On his way to the supermarket, Shoot had a chance encounter with the female detective, Sumire Hanamiya. She wasn't wearing the suit he'd seen in the interrogation room, but casual clothes: a thin parka and slim-fitting bottoms. This was her usual attire between commuting and leaving work. Perhaps because of the light clothing, her ample bust was clearly visible, and the slim bottoms accentuated her shapely legs. Shoot had the impression of a truly adult woman.

"Last month... you were in charge of the interrogation..."

"Ah. I'm glad you remember. This is the first time we've seen each other since that interrogation."

It was an unexpected encounter for Shoot, and inwardly, he was a little surprised. Sumire approached him with a smile.

"I was hoping I'd see you again, Mitsugi-kun, somewhere other than the interrogation room or in connection with a case, so I'm glad we met like this."

"Eh? Why did you want to see me again?"

"I've taken in and talked to many underage boys and girls, but I've never met anyone like Mitsugi-kun. Maybe that's why I'm concerned about you."

"What are you..."

"Oh, sorry! I worded that in a way that could be misunderstood. Of course, I don't have any ulterior motives."

"........."

Shoot's assessment of Sumire Hanamiya was that she was harmless to him. During the interrogation last month, she hadn't been unpleasant or sarcastic at all, but rather a woman who had been genuinely concerned about him. He felt he could get along with her as easily as he could with Sunny from the other world.

Therefore, Shoot's wariness towards Sumire had almost completely dissipated.

"Were you heading to that supermarket? To shop for dinner?"

"Yeah, something like that. Hanamiya... Detective-san, too?"

"You can call me Hanamiya. Or Sumire, just for you! I just went to the supermarket."

After exchanging some casual conversation about what they had bought and what they were going to buy at the supermarket, Shoot was about to say goodbye and head there when Sumire made a suggestion.

"Would you... like to talk for a bit? We could go to a nearby cafe and sit down."

"...Are you going to interrogate me again? This time outside the station?"

Sumire smiled wryly when Shoot asked back with a hint of sarcasm.

"No way. I just want to talk to you. If you'll talk with me, I'll buy your share too."

"........."

After thinking for a moment, Shoot accepted Sumire's proposal. They entered a cafe near the supermarket. The waiter and other customers, noticing the handsome man and beautiful woman (Shoot and Sumire), gazed at them for a while.

"H-Here are the menus...!"

The waitress placed the menus on the table and stood there, frozen, glancing nervously between Shoot and Sumire. They exchanged amused glances and began to order.

"Mitsugi-kun, aren't you hungry? You can order food too."

"Really? I'm pretty hungry right now, so I'll eat a lot."

"Ahaha, I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from ordering anything too expensive..."

The waitress gave Shoot a suspicious look when Sumire offered to pay, but they ignored her and finished their order, dismissing her.

After a while, their orders arrived, and Shoot began to eat silently. Sumire also enjoyed her coffee in silence, and a comfortable silence lingered for a while.

"Phew, that was delicious. Hanamiya-san, you're a much nicer person than I thought."

"You're quite a mercenary child. Also, you don't have to use polite language. You can talk casually."

They then chatted lightly about general topics and their private lives. Shoot thought it would end with casual conversation, but he sensed a serious tone from Sumire and braced himself.

"...The riot that broke out at Tensho Junior High School the other day. The trigger for that was a live stream by the recently popular YouTuber, SHOT. The content exposed the truth about Tensho Junior High School, the principal's true intentions, and the true feelings of the teachers in charge of certain classes. The same stream was also on NyanNyanVideo, Twitter, and Instagram."

After draining the last of her coffee, Sumire looked intently at Shoot and asked,

"Weren't all those live streams your doing, Mitsugi-kun?"

Shoot made a slightly disgusted expression at Sumire's somewhat sharp question.

"...Weren't you going to refrain from interrogating me?"

"This isn't an interrogation. It's a private question, not part of my police work, so you can rest assured that you won't be charged with a crime unless it's something really serious."

Shoot judged that Sumire, speaking in a calm voice, wasn't lying, but he decided not to admit that he was SHOT.

"I watched all of SHOT's videos in real time, you know, and I'm subscribed to his channel."

"Hmm? Well, I don't think he'll be posting any more videos. It felt like he was doing it for a purpose. I'm guessing that purpose was probably to expose the true nature of that shitty junior high school."

Pretending to be someone else, Shoot spoke as if he were speculating about his own true intentions. In reality, Shoot intended to retire from his YouTuber activities.

"You seem quite informed? But, so... I wish I could have seen more..."

Sumire looked a little dejected but quickly regained her serious demeanor.

"...You said earlier that the purpose has been achieved. Does that have something to do with the riot at Tensho Junior High School?"

"Yes. He did it to crush that shitty private junior high school. I guess he was planning to do that from the beginning when he started being a YouTuber.

And I didn't do anything directly to that school. I wasn't involved in the riot that day.

I'm not SHOT, and I have nothing to do with that riot."

Most of that was a lie. Of course, Shoot didn't think he'd fooled Sumire. The important thing for him here was not to admit, not to acknowledge, that he was SHOT and that he was the one who instigated the riot.

"...That's right. Mitsugi-kun wasn't involved in the riot that day. I interrogated some of the people we arrested, but not a single one of them said that Mitsugi-kun was there.

SHOT's live stream simply exposed the truth about the school. He didn't say a single word in that live stream that suggested rioting."

"Well, that was unexpected for me, too. I was just thinking it would be great if it caused a huge uproar, everyone started bashing the school, the Ministry of Education or something started an investigation, and everything SHOT said turned out to be true, and that would be the deciding factor in getting all those teachers fired. And it would be even better if Nakazato's parents got caught in the crossfire.

I never imagined a mob would actually storm the school and make a bloodbath of the teachers. It was so unexpected, I just laughed."

Sumire looked at Shoot with a complicated expression as he chuckled cheerfully.

"That riot harmed not only the teachers but also the students, and some of them were injured. Especially the class you were in, 2-A... My niece was also in danger. Fortunately, she wasn't hurt at all."

"Oh, is that so..."

Sumire frowned at his attitude and pressed him.

"Was that what you wanted to do, Mitsugi-kun? Don't you think you went too far doing all that?"

"No, I'm telling you, I didn't do it."

"...I'll let it go for now."

"Sigh... Well, let me say this, hypothetically, if I were SHOT... Of course, I'd say that's exactly what I wanted. That school should disappear. It was the worst kind of school, one that condoned the idea that it's okay to bully weaker people. I think it deserves to be gone from this world, don't you?

Something like that."

"...I know from our previous interrogation that you strongly desired revenge for the bullying and unfair treatment you suffered. And that you strongly desired to use violence as a means of revenge. Of course, your revenge has hurt a lot of people badly. The same goes for the riot the other day; even though you didn't directly lift a finger or give any instructions, SHOT's live streams were the cause of the riot.

Mitsugi-kun, do you really think this was the right thing to do? Are you satisfied with this?"

Sensing Sumire's seriousness, Shoot answered in kind.

"It's better than actually killing them. I held back from killing them. I don't have a shred of remorse or regret. I can say with certainty that I did what was right for me."

"...I see."

Sumire looked down, a little sadly.

"I don't think it was necessary to go that far. Objectively speaking, your method of revenge, Mitsugi-kun, was wrong. You should have retaliated in a more legal way. I don't know how much I could have done, but if you had come to me, or other police officers, or school teachers... no, that wouldn't have worked, would it. Your family, or a bullying consultation service... anyway, if you had asked for help from more adults, there might have been another, more proper solution..."

When Sumire looked up at Shoot's face as she spoke, she gasped involuntarily.

The eyes of the Shoot before her were hollow.

"A legal and proper way would have required me to swallow all those shitty days, wouldn't it? There's no way I could do that."

"........."

"Ending up with only half-baked revenge, leaving all that miserable and unbearable past behind, leaving the wounds as they are... that's no different from a living hell.

I didn't want to live with such a ridiculous feeling, so I retaliated in a way that was even inhumane. I thought that by doing so, I could move forward, that I could live without rotting away. And I actually was saved."

Shoot chuckled softly with vacant eyes and sighed,

"None of the adults around me were reliable. Not even my own parents."

Shoot's voice was filled with deep disappointment and resignation. It was so palpable that it pained Sumire.

(Such...)

Hearing it up close, Sumire felt a tightness in her chest.

(To make him say such words, with such a face, with such a voice.... He may look like a young man, but he's still a 13-year-old boy, practically a child.

A child shouldn't have to say such things. He shouldn't have to, but...)

Sumire was shocked and made various assumptions about Shoot.

He must have asked for help from the adults around him countless times. But there was no one who would listen to him seriously. The school even took the side of the perpetrators. Such injustices piling up must have led Shoot to stop hoping.

She could easily imagine that such circumstances had led to the Shoot she saw before her now.

"I wonder... if the first adult I talked to had been someone like you, could I have cornered them in a way other than that...? Could I have become something different than what I am now...?"

Shoot murmured to himself, wondering if he wouldn't have gone to the other world.

"...! I don't know how much I could have done, but if that had been the case, I would have helped you with all my might. I'm sure of it."

"Hmm? Maybe you really are a good person."

Shoot blurted out, then fell silent. Sumire looked at him with a complicated expression.