Judgment

After this, Duanmu Ai's investigation was back at square one.

The original theory that Yamano Streamer was at the center of the crimes had already been overturned. In fact, thinking about it carefully, the second victim had barely any connection to the case to begin with. That girl had merely been the first witness at the scene. Unless the culprit had been terribly bored, why would they target her?

Now, she could only rely on the results of Rumiere's investigation... Hopefully, she would be able to catch the big fish within the government who was making use of Cognitive Kexue.

Although Duanmu Ai wanted to investigate more deeply, there was still one troublesome matter to deal with first.

"A psychological evaluation?"

"Yes..."

Faced with Duanmu Ai's impatient expression, Teacher Kawakami appeared somewhat nervous—after all, she knew the other girl's true identity.

"Teacher Maruki said he wants to conduct a psychological evaluation of every student in the school, including you. You kept taking leave before, though..."

"I understand. I'll go take a look."

As it happened, she had also been planning to investigate that fellow named Maruki Takuto.

In other words, whether he could survive today depended on his attitude.

Thus, after school, Duanmu Ai went to the nurse's office and met the man named Maruki Takuto.

"Hello, Duanmu."

Maruki Takuto was a man in his thirties who looked extremely kind and wore a smile. The girls in class considered him handsome and understanding—well, at least on the surface, that did seem to be the case.

"I've heard about your situation from the other teachers. Is there anything troubling you?"

"That has nothing to do with you, does it?"

Duanmu Ai clearly had no intention of making small talk with Maruki Takuto for long.

"Of course I have troubles, but unfortunately,