Evening.
Around seven.
Oreki got up groggily.
Although he had slept for less than two hours,
he had recovered enough energy.
At least he could go out and get something to eat.
The cafeteria was out of the question.
He had plenty of money, so he might as well pick a decent restaurant.
But as soon as he got downstairs...
"You again?"
Oreki wheeled his bicycle outside.
"Sorry it's me again."
Kamuro Masumi put on her helmet.
She gestured for Oreki to get on.
"No thanks. It's more convenient for me to ride my bike."
Oreki declined Kamuro Masumi's invitation.
"Is that so?"
Kamuro Masumi didn't press him.
She quickly started her motorcycle and rode off.
"...She really left."
Oreki sat on his bicycle helplessly.
Oh well.
Compared to riding on that ridiculous motorcycle, his bicycle made him feel safer.
Since Kamuro Masumi hadn't mentioned a location,
it had to be the same place as last time.
In other words, the library.
"I'll take my time getting there."
Oreki pedaled along without much thought.
As a result, it took him several dozen minutes to reach the library.
"This time, we're meeting outside?"
He parked his bicycle by the roadside.
"I'm sorry for calling you out so late."
Sakayanagi rose from the bench.
She looked quite pleased.
"If it's something important, I don't mind."
Oreki walked over to Sakayanagi.
"Mm, I'm not sure whether you'd call it important."
"Don't tell me... Kiyoko already came up with an answer?"
"Correct."
"So that really was it..."
Oreki grumbled inwardly.
He'd only said it offhand.
He hadn't expected Kiyoko to submit her answer first.
But the condition for winning was whether the answer was right,
not how quickly it was given.
"So? Who did she suspect?"
"The sponsor's daughter."
"Why?"
"She coveted the painting's value. It's not particularly expensive, but apparently it's worth several hundred million yen."
—And that counted as not particularly expensive?
Oreki didn't know what to say.
A young lady's sense of money was probably different from an ordinary person's.
"And how did she commit the crime?"
"She used a timer to short-circuit the electrical box in the employees' lounge, causing a blackout in the main exhibition hall."
"And then she swapped out the masterpiece?"
"Mm."
"That's quite a stretch."
Oreki spoke indifferently.
He'd thought she would come up with some brilliant deduction.
But that was all?
What a disappointment.
"It seems you have a better explanation."
"Not really... but at least it's a lot more plausible than that."
"I'm looking forward to hearing it."
Sakayanagi smiled.
To her, this might have been nothing more than a game.
But Oreki didn't see it that way.
Because he had a vague feeling that the truth would surprise everyone.
And even...
—It might be better not to reveal the truth.
Oreki thought.
"I need you to help me gather a few things."
"What are they?"
"It's..."
He leaned close to Sakayanagi's ear and whispered.
After she had listened,
"Sure... I'll probably send them to your phone a little after eight."
"Mm. If there's nothing else, I'll get going."
"By all means."
Sakayanagi replied calmly.
And so, Oreki left the library.
Influenced by Sakayanagi, Oreki decided to take care of business first.
A while later.
The school post office.
At least this place didn't close early.
"Sorry to bother—"
Oreki knocked on the door.
The owner, who was lying back in his chair, opened his eyes.
"What is it? If you want to buy stamps..."
"No."
"Then envelopes or something else..."
"Not that either."
"?"
The owner got up from his chair.
He eyed Oreki suspiciously.
A literary type of student.
Neat, clean clothes...
He didn't look like the sort of delinquent who came looking for trouble, either.
"If you don't need anything, you should leave."
"I do need something."
Oreki showed him the picture on his phone.
It was the anonymous letter mentioned by the art museum director.
There was no stamp on it.
So someone must have put it directly into the art museum's mailbox.
As mentioned earlier, the handwriting
was probably that of a left-handed person.
Though they had tried to disguise it as right-handed...
that might fool an ordinary person.
Someone observant would notice the subtle differences.
The only thing left was the stationery.
Oreki had already looked into that.
It had been bought here.
"Do you sell this kind of stationery?"
"Let me see..."
The owner took Oreki's phone.
He studied the picture for a while, then handed the phone back.
"Third row from the left, second shelf."
"Thanks."
Oreki went in the direction he had indicated.
He found it soon enough.
—This is the one.
He picked up a sheet of stationery and compared it to the picture on his phone.
It was an exact match.
That confirmed the person who sent the anonymous letter to the art museum had been here.
Since they had come here...
—Checking the surveillance footage might reveal a new clue.
Oreki took a sheet of stationery to the counter and paid.
"One hundred yen."
"Mm."
After paying, Oreki left the school post office.
When asking around, it was best to buy something while he was at it.
Otherwise, coming back another time would be a hassle.
It was only one hundred yen, anyway.
It was already past eight,
but Oreki still wanted to go to the surveillance room first.
It was better to clear some things up sooner rather than later.
"Phew..."
After parking his bicycle downstairs,
Oreki jogged to the surveillance room.
"Is anyone there?"
He gave the door a brief knock.
The sound of a chair moving suddenly came from inside.
"Just a moment!"
It was the security team leader he had met earlier.
When the door opened,
the man apologized with a smile.
"Sorry, sorry, I was just... You?"
Seeing that his visitor wasn't a school administrator, he stopped smiling.
"What are you doing here? It's late. Kids should be back in their dorms and asleep."
—A kid?
Oreki frowned.
What a joke.
Did he think Oreki was a little kid?
"Let me take a look at the surveillance footage."
"No."
The security guard flatly refused.
He said sternly:
"You can't just watch the surveillance footage whenever you want. You need to go to..."
He rambled on and on.
It could've been summed up in one short phrase.
That was...
Passing the buck.
No one wanted to take responsibility.
If responsibility was the ball,
then passing the buck was just kicking it away.
"So you can slack off and play games in the surveillance room..."
"But I can't do what I want?"
"Is that right?"
Oreki shot back.
Clearly, this security guard had already been chewed out over the matter.
He was a little touchy about it.
"You're just a student..."
"Most of the people who come here are from prominent families. You'd better think carefully about the consequences."
"..."
"Besides, I recorded our conversation just now."
Oreki took his phone from his pocket and turned the screen toward him.
"That's not all."
"I've also got records of you throwing your weight around."
"You're Uehara Akimizu from Security Team Two, right?"
Oreki opened a file on his phone.
It was a video, a little over thirty seconds long.
"Impossible... Where did you get that?"
As he spoke, he reached for Oreki's phone.
But there was no need to think twice.
He wasn't going to succeed.
As mentioned earlier, Oreki was in pretty good shape.
"Don't get so worked up."
Oreki quickly dodged.
He shook the phone in his right hand.
"This is easy to settle."
"Just like I said earlier."
"I only want to borrow the surveillance room for a bit."
--To be continued
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