Chapter 217: Malice
“Wait a moment, I’ll find you some things you might use.”
“Okay.”
He Jia’an sat in front of the coffee table, watching the lady walk to a bookshelf in the living room. Her actions left him somewhat stunned. He hadn’t expected that he had just casually made up a few sentences, yet not only did she believe him, but she also enthusiastically invited him into her home, saying she happened to have information that could help his investigation.
The lady introduced herself as Uda Ryoko. She was somewhat familiar with the Kawakami family because she had grown up nearby since childhood. The Kawakami family had only moved here when Kawakami Rumi had just entered high school. In fact, she was Kawakami Rumi’s junior, just one year behind her, and could be considered a witness to the dramatic upheaval in the Kawakami family.
Uda Ryoko pulled out a thing wrapped in butter paper from a dense stack of books that seemed long sealed away. It was tied with a red fiber rope. Rather than looking like an imperfectly wrapped gift, it resembled some eerie object used to ban something.
Uda Ryoko gently blew on it, sending a large cloud of dust into the air. Everyone in the living room—two people and one dog—started coughing.
After finally clearing the dust, Uda Ryoko sat down somewhat awkwardly across from He Jia’an and pushed the unwrapped package toward him: “Sorry, it’s been too long since I cleaned it. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, I’m grateful.” He Jia’an smiled faintly. He flipped through the contents of the butter paper package and discovered they were all past news clippings about the Kawakami family. He looked up in some surprise and asked, “Did you specially collect these newspapers?”
“Yeah, after all, I was a member of the school news agency at the time. Everyone was always paying attention to Rumi, especially after her disfigurement. Though it was somewhat immoral, it was still traffic. As a newcomer, I was forced by my seniors to collect these messages.” Uda Ryoko said with some emotion, “Even though I eventually followed my family’s arrangements and gave up on a major convenient for media work when I went to university, choosing veterinary medicine instead, I couldn’t bear to throw away the results I made with my own hands in the news agency. I thought they might come in handy someday, and look, now they have.”
He Jia’an nodded: “As long as there was effort, nothing is meaningless.”
He didn’t want to judge the false elements in Uda Ryoko’s words—knowing it was immoral yet still doing it, knowing that keeping these things was quite unfriendly and impolite to the victim and her neighbors, yet still preserving them like treasures.
Of course, whether she was truly hypocritical or just saying it deliberately, He Jia’an had no interest in guessing. He focused on browsing the carefully clipped clippings.
The earliest news recorded in the clipping report started from Kawakami Rumi’s disfigurement and continued up to the devastating family destruction and deaths in the Kawakami family.
“Taomuki City Daily, September 22, Heisei Year 8, Kisaragi High School’s most beautiful female high school student suffers fatal disfigurement from chemical agent. After investigation by law enforcement and the school, it was determined to be an accident—Kawakami Rumi accidentally used inferior chemistry experiment equipment, leading to a leak of toxic and corrosive gases produced by the experiment…”
“Taomuki Gossip, September 25, Heisei Year 8, according to an internal tip from a Kisaragi High School student who wishes to remain anonymous, he is a classmate of Miyako（ alias）. The most beautiful high school student’s disfigurement was not an accident; someone deliberately set her up with malicious intent. This is truly surprising—who could be the mastermind behind this adverse thing.”
“Taomuki Entertainment, September 26, Heisei Year 8, latest front-line news: Taomuki’s most beautiful female high school student’s disfigurement case likely related to a school romance—someone turned hatred from love!”
“Taomuki Official Media, October 1, Heisei Year 8, most beautiful female high school student disfigurement case settled—pure accident, not man-made. All media please watch your words and do not create trouble from nothing!”
“…”
“Taomuki Gossip, September 22, Heisei Year 9, a year later, the former most beautiful female high school student has fallen to this point—suspected campus bullying, threatens suicide: is it despair or seeking sympathy?”
“Taomuki Daily, September 28, Heisei Year 9, last night, the most beautiful female high school student Miyako committed suicide at home. Time of death estimated by the forensic doctor to be around 11 p.m. to midnight last night. She had made video calls to classmates in her phone contacts beforehand, but all were rejected.”
“…”
“Taomuki Gossip, October 10, Heisei Year 9, Miyako’s mother, unable to endure the pain of losing her daughter, went mad and was found hanged at home yesterday not long after. Unemployed husband in utter grief…”
“…”
He Jia’an read through it all in one go. After finishing, he felt his fists clench hard. Though not a party involved, he could sense thick malice from the fragments in these past news reports.
“Pretty infuriating, right? Back then, while making the clippings, I read them too and was often so angry I couldn’t sleep. After learning of Rumi’s suicide, I was terrified and sad for days without a good night’s sleep.” Uda Ryoko sighed, petting Shijiro lying beside her while saying to He Jia’an, “You can take all these materials. I hope they help you.”
“Then I won’t stand on ceremony.” He Jia’an had intended that. He closed the clipping report booklet, his gaze turning to Uda Ryoko. “Doesn’t Miss Uda plan to ask what I intend to do with collecting these materials? If I use them for bad things, what would it mean for you?”
Uda Ryoko was stunned for a moment, then smiled: “Does Mr. He plan to do bad things?”
He Jia’an gazed at her for a long time, then slowly uttered one word: “No.”
“Then why is Mr. He suddenly investigating something from so many years ago?” Uda Ryoko asked curiously. He Jia’an could tell this question carried genuine puzzlement, though not much.
“Do you believe there is malice in this world without reason?” He Jia’an asked before answering Uda Ryoko.
Hearing this, Uda Ryoko thought for a moment and replied: “There is, like what happened to Rumi.”
He Jia’an nodded and said calmly: “In that case, you should be able to accept being cursed to death for no reason.”
“…Huh?” Uda Ryoko’s smile stiffened on her face.
“I don’t know if you’ve been back to your alma mater recently, but there’s a rumor lately that the dead Miss Miyako seems to have become an evil spirit crawling out of hell, now frantically killing teachers and students at Kisaragi High School. I don’t know if it’s true, but lately, there have indeed been more abnormal bizarre deaths among Kisaragi High School’s teachers and students.” He Jia’an looked at her eerily. “What I’m curious about now is, if Miss Miyako really came back, would she continue her mad indiscriminate attacks, or would she consciously target those who once harmed her, taking them all away one by one?”
He Jia’an noticed that Miss Uda Ryoko across from him seemed a bit scared.
