Hearing Panda-Ojisan saying something about his sister used to work as a part time private investigator, and she even was the one in-charge of the mass disappearing case of Class 1-1 that happened in 1996, this makes Wataru overwhelmed.
"Onesan..." faintly, he mumbled in his lips.
Looking back at the conversation between Karina and Panda-Ojisan, Shinji spots the significant keypoint, "Does this mean, you sister, she went missing only after everyone in Class 1-1 disappeared?" indeed, that was what Panda-Ojisan revealed to them, "Did she disappear because she investigated the case? Why didn't she disappear together with the others? Why was she left out?" driven by curiosity, Shinji keeps his questions coming up one after another.
"I don't know..." shaking his head lightly, Wataru says, "I never heard my sister mention anything about working as an investigator... I need time to process this information." he closes his eyes as he wipes his face with his palms along a heavy sigh.
While Shinji just keeps it going, "If the headmaster's affair and the mass disappearing case were connected, then Murakawa-kocho could be the one who was possessed with the biggest motive." he surmises, "Because the faces of the dead students..."
Abruptly, Wataru turns to Shinji in an astonished face, "You saw the dead students? How did you see them? They've been missing since twenty years ago!" he yelled, but he still hopes Shinji saw someone he always wanted to see, hence he grabs tight onto Shinji's wrists, "D-did you see my sister?" he asked.
"Wataru, calm down, I'll tell you." shirking Wataru's hands off, Shinji leans close to Wataru, he whispers, "You must believe me. Last night in the Forbidden Building... I saw them."
"You saw them...?" squinting into Shinji's black eyes, Wataru asked.
"Yes, before I heard you playing the viola in the music room, I've been to the classroom of Class 1-1." Shinji unveiled, "Including the teacher, everyone in the class has no mouth. I found viola strings with dry blood and rotten fresh all over the place, I think their mouths were sewed up by viola strings." he mentioned, "Except for Tomori Kokoro."
"What...?" holding himself back from making a retch inside the restaurant, Wataru pats on his chest rapidly, he then comes up with his main concern, "How about my sister? Did you see her?"
Unfortunately, Shinji shakes his head, "I don't know, it was too frightening, I did not see everyone's face clearly."
In disappointment, Wataru sighs, he then suddenly thought of what Shinji mentioned earlier, "What did you say about the motive the headmaster possessed?"
Taking a slurps from his soft drink, Shinji first cures his thirstiness, then he continues to tell, "I was saying, if the headmaster's affair and the mass disappearing case were connected like you said, Murakawa-kocho could be the one who was possessed with the biggest motive." he surmises, "Because Tomori Kokoro was his real affair, and she was the only one in Class 1-1 whose mouth was not sewed up."
With a sharp gasp, Wataru squeezes the muscles on his face, "Don't tell me the headmaster sewed their mouths up to prevent them from spreading the rumors?" it's horrible!
However, Shinji shakes his head, it seems like he has a different idea, "No, not the rumors. The rumors were already spreading, and it wasn't the content that Murakawa-kocho most afraid of." he made his conjecture, and he unveils, "It wasn't the rumors he wanted to hide, It's the truth." he said, "He wanted to seal their lips up so they won't spread the truth of him having an affair with a young student."
Taking a few seconds to process, Wataru ponders, "If it's in this case, then does that mean, the whole class knew the truth?" there, he mentioned his concern, "The truth of Tomori Kokoro being the headmaster's affair instead of the teacher, Yukimuro Shizuka?"
"Most likely." with a nod, Shinji says, "And after that, he might have kidnapped them, the mass disappearing; and killed them all, the mass slaughter."
It sounds rather possible, but there is one tangled point in Shinji's hypothesis. Shinji said the headmaster did not sew Tomori Kokoro's mouth up, but, if Tomori Kokoro was involved in the mass disappearing and mass slaughter, doesn't that mean she was kidnapped and killed by the headmaster too?
There, Wataru voices out, "Why did the headmaster not sew Tomori Kokoro's mouth up, but he kidnaped and killed her?"
Pouting his lips, Shinji shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe Murakawa-kocho went insane afterwards."
"Tsk, that's too weird, so clueless." clicking his tongue, Wataru ponders. After a few seconds, he comes up with an idea, "Izaki Shinji-kun, you can see them anyway, we will go into the Forbidden Building one more time tonight." he suggested.
"But Wataru." however, Shinji sneers at him in disdain, "Aren't you the one saying a student entering the Forbidden Building is prohibited?"
Reluctantly, Wataru simply finds an excuse, "You're not a student after class, you are a tantei." he said. Yet, he is rather serious about finding out the truth of her sister's disappearance, "We have to find out the truth and expose the vicious deeds of the evil headmaster! The dependents of the victims deserve the truth!"
With a complacent smile, Shinji nods, "Since you approved, why not?"
There, Wataru proposes, "I'll go back to the school by myself, you should go home first. Take a bath, eat your dinner, and meet me at my room tonight."
With a last slurp of the drink, Shinji says with a smile, "Got it."
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As soon as Shinji arrived at his house, he went to take his bath immediately as Wataru said. He then rushes to the dinner table to take his meal. Shinji's mother has prepared some Onigiri for Shinji, all his favourite flavors, Maguro, Okaka, Tenmusu...
As Shinji sits down and starts munching at the Onigiri, Shinji's mother comes near him with a rug in her hands. It seems like she has something to tell Shinji in the middle of her house chore.
"Where have you been since last night?" she asked, concerning the fact that Shinji did not come back home last night since he went out with his bicycle.
While Shinji gives his mother a silly smile, he says as he munches, "Eh yeeyia eih uh wuwiyo hwarck."
"What are you saying?" with a sneer, Shinji's mother suggests, "Swallow the food in your mouth first."
Swallowing the food down his throat, Shinji pats rapidly on his chest, coughs twice, then finally says, "I said, the teacher gave us tuition class."
"Tuition class, are you sure?" squeezing her eyebrows, Shinji's mother gives Shinji's face a suspicious look, "My lazy son stayed overnight for a tuition class?"
"Okachan, I'm hardworking, you just haven't realized." with another silly smile, Shinji covered his lie up.
"Is that so?" Shinji's mother chuckles, she says, "Then I'll try to figure out bit by bit about my son."
With a nod, Shinji smiles at her, he then informs, "I have a tuition class tonight too."
Putting down the rug, Shinji's mother turns and heads to the kitchen, she mentions, "I'll pack you some cookies, I baked them this afternoon, you can eat it together with your friends and teacher."
"Thanks, okachan! You're the best!" there, turning to the kitchen, Shinji cheered at his mother's back.
After a few minutes, as Shinji is done tucking in his dinner, he goes back to his room immediately. Lazily, Shinji lays on his bed as soon as he enters his bedroom. He stares straight at the old ceiling in his room, he is not thinking about anything, but the face of a girl suddenly appears in his mind. It is Tomori Kokoro. He starts to ponder, a girl like Tomori Kokoro who looked so pure to him, it is still hard to believe that she had an affair with the headmaster, it is rather shocking.
Not knowing how long he has been dazing in his room, Shinji suddenly gets up. Just by the moment he is about to walk out of the room, a book comes into the corner of his eyes. It is the commemoration book of 1996 Shinji snuck out from the teacher's office. I should return it to Ishiya-sensei, he thought, hence he picks it up and leaves the room. As he proceeds to the door, he sees the cookies his mother prepared for him. His mother packed them up in a blue metal box. With a pleased smile, Shinji grabs it and brings it with him. He puts everything inside the basket of his bicycle, then, he leaves the house.
"Ittekimasu!"