Chapter 136: Chapter 135 - The Great Minami Investigation
The cultural event came to its end.
The decorations were gone.
Costumes were packed away.
Classrooms were returned to their regular appearance.
Yet, despite all of that...
Kuro’s life at school was becoming even worse.
Sitting at his desk during a lunch break, he gazed outside.
Everything looked normal.
Much too normal.
But not for long.
"KUROOOOOO!"
A familiar voice resonated inside the classroom.
Instantly, Kuro lowered his head on the table.
"No."
The voice grew closer.
"KURO!"
"No."
A shadow appeared next to him.
"KURO!"
"No."
Minami struck both palms on the surface of the table.
"Kuro, I need your help."
Kuro slowly raised his head.
"Evey tragedy of my life starts with these words."
Minami sharply gasped.
"How dare you!"
"Statistically speaking, this claim is absolutely true."
Ignoring Kuro’s words, Minami took a notebook out of her bag.
Immediately, suspicion fell upon Kuro.
Whenever Minami held a notebook, some terrible things were going to happen.
"What’s that?"
"A case file."
"No."
"A very important case file."
"No."
"A mystery."
"Absolutely not."
With dramatic gesture, Minami opened the notebook.
In the center of the first page, giant hand-written words appeared.
THE GREAT MINAMI INVESTIGATION
Kuro promptly closed the notebook.
"We’re done here."
"Not really."
"We are."
"We aren’t."
"We are."
"We aren’t."
One of the nearby students sighed.
"They’re starting that."
"Yeah," answered another. "Just give it time."
Pointing at Kuro, Minami loudly announced.
"I need an assistant."
"I’ve got friends who can help."
"They refused."
"That means a lot."
Kuro ignored her words.
"The mystery started three days ago."
He instantly realized that he regretted coming into existence.
Approaching him, Minami whispered.
"My pudding disappeared."
Silence.
Kuro looked at her.
"...Your pudding."
"Yes."
"The mystery is solved."
"Yes."
"Someone stole your pudding."
"Exactly."
He stood up.
"Then mystery is solved."
Minami firmly gripped his sleeve.
"WAIT!"
"No."
"We need evidence."
"Or common sense."
She pointed at the ceiling.
"The culprit is still here."
Random student having lunch suddenly felt threatened.
"Why are you pointing at me?"
"I don’t know," another student responded.
Turning to the next page, Minami whispered.
"I have suspects."
"You made suspects?"
"I created their profiles."
Kuro’s headache only intensified.
Handing her notebook to him, Minami said.
"There are photographs, descriptions, arrows, question marks, even charts."
"How much time did you spend on that?"
"Four days."
"And you started it even before your pudding disappeared."
"I like preparing for everything."
Covering his face with his palms, Kuro silently prayed.
"But what about suspects?"
Minami pointed at the first one.
"Suspect Number One."
Student sitting near a window sharply lifted his gaze.
"Why am I in your notebook?"
"You look hungry."
"This isn’t evidence!"
Turning the page, Minami loudly announced.
"Suspect Number Two."
Student drinking juice almost dropped it.
"Why are you looking at me?!"
"You once borrowed a spoon."
"What does it have to do with pudding?!"
"It establishes the opportunity."
Kuro wanted to leave the school.
But it was already too late.
Minami was ready for the investigation.
What’s more, detective Minami was even scarier than the usual one.
"Kuro."
"What."
"We begin the investigation right now."
"No."
"Too late."
And Minami pulled him out of the classroom.
"HELP!"
Nobody offered assistance.
All students just silently observed.
One of them whispered.
"He’s accepted his fate."
"Many years ago."
Thus, the investigation began.
Their first destination was the school’s cafeteria.
Walking like a main character of a detective movie, Minami dragged Kuro behind her.
Mainly due to the fact that running away required a lot of energy.
Which he didn’t have.
Questioning employees of the cafeteria.
Questioning the students.
Questioning even vending machines.
Silently watching her seriously interrogating some inanimate objects.
"When was the last time you saw that pudding?"
Silence.
"I see."
Silence.
"Interesting."
Silence.
Kuro silently walked away.
No matter what, he couldn’t be connected with this mess.
But unfortunately, Minami caught him in the process.
"The vending machine knows something."
"It doesn’t."
"It looked quite suspicious."
"It’s a vending machine."
"How can you argue with that?"
Kuro looked into her eyes.
As she looked into his eyes.
Strange how she actually looked sincere.
And that terrified him even more.
Finally reaching the courtyard, Minami checked her notes.
"According to my calculations..."
"You did calculations?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"The culprit is close by."
Suddenly, someone interrupted her.
"What culprit?"
Turning around, they saw Yuki approaching them.
Happy like a child who received her favorite toy, Minami whispered.
"A witness!"
Without hesitation, Yuki was trying to get away from them.
Unfortunately for her, it was too late.
Because Minami already caught her.
"Tell us everything you know."
"I know nothing."
"It’s perfect. Start from the very beginning."
Looking at Kuro, Yuki whispered.
"Help me."
"Don’t."
"Even you couldn’t help me," he responded coldly.
Yuki sighed.
"Well then. Start talking."
"My pudding vanished."
Blinking several times, Yuki whispered.
"Nothing else happened?"
"THAT’S ALL?!"
Feeling personally insulted, Minami announced.
"A pudding was stolen."
Thinking for a couple of seconds, she finally pointed at Kuro.
"He probably stole it."
Unable to breathe, Kuro gasped.
"What?!"
Frowning, Minami murmured.
"Hmm."
"No."
"Hmmm."
"Stop hmming."
"HMMMM."
"Kuro is innocent."
Both girls looked quite surprised.
Even Kuro looked shocked.
"Thank you?"
Minami nodded.
"He hates pudding."
"...You know that?"
"Yes. He complains about it whenever it appears."
"Funny."
Minami drew a line over Kuro’s name in the notebook.
Frozen, Kuro muttered.
"Did I make it on the suspect list?"
"Obviously, yes."
"Why?"
"Procedure."
"What procedure?!"
Not willing to say anything more, Minami left him alone.
Their investigation continued.
Hours passed.
The mystery remained unresolved.
Finally, classes were finished for today.
As most students rushed out of the school, Minami sat on the nearby bench.
Being the only person to show real disappointment during this investigation, she muttered.
"I wasted four days on it."
"Sure."
"And..."
She was silent for some time before whispering.
"She bought it for me."
Surprised, Kuro quietly said.
"Really?"
"It wasn’t expensive."
Minami awkwardly smiled.
"I just wanted to try it."
For a moment she seemed genuinely sad.
Not disappointed or dramatic.
Simply sad.
Sighing, Kuro whispered.
That’s exactly why working with her was hard.
Despite all the jokes and chaos...
Her words could be quite sincere.
"Let’s move."
"Hm?"
"To somewhere."
"Where?"
"Just follow me."
After twenty minutes...
Minami froze.
"Kuro."
"What."
"Why are we here?"
Silently entering convenience store, Kuro walked inside it.
In a minute, he came back.
Holding a pack of pudding in his hand.
Frozen, Minami whispered.
"Here."
Still unable to believe that he actually did it, Minami stared at the pudding.
"You bought pudding."
"Yes."
"For me?"
"Yes."
"You spent your money."
"On this."
"No way," Kuro whispered sarcastically.
Taking pudding away, Minami whispered.
"No take-backs."
"I didn’t want it."
Minami hid it behind her back.
"So no take-backs."
"You are unbelievable."
Minami grinned sincerely.
Not her usual mischievous grin, but something warmer.
"Thanks."
"It’s okay."
After a couple of seconds, she sharply gasped.
Suspicious, Kuro whispered.
"What now?"
Opening her notebook, Minami declared.
"Kuro."
"What."
"Case solved."
"No."
"It makes so much sense."
"No."
Again and again, she pointed at herself.
"What are you pointing at?"
"The culprit."
"...What?"
"I solved the case."
Silent.
Absolute silence.
Something died inside Kuro.
Seriously nodding, Minami whispered.
"According to my investigation, I was so hungry during studies."
"..."
"And I ate it."
"..."
"And I forgot."
"..."
"And I remember it ten minutes ago."
Getting up, Kuro looked at her.
Taking a step back, Minami whispered.
"Kuro?"
His scary smile frightened her.
"Kuro?"
"Minami."
"Yes?"
"Today, I spent whole day assisting you."
"Actually."
"You interrogated vending machine."
"Yes."
"You accused innocent students."
"They survive."
"You created the conspiracy board."
"It looked cool."
Pointing at her, Kuro murmured.
"You were the culprit."
Raising one finger, Minami protested.
"As far as I’m concerned..."
"No excuses."
"This is one of the best crimes I’ve seen."
"No."
"I questioned myself."
"No."
"I nearly caught myself."
"No."
"I actually managed to find the culprit."
"MINAMI."
Running away, Minami loudly exclaimed.
"Kuro is angry!"
"Yeah."
Running through empty school yard, Minami was laughing madly.
Chasing after her, Kuro heard.
"What’s going on here?"
"No idea."
"Should we assist them?"
"Nah."
Taking a sharp turn, Minami yelled.
"Kuro! Please listen to me!"
"No."
"I solved this mystery."
"You created the crime."
"Details!"
Finally catching up with her, Kuro stopped.
Almost instantly, Minami gave in.
"Okay, fine."
"Very nice of you."
Laughing louder, she continued.
"I finally solved it."
Laughing too, he whispered.
Honestly...Minami could only spend four days trying to figure out the situation she had brought about all by herself.
As the sun fell and set into darkness and the sky was so far turned blue that the school gate was glowing orange, Minami was finished with the pudding she had to make for herself.
By the way," Kuro said.
"Yeah" said Minami.
"This means that the investigation by Minami has concluded."
"Yay."
"So tomorrow we will start a new investigation"
"No."
"The missing math homework"
"You didn’t do your homework at the last minute!!!"
Minami looked at the ground.
Kuro sighed.
Minami laughed and waited for it all to end as she normally does when the day is finally over.
