When the Detective Work is Done, I'll Die

Chapter 34

I leaned my elbow on the nearest desk and rested my chin on my hand. Then I started to think.

Kanbara-senpai picked up what the culprit had dropped and tried to hide it at the very end. So the detectives would get the message. The moment I considered that possibility, I knew it was right.

Once I'd seen that delivery slip and the state of the crime scene, I probably didn't even need to think it through.

"So deciding that only Vice-Principal Kanou is suspicious might be jumping the gun."

"Huh... why?"

"The paper you showed me just now. Only the edge is stained with blood."

"Ah, that's right."

"Only the edge—that's the point."

The female detective stared hard at the evidence after my words, then suddenly raised her voice.

"Ah! That's right. It is weird, isn't it? Why is it? Everything that was lying on the floor at that crime scene was drenched in blood. The ground was a sea of blood."

"If it had fallen in all that blood, there's no way only the right edge would be stained."

"Y-yeah. That's what you mean. That's true. Her hands were soaked in blood too."

Why, then, was only the right edge stained? I thought it through and laid out my reasoning.

"That said, it's hard to picture the culprit deliberately placing it there. If they were, they'd have used something more clearly tied to the vice-principal—his pen or a business card, something with his name on it. Most likely, Kanbara-senpai had it tucked in a pocket or something, so the blood didn't reach it."

"Huh? If it stayed in her pocket, then the blood..."

"That part, I figure the culprit searched her pockets with blood-stained hands. But they couldn't tell what it was at a glance, so they stuffed it back in—"

I don't get it either. Why would Kanbara-senpai have someone else's take-out memo? Could fried rice and five-ingredient ramen be some kind of message? No—the odds of that are practically zero.

First off, no writing tools were found at the crime scene, and if she'd expected to be killed, she wouldn't have chosen such an obscure message.

While studying the evidence itself for any meaning, one small thing nagged at me. There were multiple crease marks, yet only a single bend line.

Once I noticed that, I called out to her.

"Wait—hey, Detective! You didn't crumple this paper, did you!?"

"Huh? N-no. I handled it carefully so it wouldn't get folded. It was already folded once in the skirt-over-trousers pocket, with just the right edge peeking out."

"Then this crease... this fold! Huh..."

"The fold?"

"This fold. I'm sure of it. The fold was made on the previous paper."

"Folded on the previous paper...? Previous... wait, you mean—"

"In other words, this take-out memo is a copy."

"R-really!?"

The female detective waved over a nearby officer and told him to check the paper.

Why would anyone need to copy a take-out memo? And why did the copy end up at the crime scene?

The werewolf-setup murder.

The true identity of the culprit.

The inexplicable situation of the suspects and this school.

The copied take-out slip.

Before I could untangle any of the countless mysteries, another one appeared, and it felt unsolvable. Yet when I thought of the grudge those detectives held against me—how I had to prove I was better than them, how I had to crush them—I knew I had to solve this case.

I scolded myself not to give up and went back to talking with the detective.

"So, assuming that paper is a photocopy, we still don't know why the culprit dropped it, and we can't say Vice-Principal Kanou is the prime suspect anymore."

"Yeah. That's true."

"Was there anything else? Something Kanbara-senpai left behind, something tied to what she was doing at the very end. I feel like she would've moved."

"Um... no..."

"No blood handprints or anything?"

"No. Both the knife and the pole were so bloody it's hard to say if she touched them... oh. But there was gravel stuck on top of the blood on those two."

"Gravel?"

"Yeah. From the field... on the knife handle, you know. She probably tried to fight back against the culprit..."

"Knowing her, I wouldn't put it past her to do that with her last strength."

Speaking of the knife, there was one more thing I wanted to ask.

"Got anything else you want to ask? I'll talk to myself for you."

"Your 'talking to myself' isn't really 'to myself' anymore... oh well. Thanks. Um, what happened to the knife?"

"Ah. Looks like it was stolen from the home-economics room... oh, and while the door wasn't broken, it seems it was properly locked and unlocked with a key. The key was returned to its original spot, so we don't know who used it."

The home-ec room knife.

Did the culprit have it before the incident? Or did Kanbara-senpai secretly steal it to threaten someone?

If the culprit had it, searching the entire school for Kanbara-senpai after stealing the knife would be far too risky. If Vice-Principal Kanou or someone else who'd stayed late happened to mention the knife or the home-ec key, the crime wouldn't have happened.

So the culprit must have known exactly where Kanbara-senpai was.

Which meant the culprit had summoned her.

The same held if Kanbara-senpai had the knife. From the fact she was found dead in a storeroom corner, I could deduce she'd lured someone there and been killed while counter-attacking.

One of them had definitely arranged the meeting.

That's as far as I could figure.

"Right now we don't know which of the suspects was summoned or how. Any phone calls or e-mails would've been erased..."

"...So, for now, that's all I can tell you about the case."

"Thank you very much."

"If you find anything, let me know."

She quickly handed me a card with a phone number and the name "Keidou Akaba."

"Detectives hand out business cards too?"

"Ah... only me. It's a hobby..."

Detective Akaba rested her hands on her knees and spoke in a small, docile voice. Such a cute appearance—and yet I couldn't help suspecting she might be a little sly beneath it.

Whatever. I slipped her card into my pocket and resumed the investigation.

Next I decided to talk to Murayama-senpai. He should know why Kanbara-senpai was so hated, and maybe he'd give me a lead.

Just before I left the principal's office, Detective Akaba spoke.

"Don't drop your guard... please."

"I won't. This school is definitely strange. Some people praise the victim, others treat her like dirt... but I won't fold. I'll solve every last mystery!"