Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 29 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories

Ace Detective Sanae, Part Two

Sanae had been looking forward to eating her hot springs manju after her show... but now that manju was missing. The kidnapping had taken place in the kitchen of Koutarou’s apartment where she’d been keeping it. So with Yurika as her partner and Koutarou as her audience, the self-proclaimed Ace Detective Sanae boldly made her way to the scene of the crime.

“We’re sweeping the crime scene, right, Koutarou?”

“Well, I suppose that’s the idea.”

“So... what exactly does sweeping the crime scene entail?”

“You’re thoroughly investigating for any clues that you might find.”

“Hmm... Then off to the kitchen!”

“H-How about we just stay here, Sanae-chan? The next show’s about to start!”

Koutarou was playing along with Sanae to kill time until dinner because her detective charade seemed like more fun than just lazing about in front of the TV. Yurika, however, was of the opposite opinion. She tried to encourage the group to settle down for the next anime that was coming on.

“Oh? What is it, everyone?”

Harumi, who was in charge of tonight’s dinner, greeted the trio with her usual gentle smile as they entered the kitchen. She was wearing an apron and had cooking utensils in hand.

“We’re tracking down the culprit who kidnapped my hot springs manju!”

“Kidnapped your... manju?”

Harumi was a little taken aback—primarily confused as she tried to work out how someone could kidnap a manju. She’d heard Sanae making a fuss about something from the kitchen, but she really didn’t understand what was going on. Thoroughly puzzled, she looked to Koutarou for answers... and he replied by pressing his hands together in a begging gesture and flashing a small smile. Seeing that, Harumi understood this must be some kind of a game.

“That’s right! My precious hot springs manju has gone missing! I’m going to find the culprit and get my manju back! I swear it on my grandfather’s name!”

“What are you referencing now, Sanae?”

“I see... So this is part of your investigation?”

“Yeah! We came to sweep the place and interrogate anyone we found at the scene of the crime. In other words... you!”

“Oh my.”

Harumi smiled as she turned off the stove and put down her utensils. Tonight’s dinner was steamed chicken and potherbs. She’d already wrapped the chicken and herbs in foil, so all that was left was to cook it. Right now, however, it seemed prudent to save that for after the interrogation.

“All right, we’ll start with sweeping the place!”

“Say, ace detective, I think it would be better to interrogate Sakuraba-senpai first.”

“How come?”

“So she can get back to working on dinner sooner.”

“Well, you have a point there. We’ll start with Harumi!”

Keeping her role as ace detective in mind, Sanae nodded at Koutarou and turned to face Harumi with a sharp glint in her eyes—at least, sharp for Sanae. A grudge over food was serious business to her.

“Now, Harumi, how long have you been here?”

“Let’s see... I got back from shopping maybe an hour ago.”

“And what have you been doing here?”

“I’ve been preparing dinner.”

“Incidentally, what’s on the menu for tonight?”

“Steamed chicken and herbs.”

“Ooh, nice! I like that!”

“Come on, ace detective. Stay on track.”

“Oopsies.”

On the subject of dinner, Sanae veered wildly off track until Koutarou chided her. She then got right back to interrogating Harumi, who’d now gotten a handle on the situation and was happily cooperating—very much so like she normally did when they all played games together.

Huh?

During her interrogation, however, Harumi noticed something: Yurika was quietly shuffling around behind Sanae and Koutarou.

“...”

Yurika pulled a coffee milk box and a transparent plastic wrapper out of her pocket and discretely threw them in the trash—but Harumi had seen that plastic wrapper before.

That means the culprit is...

Harumi thusly realized the identity of the culprit, but didn’t want to just blurt it out. That might ruin Sanae’s fun. After giving it some thought, she decided to pretend she hadn’t seen anything and act none the wiser. She could always reveal the truth down the line, so there was no harm in letting Sanae’s detective game play out.

“Aha! I know! Harumi, you got hungry while you were cooking and ate my manju as an appetizer, didn’t you?!”

“I taste my food as I’m cooking, so I wouldn’t get hungry enough to eat your manju.”

“So you have no motive, huh? Hmm...”

“Even if she did, it wouldn’t make sense for Sakuraba-senpai to have eaten it.”

“Why not?”

“Because she’s the one who bought the manju in the first place. She got enough for everyone, so why wouldn’t she have gotten one for herself too?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. I’m sorry for doubting you, Harumi!”

“Oh, don’t worry. But if it’s not me, do you have any idea as to who the culprit might be?”

“Not a clue! But I’m sure I’ll find something when I investigate the kitchen!”

Ace Detective Sanae’s investigation was pretty rough going so far, but the culprit was gradually being cornered. In fact, said culprit was sweating bullets right now. If Sanae had noticed, it would’ve been case closed in the blink of an eye. But Sanae was none the wiser, and so the subtle cat-and-mouse game between the detective and the perpetrator would continue...

–To be continued–