COTE : Oh No, I've Become the Substitute Chapter 78: Which Matters More, the Question or the Answer?

The air still held the lingering scorch of the day. The ground radiated the residual sumr heat of asphalt mingled with vegetation. The droning of cicadas cascaded down from the canopy of trees in wave upon overlapping wave.

The teaching building was now completely deserted. The doors and windows along the corridor were all tightly shut. On the bulletin board, a faded club recruitnt poster curled up at one corner in the breeze.

Regrettably, the great Lord Moriarty's sche had been seen through by the astute Miss Hols.

For he had forgotten an ancient proverb—since you're already here!

Taking a photo in the restroom didn't require much ti. Five minutes at most and it would be done. They had already co all the way downstairs. Why not just take a quick look and be done with it?

"Mister Watson, are you done yet?"

Miss Hols leaned her back against the wall outside the restroom. Both hands covered her eyes. The toes of her shoes pressed and twisted against the floor unconsciously. Her pretty face flushed, she spoke.

"Not yet, Miss Hols. Just a little longer, please."

Fuyuji Mikage opened his phone's cara. The interior of the restroom was reflected in the cara screen. He compared it against the image on Shiina Hiyori's phone, and finally let out a helpless sigh.

How exactly had he positioned his phone back then?

Had he known it would co to this, he wouldn't have been so excessively fancy about it. Just sticking the cara out beyond the restroom stall would have sufficed. Never did he imagine that, in the end, the one who would suffer for it would be himself.

He raised his arms and stretched his limbs. An uncomfortable sense of restriction transmitted through him. Entering the Advanced Nurturing High School teaching building required wearing the school uniform according to regulations. As a result, even attempting to climb right now left him feeling constrained and hampered in his movents.

Returning Shiina's phone to his pocket, the dutiful Mister Watson, still following Miss Hols's instructions, drew a deep breath. Stepping onto the edge of the toilet, he began searching for the shooting position of the image in the video.

"How is it?" Shiina asked once more.

"Uh..."

A sowhat hesitant voice drifted out. "It's a little hard to describe."

"Eh?"

Shiina blinked in bewildernt. Her small, delicate nose flared faintly. A puzzled voice floated from her lips. "What do you an, may I ask?"

"Mm... how should I put this... wait just a little longer for ."

Following that, a series of muffled, thumping sounds ca intermittently from the restroom. Every now and then, there was also the noise of sothing heavy hitting the ground.

"Mister Watson, are you alright? What's happening in there?" Shiina called out toward the restroom with confusion.

Why would searching for the correct video shooting position produce such strange sounds?

"I'm fine. Just a little longer." A voice that sounded as though sothing were pressing down on its owner's chest drifted out. Just from the sound alone, one could tell the speaker was struggling to speak.

"Are you really alright? Mister Watson, if it's unsuitable, please give up."

For reasons unknown, the rumors regarding that Moriarty suddenly surfaced in Shiina's mind. A sense of unease quietly arose within her heart. Subconsciously, she lowered the small hands that had been covering her eyes.

The sun, now approaching six in the afternoon, dyed the corridor a dusky yellow. Gazing outward, the empty corridor stretched out unobstructed as far as the eye could see. The occasional hoarse cry of a crow drifting over only intensified the feeling that she was the sole person left in the world at this very mont.

"Bang—!" Yet another muffled crash resounded from within the restroom.

No! This wasn't right!

This was absolutely not the kind of sound that should co from normally searching for a phone position!

Caring no longer for her embarrassnt, Shiina lifted her legs and quickly made her way to the entrance of the restroom. The words flew from her mouth before she could stop them. "Mister Watson, are you al—"

Looking up, she saw Fuyuji, like so kind of Spider-Man, sprawled horizontally in an incredibly awkward posture across the top of the restroom stall partitions. His arms were clamped tightly around the edges of the divider boards. His calves dangled suspended in the air. Watching Shiina, who had burst in and was now staring blankly at him, he slowly lowered the phone he had been using to film and uttered two words.

"I'm fine."

"What are you doing?!"

Shiina's voice spiked sharply. The trailing note carried a hint of a crack, mingling a girl's embarrassnt, exasperation, and a lingering trace of fear. It collided against the walls of the empty restroom, producing a small echo.

Three minutes later. Her fingers still unconsciously stroking her chest, the flush on her face having finally mostly receded, Shiina puffed up her cheeks and demanded of Fuyuji, "Why did Mister Watson have to sprawl across the top of the stall partitions and do sothing so dangerous? If he had fallen, he could have gotten hurt."

"About that..."

Fuyuji rolled his sore, aching shoulders. He cleared his throat. His expression instantly transford into one of grave solemnity. He handed her his own phone and Shiina's phone together. "First, take a look at the image inside."

Shiina accepted the phones and compared the image Fuyuji had just shot with the footage from the previous incident on her own phone.

"This is..." A voice of confusion erged from her cherry-colored lips.

"The person who shot the video..." Shiina's pupils abruptly constricted. She couldn't help but cover her lips. "...was constantly moving around inside the restroom?"

"Ah." Fuyuji nodded. Keeping his cheeks taut, he spoke with feigned seriousness. "Though it's not obvious, if you compare it against the video I just shot, you'll discover that the device recording this video was, in fact, slowly moving the entire ti. And the range of movent far exceeded the confines of a single restroom stall."

"If it was moving around, there's no way Ryuen-kun wouldn't have noticed a whole person doing so." Shiina furrowed her fine, elegant brows.

"That is precisely the question. Exactly what thod did Mister Moriarty employ to film such a video without being discovered by two people?" Watching Shiina sink deep into thought, Fuyuji secretly and surreptitiously steered her straight into a dead end.

This was simply not a problem that could be solved through normal ans. If one followed the traditional mindset of a detective, one would never unravel it.

My apologies, Miss Hols. I still don't wish to reveal my identity. Otherwise, that Ryuen Kakeru of your class will co bothering again. And you wouldn't want your Class C to be docked all the way down to zero points either, would you?

After a long while, Shiina opened her mouth. A drifting, uncertain note carried in her voice. "This kind of situation..."

"Is practically just like the plot of a legendary detective novel." Fuyuji lowered his head. His bangs obscured his expression as he held back his laughter and continued to supplent.

As the sun sank lower and lower, the light in the corridor visibly dimd. A sense of suspense unique to detective novels—a heart-pounding, accelerating tension—spread within the young girl's heart.

"Haah~"

Shiina hung her head. Dejection mingled with an intense, burning curiosity. "I can't figure it out. Exactly what kind of thod did Mister Moriarty use to accomplish such a thing?"

Fuyuji's fingernails dug into his own thigh. Borrowing the motion of turning his body to mask his expression, he looked out the window at the trees, now similarly dyed in dusky yellow. His face perfectly composed, he proposed a strategic withdrawal. "If this thread of clues is completely severed... then we can only continue waiting for that Moriarty to make his move again, can't we?"

"No!"

Shiina abruptly lifted her head. Her silver-white hair fluttered outward. Both eyes sparkled with radiant spirit. "The detectives in novels don't stubbornly fixate on a single thod they can't figure out, either." She turned her head toward Fuyuji, her gaze blazing. "Mister Watson, can you accompany to look at that one remaining scene as well? Though... we may end up finding nothing at all."

She felt sowhat different from that quiet, bookish girl from earlier, didn't she? Although she might waver when faced with choices, once she actually made a decision, she would execute it swiftly.

Fuyuji quietly marveled in his heart.

"Then let's go with that plan."

...

The first-year student dormitory. The stairwell.

Unlike the first-year restroom, the stairwell was very rarely used. Most students used the elevator to go in and out. Shiina could also smoothly enter the stairwell and investigate alongside him.

Moreover, this ti, checking the source of the footage was also very straightforward. One could tell at a single glance where it had been fild from.

"The problem is..."

With a whoosh, Fuyuji pushed open the window and extended his head outside to look. A warm breeze, heavy with the fresh scent of leaves, rushed to et his face. A camphor tree stretched upward from the first floor with all its might. Its crown extended roughly just up to the height of the window, still about two ters away from his current position.

"Is that Moriarty so kind of Spider-Man? Or did he study under Jackie Chan? Running to the outside of a window and climbing to the top of a tree over ten ters tall to secretly film?"

At this mont, Shiina's eyes had well and truly begun to spiral in dizzy circles. A puff of white smoke, signaling total cerebral overload, seed to rise from the top of her head.

"This... this doesn't make sense. The window opening clearly isn't wide enough for a person to squeeze through. Even if a cara had been installed in advance, one would still have had to climb to the top of that tree. Is this really sothing a human being could accomplish?"

"At the ti, it would have also been around this sa hour."

Fuyuji gazed out the window at the crimson-red sun. His voice turned dark, cold, and low as he murmured. "The hour of dusk. Within the stifling, sweltering stairwell, occupied by only a few people. In that tense mont when Ryuen Kakeru and Hirata Yosuke stood in confrontation... no one noticed. Atop the adjacent tree's crown, a head, like a specter, pressed itself tightly against the window. In the darkness, a pair of inhuman eyes opened, staring fixedly, deathly, at the people within the window."

"Eek!"

Shiina's eyes squeezed shut in an instant. She subconsciously retreated two steps. Amidst her fluster, a note of coy, girlish reproach surfaced. "Mister Watson, you're not allowed to scare !"

"Then how do we explain so many clues that simply don't add up?" Fuyuji spread his hands, his tone helpless.

"I don't know either..."

An atmosphere of silence spread throughout the stairwell. The evening breeze, gradually rising outside the window, passed through the leaves, producing a hollow, rustling whisper.

"Naruhodo..." Fuyuji cupped his chin and pretended to think for a mont. Then, smacking a fist into his palm, he declared, "I understand now."

"Hm?"

Miss Hols abruptly opened her eyes and stared intently at Fuyuji.

"Moriarty must be an entire organization. One of them is an invisible man, and another is a Spider-Man!" As he spoke, Fuyuji seed to convince even himself, nodding his head repeatedly. "Yes! It has to be so!"

"Wrong!"

Shiina's volu rose slightly. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut, she spoke in a voice both soft and urgent.

"Detective novels don't work like that! There can't be things like this that violate common sense! This must be that Mister Moriarty has once again employed so unknown thod and successfully misled us! In short, detective novels definitely don't work like this!"

"If that's the case, then we can only concede that Moriarty has successfully deceived everyone using so unknown thod." Fuyuji appeared sowhat troubled. His fingers rubbed the space between his brows as he gazed out the window at the gently swaying trees. "To forcibly cram this kind of situation into a detective novel, there's only one way to describe it..."

"The achievent countless detective novelists dream of attaining..." Shiina also seed to recall sothing.

The two simultaneously looked out toward the top of the tree's crown outside the window and spoke in perfect unison.

"An impossible cri..."

On the school path, the sumr heat still radiating from the asphalt had yet to fully dissipate. Shiina and Fuyuji walked side by side along the empty, silent path. Dappled shadows of the trees danced and leaped across their shoulders.

Shiina was still imrsed in the puzzle from earlier. Her footsteps drifted and floated. Her head hung low. Her slender fingers unconsciously toyed with the ends of her hair. Her delicate brows were faintly furrowed.

Fuyuji appeared considerably more at ease. Both hands stuffed in his trouser pockets, he deliberately accommodated Shiina's stop-and-start pace. Smiling, he teased her.

"It seems the problem posed by that Moriarty has truly stumped Miss Hols."

"Mm." Shiina nodded. Her hands slowly pressed together in prayer as she sighed with deep emotion. "In all the detective novels I've ever read, there's no similar thod. The restroom and the stairwell are both public areas. It would be impossible to set up overly complex chanisms. Yet even so, Mister Moriarty perfectly achieved his objective. He's truly remarkable."

"..."

The thick-skinned Fuyuji, against all precedent, actually felt a bit of his face grow warm.

In truth, he had rely been seeking convenience. Whichever thod was easiest to use, he used it. So he had simply directly activated his cheat ability. Never did he imagine it would stump a young girl to this extent.

If any mystery author were to have the audacity to finally present this as the answer to their readers, they would absolutely be cursed for a deus ex machina. In common parlance—they'd run out of material!

He decided to guide this girl a little.

"Perhaps that Mister Moriarty is sothing like a magician. Look, don't magicians frequently perform grand illusions of making people vanish and reappear?"

"That's not right." Shiina shook her head stubbornly. "All of those performances are established with the assistance of props. At the ti, there were clearly no props present in either the restroom or the stairwell."

"..."

Young miss, sotis being too clever isn't exactly a good thing. I can't very well tell you that the answer to this riddle actually doesn't lie within detective novels, but within science fiction novels.

However, very soon, a smile blossod across her face. Her eyes curved into the shape of crescent moons.

"But, this is precisely the charm of detective novels. It's truly, deeply fascinating."

"That is indeed so." Fuyuji chid in agreent.

"This feeling is a completely different experience from reading novels by oneself. One's entire being gets involuntarily imrsed within it. I think... perhaps, soday, I might even write it into a novel."

"Uh... that may not be the best choice."

If this story were written as a detective novel, it would absolutely be a terrible piece of work. For the sake of Miss Hols's future professional career, Fuyuji attempted to dissuade her from this intention.

"Why is that?" Shiina tilted her head.

"Look, isn't all the recording and chronicling usually Watson's job? Why has Hols suddenly snatched away Watson's role?"

"That does seem to be the case. But..." Shiina lowered her head and hugged her backpack tightly to her chest. As if embracing a precious treasure, she held the detective novels within. "I still intend to write it down. Mister Watson, please grant the right to chronicle this case. Not because this mystery puzzle itself is particularly perfect..."

Shiina raised her head. Her eyes shimred like stars. Her voice was soft, yet resolute. "But because this very process of pursuing the answer alongside Mister Watson, of contemplating the 'impossible'—this process itself was filled with an incredible, luminous radiance. The answer may eventually be unveiled. But this journey of exploration, filled with challenges and bewildernt, is the most precious thing of all."

"I have a premonition. This day will remain firmly etched deep within my heart for a very, very long ti, never to be forgotten. That's precisely why I want to record the details of this day, so that I may better recall them in the future."

So that's it. What's important is not the result, but the process...

Fuyuji, who had been walking along the school path the whole ti, suddenly opened his mouth. "Shiina-san."

"What is it?" She halted her steps and turned her head to look at him. The evening breeze gently stirred the hair by her temples.

"In 'The Devotion of Suspect X,' the associate professor Yukawa Manabu once asked the suspect Ishigami a question." Fuyuji also stopped. His gaze cast toward the distant grove of trees, now thoroughly saturated in the twilight hues. He paused, then turned his head to look at Shiina, who was still holding her backpack.

"Which is harder: devising an unsolvable problem, or solving that problem? Extending from this question—which is more important? The one who poses the problem, or the one who solves it? What would your answer be?"

"Mm—"

Shiina pondered for a mont. Her fingers unconsciously traced along the strap of her backpack.

"If it were , my answer would probably be the sa as Professor Yukawa's. Based on respect for the one who devises the problem... devising a problem that cannot be solved is more difficult. aning, the one who poses the problem is more important."

"Wrong." Fuyuji shook his head, quite unexpectedly. "The one who solves the problem is more important."

"Eh? Why would Fuyuji-kun say that? Logically speaking, this question has no right or wrong answer. Everyone's interpretation should be different, shouldn't it?"

"No. At least, not when it cos to the question posed today." Fuyuji looked at Shiina, still thoroughly imrsed in the mystery puzzle. He smiled. "I think... whether it's Moriarty or Watson, they would both think so."

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