Jealousy (1)

That same day, after class, Iwasaki and I sat in the Mystery Club room.

"Maybe it was a prank?" Iwasaki asked, obviously unable to come to a conclusion, "Like, maybe someone from the club stole the costume as a joke?"

I decided to ask the question in a different way. "Okay, let me ask you this... What do you think the drama club members think about this?"

Iwasaki hesitated, falling silent.

I had already come to a conclusion, and now I was trying to lead Iwasaki to the same conclusion.

Earlier, before Sumida called me with the news, I had met a member of the drama club in the school's hallway. They were holding something interesting in their hands. It was a coincidence, but it helped solidify my suspicions into a coherent theory. And when Sumida informed me of the situation, my belief in the idea became even stronger.

It was a completely crazy and wild idea, an idea whose validity I will probably never be able to verify.

"They don't know the answer, do they?" Iwasaki asked hesitantly.

"Of course, there is a possibility that they're hiding who it was from us, but I don't think they know the answer, at least not yet," I replied.

"Hmmm... Then I really don't know. But they probably have their suspicions," he replied, looking at me as if waiting for my answer.

I just nodded in agreement. "Exactly... They'll have different versions. Some will think it was Nakazawa," I paused, "and some will think it was a ghost..."

Iwasaki stared at me silently, digesting my answer. He looked lost, as if he didn't know what I was getting at.

"Ah... Do you want to know the answer?" I asked him.

"Tell me," he said impatiently.

I leaned back in my chair, crossed my legs, and began to tell him my idea...

Yes, I had an idea in my head who it might be.

"You know, when we questioned the members, there were those who were honest about their feelings and genuinely tried to identify the culprit. But there were also those who acted suspiciously..."

I looked at Iwasaki, hoping to catch a glimmer of understanding in his expression, and then inquired, "So... why did some of them seem unfazed by the disappearance of the costume?

Iwasaki's expression changed, indicating that he finally understood what I was getting at.

"Remember the tense atmosphere in the drama club when we came in?" I grinned, "That tension was caused by jealousy. And the one who was jealous was Rina Mizuno."

Yes, that was my suspicion.

Rina was jealous because her sister and Sato had been chosen for the roles of the knight and princess, the characters who were in love with each other.

Rina Mizuno was the likely culprit of the costume theft. It wouldn't have been hard for her to get a copy of the key, since she and her sister lived together.

Why? It's simple… Rina likes Sato.

But that's not all... As for Sato... He wasn't worried about the disappearance of the costume because he knew that Rina had taken it, and he was sure that the costume would be returned soon. Thus, neither Rina nor Sato were particularly interested in finding the missing costume.

But why didn't Sato say anything? Well, that's because… Yep, yep. Sato likes Rina too!

Remember those mysteriously moving things in the storage room? That was Sato and Rina. They were secretly meeting there to hide their relationship from Miyu Mizuno. Which means that not only do they like each other, but they're already dating.

Today, while walking down the school hallway, I saw Sato holding a chocolate bar. We found a wrapper of the same chocolate bar in the storage room, remember? Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean anything, since a lot of people buy it from the vending machine, but it feels like more than just a coincidence.

You may be wondering why Rina stole the costume in the first place, only to return it later?

Well, I can't really answer that question. Maybe there was a scene between Miyu Mizuno and Sato in the script that made her so jealous that she wanted to intervene, but then she calmed down after a few days and returned the costume. And maybe Sato was the one who calmed her down.

Or maybe it was something else. I can't say for sure.

You may also be wondering why they were meeting secretly in that storage room in the first place. After all, it was risky; they could have been caught.

I don't have an answer to that question either. Maybe they've only recently started dating and their emotions are running high, and they find secret meetings incredibly romantic. Who knows? Again, I'm not sure why she's hiding her relationship with Sato from her sister.

After all, it's just speculation. These are just assumptions without any proof. I can never confirm that my theory is correct until they reveal it themselves.

"But in the end, if it's true, this case is just another love story."

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, letting Iwasaki digest all this information.

Maybe the story Rina had written reflected her fears, her fear of losing her sister if she found out about her relationship with Sato. Maybe she was struggling with two conflicting emotions: on the one hand, the fear that Miyu would find out about their relationship and on the other hand, a feeling of guilt.