Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
Less than three minutes later, the staff member hurried back, holding a printed A4 paper, her tone more assured than before. "The store manager has decided—the filtered purchase records will be charged per item. Basic information for each transaction costs one thousand points, and if you need to specify the exact buyer and precise time, it's an additional two thousand points per transaction. The total cost for the information you requested comes to thirty thousand points. And it needs to be reported to the Student Council, where they'll keep a copy of your information. Can you accept that?"
The two exchanged glances and both nodded.
Shiina then took out her phone from her pocket. "I'll pay the points."
Akira watched her decisive movements and didn't try to snatch it back—since it was investigation funding provided by Ryuuen, using it for this purpose was perfectly appropriate.
She swiped her phone on the terminal, and after a soft 'ding', the female clerk handed over the A4 paper. "Here are the printed records; the names and classes of the purchasers are marked on it."
When Shiina took the paper, her fingertips paused slightly.
Akira leaned in to look at the record sheet—there were ten people on the list.
Divided by class, there was 1 person from Class D, 2 from Class C, 4 from Class B, and 3 from Class A.
He recognized four of them: the 'Doctor' from his own class who always carried a laptop, Ichinose from Class B, Sakayanagi from Class A, and Ryuuen from Class C.
For high school students, specifically buying a computer isn't that common—if they really want to play games, the Switch in Japan is enough, and for studying, the school's computer lab equipment is perfectly adequate.
So, ten people, distributed across four classes, was a logical result.
"…Shiina-san, what do you think?" Akira asked, following up.
"That mysterious person is most likely among these ten," Shiina gently tapped her fingertip on the list. "Since all four classes are involved, how about this—Shimizu-kun, you connect with the students from Class D and Class B? I'll be responsible for Class C and Class A."
"Can you handle it?" Akira raised his eyebrow.
"Shimizu-kun… don't underestimate me, you know." Shiina looked up, her tone carrying a serious persistence. "I can naturally communicate with students from my own class, and Class A only has 3 students on the list, so I actually just need to talk to these few people."
"Alright, I'll do as you say." Akira nodded, tore off the parts belonging to Class D and Class B from the list, folded them, and put them away. "Contact me anytime if you hear anything."
"Mhm, this should be the final investigation," Shiina held the lists belonging to Class A and Class C in her hand. "Once we've each asked around and exchanged information, Shimizu-kun won't need to specifically make time to help me anymore."
Her voice was very soft, as if afraid to disturb something—perhaps she felt it wasn't good to always trouble others.
"…Okay." Akira responded, his gaze falling on her hand holding half of the A4 paper.
Her hands were slender and fair, her fingertips still faintly red from having just held the record sheet.
'Once this is over, she'll probably go back to being that quiet girl who stays in the corner of the classroom.'
As soon as this thought emerged, he pushed it down.
He folded the half-list in his hand twice, tucked it into his school uniform pocket, and gently pressed his fingertips to make sure it wouldn't fall out. "Then that's it for today, let's split up. If you find anything, contact me anytime."
There was no need for extra instructions like "don't mess up"; they both knew how to proceed.
...
Akira and Shiina separated. After he pushed open the door.
The corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure—it was Sakura from his own class.
She was looking down, her bangs covering half her face, walking very lightly towards him, as if afraid to startle someone.
"Sakura-san?" Akira stopped and called out to her.
Sakura's steps abruptly halted, and after two seconds, she slowly looked up, her voice almost inaudible. "Sh-Shimizu-san."
"Are you here to exchange your camera?" His gaze fell on the digital camera she was holding in her arms, and he asked casually.
"Mhm… that, the focus seems to have a problem." Sakura's voice became even softer, and her fingertips subconsciously tightened around the camera strap.
"I see." Akira nodded, not asking any more questions. "Then I won't bother you."
After saying that, he turned and left. He seemed to hear a very soft "goodbye" from behind him later.
However, after walking only a few steps, a hint of curiosity suddenly arose in his heart.
He hadn't expected Sakura to have a hobby of photography—she usually stayed quietly in the corner of the classroom, speaking in soft whispers, so he really couldn't have guessed she'd tinker with cameras.
Wait—he suddenly remembered something particularly interesting.
Doesn't Superman hide his identity with glasses? And Superman's main job is a reporter, always running around with a camera.
It all matched up, it all matched up!
'Thinking about it this way, Sakura-san seems to be getting more and more suspicious!'
...
Akira found that he and the classmate from his own class who bought the computer had already added each other as friends.
His name was Sotomura Hideo, but people in class preferred to call him by his nickname, "Professor." He was an otaku obsessed with anime and computer knowledge, always stuffing the latest manga magazines into his backpack, and his eyes would light up when talking about programming terms.
When Akira called him, their conversation went quite smoothly—they even naturally chatted about two-dimensional culture for a bit.
From the plot direction of new anime to the voice actors of characters, Professor could talk about a lot of ins and outs.
However, Akira soon realized that his own hobby was no match for the other person.
Professor could accurately name the production staff of classic old anime from twenty years ago, and even remembered the detailed storyboards of a certain obscure OVA—his knowledge reserve of two-dimensional culture was indeed much more solid than his.
In the midst of their lively conversation, Akira took the opportunity to ask about the other person's purpose for buying a computer.
"I just wanted to play bishojo games, and it's also more convenient for coding," Professor replied. "And laptops can be brought into the classroom! I can occasionally sneak in a couple of rounds during breaks."
He said this with the proud air of a teenager sharing a little secret.
Akira found it reasonable—given Professor's obsession with two-dimensional culture, it was perfectly normal for him to specifically buy a laptop to play games and code anytime.
This way, Sotomura from Class D had a completely reasonable motive for buying a laptop, and could naturally be directly excluded from "suspect" status.
Come to think of it, Akira himself was actually the "person who rented the surveillance."