CH 45

Chapter 45: Creeping "Shadow"

TL: Akabane

***

When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I saw was not Igarashi's face... but his father's.

"Who the hell are you? What kind of relationship do you have with my daughter?!"

The angry voice echoed in my sleep-deprived ears. I'm rather undecided as to what kind of relationship we have.

"Even if you say what kind of relationship.... We are just classmates in the same department, Sir."

"Huh? A classmate? Why is a classmate sleeping in our living room! I don't understand!"

"...Ngh. It's too noisy, Dad. It's not time to get up yet, so be quiet..."

Igarashi sounds unhappy. Incidentally, this woman is the type to sleep until the last possible moment.

"Riri! What in the world is this guy! Why were you sleeping together?!!!!"

"Eh? You mean Tokiwa? Ummm... You see, that guy, he took me home. I got taken home. Ahhhhhn."

"No, this isn't even my house!"

I can understand taking home a girl to my house. But, I've never heard of a guy being taken home by a girl. I think her dad is seriously confused.

"Of course it's not! This is my house! What the hell is going on... I would never have raised a girl who would bring home a man..."

But I heard that in the previous world, Igarashi was the type of girl who often stayed over, or rather lived in, at her boyfriend's house when she was in college. After getting a job, though, she moved near a TV station and was on her own.

"You.... Anyway, looking at the two of you, it doesn't seem like there was any mistake...so I think it's safe...right? Please tell me if you think so."

Igarashi mom reminds me with a stern face.

"There's no mistake...well, I didn't do anything that you're worried about. Yes, I'm fine. We're fine."

The two are satisfied with my answer. They breathe a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, the situation is fine. It's not good for your reputation, so could you please leave right away?"

I don't think city people care if a man they don't know comes out of the house next door nowadays. Well, there is that Hagiri next door to this house. His parents seem to want to get Hagiri and their daughter Igarashi together, and I'm, well, an intruder.

"Isn't dad so awful! You could at least serve him breakfast! I think even Tokiwa is hungry!"

"Think about what Chusho will think when he finds out about this!"

"...Haa. Everyone likes Chusho, right? Even more than me."

Igarashi got up from the couch.

"Tokiwa. I'm sorry, but I don't think we can have breakfast together. Sorry. See you at campus later."

With that, she left the living room. Then came the sound of the shower.

"I'll at least give you cab fare. Just leave quietly."

"I don't mind the cab fare. I'll walk to the station for my morning walk. Now, if you'll excuse me."

I immediately left the Igarashi house too. A cab stopped in front of me and a man came down from inside.

""Ah.""

It was Hagiri who got out. Our eyes met. Hagiri's face looked like he had just crushed a bitter bug, and I looked like I had just eaten a persimmon. I really don't know what to say at times like this.

"Yesterday, Riri had a whim and snuck out of our dinner. So she went to your place..."

I didn't say anything. What happened yesterday was not something I should tell anyone. It was my own memory. If I told him, it would taint it.

"Huh. I've had to rely on a hostess because of Riri's absence, which has cost me a lot of extra money, and Tomoe is half asleep. This kind of thing."

"Wherever Igarashi goes, she's free to do whatever she wants."

"Are you seriously saying that? Haha! I think you know that too, don't you? You know her nature, don't you? Or am I wrong in my estimation? Kanahisa Tokiwa. Ririse Igarashi can't be happy unless I keep her under my control. This world is too dangerous for Ririse Igarashi to walk around in fluff."

I think back to the previous world. And about yesterday's blue drink. That may indeed be true. She attracts too many dangerous men, including Hagiri. I wonder what will happen when I'm not there? Well, I'm sure I was just an ordinary guy.

"Oh well. Ririse is too much for you to handle anyway. I'm sure you'll regret your involvement one day."

When talk about regret, I had already done it in the previous world. But in the end, I couldn't throw away the memory of being loved. I could regret it, but I couldn't throw it away.

"Well then, goodbye. If you can, don't ever come into this house again. It's too depressing."

"Yes, you're right. I don't want your house to be the only one in my sight. Goodbye, hmph."

We turn our backs on each other. Absolutely incompatible and unacceptable. Someday, I'm going to make his face flush with regret.

When I got home, I found an email from Kekai-senpai. In the attachment was a list of attendees for yesterday's party.

"That guy's work is awesome. As expected of the king. And it's easy to understand."

The list was compiled in Excel and could be filtered by high school, university, department, hobbies, clubs, etc. It seems that Kekai-senpai is serious about helping me out. As far as I could tell, the addresses and phone numbers of the attendees were also listed. He is a dirty person, but now I can rely on him. He's the best senior ever.

"Well...where should we start attacking? The culprit is probably someone who has a name that can retrieve the comatose Igarashi at the party...maybe a guy from the same high school?"

It's obvious from the medical students yesterday. The guys from her high school are no doubt still pining for Igarashi. But the crime itself this time seems quite streetwise.

"In the first place, the criminal definitely did not predict that Igarashi would come to that party. Was he just lucky if she showed up, or was he really experimenting to see if he could put a woman in a coma with sleeping pills? The party organizer, Imperial Tokyo, is a major club. Most of the flirtatious college students in Tokyo know about it, and they should know that it is a good place for public morals and manners, and on top of that, they should never make enemies with it. Is the culprit a freshman who doesn't know much about the circle situation yet?"

I have a feeling that the culprit is not a student at the Imperial University, judging from the place where he tries to serve drugs in an intercollegiate circle in the center of the Imperial University. Nevertheless, this deduction is also incomplete. If this were a mystery novel, it would not be so full of holes. At any rate, there is not a single piece of evidence.

"Well, let's go find some evidence. Right now."

I list the people who fit the criteria from Excel file and make a note of their addresses. I quickly took some of my old clothes out of the closet and stuffed them in my backpack. Then I took a shower, left the room, and drove off.

In my previous life, I was an architect. Before entering university, however, I had worked as a construction worker in Sapporo. I am a super specialist who can do construction site, construction, and design. In my opinion, every building has blind spots. Yes, blind spots to break in! I decided to go door to door to look for evidence in the rooms where the listed suspects lived. This is the third case today. The target's name is Houjou Hinata, a first-year student in the sociology department of Itohashi National University. He lives in a rather large apartment. His parents' house is said to be large. The entrance is an auto-locking type, which is quite luxurious. But part of the common space on the first floor is fenced off, and there are no cameras. Well, even if there were, we could do something about it. I climbed over the fence and entered the apartment. I changed into the work clothes I had used when I was in Sapporo and put on a hat. I had put cotton in my mouth and used cosmetics to give a very different impression to my face. Human memory is a tricky thing. If I were seen today, no one would testify that I was the same person I always was. And the work clothes. This is a good thing. People don't see people in work clothes. They don't let them out of their sight. It's not uncommon to see a little construction going on in the apartment building where I live. No one cares if a person in work clothes walks around the apartment with tools in his hands. And since the location of most cameras can be determined by an architect's intuition, it can be avoided.

"I hope this is the criminal's house."

I pick open the door to the suspect's room. Then I walk in with impunity. I'm skipping school to come here. I want results. Besides, it's almost Golden Week. I want to identify the culprit first. The room is an octopus-shaped one-room apartment that looks like a college student's. The owner is at school at the moment, so naturally no one is in the room. The owner of the room is at school at this time, so naturally there is no one in the room. I leisurely search through the room. I find a sheet of pills stuck to the back of the kitchen drawer.

"Bingo! And it's been used for exactly one pill! I found the proof! If they hide them like this, they must be getting them illegally, right?"

I search the room some more. I wish I had my phone, but I didn't have it. For now, I took pictures of the drugs and the view of the room with my camera.

"It's hard to get more evidence than this.... Besides, if I went to the police with this, I'd be in jail too. How should I go about pushing him into a corner?

At that moment, I saw a leaflet under the living room table.

[Keigi University Intercollegiate Outdoor Tennis Futsal Event Circle, "Ronghi Javelot" New Welcome Camp!]

[All the new students! Congratulations on your enrollment! We are super cool to celebrate you awesome guys!]

[This year's camp will be BQQ on the river, tennis, futsal! Tennis, futsal, and campfire at night!]

[We've got some of the best seniors and freshmen from various colleges and universities coming to this camp every year! We're looking forward to seeing you there!]

The colorful flyer was a real sight for sore eyes, with a list of meaningless words. There were many pictures of flirtatious-looking men and women doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. I could tell it was a flirtatious circle, and judging from the quality of the flyer and the high face level of the girls in the photos, it was probably a large and popular circle.

"I don't know any other college circles in other places. ...... Do you want to join this one and get your tail between your legs?"

Fortunately or not, I have no plans for this year's Golden Week. Yuzuriha and Milan are going back to their parents' house, and Ayashiro is going abroad for a family vacation. My schedule is empty. I want to spend time with them next year.

"Anyway, I found the culprit. Let's hunt him down without being in a hurry. Kuhaha."

I quietly destroy the evidence that got in and walk out of the room, out of the apartment, and back to my car.

"Well. Skipping classes is not a good idea. I'm late, but I'm going to campus! I'm so serious! Hahaha!"

I was in a good mood, having quickly caught the culprit's tail. I was going to skip classes, but I was heading to campus. If I didn't act like a student, I might look suspicious when the time came.