Kirigiri Novel Book 5

Chapter 4- Libra Girls' Academy - Samidare Yui

I wonder how many hours passed since we've been locked in this circular room. Because there is no clock, I don't know the exact time, maybe it's only been a few minutes.

"I'm hungry... I'm thirsty..."

Tsukiyo is curled up against the wall of the room. She has been in this state for quite a while, mumbling about her physical needs like she is talking gibberish.

"I need to go to the toilet... toilet..."

"Worst case scenario, you can do it here; I won't blame you." I told her.

"Absolutely not! I'd rather kill you then kill myself instead of doing something like that. Besides, why are you so condescending. Just because you have a little more leeway to pee than I do, suddenly you become all high and mighty? You're in no position to order me around!"

"That's not what I meant..."

I feel tired from the bottom of my heart, barely coping with Tsukiyo's agitated shouting. Going tit-for-tat with her at this time would only waste both our energy.

I sat on the chair in front of the desk, drawing diagrams with the papers and pencils I found in the drawer, trying to unravel the mysteries of the events in this 'Libra Girls' Academy'. I wrote down everything I could think of.

Nazuna stood next to the desk, occasionally commenting on my notes. Her opinions were sharp and full of ideas that I hadn't even thought of. Maybe she's more talented as a detective than me...

"It's true that Takesaki's body was in this room earlier, right?"

"Yeah, I was in a coma here for a while. When I regained consciousness, Takesaki's body was lying behind me, and the murderer in the black cloak was standing in front of me..."

"What was the black cloak doing at the time?"

"What were they doing... hard to say? When I woke up, I saw them standing there with what looked like a murder weapon in their hand, an iron pipe."

"Just standing? Samidare-san, you were not attacked by the murderer?"

"Yeah... they didn't attack me. After they realized I was awake, they ran out of the room as if they had to. The 'Black Challenge' has a rule that criminals can't hurt the detective, and I think that's why the black cloak didn't attack me."

I have explained the content of the 'Black Challenge' to the girls. At first they didn't believe it at all, but it has been a long time since we got trapped, they should have been able to feel its existence.

"Let me ask you again, is it true that Takesaki has passed away?"

"Yes, it's true. She wasn't breathing and her pulse had stopped. I did check."

"I've heard that the pulse on the wrist can be stopped by some kind of technique..."

"There is such a way, but I didn't check the wrist for a pulse, I checked the neck. I've never heard of any way to stop the pulse of the neck. And her body temperature had dropped, it's a feeling you don't get from a living person."

"Eh?" Nazuna suddenly thought of something, raised her head, and brushed her hair with one hand. "The body's temperature had dropped?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"That means that some time had passed since Takesaki was killed, is that correct."

"Yes."

"If so, the black cloak's actions were really unnatural. When Samidare-san woke up, the black cloak was standing next to you with an iron pipe in their hand, right? If they had just killed Takesaki, it would be understandable. But the fact is, it had been a while since Takesaki was killed, more than an hour to say the least. The black cloak was still standing there after such a long time, what were they doing?"