The murdered school idol Part 3

Kintaro approached the shoe lockers with a forensics team member. "Someone called and said there was evidence in locker 78. Let's open it up."

As he opened it up, the forensics team member took a picture before examining the shoes.

"This confirms it. Let's go question our prime suspect. Oh and grab that Reiju girl, I want her present as well."

...

All members of the disciplinary committee gathered as Reiju, Kintaro, Nakayama, the principal, and two officers stood by the door. Shiruka was there too, but only Reiju could see him.

"Now then, Reiju, did you notice any of these members doing crowd control at the front?" Kintaro asked.

Reiju quickly singled out Bentaro, Hoshi, Chiinatsu, and a boy known as Hayato. Kintaro nodded and dismissed everyone else before ordering th3 4 remaining to accompany him to the shoe lockers.

The culprit began to sweat. "There's no way. Even if they try and go at it from the shoe angle, I planted the stash in THAT locker."

...

"Now then, allow me to reveal something. Miyabi was murdered, however, she nicked some key evidence that identifies the culprit. We received an anonymous tip that the evidence is in their locker," Kintaro stated as he flung open locker 78.

"What is it? I don't see how anything could be used to prove guilt," Bentaro skeptically glared.

"Bentaro-san, how well do you know the 3 before you?"

"I mean I'm close with Hayato, but not so much with Hoshi and Chiinatsu."

"This isn't your locker is it?"

"No, mine's 42. Not to mention those aren't even my shoes in there.

Kintaro nodded and allowed both Bentaro and Hayato to leave.

The culprit began to sweat once more. "Why did they open my locker!? Ugh I planted the evidence in Bentaro's locker and called the police station, so why are they opening MY locker!?"

"Alright, can I do the honors Mr. Holmes?" Reiju asked.

"Certainly, my sly protege."

"Alright, in this locker we found something on the bottom of the culprit's shoe that proves they murdered Miyabi. After strangling Miyabi to death, the culprit hung her to make it look like a suicide. However, they failed to notice Miyabi had left a dying message, or rather left behind some flesh that would identify her killer. After hanging Miyabi, our culprit screwed up and stepped in it. Behold! the evidence that proves YOU are the killer Hoshi," Reiju smirked as Kintaro showed Hoshi the bottom of her shoe.

"Um, what does this mean?" Hoshi asked.

"See the white stuff? That's cocaine. You smeared it all over the place in your attempt to hide it."

"BULLSHIT! I probably stepped in it on the street!"

"Then why is it only in the heel? You deliberately smeared it while acting as crowd control."

"NO! I just walked through it without knowing it was there."

"Pretty hard to just 'walk through it without knowing it was there' when you were stationary with your face towards the crowd. But if you saw Miyabi stab her hand into one of your bags before she died, you'd know there was a good chance of there being cocaine on the ground."

"BULLSHIT! YOU'RE MAKING SHIT UP!"

"Then we'll just get your fingerprints off the bags you stashed. We found them you know," Reiju smirked as Kintaro opened Bentaro's locker.

Sure enough, stacks of cocaine were present, yet Hoshi didn't seem to phased. Kintaro then revealed that an anonymous tip had come in, claiming that stacks of cocaine were being stashed into this locker by Bentaro. Hoshi quickly confessed that she was the one that phoned in the tip.

"And you didn't speak up earlier because?" Kintaro glared.

"His presence terrified me."

"Yet we had two guards here in addition to Nakayama and myself."

"But you let him go!"

"Because we suspect the cocaine was planted to frame Mr. Bentaro."

"Here's the problem though, you're the only one that could have murdered Miyabi. Hey, does forensics have photographs of the scene?" Reiju asked.

"Right here. Hot off the press," Kaemi smiled as she came running in.

"Time for me to destroy you, Hoshi! First off, let's discuss why your shoe proves your guilt. No cocaine was found in the grooves of anyone else's shoes. Plus you made use of Chibi in order to make it look like you stumbled back on accident. That's when you stealthily tried to hide the cocaine. Of course, there was still cocaine dripping down from Miyabi's nails, but you couldn't do shit once good ole Holmes arrived."

"You just stated I fell on accident. That's the reason the cocaine ended up in my shoe, by pure accident!" Hoshi glared.

"Then why not pin all the blame on chibi then? You could have easily stashed the cocaine in her locker. Oh wait, it's cuz you couldn't!" Reiju smirked as Kaemi displayed a photograph of the scene. "Chibi's too short to have hung the rope up there even by standing on the bucket. You on the other hand are 155 cm tall and would be able to pull it off."

"You're just trying to accuse me of a crime I didn't commit! Bentaro's clearly taller than me, so he's the culprit!" Hoshi retorted.

"And you asses don't make shit up just to discipline us? Though you're guilty. Grab her and cuff her."

Kintaro suddenly grabbed Hoshi's hand and held it up.

"UNHAND ME! I WILL SUE- ...!"

"Looks like all the evidence is there," Kintaro smiled as Hoshi's cardigan sleeve slipped down.

Now it was clear to see the cuff of her white undershirt, which was covered in dust. The same dust from the old school building.

"H- How does this prove my guilt!?" Hoshi stuttered.

"See this photo? The dusty window still has a mark from where you put your arm while you were securing the rope. That dust is the same from the still. Guess your wet sleeve ended up soaking up all that dust," Reiju snickered.

"How!? I didn't see anything on my cardigan- ...!"

"You didn't realize your sleeve slipped down. As Holmes just demonstrated, it slipped down far enough that your undershirt was exposed. And thanks to slipping on some water earlier, your right sleeve got soaked. You couldn't change though since you had to take care of Miyabi. When you strangled her and saw her stab the bag of cocaine, you were probably more concerned about getting white powder on your cardigan, and after seeing none got on it, you relaxed and hung Miyabi without a second thought. Then you made your escape, and joined in with everyone in running to the scene. Of course, since my class came running so quickly, you got panicky again and once again thought more about the cocaine instead of the dust. And with that, you're done!" Reiju smirked as she displayed her phone.

Hoshi went pale as she saw the photo displayed. In it was a clear image of her planting the cocaine in Bentaro's locker.

"I neglected to mention that a second anonymous tip came in, stating that there was evidence of the owner of locker 78 had planted some cocaine in someone else's locker. However, they stated they didn't have definitive proof on hand, but it seems like our sly detective truly was a step ahead," Kintaro smiled as he cuffed Hoshi.

Hoshi went pale and began to chuckle. "Evil, you had that all along? Hahahahaha! I did it. I killed that stupid bitch after she followed me! I was just going to sell, but that bitch..."

...

"Hoshi? Whacha doin in here? Miyabi smirked as she entered the old school building. As she walked over to Hoshi, she noticed the bags of cocaine and went pale.

"H- Hoshi, th- that's-

"Want in?"

"NO! Those are drugs! Hoshi, you- ACK!"

"I've always hated you, you bitch. I was hoping you'd get in on this so I could sap you for cash, but you just HAD to have a conscience," Hoshi snarled as she began strangling Miyabi with a nearby rope.

Realizing she couldn't break free, Miyabi stabbed her hand into an open bag of cocaine. However, she died before she could scoop out her hand. Since she was wearing gloves, Hoshi gently dragged Miyabi's hand out of the bag before dragging Miyabi herself to the window. She then stood on the bucket to secure the rope to the top of the window frame before forcing the window open and shoving Miyabi out.

However, she noticed there were people watching from the school window and began to panic. She thought about just leaving the cocaine to make it look like it was Miyabi's, but there was a problem; there was no cocaine in Miyabi's system. An autopsy would easily reveal foul play and likely lead to a bigger investigation. Thus, she decided to frame Bentaro as a backup if Miyabi's death wasn't dismissed as suicide.

...

"Where'd you get that photo? That alone would have busted her instantly, so why hide it until now?" Kintaro asked.

"Wasn't sure if it turned out right, but since you can see it, I'll send you this pic of Hoshi stuffing the cocaine in Bentaro's locker. Guess I'm not a fool after all," Reiju smirked.

Nakayama glared as she slugged Hoshi in the face before dragging her away, kicking and screaming.

"That woman despises women acting dumb and doing dumb things most of all. Though ironically, she falls into that category herself. Well case closed. Though how did you get my number? I don't recall ever taking out my phone in your presence," Kintaro asked.

"Lucky guess," Reiju smirked.

Kintaro chuckled and began to head out. "Then it was lucky I found such a brilliant mind. We'll meet again, most likely."