「Hmmm,
hmmm, hmmm ♪」
I
hummed as I took off my uniform and turned on the TV with the remote control.
I was
in a good mood.
Today,
I ate lunch with Junichi-sama while comforting him.
I put
on a sober face and said, “Don't worry, cheer up! Kurosawa-san will be back
soon” but in my heart I chuckled, “There's no way she'll be back”.
Now
that Misuzu Kurosawa is gone, the girl who is closest to Junichi-sama is
probably me.
The
love that is born from continuously comforting Junichi-sama's broken heart. I'm
sure that Junichi-sama will fall in love with me soon.
After
school, I went to the club activities...... but Ninagawa and I only had a brief
track time together.
Then
we went back to the dorm, had dinner in the cafeteria, and just got back to my
room.
Tonight,
there is a drama series that I've been looking forward to. Today is the last
episode. I definitely can't miss it.
But as
soon as I turned on the TV, the sound of an emergency bulletin rang out, and a
message appeared in white letters on the screen.
As
soon as I saw it, I went rigid with my hand still holding the remote control.
「What!?
Sis got caught!? The girls were released safely? What...... what's going?」
I'm
not joking. My love story with Junichi-sama is just getting started.
No,
it's not the time to be thinking about a love story.
If my
own sister kidnapped one of our students, of course I would be suspected, and I
would have no place at school.
In the
first place, my sister is paying for all my school fees and living expenses. If
my sister was arrested, all of that would stop.
I
don't even know how I'm going to survive if that happens.
「It's a
lie! This is absolutely a lie!」
I'm
sure it wasn't my sister who was involved in the women's track and field club.
My
sister would never lie to me.
If my
sister says she did not do it, then she did not do it.
I
changed the channels one after another, as if clinging to hope that there was
some mistake.
I
hoped that somewhere it would be reported as a false alarm.
And
then...
When
the title of the program appeared on the screen, “Special News Program -
Large-scale Kidnapping: What Happened to the Girls?” I stopped changing the
channel.
◇ ◇ ◇
After
arriving home, my mom fell asleep because she was not feeling well.
My dad
just said, “I believe in you. and don't worry about your mother” before he went
back into the bedroom.
I
thought my dad would be more upset......
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And not
feeling in the mood to say anything about dinner, I took a cup of ramen from
the kitchen counter and poured hot water over it.
「Oh,
another lonely dinner, Devi」
Lili,
who was floating in the air, said teasingly, and I twitched my lips in
annoyance then said, “Shut up”.
And
while holding the lid of the cup of noodles with my chopsticks, I turned on the
TV in the living room.
I feel
like it's been a long time since I've watched TV.
I
suppose that's true. After all, I've been spending most of my evenings with the
girls.
As I
randomly changed the channel, I saw on the screen, “Special news program -
Large-scale kidnapping: What happened to the girls?”.
I
wondered what kind of news they were reporting.
『Today,
I changed my schedule and watched a news about the kidnapping of a young girl,
which had caused a sensation in the world for the past few weeks. I'd like to
give a thorough examination of...... which seems to be called “Mysterious Disappearance
Case” on the Internet』
There
were several people seated at a semi-circular table with the familiar host and
female announcer of a lunchtime information program in the middle.
『Today's
commentators are as follows. First up is Professor Hiroya Tanaka, a professor
at Hosei University and an expert in social pathology. Next, a researcher with
expertise in criminal psychology--Yoshitake .......』
The
guests are introduced in order.
As for
me, I can't help but wonder why comedians and idols are always included in
these kinds of information programs.
I
understand that it is necessary to include the viewpoints of ordinary people,
but because of the familiarity of TV personalities who are not experts in the
field, the stories of these “ordinary people” tend to dominate the show.
With
this in mind, I opened the lid of the ramen and sipped the noodles. Yes, the
seafood flavor is delicious after all.
Then,
as I stared blankly at it.
『Finally,
on behalf of the students of the school where this incident took place, we have
a first-year student, Rin Fukuda』
『P...
Please take care of me』
「Bufoooooo!!」
Rin
Fukuda, who looked like she was about to die, appeared on the screen and I
spewed my ramen.
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「Cough,
Cough, w-w-w-what is she doing here!!」
「Fumi
Fumi! Look, there! You're going to spill the soup on the carpet, Devi? Is that
okay, Devi?」
「Oh,
that's not good」
I hurriedly
ran to the kitchen to get a dishcloth and wiped off the ramen soup that had
been spattered on the table.
Of
course, all the while, my eyes were glued to the TV.
『Now,
let's take a look back at what happened』
The
screen switched to an illustration and narration with frightening music in the
background.
『K-san,
a third-year schoolgirl, went missing, and a few days later, her best friend
H-san disappeared from her room. 13 days later, K-san was found in front of the
school wearing the same clothes she was wearing when she went missing, and she
testified that she had no memory of the time she was missing. And a few more
days later, this time, eighteen of the twenty members of the girls' track and
field club went missing all together after school』
Well,
it's not wrong.
It's
not surprising that Ryoko and Kyoko are not included in this story, since they
have not been discovered by the public.
『And
what's more, the first-year student, F-san, is missing』
I
nearly spewed out my ramen again, but stopped myself.
Yeah,
I should probably stop eating.
F-san
is in the studio right now, you know?
The
person on the edge of the screen looking like she's dying is F-san, right?
What
is it? Shimura! Behind you! I wonder if it's something like that. (*Note: Ken
Shimura -> popular comedian, but he died at the age of 70 due to pneumonia
caused by COVID-19. My deepest condolences)
『F-san
left a note saying that a third-year boy named K was the culprit and then disappeared,
leaving this Boy K injured after someone attacked him on his way home』
Sorry,
I have nothing more to gush about.
That K
is me, no matter how I think about it.
『Actually,
this F-san had asked this Boy K for a relationship, but was rejected, and to
make up for it, she staged the kidnapping in order to frame him as the
kidnapper』
How
could the media know about that!?
I
looked at Lili and she shook her head, “It's not Lili, Devi”.
『And
yesterday, this Boy K returned home together with K-san, the schoolgirl. This K-san
is the third-year schoolgirl who was kidnapped first. And she was forcibly
kidnapped again in a black van while she was on her way home with this Boy K』
Aside
from the fact that Kasuya-kun doesn't appear in the story, but the information
is surprisingly detailed, where on earth did this story come from?
『But
here, the case took a major turn. The next day, this Boy K went to the yakuza's
office by himself. We don't know why he did that, but when the police raided
the office of the after receiving a report that there was a gang war, they
found this Boy K confronting the members of the gang. And there were the
kidnapped schoolgirls』
Then,
the screen switches to show the image of us coming out of the office.
It's
an image of me and the girls coming out with blankets over our heads.
There
was a lot of commotion, but fortunately no faces were shown.
Next,
the screen switched to the host.
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『So, it
seems that the culprit has been arrested and the case has been resolved, but
there are still some girls who have not been found, right?』
『Yes,
four first-year students from the women's track and field club have yet to be
found, and the police are going to pursue this matter closely』
The
host turned to the commentator as the analyst responded.
『Tanaka-sensei,
what do you think about this case? 』
『Yes.
It's a large-scale kidnapping that is unprecedented in Japan's criminal
history, but it's hard to imagine that the scale of the gang that was caught
this time. I think that perhaps a larger criminal organization is involved
behind it』
『I see』
There,
the comedian interjected.
『This F
girl is a terrible person. She has nothing to do with the kidnapping itself,
right? In my opinion, she's the most unforgivable』
Immediately,
Rin Fukuda bounced on the edge of the screen.
『That's
right. She's the worst kind of woman, taking advantage of other people's
misfortune to get revenge on the man who dumped her. You're from the same
school, aren't you? Do you know her? What kind of girl is she?』
The Enka
singer spoke to Rin Fukuda. (*Note: Enka (演歌) is a popular Japanese
music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically)
『A,
Ahaha.... ha, s-she is just an ordinary girl』
Rin
Fukuda replies with her eyes swimming wildly.
After
all, if I'm asked to comment on myself, that's what I'll say.
「Nishishi~,
this is a very interesting, Devi! Lili would like to make it a little more
interesting, Devi」
And with
that, Lili disappeared into thin air.
The
sight of Rin Fukuda on TV was too unbearable.
But
her eyes suddenly went rigid as she stared around the side of the camera.
Probably,
she got the message.
The
next moment, she opened her mouth again, looking like she was about to cry.
『Oh,
um.... It's not that I lied, but...... the truth is that she's too
self-centered and doesn't like it when she's not the center of the discussion.
She's the type of person who wants to be admired...... and wants to make a good
impression even if it means bringing other people down.......』
It
seems that the instruction was to answer the question properly.
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My
impression was that she was surprisingly good at self-analysis.
However,
the professor was relentless in his attack on her comment.
『Excessive
self-love and excessive self-pity. This is the so-called monster child. In
Europe and the United States, this kind of behavior is corrected from an early
age through counseling, but Japan lags behind in this field. Japanese people
called them in funny way as “Kamatte-chan” and let them go unchecked. They are
just plain sociopaths. I think they should be locked up in an institution of
some kind』(*Note: Kamatte-chan (構ってちゃん) is a terms for
someone who is an attention-seeker)
『Society......
Unsuitable......』
『Fukuda-san,
you should probably stay away from that girl』
『A......
ahaha......』
I had
never heard such a cheerless “ahaha” before.
From
there, the commentators made a series of blunt and accusatory comments about
the girl F.
Rin
Fukuda no longer had any life left in her. She was not breathing.
At the
edge of the screen, she was drooping so low that her whiskers were reflected in
the screen.
For
those of us who know that Girl F is Rin Fukuda, it was a public execution to
the point of disgust.
Once
the constant bashing of Girl F had subsided, she must have tried to change the
subject. But the researcher, who was an expert in criminal psychology, opened
his mouth.
『If I
may. I think this Boy K is the problem. He pretends to be a hero. It's insane
that he rushed into the office of a gang. It is these out-of-control civilians
that complicate the investigation......』
However,
when he had said that much, suddenly a commercial came on. When the commercial
ended, the researcher was nowhere to be seen, and the seat he was sitting on
had a huge stuffed bear on it, which was quite unnatural.
Biased
media coverage at its finest.
As I
was twitching my cheeks, Lili reappeared.
「I’m
back, Devi」
「Where
have you been?」
「To
make this show more interesting, I gave them an anonymous tip, Devi」
「Tip?」
Almost
as soon as I asked, the host opened his mouth.
『Well,
during the commercial, we received a tip from a viewer. Our staff confirmed
that the evidence seems to be quite conclusive. This is audio only, so please
listen first』
The
serious expressions of the commentators were shown on the screen in turn. Only
Rin Fukuda's was at the top of her head, though.
Then,
what started to play was the conversation between Kasuya-kun and his juniors.
The
part about Kurosawa-san was cut off, and the names of the people were covered
with a beeping sound, but it was easy to tell who was talking to whom if you
listened.
I gave
Lili a stern look.
「Devil trick?」
「Yes,
Devi」
「I guess
so」
I let
out a sigh as we exchange what has become a standard conversation.
I was
planning on finishing my revenge on Kasuya-kun with my next move, but now that
she's released this audio, it's overkill.
『This
is the conversation between the students who were seduced by F-san and attacked
Boy K......』
As the
host opened his mouth, the Enka singer looked as if she had smelled a pest, and
muttered, “Sounds like a very troubled school”.
The
atmosphere in the studio must be terrible. But then the comedian suddenly made
a move.
『I get
it, this boy K must have been really cornered and had no choice but to run into
the yakuza's office. Once he found out that the yakuza had kidnapped the girl,
he knew he had to do something about it, so he went in. I think he's very brave』
『That's
right. This case was almost solved thanks to this boy』
I
finally understood why comedians and TV personalities are placed as
commentators in these programs.
In
other words, they are the ones who adjust the atmosphere of the place.
And
the flow of the program gradually elevated Boy K to the status of a hero for
solving the case. Regardless of this, Rin Fukuda continued to expose her
whiskers to the general audience until the end of the program.
