Part 14

Aya: Tama's very orderly with things. She always cleans things up a bit after she washes up.

Aya: Whenever I take a bath, I always get inspiration for new compositions.

Aya: Couldn't write down a single music note even though I spent the past two days in the music room messing with my guitar for hours and hours.

Ran: Well, there's not much else you can do in the bath, so I imagine it's probably easier to focus.

Ran shifted in the bath and side-eyed Aya.

Ran: Don't tell me you're trying to write Miho a romantic song so that she'll forgive you or something.

Aya: Ahaha, well, that's definitely not it. Though that is the kind of romantic thing I would like to do, isn't it?

Aya: But Miho isn't particularly interested in my music.

Aya looked down and fiddled with the water with her hands.

Ran: (I don't think I've had a chance to properly talk with her about her music. Let's see if I can maybe unlock my memories with a conversation on this topic.)

Aya, immediately, like holy shit what a cockblock: Let's change topics. I want to talk to you about something else.

Aya: When you were telling us all about the incident with Tama, I would never have expected it to have such a huge effect on Makoto. She's practically a whole different person now.

Aya: And then Miho said she was going over to your room, and you started showing up and talking to me about thiiiiis and thaaaaaat,

Aya: Do you enjoy being a mediator? Like, the kind who helps other people with their relationships or something?

Ran: Okay, don't give me the credit for the business with Asakura- she was just bottling it up the whole time and I just happened to be there when it all blew up. And for you two, as far as I'm concerned, I'd like nothing better than if the two of you decided to hold hands all the way back to your room again, all on your own, without me needing to lift a finger.

Aya patted Ran on the shoulder, seemingly quite satisfied with the answer.

Aya: Now that's the Ran I know, not giving half a shit about anybody other than Ann.

Ran raised an eyebrow.

Ran: Isn't that a little exaggerated?

Aya: You're right. If you didn't actually care about anybody but Ann then you wouldn't be so nice to the class president either.

Ran: I- wait- what do you mean about Koizumi-

Aya: Oh, me and Miho have loooong since noticed. Don't worry, we won't tell Ann 😉

Ran: The two of you... forget it. She and I aren't going any further anyways, so there's no need to bring it up again.

Aya: Hmmmmm... See, I really think that your boundaries for the people that you're 'concerned' about are quite different from what most people would expect.

After Aya finished, she lifted herself out of the bath with both arms before Ran could have a chance to respond.

Aya: But I suppose these things aren't all that important for you, anyways.

Aya: We should probably wrap up soon and head out; Miho doesn't like it when she has to shower late.

Before they left, Ran said a few more words to Aya.

Ran: You say you've had an argument, but you're still concerned about her in all of your actions.

Aya shrugged, pulling open the bathroom door, answering Ran with a tilt of the head.

Aya: Well, I'm quite a weak person, after all.

Ran: (Is Sai still preparing ingredients for tomorrow??)

Sai: Jeez, you scared me. You people're all so quiet when you walk around, I swear.

Sai: Just finished washing everything. Now I've got to prepare some of the more labor-intensive stuff. There's eight mouths to feed now after all, it's going to take a bit more time.

Aya: It doesn't look half bad! I'm looking forward to tomorrow's lunch already.

Ran: (Of course it wouldn't occur to Aya to maybe give Sai a hand.)

Ran: Alright alright. Call us if you need any help.

Aya: It's so much easier to just kick back and relax with Sai around!

Ran: Right, so you and Miho definitely shouldn't make any more trouble for her, alright?

Aya: Hah, as if that's not a completely self-serving thing of you to say.

Miho: Did Aya say anything?

Ran: I ought to have just made you two shower together. Both of you keep asking about each other, and I'm stuck getting crushed in the middle.

Miho: What'd she ask?

Ran: She asked if I enjoyed being a mediator. I said of course not.

Ran's answer seemed to cause Miho to hesitate, as if she had something to say but wasn't sure she should say it. She ultimately just nodded, and left the room with her towel and pajamas.

Ran: (The way these two are so concerned about each other, it makes me even more curious just what they fought over.)

It made Ran start to understand what it must have felt like to be Makoto Asakura.

Ran: (Where did she even get an iron from??)

Ran: (Now this is a familiar sight.)

Ran immediately sought out and took ahold of Ann's arm.

Ran: Good morning, miss Sakura! What's everyone gathered for?

Ann: Good morning. Your hair's unusually neat this morning, Ran. Usually it's a lot messier.

Ran: Ah... uh... yeah. So, uh, what's going on?

Ann didn't immediately answer Ran. Her light breathing tickled Ran's heart.

Ann: Koizumi has died.

Even though she knew this was just another round of the killing game, Ann Sakura's calm voice was still enough to make her heart skip half a beat.

After that, came an overwhelming flood of shame from her memories, which submerged her.

She poked her head out of the swamp of shame as best as she could , trying to find a chance to catch a breath. Then she pushed her way through the crowd of students forcefully until she came to its forefront.

Ran: Koizumi...

Ran stood on the second floor balcony, and looked downwards.

Koizumi Hyuga was dangling, dead, in the middle of the air.

Ran: (Last night, even though I'd grabbed Koizumi-sensei, I still couldn't say a single useful word to her.)

Ran: (Even if she said she'd already made a decision, and that she'd already come to terms with our relationship, I knew that Koizumi-sensei's problems couldn't be solved so easily...)

Ran: (Last time she made her decision, she left the school, and this time she's left again via suicide...)

Ran: (Why torment me and Koizumi-sensei like this? For what reason was I even brought here??)

Ran: (No, calm down, it's not certain to be suicide, it's also very possible that it's only been disguised as a suicide,)

Ann: Ran? What's wrong?

Ran: Nothing. I just- I was just thinking.

Makoto: Well, if it wasn't a suicide, then the killer sure was a real dumbass this time around, committing the murder at the dorms.

Miho: Mhm. Everyone's paired up by the room, so if someone was conspicuously absent it should be quite easy to notice.

If Koizumi-sensei committed suicide, then would I be the one at fault?

Miho and Aya's style of argument is really the most difficult type, with both sides being completely convinced they're in the right and furthermore that they're acting in the best interests of the other side

Ran: Up until we all went to bed last night, Koizumi was still alive. The window of time where the murder could have happened is very short.

Ran: All we have to do is compare what we were all doing last night, and it should be pretty easy to start finding clues.

Miho: Let's start by asking Ann, then.

Miho: Ann, you're roommates with Koizumi. You must have been the last to see her, right?

Before Ann could answer, Sai interjected.

Sai: The last to see Koizumi was probably me. I prepared food pretty late into the night last night, and after Koizumi finished with her shower I even saw her wave hello to me.

Ran: Just Koizumi? Miss Sakura, you didn't shower with Koizumi?

Ran: (Even I'm a little uncomfortable asking something like that.)

Ann: That's right. When I asked Koizumi to come with me, she told me to go on ahead.

Ann: She looked like she was in a poor mood, so I didn't force her to come with me.

Ran: (It was because of her meeting with me, wasn't it. In the end it's still my fault.

Ann: After I returned, Koizumi didn't talk to me either. She waited until it was almost time to sleep before she went downstairs to shower.

Ann: She even turned the lights off, and told me to sleep first, and told me that she might be showering a bit longer than usual...

Ran: I see...

Aya: Welp, sure sounds a lot like suicide. Has the prez been down in the dumps lately?

Ran could imagine countless reasons that Koizumi might have chosen to kill herself, most of them having to do with Ran.

Ran: Let's first ask everyone when exactly they went to use the showers, and use that to start building a timeline of last night's events.

Ran: Sai, you washed first?

Sai: Yep. I was gonna go with Aya, but she washed with you I think.

Ran: And then after that was Makoto and Tama. I even had a short conversation with Aya about how clean the bathroom was after Tama tidied up.

Tama: Thank you for your praise, Ibuki-san!

Ann: And then it was me, and finally it was Koizumi.

Ran: Alright, let's write all that down and start investigating the corpse. We should wait to get Koizumi down until we're done gathering information.

Ran: (Clear signs of cutting. The rope was previously much longer than it is now.)

Ran: (If Koizumi-sensei killed herself, then she should have taken the rope to the second floor, tossed the noose end down to the lower floor, and then pulled the rope until the noose was at an appropriate height, before tying the rope to the guardrail here.)

Ran: (The excess length could be cut off after the knot was tied.

Ran stood up and leaned over the guardrail, looking down at the lower floor. Aya gave Ran a cheerful wave. The other students were gathered around Koizumi's corpse in discussion and analysis.

Ran: (If it was a homicide, the process would have been mostly the same. Or maybe the killer carried Koizumi-sensei's corpse to the second floor, before putting the noose around her neck and throwing her over the guardrail.)

Ran rubs the rope. A fair amount of detritus comes out. There was also plenty of detritus around the place where the rope had been tied to the guardrail.

Ran: (The rope seems quite old. Just casually touching it caused a bit of it to flake off.)

Ran looked at the fibrous debris in her hand, deep in thought.

Ran: (The rope is tied quite tightly. In a situation like this, both the ventral and dorsal sides of the neck will display prominent marks.)

Ran poked a finger between the rope and Koizumi's neck to try to make a gap, and was just barely able to see a bit of the skin under the rope on the back of Koizumi's neck.

Ran: (As expected, the back side of the neck shows streaks as well. If the culprit used this rope to strangle Koizumi-sensei to death, before stringing her up, then they may have tied the noose this tightly to cover up the unnatural marks.)

Ran: (But the scrape marks are very chaotic and difficult to judge. At most, all that can be discerned is that the marks were definitely caused by this rope; the patterns match perfectly.)

Koizumi Hyuga was wearing a white sleeping gown. It looked like she'd switched into it after she finished showering.

Ran noticed that there was some detritus on her shoulder. Based on the color, it looked like it'd come from the same rope that had been used to hang her.

Ran: Miss Sakura, could you tell me what Koizumi was wearing before she went to the showers?

Ann: Her uniform.

Ran nodded.

A chair that'd been carried over from the kitchen was lying on the floor. Whether the killer had put it there intentionally, or if Koizumi had kicked it over in the death throes of her suicide, it seemed like there were no clues to be had from it.

Ran circled it a few times and saw nothing noteworthy.

Ran: (Hmmm... doesn't seem like there's anything special.)

The fingers shouldn't be this clean (REQUIRES INVESTIGATION 7)

Nothing stands out

Use Temp Points

Ran: ...And that's about all I got off the corpse.

Miho: Then let's get Koizumi down from there and take her to the corpse storage room. We can also check her body for any other signs of injury there.

Sai: I'll carry her over, then. Her body's in pretty complete shape so I don't think we need a bodybag for this one.

Sai gets Makoto to help. Sai stands below Koizumi as Makoto cuts Koizumi loose from above with a pocketknife provided by Tama.

As the rope breaks, Koizumi's corpse lands in Sai's lap, and she adjusts Koizumi's position into a bridal carry.

Besides Koizumi's lips looking rather cyanotic, she looked just like she'd fallen asleep, with her head gently resting on Sai's chest.

Ran: Miss Sakura, have you found anything?

Ann: I'm thinking about where they got the rope. If it were me, I wouldn't even know where to go to find a rope that could be used to hang someone.

Ran: Yeah, there's not a lot of use for a rope that thick in everyday life.

Ann: There might be some in the tool shed, but you'd have to ask Makoto. The rest of us don't use the tool storage room very often.

Sai: So, how about some breakfast, Ibuki?

Sai suddenly popped out of the kitchen, giving Ran a bit of a fright.

Ran: Ah- Sai? You're here?

Sai: Always have been. Anyways, you want that breakfast or?

Ran: Miss Sakura, shall we have breakfast together?

Ann: Sure, let's.

They gathered in the kitchen. This time, Sai had prepared a western-style breakfast, but overall the meal was noticeably simpler than previous days' offerings.

Ann: You know, in the old days, it'd take a long time after the lots were drawn, for a murder to occur. Lately, it just feels like they've been happening one after the other.

Sai nodded and took a drink from her glass of milk. When she finished, she spoke.

Sai: Yeah, we don't even have time to eat breakfast properly anymore. Feels like it only started getting this way after Ibuki showed up.

Sai: And Asakura's changed a lot too because of you. Even though she's kind of got an attitude these days, it feels like she's changing for the better.

Ran: Hey, that's a baseless accusation. What's the increase in murder rates got to do with me?

Ran: (Got some breakfast in me. Time to get back to the investigation.)

Ran: Well, look who's got all this free time on her hands. Aren't you going to go look for the killer?

Aya: Eh, why bother? It's clearly a suicide. And I don't really feel like investigating.

Ran went and plopped herself down on the piano bench as well. The bench wasn't very large; the two of them wound up pretty close to each other.

Ran: I guess you're probably right. Still not going to tell me about why you and Miho had that argument?

Ran: (Yeah, figures. Might as well try a different tack.)

Ran took a glance at the crest sewn onto Aya's jacket, and poked at it a few times.

Ran: I never got a chance to ask before this. Did you sew this on yourself?

Aya: Ayep.

Aya proudly pulled at her jacket, displaying the crest.

Aya: Wouldn't have thought I had that kind of craftsmanship, eh? I made the crest and sewed it onto the jacket myself.

She designed and stitched the emblem herself. Aya's pretty adept with her hands- I bet she'd be way better at cooking than Miho

Ran: Yeah, I'm surprised. I thought for sure that was the handiwork of Miho.

Aya laughed.

Aya: Miho? No way Miho could makesomething like this.

Aya raised her head and tapped her neck choker. The starry decoration glittered.

Aya: She bought this for me as a present. Don't you think she's such a perv.

Ran: (...How the hell am I supposed to answer that question.)

Ran: So how come she bought you a choker like that?

Aya: Because I started a band with some friends. I got a bunch of my buds who also liked Led Zeppelin together with me and we started a rock-and-roll band.

Aya: That emblem is the symbol of our band. I made one for each of them.

Ran: Oh, that sounds impressive. I'm not super familiar with British 70's rock-n-roll, but.

Aya: You sure seem pretty familiar with it!

Ran: (Led Zeppelin, huh. Reminds me of that incident I ran into with the Ticket of the Observer. That one gave me a real scare.)

Ran: (I encountered a concert performance during that period of time where I was using the Ticket. Shame that I can't use it anymore.)

Ticket of the Observer

The Ticket of the Observer is an 8cm by 6cm round-trip ticket made of copper-lined paper. The left side of the ticket stub has a departure arrow drawn uon it. After an intelligent being rips the ticket at the dotted line, that being will be transported, within 0.1 seconds, to the scene of a major event caused by that intelligent being (the exact definition of 'major event' has been lost due to memory loss). The transportation is completely random, and unaffected by the passage of time.

After arriving at the destination, the torn ticket stub will reappear, with the departure arrow having been replaced by a return arrow. Ripping the ticket stub again will return the traveler to their point of origin, within 0.1 seconds.

Whenever an intelligent being goes twenty years without experiencing a major event, that being will immediately embark on a journey to find and obtain an Observer's Ticket. Such journeys always end with a successful discovery of a Ticket within 36 days at most. Whether or not the being in question uses the Ticket after acquiring it, however, is a decision left to them alone.

Ran Ibuki once utilized the Ticket to travel to a distant planet outside of the milky way. However, after using twelve separate Tickets, Ran Ibuki found that further Tickets would no longer take effect on her.

Aya: Though, Miho didn't like the band much.

Ran: Did you have your fight over that?

Aya: Is Ran-chan trying to trick me into showing my hand? Unfortunately, it was completely unrelated!

Aya rubbed the choker, showing a rare expression of vulnerability.

Aya: Even though she didn't like it much, Miho still supported me anyways. Whenever we had a concert she'd always attend.

Aya: This thing on my neck's because she thought that all rock-and-rollers wore weird flashy costume getups anyways, and she didn't want me to lose on that front.

Ran nodded.

Ran: I can understand Miho's way of thinking.

Ran: (These two have a really tight relationship. I really don't know why they've gotten in such a fierce argument.)

Aya: Me, honestly, I don't like flashy things like this, but she bought it for me, so I've definitely gotta wear it.

Aya: And it's fun to flaunt around too, hehe.

Ran: You like Miho that much, huh.

Aya: Of course. She's my favorite person in the world.

The more Miho and Aya flaunted their mutual affection, the more confused Ran was about why they would even fight in the first place.

Ran: (Honestly, I'm starting to think that the topic of their fight was just some completely pointless minor detail, at this point.)

Ran: Alright, I'm going to keep investigating now. Try not to slack off too hard, alright?

Aya: Excuse you, I'm not slacking off, I'm working hard writing new tunes.

Ran could only shrug at that, and left the music room.

Ran sat down at Ann Sakura's seat, and inhaled deeply.

Ran: (Hmm... Nope, smells nothing like her. Damn.)

Ran: (Alright.)

Ran: (The case this time doesn't seem to be all that complex at all. Seems like it should be pretty easy to reach the truth.)

Ran: (Though it also feels like there's not really any clues. Maybe I should see if there's any recall points on the notebook.)

Koizumi: Ibuki-san, in a bit, before dinner, do you have time?

Koizumi: I, I have something I want to tell you.

Ran: Oh, sure.

Koizumi: Really? Thank you...!

Koizumi took another step forward. Ran could tell from the color of her ears that the rate of her heartbeat must be going crazy.

Ran: Yeah. I'm looking forward to it as well, actually.

Koizumi: Looking forward- really? That's wonderful, then.

Koizumi only just then realized that she'd gotten maybe just a bit too close to Ran, so she took a small step backwards.

Ran: Because the one person in this school most familiar with miss Sakura is probably you, so I'm hoping to get some more insight on miss Sakura from you.

Ran: Because the one person in this school most familiar with miss Sakura is probably you, so I'm hoping to get some more insight on miss Sakura from you.

Koizumi: Oh. Sakura-san, huh.

Koizumi turned her gaze away from Ran, and smiled.

Koizumi: Then I'll see you there then.

Ran: Alright. I won't interrupt your studying anymore. Bye.

Koizumi: Bye, Ibuki-san.

Ran: (Even though, before, I chose to ask about why Tama's uniform was so different, after I've spent a bit more time with her, I feel like the yukata actually really fits her.)

Ran: (And she seems to have particular opinions about this outfit, as well. Let's ask her and see what happens.)

Ran: Tama, your outfit looks great, and it matches your hairstyle quite well.

Tama: Really! Thank you, Ibuki-san.

Tama set down the broom, turned around and raised her arms, and shook the long sleeves at Ran a few times.

Tama: Because fine clothes like this were only for the young mistresses, I was a little afraid to wear them.

Tama: When I visited the instructors, back then, I always had to wait by the window for my young mistress to finish her classes. I really wanted to wear clothes like them, and attend school just like them.

Tama: Not to mention how the young mistress and I had to run all over the place, after that earthquake. It was awful!

Tama Indou had shifted from her clipped, polite tone to an excited, high-pitched tone. Clearly she was in a great mood.

Tama: Really, I'm unbelievably happy with my life, these days. All the other students are so nice to me, and I get to wear such fine clothes as this too.

Foolish Past Ran: (Young mistress? And what did she mean exactly by not being able to wear the fine clothes?)

Foolish Past Ran: (Just what is Indou saying...)

A Ran Who Still Hasn't Put Two And Two Together: Tama, where did you live before you came to school here?

Tama: Eh? Over in Yokohama.

Ran: What? Yokohama? Wait, what did you say about an earthquake?

Ran: And your clothes... Could it be... How could...

After showering, encountering Sai Yano still preparing ingredients for tomorrow...

Future Ran: (I actually forgot to check up on Makoto at the time. Let's take a good look at her incredibly pissy attitude this time. It should be fairly entertaining.)

Ran opened the door and saw Tama nowhere. Only Makoto was in the room, and she was sitting in a chair with her legs propped up irreverently on the desk, one leg crossed over the other.

Her jacket was loose, and even the shirt underneath was half-unbuttoned. Her hairpin had vanished to who the hell knows where.

The Cooler Makoto: Oh, you're here for Tama, Ran. And here I thought you'd come to visit me.

Ran: Can't believe you changed this much. Now there's two Sai Yanos running around, ugh.

Makoto: What, is that not okay?

Ran: Nah, it's actually pretty nice.

Ran sat down on the opposite side of the desk as Makoto.

Ran: (She'd probably never anticipated that maybe this was a condition that suited her more, huh. Maybe if someone had helped her transform like this before, then Asakura wouldn't have killed herself.)

Ran: (Maybe Tama helped her?)

Makoto: Hey, did you say something to Tama after she came back to life?

Ran: Sure. I told her to yell at you for a while.

Makoto rested a finger on her chin and laughed uproariously.

Makoto: Well, she sure did her best to berate me, but mostly she was crying so hard that I couldn't even understand what she was saying.

Ran: Really? Looks to me like you've taken both her words and her tears to heart.

Makoto didn't correct Ran. She shrugged and continued.

Makoto: After this, I'm probably going to adjust the way I interact with her as well. There won't be a need to be so close with her, the way things were before.

Ran: Eh? What do you mean, 'no need to be so close'?

Makoto: Don't panic, I just meant relative to before.

Makoto grinned, pulling her legs off the table and leaning forward, letting her head rest in one hand.

Makoto: I betcha you thought I was Tama's master before, right? But from now on, who knows, maybe she'll be my master.

Ran: Can you two not fool around any other way.

Makoto's attitude convinced Ran that Tama and Makoto's relationship would only get better from then on, and in a way that was much more normal compared to how it used to be.

Ran: So where's Tama?

Makoto: Library.

Ran: She went all by herself? Won't it displease your master that she didn't bring you along?

Makoto: I see you're enjoying yourself at my expense too, ha. She went on her own. It looks like she's found something she wants to do even without me there to fuss with her, and she seems quite invested as well.

Ran: That's nice to hear.

Ran gets up from the table.

Ran: Looks like you two's issues are mostly resolved, so I'll be going.

Makoto: Ran, thank you for getting Tama to tell me those things. It's made me feel a little better, at least.

Ran: Really.

Makoto's new straightforward attitude made Ran want to say something else to tease her a bit more, but-

Ran: It's already pointless anyways.

Makoto: What?

Ran: Ah- nothing. I'm out, see you around.

Before Ran could leave the room, she felt Makoto grab her wrist.

Makoto: I can't help you with Sakura's memory loss issues. But anything else, such as...

Makoto paused, unsure whether she should continue. Her eyes flitted from the floor to the ceiling, then eventually settled on Ran's body.

Makoto: ...I don't really know what I can help you with. But if you need help with anything, come find me.

Ran remembered how, the first time they'd met, Makoto had said almost the exact same thing to Ran.

Ran: This time you sound a lot more sincere.

Makoto: Stop teasing me.

Grinning, Makoto let go of Ran's wrist.

Ran: Trust me, when I need your help I won't hesitate to ask. Bye.

Departing from Makoto's room, Ran noticed that the next room over's door- Miho and Aya's room- was only halfway closed.

Ran approached the door, and through the crack in the door, saw that Miho Takei was fussing about with something in the room.

Ran: Takei, what brought you back here?

Miho: Ah, Ibuki-san.

Miho: I was organizing some of my things to bring with me.

Ran: Eh? This close, if you want to use anything, you might as well just come back to your room to get them.

Miho: I don't want to run into Aya.

Miho: I don't want to run into Aya.

Miho: If you want to find her, head to the music room. She's definitely there.

Ran: I know.

Ran: (You want me to go find her, don't you.)

Ran: (If there's any opportunities to talk with Koizumi-sensei at all, I should try them. Even if there's no meaning to them, and if they're just going to make me feel worse, I don't want to just ignore her again.)

Ran: I saw you were still walking with a bit of a weird gait, so I came to check if you didn't come here to apply more medicine or something.

Koizumi: My apologies for making you worry.

Ran: S' fine.

Koizumi: I couldn't believe that Asakura-san would use a method like that. Tama-san must have been in a lot of pain.

Koizumi: The two of them are so close, but it also feels like it's not quite that simple.

Ran nodded.

Koizumi: I've never been able to build a close relationship with another person before, and after seeing the two of them it's honestly frightened me a little. Maybe it's best if I keep to the status quo.

Koizumi: Was my decision to start changing myself by building a relationship with Ibuki-san a mistake?

Koizumi laughed dryly.

Koizumi: Well, maybe I'm jumping the gun a little. I still haven't established much of a relationship with you yet after all, Ibuki-san.

Ran: Forget whether you've established a close relationship with me or not. I've already got miss Sakura, after all, so no matter who it is, there's no way they can possibly have any relationship with me.

Ran: If you ask me, I'd say that the problem doesn't lie with you. If you dislike your current self, then do everything you can to change it. Anything will do.

Koizumi nodded and smiled. She wanted to reach out and touch Ran, but didn't stretch her hand out.

Koizumi: Thank you, Ibuki-san. I feel like I've fallen for a really impressive person.

Ran: ...Please don't say things like that...

Whenever Koizumi showed any goodwill to Ran, her appearance after becoming a teacher would appear before Ran's eyes.

Ran: (No need to keep reminding me. I know that nothing I say will have any effect.)

Ran: You take care and rest up, now. I'll be going.

Koizumi: Okay. Take care, Ibuki-san.