Chaos Mate ~Revenge In This Chaotic Academy~ - Chapter 44: Face-to-Face with the Killer

Chapter 44: Face-to-Face with the Killer

The next morning, I head to school early to handle some business in D-Class. As I leave their classroom, I run into Aramori. It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen this natural airhead.

“Chaassuu, Madoka-cchi! What’re ya doin’ in a place like this?”

“I’m gonna ignore the fake Kansai accent, but what about you? You’re usually barely making it before the late bell.”

“Hmm? Oh, right, right! Ruri-cchi asked me to bring somethin’. Last night, she said she forgot to give you somethin’ yesterday and told me to pass it to you. Said it’s a hassle to move hands and feet just for you, so she dumped it on me. Here ya go!”

Aramori hands me a small memory card, but my mind’s just full of question marks.

The data I asked for was just those two files, so something she forgot? Was Naruse investigating on her own too?

“Did she say what’s on this?”

“Nope, didn’t hear. But there’s a message! ‘This should complete the puzzle, now do your best,’ she said.”

“Complete the puzzle, huh… Got it, thanks.”

“Yup. …Hey, Madoka-cchi, you’re still looking for the culprit, right?”

“Yeah. Guess you’re not thrilled about it, huh? I’m breaking the class’s unspoken rule…”

Scratching the back of my head, I say it, but Aramori shakes her head with a calm expression.

“You don’t get swayed by others, Madoka-cchi. I’m not against it or anything. Just worried it’s dangerous.”

“That so?”

“Yup. But… you’ll be fine, right?”

“Probably.”

“You’ll find the culprit, right?”

“Maybe.”

“…What’s 1+1?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Busted for not listening, I get a knuckle to the head.

Her smile seems shadowed under her eyes, or maybe I’m imagining it.

On the rooftop, I check the data. It’s a list of friend registrations within the class.

It shows who’s registered with who.

Reading it, I realize this is the most critical piece.

“…So that’s how it was.”

I thought I’d be thrilled that my deductions were right, that I could corner the culprit, but I can’t feel happy.

This makes it undeniable.

I don’t know when it started. No, I was deceived from the beginning.

And it wasn’t just me.

It’s time to end this.

For that, I…

※

That night.

I called them to the E-Class classroom, saying I needed to talk.

I told Mogami not to come, but knowing her, she might be hiding somewhere.

Standing where Kikuchi’s body was, I look at the crescent moon outside.

They say seeing it in a dream means rising luck, but it only pains my heart. There’s no turning back now.

I hear footsteps approaching the classroom.

They enter and call out.

“Tsubaki-kun? You called me over the phone… What’s this about?”

I react to the voice, put on a fake smile, and turn.

“Yeah, it’s important. …Sumeragi Reine.”

It’s sad… too damn sad.

She was the first to talk to me. Friendly to everyone.

The first to say she’d be my friend.

“Reine… why…”

Part of me still doesn’t want to believe it. Somewhere, I think maybe the real culprit’s setting up another misdirection.

But nothing starts if I don’t doubt.

“You had Utsumi Kagetora kill Kikuchi Yuka, didn’t you?”

“Huh…? What are you… talking about?”

Reine’s eyes widen in shock.

Her face says, What are you saying? I don’t get it.

But I won’t be thrown off.

“It’s not ‘what.’ You let Utsumi out of his confinement, had him kill Kikuchi in her room, and moved her to the E-Class classroom. The elevator’s always running, so you probably wrapped her in a carpet to transport her. That carpet must be stained red with blood. And the knife in her heart? It was to stop the bleeding during transport and to make us think the weapon was a knife when it was really a sword.”

“W-Wait a second!! I’m not the culprit!! I’m not the only one with a connection to Utsumi!!”

I expected her to argue back.

It’s exactly what I anticipated.

“Sure, everyone’s a suspect. But all the evidence points to you. …And this isn’t the first time you’ve orchestrated a murder.”

That’s right, this case isn’t the start. It’s an extension of a tragedy.

“The string of random murders a month ago that got Utsumi suspended for a month. You were involved in those too.”

I read from the data on my phone.

“Kanayama Kenji from C-Class, he stalked you. Yamakawa Kaito, also C-Class, secretly filmed you changing. Akino Mana, spreading bad rumors about you behind your back. …The other three did similar criminal acts against you. They all share a common thread: malicious actions toward you.”

“It’s all a coincidence!! I had nothing to do with it!! Utsumi did it on his own!!”

She wants to pin it as Utsumi’s rampage.

Well, without evidence, most wouldn’t admit it.

“Maybe. But not this time with Kikuchi. For Utsumi to get out during his confinement, he needed help. Someone had to open the door from outside to disable the sensors.”

“Then someone from D-Class opened it!! I have no connection to Utsumi!!”

“…You just stepped on a landmine, Reine.”

“Huh…?”

Her face says she doesn’t get it.

No one would think something like this matters, so it’s easy to forget.

“That day, among teachers and the student council, only Kishino-sensei went to Utsumi’s room. But he didn’t let Utsumi out. So, who opened Utsumi’s door? …None of the D-Class students are friend-registered with him.”

Her fake panic fades, slowly turning to an angry expression.

“By the way, there’s no record of Utsumi having connections with anyone from S, C, or his current F-Class. That leaves only E-Class. Reine, you said when you opened Kikuchi’s room that your phone’s a spare key for everyone in the class. That means you’re friend-registered with everyone except me and Mogami, right? …Including Utsumi, formerly F-Class.”

“E-Even if that’s true, I’m not involved—”

“No way you’re not. I checked: you’re the only one in E-Class friend-registered with Utsumi.”

She’s still trying to weasel out, so I hit her with the decisive fact.

“No one but you could’ve opened Utsumi’s door.”

“T-That’s… But!! That doesn’t mean I let him out!! I have no connection to him!! Friend registration was just because I became class rep, I had no choice!!”

“Reine, Kikuchi, Utsumi, and the five students and one teacher killed a month ago… There’s one more thing they all have in common.”

I’m done indulging her excuses. It’s a waste of time.

The next piece of evidence will break her mentally.

“They were all in C-Class at enrollment. And proof? This photo was on the digital camera. Your real goal when you approached us on the first day of the investigation was to delete this, wasn’t it?”

I show her the photo saved on my phone, and Sumeragi Reine’s eyes tremble with panic and confusion.

“How…!?”

“The camera told me. It said to make the culprit who killed Kikuchi, who cherished it, pay.”

In the photo, Utsumi and Reine are hugging closely at the edge, and objectively, it looks…

“Pretty strong connection, huh? You two look really close. Almost like lovers.”

I don’t know if she hears my irritated tone, but Reine freezes, hiding her face.

After a moment, she sighs deeply, looks down, and lowers her hands.

“Madoka-kun… don’t you think a perfect world, with no stress, just happiness, would be great?”

“Probably. Sounds ideal, but it’d be crushed by guilt and shame.”

Her voice lowers, speaking quietly.

“I just tried to make that world. Roses get pruned to stop rot, right? My world was perfect until that discord started creeping in. Because of her… a crack formed in my perfect world!!”

Sitting on a desk, glaring up at me, her face is twisted with the same anger I saw in F-Class’s bathhouse.

This must be her true nature, hidden until now.

“That ‘her’ is Kikuchi?”

“No. Kikuchi-san was influenced by her and started defying me, so I got rid of her. Ugh, worst…!! Absolutely the worst!! I want her gone!! To hell!! Die, seriously!! I can’t stand her!!”

Spewing venom, glaring at me, she says the name.

“That girl who won’t bend to my will… Mogami Emi!!”

“…Huh?”

A name I never expected to hear. Someone I thought had no connection to Reine. A completely unexpected name.

“Mogami…!?”

Could it be… the one Reine really wanted to kill was Mogami?