Chapter 224: Takayama Keika
“Why not say it? Isn’t that helping the tyrant?” Misaki Naomi was somewhat angry.
“Yeah, so he naturally received a ‘friendly welcome’ from his classmates.” He Jia’an stuffed the notebook into Misaki Naomi’s hands, letting her flip through it carefully again herself, while he switched to Kikuhide Ichi’s Graduation Intentions Survey Form and examined it closely once more.
Kikuhide Ichi, Class 3-A, ranked eighth in the grade in the last achievement standings, with Graduation Intentions to get into Tokyo University…
It was clear that Kikuhide Ichi was a student with good usual achievements. In the reasons he wrote afterward about choosing to take the exam for Tokyo University, the reasons were filled to the brim, impassioned, and the text between the lines was full of intense longing.
But amid such rich text, He Jia’an again sensed a pathetic despair, as if Kikuhide Ichi hadn’t considered anything besides getting into Tokyo University, like a gambler going all in.
If he failed to get into Tokyo University, He Jia’an thought, perhaps Kikuhide Ichi would dejectedly take the road of resignation, without any intention of trying again, or settling for second best by choosing another university if he didn’t get into Tokyo University, or simply going down the path of employment.
Continuing to read downward, He Jia’an saw the comments and notes that Homeroom Teacher Aso Shintaro wrote for Kikuhide Ichi: Ichi-kun is a diligent and hardworking child with excellent achievements, but Tokyo University, as a world-renowned institution, if you insist on trying to get in, it will be a long and arduous journey, but the teacher is willing to give you trust and believes you can create a miracle. But additionally, in life besides learning knowledge, there are many other things to learn, so usually pay some attention to your interpersonal relationships around you and actively communicate with everyone.
“The homeroom teacher’s evaluation of him is pretty good.” He Jia’an flipped to the back of the survey form, which was blank, then flipped back, “But from this passage the homeroom teacher wrote, you can roughly imagine that Kikuhide Ichi is the class loner, the kind of inwardly directed person with few friends.”
“This type of person is pretty classic; probably every class has one like this.” Misaki Naomi seemed to understand well; she pursed her lips and nodded slightly. “In that case, it’s actually not hard to understand why Kikuhide Ichi chose to help the bad guys keep quiet. After all, it’s almost time for advancement, and at this critical moment, he wouldn’t want to drop the ball over something like this. Heh, he even managed to learn away the basics of morality and emotion.”
While He Jia’an agreed with some of Misaki Naomi’s views, he could actually see more. “I think besides fearing it would affect his studies, there should be other reasons. He might really fear death. As the sole eyewitness to that incident, he was later discovered by that pervert school worker, so it’s possible he received a death threat.”
“Fears death and has no character; this guy really is…” Misaki Naomi shook her head straight.
Hearing this, He Jia’an calmly glanced at her.
Sensing the gaze, Misaki Naomi immediately shrank her neck and gave a silent dry laugh. On the point of fearing death, she actually didn’t seem much better than Kikuhide Ichi.
Misaki Naomi lowered her head and quickly flipped the notebook back and forth again. Then her eyes caught that amid the large blank pages in the notebook, one page actually had text, so she immediately flipped back to it and found that side. “Eh, there’s a hidden page here.”
“Take a look.” He Jia’an also hadn’t noticed it; he and Misaki Naomi leaned closer to each other to share that page’s text.
The hidden content read: Perhaps I should have paid more attention to that child; that way, maybe he wouldn’t have been taken away by Hanako…
“Does this ‘he’ refer to Kikuhide Ichi?” Misaki Naomi guessed; she was almost certain. “This should have been written after Kikuhide Ichi’s mysterious disappearance.”
She lifted her head wanting to ask He Jia’an’s opinion, but then realized that without paying attention, He Jia’an was no longer by her side and had instantly gone to another teacher’s desk.
Misaki Naomi hurriedly followed, muttering, “Don’t walk so fast; at least take me along…”
“You didn’t keep up with the pace.” He Jia’an glanced at the younger sister like that, then pointed to the photograph on the desk. The photo frame was damaged, with a big crack letting dark blue ink from who knows where seep into the photo, causing the other half to be completely contaminated, impossible to see clearly. Only the other small half of the image showed a fairly pretty female teacher smiling gently at the lens. “This person is Takayama Keika; this blob contaminated by ink should be her daughter Hanako.”
“She’s really pretty; Hanako must have been cute too.” Misaki Naomi sighed.
“Yeah, the cute loli who indiscriminately attacks humans.” He Jia’an nodded seriously, as if agreeing, making Misaki Naomi somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, and she couldn’t help punching his arm.
He Jia’an remained unmoved, flipping through Takayama Keika’s personal belongings, trying to find certain clues from the things she left behind.
Takayama Keika was the subject teacher for third-year biology, probably also a serious and responsible teacher, and serious in a way that felt somewhat terrifying.
“Check what date Aso Shintaro recorded in his notebook for Hanako’s death?” He Jia’an had a sudden idea and asked Misaki Naomi.
Misaki Naomi immediately flipped through the notebook briskly and quickly found it: “It’s September 22, Showa 32.”
“Mm, this homework was graded on September 25.” He Jia’an flipped Kikuhide Ichi’s homework book to the page corresponding to the date; this was the nearest homework grading time after Takayama Keika’s daughter’s death date.
Afraid it wasn’t intuitive enough to see, He Jia’an flipped through a few other students’ homework books; the grading situation for homework on the same date made Misaki Naomi shiver with fear.
Kikuhide Ichi’s homework that day had the note: Ichi-kun has a solid foundation in biology, but the arithmetic content in separation law could be expanded a bit more; I recommend you try doing these exercises…
Looking at other students’ homework notes, the messages left by Teacher Takayama Keika were similarly serious and precise, almost directly hitting the weak spots in the students’ knowledge, but compared to the note on Kikuhide Ichi’s, Teacher Takayama Keika was obviously “excessively caring” toward Kikuhide Ichi.
“H-How… how could it be? Her daughter had just died.” Misaki Naomi was extremely shocked; she found it somewhat unbelievable. “She even had the mood to work, and graded so seriously.”
“Check when Kikuhide Ichi’s misdeed was exposed.” He Jia’an asked again.
Misaki Naomi flipped through Aso Shintaro’s notebook again and confirmed the time once more: “October 28.”
He Jia’an then flipped through Kikuhide Ichi’s homework book page by page until the homework grading date of October 28; Teacher Takayama Keika remained unwavering, seriously and responsibly grading homework for Kikuhide Ichi, and throughout, Teacher Takayama Keika was always exceptionally “caring” toward Kikuhide Ichi.
Amid Misaki Naomi’s gaze of terror, He Jia’an flipped the homework grading dates back to before September 22. Misaki Naomi tremblingly covered her mouth, her voice dry as she said: “She… Takayama Keika actually knew Kikuhide Ichi was a witness to the school worker’s crime, very very early… earlier than everyone else knew about it.”
