Chapter 33: Reluctant Outing

“Senpai, you were running a fever this morning, too?”

Kana’s voice was a soft, disappointed murmur. She tried to hide it, but the hope that had been shining in her eyes just moments before was now noticeably dimmed. The weather was finally perfect, a welcome reprieve after days of oppressive rain. The aborted club activity from yesterday… couldn’t it be resurrected today? The thought of everyone just hanging out, having fun together, had seemed so appealing. But if Senpai was genuinely unwell… well, that changed everything.

“Eh, really? But you seem to be in pretty good spirits, Senpai,” Junko chirped, with a cheerful thoughtlessness that was entirely in character. “Maybe a little walk outside, a bit of fresh air, would actually help you recover even faster!”

Kana offered up a silent prayer of thanks. Only Junko would have the guileless audacity to say something so direct. Not that she was being insensitive to Senpai’s health, of course, but… she did seem to have a decent amount of energy. She didn’t look particularly weak or fragile.

At the suggestion, Takada’s eyes also lit up, and he turned to Yomikawa Tsuko with a look of eager, almost boyish, expectation.

Do these people, Yomikawa thought, a wave of profound irritation washing over her, possess any capacity whatsoever for reading a room?

Such a request, made to a person who has just declared themselves unwell, was a flagrant breach of social etiquette. And yet, once it had been voiced, once the seed of the idea had been planted, it became incredibly difficult to refuse without appearing churlish, or worse, suspicious.

Suppressing a sigh, Yomikawa was formulating a polite but firm refusal when, to her immense annoyance, Ōgami Yōsuke added his own voice to the growing chorus.

“Senpai’s health has seemed rather… delicate… of late, with all the sick leave she’s taken. I am inclined to agree. Some light exercise might prove to be quite beneficial.”

This was no longer a suggestion. It was a coordinated assault, a thinly veiled campaign to force her out of the house.

Yomikawa’s lips tightened into a thin, bloodless line. She could feel the familiar, unwelcome heat of anger beginning to rise in her chest, and she fought it down with a grim effort of will. If this went on any longer, she was afraid she might lose her carefully maintained composure and simply… throw them all out. Finally, with a slow, almost imperceptible nod, she conceded. “Very well. Since you are all so… concerned… about my well-being, then let us pay a visit to Kimura-kun’s house. We might even be fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the man himself.”

If I am to be made miserable, a cold, vindictive thought slithered through her mind, then we can all be miserable together.

As she’d anticipated, Kana’s eyes widened, her face a mask of pure, unadulterated disbelief. “B-but… I thought the plan was to trace Kimura-kun’s sleepwalking routes? You think we should go to his house first, Senpai?”

What was the point of going to Kimura’s house? It was a dead end. They almost certainly wouldn’t be allowed to see him. Kimura wouldn’t even see his own closest friends, Itō Takuma and Fujita. Why on earth would he agree to see a bunch of meddling, morbidly curious strangers? The entire endeavor promised to be a tedious, utterly fruitless exercise. She despised it already.

To her surprise, it was Ōgami Yōsuke who clapped his hands together, a flicker of genuine investigative zeal in his eyes. “I believe that’s an excellent proposal. How can we possibly claim to be investigating the sleepwalking incident if we don’t even make an attempt to speak with the primary witness, the individual who experienced it firsthand?” From a purely logical, investigative standpoint, a direct visit to Kimura’s house was, indeed, a strategic shortcut.

“Hey, as long as we’re making progress on the case, it’s all good by me, right?” Takada Shōji said with a characteristic shrug.

You mean, as long as you get to tag along with Senpai, it’s all good by you, Kana thought, shooting him a withering, contemptuous look. This useless, utterly transparent fool!

“But… but…” Kana bit her lip, her mind racing, desperately trying to formulate a counter-argument, any plausible reason to make Yomikawa change her mind. In her panic, her thoughts scattered like frightened birds.

Ōgami Yōsuke shrugged again, pressing his advantage with a cold, almost ruthless logic. “In any case, I still maintain that attempting to trace Kimura-kun’s supposed sleepwalking routes is an unreliable, and likely inefficient method of investigation. What if, as Takada-senpai initially suggested, the entire story turns out to be a fabrication? We would have squandered all our time and energy for absolutely nothing.”

Yomikawa Tsuko’s peripheral vision caught the slight, imperceptible slump of Kana’s shoulders in defeat. A cold, sharp smile touched Yomikawa’s lips as she delivered the final, decisive blow. “Well, that’s not an entirely unreasonable point. And summer vacation is fast approaching…”

The words, seemingly innocuous, were a perfectly calibrated reminder to Ōgami Yōsuke.

“If Senpai hadn’t mentioned it, I would have completely forgotten! Summer vacation is almost upon us, just two or three weeks away at most. If we don’t choose a more… efficient… investigative methodology, we may not reach any conclusions before the break. Wouldn’t that be a profound waste of an opportunity?” Ōgami Yōsuke seemed genuinely, desperately impatient, consumed by a need to unravel this mystery as quickly as possible, unwilling to squander a single moment.

If we can’t figure it out before summer vacation, we can just continue investigating during the vacation! Then we could all hang out together more! Isn’t that a good thing? Yomikawa could practically read the frustrated, unspoken thoughts running through Tanaka Kana’s mind.

“He’s right… If we don’t solve this before the break, we might never get another chance,” Junko said, nodding thoughtfully, her own agenda clearly aligning with Ōgami’s. Ōgami Yōsuke would probably be returning to his hometown for the summer. If that was the case, then they should definitely do something more meaningful, more… investigative… before they had to part ways. Although the original route-tracing plan had been her idea, she felt no particular regret in abandoning it if it meant… progress. Of a more personal kind.

With Yomikawa Tsuko’s support gone, Kana’s resistance instantly and completely crumbled. She forced a bright, brittle smile onto her face. “W-well, since everyone agrees, then let’s do that… Anyway, as long as we’re all doing something together, I’m happy!”

“I’ve been thinking…” Yomikawa said, her voice smooth and authoritative. “The task of obtaining and reviewing the surveillance footage from the potential monitors along Kimura-kun’s routes… Ōgami-kun, your analytical skills are best suited for such a task. Let’s leave that in your capable hands. You will, of course, provide a full and detailed report to the rest of us at the club meeting on Monday, yes?” With a few simple, well-chosen words, she had made a decision on behalf of the entire club.

Neither Ōgami, who had just been assigned a significant, if tedious, task, nor anyone else, seemed to find anything amiss with this. The convenience of being a senpai, a club president… it’s quite a useful tool. Any decision I make, no matter how arbitrary, everyone must simply… accept. With that thought, a flicker of her old, cold self returning, Yomikawa Tsuko rose gracefully to her feet. “Well then, if you’ll all wait for me here, I shall go and change my clothes.”

A visit to Kimura’s house likely wouldn’t take very long. She was reasonably confident she could be back around noon. So, she chose a simple, practical outfit: a pair of capri jeans and a plain white t-shirt. To maintain the carefully constructed pretense of being “just recovered from an illness,” she grabbed a light jacket and draped it over her arm. Then, she and the other club members headed out into the bright, clear morning.

The air after the rain was indeed exceptionally fresh, the scent of damp earth and green, growing things invigorating. Walking towards Kimura’s house, Yomikawa found her mood, much to her own surprise and irritation, lightening considerably.

Up ahead, Junko had once again attached herself to Ōgami Yōsuke’s side, her voice a stream of excited chatter.

“What if Kimura-san’s parents don’t let us in? What do we do then?”

Ōgami Yōsuke, his hands clasped casually behind his head, considered this. “Well, if we explain our intentions clearly, I don’t believe they’ll refuse us. From the sounds of it, Kimura-san is in a state where he needs all the help he can get, whether he knows it or not.”

“Eh—” Junko clasped her hands behind her back, leaning forward slightly to gaze up at Ōgami’s face, an expression of pure, unadulterated adoration on her face. The more she looked, the more handsome she found him. “Yōsuke-kun, you sound like you have a great deal of experience with this kind of thing. Have you and your father done something like this before? Like, going to some old, creepy mansion where strange things are happening, and helping the owner solve the mystery? Just like in one of those classic detective novels!”

“Calling me a detective is a bit of an exaggeration,” Ōgami Yōsuke said, scratching his head with a touch of genuine embarrassment. “We have, on occasion, encountered… situations… that have intersected with criminal cases, yes. But solving them is still a job for the police. My father, at most, has provided some… specialized assistance.”

“Wh-wh-what?!” Junko’s expression was one of almost comical shock. She bounced on the balls of her feet, her ponytail swishing with excitement. “That’s really happened? That’s exactly like a detective novel! Damn it, I wish I’d known you then! I could have been there, at the scene! Part of the investigation!”

Watching Junko pestering Ōgami Yōsuke, demanding he promise, absolutely promise, to include her in any similar situations in the future, Yomikawa Tsuko found, to her own surprise, that she wasn’t particularly annoyed.

“The influence of emotions on one’s perception,” she noted, with a detached, clinical interest, “is… significant, and highly variable.”

“I had intended to use this opportunity to casually interrogate Takada Shōji, to see if he possessed any knowledge regarding that reporter from a year ago. As my designated second target for revenge, the preliminary investigation needs to begin sooner rather than later.” Although she hadn’t been a member of the club for long, she knew that Takada Shōji had a well-deserved reputation as the school’s “big mouth.” She had, on more than one occasion, overheard him discussing her own highly publicized case with others. Asking him was a viable, if slightly distasteful option. If he proved to be a dead end, and she couldn’t find the information elsewhere, only then would she consider approaching Kishida Masayoshi.

“But now… my mood has inexplicably improved somewhat. And the impulse for revenge… it seems to have… weakened. Lost its sharp, cutting edge.”

Contemplating this change within herself, this bizarre, unwelcome emotional flux, Yomikawa Tsuko felt a flicker of profound confusion, a sense of being utterly adrift in a sea of alien sensations.

Emotions are this powerful, this… mutable. Then what, precisely, is so-called ‘reason’? Is it merely an anomalous state, a fragile construct that arises only in the absence of emotional turmoil?

Ordinary people… they don’t seem to fight against their own emotions as I am now forced to. Do they simply… accept their fate? To be manipulated, to be controlled, by the whims of their own feelings?

Even for something as fundamental, as primal, as revenge… does their resolve truly waver so easily? Firm and unshakeable when their mood is foul, and then casually set aside when their mood is fair?

Such an attitude… it seems so… utterly, laughably, capricious.

“Or perhaps… perhaps that is simply what it means to be human. To be a capricious, irrational, emotional animal.”

Her rambling, disquieting thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Takada’s concerned voice. “Senpai, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?” He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and had rolled the sleeves up to his shoulders, probably feeling hot despite the mild weather. With his two rather brawny arms exposed, he looked like a typical high school student, all simple, uncomplicated energy.

“No, I’m fine.” The interruption startled her back to the present. It was a good thing; if she had continued down that particular, treacherous path of introspection, she might have lost control of her emotions again, which would have been… problematic. She struggled to maintain a calm, neutral expression. “I was just… thinking about something.”

“If you’re not feeling well, Senpai… I can walk you home, if you like,” Takada Shōji offered, hesitating, clearly noticing the strange, distant look on her face.

“That won’t be necessary.” Taking a quiet, deep breath, she ruthlessly pushed down the chaotic, intrusive thoughts. “Just talking should be fine. I heard, Takada-kun, that you have something of a reputation as the gossip king of the school. That you know everything about everyone. Is that true?”

“G-gossip king? Who’s been spreading these vicious, slanderous rumors about me? Well—I just… I just like talking to people, that’s all.” Takada Shōji laughed, scratching his head, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. But if this reputation, however unflattering, could be used to capture Senpai’s attention, he didn’t mind having a few extra nicknames.