“So… what do we do?”
When Mizusaki asked, Iwama put her hand on the entrance door.
“For now, let’s lock it.”
Click. The biology room was now closed off again. Jounouchi should be inside.
Looking at the biology room, which for a hamster would be like a small island, I sighed.
“…We have no choice but to keep searching methodically.”
“Right.”
Looking at the old wooden floor, we searched silently for a while. They must have done a major cleaning at the end of the school year—there was almost no trash, and the wax coating made our indoor shoes squeak. Jounouchi should have eaten quite a bit earlier. Perhaps there might be a dropping or two on the floor.
“…Why did Jounouchi-kun disappear from the desk?”
After a while, Iwama muttered. Kannabi looked up.
“Strange. It’s like he was spirited away.”
“Like Delta, I don’t think those three are involved either. They’re unpleasant, but still.”
Somehow, I returned to the cabinet at the back of the classroom.
“I don’t know if it’s related, but… didn’t senpai’s behavior earlier seem a bit odd?”
Mizusaki nodded at my observation.
“Yeah. It was like she had something shameful hidden around there.”
When I tried to search this area, she suddenly stopped me. There’s some secret here, and it’s related to Jounouchi’s disappearance… well, the possibility is slim, but there’s no cost in investigating. I opened the drawers of the cabinet one by one from the bottom.
This should be the cabinet where Karato-senpai searched for care manuals for the creatures and pulled out a sheet. However, impressively, every drawer was empty.
“…Did you find something?”
Iwama had come beside me.
I shook my head and took out a single ring binder from the topmost drawer I’d just opened.
“This was all that was in the cabinet.”
“Hmm…? An album?”
I handed it to Iwama. When the thick file was opened, many photos were pasted inside.
“Ah. Is this the one made by last year’s graduating students? Tokumura-sensei showed it to me.”
Mizusaki and Kannabi also came closer. Iwama awkwardly turned through the thick pages. Inside was a record of the biology club from a time when there was more than one member.
“The membership is small, but… everyone looks so happy.”
Looking at the photo of members chatting around RotGelb, Kannabi said.
Welcoming new Rō-chan. May summer break begin without the club feeling lonely!
It was taken about a year ago, after Golden Week. On the next page was a group photo taken in the biology room before summer vacation, noting the third-years’ retirement.
I’d heard that at this high school, students often concentrate on exam prep from around the summer vacation of their third year. Retirement happens by the cultural festival in September at the latest. Last year, the biology club’s senpai retired before summer’s end.
For about eight months after that, had Karato-senpai been caring for the animals all alone?
“It’s lonely nee…”
From the cage stored in the back of the classroom, RotGelb’s voice could be heard.
Suddenly, my skin crawled.
Her muttering that I’d been casually listening to all this time.
But a parakeet wouldn’t say such things unless someone had spoken to it, saying “lonely, isn’t it?”
RotGelb arrived last May. The third-years retired in July.
Left utterly alone, Karato-senpai had been talking to the budgerigar—
The album trembled slightly. The hands holding it—Iwama’s hands—were shaking.
“Continuing club activities alone must have been painful…”
After saying that, Iwama hastily closed the album and returned it to the drawer as if struck by something.
“We need to find Jounouchi-kun.”
I’d been completely absorbed in the album too. I didn’t quite understand why senpai tried to hide this cabinet, but at least it seemed to have nothing to do with the Jounouchi disappearance incident.
Besides, knowing that animal-loving senpai, if there was anything that might be related to Jounouchi’s disappearance, she wouldn’t hide it from us.
…Hmm?
I took out the album again. Perhaps due to uneven page thickness, it opened straight to a page I’d been meaning to look at.
Jounouchi keeps running. Is he spinning the toy, or is the toy making him run?
A photo of the hamster playing on a running wheel. An entirely peaceful and ordinary photo.
But it gave me a flash of insight.
I looked at the long desk where Jounouchi had disappeared. The cage, the maze, and—one thing was missing!
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
“Mizusaki, where’s the packing tape?”
Leaving the album in the open drawer, I hurried to the long desk.
“Huh? Packing tape?”
“The worthless packing tape senpai gave us! You received it and put it on the desk, right?”
“Oh, come to think of it, it’s gone… wait, ah! I get it!”
“What’s wrong?”
At Kannabi’s question, Mizusaki grimaced in chagrin.
“Sorry! It’s all my fault. When I put the packing tape on the desk where Jounouchi was, instead of laying it flat, I set it down with the cylinder’s side touching the surface. Just like a running wheel.”
I remembered seeing Mizusaki’s eyes looking at me from inside that cylinder.
Iwama let out a small gasp.
“Jounouchi-kun got inside, couldn’t see ahead, kept going, and fell along with the packing tape.”
I nodded.
“That’s right. A running wheel stays in one place, but packing tape doesn’t work that way.”
“But where’s the packing tape? I looked at the floor, but it wasn’t there.”
Kannabi suddenly noticed something and moved to the trash can. She picked up a tape core.
“This, the black-haired person from those three…”
Being told that, I remembered when we were cleaning up the glass fragments.
“…I see, Fujito used the tape that had fallen to collect the fine glass fragments.”
The three of us gathered around Kannabi. The core was quite old. And it had been used up. Almost certainly, it was the one Mizusaki had placed on the desk where Jounouchi was.
“Is there any clue on this? Should we call Fujito-kun and ask where it was lying?”
“Yeah, let’s call—”
“Wait, this.”
Kannabi interrupted me.
Was she saying there was a clue about Jounouchi’s whereabouts on a mere packing tape core?
“…Just slightly, but there seems to be blood on it.”
Kannabi indicated part of the core. On the brown cardboard, there was a scratched reddish-black stain.
“Is that really blood? It might be ink stains that were already there.”
“Let’s check!”
Iwama immediately took out a pocket tissue and lightly rubbed the reddish-black area.
A faint red smear appeared on the white tissue. I see. Probably fresh blood.
We were speechless for a moment. Did Jounouchi get injured when he fell? It was a very small amount of bleeding, so it might not be a major injury, but… we needed to find him quickly.
Iwama thought with a serious gaze.
“But… if Jounouchi-kun is injured, we might be able to follow the blood trail.”
“Nah, Gamma-san, that’d be tough on this floor. A hamster’s tiny bit of bleeding…”
I looked at the floor. The hope that had begun to swell slightly deflated immediately. Dark brown flooring with black wood grain. Even if there was a bit of blood, we wouldn’t be able to tell at all.
“Of course we can’t search by eye. But… scientifically!”
Scientifically—would such a thing be possible?
“If we have the right chemicals somewhere, we can follow the blood. For example, the luminol reaction is used in forensic investigations and can detect even trace amounts of blood.”
“The problem is whether this school has such chemicals.”
While Kannabi pointed that out, Mizusaki and I found ourselves exchanging glances.
Normally, Iwama’s suggestion would have ended as just a wild idea.
But after all, this is Tsunagai High School.
Shortly after Mizusaki flew out of the biology room, footsteps came thumping down from upstairs. Don’t run in the hallways.
Since he left without saying anything, Iwama and Kannabi were still looking bewildered.
“Let’s close the curtains.”
That’s all I said. Mizusaki would be back soon.
Sure enough, by the time I finished closing the curtains, there was a knock on the door and Mizusaki’s voice said, “Open up.”
After confirming Jounouchi wasn’t at our feet, I let Mizusaki in.
“As expected, Gamma-san. That’s too good an idea.”
Mizusaki, breathing heavily, showed Iwama a small silver packet.
“What’s that…?”
Mizusaki took a spray bottle out of the small packet. The luminol reaction luminescent reagent we’d missed getting at last week’s welcome event. It was what Hongou-senpai had made too much of and didn’t use. Fortunately, some still remained.
“Wait, is that luminol?”
“Yeah. I got it from the chemistry club.”
Not wanting to waste time talking, he walked toward the long desk where Jounouchi had been. If the packing tape had rolled and fallen, it should be near Mizusaki’s chair. He knelt down and sent me an OK sign with his hand.
“Alright. I’m darkening the room.”
I turned off the lights. The only light source was the faint natural light leaking through gaps in the curtains. This way, we wouldn’t miss even a faint glow on the floor.
“The base should have hydrogen peroxide dissolved in it. The liquid is dangerous if it gets in your eyes, so stand back a bit.”
Mizusaki said this and sprayed the luminescent reagent from the bottle onto the floor.
First spray. Nothing appeared.
Second spray. Still nothing. Was the reagent too old?
“…What are we doing?”
I answered Kannabi’s voice.
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