Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 19, Section 19: Shared Vision

"Everyone is here."

In the classroom, Ikeda, the teacher, slowly began to speak from the podium.

His voice was deep and unhurried, yet it conveyed a great sense of power, especially when combined with the visual effects he presented.

Many students looked at the empty seat in Koizumi's room. They clearly remembered that someone had sat there yesterday, and the books they had just received yesterday were still lying quietly in the drawer. How did everyone start talking about it?

Only Koizumi's two henchmen sat in chairs, heads bowed, their faces filled with unease and fear.

Koizumi was the core of their delinquent trio. Every morning, they would meet downstairs at Koizumi's house, which was the closest house to their route, and then go to school together.

Today, when the two arrived at Koizumi's house, they happened to run into Koizumi's parents, who were being brought back in a police car, their faces filled with grief. They learned that Koizumi had been murdered at school the previous night.

Koizumi's mother also asked a strange question:

Is the teacher in charge of your class group Rui Ikeda?
They were deeply impressed by the name and nodded immediately. For some reason, they felt that Koizumi's father's eyes suddenly changed and became terrifying.

However, what they were more worried about was Koizumi's situation. To be precise, it was his spirit.

Everything was fine the day before, but suddenly they were gone today. Even though it had nothing to do with them, they couldn't help but feel fear, afraid that Koizumi's ghost would haunt them.

He complained that they didn't stop him or go with him to the selection meeting of the seven people.

“I know you all have a lot of thoughts, and you saw the police walking around outside. Yes, something regrettable did happen last night in the old teaching building at the school.”

Ikeda Rui emphasized the last few syllables slightly, his sharp gaze taking in everyone's expressions.

Everyone fell silent, terrified. His tone made it sound as if he had killed the man! Should we call the police?
"But the matter is over, and the police will handle everything. The only thing you need to do now is to study hard, not be misled by messy rumors, and not spread unverified rumors outside. Can you do that?"

Ikeda Rui glanced around.

"can!"

"Okay, very good. Next, I'll call out a few names. Those whose names are called, please wait for me at the door. Ichiro Oofumi, Yoshimura, and Nobi Tomoyoshi."

Ikeda Rui put down the labeled list and calmly read out the names of four people: two were Koizumi's henchmen, one was a student who had fought with Koizumi, and the last was Nobi Tomoyoshi.

The two of Koizumi's henchmen didn't seem surprised, because Ikeda had stopped them before they arrived and asked them some questions. They were also the ones who provided information about the other two.

This wasn't meant to be targeted; it was just that in a moment of panic, I didn't dare hide anything and told everyone everything.

Nobi Tomoyoshi saw the other three get up and walk to the door before he slowly stood up, put on his glasses with one lens missing, and walked over to the three of them, feeling flustered at being suddenly called out.

He could feel the subtle gazes around him, seemingly mixed with silent whispers, which made him lower his head even further.

"You all study for a while first. When I get back, we'll start the election for class officers." After giving these instructions, Ikeda Rui left with the others.

With Ikeda Rui gone, everyone relaxed and finally dared to speak more freely.

"Are they related to what happened yesterday?"

"Didn't you notice that delinquent named Koizumi didn't come? Two of the people you called out were Koizumi's inseparable friends yesterday."

"Hey, you remember it so clearly after only one day of school?"

"I've met Koizumi's mother, very much."

Are you going to run for class representative later?

"Huh? I want to be the sports committee member."

"Who has the best grades in our class? I'm voting for him to be the academic representative."

"It must be Higashiyama-kun, but he's always been the class representative chairman."

Ignoring the murmurs, Dongshan was trying out the first technique he had rudimentarily learned from the outer section of the "Soul Nourishing Classic" the night before.

【Borrowing Ghost Eyes】 A common spell that allows one to communicate with ghosts, consume some of one's vital energy, and share a field of vision.

This technique requires a ghost that can obey commands to perform, but it does not come with the technique of controlling the ghost.

If Higashiyama Shin had learned this spell before, it would probably have been useless because he couldn't find the ghost.

However, Ueda should be happy to help him with this now.

He was somewhat curious about what information the police would ask, what clues they had, and what it would feel like to use this technique.

Soon, he used his ghost eyes to find Ueda, who was cautiously wandering in the corridor, and began to communicate with him.

Okay, okay! I'll try my best!

As if he had received some important mission, Ueda followed Higashiyama Shin's guidance and began to search around.

Using this technique felt to Higashiyama Shin like opening a window on a computer screen, which could be dragged to the perimeter of the field of vision and zoomed in or out.

Ueda quickly found Ikeda and his group, who were standing outside an unused club activity room. Besides them, there were also many other students from other classes, as well as several uniformed police officers maintaining order.

At that moment, Eiichiro Ikeda was comforting his students.

"So, tell the truth, don't lie, say whatever comes to mind. The coach is in there too, you can ask him for help if you have any questions. After this is over, you'll all go back to your classrooms together, understand?"

"understood."

"Okay, those whose names are called, go in."

Ueda went through the wall and into the room first.

It was clear that the setup was temporary, with only two tables and a few chairs. Two policemen were conducting questioning, while the instructor stood to one side, seemingly dozing off.

The questioning process was rather formulaic, mainly focusing on understanding the relationship between the other party and the deceased, what they said during their last meeting, where they were and what they were doing last night, and whether they had received any contact from the deceased.

"Nobi-kun, we'd like to know, what's your relationship with Koizumi-kun like?"

".generally."

Have you had any conflicts before?

"There was a misunderstanding; he broke my glasses yesterday."

"Oh, did you go straight home after school last night?" A police officer glanced at the crack in Nobita's glasses and looked down to take notes.

"Yes." Nobita's eyes flickered slightly.

"Don't be nervous, we're just collecting some necessary information. Next, we need to confirm with your parents."

Nobi Tomoyoshi raised his head in fear, looking at the police officer in front of him. His mouth was slightly open, as if he wanted to say something to stop him, but he was afraid of being treated as a suspect.

The police officer noticed his panic, exchanged a glance, and tried to keep his tone even: "Were your parents not home last night?"

"No, no. He's here." Nobi Tomoyoshi's hand clenched and unclenched, the desire not to be suspected overcoming his fear of his father.

The police officer made a note on the tablet: "Alright, Nobita, you can go back now."

"Thank you."

Nobita lowered his head and walked out of the room.

After looking at their notes for a while, Shinichi Higashiyama roughly understood that the Metropolitan Police Department did not actually consider these students as suspects.

Indeed, as they said, it was only to gather information and see if there were any commonalities.

However, one person received noticeably different treatment.

(End of this chapter)