“—So then I thought that maybe there’s another elf who’s come to our world and is making weapons for bad people, but then that doesn’t explain why this one is loaded with my blood. That’s why I think someone’s snuck in and robbed us.”
“I can see the logic in what you’re saying. However, the storeroom is under lock and key, and Master is always standing watch at the only entrance into the secret base, so I also find that a bit hard to imagine. But if that person really had this in his possession, then this PSI drive has been somewhere it shouldn’t have been,” agreed Kaburagi-san cautiously while inspecting the PSI drive.
“Exactly! So I was thinking, how about we all work together to revise the anti-theft measures that we have in place!”
“Hmm......”
While frying up pancakes on the other side of the counter, I felt myself sympathizing with the misgivings expressed by Baba. Judging by the way Touka-chan was speaking, the possibility of this being an inside job had not crossed her mind at all. She was completely under the assumption that a robber had broken in. That went to show how much she trusted the other members of Amaterasu, but I had to agree that it seemed a bit worrying. Even though this whole situation was faked, Baba was indeed acting out the part of a traitor. Blind trust without allowing room for doubt is a very different matter than making a conscious choice to trust after having doubted, Touka-chan.
I felt slightly bad seeing Touka-chan so innocently brainstorming anti-theft measures, but the plot wasn’t going to progress at this rate. It was going to turn into a futile loop of “adopt more measures” → “doesn’t work” → “adopt more measures.” Therefore, while serving the two of them each a plate of pancakes topped with plenty of honey, I secretly shot Kaburagi-san a hand sign. She nodded imperceptibly, then said, “All right, I’ve heard what you have to say. But unfortunately, I have a really urgent matter to take care of after this. Before we move onto anything concrete, would you mind checking the storeroom for me? A quick inspection would do. Just help me make sure that there’s nothing out of place.”
“Sure!”
“Thanks.”
And after fully enjoying every last bite of her pancake, Kaburagi-san then swiftly made her exit.
Touka-chan also ate all of her pancakes. She then said “Thank you, it was delicious,” and gave me a beautiful smile while returning the plate and silverware to me, which almost succeeded in making my sour face crumble into a smile. Is she an angel? Oh, great Buddha in your great and manifest mercy, I beseech you to forgive me for the most heinous sin of toying with the pure and innocent heart of one who has so much merit. Then she went over to activate the wine bottle gimmick and proceeded through the entrance revealed by the retreating shelf and down into the underground secret base. Without making any detours, she beelined to the storeroom.
When the door opened, it revealed white plastic cases lined up on shelf after shelf. For the sake of convenience, all PSI drives were stored in a loaded state. In order to combat the resulting degradation of the fuel, the storeroom itself was maintained at 0°C. While using her pyrokinesis to keep herself warm, Touka-chan began to compare the inventory list hanging on the wall against the numbers engraved onto each case. She made good progress, swiftly going through all the cases. Unfortunately, she seemed to have no intention of opening any of them up.
Although it was true that Kaburagi-san had said “a quick inspection would do,” that was by no means something to be taken at face value. Rather, it was supposed to come across as either overconfidence that there was no way we would have been robbed, or a suspicious attempt to distract Touka-chan from checking inside the cases so as to cover up the fact that some PSI drives were missing. Touka-chan, you’re supposed to open the cases. Baba the pretend criminal wouldn’t be so stupid as to steal the briefcase when she could just take the PSI drives inside.
However, my prayers had clearly fallen on deaf ears, as Touka-chan finished checking only the cases, consequently concluding that there was nothing out of place. She was about to head out of the storeroom, with her head tilted in puzzlement, so I had no other choice but to use telekinesis to move one of the cases, causing a faint bumping sound that could easily have been missed within the purr of the ventilation. Thankfully, Touka-chan’s sharp ears picked up on it, turning around suspiciously. She swept the room with her eyes, then got on her hands and knees to check underneath the shelves. Judging by her actions, it seemed like she thought a mouse or insect had gotten in somehow.
After looking mystified for a while, Touka-chan abruptly reached out for one of the cases, undid its lock, then casually peered inside. She turned to look away almost immediately, but then came to a start, and whirled back to take a second look.
Laying inside the case was not a PSI drive as expected, but rather, a red fish. To be more exact, it was a fish that had been painted red. The low temperature had prevented it from going bad, such that its surface was coated with a thin layer of frost.
Touka-chan stared in disbelief for several seconds, then began throwing open every single one of the cases. When she was done, it was revealed that the PSI drives in 20 out of the 150 cases had been switched out with a red fish. Obviously, there was no way to determine which case had been tampered with by external appearance, and the weight of the fish also made it nigh impossible to determine by weight either. The only way to find out was to actually open it up, though admittedly it was dead obvious by that point.
With her face all pale, Touka-chan took out her smartphone to call Kaburagi-san. But right before she did so, she suddenly froze. After a whole minute of deep thought, she decided against calling, choosing instead to snap a few pictures before putting her phone away. Then she closed all of the cases that had been strewn about chaotically, taking great care to return each one of them to their original positions. Several deep breaths later, she exited the storeroom while putting up a calm demeanor.
Good, good. So she’s finally thought of the possibility of this being an inside job. If Kaburagi-san was the culprit who’d been smuggling out the PSI drives, then calling her would indeed have been a bad move.
Upon returning to the bar level, Touka-chan quickly packed her things up and headed home without meeting my eyes even once. As a matter of course, I then followed her with my telekinetic monitoring.
Once she got home, Touka-chan immediately began combing through publicly available illustrated fish encyclopedias while comparing with the pictures on her smartphone. Rather than investigating the identity of the mole, apparently she intended to first verify the clue that had been left at the scene of the crime.
......And so she had fallen hook, line, and sinker for the trap suggested by Kaburagi-san. If I was not in the know, even I would have thought “why fish?” and consequently gone to look it up. However, that in itself was the trap.
After two whole days of research while keeping the discovery of the fishes to herself, Touka-chan finally came to the realization that it wasn’t a red fish, but a fish that had been painted red, and that the fish itself was called a “herring.” Curious about why the culprit went to the trouble of painting the fish red, and also in expectation of some important clue or deep meaning in the effort, she quickly typed “red herring” in the search bar.
The instant she saw the search result, Touka-chan scrambled her hair and hurled her mouse at the floor. “Making a joke out of me......! I may not know who you are, but I will make sure that you get what’s coming to you!”
And thus, the enraged Touka-chan threw herself into identifying the traitor.
※Red herring: A clue or piece of information meant to misdirect someone’s attention or affect someone to interpret the truth in an incorrect manner. A trick. Misdirection.