Living Danger

Chapter 2 - Class Trial

"Maybe th-they ambushed him?" Yukiji suggests.

"Yeah, they sneaked up on him from behind..." Maeko begins "And, wham, grabbed his throat!"

"So the culprit ambushed and strangled him from behind..." Reiji thinks out loud.

"No, we've already established that the culprit was standing in front of him." Kagami points out.

"Maybe the culprit overpowered him.~" Aika suggests.

"As much as I hate to say this, I agree with Yano-san." Ren sighs "It's likely that the culprit overpowered Ueda-kun."

"So anyone shorter than Ueda-kun couldn't have done it?" Ginjiro questions.

Naomi sighs "That means only Yano got off the hook with that."

"Matsui-san isn't that much taller than Ueda-kun either." Tatsuya points out.

"Maybe we should discuss who else has an alibi." Haru suggests "Except Endo and Yamasaki we don't know what everyone was doing."

"Well, Fujioka-san, Shintani-san and Suzuki-kun were ill, so they wouldn't be able to do anythin' like that." Reiji says.

"The same goes for Arita-san, Matsui-san and Kisaragi-kun, who were together to take care of them around the time of murder." Ginjiro adds.

"Then that leaves Kimura-kun, Azuma-kun, Haseyama-san, Watanabe-kun and Yano-san without an alibi." Ichiro states.

"However, we just established that Yano-san couldn't have strangled Ueda-kun." Yuna says.

"We should try to narrow it down more." Kaida suggests.

"I have an idea. Everyone without an alibi, do you have long nails?" Naomi asks.

"Why d-does the length of someone's fingernails m-matter?" Yukiji wonders.

"Because there were no impressions of nails on Ueda's neck, which can only be the case if the culprit doesn't have long nails."

Out of the four, Haru is the only one who's fingernails are probably long enough to leave impressions if he weren't careful.

"Then that leaves Kimura-kun, Haseyama-san and Watanabe-kun." Kagami states.

"The hell?! You're suspecting me?!" Maeko exclaims.

"We need to suspect everyone in order to survive." Naomi huffs.

"Easy for you to say! You're not on the fucking list!"

"I don't enjoy being a suspect either, Haseyama-san. But if we can't prove our innocence we have to be suspected." Ren tells her.

"Tch. Fine, but expect me to yell a fucking 'I told you so' at all of you."

"There's something else that's been bothering me. If the culprit strangled Ueda while standing in front of him, how did they manage to grab his throat in the first place. As a ninja, Ueda is incredibly fast." Haru points out.

"You've got a point." Yuna crosses her arms and looks lost in thought.

"Then they were faster than Ueda-kun!" Aika beams.

"I doubt it." Reiji grumbles "None of us is faster than that ninja."

"Then how did they manage to grab his throat?" Ichiro wonders.

"I've got an idea." Ren speaks up after a moment of thinking "It might seem a bit far-fetched though."

"Tell us anyway." Tatsuya says.