Mayonaka no X Giten 14

Midnight Cross Method 14

p1: ==================================
The Midnight Cross Method:
/ An obscene festival of debauchery that participants attend while inside another’s body.
[sfx]: Munch
[flashback]: Next, / Mikuni-chan will—
[flashback]: Pour water down her clothes!
[sfx]: Shiver

The Cross Act:
/ A game where eight people simultaneously swap bodies at random for two hours.
Intended to satisfy one’s desire to become someone else… Allegedly.

…And you’re saying that she, of all people,
/ participated in that?
Hey…
/ You’re certain it’s her, right?

p2: ==================================
Yeah. There’s no mistaking it.

Someone used her body to participate in the Midnight Cross Method.
/ …She wouldn’t happen to be a friend of yours?
She’s An’no Shion, a classmate—
/ no, a childhood friend, I guess.

p3: ==================================
[chalkboard]: Congrats!!
[vertical text]: Long ago, the two of them / were jumprope rivals.
Midnight Cross Method
Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto
Art: BAREISHO
#14: The Dark Side of the Girl on my Mind

p4: ==================================
A childhood friend?
/ Then I take it you’re pretty close.
[insert]: Oh, go ahead! / It’s on the house!!
In that case, there’s no need to hold back. Just go and call out to her.

No… Wait.
[sfx]: Grab

The An’no Shion I know…

isn’t the kind of person who’d participate in the Midnight Cross Method.
Ten years ago…
What are you guys doing?!!

p5: ==================================
In the past, I was a small kid and got bullied a lot.
[sfx]: Ooh / Ooh / Scuff
The person who always saved me back then…

was An’no Shion.
Listen, you! Ganging up to pick on the weak is what cowards do!!

She’s here! The pro-wrestling girl!!
/ Run! Run! Or she’ll throw us!!
[insert]: The girl wrestler!! / You butch!!
I’m not a pro wrestler! I told you, it’s judo!!

Those guys are just…!!

Kamiya-kun, are you all right?

p6: ==================================
Sorry you always have to do this,
Class Rep.
[sfx]: Sniff

Don’t worry about it.
Wh-What sort of Class Representative wouldn’t do this much?

She was a serious girl with a strong sense of justice. She hated anything crooked.
/ I’d never known her as anything except the class representative,
so before we knew it, that even became her nickname: Class Rep.

Someone like her would never get her hands into something as screwed-up as switching bodies!!

p7: ==================================
Well sorry that I’m the kind of girl who gets involved in screwed-up things!
Oh… Sorry.

Hey, I’m enjoying this story, so tell me more about what you and her used to get up to.
/ If she’s your classmate, then there’s no need to tail her immediately, right?
[sfx]: Grin
Huh?

Well… there’s something more important I have to think about right now…
[sfx]: Nervous

Quit your bitching and get with the story.
[sfx]: Ngh
[insert]: What’s that girl to you?!
O-Okay…

…Well, with all of that,
[bubble]: Kamiya-kun, I’ll stay by your side so you don’t get bullied.
Class Rep and I wound up together a lot.

p8: ==================================
We spent years like that, until…
Hey, Class Rep?
What?

If I worked hard, could I become strong like you?
Oh, so you want to become strong, too.

And that’s so you don’t get bullied, I take it?

…Mm-mm.
If I’m weak, I can’t protect the person I care about, right?

You’re talking about…
…I see.

p9: ==================================
Oh.
/ Then maybe I’ll… I’ll teach you judo.
!

Really?!
[sfx]: Pah!
Y-Yeah.

All right!
/ Thanks, Class Rep!!

Hiroki!
[sfx]: Step

p10: ==================================
Wow, so you want to get stronger.

In that case, I’ll train you!

Wh-Who are you?!
She’s my sister.
Huh?

So let’s head straight home and start training!
Huh…? Please, wait. I’m going to train Kamiya-kun!
[sfx]: Run

p11: ==================================
[sfx]: Whoosh!
!!

Wouldn’t the most effective plan be for the strongest person to train him,
Miss Class Rep?

Let’s go, Hiroki.
[insert]: Bye-bye!
…

After that, we wound up in different classes,
so she and I didn’t talk as much.

We weren’t in the same class together again until the last year of middle school.

p12: ==================================
Class Rep!
…Kamiya-kun?

Long time no see. We’re in the same class.
…Yeah.

p13: ==================================
Kamiya-kun, want to head home together?
Sorry, but I have club practice today.

In that case… Can I go watch?

[sfx]: Strap! / Vmm! / Snap!

…

p14: ==================================
Wow… What a surprise.

You’re a completely different person from the kid who used to get bullied.
A-Am I?

Yeah… I think you’ve become an amazing person.
Maybe… even cool.

Hey, before, you said you wanted to become strong to protect the person you cared about, right?
/ Just who were you talking about?
Oh…

She’s someone who’s been by my side since long ago…
!
Everyone around her thinks she’s strong, but she’s actually delicate.

Huh… Huh?
/ You don’t mean—?!

p15: ==================================
Yeah.
/ My sister.

…

Oh, I see!!
Huh?
Class Rep, what’s wrong? You look upset…
[sfx]: Stomp

Hey, Class Rep?!
Don’t call me Class Rep,
/ you sister-lover!!!

p16: ==================================
Ever since then,
/ while I wouldn’t say we’ve been at each other’s throats,
we’ve been kind of distant, though I can’t figure out why.

…Wait.
/ What’s that look for?
[sfx]: Giggle / Blech.

You really are the greatest, Hiroki.
Huh?
[sfx]: Thumbs-up!

You… You sister-lover!!
[sfx]: Keh.

p17: ==================================
But nevertheless, while that might have seemed like a waste of time, it let me figure out something interesting.
?

An’no Shion had a reason to swap bodies.
No… That’s not quite right. To be more accurate…

An’no Shion had a motive to murder your sister.

p18: ==================================
Hey, has she said anything about your sister lately?
I can’t really think of anyth—
----!!

I mean, you know… Your sister’s holed herself up in her room for a long time now, right?

For instance, tell her, “Because of you I have to put up with so much!” or…
“You’re a burden on our family!” How about that?
/ Or maybe… “Life would be so much easier if you were gone”!

…

She did, didn’t she?
Yeah, but the things she said weren’t on the level of killing her.

…However, at the very least, she didn’t think well of your sister, right?
…W-Well…

p19: ==================================
Listen close: Right now, there’s three things we know for certain.
/ First, An’no Shion leant her body to someone for the Midnight Cross Method last night.
[bottom box]: Midnight Cross Method
[diagram]: The fourth participant
[second, leftmost box]: Cross Act
Second, that very someone who borrowed her body also participated in the same Cross Act as us.

Third, An’no had a motive, however slight, to kill your sister.

Hiroki, what do those three things make you think?
/ Doesn’t something smell fishy?
…But my sister’s killer has to be X!

No. At most, X confessed to murdering my family.
[flashback]: {
Who knows? I haven’t the foggiest who is inside there, but…
If you held such an Aspiration, the possibility may be quite high.
}
Though X did imply they might have committed the crime.

p20: ==================================
For the moment, we should perform a thorough investigation
/ of this An’no Shion character…

as a suspect in the murder of your sister.

…
/…Okay.
[sfx]: Clench

p21: ==================================
However,
/ I’m doing that investigation by myself.

If you’re working solo, wouldn’t it be quickest to use Mikuni’s Cross Ability?
Sorry, but I have to head home for today.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get another block of time to myself until three days from now.
Oh… In that case, we’ll consider that our last resort.

Your goal over the next two days is to find out as much about An’no as you can.
…Yeah.

p22: ==================================
The next day
Morning.
Good morning.

Morning,
/ An’no-san.

Huh…? Oh.
/ …Yeah.
Morning, Kamiya-kun.

I said I’d investigate Class Rep, but…

p23: ==================================
[board]: Class Trip

I still can’t see her as anything other than a hardworking and decent human being.

?

Huh? Why’s she come here, to this empty place?

p24: ==================================
Huh…? Oh, a phone call.
…Hello?
Yeah… Right now…
/ …And what about your end?

Who’s she speaking with?

Of course.
/ If we meet, I’ll make sure to kill that person.
I’ve already lost two things dear to me; vengeance is my right.

[sidebar]: So she really is--?
“Kill”…?!
…You… You’re kidding… Is there really something going on with you, Class Rep?