Not a detective

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Asakawa Riku knew that she was asking for "evidence".

"I have no evidence."

He shook his head frankly: "This kind of thing must have been done extremely secretly. It might have been posted anonymously on the internet and spread through multiple hands, so the source can no longer be found."

But Asakawa Riku stared at her intently, not letting his guard down: "But I feel... I don't know why, but I just feel like it was you who did it."

...

Tamamo-no-Mae is a famous yokai, one of the "Three Great Yokai of Japan".

Legend has it that during the late Heian period, a peerless beauty appeared who was transformed from a white-faced, golden-haired nine-tailed fox. Due to her extensive knowledge and unparalleled beauty, she was known as the greatest female genius in Japan.

Originally named Zaono, she was a fox spirit adopted by the samurai Sakabe couple. From a young age, she was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and possessed unparalleled beauty. Legend has it that she caused chaos in Japan, resulting in numerous disasters. She fought against the descendants of the Abe family, who were known as Onmyoji (yin-yang masters), and battled against a large army. After many hardships, she finally succeeded in defeating them. She possessed great magical power and was cunning and intelligent, making her an "evil" yokai.

Tamamo-no-Mae was associated with the legend of the fox spirit, and influenced by Chinese culture, she merged with two typical figures of femme fatales in ancient China, Su Daji and Bao Si, in the evolution of the legend. These various "settings" were finally completed in the Edo period: she was written as a nine-tailed fox from China, who successively transformed into Su Daji, Bao Si, and Huayang Tian, ​​and finally became Tamamo-no-Mae. She successfully subverted or disturbed three countries: China, India, and Japan. She transformed and reincarnated three times, and was a truly "femme fatale" who brought ruin to the country.

...

Asukai Shi gave him the feeling of being the fox from the legend.

Of course, the guy in front of him shouldn't be a monster, otherwise Asakawa Riku wouldn't be able to see him, so he probably wasn't possessed either. He didn't have a feeling that he could purify him.

He was just an ordinary human being.

Just a feeling.

Asukai Shi is like a wicked fox spirit who would carry out such a massive experiment for her own purposes, disregarding the lives of others, and thus "bring disaster to the country."

Asakawa Riku wouldn't convict someone based on feelings, nor did he have any evidence to blame the girl in front of him; that wasn't in his style.

Moreover, even he himself couldn't explain what crime it was to induce others to cheat.

"What is your motivation? Why do you insist on being number one...? With your fame and profession, the grades of an ordinary student are definitely useless. Every university would probably be vying to admit you; you wouldn't care about that. So, why are you so determined to join the Mystery Club? What exactly attracts you to it...?"

In the end, Asakawa Riku could only ask this question: "What exactly are you plotting to get close to me after all this trouble?"

Perhaps he was once manipulated by the spider, and at that time, he was unable to see the truth before the scheme was laid.

But now, after two years, he has grown, and even if he is to be taken advantage of, he needs to understand the situation before talking to anyone.

However, Shii Asukai continued to play dumb.

She smiled and gave an irrelevant answer:

"I did write a book called 'Summer of Red Rays.' But it was just a draft. I gave up after writing half of it, and I haven't finished the other half yet."

"……what?"

Asakawa Riku was taken aback, not expecting her to suddenly bring this up, and his train of thought was abruptly interrupted:

"That's impossible, I've seen the published physical book..."

He stopped mid-sentence, explaining that the physical book had long since disappeared, a fact known only to him and Xingyu, and for which there was no evidence of its existence in reality.

"But that's the truth. Is it 'Summer of the Red Stingray'? It's about a person who is stranded on a deserted island and discovers a strange village and a peculiar religious ritual, right? I came up with a beginning that I thought would be very interesting, but I didn't know how to end it, so I gave up halfway through. The book was left unfinished, so it was never published."

Asukai Shi's smile was flawless, and what she said was perfectly reasonable:

"This book was a discarded manuscript. I'm curious how you knew that, senior?"

"I……"

Asakawa Riku gritted his teeth. He hadn't figured out how to answer yet. He had considered many possibilities, but he hadn't considered what would happen if the author refused to admit it no matter what.

Should we resort to force? But the other party is just an ordinary person with no ability to resist, and may even be innocent.

Asakawa Riku didn't want to threaten an ordinary person; perhaps she was just a classmate.

Is the book "Summer of the Crimson Ray" a virtual memory that existed simultaneously with Xingyu, a shared fantasy of the two, or did it never actually exist?

Even if there are special features, they may have nothing to do with the original author, Uta Asukai... Is she really a cunning "fox," or is she innocent, and I'm just overthinking it?

"So, what was your motivation for joining the [Detective Club]? Why did you use that method to get first place?"

Asakawa Riku hadn't forgotten to come back to the point.

We can't let this topic, which was almost interrupted, go so easily.

"That's another secret."

Asukai Shi said with a smile, her hands behind her back.

She seemed to admit that she did it, but she didn't seem to say anything else:

"This is a reward for having a lot of fun with me as your senior, but as for more about me, let's wait until we get to know each other better and explore things together slowly, shall we?"

"and many more……"

Asakawa Riku chased after him, but missed.

Asukai Shi nimbly leaped and nimbly reached the door, finally peeking out half her face:

"Girls need to have secrets to be attractive. If you figure them out too quickly, they'll lose interest."

"If you want to know more, be sure to come to the mystery club on time!"

Nue's Summer: Chapter 1 - The Endless Summer

As usual, after school, Asakawa Rikuzo walked to the third floor of the school, turned a corner, and went to a secluded corner.

This is the location of the not-so-famous mystery club. Even the famous school star, Uta Asukai, couldn't bring any popularity to it, which is quite amazing.

It feels like the mystery club is about to turn into a new campus ghost story.

He smiled wryly as he pushed open the door to the activity room, and was immediately surprised.

...He's not here?

The activity room was empty; the familiar seats were tucked under the tables, just as they had been the night before.

This is quite rare.

Asakawa Riku turned on the light, pulled out a chair, and sat down. After a while, he felt something was off, so he awkwardly tried to make tea.

This is indeed quite rare. Usually when he comes here, he sees the black-haired girl sitting by the window, smiling and greeting him.

She used to have short hair, but now she has long hair.

Asu's class seems to be a little closer to the activity room, on the same floor, so she always arrives earlier, almost every day.

But you were absent today. Was something unexpected happening?

Asakawa Riku took out his phone and glanced at it. There were no new messages. His chat history with Asukai Shi was still at the beginning when they added each other as friends, and there were no new messages.

He wasn't a fan of chatting online, and the two-person club didn't need to create a group chat; this had become a tradition of the mystery club.

It might just be a little later.

So Asakawa Riku stopped thinking about it, filled his own teacup, and sat down.

I took a bite, and it was incredibly bitter, but it was just right for my taste.

Although the mystery club won the Outstanding Club award for a year, its funding was far from enough to buy air conditioning. This bitter tea was just right to relieve the heat of the summer, with a gentle breeze blowing from behind.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment. Compared to the tense library, although the environment here was not as good, there was a sense of peace. He was suddenly glad that he had not disbanded the mystery club.

It's summer now, and senior year of high school has been going on for a while, but compared to my senior year of high school in my previous life, it's much easier here.

Although the school has an atmosphere and pressure related to college entrance exams, it can't compare to the feeling of being in a college entrance exam factory. To get into a good school, you can only rely on your own intense competition and hard work.

Asakawa Riku took out his worksheets, books, and notebooks from his bag, ready to begin studying.

To be honest, the environment here is good, but his study plan has hardly ever been successful.

As club presidents, Uta Asu and Chizuko-senpai have completely different styles. Chizuko is more like the kind of person who just lazes around and does nothing. Her only club activity is holding an old book that she dug up from somewhere and reading it without making a sound. If it weren't for the pages turning, you would think it was some kind of doll. When the time is up, she says goodbye and closes the door.

This is the mystery club she leads.

After Asukai Uta officially took over the reins, she implemented sweeping reforms, transforming herself from an extremely passive to an extremely active person, and began to work with the only employee, Asakawa Riku.

Of course, the so-called new club activities are just chatting and playing games. In addition to the red and blue word game, there are many other interesting reasoning-related questions and answers, as well as various interesting topics. She is a very talkative person and can often talk about everything from philosophy to history, and from science to economics. She often pesters Asakawa Riku to play, as if she never gets tired.

The once silent mystery club suddenly became filled with laughter and chatter, as if the faint atmosphere of dread had been dispelled.

However, this also resulted in Asakawa Riku bringing his books and exercises every day, but he couldn't even turn a single page. He had to work overtime at home to catch up with his schedule.

...It takes two to tango, and he had to admit that he actually had a lot of fun and was responsible for enjoying it.

Initially wary of Shimi Asukai, feeling she was strange and mysterious, like a cunning and malicious little fox, but after spending some time together, they found they were surprisingly compatible.

It's like chatting and joking with an old friend you haven't seen in years, and you're happy just from it.

Time seemed to stretch on endlessly; this summer was exceptionally long, as if it would never end...

Asakawa Riku, you can't keep going down this path. If you continue like this, what will happen to your carefully crafted study plan? What will you do about the college entrance exam?

He patted his face heavily, giving himself a warning.

Perfect timing! That guy isn't here yet today, so I'll take this opportunity to get back into the swing of things and study hard!

Asakawa Riku took one last sip of tea, then opened the paper and picked up his pen—

Just then, I caught a glimpse of a stack of papers on the table out of the corner of my eye.

"Ok?"

The desks in the mystery club are always messy. It was alright during Chizuko's time because she loved tidiness and would always clean up herself. But Asukai Shi was different; she would leave as soon as she was done playing.

In addition, they also play games, board games, and use props such as paper, pens, and books, which causes a small mountain to pile up on the table.

Among those things, a stack of papers was sticking out, which aroused Asakawa Riku's curiosity.

He easily lifted the mountain of books with one hand and pulled out the "manuscripts".

It was indeed manuscript paper, because the words on it were not printed, but handwritten square characters, and it still had the feel of ink.

That's why I'm curious.

It was a thick stack of pages, densely packed, and looked like it contained tens of thousands of words. It was quite a substantial piece of writing.

"...Could it be the original manuscript?"

Asakawa Riku was surprised and looked back before realizing that Asukai Shi hadn't arrived yet.

Did this great writer leave his manuscript here and forget to take it?

The handwriting looked familiar yet unfamiliar at first glance, and then I realized it must be Asu's handwriting; only she would have this kind of handwriting.

But she usually prefers to write in Chinese, saying she's afraid of it being leaked. Why would she write something so important in Japanese? Where is her sense of confidentiality?

Oh right, it seems the original manuscript has to be given to the editorial department, otherwise no one can understand it even if it's in Chinese... Asakawa Riku realized this too late.

He was quite curious about this thing, since it seems that many people use computers to write nowadays, and handwriting on paper is quite rare.

This thing must be of great value. Even disregarding the copyright value of the text, her own manuscript alone is probably worth collecting.

...So, do you want to see it?

Since Shii Asukai isn't here, she should be told that she forgot something and that it's proper to follow the rules and not peek without permission.

Asakawa Riku glanced at the cover; there was no title yet. Could it be a new book...?

I usually see her playing around, but I never expected that she was secretly preparing a new book. It seems that the beautiful young writer who has been silent for so long is finally going to make a comeback?

He held the manuscript in his hand and fell silent.

One reason was that he was curious whether the tricks and ideas he had contributed had been used in his new book.

Secondly, he couldn't just leave it unattended. What if it was a rejected manuscript, or what if it was related to that mysterious "Summer of the Red Stingray"...

"If all else fails, then offer a sincere apology afterward."

Asakawa Riku took a deep breath and made his decision.

He opened the book.

Nue's Summer: Chapter Two - Three Years Ago

Foreword

This is a problem that has troubled me for many years.

I have achieved great success and fame, and I have been satisfied with both honor and wealth, but even so, I still cannot answer the question in my heart.