Day 5
7:35 AM
I leave the dormitory early and head straight to meet Keiko and Ailiss to avoid any potential problems. However, a detail suddenly pops into my head that should have occurred to me earlier: Where are we meeting?
Even though I left a bit earlier than usual, this oversight is going to mess everything up. Knowing how strict Ailiss is, she won't tolerate even a millisecond of delay.
If I meet with Keiko first without notifying Ailiss, I'll be in hot water for being late. On the other hand, Ailiss will probably be furious if I still don't know where we're meeting Keiko.
The least unpleasant solution might be to find Keiko as quickly as possible and postpone the punishment I'll inevitably receive. This way, it won't interfere too much with my plans regarding Takashi.
I quicken my pace and head toward the student council area, where Keiko usually works. I'm careful not to run into Takashi.
Damn it, where is she? Will I have to ask a council member for her whereabouts? I didn't want to leave any trace that I'd been here, but it seems like I won't have another choice.
Just as I'm about to give up looking for her, I spot her sitting on one of the staircases in the main building. Her head is lowered, and her expression is distant.
"Keiko," I call out as I approach her.
"Ah, yes," she startles.
Judging by her face, she hasn't slept at all. Well, her best friend just died, and from her slightly swollen eyes, I'd guess she spent the whole night crying over this unexpected loss.
She's devastated, but I still see a trace of what I planted last night. Amid all the sadness, there's a current of anger. The desire for justice still manifests itself in her clenched fists. She's not weak; she wants to make up for this somehow.
"Can we talk now?" I ask.
"Yes, sorry. I was so distracted I didn't realize it was already time for our meeting. I also forgot where I was supposed to meet you," she says, bowing her head.
"That was my mistake. I forgot to inform you about that detail."
"So, what specifically would you like to know?"
"I'll explain that shortly. For now, let's meet up with Ailiss. She's probably fuming right now since it's past eight o'clock, and I haven't given her any updates."
"Honestly, if I were you, I'd run to her. That girl is terrifying. I'd say she rivals Kaichou in intimidation, so I wouldn't want to make her angrier," Keiko says, forcing a smile.
"At this point, not being in trouble is impossible."
"Alright, where is she? Let's go before your situation gets worse."
I'm about to agree, but then a thought crosses my mind: caution.
"On second thought, I think it's better if you wait here. I'll go fetch her and come back quickly… unless she decides to punish me."
She's probably waiting at the hideout, and bringing anyone there wouldn't be wise. Not that I distrust Keiko, but it's a matter of precaution. The fewer people who know about that spot, the better.
"Good luck, I guess," she says, slightly startled.
"Thanks. I'll need it… a lot," I reply before leaving the area.
I run as if my life depends on it to the old building and descend to the basement, taking care not to be followed.
There she is, arms crossed and clearly impatient. Her fiery red eyes seem to burn me alive with rage as I predicted.
"Sorry for being late. I had some unforeseen issues. Keiko is waiting for us," I say breathlessly, forcing a smile in the hope that she'll postpone any punishment.
"I'll let this one slide, but only because wasting my precious time punishing you would cost me more," she replies coldly.
She gets up from her chair, and then I notice something more unexpected than her forgiveness or any other supernatural manifestation. Not even my vision of Death shocked me as much as this.
A skirt and tights? Is she really wearing that?!
I rub my eyes to make sure I'm seeing correctly. And indeed, everything indicates that this isn't a dream or delusion. She's actually wearing those clothes.
However, just yesterday, she vehemently refused to wear such a uniform.
She notices my shocked reaction and asks, annoyed,
"What are you looking at?" narrowing her eyes.
"N-nothing," I stammer.
I didn't even realize I was standing there, staring at her like an idiot. I was caught off guard; I never expected her to follow my offhand comment.
"Let's go. Move it. I don't have all day."
I decide against making any compliments; that would be pushing my luck too far.
On second thought, maybe she soiled or tore her pants and resorted to the spare uniform against her will.
We leave the hideout and meet Keiko at the main building.
"Ah, so you survived?" Keiko asks as she sees us.
"Barely. Well, let's find a more private spot to continue this conversation," I respond.
She nods, and we move to a random room in a neighboring building.
Once inside, Ailiss leans against one of the walls. As I requested, she lets me take the lead in extracting information from Keiko.
The two of us sit at the desks in the classroom, and without further delay, I get straight to the point.
"The vice president, Takashi. What can you tell us about him? More specifically, what has his behavior been like in recent days?" I ask.
8:49 AM
"That's all I can say with some certainty. Even though we're in the council, it's not like I'm very close to him. We've only had a few private conversations, and they were strictly about council duties. I think Kaichou could provide more details about any changes in his behavior since she's probably the person closest to him."
I'd instead not involve Mikoto, not now. Besides her sudden authoritarian shift, I doubt she'll look kindly on me aligning myself with her suspect.
"Enough with the stalling. We're getting nowhere like this," Ailiss comments.
Ailiss is clearly impatient with the lack of progress in this makeshift interrogation. Soon, she might snap and confront Takashi directly.
She walks over to us, looks at me, and declares,
"Mistkerl, I'll take it from here," she orders bluntly.
As long as she doesn't do anything reckless, I won't protest. Feel free to find another way to confirm the killer's identity.
"Mistkerl? What does that mean?" Keiko whispers in my ear.
"It's German. Trust me, you don't want to know what it means," I reply.
She looks at me curiously but eventually nods. Then she turns to Ailiss and asks,
"Do you have something in mind, Feuerstein-san?" she says, struggling with Ailiss's surname.
Apparently, Ailiss isn't bothered and continues the conversation.
"List all the locations, especially storage areas, that only the student council can access. From my experience, I suspect the method used for the initial murders is hidden in one of those places."
Following Ailiss's method, finding a few rooms with locked cabinets doesn't take long.
"What's inside?" Ailiss asks.
"My guess is cleaning supplies, but I'm not sure," Keiko replies.
"Open them. Let's take a look."
"I don't have the keys. Only the staff had them, and they're probably with Kaichou now."
"In that case, we'll use my methods," Ailiss says, kicking the locks forcefully.
We break into them individually, but most only contain items of no interest to us.
After she breaks into a significant number of cabinets, I grow uneasy. If we keep making this much noise at this time of morning, it's only a matter of time before we're caught.
"Doesn't this count as vandalizing public property?" I ask.
She ignores my comment and breaks open another cabinet. Then, as usual, she crouches to inspect its contents.
"Here it is," she announces.
I crouch beside her and see bottles upon bottles. However, something is interesting—the labels suggest these are gardening poisons.
"Are you sure this is the type of poison used?" Keiko asks.
"Normally, it would be hard to tell. We'd need to send it to a lab for analysis. However, the perpetrator was careless and spilled some of the substance from one of the bottles. From this, we can conclude it was used recently," Ailiss replies.
If not even a high-ranking council member like Keiko had access to this, the list of suspects narrows drastically. Only Mikoto and Takashi would have the staff's storage room keys.
I believe we have enough evidence to confront Mikoto. Now, we must present what we've found to her and back the killer into a corner.
"Wait, shouldn't this poison be tasteless and odorless? And would a gardening poison be strong enough to kill someone so quickly?"
"Those are valid questions. But remember, the killer has a god of death on their side."