Three As I slept through the night, someone was murdered in the next prefecture over. It seemed to be just a random, senseless killing, and the news was all that played on TV throughout the morning. Midterm exams or not, you may think the murder would be all anyone ƒ–•…Š‘‘Ž™ƒ•‰‘‹‰–‘–ƒŽƒ„‘—–ǡ–‘‘Ǥ‘–‹›…Žƒ••Ǣ–Š‡›™‡”‡ǯ––ƒŽ‹‰ about the exams, either. Instead, their excited murmurs were about a different topicȄ‘‡”ƒ–Š‡”™‹•Š‡†–Š‡›ǯ†ƒ˜‘‹†Ǥ It seemed they were trying to solve a mystery: the mystery of why the bright and cheerful, most popular girl in class would go out for coffee on a ™‡‡‡†™‹–Š–Š‡…Žƒ••ǯ•“—‹‡–‡•–ǡ‰Ž‘‘‹‡•–„‘›Ǥ™‘—Ž†Šƒ˜‡Ž‹‡†–‘ know the answer myself, but as usual, I tried to avoid any unnecessary interactions with my classmates. I never got the chance to ask if they figured it out. For a moment, it looked like they reached a consensus: she and I had ‰‘––‡–‘‰‡–Š‡”ˆ‘”ƒ•–—†‡–Ž‹„”ƒ”‹ƒ’Žƒ‹‰‡‡–‹‰Ǥ‘ˆƒ”ǡŠƒ†ǯ– involved myself in the conversations, and I hoped that would be the end of it. Then someone with meddlesome bravery and a lack of restraint asked her directlyȄand loudlyȄand the girl answered with something even more meddlesome than that. Dz‡ǯ”‡‰‡––‹‰ƒŽ‘‰Ǥdz Being the focus oˆ–Š‡…Žƒ••ǯ•ƒ––‡–‹‘Šƒ†‡Ž‹•–‡‹‰‹ƒŽ‹––Ž‡ more closely than I usually did. Now I noticed, but of course pretended I Šƒ†ǯ–ǡ–Šƒ––Š‡›ƒŽŽ‡’–Ž‘‘‹‰ƒ–‡ After the first exam, my classmates kept throwing stares my way. I would have liked to know why I had to be under such a cloud of suspicion when I had hardly even spoken to them before, but I continued ignoring them. I was forced to become involved in the discussion only once; it happened after third period and was quickly resolved. That meddŽ‡•‘‡ƒ†‹…‘•‹†‡”ƒ–‡‰‹”Ž™Š‘ǯ†ƒ•‡†–Š‡“—‡•–‹‘ „‡ˆ‘”‡–”‘––‡†‘˜‡”–‘‡ƒ†•ƒ‹†ǡDz‡›ǡȏ”‡ƒ”ƒ„Ž‡Žƒ••ƒ–‡Ȑ-kun, ƒ”‡›‘—„‡‹‰ˆ”‹‡†Ž›™‹–Šƒ—”ƒǫdz When she asked me that question, I thought she must have been a good person. My other classmates surrounded me at a distance, watching