............
[Tuesday, November 2, 07:15 pm]
"Iwamoto-sensei isn't here too?"
Yumeto let out a sigh as he opened the door to the club room. The room was used by the art club, and their paintings on canvas were leaning against the wall, and the smell of oil paint wafted around.
Yumeto entered the room and traced the dusty desk with his index finger.
"Art club isn't active?"
When I looked up, I could see the school building outside the window. Light was leaking from the windows of the school building, and no one was sure who it was.
....I couldn't recognize them, but I could see a figure moving.
"I hope everyone finds Iwamoto-sensei..."
The moment I muttered so, I heard a voice from the corridor. Yumeto hid his footsteps and went out into the corridor. The voice seems to come from the back room. As he got closer, he realized that the voices belonged to Wakaba Suzuki and Satoshi Kumagai. Yumeto peered into the room through the gap in the slightly open door.
I hear the voices of two people talking.
"Wakaba-chan, It okay, right?"
"No, I have to go back to Narumi-chan."
"Even Narumi-san wants to be alone sometimes."
With a smile on his face, Satoshi put his hand on Wakaba's shoulder by the wall. Startled and Wakaba's body trembles.
"You know how I feel, right? I like you."
"Ah... yes. But I never thought of someone I liked..."
"This is like Wakaba-chan. She looks like a child on the outside, but she's also a child on the inside."
Licking his upper lip with his tongue, Satoshi looked down at Wakaba. His eyes were like a carnivore hunting down prey.
"But that's Wakaba-chan's charm. Her twintail hair looks great on her."
Satoshi's right hand touches Wakaba's thin chest through the uniform.
"H... Hey! Stop it!"
Wakaba desperately resists, but Satoshi wraps her whole body and sticks to her. Satoshi's right hand moves from her chest to her thigh and tucks into her checkered skirt.
"....No!"
Wakaba let out a scream and put both of her hands on Satoshi's chest. Satoshi loses his balance and falls to the floor.
"..... What are you doing!"
Satoshi's expression changed. His eyebrows are raised and anger flashes in his eyes.
"Seiichiro-kun's group and Narumi-san's group have decided to cooperate. Even so, are you going to go against me?"
"But it's no good. This kind of thing, if it's not with people you like....."
"Shut up! All you have to do is listen to me!"
Satoshi swung a nearby chair with his right hand. There is a loud noise and the chair hits the wall.
"...Take off your clothes!"
"Clothes....?"
"Don't make me say it again and again! I'm telling you to take off your clothes!"
Satoshi takes out a folding knife from his pocket and points the blade at Wakaba.
"If you don't take it off, I'll kill you right here. Even if you kill someone in the king game, it's not a crime."
"Ah...."
Wakaba's face turned pale, and her legs trembled. When he saw her, a smile returned to Satoshi's face. With his knife still in his hand, he slowly approaches Wakaba.
"You understand your position, don't you? Then listen to my orders. Or do you want your clothes cut with a knife?"
"Ah.....!"
Seeing Wakaba's frightened face, Yumeto opened the door.
"Stop it, Satoshi-kun."
Satoshi's body suddenly stopped. With his back slightly hunched, he slowly moves his neck.
"..... What is it, a transfer student?"
Satoshi approached Yumeto with his slender hand holding a knife hanging loosely.
"Peeping is a bad hobby, you know."
"It's better than you. If it's a confession of love, do it a little better. Wakaba-san, She's scared, isn't she?"
"Do you know that?"
"Everyone knows. I mean, what you're doing is a crime."
"Noisy..."
Satoshi's voice becomes lower and his eyes are bloodshot and red.
"You.....I'll kill you."
Tilting his neck, Satoshi transforms his lips into a crescent moon. Satoshi's personality changes in an instant, and Yumeto feels something eerie. It's like he has a split personality.
"Satoshi-kun, you should stop arguing here."
"It's too late. I decided to kill you."
"No, you don't have time to fight with me here."
Yumeto puts his right hand in his pants pocket and moves along the wall to the corner of the room.
"I just texted my buddy in the hallway, asking him to come over right away."
"Huh?"
Satoshi stopped moving. Still holding his knife, he stares at Yumeto's right hand in his pocket.
"What do you have?"
"It's not a great weapon. I don't think it can beat a knife."
"... You don't have anything, do you?"
"If you think so, why don't you try fighting? If you can beat Tokisada-kun, I have no problem."
As soon as he heard those words, the anger disappeared from Satoshi's face. With the knife pointed at Yumeto, he slowly backed away.
"Well, no. Even if we don't fight in a place like this, you will die as punishment for the King's game."
Saying that, Satoshi let out a creepy laugh and left the room.
"Fuu, he have a dangerous personality, right?"
Yumeto took out his empty hand from his pocket. His palms were tense and wet with sweat.
"Are you okay? Wakaba-san."
"Ah, thank you, Yumeto-kun."
Wakaba tried to get closer to Yumeto, but her legs got entangled and her body lost its balance. In her panic, Yumeto hugs her body.
"I...I'm sorry. My legs are tangled..."
Wakaba's bright eyes, like those of a doll, are looking up at Yumeto. Her twintails and her short stature made her look like a middle school girl.
"You can rest assured now. Satoshi-kun probably won't come back."
"Because Tokisada and the others are coming here?"
"Oh, that's a lie."
"Uh... lie?"
"Yeah. Speaking of which, I thought Satoshi-kun would run away."
Yumeto laughed and let go of Wakaba's hand.
"But you should be careful. Even if you're cooperating with Seiichiro-kun and the others, there are still people like that."
"I see...You heard about us cooperating with Seiichiro-kun and the others."
Wakaba nodded with a sad expression.
"I didn't want to get along with those people. Because they were bullying Tomoki-kun."
"Even though you knew that, you didn't help Tomoki-kun?"
"Because...I'm afraid....."
Wakaba moistens her eyes and shakes her thin shoulders.
"Actually, I wanted to help Tomoki-kun. But I...."
"I understand how you feel. The person who is bullying your classmate is also your classmate, and you wouldn't like it if you were bullied instead. Besides, you're a girl, so I think it takes very courage to give your opinion like this."
"..U…..Um"
"But if everyone cooperated, I think Tomoki-kun's suicide could have been stopped. That way, now you and I won't get caught up in the king's game"
Yumeto's expression distorted slightly.
"It's a difficult thing to do in reality. Bullying at school has been a problem for decades, but it still hasn't been resolved. Even I say cool things like this, but I might not been able to help Tomoki-kun too. And even now, our classmates are fighting again."
"But Yumeto-kun helped me even you are in another group."
"Looking at you in such a place, I can't be help but to help you. Just in case, I'm a man too."
"Weren't you scared?"
"I'm scared. I knew Satoshi-kun was dangerous."
"Even so, you helped me."
Wakaba blushes and looks at Yumeto.
"Thank you, I have to requite..."
"It's fine to say thank you. I didn't expect you to requite me."
"..... It's 'stone'."
"Eh..."
Yumeto opened his mouth wide open.
" 'Stone' ?"
"Yes. The hint for X is the kanji for 'stone', though it may be read differently."
Wakaba took out a mobile phone from her jacket pocket and showed the screen to Yumeto. The word "stone" is displayed on the screen.
"Isn't it just hiragana?"
"I don't think there are many kanji characters. Narumi-chan and others were also hiragana."
"Is that so.... Is there kanji in the hint?"
Yumeto closed his lips and let out a sound.
.....I don't think Wakaba-san is trying to trick me. Then this 'stone' is an important hint. Now, if you combine the characters, you might be able to figure out what the X is.
"Thank you, Wakaba-san."
Grasping Wakaba's small hand, Yumeto lowered his head.
"Now we might know what X is."
"Yeah. I hope we both can survive."
Wakaba smiled innocently, perhaps because she was happy that she was able to help Yumeto.
................
"Do you mean that the hint is a kanji for 'stone'?"
In the computer room, Fuka lets out a voice of surprise when she sees what Yumeto has written in his notebook.
"Could it be that she's trying to deceive Yumeto like Yohei?"
"No, I think it's unlikely."
Yumeto answered Fuka's question while keeping his eyes on the notebook.
"If you want to trick me, I'm sure you'll give me some hiragana hints. Besides, Wakaba-san's attitude can't be considered acting."
"Her attitude. What was her attitude?"
"Ah.... that's..."
"Hmm. I see."
Fuka cast a cold stare at Yumeto, who blushed and stuttered.
"No way, Yumeto, you fell in love with Wakaba, didn't you?"
"Wait..., that's not true."
Yumeto shakes his head left and right.
"I can't even think about love now! My top priority is to find out what X is."
"That's fine. But I think it's dangerous to completely trust people from other groups."
Seiya nodded at Fuka's words.
"Certainly, it might be better to be careful with Narumi-san's group. Earlier, I was also called by Narumi-san herself."
"Called?"
"Yeah. 'If you give me a hint about X, I'll going out with you'. I guess it's the same pattern as Yohei-kun."
"Hey! Seiya-kun"
"Of course, I refused."
Seiya let out a calm voice.
"Because I betrayed everyone once. No matter what happens, I won't betray you anymore. I swear to God."
"...Really?"
"I can't prove it. But if I'm betraying you, I won't say this."
"Indeed, I see..."
Fuka loosened her cheeks and patted Seiya on the head.
"Alright! I'll believe you. It looks like you were able to withstand Narumi's temptation."
"Well then, I'll add some new hints and make some characters combinations to make you believe me more."
Seiya sat down on a chair in front of the computer and started typing on his keyboard. Next to him, Yuna brought her face closer to the computer screen.
" 'Stone' huh....The other hints are 'i', 'no', 'ro', 'chi', 'fu', 'a', 'ni', 'u', 're', and 'ma', right?"
"Yeah. Thanks to the 'stone' hint, it's a lot easier to predict. It would have been even better if I could get Iwamoto-sensei's hint."
"Anyone can't find Iwamoto-sensei, right? Where did he go?"
"It seems that Narumi-san and Iwamoto-sensei shared hint with each other."
"Eh?"
Yumeto looked surprised and grabbed Seiya's shoulder.
"Is that true?"
"Yeah. That's what she said earlier. She have no reason to lie, and I think it's true."
"In that case, I think it's better to think that Seiichiro-kun and the others also know Iwamoto-sensei's hints. Just as you said, did they already collect a total of 10 characters of hints?"
"And they're imprisoning Iwamoto-sensei somewhere so that he won't give us hints?"
"Is the teacher be captured?"
"Because I've been looking for him for a long time, it's strange that you can't find the teacher. You can't leave the school grounds, right? It's completely locked down."
Seiya shook his head up and down several times, as if convinced by his own thoughts.
"After all, I can't think of anything else. I can't imagine he going to Mt. Akaikeyama at night."
"...Ah!"
Yumeto's voice echoed in the computer room.
"That's it, that's right. It's Mt. Akaikeyama!"
Yumeto pointed at the computer screen.
"There are 'A', 'I', and 'Ma' in the hints. I think this is about Mt. Akaikeyama!"
Everyone brought their faces closer to the computer screen.
"Certainly, the possibility of Mt. Akaikeyama is high!"
Tokisada excitedly crumpled Yumeto's hair.
"Let's do it! As expected, you're our leader!"
"No, not definitely. There may be other combinations."
"Wait a minute!"
Fuka leaned forward and brought her face closer to the computer screen.
"At the top of Mt. Akaikeyama, there is a stone pillar. Isn't that 'stone', 'chi', 'yu' and 'u'?"
"Is it a stone pillar? Then..."
Yumeto wrote in his notebook, "Mt. Akaikeyama," "Stone pillar," and "Touch"
"If this is the correct word, then the only hints we have left are "no" and "ni". So, the clue I don't understand is 7 characters"
"Isn't 'no' and 'ni' meaning 'Touch the stone' or 'of Mt.Akaikeyama' don't they??"
"Yeah. If you think about it that way, it might be safe to assume that X has something added to 'Touch the stone pillar on Mt.Akaikeyama'."
"Then, the remaining 7 characters. The problem is that there may be conditions such as 'In night time' or 'With right hand'."
"Yeah. I'd like to know the rest of the hints to make sure I know X."
Yumeto let out a sound as he tapped the tip of the mechanical pencil in his hand.
"If it's just seven more characters, maybe we can cooperate with other groups."
"Hmm? What do you mean by cooperation?"
"I feel like the content of X is not what makes us fight."
"Huh? How can you make such a prediction?"
Fuka looked at Yumeto with a surprised face.
"You don't know anything about the contents of the another seven characters, do you? What if it something like 'only the top 10 people in the order that touched the stone pillars are not punished?' "
"If that's the case, the number of characters is not enough. If it's content to fight, the number of characters will increase."
"Will there be more?"
"Yeah. For example, as Fuka-san said, if it's something that only the top 10 people won't get punished for, it shouldn't be possible with just seven characters. And I think that's also why the king didn't tell us what the order was, and gave us X."
Yumeto wrote "King" in his notebook.
"I'm sure the king holds a grudge against their class. It's the first time the king has wrote an order that doesn't reveal the details. I think the reason is that they intend to make us fight for no reason."
The computer room fell silent. Everyone's expression hardens.
Seiya swallowed his saliva and opened his closed lips.
"If that prediction is correct. Maybe, we can cooperate with other groups..."
"Yeah. I think that's the key to clearing this order. That's why I'm thinking of cooperating with Narumi-san and Seiichiro-kun."
"With Seiichiro-kun?"
"It's true that Seiichiro-kun's actions are often unforgivable, but if we can survive together, I think we should help each other."
Yumeto answered firmly.
"It may be naive, but I don't want anyone to die."
"....That's right. We were classmates. I just forgot it...."
Seiya lowered his gaze to the desk.
"If everyone cooperates, can we clear the order?"
"I'm sure you can clear it!"
Yumeto grabbed Seiya's shoulder and nodded deeply.
...............
[November 2 (Tuesday) 10:34 pm]
All the surviving students were gathered in the Class 2A classroom. Seiichiro puts his feet up on the desk and glares at Yumeto, who is standing on top of the podium.
"Hey, transfer student. Is it true that you figured out what X is?"
"That's not still accurate."
Yumeto answered Seiichiro's question while looking around at his classmates.
"I realized that it wasn't something X make us fight about, it was something we could all work together."
"How do you know that? You don't know all the hints, do you?"
"There are only seven characters left in the hint that I don't know, and with that alone, I wonders if I can make a sentence about the content of the order."
"You can make it... what do you mean?"
"Not of course, but that's what I expect."
Yumeto wrote "Mt.Akaikeyama", "Stone pillar" and "Touch" on the blackboard.
"This is part of what I expected X to be."
Looking at the characters written on the blackboard, the students started speaking in groups. Yumeto watched the spectacle with calm eyes.
A few minutes later, Souta approached Yumeto while clapping his hands.
"I think Yumeto's prediction is correct. Because you can make the word 'top' with our hints. In other words, 'touch' the 'stone pillar' at the 'top' of 'Mt. Akaikeyama'."
"I see... I see. 'Touch the stones pillar on the top of Akaikeyama mountains' is exactly 22 characters. It wasn't a word with some kind of restrictions ."
"Yeah. It was simple. If everyone had cooperated from the beginning, we might have figured it out within an hour."
"The King laughs at us for not being able to do that."
Yumeto looked around at the students who were divided into groups.
"The content of X was simple, and it wasn't about content to fight. The king seems to have a lot of resentment against our class."
"If Tomoki-kun was that important to you, then they should do something about it before he commits suicide."
Souta sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, whatever. So, what are we going to do?
At those words, Hideyuki opened his mouth.
"You shouldn't climb the mountain at night. If that's what X is about, then there's no need to rush. If we all go tomorrow morning, there's no problem."
"That's right. Apparently, I can relax after a long time."
There was a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. We understand the contents of X, and it's not about fighting with each other, so the tension seems to have faded.
"Relax, huh..."
Narumi crossed her arms with an astonished face.
"Certainly, everyone seems to be able to clear the order this time, but what about the next one? Unless the king is caught, the order will continue forever."
"It will have to be left to the police."
Hideyuki said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"If Sousuke is the king, we can't interfere it from inside the school."
"Well. What the hell are the police doing? What they will saying they can't catch a high school student all this time?"
"I think so too. Where is Sousuke hiding..."
"I don't think there are many places to hide. If you can't use your computer, you won't be able to operate the Nano Queen either."
"There is a possibility that you are remotely controlling your computer with a smartphone or mobile phone."
"Hmm. You can do that too. You know a lot."
"That's why, don't think that I'm the king. If you look it up on the internet, anyone will know, and it's something you can do."
"Oh, isn't Hideyuki one of those people who think that it does't have a king among us?"
"I just think it's highly likely that it's Sousuke. Not it's absolute though."
Hideyuki turns his gaze to other classmate.
"There's a few percent chance that the king is among us. However, in that case, They probably have suicidal thoughts."
"Suicidal thoughts?"
"Yeah, because you're joining in the King's game with us too like this."
"I feel like that's more likely for me."
Narumi moved her gaze to Yumeto who was on the podium.
"The reason is the King's letter."
"Was the King's letter in my desk?"
At Yumeto's words, Narumi waves her index finger to her left and right.
"In this case, it's inside Tomoki-kun's desk. And it doesn't matter. The problem is the content of the letter. In it, the king said, 'We must be punished. I will be king and make us pay.' I mean, they're saying they'll get punished too"
"But I don't know if that's true. It might be a tactic to confuse us."
"Yeah, what are you going to do if they confuse us? like there is a king among us. That's why it's impossible to convince us that Sousuke-kun isn't the culprit, right?"
"That's..true....but...."
Yumeto was at a loss for words to object, and silently lowered his head.
.....Certainly, it may be as Narumi-san says. If the king themself wants to be punished, they could be infected with the Keldo virus and participate in the king's game. But then, why is Sousuke-kun missing?
...................