Afternoon. School's out.
The school bell rang, and a group of students left, chatting and laughing—some going home, others heading to clubs.
"Kurosawa, goodbye."
"Hoshino, next time I'll bring your photo. You have to sign it for me!"
"Detective, take your time cleaning."
Many people said goodbye to Kurosawa as they left, and he—not being aloof—responded to each one.
Soon, only six people remained in the classroom, including Kurosawa and Ran. These six were the ones on duty for the day. More people had their advantages; everyone divided the work, and the classroom was cleaned in about ten minutes.
Outside the school gate, Kurosawa was walking forward as usual when he noticed the two girls following him out of the corner of his eye. Turning around, he saw they were walking in the opposite direction, glancing back at him every now and then and even chuckling to themselves.
"Wait, where are you going?" Kurosawa turned around helplessly and quickly caught up with them.
"Over there at Beika Station," Ran replied with a smile, brushing a stray strand of hair from her cheek, her face saying, Come on, ask me already!
"Beika Station?" Kurosawa couldn't understand and simply stopped thinking about it. "Have you forgotten what I promised you last time? Are you sure you still want to go to Beika Station?"
Hearing this, Sonoko immediately shook her best friend's arm and pressed, "What's going on? What are you talking about? What's the secret? Tell me quickly!" Her "excluded" look—like a squirrel that hadn't gotten any snacks—made Ran laugh out loud.
"Oh, it's nothing really." Ran explained. "A few days ago, I was going to buy the sequel to Detective Samonji, but Hoshino was delayed on the way, and by the time I got there, they were sold out. So, to make up for it, he's planning to treat me to dessert sometime. Actually, what I was talking about was dessert."
"Oh—I see." Sonoko drawled, her beautiful eyes darting around. "That's perfect! There's a really good dessert shop near Beika Station. It's on our way."
Kurosawa's eyes swept over them, and he said suspiciously, "You're hiding something from me. You could have gone somewhere closer, but you insisted on going somewhere far away. Tell me, what are you going to Beika Station for?"
"I'm not telling you. You'll find out when you get there." Ran said smugly, raising her head. Usually, Kurosawa was the riddle teller, but now it was her turn. Looking at his helpless expression, she felt a sense of satisfaction. This feeling was wonderful.
Without further ado, they arrived at the bus stop and boarded the bus. The bus wasn't too crowded, and they found window seats, watching the convenience store, takoyaki stand, and students leaving school flash by.
Fifteen minutes later, the bus stopped at Beika Station. Kurosawa got off with the two girls. His eyes glanced around casually, then suddenly stopped, staring intently at Aoko, wearing the Ekoda High School uniform, outside the station exit. Aoko was standing on tiptoe, looking around, her hair swaying as she moved her head.
"Ran, Sonoko, Hoshino!" Aoko spotted them, immediately waving and running over quickly with her schoolbag.
"Aoko!" Ran and Sonoko greeted her happily. Their three small hands clasped tightly together, their chatter instantly becoming lively.
Ran shook Aoko's wrist. "Sorry to keep you waiting. We were delayed because of our cleaning duties."
Sonoko immediately took Aoko's arm. "Aoko, today we're going to really treat Hoshino to a good meal! He promised to treat us to dessert—we can't miss this opportunity!"
"Isn't that a bit much?" Aoko's beautiful light blue eyes were already fixed on Kurosawa, her gaze filled with craving.
"So it turns out you guys arranged to meet here, and I was the only one who didn't know." Kurosawa stared at them intently.
"We're going shopping together today." Ran started to say, but then realized some things weren't appropriate to say in public. Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she quickly changed the subject. "Hoshino, you said you'd treat us to dessert, right? I want a strawberry parfait. You can go back first—we have things to do."
"Yes, yes, yes." Sonoko and Aoko nodded in agreement.
"Sure. Please." Kurosawa shrugged and gestured for them to lead the way.
The three girls smiled at each other and walked briskly ahead.
Just as Kurosawa was about to follow, he caught a glimpse of a furtive figure out of the corner of his eye. When he looked again, the figure was gone.
He thought for a moment, then activated his Scene Rewind superpower, freezing the image on the fleeting figure. Now he could finally see the furtive person clearly.
Did he come with Aoko? That was the only thing Kurosawa could think of, but he didn't plan to deal with him for now. He'd have a proper talk with him later.
Turning around to look at the three women who had already walked away, he followed them.
They walked across a street. Ahead came a dessert shop, its glass window displaying various exquisite dessert models, looking incredibly appetizing.
"Um, Hoshino." Ran stood at the shop entrance, turned to look at him, and hesitated before saying, "Why don't you pack some for us to take home? We'll eat it later."
"What about Aoko?" Kurosawa asked in return.
Ran looked at Aoko.
Aoko said, "Then I won't eat it. I'm on a diet recently and don't want to eat anything sweet."
Kurosawa chuckled. "What are you hiding from me that you can't even tell me?"
Hearing this, the three girls blushed and looked toward the mall entrance across the street in perfect unison.
Kurosawa followed their gaze. He had been to this mall before. After thinking carefully about the shops inside, he quickly thought of one and exclaimed with realization, "So you're going to buy underwear, huh? Why are you being so secretive?"
Seeing that her secret had been exposed, Ran's ears turned red. "We are going to buy underwear. You wait for us here, and we'll come back to eat after we're done."
"Don't you need my opinion?" Kurosawa raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile.
"No need!" the three girls answered in unison, glaring at him as if to say, You pervert, don't even think about it. They then ignored him and ran hand-in-hand toward the shopping mall across the street.
Kurosawa withdrew his gaze from them and scanned the bustling crowd on the street. He quickly spotted a figure also wearing a school uniform, a playful smile playing on his lips.