I opened the refrigerator, ignoring the conversation. Inside were some well-chilled bottles of mineral water and cola, along with a couple beer cans. I checked the best-by date on the mineral water. Still a ways off. It was probably safe to say that the fridge had been restocked relatively recently.
I exited the room, leaving Inuzuka and Amino behind. In the hall, Enbi was leaning against the table, arms crossed. "Did you find anything?" I asked.
"No... Nothing."
"I looked in that room over there, but there wasn't really anything there either. There weren't any cryptic cryptograms or books missing pages or... anything, anywhere."
"We weren't called here to go treasure hunting..." Enbi sighed.
That's when Inuzuka and Amino came back. "We took off all the sheets, took a peek into the telescope, tried turning on the shower, and didn't find a single thing that looked suspicious. No trace of our mysterious client either, of course."
After that, Kirigiri came out of a different room. She just shook her head silently.
"Hmmmmm, no dice, huh..."
"What should we do, Inuzuka-sensei? I mean, we can't exactly walk back in all this snow. My cellphone... Yep, just like I thought. Out of range. I can't make a call from here. We can't call for help."
"Hey now, hold your horses. It's too early to say we should be leaving the place. The proxy might still show up, y'know?" Inuzuka said, looking as carefree as ever.
"Do you really think the proxy is going to show up...?" Amino was finally starting to doubt him, it seemed.
Were we all gathered here for some criminal plan? Is this some kind of trap...?
"Shouldn't we forget about the client already?" Enbi drawled.
"Right, I agree with your point of view, Enbi-kun," said Inuzuka. "But that's exactly we should start expecting the client. Maybe the interview has already begun. They're putting our patience to the test. So don't you think we should stay true to the client in order to pass?"
"It would be nice if that were the truth..." Amino murmured gravely.
"We can't go back either way. We're all prepared to spend the night here, right? We've got exactly five rooms lined up right here."
"You're going to sleep in a place like this?"
"Are you gonna head back by yourself, Amino-kun? I don't think anyone's gonna complain about havin' one less rival around." Inuzuka crossed the hall with an easygoing grin. "I'm gonna borrow this room here." After deciding on his own room without anyone else's input, Inuzuka went in and closed the door behind him.
Seeing this, Enbi silently went into the closest room and closed the door behind him, too.
"Something's not right with those two." Amino set his thin briefcase on the table with a thud. "If I knew it was going to turn out like this, I would have prepared way more. This is all I brought with me. I don't even have a change of clothes."
All Kirigiri and I could do was look at him in pity.
"Don't tell me you two are planning on staying here too?"
"We don't really have a choice... At the very least, we should wait until the night is over if we wanna be able to walk back," I said.
"Hey, why don't the three of us work together to look and see if there's anyone in the area? I have a bad feeling about this job. Maybe we'd be able to find some help if we all left. Don't you think we should get out of here as soon as possible?"
"Of course I have a bad feeling about doing this, but it's still better than going outside. We're dead meat if we go out there in a snowstorm in the middle of the night."
"You're gonna regret this. You think this is better...? You can't say that until you see how it turns out," deplored Amino, clutching his briefcase and heading into one of the empty rooms. The sound of him slamming the door shut echoed throughout the hall.
