Chapter 220: 216 This Is a Lie

September 22, Heisei 8. The weather was clear; it was early autumn, but still very hot.

The students of Class 1-A at Kisaragi High School were gathered in the laboratory. The class was divided into nine groups of four, with each group conducting a chemistry experiment and completing a lab report.

Today's experiment was not considered simple, but it wasn't difficult either; the procedure was just slightly complex. However, most of the headache-inducing difficulties were handled by the instruments. Basically, as long as the lab equipment didn't malfunction, the probability of a major accident occurring due to improper student operation was as small as winning the lottery.

Yet, it was precisely this kind of experiment that resulted in a major accident.

A student's face was disfigured.

Because the lab equipment in that student's hand had a hidden defect, the toxic gas generated during the experiment leaked out through the defect while being filtered, directly poisoning the student's face and eyes. The student, suddenly subjected to immense pain, let out a piercing scream. Subsequently, the lab equipment was knocked over onto the table, and the chemicals inside reacted violently due to various factors, causing an explosion that inflicted secondary injuries on that student.

That student was Kawakami Rumi. She covered her face, which had been instantly riddled with holes and twisted, and collapsed to the ground, screaming and convulsing wildly. Her deformed, writhing body looked like a cocoon with something constantly churning inside, as if some terrifying thing were about to break out from within her.

Mano Daichi witnessed all of this with his own eyes. He was one of the members of the same lab group as Kawakami Rumi at the time, standing right beside her, observing her.

But at that time, he still had the mindset of a youth. Rather than observing Kawakami Rumi's standard experimental procedures, he was more focused on her breathtaking beauty. Her brows, eyes, nose, lips... all were places where his heart sank and fantasized. Until the accident happened and the girl he liked suddenly collapsed, he was stunned, at a loss, and was pulled out of the chaotic classroom by the students around him.

"That is everything I know." Mano Daichi adjusted his glasses, wiped his nose, took a deep breath, and said, "My performance at the time was truly terrible. If—I mean, if I had been more serious and focused on helping her observe the experiment, perhaps she wouldn't have had the accident. Even if the accident had occurred, I should have moved her away from the danger zone at the first opportunity... It was also after that accident that I decided to study chemistry diligently. I wanted to become a responsible chemistry teacher so that I could do my utmost to prevent such a tragedy from happening again."

"Teacher Mano, you don't need to blame yourself too much. That was just an accident that had nothing to do with you." After hearing Mano Daichi recount the accident, Misaki Naomi saw the look of self-reproach he displayed and couldn't help but comfort this sorrowful teacher.

Mano Daichi lowered his brows, remaining slightly silent.

Seeing this, Misaki Naomi sighed in her heart and thanked him: "Thank you, Teacher, for telling me all of this seriously, allowing me to have a more intuitive understanding of the truth about what happened back then."

Upon hearing this, Mano Daichi came back to his senses, coughed lightly, lifted his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and asked curiously: "You're welcome... By the way, what exactly happened to you that you suddenly asked me about these things? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

Regarding this, Misaki Naomi hesitated, because what was happening to her was too bizarre to believe, but she still gritted her teeth and decided to confess: "Teacher, have you heard about Kurosawa Kana?"

"Kurosawa Kana?" Mano Daichi was stunned for a moment, then immediately showed a look of regret. "I remember her. The lab reports she wrote were excellent, but unfortunately..."

Clearly, Mano Daichi, as a subject teacher, also knew the news of Kurosawa Kana's death.

Misaki Naomi lowered her head and said: "Kana was my good friend, but I know the real reason she died... She didn't commit suicide because of academic pressure. She was originally a very cheerful girl and had always been very open-minded about her grades. The reason she committed suicide was actually because... because of Kawakami Rumi."

Sure enough, upon hearing Misaki Naomi's confession, a look of confusion immediately appeared on Mano Daichi's face, and then he frowned tightly. "Student Misaki, I know that the death of your good friend is a huge blow to you, but this is not a reason for you to slander a deceased person recklessly. This is disrespectful to the dead!"

"It's true!" Misaki Naomi clutched her heart and swore, "Teacher Mano, you graduated from this school, so you must have heard of 'Mimiko's Cursed Video Call'. The day before Kana committed suicide, she and I both received a video call from Kawakami Rumi, and we even answered it..."

Mano Daichi shook his head in disappointment. "Student Misaki, there is no point in you saying these things. I understand; you must be under a lot of mental stress right now. How about this... I will take you to the infirmary, and then I will help you ask for leave from your homeroom teacher. You go home and rest today. I will pretend I didn't hear the nonsense you just said, and you shouldn't tell anyone else either."

Seeing that the teacher completely could not believe her and that she did not have enough convincing evidence on her, Misaki Naomi had no choice but to give up. She lowered her head dejectedly and said: "I didn't... Never mind, I understand. Thank you, Teacher Mano. You don't need to ask for leave for me; just pretend I was talking nonsense earlier. Class is about to start, so I'll head back to the classroom first." After saying this, Misaki Naomi turned and left Mano Daichi's office.

During the lunch break, Misaki Naomi came to the back of the school, sat alone in an empty corner, and ate the yakisoba bread she bought from the canteen while leaning against the school wall.

As she ate, the bread seemed to have no taste, and she suddenly felt like crying.

There were many moments today at school when she wanted to cry. Realizing that there was one person missing from her side forever made her feel heartbroken.

"Hey." Just as Misaki Naomi's tears were about to spill over, a ruffian-like call made her hold back the welling tears. She then pouted and looked at He Jia'an, who was leaning forward against the railing.

"What are you doing? Why are you here?" Misaki Naomi sniffled and said with some dissatisfaction; girls never want to be seen in their ugly moments.

"Coming to meet up with you to share the information we each investigated." He Jia'an pretended not to notice the girl was crying, turned his back to lean on the railing, and then sat down.

Misaki Naomi also sat by the railing, the two of them separated by the gap in the railing, their backs pressed against each other.

Feeling the warmth of his back, Misaki Naomi suddenly regained her courage and enthusiasm, so she began to recount the story she had heard from Mano Daichi.

After listening to her report, He Jia'an looked at the sky in a daze. "He really said that?"

"He really said that."

"Tsk, your teacher might not be telling the truth."

Misaki Naomi immediately turned around in shock. "What do you mean?"

He Jia'an also turned his head back and said calmly: "According to what you just said, your Teacher Mano and Kawakami Rumi were in the same study group on the day the accident happened."

"Yes."

"Think back to how you usually do experiments in your study groups." He Jia'an wanted to guide the girl, but found her eyes were clear yet foolish, so he could only helplessly say it directly, "Lab equipment has to pass through everyone's hands for inspection before the experiment starts, right? What kind of equipment wear and tear would make it so that all four people wouldn't notice it?"

Speaking of this, He Jia'an took out his phone and opened the information he had just looked up while listening to Misaki Naomi's account.

Misaki Naomi looked at the picture displayed on the phone, where a young-faced Mano Daichi was smiling brightly while holding a trophy toward the camera at the time.

"This teacher of yours was a chemistry experiment genius who had won city-level awards long before he even entered high school. And, coincidentally, the experimental topic for the award he won back then was the exact same experiment done in that accident lab class. A chemistry genius like him, yet he didn't even know the lab equipment was damaged? Was he really so love-struck that he couldn't even discover such a basic thing?"