~ COLORFUL ~
Satoshi Fukube had been acting weird these two days.
He used to smile all the time and his school life was always too colorful, so that Houtarou called it a “shocking pink” life. However, now, he’s “gray”. Same color as Houtarou Oreki, a less-than-energetic boy who didn’t want his school life to have any extra excitement.
That’s why he decided to help Satoshi with the incident that happened at Handicraft Club, Houtarou told himself, it’s NOT because of the big eyed girl who’s looking at him right now with some sort of expectation.
“Oreki-san, I’m curious about the incident!” Eru Chitanda leaned forward towards Houtarou and repeated her words.
This time, even Mayaka Ibara was forcing Houtarou to help Satoshi, because she’s worried about Satoshi.
Therefore, Houtarou had no choice but to go against his “conserve my energies” motto.
============================
The incident happened 2 days ago.
On Tuesday morning, the Handicraft club’s leader, who always came to the club the earliest, arrived and found the door was locked. They didn’t usually lock the club room, so he had to go to staff room upstairs to get the key. However, he wasn’t able to open the door first time because he had taken music room’s key by mistake. So he had to go back to the staff room again, to get the correct key. After he opened the door, he found 3 models, which were made for next weeks’ competition, were broken.
Ten minutes later, Yuuya Hamada also came to the club room. He’d never been to the club room in the morning, but he wanted to modify his model on that day. Hamada told the club leader he left just before Satoshi yesterday, and Satoshi told Hamada that he’s gonna stay longer and would lock the door when he leave..
Therefore, the other members suspected Satoshi broke the 3 models, because he was the last one to leave and locked the door. But according to Satoshi, he locked it on that day just in case someone else came in and broke the models by mistake.
After Houtarou had been briefed with the incident, he pondered for a while.
“Wrong key……” Houtarou whispered.
“Oh, that,” Satoshi explained. “The Handicraft Club room’s key and music room’s key are both kept in the staff room, and they hung next to each other. The two keys look very similar, so students took the wrong key carelessly time to time. ”
“I see …....” Houtarou started to play with his fringe. That’s the look he gave when he had made some sort of deduction. Then he said it calmly. “I think I know who broke the models.”
“Really!?” Chitanda opened her eyes even bigger and her voice was full of excitement.
Satoshi and Mayaka were also surprised with Houtarou for being able to find the answer so quickly. “Tell us!” They said at same time.
“Ok…. Let’s start with how the person did it.”
“The person went into the Handicraft club with the key before the club leader arrived, and locked the door from inside, then broke the models. The person has already placed the music room’s key where Handicraft Club room’s key is usually hung beforehand. So that even if the club leader came earlier than the person expected, the club leader had to go back to the staff room to get the correct key after he couldn’t open the door with the key he had.”
“After the club leader headed to the staff room upstairs, the person just ran to the staff room using the stairs on the other side. Then hung the Handicraft club room’s key to the right place before the club leader arrived at the staff room.”
Houtarou took a deep breath after he spoken so much words.
“Is it just that simple?” Satoshi was surprised with the simple method that he didn’t know if it could be called a trick.
“Yes, it’s simple.” replied Houtarou. “I think the person didn’t have much time to think about a complicated trick.”
“Satoshi, you said the Handicraft club doesn’t usually lock the door, right? Which means only the person who knew the door had been locked can do it, and that would be...” Houtarou paused for a second and continued. “Yuuya Hamada.”
“It’s him!?” Satoshi looked at Houtarou surprisedly.
“He’d never been to the Handicraft club room in the morning except that day. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Also, if a person caused an incident, he must be curious about it and want to go back to the scene. Don’t you think?” Hourarou looked back and explained further.
“That’s enough, Houtarou.” Satoshi was smiling, but his voice was deeper than usual. “Let me take care of it from here.”
Satoshi then turned around, “Thank you very much! Mayaka, Chitanda-san.” He’s voice had returned to its usual cheerful tone. He gave them a big smile then left them.
=========== 3 days later ==========
Houtarou met Satoshi on the way to school, and asked him how it went with Hamada.
“I confronted Hamada with the incident, and he admitted it. Do you know what he said?”
Houtarou kept silent, and Satoshi took it as his cue to continue.
“He said he did it because he heard some rumors about our Classic Literature Club that we’re good at solving mystery. And he just wanted to know the truth of the rumor.” Satoshi shrugged helplessly.
“Afterwards, he told the club leader that he broke the models by ACCIDENT. And now, he’s helping us with fixing the models. I think the club leader and the other member will forgive him since they don’t know the truth.”
“Is that alright with you?” Houtarou asked.
Satoshi pondered for a while.
“I think he’s not that bad after all. He’s just, you might say, too naughty” Satoshi shrugged his shoulder. “He’s really conscientious when he’s fixing the models.”
“We all have different sides. We all have some dark, evil side in us, but at the same time, we also have bright and good sides. Humans are colorful, aren’t we?” Satoshi said it in his usual big smile.
Houtarou looked at Satoshi and thought, did Satoshi also use his dark side when he confronted Hamada?
Suddenly, Satoshi leaned forward towards Houtarou.
“Houtarou, I want to thank you for helping me this time.”
“I’m very happy to have you as my friend!”
END
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