Kirigiri Novel Book 5

Chapter 1- Part 2 Libra Girls' Academy - Samidare Yui

I walked toward the entrance first.

Opening a large door, I came to a small room that looks like an entrance hall. The door ahead appears to lead outside, but it's covered with nailed thick planks. With my strength, there is no way to remove the planks, so naturally there is no way out.

Next to the entrance hall are separate restrooms for men and women. I went first to the women's restroom to make sure there is no one inside. There are windows inside the toilets, but they are also boarded up.

I tentatively also went to the men's restroom and saw no one. If there was, I would have screamed. The windows inside are also boarded up.

I more or less have a general idea of the structure of this building. With a spacious rectangular chapel as the center, there are corridors on the left and right extending to both sides, and each end has a circular room. Overlooking the entire building, it happens to be in the shape of a cross, a structure common in places like churches and sanctuaries.

By considering the position of the Virgin Mary as the 12 o'clock direction, the 9 o'clock direction is the room where the two coffins are located, the 3 o'clock direction is the room where I first woke up in, and the 6 o'clock direction is the entrance hall. Apart from the restrooms, there are no other rooms and no windows, so it should be assumed that all entrances and exits are completely blocked.

We are locked up.

I wonder what time it is now, I can't see the light outside, and there is no clock in here, but according to my guts, the time that has passed is probably less than a day. Since I made an agreement with everyone to call at noon, if I can't get through, Kirigiri and the other detectives will come right away.

No— worst case scenario, it is possible that the other detectives are also locked up like me.

...I wonder if Kirigiri-chan is okay.

There should be no need to worry about her in terms of solving her case, but her willingness of sacrificing everything in pursuit of the truth is even more anxiety inducing to me. I'm always afraid that she would suddenly disappear at some point, the anxiety probably comes from this.

I need to find a way to get out of here and go back to the dorms with Kirigiri-chan.

I must solve this case quickly.

The murderer must be inside this closed building. That black cloak was no phantom.

But real.

However, that person disappeared from a locked room with no exit.

The two girls who were in the coffins, is one of them the murderer?

Hm?

Wait a moment.

I checked the student handbooks I got from the two high school girls.

If I remember, the birthdays were written on it. Nada Tsukiyo's birthday is July 30th

Tōakitsu Nazuna's birthday is August 21st

I remember Kirigiri saying 'be careful of Libra' when she parted with me. I didn't have time to ask her why, but I think she meant to say that the murderer might be a Libra.

When I took the train, I checked the range of Libra's birthdays. It's generally between September 24th and October 23rd.

Neither Tsukiyo nor Nazuna are a Libra—

I don't know how accurate what Kirigiri said about the 'possibility of the murderer', but since she specifically warned me, I can't just ignore it.

Neither of them is the murderer?