Gray Life (7)

"Old Maid."

"...Not interested."

Oreki shook his head.

As expected, even though Sakayanagi was wrapped in nothing but a towel, she still hadn't shaken that bad habit of hers.

The bad habit of selectively ignoring what other people said.

According to statistics,

most people experienced the following:

When they weren't alone...

the less they wore, the more self-conscious they felt.

And once they felt self-conscious, their usual demeanor changed drastically.

For example...

Someone who was normally carefree

would become very shy at times like that.

Someone who was normally shy...

Uh, they'd become even shyer.

"I'll play, but..."

"But?"

"Let's use something else as the prize."

"Oh...then what do you want?"

"I..."

Oreki's gaze inadvertently fell on Sakayanagi's ___.

It was very flat...

but still quite attractive.

Small things were cute too, weren't they?

"Hmm?"

Sakayanagi followed Oreki's gaze.

She quickly figured out the answer.

"Pervert."

"It was just a coincidence."

"Really..."

"You don't believe me?"

"I don't."

"Then think whatever you want."

"You really are a pervert."

"Sure, sure..."

Oreki said nonchalantly.

At their age, it was only natural to be curious.

He just needed to keep it under control.

It was only a problem if he let it run wild.

"Then let's change..."

"It's fine. Let's play."

"Huh?"

"I said...let's~"

"...You're serious?"

"Of course."

"You won't regret it?"

"I won't."

"...Maybe we shouldn't."

After an intense inner struggle,

reason won out.

So Oreki chose to refuse.

After all, Sakayanagi's Father was downstairs.

Who knew when he'd be back?

If he happened to see them like that...

it would definitely leave a bad impression, wouldn't it?

"You don't need to worry about that."

Sakayanagi suddenly spoke.

She confidently took out her phone.

There was a message from Sakayanagi's Father on it.

"Look."

"...I have something to take care of tonight. I might be home very late?"

"That's right."

"Wait! But just a moment ago..."

"Don't worry."

"...Was this your plan all along?"

"Hm? I don't know what you're talking about."

Sakayanagi chuckled.

That smug expression of hers made him really want to give her a good ___.

Oreki shook his head.

—No...no...

There was a lot of information in what she'd just said.

It wouldn't do to let himself get distracted by that sort of thing.

—Had she known this would happen in advance?

—But why...

—Come to think of it, I think I saw someone else by the window just now.

Oreki began to think.

The scattered pieces gradually came together.

Average height.

Long hair, and he claimed to have an artistic flair.

Black-framed glasses.

A man...

"So that's what happened."

"That middle-aged man I saw earlier came to see you."

"Am I right?"

Oreki hadn't paid much attention to the man before.

But now that he thought back on it...

the more familiar he seemed.

"As expected of you, Houtarou."

It was the first time Sakayanagi had called him by name.

She was curious about how far Oreki had gotten with his deduction.

"Please, go on."

"Go on?"

"Of course. You must know what method I used, right?"

"You're giving me too much credit."

"Is that so?"

"Fine...it was because of that painting?"

"Mm."

"Money laundering?"←(Ұ)

"More or less."

"Could it have been something like 'a gift from an alumnus'?"

"I didn't expect you to have such sharp instincts, Houtarou."

"...It was just a lucky guess."

Oreki said dismissively.

He'd thought of it so quickly only because he'd seen this sort of thing far too often.

Some school in Japan, alumni from some graduating class.

One day, they'd suddenly donate a precious stone worth several million yen to the school.

Several million...

A precious stone...

Yeah.

How much of that in between was _____?

"Did you know from the start that the painting was a fake?"

"Who knows?"

"You..."

"Let's leave that aside for now."

Sakayanagi happily clapped her hands together.

She said:

"Let's play a game."

"No. We need to get to the bottom of this first."

"Ehh—"

"We have to."

"Fine...ask me whatever you want."

Sakayanagi lay on the sofa, her interest gone.

What a terrible position.

Her ___ was just barely visible...

Her glistening toes...

What a pity.

An ordinary guy might not have been able to resist.

But Oreki...

he was more concerned about what had happened at the art museum.

"You knew from the beginning that the painting was fake, but you still asked me to find the culprit."

"This wasn't a simple request."

"If that's the case..."

Oreki nodded.

This had all been planned by Sakayanagi's Father.

That made sense.

How could someone who'd reached his current position in Japan be so simple?

Oreki had nearly been fooled by his kind, harmless facade.

"While gaining a pawn, he also wanted to test what I could do."

"Mm-hmm."

"If I didn't perform well, he'd cut off your relationship with me."

"But you did very well."

"...Maybe."

Oreki finally sighed.

He'd thought Sakayanagi's Father was like any ordinary person.

But now...

father and daughter were much alike.

They seized on any opportunity to get leverage over someone.

Then they used that person as their own pawn.

That middle-aged man was pretty pitiful too.

If he didn't go to Sakayanagi's Father for help, then if the truth came out, he'd surely be thrown to the wolves as a scapegoat.

But if I went to ask...

I'd probably lose the easy life where I made money lying around.

More accurately, I'd lose the easy life.

I could still make plenty of money.

"Any other questions?"

"No."

"Then let's play a game!"

"Mm..."

Oreki glanced at his phone.

It was almost eleven at night.

At this hour, he'd normally already be asleep in bed.

Sakayanagi brought over a box of cards.

The game of Old Maid was simple.

It was different from drawing cards to find the Old Maid.

It required at least two players.

After placing all the cards on the table, the two players took turns drawing one card from it.

If they had a pair, they could lay it down.

Then they drew another card.

And so on...

Until there were no cards left on the table.

At that point, the players had to draw cards from each other.

The last person left holding the Old Maid lost.

"Wait!"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Something's not right... You haven't said what you want, have you?"

"Is that so?"

"Definitely."

"You must be remembering it wrong~"

"No, no... I'm sure I remember."

Oreki waved his hand.

If Sakayanagi didn't spell it out, he absolutely wouldn't start the game.

Who knew what devious plan she had in mind?

What if she pulled some sneaky stunt...

Maybe she'd say that if she won, she could do something or other...

That was close. This girl was setting traps everywhere.

Oreki grumbled to himself.

When she saw that her attempt to bluff him had failed, Sakayanagi had no choice but to give up for now.

She sat up on the sofa.

"Fine. Then if I win..."