Solving Cases is My Daily Life Now: Volume 1

Chapter 18

They walked side by side in silence for a few moments before Rina decided to mention something.

"Suzu talked to me this morning, about yesterday." She said, knowing it would bring an awkward air to the hall. But she said it anyway.

"Oh yeah?" Masaru gave a noncommittal answer, something Rina expected.

"...you know, I wasn't mad yesterday. I understand how she feels." Rina said, looking at the floor.

"That makes one of us." Masaru said, alluding to the mystery behind Fuyuko's affection for him.

"You say that, but you indulge her sometimes. I've never seen you willingly share pocky sticks with anyone else before." Rina said with a coy smile.

"Fair enough. There's something about her that makes me unable to blow her off completely." Masaru said, looking at his phone.

It seemed that Fuyuko was already back to messaging him again, making his prediction correct.

"And what's that?" Rina asked in regards to his last statement.

"We're here." Masaru said, stopping in front of the club room.

He took his box of pocky sticks out and put one in his mouth, before looking down at the box, after a moment's hesitation, he held the box out to Rina.

Rina looked down, not fully comprehending at first, until she realized what he was doing. She smiled and took one, sticking it into her mouth like he usually did. Masaru tried not to smile, but couldn't help himself as he grabbed the knob to change the subject.

"Let's go." He said, opening the door and walking inside.

Natsuno was alone in the club room as planned, and he looked over at Masaru and Rina.

"Huh? I was wondering why you didn't come question me yesterday. So you decided to catch me alone? Must be why no one showed up." Natsuno said, figuring things out quickly.

"Good, so I don't have to explain." Masaru said, stepping farther into the room.

He leaned against a desk that was near Natsuno, looking down at the sitting boy.

"I'm curious, why do you stay in this club? It doesn't seem like you have much interest in it." Masaru said, cutting to the chase.

Natsuno looked back at Masaru, gritting his teeth from the latter's audacity. But he calmed himself, before giving his response.

"It's not that I'm not interested in it...it's just gotten a bit crowded is all." He said, looking away from Masaru when he was done speaking.

"Isn't that the idea of a club, though? People coming together for common interests?" Rina chimed in, ignoring the fact that their own club only technically had one permanent member.

"Sure, sure. And it was fine when it was me and Hina. Even after Kuromi joined, I didn't mind." Natsuno said, closing his eyes, "But Yuki joining made me a bit uneasy. And once Jun was here, it was officially too crowded for my tastes."

Masaru crossed his arms, looking away from Natsuno.

"If that's the case, why not just quit? Why spend your time sitting around doing nothing?" Masaru asked, likely trying to prod Natsuno further.

It worked, Natsuno looked at Masaru with an expression of irritation.

"It's not that easy! I made friends with some of these people, you know...I can't just throw that away." He said, looking away once again.