“There you are! Why aren’t you resting at this hour?” Kaede Takahashi’s voice was familiar.
Lingling turned to him only to see him exhausted and haggard. He probably had not fully recovered from his injury after touching the forbidden barrier. He probably still felt the pain from his wounds.
“How did you get to the forbidden barrier? Don’t you even have the slightest recollection of how you got there?” asked Lingling.
Kaede Takahashi shook his head and said wryly, “I slept very early that night. A sharp pain jolted me awake.”
“Sleepwalking, just like Sinchino Mochizuki. He didn’t even know what he had done.” Lingling related the two issues together.
Kaede Takahashi’s expression changed.
“That’s right. Sinchino and I encountered similar incidents. Besides, both of us might be disqualified from becoming the National Institute team players. Could someone be messing around in the dark?” Kaede Takahashi sensed that things were not as simple as he thought.
“If Sinchino and you are disqualified, who will most likely be the next to join the National Institute team?” asked Lingling.
“It’s not good to simply make a speculation without evidence, especially on things like this,” said Kaede Takahashi.
“I’m just asking. I’m not convicting that person,” said Lingling.
Kaede Takahashi hesitated. “Ikuko Ishida will most likely be the one next. However, the Mochizuki family has settled Sinchino’s issue in private. So, he stands a high chance of recovering his spot.”
Lingling nodded. Then, she keyed in the two people’s names into her notebook.
Kaede Takahashi could not quite read the strange data in her notebook. Since she was a professional hunter, she must have a unique insight about collection of data. He did not ask about it.
“We’ve got a problem!” Nagayama rushed into the restaurant from outside and charged at Kaede Takahashi.
The restaurant was very near to the State House. The students often were found there during the breaks.
“What’s wrong?” asked Lingling.
“My uncle committed hara-kiri!” said Nagayama.
Lingling frowned.
Nagayama’s uncle had a very poor mental state. But from what Lingling noticed, he still had a very firm will to live and to rid himself of the mental burden.
He had not seemed like a person who wanted to commit hara-kiri.
“Your uncle has cut his belly! Why are you here instead of with him?!” exclaimed Kaede Takahashi.
“Officer Ozawa asked me to come over to inform Ms. Lingling,” said Nagayama.
“We’ll go there and take a look,” said Lingling.
“Huh? It looks scary. Are you sure you want to go to the scene?”
…
When they arrived at the scene, there was a pool of blood on the floor. The blood dripped slowly.
Nagayama and Kaede Takahashi looked away. They could not look directly at the corpse. Meanwhile, Lingling looked like a veteran detective who frequented the crime scene. She wore her gloves skillfully and carefully examined the body.
“It’s suicide,” Lingling said with great conviction.
The military penal officer from the West Guardian Towers beside her was stunned. “Miss, I should be the one to say that line. Don’t try to act like Detective Conan!”
After leaving the scene, Lingling was deep in her thoughts. Kaede Takahashi’s phone fell on the ground and made a loud sound.
“What are you doing? He’s my uncle, not yours! Why do you have to be so nervous?!” Nagayama scolded.
Kaede Takahashi picked up his phone. He showed his phone to Lingling and Nagayama. It was a short video that Kaede Takahashi had just received.
Lingling clicked on it. To her horror, she saw a girl soaking her head in the bathtub, and her hair spread on the water…
“Who is she? Why did she have to shoot something so scary?” asked Nagayama.
“She’s my junior,” said Kaede Takahashi. He looked pale.
He had just received the message. The three of them immediately ran to her apartment.
The room door was locked. Nagayama crashed the door open.
The moment they entered through the door, the water in the bathroom had overflowed to the living hall. Kaede Takahashi panicked. He quickly dashed into the bathroom.
Lingling was slower. However, by the time she entered the bathroom, Kaede Takahashi and Nagayama stood frozen at the door.
“She might still be alive!” Lingling pushed the two away and carried the girl out from the bathtub.
Unfortunately, Kaede Takahashi’s junior’s eyes were filled with blood veins. She had suffocated.
There was a cell phone propped up on a stand next to the bathtub. She recorded the process of ending her life with that phone. She had scheduled the video to get sent.
“What’s going on? Why… all of a sudden?” Nagayama was shocked.
“I-I rejected her yesterday. I told her that… I just want to focus on the World College Tournament.” Kaede Takahashi was devastated.
Throughout his youth, Kaede Takahashi had many girls who showed an interest in him. He politely refused their advances. All of them just went on with their lives.
Kaede Takahashi collapsed on the floor. ‘Why did she have to end her life just like that? She was a living being. Why did she have to do that just because he rejected her? Had he been so brutal that she had lost all willpower to move on?’
“Kaede Takahashi, please leave. Get a hold of yourself. Ms. Lingling, I have to delete her video. Everyone is tense right now. If the rumor spreads that his junior committed suicide because of him, this will affect his journey in joining the National Institute team.” Nagayama was calm. It looked like he was very concerned about Kaede Takahashi’s future.
Apparently, Kaede Takahashi did not think about it. He had not recovered from the shock of his junior’s suicide.
“Don’t delete the video. If you delete the video, it will only make him more suspicious. Do you think the interrogators are children? If a person ends their lives, no matter what you do, it will change nothing. Moreover, we don’t if the cause of her suicide was the rejection or something else.” Lingling stopped Nagayama’s reckless behavior.
Nagayama heard her out and did not do anything hastily.
“Inform Officer Ozawa,” said Lingling. “Contact her teacher, her family and her relatives. Don’t touch anything. Her death may not be as simple as you think.”
