Solving Cases is My Daily Life Now: Volume 1

Chapter 9

    The next morning was a sleepier one for Rina, perhaps because she wasn't overly excited to potentially upset Suzu. She tried not to put too much thought into it however, and got ready for school the same way she always did. She shuffled along, letting students pass her as she yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. It seemed her energy from the past couple of days had been a fluke, as she didn't even react when Yua practically tackled her to the ground.
"Rinaaaa!!!!" Yua cried out happily, wrapping her arms around the tired girl, "you've come back to me! I figured the detective switched you out for a robot to make you more efficient, with the way you've been acting lately!"
"If anything, I feel more like a robot TODAY." Rina said lazily, still walking along with Yua's arms around her neck.
Yua snickered and took her arms away, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Fukuhara's really putting you to work, huh?" Yua said teasingly.
"I swear, you talk more about Masaru than I do. Let's discuss something else for a change." Rina said with a yawn as they entered the school building.
You tilted her head, trying to think of something.
"I hate to say it Rina, but I think this club is the only interesting thing that ever happens to you!" She said with a laugh, prompting a scowl from Rina.
"All right, let's talk about you then." Rina said, pinching Yua's cheek and dragging her by it, "what have you been up to while I've been in the club?"
"Owowowowow!" Yua whined like a child, waving her arms around as she didn't know what else to do,
"Well...I've been hanging out with some other friends, I guess."
Rina let go of Yua's cheek as they walked up the stairs to the second floor.
"You have other friends?" Rina asked, half joking but half genuinely curious.
"Friendly acquaintances is a better word, I guess!" Yua said with a chuckle, rubbing the back of her head and looking away.
Rina tilted her head, Yua was being almost...suspicious. Though Yua was always a bit strange, so she shrugged it off as they entered the class room. Class went on without a problem, as did lunch, with no interruptions from Masaru or anybody else. Rina dozed off a few times, only waking up when called upon by Miss Miyake, embarrassing her a bit but not too much. She had begun to care less and less what the people in her class thought of her, and she wasn't entirely sure why. But when the bell rang, she was quick to get up and head to the club room, where Masaru and Suzu were waiting for her.

"I don't know how you two always beat me here, I leave almost immediately." Rina grumbled as she plopped her school bag onto her desk.
"I think we've had this conversation already." Masaru said, not looking up from his phone as he messaged someone.
Suzu fidgeted in her chair, looking up at Masaru with a pink face,
"Oh, you two t-talk about club when you're in b-b-bed together after s-some hardcore-"
"So did you call in those favors you mentioned yesterday?" Rina asked, walking up to the desk after retrieving her notepad.
"Yep, just confirmed it. Haruto is unknowingly waiting for us in his classroom, that should be empty by the time we get there." Masaru said, looking up at Rina as he spoke.
Suzu frowned, looking over at them.
"W-what's this about f-f-favors? Are you planning to d-do something to H-h-h-Haruto?" She asked, becoming a strange mixture of nervous and excited with each word.
"Not like you're thinking. People are catching wide about the investigation, so I figured that this would be the only way to get some answers from him." Masaru said, standing up and nodding to Rina, who nodded back.
They both began to walk to the door, and Suzu stood up and watched them for a moment.
"Um...I g-g-guess I'll wait here..?" She asked rather than said, unsure herself.
Masaru shook his head, "Nope. You're coming with us this time."
Suzu blushed, turning her back to them.
"S-so today is finally the d-day that you guys invite me t-t-to have a th-th-th-threesome?!" She managed to get out uninterrupted.
Rina and Masaru remained silent, allowing an awkward silence to form. Finally Suzu turned back around, her face as red as a tomato.
"W-w-w-w-why aren't you s-saying anything?!" She whined, likely expecting one of them to interrupt her or at least comment.
"Rina, Suzu, let's go." Masaru said, turning to leave.
Rina nodded and followed, and after a brief hesitation, Suzu did as well.

"S-so what are we d-d-doing?" Suzu asked, trailing a good couple of feet behind the other two as they walked.
"As I said, we're going to see Haruto." Masaru said, not turning around.
"B-But why do I n-need to come?" Suzu asked, clearly not sold on the idea.
"Because he may say some things you need to hear." Masaru said, taking out a pocky stick and sticking it into his mouth.
Rina looked over at Masaru, as usual he looked forward, his expression not betraying any of what he was thinking. Suzu continued to walk behind them, refraining from speaking up again.
The rest of the walk was silent, Rina wasn't sure what to say, and assumed Suzu didn't either. Masaru opted not to speak as well, and when they reached the door to Suzu's classroom he stopped and spun around to face Suzu.
"Suzu, you'll stay out here." Masaru said quietly.
"Huh? W-w-why-" she stopped when Masaru put a finger in front of his mouth to indicate silence.
Suzu looked up at him, then over at Rina, before nodding solemnly, leaning her back against the wall next to the door. Masaru looked to Rina, and they nodded at each other before Masaru opened the door and stepped inside with Rina in tow.

Inside waiting for them was a boy that Rina figured had to be Haruto. He had short light brown hair and boyish features, at a height somewhere in between Masaru and Rina's. He turned to face Masaru, who put his hands in his pockets and narrowed his eyes.
"You're Haruto, right?" He asked, looking the boy up and down.
The boy looked back, looking to Masaru, then Rina.
"Yes...hey, you're that detective guy! Fukuhara, right?" Haruto said, seeming more than a bit nervous and confused.
"That's right. I was hoping I could talk to you." Masaru responded, looking around the empty room.
Haruto looked at Rina again before speaking, "Sorry, I'm waiting for someone right now. And the rumors always said you work alone?"
Masaru briefly glanced at Rina before looking back to Haruto.
"This is my temporary assistant, Rina. She's just here to take notes." Masaru said.
Rina frowned, not fully content with being spoken of so dismissively, but let it be.
"And anyway, whoever you're here to meet isn't coming. I called in a favor to arrange this meeting, I figured you wouldn't be willing to talk, considering your thing for Suzu." Masaru spoke again, biting part of his pocky stick off and taking a few steps towards the other boy.
"M-my thing for...?" Haruto blushed and backed away, looking off to the side, "that's right, I heard you were investigating Suzu's belongings..."
Masaru closed his eyes.
"Your reaction tells me that you indeed do have feelings for Suzu. Care to explain then why you would vandalize her desk?" Masaru asked, taking his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms.
"Vandalize her desk?!" Haruto took a few steps forward that time, suddenly looking angry, "why would you assume I did it?!"
Masaru shrugged with a smirk.
"Well it fits, doesn't it? You're bitter because she rejected you, and wanted to teach her a lesson." He said, his face becoming serious again.
Haruto clenched his fists, looking angrily at Masaru.
Masaru's expression remained stern, though not necessarily aggressive.
"You really think I'm that kind of person?" Haruto asked, gritting his teeth and looking like he wanted to hit Masaru.
"I don't know. Are you that kind of person, Haruto?" Masaru asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
Haruto's expression changed slightly, he still looked angry, though he almost seemed closer to crying than doing anything else.
At this point, Rina decided to intervene.
"You know, if you did do that, then I'm sure it probably really hurt Suzu's feelings." Rina said, taking a few steps forward, "you didn't really want to hurt someone you like, did you?"
Haruto looked to Rina, then back at Masaru, who silently waited for a response from the shorter boy.
"I...no, I...didn't want to hurt her..." Haruto said quietly, looking away.
Masaru took a step forward, stopping next to Rina.
"So why do it, then? Did the fact that she rejected you set something off?" He asked, putting his hands back into his pockets.
Haruto seemed to think for a moment, tears building up in his eyes.
"My friends say...I always feel the need to be a hero." Haruto said, turning away and looking out of the window, "They think I couldn't leave her alone because of how alone she is, and how awkward."
Rina looked over to Masaru, who thought on Haruto's words before speaking.
"Are they right? What drew you to Suzu?" He asked, taking another step forward.
Haruto looked at him, still visibly upset but seeming to have calmed down some.
"Maybe they are right...she always looked so lonely, and didn't talk to anyone...I liked the way it made me feel, when I thought of being the one to rescue her from that." He said, avoiding eye contact with Masaru.
"So nothing about who she really was attracted you to her? Typical. No wonder she rejected you." Masaru said, looking off to the side.
Rina furrowed her brow, Masaru was being harsh again.
"Masaru, that's-" But she was surprised to be cut off by Haruto,
"Shut up! I did confess to her! And she rejected me! Suzu! Of all the people in our class, what gives her the high ground of rejecting me?!"
Masaru and Rina looked at Haruto for a moment, before Rina walked up to him.
After they looked at each other for a few moments, Rina slapped him in the face.
"Ow! W-what the...?" Haruto rubbed his cheek, not expecting the reaction he received.
"How dare you? What gives YOU the high ground of thinking you're any better than her?!" Rina shouted, putting her hands on her hips.
"I..." Haruto tried to think of something to say, but didn't have enough time before Rina decided to interrupt him.
"If there's one thing I hate, it's people who think too highly of themselves! Don't assume that just because Suzu is alone, means she'll get with the first guy to talk to her!" Rina continued, getting a bit too close to Haruto as she continued.
"Rina-" Masaru attempted to intervene, but Rina pressed on in her assault,
"And then you vandalize her desk, embarrass her to your whole class? You're no hero. You're pathetic."
"Rina." Masaru said in a tone louder than Rina had heard him speak in before.
She turned to look at him, he looked aggravated with her. His gaze shifted to Haruto however as he took a few steps back.
"Y-you're right..." he said, tears beginning to stream down his face, "I am pathetic. It was me, you were right. I vandalized her desk, wrote hurtful things on it. I just thought, if even Suzu didn't like me, then..."
Rina began to speak, but Masaru took stepped in between them.
"You only vandalized her desk? Nothing else?" He asked, seeming to have no reaction to the boy's tears.
Haruto looked over to him, wiping his eyes.
"Yeah, just the desk. I don't know who did the others, though I did see Seto hanging around with his friends the day her locker was written all over..." he said with a sniff, clearly deciding to be more cooperative.
Masaru looked Haruto up and down for a few moments, before turning around to leave.
"Thank you for your time." He said, before beginning to walk away.
Rina was confused, they had a confirmed perpetrator, but Masaru was leaving?
"Wait, but-" Rina didn't get to continue the thought.
"Let's go." Masaru said sternly, only stopping to get the words out before continuing his journey to the door.
Rina briefly looked back at Haruto, who seemed to be wallowing in his own regret, before following Masaru out the open door. She closed it behind her, gasping softly to herself when she saw who was next to her.
Suzu, she had forgotten she was there to hear the entire thing.

She was looking at the ground, a sad look on her face, remaining silent.
Masaru had stopped near her, looking forward and seeming to be in thought.
"You should go home for the day. Meet us in the club room after school tomorrow." He said, presumably directed at Suzu.
Suzu nodded, before pushing herself off of the wall and beginning to walk away. But Rina wasn't satisfied with that outcome.
"No, Suzu, wait..." she held a hand out to stop Suzu.
Suzu stopped and turned around, a solemn smile on her face.
"It's ok...I'll see you tomorrow." She said, trying to look as happy as she could before walking off.
The two silently watched her leave, and after a few moments, Masaru began to walk towards the club room. Rina hesitated for a moment, before following him. Masaru didn't say anything, prompting Rina to bring up what she was thinking.
"Why did you let him say those things about Suzu?" She asked, not wanting to look at him at the moment.
"It's not our place to lecture him on his opinions. You let your emotions get the better of you. This is a case, we're trying to be professional." Masaru said, not looking at Rina.
"But the things he was saying about her...and you deliberately made her hear them! Why?" Rina asked, her anger now finding a new target.
"Keeping those thoughts out of Suzu's earshot doesn't make the thoughts not exist. It's better if she knows, and clearly she wanted to if she contacted us." Masaru said, briefly glancing at Rina as he spoke.
"But the look on her face..." Rina stopped as they reached the door, her fists clenched as Masaru opened it.
He stopped in the doorway as he noticed she was no longer following him, turning to look at her.
"You...you're heartless." Rina said, looking at the ground.
There was a pause, and Rina glanced up at him. Her heart dropped as she saw a look in his eye she hadn't seen before, but didn't have time to comprehend what it meant before he spoke.
"Fortunately your thoughts on my character are irrelevant. You're my temporary assistant, not my keeper. You can always go to detention if you have a problem." Masaru said coldly, before turning to enter the room.
Rina finally followed him, a mixture of emotions flowing through her mind.
"So...what are we going to do tomorrow?" Rina asked as she put her notepad in her school bag and picked it up.
"Well, I'll need to see about Seto again. At lunch, I'll go on my own to-" Masaru began, but Rina spoke up.
"No...I'll go with you." Rina said, looking around as she gripped her bag.
She felt her face heat up as he looked at her for a moment.
"...very well. At lunch we'll go see him again. I have a feeling it'll be easier to get something out of him now that we have more information." He said, taking his phone out and walking over to his desk.
Rina watched as he sent a message, before returning the phone to his pocket and looking out the window.
"At the very least, we now know that there are a minimum of two people involved in the vandalizing." He said, deep in thought once again.
"And what about after school?" Rina asked, tilting her head.
"That all depends on what we find out from Seto. For now we'll play it by ear." Masaru responded, sticking a pocky stick into his mouth.
Rina nodded in response, not knowing what else to do at that point, before turning on her heels and walking towards the door.
"Rina." She heard Masaru's voice and stopped, turning around to look at him.
His back was still turned, so she couldn't tell what expression he was making.
"Do you really think your reaction back there is what Suzu wanted?" He asked, still not turning around.
Rina widened her eyes, before looking at the floor. It was something she hadn't considered. She thought she had been doing the right thing, but...
Not knowing how else to react, Rina hurried out of the room, beginning her walk home. As she walked, she thought of a great many things. About Haruto, Suzu, her own actions. But mostly she thought about Masaru, and how difficult he was for her to figure out. She let out a groan of frustration, from everything that happened that day, and by the time she got home she resigned to simply hoping that things would work themselves out tomorrow.