Fictional Truth

The entrance ceremony concluded.

Everyone shuffled out through the main gate.

"Do you think that sudden power outage earlier was..."

"Starting again, are we?"

"Brother, stop with the spooky talk!"

Oreki walked toward the Class A classroom.

He had no desire to listen to such meaningless chatter.

Those people would never know the truth of the matter.

Never.

--Let's have a chat after class.

It was a message from Sakayanagi Arisu.

Oreki replied quickly.

--Busy.

But no sooner had he sent it...

--I'm free. Besides, this whole thing started because of you, didn't it?

--...

--If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes.

Oreki turned off his phone.

If Sakayanagi Arisu wanted to send messages, let her.

Oreki wasn't looking at them anyway.

If she asked later...

He would just make up some excuse to brush it off.

The seating chart was posted by the classroom door.

Oreki spotted his seat at a glance.

Back row, by the window.

A nice spot.

It seemed good things happened occasionally.

"Oreki-kun?"

Sakayanagi approached with a smile.

Bad.

That smile was very bad.

Oreki could feel it.

"My phone died just now."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"Then have you agreed to spend some time alone with me?"

"Not y..."

"You were going to say... 'not yet', weren't you?"

Oreki had underestimated Sakayanagi.

He hadn't expected her to set a trap.

He should have just stayed silent.

By saying "not yet," he had essentially admitted to reading her text, hadn't he?

Careless.

The surrounding students watched them with curiosity.

Although half the class hadn't arrived yet.

Specifically, Katsuragi and his followers.

They were probably still filling out reports.

How pitiful.

"It's alright, Oreki-kun."

Sakayanagi sat down next to him.

"At the end of the day, this is my fault."

"?"

"I clearly promised not to bring any trouble to your side... yet not long after, here I am, bringing trouble to you again."

"...I understand."

Oreki rested his cheek against his right hand.

He said, sounding somewhat listless:

"Let's talk after class."

"Mm."

With that, Sakayanagi sat in the seat to his right.

This left Oreki bewildered.

That wasn't how the seating chart was laid out.

Sakayanagi should have been at...

Forget it, saying anything wouldn't be of much use anyway.

The chairman's daughter could sit wherever she pleased.

What's more, she had the valid excuse of being physically unwell.

Soon enough.

A portly homeroom teacher walked onto the podium.

After explaining the school's rules, he handed out something that resembled a mobile phone.

A terminal.

It served as both a student ID and functioned as a basic mobile phone.

Next came the classic point system.

The only difference was that this school called "points" by the name "Private Points."

But it was more or less the same.

"It really is one hundred thousand..."

Oreki toyed with the terminal, bored.

It displayed his identity and his personal point balance.

"Shall we exchange numbers, Oreki-kun?"

Sakayanagi swayed the terminal in her hand.

This time, Oreki agreed readily.

He understood that refusing would be meaningless.

Time quickly reached noon.

Because the morning entrance ceremony had dragged on for so long, the originally scheduled classes were changed to self-study.

"Speak, what business do you have with me?"

Once the others had left, Oreki asked Sakayanagi.

"A request from Father."

Sakayanagi took a letter out of her handbag.

It contained polite phrases thanking Oreki and the like.

But the final line...

"The principal wants to catch the culprit?"

"Yes. Father is also quite helpless; he can only entrust this to you."

"Why not check the surveillance footage?"

"We did, but we didn't find anyone suspicious."

"..."

Oreki sank into thought.

If that were truly the case, then it was possible he had underestimated this incident.

Interesting.

But... he wanted to conserve energy.

Sakayanagi tucked the letter away.

Finally, she whispered into Oreki's ear:

"This time, it's not just about uncovering the truth, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"Father doesn't want any students to be implicated because of this."

"...Fabricate the truth?"

"Mm. We just need to find an explanation that people will find reasonable."

"The reward?"

"Five million points."

Oreki agreed.

Five million right off the bat; should I say that's to be expected of the Chairman?

Fine.

With that, Oreki and Sakayanagi stood up.

Together, they walked toward the gymnasium.

Oreki had already observed this place once before.

Therefore, upon observing it again, he couldn't find much useful information.

They couldn't get into the surveillance room.

However...

"I asked Father to record it for me."

Sakayanagi handed her phone to Oreki.

Oreki watched it at five times speed.

After watching it a second time, he set the progress bar to 5:24.

At this moment, a player happened to hit a high lob.

The tennis ball passed through the steel frame, and was then hit back by the opponent.

Wait?

Passed through the steel frame?

Not over it?

And that falling trajectory wasn't a parabola, was it?

"Mm, I basically understand now."

Oreki returned the phone to Sakayanagi.

He looked up at the steel frame.

One step, two steps, three steps...

When he retreated to the forty-sixth step, Oreki found a clue.

"Do you know where the tennis balls used for the match are?"

"Mm... Father might know."

Sakayanagi quickly sent a text to her father.

Before long.

"Here."

Sakayanagi led Oreki to a room.

He didn't know where she had gotten the key in her hand.

After opening the door.

Oreki saw a basket of tennis balls.

And the most conspicuous one inside was that pale yellow tennis ball.

"The truth is out."

Sakayanagi nodded.

Watching Oreki's series of actions, she also understood a little.

"So, there was already a tennis ball on the steel frame?"

"That's right. The high lob that was hit shook it down."

"That really is a coincidence."

"That contestant is the person the Chairman is looking for."

Oreki stood up calmly.

The tennis ball that person hit got stuck in the steel frame.

The tennis ball originally stuck in the steel frame fell down.

This coincidence successfully deceived everyone present at the time.

Sakayanagi walked toward Oreki, looking quite pleased.

"So, what will you do next?"

Oreki pondered.

He certainly knew what Sakayanagi was referring to.

It was to fabricate a suitable truth.

If the actual truth were revealed, that person would be reprimanded by the (Japan) Principal.

They might even have points deducted or something similar.

Needless to say, everyone knew that would not align with the requirements of Sakayanagi's father.

He inadvertently glanced out the window.

A crow was building its nest.

"Got it."

"Oh?"

"You should have the ability to delete certain surveillance footage, right?"

"Only the unimportant parts."

"Good, find an excuse to delete tomorrow's gymnasium footage."

"That can be done."

Oreki nodded, then told Sakayanagi the fabricated truth.

He said...

--To be continue