March Towards Tomorrow (5)

There is only one thing to do right now.

That is to get the registry.

I hope no one has beaten me to it...

Oreki had a bad premonition.

He hoped he was just overthinking things.

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Kiyoko since that day.

Although Sakayanagi said she had finished her investigation.

And had already submitted her answer...

But was that really the case?

She was able to deduce in an instant that the tennis ball belonged to Student Council secretary Tachibana Akane.

Yet, she actually concluded that the culprit was the sponsor's daughter.

It was truly hard to believe.

Either Kiyoko gave the wrong answer on purpose, or there was more to this matter than met the eye.

The former would be fine.

It would mean Kiyoko simply wanted to hide her abilities and dispel Oreki's suspicions about her.

The latter...

"Ding-ding--"

--Oreki-kun?

It was a message from Shiina Hiyori.

Oreki was a bit surprised.

Although he only asked her to inquire about the staff's evaluation of the former curator, it shouldn't have been completed this quickly.

After all, some voices were far too sharp.

And those in high positions could not hear sharp voices.

That's right, they couldn't hear them.

But they would resolve them.

Resolve whom?

Resolve the people who made those sharp voices.

--Hmm.

--I've encountered someone interesting on my end.

--Someone interesting?

--Yes. I think you would be very interested in her.

--...

--I'm not teasing you. Come on, answer the call.

"Beep-beep--"

Just after receiving the message from Shiina Hiyori, Oreki's phone rang.

He hesitated for a moment.

As far as things stood now...

It was highly unlikely that Shiina Hiyori would set a trap for him.

And even if it were a trap, setting it now would be far too late.

There had been plenty of opportunities before this.

And the success rate would have been much higher than this time.

"Let's hear it..."

With that, Oreki pressed the answer button.

After a brief silence.

"Stop investigating."

"Beep-beep--"

The call was hung up.

?

Oreki hadn't even recovered his senses yet.

Was that just...

Judging by the voice, it shouldn't be Shiina Hiyori.

But if it isn't Shiina Hiyori, then who could it be?

Could it be that "interesting person" she mentioned earlier?

If that's really the case...

And coupled with that pretentious tone...

There is no doubt...

"Kiyoko... is it?"

"This guy, she really is still digging into the Sakura Airi lead."

"Has she already figured out that former curator?"

Oreki looked at the call log.

Since Shiina Hiyori ran into Kiyoko, it means she has encountered trouble.

With Kiyoko there...

Completing the mission will likely be very difficult.

The only way is to resolve the matter at the art gallery as soon as possible, and then go to support Shiina Hiyori.

This is also the safest approach.

Inside the art gallery.

Having just entered through the main entrance, Oreki looked around.

He remembered the receptionist was at...

--Got it.

He looked to his right.

There was an old man there, his face covered by his hat, sleeping soundly.

Oreki walked over.

He tapped on the desk.

"Hello."

"ZZZ...zzz..."

"..."

"ZZZ...zzz..."

Are you here to work?

Or are you here to sleep?

Oreki really wanted to pull him up and ask for a clear answer.

Doing this, doesn't it just make him look like a fool?

After all that effort, it turns out today's receptionist is an old man, and he's sleeping while on duty.

Oreki could easily deduce where the registry is and then swipe it.

As for the surveillance...

He could just have Sakayanagi delete it later.

--Troublesome.

Oreki is in a hurry right now.

He has no time to deduce where the registry is.

He slammed his hand on the desk.

"!"

The old man woke up with a start.

He scrambled to get up, then adjusted his hat.

"Heh heh... I'm your Uncle Tanaka's..."

"Hiss--"

"Wait, who are you?"

Seeing that the person who arrived wasn't a patrolling supervisor, the old man immediately became arrogant.

He tossed his hat onto the desk.

"Whoa, what a temper. I thought who it was, turns out it's just some brat."

"Tell me, how do you want to handle this?"

"You knew I have bad hearing, yet you still knocked so loudly."

Oreki looked at the old man before him, speechless.

He understood very well.

Understood perfectly.

Once a fool gains a modicum of power, he becomes arrogant and domineering.

Because he originally had neither power nor wealth.

In his daily life, he was always the one fawning over others; no one ever fawned over him.

Sakura Tanaka, that former curator.

After climbing up the ladder by clinging to someone else's coattails, a crowd naturally gathered to curry favor with the old man.

But this did not mean he was anything impressive.

It was simply that those people had requests for Sakura Tanaka.

Perhaps the moment they stepped out the door, they would be cursing this old man behind his back.

A stench of poverty clung to him.

He clearly detested bureaucracy, yet the moment he gained power, he immediately began to practice it himself.

Such conduct.

One could only call it clownish.

Oreki did not want to waste his breath on such a person.

He asked the old man directly.

"Where is the other register?"

"Oh ho, and what if I refuse to say? What are you going to do about it?"

"...Fine."

Oreki reached his right hand into his pocket.

He "accidentally" dropped his terminal.

Then, he "accidentally" opened the terminal, revealing the millions of points on the screen to the old man.

So many digits!

The old man's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The old man surely knew what this meant.

Millions of yen.

Roughly three hundred thousand RMB.

It would be hard not to have crooked thoughts.

Not to mention, he was just a pathetic man using a relative's influence to act tough.

"Ahem!"

"Wanting to know where the register is... actually, that's not hard."

"But... wouldn't it be..."

The old man rubbed his thumb against his index finger.

The meaning was obvious.

He wanted money.

"Is that so? But wouldn't that violate the rules?"

"No, no, it wouldn't."

"But I don't have much money."

"Eh, not much. I only need this much, heh heh..."

The old man held up a hand to indicate a number.

"Two hundred?"

"Two hundred?! Two hundred thousand!"

The old man said angrily.

Two hundred yen?

Did he really think he was shooing away a beggar?

What a joke.

He's hooked.

Oreki looked at him with contempt.

As expected, as long as you set a trap, these petty people who rely on borrowed influence will jump right into it one by one.

You have no brains at all.

How so?

Things that do not belong to you will never belong to you.

Individual intelligence is like a bridge.

Everything you could ever want lies on the other side of the bridge.

On this side of the bridge sits your small hut.

Inside the hut are the things that belong to you forever.

If you want something new, you must transport it from the other side of the bridge to this side.

But things have weight.

If your intelligence is not high, then the bridge's load-bearing capacity is not high either.

Exceed that capacity...

And the bridge will collapse.

Naturally, the new things cannot make it to this side.

Furthermore, because the bridge is broken, you will be unable to acquire anything new for a short time.

The period of time spent rebuilding the bridge.

People generally call it...

A "slump."

--To be continue