Gray Life (7)

"Old Maid."

"...Not interested."

Oreki shook his head.

As expected, even though Sakayanagi was currently wrapped in nothing but a bath towel, she still couldn't shake that bad habit of hers.

That bad habit of selectively ignoring what others said.

According to statistics.

Most people experience the following:

When they aren't alone...

The less they wear, the more shame they feel.

Once they feel shame, their usual demeanor changes drastically.

For example...

Someone who is usually boisterous.

At a time like this, they would become very shy.

Someone who is usually shy...

Uh, they would become even shyer.

"We can play, but..."

"But?"

"Let's change the prize."

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

"I..."

Oreki's gaze inadvertently landed on Sakayanagi's chest.

Very flat...

But still quite attractive.

Small and cute, too?

"Hmm?"

Sakayanagi followed Oreki's gaze.

She quickly knew the answer.

"Pervert."

"It was just an accident."

"Eh..."

"Don't believe me?"

"I don't, actually."

"Then think whatever you want."

"You really are a pervert."

"Yes, yes..."

Oreki said indifferently.

At this age, it's normal to feel curious.

A little self-control is all it takes.

Only by letting it run wild would something happen.

"Then let's change—"

"Never mind, let's play."

"Huh?"

"I said... let's~"

"...Are you serious?"

"Of course."

"You won't regret it?"

"I won't."

"...Forget it."

After a fierce internal struggle.

Reason prevailed.

And so, Oreki chose to refuse.

Because Sakayanagi's father was downstairs.

Who knew when he might return?

If he happened to see that scene...

He would surely be left with a bad impression, right?

"Don't worry about that."

Sakayanagi spoke up suddenly.

She confidently pulled out her phone.

On it was a message from Sakayanagi's father.

"Look."

"...Busy tonight, might be home very late?"

"Indeed."

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

"Rest assured."

"...Did you plan this?"

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

Sakayanagi chuckled.

That smug expression really made one want to thoroughly ___ her.

Oreki shook his head.

No... that's not it...

Her words just now contained quite a bit of information.

It wouldn't do to be distracted by such things.

Did she know this would happen all along?

But why...

Come to think of it, I think I saw someone else by the window earlier.

Oreki began to think.

Many scattered fragments gradually pieced themselves together.

Medium height.

Long hair that claimed to have an artistic flair.

Black-rimmed glasses.

Male...

"So that's how it is."

"The middle-aged man I saw earlier came to find you."

"Am I right?"

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

But looking back on it now...

He felt increasingly familiar.

"As expected of Houtarou."

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

She was very curious about how far Oreki's deduction had reached.

"Please, continue."

"Continue?"

"What else? You must know what method I used, right?"

"You overestimate me."

"Is that so?"

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

"Mm."

"Money laundering?"

"Something like that."

"It couldn't be something like 'gifted by an alumnus,' could it?"

"I didn't expect your intuition to be quite so sharp, Oreki."

"...Just a coincidence."

Oreki said dismissively.

Being able to think of it instantly was merely because he had seen too many similar things.

(Japan) schools, some graduating class or another.

One day, suddenly gifting the school expensive stones worth millions.

Millions...

Expensive stones...

Hmm.

Wasn't a large portion in the middle just _____?

"You couldn't have known it was a fake painting all along, could you?"

"Who knows?"

"You guy..."

"Let's put that aside for now."

Sakayanagi clapped her hands together happily.

She said:

"Let's play a game."

"No. We must clear this up before playing."

"Eh--"

"We must."

"Fine... ask whatever you want."

Sakayanagi lay back on the sofa, looking uninterested.

What a terrible position.

The faint glimpse of _____...

Crystal-clear toes...

A pity.

If it were anyone else, they might really lose their composure.

But as for Oreki...

He was still more concerned about the matter at the art gallery.

"You knew the painting was fake from the start, yet you still had me find the culprit."

"This wasn't exactly a simple request."

"If that's the case..."

Oreki nodded.

This was all orchestrated by Sakayanagi's father.

That made sense.

To reach his current status in Japan, how could he be anything simple?

He had almost been deceived by his kind, gentle facade.

"While acquiring a pawn, you were also testing my capabilities."

"Mm-hmm."

"If I hadn't performed well, you would have cut ties with me."

"But you performed very well."

"...Perhaps."

Oreki finally sighed.

He had thought Sakayanagi's father was like a normal person.

But looking at it now...

The father and daughter were much the same.

Whenever they had the chance, they would seize someone's weakness.

Then use that person as their own pawn.

That middle-aged man was pitiful enough.

If he hadn't begged Sakayanagi's father, he surely would have been thrown out as a scapegoat once the matter came to light.

But if he were to ask...

The easy life of earning money while lying down would likely be gone.

To be precise, it was the easy life that would be gone.

He could still earn plenty of money.

"Any more questions?"

"None."

"Then let's play a game!"

"Mm..."

Oreki glanced at his phone.

It was already past eleven at night.

At this hour, on any other day, he would have long been asleep in bed.

Sakayanagi brought over a deck of cards.

The Old Maid game was very simple.

It was different from drawing cards from a hand.

The game required at least two players.

After placing all the cards on the table, both sides would take turns drawing one card from the table.

If one had a matching pair, they could discard them.

Then, they would draw another card.

And so on...

Until there were no cards left on the table to draw.

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

In the end, whoever was left holding the Joker lost.

"Wait!"

"Hm, what's wrong?"

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

"Is that so?"

"Absolutely."

"You must have remembered wrong~"

"No, no... I definitely didn't remember wrong."

Oreki waved his hand.

Unless Sakayanagi made it clear, he would absolutely not start the game.

Who knew what kind of devious scheme she was cooking up in her head?

What if she pulled some historical revisionism...

Claiming that if she won, she could do such-and-such...

How dangerous, this person sets traps everywhere.

Oreki grumbled inwardly.

Seeing that her attempt to hoodwink him had failed, Sakayanagi had no choice but to give up for now.

She sat up from the sofa.

"Fine. Then if I win..."

--To be continue