Chapter 50

Wind blew in through the window, sending dust swirling. Wearing a mask and a triangular bandanna, I peered cautiously through the old screen, glaring. I hated this space that had just let the wind blow in. Outside, it was the kind of perfect autumn weather that celebrated Health and Sports Day, but my heart was in the middle of a downpour.

I poured out curses and complaints at the other senior boy who shared the same three-mat, one-room apartment.

"On our precious day off, why are you making us do club activities? Since when did I switch from the 'Vtuber Research Society' to the 'Apartment-Cleaning Club'!?"

In response to my grumbling, the President kept smiling cheerfully while swinging a broom.

It all started when he said he had research materials and called me out to an apartment on the edge of town, near the woods. At first, I trusted that wild President Ishii—believed he must have some extraordinary idea.

But I was wrong. He had tricked me.

In truth, I was just helping clean an empty room in "Kodoku Manor," the two-story apartment his grandmother managed. On top of that, the first room we entered—Room 102 on the first floor—was thick with cobwebs and dust. Ten minutes in, my spirit was already breaking.

Switching between a duster and a vacuum, I kept hurling complaints at President Ishii.

"Why are we even doing this?"

"Sorry, sorry. Gramps originally started running this apartment in retirement... but after he died, Granny hurt her back. Every year one of us family members comes to help. Usually it's Miiko..."

The topic of Miiko.

Once that came up, I couldn't complain anymore. Miiko—my childhood friend who disappeared after being attacked by someone a few days ago. All we had was the fact that a look-alike girl who streams videos as her stand-in exists.

Still, no one knows where she is.

So I couldn't blame the President. Reluctantly, I tried switching topics to something else that had been bothering me.

"President, you haven't told your grandma or your parents about Miiko... right!?"

The fact that Miiko is gone is a secret. The cause of her disappearance is an opponent so ruthless they'd hurt even a complete stranger. If anyone who knows Miiko starts investigating, that person could be in danger.

That's why almost no one knows. Just me, President Ishii—Miiko's brother—and one female college student who isn't here right now.

"Of course I didn't tell my parents... You're the one who forged that fake letter to explain she's busy with detective work, right?"

"Yeah... It was tough. I copied Miiko's handwriting from what you lent me."

Still, judging by the President's face, my attempted cover-up seems to have worked. I was about to feel relieved.

"Relax. I'm not the type to let your hard work go to waste. I only told the neighborhood gossip."

My hopes were dashed.

I aimed the vacuum head I was holding at the President's skull and swung it down. Disgustingly, he dodged sideways.

"I'll make you disappear. Don't move, President. Vanish, Tatsuya!"

"Hey hey hey! Where'd that polite speech go!? I'm your senpai, you're my kouhai!"

"Senpai... there are plenty of cases in this world where a kouhai punches a senpai."

"Y-yeah, I guess."

"Which means—turn into a lump of meat right there!"

I missed the second swing too. No matter what, I couldn't land a hit, and my irritation kept growing. With the room's poor ventilation, the muggy air only fed my hatred.

The President was unarmed. He held out his hands and started begging for mercy.

"Hey hey hey hey! Stop! I was joking!"

Even if it was a joke, my anger wouldn't fade. Even as a joke, it was in poor taste. Someone who doesn't know how much I agonized over hiding Miiko did this—and he should know.

While glaring that anger at the President, I went back to cleaning.

If we keep fooling around like this, we'll never make progress. At this rate, the President's grandma with the bad hip might do better—or maybe it'd be better if no one cleaned at all.

"Well, at least it's small. If we divide this three-mat room into three, it's manageable, right? If it were a big room, we'd never finish in a day."

"Yeah... When you say cramped, it's a bit... but rent's cheap. If you ever wanna live alone, I recommend this place."

"I refuse. There's no way I'd live in an apartment so cheap it might be accident property."

Not that I actually asked the price—just out of curiosity—but I have no idea why the deposit and key money are zero and the rent's under twenty thousand yen.

Yet I can say with absolute certainty: the reason it's under twenty thousand yen is not "because the manager is nice." There's definitely a ghost or something.

I told the President as much.

"No good?"

"Did you bulldoze a graveyard to build this apartment?"

"Well, what shows up might not be a ghost... it might be something more harmful... Hey, you saw it in Granny's room too, right?"

I had indeed seen something unbelievable. But wasn't that only in the manager's room? When I asked, the President fell silent.

What on earth appears in this apartment?

Just thinking that, I turned on the vacuum. The suction felt weak, and then it started spitting out dust.

"Ah..."

"Looks like that vacuum's broken. There's another one—let's grab it from Granny's."

As we said that, we stepped outside the apartment. In the yard, the President's cane-wielding grandmother was talking with someone unexpected.

The President didn't seem to know that person was visiting either; tilting his head, we approached the two. Just as I followed so I wouldn't be left behind, that unexpected person looked straight at me.

"Oh... Hyoga-kun..."

Startled, I struggled to speak but managed to answer her.

"W-wh-why is Detective Chikage..."

Detective Chikage—the college girl playing detective who knows about Miiko. Whenever there's a case, the police summon her. This was the first time I'd ever met her outside of a case.

The President also exclaimed, "Right, right!" at the same time. His grandmother, wearing a gentle smile, said, "Oh, you're friends with them too?"

We both nodded like idiots, over and over.

What bothered me had to be asked, even if she was a detective. Despite hating detectives, curiosity won and I spoke up.

"Did something happen...? Is there some difficult case that needs Detective Chikage to solve it?"

She didn't catch my slight sarcasm and puffed out her chest.

"Unlike some detective who only solves cases by fluke, I get called. I'm going to become a famous detective! My reputation should be rising bit by bit. I'll crack a huge case no other detective can solve!"

"No other detective can solve?"

Was she exaggerating—or was she serious? I didn't know, and it only left me more confused.

Just then, the President's grandmother suggested to us and Detective Chikage, "Let's have some tea."

"Well, standing around talking... Let's take a break. Both of you. Come on in, come on in. You too, Detective Chikage."

"I can't stop my heart pounding, wondering what case awaits. Now then—eh!?"

"What's wrong? Ah, aren't these kids cute?"

Led by the President's grandmother, Detective Chikage entered Room 105—the landlady's own apartment.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The composed Detective Chikage let out an unbelievably horrific scream a few seconds later.

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