After enjoying looking out from the narrow path that went around the restoration area of the temple, we had to go through various castle walls to get back to the Shurei Gate. There was a large area where various stalls were set up. Most of the students decided to hang out here before we had to go back to Kyoto.
Some students were looking at souvenirs, while others were eating ice cream they’d bought, but there was one person who was sitting underneath a tree with branches as big as a roof, her sketchbook propped open on her lap. As I got closer to her, I sat next to her without any reservations.
“What’re you drawing?” I asked.
Then, in response, she, Isana Higashira, responded while lightly pressing her pen against the page. “I saw many different pieces of scenery which could easily become a picture, so I’m doing some rough sketches and adding random characters.”
“You remember what the scenery looked like?”
“Just bits and pieces. I have pictures to reference later as well.”
Isana had brought an old digital camera with her for her own purposes. She wanted pictures she could use for her own reference, so she’d borrowed one from her dad.
As I watched her sketch out the scenery we saw from the Shuri Castle, I began my questioning. “The school trip’s coming to an end, but how was it for you?”
“It was great! So much better than middle school! I was never aware that going on a school trip could be so fun when you have friends!”
“Wow, you’re making me tear up, but...yeah, I agree with you, more or less.”
I had fun too. There were various problems, but all’s well that ends well. Or rather, it just has to end well.
“You can keep sketching, but there’s something I wanna tell you. Is that okay?”
“Sure.”
“It’s nothing big, but actually, Yume and I found ourselves in a bit of trouble during the school trip, and I have an idea as to how to solve that. To do that, I’d like it if you listened to my thoughts.”
“Huh? Is there anything you could gain from me of all people lending an ear? I’m not particularly gifted in the advice-giving department.”
“All you have to do is listen. It’ll help me organize my thoughts too.” As I looked up at the blue Okinawan sky through the thick tree branches, I began recollecting everything that’d happened. “So, truth be told, Yume and I met up somewhere on the first night at nine.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You remember how the hotel had a pool? We figured that no students would go there, so we made plans to meet there. So, we were talking for a bit, and then suddenly we heard a rustling from behind us. When we turned around, we saw someone—a shadowy figure—fleeing the scene.”
“Whoa.”
“We tried to quickly chase after them, but when we left the locker rooms to get to the hallway, they were nowhere to be seen. Of course, you know that it’ll be a pain if our relationship gets out, right? That’s why we decided it was necessary to figure out who the culprit was before the end of the trip when everyone gets their phones back.”
“That makes sense.”
“But honestly, I had no clue who they could be up until this morning. After all, there was only one thing I knew about the culprit. You know, Minami-san was actually watching over the entrance to the pool while we were in there, and according to her, nobody left the whole time.”
“Oh, really?”
“So the culprit didn’t leave the locker room. Instead, they hid in there. I checked the boys’ locker room, and didn’t find anyone, so by process of elimination, the culprit must’ve been hiding in the girls’ locker room—the one that Yume didn’t check. In other words, the culprit had to have been a girl. After all, I doubt that in the heat of the moment, a guy would flee into the girls’ locker room.”
“Hm. I see.”
“Conversely, that’s all I had to go off of, but also, that wasn’t the only thing that happened at the pool that night. Thinking about that overall, everything came together neatly like a puzzle, and I was able to take the number of suspects down to just one.”
“How so?”
“At eight thirty, a half hour before Yume and I went into the pool, there were three people there. One of them was Asuhain. She was hiding in the bushes after seeing a different pair—not us—head in there. She witnessed Yako Yoshino ask someone out.”
“Interesting.”
“It didn’t work out, and apparently things got heated. Seeing them erupt into an argument, Asuhain jumped out of the bushes and, in the heat of the moment, pushed both of them into the pool.”
“Oh dear.”
“That being said, these two incidents are not unrelated. The person Yoshino asked out was actually the last person to leave, and they were the very same person who saw me and Yume.”
Up until now, Isana had been idly nodding along and sketching, but as soon as she heard this, her hand stopped moving and she glanced at me. “Why...do you think that?”
“I heard from Yoshino not too long ago that after she got rejected, she had Asuhain grab her a change of clothes. She said that by the time they left the pool, it was eight fifty. Do you remember what I said earlier? Minami-san started watching over the pool entrance around then—ten minutes before nine. Of course, she didn’t see Yoshino or Asuhain leave the pool, since they’d already left by then. But she didn’t see anyone go in either.”
“Uh-huh...”
“There’s the slightest of inconsistencies in the times that Minami-san and Yoshino told me, so more than likely, they just missed each other. But either way, the only way the culprit could’ve entered the pool was between the time that Yoshino and Asuhain left and Minami-san arrived—just a few minutes. The timing is as strict as threading a needle. Can that really be written off as a mere coincidence?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Of course, Minami-san didn’t tell anyone that she was watching over the entrance for us, and I’m sure even she didn’t even know what time she’d start watching. Not running into her can definitely only be called a coincidence. But what about Yoshino and Asuhain? If we assume that the culprit was someone who had nothing to do with the two of them, then they’d have no reason to try and avoid them. Even if they were extremely shy, it would’ve been hard for them to know that they were in there without at least peeking inside. Asuhain said that nobody else came into the locker room, and that she and Yoshino didn’t exchange a single look or word. So how would the culprit know that the two of them were still in there?”
“I see...”
“I think that the culprit already knew that the two of them were in there, and it was difficult for her to face them. There’s only one person that fits the bill—the person that Yoshino asked out.”
Isana fell silent.
“The person who rejected Yoshino is also the same person who saw me and Yume. As soon as I figured this out, there was one person who fit the four conditions to be the culprit.”
Then, I put up my index finger. “First, as I said earlier, they had to be a girl.”