Vol. 5 Chapter 8.4

Translated by SoundDestiny Edited by SoundDestiny

“Gaijin! You came again!”

“Gaijiーn, Gaijiーn.”

“…Ahaha”

For the kids who cling and swarm around, I put on a polite smile for now. In my true feelings, I really want to punch them.

Especially, the brat with a shaved head who casually comes and strokes my butt. My butt isn’t that cheap. I’ll send you a bill with interest after he become an adult.

However, as soon as I saw Fumio and Saori entering the park, the annoying focus of the brats’ antics shifted over to them.

“Fumioー, you’re so sloooow! Stuーpid!”

“Fumio! You’re seriously sluggish.”

“Oh, shut up, shut up! I won’t give you the stamp!”

“Yeah, right! Even though you’re Fumio! I’ll tell this to your mother!”

“Okay, okay, I got it, I got it.”

Dealing lightly with the clinging kids, Fumio gives me a slight nod.

“Well, let’s start. Saori-chan, please!”

“Un! Onii-chan!”

Saori presses the play button on the vintage cassette player placed on the bench.

The distinct sound of tape threading in. Perhaps the tape is stretched, the first second of the sound warbles slightly.

But somehow, the lively sound of a light-hearted piano in D major resounds and the radio callisthenics begin.

No matter what attitude they just had, when the music starts, the kids diligently start their exercises. They manage to finish up to the second part of the radio callisthenics and Saori stops by pressing the stop button.

Watching the kids line up in front of Fumio to get their stamps, I walked over to Saori.

“Good job.”

“Th-thank you. Claudia-san, um… you participated today as well.”

“Yeah, I thought I should properly blend into the local community. I’m a bit of an outsider in various ways…”

“Indeed, you do look like a foreigner.”

“But on the inside, I’m solidly Japanese. Anyway, how’s it going? Is my big sister being tough?”

“Um… Coach is… a little scary…I guess. And Teruya-senpai… has a loud voice too.”

“Haha, I see”

‘Saori really is like a small animal…’

She looks down and lets out a fading voice and I can’t help but laugh at her.

After participating in radio callisthenics and talking to her yesterday and today, I still can’t see her as someone who sold her soul to the devil or anything like that.

Apart from the fact that my abilities don’t work on her, Saori is just a regular girl. A girl who is timid to a degree beyond the norm.

‘Hmm…Could it be that Fumio is the suspicious one after all?’

I’ve had Tachioka look into Saori, just in case but it might have been a waste of time.

‘Well, whatever… It’s Tachioka anyway.’

As I was pondering these thoughts, Fumio, who had finished stamping the kids, walked over to me.

“Good morning, Claudia-san. You’re up early again today.”

“I’m actually a night owl, but I’m trying my best. My eyes are all watery even now.”

“Haha, so are you planning to go back and sleep after this?”

“I’m definitely going to sleep a lot. Sleep, sleep, sleep.”

“Haha.”

Just a trivial exchange.

Honestly, I’d like to quickly ask critical questions to get to the bottom of this and clarify things. But  right now, I can’t afford to expose myself and have my fangs bared.

As detective high school girls, all we need is to identify the culprit and make it public. That would be enough for our names to be well known. Catching the criminal is the police’s job.

However, the super strong maid I encountered last night has seen my face too. If Fumio or Saori were the culprits, it would make sense to be more cautious… but…

“By the way, Fumio and Saori seem really close. Could you be dating?”

“Buha-!?”

It was an offhand remark but Saori reacted excessively.

“W-We’re not dating! We’re not dating! We’re childhood friends! We’ve been close since childhood, so it’s natural! Right, Onii-chan?”

“Un, well…”

Seeing her face turn bright red and her flustered gestures as she waved her hands, well… anyone could imagine her feelings.

“W-Well..Onii-san is cool and popular…Even I… um, if there’s a chance… I mean…”

While glancing at Saori muttering to herself about the day after tomorrow, Fumio leaned in and whispered to me.

“Claudia-san, you shouldn’t tease her… Saori is really a considerate girl and she can’t say no even if she doesn’t want to. If someone like me were to be said to be dating her, it would be quite troublesome.”

‘What’s with this guy? He’s really annoying. Especially Fumio’s words and the fact that he seems to be telling the truth… it’s confusing.’

“Hey, Fumio, have you and Saori always been like this?”

If that’s the case, I can’t help but feel sorry for her.

“Not always…I’ve only started talking to Saori relatively recently. We used to go to school together in groups during elementary school but I don’t remember much about that time…”

“Is that so? Saori?”

“Un, there was a situation where I got help from Onii-chan and that’s how we started talking again. It was about a month ago…”

“I see… that’s interesting.”

Walking back home after parting ways with the two of them, I tried to organise the story of the 『Disappearance Incident』 in my mind.

If I could access the police investigation information, I might have a clearer picture but for now, my sources of information are newspapers, magazines, the internet, Tachioka’s account and Hikari’s account combined.

The first person to go missing was a female student named Misuzu Kurosawa. She disappeared shortly after arriving at school and was found in front of the school thirteen days later in the middle of the night.

Following Misuzu Kurosawa, another girl, Masaki Haneda went missing.

And then, after that, Tachioka Tachibana encountered a demon and had a part of his memory stolen.

The location where that man was abducted was a love hotel. Tachioka claims he went into the hotel with a female student named Mai Fujiwara but that’s a lie. Hikari informed me that Mai Fujiwara is a regular participant in prostitution. It’s likely Tachioka paid for her services.

What’s perplexing is that this Mai Fujiwara seems to be infatuated with Fumio.

The relationships between the two are not clear. It might be a good idea to press Tachioka for more details.

Furthermore, eighteen members of the track and field team have gone missing.

The term 『Disappearance Incident』 has appeared on the internet and the story becomes more intricate. There’s a lot of missing information.

Next, after a girl reported Fumio being suspicious to the police, she went missing.

However, it was later revealed that this was a hoax. The girl, out of spite for being rejected by Fumio, had tried to frame him and cause trouble.

‘Fumio is really popular, huh? I wonder what’s so good about him…’

And then, the first missing student, Misuzu Kurosawa, for some reason disappeared while walking home with Fumio. She was abducted by men in a black large vehicle. Apparently, not only Fumio but also Misuzu Kurosawa’s boyfriend witnessed it, so it wasn’t a hoax.

The moment of abduction was witnessed only once.

After that, things are quite unclear.

The next day, Fumio suddenly barged into the Kamishima clan’s office.

On internet summary sites, it was written that he had seen a black van with Misuzu Kurosawa inside but anyone who would barge into a yakuza office for such a reason is honestly quite reckless.

Moreover, right after Fumio’s intrusion, the police also stormed the group’s office.

It’s a plot twist that even light novels would find astonishingly convenient.

And then the police found the missing female track and field members that included Misuzu Kurosawa and  Masaki Haneda, only four freshman students haven’t been found.

‘Can something like this really happen? It feels a bit too convenient…’

The super-strong maid that attacked the other day was one of the four missing freshman students, according to Teruya.

In other words, it’s safe to assume that these four are still under the control of the demon.

Hikari’s older sister, Anna and other members of the group were arrested. Fumio was also arrested but he was released shortly afterward.

Initially, there was an atmosphere online that idolised Fumio as a hero, but as soon as his middle school yearbook photo was revealed, he was ridiculed as 『a bullied kid who wanted revenge and only attacked crying out』.

In any case, Saori’s 『saved me』 remark was probably referring to this situation.

『It’s not like we’ve been close… I started talking to Saori relatively recently. We used to go to school together in groups during elementary school, but I don’t remember much about that time.』

The colour that surrounded Fumio’s statement was blue, indicating it wasn’t a lie.

In other words, it is impossible that Fumio and Saori conspired to do something.

The origin of the story that Fumio is suspicious comes from Tachioka.

“『Kurosawa Misuzu and Haneda Masaki, who were rescued, seem to be on good terms with Kijima now. He seem to have many girls at his beck and call.』”

Given this situation, Tachioka’s words aren’t entirely incomprehensible. Looking at the outcome of the 『Disappearance Incident』, Fumio benefited the most.

However, viewed from a different angle, it’s not entirely implausible that Saori orchestrated things for Fumio.

After all, my abilities don’t work on Saori. If the grace bestowed upon me by the angel doesn’t work, it’s hard not to suspect the involvement of a demon.

When I got home and stepped into the dining area, my older sister had already finished eating breakfast.

“Welcome back.”

“I’m back and I’m starving! Give me sunny-side-up eggs with both eyes! And spread jam on the toast!”

As I exclaimed, my older sister gave me a look that seemed to convey exasperation.

“Claudia…don’t you ever think of doing things for yourself?”

“I don’t. Everyone knows your sunny-side-up eggs taste better, Onee-chan.”

“…I see.”

My older sister shrugged her shoulders, placed the partially eaten toast on the plate and stood up.

Then, as she reached for the refrigerator door, she turned around as if she had remembered something.

“Speaking of which, I got a message from Tachioka.”

“Hmm, what does it say?”

“He’s being really cryptic in his wording but he’s basically saying to call him back for more details.”

Onee-chan took her smartphone out of the back pocket of her jeans, opened the messaging app, swiped across the table with the app open and I looked down at the phone that had slid into my hand. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Moribe Saori died once.”

That single sentence written there was just too unsettling.

×××

Today, I changed my plans and decided to observe the track and field team’s practice.

In the morning, I talked to Tachioka on the phone and had a good reason to do so.

He answered the phone on the eighth call, sounding quite annoyed. Apparently, he just woke up and wasn’t in a good mood.

“『…I did asked you to call me, but couldn’t you at least think about the time… Geez.』”

“Shut up, you lazy NEET. People are awake at seven o’clock.”

“『I’m not a NEET. I’m still enrolled in school, you know.』”

“I don’t care about that. What does it mean that Saori has died once?”

“『Well… I did my best, you know. It wouldn’t hurt to give me a little praise…But whatever. I visited the elementary school where that Moribe girl graduated from and talked to her former teacher. He was an old man close to retirement.』”

“…Surprising that you weren’t treated as a suspicious person.”

“『Well, if you say something like 『I’m looking for surprise ideas for Moribe-chan’s birthday』 most people are fine with it. They’re all eager to help and tell you things.』”

“Oh…so being carefree has its uses. That’s unexpected.”

“『FuFun, so the teacher said, [I remember Moribe well] And when asked why, he said, [Because she died once].』”

“So, I’m asking what the situation was for her to die once”

“『You’re really impatient…Apparently, when she was in fifth grade, her parents contacted the school. They said she had a high fever and had passed away that morning. So, the teacher informed the students and they all had a moment of silence while crying. But the next day, she came to school as if nothing had happened.』”

“Haaa? What’s that?”

“『Exactly. It’s really strange. The teacher panicked and called Moribe’s house but apparently they said, [We don’t remember making such a call. Maybe it was a prank] However, the teacher swears it was without a doubt the voice of Moribe’s mother.』”

“…Isn’t it just the ramblings of a senile old man?”

“『Well, yeah, that possibility exists too. But the interesting part is what happened afterward. Apparently, after all that fuss about her being dead or not, Moribe’s personality completely changed. She used to be bright, selfish, the centre of the class but then she turned quiet, timid and reserved.』”

I involuntarily held my breath.

“『[She looked the same, but seemed like completely different person] the teacher said. Other teachers joked about it too, [Is she actually the twin sister?]』”

‘It’s undeniable.’

I had thought something similiar. In fifth grade, she and the demon had switched places.

Upon reflection, it was reasonable that the track team members were hiding their ongoing connection with the culprit. After all, a demon was among their ranks.

I didn’t know if Fumio was involved. Even if he was, I couldn’t tell if he was using the demon, [Moribe Saori] or being used by her.

However, if I could thoroughly monitor her and find decisive evidence that she was the demon, the situation would take a significant turn.

Saori held the key to this case.

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