"Why? Obviously because there were too many boring people like you."
Tangze, who had led the police over to cuff and take him away, looked down at Tajima sprawled on the floor and rolled his eyes.
A famous artist's exhibition, a gathering of guests, detectives in attendance, and the three fellow disciples selected to help even had names that faintly echoed one another—every buff had practically been stacked to the max. There was no way Tangze could fail to stay alert.
It was not a matter of any sort of halo effect. This was simply the standard opening move of mystery fiction, like someone in a horror movie declaring that ghosts were not real. The flags were flying high; it practically reeked of trouble waiting to happen.
Only when his hands were encircled by the icy handcuffs did Tajima Toshiki, who had temporarily shut down after being thoroughly crushed, come back to his senses and struggle. "Y-you can't do this. I wasn't trying to kill anyone, I was just..."
"You just wanted to cause me some trouble. Ideally, you wanted me to embarrass myself on this crucial day so I couldn't keep basking in the spotlight at our teacher's side." Tangze finished for him, slipping his hands into his pockets. "But how did you know it would not turn into you merely wanting me to trip and bruise my face, while someone else happened to play a prank too—putting needles in the cushions, adding sleeping pills to the tea, and so on? A chain reaction could ultimately kill someone."
"I..." Tajima Toshiki, who had tried to reason with him, was stunned by that overly smooth combo attack. The speech felt wrong in every possible way, yet he did not know where to begin refuting it. "Y-you're just twisting logic..."
"Then