Maybe she felt embarrassed.
Ibuki's voice grew quieter.
"You brought fourteen books with you?" Oreki said.
"..." Ibuki said. "I told you, didn't I? I have to read one book every day, like it's a task."
Then good for you.
"Do you still want to settle things with Horikita?" Oreki asked.
"You checked our scores?"
"Horikita Suzune!" Ibuki's mood seemed to sink slightly. "That girl has a slightly higher score than me, but as long as I stay near today's final randomly designated area, I'll have a good chance of getting a high score tomorrow."
Then, as if adding an explanation, she said,
"I didn't get the Points for the fourth basic movement today."
The first three basic movement scores each day followed a pattern, but the fourth was random and could be assigned somewhere far away.
So it was normal that she hadn't gotten it.
It was just that—
Some time ago,
because of the Precognitive Dream, Oreki and Ibuki had crossed paths before.
Back then, Little Sakayanagi had tricked him into hugging her, turning him into a pervert who assaulted little girls.
Then, because he knew Ibuki, he had managed to get out of it.
But Ibuki had also become a police officer back then.
So why had she changed her mind? No matter how he looked at it, she didn't seem like someone who would become a police officer.
And—
back then, she had said, "You still call Hiyori Shiina?"
That had seemed strange.
If he didn't call Shiina by her surname, then what was he supposed to call her?
But asking Ibuki now was probably useless.
"Here's some water." Oreki took out the unopened bottle of mineral water Ichinose had given him.
"..." Ibuki said, "Are you pitying me?"
"Do you know our class is selling