Vol 8 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2

Hakamizaka shi+rou

He was born as the son of a Guno, he enrolled into T Phar abroad to Iran That's where it all started for him, when he happened to encounter a ive to that flower anymore

When he returned home, he extracted and purified an alkaloid fro that could els and hear the s carved on them, were scattered on the streets we lived in

Unlike the sorrowful flower that served as the raw

Angel Fix

“I wonder why he named it that”

Holding that deceased person's printed data, I asked Alice that question The girl on the bed turned her face froht of the countless monitors

“This is a very unpleasant guess, but”

Alice started talking with a voice colder than the conditioned air

“It's probably taken from a James Tiptree Jr short story It seee tastes as me”

“Is it a story about narcotics?”

“No It's a story about aliens who take only good people with them to another world It's a wonderful story, but I don't really know if he thought about it that far”

Sighing, I threw the data to the bed

Anyhow, Hakaels Most of his cohts will remain in the dark for all eternity

It should have ended that way Everything should have died out already

“Two people survived”

Alice's s made me raise my head

“Don't you ree of el Fix, five of them died in the hospital after the incident But two of them survived”

Two people

I knew one of them shi+nozaki Toshi+o—Ayaka's older brother

“Tetsu went to talk to Toshi+ The other person is Chigasawa Teruhiko Yondai to find his whereabouts”

“To ask theht?”

“It would be good if it's just that”

Saying that, Alice turned her back onon the keyboard

“What do you mean?”

“It's been a year since then Why has Angel fix appeared now, after a whole year? If thosebears just found a stock by chance, it will be okay once that stock is used up completely”

I understood what Alice was trying to say The season would change, the floould bloom, their petals would scatter and they would finally bear fruit Maybe soain: That's what she meant

I shi+vered and felt goosebumps, so I rubbed both of my arms with my hands

That red powder I had asked Major to exa had been useless, and the nightmare was still stuck somewhere in the darkness

“There's a big possibility that the roup”

Letting my eyes wander, I nodded at Alice's voice

Those guys cheated bythe back of the tiles with a transparent ink They kept winning at the parlor because of that They probably stuck the ink with their fingertips What a ti underhanded trick

Angel Fix greatly enhanced their visual sensitivity In that world where one could see angels, a mark that should be colorless and transparent rose to the surface, guiding them That special ink was probably the same ink that was used by the people who sold the Fix directly during that incident a year ago What kind of connection do they have?

Possibly thebears weren't the only ones on theintoparlors this time?

I don't understand There's not enough information

“Right now, there's nothing we can do”, Alice h inforroup ofbears We'll have to wait for Hirasaka-gumi's results”

I squatted on the cold floor and stared at Alice's di her yet another question

“Shouldn't we leave this to the police?”

“Yondaime and Tetsu won't allow that”

Without turning her back, Alice answered me with a dry voice

“Have you forgotten? Fix is a bitter ene part on this for profit, but for their anger and their honor”

I nodded

A Fix addict once stabbed one of Yondais Tetsu-senpai once lost one of his friends because of the drug However, there was also another deeper and s had corrupted the lives of the NEETs of this city—outcasts just like Senpai and Yondais to them

Senpai and Yondaime didn't bla on their weakness or stupidity If the cycle changed only slightly, the darkness they would fell into would probably be themselves Maybe they even wanted to rescue Hakamizaka shi+rou But that was beyond their power, so they could only keep running To the angels

“So, do you intend to poke your nose into this again?”

Alice's voice finally had a little bit of feeling in it An ill-hu

“Don't tell me to retreat”

“Hmph It's pointless, so I won't say it” Alice puffed out her cheeks “Meddle all you want With your learning abilities, I'm sure that if you were burnt to death and then reborn as a chicken, you'd gladly jump into an oven”

I scratched my head

“But, aren't you the same, Alice?”

“What-!?” Alice sprang up on the bed and quickly faced my way The mountain of stuffed toys crumbled

“No, I erous so the kettle black, isn't it?”

“I do not do that kind of stupid things, if I had to look for so in the fire, I'd make sure to use pliers!”

“Then, those 'pliers' would be ht?”

Alice froze for a few seconds with her mouth half open

“I was thinking it was unusual for you to try to win an argurip on your fists disappeared inside your heart, didn't it?”

She trembled and spoke in a spiteful ith her cheeks flushed

“Not true”, I lied I wasn't thinking about disproving her, though

“But what are you saying? That sounds like I's in your hands while I shut myself in a safe place, doesn't it-!?”

“It's not like that Okay, maybe it is like that, but, ahh Uhm, you see”

I outstretched my hands to calm the furious Alice down and chose my words

“It's fine that way I think you and I are fine like this”

“What's fine?”

“You're worried because I always end up at the crime scene, but you know-” “I'm not worried, I'm just amazed!” “Don't you occasionally show up there too? That's really worrisome”

“M-mh?”

Alice hugged her teddy bear, leaving only her eyes unhidden

“So, let erous stuff I'm happy to do that for you, because I'm your assistant”

She stamped both white sock-clad feet

“Li lines of yours to your poorly written chronicles!”

“E that for your sake I--”

“Idiot! Don't repeat it!”

Alice hid herself under her mountain of stuffed toys It was a little fun to see her, though I really didn't understand what part of what I said was so e, so I decided to leave that matter alone already

When I finished picking up the e sun of the winter afternoon fully bright

“Fujishi+ain!”

When I went down the eency stairs, the kitchen door of the raht brown hair and lifted eyebrows ca up a black apron to her hips

“Shouldn't you be careful with your attendance? What if you repeat the year?”

“U-uhmm? I have my absences well calculated, so it's okay”, I lied

That's right, it's the third term already At this rate, I won't be able to become a third year student It was just that the results of the investigation of the poould come out today and I wanted to know it as soon as possible, so I ended up skipping all the afternoon classes

“I was absent during ht up!” Ayaka puffed out her chest with pride That made me feel taken aback, and my body stiffened

Yes, fro in a hospital bed Vegetative state Not only those four months were stolen away from her, but also all of her memories

Angel Fix

Those angel wings had harmed her, hurt her

She would no longer be able to re into so words naturally, surprising even myself

“Yeah, so like that Yondai matter, so he has to launder thatmeans?”

“No clue” Ayaka hit her teers and rolled her eyes

“Oh Well, anyway, it seems like Yondaime really needs a hand I can't tell you much more than that”

“That's fine, but”

There was some surprise mixed in Ayaka's tone, and that ood Since what I said wasn't a complete lie, and in fact about 80 of it was the truth,quite a lot lately, I thought I really didn't feel good about deceiving Ayaka

“So it's not particularly detective work, is it? You could coht?”

“Ah-- Well, yeah”

Right, I did say soinally

“Everyone in class were talking about how you're going to becoreet you when they run into you on the corridors! That's so mean”

Yes, that is mean, so don't tell me about it

“I wonder if I should just drop out now”

“What are you saying? No, don't!” Ayaka hituntil the end of the terh the trouble of collecting the prints to hand them over to you and all that”

“I can just pick them up the next day, so isn't it okay?”

“Not if you completely skip that next day!”

I curled up

“And so for you today You weren't there, so she was very troubled”

“Student Council?”

“You're also in the Student Council, I didn't know”

“Aah” Right She didn't know I had joined the Inspection Co for me was probably the head of the coirl?”

“Yes, exactly She ith a girl with long hair that earing a headband showing her forehead They said they were from the Student Council”

Kaoruko-senpai too? That kinda makes want to vanish from the school co like that, but she's so stern that I can't really deal with her

“It seeo to school tomorrow and show up at the Student Council, okay?”

“Okay”

“And Sayuri-sensei said that she wanted to help us studying again I' pretty bad, but let's do our best so we can graduate together!”

“Yeah, let's, I guess”

“I can't hear you!”

“Let's do our best”

Ayaka firmly raised her thumb and then went back to the kitchen

I sat on the bear crate and looked up at the winter sky, sighing

So, gettingparlor is easier for h school This is a serious illness already

The next day during the lunch break, I showed up at the Student Council room The number of people in the Student Council had increased since the last time I had been there, so there was a lot of unfaes, I noticed there were a lot of first year students Neither Kousaka-senpai nor Kaoruko-senpai were there

“Fujishi+ closest to the door eating her bento lookedup “You came all the way here!”

She ran up to me, so I stepped back to the corridor

“You left early yesterday, what happened? Were you feeling bad? Are you okay already?”

“Eh? Y-yeah They toldfor me”

“Ah, that would be me”

Eh? Wasn't it Kousaka-senpai? Well, this girl is certainly small, and Ayaka didn't ask me about my abstract 'rabbit-like' description Was it because of that rabbit-shaped barrette?

At thatin a desk further into the roo-haired first year student

“Chinatsu, Fujishi+irl said, and then she pushed the girl with the rabbit barrette aside and went out to the corridor When her gaze met mine, she made a sullen face

“You're in the Inspection Co!?”

She suddenly thrust her finger in front of me, so I bent backwards

“Kaya-chan, he finally cairl nervously interposed

“You're the head of the co about it!”

“Kaya-chan, you're not even in the Inspection committee, so there's no reason for you to be mad”

“I'm the Student Council president, so it's !”

Student Council president Is she the Student Council president? I see, just as Ayaka said, she was a girl with long hair and a headband, showing her forehead

Right, both Kaoruko-senpai and Kousaka-senpai have long retired already to fully concentrate on their university entrance examinations I borrowed the power of the Student Council a few times because of an incident at the end of the year, so I was under the impression that I would still see those two there

Hereupon, this girl called Chinatsu was now the head of the Inspection coave out a similar aura to that of Kousaka-senpai

She hesitatingly spoke to the student council president:

“We have a favor to ask Fujishi+ma-senpai, so--”

“Chinatsu, be quiet” the president said flatly My jaw dropped at the intense feeling of deja vu

I was dragged to the Inspection room that was beside the Student Council room There was no one in that room It was surrounded by coarse steel shelves, and the heat didn't reach, so it was also unpleasantly cold

“By the way, Fujishi+ma-senpai, you really don't remember us, huh”

Saying that, the president glared at me

“Eeh, well”

I've seen theht?

“I see It's just like Hayano-senpai said He just doesn't care about anything or anyone related to school”

'Hayano' is the former Student Council president, Kaoruko-senpai Seems like there's no decent comments about me at all

“Senpai only came to help out at the Inspection roo like she was about to cry “Even though Kousaka-senpai took the trouble to introduce us! Even though you gave raph!?

“I'm Kenzaki”, the Student Council president said in a sullen manner “Kenzaki Kayako The Student Council President And this is the head of the Inspection committee, Ayukawa Chinatsu She's your superior, so at least remember her name, please”

“I'et anymore, okay?”

I looked at the about what should I say in response

“You're both first years Isn't it tough to be the president and the head of a committee?”

“Second year students like Fujishi+ma-senpai are unreliable”, Kenzaki-san replied iain

“Kaya-chan, this isn't the ti senpai The rabbed Kenzaki-san's arm

Kenzaki-san cleared her throat and looked at ain

“You're right I'm sorry, senpai”

“D-don't worry But, main problem?”

“Senpai, do you deal with co?”

“Excuse me-!?” I unintentionally let out a weird cry

“Wait, Kaya-chan, don't ask it like that!”

“Be quiet, Chinatsu”, Kenzaki-san pushed the short-haired head aside “Fujishi+anization, so you e ht?”

I looked up at the two dust-stained fluorescent la the year, I should just quietly drop out, I decided in my heart I don't want to be thrown into these weird rumors for an extra year

“Err It's nothing like that I'h school student”

“But Chinatsu said--” Kenzaki-san glared at Chinatsu-chan as by her side

“I-I didn't say that! I only said that Fujishi+es all the night shops!”

Isn't that prettyoff!

I felt like I didn't have the energy to explain, but I didn't want the first years to keep spreading that big lie, so I summoned up my patience and spoke:

“You know, Hirasaka-guanization It's roup They're all in their twenties, and I'm not a member, I just help them out from time to time”

“But, they do s like that, don't they?”, Chinatsu-chan asked

“Aah I think so?”

I help Yondaime out with his business really often, but I don't know much about them He's a VIP at lots of clubs, so it wouldn't surprise ed two or three of them

“So you are well inforht?”

Please stop asking like that Do I look like so?

“No, I'm not informed at all What about it?” These two couldn't possibly involved in soht?

“We heard a ruaze,“Someone from this school meets up with An adult man, at karaokes and places like that”

I breathed out from my nose and scratched my head

“That's, uhm Uh, why is the Student Council worried about that?”

“Doesn't it worry you, senpai!?” Kenzaki-san slapped the desk “It's illegal!”

“Uhh, ell”

Coal o proudly preaching about morals

“Uh her mouth to interpose “If she's found out, she'll be suspended from her club activities, the teachers won't shut up about it, and it will be really troublesoht now, the fe really well, so”

Even so, is that so the Student Council should be concerned about?

“And what do you want me to do?”

I noticed after I spoke thathad been extremely cold

“W-well, I ondering if you could use your connections to check up on the karaokes and clubs and all that We still don't know if so or not And if you found so it, you could indirectly warn her”

Do you even kno many karaokes and clubs this city has? I was about to tell her that, but actually, if I asked Yondai

“Please” “Please!”

They both bowed their heads at the same time

“Did anything else happen?”

It's just, noeird It didn't see their noses into so like this just because of their sense of duty as members of the Student Council

Chinatsu-chan and Kenzaki-san exchanged glances and hesitated, staying silent for a moment The first one who decided to finally open her mouth was Kenzaki-san

“Haven't you heard, senpai? About That”

She hesitated h her words, so it was difficult to understand what she was saying, but I had a hunch that I knehat she meant

--She was talking about those assaults

They both explained alternately Since the winter break, there had been several rape attehborhood Two of those incidents had ended in an uproar, so quite a lot of rumors were spread All of the perpetrators had escaped and none of them were arrested

“But, it'sher brows

The victims were all previously flirted at and had accepted irls reported the crimes they would be found out by their parents and their schools, so they could only resign themselves, and the police didn't move

“Do you know the victims?”

When I asked that, both of them shook their heads

“But, there's actually someone as present at the crime scene”

Just when Chinatsu-chan said that, I heard the sound of a door opening behind me

“Sorry I'?”

I turned around upon hearing the voice of a girl, and ure in an awfully short uniforht brown, and she earing flashy lip gloss She covered her ers were adorned with nail art She looked liked one of those stylish girls you usually see loitering around the city center

“Ah, Hana-chan, sorry for calling you all the way here! This is Fujishi+ma-senpai whom I told you about earlier”, Chinatsu-chan said It seeirl had been called on the phone before I caain, she put a plainly frightened expression

“Eh- F-fujishi+umi?”

The fact that a high school girl I wasfor the first time had that impression about me me made me feel depressed

“Senpai, you're famous!”

Chinatsu-chan looked happy for soain, ht brown-haired stepped back to run off the Inspection room

“W-wait, Hana-chan!”

Chinatsu-chan hastily rushed throughto run away

“It's okay, senpai is a tight-lipped person!”

“But”

“Come on, just enter!”

Chinatsu-chan pulled her back into the Inspection roo us Her name was Hishi+da Hanae, and she was Chinatsu-chan and Kenzaki-san's class out with the Inspection committee lately

“Since Fujishi+, there's lot of work piled up” Kenzaki-san said, glaring at me

“Eh? Fujishi+ma-senpai was on the Inspection committee?”

Hishi+da-san widened her eyes

“Yes, but since senpai can't do Inspection work at all, I've been asking you to do the tasks he should be doing Sorry about that!”

Upon hearing Chinatsu-chan's words, Hishi+da-san looked at her and me in turn a few times

“More importantly, Hana-chan, uh if you could talk to senpai about that”

With a look of uneasiness on her face, Hishi+da-san interlanced at me

“Talk? Is that okay?”

“It's fine, you can trust Fujishi+ma-senpai!” Chinatsu-san, what do you know about me? “Senpai is so awesome that not even the police could catch him!”

Chinatsu-chan, that's Kinda wrong Yeah, well, I still don't have a crih I occasionally do so! Look, Hishi+da-san is looking discouraged already

“Mmh” Hishi+da-san pursed her lips “But I was actually just being a rubberneck back then”

“With just the time and the place, Fujishi+ma-senpai will definitely settle this, so don't worry! That's why he's called the No Hint Detective” You got only the first N and the last T right!

“U-uuhm, senpai, so you look for criminals and all that?”

“No, well, I don't think I could go so far, but I s like as the victim, or if she was a student from this school”

In the end, I got carried away because Chinatsu-chan and Kenzaki-san insisted

“Uhate, please don't tell anyone I was the one who spoke”

I nodded at Hishi+da-san's words He could trust me on that one Hishi+da-san's eyes wandered, then she took a deep breath and began speaking while twisting up her light brown hair

“The third day of the New Year, when I went to the karaoke with a friend--”

After school, I went directly to Hirasaka-gumi's office All of the men in black shi+rts were absent, which was unusual, and just Yondaime could be seen inside in his desk

“High school girls that were attacked?”

When he heard what I said, Yondaime knitted his brows

“Youthe third day of the year, or the one that was attacked last week at the hotel behind E-space?”

I widened my eyes Not only he already knew about the incident I was told about, he also knew about another case Right, Chinatsu-chan did say two of the cases had ended up in an uproar

“Aah, uhm, the karaoke one A kouhai from my school happened to see the disturbance”

I didn't inquire about Hishi+da-san's story as there wasn't anything conclusive She was singing with her friends and heard the sound of a glass breaking, and then the loud noise of so When she went out to the corridor, the door at the end was broken, and inside the roohly torn apart who had broken down crying An employee rushed in immediately, but the cri to call the police, but the victi, don't call them”

“I' So what?”

“These girls asked irl was a student from my school, and”

Yondaime snorted

“So no one knoho the girl they attacked was?”

“She said she caught a glance of her uniform, but couldn't see her face clearly There's no way she would know the faces of all the students, anyway”

“Hmph If you want to prevent those crimes, call the whole school to an asse co'”

“Why?” I seriously asked that question As if I could do so like that!

“If they wear their uniforainst their will Or they end up like that girl at the karaoke, mere attempts”

I see I haven't thought about it that wait Wait, that's not the point!

“Err, then, what about the incident at the hotel behind E-space? I don't know about that case, though”

“It was a similar incident”

That other case happened at ht last weekend The receptionist heard a screairl who had collapsed with red strangling marks on her neck and wrists The bed stand and the modular sound system had been knocked over, and the ones who cleaned up the disastrous scene also saw her Since the girl was a high schooler, the hotel didn't contact the police It was indeed a similar incident

“This is just a guess based on ruirl from the student council told me that the criminals could actually be the same person in both cases”

Yondailared at my face in a bad mood

“Do you know the co? The first one or two times are usually consented, then they force them to drink alcohol and suddenly attack them”

“Wow, you're way better informed than me”

As expected fro of the street youth Obviously he would know about that kind of stuff