When the Detective Work is Done, I'll Die

Chapter 21

"Well, I'm going to look for Miiko. You coming?"

The club president called out from behind me after I pulled my bicycle up to the school gate.

I shook my head, my heart aching now that the topic had come up again.

No matter how much he asked, I couldn't follow the president's words. I made a sour face.

"Sorry. I've got plans."

"Is that so? Then it can't be helped. What are you planning to do?"

"Ahaha... It's a secret."

I apologized to him over and over in my heart. His efforts would definitely be in vain. My plan was to speak with Miiko, who had become a ghost. He would never be able to meet Miiko.

Watching the president walk on ahead of me, leaving me behind, my heart filled with nothing but guilt. But I couldn't tell him. If I told him, I'd drag him into the reason for Miiko's death.

If he disappeared too, I wouldn't be able to bear it.

While I was lost in thought, the smartphone in my chest pocket started vibrating. I quickly grabbed it and saw a notification that Miiko's livestream was about to start.

I almost missed the livestream I'd managed to catch at the last second. Thinking, "That was close, that was close," I looked for somewhere I could sit. There was a nice open square nearby with a bench, so I parked my bicycle and decided to watch the livestream there.

As cold wind wrapped around my body, I operated the smartphone without shaking. On the screen, Miiko's figure appeared once more.

I called out to her, toward the smartphone.

"Miiko..."

"...I'm just an AI created based on a person called Miiko. You mustn't think we're the same. If you do, you'll start hoping she's still alive."

Those words clogged up my thoughts, and they burst within me. The sadness I'd been holding back, the frustration, the anger—they all exploded again.

It hurt so much, I hurled those feelings and the thoughts I'd had at her.

"Even if you say that, I just can't believe it! They told me you died, but here you are as an AI right in front of me! No matter how I look at it, you look alive on the other side of the smartphone. Like, I just can't grasp it at all!"

"But yesterday, you were grieving, weren't you?"

"That was about how much Miiko had suffered. Not about her being dead. I tried over and over to accept that she was dead. I accepted it and agonized about it. But I just can't. When I see your face like this, I can't believe it anymore!"

"Hmm..."

What must Miiko feel after being bombarded with words like that? After I finished, a terrible sense of guilt welled up. She was the one who had suffered. She might not have been able to accept that her real self had died either.

And yet, why was I the only one who could keep whining?

It was nothing but selfishness.

While I looked at the confused Miiko on the screen, I voiced the solution myself.

"But... it'll be okay. For sure. As time passes, I'll get used to it... I will."

"Then, I'm glad... I can rest easy... The real Miiko in heaven too."

"Y-yeah..."

"Yeah."

Somehow, if we kept talking about this, I felt tears would overflow again. The damp air made even breathing painful.

So I decided to change the subject. If possible, to a mystery. If this AI was made thinking about her, its curiosity should be dozens of times greater than a human's.

While scratching my head, I presented the mystery.

"Hey, remember Jinro High, the one the research club said we'd visit?"

"Jinro... What about it?"

"Well, apparently one of the high schoolers in the club we visited recently died in a car accident... Do you happen to know anything about it?"

"Hmm... Hold on. I feel like I've heard something, but not really."

"Huh? Can't you move through the internet with your AI abilities? Like, instantly bring up articles from the internet?"

"Ah... Sorry. I can't do that. Within this app, all I can do is talk over time. But don't worry. I'll lend you my mind. If you gather the information, I can help."

Hmph. So even though she's been turned into a Vtuber, there's little she can do. But she's packed with knowledge, so if I keep feeding her information, she'll give me hints, apparently.

It felt kind of awful.

My childhood friend wasn't human anymore, just a convenient storehouse of knowledge. It felt like I wasn't treating her as a single life.

And yet, Miiko on the screen showed a radiant smile.

"Use me more and more. With this, I want to leave proof that the real Miiko lived."

"R-right. Then I'll ask you what you know."

I consulted her about the male high schooler's car accident I'd looked up on the internet (this was only treated as an accident where a second-year male student died; the net articles didn't mention any foul play) and the unsettling atmosphere surrounding Lycanthrope Academy itself.

Then, it seemed she had her own thoughts based on her experiences while alive.

"I've heard something... No mistake. So it was true."

"True what?"

"That Kanbara person's suspicious behavior and nice outward appearance... And the teacher watching over the outside kid and that boy's interactions... I see. That boy..."

"Wh-what?"

I tilted my head at how she was convincing herself.

"Actually, I'd heard from a friend who went there that the school had endless bullying. That kid managed to escape by quitting school. It was domineering bullying where they all became threats to each other, and if they didn't obey the queen's commands, they were punished..."

"Domineering bullying...? Huh, the Queen wouldn't happen to be...?"

"Wouldn't it have to be that Kanbara person?"

When she said that, I couldn't deny it. Considering Kanbara-senpai's oddness, it wouldn't be strange at all.

Besides, she'd spoken lightly about the dead. Could she have driven that boy to suicide through bullying? Was I overthinking it?

Or could it be true?

No, wait. If it was true, then I, who had caught Kanbara-senpai's eye, would be in trouble.

"I ended up earning her hatred."

Having landed in a bind, I tossed my weak voice to her. Then, her expression changed in an instant—from a gentle face to the serious one she used when persuading a criminal.

"Good! Even if waves of bullying reach you at school... you have to run away properly! Never ever think of giving up on life and dying! Especially not with some excuse like 'Miiko died, so I will too'! I'll never forgive you if you die for any reason!"

"Y-yeah..."

"Right now it's better to run. Near the school you might be watched. We can talk tomorrow, five to six. In a safe place, we'll think properly about what comes next!"

"R-right!"

Being told so seriously made the sense of crisis hit even harder. What if even now, while we were talking, someone was watching? What if Kanbara-senpai was tailing me...?

I hesitated to shut down the app and leave Miiko, but I had no choice and turned off the smartphone.

I left the plaza at once and ran toward town—somewhere with people.

I spent the whole day outside. At the department store near the station. I wandered the bookstore there to keep myself from thinking about my fears.

I didn't have to do any of that. There was no way bullying happened at our school, and Kanbara-senpai's grudge couldn't follow me—

Because on Sunday morning, Kanbara-senpai was found cold in front of the school warehouse.