CH 83

Ibuki stared at me without averting his gaze. It’d be pretty troublesome if I got into a fight with him here. I thought that, but I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was stare right back at Ibuki.

“Is that so… I understand…”

Ibuki murmured. I didn’t know what or how he understood. But Ibuki immediately moved.

“Everything written here is wrong! I’ll meticulously investigate whoever wrote these lies. And whoever’ll spread those lies from now on can face me! Remember that!”

Saying that, Ibuki neared the newspaper to rip it up. I hurriedly grabbed his hand to stop him. It’d be a problem if he destroyed the paper now.

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“Please wait. Do not destroy it…”

“Why!? Rip it to pieces and throw it away!”

The agitated Ibuki wanted to be violent. Even though my opponent was a first-grader, it’d be a problem if he needlessly got violent. I pressed Ibuki’s left hand close to his body, and caught Ibuki’s extended right hand.

“Mbyv kp obu R yx vlzzkdt usw vs oykv. Mbkp kp kxrsavydv rassq. Ebyv yal usw rzyddkdt vs es kq usw elpvasu vbkp rassq?”

“Xb, xbx… wxx… wdelapvsse.”

Rcwjk, obs R oyp rkddkdt qasx clbkde, pweeldzu clnyxl sclekldv. Ebyv oyp vbkp? Tl oyp clkdt ralvvu esnkzl vseyu.

“Rq usw wdelapvyde, vbld kv kp qkdl.”

R zlv ts sq Rcwjk pkdnl bl’e yzalyeu nyzxle esod, yde vbld…

“Xb! Eykv! R esd’v wdelapvyde! R esd’v tlv kv! R pvkzz esd’v tlv kv!”

Tl pweeldzu tsv ytkvyvle ytykd. Ebyv sd lyavb oyp vbkp? R eked’v jdso obyv Rcwjk oydvle vs es. Jwv R jdlo vbyv Rcwjk oswze elpvasu vbl lhkeldnl kq R zlqv bkx yzsdl, obknb oswze cl y rasczlx.

“Lso! Ebyv es usw oydv vs es!? Vzlypl nyzx esod!”

“Mhm… just a little more… close contact… like this…”

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When I pinned down the agitated Ibuki from behind, he became meek again. What was this? Maybe he did that because he didn’t think that he’d be able to free himself from my hold? But if I let him go and he got agitated again, that’d be a problem… Having said that, I wasn’t going to pin him down forever… what was this guy doing…

“Please calm down. Do not be violent anymore, yes?”

“Oh! Oh! Wait! Too early! If you let go of me now, I’ll get violent again! Just a little more! Just wait a little more!”

“What?”

I didn’t get it at all. What was he telling me to wait for… We were just talking about Ibuki agreeing to be calm, right? Our conversations weren’t matching up at all. What was this guy saying? Should I just knock him out? He’d certainly be calmed if he lost consciousness, right? Right. Let’s do that. If I aim for his jaw…

“Say my name!”

“What?”

What was this guy doing? What was he saying all of a sudden? I didn’t get it at all. Was he the fake version of the guy with seven scars on his chest1?

“Hurry!”

“…Konoe Ibuki.”

He was being pretty annoying, so I called his name like he wanted. But Ibuki wasn’t satisfied with that.

“A little more… like you’re whispering in my ear! And you don’t have to say my last name! Just my first name’s fine!”

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What on earth was he talking about? I didn’t understand at all… But if he’d get quiet, then I’d do it. It was just calling his name…

“…Ibuki.”

“Hwah!”

“Uwah!”

The moment I said his name, Ibuki jumped suddenly. What was this? I didn’t get it at all. All I knew was that he didn’t like it. Let’s leave this guy alone.

When I let go of him, Ibuki limply fell to the floor. He really didn’t like it… what was this guy…

“Umm… Kujou-san… Sorry for saying this while you’re playing with Ibuki, but… this’ll become proof if we leave it be?”

Enju looked at the crumpled, seated Ibuki while he talked to me. It looked like Enju and the rest didn’t know what to do and were just watching the situation from afar. If Enju was Ibuki’s best friend, then he should’ve stepped in to save him earlier…

“The newspaper stuck in this place has the crowd’s fingerprints, so it cannot become proof, correct?”

Satsuki-chan, who’d finally neared us, said that. It looked like everyone had stepped away from us and was watching since Ibuki didn’t like it. Why didn’t they come in to save him earlier…

“It is true that this is not proof of their fingerprints. Even if the criminal’s fingerprints were left behind, they could simply say that the fingerprints had been left there after the newspaper had been hung up.”

“Then…”

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Azami-chan looked at the newspaper, looking worried. She must’ve been thinking that this held no value as evidence. But that was a big misunderstanding.

“This may be true for the front, but there is an extremely low possibility that fingerprints on the back of the newspaper were left there after it was stuck up. I cannot say that it is complete proof, but that it may be supporting evidence to corroborate the main evidence. Most importantly, I am not saying that the proof is in the fingerprints contained on the newspaper.”

“Huh?”

“That is…?”

Everyone had simply thought that the fingerprints on this newspaper were the proof. But that was a big mistake. In reality, the newspaper itself was the proof.

“Sakuya-chan, you know quite well.”

Mizuki was the only one who nodded, looking like he understood what I was saying. I felt a little annoyed when he acted that way, but… from my perspective, you were a child, but… it irritated me when he acted like he knew stuff even though he was just a child. Well, we’d get nowhere if I said that, so I just continued speaking.

“This newspaper is clearly complex. It collected visuals from a large amount of cameras and it was made on a computer; this would not be the work of a child.”

It wasn’t just a big paper that a child wrote on and stuck pictures to. This was something designed on a computer with detailed objects receiving appropriate design. That was why, rather than it being a newspaper that a rather smart child had made, it was more like something an official bulletin, newspaper, or magazine would create. Even the way it incited others was clearly professional.

Even though more and more children were able to use computers these days, I couldn’t imagine that a kid would be able to make this perfect poster all on their own. They would only be able to do it on Sunday, so there was also the fact that the kid would have to be able to make this in only one day.

“The editing, composition, photos, and images gathered from the cameras are at a quality that cannot be achieved without proper help. This is a professional’s work. At the very least, this cannot be achieved without professional help.”

“Understood…”

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“So you’re saying to look for those collaborators?”

After I went into an explanation, everyone tilted their heads confusedly.

“They prepared such large paper for printing and used equipment that could print that paper. We can even learn who manufactured the paper and ink, who bought it, and what equipment was used to print it.”

“Oh!”

“Is that so?”

Well, I couldn’t say that for certain. But in some cases, you could distinguish the factory where the ink and paper were made and where it was sold. With special paper, there were special cases where you could even tell who bought it.

“This newspaper was not smaller pieces of paper pasted together; instead, it was printed on one large paper. There were quite a few conditions to print it, like the usage of this printing paper and a printer that could print on it.”

This newspaper was quite a few sheets big. It couldn’t be printed on a normal household’s computer and printer. That was the same for a fax machine attached to the printer. A paper this large would need its own preparation. It was quite elaborately made, too, so there might need to be a special printing job for it.

“I see! Then we should take care of it and send it to be appraised!”

“Yuzuriha-chan…”

Was Yuzuriha-chan watching too many dramas or something? Appraisal… well, that was fine, but…

“Anyway, wear gloves before removing it so that the fingerprints will not wipe off, and carefully remove it so that it will not tear. And… if anyone attempts to suddenly dispose of it after hearing this conversation…”

“Oh… that person might be the criminal or working with them!”

Azami-chan took over speaking for me and answered. Hearing that, the onlookers took another step back. They probably couldn’t bear it if they were accused to be the criminal.

In reality, I’d said a lot of things that were sort of similar, but it wasn’t that simple in real life. If the police lent us all their power and investigated, we’d probably be able to find them with this much evidence. But we weren’t police, and I wasn’t planning to notify the police on this matter. That was why we might not even catch the criminal if we left the poster alone.

But… if the criminal was here, or if one of their allies was here and told them about it, they’d probably be panicked. If they moved while being panicked, they’d make mistakes easily. Catching the criminal or making it public was another thing; putting pressure like this was a good idea. 

“Sakuya-sama! Are these gloves okay?”

“Oh… uh… well, it is probably fine…”

I gave Azami-chan, who was holding satin gloves that cut down on UV rays, a vague response. I didn’t know if that was okay or not. But that wasn’t really a problem. I didn’t really care about fingerprints or something. In the first place, I wouldn’t be appraising it…

But if the criminal saw this, they’d start panicking. I wanted that to happen, so it was fine for this to happen. Incidentally… just in case, if, for example, we could prove that there were only one set of fingerprints on the back… I could use that as supporting evidence even if that didn’t identify the criminal.

Even so, who put this thing and when?

It wasn’t when I went to school in the morning. That was undeniable. It wasn’t when Azami-chan’s group of kids came to school either. If it had happened then, someone would have let me know. In that case, it was common sense to think that it must’ve been stuck up after we’d come to school.

It was hard to think that other students who knew a little bit about me or parents who’d first seen me at the sports festival would do that. And, when you thought of when they stuck the newspaper up on the bulletin board, it’d have to be someone who knew when me and the people around me went to school and stuck it up after that time.

The possibility that the criminal was someone who originally knew of me instead of someone who’d occasionally heard of me was high. And they’d taken pictures of me and my classmates as well as what happened after I called Hagiwara Shion, so weren’t they targeting me from the beginning?

They were hostile towards me, targeted me from the start, and aimed for me on the day of the sports festival, where cameramen could enter. From the way the newspaper was made and edited, a whole family was out to get me.

My word… this had become troublesome… Searching for the criminal itself was troublesome, but I couldn’t be saddled by something I didn’t do in real life.

This world was cruel to Lady Sakuya. Something like this had happened, and if I left it alone, I was scared that people would think badly of Lady Sakuya again. There was no certain solution, but I couldn’t keep silent because of that…

“Lady Sakuya, you have called, yes?”

“Momiji, you have come at a good time.”

When Momiji and the others I’d called had arrived, I explained the situation to them. I did make it sound like a bunch of people apart from Momiji were coming. Those others were butlers, maids, and drivers: four in all.

I told the four of them to photograph it carefully so that their fingerprints wouldn’t show up and the evidence wouldn’t be compromised. This was important physical evidence for the criminal. I didn’t know what the criminal would do after they heard the conversation earlier.

“That kind of thing is…”

“Understood! It will be good to send this for appraisal!”

No, no… driver… did you also watch too many dramas? Appraisal was a thing… Well, okay…

“Then, leave that to us.”

“Yes! Please leave that to us!”

“We will protect you to our dying breaths!”

“And we will absolutely catch the criminal!”

No, no… you know… this is not that extravagant… Well, okay… If they said that, the criminal would probably be panicking. 

“Then… an unthinkable thing has occured, but let us eat lunch.”

“That is true…”

“Even so, we will not forgive the criminal!”

“We will take them to task!”

The newspaper was also removed and seized as evidence. The butler was already keeping a tight watch over it with cameras rolling. There’d probably be no developments on that front. Nothing would happen soon, so let’s eat lunch at the cafeteria. Everyone replied to my words and started going away from the entrance, then…

“Umm, Kujou-san… I’m sorry, but can you help me return Ibuki?”

Enju talked to me, and I stopped in place.

“Return Konoe-sama?”

I didn’t know what Enju was saying. If Ibuki’s group would return Ibuki themselves, then fine. I didn’t care about it.

“Ibuki still hasn’t returned to consciousness after what you’ve done earlier, Kujou-san. He won’t return to consciousness without you, so could you help?”

I wasn’t involved. You think I care? was what I wanted to say, but… when I looked over, Ibuki was still crumpled in that sitting posture. Wouldn’t he wake up if I kicked him?

“Even though you say that, do you not have the power to lift someone like him up yourself? Hirohata-sama, what about simply carrying him on your shoulder?”

“No, I don’t need to carry him. If Kujou-san says this, it’ll be fine.”

“What?”

Saying that, Enju mumbled some nonsense into my ear.

“Why must I say such things?!”

“But you’re the one who did this to Ibuki, right, Kujou-san?”

Hrmmph! Did I care!? Ibuki became like this by himself! It wasn’t my fault!

But… Ibuki had definitely become like this in front of a huge crowd of students. If I left Ibuki alone like this, something like that newspaper might be put up again. …it couldn’t be helped. This was something I had to do…

Just once. I just had to say this once! If this didn’t fix it in the first place, I’d send Enju flying. I didn’t care that he was the weak Snow White Prince. I’d punch him. I swore that, glared at Enju, went behind Ibuki, and whispered in his ear.

“Konoe-sama… shall we have lunch together?”

“I’ll go! I’ll go right now!”

“Uwah!”

When I called out to him, Ibuki jumped up. Wasn’t this guy stunned earlier? Well, fine. It looked like he’d been revived, so I’d leave him alone.

“Now, let us all head to the cafeteria.”

“Oi Sakuya! We were going to eat lunch together, right? Let’s go outside! Now!”

*sigh*… how troublesome… Enju had told me to say that, but I wasn’t seriously going to eat lunch with Ibuki.

“I only said that because you were stunned, Konoe-sama, and Takatsukasa-sama had told me to say that so you would return. I was not planning to accompany you to lunch.”

“Huh! Hang on! Wait!”

It seemed like Ibuki was saying something, but I didn’t listen to him and went to the cafeteria with everyone like usual.