"Don't wander around the school after class, you'll meet a 'choke-necked man'!" the blonde girl admonished sternly, "Dozens of middle school students have already been attacked! Their faces are all blue and purple, blood is pouring into their eyes, and their godless eyes are wide open, and their expressions are very frightened, as if they saw ...... before they died."

"Oh——!! stop saying it again!!"

Several of the girls around her screamed, shuddering and hugging each other around their shoulders. The red-haired girl reading "No One Left Alive" raised her eyes to the commotion at the next table, snorted and shook her head. The blonde girl saw her expression through the gap in the crowd and squeezed over with a grunt, her bandaged hands slamming heavily on her table.

"It's true! Nao, don't you believe it? The news has reported it!"

The red-haired girl flipped through a page of the book, her eyelids opened open......

- What did she say at the time?

As she got closer to her destination, the wind that accelerated instantly made her face hurt. Nao's thoughts were rolling on the way to the small white building, and only a few tens of seconds passed as long as a year. She vividly remembered the incident that had happened in the recess of class the other day, and could even recall the look of Shumi Sakamoto when she spoke, the grass stalks on her blonde curls, and the crumbs on her uniform tie...... The upwelling blood rattled her eardrums, and she could feel the pain of the skin in her temples. The scene in front of her shifted from Shumi's face to Natsu's smiling face, and from Natsu's smiling face to her expression when she was frightened by Rin Hirakoba with a lizard when she was a child, and finally that frightened face coincided with the white building in front of her.

"Natsu ——!!"

Nao flew up the four-story stairs and slammed into the wooden door of the women's bathroom by inertia. But the bathroom door seemed to have been locked from the inside, and she was even pushed back several steps by the force of the rebound. Nao breathed heavily, and pressed her ear to the bathroom door—

"Kerakala ......"

She distinctly heard the sound coming from the other end of the door, like the tooth-aching sound of thick hemp rope rubbing against a stick of wood. But other than that, there was no sound, as if Natsu's existence had been erased. If she hadn't seen Natsu enter the door, she wouldn't have believed that her sister was in this bathroom.

"Natsu, are you there, Natsu, and when you hear it, you can answer!"

Nao screamed as she banged the locked door. The girl's tearing shouts echoed in the silent campus, interspersed with the sound of "bang" knocking on the door. She slammed it harder, and lime dust even fell from the lintel, but the two-wide wooden door still stood in place, as if to laugh at her stupid actions.

"Brute!" Nao cursed, slamming her fist against the door.

There's no doubt something happened to Natsu, and it's in the bathroom across the door from her. If it was a normal door, she would have been confident that she could break it open, but the wood of the door was much stronger than she expected, probably a little thicker than the props she usually used to practice breaking boards. Judging from the current situation, no matter how hard she tries to hit the door, it is impossible to break it open in a short time, and on this weekend's campus, except for the tennis court a few hundred meters away, I am afraid that there is no one nearby.

(What if you can't break the door...... ）

Nao took a deep breath and closed her eyes in an effort to soothe her pounding heart, forcing herself to calm down. There was no time, she couldn't think about the situation behind the door, she couldn't move the slightest mood to ask for help. Inside the door is her sister, her only sister! If she can't break through the previous realm and protect Natsu at this time, what is the purpose of her karate practice?

Nao gathered all her thoughts, took a half step back with her right foot, lifted her hands relaxed in front of her chest, and shifted her weight to the right foot that was retreating. After a few seconds, the girl with the bold red hair slowly exhaled the breath in her chest, and a cold golden green light suddenly appeared in her eyes, and then the fists raised in front of her chest were slowly but forcefully clenched.

"-Drink!!"

A loud shout that shook all the karate players below the black belt level rang out, and the red-haired girl twisted her body around at great speed. Her right foot, which contained the strength of her proud qiē, rose high, and slammed into the thick wooden door with a sharp screech that broke through the air. With a heavy cracking sound, a hole the size of a human head appeared in the three-finger-thick solid wooden door, which was finally broken.

"Natsu!" Nao hurriedly pulled her right leg out of the hole and leaned down on the hole to look into the room. But the situation inside the door almost stopped her heart, and a large amount of blood rushed to her brain again—

Natsu, who was wearing a tennis skirt, had her head down, and the hair next to her cheeks was dripping down. A thumb-thick nylon rope protruded from the back of her neck and hung softly from the door of the toilet cubicle. The window at the end of the bathroom was wide open, and a figure in a hooded trench coat and a huge mask was straddled on the windowsill, as if it was about to flee in the next second.

"Damn!!"

The veins in Nao's temples burst out, almost bursting open. She slammed into the hole in the wooden door with all her strength, even if her shoulder was cut open by the upturned sawdust, and completely destroyed the entire wooden door in a matter of seconds. And as she broke down the door, the figure jumped out of the ledge.

In this situation, she no longer cared about chasing the murderer, so she could only quickly run to Natsu's side, hold her body hanging from the door and lift it up, and carefully untie the rope from Natsu's slender neck.

Nao's wound seemed to be near a vein on the side of her neck, and her cracked shoulders quickly stained her shirt red, as well as Natsu's tennis skirt. But such a strict injury may not be anything to Natsu, who has his eyes closed.

Natsu was unconscious, with a pungent smell of ether coming from his mouth and nose.

Nao bit her lips and endured the pain as she carried Natsu out of the bathroom and laid her flat on the green grass next to the small building.

"Natsu, hold on!" she gently patted her sister's face and kept calling her name. But Natsu, whose lips had lost their blood, did not react, and even stopped breathing.

She couldn't remember the last time she cried. Since she has strengthened her belief in protecting Natsu, she even thinks that she will never cry again for the rest of her life like she did when she was a child. But looking at Natsu's lifeless face, her nasal passages were filled with some kind of sour substance, and the heaviness in her eye sockets seemed to outweigh the pain in her shoulders.

During her months in Tokyo, Nao had seen a lot of information about the case, and even experienced real killings, but she never thought that her loved ones would be involved, especially her sister, who was more important than her life. She narrowed her narrow eyes vigorously, trying to see Natsu's face through the moisture that permeated her pupils, and kept doing CPR to the person lying next to her, and the transparent droplets of water dripped on Natsu's pale face one by one.

Although she couldn't stop her tears, she hadn't given up yet because Natsu still had a pulse!

"What's going on!!"

A sudden shout pierced the suffocating silence, and the teenagers who had finished their work suddenly appeared in Nao's field of vision. Mukaidake, Ryo Shishido, Takahiro Kajichi, and Keigo Shibabe...... All the teenagers who knew or had seen Nao gathered around, their constricted pupils showing their shock and disbelief.

"Nai, Nao, what's wrong?" Yue Ren looked at Nao, whose blood was almost soaking his shirt, and his speech became stumbling, "Wasn't it okay just now, why, why did you suddenly ......?"

"Kaji, go and call an ambulance!Shishido, go to the middle department and call the health teacher!" Keigo Keibe was the first to recover from the shock and immediately gave the order. He raised his eyes to look at the damaged bathroom door behind Nao, a trace of anger flashed in the blue eyes raised at the end of his eyes, and he immediately snapped his fingers loudly, "Xiangri, go to the police!" No one else is allowed to leave without Uncle Ben's order!"

"Oh, oh!"

Xiang Higaku hurriedly took out his portable phone from his tennis bag, and the other members of the department also stood obediently, but their eyes were firmly glued to Nao, who was performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Natsu.

"Get out of the way! don't huddle around!" At this time, Nao, who had been silent, raised her head suddenly, her golden green eyes flashed with surprise that they had never seen before, "Nao has breathing, she needs fresh air!"

That is to say...... Did the little girl pause her breath just now? A young man with round glasses said thoughtfully, "It's really quite dangerous, but fortunately this young lady was rescued in time, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable." But this young lady ...... Is it okay with your own injuries?"

"It's just a small injury, it's not a big deal. Nao felt her sister's breathing level off and sat down and let out a sigh. She raised her eyes to look at the Ice Emperor's minister, and pulled a smile at him, "Have you already called an ambulance and the police?" But it's not the right time for you to come, if you come sooner, you can catch the prisoner. ”

"Did you see the prisoner?" Keigo Keibe frowned, "How long ago was that?"

"Less than five minutes ago, the prisoner escaped through the window of the women's restroom, and may still be on campus for the rest of the day. But you can rest assured that the prisoner is not anyone who is currently present. Nao pressed the bleeding wound on the side of his neck and pouted in the direction of Xiao Lou, "But it's best not to go over to see it, so as not to destroy the scene." ”

"Of course Uncle Ben knows. Kibe snorted lightly, took out a snow-white towel from the tennis bag that birch had placed on the ground, and threw it at Nao, "Press hard, otherwise you will ascend to heaven early, don't blame Uncle Ben for not reminding you." ”

"Can't die. Nao took the towel and pressed it tightly against the wound, raised her head and grinned, "But thank you, I didn't expect you to be a good person." ”

"'Didn't expect that'?

"Hey, hey, it's better not to fight now. The blue-haired boy with round glasses looked at the towel that had been dyed red in just a few seconds, and opened his mouth a little helplessly, "I think it's better to add some water to her, otherwise it will ......" Before he could finish his words, Nao kept pressing his shoulders and grinning and fell straight down. The blue-haired boy took the lead in supporting Nao, who had fallen into a coma, and sighed, "...... Otherwise, she will have a hemorrhagic coma, according to the rate of her blood loss. ”

"......" Trace gave him a look full of contempt.

And before Nao fell into darkness, she vaguely saw a familiar figure running towards her after Birch.

When Nao woke up from her coma, three hours had passed since the time of the crime.

She slowly opened her eyes, and they were a soft pale yellow. The wound on his shoulder had been bandaged, and he could feel the cold of blood seeping into his bones on his left arm. She turned her head slightly to see the clear IV tube and the black head sitting next to the hospital bed with an unlit cigarette in its mouth.

"Yo, are you awake?" the owner with black curly hair smiled at her, "Not only did she give first aid to Miss Natsu, but she also broke down the solid wooden door with her bare hands, so you did a good job!"

"Nonsense. Nao gave him a blank look and struggled to sit up, "How's Natsu?"

"There's no danger anymore, my mother is watching over there. Matsuda Jinhei got up and shook the handle to adjust the hospital bed to a comfortable position, and stuffed a pillow behind Nao, "Compared to mild ether poisoning, your blood loss is still too much." ”

"She used to have respiratory arrest, and she was called 'mild'?!" Nao cried out in surprise, "Breathing stopped! If no one knew, it was possible to die like this!"

"Well, there are all kinds of human physiques, anyway, it's okay now, isn't it?" Jinpei shrugged his shoulders and sat back down, "I heard from the teenagers who took you to the hospital, you saw the prisoner's face, how do you feel?"

"It's not good. Nao lowered her eyes and sighed heavily, "I understand your feelings a little bit now...... It was a powerless feeling to watch the prisoners escape. ”

"I'm asking how you feel, where is there so much mess?" Matsuda Jinpei's eyes flashed a little dark, but quickly regained their original form. He stood up and patted Nao's head, then turned around and opened the door, "Don't think about it, take care of it first." Someone from the Metropolitan Police Department will come and take notes for you in a moment, and I'll go out for a cigarette. ”

"Hmm. ”

Looking at the actions of Jinping who could be called deserted and fled, Nao's heart was filled with bitterness. What she just said was true. Her closest people almost left her, and she could only watch but could not do anything. If she was only helping to investigate the case to support her relatives before, now she really understands Jinping's feelings and ignites the idea of urgently finding out the real murderer from the bottom of her heart. Because this feeling was about to suffocate her for just a moment, let alone Matsuda Jinpei, who buried this feeling in her heart and endured it for more than two years?

More than two years of non-stop pursuit, frustration after failure...... I worked day and night without sleep or food, just to calm down the self-blame and guilt in my heart. Kenji Hagiwara has an unspeakable influence on Matsuda Jinpei, perhaps just as Saotome Natsu is to Saotome Nao.

Now I'm probably smoking cigarettes outside the ward, watching the sunset and thinking about his deceased friends.

"Really, I said the wrong thing. Nao smiled self-deprecatingly, looked at the door and muttered to herself, "Wait for me, don't be too impatient...... Draw. ”

(At least until I solve the killer who hurt Natsu first.) ）

"Tuk-tuk-"

"Please come in. ”

"Excuse me. We are police officers from Rice Flower Town, and we would like to ask you about the case this afternoon. Outside the door stood a middle-aged man and a young woman, their cherry blossom emblems glittering in the fluorescent lamp, "Although it is rude to visit you just after you wake up, because the nature of the case is extremely bad, we need to understand the case as quickly as possible." Can I start now?"

Nao closed her eyes and opened them, looking at the two of them firmly.

"Ready to start. ”