Library
Qiuyue arrived at the light novel section.
"Ugh... The light novels and manga in this world are nowhere near as good as those from Sakura Country in my previous life..."
"There are only a few interesting ones, and I've already read them all. Come to think of it, Zhonghua Family is the world leader in both the anime industry and the broader world of anime and manga~"
"...Even though I have a Sakura Country body now, I still can't help feeling proud of my homeland..."
"Whatever. Worst case, after graduation I'll move to Zhonghua Family and live there for the rest of my life. I'll become a citizen of Zhonghua Country. I don't want to still be a Sakura Country citizen after I'm buried."
"Speaking of which, the detective novels my little brother stuffed into my bag before he left were pretty good. I'll go take a look over there."
Qiuyue went to the detective novel section, picked out one that caught his eye, and started reading.
After a long while, Qiuyue closed the book, let out a breath, and muttered to himself.
"This is way too complicated! There's so much misleading information. I can't make sense of it."
"Of course. You picked The Black Death Hall Murder Case, one of the Four Great Strange Books of detective fiction. So, which part did you like best?"
"Probably when Hosui entered the Black Death Hall and climbed the first flight of stairs. He noticed that the servant could still hear his faint footsteps despite all the noise, and even moved aside for him. From that, he deduced that the family was in an extremely tense state of mind (Weyliss's auditory inversion, pathological auditory hypersensitivity) + Shinsai, Lady Serena's irregular poetic meter + Nobuko's post-waking signature = the missing sixth person, hidden by everyone: Oshigane Tsutako.
(Note: I referred to an analysis by a great poster on Tieba.)
That was the most impressive deduction in the early part of the book, and the only one whose method I've managed to understand so far.
That alone is enough to make me think this is an excellent book."
Only after Qiuyue finished speaking did he realize what had happened. He suddenly sprang to his feet and turned toward the voice in a panic.
A very cute girl sat in the seat to his front right. She had long silver hair and big purple eyes. She was rather short and slender, as if a gust of wind could blow her away. She gave off a soft, adorable impression.
She and Qiuyue looked at each other in silence, but she wore a smile, and seemed to be in a very good mood.
Qiuyue blushed a little and froze.
Wasn't that Shiina Hiyori, the NPC you could only run into in the library?
...So cute... Stay calm, stay calm. I've been single since birth for all these years. There were so many beautiful girls in my class before, and I never lost my composure around them. There's no reason I should fall for her now.
And if she noticed me, wouldn't that mean Ryuen would notice me too? No way! I'm going full sigma male!
Qiuyue came back to his senses, turned without hesitation, and strode firmly and quickly toward the door.
"Um...? Excuse me, wait."
Qiuyue pretended not to hear and kept walking.
Shiina hurried after him and caught the hem of his shirt. She was a little out of breath, and once she'd recovered a bit, she gave Qiuyue a resentful look.
"You're walking way too fast. I think I startled you just now, so I'm sorry about that, but am I really that scary...? Did you have to run off like that?"
Qiuyue turned around helplessly. You're not scary. You're really cute. But Ryuen is scary...
"Ahaha... Well, it's just that... I'm... um... socially awkward. Yeah, I'm a little socially awkward."
Qiuyue smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
Shiina held a hand in front of her mouth and chuckled, with the poise of a young lady from a distinguished family.
"You don't seem very good at lying, do you? Let me introduce myself. I'm Shiina Hiyori from Class 1-C. It's nice to meet you."
Shiina's so cute. What do I do? I want to kidnap her. Help, this is urgent.
"I'm Qiuyue Qi from Class 1-D. It's nice to meet you."
"Then what other detective novels have you read, Qiuyue? Have you read Nishino Keigo's The Devotion of Suspect Z?"
Shiina looked at Qiuyue expectantly.
She really wanted a book-loving friend, huh? Oh well. If Ryuen found out about me, then so be it.
"I know it. My little brother's into that sort of thing too, and he let me read it."
"Let me tell you, this book is amazing. For a long time after I started reading it, I kept wondering:
'Is this novel really as good as people say? But the moment the truth was revealed, I was shocked, and everything fell into place as I remembered the details the author had planted earlier.'
I also really like this line from the book:
'Some truths are meant to be buried carefully, deep in one's heart. Because the moment the answer is revealed is also the beginning of its destruction.'
What about you, Qiuyue? What did you like about the book?"
She was so excited...
"That's exactly right. When you first start reading, you begin to have doubts. It's not until you reach the end that you realize how thoroughly the reader has been fooled. Just as the Naoki Prize judges' comments said:
'He took the art of deception to its extreme.'
I also really like this line:
'Neither of us can escape the constraints of the clock. We've both become cogs in the clock that is society; without a cog, the clock goes haywire. Even if we long to live on our own terms, the people around us won't allow it. We may have gained stability, but there's no denying that we've lost our freedom.'
That line taught me a lot."
"Right? This book..."
Shiina grew more and more excited. Seeing this, Qiuyue quickly cut her off.
"Shiina, let's go back to our seats and talk there."
Male Dormitory Building, Room 415
Qiuyue looked at the two tablets on the desk and sighed.
"Looks like it won't be today, then. Whatever, I'll wait a little longer."
Then a figure appeared on the screen.
She glanced around warily and walked to the middle of the frame. A man followed behind her, but kept his distance.
Qiuyue sat up straight, eyes fixed on the screen, and hurriedly started recording.
"Just as I thought, my camera angle is perfect..."
Qiuyue kept praising himself.
On the screen, Horikita stared in one direction until she saw a man enter the frame from there.
His expression was icy, and his gaze seemed fixed on something utterly uninteresting.
He grabbed Horikita by both wrists, raised her hands above her head, and pinned them against the wall.
"Whoa, he's really going that hard on his own little sister? Whether you go by the original story or this video, he's actually hitting her... Too bad there's no audio."
Qiuyue muttered to himself.
Suddenly, someone came up from behind and approached Horikita's Brother.
Ayanokoji rushed forward and grabbed the arm Horikita's Brother was using to hold Horikita's wrists.
"Oh~ Ayanokoji's here to put on a show."
After they talked for a while, Horikita said something to Ayanokoji.
Ayanokoji released Horikita's Brother's arm.
The instant Ayanokoji let go, a powerful punch shot toward his face like a gust of wind.
Ayanokoji dodged it with lightning-fast reflexes, as if acting on instinct.
The two of them began their second round.
Before long, Horikita's Brother stopped attacking and began talking with Ayanokoji.
After quite some time, they both left. Alone in his dorm room, Qiuyue muttered to himself.
"Should I go retrieve it now? No, the risk's too high. I'll do it tomorrow. I'll contact the Student Council President first. Worst case, I can just forget about that thing."
Qiuyue found Horikita Manabu's number among the ones he'd obtained by hacking the Student Council and sent him the video.
[How many points do you want?]
"Heh, that was a quick reply."
"It's nice talking to smart people. No need to beat around the bush."
Qiuyue stretched and continued replying.
[5 million pr.]
[Too expensive. I can pay you 2 million pr. at most.]
[Deal.]
[All right. You need to delete the video first.]
[No. Send the points first.]
[What if you haven't deleted it?]
[I won't. I'm all about keeping my word.]
[I guess I can only trust you.]
Qiuyue's current personal points: 5,268,710
Before you continue