Kōenji and Kiryuin-senpai, a third-year, were trustworthy, so getting the reward this time was practically a done deal.
As for Horikita,
she felt guilty about sharing in the money, but she still had plenty of shortcomings. What mattered was learning more from Hachiman.
And soon enough,
roughly fifty-five minutes later,
a signal came through the walkie-talkie Hachiman had specifically prepared.
"We took longer than expected, but we've made it out of the cave."
"We found the culprit you mentioned, then used a one-way mechanism to lure him out and lock him up."
The message came from Kiryuin-senpai.
"But the treasure... it was really nothing special."
Nothing special?
Twenty minutes later, Ryuen had Albert and Ishizaki restrain the locked-up culprit.
Meanwhile, Hachiman and the others headed to the deepest part of the cave Kōenji and Kiryuin-senpai had discovered.
There, they saw a vast expanse of glittering gold.
The stone chamber was piled with golden ingots—far too many for a single person to carry away.
Kyo Ishigami: Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, Are You Interested in Treasure?
When Hachiman and the others reached the treasure area, Kōenji was there as well.
However, Kōenji's interest was not in the glittering gold ingots.
"Personally, I believe the view from this skylight is a fine treasure," Kōenji said.
In the stone chamber Kōenji and the others had found, there was an opening. If one stood there at dawn, they could witness an incomparably beautiful sunrise.
In other words, that view held greater appeal for Kōenji.
The leisure of the wealthy.
But—
"Still," Kōenji said, "ordinary people would be interested in this sort of thing."
Yes.
For ordinary people, nothing was more alluring than solid gold.
Click, click, click—
At Hachiman's signal, Horikita picked up the camera they had specifically borrowed from Sakura and began taking pictures.
Before