Not a detective

Page 12

"I will not leave the mystery club, not for the time being."

He said calmly.

Since Chizuko gives him a meal every day at noon, he won't stand against her.

"Asakawa-kun, I'm worried about you! If you encounter any danger or strange things, please contact the school!"

Asakawa Riku stood up, and Principal Komiya followed suit, their faces showing anxiety.

He picked up his schoolbag: "I won't be in any danger."

He and Chizuko said the same thing.

"you……"

"Because I'm very strong."

Principal Xiao Gong was speechless. She never expected that someone would say something so seriously.

Don't you feel ashamed?

But at the same time, she felt it was the impulsive confidence unique to teenage boys, and repeatedly urged him to stay: "Asakawa-kun, sit down, let me tell you about the past of the mystery club?"

"No need, I've probably heard those rumors."

Asakawa Riku decisively refused.

It's probably just students who are frightened by monsters and ghosts, experiencing psychological discomfort and nightmares. If it really makes them afraid and keep their distance, there's nothing we can do about it.

Neither side is wrong...

But he will not be affected, so he has no reason to leave the mystery club.

"Farewell."

Asakawa Riku suddenly realized that he had been a bit too aggressive, and that the positions of the principal and the students had been reversed, so he bowed one last time.

After all, the principal was also worried about himself, for the same reason as Chizuko-senpai.

To ease the tension, I made a joke before leaving:

"The principal is so nervous, is it possible that I'm going to be captured by the Earth Spider?"

"...!"

The moment I pushed open the door, I saw Principal Komiya's expression change drastically.

...

After leaving his office, Asakawa Riku took out his phone in the hallway.

Several messages came into view:

【OK. 】

Therefore, the club activity will be postponed to tomorrow.

After these two, a few minutes later, two more were sent, seemingly trying to explain:

Today, Alice will be selling her limited-edition spring strawberry tarts, which are loaded with strawberries. Today is the first day of peak sales, and if you're even twenty minutes late, they might sell out.

I'll go first.

Asakawa Riku replied: [Received. Did you manage to buy it successfully?]

He turned off the screen and smiled.

What on-site investigation? It's just about buying limited-edition desserts. Alice... I've never heard of her. Is she from some dessert shop nearby?

Asakawa Riku was unaware of this. He put away his phone and left the school.

I bought a ready-made bento box from the convenience store near my home, and I've been having this for dinner for the past few days. With a balanced lunch, my nutrition isn't too bad.

After returning home and finishing dinner, instead of doing my usual quick exercise and then washing up and resting, I turned on the computer in my study.

Today we're not going to look up information about "earth spiders," but something else entirely:

[The Murder Proclamation Love Letter Incident].

Searching with this keyword yields no results; the pages that pop up are mostly irrelevant content.

For example, there are official denials of "murder warnings" or sample love letters.

Asakawa Riku added his school's name to the search box and searched for it, but still found nothing.

Logically speaking, such a big incident shouldn't have had no online discussion...

It seems the claim of information censorship is true. If such a serious incident were to be exposed and cause panic in schools, the subsequent impact would be far-reaching.

After thinking for a moment, Asakawa Riku changed the keyword.

He searched for "students missing in 2023" and found several official news articles.

The content of the report was similar to the clippings in Chizuko's notes, both being very brief descriptions without any grand embellishment, as if they didn't want people to delve into it.

In order to protect minors, the names of the victims were not mentioned; it was only stated that "four boys and three girls are missing, and we hope that kind-hearted citizens will provide clues."

Asakawa Riku had almost forgotten their names... How shameful.

Is there nothing else?

He stared at the screen for a while, then turned off the computer.

Perhaps it was the atmosphere around him; with only two days left, he too became somewhat nervous.

He chuckled self-deprecatingly and was about to get up to take a shower when he suddenly saw his phone light up on the table.

[I got to eat it, and it was delicious.]

That was a message from Chizuko-senpai. After a while, a picture of a strawberry tart appeared. The strawberries looked very fresh, wrapped around the cake, and it was placed on the table.

As expected of a limited edition product, the amount of strawberries alone looks astonishing.

A napkin and a silver spoon were stacked next to the plate, the photo taken with the precision of a magazine advertisement.

"A cute girl should include her face in the selfie, right?"

Asakawa Riku smiled but didn't reply to his question.

The Spring of the Earth Spider: Chapter Twenty-One - Shibuya Station is the Real Spider Web

Friday's lunch was "purple rice and shrimp rice balls + spring rolls + honey-glazed roasted chicken wings + fruit and vegetable juice + blueberries".

I won't go into the praise of the taste. Asakawa Riku asked Chizuko-senpai, who admitted that she had learned some Chinese cooking methods online, which explained the familiar feeling.

The fruit and vegetable juice was hard to swallow, but she watched closely and practically forced Asakawa Riku to drink every single drop.

"...Is it because you had strawberry tart yesterday that you switched to different fruits these past two days?"

Asakawa Riku picked up the blueberries.

“Yes.” Chizuko’s eyes lit up and she smiled. “It tastes really good. If Asakawa-kun is interested, we can go today too.”

This is a spring limited edition item, and it only went on sale today. I wonder how long it will remain available.

"Okay."

Riku Asakawa wasn't particularly interested in sweets, but he did want to experience the life of a normal high school student.

Chizuko was packing up the lunchboxes when she suddenly looked up:

"Asakawa-kun, we must set off today. Yesterday, the teacher had no choice, but we can't stand me up again today."

"Received." He replied with the precision of a corporate slave.

...

"Hey, Lu, tomorrow's the weekend."

As soon as get out of class ended and school was over, the boy sitting behind him patted him on the shoulder.

This person's name is "Hirokichi Hirata", an ordinary sixteen-year-old male high school student with a buzz cut, no glasses, and a standard height of 1.7 meters.

Compared to the indoor type, I should be the outdoor type because I have darker skin and a cheerful and outgoing personality. I've been considering whether to join the baseball club or the tennis club for a week, but I still haven't made a decision. It's said that the criterion for judging is which club has more pretty girls, so I'm tirelessly inquiring about information.

From the first day of school, he and Asakawa Riku established a subtle "friendship".

They weren't exactly close, but they acted like they were.

Although they seemed friendly, I had a feeling that if I were to ask them for a favor privately, they would definitely refuse.

This is what fragile social relationships are like.

Perhaps we still need the test of time to become true friends.

"How about we go somewhere? Karaoke or something, bowling is fine too. Some girls in my class have been secretly asking me about you, don't worry, I haven't said anything yet. But if it's a face like Lu's, I feel like it wouldn't be a problem to take you to a social event with girls from other schools, so I can get some benefit from it?"

Actually, Asakawa Riku isn't good at remembering people's names, but this guy not only called him by his name, but even gave him the nickname "Riku," which forced him to remember it.

"Haoji, I'm sorry, I have an appointment today."

He got up and packed his schoolbag: "Next time."

He deduced why Chizuko-senpai was so persistent about extracurricular activities, and also understood why she suddenly warned him not to be late or stand him up.

If this happens again, we might not have lunch next week, which is a problem a million times worse than the "earth spider" (a type of parasite).

"Oh, okay? Then let's do it next time." Haoji opened his mouth.

"Ah."

Asakawa Riku left in a hurry and didn't even notice that when Hirata Hirokichi heard "an appointment," he didn't give a knowing smile, but rather a strange expression.

...

"...In conclusion, I believe your purpose is not to conduct an off-campus investigation, nor to pursue the case of the Tsuchigumo, but rather to eat the limited-edition spring strawberry tart."

On the train, Asakawa Riku presented his reasoning to Chizuko-senpai in front of him.

As soon as they left the school gate, they rushed to the station and caught the first tram, surrounded by crowded commuters and students.

Chizuko was too short to reach the handrail, but luckily someone got off at this stop, freeing up a seat.

Asakawa Riku stood in front of her.

Chizuko looked up at him with an even more tilted head than usual: "That's really going too far, Asakawa-kun. I didn't mean to hide anything, so don't try to expose me with your reasoning."

"Isn't this just an activity of the mystery club, president?"

Asakawa Riku said matter-of-factly, and Chizuko was convinced by his words, smiling helplessly:

"Strawberry tarts are certainly one of my goals, but the investigation also needs to be done. I couldn't finish it yesterday, so today I hope Asakawa-san can help me."

"How to investigate?"

"In last year's incident, there were seven victims, right? That means seven different residences. The perpetrator had to travel back and forth between these seven residences on the same day and at the same time, kidnapping everyone in turn, and then evacuating. I wanted to see if an ordinary person could do that."

"Huh? Wasn't it confirmed that the culprit was Tsuchigumo?"

"That's just reasoning, and reasoning can be overturned at any time. I can't guarantee that I'm right either. Therefore, it needs to be tested through practice."

Chizuko's expression was very serious, which suddenly made people feel that she had come out for more than just the strawberry tart.

Of course, the first destination won't lie.

"—Before that, let's go to Alice first."

They emerged from the intricate Shibuya Station and finally reached the ground. Asakawa Riku had always felt that Tokyo's subway platforms were like mazes.

If you put him in a spider web, he can easily escape, but if you throw him into the crowd on a subway platform, he'll definitely be trapped for much longer.

Fortunately, Chizuko-senpai knew the way well, and with her guidance, we quickly arrived at our destination.

The dessert shop on the street corner has a sign with the word "Alice" written in cursive script. The shop's design is very nice and has a Western style.

It should mean "Alice". Asakawa Riku saw that there was already a small queue at the store entrance, and Chizuko-senpai tugged at his sleeve and quickly walked to the end of the queue.

"Come quick, there should be more."

She stood on tiptoe, excitedly observing the shop window.

Asakawa Riku joined the queue with a helpless expression. Most of the people queuing here were either fashionably dressed high school girls or female office workers who looked like they had snuck off work. He felt somewhat out of place among them. If it weren't for the few men in the queue who were with their girlfriends, he would have felt really embarrassed.

He could only pretend to be calm as he looked around at the bustling and crowded streets of Shibuya. Suddenly, for a moment, he felt that the scene in front of him was very familiar.

what happened?