[You asked about the death of Yuko Ibuki, and Shiori Ichinose told you that the girl drowned in the river in front of the nearby subway entrance before dawn today. 】

Memory scenes appear.

In March, the temperature is much warmer than during the winter holidays, but it is still not warm, especially at night.

Yuki Minami took two steps back and let Shiori Ichinose into the room and poured her a cup of hot tea.

The night outside the window was thick, and it was already nine o'clock in the evening, and Nan Yuki was glad that Chiju Kazumi didn't stay overnight, otherwise this topic would not be able to avoid her.

Shiori Ichinose took a sip of steaming tea, her expression tired, her waist no longer straight, and she sat crooked on the carpet.

She added: "I don't know if it was suicide or a stumble. She went out shopping yesterday afternoon, and then disappeared, and I sent people to look nearby, but they couldn't find it, and I asked people to search for her near the apartment, and only at dawn did I find the hat floating on the water, and my body was recovered. ”

Yuki Minami sat down next to Shiori Ichinose. He was familiar with the river that the girl was talking about, and in a month, the cherry blossoms on the riverbank would bloom.

He thought of Yuko Ibuki's appearance, of the doll-like girl, floating and sinking in the river between two rows of cherry blossom trees. Next month, what will the cherry blossom viewing visitors look like on the river with the cherry blossom petals floating?

He looked at Shiori Ichinose: "You've done your best." ”

"Don't comfort me." Shiori Ichinose clenched the water glass in her hand, staring at the light and shadow at the bottom of the cup, her palms and eyes seemed to be struggling with something, revealing an anxiety.

Minami Yuki gradually realized that the girl's appearance was not due to the drowning of Yuko Ibuki itself.

"It's my fault, it's my meddling that hurt her. I'm sorry for you too. Shiori Ichinose jerked down her glass, and she turned her head to look at Yuki Minami.

The moment they met their gaze, she dodged, and her heart shook violently.

She lowered her head to look at the artificial pattern of the laminate flooring, the pattern that was a clumsy imitation of natural wood grain was too regular, and her gaze crossed the pattern, and the chaos in her heart was slightly suppressed.

Minami Yuki said at the right time: "What do you do to say such things, I can't do better than you in Ibuki Yuko." ”

"No, you can do better than me." Shiori Ichinose's words are firm.

Minami Yuki was surprised, surprised at where the girl had come to such a conclusion.

Under his gaze, Shiori Ichinose confided in her inner torment:

"I felt it last year. Two years ago, I shouldn't have acted so recklessly, I thought I was helping Ibuki-senpai, but in fact it may not be so, no, it must not be so! ”

She looked up at Nan Yuki: "Nan-kun still remember two years ago, I conceitedly ask you to stop coercing Ibuki Yuko." ”

"Yes." Nan Yuki wanted to say a witty word, but before she could say anything, she thought of the river that was about to reflect the cherry blossom trees, and replaced it with an ordinary answer.

"You asked me why I found you, I told you, I can't remember the specific words and phrases, it means that through observation, I found out the strangeness of your relationship, and deduced that you are coercing Ibuki-senpai, and I have asked Ibuki-senpai for verification and obtained her acquiescence."

Shiori Ichinose's speech was fast, and her language was a little messy, and as she said this, the wavering on her face deepened.

Minami Yuki frowned, and when Ichinose was halfway through his words, he had a vague guess.

Shiori Ichinose's next words confirmed his suspicions.

"Ibuki-senpai didn't acquiesce, I asked her a total of three times, a week apart, from light to heavy, from hints to blunt words, every time, Ibuki-senpai shook her head in denial. The last time I asked the homeroom teacher to call her to the office during class, I asked her directly if she was being blackmailed by you, and she shook her head before I could finish and told me to leave her alone. ”

The window of the apartment was closed, and the tea on the low table was steaming, and Nan Yuki propped his elbows on the table, feeling that the temperature in the room was a little high.

Shiori Ichinose continued, "I thought it was your coercion that scared her too much and made her resist my intervention. I then turned my head and questioned you, I was afraid that you would not admit it, so I lied to you, saying that Ibuki-sani had acquiesced. ”

"That's true." Minami Yuki said.

"The outer truth is not the inner truth!" Shiori Ichinose let go of the teacup, rested her palms on her knees, clenched them, tears sliding down the corners of her eyes.

She lowered her face and wiped the tears from her face: "I thought at the time that I was a person who did justice and a chivalrous man who rescued Ibuki-senpai, but am I really ready to help Ibuki-senpai?" Maybe I'm just trying to satisfy my childishly twisted ridiculous desire to do justice! ”

Nan Yuki didn't speak, he stood up and opened the window next to the bed, the cool evening breeze didn't dissipate the heat in the room, and he clearly felt the burning of his body.

He sat back at the low table, and Shiori Ichinose sobbed for a while before opening her mouth again.

"Even if you show me that you are helping Ibuki-senpai after questioning you, I still stubbornly stand by my righteous position, and I feel that what you did was wrong, and I can better help her. You later told me that I was ashamed that I had unknowingly chosen the same way as you, but I stubbornly felt that I could do better than you even if I chose the same way as you! ”

"You do do a better job than I do."

"I didn't! Because it was wrong in the first place! ”

Shiori Ichinose's voice grew louder and louder, and she lifted her neck, not like she was talking to Minami Yuki, but like she was confessing to her victims, and she knelt on the floor and stated her guilt.

"Lately, I've had a clear sense of the problem. It doesn't matter what happens in that case.,Ibuki-senpai, who takes everything as it is.,Will she really help you hide the crime just because of your coercion? The time she told me to leave her and yours alone, that was the only time I heard a rejection from her with a clear attitude! ”

"It's just your guess."

"Please don't run away! Even I can muster up the courage to sit in front of you and confess to you, so please also have a correct attitude and face Ibuki-senpai's feelings! ”

The two fell silent for a long time, the evening breeze blowing the curtains and the light casting distorted shadows on the windows.

Shiori Ichinose's deep voice suddenly sounded: "She wants to be coerced by you, she wants to be coerced by you, you should have continued, and then lived happily together one day, it was me who destroyed everything, and the death of Ibuki-senpai was my responsibility." From that river, you can clearly see your apartment, she is here to see you! ”

After saying that, she threw herself on the ground and cried bitterly.