Chapter 163 The Truth Is Out: Shimizu Akira, You Are the Culprit
Just as Shimizu Akira returned to the dorms, he suddenly received a notification. It was from Horikita Manabu.
Horikita Manabu: Nagumo Miyabi has conceded. He sent me ten million private points directly.
Horikita Manabu: He also specifically requested a copy of my midterm exam papers from my second year and pre-ordered the ones from my third year.
It was exactly as Sato-senpai had described. Nagumo Miyabi simply couldn't outmaneuver Horikita Manabu in the end. Shimizu Akira nodded instinctively, silently agreeing with the outcome.
To be honest, the difficulty of this plan lay in the fact that Horikita Manabu had to immediately lockdown all four classes and strictly forbid anyone from selling papers to Nagumo privately. If even one class—or even one individual—had failed to comply, the entire blockade would have collapsed.
He couldn't imagine what kind of benefits Horikita Manabu had promised the four classes to achieve such powerful execution.
Looking at it this way, Horikita Manabu truly was a rare talent. With such prestige and methods, many adults Shimizu had seen in his past life might not have been able to match him. Someone like him, even if he didn't graduate from Class A, would likely make a great career for himself once he entered society.
However, Nagumo Miyabi actually went out of his way to ask Horikita Manabu for his second and third-year midterm papers? If he recalled correctly, the President had mentioned that Nagumo had bought his first-year papers when Nagumo himself was a freshman.
'Nagumo Miyabi, you guy... even after being fleeced for 10 million points by the President, are you still planning to complete the full collection?'
Just as that "Sunflower-senpai" had said, Nagumo really did harbor some very particular feelings toward Horikita Manabu.
Horikita Manabu: 3 million private points. Check your balance.
Horikita Manabu: This is your reward.
Immediately after the message, Horikita sent the promised reward points.
Shimizu Akira considered it for a moment but decided not to refuse. Since the President didn't intend to owe him a favor and had sent the points specifically, he might as well accept. After that, there were no more messages from Horikita Manabu—as the Student Council President, he was undoubtedly very busy.
Shimizu Akira transferred the points to his alt account and checked the balances of both his main and alt. Including these 3 million, he now had a total of 13.04 million. Next month, he would receive a payment from Class D—1.26 million points, 60,000 of which was interest. That would bring him to 14.30 million.
He was still 5.7 million shy of his small goal of 20 million. Whether this money was used for a class transfer or as a safety net against expulsion, it would be useful. Once he hit the target, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Things went pretty smoothly today," Shimizu muttered to himself.
Looking back, Karuizawa Kei's dispute was easily handled by Matsushita Chiaki without him having to lift a finger; as for Nagumo's clash with the President, it ended in the President's victory, earning him 3 million points.
However, thinking of Matsushita Chiaki brought to mind her phrase: "This is already the second time." In truth, he and Matsushita had barely spoken. Their first private meeting was when she came looking for him while Karuizawa was in his dorm. On that occasion, she had indirectly helped him by securing four votes for Kushida Kikyo.
'Wait! The second time? Does she mean the number of times she's indirectly helped me?!'
A thought flashed through Shimizu's mind. Usually, when a girl does so much for you behind the scenes, it means she's interested. But Shimizu wasn't that narcissistic—the key was that Matsushita Chiaki showed absolutely no signs of actually liking him. He truly couldn't guess what she was planning.
Forget it, he'd just wait and see. Since she wasn't coming to him directly, he had no reason to track her down and demand to know her intentions, especially since it was all just his speculation.
Next, he began to ponder a more important matter for this month—Shiina Hiyori investigating his identity. According to his daily intel, this classmate was supposed to discover his identity in May. But now, even the future trajectory of Karuizawa Kei quitting the club had changed. This proved that even the future written in the intel could be easily overturned if he interfered deeply enough.
In a sense, the moment he learned the future intel, the future branched into a different path. Did this mean that under his deliberate intervention, Shiina Hiyori wouldn't be able to find him out at all?
Just as he felt a slight sense of relief, his phone suddenly buzzed. He picked it up to see a friend request on his alt account—the sender was a new account with the nickname "Miao Miao Cat."
The message read: "Shimizu-kun, hello, is it convenient to add you as a friend?"
He froze, stunned, thinking he had seen it wrong—this wasn't a notification for his main account. He checked repeatedly, switching between accounts several times, before confirming: the person had indeed added his alt.
'Someone actually guessed my identity?'
Surprised as he was, Shimizu quickly calmed down. He couldn't rule out the possibility of someone using a new account to test him—like Sakayanagi Arisu.
Yue: ? You added the wrong person.
He sent the message after some deliberation.
Miao Miao Cat: Shimizu-kun, no need to pretend. I saw you take a computer from the Student Council last month on Friday night.
Miao Miao Cat: Here is a surveillance screenshot.
Miao Miao Cat: [Screenshot—jpg]
Miao Miao Cat: Not long after that, the four classes received notices about renting surveillance, didn't they? In that time slot, you were the only one carrying a computer!
Miao Miao Cat: So, the person renting the surveillance could only be you, right!
Shimizu was stunned again. In the screenshot, the image of him holding the computer was undeniably clear. So that was it; they had physical evidence. There was no point in pretending anymore. To be able to investigate him from the Student Council's perspective, this person must be quite clever. He had indeed received a computer from the President that Friday.
Yue: Is that so? I see you've found me out. So, what do you want? Do you intend to go public with my identity?
Since his identity was exposed, he was curious about the other's goal. Going public wasn't the end of the world for him; it would just be a hassle.
Miao Miao Cat: I don't plan to go public. In fact, quite the opposite—I'm here to help you. Miao Miao Cat: I've already bought out those surveillance recordings from the school. The evidence is only in my hands now.
Miao Miao Cat: I don't plan on giving it to anyone.
Miao Miao Cat: After all, I probably want your identity kept secret more than anyone else.
Shimizu was baffled once more. They were helping him? And they wanted his identity kept secret "more than anyone else"?
Yue: Who are you? Why help me?
Miao Miao Cat: Sorry, it's not convenient to tell you my identity.
Miao Miao Cat: As for why I'm helping, I suppose I think you're an interesting person.
Shimizu frowned—why did this way of speaking look so familiar? Could it be Sakayanagi Arisu? But why would she use that nickname? Before he could think further, another message popped up.
Miao Miao Cat: But the cost of helping you this time isn't free. You owe me a favor.
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Shiina Hiyori walked slowly out of the homeroom teacher's office, glancing down at the message she just received. She traced her train of thought one more time in her mind, confirming there were no holes in the logic.
Thinking of this, she pulled her phone from her pocket and called Shimizu Akira directly.
"Shimizu-kun... is it convenient to meet at the dorm entrance right now? Yes, I'm Shiina Hiyori from Class 1-C. Actually, I've found the person who rented the surveillance, but I need you to confirm it one last time."
"Yes, are you at the dorm? Okay, I'll wait for you at the entrance."
"As expected, Shimizu-kun is such a responsible assistant! Even though I said last time I didn't need his help!" she murmured to herself as she walked to the dorm entrance.
After a few minutes, Shimizu Akira appeared. He was in his gym clothes, his hair wet and sweat on his forehead; it looked like he had just been exercising.
"Sorry, Shimizu-kun, I seem to have interrupted your rest," Shiina Hiyori said with an apologetic look.
"It's fine. More importantly, Shiina-san, why don't you tell me about your deduction?" Shimizu waved it off.
"Um... can we talk somewhere else? We might be talking for a while. Would it be convenient to go to your dorm?" Shiina Hiyori suggested after a moment's thought.
"You want to go to my dorm?" Shimizu looked at her with surprise.
"I'm a guy, after all. It might be inappropriate."
"No... it's fine. I trust your character, Shimizu-kun. I don't think you'd do anything strange to me," Hiyori replied with a smile. "But if you feel it's inconvenient, how about my dorm? It's a bit of a distance, on the 10th floor or higher." She added,
"Again, I have great trust in your character."
"...I understand, since you're so insistent." Shimizu eventually nodded. Since she had put it that way, there was no harm in seeing her room. Besides, he was genuinely curious about who she had identified.
Shiina Hiyori's room was on the 13th floor. The moment the door opened, a faint scent of ink mixed with fresh lemongrass wafted out. The room was much tidier than Shimizu had expected. In one corner of the desk, a stack of books stood half a person high; out of the corner of his eye, he saw the title The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on the top one.
This reminded him of their first meeting when she was holding Murder on the Orient Express—both by Agatha Christie.
Shiina Hiyori caught his gaze, looking up at him. "Shimizu-kun, have you read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?"
Shimizu's eyes lingered on the spine for half a second.
"I have. I remember not being able to close the book until three in the morning."
Hiyori tilted her head, pausing as she gestured for him to enter. "The ending was very unexpected, wasn't it?"
"Because the murderer was 'Watson' after all." Shiina Hiyori suddenly turned around, her finger tracing a circle on the cover of the book.
"The narrator himself is the killer. That twist was hidden deeper than a magician's final card."
Resting her elbow on the edge of the desk, she posed another question.
"Shimizu-kun, hypothetically—if Sherlock Holmes discovered that Watson had committed a crime, what do you think he would do?"
Shimizu's gaze fell on the gold-embossed title of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the stack. "Holmes was never a 'good person' in the traditional sense. He had his own internal scale that operated outside the law. To him, investigating was never about justice; it was just solving an exquisite puzzle. By contrast, Watson truly fits the role of a 'purely good person.' If he really committed a crime, there would likely be an unspeakable hardship behind it—perhaps to protect someone, or because he was caught in a trap he couldn't escape."
"And then?" Hiyori pressed, having already pulled out the title page of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which bore the silhouettes of Holmes and Watson.
"He would first investigate everything like dismantling the gears of a clock," Shimizu's voice deepened.
"Whether the chain of evidence is closed, how much necessity was hidden in the motive, even which street the mud on Watson's cuff came from—after confirming all the details, he would probably choose a foggy morning to lock the evidence away in the fireplace at 221B Baker Street, and then hand Watson a whiskey and soda."
Shiina Hiyori suddenly laughed. "You think the same as I do, Shimizu-kun."
She turned and sat on the edge of the bed, her voice suddenly turning serious. "That being said, you've probably guessed it by now, haven't you? Why I specifically invited you here."
Shimizu Akira looked at the open copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on the desk and gave a helpless smile. "I can guess. After all, you placed this book in the most prominent spot—if I couldn't read into that, I'd be quite incompetent."
This detective lady had been laying the groundwork since they walked in. The "Watson perspective" in the book, the hypothetical conversation about Holmes and Watson... layer upon layer of hints like codes in a book, refusing to stop until every clue was dismantled to the final page. These literary girls... even expressing their thoughts required talking in circles. If one couldn't keep up with their train of thought, they probably wouldn't even be qualified to have a real conversation with a beautiful girl, let alone date one.
As he was thinking, Shiina Hiyori suddenly leaned forward, her voice dropping lower. "Shimizu-kun, there is only one truth. The culprit... it's you, isn't it! So, your purpose for selling surveillance to the four classes was for a class transfer, right?"
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