CH 10

Cheating site paparazzi strategy (Second half 1)

TL: FurbyED: DannY

>

The day Kamokura Tetsuya and Mitsumoto Karen had made arrangements for their love affair secret meeting.

Yuu had followed Kamokura on his way back from school.

However, he lost track of him at Akihabara.

When Yuu informed Touko he had confirmed that Kamokura had taken the Yamanote Line with direction to Ueno, she told him, ‘we need to talk’, and they then met in Akihabara

“By the way, what did you mean when you said you wanted to talk?”

I started by asking her.

“Yeah. Thanks to your message, I believe we can finally determine the place where the two of them are likely headed to. I wanted us to go and verify it together.”

Touko-senpai pulled out a tablet from her bag. In it, she displayed a route map for the metropolitan area and laid the tablet on top of the table.

“Our university is located between Nakano and Kouenji, and the train station that Tetsuya and Karen are using is Nakano Station, which of course we use too.”

Not speaking a word, I stared at the route map displayed atop the table. 

“Tetsuya’s apartment is in Kinshichou. That’s why he only takes the train from the Soubu Line. Meanwhile, Karen is living in her parent’s home, which is in Koshigaya, was it?”

“That’s right. Normally, when coming to school, she takes a train from Koshigaya to Kitasenju and then transfers to another train at Akihabara.”

Hearing that, Touko-senpai nodded.

“I believe that Karen-san has three different ‘routes from school to her house’. One is the one you just mentioned. The second is going from Ikebukuro and passing through Shinjuku. The third one is ‘taking the Hanzoumon Line from Kinshichou and going to Koshigaya’.”

“She told me that despite being comfortable, because the transfer of trains on Kinshichou was a bit slow she had changed to her present route.”

“I see. I only thought ‘maybe this is it’ because Tetsuya’s apartment is in Kinshichou. But after your report today, Isshiki-kun, I believe that option is unlikely.”

“Touko-senpai, where do you think the two of them are meeting?”

“My guess would be somewhere near to Nippori, maybe?”

Touko-Senpai pointed at the route map.

“From what I investigated, the furthest the two of them would go under these circumstances would be someplace next to the Yamanote Line, ok? And going in order by which stations have the most love hotels, it would be Shin’ookubo, Shinjuku-Ikebukuro, Nippori, Shibuya-Uguisudani.”

As you’d expect from Touko-senpai.

She’d already taken many different kinds of data into account.

Just what you’d expect from the student with ‘the best marks of all sophomores in the Computer Science major’.

“We can exclude Shibuya from the list since it’s not on their route to school. Same goes for all three of Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro because the chances of them meeting with students from our university are high. If someone saw the two of them walking into the love hotel areas there, that would definitely become a rumor.”

“I see. Which means that, based on the fact that Kamokura-senpai changed lines at Akihabara, the possibilities of it being Nippori or Uguisudani are high, correct?”

“That’s right. Given that the two of them are students, they won’t have much leeway money-wise, so they wouldn’t want to spend it on going to places that incur unnecessary transfer fares.”

“Between Nippori and Uguisudani, which one would they choose to go to?”

“I don’t know, but… If it were me, I’d choose Nippori, I guess. It may be that Nippori gives me less vibes of a place people would go for a love hotel. It’s even been introduced as a gourmet spot before.”

“In that case, we should start by focusing on Nippori. With that in mind, what will we do after this? Do we stake out at Nippori Station on Monday, which is when they’re most likely to meet again?”

“Problem is, Nippori Station has both north and south ticket gates. The south gate only has one exit to the west side, but the north gate has two exits, one to the west side and another to the east side. Even if the two of us stood guard at different locations, there would still remain one unmanned place.”

Touko-senpai once again operated her tablet and displayed the floor plans of Nippori Station.

There were indeed 3 different exits in it.

“What if we stood guard from the ticket gates?”

However, Touko-senpai shook her head to the side.

“That’s not possible. Standing watch at the ticket gate for someone makes you stand out too much. In the first place, if there was someone standing right in front of the ticket gate, people would unconsciously focus their sights on them. If that person happened to be someone you know, you’re sure to find them out.”

Is that how it works? I had never really paid any attention to it.

That moment, Ishida’s face came to my mind.

“Touko-senpai. You remember that a while back I told you I had talked to Ishida about this matter? What would you say to having him help us stand guard? If it’s him, I can say he can be trusted and be of help for us.”

Touko-senpai pondered the matter for a while. After which,

“There may be no other option but that. Okay. I’ll try talking about it with Kazumi too. She shall consider asking for their help depending on the situation.”

She gave her approval.