.

“It doesn’t make sense for that person to go to prison while I’m left out here. I thought that we could finally be together, after being in love with him for ten years…. I refuse to have to wait for years just to see him again—!”

Chikage-san’s tear-filled eyes reflected in the surface of the knife that was as cold and sharp as a crescent moon in winter. Those were the tears of someone trying to get the attention of someone important to them.

It had become like a stalemate. As if watching for fireworks the moment before they were ignited, all everyone could do was intently watch for Chikage-san to act.

However, right before my eyes—

“That’s far enough.”

Sensei was standing close enough for me to touch him. With an unusually stern look on his face, he was focused on the woman trembling behind me.

“If you murder that girl, I will kill you right in front of that man called s.h.i.+nokawa.”

I gulped.

It was my first time seeing Sensei with that kind of face.

Although Sensei would often joke about such things, and was the type to tell lies while acting sincere, right now, in this very moment, all I could feel in those words was pure aggression, like that of a ferocious wolf.

Sensei. Sensei. Please stop making that scary face.

“Oi, Writer! Don’t try and provoke her like this is some kind of joke!”

“Old dogs should keep quiet. What’s the point in trying to talk sense or morals into someone who stands shouting from the depths of abnormality? What’s the point in preaching now to someone who has already been hurt by those same morals and sense?”

Sensei took another couple steps towards us.

“Stay back!”

Unnerved by the pressure of Sensei advancing in our direction, Chikage-san pointed the knife she had been holding to my neck at him. However, Sensei didn’t let that moment escape. No, he had been waiting for this very moment to come.

As swiftly as if he were about to catch a gra.s.shopper, and without hesitation, Sensei stretched out his right hand and grabbed the blade of the knife.

Blood immediately started forming from his hand, and fell in droplets before me.

“Sensei!”

I couldn’t help but shout.

“I think I should like to have her back now.”

The two of them competed with their arm strength. More blood spilled forth.

Chikage-san’s distress seemed to show in how her hand was trembling. For her, handing over that knife would mean the same thing as handing over her resolve and pa.s.sion. I couldn’t imagine how painful of a decision that could be. Just how painful—

However, as if seeing through that distress and maneuvering around it, Sensei said to her,

“I don’t need the knife. This is what I want returned to me.”

Sensei gave my hand a firm pull. And before I could react, Sensei was holding me against his chest.

Chikage-san appeared to have been caught completely off guard, and remained standing there while still holding the blood-stained knife in her right hand.

“Chikage-san, all of that pa.s.sion, madness, and love are yours to keep. I have no intention of taking them away. I will not rob you of any of that. All I’m doing is taking Hibari-kun back from you. You should wait for your lover while keeping those feelings of pa.s.sion in your heart, whether you should become a ghost or a vengeful spirit,”

Sensei spoke to her slowly, pausing carefully between each word. For some reason, it sounded to me like Sensei was trying to comfort her using the words he was capable of.

“Besides, I already have a fruit knife in my own home, so I have no need for it. Although, it is always Hibari-kun’s job to use that knife to peel the skin off of peaches, while it is my job to eat them.”

Before I knew it, Sensei’s voice had returned to its usual disrespectful tone.

At that moment, a series of smaller fireworks all started to go off in the night sky once more. The fireworks illuminated the clouds drifting in the sky, lighting them up in the colors of summer.

While still holding the knife, Chikage-san started crying. A refres.h.i.+ng yukata adorned with lily of the valley flowers, and bare feet covered in mud. In her hand was a knife slick with blood—

And yet, she cried like a child.

Even the finale of fireworks going off wasn’t enough to drown out her sobs.

Detective Innami walked over to stand quietly beside her, and gently removed the knife from her hand.

“About having you accompany us to s.h.i.+nokawa’s residence…. We can put that off for later,”

He said hesitantly, while looking off in the direction of the mansion’s rain gutter. It would seem that he was weak against women crying. Chikage-san continued to shed tears for a while, but at last, she started to wipe her eyes with her sleeve.

“No,”

She shook her head.

“No, I’ll go with you. Right now, I want to see that person more than I ever have before.”

Deep pa.s.sion still burned in her eyes like the dying embers of a flame, but her cheeks were dyed a pale pink color.

Was it from the light of the fireworks? I thought, and looked up at the sky.

However, the fireworks that had dyed the night sky in such colors had already ended.

*

I will now briefly explain what happened after that.

Chikage-san turned to both of us and apologized, and after bowing her head deeply, she was taken away by Detective Innami to go to s.h.i.+nokawa-san’s house.

“I’ll wait again. For that person to return. So that’s why—”

You should try your best as well. That was what Chikage-san said to me before she left.

Her words made my heart skip a beat, and my face turn bright red, but I didn’t look away from her.

I felt like I understood it. The feelings that made a grown woman brandish a knife to make her own crimes more severe. The feelings that made her want to increase the weight of her crimes to be the same as those of her lover, in order to try and balance the scales.

I had a feeling that I understood.

In the end, Sensei and I never saw the face of the real perpetrator, s.h.i.+nokawa Momoya.

The fact that Detective Innami strictly turned us away, saying that this was the job of the police from here on—that was part of the reason why, but because I was busy treating Sensei’s wound, going to see the culprit was far from my mind. That said, the wounded man himself seemed discontent about sitting still to receive treatment, and bad-mouthed me from start to finish.

Even if we had been allowed to tag along, I think I still would have refused. Somehow, I felt hesitant about disturbing the scene of Chikage-san and s.h.i.+nokawa-san’s reunion.

The wife, Otoe, watched dumbfounded like an inanimate doll as her daughter was taken away. What would she do now, after having lost her husband and having her past adultery exposed? Would she choose to devote herself to her work as a career woman, or try once more to face Chikage-san as her mother?

Tetsukata-san tried to act strong, but he seemed greatly perplexed after witnessing the intense pa.s.sion of his older sister that he had been completely oblivious to. Perhaps he had been made painfully aware of his own immaturity. From now on, would be quit acting like a ruffian, and not engage in the nightlife as much? Perhaps being able to change yourself or not after an incident like this was a test of the human character.

After the rain, the ground hardened more than it had before. Could the same also be said about this family? No, that wasn’t up to me to think about.

That wasn’t something for a detective to do.

“By the way, Sensei—”

As I treated Sensei’s wound on the veranda of the Nagao’s house, I asked him about something that had been on my mind for a while now.

“If Professor Nagao had never fired his gun, why was there gunpowder residue found on his body?”

Had that also been set up by Chikage-san?

“Ah, what if she placed the gun in the professor’s hand, and then made him pull the trigger while facing it in the other direction? That way, the bullet that was fired would be nowhere to be found, and there wouldn’t be any fingerprints left behind, either.”

For something that I’d come up with on the spot, I thought it was a very clever idea.

“The bullet fired from the professor’s gun disappeared somewhere through the open door. That part is most likely correct. However, I’m not so sure about Chikage-san orchestrating it. If she had done so, there would have been a higher risk of blood getting onto her yukata, and during all the time I was close to her, I couldn’t detect the scent of gunpowder on her. Instead, I have a different theory.”

“A different one?”

“Professor Nagao was suddenly shot when he was in the middle of cleaning his gun. The impact of being shot caused his body to stiffen, and accidentally pull the trigger.”

“So that would cause gunpowder residue to be left on his body? But that would be strange. Having the gun loaded with a bullet while he was cleaning it would be—”

No matter how much of an eccentric he was, would he really do something so dangerous?

“Yes, it would be extremely dangerous. Why would the professor have a bullet ready? Was he trying to shoot something, no, someone? On today of all days, when the gunshot would be covered up by all the fireworks?”

On today of all days, to hide the sound of the gunshot.

“Perhaps he had known about the hedges. The hedges that his daughter was using to have secret affairs, and when he looked beyond it, the backside of the fence was also broken today. Oh? He could see the house of the man who had seduced his precious daughter. Come to think of it, how fortunate it was that the fireworks were about to start. Now then, how about using this gun to give him a scare? Or perhaps—”

How about I actually shoot him dead—?

“However, s.h.i.+nkawa was the one to pull the trigger first.”

“Th-that can’t be….”

As I listened carefully until the end, that was the one response I could muster.

“Of course, it’s only a theory.”

As I finished treating Sensei’s wound, and placed a wet towel on the fainted wife’s forehead, Detective Kaburagi returned excitedly.

“s.h.i.+nokawa just confessed to it in person. It was all just as you had deducted, Hibari-san!”

He stepped into the tatami room from the veranda, and cheerfully taking a hold of my hand to shake it up and down.

“Please, you don’t have to call me that.”

It made me feel uncomfortable to be called ‘Hibari-san’ by someone older than me, and not to mention a detective from the police department. But ultimately, my request went unheard. I wished he would have properly written it down in that notebook of his.

In any case, it seemed that case had safely come to a close.

“I’m so moved! I thought that Great Detectives only existed in novels! But they’re real, aren’t they? The Schoolgirl Detective! Incredible!”

When he said this to me, I could only give a sigh in response, like a paper balloon deflating.

And on top of that, there were several newspaper reporters peeking in from the beyond the hedges, having caught wind of the case. One of them, a young reporter of small stature, called out to us while clutching a camera in one hand.

“We’ve heard everything! About how that it was that young miss there that gallantly appeared to solve the case that occurred here! This would make for a great scoop! ‘The Murder Case at the Ryougoku Haunted Mansion, Brilliantly Solved by the Schoolgirl Detective’!”

The reporters begged me to tell them about it in detail while they snapped away with their camera shutters.

Just when I was thinking about how troublesome this had all become, I heard the usual laugh of “Ahaha” from behind me. Even without seeing his face, I knew. Sensei was enjoying this. Right now, he was slapping his knee in amus.e.m.e.nt as he watched me fall into this troublesome situation.

“Hey! You can’t just go taking pictures without permission!”

Detective Kaburagi came to intervene, but it almost looked like even the detective was enjoying this whole situation.

“Oh? Would that happen to be the mystery novelist, Kudou Renma-sensei? Why, how  unusual…. Ah, no, what a brilliant combination! Sensei, will a beautiful, female detective be appearing in your next work?”

Sensei ignored the question the reporter had directed at him, and suddenly came up and carried me sideways under his arm.

“Now then, I think we’ve had enough fun. Time to go home.”

“H-hold on a minute, Sensei—!”

It was like I was a child being carried off by their parent after having done something bad. But I had worked so hard to solve the case! I was a detective!

And that was how I wound up exiting the scene in the most disgraceful manner.

*

We walked alongside the Sumida River, which was now scarce of people. Sensei walked a bit ahead of me, while I kept up from behind.

There were still paper lanterns that remained lit nearby, like relics to remember the deceased. I had been hesitating for a while now over whether or not to call out to him. I kept on looking up and down between my shoes and Sensei’s back.

“Um…. Sensei,”

I finally prepared myself enough to say something.

“Thank you, for saving me. But, your hand….”

He needed to write for his work, and yet—

His right hand was wrapped up in bandages. I was the one who had wrapped it up. Looking at it now, I saw how sloppily it was done and couldn’t help feeling embarra.s.sed.

Would it leave behind a scar? Would it better if he went to hospital to have it properly looked at? Nothing but unpleasant thoughts started to circle around in my head.

At this rate, I might even start to imagine some tragic scenario that I normally wouldn’t think of.

Before I could think any further, I stopped and shouted,

“I-If you’re never able to write again because of that wound, Sensei, I’ll be your hands! I’ll write the ma.n.u.scripts of the stories you come up with in your place!”

Pa.s.serbys turned around to see what the commotion about. I heard someone wonder aloud if it was a lover’s quarrel.

But Sensei was the only one who didn’t turn around. All he did was stand there. With the moonlight s.h.i.+ning on his back, it looked like a st.u.r.dy door that would never open to me. It looked a door that was bolted shut to everyone.

How could I have blurted out such a stupid thing? I really was just a child. This wouldn’t solve anything. All I’d done was force my childish whims on him to make myself feel better.

I was feeling a bit strange right now. I’m sure it’s because I had listened to Chikage-san’s love story. The person she loved was someone she knew since she was a little girl, someone who was much older than her. After hearing about a story like that—

At last, I just felt so pathetic and squeezed my eyes shut.

The only sound that reached my ears was the murmuring of the river. As I listened it, I wished for this moment to pa.s.s as fast as possible.

But suddenly, I heard Sensei laugh, drowning out the sound of the river. When I opened my eyes, I saw Sensei bent over with laughter.

“Just when I was wondering what you wanted to say…. Be… Be my hands? You, Hikari-kun? With those small, October maple leaf hands of yours? Kukuku…. Ahaha!”

Sensei was desperately trying to fight back his laughter as if it were nothing. He must have found it unbearable funny that I had gone and made a big deal of it all in my head, and blurted out something so outrageous.

His entire body immediately turned hot.

“How mean! I said so seriously out of concern for you! Uwaaah!”

Was I embarra.s.sed, or just frustrated? Unable to tell the difference anymore, I pushed Sensei in the back with all my might. He must have let his guard down for a moment, as he lost his balance surprisingly easily, and looked like he was about to fall into the Sumida River.

“Woah! I’m falling! Into the river!”

“Ah—! Sensei is falling! Into the river!”

I hadn’t planned on seriously pus.h.i.+ng him into the river, and quickly grabbed his hand and pulled. The hand I had grabbed onto was the one wrapped in bandages.

We rocked back and both like a seesaw for a while, but somehow or other, I managed to pull Sensei back to safety. The both of us struggled to catch out breath. What a pitiful scene that had been.

“Good grief, it always ends up like this with you…. Haven’t you ever heard of holding back?”

“I’m sorry.”

Feeling bad about what had happened, I immediately apologized. However, Sensei never held back when he picked on me. Even during the middle of my deduction today—

Just as I uttered these complaints to myself, I felt a large hand come to rest on top of my head. And then, he pet me on the head a couple times.

“I’m very tired today. Make me a cup of hot coffee once we get back,”

As he said this, Sensei’