“I’m so hungry…”
Mayuka slumped onto the sofa. Chihori paused as she was tidying up the beds and glanced at her wristwatch with alarm.
“Oh, it’s already past noon… And you haven’t eaten anything since last night! Leave this to me and go enjoy some lunch at the restaurant.”
After the big to-do that morning, Soga had his bodyguards perform a thorough search of the room. Once he was sure the violin wasn’t there, he left the wrecked room behind and returned to his own cabin in a huff.
Chihori had been left to clean up the mess…but Hinata and the others helped out.
Mito tapped the empty violin case with a grumpy frown. “I need my instrument. Every day I don’t practice requires an entire week to recover.”
Mayuka and Hinata shared a look. She’s really something—more worried about a violin than eating!
“Do you think the captain will pay for our meals, too?” Kobayashi wondered aloud, his mind on more practical questions.
Chihori laughed. “It’s fine. As long as you’re on our ship, we can’t leave you to starve! While you’re eating, I’ll arrange for another two beds for you. Just leave Chris with me, since he can’t go into the restaurant. I’ll make sure you get a walk, Chris.”
The dog barked once to indicate that he understood.
They walked into the buffet restaurant where the dinner party had been held the previous night.
No one felt much like talking, so they got their food and ate together in silence until Mayuka finally spoke up.
“Oh, Hinata, you had pizza yesterday, too,” she complained. “Didn’t I tell you to get something fancy while you have the chance?” She was eating wine-braised beef.
“Sh-shut up. Why do you care? I like pizza. And this is a hundred times better than the stuff I usually eat.”
Mito was munching on a grilled chicken salad, looking unbothered, and Kobayashi was lost in thought, his fork left jabbed into his serving of fries.
“Oh…” Hinata met the gaze of someone who’d just walked into the restaurant. His hand froze, a slice of pizza lifted halfway to his mouth.
It was the boy he’d seen at the kennel the night before—Reo Hasekura, owner of Kotarou, the friendly golden retriever.
Reo looked away at once, then turned to whisper something to the purple-haired elderly woman beside him. The woman lifted her glasses and looked in Hinata’s direction, squinting a little. Then she leaned onto her cane and approached their table.
“Pardon me for interrupting your meal,” she said, speaking to Mito.
The girl put her fork down and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“Thank you again for last night,” the woman continued. “It was a truly wonderful performance.” Her voice was a bit thick and muffled.
Mito stood up and gave her a very polite bow. “No, thank you, Ms. Hasekura.”
“Although I couldn’t say so in front of Mr. Soga, even the finest of violins is useless without the right player. That Stradivarius would be weeping.”
“I’m honored by your praise,” Mito said, blushing.
The woman, whose name was apparently Touko Hasekura, lifted her chin and remarked, “He kept boasting about all the nice violins he’s brought onto the ship, but they’re worthless rotting away in a collection. They should be singing in a musician’s hands. Would you play for us again?”
“I don’t think I’ll be getting another chance,” Mito said, the blush fading as her face paled.
“Oh, that’s too bad… I’ll tell Mr. Soga.”
Touko gave the group the faintest of nods, then leisurely walked away. In her wake, all that remained was the strong smell of perfume.
“Ewww!” Mayuka waved her hand around, trying to eliminate the smell. “I can’t even taste the food with that stuff in the air! Why does she have so much perfume on?”
“Perfume? More like per-phew!” Kobayashi said, his nose wrinkling.
Mito exhaled, sat down again, and spread out her napkin across her lap. “She wasn’t wearing such strong perfume last night. So…Mr. Soga has other violins. But I suppose he won’t lend me another one.”
“There’s no way, after how he was talking to us this morning…” Mayuka downed her glass of water angrily, thinking back to earlier that day. “Let’s find that violin quickly, Hinata. After we’ve eaten, it’s time to get down to business!”
I guess I’ll have to tell her, Hinata realized. “Mayuka,” he began. “Chris finds clues by following a scent. And since the thief who took the violin didn’t leave anything behind, there’s no scent for him to follow…”
“Oh…” A piece of beef slipped off Mayuka’s fork. “But, Hinata, you told Mr. Soga that Chris would find the violin!”
Hinata screwed up his face. “I just got caught up in the moment. I don’t think Chris can find it, and I don’t think I can, either. But aren’t you frustrated? The violin was right in front of our faces when it was stolen, and now everyone thinks we did it. We have to fix this…”
“You’re right. I want to get to the bottom of this,” said Kobayashi, finally emerging from his thoughts. “But it’s clear we don’t have enough clues to go on. Where should we start on such a massive cruise ship? There are over two thousand passengers. Who are our suspects?”
“…Who put the false information in the computer…and who ordered the pomegranate juice and drugged it…?” Hinata added quietly. “Are those our only leads? I guess we’ll have to ask Chihori for help.”
“That’s why you’re Hinata Kurihara, president of the Kids’ Detective Club! We’ll start there,” said Kobayashi, clapping his hands.
“Why does he get to be president?” Mayuka grumbled.
“Let’s eat quickly and ask Chihori what she can tell us,” said Kobayashi, stuffing a burger into his mouth. The other three returned to their meals as well.
Just then, two sharp-eyed security guards entered the restaurant and began looking around. They circled the room, checking all the nooks and crannies and murmuring to each other. Maybe they’re searching for the violin, Hinata thought, shooting Kobayashi a look. The young man nodded back.
At that point, Mito glanced up from her salad. “I think I should go ask Mr. Soga if I can borrow a violin…”
The others all choked on their food.
That’s a pro for you! What a one-track mind!!