"Wh-Who are you people?!"

"Move over.

Who's in charge here?"

Several cars had arrived, producing several men. They weren't from the Okinomiya station.

One of the men was wearing a suit, despite the hot weather. He approached me, pushing Kumagai aside.

"...Hey, look who's here.

Good to see you again, Ootaka-kun from the prefectural headquarters."

"Watch your mouth.

I'm ranked much higher than you now, so don't address me so casually."

"Can I help you with something, Ootaka-kun?

I'm rather busy at the moment.

You can't possibly be thinking about taking over this case?

Who approved that, exactly?"

"I did, Ooishi-kun!"

"Ch-Chief...?"

"Takasugi-kun has informed me of the situation.

He also told me that you started all this.

You can go now. The troops will take over!"

"The troops? ...Ootaka-kun, you aren't going to storm the building, are you?"

"I understand the risk.

But we don't have any time left before the bomb goes off.

You've taken too long.

We're here to take care of the mess you left behind.

Just step back for a minute."

I couldn't talk back if both the chief and a guy from the prefectural headquarters gave me an order.

"O...Ooishi-san, who the heck is he?"

"That's Ootaka-kun.

Nfu fu, a long time ago, he was showing off even though he was bad at mahjong, so I taught him a lesson.

Or maybe he's still holding a grudge from when I knocked him unconscious in that kendo tournament."

Obviously, we didn't get along.

"Give me the latest update, Ooishi-kun."

"Are you serious about storming the school?

We were about to settle this thing peacefully with some sleeping pills.

What are you trying to accomplish here?"

"It's too late for that.

If we had another hour, that would be possible.

Instead, a special unit from the prefectural police department will move in.

Your unit will be their backup."

"...Chief.

You know what's going on, don't you?

That classroom itself has turned into a huge bomb!

But even the classroom isn't the bomb we're scared of.

It's the suspect, Rena Ryuugu!!

We finally calmed her down and found a way to settle this peacefully, and we were about to start that operation.

I know we only have about ten minutes,

but I'll make sure this works!!

I'll continue negotiating.

If it doesn't work, I'll be blown up.

Then you can sit back and say 'I told you so,' okay?"

"Ooishi-kun,

the special unit from the prefectural police department isn't just any old unit.

You've heard about the Second Company, haven't you?"

"What's that, Ooishi-san?

Is this "Second Company" that well known?"

"Do you remember, about five years ago,

when the JRA hijacked that airplane? Flight 472?

I've heard that special counter-terrorist units were put together in Tokyo and Osaka after that incident.

So they really do exist..."

"B-But why would a special unit from Osaka be here?"

Ootaka smiled proudly.

"We just happened to be holding a training session with your prefectural police unit.

We requested their help."

"Na ha ha... you haven't changed, have you?

...You have a bad tendency to escalate matters quickly."

The Company members exited the vehicles one after another and took position.

They didn't move like policemen...

"Ootaka-kun!

Are you really going to have a gunfight here?

One shot is all it'll take to trigger an explosion!"

"Don't worry.

They won't use firearms.

They're using riot shields and riot guns.

These guns send out tear gas at high pressures.

There will be no issue with explosions."

"......Wow, I've never heard of such convenient water guns.

By the way, can that toy reach the classroom from across the schoolyard?"

"You don't need to worry about that.

You just move over and let us do our job."

As I lifted my arms exaggeratedly, one elbow accidentally touched the car horn, which honked.

.........Of course, I did it on purpose...

"Are you trying to get Keiichi Maebara's attention?"

"Of course.

I just hope he heard it..."

"What are you going to tell him now?"

"They're probably thinking about breaking one of the windows with a grenade and then shooting tear gas into the room.

...They have no idea how serious Rena Ryuugu is.

Deadly serious.

Even the noise of a window breaking could drive her over the edge...!"

"Are you saying the special unit can't suppress her?"

"Of course not!

That's why we've been so careful!

Rena Ryuugu has been intending to kill herself this whole time.

A raid doesn't work on people who don't care about dying!

...We only have Maebara-san now!"

"O-Ooishi-san!

Here he is!"

"Hello, this is Ooishi.

If you can hear me, please cough."

"Cough, cough..."

"This is an emergency.

Please listen."

"I have a feeling it's not good news..."

"Unfortunately, you're right.

The prefectural police are getting involved. They're going to ruin everything we've worked for so far.

There's a special unit about to break in."

"H-Hey, the only reason I haven't used my pepper spray is because that won't stop her from igniting the gas...

A raid won't work...!"

"The prefectural police don't understand that Ryuugu-san is prepared to die.

They're assuming the lighter is just a threat and that she isn't really going to ignite the gas.

They'll break in within five minutes or so.

Please take the lighter from Rena Ryuugu before they move in!"

"Is that an addition to your order to do something about the time bomb?"

"...Yes, that's right."

"You've got to be kidding me...

You want me to take the lighter from Rena and do something about the time bomb too, all within five minutes?

...Come on......"

"You're the only one we can count on...!

I'm begging you...!!!"

"How is it, Satoko?

Can you think of something?"

".........I just have to check the hallway on the first floor.

To check whether it is there or not.

Knowing Rena-san's patterns, if it was on the first floor, it would be there, and if it was on the second floor, it would be there..."

"I just have to check to see if there is a cord in the hallway on the first floor, right?"

"......It should be there.

.........Tch,

if Rena-san was in a normal state of mind, I would know for certain... but with her being like this, I really cannot figure out her thought pattern right now..."

"Okay, I'll do something.

We don't even have time to think about it.

I'll look into those two options myself!"

I don't want another tragedy.

You demons down in Hell, I bet you're just waiting for an amusing ending to unfold while eating some popcorn.

I won't let that happen. I'm going to change everything!!

And then I'm going to make you pick up your popcorn off the floor!!

I spoke to Rena as she continued on with her story about the aliens.

"What is it?

What's the matter, Keiichi-kun?"

"Hey... didn't you hear something just now?"

".................."

Rena went quiet and looked around...

Rena had become totally paranoid about everything.

Once she became worried, she couldn't ignore it...

"............Really?

Are you sure, Keiichi-kun?"

"...Yeah.

I'm sure I heard something."

"....................."

I knew she'd want to check it herself.

But she really couldn't leave the room for something like that...

So in that case, she'd have to ask me to check for her.

Rena must have been thinking the same thing.

"............Keiichi-kun,

can you go check?"

Rena gave me an order with a fake smile on her lips.

"Yeah...... okay......"

Rena watched me go out into the hallway.

As I did, she spoke to me.

"Don't... make me angry ......okay?"

"Trust me.

I'm your friend."

"......Yeah. ...I trust you.

I trust you...... so don't betray me, okay...?"

After being freed from Rena, I looked for a cord in a hurry.

I didn't even have five minutes!

The office probably had more outlets than anywhere else...

I headed for the teacher's office.

Shit, where were the outlets?

Unlike light switches, outlets couldn't always be found near entrances...

Damn it, why did the clock in the teacher's office have to make such a loud ticking noise?

"......Don't worry, Keiichi will find it."

"Rena-san would... if I were Rena-san...

......

if Rena-san was even more mistrusting than usual...

where would she set the trap?

A trap expert like myself ought to be able to discern that!!"

"Hmm? What's this...?"

I saw a plug inserted into the unit under the principal's desk, and I also saw a cord extending under the door to the reception room.

There shouldn't have been any reason why a cord had to be extended into that room.

The reception room had an outlet of its own.

I tiptoed over to the reception room... and opened the door.

Squeak...

The door squeaked as I cracked it open a little.

I poked my head inside the reception room.

I saw the suspicious cord crossing the room and extending under the door to the hallway.

I followed the cord through the reception room.

I opened the door to the hallway... and the cord was extending into the storage closet.

The storage closet was used to hold cleaning chemicals. I could smell them from here.

The cord was extending into there...

I carefully opened the door and turned the light on.

The cord was attached to another extension cord...

and

there was an alarm clock that didn't belong in there!!!

"I......

found it...!"

The time bomb!!!

So all I'd have to do was to unplug the cord!

I picked up the alarm clock.

...It looked like a normal alarm clock.

...Actually, it was a normal alarm clock.

I remembered Kumagai-san calling it a "kitchen timer".

He said it was a bit like an alarm clock.

But this wasn't a bit like an alarm clock, it was an alarm clock...

Wait, didn't alarm clocks use batteries?

This alarm clock was a battery-operated one, too...

I looked at the extension cord...... and there was nothing plugged into it.

...Eh?

What was this extension cord for?

...Why was this

extending all the way from the teacher's office...?

"No, Keiichi-san!!

Run!!!"

"S-Satoko?"

"That's the wrong place! You've been tricked!!!"

A black shadow was covering me.

I felt my body freeze... It was so frozen that I felt it was about to crack...

I turned around slowly...... and saw someone holding a hatchet above their head.

"......Ah... ah......"

I dropped the alarm clock.

It made a noise as it hit the ground.

"......Why did you follow the extension cord

and why did you have the alarm clock in your hands? ...Why did you?"

All the cells in my body were frozen.

This was Rena's trap.

Rena was suspicious of everyone, including me...

This whole time, she thought there was someone connected to the people outside...

This was a trap to lure that person out...

Only the people outside knew about the time bomb.

...I was told about the whole thing

and so I followed the extension cord

and picked up the alarm clock... How stupid of me.

"...W

...Wait,

Rena..."

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, I trusted you, Keiichi-kun...

How could you..."

Rena hit me with the back side of the hatchet earlier.

It was painful, but it didn't kill me.

But this time, she was holding the hatchet the right way.

It wouldn't just crack my forehead.

It would split my entire head open...!!!

Rena lifted the hatchet mercilessly...

She moved slowly, as if everything was in slow motion... she looked almost divine...

Maybe it really was holy.

I was praying, after all...

Praying?

What was I praying for...?

I was praying for my life......!!!

"Whahhhhh!!!"

It was so sudden, I couldn't tell what happened.

Rika-chan had jumped onto Rena from behind.

I didn't know what kind of weapon Rika-chan used, but Rena started moaning. It clearly hurt.

That brought me back to reality!

I couldn't just watch them!!

I had to get the lighter from Rena!!!

"Whahhh!!!"

"...Don't think you can win with mere force!!!"

Rena knew I was after the lighter. She closed her fingers around it tightly!

Rika-chan was grabbing onto the arm Rena was holding the hatchet in.

I wanted to tell her to run, but thanks to Rika-chan, I could use both of my hands to get at the lighter!!

"Whaahh!!!"

The lighter flew out of Rena's hand.

It hit the hallway wall and dropped down to the floor!

I picked it up.

At the same moment I did, Rena managed to shake off Rika-chan.

...There's our chance!

I turned in Satoko's direction.