"What are they doing?"
Doma Umaru walked over to Nishimiya Shouko and looked toward Nohara Sato and Nishimiya Yuzuru, who were gathered together not far away.
Shouko shook her head in confusion.
Nishimiya Yuzuru's camera was a digital one, capable of displaying photos directly. After a few taps, she slowly turned the screen toward Sato.
On the screen, one photo after another passed before his eyes.
These photos…
Sato's brows furrowed slightly, though his expression remained calm.
Nishimiya Yuzuru had been watching his reaction the entire time. When she realized he did not show the response she had expected, a trace of disappointment appeared in her eyes.
"What do you think?"
After lowering the camera, Yuzuru asked calmly.
Sato looked at her with some confusion. From his perspective, she did not seem to have any psychological issues, so why were these the kinds of photos she took?
"They all look pretty good, but… why have you taken so many pictures of animal corpses?"
He frowned at the middle school girl in front of him.
That was right. Yuzuru's camera stored quite a lot of photos, but many of them were of dead animals.
In ditches, in alleys, in trash bins…
Cats, dogs, rats, crows, fish…
In short, this was not something a normal photographer would shoot, nor did he think those various decaying corpses held any deep reflections on the meaning of death.
"You can try guessing."
Yuzuru looked up at him as she spoke. Her face showed no emotion. Like her sister, she also had a pair of beautiful, bright eyes.
Guess?
Sato narrowed his eyes slightly. He had indeed grown interested in her purpose.
Yuzuru's interest in photography was still at the level of liking it. She would not yet be thinking in artistic terms. So she must be doing this to achieve some specific goal.
Most of these photos were of animal corpses. To an ordinary person, those decaying bodies with exposed bones would only evoke disgust.
First of all, although Yuzuru was withdrawn, she likely did not have any psychological problems. There was no sign of anything dark or perverse.
Aside from the corpses, there were also many photos that felt open and warm, and her technique was quite good.
So photographing dead animals was probably not her hobby, but something done with a strong purpose.
Sending them to magazines?
No magazine would have such interests.
At the same time, because Yuzuru often skipped school and ran away from home, she had almost no friends at school. If she wanted to show these photos to someone, it could only be a few people.
Her grandmother, her mother, her sister.
Among them, although she often argued with Nishimiya Yaeko, she was very filial toward her grandmother.
According to Shouko, the only person who could make Yuzuru listen was her grandmother, so she would definitely not show these to her.
The second was Nishimiya Yaeko. Could it be… that these were meant to deliberately disgust her?
That was possible, but unlikely.
Although Yuzuru was only a middle school student, she was more mature than her peers. She would not do something so childish.
That left only Nishimiya Shouko.
But then the question arose. Yuzuru cared deeply for her sister. There was no way she would bully or hurt her, so why would she…
Wait!
Sato felt like he had grasped something.
Yuzuru frowned slightly, looking at him with confusion. She felt that something in his gaze had changed just now.
"You're… showing them to Shouko?"
Suddenly, Sato fixed his gaze on her.
Yuzuru's pupils shrank. Her composure shattered, and she blurted out, "How did you know?!"
So that's it…
Instead of relaxing, Sato became even more puzzled. Looking at her, he asked, "Why do this? What's your purpose?"
Yuzuru pressed her lips together, glaring at him with a hint of anger. "You were tricking me just now?!"
"No. I had some thoughts, but I hadn't confirmed them."
Sato smiled faintly and asked, "Can you tell me the reason?"
Yuzuru suddenly looked away and fiddled with her camera. Just as Sato thought the silence would continue, the girl suddenly spoke.
"So she'll be afraid. So she'll feel fear!"
Sato froze for a moment, then immediately understood. His eyes filled with surprise as he looked at her.
So that was it!
Because of her congenital condition, Nishimiya Shouko had often been bullied in the past. Maybe something had happened to her, or maybe Yuzuru had seen news about bullied victims taking their own lives and felt fear and worry.
So she used this method to make Shouko fear death.
He looked at Yuzuru with a hint of admiration, then suddenly smiled. "Looks like Shouko has a good little sister."
A rare trace of embarrassment and anger appeared on Yuzuru's face. She glared at him. "What does that have to do with you? And are you even that close with my sister?"
Sato's expression turned strange. "We are pretty close. We've known each other for almost two months now."
Yuzuru's face stiffened. She had only reacted instinctively and had not considered that.
"Hmph!"
She clenched her teeth and shot him a fierce glare before turning to leave.
Seeing this, Shouko hurried over and anxiously asked Sato what had happened.
"It's nothing. But your request might be hard to fulfill. This kid has a rather stubborn personality."
"You're the stubborn one!"
Yuzuru suddenly turned back and glared at him fiercely.