Daiwa Scarlet's heart was not only full of excitement and curiosity, wanting to read everything in one breath, but also a faint reluctance at the thought that the story was about to end.
As the story went on, it gradually explained why the mysterious, brilliant, and seemingly cold math teacher Ishigami would make such a choice.
Ishigami had been recognized by university professors as a once-in-a-century genius, someone who should have continued his research at the university.
Yet, because of his family circumstances, and also because of his pure spiritual pursuit, he gave up the generous treatment the university offered and chose to teach at a high school, so that he could have more time to study mathematics.
His bland and monotonous life was like dead water, day after day, until he became completely numb and began to examine the value of his own existence.
Until one day, he heard the cheerful laughter of the mother and daughter living next door, and was deeply moved.
Sometimes, as long as a person keeps on living properly, that alone is enough to save someone.
Moved and intrigued, Daiwa Scarlet wanted to read it all the way to the end.
What kind of ending could possibly match such an unbelievable beginning?
"Daiwa Scarlet?"
"Daiwa Scarlet??"
Vodka, who had just finished training beside her, called her name.
But she noticed that Daiwa Scarlet, who was reading the final part, suddenly had her pupils shrink, shock filling her expression as she turned the last few pages.
Her cherry-red lips parted slightly, as if silently mouthing:
So that's how it is?!
"No wonder the police investigation felt so strange. So Ishigami had been misleading them from the very start!"
"What an incredible twist!"
The day after the incident, he had found a homeless man no one would pay attention to, made him put on the victim's clothes, then killed him and disguised the body as the ex-husband. He deliberately left traces of his own crime.
Ishigami deliberately created the image of himself as a stalker who secretly loved Yasuko, someone who killed her ex-husband for her sake and then turned himself in, offering up his life as repayment.
He willingly chose to protect that mother and daughter, cutting off every path of retreat for himself.
As for the real victim, Ishigami dismembered the body and dumped it into a lake. Even if it were discovered one day, it would only become a headless cold case.
In the end, when Yasuko, who had learned the truth, met Ishigami again…
Before Ishigami's disbelieving eyes, she chose to atone for her sins. She couldn't just sit by and watch him shoulder everything for her.
She could not cross the line of her conscience. Unable to bear the thought of Ishigami carrying all the guilt alone, she chose to turn herself in.
The always-calm Ishigami, at that final moment, let out a beast-like roar of anguish.
As if he were vomiting out his very soul.
When she finished the last page and closed the book completely, Daiwa Scarlet's beautiful eyes were filled entirely with stunned disbelief.
That final scene, of Ishigami roaring as if tearing his soul out of his body, was vivid in her mind and shook her to the core.
So this is… the "Devotion" of the suspect?!
So a person can love someone to such an extent.
Yet the "innocent" are no longer innocent. Ishigami, who knew everything, willingly killed a man who had nothing to do with him and then took the blame to protect Yasuko.
"I love you. This has nothing to do with you."
"What an utterly unexpected twist!"
With pure reason and logic, Ishigami had constructed a gamble where he sacrificed himself in exchange for victory. Yet he had not accounted for the fact that emotion is a variable.
Rationality and logic lost to human nature and emotion.
Unexpected, yet perfectly in line with everything that came before.
"He really pushed the idea of a 'perfect lie' to the absolute limit!"
As Daiwa Scarlet muttered to herself in awe, marveling at what she had just read, quite some time passed before she finally noticed Vodka in front of her, who had been calling her name over and over.
"You're that absorbed in a book??"
The black-haired, single-ponytail horse girl Vodka had just wrapped up her training.
Before training, she had asked Daiwa Scarlet to help her search for information on the opponent who had defeated her: Frankel.
But now, why did it look like Daiwa Scarlet was completely engrossed in a mystery novel instead?
She had even finished it, and was still sitting there savoring it?
Daiwa Scarlet nodded hard, showing her boundless approval for "The Devotion of Suspect X."
"Mm, and speaking of that… it actually does have something to do with the Frankel you're so focused on."
With that, she suddenly shifted the topic to Frankel, and Vodka immediately grew serious.
"Huh?"
"So Frankel's trainer is that elusive young literary star no one ever sees around?"
Watching Vodka's reaction, Daiwa Scarlet didn't know whether to laugh or sigh.
At the debut race where Vodka had lost, she too had been there, completely shocked by Frankel's five-length victory.
She knew that with Vodka's fierce, burning competitiveness, she would definitely want revenge and to understand more about that mysterious prodigy named Frankel.
However…
Why did it feel now like Vodka was more interested in learning about and meeting Frankel again, instead of baring her teeth and wanting to beat her the way she did with other rivals?
Had her desire for revenge been overwhelmed by curiosity?
Why was she treating Frankel differently?!
Daiwa Scarlet put the book back on her knees, then picked up her phone and lit up the search results she had pulled up earlier.
[Frankel, trainer: Mochizuki Toru]
[El Condor Pasa, trainer: Mochizuki Toru]
The current generation's absolute pinnacle, El Condor Pasa, and Frankel, who would surely stand at the peak of the next generation…
And on top of that, the critically acclaimed mystery hit "The Devotion of Suspect X."
All of these came from Mochizuki Toru?!
"Alright, that's enough training for today."
"You know where Trainer Mochizuki's club room is, right? I want to go take a look."
Vodka wanted to dig up some information about Frankel.
Daiwa Scarlet stood up again, holding the book tightly.
"Perfect timing. I want an autograph anyway, so let's go together."
She had originally planned to go a few days later, but she liked this work so much…
She might as well go now!
————————
Right now.
Inside the club room, Mochizuki Toru's expression was subtle as he read the message on his phone.
So it had finally come.
After all, the success of "The Devotion of Suspect X" was simply outrageous.
In a very short time, it had broken the one-million-copies mark, creating a sales miracle of selling out within a month and going through multiple reprints.
Both in terms of sales and subsequent influence, its growth was so explosive that everyone was already looking forward to his next work.
In his previous world, "The Devotion of Suspect X" had won the Naoki Prize and the Honkaku Mystery Award, while also taking the annual top spot in all three of Japan's major mystery fiction rankings.
The Naoki Prize was an extremely prestigious award focused on "popular literature," honoring authors whose works achieved outstanding success in both commercial value and artistic merit; any winner had to combine literary quality, story, and public appeal.
Yet "The Devotion of Suspect X" was a mystery novel, a genre often overlooked compared to historical or period dramas among popular literature, and it had still managed to conquer one of the traditional literary awards.
At the same time, it had taken the annual championship on all three of Japan's flagship mystery rankings.
To sweep all three at once meant that "The Devotion of Suspect X" had achieved total domination.
From casual readers and industry professionals to the pickiest mystery fans, every type of audience had agreed it was the flawless best work of the year. Such a "grand slam" was exceedingly rare in the history of Japanese mystery fiction; it was fair to say it had crushed all competition and stood at the very top.
Its popularity had even spread overseas; even the gradually shrinking physical book market in China had contributed several million copies in sales, which spoke volumes about how hot it was.
To open with such a "nuclear bomb" of a work, and to publish it again in this alternate-world Japan, it was only natural that it would achieve this level of success.
"How should I reply…"
On Mochizuki Toru's desk, besides books, there was also a notebook he could write in and a laptop he could use to type manuscripts directly.
But no matter which one you checked, there wasn't the slightest trace of a new project.
The next moment, under El Condor Pasa's curious gaze from not far away, he picked up the notebook and held a pen properly for the first time.
Mochizuki Toru opened to the first page; his hand moved swiftly across the paper as he wrote down a few words.
"Journey Under the Midnight Sun."
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N/T: Hi everyone, I'm Zuru, an inexperienced translator and non-native English speaker, so if you notice any mistakes in the text, please let me know in the comments so I can fix them. By the way, I have a Patreon. There isn't much there yet, but it would really help me if you could consider joining.
[email protected]/ZuruZ