"I came to interview the Junior Detective League—the one in your class."
Masato Sugimori stated his purpose, interrupting Sumiko Kobayashi's wandering thoughts.
She froze at his words, then thought for a moment before a puzzled look appeared on her face. "You mean that group Kojima and the others formed?"
Masato Sugimori nodded. "The Junior Detective League. I'd heard about those kids' exploits long ago, so I wanted to interview them for material."
"But what material could they possibly have?"
Sumiko Kobayashi said in confusion, "They're just a few children playing house because they think it's fun. Aside from looking for lost cats and dogs, there's nothing worth interviewing them about..."
"That's because you don't understand the situation."
Masato Sugimori crossed one leg over the other and said confidently, "I've already looked into it. They often help the police solve murder cases, and sometimes they even act as assistants to Detective Fujino. Just like England's Junior Detective League."
"Is... that so?"
Sumiko Kobayashi frowned as she considered it. "That child does seem quite clever, but... murder cases and all that... shouldn't that be Detective Fujino's doing?"
"That's exactly why I need to interview them! The theme of my article is 'The Junior Detective League and Sherlock Holmes Revived in the Twenty-First Century'!"
"Sher... Sherlock Holmes?"
Sumiko Kobayashi looked utterly lost. Clearly, she was not a Sherlock Holmes fan.
"That's right! It's the hottest topic right now!"
"The coincidental Sherlock Holmes of the twenty-first century, and the coincidental Junior Detective League!"
"It's precisely because they happened to coincide that they'll draw the audience's attention!"
As Masato Sugimori spoke, his face lit up with excitement, his eyes full of longing for gold coins, savings, and Cullinan fragments.
Sumiko Kobayashi was briefly left speechless. She could not quite understand what the man in front