THAT day after school, Tomoko had cleaning duty, so they both cleaned together. Once a week, they split up, and Yura’s class, Class 3-D, cleaned the western stairwell and the entrance to the gym.
Since they had the front of the gym, they swept from one side to the other. As Yura helped Tomoko clean, they overheard their names being called over the PA system and looked up.
“Yura Sugano and Tomoko Hatada from class 3-D, please see Sako from the math department in the faculty office immediately.”
The disinterested voice repeated the announcement twice more before cutting out.
Tomoko burst into laughter at hearing Sako’s voice over the loudspeaker. Sako was their homeroom teacher and head of the math department.
“Come on, at least try to sound friendly.”
Not in any sort of hurry, Tomoko set the dustpan before the pile of dirt they’d accumulated.
“Anyway, everything’s always ‘immediately’ with Yakko,” Tomoko said, motioning toward the main building.
“Yakko…?”
“He seems like the type who’d get comments on his elementary school report card like ‘Completely unsociable’ and ‘Please try to smile more,’ right?”
Yura burst out laughing.
It was so likely, it was scary. As she laughed, she dumped the swept-up trash into the garbage. Still not in any hurry, they put the cleaning supplies back.
But it actually was an urgent matter.
✦ ✦ ✦
“STEALING?”
Sako had been waiting for the pair in the faculty office.
Unlike lunchtime, hardly anyone was in the faculty office after school.
Though they didn’t feel any concrete sense of crisis, the way their teacher greeted them both with this accusation so suddenly it left them dumbfounded.
“Did something happen?”
Rather than answering them, their teacher glared quietly at the desk. The normally light-skinned Sako was now noticeably pale. Getting a bad feeling, Yura looked down.
“I was informed a short time ago by one of the sports advisors that a theft had occurred. The victims were members of the tennis, basketball, softball, and track teams.”
Yura gasped. She instinctively looked at Tomoko, who had furrowed her brows.
“Fortunately, the damages aren’t that great. Half of the students were impacted, and all the club rooms were hit. Only the track team lost its entire first-term budget.”
Tomoko’s eyes widened. Sako finally lifted his pale face.
“Sugano, you are the public morals representative, right?”
Yura gave a small nod. “But I locked everything up properly…” she somehow managed, trembling.
Tomoko, who had been listening with suspicion, finally spoke up. “She’s right. I was with her when she locked up. We were the last two and we left the room together. The valuables bag was in its proper place…”
He was silent.
Slightly frustrated, Tomoko pressed. “What is going on?”
“During fifth period, Sugano…” he began, “there’s a student who said they saw you standing in front of the clubrooms. They said they saw you run out, your face pale.”
Yura gasped. Tomoko’s eyes widened and she pressed the teacher.
“Y-You can’t possibly suspect her?”
He gave no response. Sako seemed to be reading Yura’s face seriously and carefully.
Losing her patience, Tomoko raised her voice.
“No way, she was sick and just went to the bathroom… Who would say something so ridiculous? And what kind of proof do they have?”
Yura hung her head. Her breath caught in her throat and she couldn’t speak. She remembered bumping into that trio during fifth period. Their shocked faces, the four keys, the cloth bags, their retreating figures, and the sound of their footsteps.
“I cannot release the names of the students who came forward. But it would be easy for the morals representative to retrieve the clubroom keys from the valuables bag. Or rather, all the clubs that were hit were clubs our class had the keys to.”
Tomoko, who had been listening quietly, gasped. Her cheeks reddened and she clenched her hand into a fist. Yura thought she saw her eyes go white. Once she steadied her breathing, Tomoko spoke frankly.
“No matter what you say, it wasn’t her. I’d be more suspicious of whoever came forward to ‘testify.’”
Sako looked away. Finally, he mumbled in response, “Can you prove otherwise?”
Yura went ice cold at those words. But Tomoko didn’t hesitate.
She looked up and declared, “I can.”
She then spun around and left. As Yura followed her, she could feel the teacher’s cold gaze upon her back.