Tokyo Detective Chronicles

Qingchengtai Private College

Inside a toilet in the first-year section.

Hayakawa Chiho was shoved hard, her back slamming heavily against the tiled wall with a dull thud.

She groaned, and the schoolbag in her arms fell to the ground, scattering several books.

Akiyama Aiko's two henchmen blocked the way out of the toilet from the left and right, followed by several delinquent girls who came to watch the commotion.

Akiyama Aiko herself stood in front of Hayakawa, arms crossed, with a mocking look in her eyes.

"Running? Why did you stop running?"

Aiko Akiyama smiled and said:

"Weren't you in a hurry to go to the back door to find that gloomy guy of yours? Too bad, he's in trouble himself right now."

Hayakawa Chiho lowered her head, her hands gripping the hem of her school uniform skirt tightly, her knuckles turning white.

She was unusually devoid of a smile, her lips pressed into a pale, straight line.

"Please let me out."

She pleaded in a low voice.

Aiko Akiyama stomped on the textbooks scattered on the ground: "Tell me, on what grounds?"

Seeing that she didn't react and her silent expression unexpectedly reminded her of Fushimi at noon, which made her feel annoyed. She raised her hand and slapped Hayakawa.

"Slap!" The crisp sound of the slap made everyone burst into laughter.

Hayakawa silently covered her face, not making a sound...

Seeing Hayakawa's submissive demeanor, neither fighting back nor arguing back, a delinquent girl suddenly smiled and whispered something in her ear, making Akiyama Aiko burst out laughing.

He turned to Hayakawa Chiho and said:

"Want to go out? Sure."

Akiyama Aiko took a step closer, reached out and pinched Hayakawa's chin, forcing her to look up:

"Take off your clothes, go for a walk, let your classmates see you, and I'll consider it... Maybe I can even take pity on you and save your senior from breaking a few bones?"

Hayakawa's body trembled violently.

It wasn't out of shame or anger, but out of fear.

Fear of what might happen to Fushimi.

She abruptly shoved away Akiyama Aiko's hand and tried her best to squeeze out from the side, but the girl's strength was limited, and she was pushed back by the group laughing and joking.

"Oh, you've got quite a temper, haven't you?"

"Hayakawa, don't push your luck."

One of the henchmen said in a sinister tone:

"Aiko's brother brought more than a dozen people and was waiting at the school gate... Your gloomy senior is probably begging for mercy on the ground right now."

"No, that won't happen..."

Hayakawa shook his head, his voice trembling without him even realizing it: "Senpai... he wouldn't..."

"What can't he do? Won't he get beaten up? Who do you think he is?"

Aiko Akiyama smiled and said:

"Let me tell you... my brother loves me the most."

She looked Hayakawa up and down, her eyes filled with amusement and a lingering affection.

"Take it off or not? I'll count to three, three..."

Hayakawa closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

The tightly pursed lips finally gave way, turning into an inappropriate and awkward smile...

"two……"

Fear, shame, worry... a surge of emotions.

She wanted to call for help, but couldn't think of anyone who could save her... Even Fushimi-senpai, the only person in the school who was kind to her, got caught up in trouble because of her.

Gradually, she even began to feel...

If... if doing what they say... could get them to let the senior go...

"one!"

Hayakawa opened his eyes wearily, his gaze empty and lifeless, devoid of any brilliance.

She reached out her hand, trembling.

Pinch the first button of the shirt.

The people around her let out excited gasps and snickers, and someone immediately took out their phone and pointed the camera at her.

"Hey, really? You're really taking your clothes off?"

"Make your expression even uglier, that way it will look more effective in the photo."

They adjusted the angle of their phones, and the flashes kept going off, some of them quite blinding.

……

On the other side, Hoshizaki Rina and Shimizu Hitomi had just finished their withdrawal procedures from the archery club and returned to the teaching building from the club building.

Rina Hoshizaki held the receipt for her withdrawal application in her hand, looked at it carefully, and felt a little complicated.

At first, she was a little worried and nervous, but she didn't want to bother Fushimi every day, so she asked Shimizu Hitomi, who happened to be free, to accompany her.

Surprisingly...

The whole process went more smoothly than I expected. That annoying department head Sato wasn't there today, and the third-year senior who greeted her even used honorifics with her. The process went by very quickly, and in the end, he personally escorted her to the door.

They bowed respectfully as they saw her off, giving her a sense of being a bully who had been given power by someone else.

"It makes me feel like some kind of filthy thing..." Rina Hoshizaki muttered to herself.

"Isn't this great, Lord Hoshizaki~"

Walking next to her, Shimizu Hitomi was playing on her phone, teasing her without looking up. She was still dressed in her signature landmine-themed outfit.

Although she was wearing a standard shirt and school uniform skirt, she wore heavy makeup and a sparkly lip piercing, making her stand out from the students around her.

"This saves you so much trouble. From now on, you'll be the legendary 'forbidden woman of the archery club'."

That's so cool, baby.

"Cool my foot!"

Rina Hoshizaki reached out and grabbed Hitomi Shimizu's shoulder with one hand, while pinching her thin cheek with the other: "And don't use honorifics! It's disgusting!"

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."

Shimizu Hitomi feigned a cry of pain, nimbly broke free, rubbed her face, and then leaned closer, her eyes, hidden beneath her pink contact lenses, gleaming with gossip.

Although Kotomi usually seems cold and aloof, Hoshizaki knows that she is the most gossipy of the four.

To put it more seriously, it's a mild case of voyeurism...

"Seriously, what exactly did that gloomy, violent guy do to those guys in the archery club yesterday?"

"Tell me, tell me now!"

"I already said he's not some gloomy, violent guy... Sigh, whatever, whatever."

Rina Hoshizaki was speechless: "Also, Takeru Satoh fell by himself, didn't you hear the other club members say that too!"

"Oh? A fall can scare someone like that?"

Hitomi Shimizu clearly didn't believe her, but she didn't press the matter further, only giving a meaningful smile:

"Alright, alright, but I'm getting more and more curious about this Fushimi-senpai."

"you!"

"Oh? Is Rina jealous?"

The two were playfully walking towards the classroom when Shimizu Hitomi suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, I think I... need to go to the restroom."

"There's so much to do, let's go, let's go." Hoshizaki Rina waved her hand.

The two turned the corner and headed towards the women's restroom on the first floor.

Before even reaching the door, one could vaguely hear a commotion and a girl's high-pitched voice coming from inside.

Shimizu Hitomi frowned. "Tsk, troublesome... Should we go upstairs?"

They are no strangers to school bullying, which happens frequently, so they don't easily get involved.

After all, it's better to avoid trouble.

Rina Hoshizaki was about to nod, but just as they were about to turn and leave, a familiar female voice, trembling with sobs, suddenly came from the restroom.

"Please...please don't do this..."

Rina Hoshizaki stopped in her tracks, her eyes glazed over as she recalled something.

That voice... it's that child from Iori's house yesterday...

Is her name...?