Death Within the Evil Eye by Masahiro Imamura

Author:Masahiro Imamura [Imamura, Masahiro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-02T21:00:00+00:00

4

We checked the front and back doors once again, and then we heard Kukizawa and Ōji arguing in the hallway. The double doors of the canteen had been left open so they could observe Hattori’s room from inside.

We looked at Shishida and went into the canteen. Jun came running over, visibly scared.

‘They are fighting!’

Tokino was sitting a bit further away with a tired look on her face. She indicated Kukizawa with her chin.

‘He doesn’t like being separated from his girlfriend. Says she’s being framed. Even starting to blame Mr. Ōji and your kid.’

‘Huh?’ I said.

‘What’s this about?’ Shishida didn’t sound angry, just baffled.

Kukizawa turned around. He was very upset.

‘I wasn’t blaming them!’

Things had just calmed down now that Toiro had agreed to go to her room, so why was he making trouble again? I sighed and looked at Shishida. The grimace on his face did not hide his tiredness.

‘We’re all here together until tomorrow. There’s plenty of time, so just calm down, and we’ll listen.’

Everyone sat down, and Shishida asked what was going on. Tokino explained why they had started arguing.

‘He claims the red flowers scattered in front of Lady Sakimi’s room were planted there by the letter sender to frame the girl.’

‘Exactly!’ Kukizawa cried. ‘Mr. Shishida said that upperclassman Toiro scattered those flowers herself and made that sketch to show off her powers.’

‘Paranormal powers aren’t real. So that’s the only explanation possible,’ replied Shishida.

‘But that’s where you’re wrong. The flowers weren’t scattered there before the sketch was made. Somebody saw the sketch and then scattered the flowers to match the drawing.’

‘Huh. And why would they do that?’ asked Tokino disinterestedly. Her indifferent response only seemed to agitate Kukizawa further.

'Listen! The sender saw her drawing that sketch of Sakimi’s room during supper. They must have been surprised to see their crime exposed like that. But then they noticed the room in the sketch didn’t have white flowers scattered around, but red ones. That gave the culprit an idea. They would scatter red flowers near the room. That would make it seem as if upperclassman Toiro knew the scene only the culprit could know, and everyone would suspect her.’

Kukizawa’s theory meant the culprit scattered the flowers after seeing Toiro’s drawing. Yet almost everyone had been standing around her whilst she was making the sketch and would have had no chance of scattering the flowers. So who wasn’t there at that moment?

The first one to speak was Ōji, who was clearly not happy with the accusation.

‘I overslept, so I didn’t even go to the canteen. I couldn’t have seen her drawing.’

Kukizawa stood up from his seat and walked over to the doors of the canteen.

‘That’s not true. We were sitting near the entrance, with our backs to the doors. They don’t shut tightly, and there’s a small gap between them.’

It was through that gap that I had seen the sketch of the burning bridge the day before. It was indeed possible to have seen that picture from the hallway, without entering the canteen.

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