It took a while to get the blood off. Thankfully, it hadn't seeped into my coat and into the papers I had secreted from the disciplinary committee.
Next stop would be to consult someone about my lead.
Any of the weapon-wielders in the Front were out, obviously. So that didn't include Shiina entering the gym over there.
Hinata? No, I didn't want to risk entering the school for today. I probably had to wait for the world's "reset", so that memories of the incident with the girl would be removed. I did not want another skilled (the jury's still out on the girl about that) weaponsmaster breathing down my neck every second of my Afterlife.
Did such a reset like that exist here? That knowledge would be frightening to reveal to the more belligerent members of the group, like the aforementioned weaponsmasters.
It looked like there was no one from the Front in sight to help me in my leads. Wait, what kind of leads. . . ?
I took out the papers. What kind of clues could I get here? I just picked them out randomly since they looked the more interesting, and also looked less of a chore to read through, given the girl's apparently horrendous penmanship.
Let's see, "Incident XII", 12, obviously, so the twelvth incident. . . reports from Hanasaki about friend. . . disappeared at lunchtime. . . investigated. . . found nothing. Hm. Why did I pick this up?
"Incident at Night", did this come before or after? While investigating the reports from student council about rogue delinquents entering the gym (crap, was that us on that Guild run?) . . . and then some more words about her failure to discover them, and then. . . student approached, reported incident . . .brought proof . . . Proof? Proof about the legend? Unfortunately, it ended there. I then noticed a little slip of paper stuck to the side, and I peeled it off gingerly to read: spent night pursuing claim. . . found nothing. . .saw some lights at distance, was quite- Bah. I felt just a twinge of pity for the NPC doing its best to perform its duty, including forgoing sleep. turned to the next.
The next seemed to be chronogically after the previous, as it read "Report following the Incident at Night". Spent some time reporting all I discovered to student council. . . I wonder how that must have looked. . . looked everywhere in room for the lost proof. . . could prove vital. . . must keep watch for rooftop at noontime. . . There was the mention of that proof. This meant that it had unfortunately been lost somehow. But that makes me wonder about what type of proof could it have been? Was it related to the legend? . . . it is my firm belief that the answer lies in there. . .
The other papers all had the same content as Incident twelve's, so I was left with almost nothing but an indication that there had been a proof, and that NPC had been following it.
Had been pursuing it, even, with no indication of a memory loss. Did that mean her memories would still be there? I suddenly thought the earlier threat of having another weaponsmaster wanting to kill me had become very real.
Judging that returning to the girl to consult about her proof would be tantamount to suicidal, I instead made my way over to the headquarters. If Yuri was there, I could report my findings to her directly.
Feeling the ever-present breeze shift, I had cause to look up towards the rooftops. . . . the answer lies there. . . The disciplinary girl seemed to believe that the mystery could be solved should she come upon the place at the right time. That may have been why she'd been keen on getting up there during the now-past noontime. Instead she found me, not the apparition, and with no proof-
Suddenly, there was a faint twinkle of light that appeared above the rooftop. It was faint, almost making me think it was the light reflecting off the railing, instead of a shining apparition. But then. . . I checked the time. It wasn't exactly noontime, but it was still "some time" after noon. This could mean. . . probably, that-
I bit my lip. I don't know how investigators in life called it, but this seemed to be a break for me. At the first day of the investigation, I could find a way into the mystery. But then I remembered the girl.
What am I thinking. . . I'm a man! I'm supposed to take the manlier route, no matter how stupid it looks! And if I die, then I die with honor. I will die a hero's death. But no, I will not die.
On that matter, I couldn't. I just avoid it because it's painful as hell.
Pulling my sleeves up, I dashed into the building, filled with the heady feeling of invincibility and the courage that came with it. I wouldn't be stopped, even if the president decided to show up! For the Afterlife!
Thinking about the president cooled my head down though, as I inevitably slowed and started peeking nervously around corners in the corridors. I still remembered her blade in my chest. . .
"What are you doing back there, Otonashi! Playing hide-and-seek with someone?"