After leaving the karaoke room with Ryūen, I took a moment outside the store.
It had gotten quite late, and I decided it was about time to head home.
While thinking that, I decided to make a detour to a certain place.
The chances of meeting someone at this hour weren't high, but there were a few people besides the class leaders I wanted to see. I headed to a place where one of them often appeared. I reached the rest area on the second floor. As expected, I found the person I was looking for there. Standing in front of one of the lined-up vending machines, I pretended to choose a product while glancing at the displayed bottles and cans.
"How have things been with Sakayanagi since then?"
I muttered as if talking to myself, and after a brief pause, a reply came back.
"...Right. We've had more opportunities to talk than before."
"That's good. You still like it here even though your participation within the class has improved."
"It's calming. Plus, I'm still not good at dealing with people."
Listening to the words coming through the gap in the vending machine, I continued standing in the same spot.
"I understand the importance of having some alone time."
Being surrounded by a crowd all the time can be suffocating.
"Is it a coincidence... that you came here?"
"I stopped by hoping you would be here, Yamamura. Actually, there's something I want to ask."
"Something you want to ask...?"
I made sure no one was around before I spoke about what I wanted to know.
After I finished speaking, Yamamura seemed to silently ponder the meaning for a moment.
"Why... did you come to ask me...?"
"I thought you would be the most knowledgeable about this area. Is my assumption wrong?"
"...Well... maybe."
If Yamamura didn't know the answer, she could simply say so.
However, Yamamura evaded a clear response as if dodging the question.
That meant she had some kind of answer.
"I already have some suspects in mind. But I need more information to narrow it down."
"Would that be good for Sakayanagi-san? Or..."
"I wonder. 'This matter' doesn't involve Sakayanagi at the moment. I don't intend to cause any trouble for Class A. I want you to see it as an outsider's issue."
After a pause, Yamamura slowly emerged from behind the vending machine.
"I'm not sure if I can be of help, but I do have some information that might assist with your question."
There was a chance she wouldn't share the information, but Yamamura took out her cell phone.
She turned the screen towards me and started playing a video.
However, the subjects were filmed from a distance, and the audio couldn't be captured.
"The only person I found during my investigation that matches what you're talking about is this person. I couldn't hear the conversation in the video because it was too far away... What do you think? I'm sorry if it's completely unrelated."
The date was December 26th at 7 PM. The location was Keyaki Mall.
The two people in the video were interacting closely.
"...Is it not helpful?"
"No, it's quite helpful. You're impressive, Yamamura."
"No, it's nothing special... I just happened to be there..."
She was being modest, but the people being filmed were quite cautious of their surroundings.
Being able to film this much under such conditions was significant.
I wouldn't be surprised if she knew various circumstances that I was unaware of.
However, this video alone wouldn't reveal everything.
I'd like one more piece of evidence to reach a conclusion.
"I'll make good use of that information. Of course, I won't mention your involvement."
"I hope it helps."
Despite providing useful information, she bowed her head as if feeling somewhat apologetic.
After parting with Yamamura, I quickly decided which student to contact based on the information and arranged to meet with them, getting further details from Kei.