Chapter 2217: Weird Coincidence?

Chapter 2217: Weird Coincidence?



After getting their agreement, I gestured to the president of the Kendo Club, a tall, skinny guy who seemed the least nervous of the group. He leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees as he spoke.

"In the past two weeks, we've had several shinai, our practice swords, go missing. At first, we thought it was just a mistake, someone taking them home by accident or not returning them after practice. But it kept happening. We lock up the equipment after every practice, and only the club members and our advisor have access to the room. It's starting to affect our training sessions."

Two weeks? So, this wasn't a recent occurrence. How intriguing. Who could do such a thing and be undetected until now?

I looked at the other club presidents and they seemed to be agreeing to him as if they'd experienced something similar.

I recalled the last time I visited the Drama Club for Misaki. It was only a few days ago... But there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. Likewise, when I visited the Photography Club with Juri. Everything seemed fine.

I made a mental note to look into whether the security of their clubrooms had been compromised. It didn't seem likely that the same person could be involved in all this, but the pattern was troubling.

I'd applaud the culprit if it's a single person.

Next, the president of the Photography Club, Juri's junior, Kokonoe Marin, spoke up. "I... How should I start? You've visited our club once with Juri-senpai. But at that time... there was already an incident. A few cameras and tripods either go missing or end up in weird places. Like, recently, one of our old cameras. The one you saw me working on was found in the art supply closet two days ago. Another one, thankfully a cheap model, disappeared entirely last week. While not everything was lost, I couldn't handle the stress anymore. Onoda-kun, can you do something?"

I raised an eyebrow and then consoled her, "Isn't that why you're here, senpai? Let me help you figure it out. But you mentioned the art supply closet. It was on the same floor but that's quite a distance from your clubroom, right?"

It wasn't something from the Art Club, It was located in one of the clubrooms turned into a storage room for what some clubs discarded for decluttering.

She nodded, clearly frustrated. "Exactly. None of us have any idea how it ended up there."

Next, it was the Drama Club's president's turn. She stared for a while as if she was trying to sync her memory of me to the one standing in front of her now.

"It's the same with us. Costumes and props go missing from inside our clubroom. Then they'll show up in random places days later. Sometimes in the Theater Club's. It's weird that they seemed to be not affected. Misaki-chan helped me double-check with everyone to ensure they were not just being left behind or borrowed without permission. Don't you think it's weird, Onoda-kun?"

"Indeed it's weird. What about you, senpai?" I said before turning to the last president who had yet to speak."

"T-that... it's fairly similar to the others." His voice was low, almost whispering as though he was too ashamed to speak. I could see him already sweating in his seat. "Some of our tools and pieces of equipment are going missing only to show up days later."

This guy... He's a reclusive introvert, huh? Was he spending most of his time in his lab?

In any case, there seemed to be not any need to push him to talk more.

I nodded and signaled to him that it was fine. I already got the information I needed from him.

with her.

Still, it's just a suspicion but it is worth pursuing.

I walked to my desk, picked up the photo attached to the file, and presented it to them.

"Is this her?" I asked, my voice firm.

I thought I already had it but surprisingly, all three of them knit their brows and shook their

heads.

Strange... If not her, then who?

"Alright. Komoe, could you look into this and try to identify her?" I asked, turning to my

lovely and enthusiastic assistant.

She nodded eagerly, already pulling out her phone to send a message to someone. Most likely to Watanabe who's always up for something interesting.

While Komoe worked, I turned back to the club presidents. "In the meantime, I'll visit and

inspect your clubrooms. See if there's anything unusual that might point us in the right

direction. I'll have to coordinate with your advisors as well. Please make sure they're

informed of what's going on."

The club presidents agreed, though they still looked uneasy. It was clear this situation had been wearing on them for a while.

As the presidents began to leave the office, I couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that Minami Shouko was somehow involved.

Her reputation for stirring trouble, her disregard for authority, and her tendency to manipulate situations seemed to align with what was happening here. But I didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. I'd need more evidence.

"Komoe," I called after the last president had left, "we're going to visit these clubs during patrol. Let's see if we can't catch this mystery girl in the act."

Komoe grinned, clearly excited by the idea of playing detective. "Yes, Ruki! I'll do my best!"

With that, we prepared for a moment as I read through Minami Shouko's file and then left the office together to start our patrol.