"Isn't that a bit too brief in your description?" Hoshino Ai frowned as she jotted down the identities Hiro Saitou mentioned. Compared to the detailed setup before, this felt way too concise.
"Concise and clear—because you rushed me," Hiro Saitou whispered, glancing at the math teacher already lecturing at the podium. "If I say more, I'll get scolded."
"You're in a hurry? Did the plot change?"
Ai frowned, recalling the earlier story. "You said Sapphire swore revenge, but now it sounds like the old nun is the one taking revenge?"
"Don't sweat the details. I realized a four-year-old seeking revenge would drag the story too long," Hiro Saitou explained. "Better to have the old nun take over. Revenge happens faster that way."
He adjusted the plot—after all, the reincarnated boy wouldn't tell the old nun everything he knew and instead would investigate alone. Not punishing the suspect immediately gave the villain time to escape… and grow stronger.
"And if you're reincarnated, you don't want to look dumb in the story."
"So it's a short story?" Ai asked, confused. "At first, you talked about a detailed plot, so I thought it'd be at least medium length. But now you say the old nun's revenge will wrap up quickly?"
"And what about the clues you gave earlier? Are those just ignored?"
"Don't worry about that. It's my story length to decide," Hiro Saitou said.
He frowned, thinking about how he rushed the adaptation. The prologue was read and adapted by him, but the rest of the story was nowhere in sight. How was he supposed to fill it in?
"You said the story is all logical, so I should be able to guess the murderer. But why did you name the kids Sapphire and Ruby if you aren't using them?"
"Because they were supposed to be the main characters of the revenge," Hiro Saitou answered. "Just think based on what's already there."
Ai nodded and started thinking. She wrote down keywords in her notebook: nun, nameless letters, tight life, dislike children, and fear of identity exposure.
Her gaze drifted to the priest, the young monk, and several other contemporaries.
"You don't even want me to guess who the real murderer is!" she said, dropping her pen in frustration.
"Oh? You want to guess?"
Hiro Saitou recalled the identities he'd given. He'd confused the answer by lumping several "young cultivators" of the same era together.
"Most likely, the two young cultivators are key, but you threw in extra young cultivators without giving them clear roles—trickery, right?" Ai grinned.
"I'm not cheating. Are you sure the answer you picked isn't correct?"
Hiro Saitou tried to keep his cool.
"Isn't it really a trick?" Ai pressed.
"You said you wanted the real murderer to appear, so I included the murderer among these identities."
Hiro Saitou calmly said, "If you think I might change the answer, I'll just write it down now."
"That should be enough, right?"
Ai nodded, satisfied.
Hiro Saitou grabbed a pen and scribbled in his notebook: 'several monks of the same period.'
Ai loved seeing the truth laid out and once again reasoned which identity behind the scenes was most likely the real culprit.
After thinking it through, she settled on the young monks of the same monastery.
"I choose the young monks of the same monastery."
"Are you sure?" Hiro Saitou asked, noticing his earlier words had swayed her.
She stood by her choice.
"Well then… I guess I'll reveal the answer."
He showed her the notebook.
"Stop playing tricks!" Ai scolded, glaring.
According to the story, there's only one murderer. A group of monks can't all be the culprit.
"Ahem... You probably noticed the options I gave are identity tags, not actual names," Hiro Saitou explained, taking back his notebook.
"Remember when we talked about the murderer's motive?"
Ai nodded, eager to hear more.
"I hadn't decided who the murderer was yet, but you insisted the murderer be revealed."
He paused. "I wrote the answer down already. You might be thinking in the wrong direction."
Ai stared at the paper. Hiro Saitou's words echoed: 'The answer you think is impossible… might actually be the correct answer.'
"You misled me from the start!" Ai growled.
"When a story needs reasoning, it's normal to plant fake suspects to confuse readers."
Just then, the math teacher shouted at two classmates talking loudly, "Quiet down!"
"Sorry, sensei," both said in unison.
Hiro Saitou was relieved to be warned, but Ai wasn't convinced.
She opened a fresh page in her notebook and wrote:
Even in mystery novels, the author won't give an obviously different person or a group as the answer!
When the teacher looked away, she slid the notebook over to Hiro Saitou.
He pretended to focus on class but read the note.
After a moment, he grabbed a pen and wrote a paragraph before slipping the notebook back in front of Ai.
She saw the words and shot him a fierce glare.