Chapter 49: A Two-Hour Reprieve

Inosuki’s monologue, POV

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The subwoofers roared with a clean, cinematic explosion. The colors on the screen instantly saturated back into brilliant technicolor.

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7:59 pm

Three hours later, the sun had fully set over Shinjuku, leaving behind a dark neon skyline painted in hues of electric blue and crimson.

Mataguchi checked his phone as the group had just finished watching an exciting movie.

“Man, that was a crazy transition,” Aki blurted out beside Junpai, blinking against the sudden brightness of the screen. “The sound design in these new theaters is insane. Did you feel that bass, Junpai?”

Beside Oota, Shion let out a soft breath, her tear-streaked face turning toward him. “Oota…? Are you okay? You’re shaking…”

“I thought it was a romance genre but it was actually a horror series” Oota responded his voice shaking. Right he did mention multiple times before that he didn’t like horror series.

What was Aki thinking picking this up?

“Oh yeah you didn’t look at the description, didn’t you?” Shion responded holding and pulling Oota head closer to her, resting it on her shoulder.

“Sorry about that”

“W-well it’s a bit bad, y-you couldn’t watch the movie without worrying”

“Thanks” Oota muttered while relaxes from tension.

“….”

She seemed to have mentioned something but I couldn’t pickup what exactly.

I see, so then this was what Junoai was trying to instigate

That message earlier seemed to have been meant for me. If I were to eliminate the group using those who seemed to have suspected Shion via our conversations earlier I would be the last one standing since I have questioned about the recording in the first place.

Junpai must have noticed that, tried to push me into confronting her so he could get the truth from her.

I didn’t make any noise, I slowly took out the phone I had taken from Junpai earlier. It was locked, i pressed the power button twice noticing a mic icon was a bit visible at the top screen. One wouldn’t immediately notice since it was near the battery tab. I gently placed the phone on my pocket.

An ongoing call..

Well for starters, I didn’t like the idea of me getting spied on but I understand his motives for doing so. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to play along if it was help him relax or stop antagonizing Shion which may lead to Mr getting exposed as well.

“A..kitten..?” Oota whispered, he was totally relaxed, his eyes closed.

“Yeah, a kitten…but I also have a dog I need to tame….the kitten is my favourite” shion added stroking Oota’s hair gently.

On the other side Junpai remained focused on the screen, but I’m sure he could hear them. Especially since they are close and he’s attention is on Shion.

“Well…I don’t….think it’s….cool to have one favourite….it seem pretty unfair….for the dog” Oota said while he fell asleep. Shion chuckles a little.

“I see….then I’ll treat the dog proper then”

“…” Shion went silent as well slowly stroking his hair with a gentle touch and care.

After some moments of looking at the credit roll.

Junpai suddenly stood up.

“S-sure bud” Aki said watching him stand up.

Junpai seemed have said something afterwards but he didn’t give Aki enough time to replied before walking away.

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The cool night air of the theater plaza did little to settle the phantom static humming in the back of Inosuki’s mind.

“Okay guys! See y’all at school!!” Aki shouted out.

The group immediately separated.

While Aki hauled a broken junpai toward the station lines, with Mataguchi accompanying them from behind.

Oota, Shion and i walked our separate ways as well.

After some moment, Oota separated from the group as well. It was quite between me and Shion, I was still looking for way to confront her so I can clear this situation I’m in.

Tiresome, Junpai must be listening now.

“Inosuki-kun.”

The voice broke the silence in my presence. It wasn’t the sharp, defensive snap Shion usually reserved for anyone who approached Oota’s perimeter. It was soft, slightly breathless, and carried the heavy, exhausted cadence of a victim trying to hold together the remnants of her composure.

Quite a switch if you ask me.

Shion had stopped walking. She had let some the people who seemed to have be going the way with us drift ahead into the crowded pedestrian crossing, effectively isolating the two of us under the dim, buzzing neon sign of an closed arcade.

“You’ve been looking at my left wrist for the last three blocks,” Shion said quietly. She didn’t turn around immediately. Instead, she slowly pulled back the cuff of her oversized sweater, exposing the skin to the harsh, artificial glare of the streetlamps.

I paused, my posture tensing as my analytical baseline kicked in. “I don’t mean it as an attack okay. But look at data, Shion. The coloration is entirely symmetrical. If Nanami had grabbed you in a sudden fit of aggression to force you back onto the cabin bench, then doesn’t that mean the counter-pressure of her thumb would have left a deeper, isolated indentation on the interior radius? This mark looks like a uniform compression ring.”

Shion let out a small, bitter laugh a sound that carried a frighteningly realistic blend of exhaustion and frustration. She turned her head just enough for her purple eyes, shadowed by her bangs, to meet my stare.

The neon sign above the closed arcade gave a low, erratic buzz, casting a harsh, flickering magenta light across the concrete plaza.

Shion stood completely still, her fingers gently easing the cuff of her oversized pastel sweater back up over her left wrist.

The uniform, localized redness of the skin was still visible a stark, perfect ring against her pale complexion. She didn’t look up immediately. Her gaze remained dropped toward the ground, her long white pigtails casting deep, geometric shadows across her face.

I kept my distance, exactly two paces back. My hands were tucked loosely into my pockets, but my shoulders were completely locked.

Every single cognitive resource i possessed was currently hyper-focused on her next mechanical shift. I had mapped the variables which in turn i had isolated the data or more like she did.

What a way to go, I sort of wished I was the one who started this conversation.

The bruising pattern was forensic proof of self-inflicted compression. There was no mathematical baseline where Nanami’s hand could have produced that specific, symmetrical ring.

“A uniform compression ring,” Shion repeated softly. Her voice lacked any spike. Instead, it was quiet, flat, and carried a heavy, authentic cadence of exhaustion.

“You always look at the geometry of a situation, don’t you, Inosuki-kun? That isn’t nice but yeah…i do understand were you are coming from.”

”P-people are predictable, Shion,” I replied, my voice dropping into that cold, private frequency. I tighten my grip, hiding my internal fear.

“Our emotional outbursts are chaotic, but their physical mechanics follow absolute physical laws…. A hand grabbing a wrist requires leverage. Leverage requires an uneven distribution of pressure. Not to be so diect but your wrist doesn’t show that. It shows a tight, uniform, self-sustained grip. The kind of mark left when you hold your own wrist to steady yourself… or “

I should just debate with her, that should give Junpai enough response to stop chasing her. And I wouldn’t have to stress myself with this topic.

Shion slowly raised her head. The magenta light caught her purple eyes, but they weren’t vacant or manic. They looked profoundly, deeply tired. She let out a small, bitter breath that wasn’t a laugh it was a sigh of utter social weariness. She was her genuine tsundere cheerful personal.

”You’re right about the mechanics,” she whispered, stepping slightly closer, though her posture remained entirely non-threatening, slightly slouched inward as if absorbing the chill of the evening air.

“But you’re entirely wrong about the data selection….more simply what you saw. You isolated the compression ring because it fit your baseline suspicion of me. You’ve been looking for a reason to classify me as an suspect since the outburst . But you ignored the rest of the physical canvas.”

My left eyebrow twitched by a single millimeter. “The canvas is clear.”

”Is it?” Shion turned her left arm over, exposing the interior radius under the direct glare of the buzzing arcade sign.

“Look closer, Inosuki-kun. Look at the dorsal side of the joint, right below the thumb line. Do you see the tiny, blue-grey subcutaneous discoloration? The one that sits exactly three centimeters above the main compression ring?”

My sharp eyes locked onto the spot. Through the shifting purple shadows of the neon light, he saw it a tiny, faint, almost imperceptible bruise, no larger than a coin. It was asymmetrical and isolated.

She really did plan this far ahead, she must have knew I or someone was going to suspect her actions.

“That,” Shion said, her voice trembling slightly with a sudden, raw wave of vulnerability that felt dangerously real, “is where her thumb actually pressed when she first reached out to stop me from opening the pod door. It’s light because she didn’t hold me there. She grabbed me, her thumb dug in for a fraction of a second, and then I pulled away.”

“The uniform compression ring you concluded? That happened after I stumbled back against the bench. I was terrified, Inosuki-kun. My hand was shaking so violently that I grabbed my own wrist with my right hand to force myself to stop trembling before the doors opened. I squeezed myself to keep from screaming.”

A dual-phase impact..

If Nanami had gripped her briefly, caused the initial faint mark, and Shion had subsequently gripped her own wrist out of a post-traumatic stabilization reflex, both physical marks would exist simultaneously….

Or…..still doesn’t change the fact the entire plot could all be a trap.

I had noticed the uniform ring because it was large, vibrant, and damning.

I had previously completely overlooked the faint blue discoloration beneath the thumb line because my internal model had already labeled Shion as the architect of the chaos.

Not falling for it though

Confirmation bias. The very thing Mataguchi had just warned about earlier before the movie theater.

I should just end it here, Shion is the one behind it but I should leave Junpai unanswered.

I’m withdrawing, causing I’m tired. I want to sleep on a bed now.

”You think I staged the button?” Shion continued, her voice cracking as a single, authentic tear welled in the corner of her eye, reflecting the neon glare.

“You think I calculated the exact wind resistance of a Ferris wheel pod to fake an audio file? Inosuki-kun… I’m a sixteen-year-old girl. I don’t possess a military-grade audio processing unit in my head.”

“I left the voice recorder running because when Nanami-senpai started talking to me, her voice changed. It became cold. Robot-like. It scared me. I wanted proof that the sweet, perfect senior Junpai was idling over was completely hollow inside.”

“I didn’t force those words out of her mouth. She said them herself. She admitted she was executing a simulation to keep him happy.”

“Besides for what reason will I want Junpai relationship to end?…I was happy he got someone.”

“So now I’m starting to think it’s was my fault for interfering to begin with”

She took a half-step back, her shoulders trembling as she pulled her sweater sleeve back down, hiding the skin entirely. She looked at him not with malice, but with a profound, quiet disappointment.

I miscalculated or so it seems…i can’t react now, it will make me look like a hater or I’m siding the opposition..i thought, his chest feeling strangely hollow as the magenta light flickered against his face.

I was trapped the moment she comfronted me like this….

Wow, what a actor. I know I thought that but my expression was neutral.

I mean if she noticed me getting impressed wouldn’t she like…go extra lengths. Wouldn’t want that.

“You’re so obsessed with finding a monster in our circle that you’re willing to invent one?,” Shion whispered. Her head lowering again.

“You’d rather believe that your underclassman is a slut than admit that a beautiful first-year student could simply be a cruel, detached person who used Junpai for access.”

Okay relax, the dude is on the phone..

“Look I didn’t – ” I tried calming her but it didn’t work. Bro you’ll just have to bare with it okay. You are the one who wanted to hear her side of the story.

“You’re protecting your own comfort, Inosuki-kun. Because if Nanami is the villain, the world makes sense to you. If I’m the villain, you get to play the hero who saves the others from the scary girl.”

Hero? Hell no, I rather play the anti hero. They seem tuff.

”… …i never wanted this,” Shion said softly, her tone sounding completely broken and scared.

Inosuki sigh heavily, “I’m sorry, you are right. I was overthinking things a bit too much on my part” I replied walking up to her to comfort her. Obviously this is what she wanted so I’mma give it to her.

“…..what if, what if i didn’t…..i just kept quite” Shion added still scared and saddened.

“It’s…..alright, it’s my fault for going this far” i added

“….you sure ” Shion asked.

“Yeah” I muttered. I immediately returned to my baseline tone.

“Okay we should get going” I suggested. I was like tired of today. This whole date thing, is hell.

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“If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.”

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Creation is hard, cheer me up! VOTE for me!