Chapter 109

Everyone agreed with Satou’s words and nodded .

「I see, that’s why you suggested working together with Akira . Does Kyousuke think that too?」

Nanase said that and looked at me .

As Satou and I were the only ones who agreed to work with Akira at that time, it was natural that I would be asked this .

「No, there was no such reason . I just wanted to help Akira, even just a little . In my present state, I would just be a burden though . 」

Akira had become much more powerful than I had imagined .

The me right now would only be protected .

I shouldn’t even think about being able to fight alongside him .

It’s not like I saw how strong Akira was with my own eyes, but even so, you would understand if you’ve experienced many battles .

「…even now, I am unable to trust Oda-kun . It was Oda-kun’s dagger that was pierced into Saran-san’s body, and even before that, he was wandering around and did not stay together with us at all . 」

That’s right .

According to a classmate who often read detective novels, it seems that from the rigor mortis, seven o’clock in the morning was when seven hours had already passed since his death .

Based on this offhand knowledge, he had died when the date changed .

At that time, everyone except for Akira had been in a meeting .

We could not have done it .

As there was magic in this world, one could do anything with it . There was also the possibility that the other people in the castle did it, but because of the curse, we had been manipulated into believing that Akira was the murderer because of that .

「Didn’t we discuss it in the very beginning that it wasn’t Akira?」

When we had our first strategy meeting, we confirmed that we had control of our consciousness while we planned our next steps .

Thereupon, from Akira’s reaction and the words that the princess said to Satou, we were supposed to have reached the conclusion that Akira did not kill Saran-san .

Ueno was roughly combing through her hair, irritated .

「You’re wrong! I understand that, but what I wanted to say was that, Oda-kun, who had been behaving suspiciously, is quite shady as well . 」

I cocked my head to the side in confusion .

Originally, Akira’s personality wasn’t one where he would work together with his classmates .

I only remember him looking at our classmates with contempt though .

He only talked to Nanase and I .

「I think so too . If that guy didn’t wander around on his own, no one would doubt him . It seems that Ryuusuke didn’t like him from the very beginning though . 」

The “Ryuusuke” that Waki was talking about was, most likely, Oka Ryuusuke .

He was in the soccer club with Waki, and a guy who livened things up in class .

He was tall, and his face was also well-proportioned, though it couldn’t be compared to Satou’s .

Perhaps he was displeased about something, but starting from the spring of our first year in high school, Oka was always slandering Akira .

Because Oka spouted nothing but half-truths, Akira was increasingly distanced from his classmates .

One time, when I asked Akira if he said anything to Oka, he only tilted his head in confusion .

Oka, who’s that? In the end, that’s what he had asked me .

Perhaps it was because of his personality where he only remembered things that interested him, but my guess was that he didn’t remember Nanase’s name either .

Come to think of it, Waki and Oka were good friends, and he was badmouthing Akira as well .

「Maa, Akira, if I were to put it gently, is a lone wolf . But If I were to be blunt, he’s a rather difficult guy who had no sense of cooperation . 」

Nanase complained .

I was about to nod in agreement, but I endured the urge .

「Tsuda, what do you think?」

When I asked the silent Tsuda who was standing in the corner of the room by himself, he started trembling, as if frightened, though he did this every time .

It seems that this guy was not good at dealing with me .

Tsuda was in the kendo club as well, I was the captain, and Tsuda was a member .

TN: kendo is a traditional Japanese martial art and is a form of swordsmanship where the practitioners would wear armor and wield bamboo swords . In recent times, it’s become widely practiced in countries outside of Japan .

Our physiques were different as well . Tsuda had started kendo after entering high school and had yet to become a regular .

TN: a ‘regular’ here is basically a team member who is on the official sports team and will go compete with other teams . So the club may have, say, 20 members, but there are only so many people who can be on the team or become ‘regulars’ .

His appearance looked to be as weak as a girl, so it was also understandable that he would be scared of me, huh .

「Ah, I, I don’t really know Oda-kun, so I don’t really know, but if Asahina-kun trusts him that much, then I think that it should be fine to believe him… . 」

I blinked .

In other words, because I trust Akira, he will believe in him, huh .

In other words, did that mean that Tsuda trusted me?

Even though he was bad at dealing with me?

…as expected, I don’t really understand how others think .

「What about Hosoyama-san? So far, it’s three to two though . 」

We’ve yet to ask Nanase, but most likely, he was in the Akira faction, so in reality, it was four to two .

Hosoyama had a mature smile on her lips .

「I agree with going along with Oda-kun . Whether or not Princess Amelia would allow it is a different story . 」

I got goosebumps when I saw Hosoyama’s smile .

As expected, this guy was difficult to deal with .

「It’s already the majority vote even without Nanase-kun’s input, but Waki-kun and Ueno-san, what are you going to do?」

It wasn’t like we had to move as a group .

At that time, we didn’t know if the journey would be safe, and there might’ve been pursuers from Retice, so seven people moved, but now, we will be going to a dangerous place, so there would be no problems even if you left .

Satou had implied this

Maa, I don’t think Akira would care if there was one more or one less person .

The two of them exchanged glances .