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Inumi Sanae smiled at Miyuki softly as they walked out of the coffee shop.
“Are you sure it is still safe for us to go out together?” Miyuki asked Inumi.
“I’m sure it’s fine. I’m not that well known of a detective yet so there should be no reason you are targeted,” Inumi said as she took a sip of her coffee.
“Well I hope you become a great detective Inumi” Miyuki said as she looked down at her coffee.
A phone buzzes and both girls look down to see Miyuki has received a text message.
“Anyways it was nice catching up with you,” Miyuki said as she rather hastily grabbed her bag.
“Wait, where are you going?” Inumi saidrather shocked by the other girl’s haste.
“I have a… study group to go to” Miyuki said before starting off “Bye Inumi was nice catching up with you”.
“Bye too…” she waved slowly as her friend ran off.
The next day, when Inumi woke up, she heard her mother crying.
“Why did the Quartering Duke kill Miyuki,”
With those simple words Inumi woke up immediately.
“Mom, what do you mean Miyuki is dead!” She yelled as she ran to the kitchen.
“Yes… her body was found at the school this morning when the principal started to open up the school” She said as she cried.
With that information Inumi grabbed her detective badge and rushed out the door.
“Hey kid, you're not allowed to be here,” a policeman told her.
“I am the Downtown Detective let me in” she said as she showed the policeman her badge.
“Sure thing mam” the policeman said as they stepped out of her way.
She quickly rushed into the school before coming across the scene of the crime. There were two students in the Library. Miyuki’s and the other student’s head was bashed in by a stack of books that fell on them. They seemed to be tied up to a bookcase. Looking closer at the scene of the crime she noticed that the bookcase across from them seemed to have been moved a few inches.
“Maybe the books were set on the bookshelf before it was moved” she muttered to herself before noticing the two bags sitting at a table.
Looking in Miyuki’s bag she found a diary. Flipping to a random page she gasped.
Dear Diary,
I don’t know why I still want to live. Sure being friends with Inumi is nice but she is actually talented. I have nothing though. I’m not smart or observant in the slightest. I’m even failing math. I just wished I had something worthwhile for society. Even when Inumi was asking her friends for help in ‘The Case of the Ikebukuro Ripper’ I couldn’t help in the slightest. Why am I so useless!
“...was Miyuki depressed?” she said to herself in shock.
After looking through the other girl’s bag, she found a similar story. The other girl was also depressed and she seemed to want to die. Looking back at the scene of the crime she started to put together a few dots. Both of them had a foot facing the slightly moved bookcase. There also seemed to be a smile on the other student’s face. This is something that wouldn’t be common from a person that was slowly bleeding out from the head.
She cried as she realized something. All those cases of the Quartering duke were really just double suicides. Did that mean that all those people were depressed? Did she really want to bring this to light? Already she didn’t want to believe her best friend was depressed. What would the family members think of this dark truth?
Before she could think more about the subject, she stuffed both diaries in her bag and repositioned the legs of both girls. She also pushed the book case back making it look like a third party was involved. If her guess was right, having evidence of a third party could disapprove the idea of suicide.
Little did she know that someone else was watching her hide all the evidence.
“Hi there I saw what you did at your skill” A voice said behind Inumi as she walked through an alley.
“Ah- Sorry but what do you mean?” Inumi lied to the blond haired boy in front of her.
“You don’t have to worry, I saw the whole thing. What do you feel about knowing the truth?”
“I…I don’t know”.
“Are you concerned about what you read? The fact that one of the things your friend wrote was about how inferior they felt to you”.
“No they didn’t!” she yelled at him.
“Are you sure? You had such a bright future compared to her. Maybe you only could offer her a false hope,”.
“Why are you telling me this?” Inumi said with tears in her eyes, “I just lost my friend, you don’t have to torment me like this”.
“I’m here to offer you a deal” he said offering his hand out, “You could help hide the truth and maybe your friends depression will never come to light”
Inumi thought for a moment millions of thoughts going through her head. Most of those thoughts centered around Miyuki. Did she really want to reveal the fact that her friend had pushed that bookcase making those books fall on them. Both the diaries felt heavy in her bag.
“I… accept,” she says, taking his hand. After finally looking up, she recognized the face.
“I see you recognize me Downtown” the boy laughed, “And before you ask yes I am the Quartering Duke”.
“It’s you _ _ _ _ _ _ _”