Chapter 85

When I returned to the stage, she waved at me. Misora turned toward me, glaring daggers, and yelled, "You're late!" Then Detective Chikage's words followed right after.

"Where have you been?"

"Well, I just..."

"Whatever, it's fine. Since this is a rare reasoning show, and you were one of the people who found the incident, I figured it'd be better to have you here. So I called everyone and waited."

The suspects and detectives had gathered here, waiting for me while growing more and more irritated.

While searching for the truth, choosing "to go home" would've been an irresponsible option, but I asked what would have happened if I had.

"Ah... sorry. So what would you have done if I'd just gone home?"

"... I'd have contacted you by smartphone."

She boldly shoved her smartphone at me. I'll refrain from retorting with, "What if I hadn't noticed the call?"

Now comes her reasoning. I must listen carefully to see if there are any mistakes.

I believe the Chikage of today will give us an answer without problems. I sincerely hope so.

Detective Akaba, standing next to Detective Chikage, prompted her to begin.

"Well then, let's start now that everyone's here."

"Understood. Now, let's reveal the truth of this incident."

Present here are officers, detectives, suspects, the incident's eyewitness—me—and the President, who discovered the murder weapon.

Almost without worrying about people's eyes, we get to see a cool reasoning show.

She went down to the audience seats and looked up at the three suspects. The three exchanged glances, flustered, "What, what?" Senior Kiriyama voiced his doubts to me.

"Huh... you were going to expose this incident..."

"Ah, sorry. That detective wanted to know about my friend's death, so she did the reasoning show first."

"Hmm."

I couldn't tell from his voice whether he was expecting it or not. Detective Chikage had no idea that Senior Kiriyama harbored any doubts.

She pointed toward the culprit and confidently declared her name.

"First, let me say this. The one who killed my best friend Reira-chan is you! Misora is the mastermind behind this murder!"

Misora, at being named, vehemently objected. Naturally, her face turned bright red, with not a shred of dignity remaining.

"...Huh? How dare you speak like that to the future eternal leading actress? Ridiculous. You're not a detective, just a fool."

Detective Chikage almost stepped back, intimidated by her force, but endured it. Then she began her counter-reasoning.

"You're pretty forceful for someone suspected of being the culprit. Well, you must think you're safe because you have an alibi?"

"Of course. While I was somewhere else, she fell from the catwalk. Dozens, no, hundreds of alibi testimonies would protect me if the timing were even slightly different."

"Sorry, but such alibi testimonies don't mean a thing."

"Huh!?"

"I knew you used an alibi trick because you didn't know whether Reira-chan fell while you were on stage or while you were fleeing. Alibi tricks can cause the culprit to misremember the actual time of the incident...! At first, you said you had an alibi because you were on stage when Reira-chan fell!"

"Alibi trick!? Huh!? What do you mean!?"

The testimonies were meaningless. When Detective Chikage said so, anxiety began to show on Misora's face. Of course it did.

This fall-murder had been committed using the very trick she had explained perfectly.

"Yes. You could drop her even if you weren't on the catwalk. If you needed an alibi... it would be during lunch break. That's when the stage was reserved and you set the trap."

"Huh!? W-wait a minute! I said it was reserved, but I have an alibi! Look, Kiriyama! Kiriyama came in halfway through to inspect the stage, right! I was singing on stage!"

Misora tried to make excuses, but Senior Kiriyama shook his head.

"Sorry, but I came in midway... so what were you doing before singing... well?"

"Wh-why...!?"

Misora's excuses began to sound like static. Why would he say such a thing? It was incredibly irritating. I wished she'd just stay quiet and listen to the reasoning show.

Detective Chikage, certain the excuses were meaningless, continued.

"It was simple. You lured Reira-chan onto the catwalk with threats. If you acted weak on purpose, she'd take advantage and accept your invitation...!"

She seemed to recall Reira-san for a moment. Her voice turned pained, but she quickly regained composure.

"There, you knocked her out and made her sleep. Then you set a timed device to shoot an arrow from the left edge of the catwalk. As a machine... you'd fix the arrow with rubber and after some time, an alarm or something would vibrate and release the arrow—okay."

While wearing gloves, she showed Misora an aluminum arrow from her hand.

"Then adjust the shooting time and set Reira-chan's smartphone to ring an alarm at that time. That's all that would happen."

"What would happen?"

Hearing Professor Shishido's words, Detective Chikage returned to the stage. Standing at the very edge where she might fall into the audience seats, she explained the truth.

"Then the timed incendiary activates and Reira-chan would wake. Probably an arrow would be fired when the device activated."

This time Senior Kiriyama voiced an objection.

"But on Reira-san's body... there was no arrow..."

"It didn't hit her. It was an aluminum arrow. Reira-chan must have sensed danger. She thought a powerful arrow would pierce her body. Frightened, she tried desperately to dodge it, climbed over the railing, and fell."

Detective Chikage answered his words with action. She leapt from the stage as if dodging. She landed gracefully in the audience seats. Then the President beside me muttered, "Wobbling and nearly falling is a minus point." There was no need to say unnecessary things.

Detective Chikage, not dreaming of the President's remark, puffed out her chest to look even cooler. Then she turned back to Misora and spoke.

"See? I didn't push her, so no alibi needed!"

As her alibi crumbled, Misora argued strongly. What she sought was likely evidence of why she had to be the culprit.

"Wh-what about it... the alibi testimonies for me are meaningless...! Someone else might have left Reira and the trap on the stage in the first place!"

I still haven't given this answer. I want evidence or its basis. I'll leave it to Detective Chikage.

"I learned that from Professor Shishido. With the words, 'Don't play detective!'"

"I-I did say that... b-but...!"

...Come to think of it, I thought I'd heard those words on stage. They were said by Professor Shishido.

I never imagined a hint was hidden there. I'd focused so much on Misora that I hadn't taken what another person said seriously.

"Playing detective," Detective Chikage began explaining.

"The 'playing detective' I thought of. It's walking around the crime scene without leaving fingerprints, isn't it? I came up with it when I saw Detective Akaba and that girl Kiriyama keeping their hands from leaving prints."

...I see. I took each fact and ruminated on it in my mind. There's no mistake now. The truth of this incident is...

Detective Chikage approached Misora, not even looking at me. She once hid her hand in her sleeve.

"That means, the culprit wore gloves... or used moe sleeves like an idol. Weren't they trying to do something?"

"So what if I used moe sleeves!?"

"Because you did... I asked my SNS followers what answer that leads to... and got a perfect response... 'Maybe they installed something they didn't want to touch with their hands on a ladder or something.'"

"How do you know I touched the ladder!?"

Detective Chikage raised her voice and revealed the answer.

"You considered what would happen if Reira-chan avoided the arrow on the catwalk and came down the only escape route—the ladder. If she came down, what would she say? She might accuse the attacker who struck her. You wouldn't want that... so you must have set a murder trick on the ladder too!"

"Ah..."

Misora, overwhelmed by Detective Chikage, tried to back away. At that moment, a clacking sound echoed. Clack-clack-clack. The same sound I'd heard on the stage after the incident.

"It bothered me. That clacking sound... whether someone on stage wore unnatural shoes... Thinking that, I realized. The culprit still hadn't disposed of the evidence they'd retrieved. They had no choice but to stick the evidence from the ladder onto their shoe! Show me! The soles of your shoes!"

Now it seems everything is in Detective Chikage's hands.

The sound of Detective Chikage and Misora both swallowing their saliva could be heard. Detective Chikage's face, dripping with sweat, showed doubt about whether she was truly correct.

Is there evidence? The moment Misora removed her shoes, my body trembled.