CH 5

Touko-senpai, the Great Detective (Part 1)

“What do you plan on doing first?” I asked Touko-senpai.

“The first step is to solidify the evidence of their affair. If so, when and where?

“In other words, time, place, and occasion.”

“Yes. And if possible, it would be nice to know how long their relationship has been going on.”

Touko-senpai’s thinking was completely right.

Thinking back to last night, I probably should’ve taken a closer look at Karen’s phone.

The shock just got to me before I could gather more details.

“Can you figure anything else out from their conversation?”

I displayed their message history on my phone again.

“Let me see it again,” said Touko-senpai, reaching out her hand.

She took my phone and looked at the images one by one.

“As far as I can see, I certainly didn’t meet Tetsuya on this date at this time.”

“I didn’t look at all of them either, but as far as I could tell, I wasn’t with Karen at that time either.”

“You didn’t see everything?” asked Touko-senpai with an accusing look in her eyes.

“I couldn’t. What’d you expect? It’s the message history between my own girlfriend and her senior. If I had looked any further, the psychological and emotional damage would have been irreparable.”

“You sure have a weak mind.”

Touko-senpai turned her attention back to my phone, seemingly losing all interest in me.

“That’s the natural reaction! I’ll ask you the same—would you be okay after seeing the record of your own boyfriend flirting with another woman?!” I retorted.

“I wouldn’t be, but right now, that’s unimportant. We’re trying to gather concrete evidence of an affair. We have to look at each clue carefully and examine it properly. What are you going to do if you’re afraid of even this?”

“But it’s my girlfriend! My head started to spin as I read it! I was wondering, what the hell did the time we spent together mean to her?!”

“Don’t be so weak. From now on, you have to make Karen fall in love with you, even more than before. Even if it’s after she has come home from an affair, you have to still say, ‘Welcome home! You must be tired. I’ll make you a warm cup of coffee.’ You have to be able to act like you’re always hugging her gently.”

“I can’t… do that,” I spit, looking down in shame.

“You won’t be of any help if you can’t. You can do whatever you want. I’m going to carry out my plan regardless. I’ll find someone else to help me.”

“Huh?”

“I still need someone who says, ‘I’ll spend the night with you.’ at the end. Without that person, I won’t be able to get my payback onto Tetsuya properly.”

Does that mean that Touko-senpai will have sex with someone other than me?

No, she can’t.

That role is non-negotiable.

I’ve got to play the role of knocking that bastard Kamokura down to the bottom of despair.

At the moment when Touko-senpai shakes off Kamokura for the last time, it has to be me who is holding her in front of him.

If I desire that, I must endure whatever it takes.

It’s just as Touko-senpai said—I can’t get my payback if I’m not thinking straight!

“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight. I’ll do it. Let me get payback along with you, Touko-senpai!”

Touko-senpai raised her gaze to me again.

This time, she seemed satisfied with my response.

“If you say so, I have no objection. You are the only one who knows of this secret at the moment.”

“Anyways… have you figured out anything yet?”

Touko-senpai looked at the phone again.

“Yes. It seems that the two of them meet mostly on Monday or Thursday nights. It seems that they are avoiding holidays because we’d be with them. On Wednesdays, too. It seems Tetsuya avoids me since my classes end early.”

Her sharpness and calmness was something to be admired, especially in this kind of situation.

In such a short time, she had already narrowed down the days when they were seeing each other.

“Monday or Thursday night? So if you keep an eye on them then…”

“It’s not that simple. When you’re having an affair, you both have to be aware of your surroundings to some extent. It’s impossible for them not to notice us following them.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Yes. It’s certain that men, and definitely women, will notice. Women are naturally very sensitive about whether people are looking at them or not. For better or worse, but I digress. There’s no way a woman who’s about to go out with some other guy won’t notice her boyfriend following her.”

“So what do we do?”

“I’d at least like to know where they’re meeting.”

“Doesn’t Kamokura-senpai live alone?”

Most of us commuted to university from our parents’ homes, but Kamokura-senpai lives alone in Tokyo, probably.

“He has a rented apartment in Kinshicho.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s where they’ll meet.”

“Probably not. Tetsuya rents that apartment together with his brother, so that’s why he can’t usually invite girls over. And Tetsuya is a very cautious guy. If he brings another woman into his apartment, he’d never know when I might find out, right?”

I see. In that case, Touko-senpai is probably right.

“But don’t you think they meet at different places on different days?”

“Maybe so, maybe not. It is often said that cheating tends to follow a pattern.”

“Why?”

“When a couple has been together for a long time, their dates become a pattern. In the case of an affair, it should be easy to see that. He should never go to places he usually goes with his girlfriend, and he should avoid places where they might have mutual friends.”

“If that’s the case, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro are the most likely places to hang out, since they’re all near the university…”

“I wonder. I don’t know, but I don’t think there’s much chance of that either. The more people there are in the downtown area, the less conspicuous it is, but on the other hand, you never know who’s watching you there.”

“Then isn’t there an impossibly large range to scan?”

“No, not at all. When you have an affair, you usually don’t have a lot of time, because it’d be hard to come up with an excuse to your actual lover about what you were doing. So, if you’re on your way to school, or on your way to and from your part-time job, or at an inconspicuous station on your route that you don’t use very often, then… ??? …!!!”

Touko-senpai suddenly choked on her words.