Preceding the Murder Investigation
Akagawa. Mind if I ask you one thing?
I was slumped over my desk asleep when Mikiya suddenly spoke up. I barely lifted my head and glanced sideways, only to find Mikiya with a troubled look on his face. Looking closer, Gakuto was sitting right beside him.
Gakuto was the school’s judo prodigy, a childhood friend of Mikiya’s. He was roughly my height, though I felt a little shorter. We barely knew each other. So why was he here?
What?
Mikiya hesitated, then flashed that signature warm smile of his and opened his mouth.
Um… is Ryougi-san dating Shiki?
…Eh?
The word slipped out before I could stop it. If I had been drinking water, the floor would have been flooded by now.
The entire classroom fell dead silent. The girls in the back row who had been swapping lunchboxes and chatting stopped mid-sentence. The boys tossing a basketball around each other froze as well. Even they seemed strangely curious, as if they were waiting to hear what I would say next.
That’s not me and Shiki.
I sneaked a glance at Shiki, who was staring out the window with his back turned. Not even the slightest flicker crossed his eyes while he talked about himself.
But you call each other by your first names without honorifics. How could Ryougi-san ever allow something like that to a mere friend?
Gakuto, who had been watching me the whole time, asked his question with that exact look in his eyes. Of course. That was the real reason he had come all the way here—to use Mikiya as a shield and snoop around.
I’m not that close to either of you, so he probably figured he could get answers out of Mikiya instead.
It’s just that Shiki hates being called by his surname. Last time I called him Ryougi, he glared at me like he wanted to kill me. I started calling him “you” just to avoid that.
That “just to avoid it” explanation is pretty suspicious…
It made me a little irritated. Was he actually hoping that if we dated, something good would come of it? I was curious how deep his knowledge ran.
Mikiya turned to Gakuto, ready to drag him out of the room. He had noticed my mood had soured. The bell rang, ending the brief lull, and the class returned to its usual lunchtime buzz.
So what about last week? The thing that happened under the eaves?
Last week, the day of the farewell party, right after the rain had stopped. I had thought no one knew about it. Apparently someone had been secretly watching.
The moment I recalled that day, my face twisted on its own. My eyes, the eyes, snapped open with a faint crackle of static.
Gakuto! Akagawa’s uncomfortable. Besides, Ryougi-san is in the class too. It’s rude to ask when the people involved are right there listening.
Mikiya cut him off cleanly. Gakuto would have been dragged away if left to his own devices.
Somehow, I wanted to answer that question.
But in that exact moment, Shiki shot to his feet and stormed out of the classroom. The room erupted into murmurs. Gakuto froze in place. Mikiya let out a long sigh.
The sound of whispers filled the air. Twenty-eight students. A single word from any one of them could make the room sound like a thunderstorm.
Each person’s emotions usually carried the weight of two or three feelings. When my abilities sharpened, it could stretch to four or five at once.
Add in the students peeking in from the hallway through the windows, and I was receiving roughly forty emotions all at once. My head throbbed. Sweat dripped steadily onto my desk. I buried my face in my arms and clutched my skull.
Too loud. Too loud. Too loud.
Stop!!!
As if time itself had frozen, everyone fell silent and stared at me. The moment the noise vanished, the emotions pressing in on me melted away like snow. My head felt bleached white.
Maybe it was the fear of people’s eyes, or maybe because my body felt off—I don’t know—I snatched my bag from the hook on my desk and fled the classroom.
The students filling the corridor parted like the Red Sea when Moses parted the waters. I ignored the emotions crashing against me from behind and climbed the stairs to the rooftop.
As expected, Shiki was already there.