Romantic Troubles of Duanmu-kun

“…”

The Novelist stared at the crude figures on the screen, their digital bodies swaying rhythmically left and right, seemingly performing a continuous “walking forward” motion.

Due to the low pixel count, the figures’ features and exact forms weren’t clear—they only gave the impression of “mouths open in smiles.”

As he watched these smiling pixel figures, something felt off, no matter how he looked at them, creating an unsettling sense of dissonance. A chill crept up his spine.

The Novelist shook his head, unconsciously averting his gaze.

“This is…”

“An anonymous program sent to the Metropolitan Police Department. The sender apparently used multiple overseas servers as relays. The technical team is working hard, but they still can’t locate the culprit’s position. Once run on a computer… it produces image files like this.”

“A crime announcement… meaning this program was sent to the police before the series of suicides occurred, so the timing would have been about half a month ago…”

“No, actually, it was only received yesterday.” Asami Yuko shook her head.

Chronologically, that was even later than the third mass suicide incident.

“Eh? W-wait a minute, then it doesn’t count as a crime announcement at all…”

The Novelist couldn’t help but point out.

Content sent after the incidents seemed more like some kind of prank.

Additionally, while he was certainly curious about how Asami-senpai had access to the latest case information from the Metropolitan Police Department, he sensed that she would vaguely change the subject if asked…

“Hmph.”

Asami Yuko puffed out her cheeks slightly, restlessly swinging her legs in large movements. Her leather shoes clattered noisily against the table legs.

What are you getting upset about!

“B-but… this kind of thing is really strange, right? You’ll understand if you look at it carefully! Right? Right?”

Asami-senpai repeatedly jabbed her finger at the screen while she stared intently at the Novelist, seemingly waiting for—or rather, forcefully demanding—his confirmation.

“It is a bit strange, I’ll admit that,” the Novelist nodded.

It was quite common for people to experience psychological discomfort when their eyes saw certain patterns or their ears heard certain sounds that stimulated the brain.

Moreover, this could vary significantly between individuals, involving neurological systems and brain mechanisms in the context of cognitive science, but that was beside the point for now.

“However, this doesn’t say much about motive—it only reveals that person’s tastes. As for their intentions, the possibility that it’s simply a prank might be higher…”

Thinking about it rationally.

Asami Yuko shook her head.

“That’s the usual conclusion, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But if we stop thinking there, it would be such a shame.”

As if remembering something pleasant, Senpai’s lips curved slightly upward, a faint smile flickering across her face.

“In our conversation just now and the information provided, did anything strike Assistant-kun as strange?”

Hey, hey, I barely heard anything at all. Isn’t this unreasonable?

The Novelist couldn’t help looking at Asami-senpai. But he found her staring just as intently back at him, with an expectant expression.

…

…Could this be some kind of test?

The girl quietly waited for his answer.

For some reason, Asami-senpai seemed to have a lot of confidence in him. If he disappointed her, it would probably make him feel uncomfortable.

The Novelist quickly replayed their recent conversation in his mind.

If there was something abnormal…

In short, what information had led Asami-senpai to determine this wasn’t just a prank, but possibly a “crime announcement”? Thinking in reverse, if Senpai’s assumption was wrong and this really was just someone’s malicious joke… what didn’t add up?

“…If it’s a prank, why did they send a program that needs to be run, rather than just an image file?”

“Assistant-kun’s reaction is quite quick. How unexpected.”

While saying “unexpected,” Asami-senpai nodded lightly as if not surprised at all.

“That’s right, it’s… like this.”

Her fingers tapped several times on the keyboard, bringing up a command window in the background and entering code. The moment Senpai hit enter, the crude checkerboard pattern on the screen suddenly changed.

Like red paint splashed across white fabric, blood-colored stains spread densely from the center of the board.

The figures that had been constantly smiling and moving their limbs, maintaining their “walking forward” motion, became stained with an eye-catching red color, just like several of their companions.

The process was eerily slow. It took about ten seconds for the figures to completely transform into little red figures. But even after turning red, they continued smiling and making the same movements as the other figures.

Witnessing this scene firsthand, that spine-chilling sense of discomfort grew stronger. As Asami-senpai had said, despite being such a crude pattern and program, the strange and eerie atmosphere was particularly intense.

Just what… what message was the person who created this program trying to convey to those watching the screen?

“Thirteen…?”

After counting the newly born red figures, he couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

The previous numbers corresponded to the participants in the mass suicides. If thirteen people were to commit suicide next…

“This is the true nature of the crime announcement.”

Asami-senpai closed the laptop.

“…I see. So they’re predicting a suicide incident that hasn’t happened yet?”

“Yes. By the way, this is a program set to trigger the change on a timer. If the commands aren’t modified like we just did, the transformation we saw is scheduled to occur at 2:15 PM three days from now.”

By then, it might no longer be a “prediction.” But since it was sent to the police, the former interpretation was probably the focus. In any case, that time…

“Must be treated as the final deadline,” Asami-senpai said.

However…

“Since this concerns something that hasn’t happened yet, isn’t there still a possibility that it’s just a prank?”

“Ah, that’s right,” she nodded.

“But rather than seriously considering whether to dismiss our doubts… Foolish people, people who make excuses, people who refuse to face the truth, people who only want to protect their positions and desperately cover things up and conceal them… are even more detestable.”

“I simply find it deeply unpleasant.”

Senpai leaned closer to him.

“There are multiple suspects, and I’ve been feeling somewhat overwhelmed lately… If I hadn’t met Assistant-kun. Now, it’s time for you and me to show what we can do.”