After the first day I encountered Yagi Izumi at school, I went home with a new target.
"Miwa, I need you to do me a favor."
"Depends on the favor."
"I need you to gather all the information you have on an individual." Miwa was neither perplexed by the idea nor was she confident in her understanding.
"Who is this individual?"
"Please get me all the knowledge you have about Shibata Tamae."
"Does this have to do with your current assignment?"
"Yes, it does."
"How will me giving you this info help you accomplish your mission?"
"Trust me, this is supplementary information that will assist in the escorting of Yagi Izumi into the afterlife."
Miwa is a sucker for extended vocabulary. And food.
"Very well. I'll send you all the information I can gather on Shibata Tamae."
"One more thing. You can watch the replay of moments up to someone's death, right?"
"I can, and I can show it to others. That's why you were able to see me laughing at the replay of your death when you first died."
"Can you play the 'footage' you have of Yagi Izumi's death?"
"Why does it matter?"
"Please just do it if you can."
The playback starts with Izumi sitting in a classroom alone with her lunch. She didn't move from her seat. She was just eating. Before she even died, the playback has confirmed that something was off. Izumi didn't commit suicide. Seconds later, she seemingly collapsed for no reason. Looking at the replay, she definitely wasn't choking. Everything seemed totally normal. She was unconscious in her chair, when the sound of a door opening could be heard. Then, the projection became unstable, and it was impossible to see anything. When the image came back, Izumi was gone. Then the replay ended.
Miwa stated "Huh. It's quite rare for a death projection to be incomplete."
"Why is it incomplete?"
"The way spirit projections of death work is similar to spirit premonitions. My death replays are just a type of spirit 'hindsight'. There are others who can watch replays of anything they have enough information about, I just happen to oversee death. Anyway, premonitions are the opposite of hindsight. Premonitions are replays of what is to happen, conversely hindsight is a replay of what has come to pass. Spirit premonitions are showing the 'future', but it is entirely possible for actions made by people or natural events to change the present and prevent that premonition from happening. When a premonition is going to be changed, it will black out and be hard to see, making it 'incomplete'. The same can happen with hindsight, meaning the replay you saw is what Izumi's death was supposed to be, but someone took actions to change how her death unfolded, which made the replay impossible to see for that moment."
"That's really convoluted, overly complicated, and inconvenient. The replay broke when someone was walking in on Izumi after she fainted."
"Why is that so bad?"
"Because the story I heard is that she committed suicide by jumping off of the school roof. Clearly, that isn't true. Someone walked in on Izumi after she collapsed, and she was gone after. That couldn't have been a coincidence. Also, it doesn't help that we have no visual on who came in after she collapsed."
"Why are you trying to play detective?"
"Because I feel bad for the girl. If her death was covered up, she and everyone else deserve to know the truth. She also doesn't remember how she died, while I do. Plus, this is a lot more fun than approaching her and saying 'I have come to take you to the afterlife.' then axing her. Who knows, if I find out the truth and she can get her memories of death back, she may move to the afterlife without my intervention."
"I couldn't tell you Yuji, I have no experience dealing with spirits using that approach."
"We'll find out."
The next day came, and I went to talk about what I was up to with Izumi. "Hey there Yuji."
"Hey. So I found out something very interesting. You didn't kill yourself."
"How do you know?"
"I know a spirit who can watch the deaths of others. She showed me your death, and it wasn't you jumping from the school roof like it was said to be. You suddenly collapsed while eating a meal."
"Really? Do you have any more information than that?"
"After you collapsed, someone came in the room. The replay of your death cut out after the door opened, so I have no lead on who it was. Whoever it was, they're suspicious, because after the playback was clear again, you were gone. I suspect that person is the culprit, the timing was too nice. You were probably poisoned."
"Huh, maybe. Hey Yuji, are you free later today?"
"Sorry, I'm not. I'm meeting up with the teacher who supposedly found your body to have her give her testimony."
"Too bad. I'd like for you to stay and talk with me for a while sometime."
Izumi was blushing again.
I felt really bad at that moment, for not telling her my true goal, and because there probably won't ever be an opportunity for us to talk a while.
"Yeah, sometime."
I parted ways with Izumi for the day, and skipped class to visit Ms. Shibata.
However, I underestimated Miwa's intelligence network. She had sent me everything there is to know about that woman. Age, relationship status (single, always has been), entire medical background, favorite color, food preferences, entire family and extended family information, even her home address. Did Miwa trust me that much?
I went to visit Kanazumi High, the school that Ms. Shibata was now teaching at. I stepped into the reception office and told the lady there "I'm here on business to see Ms. Shibata Tamae. I'm a student from the school she taught at before she transferred here."
The receptionist told me "Ms. Shibata is on break right now, I'll ask her to come down."
She picked up her land line phone and paged someone.
I heard "Mrs. Shibata, you have a visitor who's here to see you. He says his name is Sasaki Yuji."
It was hard to hear from the other end, but I heard her say to the receptionist in a very excited tone "Seriously? Is he really here?"
She said back "Yes, he is."
I heard a muffled "I'll be right there" before a loud door slam, a few footsteps, then the call got ended.
Several seconds later, another beautiful teacher was brought into my life. She was two or three inches shorter than me, slim figure, short wavy silver hair, glasses, considerably decent bust, timid personality. However, for our first time meeting, she acted very lively around me, as if we had known each other forever.
"Yuuuji!"
She ran to me with her arms open and gave me a bug.
I whispered into her ear "Thanks for the warm welcome, but please consider what you're doing and where we are right now."
"Sorry. I'm just really excited to see you!"
"Okay then. Well, is it okay if I wait here until the school day is over, then we can talk?"
"Of course."
After she left to finish up her class for the day, I had an interesting conversation with the receptionist lady.
"Is she usually that energetic?"
"Never. She's usually really shy, and she often has a hard time teaching or keeping her class in check because of that. She's also been constantly down in the dumps for a good year. This is the first time I've ever seen her so happy. She must be really excited to see you."
"I don't know why, we've never met before. I'm here strictly on business."
Said the boy a high school uniform.
"Then why did she hug you if you're strangers?"
"Beats me. I don't know her, but she must know me."
"That's odd."
"Well, I plan to figure it out once I talk to her."
"Hey kid, do you have a girlfriend?"
When I heard the receptionist ask me that question, visions of Noriko and Rin drawing weapons on each other, Nakano putting a box cutter to my throat, and Ayumi subtly flirting with me all ran through my head.
"No."
"Maybe you could get along with Ms. Shibata. She's a nice lady, but she's lonely and she's never been in a relationship. Plus you aren't her student, and she's still young. I have no reason to say it wouldn't work out. It seems she's also taken a liking to you."
"I don't think that's-"
"Take good care of her, okay?"
I sighed.
"Got it."
I patiently waited for the school day to end.
"Hi again Yuji!"
"Hello there, Ms. Shibata."
"Please call me Tamae."
"Alright Tamae, how about we head to a cafe? I have some things I want to discuss with you, and it'll be my treat."
"That sounds wonderful."
She had no idea that I had her pegged as a potential murderer.
But why was she so enthusiastic to be hanging out with a high school kid? I hadn't figured it out yet.
Cut to the cafe. We're chatting over some nice coffee.
"I'm so glad that we got to meet again Yuji."
"I'm sorry for being rude, but I don't remember ever meeting you before today."
"You don't remember? We met on the first day of school last year. Does anything ring a bell?"
"Hmm, I remember that before the day started, I ran into a very pretty woman who wasn't wearing the normal uniform walking around. She slipped because she was wearing high heels, but I caught her just before she fell, and I helped her pick up her stuff. Then she asked me where the faculty office was, and I gave her directions. I don't remember a whole lot about what she looked like."
"Yes! That's it!"
"That's it?"
"Yes. That was me you helped that day."
I thought about it, and she did look similar to the faint image of that woman I had in my mind. Still, any cute teacher could have looked like her.
"Is that so?"
"Yes it is."
"Well, I'm glad I could help you out then. But there's a different reason I brought you here."
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry if this is a tough subject for you to hear about or discuss, but I'm here about the death of Yagi Izumi. You were the one who found her body, yes?"
"...Yes. I did."
Her cheerful mood turned converse very fast, as expected when confronted with such a subject.
"I see."
It was time for the ultimate test. It was time to determine how good I was at talking to single women in their mid-to-late twenties.
"Pardon my asking, but is it okay if we took this conversation to your place? I would like to be in a private area before I share any more information."
Her face was as red as a beet.
"I was hoping we could move a little slower, but I like that you're getting right down to it-"
"Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea or disrespected you in any way. I just want to be in a private area to discuss this subject."
I was ready to use my finishing move. I inched closer to her by the second.
"I'd also like to use the opportunity to get to know you better, Tamae."
Mission success. Now to hope that neither Rin nor Noriko find out about this.
Cut to Tamae's place.
"So Tamae, the case of Yagi Izumi was approached as a suicide, yes?"
"That is what everyone was told."
"Well, I have reason to suspect that her death was not a suicide."
"Why is that?"
"I'll get into that shortly. First, could you tell me what your relationship was with Izumi?"
"Truth be told, I didn't like her."
"You do know that makes you look suspicious, right?"
"I know, but I should be truthful."
"I admire your honesty. So, what was your reason for disliking Izumi?"
"This is embarrassing, so please keep this a secret, okay?"
"That depends on what you tell me."
"Izumi had developed romantic feelings towards someone I had romantic feelings for."
"I see. One of your students, perhaps? It's okay, This is something I can keep a secret."
"No, a student, but not one of mine."
"I see. Jealousy is the cause of your disdain for Izumi?"
"It's childish and unbefitting of an adult woman, but yes."
"It's alright, I understand. It's normal for everyone to have these feelings."
"I'm glad you're so sensible, Yuji."
"...Yeah. Well, here's the juicy part. I have reason to believe that before Izumi died, she didn't go up to the roof at all. She was eating lunch in a classroom by herself."
At that moment, her face went completely white. She was as pale as a snowman. She was silent.
"..."
"I also believe that she suddenly collapsed while eating, with no signs of choking or any other obvious third party interference. I think she was poisoned. Then after she was dead, someone came in the room and took her body, and put it in front of the main doors. The culprit took her shoes, and placed them on the roof above the body, along with the blank 'suicide' note. What do you think?"
Her face lightened up one shade for every detail I recalled.
"How did you know about all that? How did you figure it out?"
"Secret. You know, I had no evidence. It was a baseless accusation. You could have brushed it off with 'where's your proof?' but now I need to ask, what is your true involvement in this?"
"The truth is that I'm not the murderer."
"Continue."
"I witnessed a man come out of a room with her body. He was masked, so I don't know who he was. He threatened to go after me and my family if I didn't help cover for him, so the story was that I found the body in front of the school doors the next morning, and reported it. Then shortly after I was to transfer out of that school and never speak of the incident again."
"I see."
"It's not like you can believe any of that though."
The despair in her eyes was as plain as day.
"True. After the way you admitted your involvement, an 'I didn't do it' would definitely be suspicious to most. But I believe you."
She lifted her head up and gave me puppy eyes.
"Really?"
"Really. Sounds to me that you were the victim here."
Perhaps I was too trustworthy. Luckily for me, she was being honest.
The glimpse of relief she had quickly faded as the gaze of despair resonated with her once again.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore. They're going to kill me now."
When I heard those words from her, and when I looked into the eyes of someone who was at the absolute end of their rope, it gave me a splitting headache and heartache. I felt as if my feelings were completely synchronized with this poor woman who was not only victimized by the true mastermind, but made out to be the true criminal in my mind before learning the truth. I felt like absolute scum for assuming the worst.
"That's not going to happen. I won't let them kill you. I can't let anything happen to you after what they've already put you through."
What was I saying? I had only met this woman once before today.
"I'll kill anyone I need to to keep you safe."
My mouth must be moving on its own.
"If the sun wishes to be our opponent, I will extinguish it."
No. These things, I really felt them. I really meant them.
"See these? See all these demon weapons? I have all these, so I can use them to protect you."
I must have been going crazy.
"I will defeat whoever did this to you. I will make it so that you will never be bothered with this again."
But I was totally in my right mind.
"I will do what I have to, so you can smile, and keep smiling."
Is this me? Is it really me saying these things? I think it was.
"I will take care of you."
After all, I did tell that receptionist that I would.