After swimming class ended, the students packed up in small groups and left. The damp air still carried the pool's distinct smell of disinfectant.
"I never thought Class D could be this good. That match between Uesugi and Koenji just now had me on the edge of my seat." Passing students discussed it in hushed voices, their words full of surprise as the topic rippled through the crowd.
"I'm sorry you had to see me make a fool of myself, Sakayanagi." Uesugi Hara stood beside Sakayanagi Arisu, speaking calmly, as if the loss had been nothing more than an inconsequential warm-up.
Sakayanagi Arisu gently brushed a windblown strand of hair from her face, the corners of her lips curving into a faint smile. "How could I possibly have laughed at you, Uesugi-kun?"
Her gaze settled on the crowd gradually dispersing beside the pool, and a hint of interest crept into her voice. "It's fascinating in itself when something upends an outcome everyone had taken for granted."
She turned toward Uesugi Hara beside her. In the sunlight, her pale eyes seemed like glass steeped in water. "Besides, isn't the occasional 'surprise' more exciting than the tedium of always winning? It makes you look forward to what happens next."
Uesugi Hara followed her gaze to the ripples still fading across the pool. His fingers absently rubbed the ends of his freshly dried hair. "You're right. But losing to Class D as a 'surprise' will probably keep quite a few people up tonight."
Sakayanagi Arisu chuckled and straightened her skirt. "Then let them lose sleep. After all, the real contest never takes place in the pool—look." She nodded toward a short distance away. "Ayanokoji-kun seems to be waiting for Horikita."
Following her gesture, they saw Ayanokoji Kiyotaka leaning against the railing, holding two unopened bottles of sports drink. Horikita Suzune had just draped a towel over her shoulder and was walking toward him at an unhurried pace.
They stopped a few steps apart and exchanged a few words. Ayanokoji held out one of the bottles. Horikita hesitated, then accepted it.
"See? A new signal always follows a 'surprise.'" Sakayanagi Arisu turned away and started walking. "Kamuro, once you're ready, could you get the book I left in the lounge for me? We've made an interesting discovery today, so perhaps it's time to reconsider our plans."
Kamuro answered, "Yes," then went to change.
Uesugi Hara watched Sakayanagi Arisu's slender figure disappear around the corridor, then glanced back at the two by the pool. Horikita had opened her drink, while Ayanokoji kept his eyes lowered. No one could tell what he was thinking.
The ripples on the water slowly settled, yet it was as if they had left ripples in everyone's heart.
Over the next few days, nothing much happened, and Uesugi Hara was so bored that he often went to the library.
It was quiet there, a good place to avoid all the pointless chatter around campus. More importantly, he could get away for a while from a certain energetic little girl who was always bothering him.
The reading area on the third floor of the library was nearly empty. Sunlight streamed through the blinds, casting long bars of light across the tables.
Uesugi Hara walked softly between the towering rows of shelves.
The wooden shelves held the stillness peculiar to old books. Sunlight slipped through the gaps, tracing thin bands across the floor and just touching his fingertips as they skimmed the spines.
His gaze swept quickly over row after row of labels, ranging from "Classic Detective Fiction" to "Great Social Mysteries." His fingers paused on a worn-out mystery novel—the old, repeatedly reprinted edition of The Greek Coffin Mystery, its spine rubbed pale.
He let his fingertips linger briefly on the gilded title, then quickly moved on. He had yet to reach the section he was looking for: contemporary mystery novels.
The musty scent of paper mingled with the fresh fragrance of plants drifting in from outside, and his steps grew even more leisurely.
As he rounded the last shelf, the sign for "Contemporary Mysteries" came into view at the far end. His pace unconsciously quickened. But as he drew closer, he suddenly stopped—a petite figure was reaching on tiptoe for a book on the top shelf. Her light gray hair swayed with the movement, and her focused violet eyes were fixed on the spines.
It was Shiina Hiyori, the elite monster who respawned on a regular schedule in the library.
"Do you need a hand, Shiina?"
Shiina Hiyori turned around in surprise, clutching a half-pulled-out book. When she saw that the visitor was Uesugi Hara from Class A, some of the wariness in her violet eyes faded. "Uesugi-kun..." She lifted the copy of The Museum of Mysteries in her hands, her voice still somewhat reserved. "I was looking for this one. I heard its analysis of tricks is quite unusual."
Uesugi Hara reached up, took the book down from the top shelf, and handed it to her. He noticed the "New Arrivals" label on its spine and said calmly, "It's the newly released expanded edition. It includes previously unpublished notes on the author's creative process. The 'Crimson Cross' case uses a blind spot in habitual thinking to build its trick. The idea isn't particularly new, but the logic is sound."
Shiina Hiyori hugged the book and stepped aside. Her gray hair fell over her shoulders as she watched him quietly with violet eyes. "Are you interested in this kind of thing too, Uesugi-kun?" Her tone still held the coolness of someone accustomed to being alone. "I thought The Tragedy of Y would be more groundbreaking, but the nested false solution in the 'Revenge Diary' gives the closed loop of logic a new dimension." She lowered her head and began flipping through the book, her fingertip gliding lightly across the page as if organizing her thoughts.
"The core of that one is the 'paradox of family order.'" Uesugi Hara glanced at the book in her arms, then seemed to recall something and pulled another book from the shelf. "If you like multiple twists, this one might be worth a look. It's by a new author. The arrangement of library shelves becomes the basis for an alibi trick, which also seems fitting given where we are."
Shiina Hiyori accepted the book. Her violet eyes lingered on the pages for a moment. She seemed a little awkward when her fingertips touched the cover, but still spoke earnestly. "Using everyday elements in a mystery... That's clever."
She paused, seeming to hesitate over whether to say more. "Uesugi-kun, do you study the logic of mysteries purely out of interest, or..." She let the words trail off, lowering her eyes to the spine as if the faint scratches there concealed an answer.
Uesugi Hara ran his fingers over the spine of the mystery novel and answered in an even voice. "The logical games in mysteries are sometimes fundamentally the same as the undercurrents between people in real life. In both cases, you have to pick out the key threads from a tangle of clues."
Sunlight streamed through the gap between the shelves separating them, illuminating the printed words on the open pages.
Shiina Hiyori remained as quiet as she usually was when alone, but a hint of anticipation about their conversation had quietly appeared in her violet eyes.
Watching her, Uesugi Hara suddenly felt that this trip to the library had taken on a different meaning, thanks to their conversation, reserved as it was.
Shiina Hiyori lowered her eyes and flipped through the book in her hands. Light and shadow shifted in her violet eyes. After a while, she spoke again. "Uesugi-kun, you said earlier that the logic of mysteries was similar to relationships in real life..." She gently touched a note about a trick on the page. "Does that mean that in real life, too, people might lay plans and lead others along, like they're setting up a mystery?"
Uesugi Hara leaned against the bookshelf, rubbing the spine of the book he had just taken out. "Competition between classes and the games people play with one another at school are basically a series of 'mystery games' with unspoken rules. For example..."
He glanced around the quiet reading area. "Someone might gather information through seemingly casual conversation, then piece the fragments together like a jigsaw puzzle and make a plan. It's the same logic as a murderer using everyday details to cover up traces of a crime in a detective novel."
Shiina Hiyori's violet eyes widened slightly. She closed the book with a soft sound. "I see... When I read mysteries, I usually focus on the tricks in the cases themselves. I never thought to relate them to real life."
She hesitated, then nudged the book toward him. "Your understanding of mysteries is... very unique. Next time—if I come across an interesting mystery novel, could we... could we discuss it together?"
The words at the end were as soft as a sigh, but they still made Uesugi Hara pause.
He looked at Shiina Hiyori as she turned her face away, sneaking glances at him from the corner of her eye. Remembering how solitary she usually seemed, he smiled faintly at the tentative way she had reached out. "Sure. If there's something you want to discuss, Shiina, just ask."
Shiina Hiyori abruptly looked up. A flash of delight crossed her violet eyes, but she quickly pressed her lips together to hide it. Hugging the book, she said softly, "Then... then next week, at the same time, I'll bring the new book I borrowed, The Closed Door. I heard it's a 'reverse mystery,' told from the killer's perspective. It challenges the reader to match wits with the detective..."
The sun sank lower, casting long, slanting shadows from the shelves over the two of them.
Uesugi Hara watched Shiina Hiyori leave with the book in her arms. Her steps were still somewhat tentative, but she seemed much lighter than when she had arrived.
He lowered his gaze to the mystery novel in his hands. The creases in its pages seemed to hold a promise, and the corners of his lips lifted without him realizing it. He had come to the library to get some peace and quiet, only to stumble into a wonderful new journey—one about mysteries, and about breaking through solitude.