Chapter 28
“Um…… what is…”
I take a step back, then another.
“I thought he was dead, but he’s still alive?”
This guy!
My hands were trembling.
I didn’t know what to do, standing next to a man who was confessing to an attempted murder. Kamiya had already gone down to the riverbank, so what should I do……? Our conversation was drowned out by the sound of the river, and it didn’t seem like the two people down below could hear us.
“You didn’t mean to kill him, right? Come on, just be honest…”
“No way. He’s still alive, right? If he talks about what happened here, it won’t matter whether I meant to kill him or not. That’s a problem, isn’t it~”
He grinned and grabbed my arm.
“W, what?”
“For now, you’re coming with me. I need to buy some time.”
Saying that, he called out to the two people by the riverbank.
“Hey! We’ll go tell everyone at the lodge about Shiina-san!”
“N, no! Let go of me!”
Perhaps noticing that something was wrong with me, Shinji reacted.
“Natsumi! What’s wrong?”
“Shinji!”
“Tch, don’t make a fuss!”
Mitchi yanked my arm forcefully. I was practically dragged towards Kamiya’s parked car.
“Hey!”
Shinji scrambled up the wall in a panic. But in the meantime, Mitchi grabbed my arm and was dragging me towards the car. Kamiya also…
“Stop right there!”
…shouted up from below, but he ignored it.
“Hey, what are you planning to do?”
I asked, even as I was being dragged along.
“We’re getting out of here! Walk, come on!”
“There’s no way you can get away!”
“Shut up!”
Before I knew it, I was almost pushed into Kamiya’s car.
“You’re my hostage!”
“Huh? Again?”
The words just slipped out.
“Hand over the car keys!”
“I don’t have them!”
As we continued to argue, I saw Shinji crawl out of the river and run towards us.
“Natsumi!”
“Shinji!”
I shook off Mitchi’s arm and ran towards Shinji.
“Tch.”
Mitchi must have given up on Kamiya’s car—since there were no keys—because he just ran off towards the lodge.
“Natsumi!”
Shinji hugged me. I found myself thinking, strangely enough, how different being a “hostage” was with him. If it had been Mitchi, I definitely wouldn’t have even thought about saving him.
“What about that guy?”
“Looks like he’s trying to get away.”
“…… I see.”
Mitchi was already out of sight.
“Hirose-san!”
Kamiya came running. She must have come back up to the stone steps. Catching her breath, she asked.
“What on earth happened?”
“Shiina-san, it wasn’t an accident! That guy from earlier…… Mitchi said they got into a fight and threw him down.”
“He threw him?”
It’s true that he’s tall and has a stocky build. But I don’t know if it’s really that easy to just throw a person around.
“It seems he was planning to take me hostage, but I managed to escape.”
“…… Hirose-san, you’ve got the hostage temperament, don’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
Hostages don’t have any kind of temperament, do they?
“Ah!”
Shinji pointed towards the lodge. A motorcycle was speeding away. Judging by the rider’s clothes and build, it was easy to guess that it was Mitchi.
“Tch.”
Kamiya clicked her tongue, took out her phone, and got into the car. She was probably going to call for backup.
“Hey, Kamiya-san!”
“I’m going after him! You two wait at the lodge!”
Saying that, she sped away.
“…… As expected of an active-duty detective.”
Shinji muttered with admiration.
“I wonder if Kamiya-san will be okay.”
“…… Should we go after them too?”
Yes, that’s what I was thinking.
“Yeah!”
I found myself answering without thinking.
Shinji and I hurried back to the lodge and got on our motorcycle.
“Hey, what happened?”
Masa-san looked at us with wide eyes.
“Masa-san, Shiina-san is lying unconscious by the riverbank. We’re calling the police and an ambulance right now. And the culprit was Mitchi-san.”
“Huh? But Mitchi was just— “
“— he ran away. We’re going after him now!”
Saying that, Shinji put on his helmet and revved the motorcycle’s engine. I wrapped my arms firmly around Shinji’s waist.
With a “vroom,” we glided off. I wondered how far Kamiya had gone. Besides, wouldn’t the ambulance and police she’d called earlier be arriving by now?
The motorcycle picked up speed, but descended the mountain pass rhythmically, repeatedly decelerating and accelerating. Shinji seemed to be trying to catch up with the two ahead as quickly as possible, while still prioritizing safe driving.
We rounded yet another curve.
“!”
I saw smoke.
That place, could it be ……?
A bad feeling began to swell inside me.
“…… an accident?”
Shinji muttered. I couldn’t hear him, though.
I could see a car ahead. It was the one Kamiya had been driving. Beyond it lay a motorcycle on its side. And a figure lying on the ground. It’s Mitchi. Smoke is rising from the motorcycle, but even more smoke is coming from the riverbank….
Shinji stopped the motorcycle just before Kamiya’s car. I hurried off towards the riverbank.
“Oh no.”
There was a police car. I could hear Kamiya shouting beside it.
“Kamiya-san!”
When I called out, she suddenly turned around to me,
“Help!”
She said.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
Shinji shouted as well.
“Inside… Yasuhara-san is inside!”
Thump
My heart pounded.
How… how did Yasuhara end up here? Did that mean he had been nearby when Kamiya had spoken to him on the phone earlier?
“Hurry up and help me!”
Shinji and I half-slid down the steep embankment and made our way closer to Kamiya.
“Why is Yasuhara-san here?”
In the car, there were police officers in the driver’s and passenger seats, and Yasuhara-san sat in the back seat. It looked like the car had spun out or crashed into the riverbed from behind when it fell, as the back seat was quite crushed. Both police officers were covered in blood and appeared to be unconscious.
“Shinji-kun, you absolutely must not touch Yasuhara-san! Get the two in the front out! Kamiya, grab a rock from over there—we’re going to smash the entire rear window!”
For some reason, I was the one giving orders, and we moved to rescue the three of them. Fortunately, the passenger side door seems to open. Shinji dragged the officer from the passenger seat out and then reached for the officer in the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, Kamiya and I tried to break the rear window, but…
“It’s no use! The rear window of a police car doesn’t break that easily!”
Kamiya shouted.
“Alright, I’ll get in through the front door! I’ll push it open, so Kamiya, please pull him out!”
Just as Shinji finished getting the police officer out of the driver’s seat, I slipped into the patrol car. I tried to recline the passenger seat, but it wouldn’t budge, perhaps because it was warped. Having no other choice, I went to the back seat, unbuckled Yasuhara’s seatbelt, and tried to support him and move him to the front seat. But,
“Oh, he’s heavy……”
The weight of an adult male… especially a middle-aged, overweight adult male… is a lot. Kamiya also reached over from the passenger side and tried to pull him up, but it wasn’t working. Just as we were struggling,
“Hey! There’s a fire!”
Shinji shouted from outside.
The gasoline might have caught fire. If this keeps up……
“Natsumi, I’ll take over!”
Saying that, Shinji pushed Kamiya aside and slipped into the car.
