Don't forget to read the first part, or the previous post if you haven't!
Last part, we chose the path of realism and returned to the school to investigate more. Following a conversation with the principal, he showed us the above-pictured Fox Mound, and now he'll explain its history.
"Ms. Misa Sakita passed away two years ago in a {traffic accident}. She was hit by a car on her way home."
"According to eyewitness reports, Ms. Sakita ran into the roadway as if she couldn't see what was ahead."
"The police were not sure whether it was a suicide or an accident, but in the end, the funeral was held despite the ambiguity, and a few days later, no one dared mention the incident."
"But just as I was beginning to forget about the incident, I heard a strange rumor."
The principal looked around and kept his voice down, even though we were the only ones there. And then, the next words that came out of his mouth were...
"Mr. Kokkuri's curse"
"A CURSE!?" Mr. Kogure overreacts. He's really sensitive. I never get tired of watching him.Perhaps energized by Mr. Kogure's reaction, the principal's tone of voice became more enthusiastic. He's like a grandfather who is pleased to tell his grandchildren a ghost story.
"Yes... A rumor began to spread among the students that 'Misa Sakita died due to Mr. Kokkuri's curse'."
"Before her death, Ms. Sakita used to play "Mr. Kokkuri" with some of the other students at the school."
"Rumors spread throughout the school. After all was said and done, some students claimed to have seen Ms. Sakita's ghost, and some even stopped going to school for fear of being cursed by Mr. Kokkuri."
"In order to resolve the situation, we designated the mound as a memorial to Misa Sakita's spirit, and invited a well-known monk to perform a purification rite."
"After that, the gossip died down, and fortunately, it didn't spread outside the community."
"And to prevent similar tragedies, I have added a 'Mr. Kokkuri Prohibition' clause to the school rules."
When the principal finished speaking, he clammed up with a mysterious look on his face. "I see... So that's the Fox Mound."
"What a pitiful story. The student who died was innocent, and yet they only talk about ghosts and curses... It's absolutely outrageous!"
Mr. Kogure blew his nose, and there were a few tears in his eyes.
Mr. Kogure is right that the dead student was innocent. However, when bad things happen, humans tend to make connections with unrealistic events, and either become convinced or fearful of them.
I was injured because a black cat crossed in front of me. I failed to get into the school of my choice because there was a number 4 on my exam entry number. The examples are endless.
I think it's all a manifestation of the weakness of the human heart. Misa Sakita was a victim of this.
To satisfy the students, her spirit had to be confined to such a small, dingy mound.
I joined my hands together in mourning for the soul of Misa Sakita.
Apparently, the relationship between this school and Mr. Kokkuri is deeply rooted.
Although its relevance to the case is unknown, it would not hurt to gather more information.
Something was bothering me, so I mentioned---
>The fact that the students are still playing Mr. Kokkuri even now.
⬢ >The possibility that the accident 2 years ago wasn't an accident.
>The identity of the student playing Mr. Kokkuri with Misa Sakita.
That middle option seems pretty interesting.
⬢ >The possibility that the accident 2 years ago wasn't an accident.
"What if the accident 2 years ago wasn't an accident..."
"Eh!?" Mr. Kogure and the principal stared at me at the same time.
"I'm only speaking hypothetically, but if the accident two years ago involved some kind of artificiality, that could well be the motive for the current incident."
"W-wait a minute, Detective! Are you saying that this case is not a suicide?" The principal asks with a flurried face.
"No, we are investigating this as a suicide case, but we have an obligation to consider all possibilities before resolving the case."
Although I told him that, I don't think it was just a suicide. But there was no need to make a big fuss by telling him, so I kept quiet.
"Principal, sir. Do you know of any students who were close to the late Ms. Misa Sakita?"
"Oh, that would be Nozawa-kun from earlier. He's a {childhood friend} of Ms. Sakita's."
"Otherwise, no one would come to this mound, the one place nobody wants to go near, to pray every day."
"Childhood friend..."
Thus, Shouta Nozawa becomes the first suspect. His motive is to take {revenge} for the murder of his childhood friend.
Of course, this is assuming the incident two years ago was not an accident.
"Were there any other students she was close to? Who were the students Ms. Sakita played Mr. Kokkuri with?"
After a moment's thought, the principal shook his head. "Well..."
I was hoping to grasp something from the accident two years ago, but it can't be helped.
After leaving the Fox Mound, we asked the principal for permission to investigate the school.
"Sir. What are we going to do now?"
"Uhm, let's see..."
After thinking a bit, I chose to---
>look into Misa Sakita's accident.
>gather information from the students.
We could try to learn more about the accident, but I don't think we'll learn anything particularly useful, considering the principal basically told us everything we needed to connect it to that random flashback.
>gather information from the students.
We decided to leave the Fox Mound and gather information from the remaining students on campus.
[Cut to black]
We want to gather information from more students, but we don't want to do so in a way that creates uneasiness.
To narrow it down to the bare minimum, we have Shouta Nozawa, who was a childhood friend of Misa Sakita's.
And Yuka Kamiyama, who tried to tell us something at the hospital yesterday. I should try to learn more about those two I think.
Yuka Kamiyama was particularly concerning. ---"Did Kaori really commit suicide?" She must know something about Kaori Itou's death.
I wasn't able to listen to it that time due to an unexpected accident, but if she's attending school, I would love to hear the rest of the story.
The light outside the window is gradually fading, even though it is only a little after 4:00 PM. The clouds are getting darker too.
Classes have already ended and many students have gone home. The quietness of the after-school hours makes for a perfectly eerie atmosphere.
Mr. Kogure, who has been established as a scaredy-cat, is fidgety and restless. He wants to go home as soon as possible.
"...Sir. Did you hear something?" I listened carefully, and sure enough, I can hear a woman's voice coming from somewhere in the school building.
The voice was hysterical, but I didn't hear any sobbing in particular. Was she in a quarrel? "Let's go, Mr. Kogure."
[Cut to black]
"...Why!? Answer me, Nozawa-kun!"
I followed the voice and came to find the person I was looking for.
"Hey! Why are you so quiet!?" The one raising her voice was Yuka Kamiyama. She was a different person from the one I had met at the hospital.
Her brow was wrinkled, her face was twisted, and her clenched fists were shaking. That figure seemed to be afraid of something.
And Kamiyama gazed at Shouta Nozawa, who was at the Fox Mound earlier.
"You still can't get over Misa!?"
"...That's none of your business."
This Misa is probably Misa Sakita. Does Kamiyama know her?
(It seems that Yuka Kamiyama has {romantic feelings} for Shouta Nozawa.) Mr. Kogure looked at them and quietly commented on their situation.
A female student stands between them. Her name being Mari Horikawa. The girl I met on the first day of the investigation. I could never forget what she said to me then.
She spoke unfeelingly, even while knowing that her classmate, Kaori Ito, was dead.
"What of it?"
Mari Horikawa. Yuka Kamiyama. Shouta Nozawa. The relationship between the two women isn't clear, but at any rate, these disparate dots became connected as a line.
"Stop it. You're not going to change his mind by doing this." Horikawa chided with a cool-headed voice.
Compared to Kamiyama's hysterically angry stare, Horikawa has a composed and chilly gaze.
I get a sense of an unexpected power dynamic.
"Come on. Go home already, Ms. Kamiyama."
"...You said if I did just as you said, things would work out...!"
"I know. So, just be elated as always and do as I say."
I could feel Kamiyama's body trembling violently. If I were a little closer, I might even hear the sound of her teeth clenching.
It was not just anger. It was a complex mix of emotions within her, an intense clash of reason and instinct. And the one that won was---
[A thunderclap, then a cut to black]
At that moment, I heard incredibly loud thunder. I looked out the window and saw smoke coming from the wooded area where the Fox Mound was located. Lightning had struck.
This may not be the duty of a police officer, but we can't overlook the possibility of a fire.
Mr. Kogure and I nodded to each other and started running toward the mound.
The Fox Mound had changed into a tragic figure. "Oh, this is horrible..."
Lightning seemed to have struck this mound, burning it black and destroying it.
Still, how could lightning strike such a small mound without hitting a tree? It's too good to be happenstance.
But how else to explain it other than to call it happenstance?
I couldn't help but cry---
>"This is Mr. Kokkuri's curse!"
>"This is just a coincidence!"
Let's be 'rational'.
>"This is just a coincidence!"
"This is just a coincidence!" was also what I said to convince myself.
But my words were not convincing, and they disappeared into the woods.
"T-that's right, isn't it, sir? It must be just a coincidence, right?" Mr. Kogure's follow-up, with his teeth chattering, adds to the lack of persuasiveness.
[Cut to black]
We then returned to the school building again to look for Kamiyama and the others, but it appeared that they had already left the school, so we were unable to talk to them.
The investigation is now on its fourth day, yet no hard evidence has been found.
On the contrary, the undecipherable reality only adds to my confusion.
...What am I doing? I'll never be able to solve the case if I keep on like this.
I was reminded that although I have the title of "Lieutenant," I am nothing more than a novice detective in training.
I'm completely powerless...
Oof. Junya may be having a depressive episode, but I gotta stop here. This post may be short, but there's a good reason for that. Same as why I couldn't post last Friday. But either way, we learned something very important, which will help us a lot when we try to figure this case out. Hopefully, we'll see more of that trio.
Anyway, see you next time!
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