Vol 3 Chapter 4 (2/2)

Now isn't this a bit e further, there was a mail order form with an email address attached The address shares the sah School, and the account name was ”somuiinkai” Satoshi+, surely the Executive Coin with, I've yet to seriously ask Satoshi+ what it is that he does in the Executive Committee

And then there's this elish naain, I have no problem with a name that's at least understandable to a japanese-speaker like me

All that remains to be seen on the site are links to other basic external sites, which don't reveal ot to sleep, so I switched off the computer and returned to my room As to how to fall asleep, I decided to worry about that after I crawl into my bed

047 - ♣15

I decided to take a walk during the night

Having just taken a bath not long before, ht breeze As it was late October, I could easily catch a cold if I'm not careful Hence I wore a jacket just to be safe

I could just about see the newwith the stars The weather was just as great today as it was yesterday As things go it'll probably be fine toood As a ood because it ood weather; as a ood because itto school; and for et to participate in as et to see the various clubs preparing and perfor all sorts of skills which I've only heard of It would be a pity if their chances to show off their skills were denied by the rain

For exaic Club's second year, Tayae of how the cup and ball trick actually works in my database, even I would not be able to perform it as well as he did That hy I applauded from the bottom of my heart By the hen I said I am unable to perform, it's not that I do not possess the skills, but it's h Just because I wanted to learn the secret to the cup and ball trick doesn't mean I wanted to try it out as well

You could say I am similar to Houtarou in this aspect

However, while Houtarou hi his three years at junior high, he wasn't exactly the worthless person he claims to be

I walked in the dark, under the streetlaed insects in the residential district As I earing sneakers, I could not hear ht TV shows from somewhere

Ever since entering Ka into contact with a rare ed Or I should say, he's revealed his true worth And since then he has demonstrated his sharpness, his clarity of vision, or perhaps instinct, deductive skills if you will, which I had never known he had before Ever since that day when Chitanda-san was siy Room, I have been amazed by him many ti He has beco secret poithin him

There was a saying that a skilled hawk hides its talons[2] When I discovered Houtarou's hawk side, deep inside, did I truly feel happy for him?

This is why I have decided not to expect Houtarou to solve the ”Juumoji” incident, as it's not suitable for a person like him Instead, I will be the one to do it

Originally, I would not have been able to seek out the truth using ht now, in order to be able to look up to my friend's eyes, I decided to mimic him I am well aware of how shameful this is All this talk about how this is to ”promote the name of the Classics Club,” that's all just an excuse

That I understand very well

Well, even a grade school student would be able to come up with excuses like that

Now then

The potential suspects for the phantom thief ”Juumoji” are numerous As expected from Houtarou's sharp observation, ”How rounds during the Cultural Festival? And that's not counting that we have nearly a thousand students”

This kind of scenario is often found not just in detective novels, but also in real life investigations as well This is true even for a small scale crime In order to pinpoint the identity of the culprit, we must first narron the suspects

From within the six billion people in this world, suspects would be narrowed down by first investigating into details like travel patterns or personal circumstances For example, if there were a murder within a mountain mansion that was surrounded by mountain fire, the killer would no doubt be someone within theoff) If a rich young lady gets killed in her holiday retreat, then the killer would be so these patterns, the culprit could be narrowed down to around a dozen, by which we could begin investigating their alibis

However, the ”Juumoji” incident was different

The thefts did not occur in any sealed environment As the A Capella Club had their cooler box outside, anyone could have stolen its contents if they wished; the Go Club did not have a lock in their roo association only had one person, so the culprit only needed to ithin the restrooeted when they decided to leave the rooic Club yesterday Not knohen the item was stolen, anybody could be a suspect, hidden within the sea of anonymity

First, the culprit is no doubt a student of our school It's difficult to conceive of so like this and carrying it out for two consecutive days But this still means there are nearly a thousand suspects A thousand! It would be a bit silly and pointless to declare ”The suspect is ast these thousand people!” Even a proper law enforce the alibis of a thousand people

The only place that was strange was The Cooking Club If I were to believe their president who said they had prepared a ladle, then it means the ladle was stolen just before the Wild Fire contest began As the culprit had the time to prepare a declaration of crime and the Kanya Festival Guide, there was a possibility that the culprit had come from within

However, wouldClub want to obstruct the Wild Fire tournament, which requires a lot of meticulous preparation? A ladle is one of the most basic kitchen utensils What if we had decided to make a stew dish instead? It would have quickly aroused suspicion Surely it would et like the Occult Studies Club ([O]KARUTO KEN オカルト研) or the ”Cheering Club ([O]UENDAN 応援団) and Cheerleading Club Combined”

I decided to discard that possibility

Then how am I supposed to trim down the number of suspects from these thousand people?

Then again, a serial killer or serial arsonist would have been difficult to find as the suspect base would be huge In most detective fiction, they would usually have to wait for the culprit to commit their next act before they could for one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes stories, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, no one could figure out who the culprit hen the first Napoleon bust was smashed

That's it By waiting for the incidents to accumulate, we can then identify the co this link lure the culprit to commit his next act (By the hile this co link,” I just realized the ” So which one is correct? To quote Chitanda-san: I'm really curious about it!)

The only piece of detective work I can do is to wait at the next scene of crime That's the only way

By waiting at the scene, the culpritbehind clues which could significantly narron the nu for him to make a mistake

Had I realized the culprit had stolen soic Club before the show had started, but only left his crime declaration after it had ended, I would have stayed behind Surely not everyone who had remained in Class 2-D's classrooic performance

In that case, I need to wake up early to in the et, a club that starts with [KU] While I'm not that confident with my own observational skills, I'll definitely find any clues left behind by ”Juumoji”

The world e for me to find conclusions fro if I could amaze myself

I made a heel turn under the residential streets lit by the et

Translator's notes and references

Juourdski/

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