To Be a Power in the Shadows!-Chapter 21

Early summer finds two students standing together on a rooftop.

One of them is a beautiful teenage girl with silver-white hair.

The other is a common-looking teenage boy with black hair.

“In the shadows, it seems like the incident is still causing various waves, but for all appearances’ sake everything has been resolved. However, Nee-sama is setting up a specialist investigative squad, and I plan to help with that. So it can probably be said that for me, it was only the start of everything.”

So says the girl.

“Just keep it at a moderation, hm?”

So replies the boy.

“And thus, all suspicion against you have been cleared. Sorry for all the trouble.”

“That’s great and all, but ……”

The wind blows between the two of them. The girl’s skirt flutters, revealing her white legs.

“……It’s fricking hot, so can we go inside already?”

The weather is great today. In other words, the summer sun is shining away at full blast. Deep shadows stretch from both their legs, and the sound of summer insects can be heard from far away.

“Wait. There are two things that I need to say.”

“Here?”

Here.”

The girl narrows her eyes and looks up at the blue sky.

“Firstly, I want to at least give you a word of thanks. That time, you told me that you like my sword. It’s a bit late, but thanks.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“I’ve finally come to like my own sword. None of the credit is yours, though.”

“I think you said a sentence too much there.”

“It’s the truth though.”

The two’s eyes clash. The one who looks away first is the boy.

“Well anyways, you came to like it, so good on you.”

“Yep, good on me.”

The girl smiles.

“So what’s the second thing?”

“We were pretending to go out up to now, but Zenon went and died.”

“Ah, so my role is finished? I’m fired?”

“The second thing is sort of a suggestion, actually.”

The girl stops talking for a while, as if she is searching for the words to say something hard to say.

“If it’s fine with you……”

Her red eyes are darting every which way.

“…… What say you we continue this relationship for just a little while longer?”

The girl was finally able to say it all, albeit in a slightly quieter voice.

The boy flashes her a bright smile.

“I refuse.”

So he replies while sticking up a middle finger.

Immediately, the schiing of a sword being unsheathed rings out.

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Later in the day, another student came up to this rooftop, and discovered a huge bloodstain on the ground.

However, despite the large amount of blood, there was no corpse nearby. The students and school faculty investigated extensively, but there were zero reports of anyone being severely wounded or missing. Thus it became a cold case.

Aterwards, this became known as the ‘Corpseless Murder Incident,’ and entered the ranks of the school’s Seven Mysteries.