Shinrei Tantei Yakumo – ANOTHER FILES - Volume 3 - Chapter 3

ANOTHER FILES – THE TOWER OF JUDGEMENT
file 03: the tower of judgement (TRANSLATION NOTES)

-

1

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‘Sorry to bother – ’

The next morning, Gotou went with Ishii to Yakumo’s hideaway, the Movie Research Circle room.

Yakumo looked sleepy as always and was in his usual chair, reading a book.

'Coming even though you know you’re a bother – is this some kind of harassment?’ Yakumo asked lazily as he lifted his head.

That attitude really got on Gotou’s nerves. He wanted to punch him right now.

'And you’re just reading a book in a time like this – feeling pretty laidback?’ retorted Gotou.

Yakumo sighed and put the book he was reading on the table. It was a rather thin book – more a booklet than anything.

On the front, there was a picture of the clock tower which was the start of this incident, and the title was just that – the Clock Tower.

'I’m reading it because it’s necessary to the case.’

'Necessary? That is?’

'This is something published by the literature circle that the victim Kanae-san was in.’

'I don’t think reading that’ll solve any cases,’ Gotou said cynically. Yakumo gave him a cold glare.

It was an almost frightening level of pressure.

'It will solve the case – absolutely.’

Gotou felt like it was the first time in a while that he had heard strength in Yakumo’s words.

He had probably done away with his doubts after meeting Haruka yesterday.

The current Yakumo had to have the strong will to solve the mystery of the case no matter what.

Maybe he had finally decided to believe in Haruka.

After that, Shinoda and Onodera had rebuked them plenty. There had been a big fuss about what sort of punishment they’d go under, but Miyagawa had come in and dealt with it somehow.

It had been troublesome, but if that had brought Yakumo back, Gotou was glad he got Yakumo the chance to see Haruka.

'Then what should we do next?’ said Gotou as he sat down.

Right now, they had solved nothing about the case. They didn’t even have a lead.

They couldn’t just keep sitting around.

Yakumo put his left index finger on his brown and narrowed his eyes. The faint smile on his lips was uncanny.

'Three years ago, a woman committed suicide by jumping from the clock tower – ’

Yakumo spoke slowly.

'Yeah.’

The incident had occurred when Gotou had brought the files on that case at Yakumo’s request.

'I want to know more about the incident.’

'Those files not enough?’

'They aren’t. I want to know what happened at the time, what sort of situation it was – more detail than is in the files.’

'Does the woman who committed suicide have something to do with this case?’ asked Ishii, his voice shaking.

'Yes, she does. Like I said before, the victim Kanae-san and her friend Nishizawa-san experienced a spiritual phenomenon in the clock tower. That was probably – ’

There, Yakumo stopped, but Gotou understood even without his saying.

He was probably saying that the ghost in the clock tower was the woman who had killed herself, Mizuhara Noriko. But –

'There’s no ghost in the tower, right?’

There had been no ghost when Yakumo went there with Haruka or with Gotou.

Though Gotou had just asked a normal question, Yakumo laughed.

'Ghosts don’t always stay in the same place.’

'Aren’t they bound to the place they died or have strong emotions for?’

That was what Yakumo always said.

The spirits of the dead were bound to the place they died and places that they had exceptionally strong emotions for. If that was the case, the ghost wouldn’t be able to move from the clock tower.

'I only say that is often the case. There are exceptions to everything.’

Gotou couldn’t retort to that.

Well, there were many things he didn’t understand, but all he could do was agree to do what Yakumo said now. If he didn’t, Haruka would be arrested as the culprit.

'Got it. First, I’ll see who was in charge…’

'I already know,’ Yakumo replied easily.

'What?’

'I said, I already know. It was written in the file. It’s amazing how you can be a detective while being so careless,’ Yakumo said mockingly.

It made Gotou angry, but at the same time, he felt happy, since it felt like Yakumo had finally come back.

'Who is it?’ asked Gotou.

Yakumo smiled faintly.

'The detective who was very angry yesterday. If I remember correctly, his name was – ’

Yakumo looked up into the air.

– Oi, don’t kid around.

Though feeling weary, Gotou said the name.

'Shinoda.’

'Yes. According to the files, it was Shinoda.’

– This is the worst.

If Gotou went to talk to him now, it would just be a repeat of yesterday’s fight. That said, he couldn’t just keep quiet and do nothing.

Well, he had come this far – he had to just go on without grumbling.

'Got it, but don’t expect much.’

Gotou got up, but his heart was heavy.

He didn’t think Shinoda would just talk. He might have to be a bit forceful.

'Ishii! Let’s go!’

When Gotou called out to Ishii, he leapt up. 'Yes sir!’

The two of them were about to leave when Yakumo called out to him.

'Sorry, but please leave Ishii-san behind.’

'What?’

'There is something else I need investigated, so I’d like Ishii’s help there.’

Yakumo looked straight at Gotou.

Gotou didn’t know what Yakumo was thinking, but Yakumo’s gaze was always on the truth. Gotou had come this far believing that, and he would continue to –

'Got it. Do what you want,’ Gotou said brusquely, and he put the Movie Research Circle room behind him.

-

2

-

'Hello – ’

Makoto stepped into the Meisei University cafeteria and spoke to a couple chatting at a window seat.

The two looked youthful but serious.

'Me?’ said the man, looking suspicious. The woman seemed on guard as well.

It made sense for them to feel that way since Makoto had suddenly called out to them.

'My name is Hijikata. I’m a reporter for Hokutou Newspaper. I would like to talk to you…’

Makoto quickly took out her business card with a smile.

The two exchanged a glance and then nodded.

'Is it about that incident?’ asked the man.

Haruka’s incident was in the news, so it was probably such a big commotion that everybody on campus knew about it.

'Yes,’ said Makoto with a nod. The two looked excited.

They were probably happy that they were going to be interviewed about the case. Makoto couldn’t think well of that, but this often happened when she went around interviewing people.

People wanted something exciting in their peaceful lives. If it didn’t have anything to do with them, they ran about irresponsibly.

'It’s a bit scary. I hear the girl was killed by a friend.’

'The person who killed her’s in the orchestra circle, apparently.’

'Seriously? Then maybe it’s somebody you know, Miki-chan.’

'Maybe.’

'Maybe they were fighting over a man?’

'That’s possible.’

The two seemed to be enjoying themselves.

– Don’t just go making things up!

Makoto fought down the urge to yell that.

They could say whatever they wanted because they didn’t know. They just repeated the face of the facts they heard without trying to find out if they were true or not.

It was terrifying.

However, the students wouldn’t recognise that at all even if Makoto told them that now.

If they weren’t involved, they really wouldn’t try to understand.

'What I want to ask about is the clock tower where the incident occurred – ’

Makoto interrupted the two of them, who had continued talking.

The two of them looked up at Makoto.

'There is a rumour that a ghost appears in that clock tower, but have you two heard of it before?’ asked Makoto.

The two looked at each other again.

'I’ve never heard that,’ replied the man with the shrug.

'I’ve never heard it either.’ The woman shook her head.

'I see…’

'Does that ghost have something to do with the case?’ the man asked. That question had been asked many times before.

– It does.

Makoto wanted to say that, but they probably wouldn’t believe her anyway.

'I heard a rumour. If it had something to do with it, I thought I’d be able to write an interesting article, but it seems I’m off the mark.’

Makoto ended the conversation and left before the two could ask any questions.

After leaving the cafeteria, her mobile rang. It was Yakumo.

'Hello, Hijikata speaking.’

<It’s Yakumo.>

She heard Yakumo’s clear voice from her phone.

Even though Yakumo had been acting calm yesterday, he had seemed weak, as if he might collapse at any moment.

However, the call Makoto received this morning felt like it was from the usual Yakumo.

Perhaps he had come to terms with his emotions, or something else had happened – in either case, Makoto wanted to do whatever she could to solve the case.

<How was it?>

'I asked about ten people, but nobody’s heard about it before,’ reported Makoto.

Yakumo had asked her to find out when the rumour about the ghost in the clock tower had started, but so far, she hadn’t met anyone who knew the rumour.

It made her doubt there was even a rumour in the first place.

However, that made something else confusing. Sakurai had said that the ghost of the clock tower made him write his novel.

It would have made sense if there had been a rumour, but why would he say it otherwise?

<I see. Thank you very much. That’s enough for that.>

'It looks like I couldn’t help much.’

<No, that was very helpful. I apologise for asking for your help again right afterwards, but I have another request.>

'What is it?’

<It is – >

-

3

-

Ishii walked the campus with Yakumo.

Yakumo had been on the phone with somebody this whole time. Though Ishii couldn’t hear the voice, it was probably Makoto.

What on earth was Yakumo thinking? To be honest, Ishii had no idea.

Still, he was cooperating with Yakumo. It was Yakumo. Ishii believed in him to solve the case.

It was a mysterious feeling.

Since Ishii only ever interacted with Yakumo on cases, he knew practically nothing about him. Not only that – Ishii never knew what Yakumo was thinking, so it was frightening.

And yet – he believed in what Yakumo was trying to do and was going forward.

– I wonder what the root behind people’s belief is.

'Ishii-san.’

After finishing his call, Yakumo called out to Ishii as they walked.

'Y-yes?’

'Thank you for yesterday.’

'Eh?’

Ishii stared at Yakumo’s profile.

He didn’t understand why Yakumo was thanking him. Actually, it was unusual for Yakumo to thank anybody at all.

'You stopped me when I was arguing with Gotou-san.’

Yakumo awkwardly looked down and scratched the tip of his nose.

'Ah, no, er… My body just moved on its own…’

Before Ishii had noticed, he had stepped in between them. He hadn’t done it consciously – you could call it habit.

'If you hadn’t stopped me then, I don’t know what would have…’

Yakumo stopped walking and turned his eyes towards the line of clouds in the perfectly blue sky.

– Ah, even he worries about things.

Even though it was such an obvious thing, Ishii felt like he had just realised it.

Yakumo and Gotou had definitely not been normal then. It hadn’t been their usual argument – it had felt like they were clashing with the emotions hidden at the bottom of their hearts.

Though fighting with no guards was ghastly, it was true that Ishii had felt envious as well when he saw them.

Would he ever be able to yell out his true feelings like that to anybody?

'I…’

'Let’s go – ’

Yakumo interrupted Ishii and started walking again. After a quick 'Yes’, Ishii started walking diagonally behind Yakumo.

Soon, they reached the security room that Ishii had visited yesterday.

When they went inside, Seo was waiting, since they had asked for an appointment in advance.

They were taking to the same table as Ishii had been yesterday and sat down.

Though Ishii had been worried about how to explain Yakumo, Seo didn’t ask, so Ishii left it as is. Seo probably thought that Yakumo was another detective.

'To be honest, it’s hard to get any work done when you keep coming…’

Seo had his hat on still, like last time, and grumbled while looking down.

Ishii understood how Seo felt, especially since other detectives had probably come to talk to him too.

'I sincerely apologise.’

Ishii bowed his head and then looked at Yakumo.

Actually, Ishii had nothing to ask. Yakumo had been the one who said he wanted to meet Seo. What on earth was Yakumo thinking?

As if to respond to Ishii’s question, Yakumo started to speak.

'About the day of the incident, you said that you heard something like a woman’s scream.’

'Yes.’

Though Seo looked fed up, he still answered.

'How many times did you hear a scream?’

'Er… Once, I think…’

After Seo responded, Yakumo stood up and then moved towards the wall, where there was a map of the university campus.

'Where did you hear the scream from?’

'I heard it just as I walked in front of the clock tower.’

'Would that be around here?’ asked Yakumo as he pointed at the map.

'I think so.’

'I see. Were you on your rounds when you heard the scream, or were you on your way back?’ Yakumo asked in a flat tone.

Ishii didn’t understand why he was asking, so all he could do was watch silently.

'On the way back.’

'Then, that would mean you passed by the clock tower once before the incident.’

'That’s right…’

Seo looked confused. He probably didn’t understand what Yakumo was trying to get at either.

Yakumo didn’t seem to care. He continued, 'When you first passed it, did you see any students loitering on campus?’

'Hm… I don’t think I saw any…’

'Are you certain?’

'I said “think”, didn’t I? I don’t remember clearly,’ Seo said impatiently.

Yakumo smiled slightly at the response.

Ishii didn’t know what, but Yakumo had definitely got something out of the conversation. To prove that, Yakumo said, 'Thank you. That was very helpful.’ Then, he started to leave.

If Ishii just stayed here, he would be left behind.

He hurriedly stood up as well, but Yakumo suddenly sopped and turned around.

'One more thing.’

Yakumo put up his index finger.

'What is it?’

'On your waist – is that a transceiver?’

Yakumo pointed at the device about the size of a cigarette box on Seo’s belt.

'Ah, yes, something like that…’ responded Seo.

Yakumo looked satisfied and murmured, 'I see – ’

He left the room, but then he came back again.

'Sorry, but one more thing – ’

'Ah…’

Seo sounded fed up.

'That clock tower – it seems there’s a rumour about a ghost there.’

'Eh?’ Seo said, seeming uninterested at the sudden mention of a ghost.

However, perhaps this was important. A guard that went around the campus at night might have seen a ghost at the clock tower.

'Have you ever seen it?’

'What?’

'The ghost.’

'No.’

'I see. Have you ever heard the rumour?’

'The rumour about the ghost?’

'Yes.’

Seo put his chin in his hand and seemed to be thinking as he cocked his head, but then he said, 'Ah! Come to think of it, I’ve heard a rumour like that before – ’

'I see,’ said Yakumo. He seemed satisfied with Seo’s answer, as he briskly left the room.

'I apologise for taking up your time. That was very helpful,’ Ishii said quickly. He went out of the room after Yakumo –

'Do you understand more now?’ asked Ishii once he caught up with Yakumo.

'No, not yet…’

Though Yakumo shook his head, Ishii was sure that Yakumo was hiding something.

-

4

-

'Oi! Gotou!’

The moment Gotou returned to the precinct, Shinoda came up to him with an amazing expression.

His face was bright red – he had to be furious. Normally, Gotou would just go elsewhere to avoid dealing with such trouble, but he was just thinking about going to see him.

'If you get so angry all the time, you’ll die early,’ Gotou said spitefully, which made Shinoda turn a shade redder.

'You – what are you doing!?’

Shinoda glared at him fiercely.

Gotou didn’t mind taking that, but they were at the ground floor reception. Regular citizens came here to renew licences and to report lost items.

'Let’s go elsewhere,’ declared Gotou, and he briskly walked away.

Shinoda seemed to understand the situation as well, as he reigned in his anger and followed Gotou.

They went up the stairs and inside the Unsolved Cases Special Investigation room. Nobody was here. They would be able to talk without worrying about anybody around them.

'So what are you so angry about? I think we cleared up yesterday’s issue,’ said Gotou. He sat on the desk and crossed his arms.

He needed to hear something from Shinoda, but first he would probably have to endure everything Shinoda wanted to say.

'Cleared it up? Don’t screw with me! Thanks to you guys, the suspect’s attitude has made a complete 180!’ shouted Shinoda, stamping the ground.

It was like watching a child throw a tantrum.

'What’re you talking about?’

'Don’t act innocent! We got a confession, but now she’s saying she can’t remember!’

– I see.

Haruka must have burst through after seeing Yakumo too.

She was probably trying to push through with how she thought because of her belief in Yakumo.

'Oh?’

'What’s so funny!?’

When Shinoda said that, Gotou noticed that he was smiling.

'Nothing,’ he replied, quickly hiding his smile.

'You must’ve told her that! Stop fooling around!’

That seemed to be why Shinoda was so angry.

No matter how Gotou denied it, Shinoda would never believe him – there would just be a fight.

'When did you become like this?’ asked Gotou.

Shinoda frowned. 'What?’

'Don’t you think this case is strange?’

'What about it?’

'Do you think a completely normal girl would suddenly kill somebody?’

'What are you saying? Normal people kill people all the time. Even you have to know that, since you’ve been on the force this long.’

Just as Shinoda said, Gotou had seen countless situations where somebody who looked completely normal had suddenly killed somebody.

However, that was only a mask they put up.

'You don’t get it.’

'What did you say?’

'What you’re saying is only for people who look normal.’

’…’

It looked like Shinoda didn’t understand what Gotou was getting at. He seemed confused.

Just as Gotou had planned, going with a different approach had calmed Shinoda down.

'When you investigate, you find out that people who look normal actually have a lot of problems, like money or grudges or other things.’

'That’s…’

It looked like Shinoda understood what Gotou was trying to say.

Killing somebody just wasn’t normal.

Even if somebody looked like they would never kill anybody, as the investigation went on, you would find darkness deep within.

Any detective would understand what Gotou was saying.

'Did you see that darkness in her?’ asked Gotou.

Shinoda looked bitter. 'I just haven’t found it yet.’

'Then don’t you want to know?’

'Know what?’

'Cases aren’t just about arresting a guy and calling it quits. Why did the incident occur? If you don’t reveal the truth, the case isn’t solved.’

'I know that even without your saying it,’ said Shinoda with a click of his tongue.

'Then investigate until you’re satisfied. You’ve got to think something strange about this case too, right?’ said Gotou to convince Shinoda.

Shinoda had thought the case strange but determined it a simple case because of the eyewitness testimony and physical evidence, and Haruka’s confession on top of that.

But if Shinoda was a detective too, he had to want to know why this had happened.

'What are you thinking?’ asked Shinoda with a sigh.

His eyes were different from earlier – sincere and steady.

The police went through a lot of cases. Even if they tried to face them all earnestly, when they were swamped with work, they could lose themselves.

That must have happened to Shinoda too.

'I want to ask a few things. To solve the case.’

'What do you want to know?’

After saying that, Shinoda sat down on the nearby chair.

The two of them had always got on each other nerves, so they had never spoken properly before. Gotou felt like he could finally face the man named Shinoda.

In the past, Gotou would probably have just cut ties with the people he didn’t like. He didn’t want to understand the people he disliked, and he didn’t want to try either.

He could probably sit like this today because of the case with Kirino.

He never wanted to make the same mistake again.

'About three years ago, a female student jumped from the university’s clock tower and committed suicide – ’

When Gotou said that, Shinoda murmured, 'That…?’ Then, he said, 'What do you want to know about that now? It’s not even related. That was definitely a suicide, from the situation.’

'I know that, but it bothers me a bit.’

He thought about explaining about Yakumo, but he decided against it. They were talking properly now. He didn’t want to say something unnecessary and make Shinoda angry.

'Do you think that the woman who committed suicide has something to do with this case?’ said Shinoda after thinking for a while. He had given Gotou a good explanation.

'Well, something like that,’ replied Gotou.

Shinoda looked up at the ceiling, perhaps thinking about the past. After a while, he suddenly said, 'Ah!’

'What?’ pressed Gotou.

Shinoda looked troubled, but he said, 'Somebody had been saying that it definitely wasn’t a suicide.’

'Family member?’

That was Gotou’s first guess.

'No, not family.’

'Who was it?’

'Can’t remember the name, but it was a man in the same year…’

Shinoda’s words gave Gotou a number of theories. What if Mizuhara Noriko, thought to have jumped to her death, had been killed by someone?

That could be a clue to unravel this case.

'That was really helpful – ’

After telling Shinoda that, Gotou left the room briskly. Just as he had started to walk down the corridor, his mobile rang.

It was from Yakumo –

'What?’

<How was it?>

Yakumo immediately asked that. It was perfect timing, as if he had been watching Gotou from afar.

That there was no doubt about Mizuhara Noriko’s death being a suicide. That a man in the same year had made a fuss about it not being a suicide. Gotou told Yakumo in much detail as he could what he had heard.

<I see – >

After Gotou finished, Yakumo said that and was silent for a while.

Gotou stopped walking and waited for Yakumo’s response.

To be honest, Gotou didn’t feel like he would be able to work out what was happening no matter how much he thought.

But Yakumo. Yakumo would be able to put all these truths together and bring them to the truth.

<Gotou-san, there’s one more thing I’d like you to investigate…>

'What?’

<I would like you to investigate a certain person’s history…>

The name that came out of Yakumo’s mouth was not one Gotou had expected.

-

5

-

Makoto went to the cafeteria once more –

Since it was lunchtime, it was bustling with students, unlike how it had been earlier.

She went straight to the table at the back.

There was a male student there. He was thin and looked a bit boorish – there was no innocence there.

He had left the cafeteria tray on the table as he read a book of some kind.

'Are you Katou Shigetomo?’ asked Makoto.

The male student looked up and replied, 'Yes,’ in a thick voice.

'I think you’ve heard from Professor Onda, but I’m Hijikata from Hokutou Newspaper,’ said Makoto as she held out her business card.

'Ah, yes,’ Katou replied in a flat tone as he took the business card.

Yakumo had asked her to talk to various members of the literature circle. He had also told her what to ask.

That said, she didn’t know who the members were, so she had asked Onda to introduce her to a few.

Now, she was talking with Katou, the president of the literature circle.

'It’s about Kanae-chan, right?’ said Katou in a low voice as he put his book away in his bag.

'Yes, well…’

'I can’t believe she was killed…’

After saying that, Katou’s eyes looked distant.

His attitude and his words made him seem like he was trying to act mature.

'How was Kanae-san like in the circle?’

'How…? Well, she was normal.’

“Normal” was the most troubling response. Since people had different definitions of normal, it was hard to imagine.

That said, thinking about that wouldn’t get Makoto anywhere.

'Do you mean that she didn’t stand out?’

'Well, something like that.’

'I heard that she was on good terms with Sakurai-san…’

'Ah, Sakurai…’

Makoto didn’t miss how Katou’s expression twisted in dislike.

'Is there some problem with Sakurai-san?’

'Not a problem, per se… It feels like he’s getting ahead of himself, calling himself an author after just publishing one book, doesn’t it?’

– So that’s how it is.

People at this age sometimes found it hard to honestly be happy about other people’s achievements. Especially if they were in the same age and aiming for the same genre.

No, it wasn’t just people at this age. Jealousy was probably everywhere.

'Were you on good terms with Sakurai-san before?’

'Well, just normal.’

– Normal again.

'Did you spend time in each other’s company?’

'Never just the two of us, though we went out normally for drinks with the circle…’

Makoto would get no information like this.

Though Makoto felt slightly irritated, she bore with it and went back to the topic at hand.

'So Kanae-san and Sakurai-san were close.’

'Maybe not.’

'Were they dating?’

'Who knows? They never said… Ah, but Nishizawa, maybe.’

'What about him?’

Makoto reacted to that name.

Nishizawa was the person who had experienced the spiritual phenomenon in the clock tower with Kanae. Kanae had consulted Yakumo through Haruka because she had thought that Nishizawa was possessed.

'There was a rumour that Nishizawa was after Kanae-chan.’

'That would mean that Sakurai-san and Nishizawa-san were interested in the same woman.’

Though Makoto had only ever seen Kanae in pictures, it was true that she looked lovely.

That wasn’t all – there was a fleetingness there that made you want to protect her.

'No, I don’t know. It was just a rumour, but something similar happened before, so…’

'Before?’

Makoto furrowed her brow.

'No, just ignore that.’

Katou frantically waved his hand in front of his face.

Even if he said that now, Makoto couldn’t help but want to know after hearing that.

'What happened?’ pressed Makoto.

'No, it was nothing,’ repeated Katou, but Makoto didn’t give up.

She forcefully pressed him for an answer, so Katou finally said, 'Don’t tell anybody,’ and then started to speak in a heavy tone.

'When I was in first year, there was a cute girl in the circle that people were fighting over. Of course I don’t participate in things like that.’

Makoto didn’t like how Katou was trying to excuse himself, but she didn’t say anything about it and urged him to continue.

'Sakurai and Nishizawa were worked up about her too, but… a lot of things happened…’

Here, Katou stopped speaking again, but Makoto had a guess about what he wasn’t saying.

'Could the name of the girl be Mizuhara Noriko-san?’ asked Makoto.

Katou’s expression stiffened.

'Why do you know?’

'Actually – I’ve been researching a number of things about the woman who committed suicide by jumping from the clock tower.’

Yakumo had requested that Yakumo investigate what happened before and after Mizuhara Noriko’s suicide.

Putting aside what had brought the conversation here, she had managed to bring up the topic of Noriko.

'So you think Noriko-san’s incident has something to do with Kanae-san’s?’

Katou looked fairly shaken, but he asked that after he calmed down.

'I can’t say anything at this stage… But that is why I think it is worth investigating,’ said Makoto, fill of fervour.

'I don’t know that much.’

'That’s fine. I’d like you to tell me what happened before and after Mizuhara-san committed suicide.’

Katou looked like he was wavering for a while, but he finally gave Makoto a small nod.

-

6

-

Ishii stood in front of the clock tower –

Yakumo had said he wanted to look at it once more.

Now, Yakumo was standing where Seo had said he’d heard the scream.

He stood still, looking up at the clock tower.

The brick clock tower looked like it had been left behind by time. The clock, needles stopped at one time, was perhaps what made it feel that way.

'Did you find out anything?’ asked Ishii.

Yakumo turned his way. Unusually, there was urgency in his expression. It was probably because he was worried about Haruka.

Ishii felt the same way.

There was no time to investigate everything carefully. They needed to prove Haruka’s innocence as soon as possible.

Yakumo opened his mouth to say something, but then his mobile rang.

Yakumo answered the call. Though Ishii couldn’t hear the voice clearly, it was probably Gotou.

Ishii sighed and looked up once more at the clock tower.

– Will things really be OK?

That anxiety had reared up within Ishii.

Even though Ishii had decided to believe in Yakumo in order to prove Haruka’s innocence, that determination was shaken by every little thing.

He hated how indecisive he was.

He felt like he wouldn’t have to worry so much if he could just go straight forward like Gotou.

Ever since this incident happened, Ishii had been wavering the whole time.

'Ishii-san!’

Ishii jumped up when somebody suddenly called out to him.

He turned around and saw Makoto there.

’M-Makoto-san.’

'You look down,’ said Makoto, seeing right through Ishii.

'No, er… Well…’

'It’s fine. Things will turn out OK.’

In completely contrast to Ishii, Makoto was smiling and she put up her fist confidently.

'I’m envious of you, Makoto-san.’

'Why?’

'You’re going forward without any doubts on the path you believe in even at a time like this. Detective Gotou is the same way. But then there’s me…’ said Ishii in a hoarse voice.

Makoto smiled. 'To be honest, I’m unsure myself.’

'It doesn’t look that way…’

'In the past, a teacher told me something.’

'What is it?’

'Rather than worrying about a future you can’t see the end of, it’s more fun to keep going forward towards a result you believe in.’

Makoto really looked happy as she said that.

Though those words were incredibly optimistic, Ishii felt like he could understand.

Worrying now would solve nothing. It was more important to think about what to do to solve the issue and move towards that.

Though it was just slightly, Ishii felt like some of his anxiety had lightened.

'Thank you very much.’

Just as Ishii said that, Yakumo finished his call and walked towards them.

'Makoto-san is here as well now, so let’s move elsewhere.’

The three of them went to the nearby school lounge.

There were no windows and felt like a cellar. Few students passed by. They would be able to speak easily here.

'Makoto-san, how was it?’ asked Yakumo once they had all sat on the sofas.

Makoto nodded and opened her memo pad before speaking.

'I heard a number of things about Mizuhara Noriko-san, the woman who committed suicide… It seems she was acting strangely before her suicide.’

'What do you mean by strangely?’ asked Yakumo, his brow furrowed.

'Though she never talked much, one day, she seemed to shut up inside herself and wouldn’t answer even if somebody talked to her, as if she couldn’t hear them.’

'Isn’t that kind of like the symptoms of the person named Nishizawa?’ said Ishii as the thought came to his mind.

'It is similar,’ replied Yakumo, chin in his hand.

'Could it be that Mizuhara-san also saw the ghost in the clock tower and started acting strangely?’

After saying that, Ishii regretted his words. They were just too off-base.

A mirror that was connected to the underworld. Meeting with a ghost, only to be taken away to the underworld in the same way – it was just impossible.

'I can’t deny the possibility.’

'Eh?’

Yakumo’s words were so unexpected that Ishii was the one who was surprised.

'If we casually say something is impossible, we will lose sight of the truth.’

'That’s true, but…’

Even though Ishii had suggested it himself, he felt it was a bit improbable.

'Well, putting theories aside… Makoto-san, did you hear anything about the reason for Mizuhara-san’s suicide?’ continued Yakumo.

'About that… It appears Mizuhara-san was a very delicate woman. She was very sensitive and had a strangely fleeting impression to her.’

'I’ve only seen her from pictures, but I felt the same way…’ responded Yakumo. Ishii agreed.

Perhaps the fact that she had committed suicide was clouding his perception, but he had felt like she was so fragile she could disappear at any moment.

'Because she was like that, everyone kind of just accepted it when they found out she had committed suicide. But as for an actual reason…’

'How about those two?’

Yakumo sent a gaze so sharp it was frightening Makoto’s way.

'The two of them were both friendly with Mizuhara-san, though nobody knew what exactly their relationships were…’

Makoto appeared sorry that she didn’t have any specifics, but Yakumo didn’t seem to care.

'I see.’

After saying that expressionlessly, Yakumo crossed his arms and looked down. He was probably thinking over the case.

Ishii wished that he could express a smart opinion to help Yakumo organise his thoughts, but Ishii couldn’t think of anything.

He didn’t even know who Yakumo suspected or where he was aiming.

Makoto looked frustrated as well as she bit her lower lip, perhaps feeling the same way.

Yakumo thought silently for a while, but then he suddenly lifted his head.

'Makoto-san, I have one more request – ’

As Yakumo said that, his lips turned up into a smile.

-

7

-

Gotou stopped his car in front of the Meisei University gates. Yakumo and Ishii immediately walked over.

They looked considerably worn out.

It made sense. They had been working ever since the incident occurred.

Yakumo sat in the backseat as usual. Ishii went to the door on the driver’s side and fidgeted.

'E-er… I’ll take over for you,’ said Ishii, sounding apologetic.

Now that Gotou thought about it, Ishii always drove. It had become habit, so Ishii himself probably thought that it was his job.

That said, with Ishii looking this exhausted, there could be an accident.

'Just get in the passenger seat.’

'But…’

Ishii was fidgeting even more now.

'Stop fidgeting!’ yelled Gotou.

'Yes sir!’ Ishii replied with a jump. He hurriedly ran towards the passenger side.

He fell –

'So how was the investigation?’ asked Yakumo once Ishii had managed to get in.

'I got a bunch of info.’

Gotou tried to hand over the files, but he couldn’t.

Gotou had put the files on the passenger seat. Ishii was sitting on them.

'Move over,’ said Gotou, grabbing the corner of the files that were sticking out from under Ishii.

'Eh?’

'You’re sitting on the files.’

'Eh? Ah! I see! Sorry!’

Even though Ishii could have just sat up slightly, he stood up in a fluster and hit his head against the top of the car.

'What are you doing?’

’S-sorry.’

With Ishii slightly off the chair, Gotou managed to save the files.

Such a big fuss just to hand over some files.

As Yakumo watched from the backseat, he was smiling. Gotou felt like it was the first time he’d seen that smile in a while.

If Yakumo, who had been pressed psychologically because of Haruka’s incident, felt just a little bit better, Gotou didn’t mind.

'Here – ’

Gotou handed over the files and Yakumo started looking through the files, devouring them with his eyes.

'What files are those?’ asked Ishii as he fixed the position of his glasses.

'Hm,’ Gotou replied brusquely, too bothered to even give a response.

Yakumo was reading files regarding a certain man.

That man had caused some trouble for the police three years ago.

However, it had nothing to do with this case. That said, Gotou couldn’t ignore it.

Yakumo had known beforehand that the police had this man on file.

– What incident had he been in?

While Gotou was thinking, Yakumo lifted his head. His gaze was unusually fierce.

It looked like he had found something important in those files.

'Oi, Yakumo…’

Gotou tried to ask, but Yakumo interrupted him.

'Ishii-san, you said that you saw a ghost before the incident occurred, didn’t you?’

Yakumo’s words made both Gotou and Ishii confused for a moment.

– What’s he talking about?

Gotou didn’t understand, but then he remembered. The prank that had occurred at the intersection near Meisei University.

When they went there, Ishii had made a big fuss about seeing a ghost.

Ishii had talked about that when they visited Yakumo afterwards too, but then Haruka’s incident had occurred and Gotou had completely forgotten.

'Y-yes, I did see a ghost,’ said Ishii, though he sounded confused.

– Why’s Yakumo talking about that now?

Ishii had to be thinking that. Gotou was thinking the same thing.

'Did you see that ghost’s face?’

Yakumo continued asking questions, ignoring their feelings.

'Not clearly…’ replied Ishii, his voice a bit nervous.

'Was that ghost a man? Or was it a woman?’

'A woman.’

Yakumo nodded, seeming satisfied with Yakumo’s reply. Then, he frowned slightly.

– What on earth is he thinking?

Before Gotou could ask, Yakumo said, 'Please go there now.’

'You… What are you saying? Do we need to go there now?’ said Gotou without thinking.

He didn’t know what Yakumo was planning, but they had to solve Haruka’s case first. They didn’t have the time to look for some ghost Ishii saw.

'I’m saying it because it’s necessary,’ Yakumo said, incredibly brazen.

'Why?

'You don’t know?’

'I’m asking because I don’t!’ shouted Gotou.

Yakumo sighed in a dramatic manner.

It made it seem like Gotou was the weird one.

'Gotou-san, I’ve mentioned this before, but you should get into the habit of reading files more carefully,’ said Yakumo, his tone pointed.

Gotou knew he couldn’t focus on files. That’s why he hated paperwork.

But it was really grating having Yakumo point that out.

'I don’t need your concern! Stop talking and just explain already!’

Though Gotou yelled, only Ishii was surprised. Yakumo just smirked calmly.

– I really hate this brat!

'I’ll explain once we arrive.’

After saying that, Yakumo turned towards the window.

He probably wouldn’t say any more no matter what Gotou said.

'Honestly…’ grumbled Gotou, though he started the car.

He didn’t know what Yakumo was thinking, but he felt like he was getting closer to the truth.

-

8

-

Makoto stood in front of a house.

It was a bout fifteen minutes by bus from Meisei University at the corner of a residential street. The area, built by a railway company, had lines of nearly identical houses.

Makoto checked the name plate and pressed the intercom button, though her heart felt tight.

After a while, the front door opened and a woman appeared. She was probably in her mid-fifties.

She was small-framed with friendly eyes – she seemed like the sort of woman who liked people. However, there was an indescribable shadow in the back of her eyes.

She was Yasue, the mother of Mizuhara Noriko, who had committed suicide three years ago.

'I’m Hijikata of Hokutou Newspaper. I called earlier.’

Makoto held out her business card.

'I’m Mizuhara. I apologise for asking you to come all this way,’ the woman said and bowed politely.

Yakumo had asked Makoto to investigate something at Mizuhara Noriko’s house, but to be honest, Makoto didn’t really want to.

She didn’t know what expression to make before meeting a parent who had lost their daughter, and she didn’t think they would accept a sudden visit.

However, when she called, Yasue had immediately agreed.

Though Makoto had explained that she was gathering material for an article on suicide, but that wasn’t true. Makoto found it hard to breathe with the guilt of lying pressing down upon her.

That said, she had already talked to her. She had to go through with it.

'First, would you allow me to burn incense?’ asked Makoto, which made Yasue smile faintly as she nodded.

Makoto went inside the Yasue household and was brought to a Japanese-style room in the back.

There was a small altar there with the photo of a smiling woman.

Mizuhara Noriko –

She was a very beautiful woman, but now that Makoto looked at the photo again, there was a certain fleetingness there.

Makoto placed a lit incense stick and put her hands together in front of the photo.

Why had she chosen to die when she was so young? That question bothered Makoto.

Makoto’s student life had not been fun. There had been more bad things than good.

Still, with the support of many people, starting with Onda, she had managed to come here.

Had Mizuhara Noriko not had these people? When Makoto pondered that, she felt very sad.

'Sometimes, students in her grade come as well,’ Yasue said.

'Is that so?’ asked Makoto, turning in Yasue’s direction.

'Yes, students from the same circle.’

'Would you happen to know their names?’

'Unfortunately, I don’t know, but there are a few. It makes me very happy that they haven’t forgotten her.’

Yasue’s words were accompanied with wet eyes.

'Is that so…’

That was probably why Yasue had so quickly agreed to Makoto’s request.

She was afraid that her daughter would be forgotten, so she wanted people to remember, no matter in what form – and so she had accepted.

'Noriko – was a very kind girl, but she was shy and didn’t like expressing her opinion.’

Yasue began to speak.

'Before she committed suicide, I knew that something was strange. But my daughter always bore with things on her own… And I had been thinking too lightly that she was an adult already. I never thought that she had been so troubled that she wanted to die…’

Tears began to fall from Yasue’s eyes. She didn’t wipe the tears. She just looked at the photo on the altar. That made Makoto’s hurt even more.

'Do you know what Noriko-san was troubled about?’

Even though Makoto knew it was a cruel question, like salt in somebody’s wounds, she asked it.

Yasue looked down and shook her head.

That was the same response as Katou, the circle president.

Though Noriko had definitely been troubled, it remained unknown what she had been troubled about.

– What cornered her so?

It bothered Makoto, but she didn’t think that finding out would solve the case.

However, Yakumo felt something from her suicide. He probably saw something different than Makoto and the others.

'Um… If you wouldn’t mind, I would appreciate it if you allowed me to look at Noriko’s things…’ asked Makoto, watching Yasue’s reaction.

That was the biggest reason Makoto had come. Yakumo seemed to think that the key to unravelling this case lay in Noriko’s belongings.

'Please go ahead. Her room has been left as is.’

Yasue slowly stood up and took Makoto to the door right beside the top of the stairs to the second floor.

The room was about six tatami in size with wooden flooring. On one side of the room, there was a bookshelf. There was a desk along the wall with the window and a bed in the back.

It was a clean and well organised room, but it didn’t feel much like the room of a girl.

'Would you mind if I went inside?’ asked Makoto.

'Please go ahead,’ Yasue replied in a hoarse voice.

The moment Makoto entered, she felt it hard to breathe. Perhaps she felt Noriko was closer by touching the remnants of her life.

There was a laptop on top of the desk.

'May I look at this?’

After Yasue gave her permission, Makoto turned on the computer. The login screen appeared. It needed a password.

She wouldn’t be able to look inside this way.

She thought about asking Yasue, but it was likely she didn’t known. Just as she had half-given up, a word suddenly came to Makoto’s head.

Perhaps – she typed in <CLOCKTOWER>.

It wasn’t just the name of the magazine that Noriko’s circle put out. It was also where they did their circle activities.

It was also the place she had jumped from to commit suicide.

It looked like Makoto’s guess was correct, as the computer showed the desktop screen.

She probably must have loved writing. There were many files that looked like they might have been drafts.

– This is…!

Makoto was stunned when her eyes fell on one of those files.

-

9

-

Gotou stopped his car near the intersection.

This was where the prank with the red paint near the traffic light had been yesterday. Ishii claimed to have seen a ghost here.

Yakumo had told them to come here. Gotou didn’t know why they’d had to.

It didn’t seem to have anything to do with this case, at least.

'We’re here. So what are you going to do?’ asked Gotou.

Yakumo got off the car silently.

– This guy.

Gotou wished that Yakumo would try being in his shoes for a change, just being told to do things without any explanation at all.

While grumbling internally, Gotou got off the car.

Ishii did the same from the passenger side.

Yakumo was crouching in front of the traffic light, which still had paint on it.

It was like he was looking for something.

'What’re you doing?’ asked Gotou.

Yakumo slowly stood up. He opened his mouth to speak, but then his mobile rang.

After Yakumo answered, he moved slightly away and started talking.

– What bad timing.

'I wonder what Yakumo-shi is thinking,’ said Ishii as he pushed up his silver-framed glasses.

'Who knows?’

Gotou wanted to know too.

It was always like this, but Gotou had no idea about the case. He wasn’t sure doing this would really solve the case.

But just like every other time, Yakumo took things that seemed completely unrelated and tied them together to carve out the truth.

That was why –

'It’ll work out somehow.’

After saying that, Gotou took a cigarette out of his pocket.

'It’s illegal to smoke on the road. Are you really a police officer?’

Yakumo had finished his phone call. His tone was incredibly disagreeable.

'Shut up. I know that – I’m just biting it.’

'Really now.’

'And you…’

'Could you be quiet?’ Yakumo said curtly.

Yakumo had been the one who’d started talking on that topic in the first place. It made Gotou angry, but it was pointless when facing Yakumo.

Gotou sighed and put the cigarette in his pocket.

Yakumo waited for the light to turn green and started walking across the intersection.

'Something there?’ Gotou asked, but there was no response.

Yakumo crouched in the middle of the intersection and stroked the asphalt there. Then, he looked at the traffic light with the paint on it.

As he was doing that, the light turned from green to yellow.

Maybe Yakumo hadn’t noticed, because he didn’t budge.

'The light changed!’

Even after Gotou yelled, Yakumo didn’t move.

'Has he not noticed?’ Ishii said anxiously.

That was likely. When Yakumo focussed on something, he lost sight of everything else.

'Oi! Yakumo!’

When Gotou yelled once more, the light turned red.

The opposite traffic light turned green.

Fortunately, there were no cars at the intersection, but Gotou saw a bus coming.

'What are you doing!? A bus is coming!’ screamed Gotou.

Yakumo finally stood up and looked at the sky.

The bus drew closer.

'Oi! Hurry and cross the road!’

As Gotou yelled, there was a gust of wind.

The sand that was blown up got in Gotou’s eyes and blocked his vision.

'Yakumo! What are you doing!?’ Gotou yelled frantically even as he rubbed his eyes.

He somehow managed to get the sand out of his eyes. When he looked at the intersection, the bus had passed.

– Where’s Yakumo?

Gotou spotted Yakumo on the opposite side of the road. It looked like he was OK.

'That was dangerous!’ bellowed Gotou, but Yakumo just casually, almost mockingly, walked back across the road.

The smile on his face was almost bewitching.

'Gotou-san, I have a request,’ Yakumo said calmly.

'What?’

'Please bring every related party to the scene of the crime.’

'You can’t mean…’

'Yes. I’ve solved every mystery of this case – ’

As Yakumo said that, his voice was brimming with confidence.

-

10

-

'Nishizawa-san.’

Nishizawa stopped walking when somebody called out to him.

He was about to go home, heading for the bus stop.

When he turned around, he saw a young man there. It was the man who had come to ask about Kanae’s incident yesterday.

'You…’

'My name is Saitou Yakumo. We met yesterday, yes?’

The young man who called himself Yakumo smiled, but the smile was clearly fake.

What do you want?’ asked Nishizawa.

Yakumo nodded. 'I just wanted to ask one thing.’

'What?’

'Nishizawa-san, you definitely saw a ghost in the clock tower, correct?’

Nishizawa didn’t know why Yakumo wanted to know.

'I just saw something like it…’

Kanae had believed in the clock tower rumour and had thought that Nishizawa had been acting strange, but she had been mistaken. Nishizawa was the same as he had been before he’d seen the ghost. He was completely normal.

'You saw it, didn’t you?’

Yakumo’s eyes narrowed.

Nishizawa had thought this the first time he’d seen this guy, but he had scary eyes. It felt like they could see to the bottom of your heart.

'Why do you care?’ asked Nishizawa.

Yakumo smiled slightly.

'According to the rumour, you can reunite with the dead. The word “reunite” suggests somebody you know.’

'Well, yeah.’

'However, you didn’t see the ghost clearly.’

'I didn’t.’

'I see. That’s fine. Thank you very much.’

Yakumo said just that and turned on his heels to leave, but he seemed to remember something as he stopped in his tracks.

With the dark of night falling, his figure seemed to let out a strange, almost murderous atmosphere.

'Right, one more thing.’

After a silence, Yakumo spoke, his back still facing Nishizawa.

'What?’

'You said that somebody else killed Kanae-san, right?’

'I did.’

Nishizawa had said something like that.

'At that time, though you didn’t say it, you thought that the person who killed Kanae-san was Sakurai-san – am I wrong?’

Nishizawa jolted at Yakumo’s words.

That was exactly what he had been thinking. No matter the result, Nishizawa was certain that Sakurai had been the one who cornered Kanae to her death.

However, he didn’t say that aloud.

He was thinking about how to explain, but it would just sound like an excuse.

'I won’t say anything…’

'I see. Actually, I came to the same conclusion. That Sakurai-san had something to do with Kanae-san’s death,’ Yakumo said calmly.

'What?’

'I can’t see the reason now, but… I think it’s the same as it was with Mizuhara Noriko-san.’

'So Noriko didn’t commit suicide?’

'That’s what I think,’ Yakumo said firmly.

'Why do you think that?’

Nishizawa’s heart was racing and it was hard to breathe, but he still asked.

Finally, Yakumo turned around.

His face was as expressionless as a Noh mask, so Nishizawa had no idea what he was thinking. However, it felt frightening.

'I can’t say right now. Just one thing – ’

There, Yakumo stopped.

Nishizawa was caught in the glitter of Yakumo’s narrowed eyes. He forgot to breathe.

'The Ghost of the clock Tower that Sakurai-san wrote is without a doubt plagiarised – ’

After saying just that, Yakumo slowly walked away.

Nishizawa couldn’t move for a while, just watching Yakumo leave.

Why had he suddenly said that? Nishizawa had no idea. However, it seemed he had come to the same conclusion as Nishizawa had.

-

11

-

Shinoda and Onodera took Haruka down the precinct corridor.

The weight of the handcuffs felt like it would chain her down.

She had only been told that they would investigate the scene of the crime – no other details.

– Why did this happen?

It was a bit late for her to think about that.

Even though her friend Kanae had died, she couldn’t even be sad about it – she had been interrogated as the suspect in her murder case.

To be honest, nothing had seemed real since the incident had occurred. She felt hollow.

While she was thinking that, they passed through the back exit and left the precinct.

There was a blue prisoner transport vehicle with a white line across it, like the ones often seen in movies[1].

The door opened and she was old to go in.

She had never imagined that she would ride one of those.

With heavy feet, she stepped into the vehicle.

The seats faced each other, like they did in a train car. Two men were already sitting there.

– Did they commit some sort of crime?

'Eh?’

The moment Haruka saw the two men’s faces, she spoke up without thinking.

The two of them were people Haruka knew well.

'Gotou-san! And Ishii-san too!’

Gotou and Ishii were sitting there.

'Haruka-chan! I’m so glad you’re OK. I thought that something might happen…’ said Ishii in a tearful voice as Haruka ran up to them.

'What on earth…’

Haruka looked at Gotou in confusion.

Since Gotou and Ishii knew Haruka, they should have been left out of the investigation.

'You didn’t hear? We’re going to investigate.’

'I did hear that, but…’

'Sorry, could you sit down?’

Shinoda came in after her and spoke in a displeased voice.

Haruka sat next to Gotou, and Ishii sat on the other side of Gotou. Shinoda and Onodera sat opposite them, and the prisoner transport vehicle began to move.

'Um… What’s happening?’

After the vehicle had been driving for a while, Haruka asked Gotou this question.

'I asked Miyagawa-san to pull a string or two and got him to let us investigate the scene,’ said Gotou with a shrug.

'A string or two? It was a completely absurd request!’ shouted Shinoda.

'What? You still talking?’ rebutted Gotou.

'Say what you want. If anything happens, it’s all your responsibility.’

'I know that. I’ll resign if I have to!’

'I don’t think your resignation would be enough,’ said Shinoda with a click of his tongue.

Though Haruka didn’t know the details, Gotou and Ishii must have done a lot to get Haruka out.

She was happy they had done so much for her, but she also felt apologetic.

She wouldn’t be able to apologise enough if Gotou and Ishii had to undergo some punishment because of her.

'Don’t you ever shut up!?’

'What!?’

Shinoda and Gotou were both standing, while Ishii and Onodera frantically tried to calm them.

Meanwhile, the vehicle drove into Meisei University.

The scenery Haruka was so accustomed to seemed a bit different from usual. Perhaps it was because she was looking at them through metal bars.

Finally, the vehicle stopped and the door opened.

Gotou led them out of the vehicle. When Haruka stepped out, she saw somebody in the darkness. Could it be –

'Yakumo is the one investigating today,’ Gotou whispered in Haruka’s ear. The meaning of those words warmed her heart.

The figure slowly walked towards them.

His face became clear, floating up from the darkness.

Pale skin. Handsome features. Messy hair. And those languid eyes – it was Yakumo, no doubt about it.

'Yakumo-kun…’

The moment Haruka said that, she couldn’t hold in her tears any more.

She wanted to rush over and hug him, but she couldn’t.

Her handcuffs were in the way. Both her movements and her heart were bound.

'I really made you wait…’

Yakumo awkwardly scratched the tip of his nose.

Haruka wipes away her tears and shook her head. It didn’t matter how long it took. She was just happy that he’d come.

No, she had been sure he would come eventually.

That was why she had been able to bear with the painful and suffocating reality.

'I believed in you…’

The words came out of her mouth unconsciously.

Yakumo smiled slightly and placed a hand on Haruka’s head.

'I know.’

It felt like those two words had saved Haruka’s heart. Even though everything wasn’t over yet, she felt a sense of safety spreading within her.

'Let’s go then – ’

After saying that, Yakumo turned on his heels and started to walk.

As Haruka followed, her feet didn’t feel heavy any more. With Yakumo, she felt like she could walk forward, no matter the outcome.

Perhaps that was what you called belief.

-

12

-

'Oi! Why’s this brat here!?’ Shinoda yelled at Gotou.

Gotou had somehow got Shinoda to accept allowing Haruka to come along to the investigation, but Gotou hadn’t mentioned Yakumo.

He had known that Shinoda would make a fuss if he did.

'Well, something like a helper,’ said Gotou.

Shinoda’s expression became more suspicious.

'What are you planning?’

'Nothing. We need him to solve the case.’

'Stop screwing around!’

Though Shinoda was ready to fight, Gotou didn’t feel like responding.

Shinoda was worked up, but it was clear he had started to doubt some of the particulars of this case too.

That was why he had agreed to Gotou’s request, though he did have Miyagawa as support. It would normally be impossible to have an investigation with so few people.

'I’m not. I’m always serious. That guy’s absolutely necessary to solving the case.’

'Police relying on civilians… It’s over,’ spat out Shinoda.

'What are you saying? Police investigations always start with us relying on civilians.’

In order to solve a case, they needed to get information from civilians. That was why they wore away the soles of their shoes questioning people on the streets.

'You’re just quibbling!’

Shinoda was right. It was quibbling. But still –

'You have to understand too. There’s definitely another side to this case. Don’t you want to know what really happened?’ asked Gotou.

Shinoda stopped talking.

There was doubt on his face.

Gotou hadn’t expected this, but perhaps Shinoda was rather like him. The proof was that he didn’t stop Yakumo and Haruka from walking on.

'What are you going to do? You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,’ Gotou said. Then, he ran after Yakumo.

Yakumo had been looking at his mobile screen for the past little while.

'Wait!’

Gotou turned around and saw Shinoda following.

Onodera had stayed in the prisoner transport vehicle. It looked like Shinoda had chosen to come alone.

'What? You coming?’

'It’ll be a mess if you let the suspect get away.’

'Like I’d do that.’

'I’m coming because I think you would!’

'Could you be a bit quieter?’ asked Yakumo, giving them a scornful glance as he stood in front of the clock tower.

'What?’

Even though Gotou had been trying to get Shinoda to accept Yakumo, Yakumo was mocking him.

'Our guests are already in the clock tower. It’ll be the end if they notice.’

Yakumo pointed at the clock tower as he said that.

– Guests?

'What are you talking about?’

'I don’t like using this sort of method, but we have no time. I may have shaken them up.’

'Shaken up?’

'The rest is your job, Gotou-san. Please hurry up the clock tower.’

Yakumo pointed with his chin to tell Gotou to go ahead.

Gotou didn’t understand, but Yakumo was saying this sort of thing, something was definitely going to happen.

He looked at the clock tower again.

The clock tower, looming in the darkness, let out a strange atmosphere. It felt like it was a huge monster.

'Ishii!’ Gotou yelled. Ishii ran over.

He fell –

'What are you doing?’

’S-sorry.’

Ishii hurriedly stood and ran up to Gotou’s side.

He looked a bit depressed. Maybe he was depressed about going into a clock tower rumoured to have ghosts, or –

Anyway, he didn’t have the time to think now.

'Let’s go!’

Gotou ran towards the clock tower.

He tried to open the gate, but it was locked. Right. He went to the back entrance.

When he reached the backdoor, he looked at Ishii to tell him to open it.

However, Ishii just furrowed his brows and smiled nervously.

'This isn’t the time to be afraid!’

'B-but…’ pleaded Ishii with wet eyes.

He couldn’t be a detective if he was such a coward. Gotou thought about dropping a fist on Ishii’s head, but then he heard a scream.

Then, there was the sound of fighting –

'Let’s go!’

Gotou opened the door as quickly as he could and ran in.

'W-what are you doing!?’

'You! It’s your fault!’

Gotou could hear shouting. It was from the room at the top.

Then, there was the sound of something falling.

Gotou didn’t know why, but it seemed there were already people in the clock tower, just as Yakumo had said.

Gotou wanted to run up right away, but it was too dark to see the stairs.

Just as he made a click with his tongue, Ishii came with his torch. Gotou grabbed it, turned it on, and rushed up the stairs.

Something was definitely happening on the top floor. Though Gotou was heaving and his thigh muscles felt like they might cramp, he ran up.

When he finally reached the top floor, he saw something he did not expect with the light of the torch.

A tall and thin man was collapsed on the floor. He had seen the man before. If he remembered correctly, he was the student named Nishizawa that he had talked to with Yakumo.

The other person was small-framed and had a round face. He was holding something like a knife and was about to bring it down on Nishizawa’s head.

'What are you doing!?’ shouted Gotou.

The man holding the knife froze.

He appeared shocked by the unexpected visitor.

Gotou used this chance to tackle the man with the knife and force him to the ground.

'Let go! It’s not me!’ shouted the man as he waved the knife madly.

It looked like he was in a panic.

'Calm down!’

Gotou straddled the man, grabbed his arms and forced him down.

'Urgh!’

The knife slipped from the man’s hand.

Gotou quickly turned the man around, pulled his hands together and cuffed him.

The man finally stopped wriggling.

'You’re wrong… I just…’

'I’ll listen to you later,’ said Gotou, forcing the man to stand up.

He turned to see Ishii rushing towards Nishizawa and asking, 'Are you all right?’

He looked injured all over, but he responded to Ishii, so it didn’t look serious.

Just as Gotou sighed, the naked lightbulb hanging from the clock tower ceiling turned on.

He had to blink a few times because it was so bright.

Just as Gotou’s eyes grew accustomed to the light, Yakumo came up the stairs and into the room.

Yakumo didn’t look surprised at the situation. It was as if he had expected this.

'So it really was you two,’ Yakumo murmured, putting his index finger to his brow –

-

13

-

'What on earth happened?’ Ishii asked Yakumo, who had calmly arrived.

Now that Ishii thought about it, Yakumo had told them what would happen before coming here, but Ishii didn’t understand any of this.

Yakumo gave Ishii a faint smile and slowly stepped into the centre of the room.

Just as he opened his mouth, Shinoda arrived with Haruka. He was shocked by the scene.

'What is this!?’ shouted Shinoda, his forehead damp with sweat.

'Your voice is loud, just like a bear I know,’ said Yakumo, running a hand through his hair.

'What?’ retorted Shinoda, who didn’t seem to like Yakumo’s rude attitude. However, Yakumo didn’t care.

'Before I explain, I should introduce everyone. There are probably some people who are meeting for the first time here – ’

As Yakumo said that, he walked up to the man Gotou had arrested.

'This is Sakurai Itsuki. He is a fourth-year student at this university and is a member of the literature circle. He wrote a book called The Ghost of the Clock Tower, received a newcomer’s prize and debuted – ’

'This person…’ said Ishii as he heard Yakumo’s explanation.

This person is the one who claims a ghost living in the clock tower made him write a novel –

Now he had a face to match the information, but another question came to him.

'Why was Sakurai-san…’

– Waving a knife around?

If Gotou hadn’t stopped Sakurai, the young man standing next to Ishii might have been stabbed to death.

'I will explain later,’ Yakumo said. He walked up to the young man beside Ishii.

He was tall and abnormally thin young man with a gloomy air to him. He was pale, but Ishii couldn’t tell if that was from fear after almost dying or if he was always like that.

'This is Nishizawa Yasunobu-san. He is also a member of the literature circle. He also experienced a spiritual phenomenon in this clock tower.’

'Eh?’ said Ishii in surprise.

He had heard about Nishizawa from Yakumo. This was the person who might have been possessed by a ghost. When Ishii thought about that, Nishizawa seemed creepy, so Ishii took half a step away.

'You introducing us so we can have a party?’ interjected Shinoda.

Shinoda didn’t know how Yakumo unravelled cases, so it made sense for him to be confused. He probably couldn’t even accept how Yakumo, a university student, was leading the investigation.

'Just shut up for a bit.’

Gotou sent Shinoda a sharp glance.

However, there was no way Shinoda could accept that.

'Like I could! I don’t even know who this brat is!’ said Shinoda, pointing at Yakumo.

However, Yakumo didn’t pay Shinoda any attention. He looked at the stairs.

'Perfect timing. It seems the audience has arrived – ’

As Yakumo said that, a man and woman came up the stairs.

One was somebody Ishii knew well – Makoto. The other was a man he didn’t know. He had manly features and was probably in his early forties.

'This is Hijikata Makoto-san, from Hokutou Newspaper.’

Yakumo introduced them as they came into the room. Makoto looked confused at the sudden introduction, but she quickly greeted them.

'Why’s a journalist here? Isn’t this an investigation?’ Shinoda questioned Gotou.

It made sense for him to feel that way. If a journalist was at an investigation, they might leak information.

'It isn’t an investigation – ’

The one who spoke was Yakumo.

'What?’

Shinoda looked at Yakumo suspiciously.

'I am trying to reveal the truth.’

Yakumo returned Shinoda’s gaze.

The sparks in the air even reached Ishii.

'You’re just a student – what are you saying?’

Shinoda walked up to Shinoda, but Yakumo didn’t budge.

'I understand your dissatisfaction, but wouldn’t you keep silent for a bit? It’s fine. I won’t cause you any trouble. That bear will take responsibility if anything happens – ’

Yakumo looked at Gotou.

'Yeah, I’ll take all the responsibility and everything else too.’

Though Gotou spoke casually, it was with pride.

Shinoda shut up and crossed his arms when faced with that confident demeanour. He had probably chosen to be quiet and watch for a while.

Gotou and Yakumo looked at each other and nodded.

Though they didn’t speak, it felt like there was an absolute trust between them.

Would Ishii ever be able to believe in somebody like that? Would anyone ever believe in him like that?

Ishii wallowed in those thoughts.

No, he would stop thinking for now. Ishii looked towards Yakumo. As if Yakumo had been waiting for that, he took one step forward.

'I was in the middle of introductions. This man is an associate professor at Meisei University as well as the faculty member in charge of the literature circle, Onda Shuusuke – ’

Yakumo introduced the man who had come with Makoto.

The man named Onda looked around the room and sighed.

'Sorry, but what is this? I don’t understand,’ said Onda, looking suspicious.

To be honest, Ishii felt the same way as Onda. HE had suddenly seen Sakurai waving a knife and Nishizawa under attack.

He had no idea what was happening.

'Before I explain the situation, let us put facts in order – ’

After Yakumo said that, he slowly looked at the faces of everyone in the room. His speech, movements and pauses felt dramatic.

However, that was probably on purpose.

By doing that, Yakumo took the role of the leader into his own hands.

'It began when Koike Kanae-san came to consult me, through her, about a certain spiritual phenomenon.’

Yakumo looked at Haruka.

Haruka looked down slightly. She was probably sad about Kanae’s death.

'Kanae-san, along with Nishizawa-san, went to the clock tower, and Nishizawa-san saw a ghost…’

'Are you telling horror stories?’ Shinoda interrupted.

'If you don’t shut up and listen, I’ll kick you out,’ threatened Gotou.

'Well, aren’t you confident.’

'That’s how prepared I am.’

It felt like they would fight, but unexpectedly, Shinoda gave in and said, 'Go on.’

Perhaps he had been swallowed by the unusual atmosphere Yakumo had brought about.

'Kanae-san was worried that Nishizawa-san was acting strange ever since he saw the ghost.’

Next, Yakumo looked at Nishizawa, who stood beside Ishii.

'I’m not strange at all,’ Nishizawa objected immediately.

Yakumo shook his head.

'Your opinion doesn’t matter right now. I am only saying what Kanae-san thought.’

Nishizawa couldn’t respond to that.

This time, Yakumo walked towards Sakurai, whom Gotou was holding on to.

'Sakurai-san debuted as an author, but in an interview, he said that he hadn’t written the work – that the ghost in the clock tower had made him.’

Sakurai just looked down without saying anything.

A drop of sweat fell from the tip of his chin.

'There was a rumour about this clock tower – ’

As Yakumo said that, he pointed at the mirror in the back of the room.

Everyone’s gazes focussed on the dirty mirror.

'That mirror is connected to the underworld – that is, the world of the dead – and can let you reunite with the dead.’

Ishii gulped and held his breath as he listened to Yakumo’s explanation.

It was the first time he had come here.

The rumoured mirror was dirty with dust, but still, it had such an uncanny air that it made you think the rumour might be true.

'What about it?’ asked Shinoda, stepping forward.

'And then – one night, an incident occurred.’

This time, Yakumo slowly turned to look at Haruka.

Though it was a sharp gaze, Haruka looked straight back.

There was no hesitation or doubt. They were eyes of pure, mutual trust. When Ishii saw that, for some reason, his heart hurt –

-

14

-

Haruka faced Yakumo’s direct gaze –

She didn’t know what would come out of Yakumo’s mouth. Perhaps it would be a very unpleasant truth for her.

But –

If it was an answer Yakumo led her to, she was prepared to accept it.

'First, there is something I must clarify – ’

Yakumo stopped.

A heavy silence fell upon the room. Haruka and everyone else were waiting for Yakumo’s next words, forced to do so by the strange air Yakumo had to him now.

After a long silence, Yakumo smiled slightly.

'She did not kill Kanae-san – ’

Yakumo’s voice clearly rang through the room.

– It wasn’t me.

Haruka felt the strength leave her limbs and just barely managed to avoid sitting on the floor.

Gotou and Ishii also smiled in relief, but Shinoda, standing next to Haruka, did not react that way.

'What proof do you have? She confessed!’ shouted Shinoda.

Haruka didn’t remember it herself, but Shinoda had said countless times during interrogation that she had acknowledged the murder.

Yakumo’s expression didn’t change. He walked straight towards Shinoda.

'She wasn’t the one who confessed,’ Yakumo said in a flat tone.

'What are you saying? I heard her acknowledge the crime.’

'Is that really true?’

'What are you saying?’

'Did she say “I killed her”? Or did she say something abstract like “It was my fault”?’ pressed Yakumo.

'It might’ve been abstract, but it still means she killed her.’

Shinoda’s objection had no power to it.

'When did police start using such broad interpretations?’

'Wha…’

'You were so eager to rush the case to its solution that you accepted her vague words as a confession – or am I wrong?’

Under Yakumo’s sharp gaze, Shinoda took a step back. However, the wall blocked his way.

'So that’s what it was…’ said Gotou, his expression bitter.

'Anybody would think that in that situation. And there was a witness,’ objected Shinoda, but there was no strength in his voice.

'That’s not the problem!’

Gotou was about to yell more, but Yakumo stopped him.

'Please calm down. Is that even something you said?’ asked Yakumo with a faint smile.

Haruka nodded. 'I don’t remember saying that.’

'Are you saying this guy falsified the testimony?’ shouted Gotou. This time, Ishii stopped him.

'Don’t screw with me! Of course I wouldn’t do that! Don’t just run your mouth off!’

'Exactly. Shinoda-san did not falsify any testimony.’

Yakumo’s words made everyone go, 'Eh?’

'What do you mean?’ Gotou asked, looking at Yakumo.

Yakumo ran a hand through his messy hair, looking annoyed.

'The person who testified was Koike Kanae-san, who had passed away – ’

Yakumo’s words made the room fall quiet.

'Kanae…’ said Haruka in a tight voice.

Yakumo nodded.

'She possessed you, and she is still possessing you now – ’

'Kanae…’

Even after Yakumo told her the truth, Haruka wasn’t that surprised. That was because she had felt Kanae’s presence this whole time.

She couldn’t explain it, but she felt like she was watching from close by.

That would also explain why her memories were vague during the incident and the interrogation.

When Yakumo came to the interrogation room, he had asked a number of strange questions. Now that Haruka thought about it, those questions had not been for Haruka but for Kanae, who was possessing her.

'In short, her words – Kanae’s words, when she said she was at fault, were spoken to you, for involving you in this case.’

'I…’

Even though Kanae had been killed, she was still so concerned about others – that was just like Kanae. Haruka suddenly felt once more the reality of Kanae’s death. Her chest hurt, like it had been wrenched open.

'Don’t be stupid…’ muttered Shinoda.

Haruka, Gotou, Ishii and Makoto all understood Yakumo’s unique ability and so could believe his words, but it wasn’t the same for other people.

'Ah, yes, I haven’t explained – ’

After Yakumo said that, he looked down slightly, took the contact lens out of his left eye and looked up.

His deep red left eye made everyone hold their breath –

Though Haruka thought it was beautiful, not everyone felt the same way. Actually, more people thought it strange.

People could be terribly cruel towards people who were different.

'W-what’s wrong with your ear…’

Shinoda was the first to speak. Though it was faint, his voice was shaking.

'My left eye isn’t just red. It can see things others can’t – ’

'Things others can’t?’

Shinoda’s brow furrowed.

'Yes. It can see the spirits of the dead – that is, ghosts.’

'W-what…’

'He’s telling the truth. I couldn’t believe it at first either, but I had to after going along with him,’ said Gotou.

'Of course it’s not true. Don’t be ridiculous.’

Shinoda shook his head.

It probably wasn’t easy to accept a fact that went against your common sense.

'I don’t care if you don’t believe me,’ declared Yakumo.

'What?’

'Since I can still prove her innocence – ’

The moment Yakumo said that, a bewitching smile appeared on his lips –

-

15

-

Gotou finally understood after hearing Yakumo’s explanation.

When Haruka spoke during investigation, it hadn’t been a confession to murder. It had been a message from the dead Kanae.

Then, Shinoda and Onodera had taken those vague words as a confession.

Gotou couldn’t just blame Shinoda and Onodera. Haruka’s fingerprints were on the weapon. There was an eyewitness testimony.

That had prejudiced them and clouded their judgement. There may have also been some prejudice towards Gotou from Shinoda.

However, the problem came after.

Japanese police and law did not accept testimony from ghosts. Just as Yakumo had said earlier, he would have to prove Haruka’s innocence without ghosts.

Yakumo slowly walked towards Ishii, murmured something and then walked to Sakurai.

'First, from you – ’

Sakurai’s face twitched under Yakumo’s gaze.

Was it fear of the red left eye or something else?

'You may be the only person speaking the truth this time,’ Yakumo said quietly.

'What do you mean?’ Gotou asked.

Yakumo looked at Makoto.

'Makoto-san, he said that he was made to write The Ghost in the Clock Tower by the ghost there, correct?’

'Yes, he did,’ Makoto said clearly.

The associate professor named Onda next to her looked discomfited.

'Just as I said earlier, Sakurai-san’s words were correct.’

Yakumo looked towards Sakurai again.

’T-then he was possessed by a ghost and wrote the manuscript?’ asked Ishii.

'He wasn’t possessed. To be correct, he stole the work of somebody who had died. Am I correct, Sakurai-san?’

Yakumo moved closer to Sakurai.

'W-wha… That’s…’ said Sakurai, his voice shaking. He tried to take a step back, but Gotou stood in his way.

He wouldn’t let him get away.

'Why hide it? You didn’t plan to hide it in the first place, did you?’

Sakurai looked down. His small frame was shaking, though it was slight.

'Was there really plagiarised?’

The person who had spoken was Onda, who had been silent up until now.

Yakumo looked at Onda. His eyes narrowed slightly.

'Be honest, professor – you noticed, didn’t you?’

'What are you saying?’ Onda asked.

'I read the magazines published by the literature circle. Sakurai-san’s works in the magazines are clearly different in writing style.’

'I did think so… but couldn’t that just mean he improved?’ Onda replied coolly.

'Are you seriously saying that?’

'What do you mean?’

'It wasn’t at a level that improvement could explain away. Something was different at its core.’

'Perhaps… but people change. Sometimes mental growth plays a huge influence on a work. There have been many an author like that.’

Though Gotou didn’t know much about literature, Onda’s explanation made sense.

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Yakumo, but he felt it was a bit hasty to say something was a stolen work just because the writing style was different.

'Well, what you say does make sense, professor.’

Yakumo smiled dryly and looked down.

For a moment, Gotou was worried that Yakumo’s plan had been ruined by Onda’s rebuttal, but he immediately shook that anxiety away.

Yakumo lifted his head again.

'That isn’t the only reason I am saying this. That was only the cause for my suspicion.’

The way Yakumo spoke suggested –

'You saying you have proof?’ Gotou asked.

'Yes,’ responded Yakumo. He looked at Makoto.

'Makoto-san, please tell everyone – ’

Though Makoto looked surprised, she nodded immediately afterwards.

'Actually, I went to Mizuhara-san’s house. I found the original data for The Ghost in the Clock Tower on her laptop. She died three years ago. It must have been written at least before then.’

As Makoto explained, her voice was shaking slightly. She probably had complex feelings about either the dead Mizuhara Noriko or her family.

'In short, the real author of The Ghost in the Clock Tower is not Sakurai-san but Mizuhara Noriko-san – ’

After Yakumo declared that, Sakurai fell to his knees.

Even if he didn’t speak, his response proved that it was true.

'So you really did…’

Those words, close to a growl, came from Nishizawa. He glared at Sakurai.

Nishizawa had probably noticed earlier that the work wasn’t Sakurai’s but Mizuhara Noriko’s.

'When Sakurai-san laid his hands on Mizuhara Noriko-san’s draft, he revised it and entered it for a publishing company’s newcomer’s award. It won and was published. Probably Sakurai-san himself was the most surprised,’ Yakumo said to Sakurai, who was kneeling.

'Why?’

Gotou understood Yakumo’s explanation, but he didn’t understand the ending.

– Why was Sakurai the most surprised?

He submitted the work for a newcomer’s prize by a publishing company. He must have felt vain and guilty in the spotlight.

'So that really was Noriko’s…’

A low growl, like that of a beast, interrupted Gotou’s question.

It was Nishizawa –

Nishizawa was crying.

His red eyes, wet with tears, were staring straight at Sakurai.

'You… wanted that work, so you killed Noriko… You took Noriko from me…’

Nishizawa’s voice was twisted.

Anger and hatred were mixed together – there was killing intent there. His eyes were insane.

– This is bad!

It was too late.

Nishizawa grabbed the metal pole propped up against the wall and went to attack Sakurai.

Gotou managed to stop the attack with his arm, but a shocking pain made him stumble.

'Don’t get in my way! I’m going to get revenge!’

Nishizawa waved the metal pole around.

He looked mad, as if something had possessed him –

Just as he brought the metal pole down, Ishii jumped out and clung to Nishizawa’s waist.

'Let go!’

Nishizawa shook Ishii off.

Ishii, who had been flung to the side, rolled across the floor and knocked Haruka to the ground.

Nishizawa went towards Sakurai again.

'Urgh!’

– It’s all over.

The moment Gotou thought that, Nishizawa suddenly collapsed sideways.

– What?

Then, Gotou saw Shinoda. He had Nishizawa on the floor, handcuffed.

'I can’t believe you saved me…’ Gotou said wryly.

Shinoda looked like he had eaten something sour.

'I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.’

'Shut up!’ said Gotou with a click of his tongue, somehow managing to stand up.

-

16

-

Ishii, on all fours, lifted his head and saw Shinoda holding Nishizawa down.

Gotou looked all right as well.

Just as Ishii sighed in relief, he saw Haruka sitting while holding her leg.

When Nishizawa pushed Ishii away, Ishii had hit Haruka and they had both fallen.

It looked like he had accidentally hurt her.

'A-are you all right?’ Ishii said, rushing towards Haruka.

'Yes, it’s just a sprain…’

Though Haruka responded with a smile, her forehead was damp with sweat. It had to hurt quite a lot.

– What am I doing?

Ishii was ashamed of himself.

He hadn’t been able to save Gotou, and he had hurt Haruka too, but the problem was something earlier.

Before Yakumo had begun talking about plagiarism, he had walked up to Ishii and warned him. 'Please don’t let your eyes off Nishizawa-san.’

Even though Yakumo had warned him so this wouldn’t happen, not only had Ishii not been able to do anything, he had made the situation worse.

As Ishii was wallowing in his frustration, Yakumo walked up to him.

Though Ishii expected a reprimand, Yakumo walked past Ishii towards Haruka.

'Does it hurt?’

When Yakumo asked that, Haruka replied, 'Yeah, it hurts a lot,’ looking like she might start crying.

It was a shock.

He wasn’t somebody whom Haruka could express her weakness to.

'Sit there.’

After Yakumo told Haruka that, he moved to stand in front of Ishii.

Ishii felt like Yakumo’s gaze was somewhat cold.

'I apologise. I should have restrained him before this happened. I may have shaken him too much,’ Yakumo said quietly.

He had nothing to apologise for. It was Ishii’s fault for not being able to do anything.

'No, I…’

Yakumo turned around, cutting Ishii’s apology short. Then, he walked towards Nishizawa.

Nishizawa’s face was filled with bitterness.

'Oi! Yakumo! What the hell is happening?’ shouted Gotou as he held his injured arm.

'Exactly what you see before you.’

Yakumo ran a hand through his hair, looking incredibly annoyed.

'I don’t get it.’

'Yeah, what’s happening?’ said Shinoda, joining in.

Yakumo sighed and slowly opened his mouth.

'When Gotou-san and Ishii-san came into this room, Sakurai-san was threatening Nishizawa-san with a knife. Am I correct?’

It had been exactly as Yakumo said.

'Sakurai-san was trying to kill Nishizawa-san.’

Though Ishii didn’t know the details of the situation, it had certainly looked that way to him. Then, the situation had reversed. Ishii didn’t understand why.

'It was the opposite,’ Yakumo said smoothly.

That moment, Nishizawa started to grind his teeth.

'Opposite? What do you mean?’ pressed Gotou.

'I mean exactly what I said. Nishizawa-san called Sakurai-san here to try to kill him.’

'But…’

Ishii was unable to stop himself from interrupting, but Yakumo stopped him by raising a hand.

'Nishizawa-san assaulted Sakurai-san here, but Sakurai-san fought back and turned the situation around. That was when Gotou-san and Ishii-san came in.’

'What!?’

Ishii’s eyes went wide in shock.

'It is just as he says. I was assaulted by Nishizawa, so I had to… And then you came in,’ said Sakurai pleadingly.

It didn’t sound like he was trying to make an excuse. Ishii felt that they were words cornered by the truth.

'Shut up! You murderer! You’re to blame for everything!’ screamed Nishizawa, his teeth showing as he tried to wrench himself forward.

Spit was flying out of his mouth and his eyes were bloodshot. Ishii faltered in front of that monstrous face.

However, Yakumo did not. He slowly crouched in front of Nishizawa and looked at his face.

'And that is how you forgot your own crime and put all the blame on someone else. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this entire incident is your fault – ’

Yakumo’s words brimmed with loathing.

Nishizawa bit his lip and fell quiet under the pressure.

'Explain properly,’ Gotou said impatiently.

Yakumo stood up again. He looked at everyone in the room and then began to speak quietly.

'Nishizawa-san was in a relationship with Mizuhara Noriko-san. However, Noriko-san committed suicide by jumping – ’

'No! That wasn’t a suicide! Sakurai killed her!’ shouted Nishizawa, his face red. There was a fierce anger there.

'No, that was definitely a suicide,’ objected Shinoda as he pressed Nishizawa down.

Shinoda had been in charge of Mizuhara Noriko’s investigation. If the verdict was changed, it would be a huge mess.

'Shinoda-san, you remember him, don’t you?’

Yakumo looked at Nishizawa.

Shinoda seemed confused, but he looked at Nishizawa’s face once more. Then, his eyes went wide in recognition.

'Yes, this is Nishizawa-san, the student who had made a fuss three years ago saying that Mizuhara Noriko-san’s death wasn’t a suicide.’

'That’s right… It was him…’

Shinoda looked like he had swallowed something bitter. So did Nishizawa.

'It seems you had both forgotten. Well, let us put aside whether Mizuhara Noriko-san’s death was a suicide or a murder for now,’ said Yakumo.

'Eh?’

– Isn’t that important?

Yakumo ignored Ishii and moved towards the mirror.

'Whatever the facts are, Nishizawa-san thought that Sakurai-san had killed Mizuhara Noriko-san.’

'Why? Why did he think that?’

Gotou immediately interrupted with a question.

'The reason is the ghost of the clock tower, its meaning twofold.’

Yakumo tapped his brow with his index finger.

'Twofold?’ asked Ishii.

The corners of Yakumo’s lips turned up in a smile.

'Nishizawa-san always had suspicions about Mizuhara Noriko-san’s suicide. He believed that she had been murdered and that the culprit was Sakurai-san.’

Yakumo looked at Sakurai.

'N-no, it’s some mistake…’ Sakurai denied frantically, his face pale.

Just as Ishii thought Yakumo might say something, he turned to Nishizawa.

'Nishizawa-san had suspicions, but he had no proof. However, three years afterwards – the present – something caused his suspicion to multiply…’

'The Ghost of the Clock Tower got the newcomer’s award and was published – ’

Makoto continued after Yakumo.

'Correct. The Ghost of the Clock Tower was written by Mizuhara Noriko-san. Nishizawa-san sensed that it was her work from the writing style and was convinced that Sakurai-san had killed her to steal her work.’

'No! That’s not why I submitted the novel!’

'Shut up! You didn’t just take away Noriko’s life – you took her writing too!’

Sakurai’s and Nishizawa’s voices grew louder.

It felt like the argument might keep growing, but Gotou and Shinoda made them be quiet.

Yakumo nodded in satisfaction.

'Then, something else caused Nishizawa-san’s suspicions to cement – ’

'What happened?’ asked Ishii, his eyes clinging to Yakumo.

Haruka, sitting nearby, was also holding her breath with her hand on her chest as she waited for Yakumo to speak.

'One day, Nishizawa-san, who had heard the rumour about the clock tower, went there to confirm the rumour. There – he saw a ghost.’

Yakumo looked at Nishizawa.

Nishizawa’s eyes welled up with tears.

'I… met Noriko here…’

'Eh!?’ exclaimed Haruka in surprise.

Nishizawa sniffled and started to speak in sobs.

'Noriko said. She didn’t commit suicide. Sakurai killed her… Told me to get revenge and take back her work…That’s why I…’

That was all he could say.

Nishizawa fell to the ground and started sobbing aloud. Ishii listened, dumbfounded, to his crying, more like screaming than anything.

-

17

-

Haruka found it hard to breathe –

Everything coming out of Yakumo’s mouth was a shocking truth. Since Haruka had been in custody this whole time, she couldn’t even follow the conversation.

The spiritual phenomenon Kanae had talked about was clear though.

'So when Kanae said Nishizawa-san was acting strange…’

'Yes. Ever since he saw a ghost here, he was possessed by the idea of revenge,’ finished Yakumo.

It seemed that day was filled with melancholy.

'But why…’

Haruka couldn’t understand at all.

She empathized with how Nishizawa felt after losing the one he loved. The sadness and loss was probably beyond imagination.

Furthermore, the anger he felt at knowing it was a murder even though it had been declared a suicide must have been terrible. But –

It was still twisted to kill somebody for revenge.

'Kanae-san knew that he was planning revenge and tried to stop him. That was why she talked to you…’

'Why me?’

'Though part of it was your experience with spiritual phenomena, more than anything else – I think it was because she trusted you.’

Yakumo’s words, unusually gentle for him, spread in Haruka’s heart.

It wasn’t like she and Kanae had experienced anything special together. They hadn’t been together every day. And yet, they had shared something.

Kanae had also been a very dear friend to Haruka –

But Haruka hadn’t been able to help Kanae at all, and Kanae had lost her life.

'Now, let us return to the original topic – ’

Yakumo clapped his hands together.

That moment, it felt like the atmosphere in the room changed.

'Who killed Kanae-san?’

Yakumo’s question made everyone in the room look to him. Even Shinoda, who had refused to believe in Yakumo’s ability, was holding his breath as he waited for Yakumo’s next words.

'On the day of the incident, you came to this clock tower. Why?’ Yakumo asked Haruka.

Though many of Haruka’s memories of the day were vague, she remembered that clearly.

'I saw Kanae going inside the clock tower…’

'Was she the only one you saw?’

'I think so…’

Haruka’s memories were vague so she couldn’t be sure.

'This is important. Try to remember it clearly.’

After Yakumo said that, Haruka went through her memories once more. The scene ran through her head.

'Come to think of it, there was somebody else. I didn’t see his face, but there was a man… Kanae was following him…’

She looked a bit odd, so Haruka followed Kanae as well.

'The man who went to the clock tower then was probably him – ’

Yakumo pointed at Nishizawa.

Nishizawa looked away without answering.

'Wait. So three people were at the clock tower that day?’ asked Gotou.

'Correct,’ responded Yakumo confidently.

'But I…’

'You lost your memories of the event. You probably fainted upon entering the clock tower.’

Now that Yakumo said that, Haruka felt like that was the case.

'Then who killed her?’ asked Gotou in confusion.

'You know already, don’t you?’ said Yakumo with a shrug.

However, it didn’t look like anybody knew. They shared glances and shook their heads.

Haruka didn’t know either.

'It’s simple. It was the third person in the clock tower – Nishizawa-san,’ Yakumo said in a flat tone.

– What?

Gotou, Ishii and Makoto all cocked their head. It looked like they had the same question.

Sakurai was also shocked, with his eyes wide. Nishizawa had his eyes shut tightly and looked pained.

'Why would he?’

Gotou was the first to speak.

'Let’s ask the man in question.’

After Yakumo said that, he crouched in front of Nishizawa and peered at his ace.

'You were at the clock tower at the time of the incident, right?’ Yakumo asked quietly.

Nishizawa opened his eyes and glared at Yakumo, but then he looked away.

'Like I know. It wasn’t me…’

Yakumo looked at Nishizawa and murmured, 'I see…’ Then, he went to Sakurai.

'Sakurai-san, weren’t you called out to this clock tower on the day of the incident?’

Though Sakurai looked troubled, he responded, 'Yes…’

'Who was the one who called you out?’

At this next question, Sakurai looked down. It felt like he knew what his words would engender.

For a while, Sakurai did nothing, but he finally lifted his head.

'Nishizawa – he called me out. He said he wanted to talk about The Ghost of the Clock Tower.’

'The same as today, right?’

'Yes.’

Yakumo nodded in satisfaction at Sakurai’s response and went back to Nishizawa.

'You said you weren’t at the clock tower earlier, right?’

'Urgh…’

'Don’t you think that’s strange? For the person who called Sakurai to the clock tower not to be here – ’

Under Yakumo’s questioning, Nishizawa’s forehead had beads of sweat. It was obvious that he was cornered.

Yakumo continued. This was the turning point.

'You were here, and you met Kanae-san here – ’

'What’s your proof for that ridiculous statement?’ objected Nishizawa strongly. It was true that what Yakumo had been saying so far was only conjecture.

However, Yakumo didn’t falter at all.

'I have proof. I heard it from Kanae-san.’

'She’s dead. That’s…’

'Have you forgotten? I can see the spirits of the dead – that is, ghosts. Kanae-san’s spirit is right there.’

Yakumo pointed above Haruka’s head.

Haruka looked where Yakumo was pointing. She couldn’t see anything, but it was different for Yakumo.

He probably saw Kanae there.

'Will you doubt my red left eye while believing a rumour about a clock tower?’

Yakumo’s question made Nishizawa let out a groan.

'I know this is a forceful method, but I had to shake you in order to get you to act,’ Yakumo whispered in Nishizawa’s ear.

That moment, Nishizawa’s eyes went open in shock.

'Then that was…’

'Yes. I set a trap so that you wouldn’t be able to escape.’

'That’s cowardly.’

'I don’t want to hear that from you,’ said Yakumo, voice dripping with detest. HE looked at Nishizawa coldly.

'So Nishizawa killed Kanae?’ asked Gotou.

'Though part of it is conjecture – ’ began Yakumo. 'That day, Nishizawa-san called Sakurai-san to the clock tower. However, Kanae-san found out and tried to stop Nishizawa-san.’

'Wait. That would mean…’ said Haruka.

Yakumo nodded slightly. 'Yes. She knew that Nishizawa-san was acting strangely not because of a possession but because he wanted revenge.’

This fact from Yakumo made Haruka look down.

Her heart felt heavy. It wasn’t because Kanae had kept it secret. Haruka hated herself for not realizing.

'That night, Kanae-san met Nishizawa-san in the clock tower and tried to convince him not to do anything stupid. Then – ’

'I went in without knowing anything,’ said Haruka.

Yakumo nodded. 'Didn’t you hear arguing voices from the top of the clock tower?’

– Now that he mentions it.

'I think I did. I didn’t hear what they said, but I could tell people were fighting…’

Haruka held her head and went through her foggy memories.

'When you went to the room at the top, you saw Nishizawa-san inside. Of course it was too dark for you to tell who it was, but…’

As Haruka listened to Yakumo, it felt like the fog in her head was being lifted.

Finally, she saw some images in her head, though they were fragmented.

'Yes… There was somebody here. When I tried to scream, he covered my mouth… I tried to escape and grabbed a pole nearby and was waving it around, but I was pushed down…’ said Haruka, her voice shaking.

That was all she could remember.

'Nishizawa-san pushed you away and you fainted after your head hit the wall – ’

'Stop it! Stop just saying whatever you want!’ screamed Nishizawa.

'Shut up.’

Unexpectedly, Shinoda was the one who stopped Nishizawa. He looked at Yakumo to tell him to continue.

Yakumo nodded and began once more.

'After you fainted, Kanae-san argued with Nishizawa-san. She was frantic in trying to get him to stop his revenge against Sakurai-san. She was probably also angry that you, her friend, had been hurt.’

'Kanae – ’

Haruka pressed a hand against her chest. It was hard to breathe.

She didn’t want to hear the rest – she really felt that. However, she felt like avoiding it would be putting Kanae’s actions to waste so she bore with it.

'While they were arguing, Nishizawa-san lost himself in his emotions and hit Kanae-san with the metal pipe you had picked up earlier. After that, he wiped away his fingerprints and made you hold it once more, put blood on your face and fabricated the crime scene – ’

After Yakumo finished, the room was as quiet as if it were submerged in water.

It was a heavy silence that made your breath catch.

'What are you saying!? You have no proof!’ screamed Nishizawa with a pale face.

However, his voice resounded emptily. It was clear that everyone in the room didn’t believe him.

'It is true that I have no physical evidence. But that is just for now.’

Yakumo walked up to Nishizawa and stared him in the eye.

’…’

Under Yakumo’s gaze, Nishizawa’s lips trembled slightly.

'Have you heard of a luminol test?’

'What?’

'Ishii-san, please tell him.’

The conversation suddenly turned to Ishii, who hesitantly began to explain.

'Ah, yes. To put it simply, it’s a way to see bloodstains you can’t normally see with your eyes.’

'If blood gets on clothes, it won’t just come out from washing, right?’

Yakumo’s words were less a question than a request for confirmation.

'Yes. It would be impossible to completely rid them of blood that way.’

'Nishizawa-san, what do you think would happen if Kanae-san’s blood was on your clothes? You claimed earlier that you were not at the scene on the day of the crime.’

Nishizawa’s head slumped at Yakumo’s final words. His shoulders were shaking too, and his eyes filled with tears.

'I didn’t want to kill her… It just ended up that way… Kanae-chan was getting in the way of my revenge…’ Nishizawa sobbed. Haruka felt no pity at all when she looked at him.

Nishizawa’s words were too selfish.

'You just think about yourself – ’

Yakumo spoke before Haruka could.

'Eh?’

'You really are selfish. You’re always looking for excuses to say that you’re not at fault, but you should know best the reason that Mizuhara Noriko-san killed herself – ’

Nishizawa looked shocked.

'W-what are you saying!? Noriko was killed! That’s why I wanted revenge…’

'You were tricked.’

Nishizawa’s face twisted further. 'Tricked? Me?’

'I’ll say this first. Mizuhara Noriko-san’s ghost is not here – ’

'You’re lying! I saw her! What do you know!?’ screamed Nishizawa. His body was twisting as he did so.

Yakumo sighed slightly as he watched him.

'You must understand. Please don’t make me repeat myself. My red left eye can see the spirits of the dead. Mizuhara-san’s ghost is not here.’

'Then the rumour about the clock tower…’ interrupted Haruka.

'There is no such rumour. Correct, Makoto-san?’

Yakumo’s red left eye looked at Makoto.

'Correct. I asked many students, but none of them knew about the rumour…’ Makoto replied firmly.

'But Kanae…’

Kanae had talked about the rumour of a ghost that showed up at the clock tower when she went to consult Haruka.

If there was no rumour, why would Kanae say that?

'That’s the problem – ’

Yakumo looked straight at Haruka.

His red left eye seemed to be asking if Haruka was prepared. No matter what truth came from Yakumo’s lips – no matter how hard it was to accept – Haruka was ready to hear it.

Haruka nodded, and Yakumo began.

'Even though there is no ghost here, Nishizawa-san heard Mizuhara-san’s voice. What on earth could that mean?’

'Tell us what it means.’

Gotou stomped on the ground impatiently.

'It’s simple. Somebody pretended to be Mizuhara-san’s ghost to fool Nishizawa-san.’

Haruka felt a burning pain in her chest at Yakumo’s words. It was because she knew who it was.

'Who? Who would do that?’ pressed Gotou.

Yakumo looked at Haruka again. She knew. She was prepared. Haruka silently nodded once more.

After a long silence, Yakumo said, 'It was Kanae-san – ’

– So it really was her.

Now that Haruka thought over it, there had been a few strange things. Kanae hadn’t seen the ghost, but she had believed the rumour.

That wasn’t all. Kanae hadn’t said she wanted them to do something about the ghost. She had said she wanted them to save Nishizawa, who was acting strange. But –

'Why would Kanae do that?’ asked Haruka.

Yakumo looked at the mirror.

'It was revenge.’

'Revenge.’

'Isn’t that so – Professor Onda?’

Yakumo’s words made everyone in the room swallow their breath.

-

18

Makoto felt a quiver of fear upon hearing Yakumo’s words.

She had known somewhere in her heart, but she hadn’t wanted to believe it.

When she looked to her side, she saw Onda standing there silently. She couldn’t tell his true intentions from his fearless profile.

'Does the professor have something to do with the case?’ interrupted Gotou.

'Yes, I invited him here because he is involved.’

Yakumo slowly walked towards Onda.

Onda’s expression still did not change. That attitude felt incredibly unnatural.

'Are you saying I did something?’ Onda asked calmly.

'Before I explain, I should say why Mizuhara Noriko-san died.’

Nishizawa immediately interrupted, 'Noriko was killed… by Sakurai…’

Nishizawa’s words lacked strength, unlike how they had been earlier. The doubt within him was probably growing with no way for him to stop it.

'I have said this already, but Mizuhara-san committed suicide. There is clear evidence. Isn’t that so, Sakurai-san?’

Yakumo ran a hand through his messy hair in irritation and looked straight at Sakurai.

Sakurai looked down to avoid Yakumo’s gaze and bit his lip hard.

'I see – it can’t be helped if you don’t want to talk about it. Makoto-san.’

Yakumo looked towards Makoto once more.

'Yes.’

Makoto felt her pulse speed up as she spoke.

'There original The Ghost of the Clock Tower file was on Mizuhara-san’s laptop at her house, correct?’

'Yes.’

'Was that exactly the same as the one published under Sakurai-san’s name?’

Makoto felt her heart jolt at Yakumo’s question.

She had had predicted this after reading the original, but the further the conversation advanced, the more she didn’t want to believe it.

That said, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut here.

Makoto gave Onda a quick glance before answering.

'No, the published work was a revision of the original.’

'What was revised?’

'The first half was completely cut out.’

The more Makoto spoke, the more her heart felt like it would be crushed.

'What was the content of the first half?’

'It was…’

Makoto’s breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t say any more.

She had never thought this would happen. She didn’t know what she could believe in and what she should doubt any more.

Yakumo’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Makoto. Then, he nodded.

'Fine. I will explain the rest – ’

After saying that, Yakumo looked at the faces of everyone in the room, one by one.

After a long pause, Yakumo began his explanation.

'The published version of The Ghost of the Clock Tower was about a woman who unexpectedly killed somebody and gradually lost herself under the weight of the guilt. However, there was nothing about what the protagonist had experienced or who she had killed. Then, it ended in her suicide – ’

Haruka looked surprised at Yakumo’s explanation. Gotou and Ishii also furrowed their brows as they looked at each other. Shinoda looked the same way.

Nishizawa was just in shock. Sakurai’s shoulders were shaking in what looked like fear.

Then – Onda alone was looking straight at Yakumo with no change in expression.

'The scenes that were cut from the original work that Makoto-san discussed earlier explained why the protagonist killed someone.’

'It was us… It was our fault…’

Suddenly, Sakurai started to cry in a voice that was like a scream.

Yakumo looked at him coldly and then turned to face everyone once more.

'The female protagonist was on a drive with friends. Her boyfriend was driving, and she was sitting in the passenger seat. In the back, there was a man – an upperclassman – and a man in the same year. The upperclassman had taken a dangerous drug and was intoxicated.’

Though Yakumo’s tone was flat, there was a faint anger there.

Nishizawa seemed to understand what Yakumo was talking about and said hoarsely, 'Stop…’

However, Yakumo did not stop.

'The man driving and the man in the back began to argue over something trivial. Because of that, the driver wasn’t paying attention to the road. As a result, they hit a young parent and child crossing the intersection – ’

'Please! Please stop!’

Nishizawa clung to Yakumo in tears, but Yakumo shook him off and continued.

'The female protagonist immediately tried to call an ambulance, but her boyfriend, the driver, stopped her.’

'Why?’ interrupted Ishii, seeming confused.

'In order to run away from their own crime. The driver and the man in the back who had argued with him moved the sleeping upperclassman to the driver’s seat. Then, they took the female protagonist and ran – ’

Here, Yakumo looked at Onda.

Onda said nothing. However, there was the trace of tears in his eyes.

'The parent and child who were hit struck the traffic light post. Though they were bleeding a lot, they had still been alive. However, the female protagonist was unable to fight the men and was forced to leave the scene. That is the murder in the original The Ghost of the Clock Tower.’

Makoto held her breath and bit her lower lip as she listened to Yakumo.

– It was too cruel and sad.

'C-could it be that the accident in the original…’ said Ishii in a shaking voice.
'Yes. It was an accident that actually occurred three years ago. It was right where you saw a ghost, Ishii-san.’

'What…’

'Wait. If that was an actual accident, why wasn’t he arrested?’

Gotou pointed at Nishizawa.

'Another man was made to look like the culprit,’ Yakumo said in a flat tone.

'Didn’t the guy say he wasn’t driving?’

Gotou’s comment made sense, but –

'Gotou-san, would you believe somebody who was under the influence of drugs if they said they weren’t driving?’

'I…’

Gotou fell silent after hearing Yakumo’s explanation.

As written in the original draft, the car was the upperclassman’s, unfortunately for him. The police had no reason to suspect anything.

'Then was the novel…’

'Yes. It wasn’t a novel. It was Mizuhara Noriko-san’s diary.’

Makoto had thought the same thing as Yakumo.

Mizuhara Noriko’s The Ghost of the Clock Tower was not a novel but a diary.

Because of her writing talent and the deletion of the first scenes, it had been treated as a novel, fortunately or unfortunately.

'That’s… wrong…’ Nishizawa said frantically.

Yakumo looked at him coldly. 'What’s wrong? You looked away from a reality that you didn’t like and decided that her death was a murder. Even though she was worrying and suffering right beside you, you didn’t even try to notice.’

'That’s not t-true… I… wanted to protect her…’ sobbed Nishizawa.

Yakumo brought his face close enough to Nishizawa’s for their noses to touch and glared at him with his red eye.

'What isn’t true? The one who was driving was no other than you. You weren’t trying to protect her – you were trying to protect yourself, weren’t you?’

’…’

'Similarly, the person who killed her was no other than you yourself.’

'Aaaaahhhhhhh!’

Nishizawa screamed, scratching at his throat.

He probably couldn’t accept reality, but doing that would not turn back time.

'What trash…’ said Gotou, spitting the words out.

Makoto felt the same way. Nishizawa had thought about nobody but himself. Even though that had led his girlfriend to her death, he blamed even that on somebody else. There was nothing to empathise with.

Makoto had one question though.

'Please explain one thing to me.’

'What is it?’

Yakumo raised his left eyebrow.

'Sakurai-san was in the same car, right? Even though he had removed the first half, submitting Mizuhara-san’s diary for an award was like revealing their own crime. Why did he do that?’

Makoto couldn’t understand his reason.

'It was Sakura-san’s own method of memorial and atonement. Isn’t that so?’

Sakurai nodded in response to Yakumo’s words.

He didn’t have the courage to reveal their crime now, so he had put the diary out into the world as a tribute to Mizuhara Noriko –

Sakurai had probably meant exactly what he said when he had claimed that the ghost in the clock tower had made him write it.

He hadn’t had the courage to declare the truth, but he had implied in that way that it was Mizuhara Noriko’s work.

'Now, let us return to the topic at hand – why did Kanae-san pretend to be a ghost and deceive Nishizawa-san?’

Yakumo turned to face each of them. Nobody responded.

However, Makoto knew.

'Kanae-san was the younger sister of the woman who had died in the accident three years ago…’ replied Makoto.

Yakumo nodded.

'Really!?’ exclaimed Haruka in surprise.

'In order to avenge her older sister, Kanae-san pretended to be Mizuhara Noriko-san’s ghost and made Nishizawa-san and Sakurai-san hate each other.’

'But then why did Kanae ask for my help?’ asked Haruka.

It was true that it was strange for somebody planning revenge to bring in Haruka and Yakumo.

'Kanae-san became afraid,’ said Yakumo.

'Eh?’ Haruka looked confused.

'She had just wanted to pretend to be the ghost and threaten them, so that they would reveal the truth – but Nishizawa-san actually tried to kill Sakurai-san.’

'And so she became afraid…’ Haruka said in a hoarse voice.

'Correct. She couldn’t bear it if another person died because of her. That was why she stopped her plan halfway and consulted you, a person she trusted, about a spiritual phenomenon.’

Now that Haruka had heard the truth, she just looked into space in shock.

'In the first place, Kanae-san did want revenge, but she hadn’t pretended to be a ghost of her own volition.’

'What?’ asked Gotou.

Yakumo was as expressionless as a Noh mask as he slowly walked towards Onda.

'Somebody told Kanae-san the truth of the incident and asked her to pretend to be Mizuhara Noriko-san’s ghost for revenge. That was you – wasn’t it, Professor Onda?’

'Wait. Why would a university professor do that?’ asked Gotou.

Yakumo sighed in exasperation and ran a hand through his messy hair.

'Gotou-san, you really should change your habit of not reading files properly.’

'What?’

'Professor Onda is Kanae-san’s brother-in-law. In short, the people who passed away in the accident three years ago were Professor Onda’s wife, Kasumi-san, and his daughter.

'What!?’

Gotou was shocked into silence.

Makoto had read in her own newspaper about how Onda’s wife and child had died in a traffic accident. She hadn’t been able to contact him then, thinking that he had to be haggard.

She hadn’t been able to mention it when she went to talk to him about interviewing Sakurai either.

She had thought that he had recovered from his loss and sadness and that he was walking his own life. No, she might have just been hoping for that.

When she read the original The Ghost of the Clock Tower, she had understood immediately that the victims in the accident were Onda’s wife and child.

That wasn’t all. When Yakumo had asked her to bring Onda, she had realised what role Onda had played.

And yet, she had wanted to believe in him. No, that wasn’t it. She hadn’t wanted to believe that the kind Onda she knew would have been possessed by the idea of revenge.

'Professor, why…’

Somehow, Makoto managed to say just those words.

'Would you be able to forgive them?’ Onda’s voice, filled with sadness, echoed through the room.

Nobody could respond to his question. It was impossible to understand the true meaning of the sadness of having a loved one taken from you without experiencing it yourself.

Onda looked at everyone and the room before continuing.

'I found out the truth about the accident after reading the original The Ghost of the Clock Tower.’

'How did you get a hold of it?’ asked Makoto.

She felt like that was all she could do right now.

'Three years ago, it was sent to me from Mizuhara Noriko-san. Of course there hadn’t been a title then. I knew it was a draft, but I hadn’t planned on reading it. It was the name of a woman I didn’t know, and I had been mentally exhausted after losing my wife and child…’

'When did you read it?’

'I think it was about half a year ago… A certain man came to me.’

'A man?’

'The man who was said to have been driving during the accident. He said he had just been let out on good behaviour. In tears, he told me that he hadn’t been driving and that the actual driver was somebody else. He told me the name.’

'You recognised the name then.’

'Yes. It was the name of a student in the literature circle. And the woman who had sent the draft – ’

What amazing fate.

Onda, at his new workplace, had met with the person who had actually killed his wife and child.

'Then, I read Mizuhara Noriko-san’s diary for the first time and found out the truth of the incident. I was shaking in anger.’

Onda looked at Nishizawa and Sakurai.

Under the pressure of Onda’s mad eyes, the two were frozen in fear.

'It was as if they had forgotten their past crime. That wasn’t all. They had to have noticed that I was related to the victims, and yet – ’

Makoto could practically hear Onda’s heart creaking.

Just as he said, it was terrifying. Though there was no way the two had forgotten what they had done, they had acted completely normal with Onda, as if nothing had happened.

Onda’s rage upon realising that must have been indescribable.

'I gave them a chance – ’

'A chance?’

'Yes. I hid Mizuhara Noriko-san’s diary in the literature circle room and told them to clean it.’

Onda had hoped that they would tell the truth upon finding Mizuhara Noriko’s diary.

However, Sakurai, upon finding the diary, had revised the contents and submitted it for an award.

Though Sakurai had meant that as atonement and memorial, Onda couldn’t accept that.

'You were the one who covered the scene of the traffic accident with red paint.’

'Yes. I sent them a memo with the address of the scene.’

'You were making them recall the past accident.’

'Yes, but the two of them didn’t care…’

Onda shook his head weakly.

Onda had given them so many warnings before acting, hoping that they would come forward on their own to atone –

But his hopes had been completely betrayed.

When Makoto thought about how Onda must have felt, she couldn’t breathe.

'They didn’t feel any guilt. They went on with their lives, fought about silly things. It was depraved. They had taken the lives of my child and her mother – would you be able to forgive them?’

The fury emanating from Onda made everyone swallow their breath.

Makoto thought about it. To be honest, she wouldn’t have been able to forgive them. Losing both wife and child in an accident, with the culprits forgetting completely and going on with their lives. Onda had probably been burning with anger that had no place to go.

'Wasn’t it yourself that you couldn’t actually forgive?’

Yakumo was the one who spoke.

'What do you mean by that?’ asked Onda.

Yakumo sent him a sharp gaze.

'If you only felt angry at them, you wouldn’t have needed to do something so roundabout.’

'What are you trying to say?’

'You regretted that you hadn’t immediately read the diary Mizuhara-san sent you – am I wrong?’

Onda looked down slightly at Yakumo’s question.

'Perhaps. If I had read the diary, she wouldn’t have committed suicide…’

Perhaps Onda was right.

When Mizuhara Noriko sent Onda the diary, she had probably meant to atone for what had been done.

If Onda had approached her, she might not have thought about suicide.

However, that was only a theory. Nobody could blame Onda for that, and Onda should not have blamed himself either.

'The revenge this time included Mizuhara-san’s portion as well. That was why you used such a roundabout method,’ declared Yakumo.

Onda smiled, rather sadly.

'Perhaps… Do you think I was wrong?’ asked Onda.

'Yes, you are wrong – ’

Yakumo spoke without any hesitation.

Those words, clean and clear-cut, made all the doubts within Makoto leave.

'Professor, you were wrong. There must have been countless ways to make the truth come to light without such revenge,’ said Makoto.

A laugh escaped Onda’s lips.

'Not everyone is as strong as you.’

'Those words are not something I would expect from a professor.’

'Correct. They aren’t the words of a professor. They are the words of a husband and father who lost his wife and his child.’

There were tears in Onda’s eyes.

Even if Onda understood the logic, his heart wouldn’t accept it. No matter what Makoto said here, it wouldn’t reach Onda’s heart.

'What sophistry.’

Yakumo was the one who spoke.

'Did you not see Kanae-san? She was tormented by guilt as she cooperated with you and had tried to do something…’

Yakumo’s words brought the strength back to Makoto’s sinking heart.

'Yes. Why didn’t you look properly at her suffering – ’

After Makoto said that, Onda narrowed his eyes and looked at the ceiling.

'I did…’ Onda said in a hoarse voice. Makoto didn’t know what he was looking at, but she did understand one thing.

Onda truly regretted this incident.

He had involved Kanae and she had died. That wasn’t all – Haruka, who wasn’t involved at all, had been put in custody as a murder suspect.

It was a recreation of the accident three years ago.

Onda, who knew everything, had suffered, worried and fought himself just as Mizuhara Noriko-san had done.

That was why he had come here with Makoto and told the truth without protest.

Tears fell from the corners of Onda’s eyes –

-

19

-

'So it’s over…’

After a silence, Gotou spoke as if the words had been wrung out of his throat.

The truth that had come out of Yakumo’s mouth ran through Gotou’s confused head and shook his heart.

Nishizawa and Sakurai both had their heads hung low. It looked like they didn’t have the energy to speak.

Ishii and Haruka were in shock. Shinoda was stunned as well.

'Not yet,’ Yakumo said in a sharp tone.

In this room, Yakumo was the only one who had not relaxed his attention.

'What do you mean?’

'Exactly what I said. There was one other conspirator in this case.’

After declaring that, Yakumo moved to stand in front of the mirror –

It was as if a violent fire of anger had engulfed his back.

'You can see from there, right?’ Yakumo said to the mirror.

It was said that the mirror in this room was connected to the underworld. From how Yakumo was speaking now, it was as if it was true.

'See? What do you mean?’

'I mean exactly what I said – ’

After Gotou asked that Yakumo picked up a block of wood that was nearby.

'That’s not an explanation!’

'I’ll show you now.’

The moment Yakumo said that, he threw the block at the mirror.

The mirror cracked with a piercing noise –

'Somebody has been looking through here this whole time.’

Yakumo was pointing at a small camera. The mirror was probably a one-way mirror.

There was an antenna on the camera to send data wireless.

'Who on earth…’ said Gotou.

Yakumo smiled faintly. 'You don’t know?’

'I’m asking because I don’t know.’

'The other conspirator – the person who was blamed for the accident.’

Yakumo’s explanation made even Gotou understand the situation.

Gotou had investigated the man’s history without knowing why, but in an accident three years ago, there had been a man made to look like the perpetrator. That was –

'What’s that?’ asked Shinoda, seeming to sense something.

Gotou looked and say smoke coming from downstairs, along with the smell of burning.

'It seems he’s set a fire. To think he would take such drastic measures…’ said Yakumo bitterly.

This was bad. They were on the top floor of the clock tower. If they didn’t run before the fire got worse, they would all die here.

'Shinoda! Take him! Ishii, you get those two!’ ordered Gotou. Shinoda covered his mouth and nose and brought Nishizawa down the stairs.

Ishii took Onda and Makoto after them.

Yakumo lent his shoulder to Haruka, who had hurt her foot, and helped her up.

'Please go first,’ Yakumo said.

Gotou nodded and dragged Sakurai down the stairs.

When he glanced back, he saw that Haruka couldn’t walk on her own, and Yakumo was having trouble.

'I’ll help.’

Gotou held out a hand, but Yakumo refused it.

'It’s fine. Please go first.’

'But…’

'Quickly! Or it’ll be too late!’

Yakumo’s voice was ragged.

It really wasn’t the time to be hanging around here. It would probably be faster to take Sakurai down and come back to help Yakumo and Haruka after.

'Wait!’ shouted Gotou, and he dragged Sakurai down the stairs in a rush.

The farther down he went, the thicker the flames became, but fortunately, the flames hadn’t spread that much.

'Hurry!’ shouted Gotou as he ran down the stairs.

Sakurai stumbled a few times, perhaps because the handcuffs were making it difficult for him to walk, but Gotou kept forcing him back up to run.

When Gotou got to the ground floor, he pushed Sakurai out the backdoor and tried to go back up the stairs.

However, something jumped out from behind the stairs and blocked Gotou’s way.

Though it was too dark for Gotou to see the man’s face clearly, he could guess who it was from the uniform.

'You…’

Before Gotou could finish, the man raised something that looked like a pickaxe and attacked –

-

20

-

'Yakumo-kun… go first…’ said Haruka even as she coughed.

Though Yakumo was trying to support Haruka as they walked, it wasn’t going well. They hadn’t even reached the stairs yet.

At this rate, the two of them would die either because of the smoke or the fire.

Haruka didn’t want to die, but Haruka wouldn’t be able to bear it if Yakumo died because of her.

'Don’t talk. You’ll breathe in the smoke,’ Yakumo said sharply.

It looked like he had no intentions of leaving Haruka behind.

'But…’

'I proved you were innocent. Don’t give up until the end. And…’

'What?’

'I still have things I want to ask you.’

'Things you want to ask me?’

Yes. So don’t give up yet – ’

Even as Yakumo supported Haruka, he desperately walked forward. However, the floor suddenly shook underneath them.

Perhaps part of the clock tower had collapsed.

Haruka lost her balance and fell.

She tried to stand up, but she couldn’t. She felt like the pain in her foot was getting worse.

'Are you all right?’

Yakumo looked at Haruka’s face.

There was unusual uneasiness in his expression.

The room was getting hotter, and the smoke was growing thicker. At this rate, even if they did reach the stairs, they might not be able to go down them.

'Yakumo-kun, please. Go first… I’ll be fine…’ said Haruka, pushing Haruka away. She didn’t want Yakumo to die.

'I’m definitely taking you with me.’

'You can’t.’

'Just be quiet for a second!’ shouted Yakumo.

Haruka’s shoulders jolted at Yakumo’s voice, which sounded so different from how it usually did.

Though Yakumo opened his mouth to say something else, he suddenly stopped.

Yakumo’s gaze went through the air as if following something.

'I see… That’s right…’ Yakumo murmured. He was smiling faintly.

'Eh?’

'It’s Kanae-san – ’

'What about Kanae?’

Yakumo stood up without answering Haruka’s question.

He must have decided to go on by himself – so Haruka thought, but she was wrong. Yakumo walked to the window on the side of the room.

He unlocked it and opened it. Then, he leaned through it and looked down.

– He can’t be planning to jump, right?

They were fifty metres up. It had been proven three years ago that this wasn’t a height you could jump from and live.

Haruka thought that maybe they could put a rope through, but they didn’t have a rope around.

Yakumo walked back to Haruka and said, 'Can you believe in me?’

His deep red left eye had the light of strong determination in it, different from earlier.

'Yes.’

Haruka responded with a firm nod.

Haruka hadn’t doubted Yakumo once since the beginning of the case – no, since much earlier than that.

Yakumo didn’t talk about himself much.

Haruka often didn’t know what he was thinking, and there were tons of things she didn’t know about him, but – she felt like she had seen what sort of person Yakumo was from the closest vantage point.

She felt that she knew what rooted his heart.

That was why she had never doubted him at all.

'All right.’

With a smile, Yakumo said that and held a hand out towards Haruka.

Haruka took the hand and gripped it tightly.

-

21

-

Gotou just barely managed to avoid the pickaxe and he turned to face the man again –

'Seo Minoru.’

When Gotou said that name, the man replied with a click of his tongue.

He was right. The man in front of him was Seo Minoru, the university security guard.

Gotou hadn’t understood when Yakumo told him to investigate Seo’s history.

Even after finding out that Seo had caused an accident three years ago and had been in prison until half a year earlier, he hadn’t been able to connect it to this case.

But now he understood.

The man whose life had been ruined after he was made to take the blame for Nishizawa and Sakurai –

And, as Yakumo said, the other conspirator in this case.

Seo had been watching the situation in the clock tower through the camera hidden behind the mirror. Probably on the day of the incident too –

Seo had been the one who’d testified that Haruka had killed Kanae.

Why had he lied? Because if Nishizawa had been arrested then, he wouldn’t have been able to complete his revenge.

Not just Nishizawa. He had to take revenge on Sakurai too.

Seo, watching through the camera, knew that Haruka had fainted before Nishizawa killed Kanae.

Then, Nishizawa had fabricated the crime scene to make it look like Haruka had killed Kanae –

Seo testified that he saw Haruka hit Kanae and probably had said that Haruka had fainted when he caught her.

'I know how you feel, but stop it already,’ said Gotou, but Seo took that moment to bring down the pickaxe again.

Gotou rolled to the side to avoid it.

Just as he’d said, he understood how Seo’s felt, but that didn’t mean he could forgive him.

'You must’ve felt so awful you wanted to die when you were blamed for a crime you didn’t do! You understand that pain, so why would you do the same thing!?’ screamed Gotou.

Seo stopped. Whether it was the smoke or his feelings of sudden emptiness, tears fell from Seo’s eyes.

'They didn’t even notice when they saw me…’ said Seo hoarsely.

Not only were the people who had completely ruined his life living peacefully, they had completely forgotten what they’d done.

It hurt Gotou just thinking about how awful that had to feel. That was probably what brought Seo to revenge.

But –

'But what you did is still wrong!’

'What do you know!?’

Seo raised the pickaxe again.

– This is bad!

The moment that thought flashed through Gotou’s mind, something jumped out at Seo, fought with him, and fell to the ground.

– It was Ishii.

Ishii was doing well at first, but in no time at all, the situation was reversed.

Seo sat on top of Ishii and held up the pickaxe.

'Get a hold of yourself!’

Gotou kicked Seo’s face as hard as he could.

Seo’s eyes went wide and he fell, splayed out on the floor. He stopped moving.

'Ishii! Take this guy outside!’

'Y-yes sir.’

Ishii tried to take Seo out on Gotou’s orders, but he was too weak to do it.

– Honestly.

Gotou helped Ishii and they somehow managed to pull Seo out of the clock tower.

– Next is Yakumo.

Gotou tried to go back inside the clock tower, but then a portion of the ceiling collapsed and blocked the exit.

– What now!?

Gotou still tried to go inside, but Ishii clung to him.

'Let go! Yakumo and Haruka-chan are still inside!’

'B-but… if you go inside, you’ll die too, Detective Gotou!’

'Shut up! I’m going! I won’t let anyone die in front of me!’

Gotou forced Ishii away, but this time Shinoda came and forced Gotou down.

'Stop!’

'Let go! Yakumo!’

A loud noise interrupted Gotou’s shout. A portion of the clock tower crumbled and bricks came crashing down.

– I couldn’t save them.

'Damn it!’

Gotou’s scream echoed through the night.

'Please don’t speak so loudly.’

Just as Gotou was falling into despair, he heard a familiar voice.

He turned and saw Yakumo standing there. He was carrying Haruka on his back. His face was dirty with soot and his usual white shirt was in an awful state. It looked like they were alive.

'You… You’re OK…’

'Yes. There is an emergency ladder on the side of this tower,’ Yakumo said casually.

'Why didn’t you say that earlier!?’

'I’d forgotten myself, but she told me.’

'Haruka-chan?’

Gotou looked at Haruka. She shook her head slightly.

– Then who?

'Kanae-san did.’

'I see…’

'In any case, this is finally over.’

As Yakumo said that, he let Haruka off and sat her down.

Shinoda, who had walked over, silently uncuffed Haruka’s wrists.

It really was over now – that feeling spread through Gotou’s chest.

-

ANOTHER FILES THE TOWER OF JUDGEMENTfile 03: the tower of judgement TRANSLATION NOTES-1-Sorry to bother 'The next morning, Gotou went with Ishii to Yakumo's hideaway, the Movie Research Circle room.Yakumo looked sleepy as always and was in his usual chair, reading a book.'Coming even though you know you're a bother is this some kind of harassment?' Yakumo asked lazily as he lifted his head.That attitude really got on Gotou's nerves. He wanted to punch him right now.'And you're just reading a book in a time like this feeling pretty laidback?' retorted Gotou.Yakumo sighed and put the book he was reading on the table. It was a rather thin book more a booklet than anything.On the front, there was a picture of the clock tower which was the start of this incident, and the title was just that the Clock Tower.'I'm reading it because it's necessary to the case.''Necessary? That is?''This is something published by the literature circle that the victim Kanae-san was in.''I don't think reading that'll solve any cases,' Gotou said cynically. Yakumo gave him a cold glare.It was an almost frightening level of pressure.'It will solve the case absolutely.'Gotou felt like it was the first time in a while that he had heard strength in Yakumo's words.He had probably done away with his doubts after meeting Haruka yesterday.The current Yakumo had to have the strong will to solve the mystery of the case no matter what.Maybe he had finally decided to believe in Haruka.After that, Shinoda and Onodera had rebuked them plenty. There had been a big fuss about what sort of punishment they'd go under, but Miyagawa had come in and dealt with it somehow.It had been troublesome, but if that had brought Yakumo back, Gotou was glad he got Yakumo the chance to see Haruka.'Then what should we do next?' said Gotou as he sat down.Right now, they had solved nothing about the case. They didn't even have a lead.They couldn't just keep sitting around.Yakumo put his left index finger on his brown and narrowed his eyes. The faint smile on his lips was uncanny.'Three years ago, a woman committed suicide by jumping from the clock tower 'Yakumo spoke slowly.'Yeah.'The incident had occurred when Gotou had brought the files on that case at Yakumo's request.'I want to know more about the incident.''Those files not enough?''They aren't. I want to know what happened at the time, what sort of situation it was more detail than is in the files.''Does the woman who committed suicide have something to do with this case?' asked Ishii, his voice shaking.'Yes, she does. Like I said before, the victim Kanae-san and her friend Nishizawa-san experienced a spiritual phenomenon in the clock tower. That was probably 'There, Yakumo stopped, but Gotou understood even without his saying.He was probably saying that the ghost in the clock tower was the woman who had killed herself, Mizuhara Noriko. But 'There's no ghost in the tower, right?'There had been no ghost when Yakumo went there with Haruka or with Gotou.Though Gotou had just asked a normal question, Yakumo laughed.'Ghosts don't always stay in the same place.''Aren't they bound to the place they died or have strong emotions for?'That was what Yakumo always said.The spirits of the dead were bound to the place they died and places that they had exceptionally strong emotions for. If that was the case, the ghost wouldn't be able to move from the clock tower.'I only say that is often the case. There are exceptions to everything.'Gotou couldn't retort to that.Well, there were many things he didn't understand, but all he could do was agree to do what Yakumo said now. If he didn't, Haruka would be arrested as the culprit.'Got it. First, I'll see who was in charge''I already know,' Yakumo replied easily.'What?''I said, I already know. It was written in the file. It's amazing how you can be a detective while being so careless,' Yakumo said mockingly.It made Gotou angry, but at the same time, he felt happy, since it felt like Yakumo had finally come back.'Who is it?' asked Gotou.Yakumo smiled faintly.'The detective who was very angry yesterday. If I remember correctly, his name was 'Yakumo looked up into the air. Oi, don't kid around.Though feeling weary, Gotou said the name.'Shinoda.''Yes. According to the files, it was Shinoda.' This is the worst.If Gotou went to talk to him now, it would just be a repeat of yesterday's fight. That said, he couldn't just keep quiet and do nothing.Well, he had come this far he had to just go on without grumbling.'Got it, but don't expect much.'Gotou got up, but his heart was heavy.He didn't think Shinoda would just talk. He might have to be a bit forceful.'Ishii! Let's go!'When Gotou called out to Ishii, he leapt up. 'Yes sir!'The two of them were about to leave when Yakumo called out to him.'Sorry, but please leave Ishii-san behind.''What?''There is something else I need investigated, so I'd like Ishii's help there.'Yakumo looked straight at Gotou.Gotou didn't know what Yakumo was thinking, but Yakumo's gaze was always on the truth. Gotou had come this far believing that, and he would continue to 'Got it. Do what you want,' Gotou said brusquely, and he put the Movie Research Circle room behind him.-2-'Hello 'Makoto stepped into the Meisei University cafeteria and spoke to a couple chatting at a window seat.The two looked youthful but serious.'Me?' said the man, looking suspicious. The woman seemed on guard as well.It made sense for them to feel that way since Makoto had suddenly called out to them.'My name is Hijikata. I'm a reporter for Hokutou Newspaper. I would like to talk to you'Makoto quickly took out her business card with a smile.The two exchanged a glance and then nodded.'Is it about that incident?' asked the man.Haruka's incident was in the news, so it was probably such a big commotion that everybody on campus knew about it.'Yes,' said Makoto with a nod. The two looked excited.They were probably happy that they were going to be interviewed about the case. Makoto couldn't think well of that, but this often happened when she went around interviewing people.People wanted something exciting in their peaceful lives. If it didn't have anything to do with them, they ran about irresponsibly.'It's a bit scary. I hear the girl was killed by a friend.''The person who killed her's in the orchestra circle, apparently.''Seriously? Then maybe it's somebody you know, Miki-chan.''Maybe.''Maybe they were fighting over a man?''That's possible.'The two seemed to be enjoying themselves. Don't just go making things up!Makoto fought down the urge to yell that.They could say whatever they wanted because they didn't know. They just repeated the face of the facts they heard without trying to find out if they were true or not.It was terrifying.However, the students wouldn't recognise that at all even if Makoto told them that now.If they weren't involved, they really wouldn't try to understand.'What I want to ask about is the clock tower where the incident occurred 'Makoto interrupted the two of them, who had continued talking.The two of them looked up at Makoto.'There is a rumour that a ghost appears in that clock tower, but have you two heard of it before?' asked Makoto.The two looked at each other again.'I've never heard that,' replied the man with the shrug.'I've never heard it either.' The woman shook her head.'I see''Does that ghost have something to do with the case?' the man asked. That question had been asked many times before. It does.Makoto wanted to say that, but they probably wouldn't believe her anyway.'I heard a rumour. If it had something to do with it, I thought I'd be able to write an interesting article, but it seems I'm off the mark.'Makoto ended the conversation and left before the two could ask any questions.After leaving the cafeteria, her mobile rang. It was Yakumo.'Hello, Hijikata speaking.'It's Yakumo.She heard Yakumo's clear voice from her phone.Even though Yakumo had been acting calm yesterday, he had seemed weak, as if he might collapse at any moment.However, the call Makoto received this morning felt like it was from the usual Yakumo.Perhaps he had come to terms with his emotions, or something else had happened in either case, Makoto wanted to do whatever she could to solve the case.How was it?'I asked about ten people, but nobody's heard about it before,' reported Makoto.Yakumo had asked her to find out when the rumour about the ghost in the clock tower had started, but so far, she hadn't met anyone who knew the rumour.It made her doubt there was even a rumour in the first place.However, that made something else confusing. Sakurai had said that the ghost of the clock tower made him write his novel.It would have made sense if there had been a rumour, but why would he say it otherwise?I see. Thank you very much. That's enough for that.'It looks like I couldn't help much.'No, that was very helpful. I apologise for asking for your help again right afterwards, but I have another request.'What is it?'It is -3-Ishii walked the campus with Yakumo.Yakumo had been on the phone with somebody this whole time. Though Ishii couldn't hear the voice, it was probably Makoto.What on earth was Yakumo thinking? To be honest, Ishii had no idea.Still, he was cooperating with Yakumo. It was Yakumo. Ishii believed in him to solve the case.It was a mysterious feeling.Since Ishii only ever interacted with Yakumo on cases, he knew practically nothing about him. Not only that Ishii never knew what Yakumo was thinking, so it was frightening.And yet he believed in what Yakumo was trying to do and was going forward. I wonder what the root behind people's belief is.'Ishii-san.'After finishing his call, Yakumo called out to Ishii as they walked.'Y-yes?''Thank you for yesterday.''Eh?'Ishii stared at Yakumo's profile.He didn't understand why Yakumo was thanking him. Actually, it was unusual for Yakumo to thank anybody at all.'You stopped me when I was arguing with Gotou-san.'Yakumo awkwardly looked down and scratched the tip of his nose.'Ah, no, er My body just moved on its own'Before Ishii had noticed, he had stepped in between them. He hadn't done it consciously you could call it habit.'If you hadn't stopped me then, I don't know what would have'Yakumo stopped walking and turned his eyes towards the line of clouds in the perfectly blue sky. Ah, even he worries about things.Even though it was such an obvious thing, Ishii felt like he had just realised it.Yakumo and Gotou had definitely not been normal then. It hadn't been their usual argument it had felt like they were clashing with the emotions hidden at the bottom of their hearts.Though fighting with no guards was ghastly, it was true that Ishii had felt envious as well when he saw them.Would he ever be able to yell out his true feelings like that to anybody?'I''Let's go 'Yakumo interrupted Ishii and started walking again. After a quick 'Yes', Ishii started walking diagonally behind Yakumo.Soon, they reached the security room that Ishii had visited yesterday.When they went inside, Seo was waiting, since they had asked for an appointment in advance.They were taking to the same table as Ishii had been yesterday and sat down.Though Ishii had been worried about how to explain Yakumo, Seo didn't ask, so Ishii left it as is. Seo probably thought that Yakumo was another detective.'To be honest, it's hard to get any work done when you keep coming'Seo had his hat on still, like last time, and grumbled while looking down.Ishii understood how Seo felt, especially since other detectives had probably come to talk to him too.'I sincerely apologise.'Ishii bowed his head and then looked at Yakumo.Actually, Ishii had nothing to ask. Yakumo had been the one who said he wanted to meet Seo. What on earth was Yakumo thinking?As if to respond to Ishii's question, Yakumo started to speak.'About the day of the incident, you said that you heard something like a woman's scream.''Yes.'Though Seo looked fed up, he still answered.'How many times did you hear a scream?''Er Once, I think'After Seo responded, Yakumo stood up and then moved towards the wall, where there was a map of the university campus.'Where did you hear the scream from?''I heard it just as I walked in front of the clock tower.''Would that be around here?' asked Yakumo as he pointed at the map.'I think so.''I see. Were you on your rounds when you heard the scream, or were you on your way back?' Yakumo asked in a flat tone.Ishii didn't understand why he was asking, so all he could do was watch silently.'On the way back.''Then, that would mean you passed by the clock tower once before the incident.''That's right'Seo looked confused. He probably didn't understand what Yakumo was trying to get at either.Yakumo didn't seem to care. He continued, 'When you first passed it, did you see any students loitering on campus?''Hm I don't think I saw any''Are you certain?''I said think, didn't I? I don't remember clearly,' Seo said impatiently.Yakumo smiled slightly at the response.Ishii didn't know what, but Yakumo had definitely got something out of the conversation. To prove that, Yakumo said, 'Thank you. That was very helpful.' Then, he started to leave.If Ishii just stayed here, he would be left behind.He hurriedly stood up as well, but Yakumo suddenly sopped and turned around.'One more thing.'Yakumo put up his index finger.'What is it?''On your waist is that a transceiver?'Yakumo pointed at the device about the size of a cigarette box on Seo's belt.'Ah, yes, something like that' responded Seo.Yakumo looked satisfied and murmured, 'I see 'He left the room, but then he came back again.'Sorry, but one more thing ''Ah'Seo sounded fed up.'That clock tower it seems there's a rumour about a ghost there.''Eh?' Seo said, seeming uninterested at the sudden mention of a ghost.However, perhaps this was important. A guard that went around the campus at night might have seen a ghost at the clock tower.'Have you ever seen it?''What?''The ghost.''No.''I see. Have you ever heard the rumour?''The rumour about the ghost?''Yes.'Seo put his chin in his hand and seemed to be thinking as he cocked his head, but then he said, 'Ah! Come to think of it, I've heard a rumour like that before ''I see,' said Yakumo. He seemed satisfied with Seo's answer, as he briskly left the room.'I apologise for taking up your time. That was very helpful,' Ishii said quickly. He went out of the room after Yakumo 'Do you understand more now?' asked Ishii once he caught up with Yakumo.'No, not yet'Though Yakumo shook his head, Ishii was sure that Yakumo was hiding something.-4-'Oi! Gotou!'The moment Gotou returned to the precinct, Shinoda came up to him with an amazing expression.His face was bright red he had to be furious. Normally, Gotou would just go elsewhere to avoid dealing with such trouble, but he was just thinking about going to see him.'If you get so angry all the time, you'll die early,' Gotou said spitefully, which made Shinoda turn a shade redder.'You what are you doing!?'Shinoda glared at him fiercely.Gotou didn't mind taking that, but they were at the ground floor reception. Regular citizens came here to renew licences and to report lost items.'Let's go elsewhere,' declared Gotou, and he briskly walked away.Shinoda seemed to understand the situation as well, as he reigned in his anger and followed Gotou.They went up the stairs and inside the Unsolved Cases Special Investigation room. Nobody was here. They would be able to talk without worrying about anybody around them.'So what are you so angry about? I think we cleared up yesterday's issue,' said Gotou. He sat on the desk and crossed his arms.He needed to hear something from Shinoda, but first he would probably have to endure everything Shinoda wanted to say.'Cleared it up? Don't screw with me! Thanks to you guys, the suspect's attitude has made a complete 180!' shouted Shinoda, stamping the ground.It was like watching a child throw a tantrum.'What're you talking about?''Don't act innocent! We got a confession, but now she's saying she can't remember!' I see.Haruka must have burst through after seeing Yakumo too.She was probably trying to push through with how she thought because of her belief in Yakumo.'Oh?''What's so funny!?'When Shinoda said that, Gotou noticed that he was smiling.'Nothing,' he replied, quickly hiding his smile.'You must've told her that! Stop fooling around!'That seemed to be why Shinoda was so angry.No matter how Gotou denied it, Shinoda would never believe him there would just be a fight.'When did you become like this?' asked Gotou.Shinoda frowned. 'What?''Don't you think this case is strange?''What about it?''Do you think a completely normal girl would suddenly kill somebody?''What are you saying? Normal people kill people all the time. Even you have to know that, since you've been on the force this long.'Just as Shinoda said, Gotou had seen countless situations where somebody who looked completely normal had suddenly killed somebody.However, that was only a mask they put up.'You don't get it.''What did you say?''What you're saying is only for people who look normal.'''It looked like Shinoda didn't understand what Gotou was getting at. He seemed confused.Just as Gotou had planned, going with a different approach had calmed Shinoda down.'When you investigate, you find out that people who look normal actually have a lot of problems, like money or grudges or other things.''That's'It looked like Shinoda understood what Gotou was trying to say.Killing somebody just wasn't normal.Even if somebody looked like they would never kill anybody, as the investigation went on, you would find darkness deep within.Any detective would understand what Gotou was saying.'Did you see that darkness in her?' asked Gotou.Shinoda looked bitter. 'I just haven't found it yet.''Then don't you want to know?''Know what?''Cases aren't just about arresting a guy and calling it quits. Why did the incident occur? If you don't reveal the truth, the case isn't solved.''I know that even without your saying it,' said Shinoda with a click of his tongue.'Then investigate until you're satisfied. You've got to think something strange about this case too, right?' said Gotou to convince Shinoda.Shinoda had thought the case strange but determined it a simple case because of the eyewitness testimony and physical evidence, and Haruka's confession on top of that.But if Shinoda was a detective too, he had to want to know why this had happened.'What are you thinking?' asked Shinoda with a sigh.His eyes were different from earlier sincere and steady.The police went through a lot of cases. Even if they tried to face them all earnestly, when they were swamped with work, they could lose themselves.That must have happened to Shinoda too.'I want to ask a few things. To solve the case.''What do you want to know?'After saying that, Shinoda sat down on the nearby chair.The two of them had always got on each other nerves, so they had never spoken properly before. Gotou felt like he could finally face the man named Shinoda.In the past, Gotou would probably have just cut ties with the people he didn't like. He didn't want to understand the people he disliked, and he didn't want to try either.He could probably sit like this today because of the case with Kirino.He never wanted to make the same mistake again.'About three years ago, a female student jumped from the university's clock tower and committed suicide 'When Gotou said that, Shinoda murmured, 'That?' Then, he said, 'What do you want to know about that now? It's not even related. That was definitely a suicide, from the situation.''I know that, but it bothers me a bit.'He thought about explaining about Yakumo, but he decided against it. They were talking properly now. He didn't want to say something unnecessary and make Shinoda angry.'Do you think that the woman who committed suicide has something to do with this case?' said Shinoda after thinking for a while. He had given Gotou a good explanation.'Well, something like that,' replied Gotou.Shinoda looked up at the ceiling, perhaps thinking about the past. After a while, he suddenly said, 'Ah!''What?' pressed Gotou.Shinoda looked troubled, but he said, 'Somebody had been saying that it definitely wasn't a suicide.''Family member?'That was Gotou's first guess.'No, not family.''Who was it?''Can't remember the name, but it was a man in the same year'Shinoda's words gave Gotou a number of theories. What if Mizuhara Noriko, thought to have jumped to her death, had been killed by someone?That could be a clue to unravel this case.'That was really helpful 'After telling Shinoda that, Gotou left the room briskly. Just as he had started to walk down the corridor, his mobile rang.It was from Yakumo 'What?'How was it?Yakumo immediately asked that. It was perfect timing, as if he had been watching Gotou from afar.That there was no doubt about Mizuhara Noriko's death being a suicide. That a man in the same year had made a fuss about it not being a suicide. Gotou told Yakumo in much detail as he could what he had heard.I see After Gotou finished, Yakumo said that and was silent for a while.Gotou stopped walking and waited for Yakumo's response.To be honest, Gotou didn't feel like he would be able to work out what was happening no matter how much he thought.But Yakumo. Yakumo would be able to put all these truths together and bring them to the truth.Gotou-san, there's one more thing I'd like you to investigate'What?'I would like you to investigate a certain person's historyThe name that came out of Yakumo's mouth was not one Gotou had expected.-5-Makoto went to the cafeteria once more Since it was lunchtime, it was bustling with students, unlike how it had been earlier.She went straight to the table at the back.There was a male student there. He was thin and looked a bit boorish there was no innocence there.He had left the cafeteria tray on the table as he read a book of some kind.'Are you Katou Shigetomo?' asked Makoto.The male student looked up and replied, 'Yes,' in a thick voice.'I think you've heard from Professor Onda, but I'm Hijikata from Hokutou Newspaper,' said Makoto as she held out her business card.'Ah, yes,' Katou replied in a flat tone as he took the business card.Yakumo had asked her to talk to various members of the literature circle. He had also told her what to ask.That said, she didn't know who the members were, so she had asked Onda to introduce her to a few.Now, she was talking with Katou, the president of the literature circle.'It's about Kanae-chan, right?' said Katou in a low voice as he put his book away in his bag.'Yes, well''I can't believe she was killed'After saying that, Katou's eyes looked distant.His attitude and his words made him seem like he was trying to act mature.'How was Kanae-san like in the circle?''How? Well, she was normal.'Normal was the most troubling response. Since people had different definitions of normal, it was hard to imagine.That said, thinking about that wouldn't get Makoto anywhere.'Do you mean that she didn't stand out?''Well, something like that.''I heard that she was on good terms with Sakurai-san''Ah, Sakurai'Makoto didn't miss how Katou's expression twisted in dislike.'Is there some problem with Sakurai-san?''Not a problem, per se It feels like he's getting ahead of himself, calling himself an author after just publishing one book, doesn't it?' So that's how it is.People at this age sometimes found it hard to honestly be happy about other people's achievements. Especially if they were in the same age and aiming for the same genre.No, it wasn't just people at this age. Jealousy was probably everywhere.'Were you on good terms with Sakurai-san before?''Well, just normal.' Normal again.'Did you spend time in each other's company?''Never just the two of us, though we went out normally for drinks with the circle'Makoto would get no information like this.Though Makoto felt slightly irritated, she bore with it and went back to the topic at hand.'So Kanae-san and Sakurai-san were close.''Maybe not.''Were they dating?''Who knows? They never said Ah, but Nishizawa, maybe.''What about him?'Makoto reacted to that name.Nishizawa was the person who had experienced the spiritual phenomenon in the clock tower with Kanae. Kanae had consulted Yakumo through Haruka because she had thought that Nishizawa was possessed.'There was a rumour that Nishizawa was after Kanae-chan.''That would mean that Sakurai-san and Nishizawa-san were interested in the same woman.'Though Makoto had only ever seen Kanae in pictures, it was true that she looked lovely.That wasn't all there was a fleetingness there that made you want to protect her.'No, I don't know. It was just a rumour, but something similar happened before, so''Before?'Makoto furrowed her brow.'No, just ignore that.'Katou frantically waved his hand in front of his face.Even if he said that now, Makoto couldn't help but want to know after hearing that.'What happened?' pressed Makoto.'No, it was nothing,' repeated Katou, but Makoto didn't give up.She forcefully pressed him for an answer, so Katou finally said, 'Don't tell anybody,' and then started to speak in a heavy tone.'When I was in first year, there was a cute girl in the circle that people were fighting over. Of course I don't participate in things like that.'Makoto didn't like how Katou was trying to excuse himself, but she didn't say anything about it and urged him to continue.'Sakurai and Nishizawa were worked up about her too, but a lot of things happened'Here, Katou stopped speaking again, but Makoto had a guess about what he wasn't saying.'Could the name of the girl be Mizuhara Noriko-san?' asked Makoto.Katou's expression stiffened.'Why do you know?''Actually I've been researching a number of things about the woman who committed suicide by jumping from the clock tower.'Yakumo had requested that Yakumo investigate what happened before and after Mizuhara Noriko's suicide.Putting aside what had brought the conversation here, she had managed to bring up the topic of Noriko.'So you think Noriko-san's incident has something to do with Kanae-san's?'Katou looked fairly shaken, but he asked that after he calmed down.'I can't say anything at this stage But that is why I think it is worth investigating,' said Makoto, fill of fervour.'I don't know that much.''That's fine. I'd like you to tell me what happened before and after Mizuhara-san committed suicide.'Katou looked like he was wavering for a while, but he finally gave Makoto a small nod.-6-Ishii stood in front of the clock tower Yakumo had said he wanted to look at it once more.Now, Yakumo was standing where Seo had said he'd heard the scream.He stood still, looking up at the clock tower.The brick clock tower looked like it had been left behind by time. The clock, needles stopped at one time, was perhaps what made it feel that way.'Did you find out anything?' asked Ishii.Yakumo turned his way. Unusually, there was urgency in his expression. It was probably because he was worried about Haruka.Ishii felt the same way.There was no time to investigate everything carefully. They needed to prove Haruka's innocence as soon as possible.Yakumo opened his mouth to say something, but then his mobile rang.Yakumo answered the call. Though Ishii couldn't hear the voice clearly, it was probably Gotou.Ishii sighed and looked up once more at the clock tower. Will things really be OK?That anxiety had reared up within Ishii.Even though Ishii had decided to believe in Yakumo in order to prove Haruka's innocence, that determination was shaken by every little thing.He hated how indecisive he was.He felt like he wouldn't have to worry so much if he could just go straight forward like Gotou.Ever since this incident happened, Ishii had been wavering the whole time.'Ishii-san!'Ishii jumped up when somebody suddenly called out to him.He turned around and saw Makoto there.'M-Makoto-san.''You look down,' said Makoto, seeing right through Ishii.'No, er Well''It's fine. Things will turn out OK.'In completely contrast to Ishii, Makoto was smiling and she put up her fist confidently.'I'm envious of you, Makoto-san.''Why?''You're going forward without any doubts on the path you believe in even at a time like this. Detective Gotou is the same way. But then there's me' said Ishii in a hoarse voice.Makoto smiled. 'To be honest, I'm unsure myself.''It doesn't look that way''In the past, a teacher told me something.''What is it?''Rather than worrying about a future you can't see the end of, it's more fun to keep going forward towards a result you believe in.'Makoto really looked happy as she said that.Though those words were incredibly optimistic, Ishii felt like he could understand.Worrying now would solve nothing. It was more important to think about what to do to solve the issue and move towards that.Though it was just slightly, Ishii felt like some of his anxiety had lightened.'Thank you very much.'Just as Ishii said that, Yakumo finished his call and walked towards them.'Makoto-san is here as well now, so let's move elsewhere.'The three of them went to the nearby school lounge.There were no windows and felt like a cellar. Few students passed by. They would be able to speak easily here.'Makoto-san, how was it?' asked Yakumo once they had all sat on the sofas.Makoto nodded and opened her memo pad before speaking.'I heard a number of things about Mizuhara Noriko-san, the woman who committed suicide It seems she was acting strangely before her suicide.''What do you mean by strangely?' asked Yakumo, his brow furrowed.'Though she never talked much, one day, she seemed to shut up inside herself and wouldn't answer even if somebody talked to her, as if she couldn't hear them.''Isn't that kind of like the symptoms of the person named Nishizawa?' said Ishii as the thought came to his mind.'It is similar,' replied Yakumo, chin in his hand.'Could it be that Mizuhara-san also saw the ghost in the clock tower and started acting strangely?'After saying that, Ishii regretted his words. They were just too off-base.A mirror that was connected to the underworld. Meeting with a ghost, only to be taken away to the underworld in the same way it was just impossible.'I can't deny the possibility.''Eh?'Yakumo's words were so unexpected that Ishii was the one who was surprised.'If we casually say something is impossible, we will lose sight of the truth.''That's true, but'Even though Ishii had suggested it himself, he felt it was a bit improbable.'Well, putting theories aside Makoto-san, did you hear anything about the reason for Mizuhara-san's suicide?' continued Yakumo.'About that It appears Mizuhara-san was a very delicate woman. She was very sensitive and had a strangely fleeting impression to her.''I've only seen her from pictures, but I felt the same way' responded Yakumo. Ishii agreed.Perhaps the fact that she had committed suicide was clouding his perception, but he had felt like she was so fragile she could disappear at any moment.'Because she was like that, everyone kind of just accepted it when they found out she had committed suicide. But as for an actual reason''How about those two?'Yakumo sent a gaze so sharp it was frightening Makoto's way.'The two of them were both friendly with Mizuhara-san, though nobody knew what exactly their relationships were'Makoto appeared sorry that she didn't have any specifics, but Yakumo didn't seem to care.'I see.'After saying that expressionlessly, Yakumo crossed his arms and looked down. He was probably thinking over the case.Ishii wished that he could express a smart opinion to help Yakumo organise his thoughts, but Ishii couldn't think of anything.He didn't even know who Yakumo suspected or where he was aiming.Makoto looked frustrated as well as she bit her lower lip, perhaps feeling the same way.Yakumo thought silently for a while, but then he suddenly lifted his head.'Makoto-san, I have one more request 'As Yakumo said that, his lips turned up into a smile.-7-Gotou stopped his car in front of the Meisei University gates. Yakumo and Ishii immediately walked over.They looked considerably worn out.It made sense. They had been working ever since the incident occurred.Yakumo sat in the backseat as usual. Ishii went to the door on the driver's side and fidgeted.'E-er I'll take over for you,' said Ishii, sounding apologetic.Now that Gotou thought about it, Ishii always drove. It had become habit, so Ishii himself probably thought that it was his job.That said, with Ishii looking this exhausted, there could be an accident.'Just get in the passenger seat.''But'Ishii was fidgeting even more now.'Stop fidgeting!' yelled Gotou.'Yes sir!' Ishii replied with a jump. He hurriedly ran towards the passenger side.He fell 'So how was the investigation?' asked Yakumo once Ishii had managed to get in.'I got a bunch of info.'Gotou tried to hand over the files, but he couldn't.Gotou had put the files on the passenger seat. Ishii was sitting on them.'Move over,' said Gotou, grabbing the corner of the files that were sticking out from under Ishii.'Eh?''You're sitting on the files.''Eh? Ah! I see! Sorry!'Even though Ishii could have just sat up slightly, he stood up in a fluster and hit his head against the top of the car.'What are you doing?''S-sorry.'With Ishii slightly off the chair, Gotou managed to save the files.Such a big fuss just to hand over some files.As Yakumo watched from the backseat, he was smiling. Gotou felt like it was the first time he'd seen that smile in a while.If Yakumo, who had been pressed psychologically because of Haruka's incident, felt just a little bit better, Gotou didn't mind.'Here 'Gotou handed over the files and Yakumo started looking through the files, devouring them with his eyes.'What files are those?' asked Ishii as he fixed the position of his glasses.'Hm,' Gotou replied brusquely, too bothered to even give a response.Yakumo was reading files regarding a certain man.That man had caused some trouble for the police three years ago.However, it had nothing to do with this case. That said, Gotou couldn't ignore it.Yakumo had known beforehand that the police had this man on file. What incident had he been in?While Gotou was thinking, Yakumo lifted his head. His gaze was unusually fierce.It looked like he had found something important in those files.'Oi, Yakumo'Gotou tried to ask, but Yakumo interrupted him.'Ishii-san, you said that you saw a ghost before the incident occurred, didn't you?'Yakumo's words made both Gotou and Ishii confused for a moment. What's he talking about?Gotou didn't understand, but then he remembered. The prank that had occurred at the intersection near Meisei University.When they went there, Ishii had made a big fuss about seeing a ghost.Ishii had talked about that when they visited Yakumo afterwards too, but then Haruka's incident had occurred and Gotou had completely forgotten.'Y-yes, I did see a ghost,' said Ishii, though he sounded confused. Why's Yakumo talking about that now?Ishii had to be thinking that. Gotou was thinking the same thing.'Did you see that ghost's face?'Yakumo continued asking questions, ignoring their feelings.'Not clearly' replied Ishii, his voice a bit nervous.'Was that ghost a man? Or was it a woman?''A woman.'Yakumo nodded, seeming satisfied with Yakumo's reply. Then, he frowned slightly. What on earth is he thinking?Before Gotou could ask, Yakumo said, 'Please go there now.''You What are you saying? Do we need to go there now?' said Gotou without thinking.He didn't know what Yakumo was planning, but they had to solve Haruka's case first. They didn't have the time to look for some ghost Ishii saw.'I'm saying it because it's necessary,' Yakumo said, incredibly brazen.'Why?'You don't know?''I'm asking because I don't!' shouted Gotou.Yakumo sighed in a dramatic manner.It made it seem like Gotou was the weird one.'Gotou-san, I've mentioned this before, but you should get into the habit of reading files more carefully,' said Yakumo, his tone pointed.Gotou knew he couldn't focus on files. That's why he hated paperwork.But it was really grating having Yakumo point that out.'I don't need your concern! Stop talking and just explain already!'Though Gotou yelled, only Ishii was surprised. Yakumo just smirked calmly. I really hate this brat!'I'll explain once we arrive.'After saying that, Yakumo turned towards the window.He probably wouldn't say any more no matter what Gotou said.'Honestly' grumbled Gotou, though he started the car.He didn't know what Yakumo was thinking, but he felt like he was getting closer to the truth.-8-Makoto stood in front of a house.It was a bout fifteen minutes by bus from Meisei University at the corner of a residential street. The area, built by a railway company, had lines of nearly identical houses.Makoto checked the name plate and pressed the intercom button, though her heart felt tight.After a while, the front door opened and a woman appeared. She was probably in her mid-fifties.She was small-framed with friendly eyes she seemed like the sort of woman who liked people. However, there was an indescribable shadow in the back of her eyes.She was Yasue, the mother of Mizuhara Noriko, who had committed suicide three years ago.'I'm Hijikata of Hokutou Newspaper. I called earlier.'Makoto held out her business card.'I'm Mizuhara. I apologise for asking you to come all this way,' the woman said and bowed politely.Yakumo had asked Makoto to investigate something at Mizuhara Noriko's house, but to be honest, Makoto didn't really want to.She didn't know what expression to make before meeting a parent who had lost their daughter, and she didn't think they would accept a sudden visit.However, when she called, Yasue had immediately agreed.Though Makoto had explained that she was gathering material for an article on suicide, but that wasn't true. Makoto found it hard to breathe with the guilt of lying pressing down upon her.That said, she had already talked to her. She had to go through with it.'First, would you allow me to burn incense?' asked Makoto, which made Yasue smile faintly as she nodded.Makoto went inside the Yasue household and was brought to a Japanese-style room in the back.There was a small altar there with the photo of a smiling woman.Mizuhara Noriko She was a very beautiful woman, but now that Makoto looked at the photo again, there was a certain fleetingness there.Makoto placed a lit incense stick and put her hands together in front of the photo.Why had she chosen to die when she was so young? That question bothered Makoto.Makoto's student life had not been fun. There had been more bad things than good.Still, with the support of many people, starting with Onda, she had managed to come here.Had Mizuhara Noriko not had these people? When Makoto pondered that, she felt very sad.'Sometimes, students in her grade come as well,' Yasue said.'Is that so?' asked Makoto, turning in Yasue's direction.'Yes, students from the same circle.''Would you happen to know their names?''Unfortunately, I don't know, but there are a few. It makes me very happy that they haven't forgotten her.'Yasue's words were accompanied with wet eyes.'Is that so'That was probably why Yasue had so quickly agreed to Makoto's request.She was afraid that her daughter would be forgotten, so she wanted people to remember, no matter in what form and so she had accepted.'Noriko was a very kind girl, but she was shy and didn't like expressing her opinion.'Yasue began to speak.'Before she committed suicide, I knew that something was strange. But my daughter always bore with things on her own And I had been thinking too lightly that she was an adult already. I never thought that she had been so troubled that she wanted to die'Tears began to fall from Yasue's eyes. She didn't wipe the tears. She just looked at the photo on the altar. That made Makoto's hurt even more.'Do you know what Noriko-san was troubled about?'Even though Makoto knew it was a cruel question, like salt in somebody's wounds, she asked it.Yasue looked down and shook her head.That was the same response as Katou, the circle president.Though Noriko had definitely been troubled, it remained unknown what she had been troubled about. What cornered her so?It bothered Makoto, but she didn't think that finding out would solve the case.However, Yakumo felt something from her suicide. He probably saw something different than Makoto and the others.'Um If you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate it if you allowed me to look at Noriko's things' asked Makoto, watching Yasue's reaction.That was the biggest reason Makoto had come. Yakumo seemed to think that the key to unravelling this case lay in Noriko's belongings.'Please go ahead. Her room has been left as is.'Yasue slowly stood up and took Makoto to the door right beside the top of the stairs to the second floor.The room was about six tatami in size with wooden flooring. On one side of the room, there was a bookshelf. There was a desk along the wall with the window and a bed in the back.It was a clean and well organised room, but it didn't feel much like the room of a girl.'Would you mind if I went inside?' asked Makoto.'Please go ahead,' Yasue replied in a hoarse voice.The moment Makoto entered, she felt it hard to breathe. Perhaps she felt Noriko was closer by touching the remnants of her life.There was a laptop on top of the desk.'May I look at this?'After Yasue gave her permission, Makoto turned on the computer. The login screen appeared. It needed a password.She wouldn't be able to look inside this way.She thought about asking Yasue, but it was likely she didn't known. Just as she had half-given up, a word suddenly came to Makoto's head.Perhaps she typed in CLOCKTOWER.It wasn't just the name of the magazine that Noriko's circle put out. It was also where they did their circle activities.It was also the place she had jumped from to commit suicide.It looked like Makoto's guess was correct, as the computer showed the desktop screen.She probably must have loved writing. There were many files that looked like they might have been drafts. This is!Makoto was stunned when her eyes fell on one of those files.-9-Gotou stopped his car near the intersection.This was where the prank with the red paint near the traffic light had been yesterday. Ishii claimed to have seen a ghost here.Yakumo had told them to come here. Gotou didn't know why they'd had to.It didn't seem to have anything to do with this case, at least.'We're here. So what are you going to do?' asked Gotou.Yakumo got off the car silently. This guy.Gotou wished that Yakumo would try being in his shoes for a change, just being told to do things without any explanation at all.While grumbling internally, Gotou got off the car.Ishii did the same from the passenger side.Yakumo was crouching in front of the traffic light, which still had paint on it.It was like he was looking for something.'What're you doing?' asked Gotou.Yakumo slowly stood up. He opened his mouth to speak, but then his mobile rang.After Yakumo answered, he moved slightly away and started talking. What bad timing.'I wonder what Yakumo-shi is thinking,' said Ishii as he pushed up his silver-framed glasses.'Who knows?'Gotou wanted to know too.It was always like this, but Gotou had no idea about the case. He wasn't sure doing this would really solve the case.But just like every other time, Yakumo took things that seemed completely unrelated and tied them together to carve out the truth.That was why 'It'll work out somehow.'After saying that, Gotou took a cigarette out of his pocket.'It's illegal to smoke on the road. Are you really a police officer?'Yakumo had finished his phone call. His tone was incredibly disagreeable.'Shut up. I know that I'm just biting it.''Really now.''And you''Could you be quiet?' Yakumo said curtly.Yakumo had been the one who'd started talking on that topic in the first place. It made Gotou angry, but it was pointless when facing Yakumo.Gotou sighed and put the cigarette in his pocket.Yakumo waited for the light to turn green and started walking across the intersection.'Something there?' Gotou asked, but there was no response.Yakumo crouched in the middle of the intersection and stroked the asphalt there. Then, he looked at the traffic light with the paint on it.As he was doing that, the light turned from green to yellow.Maybe Yakumo hadn't noticed, because he didn't budge.'The light changed!'Even after Gotou yelled, Yakumo didn't move.'Has he not noticed?' Ishii said anxiously.That was likely. When Yakumo focussed on something, he lost sight of everything else.'Oi! Yakumo!'When Gotou yelled once more, the light turned red.The opposite traffic light turned green.Fortunately, there were no cars at the intersection, but Gotou saw a bus coming.'What are you doing!? A bus is coming!' screamed Gotou.Yakumo finally stood up and looked at the sky.The bus drew closer.'Oi! Hurry and cross the road!'As Gotou yelled, there was a gust of wind.The sand that was blown up got in Gotou's eyes and blocked his vision.'Yakumo! What are you doing!?' Gotou yelled frantically even as he rubbed his eyes.He somehow managed to get the sand out of his eyes. When he looked at the intersection, the bus had passed. Where's Yakumo?Gotou spotted Yakumo on the opposite side of the road. It looked like he was OK.'That was dangerous!' bellowed Gotou, but Yakumo just casually, almost mockingly, walked back across the road.The smile on his face was almost bewitching.'Gotou-san, I have a request,' Yakumo said calmly.'What?''Please bring every related party to the scene of the crime.''You can't mean''Yes. I've solved every mystery of this case 'As Yakumo said that, his voice was brimming with confidence.-10-'Nishizawa-san.'Nishizawa stopped walking when somebody called out to him.He was about to go home, heading for the bus stop.When he turned around, he saw a young man there. It was the man who had come to ask about Kanae's incident yesterday.'You''My name is Saitou Yakumo. We met yesterday, yes?'The young man who called himself Yakumo smiled, but the smile was clearly fake.What do you want?' asked Nishizawa.Yakumo nodded. 'I just wanted to ask one thing.''What?''Nishizawa-san, you definitely saw a ghost in the clock tower, correct?'Nishizawa didn't know why Yakumo wanted to know.'I just saw something like it'Kanae had believed in the clock tower rumour and had thought that Nishizawa had been acting strange, but she had been mistaken. Nishizawa was the same as he had been before he'd seen the ghost. He was completely normal.'You saw it, didn't you?'Yakumo's eyes narrowed.Nishizawa had thought this the first time he'd seen this guy, but he had scary eyes. It felt like they could see to the bottom of your heart.'Why do you care?' asked Nishizawa.Yakumo smiled slightly.'According to the rumour, you can reunite with the dead. The word reunite suggests somebody you know.''Well, yeah.''However, you didn't see the ghost clearly.''I didn't.''I see. That's fine. Thank you very much.'Yakumo said just that and turned on his heels to leave, but he seemed to remember something as he stopped in his tracks.With the dark of night falling, his figure seemed to let out a strange, almost murderous atmosphere.'Right, one more thing.'After a silence, Yakumo spoke, his back still facing Nishizawa.'What?''You said that somebody else killed Kanae-san, right?''I did.'Nishizawa had said something like that.'At that time, though you didn't say it, you thought that the person who killed Kanae-san was Sakurai-san am I wrong?'Nishizawa jolted at Yakumo's words.That was exactly what he had been thinking. No matter the result, Nishizawa was certain that Sakurai had been the one who cornered Kanae to her death.However, he didn't say that aloud.He was thinking about how to explain, but it would just sound like an excuse.'I won't say anything''I see. Actually, I came to the same conclusion. That Sakurai-san had something to do with Kanae-san's death,' Yakumo said calmly.'What?''I can't see the reason now, but I think it's the same as it was with Mizuhara Noriko-san.''So Noriko didn't commit suicide?''That's what I think,' Yakumo said firmly.'Why do you think that?'Nishizawa's heart was racing and it was hard to breathe, but he still asked.Finally, Yakumo turned around.His face was as expressionless as a Noh mask, so Nishizawa had no idea what he was thinking. However, it felt frightening.'I can't say right now. Just one thing 'There, Yakumo stopped.Nishizawa was caught in the glitter of Yakumo's narrowed eyes. He forgot to breathe.'The Ghost of the clock Tower that Sakurai-san wrote is without a doubt plagiarised 'After saying just that, Yakumo slowly walked away.Nishizawa couldn't move for a while, just watching Yakumo leave.Why had he suddenly said that? Nishizawa had no idea. However, it seemed he had come to the same conclusion as Nishizawa had.-11-Shinoda and Onodera took Haruka down the precinct corridor.The weight of the handcuffs felt like it would chain her down.She had only been told that they would investigate the scene of the crime no other details. Why did this happen?It was a bit late for her to think about that.Even though her friend Kanae had died, she couldn't even be sad about it she had been interrogated as the suspect in her murder case.To be honest, nothing had seemed real since the incident had occurred. She felt hollow.While she was thinking that, they passed through the back exit and left the precinct.There was a blue prisoner transport vehicle with a white line across it, like the ones often seen in movies1.The door opened and she was old to go in.She had never imagined that she would ride one of those.With heavy feet, she stepped into the vehicle.The seats faced each other, like they did in a train car. Two men were already sitting there. Did they commit some sort of crime?'Eh?'The moment Haruka saw the two men's faces, she spoke up without thinking.The two of them were people Haruka knew well.'Gotou-san! And Ishii-san too!'Gotou and Ishii were sitting there.'Haruka-chan! I'm so glad you're OK. I thought that something might happen' said Ishii in a tearful voice as Haruka ran up to them.'What on earth'Haruka looked at Gotou in confusion.Since Gotou and Ishii knew Haruka, they should have been left out of the investigation.'You didn't hear? We're going to investigate.''I did hear that, but''Sorry, could you sit down?'Shinoda came in after her and spoke in a displeased voice.Haruka sat next to Gotou, and Ishii sat on the other side of Gotou. Shinoda and Onodera sat opposite them, and the prisoner transport vehicle began to move.'Um What's happening?'After the vehicle had been driving for a while, Haruka asked Gotou this question.'I asked Miyagawa-san to pull a string or two and got him to let us investigate the scene,' said Gotou with a shrug.'A string or two? It was a completely absurd request!' shouted Shinoda.'What? You still talking?' rebutted Gotou.'Say what you want. If anything happens, it's all your responsibility.''I know that. I'll resign if I have to!''I don't think your resignation would be enough,' said Shinoda with a click of his tongue.Though Haruka didn't know the details, Gotou and Ishii must have done a lot to get Haruka out.She was happy they had done so much for her, but she also felt apologetic.She wouldn't be able to apologise enough if Gotou and Ishii had to undergo some punishment because of her.'Don't you ever shut up!?''What!?'Shinoda and Gotou were both standing, while Ishii and Onodera frantically tried to calm them.Meanwhile, the vehicle drove into Meisei University.The scenery Haruka was so accustomed to seemed a bit different from usual. Perhaps it was because she was looking at them through metal bars.Finally, the vehicle stopped and the door opened.Gotou led them out of the vehicle. When Haruka stepped out, she saw somebody in the darkness. Could it be 'Yakumo is the one investigating today,' Gotou whispered in Haruka's ear. The meaning of those words warmed her heart.The figure slowly walked towards them.His face became clear, floating up from the darkness.Pale skin. Handsome features. Messy hair. And those languid eyes it was Yakumo, no doubt about it.'Yakumo-kun'The moment Haruka said that, she couldn't hold in her tears any more.She wanted to rush over and hug him, but she couldn't.Her handcuffs were in the way. Both her movements and her heart were bound.'I really made you wait'Yakumo awkwardly scratched the tip of his nose.Haruka wipes away her tears and shook her head. It didn't matter how long it took. She was just happy that he'd come.No, she had been sure he would come eventually.That was why she had been able to bear with the painful and suffocating reality.'I believed in you'The words came out of her mouth unconsciously.Yakumo smiled slightly and placed a hand on Haruka's head.'I know.'It felt like those two words had saved Haruka's heart. Even though everything wasn't over yet, she felt a sense of safety spreading within her.'Let's go then 'After saying that, Yakumo turned on his heels and started to walk.As Haruka followed, her feet didn't feel heavy any more. With Yakumo, she felt like she could walk forward, no matter the outcome.Perhaps that was what you called belief.-12-'Oi! Why's this brat here!?' Shinoda yelled at Gotou.Gotou had somehow got Shinoda to accept allowing Haruka to come along to the investigation, but Gotou hadn't mentioned Yakumo.He had known that Shinoda would make a fuss if he did.'Well, something like a helper,' said Gotou.Shinoda's expression became more suspicious.'What are you planning?''Nothing. We need him to solve the case.''Stop screwing around!'Though Shinoda was ready to fight, Gotou didn't feel like responding.Shinoda was worked up, but it was clear he had started to doubt some of the particulars of this case too.That was why he had agreed to Gotou's request, though he did have Miyagawa as support. It would normally be impossible to have an investigation with so few people.'I'm not. I'm always serious. That guy's absolutely necessary to solving the case.''Police relying on civilians It's over,' spat out Shinoda.'What are you saying? Police investigations always start with us relying on civilians.'In order to solve a case, they needed to get information from civilians. That was why they wore away the soles of their shoes questioning people on the streets.'You're just quibbling!'Shinoda was right. It was quibbling. But still 'You have to understand too. There's definitely another side to this case. Don't you want to know what really happened?' asked Gotou.Shinoda stopped talking.There was doubt on his face.Gotou hadn't expected this, but perhaps Shinoda was rather like him. The proof was that he didn't stop Yakumo and Haruka from walking on.'What are you going to do? You don't have to come if you don't want to,' Gotou said. Then, he ran after Yakumo.Yakumo had been looking at his mobile screen for the past little while.'Wait!'Gotou turned around and saw Shinoda following.Onodera had stayed in the prisoner transport vehicle. It looked like Shinoda had chosen to come alone.'What? You coming?''It'll be a mess if you let the suspect get away.''Like I'd do that.''I'm coming because I think you would!''Could you be a bit quieter?' asked Yakumo, giving them a scornful glance as he stood in front of the clock tower.'What?'Even though Gotou had been trying to get Shinoda to accept Yakumo, Yakumo was mocking him.'Our guests are already in the clock tower. It'll be the end if they notice.'Yakumo pointed at the clock tower as he said that. Guests?'What are you talking about?''I don't like using this sort of method, but we have no time. I may have shaken them up.''Shaken up?''The rest is your job, Gotou-san. Please hurry up the clock tower.'Yakumo pointed with his chin to tell Gotou to go ahead.Gotou didn't understand, but Yakumo was saying this sort of thing, something was definitely going to happen.He looked at the clock tower again.The clock tower, looming in the darkness, let out a strange atmosphere. It felt like it was a huge monster.'Ishii!' Gotou yelled. Ishii ran over.He fell 'What are you doing?''S-sorry.'Ishii hurriedly stood and ran up to Gotou's side.He looked a bit depressed. Maybe he was depressed about going into a clock tower rumoured to have ghosts, or Anyway, he didn't have the time to think now.'Let's go!'Gotou ran towards the clock tower.He tried to open the gate, but it was locked. Right. He went to the back entrance.When he reached the backdoor, he looked at Ishii to tell him to open it.However, Ishii just furrowed his brows and smiled nervously.'This isn't the time to be afraid!''B-but' pleaded Ishii with wet eyes.He couldn't be a detective if he was such a coward. Gotou thought about dropping a fist on Ishii's head, but then he heard a scream.Then, there was the sound of fighting 'Let's go!'Gotou opened the door as quickly as he could and ran in.'W-what are you doing!?''You! It's your fault!'Gotou could hear shouting. It was from the room at the top.Then, there was the sound of something falling.Gotou didn't know why, but it seemed there were already people in the clock tower, just as Yakumo had said.Gotou wanted to run up right away, but it was too dark to see the stairs.Just as he made a click with his tongue, Ishii came with his torch. Gotou grabbed it, turned it on, and rushed up the stairs.Something was definitely happening on the top floor. Though Gotou was heaving and his thigh muscles felt like they might cramp, he ran up.When he finally reached the top floor, he saw something he did not expect with the light of the torch.A tall and thin man was collapsed on the floor. He had seen the man before. If he remembered correctly, he was the student named Nishizawa that he had talked to with Yakumo.The other person was small-framed and had a round face. He was holding something like a knife and was about to bring it down on Nishizawa's head.'What are you doing!?' shouted Gotou.The man holding the knife froze.He appeared shocked by the unexpected visitor.Gotou used this chance to tackle the man with the knife and force him to the ground.'Let go! It's not me!' shouted the man as he waved the knife madly.It looked like he was in a panic.'Calm down!'Gotou straddled the man, grabbed his arms and forced him down.'Urgh!'The knife slipped from the man's hand.Gotou quickly turned the man around, pulled his hands together and cuffed him.The man finally stopped wriggling.'You're wrong I just''I'll listen to you later,' said Gotou, forcing the man to stand up.He turned to see Ishii rushing towards Nishizawa and asking, 'Are you all right?'He looked injured all over, but he responded to Ishii, so it didn't look serious.Just as Gotou sighed, the naked lightbulb hanging from the clock tower ceiling turned on.He had to blink a few times because it was so bright.Just as Gotou's eyes grew accustomed to the light, Yakumo came up the stairs and into the room.Yakumo didn't look surprised at the situation. It was as if he had expected this.'So it really was you two,' Yakumo murmured, putting his index finger to his brow -13-'What on earth happened?' Ishii asked Yakumo, who had calmly arrived.Now that Ishii thought about it, Yakumo had told them what would happen before coming here, but Ishii didn't understand any of this.Yakumo gave Ishii a faint smile and slowly stepped into the centre of the room.Just as he opened his mouth, Shinoda arrived with Haruka. He was shocked by the scene.'What is this!?' shouted Shinoda, his forehead damp with sweat.'Your voice is loud, just like a bear I know,' said Yakumo, running a hand through his hair.'What?' retorted Shinoda, who didn't seem to like Yakumo's rude attitude. However, Yakumo didn't care.'Before I explain, I should introduce everyone. There are probably some people who are meeting for the first time here 'As Yakumo said that, he walked up to the man Gotou had arrested.'This is Sakurai Itsuki. He is a fourth-year student at this university and is a member of the literature circle. He wrote a book called The Ghost of the Clock Tower, received a newcomer's prize and debuted ''This person' said Ishii as he heard Yakumo's explanation.This person is the one who claims a ghost living in the clock tower made him write a novel Now he had a face to match the information, but another question came to him.'Why was Sakurai-san' Waving a knife around?If Gotou hadn't stopped Sakurai, the young man standing next to Ishii might have been stabbed to death.'I will explain later,' Yakumo said. He walked up to the young man beside Ishii.He was tall and abnormally thin young man with a gloomy air to him. He was pale, but Ishii couldn't tell if that was from fear after almost dying or if he was always like that.'This is Nishizawa Yasunobu-san. He is also a member of the literature circle. He also experienced a spiritual phenomenon in this clock tower.''Eh?' said Ishii in surprise.He had heard about Nishizawa from Yakumo. This was the person who might have been possessed by a ghost. When Ishii thought about that, Nishizawa seemed creepy, so Ishii took half a step away.'You introducing us so we can have a party?' interjected Shinoda.Shinoda didn't know how Yakumo unravelled cases, so it made sense for him to be confused. He probably couldn't even accept how Yakumo, a university student, was leading the investigation.'Just shut up for a bit.'Gotou sent Shinoda a sharp glance.However, there was no way Shinoda could accept that.'Like I could! I don't even know who this brat is!' said Shinoda, pointing at Yakumo.However, Yakumo didn't pay Shinoda any attention. He looked at the stairs.'Perfect timing. It seems the audience has arrived 'As Yakumo said that, a man and woman came up the stairs.One was somebody Ishii knew well Makoto. The other was a man he didn't know. He had manly features and was probably in his early forties.'This is Hijikata Makoto-san, from Hokutou Newspaper.'Yakumo introduced them as they came into the room. Makoto looked confused at the sudden introduction, but she quickly greeted them.'Why's a journalist here? Isn't this an investigation?' Shinoda questioned Gotou.It made sense for him to feel that way. If a journalist was at an investigation, they might leak information.'It isn't an investigation 'The one who spoke was Yakumo.'What?'Shinoda looked at Yakumo suspiciously.'I am trying to reveal the truth.'Yakumo returned Shinoda's gaze.The sparks in the air even reached Ishii.'You're just a student what are you saying?'Shinoda walked up to Shinoda, but Yakumo didn't budge.'I understand your dissatisfaction, but wouldn't you keep silent for a bit? It's fine. I won't cause you any trouble. That bear will take responsibility if anything happens 'Yakumo looked at Gotou.'Yeah, I'll take all the responsibility and everything else too.'Though Gotou spoke casually, it was with pride.Shinoda shut up and crossed his arms when faced with that confident demeanour. He had probably chosen to be quiet and watch for a while.Gotou and Yakumo looked at each other and nodded.Though they didn't speak, it felt like there was an absolute trust between them.Would Ishii ever be able to believe in somebody like that? Would anyone ever believe in him like that?Ishii wallowed in those thoughts.No, he would stop thinking for now. Ishii looked towards Yakumo. As if Yakumo had been waiting for that, he took one step forward.'I was in the middle of introductions. This man is an associate professor at Meisei University as well as the faculty member in charge of the literature circle, Onda Shuusuke 'Yakumo introduced the man who had come with Makoto.The man named Onda looked around the room and sighed.'Sorry, but what is this? I don't understand,' said Onda, looking suspicious.To be honest, Ishii felt the same way as Onda. HE had suddenly seen Sakurai waving a knife and Nishizawa under attack.He had no idea what was happening.'Before I explain the situation, let us put facts in order 'After Yakumo said that, he slowly looked at the faces of everyone in the room. His speech, movements and pauses felt dramatic.However, that was probably on purpose.By doing that, Yakumo took the role of the leader into his own hands.'It began when Koike Kanae-san came to consult me, through her, about a certain spiritual phenomenon.'Yakumo looked at Haruka.Haruka looked down slightly. She was probably sad about Kanae's death.'Kanae-san, along with Nishizawa-san, went to the clock tower, and Nishizawa-san saw a ghost''Are you telling horror stories?' Shinoda interrupted.'If you don't shut up and listen, I'll kick you out,' threatened Gotou.'Well, aren't you confident.''That's how prepared I am.'It felt like they would fight, but unexpectedly, Shinoda gave in and said, 'Go on.'Perhaps he had been swallowed by the unusual atmosphere Yakumo had brought about.'Kanae-san was worried that Nishizawa-san was acting strange ever since he saw the ghost.'Next, Yakumo looked at Nishizawa, who stood beside Ishii.'I'm not strange at all,' Nishizawa objected immediately.Yakumo shook his head.'Your opinion doesn't matter right now. I am only saying what Kanae-san thought.'Nishizawa couldn't respond to that.This time, Yakumo walked towards Sakurai, whom Gotou was holding on to.'Sakurai-san debuted as an author, but in an interview, he said that he hadn't written the work that the ghost in the clock tower had made him.'Sakurai just looked down without saying anything.A drop of sweat fell from the tip of his chin.'There was a rumour about this clock tower 'As Yakumo said that, he pointed at the mirror in the back of the room.Everyone's gazes focussed on the dirty mirror.'That mirror is connected to the underworld that is, the world of the dead and can let you reunite with the dead.'Ishii gulped and held his breath as he listened to Yakumo's explanation.It was the first time he had come here.The rumoured mirror was dirty with dust, but still, it had such an uncanny air that it made you think the rumour might be true.'What about it?' asked Shinoda, stepping forward.'And then one night, an incident occurred.'This time, Yakumo slowly turned to look at Haruka.Though it was a sharp gaze, Haruka looked straight back.There was no hesitation or doubt. They were eyes of pure, mutual trust. When Ishii saw that, for some reason, his heart hurt -14-Haruka faced Yakumo's direct gaze She didn't know what would come out of Yakumo's mouth. Perhaps it would be a very unpleasant truth for her.But If it was an answer Yakumo led her to, she was prepared to accept it.'First, there is something I must clarify 'Yakumo stopped.A heavy silence fell upon the room. Haruka and everyone else were waiting for Yakumo's next words, forced to do so by the strange air Yakumo had to him now.After a long silence, Yakumo smiled slightly.'She did not kill Kanae-san 'Yakumo's voice clearly rang through the room. It wasn't me.Haruka felt the strength leave her limbs and just barely managed to avoid sitting on the floor.Gotou and Ishii also smiled in relief, but Shinoda, standing next to Haruka, did not react that way.'What proof do you have? She confessed!' shouted Shinoda.Haruka didn't remember it herself, but Shinoda had said countless times during interrogation that she had acknowledged the murder.Yakumo's expression didn't change. He walked straight towards Shinoda.'She wasn't the one who confessed,' Yakumo said in a flat tone.'What are you saying? I heard her acknowledge the crime.''Is that really true?''What are you saying?''Did she say I killed her? Or did she say something abstract like It was my fault?' pressed Yakumo.'It might've been abstract, but it still means she killed her.'Shinoda's objection had no power to it.'When did police start using such broad interpretations?''Wha''You were so eager to rush the case to its solution that you accepted her vague words as a confession or am I wrong?'Under Yakumo's sharp gaze, Shinoda took a step back. However, the wall blocked his way.'So that's what it was' said Gotou, his expression bitter.'Anybody would think that in that situation. And there was a witness,' objected Shinoda, but there was no strength in his voice.'That's not the problem!'Gotou was about to yell more, but Yakumo stopped him.'Please calm down. Is that even something you said?' asked Yakumo with a faint smile.Haruka nodded. 'I don't remember saying that.''Are you saying this guy falsified the testimony?' shouted Gotou. This time, Ishii stopped him.'Don't screw with me! Of course I wouldn't do that! Don't just run your mouth off!''Exactly. Shinoda-san did not falsify any testimony.'Yakumo's words made everyone go, 'Eh?''What do you mean?' Gotou asked, looking at Yakumo.Yakumo ran a hand through his messy hair, looking annoyed.'The person who testified was Koike Kanae-san, who had passed away 'Yakumo's words made the room fall quiet.'Kanae' said Haruka in a tight voice.Yakumo nodded.'She possessed you, and she is still possessing you now ''Kanae'Even after Yakumo told her the truth, Haruka wasn't that surprised. That was because she had felt Kanae's presence this whole time.She couldn't explain it, but she felt like she was watching from close by.That would also explain why her memories were vague during the incident and the interrogation.When Yakumo came to the interrogation room, he had asked a number of strange questions. Now that Haruka thought about it, those questions had not been for Haruka but for Kanae, who was possessing her.'In short, her words Kanae's words, when she said she was at fault, were spoken to you, for involving you in this case.''I'Even though Kanae had been killed, she was still so concerned about others that was just like Kanae. Haruka suddenly felt once more the reality of Kanae's death. Her chest hurt, like it had been wrenched open.'Don't be stupid' muttered Shinoda.Haruka, Gotou, Ishii and Makoto all understood Yakumo's unique ability and so could believe his words, but it wasn't the same for other people.'Ah, yes, I haven't explained 'After Yakumo said that, he looked down slightly, took the contact lens out of his left eye and looked up.His deep red left eye made everyone hold their breath Though Haruka thought it was beautiful, not everyone felt the same way. Actually, more people thought it strange.People could be terribly cruel towards people who were different.'W-what's wrong with your ear'Shinoda was the first to speak. Though it was faint, his voice was shaking.'My left eye isn't just red. It can see things others can't ''Things others can't?'Shinoda's brow furrowed.'Yes. It can see the spirits of the dead that is, ghosts.''W-what''He's telling the truth. I couldn't believe it at first either, but I had to after going along with him,' said Gotou.'Of course it's not true. Don't be ridiculous.'Shinoda shook his head.It probably wasn't easy to accept a fact that went against your common sense.'I don't care if you don't believe me,' declared Yakumo.'What?''Since I can still prove her innocence 'The moment Yakumo said that, a bewitching smile appeared on his lips -15-Gotou finally understood after hearing Yakumo's explanation.When Haruka spoke during investigation, it hadn't been a confession to murder. It had been a message from the dead Kanae.Then, Shinoda and Onodera had taken those vague words as a confession.Gotou couldn't just blame Shinoda and Onodera. Haruka's fingerprints were on the weapon. There was an eyewitness testimony.That had prejudiced them and clouded their judgement. There may have also been some prejudice towards Gotou from Shinoda.However, the problem came after.Japanese police and law did not accept testimony from ghosts. Just as Yakumo had said earlier, he would have to prove Haruka's innocence without ghosts.Yakumo slowly walked towards Ishii, murmured something and then walked to Sakurai.'First, from you 'Sakurai's face twitched under Yakumo's gaze.Was it fear of the red left eye or something else?'You may be the only person speaking the truth this time,' Yakumo said quietly.'What do you mean?' Gotou asked.Yakumo looked at Makoto.'Makoto-san, he said that he was made to write The Ghost in the Clock Tower by the ghost there, correct?''Yes, he did,' Makoto said clearly.The associate professor named Onda next to her looked discomfited.'Just as I said earlier, Sakurai-san's words were correct.'Yakumo looked towards Sakurai again.'T-then he was possessed by a ghost and wrote the manuscript?' asked Ishii.'He wasn't possessed. To be correct, he stole the work of somebody who had died. Am I correct, Sakurai-san?'Yakumo moved closer to Sakurai.'W-wha That's' said Sakurai, his voice shaking. He tried to take a step back, but Gotou stood in his way.He wouldn't let him get away.'Why hide it? You didn't plan to hide it in the first place, did you?'Sakurai looked down. His small frame was shaking, though it was slight.'Was there really plagiarised?'The person who had spoken was Onda, who had been silent up until now.Yakumo looked at Onda. His eyes narrowed slightly.'Be honest, professor you noticed, didn't you?''What are you saying?' Onda asked.'I read the magazines published by the literature circle. Sakurai-san's works in the magazines are clearly different in writing style.''I did think so but couldn't that just mean he improved?' Onda replied coolly.'Are you seriously saying that?''What do you mean?''It wasn't at a level that improvement could explain away. Something was different at its core.''Perhaps but people change. Sometimes mental growth plays a huge influence on a work. There have been many an author like that.'Though Gotou didn't know much about literature, Onda's explanation made sense.It wasn't that he didn't believe Yakumo, but he felt it was a bit hasty to say something was a stolen work just because the writing style was different.'Well, what you say does make sense, professor.'Yakumo smiled dryly and looked down.For a moment, Gotou was worried that Yakumo's plan had been ruined by Onda's rebuttal, but he immediately shook that anxiety away.Yakumo lifted his head again.'That isn't the only reason I am saying this. That was only the cause for my suspicion.'The way Yakumo spoke suggested 'You saying you have proof?' Gotou asked.'Yes,' responded Yakumo. He looked at Makoto.'Makoto-san, please tell everyone 'Though Makoto looked surprised, she nodded immediately afterwards.'Actually, I went to Mizuhara-san's house. I found the original data for The Ghost in the Clock Tower on her laptop. She died three years ago. It must have been written at least before then.'As Makoto explained, her voice was shaking slightly. She probably had complex feelings about either the dead Mizuhara Noriko or her family.'In short, the real author of The Ghost in the Clock Tower is not Sakurai-san but Mizuhara Noriko-san 'After Yakumo declared that, Sakurai fell to his knees.Even if he didn't speak, his response proved that it was true.'So you really did'Those words, close to a growl, came from Nishizawa. He glared at Sakurai.Nishizawa had probably noticed earlier that the work wasn't Sakurai's but Mizuhara Noriko's.'When Sakurai-san laid his hands on Mizuhara Noriko-san's draft, he revised it and entered it for a publishing company's newcomer's award. It won and was published. Probably Sakurai-san himself was the most surprised,' Yakumo said to Sakurai, who was kneeling.'Why?'Gotou understood Yakumo's explanation, but he didn't understand the ending. Why was Sakurai the most surprised?He submitted the work for a newcomer's prize by a publishing company. He must have felt vain and guilty in the spotlight.'So that really was Noriko's'A low growl, like that of a beast, interrupted Gotou's question.It was Nishizawa Nishizawa was crying.His red eyes, wet with tears, were staring straight at Sakurai.'You wanted that work, so you killed Noriko You took Noriko from me'Nishizawa's voice was twisted.Anger and hatred were mixed together there was killing intent there. His eyes were insane. This is bad!It was too late.Nishizawa grabbed the metal pole propped up against the wall and went to attack Sakurai.Gotou managed to stop the attack with his arm, but a shocking pain made him stumble.'Don't get in my way! I'm going to get revenge!'Nishizawa waved the metal pole around.He looked mad, as if something had possessed him Just as he brought the metal pole down, Ishii jumped out and clung to Nishizawa's waist.'Let go!'Nishizawa shook Ishii off.Ishii, who had been flung to the side, rolled across the floor and knocked Haruka to the ground.Nishizawa went towards Sakurai again.'Urgh!' It's all over.The moment Gotou thought that, Nishizawa suddenly collapsed sideways. What?Then, Gotou saw Shinoda. He had Nishizawa on the floor, handcuffed.'I can't believe you saved me' Gotou said wryly.Shinoda looked like he had eaten something sour.'I'll regret it for the rest of my life.''Shut up!' said Gotou with a click of his tongue, somehow managing to stand up.-16-Ishii, on all fours, lifted his head and saw Shinoda holding Nishizawa down.Gotou looked all right as well.Just as Ishii sighed in relief, he saw Haruka sitting while holding her leg.When Nishizawa pushed Ishii away, Ishii had hit Haruka and they had both fallen.It looked like he had accidentally hurt her.'A-are you all right?' Ishii said, rushing towards Haruka.'Yes, it's just a sprain'Though Haruka responded with a smile, her forehead was damp with sweat. It had to hurt quite a lot. What am I doing?Ishii was ashamed of himself.He hadn't been able to save Gotou, and he had hurt Haruka too, but the problem was something earlier.Before Yakumo had begun talking about plagiarism, he had walked up to Ishii and warned him. 'Please don't let your eyes off Nishizawa-san.'Even though Yakumo had warned him so this wouldn't happen, not only had Ishii not been able to do anything, he had made the situation worse.As Ishii was wallowing in his frustration, Yakumo walked up to him.Though Ishii expected a reprimand, Yakumo walked past Ishii towards Haruka.'Does it hurt?'When Yakumo asked that, Haruka replied, 'Yeah, it hurts a lot,' looking like she might start crying.It was a shock.He wasn't somebody whom Haruka could express her weakness to.'Sit there.'After Yakumo told Haruka that, he moved to stand in front of Ishii.Ishii felt like Yakumo's gaze was somewhat cold.'I apologise. I should have restrained him before this happened. I may have shaken him too much,' Yakumo said quietly.He had nothing to apologise for. It was Ishii's fault for not being able to do anything.'No, I'Yakumo turned around, cutting Ishii's apology short. Then, he walked towards Nishizawa.Nishizawa's face was filled with bitterness.'Oi! Yakumo! What the hell is happening?' shouted Gotou as he held his injured arm.'Exactly what you see before you.'Yakumo ran a hand through his hair, looking incredibly annoyed.'I don't get it.''Yeah, what's happening?' said Shinoda, joining in.Yakumo sighed and slowly opened his mouth.'When Gotou-san and Ishii-san came into this room, Sakurai-san was threatening Nishizawa-san with a knife. Am I correct?'It had been exactly as Yakumo said.'Sakurai-san was trying to kill Nishizawa-san.'Though Ishii didn't know the details of the situation, it had certainly looked that way to him. Then, the situation had reversed. Ishii didn't understand why.'It was the opposite,' Yakumo said smoothly.That moment, Nishizawa started to grind his teeth.'Opposite? What do you mean?' pressed Gotou.'I mean exactly what I said. Nishizawa-san called Sakurai-san here to try to kill him.''But'Ishii was unable to stop himself from interrupting, but Yakumo stopped him by raising a hand.'Nishizawa-san assaulted Sakurai-san here, but Sakurai-san fought back and turned the situation around. That was when Gotou-san and Ishii-san came in.''What!?'Ishii's eyes went wide in shock.'It is just as he says. I was assaulted by Nishizawa, so I had to And then you came in,' said Sakurai pleadingly.It didn't sound like he was trying to make an excuse. Ishii felt that they were words cornered by the truth.'Shut up! You murderer! You're to blame for everything!' screamed Nishizawa, his teeth showing as he tried to wrench himself forward.Spit was flying out of his mouth and his eyes were bloodshot. Ishii faltered in front of that monstrous face.However, Yakumo did not. He slowly crouched in front of Nishizawa and looked at his face.'And that is how you forgot your own crime and put all the blame on someone else. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this entire incident is your fault 'Yakumo's words brimmed with loathing.Nishizawa bit his lip and fell quiet under the pressure.'Explain properly,' Gotou said impatiently.Yakumo stood up again. He looked at everyone in the room and then began to speak quietly.'Nishizawa-san was in a relationship with Mizuhara Noriko-san. However, Noriko-san committed suicide by jumping ''No! That wasn't a suicide! Sakurai killed her!' shouted Nishizawa, his face red. There was a fierce anger there.'No, that was definitely a suicide,' objected Shinoda as he pressed Nishizawa down.Shinoda had been in charge of Mizuhara Noriko's investigation. If the verdict was changed, it would be a huge mess.'Shinoda-san, you remember him, don't you?'Yakumo looked at Nishizawa.Shinoda seemed confused, but he looked at Nishizawa's face once more. Then, his eyes went wide in recognition.'Yes, this is Nishizawa-san, the student who had made a fuss three years ago saying that Mizuhara Noriko-san's death wasn't a suicide.''That's right It was him'Shinoda looked like he had swallowed something bitter. So did Nishizawa.'It seems you had both forgotten. Well, let us put aside whether Mizuhara Noriko-san's death was a suicide or a murder for now,' said Yakumo.'Eh?' Isn't that important?Yakumo ignored Ishii and moved towards the mirror.'Whatever the facts are, Nishizawa-san thought that Sakurai-san had killed Mizuhara Noriko-san.''Why? Why did he think that?'Gotou immediately interrupted with a question.'The reason is the ghost of the clock tower, its meaning twofold.'Yakumo tapped his brow with his index finger.'Twofold?' asked Ishii.The corners of Yakumo's lips turned up in a smile.'Nishizawa-san always had suspicions about Mizuhara Noriko-san's suicide. He believed that she had been murdered and that the culprit was Sakurai-san.'Yakumo looked at Sakurai.'N-no, it's some mistake' Sakurai denied frantically, his face pale.Just as Ishii thought Yakumo might say something, he turned to Nishizawa.'Nishizawa-san had suspicions, but he had no proof. However, three years afterwards the present something caused his suspicion to multiply''The Ghost of the Clock Tower got the newcomer's award and was published 'Makoto continued after Yakumo.'Correct. The Ghost of the Clock Tower was written by Mizuhara Noriko-san. Nishizawa-san sensed that it was her work from the writing style and was convinced that Sakurai-san had killed her to steal her work.''No! That's not why I submitted the novel!''Shut up! You didn't just take away Noriko's life you took her writing too!'Sakurai's and Nishizawa's voices grew louder.It felt like the argument might keep growing, but Gotou and Shinoda made them be quiet.Yakumo nodded in satisfaction.'Then, something else caused Nishizawa-san's suspicions to cement ''What happened?' asked Ishii, his eyes clinging to Yakumo.Haruka, sitting nearby, was also holding her breath with her hand on her chest as she waited for Yakumo to speak.'One day, Nishizawa-san, who had heard the rumour about the clock tower, went there to confirm the rumour. There he saw a ghost.'Yakumo looked at Nishizawa.Nishizawa's eyes welled up with tears.'I met Noriko here''Eh!?' exclaimed Haruka in surprise.Nishizawa sniffled and started to speak in sobs.'Noriko said. She didn't commit suicide. Sakurai killed her Told me to get revenge and take back her workThat's why I'That was all he could say.Nishizawa fell to the ground and started sobbing aloud. Ishii listened, dumbfounded, to his crying, more like screaming than anything.-17-Haruka found it hard to breathe Everything coming out of Yakumo's mouth was a shocking truth. Since Haruka had been in custody this whole time, she couldn't even follow the conversation.The spiritual phenomenon Kanae had talked about was clear though.'So when Kanae said Nishizawa-san was acting strange''Yes. Ever since he saw a ghost here, he was possessed by the idea of revenge,' finished Yakumo.It seemed that day was filled with melancholy.'But why'Haruka couldn't understand at all.She empathized with how Nishizawa felt after losing the one he loved. The sadness and loss was probably beyond imagination.Furthermore, the anger he felt at knowing it was a murder even though it had been declared a suicide must have been terrible. But It was still twisted to kill somebody for revenge.'Kanae-san knew that he was planning revenge and tried to stop him. That was why she talked to you''Why me?''Though part of it was your experience with spiritual phenomena, more than anything else I think it was because she trusted you.'Yakumo's words, unusually gentle for him, spread in Haruka's heart.It wasn't like she and Kanae had experienced anything special together. They hadn't been together every day. And yet, they had shared something.Kanae had also been a very dear friend to Haruka But Haruka hadn't been able to help Kanae at all, and Kanae had lost her life.'Now, let us return to the original topic 'Yakumo clapped his hands together.That moment, it felt like the atmosphere in the room changed.'Who killed Kanae-san?'Yakumo's question made everyone in the room look to him. Even Shinoda, who had refused to believe in Yakumo's ability, was holding his breath as he waited for Yakumo's next words.'On the day of the incident, you came to this clock tower. Why?' Yakumo asked Haruka.Though many of Haruka's memories of the day were vague, she remembered that clearly.'I saw Kanae going inside the clock tower''Was she the only one you saw?''I think so'Haruka's memories were vague so she couldn't be sure.'This is important. Try to remember it clearly.'After Yakumo said that, Haruka went through her memories once more. The scene ran through her head.'Come to think of it, there was somebody else. I didn't see his face, but there was a man Kanae was following him'She looked a bit odd, so Haruka followed Kanae as well.'The man who went to the clock tower then was probably him 'Yakumo pointed at Nishizawa.Nishizawa looked away without answering.'Wait. So three people were at the clock tower that day?' asked Gotou.'Correct,' responded Yakumo confidently.'But I''You lost your memories of the event. You probably fainted upon entering the clock tower.'Now that Yakumo said that, Haruka felt like that was the case.'Then who killed her?' asked Gotou in confusion.'You know already, don't you?' said Yakumo with a shrug.However, it didn't look like anybody knew. They shared glances and shook their heads.Haruka didn't know either.'It's simple. It was the third person in the clock tower Nishizawa-san,' Yakumo said in a flat tone. What?Gotou, Ishii and Makoto all cocked their head. It looked like they had the same question.Sakurai was also shocked, with his eyes wide. Nishizawa had his eyes shut tightly and looked pained.'Why would he?'Gotou was the first to speak.'Let's ask the man in question.'After Yakumo said that, he crouched in front of Nishizawa and peered at his ace.'You were at the clock tower at the time of the incident, right?' Yakumo asked quietly.Nishizawa opened his eyes and glared at Yakumo, but then he looked away.'Like I know. It wasn't me'Yakumo looked at Nishizawa and murmured, 'I see' Then, he went to Sakurai.'Sakurai-san, weren't you called out to this clock tower on the day of the incident?'Though Sakurai looked troubled, he responded, 'Yes''Who was the one who called you out?'At this next question, Sakurai looked down. It felt like he knew what his words would engender.For a while, Sakurai did nothing, but he finally lifted his head.'Nishizawa he called me out. He said he wanted to talk about The Ghost of the Clock Tower.''The same as today, right?''Yes.'Yakumo nodded in satisfaction at Sakurai's response and went back to Nishizawa.'You said you weren't at the clock tower earlier, right?''Urgh''Don't you think that's strange? For the person who called Sakurai to the clock tower not to be here 'Under Yakumo's questioning, Nishizawa's forehead had beads of sweat. It was obvious that he was cornered.Yakumo continued. This was the turning point.'You were here, and you met Kanae-san here ''What's your proof for that ridiculous statement?' objected Nishizawa strongly. It was true that what Yakumo had been saying so far was only conjecture.However, Yakumo didn't falter at all.'I have proof. I heard it from Kanae-san.''She's dead. That's''Have you forgotten? I can see the spirits of the dead that is, ghosts. Kanae-san's spirit is right there.'Yakumo pointed above Haruka's head.Haruka looked where Yakumo was pointing. She couldn't see anything, but it was different for Yakumo.He probably saw Kanae there.'Will you doubt my red left eye while believing a rumour about a clock tower?'Yakumo's question made Nishizawa let out a groan.'I know this is a forceful method, but I had to shake you in order to get you to act,' Yakumo whispered in Nishizawa's ear.That moment, Nishizawa's eyes went open in shock.'Then that was''Yes. I set a trap so that you wouldn't be able to escape.''That's cowardly.''I don't want to hear that from you,' said Yakumo, voice dripping with detest. HE looked at Nishizawa coldly.'So Nishizawa killed Kanae?' asked Gotou.'Though part of it is conjecture ' began Yakumo. 'That day, Nishizawa-san called Sakurai-san to the clock tower. However, Kanae-san found out and tried to stop Nishizawa-san.''Wait. That would mean' said Haruka.Yakumo nodded slightly. 'Yes. She knew that Nishizawa-san was acting strangely not because of a possession but because he wanted revenge.'This fact from Yakumo made Haruka look down.Her heart felt heavy. It wasn't because Kanae had kept it secret. Haruka hated herself for not realizing.'That night, Kanae-san met Nishizawa-san in the clock tower and tried to convince him not to do anything stupid. Then ''I went in without knowing anything,' said Haruka.Yakumo nodded. 'Didn't you hear arguing voices from the top of the clock tower?' Now that he mentions it.'I think I did. I didn't hear what they said, but I could tell people were fighting'Haruka held her head and went through her foggy memories.'When you went to the room at the top, you saw Nishizawa-san inside. Of course it was too dark for you to tell who it was, but'As Haruka listened to Yakumo, it felt like the fog in her head was being lifted.Finally, she saw some images in her head, though they were fragmented.'Yes There was somebody here. When I tried to scream, he covered my mouth I tried to escape and grabbed a pole nearby and was waving it around, but I was pushed down' said Haruka, her voice shaking.That was all she could remember.'Nishizawa-san pushed you away and you fainted after your head hit the wall ''Stop it! Stop just saying whatever you want!' screamed Nishizawa.'Shut up.'Unexpectedly, Shinoda was the one who stopped Nishizawa. He looked at Yakumo to tell him to continue.Yakumo nodded and began once more.'After you fainted, Kanae-san argued with Nishizawa-san. She was frantic in trying to get him to stop his revenge against Sakurai-san. She was probably also angry that you, her friend, had been hurt.''Kanae 'Haruka pressed a hand against her chest. It was hard to breathe.She didn't want to hear the rest she really felt that. However, she felt like avoiding it would be putting Kanae's actions to waste so she bore with it.'While they were arguing, Nishizawa-san lost himself in his emotions and hit Kanae-san with the metal pipe you had picked up earlier. After that, he wiped away his fingerprints and made you hold it once more, put blood on your face and fabricated the crime scene 'After Yakumo finished, the room was as quiet as if it were submerged in water.It was a heavy silence that made your breath catch.'What are you saying!? You have no proof!' screamed Nishizawa with a pale face.However, his voice resounded emptily. It was clear that everyone in the room didn't believe him.'It is true that I have no physical evidence. But that is just for now.'Yakumo walked up to Nishizawa and stared him in the eye.''Under Yakumo's gaze, Nishizawa's lips trembled slightly.'Have you heard of a luminol test?''What?''Ishii-san, please tell him.'The conversation suddenly turned to Ishii, who hesitantly began to explain.'Ah, yes. To put it simply, it's a way to see bloodstains you can't normally see with your eyes.''If blood gets on clothes, it won't just come out from washing, right?'Yakumo's words were less a question than a request for confirmation.'Yes. It would be impossible to completely rid them of blood that way.''Nishizawa-san, what do you think would happen if Kanae-san's blood was on your clothes? You claimed earlier that you were not at the scene on the day of the crime.'Nishizawa's head slumped at Yakumo's final words. His shoulders were shaking too, and his eyes filled with tears.'I didn't want to kill her It just ended up that way Kanae-chan was getting in the way of my revenge' Nishizawa sobbed. Haruka felt no pity at all when she looked at him.Nishizawa's words were too selfish.'You just think about yourself 'Yakumo spoke before Haruka could.'Eh?''You really are selfish. You're always looking for excuses to say that you're not at fault, but you should know best the reason that Mizuhara Noriko-san killed herself 'Nishizawa looked shocked.'W-what are you saying!? Noriko was killed! That's why I wanted revenge''You were tricked.'Nishizawa's face twisted further. 'Tricked? Me?''I'll say this first. Mizuhara Noriko-san's ghost is not here ''You're lying! I saw her! What do you know!?' screamed Nishizawa. His body was twisting as he did so.Yakumo sighed slightly as he watched him.'You must understand. Please don't make me repeat myself. My red left eye can see the spirits of the dead. Mizuhara-san's ghost is not here.''Then the rumour about the clock tower' interrupted Haruka.'There is no such rumour. Correct, Makoto-san?'Yakumo's red left eye looked at Makoto.'Correct. I asked many students, but none of them knew about the rumour' Makoto replied firmly.'But Kanae'Kanae had talked about the rumour of a ghost that showed up at the clock tower when she went to consult Haruka.If there was no rumour, why would Kanae say that?'That's the problem 'Yakumo looked straight at Haruka.His red left eye seemed to be asking if Haruka was prepared. No matter what truth came from Yakumo's lips no matter how hard it was to accept Haruka was ready to hear it.Haruka nodded, and Yakumo began.'Even though there is no ghost here, Nishizawa-san heard Mizuhara-san's voice. What on earth could that mean?''Tell us what it means.'Gotou stomped on the ground impatiently.'It's simple. Somebody pretended to be Mizuhara-san's ghost to fool Nishizawa-san.'Haruka felt a burning pain in her chest at Yakumo's words. It was because she knew who it was.'Who? Who would do that?' pressed Gotou.Yakumo looked at Haruka again. She knew. She was prepared. Haruka silently nodded once more.After a long silence, Yakumo said, 'It was Kanae-san ' So it really was her.Now that Haruka thought over it, there had been a few strange things. Kanae hadn't seen the ghost, but she had believed the rumour.That wasn't all. Kanae hadn't said she wanted them to do something about the ghost. She had said she wanted them to save Nishizawa, who was acting strange. But 'Why would Kanae do that?' asked Haruka.Yakumo looked at the mirror.'It was revenge.''Revenge.''Isn't that so Professor Onda?'Yakumo's words made everyone in the room swallow their breath.-18Makoto felt a quiver of fear upon hearing Yakumo's words.She had known somewhere in her heart, but she hadn't wanted to believe it.When she looked to her side, she saw Onda standing there silently. She couldn't tell his true intentions from his fearless profile.'Does the professor have something to do with the case?' interrupted Gotou.'Yes, I invited him here because he is involved.'Yakumo slowly walked towards Onda.Onda's expression still did not change. That attitude felt incredibly unnatural.'Are you saying I did something?' Onda asked calmly.'Before I explain, I should say why Mizuhara Noriko-san died.'Nishizawa immediately interrupted, 'Noriko was killed by Sakurai'Nishizawa's words lacked strength, unlike how they had been earlier. The doubt within him was probably growing with no way for him to stop it.'I have said this already, but Mizuhara-san committed suicide. There is clear evidence. Isn't that so, Sakurai-san?'Yakumo ran a hand through his messy hair in irritation and looked straight at Sakurai.Sakurai looked down to avoid Yakumo's gaze and bit his lip hard.'I see it can't be helped if you don't want to talk about it. Makoto-san.'Yakumo looked towards Makoto once more.'Yes.'Makoto felt her pulse speed up as she spoke.'There original The Ghost of the Clock Tower file was on Mizuhara-san's laptop at her house, correct?''Yes.''Was that exactly the same as the one published under Sakurai-san's name?'Makoto felt her heart jolt at Yakumo's question.She had had predicted this after reading the original, but the further the conversation advanced, the more she didn't want to believe it.That said, she couldn't keep her mouth shut here.Makoto gave Onda a quick glance before answering.'No, the published work was a revision of the original.''What was revised?''The first half was completely cut out.'The more Makoto spoke, the more her heart felt like it would be crushed.'What was the content of the first half?''It was'Makoto's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't say any more.She had never thought this would happen. She didn't know what she could believe in and what she should doubt any more.Yakumo's eyes narrowed as he looked at Makoto. Then, he nodded.'Fine. I will explain the rest 'After saying that, Yakumo looked at the faces of everyone in the room, one by one.After a long pause, Yakumo began his explanation.'The published version of The Ghost of the Clock Tower was about a woman who unexpectedly killed somebody and gradually lost herself under the weight of the guilt. However, there was nothing about what the protagonist had experienced or who she had killed. Then, it ended in her suicide 'Haruka looked surprised at Yakumo's explanation. Gotou and Ishii also furrowed their brows as they looked at each other. Shinoda looked the same way.Nishizawa was just in shock. Sakurai's shoulders were shaking in what looked like fear.Then Onda alone was looking straight at Yakumo with no change in expression.'The scenes that were cut from the original work that Makoto-san discussed earlier explained why the protagonist killed someone.''It was us It was our fault'Suddenly, Sakurai started to cry in a voice that was like a scream.Yakumo looked at him coldly and then turned to face everyone once more.'The female protagonist was on a drive with friends. Her boyfriend was driving, and she was sitting in the passenger seat. In the back, there was a man an upperclassman and a man in the same year. The upperclassman had taken a dangerous drug and was intoxicated.'Though Yakumo's tone was flat, there was a faint anger there.Nishizawa seemed to understand what Yakumo was talking about and said hoarsely, 'Stop'However, Yakumo did not stop.'The man driving and the man in the back began to argue over something trivial. Because of that, the driver wasn't paying attention to the road. As a result, they hit a young parent and child crossing the intersection ''Please! Please stop!'Nishizawa clung to Yakumo in tears, but Yakumo shook him off and continued.'The female protagonist immediately tried to call an ambulance, but her boyfriend, the driver, stopped her.''Why?' interrupted Ishii, seeming confused.'In order to run away from their own crime. The driver and the man in the back who had argued with him moved the sleeping upperclassman to the driver's seat. Then, they took the female protagonist and ran 'Here, Yakumo looked at Onda.Onda said nothing. However, there was the trace of tears in his eyes.'The parent and child who were hit struck the traffic light post. Though they were bleeding a lot, they had still been alive. However, the female protagonist was unable to fight the men and was forced to leave the scene. That is the murder in the original The Ghost of the Clock Tower.'Makoto held her breath and bit her lower lip as she listened to Yakumo. It was too cruel and sad.'C-could it be that the accident in the original' said Ishii in a shaking voice.'Yes. It was an accident that actually occurred three years ago. It was right where you saw a ghost, Ishii-san.''What''Wait. If that was an actual accident, why wasn't he arrested?'Gotou pointed at Nishizawa.'Another man was made to look like the culprit,' Yakumo said in a flat tone.'Didn't the guy say he wasn't driving?'Gotou's comment made sense, but 'Gotou-san, would you believe somebody who was under the influence of drugs if they said they weren't driving?''I'Gotou fell silent after hearing Yakumo's explanation.As written in the original draft, the car was the upperclassman's, unfortunately for him. The police had no reason to suspect anything.'Then was the novel''Yes. It wasn't a novel. It was Mizuhara Noriko-san's diary.'Makoto had thought the same thing as Yakumo.Mizuhara Noriko's The Ghost of the Clock Tower was not a novel but a diary.Because of her writing talent and the deletion of the first scenes, it had been treated as a novel, fortunately or unfortunately.'That's wrong' Nishizawa said frantically.Yakumo looked at him coldly. 'What's wrong? You looked away from a reality that you didn't like and decided that her death was a murder. Even though she was worrying and suffering right beside you, you didn't even try to notice.''That's not t-true I wanted to protect her' sobbed Nishizawa.Yakumo brought his face close enough to Nishizawa's for their noses to touch and glared at him with his red eye.'What isn't true? The one who was driving was no other than you. You weren't trying to protect her you were trying to protect yourself, weren't you?''''Similarly, the person who killed her was no other than you yourself.''Aaaaahhhhhhh!'Nishizawa screamed, scratching at his throat.He probably couldn't accept reality, but doing that would not turn back time.'What trash' said Gotou, spitting the words out.Makoto felt the same way. Nishizawa had thought about nobody but himself. Even though that had led his girlfriend to her death, he blamed even that on somebody else. There was nothing to empathise with.Makoto had one question though.'Please explain one thing to me.''What is it?'Yakumo raised his left eyebrow.'Sakurai-san was in the same car, right? Even though he had removed the first half, submitting Mizuhara-san's diary for an award was like revealing their own crime. Why did he do that?'Makoto couldn't understand his reason.'It was Sakura-san's own method of memorial and atonement. Isn't that so?'Sakurai nodded in response to Yakumo's words.He didn't have the courage to reveal their crime now, so he had put the diary out into the world as a tribute to Mizuhara Noriko Sakurai had probably meant exactly what he said when he had claimed that the ghost in the clock tower had made him write it.He hadn't had the courage to declare the truth, but he had implied in that way that it was Mizuhara Noriko's work.'Now, let us return to the topic at hand why did Kanae-san pretend to be a ghost and deceive Nishizawa-san?'Yakumo turned to face each of them. Nobody responded.However, Makoto knew.'Kanae-san was the younger sister of the woman who had died in the accident three years ago' replied Makoto.Yakumo nodded.'Really!?' exclaimed Haruka in surprise.'In order to avenge her older sister, Kanae-san pretended to be Mizuhara Noriko-san's ghost and made Nishizawa-san and Sakurai-san hate each other.''But then why did Kanae ask for my help?' asked Haruka.It was true that it was strange for somebody planning revenge to bring in Haruka and Yakumo.'Kanae-san became afraid,' said Yakumo.'Eh?' Haruka looked confused.'She had just wanted to pretend to be the ghost and threaten them, so that they would reveal the truth but Nishizawa-san actually tried to kill Sakurai-san.''And so she became afraid' Haruka said in a hoarse voice.'Correct. She couldn't bear it if another person died because of her. That was why she stopped her plan halfway and consulted you, a person she trusted, about a spiritual phenomenon.'Now that Haruka had heard the truth, she just looked into space in shock.'In the first place, Kanae-san did want revenge, but she hadn't pretended to be a ghost of her own volition.''What?' asked Gotou.Yakumo was as expressionless as a Noh mask as he slowly walked towards Onda.'Somebody told Kanae-san the truth of the incident and asked her to pretend to be Mizuhara Noriko-san's ghost for revenge. That was you wasn't it, Professor Onda?''Wait. Why would a university professor do that?' asked Gotou.Yakumo sighed in exasperation and ran a hand through his messy hair.'Gotou-san, you really should change your habit of not reading files properly.''What?''Professor Onda is Kanae-san's brother-in-law. In short, the people who passed away in the accident three years ago were Professor Onda's wife, Kasumi-san, and his daughter.'What!?'Gotou was shocked into silence.Makoto had read in her own newspaper about how Onda's wife and child had died in a traffic accident. She hadn't been able to contact him then, thinking that he had to be haggard.She hadn't been able to mention it when she went to talk to him about interviewing Sakurai either.She had thought that he had recovered from his loss and sadness and that he was walking his own life. No, she might have just been hoping for that.When she read the original The Ghost of the Clock Tower, she had understood immediately that the victims in the accident were Onda's wife and child.That wasn't all. When Yakumo had asked her to bring Onda, she had realised what role Onda had played.And yet, she had wanted to believe in him. No, that wasn't it. She hadn't wanted to believe that the kind Onda she knew would have been possessed by the idea of revenge.'Professor, why'Somehow, Makoto managed to say just those words.'Would you be able to forgive them?' Onda's voice, filled with sadness, echoed through the room.Nobody could respond to his question. It was impossible to understand the true meaning of the sadness of having a loved one taken from you without experiencing it yourself.Onda looked at everyone and the room before continuing.'I found out the truth about the accident after reading the original The Ghost of the Clock Tower.''How did you get a hold of it?' asked Makoto.She felt like that was all she could do right now.'Three years ago, it was sent to me from Mizuhara Noriko-san. Of course there hadn't been a title then. I knew it was a draft, but I hadn't planned on reading it. It was the name of a woman I didn't know, and I had been mentally exhausted after losing my wife and child''When did you read it?''I think it was about half a year ago A certain man came to me.''A man?''The man who was said to have been driving during the accident. He said he had just been let out on good behaviour. In tears, he told me that he hadn't been driving and that the actual driver was somebody else. He told me the name.''You recognised the name then.''Yes. It was the name of a student in the literature circle. And the woman who had sent the draft 'What amazing fate.Onda, at his new workplace, had met with the person who had actually killed his wife and child.'Then, I read Mizuhara Noriko-san's diary for the first time and found out the truth of the incident. I was shaking in anger.'Onda looked at Nishizawa and Sakurai.Under the pressure of Onda's mad eyes, the two were frozen in fear.'It was as if they had forgotten their past crime. That wasn't all. They had to have noticed that I was related to the victims, and yet 'Makoto could practically hear Onda's heart creaking.Just as he said, it was terrifying. Though there was no way the two had forgotten what they had done, they had acted completely normal with Onda, as if nothing had happened.Onda's rage upon realising that must have been indescribable.'I gave them a chance ''A chance?''Yes. I hid Mizuhara Noriko-san's diary in the literature circle room and told them to clean it.'Onda had hoped that they would tell the truth upon finding Mizuhara Noriko's diary.However, Sakurai, upon finding the diary, had revised the contents and submitted it for an award.Though Sakurai had meant that as atonement and memorial, Onda couldn't accept that.'You were the one who covered the scene of the traffic accident with red paint.''Yes. I sent them a memo with the address of the scene.''You were making them recall the past accident.''Yes, but the two of them didn't care'Onda shook his head weakly.Onda had given them so many warnings before acting, hoping that they would come forward on their own to atone But his hopes had been completely betrayed.When Makoto thought about how Onda must have felt, she couldn't breathe.'They didn't feel any guilt. They went on with their lives, fought about silly things. It was depraved. They had taken the lives of my child and her mother would you be able to forgive them?'The fury emanating from Onda made everyone swallow their breath.Makoto thought about it. To be honest, she wouldn't have been able to forgive them. Losing both wife and child in an accident, with the culprits forgetting completely and going on with their lives. Onda had probably been burning with anger that had no place to go.'Wasn't it yourself that you couldn't actually forgive?'Yakumo was the one who spoke.'What do you mean by that?' asked Onda.Yakumo sent him a sharp gaze.'If you only felt angry at them, you wouldn't have needed to do something so roundabout.''What are you trying to say?''You regretted that you hadn't immediately read the diary Mizuhara-san sent you am I wrong?'Onda looked down slightly at Yakumo's question.'Perhaps. If I had read the diary, she wouldn't have committed suicide'Perhaps Onda was right.When Mizuhara Noriko sent Onda the diary, she had probably meant to atone for what had been done.If Onda had approached her, she might not have thought about suicide.However, that was only a theory. Nobody could blame Onda for that, and Onda should not have blamed himself either.'The revenge this time included Mizuhara-san's portion as well. That was why you used such a roundabout method,' declared Yakumo.Onda smiled, rather sadly.'Perhaps Do you think I was wrong?' asked Onda.'Yes, you are wrong 'Yakumo spoke without any hesitation.Those words, clean and clear-cut, made all the doubts within Makoto leave.'Professor, you were wrong. There must have been countless ways to make the truth come to light without such revenge,' said Makoto.A laugh escaped Onda's lips.'Not everyone is as strong as you.''Those words are not something I would expect from a professor.''Correct. They aren't the words of a professor. They are the words of a husband and father who lost his wife and his child.'There were tears in Onda's eyes.Even if Onda understood the logic, his heart wouldn't accept it. No matter what Makoto said here, it wouldn't reach Onda's heart.'What sophistry.'Yakumo was the one who spoke.'Did you not see Kanae-san? She was tormented by guilt as she cooperated with you and had tried to do something'Yakumo's words brought the strength back to Makoto's sinking heart.'Yes. Why didn't you look properly at her suffering 'After Makoto said that, Onda narrowed his eyes and looked at the ceiling.'I did' Onda said in a hoarse voice. Makoto didn't know what he was looking at, but she did understand one thing.Onda truly regretted this incident.He had involved Kanae and she had died. That wasn't all Haruka, who wasn't involved at all, had been put in custody as a murder suspect.It was a recreation of the accident three years ago.Onda, who knew everything, had suffered, worried and fought himself just as Mizuhara Noriko-san had done.That was why he had come here with Makoto and told the truth without protest.Tears fell from the corners of Onda's eyes -19-'So it's over'After a silence, Gotou spoke as if the words had been wrung out of his throat.The truth that had come out of Yakumo's mouth ran through Gotou's confused head and shook his heart.Nishizawa and Sakurai both had their heads hung low. It looked like they didn't have the energy to speak.Ishii and Haruka were in shock. Shinoda was stunned as well.'Not yet,' Yakumo said in a sharp tone.In this room, Yakumo was the only one who had not relaxed his attention.'What do you mean?''Exactly what I said. There was one other conspirator in this case.'After declaring that, Yakumo moved to stand in front of the mirror It was as if a violent fire of anger had engulfed his back.'You can see from there, right?' Yakumo said to the mirror.It was said that the mirror in this room was connected to the underworld. From how Yakumo was speaking now, it was as if it was true.'See? What do you mean?''I mean exactly what I said 'After Gotou asked that Yakumo picked up a block of wood that was nearby.'That's not an explanation!''I'll show you now.'The moment Yakumo said that, he threw the block at the mirror.The mirror cracked with a piercing noise 'Somebody has been looking through here this whole time.'Yakumo was pointing at a small camera. The mirror was probably a one-way mirror.There was an antenna on the camera to send data wireless.'Who on earth' said Gotou.Yakumo smiled faintly. 'You don't know?''I'm asking because I don't know.''The other conspirator the person who was blamed for the accident.'Yakumo's explanation made even Gotou understand the situation.Gotou had investigated the man's history without knowing why, but in an accident three years ago, there had been a man made to look like the perpetrator. That was 'What's that?' asked Shinoda, seeming to sense something.Gotou looked and say smoke coming from downstairs, along with the smell of burning.'It seems he's set a fire. To think he would take such drastic measures' said Yakumo bitterly.This was bad. They were on the top floor of the clock tower. If they didn't run before the fire got worse, they would all die here.'Shinoda! Take him! Ishii, you get those two!' ordered Gotou. Shinoda covered his mouth and nose and brought Nishizawa down the stairs.Ishii took Onda and Makoto after them.Yakumo lent his shoulder to Haruka, who had hurt her foot, and helped her up.'Please go first,' Yakumo said.Gotou nodded and dragged Sakurai down the stairs.When he glanced back, he saw that Haruka couldn't walk on her own, and Yakumo was having trouble.'I'll help.'Gotou held out a hand, but Yakumo refused it.'It's fine. Please go first.''But''Quickly! Or it'll be too late!'Yakumo's voice was ragged.It really wasn't the time to be hanging around here. It would probably be faster to take Sakurai down and come back to help Yakumo and Haruka after.'Wait!' shouted Gotou, and he dragged Sakurai down the stairs in a rush.The farther down he went, the thicker the flames became, but fortunately, the flames hadn't spread that much.'Hurry!' shouted Gotou as he ran down the stairs.Sakurai stumbled a few times, perhaps because the handcuffs were making it difficult for him to walk, but Gotou kept forcing him back up to run.When Gotou got to the ground floor, he pushed Sakurai out the backdoor and tried to go back up the stairs.However, something jumped out from behind the stairs and blocked Gotou's way.Though it was too dark for Gotou to see the man's face clearly, he could guess who it was from the uniform.'You'Before Gotou could finish, the man raised something that looked like a pickaxe and attacked -20-'Yakumo-kun go first' said Haruka even as she coughed.Though Yakumo was trying to support Haruka as they walked, it wasn't going well. They hadn't even reached the stairs yet.At this rate, the two of them would die either because of the smoke or the fire.Haruka didn't want to die, but Haruka wouldn't be able to bear it if Yakumo died because of her.'Don't talk. You'll breathe in the smoke,' Yakumo said sharply.It looked like he had no intentions of leaving Haruka behind.'But''I proved you were innocent. Don't give up until the end. And''What?''I still have things I want to ask you.''Things you want to ask me?'Yes. So don't give up yet 'Even as Yakumo supported Haruka, he desperately walked forward. However, the floor suddenly shook underneath them.Perhaps part of the clock tower had collapsed.Haruka lost her balance and fell.She tried to stand up, but she couldn't. She felt like the pain in her foot was getting worse.'Are you all right?'Yakumo looked at Haruka's face.There was unusual uneasiness in his expression.The room was getting hotter, and the smoke was growing thicker. At this rate, even if they did reach the stairs, they might not be able to go down them.'Yakumo-kun, please. Go first I'll be fine' said Haruka, pushing Haruka away. She didn't want Yakumo to die.'I'm definitely taking you with me.''You can't.''Just be quiet for a second!' shouted Yakumo.Haruka's shoulders jolted at Yakumo's voice, which sounded so different from how it usually did.Though Yakumo opened his mouth to say something else, he suddenly stopped.Yakumo's gaze went through the air as if following something.'I see That's right' Yakumo murmured. He was smiling faintly.'Eh?''It's Kanae-san ''What about Kanae?'Yakumo stood up without answering Haruka's question.He must have decided to go on by himself so Haruka thought, but she was wrong. Yakumo walked to the window on the side of the room.He unlocked it and opened it. Then, he leaned through it and looked down. He can't be planning to jump, right?They were fifty metres up. It had been proven three years ago that this wasn't a height you could jump from and live.Haruka thought that maybe they could put a rope through, but they didn't have a rope around.Yakumo walked back to Haruka and said, 'Can you believe in me?'His deep red left eye had the light of strong determination in it, different from earlier.'Yes.'Haruka responded with a firm nod.Haruka hadn't doubted Yakumo once since the beginning of the case no, since much earlier than that.Yakumo didn't talk about himself much.Haruka often didn't know what he was thinking, and there were tons of things she didn't know about him, but she felt like she had seen what sort of person Yakumo was from the closest vantage point.She felt that she knew what rooted his heart.That was why she had never doubted him at all.'All right.'With a smile, Yakumo said that and held a hand out towards Haruka.Haruka took the hand and gripped it tightly.-21-Gotou just barely managed to avoid the pickaxe and he turned to face the man again 'Seo Minoru.'When Gotou said that name, the man replied with a click of his tongue.He was right. The man in front of him was Seo Minoru, the university security guard.Gotou hadn't understood when Yakumo told him to investigate Seo's history.Even after finding out that Seo had caused an accident three years ago and had been in prison until half a year earlier, he hadn't been able to connect it to this case.But now he understood.The man whose life had been ruined after he was made to take the blame for Nishizawa and Sakurai And, as Yakumo said, the other conspirator in this case.Seo had been watching the situation in the clock tower through the camera hidden behind the mirror. Probably on the day of the incident too Seo had been the one who'd testified that Haruka had killed Kanae.Why had he lied? Because if Nishizawa had been arrested then, he wouldn't have been able to complete his revenge.Not just Nishizawa. He had to take revenge on Sakurai too.Seo, watching through the camera, knew that Haruka had fainted before Nishizawa killed Kanae.Then, Nishizawa had fabricated the crime scene to make it look like Haruka had killed Kanae Seo testified that he saw Haruka hit Kanae and probably had said that Haruka had fainted when he caught her.'I know how you feel, but stop it already,' said Gotou, but Seo took that moment to bring down the pickaxe again.Gotou rolled to the side to avoid it.Just as he'd said, he understood how Seo's felt, but that didn't mean he could forgive him.'You must've felt so awful you wanted to die when you were blamed for a crime you didn't do! You understand that pain, so why would you do the same thing!?' screamed Gotou.Seo stopped. Whether it was the smoke or his feelings of sudden emptiness, tears fell from Seo's eyes.'They didn't even notice when they saw me' said Seo hoarsely.Not only were the people who had completely ruined his life living peacefully, they had completely forgotten what they'd done.It hurt Gotou just thinking about how awful that had to feel. That was probably what brought Seo to revenge.But 'But what you did is still wrong!''What do you know!?'Seo raised the pickaxe again. This is bad!The moment that thought flashed through Gotou's mind, something jumped out at Seo, fought with him, and fell to the ground. It was Ishii.Ishii was doing well at first, but in no time at all, the situation was reversed.Seo sat on top of Ishii and held up the pickaxe.'Get a hold of yourself!'Gotou kicked Seo's face as hard as he could.Seo's eyes went wide and he fell, splayed out on the floor. He stopped moving.'Ishii! Take this guy outside!''Y-yes sir.'Ishii tried to take Seo out on Gotou's orders, but he was too weak to do it. Honestly.Gotou helped Ishii and they somehow managed to pull Seo out of the clock tower. Next is Yakumo.Gotou tried to go back inside the clock tower, but then a portion of the ceiling collapsed and blocked the exit. What now!?Gotou still tried to go inside, but Ishii clung to him.'Let go! Yakumo and Haruka-chan are still inside!''B-but if you go inside, you'll die too, Detective Gotou!''Shut up! I'm going! I won't let anyone die in front of me!'Gotou forced Ishii away, but this time Shinoda came and forced Gotou down.'Stop!''Let go! Yakumo!'A loud noise interrupted Gotou's shout. A portion of the clock tower crumbled and bricks came crashing down. I couldn't save them.'Damn it!'Gotou's scream echoed through the night.'Please don't speak so loudly.'Just as Gotou was falling into despair, he heard a familiar voice.He turned and saw Yakumo standing there. He was carrying Haruka on his back. His face was dirty with soot and his usual white shirt was in an awful state. It looked like they were alive.'You You're OK''Yes. There is an emergency ladder on the side of this tower,' Yakumo said casually.'Why didn't you say that earlier!?''I'd forgotten myself, but she told me.''Haruka-chan?'Gotou looked at Haruka. She shook her head slightly. Then who?'Kanae-san did.''I see''In any case, this is finally over.'As Yakumo said that, he let Haruka off and sat her down.Shinoda, who had walked over, silently uncuffed Haruka's wrists.It really was over now that feeling spread through Gotou's chest.-