Chapter 37: Idol.

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Translated and Edited by: luccayn.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you're close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it's cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one's older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

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At the farthest end of the clubroom building, there was a room, standing silently in a creepy area where the green of the emergency exit sign blinked ominously—an area you probably wouldn't have set foot in during your three years of school if you had lived a normal school life.

“Whoa, this is insane.”

The words slipped out of my mouth involuntarily as I caught a glimpse of the clubroom's wall through a gap in the curtain covering a small window. The entire wall was plastered with idol posters. It reminded me of the portraits in the music room, the kind that might come to life and start laughing at night, like Beethoven.

…Would the owner of this room be delighted if that happened? I shuddered at the creepy thought and then knocked on the door.

It was just after lunch break had started, with the sun still warm in the sky.

“…You're Takatsuki Shinji, aren't you? I know that face.”

It was clear I wasn't particularly welcome.

The low voice belonged to a guy with messy hair and an enormous frame, wearing an XXL-sized shirt. He had the look of an unmistakable, oily otaku. I don't mean to be rude, but something told me I could get along with him.

“Your tie says you’re a second-year like me. Can I ask your name?”

“…Kishimoto, from Class E.”

“Kishimoto, huh? Nice to meet you. Well, if you already know me, no need to repeat it.”

On a whim, I held out my hand for a handshake. Kishimoto, after wiping his hand on his slacks, hesitantly shook mine, glancing around nervously like a shy little kid. Somehow, that made him kind of endearing.

“Mind if I come in?”

“Don’t. It's a mess.”

“I don't mind. I just want to ask you a few things. I heard there’s a fan of Tsukino Michiru here.”

“What!? Michiru-chan!?”

The moment I mentioned Tsukino's name, a high-pitched voice came from inside. The owner of that voice threw open the door Kishimoto was standing in front of, shoved me aside, and burst into the hallway.

“Where, where, where, where, where, where!? Where’s Michiru-chan!? Where is she!?”

“Whoa, calm down, Aomi-senpai.”

“Where’s Michiru-chan!? Oh! You’re Takatsuki Shinji, aren’t you!? What the hell are you doing here, huh!?”

What is this creature? Her looks didn't match her brash attitude at all.

“Kishimoto, who is she?”

“Uh, she’s Aomi Kanako-senpai, a third-year. I think she’s the one you actually want to talk to, not me, Takatsuki Shinji.”

With that, I took a moment to take a good look at Aomi-senpai.

The girl in front of me, with round glasses and braided hair that gave off the stereotypical class representative vibe, had a small frame, but for some reason, her thighs were unusually thick in comparison, giving her an oddly unbalanced appearance.

…So, this is one of Tsukino’s diehard fans, huh?

Now that I think about it, I do remember seeing her a few times in passing near the classroom. I had forgotten, but with someone as conspicuous as Kishimoto hanging around, it makes sense that I would've noticed her at some point.

“Excuse me, Aomi-senpai. Could I have a moment to talk?”

“Rejected!! Takatsuki Shinji!! I absolutely refuse to listen to anything you have to say! Rejected, rejected, rejected!! No way!!”

…

“Actually, Tsukino's younger brother is a friend of mine.”

“What did you just say!? That cute little boy, Kakeru-kun, who’s so shy I couldn’t even approach him!? That kid is seriously adorable!!”

That's crossing a serious line, don’t you think?

“I… I happen to have a photo here of Tsukino in her pajamas, sent to me by her brother. Would you like to see it?”

“Leave that photo here!! Leave it!! Come on, just leave it!!”

I'm seriously scared of this person now.

“At least let me talk, okay? I'll give you the photo after that.”

“…Fine, but only the talk! I'm not giving you any info!”

And here we have the unexpected arrival of a particularly intense new character.

Honestly, I was kind of hoping to run into someone I already knew who happened to be a fan, so I could gather information more smoothly. This situation felt like someone had broken an unspoken rule, leaving me slightly disgruntled.

I sat down on a folding chair, took a sip of the tea Kishimoto had brought me, and glanced around again at the walls plastered with idol posters. Having all these faces staring at me made it hard to relax.

“So, Takatsuki Shinji, what's this all about?”

It looked like Kishimoto was stepping in to handle the conversation in place of the fuming Aomi-senpai. Thank goodness he was the calm type.

“I'll get straight to the point. Aomi-senpai, did you see the person who locked me and Tsukino in that room the other day?”

“…Why are you asking me that?”

She took the bait. Her reaction was surprisingly straightforward, almost like she wasn't great at hiding things.

“It's simple. There was already someone there who brought the security guard to the place where they could hear the sound of the door falling. That person was acting on your orders, wasn't it? The time delay probably reflects some hesitation on your part.”

That area is so isolated that no one could have heard the sound of the door collapsing unless they were already on their way. The most natural explanation is that someone had arrived early and overheard the noise.

“Hold on a minute, Takatsuki Shinji. How can you be so sure it was Aomi-senpai?” Kishimoto questioned.

To be honest, I had traced the information back step by step, starting with a first-year I found in front of the classroom. But I sensed that unless I showed some skill here, I wouldn't capture the interest of either Kishimoto or Aomi-senpai.

…This was a good opportunity. Maybe I should put some of Ukai-san's lessons to practice—thinking through the sequence of events and coming up with a plausible deduction.

“Let me turn the question around, Kishimoto. How did you know we were locked in the room?”

Aomi-senpai and Kishimoto exchanged panicked looks. Seems like they were closer than I thought.

“I had enough clues to figure it out. First, Tsukino went to the second storage room to get some extra supplies because the standard stock wasn't enough. Normally, a single class's standard stock would suffice, so it was natural to assume another class was also using the gymnasium.”

“Uh, yeah…”

“If the students from the same grade were involved, the teachers would have coordinated it to avoid overlapping interest. That makes it unlikely the culprit was from our grade. Also, it's only natural to send someone from a lower grade to run errands. At this point, the suspect narrows down to third-year girls, as gym classes are separated by gender.”

I paused for a moment and took a sip of the green tea Kishimoto had made for me.

“As for the specific class and Aomi-senpai, I didn't even need to deduce that. The reason I came here in the first place was because the same thing happened in Class 2-B.”

While speaking, I picked up one of the items stacked on the computer desk.

“A club brochure?”

“Yeah. I didn't know about it until I saw this, but doesn't an Idol Research Club sound like the perfect fit for someone obsessed with following a school idol? And look who the club president is: Aomi Kanako. Someone who's so passionate about idols that they run a club like that might just be connected to the fan who's been hanging around our classroom.”

“Guh…!”

“In short, a third-year girl who was in the gym that day, and who is also a diehard fan of Tsukino. Based on those facts, I concluded that Aomi-senpai was the most suspicious person to have followed Tsukino. That's all.”

Hearing this, Aomi-senpai growled like a wild dog, let out a loud “Woof!”, then turned bright red and slammed her hands on the table as she shot to her feet.

“Grrrr…!! Kishimoto! What the hell is with this guy!? Say something! Take him down!”

“Uhh… th-then Takatsuki Shinji! Why don't you think Aomi-senpai was the one who locked Tsukino Michiru in the room!?”

“I confirmed that when I came here. Someone who reacts the way she just did, with that much affection for Tsukino, wouldn't find joy in hurting her.”

“Huh…!”

“And as you can see, the person she really hates is me. If she had any animosity, it would be directed at me. Even if she did try to trap someone, she'd only target me. There's no way she would lock both me and Tsukino in a room together.”

Aomi-senpai let out a loud “Gyaa!!” and then collapsed onto the center table with a thud, utterly exhausted. At some point during her outburst, probably when she stood up in frustration earlier, Kishimoto had somehow lost a button from his shirt, leaving him looking a bit bewildered.

“Did I manage to convince you?”

I calmly sipped the tea, which I had lifted earlier to avoid it being knocked over by Aomi-senpai, and placed the cup back on the table.

“…I’ll tell you.”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying I’ll tell you what I saw since it's going to come out anyway! Ugh! This is exactly why I didn't want to meet you!”

“My apologies.”

It seemed like she'd warmed up to me, after all.

It might've been unprecedented to reverse-engineer a conclusion to fit the facts, but as long as it worked out without any glaring contradictions, everything was fine in my book.

“Honestly, I'm amazed. No wonder there are rumors about you.”

“Rumors?”

“Yeah. There’s a rumor that says, ‘Don't get involved with Takatsuki Shinji from Year 2, because if you have anything to hide, he'll uncover it.'”

Apparently, there was a much more troublesome rumor about me going around than I'd expected. However, I suspected that Kishimoto might know the identity of “Suspect Y,” the person I had been trying to track down.

“Do you know where that rumor started?”

“No, I just overheard some of the guys in class talking about it. I don't have any friends in the classroom, so I couldn't ask directly.”

Don’t worry, normal people.

This wasn't some desperate confession of loneliness from Kishimoto, but more like the classic self-deprecating humor of someone who knew how to laugh at themselves. In fact, this was progress—he seemed a little more interested in me.

“I see, that’s too bad.”

“Sorry for being useless.”

“Don't sweat it. Still, I expected the students here to be a bit smarter. They need to stop spreading nonsense rumors.”

“Maybe they are smart. That rumor could be a way for them to avoid getting caught by you if they have something to hide.”

“Oh, I like that. It really gets my contrarian nature going.”

“Heh… Well, being complimented by a guy doesn't do anything for me, of course!”

Seeing Kishimoto's obvious joy made it clear why Aomi-senpai was so fond of him. These two were genuinely good people, the kind you don't want to get too deeply involved with. I decided I'd wrap up my business and get out of here as quickly as possible.

“So, Aomi-senpai, who locked us in?”

“…Let me ask you something, Takatsuki. You already know, don't you? What are you trying to achieve by revealing it?”

“I'm going to save Hareta Kou.”

The words came out of my mouth without hesitation. Worrying about the fate of someone I supposedly hated… Maybe I was starting to lose my edge.

“You know, Michiru-chan is the superstar idol of Saijo High, right?”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

“She’s not the kind of girl someone like you should think about monopolizing, okay?”

“I’ll take that under advisement.”

“…Alright, I'll tell you. The person who locked the second storage room was—”

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