Solving Cases is My Daily Life Now: Volume 5

Chapter 5

Finally the day came, it was the day of the high school's talent show. Rina felt a mixture of emotions as she walked to school that morning, the most prominent of which being excited and nervous. On the one hand she would get to watch the talent show, and see all of the planning committee's efforts bear fruit. On the other, the main act they were there to see had a front woman who had her eye on Masaru...
Rina frowned to herself, wondering exactly how the day's events would unfold. She barely even noticed when Suzu approached her calmly and slowly.
"You look un-unhappy today, Rina." Suzu said.
Rina was snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at her friend.
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about the talent show." She said, giving Suzu a fake smile.
"Are you w-worried about Yuzuki and M-M-Masaru?" Suzu asked.
"Well..." Rina trailed off, was it really that obvious?
"I w-wouldn't be." Suzu said, smiling as well, "Masaru loves you so m-m-much, he doesn't even look at other g-g-girls!"
"I know, but...it doesn't stop the feeling." Rina said, putting a hand on her pounding chest.
Suzu put a hand on Rina's shoulder and smiled warmly.
"It'll be f-fine." She said, and Rina couldn't help but believe her.
When they approached the school entrance, Fuyuko and Katsuo seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion.
"You know I don't have a lot of money!" Fuyuko whined, her arms crossed.
"That doesn't mean that I have plenty to spare." Katsuo growled, leering down at his sister.
"What are you two arguing about so early in the morning?" Rina asked, yawning as she stopped in front of them.
"Fuyuko went crazy on some sale yesterday." Katsuo said, "She made me pay for it, so now I'm broke!"
"It was limited time!" Fuyuko said as they all began to walk, "I couldn't pass up the opportunity!"
"It does seem a little bit much to clear out your brother's wallet." Rina pointed out, "Couldn't you have just gotten one or two things?"
"Exactly." Katsuo agreed, ignoring Fuyuko's whining.
"I d-don't know..." Suzu said playfully, "It's a b-big brother's duty to d-d-dote on his little sister!"
"See, Suzu gets it!" Fuyuko said with a satisfied nod.
Katsuo let out a groan and lightly slapped his hand to his forehead. He gave Suzu the briefest of glances and sighed.
"I guess I'll let it slide this time." He said, likely finding the argument to be more trouble than it was worth.
Fuyuko made a satisfied sound and grabbed her brother's arm, holding it closer to her.
"So, today's the day." Katsuo said, "The day of the talent show."
Indeed, there was an energy in the air that was different this day than it typically was. People were whispering, talking and laughing as they discussed it.
"Yeah." Rina said simply, realizing how difficult it was going to be to put the show out of her mind.
"I wonder what Masu is doing right now." Fuyuko said, putting a finger to her lower lip as she thought.
"P-Probably planning out a strategy in the c-c-club room." Suzu said, a reminiscent tone in her voice.
"Let's hope it's a good one." Katsuo said roughly, letting out another sigh.
The rest of the walk to the classroom was spent with similar small talk and such, though Rina barely paid attention to it, her mind was occupied elsewhere. Eventually they parted ways, and Rina and Suzu went to their seats.

At lunch, Rina and Suzu waited in their usual spot for the others to arrive.
"I didn't get the chance to ask yesterday. How did your alone time with Katsuo go?" Rina asked.
Suzu perked up, her face turning a bit pink.
"It w-w-went fine." She said, "He helped me c-clean, and we got it done f-f-faster than usual, so I decided to d-draw to kill time. He wanted to s-s-see, so..."
"And then he asked you to draw a sunflower, right?" Rina asked, "That's cute!"
As Suzu stammered with what to respond with, Masaru entered the room and pulled up a seat.
"Hey." Rina said, handing Masaru his bento.
Masaru gave a nod in response, taking the bento and opening it.
"D-Do you have a plan now, Masaru?" Suzu asked.
"...more or less." He said before beginning to eat.
"Well, what is it?" Rina asked, on the edge of her seat both literally and figuratively.
"It'll be easier to explain once everyone is here." Masaru replied.
"You seem a bit quiet today." Rina said, "More than usual, I mean."
"Well, I'm not exactly thrilled about what we have to do today." He said, "Shows like that aren't really my thing."
"Not much of anything is your thing." Rina pointed out, "But I understand what you mean."
In fact, it was comforting for her to know that she wasn't the only one that was nervous. Especially if the other person was Masaru. Not long after she spoke Fuyuko and Katsuo entered the room and pulled up chairs.
"Hi, Masu!" Fuyuko said happily, bobbing her head side to side.
"All right, let's hear this plan of yours." Katsuo said, cutting to the chase.
"Very well, I have positions planned out for everyone." Masaru said, "We'll start with Suzu. You'll be watching from backstage, I already got the go ahead from Yuzuki, so you won't have to deal with a crowd."
"Th-that's a relief." Suzu said, exhaling happily.
"What about me?!" Fuyuko asked, doing a poor job of containing her excitement.
"They've had some issues with the lights falling. It's possible that someone may try that again." Masaru continued, "You're the smallest and lightest of us, so I pulled some strings to get you up there, keeping an eye on everything."
"What?" Fuyuko frowned, "But I won't be able to see anything from up there!"
"You'll be closer to the action than anything." Masaru said in a dull tone, "You'll be right above them."
This response seemed to satisfy Fuyuko as Masaru turned his attention to Katsuo.
"You'll be by the entrance to the gym, making sure no one suspicious gets in or out. I arranged for the outdoor entrance to be locked, so people can only come in from the other one." He explained.
"All right." Katsuo replied simply, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
Finally, Masaru turned his attention to Rina.
"Rina, you'll be in the crowd with everyone else." He said, "It's very possible that the saboteur could try to blend in with the crowd, either before or after committing the act."
"That's not fair!" Fuyuko said, "You gave her the best spot because she's your girlfriend!"
"I put everyone where I thought they would do the best work." Masaru said firmly.
Rina felt her face heat up, a part of her secretly hoping that he was showing favoritism.
"What about you, M-M-Masaru?" Suzu asked, "What w-will you be d-doing?"
"I'll be roaming the gym, visiting all of you to see if you've learned anything, and looking out for some suspicious activity of my own along the way."
"As usual, you gave yourself the hardest job." Rina said with a sigh.
"Did I?" Masaru asked, putting his chopsticks to his chin, "Perhaps I only trust myself to do the hard ones."
The other four glared at him, and his expression remained the same as ever.
"I'm kidding." He said in a dull tone.
They sighed, all except Rina, who smiled to herself.
"In any case, that's the plan." Masaru said, "We won't have a lot of time, so let's meet outside the gym."
"Sounds good." Katsuo said, and Fuyuko nodded enthusiastically.
Suzu smiled, and Rina looked at Masaru. He finished what he was eating, and looking around at them.
"This will be our first time working as a group. I'm...confident we can get it done." He said.