“Ladies and gentlemen.
“My sincerest apologies for my earlier reticence. As your vice president, it is inexcusable for me to abandon the loquaciousness that is my one saving grace.
“No, Hyota, my elementary-school fiancée is not my second saving grace. I’ve finally made up my mind to speak, so I would appreciate if you didn’t interrupt.
“Yes, the fact is, I did consider keeping this matter quietly to myself.
“As student council president of Yubiwa Academy, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was wrong to dig into our school’s shameful past.
“Yet since the whole business stemmed from the creation of a mural with which I was involved not as Nagahiro Sakiguchi, student council president, but as Nagahiro the Orator, vice president of the Pretty Boy Detective Club, I couldn’t very well just clam up.
“Therefore, I solemnly present you with the results of my investigation.
“Of course, the teachers I questioned were even more reticent than I─were I to repeat to you verbatim what they told me, without some measure of editorial intervention, you would surely be frustrated beyond measure. Hyota might even be bored enough to leave.
“Which is to say, the art teacher in question, Kowako Towai, was abundantly capable of inspiring reticence.
“She was such a legendary teacher that she is still spoken of in the teachers’ lounge seven years after her departure, but the legend is by no means a positive one.
“Our teachers are adults, and all of this took place long ago, so they did not malign or openly disparage her─they were reticent, as I’ve said─yet they could still not fully conceal the extent of Ms. Towai’s odd behavior.
“To put it bluntly, she was an oddball.
“That may be quite appropriate for an artist, but to be frank, the artist in question was apparently a problem teacher.
“Of course, the reason she resigned… Or, let’s not mince words, the reason she was fired, was the elimination of art electives from Yubiwa Academy’s curriculum. But that was partially a pretext.
“It’s quite ironic, of course, for a teacher to demonstrate to her students through the arc of her own career that your past behavior catches up with you in the end.
“To give just a few examples of her eccentricity:
“She held a sketching competition without school permission, and took an entire class overseas to participate.
“She remodeled the school willy-nilly, installing doors to nowhere in some places and removing doors and windows in others; she constructed meaningless secret rooms, and turned straight hallways into winding mazes.
“She acted as nude model for her own classes, although that was one of her more endearing episodes.
“Hyota, please control your reaction to the simple phrase ‘nude model.’ Perhaps you’ll cool down if I relate the anecdote about her instructing the female students to draw the boys on the swim team in their swimsuits.
“She appears to have believed that art and nudity could not be separated─but that doesn’t change the fact that she clearly went too far.
“Whether seven years ago or seventy, her behavior was just as unacceptable as it would be today.
“It would be all over the headlines, no question.
“The school seems to have adroitly covered it all up, but in any case, Ms. Towai appears to have been something of an anarchic presence.
“Even if art classes hadn’t been eliminated seven years ago, I’m sure this exceptional woman would have been pressured to resign sooner or later.
“She was an antisocial element, and it would come as no surprise if she had even been arrested─but at the risk of repeating myself, as an artist she seems to have been quite well respected.
“She had the standing to be called sensei in the art world as well as at school─in fact, her artistic achievements are what earned her an invitation to teach at Yubiwa Academy in the first place.
“The punchline, however, was that the talent scout who recruited her subsequently had a nervous breakdown─Kowako Towai seems to have been well known as a demonic presence in the contemporary art world going back to her teens.
“This enormous painting was apparently her first undertaking after coming to the school─and I think you will agree it gives a clear sense of her unusual character.
“She commandeered the auditorium for a full month in order to paint it, and so from the time of her arrival she was already something of a legend.
“No, I myself had not heard of her before I began this investigation. She may have been well known in the world of contemporary art, but as you might guess, she wasn’t the type to give interviews. Accordingly, she was virtually unknown to the general populace─a rising star of the art world known only to the select few.
“A rising star, or rather…
“When she was our age, she was known as the Black Hole─no, Michiru.
“I have not jumped to the conclusion that the paintings hidden in the crawl space were painted by Kowako Towai merely because she was such an eccentric─though needless to say, she seems to have been capable of anything, and she did do whatever she wanted with that art room.
“What was that, Ms. Dojima?
“You have a comment regarding my statement that she did whatever she wanted with the art room…? Well, let us continue.
“At the very least, installing an entrance to the crawl space seems entirely in line with her behavior.
“However, she does not appear to have had the tendencies Hyota and Ms. Dojima have proposed.
“I don’t believe she avoided painting the human form because she was bad at it, or that she saw through the people in famous paintings.
“To the contrary, I believe she painted exactly what she wanted to paint, with no such limitations.
“She seems to have had quite the eye for art, as well.
“Yes, leaving aside the question of her teaching, she was a top-flight artist─each of us is cut out for some things more than others.
“So if I were to evaluate the theories presented thus far, I would say that Michiru’s likely hews closest to the truth.
“…Ms. Dojima, I see no cause for that expression. Just how much do you look down on Michiru, anyway?
“Of course, this is all assuming that Kowako Towai was indeed the artist─so I will now explain my reasons for that assumption.
“It happened seven years ago.
“Precisely as the electives─and art, in particular─disappeared from the curriculum.
“Let us consider their removal a sign of the times, and for the moment leave aside the question of its wisdom.
“A decision was made to move in that direction, in accordance with school policy─and I hesitate to condemn it, because after all, if art class had not been eliminated, we would not be using the art room as our headquarters today.
“However.
“Ms. Towai opposed the decision with all her might.
“That surprises you? Well, the school was surprised, too, it seems─since from what I’ve heard, she didn’t seem to think of herself as a teacher, not one bit.
“Because she had a certain standing as an artist and received fanatical rave reviews in the art world, if nowhere else, no one dreamed she would put up a fight when they tried to fire her from the school.
“Well, even if the decision was natural enough, it was also somewhat high-handed─first the school invites her to teach, then they put her out to pasture the moment it suits them. Anyone would be angry.
“But Kowako Towai was not just anyone.
“Such reasonable grievances were not why she put up a fight─never mind that it should have been the perfect opportunity for her to step away from teaching duties which had nothing to do with her creative pursuits.
“She said the children needed art.
“She dug in her heels.
“…Though apparently there was a great deal of doubt about how genuine her sentiment really was. Her past behavior had been so appalling that no one believed anything she said.
“Michiru, please take this to heart. When push comes to shove, it’s how you behave the rest of the time that counts.
“All the gossips whispered that she was simply fishing for a bigger severance package… Making art is expensive, after all.
“The fact is, however, she had been offered an enormous severance package from the start, and yet she couldn’t have cared less about it.
“No matter how they tried to placate or cajole her, she wouldn’t budge. She continued to resist, alone─and in the end, she grew almost threatening.
“Yes, threatening.
“Or rather, she made what seemed to be an actual threat.
“‘Children should not be in a school where art is not taught─so if you insist on implementing your decision…’
“‘I will kidnap every student in this school.’
“That is what she apparently said.
“Or rather.
“That is how she proclaimed her intended crime.”