Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 81

I washed my face with the water pouring from the bathroom sink.

While doing so, it felt like the sound of the grinder was echoing in my head, making me nauseous, but having already thrown up more than three times, there was nothing left to come out.

After rinsing my mouth and turning off the tap with trembling hands, I stepped out of the bathroom.

At that moment, as if he had been waiting nearby, Yoon Si-woo cautiously approached with a worried expression on his face.

“...Scarlet, are you okay?”

“...Yeah, I’m fine now.”

I answered Yoon Si-woo’s question in a small voice.

But as soon as I replied, his expression darkened.

...This was why talking to this guy was such a hassle.

“...No, actually, I’m not okay. How could I be, damn it...”

I spat out a response laced with curses and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

Inhale deeply, exhale.

But it didn’t seem to have much effect, so I sank down, curled up, and buried my head between my knees.

Without realizing it, I began to voice my thoughts.

“...I was convinced that person was the culprit. I didn’t know what they might do if we left them alone, so I thought we had to catch them quickly...”

There was a brief pause before the answer when I was asked if there were any unclear parts in my memory.

And when the answer came, the tone had suddenly changed as if the person had become someone else altogether.

At that moment, I somehow understood.

If Mr. James truly had another persona as I suspected, then the one answering right now was the culprit.

That was why I had shouted in anger.

If something had gone wrong with my classmates and precious friends, they might have died because of that person.

I thought about how quickly another victim might emerge if we didn’t catch him.

I was simply acting on such a thought.

“I didn’t want this result...”

The scene I saw in the kitchen wouldn’t leave my mind.

When I entered the kitchen, there were dishes laid out inside.

I recalled Mr. James smiling, saying he wanted to cook for those struggling without lunch today.

Mr. James was that kind of person.

We succeeded in identifying the culprit.

But the revealed culprit had made an extreme choice, and because of that, Mr. James also ended up dead.

It felt like it was all my fault.

The sound of the grinder kept echoing in my head.

The grinding noise.

The sound.

Then, I sensed something strange.

I lifted my head from my knees and asked.

“Yoon Si-woo, was the sound you heard before you broke down the door the sound of the grinder?”

“Huh?! Oh, yeah. It was definitely that sound.”

Yoon Si-woo, who had been squatting in front of me with his arms outstretched, hurriedly corrected his posture and replied to my question.

I had no idea what he was trying to do, but that wasn’t important right now.

I asked him once more.

“When you heard that sound, did you hear any other noise?”

“...I don’t think I heard anything else.”

I stiffened my expression at Yoon Si-woo’s answer.

No matter how I thought about it, that was strange.

The kitchen and the dining area.

The door was closed, but we could have conversations through the wall, so if there had been a loud noise, Yoon Si-woo, with better senses than an average person thanks to the Immutable Holy Sword, wouldn’t have been able to miss it.

“Really, it’s not!”

As Rhea shouted at the teachers leaving the kitchen, her expression turned gloomy once they all departed.

She had received vague explanations through contact, but it was hard to believe.

That Mr. James was both a dual personality and a terrorist.

In her memory, Mr. James was always a good person who made snacks with a smile whenever she asked him.

Thus, while feeling sad about his death, Rhea resolved to uncover the truth behind this incident and began to examine the items in the kitchen.

*

Psychometry, the ability to read the memories of places or objects.

Knowing that reading old memories required time, Eve waited for Rhea to emerge.

After a while, Rhea exited the kitchen with a rigid expression, and Eve asked her.

“Did you check everything?”

Rhea slowly looked around and spoke to Eve.

“...I don’t think this is something to discuss in a crowded place. Can we talk somewhere private?”

There were several students in the dining area.

If it was something that shouldn’t get out, Eve nodded in agreement with Rhea’s suggestion.

As soon as they entered the night watchroom attached to the teacher’s office, Eve asked Rhea.

“So what exactly happened?”

Rhea didn’t respond immediately, gazing around the watchroom, then sat down on a long sofa and waved for Eve to sit closer.

“I’ll tell you, but please sit next to me, Teacher.”

Eve sat next to Rhea, smiling.

“You used to insist on calling me ‘Teacher’ instead of ‘Professor,’ and now you say it properly.”

“Did I?”

“You did. Have you forgotten already? Well, regardless, can you tell me what happened?”

Then Rhea leaned closer to Eve and whispered.

“Oops, I made a mistake again.”

THUMP.

A kitchen knife plunged into Eve’s neck.

Soon, the light faded from Eve’s eyes, and her body crumpled to the floor.

Rhea looked at the scene while scratching her neck, then unfolded a blanket from the watchroom.

Rhea covered Eve with a blanket soaked in oil that she had brought from the kitchen and slowly crawled inside.

And from the oil-soaked blanket, she pulled out a lighter.

WHOOSH, flames leaped up.

The former master and student burned to death in that one place.

Eve watched the illusion in silence.

After pulling Rhea, who had fainted in the illusion, away with a knife to her throat, Eve wiped her neck.

A slight trace of blood appeared on her hand after wiping her neck.

“...That was close.”

She had completely trusted Rhea because she was her student.

The only reason she could respond just in time was due to Scarlet’s warning from the day before to never let her guard down anywhere.

“...I should thank Scarlet.”

Muttering this, Eve looked at Rhea with cold eyes.

Rhea Abella, who had been a troublemaker but sweet and brought smiles to everyone.

She was not the kind of child who would act this way.

This indicated either brainwashing or control.

Both types of magic were strictly prohibited for ethical reasons, and powerful control that wouldn’t let one awaken until burning to death was beyond human capability.

This meant there was only one being capable of such actions.

“A witch.”