My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Everyone nodded in agreement at Sato's words.

"I see, so that's why you said you'd go with Akira. Kyousuke, is that how you feel too?"

Nanase looked at me as she said that.

At the time, the only ones who agreed to go with Akira were Sato and me, so it made sense that she'd ask me.

"No, I don't have that reason. I just wanted to help Akira as much as I could. Right now I'd just be a burden."

Akira had become stronger than I had imagined.

With me now, she would only be someone to protect.

I couldn't imagine fighting beside her.

I hadn't seen Akira's strength with my own eyes, but you could tell how many hellish situations she'd been through just by looking at her.

"...I still can't believe Oda. The dagger that was stuck in Saran's body was Oda's, and before that he was wandering around all weird and wasn't with us at all."

Right.

According to a classmate who read a lot of detective novels, by seven in the morning the rigor mortis meant about seven hours had passed since death.

If you trusted that amateur knowledge, the death happened around midnight.

At that time, all of us except Akira were gathered for a meeting.

We couldn't have done it.

Because there is magic in this world, things like rigor mortis could be manipulated, and it's possible someone else in the castle did it, but because the curse had made us act strangely, we had decided Akira was the culprit based on that alone.

"Didn't we agree at the very beginning that it wasn't Akira?"

When we left the castle we held the first strategy meeting to confirm we were back to our senses and to decide what to do next.

There, from Akira's reaction and the words the princess had supposedly said that Sato heard, we should have concluded that Akira didn't kill Saran-san.

Ueno angrily raked a hand through her hair.

"That's not what I mean! I get that, but what I'm saying is that Oda's suspicious too — he was acting shady enough to make people suspect him."

I tilted my head.

I didn't think Akira was the type to stick with classmates.

I only remembered her looking at people with a kind of contemptuous expression.

Only people like me and Nanase really talked to her.

"I think so too. If he hadn't been wandering off by himself, no one would suspect him. Ryusuke always seemed to dislike him anyway."

Waki's "Ryusuke" was probably Oka Ryusuke.

He was in the same soccer club as Waki and had been one of the class jokers.

Tall, and good-looking though not as much as Sato.

But for some reason Oka had been badmouthing Akira since the spring of freshman year.

Because Oka spread all sorts of rumors, Akira had become more and more distanced from our classmates.

Once I asked Akira if Oka had said something to her, and she only tilted her head.

In the end she even asked who Oka was.

Maybe because she only remembered things that interested her, I guessed she probably didn't even remember Nanase's name.

Come to think of it, Waki had been close to Oka, and I think he joined in on the badmouthing.

"Well, Akira's a lone wolf if you want to say it nicely. If you say it badly, she's a troublesome person with zero cooperation."

Nanase complained.

I almost nodded along, but held back.

"What do you think, Tsuda?"

I asked Tsuda, who'd been sitting quietly in the corner, and as usual he flinched like he'd been startled.

Apparently this guy was uncomfortable around me.

Tsuda was on the kendo team too, but I'm the captain and he's a regular member.

Our builds are different, and he only started kendo when he entered high school, so he's not even a regular yet.

He looked weak like a girl, so it wasn't surprising he was scared of me.

"Ah, w-well, I don't really interact much with Oda, so I don't know him well, but if Asahina trusts him that much, maybe I can trust him too…"

I blinked.

So he would trust because I trust — meaning he trusts me?

Even though he's awkward around me?

…I really can't figure out what other people are thinking.

"What about Hosoyama? It's three for and two against so far."

I hadn't asked Nanase yet, but she'd probably be on Akira's side, so practically it was four to two.