Burning Bright

Pictures

"Th-This is..." Rion said.

"Eh!? You know the name Raika, Rion!?" Akira asked.

"You know something, Akagami?" Mariya asked.

"Just what does it mean?" Oomori asked. They were all on edge.

"..." Rion looked at them. "Ah... N-No... It's not anything special..." She blushed a little as she said it.

"..." Torako looked at the word again. From Rion's reaction, she could guess what it might be.

"Any trivial stuff matters! We can use any kind of hint!!" Mariya said.

"N-No, well... It's just something irrelevant..." Rion said.

"You don't know that yet!" Akira said.

"That's right, Rion! Do it for us...!" Oomori said.

"..." Rion blushed, still hesitating.

"... It's an anagram, right?" Torako said.

"You see it, too!?" Rion said, looking relieved.

"!?" the others said.

"See what!?" Akira asked. Rion looked at Torako for help, completely red in the face.

"..." Torako took pity on her. "Look at it... R.A.I.K.A. When you reorder the letters, it becomes A.K.I.R.A.—Akira." There was complete silence.

"R-Ridiculous...!" Mariya said, appalled.

"I... It told you it's irrelevant! But you forced me to say it..." Rion said, embarrassed.

"That's what you two think of in this situation!?" Mariya asked incredulously.

"Well, when I saw Akagami-san's reaction... it clicked," Torako said.

"Impressive you can think such embarrassing stuff..." Miyauchi told Rion.

"..." Akira was also a bit red in the face now.

"And here I thought the little one was smart," Igarashi said.

"I heard that..." Torako said, crossing her arms.

"B-But thinking up an anagram, that's surprising..." Yuki said.

"W-Well, I played it often with Akira-kun's mother..." Rion said.

"Played? With anagrams?" Yuki said.

"Akira-kun's mother likes mystery. She especially likes anagrams and secret codes," Rion said. "We played by giving each other challenges, so when I see names, a habit kicks in... Did you play it with someone, Fukui-chan?"

"... My father..." Torako said.

"Geez, and here I thought we had a clue..." Yashiro said.

"What a disappointment, right, Yarai?" Yashiro said.

"..." Yarai held his chin. He wasn't so sure about that.

"I don't know..." Torako said. "Isurugi Miina's name was on the 'antenna', right? So would it be any stranger for a form of Sengoku-kun's name to pop up, too...?"

"..." They all stared at her.

"It would be totally strange!" Igarashi said. "Isurugi Miina is one thing—her grandfather has connections—but a boy like him..."

"But, didn't we all agree that this place and the 'antenna' were older than the Isurugi group? If that's the case, there'd be no reason for her name to be there, because she wouldn't even have been born yet..." Torako pointed out.