After class ended that day, I had Mizuno introduce me to his informant, a girl named Sakurano Akane. She was a sporty girl with a light tan and short hair. I was expecting her to be a bit crass, but she came off as overly formal. She said she got this information from her Quirk, which she refused to reveal, but assured me this was the truth.

Just in case, I had her reiterate the story to me. I would prefer to hear information directly from the source rather than be playing telephone all day long.

There was no apparent contradictions between their two stories. During the day of the World History test, someone entered the teacher's office, broke into Mr. Mashiro's desk, stole a copy of the test, and then presumably used it to cheat.

After meeting Sakurano yesterday, I went straight home to think everything over. The obvious offender is Katagiri. I double-checked my framed photo of the previous test results, and his name was not on the list. This does not prove anything, but it is suspicious to say the least.

The possibility exists that he was, say, the 11th highest scoring student last time, and his name just did not make the list. Maybe he just went all out on studying to impress some girl or something. These possibilities cannot be ignored.

However, the possibility also exists that he stole the test to try to deceive the world into thinking that he is smarter than myself.

Unfortunately, he is the only suspect I have at the moment. Over 200 students took that test, so singling it down is not exactly as simple as solving a crossword.

With the whodunit having progressed as far as I logically possible, I spent the rest of the night thinking about the howdunit.

There are several questions I have.

First off, were there exactly enough tests for all of the students? What if Mr. Mashiro forgot to print one off? This does not explain the drawer's lock being broken, but it is a valid line of questioning.

Second, when was the test stolen? The natural answer is 'sometime in the morning before we took the test.' But is it really that simple?

Admittedly, I never got the time that Mr. Mashiro arrived in the morning. Even Sakurano said that there was about thirty minutes until others started showing up, so let us assume he showed up at 7:30 A.M. Classes start at 8:30, and since clubs were not having practice that week, nobody would have a reason to show up earlier than at 8:00.

With that in mind, the test was presumably stolen after 8:00. All classes started taking the test just after 8:30. That means the culprit had only about thirty minutes to look over the test. It is not like it had an answer sheet, either. It was solely the questions to the test. It would surely provide an advantage, but if one was going to risk their academic career, surely they wouldn't do so for such a meager reward.

With closed room mysteries, it is common for the crime to happen long before everyone actually thinks it did. With that line of thinking, was the test actually stolen long before the test day, and the lock was simply broken to fake the time of theft?

I have no evidence to support that line of reasoning, but it is worth keeping in mind.

And finally, who were the first students to arrive to school that day? Whether or not they actually stole it that morning, they probably prepared themselves an alibi.

When it comes to criminals these days, they like to overthink things. While having a tight alibi is helpful, it becomes even harder to find the culprit when they are hidden in a crowd. I stand no chance at finding whoever did this if they simply came to school right before the bell, so I am just going to act as if they didn't do that.

These are the three most important questions I have. I have the means to figure out the first and third one, but the matter of when the crime happened is currently out of my grasp.


I made sure to wake up early today. While I usually make a habit of arriving right on time, today I will be recreating the conditions of the crime.

Namely, I will be looking for students who arrived early on the day of the crime. Particularly, I am hoping to catch a student whose Quirk would allow them to bypass appearing on the sole camera the school has.

Now that I think of it, what if somebody used their Quirk remotely to steal the test? As much as I would love to deny it, the possibility is very high. There is no guarantee that is a fair-play mystery, after all.

With that worrisome detail in mind, I eventually make it to school. The sun is already well over the horizon, but the sky remains dark with several clouds in the sky. It doesn't take a meteorologist to realize that it will be raining later today. What fitting weather for a mystery!

Dark clouds relinquish their torrent of rain as Katagiri confesses to cheating. Then, as sunlight peaks through the veil of clouds, the test score results are changed to have my name on top.

While thinking of such a blissful scenario, I eventually make it to the school's front gate. Let the questioning begin!

"Excuse me, what time did you get to school last Friday?"

"Last Friday? That was the last exam day, right? Probably around 8:20, I guess? Why do you ask?"

"Excuse me, what time did you get to school last Friday?"

"Huh? I don't remember. Probably around 8:25."

"Excuse me, what time did you get to school last Friday?"

"Is that any of your business?"

"What time did you get here last Friday?"

"Friday was World History day, right? I was cutting it pretty close, and made it in just as class started. The look Ms. Sakaki gave me was scary!"

Nothing. There's nothing here. After asking a dozen students, the earliest anyone arrived by was 8:20. I have to assume that the culprit arrived right around 8:00. I have to.

Still, all hope is not lost. Everyone that I asked was loitering outside of the school. They are probably all members of athletic clubs. Naturally, they are only early because they have club activities.

With that in mind, there are two places people would go to if early to class. If it were me, I would go to my classroom, but I think there are also a handful of people who would go to the library.

Deciding the library would be easier than checking every individual classroom, I head there first.

Entering the room, it gives off the same musty smell every library seems to have. The gloomy atmosphere that outside had is magnified in this cramped space. I guess that sort of aesthetic fits a library though.

There are two people inside. The first is a student sitting behind the counter—presumably on library duty—while the other is leisurely working on something. Presumably, it is homework that he forgot to do the night before.

Starting with the guy at the counter, I approach him. He seems very… melancholic. Not quite the right word, but it is fits. His dark hair is almost as long as mine, going down to his shoulders. His bangs are partially covering his right eye as he taps on his phone.

Most of my peers are pretty standoffish, but this guy seems to be more depressed than anything else. Or atleast, that is the impression I get.

Just before calling out to him and introducing myself, a voice from behind me calls out.

"Excuse me," says the other student in the room. "You're Misaki, right? I was actually hoping to talk to you today."

Oh? My my, the predator becomes the prey. We will see who has sharper teeth.

"Please, go ahead."

He gestures for me to follow him. Behind me, I hear the library door open as a teacher enters the room. I do not know their name, but I have seen them around the teacher's office a few times. He approaches the counter as I follow my prey.

He stops at a wooden table in the back of the library and sits down. For the first time, I actually look at him, and not past him. His light hair is kind of messy, but still looks better than the librarian's. He lacks any physical Quirk distinction, or atleast one that is visible. And of course, naturally, he is wearing our school's uniform.

"Now then," I say. "You have business with me?"

His eyes dart around the room as he starts talking.

"Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there was something I wanted to know." He replied.

Now would normally be the time I say something along the lines of "Get on with it," but I feel like that would just extend this conversation for longer than it needs to be.

"Well, it's just…" He mutters. "I'm interested in what time you got to school last Friday."

Oooooohhhh baby! We got a kid playing detective! Well, you can be one of the Hardy Boys. I'll be Rouletabille, 'kay?

Wait, wouldn't it make more sense to name myself after a female detective? Marple is the only one coming to mind. There are some decent one-off femme fatales, but that old lady is the only prominent female detective. I hope they do not make us decide on nicknames soon.

"Sorry, but could I get your name first?" I ask. "I would introduce myself, but you seem to already know me."

It bugged me that he called me by name earlier. I guess an intellectual such as myself is well-known around school though.

"Oh, sorry," he replies. "My name is Akemi Takeru. Nice to meet you."

"Alright then. I don't know why you're interested, but I got to class about five minutes before it started. So 8:25, give or take."

I need to find out why he wants to know this. First off, he specifically wanted to know when I got to school. I am simply asking everybody while trying to find someone who got here early. Meanwhile, he was interested in when Misaki Yuki got here. Quite frankly, it makes no sense.

There is a possibility, though, that he was out in the front of the school when I was asking around. He heard me asking the question, or maybe even heard from a friend, and was curious as to why. It makes a bit more sense, I guess.

"8:25, huh?" He scratches his chin. "Sorry for the weird question, but I'm looking into… something. Apparently, someone cheated on the World History exam, and I'm just looking into it, is all."

"I'm familiar with the incident," I reply. "Wait, would that mean you suspect I was the one who stole a copy of the test?"

I guess that would mean I cheated in order to get a worse score. That would be embarrassing.

"Oh no, not at all!" He exclaimed. "It's just that, well, I'll explain it to you later if it ends up working out. Wait, you have heard about it?"

"Naturally." I reply, but then add, "A friend told me about it."

"Oh, I see. It's the same for me. A friend told me, that is."

He seems pretty jittery. Maybe my feminine wiles have gotten to him? Come on, Akemi! You can't be a detective if any floozy off the street can get to you!

Wait, wouldn't that make me the floozy?

"Well, I don't know what you think, but… I'm suspicious of Katagiri." He whispered.

I have a comrade in arms! I'm ever so sorry for doubting you, Akemi!

"Is it just because he did well on the test? Or do you have something more conclusive?"

"Well, there's a little more than that. It's not much, but he definitely arrived to school early that day… probably."

"Did you see him here early?"

"Well, no," he replies. "I actually got to school late on Friday. Luckily they still let me take the test."

"I see. Then how do you know he was here that day?" I ask.

"Well, normally library duty would be suspended along with club activities, right?" He said. "Well, I happened to stop by on Monday and Thursday, and he was here both times. I imagine he was probably here on Friday as well."

How interesting…

"Wait, Katagiri is on library duty?" I ask. "That wouldn't happen to…"

I point towards the dim counter behind me, where the morose guy once sat, but no one is there. It is pretty bad form to just leave the library unattended, isn't it?

"Looks like he's gone now, but yeah, that was him."

Very interesting indeed.


The difficulty level is unfair.

While reasoning is possible, a leap in logic or an assumption is required in order to proceed.

Thank you for reading Chapter I-II! This marks the end of the exposition and the start of the investigation. There is one important detail that I was, quite frankly, unable to foreshadow properly. Therefore, I will throw out a freebie towards everyone earnestly thinking about the mystery.

The Quirk of the culprit is integral to the story. The Quirk in questioned has enough foreshadowing that you have gotten a glimpse of it by this point, but not enough to see its full potential.

When thinking of the idea for this arc, it was obvious that I had to showcase how Quirks could be used in a whodunit. It's important that this is a story that could happen in the world of My Hero Academia after all. I probably could have done a much better job, but I guess you can critique that once I finish this arc.

Most detective stories make the narrator (the Watson) a character who is NOT the detective. This works because if you see the detective's thought process, you will either realize they are an idiot or get to see the author's thought process on mysteries, and see if they overlooked anything. Lucky for you readers, you get both.

Sakurano didn't get a formal introduction, but she'll pop back up eventually. Sorry to all of you tomboy/ojou-sama lovers out there.

With that out of the way, thank you again for reading. Any feedback would be appreciated. I would also love to see your theories regarding the mystery at hand. Katagiri is the obvious culprit here, but I guess that makes him look like a red herring, doesn't it? I'll leave it to you whether that is the case or not. For another freebie, I will say that the culprit is one of the characters named by this point.