Son Of Lucifer 11

"So, are you going to answer my question or not, Senpai?" He would prefer not to.

He couldn't even handle the police, so there was no way he could handle something far more terrifying, that something being an angry girlfriend. And as far as angry girlfriends went, he was willing to bet Iroha was amongst the most spiteful.

If he messed up here, he would get socially assassinated all the way to hell. It that was even possible for a loner of course.

Now, what was he supposed to say to calm her down...?

He couldn't outright say it was just Kyoko with detective business. While that would end any talk of cheating, Iroha would probably then just question why the Ultimate Detective was talking with him, and so he would become suspicious.

He couldn't lie and say it wasn't a woman however. That would just make her even more mad.

And so the answer he came to was... "It's just a... friend of mine." None.

He couldn't come up with a way to get out of this in the end. He wasn't omniscient after all, and while he could plan a nice date... or a nice kidnapping, it was completely different when something came for him out of nowhere.

Fuyuki Fujiwara was not a experienced playboy.

Which is why he was desperately sending a begging look to his Senpai. Maybe the bunny could lend him a hand...?

Mai simply huffed and looked away. "Deal it, it's your girlfriend." Why was he surrounded by so many problematic women?

Karma for kidnapping? He would like to say not, but it was very possible... Alternatively, this was basically what he craved anyways, this being less karma, and more the result of the moth finally reaching the flame.

Iroha scowled. "Oh really?" And then snatched the phone out of his hand with surprising agility.

He could have stopped her... Maybe because of his gradual transformation to a demon, his reflexes were good enough to where he could have kept hold of his phone. But he actually decided that letting her take a look at it would be for his benefit.

First of all, while Iroha was invading his privacy right now, not letting her do it would just make things worse. He had seen enough movies where a girlfriend gets mad when a boyfriend doesn't let her read his messages.

Second of all, Kyoko was behind the screen. If he was lucky, she would realize something was going and then give a good excuse for it. And considering she was the Ultimate Detective... his chances were looking good.

Iroha was gritting her teeth as she growled at the phone. "So, who are you huh?" How surprisingly angry of her.

He didn't know Iroha was the jealous type.

She raised an angry eyebrow. "Hah...? I'm making the questions here." Oh, Kyoko probably asked the same question she did. "Y-yeah, I'm his girlfriend." And then deduced who Iroha was.

The girl's eyes slowly widened. "U-Ultimate Detective!?" Kyoko actually said who she really was!? "N-no way! Like I would fall for such an obvious lie! I'm not stupid!"

Fuyuki tried to interject. "She's not lying. Remember she came to our school yesterday? That's when we met." Iroha definitely knew.

While he didn't think she had been interrogated by the Ultimate Detective, she was definitely enough of a social butterfly to have heard it from other people.

His decoy girlfriend had the gall to shoo him away. "Not now, Senpai...!" This brat...

But maybe this was good, there was a reason why he helped confirm it was Kyoko. It was still a stressful solution, and it would some amount of suspicion, but... Right now it was his only option. The lesser of two evils.

And so Iroha kept interrogating the detective through the phone.

"No way..." She slowly accepted the situation. Hopefully. "Ah! Whatever! I'll confirm it when you're here, Miss Ultimate Detective! You'd better show up!" And after that, she ended the call.

He sighed. "So, how did that go?"

Her eye twitched. "A weird question to ask your girlfriend, please read the room, Senpai." She handed him his phone back. "I'm watching you. That... girl is gonna come see you at the end of school right? She better really be the Ultimate Detective, or I'll be mad."

Ah, so his last solution did more or less work.

The truth is that before, when he did not immediately say he was working with Kyoko, he had been a little too paranoid. When you heard someone was working with a detective, you didn't think immediately that that person was a crimal, right? Good guys worked with detectives

Of course, that did bring the question of why a normal person was working with a detective in the first place, but right now Iroha was far too focused on the possibility of cheating to think about that.

He smiled. "She will be, don't worry." At the same time he spoke, he received a message from Kyoko.

"Sakuta Azusagawa is who you should keep an eye on. He's a second year." So that was his target huh? He had never heard of him.

But then again, Fuyuki had never heard Mai fucking Sakurajima attended his own school. Rumor mills were strange and unreliable, and it didn't help that he barely interacted with anyone in the first place.

Iroha frowned. "That doesn't feel good to hear when you have your eyes on your phone." Geez...

Having a girlfriend really was more nerve-wracking than kidnapping one. "My bad." He put his phone back into his pocket.

And then smiled. "I gotta say though, your possessive side is pretty hot, Iroha." Some might find that annoying, but not him.

Both because being desired so much by a girl was a common fantasy... And because he would have done the same. Honestly, he might have done even worse.

Iroha blushed and stepped back. "It's always a surprise when you say stuff like that, Senpai. Do you think you live in anime, or something?" He might as well live in one, considering how his life was currently going.

Mai rolled her eyes. "I bet he thinks he lives in one rated for adults." Iroha couldn't even hear her, so maybe his Senpai should shut up.

He chuckled. "Hum? Are you accusing me of entering my chuuni phase? It's a bit too late for that, don't you think?"

She looked away. "T-then don't act like it. It may work better for you than it does for Hikigaya-Senpai for some reason, but don't push it."

He pat her head. "I'll try to."

And her blush got even fiercer. "See? This is what I'm talking about Senpai. Patting a girl's head is a thing only in anime." She didn't bat his hand away.

What a loser.

He pulled his hand back, and cleared his throat. "Talk of my possible Hikigayafication aside, can I ask you something, Iroha?" She was a social butterfly, so this could be a good opportunity...

She pouted. "Even if it's with a Ultimate Student, cheating is no good. I'll kill you, y' know?" What did she think he was going to ask...?

He chose to ignore her comment with an awkward smile. "No, it's not about... that. I just wanted to know if you ever heard of Sakuta Azusagawa."

She tilted her head. "Um? Why do you wanna know him? Is it another step towards your Hikigayafication?" If that's what this guy was being compared to...

He waved her off. "Nope. It's just that the Ultimate Detective was asking about him."

She gasped. "I wonder if he's in trouble then..." He could see a new light in her eyes.

Before she had more or less ignored the bigger ramifications of him being in contact with Kirigiri due to her emotinal state. That had changed now...

But in the end she chose not to pursue that line of thought. At least not for now. "Well, if you're wondering, he's kind of a loner." That explains the Hikigaya part. "And also a second year, though from a different class than yours."

It would be kind of sad if he didn't know a guy from his own class. "I see... thanks for the info." Though it wasn't much.

His free time was definitely about to end... maybe he could convince Mai to look for him? She didn't like skipping class, but it couldn't really be helped this time.

He continued. "Although I'm surprised you know a supposed loner. Should I start showing my boyfriend brand jealousy?" And she also knew Hikigaya...

Considering she reciprocated his advances with no trouble, maybe Iroha was into loners? And he was the one supposedly lost in anime land...

She shook her head. "That does sound kind of nice, but please don't! The truth is... well, he's a loner, but one that nobody likes. Apparently he is... violent." Was that why he was told to not approach him?

A loner that was disliked huh... That was certainly something. Normally most people just felt apathy for them.

Fuyuki put a hand on his chin. "Strange. I didn't think this school would let someone with a violent past enroll. Do you know what's that about?" The school he attended was supposedly pretty decent.

But then again, he skipped school all the time.

"Sorry, but I don't really know... Maybe it's all rumors?" Hopefully so.

This investigation was already annoying enough.



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"Hey Kirigiri, let me introduce you to my girlfriend." He motioned to his envious kouhai. "This is Iroha Isshiki, a childhood friend of mine."

The Ultimate Detective nodded. "You were the girl on the phone, yes? It's nice to meet you."

Iroha slowly nodded. "Y-yeah, it's nice to meet you." He could only imagine what the girl was thinking now that he had proven he was not lying.

Iroha looked down in anxiety. "S-so... what exactly do you need from Big Brother...?" Wow, she was so put off by Kirigiri's presence that she reverted to her base instincts?

No that he had time to wonder about that. This was a do or die moment...!

"I cannot disclose it." And that was what Kirigiri decided to do about it.

Not exactly the worst outcome, but not the best either. On one hand, it's not like Iroha could argue with the detective, but on the other hand, it would just make Iroha even more curious about what was going on...

"O-oh, okay..." As expected, his girlfriend just had to accept Kirigiri's words. "Sorry for bothering, I was... Sorry."

Kyoko didn't seem to care one bit. "It's fine. Now, Fujiwara-Senpai and I have business to handle. If would excuse you."

"Right, of course." Wow... Fuyuki had a feeling his girlfriend had been throughly intimidated.

Did the Ultimate Detective give off a creepy feeling or something?



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"Good job, Senpai." As he had planned, he let Mai handle Sakuta.

She wasn't supposed to actually interact with him, since he could be dangerous... and maybe the culprit since Kyoko was interested in him, but she had watched him from afar and followed him home while Fuyuki and Kyoko were being held back by Iroha. Now, the three of them were standing in front of his apartment.

Mai grinned. "Thank you, it's good to see you occasionally not being a nuisance and showing appreciation." This was her problem though.

Kyoko nodded. "Indeed. Although I already knew where he lived, and would have preferred for you to stall him at school." She looked at Sakuta's closed door. "Confronting someone at home comes with it's own complications."

Mai's eye twitched. "Well, sorry that I couldn't stall a man who probably doesn't even see me."

Kyoko squinted her eyes. "I wonder if that's true... Anyways, let's talk with him." She went to knock on his door.

But Fuyuki stopped her. "Actually Kirigiri, since you're scared of confronting him at home, don't you wanna wait for tomorrow? I can stall him at school then." He had told her about the student being supposedly dangerous.

Kyoko shook her head. "No, time is of the essence." She grimaced. "I made some testing with the contacts you gave me, and realized something..."

She continued after a pause. "The curse of forgetting Mai Sakurajima only progress in someone when they sleep. I have some theories as to why, but we'll go through them later."

His eyes widened. "You managed to figure that out with my contacts alone?" That was... terrifying, considering he was a criminal.

"It wasn't too hard, and I'm just assuming it is so right now, but I could theoretically be wrong." She frowned. "Either way, I will stop sleeping until this case is concluded."

So she would theoretically become sloppier and sloppier as time passed... Interesting.

Mai tilted her head. "Does that mean you didn't sleep today? Are you okay?" Oh? So even though she didn't like the detective, she could still worry about her.

Kyoko reassured her. "Yes. I have gone a week without sleeping in a case before, so this is fine." A week!?

Didn't people start hallucinating after thirty-six hours of no sleep!?

The Ultimate Detective lived up to her title indeed.

Mai squinted her eyes. "If you say so... Why are we even visiting this Azusagawa guy by the way? He didn't seem to act in any particularly strange way when I followed him."

Kyoko shrugged. "The truth is that there may be truly nothing special about him. It is just that he has various posts online talking about something supernatural... Considering he is from the same school as you, I thought it would be better to check."

So Azusagawa may be someone who got super powers and couldn't shut up about them online... or maybe he is actually victim. Well, there is also the possibility of him being just some chuunibyou, but Fuyuki supposed it was worth a try.

Still... "Wait Kirigiri, are you going online and checking the students?" That sounded like a complete pain.

The Ultimate Detective nodded. "Of course. The curse seemingly originated from the school, so every single student there is a suspect as far as I'm concerned." How meticulous.

She continued. "Or they could at least be connected to a suspect, so it's not something I could ignore."

Fuyuki's eyes widened. "Wow, impressive work." And that impressive woman would aim at him next... if she wasn't already aiming at him.

Thankfully he didn't go around posting about the supernatural online. Satan would have his head for it.

Kirigiri waved him off. "It's nothing. I haven't even investigated all the students yet, it's simply that I stumbled onto this and came to check due to our lack of time." Even so... "Besides, considering your investigation that acquired our list of contacts, I'm sure you would have done the same eventually."

Mai clicked her tongue. "Yeah, yeah, you two are amazing... Let's just open the door already." He has a feeling she wanted to call him an egomaniac. Oh well, she was always on edge when Kirigiri was around.

Which was just like with Iroha...

Kirigiri wordlessly walked forward and knocked on the door. Apparently agreeing with Mai that the time for talking was now over.

"Coming! Gimme a moment!" A male voice echoed from inside

It sounded young. It was probably Sakuta Azusagawa and not his father or any other older male relative.

After waiting for a bit, the door opened. "Sorry..." A teenager stared at them. "Do you two need something...?" So he didn't see Mai...

Kyoko was as blunt as ever. "I am Kyoko Kirigiri, the Ultimate Detective. Due to a ongoing investigation, I am here to discuss important matters with you."

The man tilted his head. "Are you serious? That's a pretty crazy claim, miss." He seemed bothered by her presence.

And so Fujiwara finally confirmed it... Mai, Iroha, and now Azusagawa, everybody got uncomfortable when Kyoko was around. A sad thing, considering she was pretty cute.

He interjected. "You can just google it online dude." There was a list of names for the people who had enrolled in Hope's Peak.

Fujiwara wasn't the type who actually read and drooled over that list like some people did, but the list did exist and he was aware of it.

Azusagawa nodded. "Oh, right. Gimme a moment." Another one?

And then he closed the door.

Fujiwara's eye twitched. "You think he's gonna open that door again?"

Kyoko did not have a visible reaction like him, but he knew she was annoyed. "For his own sake, he'd better."

Thankfully, he eventually once did. "You're actually the Ultimate Detective...!?" He came back sounded a lot more flustered. "D-did something happen? Am I a suspect in anything...!?"

Fujiwara awkwardly tried to comfort the man. "N-no, you're not a suspect..." There was no way this guy could be a demon, right?

Alas, Kyoko trampled upon his hopes and dreams. "Incorrect. Sakuta Azusagawa is a suspect." She didn't need to say it... "And so are his parents, and his younger sister."

At this point the guy was as pale as a sheet of paper. "O-oh... Then please come in. I'll make some tea for the two of you." Heh.

Mai was gonna watch them have tea while she was excluded. Such supreme bullying.

Kyoko shook her head. "Thank you for the offer, but I won't accept anything you give me to drink."

The guy sighed. "Understandable. I'm sorry that I offered."

Kyoko continued, uncaring for his pain. "And I also have armed men watching me from afar. Should I enter your apartment, and not be able to leave, there will be consequences." So Fujiwara's previous theory had been right.

Now he was glad he hadn't tossed her into the door at the first opportunity...

The man blanched. "U-understood... What do you guys even want to ask anyways?" Curiosity must have gotten the better of him, asking about this before they entered.

"About Puberty Syndrome."

Suddenly Sakuta's face became completely serious. "Got it. I'll tell you everything I know."