Stealing Spree

Since I've started chasing the leads with Minami Shouko in mind, everything seemed to start falling into place. It didn't matter if Arisa found her in their clubroom.

I had a solid reason to link her to this one.

After investigating the trace behind the Theater House, I had Misaki return to the Drama Club after pampering her for a while. I also let Shimura return to the Photography Club since it would be better for us to move in smaller numbers now.

Left with Komoe and Watanabe, I told them that I'd separate from them.

While I spend time inspecting the Kendo Club to finally finish our inspection for today, I want them to be on the lookout for the possible appearance of our culprit near their crime scene.

As I walked toward the Kendo Club's dojo, the gut feeling that this was all Minami Shouko just continued to intensify.

The timeline, the missing items, and her perfect alibi of being in their clubroom right when we were inside the Theater House aligned perfectly.

I just needed one more piece of evidence to solidify the connection.

And I believe I'd find it here.

Before heading inside, I took a moment to send a quick message to Arisa.

"Arisa, you can leave that club now. Make sure you tell her about how you're helping me investigate something. Once you leave, go to this place. I need your help."

I sent another message with the name of the place.

Once that was done, I pocketed my phone and stepped into the Kendo Club's dojo.

The familiar clashing of wooden shinai echoed in the space as the members practiced their drills.

I remembered my time with Otoha when I kept on coming back to her Kendo Club only to get beaten by her.

That was a sweet time and I truly benefited from all the beatings I received from her. Not to mention, all the times she treated me after putting her shinai down.

Somehow, I couldn't help but wish I could spend my time sitting on the side, watching her practice again. Alas, we're in a different school.

Alright. Enough reminiscing.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted the Kendo Club president, standing by with his arms crossed, watching the sparring closely.

He noticed me almost immediately and walked over, his usual stern expression softened slightly with curiosity. "Onoda-kun. I thought you'd be coming by earlier. And is that...?"

His eyes immediately caught the sack behind me and hurriedly called for one member to take it from me. They all exclaimed at how dusty it became.

"Well, do you know where I recovered that?" I asked the Kendo Club President.

He gulped down as if he already knew what was coming.

"Don't tell me..."

"It's among other things in the Theater House's old storage room. Tell me, has any of your members visited that place once or knows someone there?"

I lowered my voice, not letting anyone hear it but him.

At that, the Kendo Club President's face grew taut as he contemplated seriously. "Onoda-kun, are you hinting to me that someone from my club is an accomplice?"

"I am." I didn't beat around the bush, "Every club related to this incident should have someone connected to the mastermind. I also secretly mentioned this to the other Club Presidents. Of course, you were also not out of my suspicion so I did a small test and you all passed."

That last part was bullshit from me. I just wanted to see if he would react. I had no way of knowing if any of the Club Presidents were in on it.

In any case, that begs the question of... How did I come to this conclusion?

Simple. I recalled Ryouko-san's words.

'She had caused more than a few incidents in the past year, and there was a growing concern she could influence others negatively. Like turning them to be like her.'

That girl must have a following already. I recall a foreign TV show that I watched sparingly in my free time before about a cult following of serial killers. In that show, there's this one serial killer who got caught and wrote a book. People with a tendency to be psychopathic fanatical killers who read his book got inspired by his writing and reached out to him even though he was in prison. Through letters and a few visits, he gained their loyalty and eventually, they helped him escape - some of those followers even ended up going undercover. Like a prison guard. A neighbor of that serial killer's wife and child who doesn't want anything to do with him anymore so on and so forth.

It was a pretty decent show that I ended up finishing its first season. It showed the intricacy that someone's influence could be that huge even to someone who you'd thought was an innocent person.

Of course, I could also be said to have the same tendency, just that it was in a different area, like accepting my complexity.

So anyway, Minami Shouko was most likely the same. She resembled some of that character's mentality and surrounded herself with a following who'd do her bidding.

One more thing.

The third letter with a key slipped in. The one who was pretending to be my admirer.

Yep. I was fairly certain by now that if someone was going to do that, it could only be Minami Shouko.

As for whether she was targeting me or not, I'd believe yes. Because if I could notice this character of hers, she was probably the same so... she's trying to make contact.

However, I was too cautious or too busy to care about her.

With my rise as a Disciplinary Officer... she found a better ruse to lure me out.

Ah. Of course, there remains a possibility that I'm wrong all along but at this particular instance, I'm fine being wrong.

No. I want her to prove me wrong.

The Kendo Club president's brows furrowed, his usual composed demeanor shaken by the possibility that one of his own could be involved.

"I don't want to believe that any of my members would be caught up in something like this," He said quietly. His eyes darted toward his members who had already returned to sparring or practicing their swings, "But I can't ignore what you're saying. Let me get back to you."

Upon saying that, the Kendo Club President turned around to gather his members. On the other hand, I told him I'd pretend I would be inspecting his clubroom and he accepted, pointing me to the spots where their equipment disappeared.

A few minutes later, Arisa sent me another message, "Ruki, I saw Minami Shouko leaving their clubroom and overheard her talking to someone on her phone. I'm going to your location. Wait for me."

After that, Komoe and Watanabe also sent me a message, reporting from where they were stationed as a lookout, mentioning the appearance of a slender girl sneaking out of the Club Building and going somewhere.

Yep. They also separated so their reports were sent at a different time.

At this point, I straightened my back, turned around, and found the Kendo Club President standing there.

Behind him, a girl also wearing a kendo uniform, who looked like another second-year since I couldn't recognize her from the 1st year girls, lowered her head in shame, not daring to look at me or her president.

Ah. Looks like the stage is set. Minami Shouko, are you not going to prove me wrong?

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