Chapter 83

While heading from the front entrance toward the audience seating and then to the stage—the crime scene itself.

I briefly explained to the President how Misora had come to look suspicious and the reasoning I'd pieced together. He answered "O-Okay!" with a face that showed I couldn't tell whether he'd really understood or not, and simply chose to believe the conclusion I'd given him.

I tried at once to jump from the audience seats onto the stage to chase Misora, but I didn't make it and gave up. While glancing sideways at the President climbing up in a single motion, I took the stairs instead.

Yet while all that was happening, the three of them were nowhere to be seen. On the fire-blackened stage were only the charred curtain scraps and the officers sealing the scene. Feeling bad for them, I was about to invoke Detective Akaba's name and get myself let in.

"Um... excuse m—"

Someone cut off my words.

"Quit playing at detective!"

A jarring shock of words. Realizing that what I was about to do was exactly what a detective would do made me tremble violently. I looked around to see who could possibly be directing such anger at me.

I tried as hard as I could to stay out of that person's line of sight.

But no one seemed to be directing any emotion at me. The detective gave a wry smile, yet there was no desperate look on her face after shouting.

The President didn't seem to take those words to heart and told me "Don't worry about it."

"Sure it wasn't your imagination?"

"No, if you heard it too, President, I don't think it was a trick of the ears."

"Hmm... yeah, I guess not."

The moment he fell silent I strained my ears. If someone out there really hated me, I figured they might still be muttering something under their breath.

Yet now I heard no human voice—only the clatter-clatter of someone's unusually loud footsteps.

Following the President's advice, I stopped worrying and started walking around. Then I spotted Misora walking side by side with Professor Shishido and hurried after them.

I kept my eyes sharp, sure they were about to try destroying evidence. The half-burned curtain made hiding easy enough.

But Senior Kiriyama was making a fuss right next to me, and I couldn't concentrate.

"President, can I have a minute? I need to speak to that senior."

"Yeah, go talk to him. I'll keep a good eye on that one for you!"

Having no choice, I left the job of watching Misora to the President and went to hear what the senior had to say.

"...Um, what's wrong, Senior?"

"It's not 'what's wrong'... all the stage props burned up..."

"Ah..."

"Everything I worked so hard to make—gone! Waaah!"

Senior Kiriyama hung his head in despair. Everything must have been unbearably sad for him. Props can be rebuilt, but people are another matter. The girl he liked—Misora—was in love with Professor Shishido, and circumstances now pointed to her as the culprit of this case.

I didn't know whether he could endure such a truth. If he asked me "Do you know who the culprit is?" I had only the confidence to crush him into the depths of despair. To keep from being asked, I left the spot.

Now then, time to head right back to the President. I was about to ask whether anything strange had happened.

That's when I learned his tailing had failed. He was crouched in the very back of the stage, in front of the ladder that leads up to the catwalk just behind the horizon backdrop—looking like a sulking child.

I couldn't help calling out to him.

"President! Did you lose sight of Misora?! After bragging so confidently?!"

"Ah... well, those two were taken to the dressing rooms for questioning. In that situation, they couldn't destroy evidence anyway..."

"Oh... I see. Then why are you sulking?"

No immediate answer came.

He was probably cheering on some ants carrying food across the stage or something.

Just as I was about to walk away from the President and start working on Misora's alibi trick, he stood up and grabbed my shoulder hard.

The instant I wondered what he was doing, he opened his hand.

"Look. This thing was lying around—see?"

At first glance it looked like a shard of a needle. I had no idea it could be connected to the case and was completely thrown.

"Wh-What is this? What do you mean?"

"This is where the weapon-maniac me gets his turn."

That reminded me of the imitation swords and spears he'd shown me at his house before.

"Come to think of it, you did collect a lot of weapons, Senior... Huh? Is this thing some kind of weapon?"

"It's the tip of an aluminum arrow. This texture's unmistakable. They sell these online all the time... It must've rolled off after hitting something."

"You don't mean this fragment...?"

I headed straight to where the arrow's body was likely to be. Using the ladder, I moved up to the height from which Ms. Reira had probably fallen.

First I moved right. Several arrows lay at the far right end of the catwalk. One had its tip chipped, probably from hitting the wall. The shard had slipped through the railing and fallen below.

I could now more or less read how the crime had unfolded.

From atop the catwalk I called down to credit the President for his discovery.

"President! Thank you! With this we're basically solved, right?"

"Oh! Nice! Way to go, me! I was finally useful! Yahoo!"

I looked away from him striking a pose, hand on chin.

Then I moved left from where I was standing. This was probably where Ms. Reira had been dropped. From here the black backdrop and horizon curtain were clearly visible, and the smartphone she must have dropped was lying there too.

She was definitely pushed from here.

I gripped the railing—which looked like I could vault over it if I really tried—and surveyed the stage below.

The culprit had used an alibi trick, but this was how he pushed Misora off.

Yet several mysteries remained at this point, and I had no way to prove it. There were traces of something on the far left, but it had burned. The culprit must have attached a timed incendiary to destroy the evidence of firing the arrow.

The few remaining arrows were small; I doubted any fingerprints would be left.

I'd basically figured out the trick yet couldn't connect it to Misora at all. Even if I cornered her, she'd just say, "Anyone could've done it—Senior Kiriyama or Professor Shishido, not just me."

No matter how hard I looked I couldn't find it, and I racked my brains, sitting cross-legged on the stage.

I clutched my head.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, you finally came over here."

"Oh dear... You're done with your investigation? The police are just taking photos and such, so could you step aside?"

Detective Akaba arrived while I was thinking. She'd apparently concluded this was the point of the fall and had come to investigate.

I moved to the edge of the scaffolding so as not to block the narrow path. From there I spotted Detective Akaba, another detective, and finally the rest who followed behind, and couldn't help saying "Oh."

"Detective Chikage...?"

I felt conflicted. She must have been devastated by Ms. Reira's death. Could a detective in such shock really handle the investigation in a stable state?

Then I saw she wasn't operating on her own. Detective Chikage showed me her smartphone screen and said:

"Don't worry. I cried my eyes out and feel much better now. Plus everyone on social media is cheering me on. I have to fight this case."

"I see..."

"And relax about the case too. After looking around I've basically figured out what happened, what alibi was used, and who used the alibi trick... I've seen through it."

"That's reassuring."

I was oddly relieved, thinking I'd get to see her usual bumbling reasoning. Watching my rival detective in high spirits, I wondered why it put my heart at ease.

I had let my guard down.

"I even found all the outrageous evidence Misora left behind using this alibi trick!"

"Really?"

"You don't look very surprised."

Finding evidence alone was nothing. There was no way the evidence to convict the culprit could be—while I sorted things out in my head, I realized my own thoughts were contradicting each other.

Evidence. Evidence!?

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!? Detective Chikage!? You already found the evidence!?"