"Aiho!!"
Yoshikawa Kikyou finally found her old friend amid the pouring rain.
The entire area was eerily silent.
Yomikawa was leaning limply against the steering wheel of a domestic sports car parked on the side of the road. Her position had to be putting pressure on her chest which would make it hard to breathe. Even so, she was not stirring in the slightest. She was obviously unconscious.
Yoshikawa tried the driver's side door and found it was unlocked.
As soon as she opened the metal door, Yomikawa's upper body swayed and she slid sideways out of the car.
"!"
Yoshikawa somehow managed to catch her and push her back into the seat.
(What happened?)
She brought her palm to Yomikawa's mouth to see if she was breathing and brought a hand to her neck to check for a pulse. Yomikawa seemed to be alive, but she also showed no sign of coming to. She did not seem to simply be sleeping.
"…"
Yoshikawa ignored the rain and looked around the vicinity of the car.
The car was parked on a large road, but the type of alley in which delinquent boys liked to gather was located not far away.
Yoshikawa first thought Yomikawa may have been attacked by delinquents, but Yomikawa had no obvious injuries. Even another woman could tell Yomikawa Aiho was beautiful. And she was a member of Anti-Skill on top of that. If she had been attacked, her state would have been too horrible to imagine. The car would have also been disassembled so the delinquents could sell the parts for money.
(So was it someone else?)
Yoshikawa frowned.
If it had not been delinquents, who exactly had done this to Yomikawa?
(For now, I need to get her to a hospital. No, taking her to that clinic right over there would be faster than calling an ambulance!)
As Yoshikawa tried to make up her mind, she heard a low grinding noise.
It was the sound of the small printer installed along with the in-vehicle radio. It was printing out a postcard-sized piece of paper.
"Nn…"
Yoshikawa reached over Yomikawa to grab the paper.
And then she froze in place.
The paper said the following:
Report from Saigou Ryouta of Anti-Skill Branch Office 84 and Suzuyama High School.
I have compared the evidence found at the District 5 crime scene with the data in the Bank.
This boy who goes by the name of Accelerator is wanted as a suspect in a case of attempted murder.
Another piece of paper printed out with the first contained a photo of a familiar face.
There was no chance of this being a case of mistaken identity.