“Well, that’s… Wouldn’t this be a good question for Sakayanagi-san? Or perhaps—”
“I’m not sure about that. As far as this matter is concerned, it has nothing to do with Sakayanagi as of right now. I do not plan to do anything that will cause trouble for Class A. I hope that you can see this as nothing more than a third-party problem,” I explained, cutting her off.
After a moment of silence, Yamamura slowly emerged from the shadows of the vending machines.
“I don’t know if it’ll be useful to you, but I do have a little bit of information that might help you with your question,” said Yamamura.
Though there was the possibility that Yamamura wouldn’t give me any information, she pulled out her phone. She then turned the screen toward me and began playing a video. However, because of the distance between her and the people that she was filming, she hadn’t been able to pick up any audio from them.
“During my investigations, the only one I’ve looked into who fits that description right now is this person, Ayanokouji-kun. I don’t know what the conversation that they’re having in the video is about, since I was too far away, but… What do you think? I’m sorry if this is completely irrelevant,” said Yamamura.
The date and time was December 26, 7 p.m. The place was Keyaki Mall. The two people shown in the video were engaged in conversation, at a close distance.
“…Is this not useful?” asked Yamamura.
“On the contrary, it’s plenty useful. As expected of you, Yamamura. Splendid work,” I replied.
“Oh no, no, it’s really no big deal… I just so happened to be there is all…” she answered.
She was being humble. The person on her screen was very wary of their surroundings. The fact that Yamamura was able to capture this much footage in such a situation was quite impressive. I wouldn’t be surprised if she even had information that I didn’t. However, this video alone didn’t seem to be enough to tell me the entire story. There was at least one more piece of information I wanted to have before I could arrive at a conclusion.
“I am incredibly grateful for the information and will be putting it to effective use. And I will not say anything about where I got it, of course, Yamamura,” I told her.
“I just hope that I can be of help.”
Even though she was the one who had given me useful information, Yamamura bowed her head to me, somewhat apologetically. After we parted ways, I immediately decided who to contact based on the information she’d given me, and made up my mind to reach out to that person while getting more information from Kei.
3.4
I WAITED FOR MY CLASSMATE to arrive at a certain location within Keyaki Mall. About fifteen minutes after Kei had contacted her, she suddenly appeared from around the corner.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting, Ayanokouji-kun,” Matsushita called out to me, seeming a little puzzled by this turn of events. “I got a call from Karuizawa-san… She said that you wanted to talk to me?”
“Sorry about this. Will it be okay with your friends, though?” I asked.
“Yeah. I told them I’d be away for about thirty minutes. That should be enough time, right?” asked Matsushita.
“Plenty,” I replied.
“So then…what did you want to talk about?” asked Matsushita.
It was a normal reaction to be wary if someone went through all the trouble of wanting to talk to you alone, just the two of you. Matsushita’s facial expression was the same as ever, but inside, she was probably feeling uneasy.
“Do you know why we’re meeting in this place?” I asked.
“What do you mean? Are you saying there’s some other reason besides me being here in Keyaki Mall?” she asked.
It was certainly true that I knew immediately that Matsushita was at Keyaki Mall, since I’d heard so from Kei. So it was normal for her to think that I was waiting for her in the same mall.
“You were following me last year. We stopped around here and talked,” I told her.
“Oh… Now that you mention it, yes, I think you’re right. Yes, this is the place,” said Matsushita.
She looked around again, and then at the pillars, and then seemed to remember the place where she had been hiding then. At the time, she had questioned me about the incident with the acting director and my ability to do mental arithmetic.
“That day, you said something to me. You said that you wanted to know what my true abilities are,” I said.
“Yeah.” Matsushita said. “I remember you being kind of evasive about it, though.”
“Nearly a year has passed since then. Have you found the answer to that?”
“I’m not sure. You’ve contributed more to the class compared to when we were first-years, but…I still get the feeling that you’re not being serious, after all.”
“I see.” Unlike mere superficial evaluations, Matsushita had a reasonably good eye for discerning individual ability, more so than my other classmates.
“If you’re willing to work with me, Matsushita, then I might be able to show you a little more of my true ability,” I told her.
“…What do you mean by that?” she asked.
Now that I’d caught Matsushita’s interest, I proceeded to discuss the information I’d recently obtained from Yamamura, and what it would mean moving forward. She seemed unable to hide her surprise after she finished listening to what I had to say.
“It’s true that such a thing happened, but… It’s a while after the fact. Who told you about it?” asked Matsushita. She could have simply been reminiscing, but her expression told me otherwise.
“It’s a conversation that happened nearly three months ago, but was there something about it that still sticks out to you?” I asked.
“…Well… Yeah, I suppose so,” said Matsushita.
While she admitted that part, it seemed like Matsushita couldn’t help but be curious about where I had gotten my information.
“Sorry, but I can’t reveal my source. I’ll just say that it’s not a classmate,” I told her.
I could tell her that much, since there wouldn’t be anything to gain in the future from doubting my classmates for no reason.
“So you want to know something about that, then. I just hope that I remember the details of it,” said Matsushita.