That night's words from Souta were still caught in the corner of her mind. "Just investigate it properly." He hadn't said "believe me." He'd said "look at the facts." The way he chose those words—— Kotoha activated Hakovel GO. The moment she opened the case list for C-Area, the screen displayed something different than usual. 【C-Area: All Cases Temporarily Suspended】 Her finger stopped. (Temporarily suspended?) She thought maybe there was a communication error. But small text at the edge of the screen read "Details will be communicated by the assigned representative." This message didn't appear during communication failures. A bad feeling crept in. She took out her bicycle. She wasn't in a hurry. But her head wouldn't move unless she confirmed it. --- As she approached Nakamachi Shopping Street, she noticed the atmosphere was off. People were gathered at the arcade entrance. Too many for a weekday morning. They were all facing toward the plaza in front of Maruyoshi——the butcher shop run by union leader Yoshikawa Masao. Kotoha pressed C-017 and moved closer. A man she didn't recognize stood in the center of the crowd. Around thirty years old. Suit. He held documents in his hands like he was presenting a business card with both hands, reading from the papers in front of him. A "Hakovel Logistics" employee ID hung from his neck. C-Area Supervisor——Miyauchi Takuya. "……That concludes our investigation results," Miyauchi's voice was smooth. No hesitation. Kotoha vaguely thought it was a well-trained voice. "Delivery logs, GPS records, reseller account IP addresses——all three points indicate that delivery personnel number C-009, Kiryuu Souta, committed this crime. We deeply regret to inform you that we have notified him of a work suspension effective today," Miyauchi bowed deeply in sync with the "re" sound in "regret." At that moment, a white-haired head emerged from behind the crowd, ducking under the noren curtain. It was Genichirou. He was holding a ceramic bowl from Sakura-do in both hands. It contained zenzai. Without a sound, the bowl was offered in front of Miyauchi, who remained frozen mid-bow. Miyauchi slowly looked up. Zenzai was right in front of him. "……" He didn't take it. Genichirou didn't pull back. Miyauchi looked down at his documents again. "Furthermore, our company prioritizes trust with all the shopkeepers in this shopping street——" The moment the word "regret" came out a second time, Miyauchi bowed again. Genichirou offered the zenzai again. Miyauchi, looking bewildered, accepted the bowl this time. From outside the crowd, Kotoha watched the exchange. She couldn't laugh. A separate part of her brain was automatically processing the list of evidence Miyauchi had read aloud. The timestamps of the delivery logs. GPS coordinates. Provider information for the IP addresses. Logically, it all checked out. There were no gaps. (This is wrong.) But she couldn't figure out what was wrong. She couldn't find a thread to pull. This feeling was new. Usually she'd spot an inconsistency right away. Yoshikawa Masao——owner of the butcher shop Maruyoshi, union leader——spoke in a low voice. "We believe we need to reconsider our contract with Hakovel Delivery," Miyauchi bowed again, zenzai still in hand. Genichirou came out with a third bowl. Miyauchi finally accepted it. Kotoha just stood at the edge of the crowd. --- After Miyauchi put his documents away and left the shopping street, the air changed. Slowly, but definitely. "That delivery guy, I knew it." The hardware store owner Taniguchi said it. Not directed at anyone in particular. Like he was talking to himself. But loud enough for everyone to hear. "What about Hakovel Delivery itself," the pharmacist from Midori Pharmacy continued. "Isn't their management sloppy?" "That's true," came a voice from the vegetable stand. Kotoha gripped her bicycle handlebars silently. "……Hey, that kid works for Hakovel too, right?" Someone said it. Multiple gazes turned toward Kotoha. One second. Two seconds. "Aren't they in on it together?" "[angry]Wait a minute! Kotoha has nothing to do with this!" Yoshiko's voice echoed through the arcade. A silver short bob flew out from in front of the flower shop. Amber eyes blazed with anger. "You all know how seriously that kid has been working!" Yoshiko's words were genuine. But once eyes turned that way, they didn't easily turn back. Kotoha said nothing. It wasn't that she didn't have words to argue back. But right now, in this moment, she didn't understand what it would mean to say anything. Slowly, she moved the C-017's handlebars. She pushed her bicycle and walked. No one stopped her. Only Yoshiko called out "Kotoha" from behind. Kotoha kept walking. She reached the arcade exit and looked back. She could see the bulletin board. Above the poster that said "Detective Appears!" someone had written in red marker in large letters. 【Thief's Accomplice】 She looked at it for three seconds. Three seconds was enough. She didn't need to look any longer. Kotoha walked toward her apartment. --- Images floated silently in her mind. A high school classroom. A seat by the window. The desks around her were spaced slightly apart. No one had intentionally moved them. Probably. It had just happened naturally. When she was there, people gradually kept their distance. At some point, it had taken shape. Kotoha had never been able to put that sensation into words. A feeling of being irrelevant, whether she was there or not. Now, something with exactly the same temperature had returned to somewhere in her chest. She opened the door to Corpo Mizuki Room 201. She closed the door. She drew the curtains. She pulled up her futon and covered her head. Three PCs lined up on the desk came into view. Those five screenshots were in a folder. She couldn't bring herself to open it. She had no energy to deduce anything. Not today. --- Evening came, and she couldn't breathe. Staying in the room, something restless wandered through her head searching for an exit. Kotoha lost patience and went outside. She didn't decide where to go. When she realized it, she was walking along the Misono River promenade. The cherry trees along the river had already lost their leaves, leaving only branches. The sound of her footsteps on gravel echoed quietly. The light of autumn dusk wavered on the water's surface. Nakayoshi Bridge——a pedestrian-only bridge with cat sculptures lining the railing——came into view. Kotoha absently traced one of the iron cats with her finger. The cold sensation of metal. Someone came from the other direction. Pushing a bicycle by hand, walking slowly. Navy rear box. The vehicle number sticker was visible. C-009. It was Souta. With the app disabled due to work suspension, he was just walking. Just that. But that "just walking" pierced her chest in an odd way. Souta noticed Kotoha. Normally his face would reflexively break into a smile. Kotoha had seen it dozens of times, so she knew. A full, almost too-bright smile. Today, it didn't come. Only the corner of his mouth moved. He tried to form the shape of a smile and couldn't. With that incomplete face, Souta approached. "[gentle]……Hey," Just one word. Kotoha couldn't say anything either. The two of them leaned against the bridge railing side by side. They looked at the river. Neither said anything. Light wavered on the water's surface. Somewhere in the distance, a bicycle bell rang once. After a while, Souta spoke toward the river. "[sad]I didn't do it, though," It wasn't an excuse. It wasn't a plea. He just stated it as fact, toward the river. That was all his voice held. Kotoha looked at Souta's profile. His eyes were shining. He was holding back tears. Right at the edge, holding back. She could tell. The muscles in his face were tense somewhere. That face that usually smiled so openly was now using all its strength to "not cry." Something in Kotoha's throat contracted tightly. "[serious]……I know," She was surprised at herself. The words came out first. Souta slowly turned toward Kotoha. "[surprised]Huh?" Kotoha still faced the river. "The evidence is too clean. If you were really the culprit, it wouldn't all line up like that," She spoke quickly. Her tone was flat. But the words came out. There was a pause. "[gentle]……Does that mean you believe in me?" Kotoha didn't turn to face Souta. "It's about the deduction," She said it firmly. Souta laughed after a moment. Different from the face that looked like it might cry, and different from his usual wide smile. A smaller, quieter laugh. "[gentle]……Thanks," He started pushing his bicycle. He crossed the bridge and disappeared down the promenade on the other side. Kotoha remained alone on the bridge. She clenched her fist. (This is about the deduction.) That's what she thought. But for the first time, she admitted that the desire to protect someone had become the reason her deduction moved forward. Tsurumi Yoshiko was standing a little way from the bridge railing. Kotoha didn't know how long she'd been there. A memo pad hung from her neck, and she looked at Kotoha with amber eyes——grinning. "[laughing]……Your ears are red, Kotoha," Kotoha looked at Yoshiko. "The temperature is low," "That's true," Yoshiko nodded with a face that clearly didn't believe her. --- It was deep night. Corpo Mizuki Room 201. All three PCs on the desk were running. The room was lit only by the glow of the screens. Kotoha opened the folder she'd saved that night while opening a bag of snack crackers. Five screenshots. Timestamps. GPS coordinates. The list of evidence Miyauchi had read aloud at noon was lodged in her head exactly as it was. She cross-referenced. She lined up the numbers. The first bag was empty. She opened a second one. She enlarged the GPS trajectory data. Coordinates were recorded with timestamps. Normally, location information should be written every 3 seconds. Kotoha knew this. She'd confirmed it several times with Hakovel GO's log viewer. Her finger stopped. "……" The section before and after the disappearance time. The update interval for coordinates was——6 seconds. Double the normal rate. (An error?) Not an error. Kotoha's mind rejected it. If it were an error, the fluctuation would be irregular. It should vary between 4 seconds and 3.5 seconds. But in this section alone, exactly 6 seconds continued. Furthermore, the trajectory was too linear. Real driving data wavered along the curves of the road. The bumps in the pavement, micro-adjustments of the handlebars——all of that appeared as fluctuations in the numbers. Kotoha knew this too. She'd compared it with her own C-017's logs before. But the trajectory in this section was drawn as straight as a ruler. (This isn't driving data.) She opened a third bag. The contents spilled. She didn't care. She opened another window. She pulled up the original GPS log from one level back. Data extracted using the limits of Hakovel GO's log viewer function. During the disappearance time. C-009's trajectory. There, coordinates from a completely different location than the shopping street remained. North side of Misono Mall. C-009 was running on the north side of Misono Mall at the time of disappearance. Raw data that the person who altered it couldn't completely overwrite remained here. "……" Her posture straightened in front of the PC. She saved the screenshots. She organized them into a separate folder. She named the files. Date. Coordinates. Update interval numbers. (The culprit is someone in a position at Hakovel who can access C-Area delivery data.) Otherwise, they couldn't alter GPS logs. They couldn't rewrite delivery logs. Kotoha picked up a cracker fragment that had rolled to the edge of the desk. An unconscious motion. At that moment, the door was knocked on. Knock knock, without hesitation. "Wha