Mouse City.

This is a name that Hinata Hajime finds hard to forget.

In the fratricide on Jabbawok Island, the location of Mouse City was very important. Since Monokuma was afraid of mice, it was the only place that was not monitored by Monokuma. It is not an exaggeration to call it a secret place. In the end, it was in this place that they obtained information that Monokuma could not hide.

[I really didn't expect to hear this word here.] Hinata Hajime leaned back in the chair of the detective agency, [But it can be imagined that this rat city should be related to secrets.]

Moreover, if it weren't for Naomi Tanizaki noticing it, no one would have noticed that there was something wrong with this place.

In colleges and universities, messy urban legends are too common. This rat city that can eliminate secrets is not a scary legend. It is even a bit ordinary. Normal people will not take such an urban legend circulating among students seriously.

[This means that it has not yet developed to the point where it can be seen at a glance. ]

[That's true. We are lucky that this desperate incident has not yet developed to the point where it is beyond redemption.]

Thinking of this, Hinata Hajime felt a little better. He stood up and began to search for information about Mouse City on the Internet.

No matter how you look at it, this is like an urban legend. The location of Mouse City is even more fantastic. It is said that it is a magical place that only appears in reality because of the extreme pain of the secret. What's more, this urban legend is only circulated among high school students. Going out to look for it like before will hardly find any clues.

Ranpo Edogawa, who finally returned from a business trip, opened a bottle of carbonated drink. After drinking half of it, he glanced at Hinata Hajime's screen, so he walked over with the soda bottle.

"Hinata, what are you looking for?"

"An urban legend." Hinata Hajime answered, "Probably an urban legend circulating among high school students."

Edogawa Ranpo blinked, "High school student? Why don't you just ask Naomi?"

"I mainly want to collect more information. Does Mr. Ranpo have any recommendations?" Hinata asked. "It's a bit difficult for me to get information about high school students. Are there forums or something like that in these colleges?"

"I do work part-time as a math teacher." Kunikida looked up at Hinata Hajime, "I've also heard a little about urban legends. Which one do you want to ask about?"

Hinata Hajime stood up quickly. "Have you heard of Rat Castle, Mr. Kunikida?"

"Rat City?" Kunikida Dobu frowned slightly. "It seems to be a place similar to the campus horror legend. It is said that a girl was heartbroken and cried for half a night before she found this place. In the Rat City, she sold her love and would never be sad because of a broken heart again."

"It's really like this, how shameful." Edogawa Ranpo said in disgust.

"What do you think, Mr. Ranbu?"

After finishing the soda and throwing the empty bottle into the trash can, Edogawa Ranpo returned to his seat and closed his eyes. "Ranpo-sama, you don't know anything. Urban legends don't exist anyway. But the fact that they are circulated in school can only mean that the instigator knows that only students with weak minds will be fooled."

"It's hard for this kind of thing to spread among adults."

Hinata Sou nodded, "If it's in the early stages, I would definitely consider this."

Even the fragments of despair will choose the right person to attack.

Just at this moment, Hinata Hajime's cell phone rang. He took a look and saw who was calling. Hinata Hajime frowned slightly.

It's Naomi Tanizaki.

Hinata Hajime answered the phone, "Hello, this is Hinata."

"Mr. Hinata!" Naomi Tanizaki said in a flustered voice, "It's like this, I'm in school now, but Yoshiko didn't come to school."

Originally, Naomi Tanizaki was planning to talk more with Mizuide Yoshiko today, but Mizuide Yoshiko didn't come to school at all. She found the teacher, but the teacher was vague and only said that Mizuide Yoshiko's mother had asked for leave on her behalf. Naomi Tanizaki was worried, so she called Yoshiko.

But no one answered either Mizuide Yoshiko's personal number or her home phone.

Naomi Tanizaki was so worried that she had to call the detective agency.

"I need to ask the teacher for leave before I can leave school. Mr. Hinata, can you go to Yoshiko's house first to see her? I'm worried that something might happen to her."

"No problem." Hinata Sou stood up and picked up his coat that was on the chair. "It just so happens that the detective agency is not busy right now, and Mr. Ranpo is back. Where is her home address? I'll go there right now."

"Thank you, Mr. Hinata."

Naomi Tanizaki breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly told Hinata Hajime Mizuide Yoshiko's address and then went to ask the teacher for leave. Their school was very strict and the security guards would not let students leave without the teacher's note. The teacher had always known that she had a good relationship with Mizuide Yoshiko, but she couldn't explain why she was so worried when Mizuide Yoshiko asked for leave.

You have to find a way to get a leave application.

…

On the other side, Hinata Hajime came to Mizuide Yoshiko's house according to the address. He walked to the door and pressed the doorbell, but there was no response.

Hinata Hajime tried pressing the button a few more times, but it seemed as if no one was in the room. At this moment, Hinata Hajime saw that the door did not seem to be closed. He reached out and gently pushed the door. With a creak, the door was pushed open, and Hinata Hajime immediately saw the living room. Countless messy things were scattered on the floor, with scraps of paper. It looked completely abnormal.

Frowning slightly, without taking the time to consider whether it was illegal entry, Hinata Souma walked in, but at the same time he was also calling Mizuide Yoshiko's name.

"Mizuide-san, are you there? I'm Naomi Tanizaki's brother, and she's worried about you."

At this time, let me temporarily borrow the name of Junichiro Tanizaki's brother.

[Ryoko Mizuide comes from a single-parent family. Her father died in a car accident ten years ago. Her mother is a self-employed woman who has little affection for Ryoko Mizuide and often does not return home.]

[…No, when did you check it? ]

【When you searched the Mouse City. 】

Hinata Hajime covered his chest, [I feel the gap between us.]

【Boring.】

[But, if their relationship is not good, and her mother never comes home, why did she suddenly show up and ask for leave from school?] Hinata Sou put down his hand, and while observing the surroundings, he asked in doubt, [Who made such a mess in the house?]

【Water comes from Ryoko. 】

【How do you know? 】

Kamizuru closed his eyes. [There are debris around the damaged area. Those debris are the torn paintings. Mizuide Ryoko has a crush on the teacher of the painting cram school. She focused on painting in high school. Those are her works. It is more likely that they are paintings she created in the cram school.]

Hinata Hajime swept the debris on the ground, frowned slightly, and had a general understanding of the current situation.

He followed the direction of the debris to a room, which should be a study. There were traces of paint on the door. Hinata Hajime breathed a sigh of relief. He reached out and pushed the door open. With a creak, the door opened and Hinata Hajime saw the scene.

The floor was covered with brightly colored paintings, paints and white paper covering the entire floor. When Hinata Hajime opened the door, the debris floated in the air like fallen butterflies. A girl in a white dress was sitting on the floor. She kept tearing the paintings in her hands and even biting them with her teeth.

The girl, who should have been cheerful and outgoing, had dull eyes. She just sat on the ground blankly, constantly damaging the work she once cherished as a treasure.

"Ryoko!"

Naomi Tanizaki, who arrived last, looked at the chaos in the living room with wide eyes. She hurried to Hinata Hajime, and then saw Mizuide Yoshiko tearing things up in the study. Naomi Tanizaki ran over quickly, knelt on the ground, forcibly held down Mizuide Yoshiko's arms, and pulled the scraps of paper out of her mouth.

"What's wrong with you? Yoshiko! What are you doing?"

Mizuide Yoshiko seemed to finally react. She stared at Tanizaki Naomi's face, her lips trembling. After a moment, she whispered, "Naomi, I seem to be crazy."

"What nonsense are you talking about."

"But why did I forget something?" Mizuide Yoshiko cried, "I felt so bad when I saw these paintings. My heart felt empty as if something was taken away from me. I felt so bad that I was going crazy. That woman came back and said I was crazy."

"Naomi, am I really crazy? That's why I forget those things."

"Of course not!" Tanizaki Naomi hugged Mizuide Yoshiko, "Yoshiko is not crazy, it doesn't matter, I will always be with you."

Mizuide Yoshiko clenched her hands tightly, she looked up at the ceiling, her black eyes were full of emptiness, "But, Naomi, I'm almost dying of pain. It's already like this, but I don't know why I'm feeling so bad. I'm in so much pain."

Naomi Tanizaki didn't know what to say. Feelings and memories were never something that could be interfered with. Even though she had lost her memory of that time, when she saw these paintings, all those emotions flooded into Mizuide Yoshiko's heart. The strong emotions of unknown origin almost overwhelmed her.

However, this is not Mizuide Yoshiko's fault.

Whether she went to Mouse City to erase her memory because of pain, or was deceived by Mouse City, it was not her fault.

The reason why a secret is a secret is because it carries emotions that make people happy or painful, which is something that cannot be changed.

In the study, the two girls snuggled together. Outside the study, Hinata Hajime picked up a half-torn painting from the ground. In the painting, the girl was leaning on the balcony, the sun shining on her, and the girl had a satisfied and gentle smile on her face. However, the painting was torn by the hand, and the girl's smiling face was also torn in half.

[I was thinking from the beginning, even if I lost my memory, it is not so easy to clear my emotions. The fragments of despair do not have the ability to completely erase the entire incident.]

[Rat City is just deleting the memory of the person involved under the guise of clearing up the secret. ]

[This is too much.]

Kamiya Izuru looked at the painting in his hand, his red eyes were devoid of any emotion, [What do you want to do?]

[Since it has been confirmed to be a despair incident, then go and solve it.] Hinata Hajime gave a wry smile, [Although I know that most despair incidents evolve from the despair in the hearts of humans, I believe that if there were no despair fragments deliberately guiding them, they would not develop to this extent.]

Everyone has experienced despair to some extent, but not everyone will do extreme things after falling into despair.

Fragments of despair will lead humans in the most extreme direction.

This kind of thing is really too much.