1st Arc Part 15: My Hope

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The others, now aware that I almost died, began to bombard me with questions, but I refused to answer them. I tried to persuade them into talking about Kirumi's case again, but they were convinced that the two cases were related.

"It's clear that Rin won't say anything." Kiyo sighed.

"Then we should have Shuichi figure it out," Rantaro said.

"Me?" Shuichi asked, sweat now dripping from his face.

"You're the Ultimate Detective, so maybe you can figure out who tried to kill Rin," Rantaro explained.

"..." Shuichi fell silent. He then pulled his hat down to cover his eyes. He wasn't going to say anything either. We both didn't want to talk about the case.

"Shuichi?" Kaede asked, noticing the detective's odd silence.

"Wait... why Shuichi no talk?" Gonta asked.

"So he's not going to help us either!?" Miu screamed.

"Maybe that indicates that he was the one who tried to kill Rin," Kiyo suggested.

"Th-That's impossible! He was with me the entire time!" Kaede said.

"That's true. He couldn't try to kill Rin if he never went there by himself." Himiko said.

"But I don't think that matters." Rantaro pointed out. "After all, Rin said that the weapon that almost killed him, a shotput ball, fell off one of the bookcases and almost dropped onto him."

Shit...I did tell them that.

"If that's the case, then that means that someone set a trap to have the shotput ball drop on Rin, allowing them to kill while not being in the library," Ryoma said.

"So does that mean Shuichi tries to kill Rin?" Gonta asked.

"It's possible. If it was a trap made in the library, it's highly possible that either Shuichi or Kaede set the trap." Maki said.

"But Shuichi and Kaede wouldn't do something like that!" Kaito shouted. "It has to be someone else!"

"That's highly unlikely. If someone set up the trap before Shuichi and Kaede set up the cameras, they would have found it, and if the trap was set up after the cameras were placed, the culprit would have been caught on the cameras." Keebo said.

"But still!" Kaito declared.

"How can you be so sure? We only met a few days ago, so who's to say?" Kokichi said with an evil grin. "Either one of them could actually be a cold-blooded killer who tried to kill someone."

"So, the one who was planning to kill Rantaro and almost killed Rin is either Shuichi or Kaede?" Tsumugi asked.

"Go on and confess you two! If you do, Atua will forgive you!" Angie said happily.

"So that means that one of them also killed the goth maid, right!? Which one of 'em did it!?" Miu yelled.

"I'm telling you, it's not relevant to the case!" I raised my voice. "It's impossible for the person who set the trap in the library to have killed Kirumi!"

"And how do you know that?" Maki asked. "How can you be so sure?"

"Th-That's because–"

"It's me."

Shuichi and I turned our heads in horror when Kaede spoke.

"K-Kaede...?" Shuichi managed to say.

"Kaede, you don't have to–"

"I do. I'm grateful to both of you for trying to hide it, but we can't avoid it anymore. So, I'll talk about it." Kaede interrupted me.

"K-Kaede? What are you talking about?" Tenko asked

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