Corpse March

Chapter 22

“Haru…”

Tomoe tries to calm Haru down but her words fall on deaf ears. 

“Don’t listen to her! She’s just trying to shift the blame off of Gleam!”

Desperate, she looks to her allies but finds scant little. Jessica’s face is unreadable, Tomoe seems less than proud, and even Tsuki’s smile is tainted by flecks of tension. 

“A-and–”

Haru clears her throat. 

“What you’re really saying is that because Tsumugi wasn’t in Takakumo, she’s a suspect, right?!”

“In essence, yes.”

“Then Gleam should also be on the list of suspects! That’s why she’s here, isn’t it?!”

Haru jabs her finger at Kuroko. 

“Councilors.”

Kuroko calmly adjusts her tie. 

“This is no more than classic whataboutism.”

“That is true… but her argument does hold water.”

Tomoe raises a thin smile at Kuroko, like she’s apologizing for dragging her into this whole mess. Then, with that thin apology still on her face, she continues her assault. 

“After all, she is the one who benefits the most from Lady Kentomi’s death. Perhaps a little evidence that Lady Gleam is, without a shadow of a doubt, innocent will help to ease Hamamoto’s worries.”

“...”

There’s a moment of silence as Kuroko stoops down and retrieves her briefcase. Two clicks, a creak, and it opens. Haru thinks she spots the glint of a typewriter’s keys. Kuroko retrieves a single piece of paper methodically tucked away in a paper envelope and begins to read aloud. 

“This is a direct message from Lady Gleam herself. I was instructed to read it aloud if doubts were cast on her”

She clears her throat. 

“My fellow councilors, I give you my word that without a shadow of a doubt, I am innocent.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Forgive me but is that it?”

Lady Tomoe is the first to break the silence. Everyone else is, assumedly, stunned from the sheer stupidity of it all. Kuroko looks the piece of paper up and down, left and right, inside and out, but nothing. 

“Yes.”

“Oh for…”

Nui is suddenly on her feet. 

“I’d like to move to adjourn the meeting.”

“On what grounds?”

Nui lifts up the cup she was drinking out of and shows everyone the tea dregs. 

“The tea leaves… they um…”

She stops and thinks for a moment. 

“They foretell unfortunate tidings. Yes. It is my belief that it is Lady Tsubame… is…  um… sending us a message from beyond the grave.”

“...I see.”

Tomoe nods to herself. 

“Then very well.”

“HAAAAAAAH?!”

Haru can’t keep her voice to herself. She stares incredulously at Tomoe, like she just suggested that they all suddenly drop down to all fours and live like animals from now on. Now that they’ve suddenly turned the tables on Gleam, she’s going to have her bury her head like an ostrich. 

“Y-you can’t be serious…”

“I believe we’ve made significant headway into the issues we’ve discussed. We can pick up the rest at a later date.”

“I second the motion.”

Tsuki chimes in like anyone asked her to. 

“It’s getting late.”

She throws in the loudest yawn Haru’s ever heard in her life as well for good measure.

“Wait! We haven’t even discussed how Tsumugi’s going to get home.”

“Oh yeah. I kinda forgot we needed to talk about that.”

Tsuki reclines in her chair. 

“I think it’s pointless… but do y’all think we could hear her out anyway?”

“Very well.”

Nui wipes the sweat off of her brow with a handkerchief. 

“Please, make your case.”

“There’s no reason to question her. Lady Tsumugi is innocent.”

“Alright, do you have any evidence?”

“I was with her at the time of Lady Kentomi’s murder.”

“Do you have any evidence of that?”

“Tsk, evidence this, evidence that! I don’t have any reason to lie, now do I?”

“Actually.”

Kuroko butts in. She flips through the 

“To elaborate on what was mentioned prior, it is Lady Gleam’s belief that with the marked… incompetence, of Tsumugi’s standing army, it is more likely that she collaborated with a third party to have Kentomi killed.”

“Wh– You’re saying I killed her and had the stones to walk in here? To the lion’s den? The belly of the beast? The fucking 9th circle of hell?”

Well, she’s not entirely wrong. If, theoretically, Haru did kill someone, she would have absolutely no problem having dinner with the grieving family afterwards. 

“Hamamoto.”

Tomoe traces the rim of her wine glass with her fingers. 

“Perhaps that’s enough for now. I sense that we aren’t making any progress this way.”

“...”

“If you’re unsatisfied, perhaps we can go over your grievances in the garden?”

“...fine.”