TW: Referenced Suicide
Saihara's POV:

I don't think it's uncommon to wish for more than what you already have, often when we think of those stories you either have two characters. A poor and yet noble-hearted character down on their luck and drove to poverty due to outside circumstances, or a mustache-twirling millionaire whose desire and lust for wealth leads those beneath them to crumble in defeat and misery to deaf ears.

I wondered how this would be seen in the eyes of stories, in the eyes of readers. Maybe it would be watered down to the barest essentials, like with most cases I worked with. Or maybe it would one day be portrayed as a tragedy.

In the poorest district in all of Japan, there was only one school district with only one high school, middle school, and elementary school. These three schools even back in the twentieth century shared the same building, till the population grew slightly giving the elementary school eventually its own building. That was when Ouma was already in his first year of middle school.

The middle and high school however remained in the same building, till the fire. The fire had ended up burning down half of the building and so it was decided to give rebuild another old building into the new middle school while the high school after repairs were finished would remain in the same building.

The problem lies in where that money came from.

Not only for the repairs but also for the vast improvements of technology and resources the school now had. It even increased the salaries of the teachers, almost unthinkable yet there was never any large fundraising event and the school's previous history showed it to use mostly second-hand or even third-hand textbooks, along with most of the gym equipment being decade-old donations at best.

Yet somehow the school gained the resources to vastly improve not just the high school but the entire district, which only added salt to the wound how despite that Ouma still didn't even have an elevator to reach his class. Or even any assistance for the disabled, that in itself was a crime I would definitely have to expose them for at the end.

I glanced over the stacks of paper and began reviewing the school's income again, trying to approximate the exact budget the school received annually pre and post the incident and...

No doubt about it.

I paused and sighed, cursing myself for not seeing the signs sooner. It was a question I should have asked on day one when I had first arrived at the school and saw the old yearbook photos. Before the incident, the school had been on its last legs with cracked walls and minimal repairs at best, the tuition cost likely being the sole reason they could pay for those repairs. But no one seemed to question how the school had changed so fast and while not on the same budget as a private school, seemed to have been raised far higher than the area it resided in.

The fact such advancements had only been made post the deaths of DICE made it obvious, the school had been paid to sacrifice them. The teachers likely didn't know anything about this, as despite their negligence over the harassment of Ouma it didn't seem likely the substitute could convince every single one of them to turn a blind eye to his crimes. If I had to limit it down it would likely be the headmaster.

He was the one who even announced DICE's deaths to the collective student body, maybe because of shame? Or just to try and disguise his sins? It was a bit murky. There was no other explanation for such a turnaround.

So who gave them that money?

The substitute seemed obvious enough, but this reconstruction likely cost within the thousands along with the inclusions of the new technology and resources, and I doubt if the substitute had that much money he would even have done the job himself when he could have hired someone else. He had DICE had been piled into a rundown van, since the fire was unplanned on his part he likely was already using that van for his own use for some time.

It didn't add up, and if the sub was being paid for a supposed job...and if the school itself was the first to spread the suicide story...it was just like the hospital. Turning a blind eye to the truth whether out of self-preservation or greed and part of that made my blood boil.

My Aunt lost her child, and they continued to let her work there believing in a lie. A lie of how her child had ended her own life leaving her and the other parents to pick up the pieces without any kind of proper understanding and a pang of crippling guilt that likely still plagued them now.

And for what? How could that money ever amount to the lives that had been lost? The loss of the enthusiasm and pranks of the trouble-making students, ones who did bad things but from what I heard seemed to have good intentions at least. It wasn't worth it, it never could be.

But if the school had allowed it to happen...that poses a different question entirely. Were they the only ones?

The school the more I researched had a high mortality rate surprisingly, most from accidents though which just lead to stricter traffic laws which did decrease the percentage along with keeping a tighter control on underage drinking. However, those accidents only were 33% of the mortality statistics. But the more you researched those rates, the high percentile of students suffering from mental health...

Do you think a school would at least give the rooftop a better fence after three students in a ten-year history jumped?

Or hired more counselors after six others lost that same hope, helped promote programs to support their students. To at least encourage the students to look after one another after DICE themselves lost their lives, and Ouma was left to his path of self-destruction with little to no interference by the school.

Maybe they wanted him to die...maybe they wanted to finally rid themselves of the evidence of their crime.

Maybe they didn't care, maybe greed truly was this powerful. Which was heartless, because for any vigilante justice Ouma might have done in the past, their actions in response only made him all the more justified.

I organized the files and headed downstairs, if my father agreed with me about the suspicious budgetary sheets for this school then it could help me look at other schools with similarly high suicide rates, and maybe then I could find the connection to whatever group had paid off the school.

I know I shouldn't hope for much but...the idea of finally putting a stop to the sub and allowing Ouma to live in peace made me smile, even if it meant tireless work.

Even if it meant having to see this world as an unforgiving place, I'll help carry the burden so no one else will have to.

~-~-~

"So? Is there anything wrong or flawed in my theory?" I asked nervously, father sighed setting the last piece of paper aside. "You're right, these are suspicious...there's just one glaring issue Shuichi, one I think you need to consider," he said and I froze.

"What...? No, I did account for the cafeteria, and I even located where they receive the products for, while not the most ethical business it is-" I tried to argue but my father raised his hand silencing me.

"I'm not talking about the school lunch Shuichi, I'm talking about how easily you found this out. Because under that same logic, don't you think your Uncle who has been there for years would have investigated this by now?" He challenged.

I tried to think of a rebuttal...and it died. All it did instead was birth some doubt inside of me. I didn't want to admit it, but my father was right. Why hasn't he found anything? Uncle Shoto would've had much more time to find the culprit! He knew where Ouma was for years, evidence that likely has been destroyed now he had time to find, it was his own daughter who died so why...why hasn't Uncle found the truth yet? And if he does know, if that was what he wanted me to find out for myself that day...why didn't he say anything himself?

As if suspecting my doubts my father sighed, "ask your Uncle to present his own files for the DICE case" he asked before returning to his own work. I shifted nervously, "so..you don't believe me?" I asked, "that's the problem," my father said.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time-" I quickly said, I should've found more, worked harder, I should have done-"the problem is I believe you more than your Uncle," he said and for once he had a small hint of pride in his tone.

And while my heart leaped from joy...it immediately faltered under the inevitable confrontation with my Uncle. One with answers and explanations I didn't want to have to hear for myself but was honor-bound to.

My Uncle might have betrayed his own daughter, and me.