Solving Cases is My Daily Life Now: Volume 5

Chapter 7

I finally managed to get the new guy to talk to me! Well, sort of...I gave him a note in class (he sits right next to me), telling him how boring I thought the lesson was. He actually smiled, and gave me a note back! He agreed that it was pretty dull, but I didn't know what else to say, so the conversation stopped there. But I got his attention, and that was my goal! I'm not feeling as satisfied as I thought I would, though...maybe I should set a better goal for myself. I'll force him to be my friend, that's it! Before the school year is over, I'll be friends with the new guy and we'll hang out at least once! It would be easier if I knew what kinds of things he liked...but he's so tight lipped about his personal life! I have to wonder how he got so popular when no one really knows anything about him. Well, maybe I'll be the first one to break that shell of his. That sounds exciting! Finally, I have something to do with my time. Thanks, new kid!

    After reading the journal entry, and looking at the small doodles of hearts under it, Rina shut the book. Somehow she had managed to avoid running into anyone while walking to school, she chalked it up to pure luck. She simply found herself drawn to the journal, that little peek into someone else's life gave her a bit of a rush. Not that she was particularly unhappy with her current life...but such a detailed look at someone else's viewpoint was fascinating to her. Rina knew it was immoral, but she simply couldn't help herself! She quickly slid the journal back into her school bag, just in time for Suzu to miss it as she approached.
"G-Good morning!" Suzu said happily.
"Hello, Suzu." Rina said with a short wave, "Say, why is it that you never seem to be tired?"
"Hm?" Suzu put a hand to her chin, looking as though the thought had never occurred to her, "I always w-wake up with a lot of energy! I g-g-guess I'm always so excited to see you guys, I don't have t-time to be sleepy!"
"I wish it were that easy for me." Rina said, wiping the sleep from her eyes, "But I guess it is easier for me to get up than it used to be."
"See? That's b-because you're in l-l-love!" Suzu said, "You're eager to get t-to him and love him and k-k-kiss-"
"That's not it." Rina said sternly, "Well, maybe a little bit..."
Suzu let out a knowing giggle, and Rina scowled back at her.
"What about you?" She asked, "Are you sure you aren't just getting up so you can hurry to school and see Katsuo?"
"Th-That's..." Suzu trailed off without saying anything else.
"That's what I thought." Rina said, returning the giggle.
"You two are as chipper as ever." Katsuo said when they approached the school entrance.
"Let me see the journal!" Fuyuko said, running up to Rina, "I want to see what happens next!"
"It isn't a movie, Fuyuko." Rina said, "We can all look at it in the club room."
Fuyuko crossed her arms and poured as she followed them.
"I bet you've been reading it all on your own." She said, "You already know how it ends, don't you?!"
"No, I don't." Rina replied, "And you completely ignored what I just said!"
"I think you're all too worried about that thing." Katsuo said, "It's just a dumb journal. If she really cared, she wouldn't have let it go missing."
"Y-You just don't understand how a g-g-girl's heart works, Katsuo." Suzu said, sounding as though she was talking about more than one thing.
Katsuo simply let out a groan in response, and Fuyuko gave both of them a confused look.
"We'll see if Masaru's turned anything up." Rina said, "This journal could be very important to someone."
"If you say so." Katsuo decided, and remained silent for the rest of the walk.
"I hope we find who it belongs to." Fuyuko said, "I want to meet this girl, and see how cute she is!"
"You're not worried that she'll be cuter than you?" Rina asked.
"Of course I am!" Fuyuko said, "That's why I want to see her, so I can improve my look to be better."
Suzu smiled and looked at Fuyuko, but the small girl was too deep into her own headspace to notice. It wasn't long afterwards when they reached the classroom, and said their farewells for the morning.

    Rina was unexpectedly eager to see Masaru when he entered the room at lunchtime. Or rather, her reasoning for being excited was unexpected, as it wasn't the usual fact of just wanting to see her boyfriend. No, this time she was also hoping that he had turned up some information on the journal.
"Hi, M-M-Masaru!" Suzu said as he pulled up a seat and sat down.
"Hey." He replied lazily, stretching his neck.
After a moment he noticed that Rina had been staring at him, and he raised an eyebrow.
"What is it?" He asked.
Rina reached into her school bag and grabbed his bento.
"Did you learn anything about the journal?" She asked as she handed it to him.
"Oh." He said with a tone that sounded like it was an afterthought to him, "Not really. All I can say is that it doesn't belong to anyone in my class."
"So all you did was ask all the girls in your class?" Rina asked in an annoyed tone.
"Well, yeah." Masaru said, "They either don't write in a journal, or they keep theirs very close to them."
"So w-what's next, then?" Suzu asked.
"I'll get Katsuo to ask around in his class." Masaru explained, "If he has no luck, we'll figure it out from there."
"You're being more lax than usual." Rina said, "Usually you're much more thorough with your investigating."
"What else can I do, Rina?" Masaru asked, his narrowed his shifting to her, "It's not as though I have much to go on."
"You could have everyone asking around!" Rina said, "If she's not at this school anymore, maybe she has some siblings that still go to this school or something."
"Let's take things one at a time." Masaru replied, "If we receive too much info at once, it'll be more difficult to piece it together. Besides, to call in favors for something like this would be..."
"What?" Rina asked, putting her hands on her desk and glaring at him, "It would be what?"
Masaru turned all of his head to look at her, his face twitched with a hint of hesitation, but he spoke his next words all the same.
"A waste of resources." He said.
Rina grit her teeth and clenched her fists, but after looking at his face for a moment, she sighed.
"You're right." She concluded, "I don't know why I'm getting so emotional about this. I guess I just feel like, if it were my journal...I'd want to get it back."
"I'm sure you also wouldn't want others to be reading it." Masaru replied, "And yet..."
"I see your point." Rina said, puffing out her cheeks as Katsuo and Fuyuko entered the room.
"Ok, we're all here!" Fuyuko said, "Now let's take a peek!"
"H-Here?!" Suzu asked, "It's n-not exactly private..."
"Who cares?!" Fuyuko asked, "Privacy went out the window when she lost it!"
"Fuyo." Katsuo said sternly, putting a hand on top of her head.
Fuyuko stopped talking, but crossed her arms and pouted.
"Katsuo." Masaru said, idly glancing over at him, "I have a favor to ask."
"What's that?" Katsuo asked roughly.
"Ask around your classroom about the journal. See if anyone's missing one, or knows someone who is." Masaru said, staring down at his bento and beginning to eat from it once he was done talking.
"That sounds more like a demand than a favor." Katsuo pointed out.
"Does it?" Masaru asked, but said nothing more.
Katsuo glared at Masaru for a moment, but eventually let out a loud groan.
"Fine, I'll do it." He concluded.
Masaru simply made a noise in response, though it was likely one of gratitude.
"And if he doesn't find anything?" Fuyuko asked, tilting her head.
"We'll do two things." Masaru said, "We'll look for more clues in the journal, and we'll check around the other third year class."
Rina grimaced as she realized something.
"That means there's a chance we'll run into-" She was cut off by Masaru.
"I'm aware." He said, "But I won't limit myself because of her."
"Yeah, I guess you never would..." Rina mumbled.
"S-S-Sounds like we have a plan, then!" Suzu said with a confident smile.
The others, Masaru excluded, nodded in agreement, and they spent the rest of lunch talking about less serious things.