The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 5) | Contents | The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 7)
The sun had completely set when we boarded the Tokaido line train to get back to Kira City. The train was full, but we fortunately managed to sit next to each other. Sitting opposite us was a pair who looked to be university students, both listening to music on their earphones. I was reluctant to discuss the case in a crowd of people, but this made it easier to do so.
After receiving the phone call from Kogi-san, Orca’s editorial department answered her question without seeming suspicious of her, saying that they did send that photo’s data to Patissier Tochino. They also offered to send it to her, but Kogi-san politely refused and ended the call. She looked a little pale after it all.
Only Patissier Tochino would be able to obtain both the pasticciere gathering photo and the countdown photo. He received the former from Orca’s editorial department, and the latter from his daughter, Tochino Mio. Mr Tochino likely already harbored resentment towards Patisserie Kogi from a while ago. As Osanai-san had told me, Marronnier Champs took first place at Orca’s influential annual sweets shop ranking for three years in a row, but fell due to the opening of Patisserie Kogi Annex Ruriko.
On top of being humiliated at a formal party by the daughter of Kogi, whom he already hated, his own daughter got suspended from school for drinking alcohol. It is impossible to stop a rumor, so if word would get out that the daughter of Marronnier Champs was suspended for drinking alcohol, he wanted to spread the disgrace to Patisserie Kogi. Either that, or… the culprit could be Tochino Mio. Since she had already gotten suspended, she schemed to take the daughter of a hated rival store down with her.
Creating fake evidence from the two photographs seemed like the work of an adult to me, and the idea of getting a suspension with the false charge of drinking alcohol felt like it came from a middle school student. Meaning it was also plausible that father and daughter were working together. Well, we had already sufficiently fulfilled our goal, so there was no need to figure out which of them was the main culprit.
“Kobato-kun.”
Osanai-san whispered in the rocking train car.
“I’m surprised you knew that Tochino is the patissier of Marronnier Champs.”
She probably didn’t have peace of mind, given that she was beaten to the punch in knowledge about patissiers, of all things. But she had the wrong idea.
“It’s not that I knew, I just thought that might be the case.”
“So it was just a hunch?”
“Not really. I had more basis for that to call it a hunch.”
Osanai-san tilted her head, muffler and all, so I explained my train of thought.
“Earlier, while you and Tasaka-san were in Reichi Middle School, I did some digging. Tochino-san’s nickname, Marro, somehow caught my attention. Why is it Marro? Come to think of it, didn’t I recently hear some word that starts with Marro… that was what I thought. Kogi-san also said that Tochino-san was interested in making sweets, so I made a guess, and it turned out to be spot on.”
“What do you mean by digging?”
“It’s simple… I looked up ‘Tochi’ in a dictionary.”
There were definitions like “deciduous tree” and “native to mountainous areas”, but at the end…
“It can refer to ‘marronnier’, which is another name for the horse chestnut tree.”
Osanai-san let out a small groan.
There was a student with the name of Tochino related to the case, a shop called Marronnier Champs which was dethroned by Kogi, and also the fact that marronnier means horse chestnut tree. I thought that those three signs could not be a coincidence, and speculated that Tochino-san’s father is the patissier of Marronnier Champs. After learning that Kogi-san’s face in the fabricated photo was originally taken at the Italian-Japanese pasticciere gathering, the problem was not a difficult one to solve.
We now knew the culprits, and pretty much figured out their motive. Did Kogi-san cheer up from that? Or – did she get assaulted by a sense of futility knowing that the situation was beyond redemption even after learning the names of her enemies?
Before leaving, Osanai-san had given Kogi-san some advice. Since she had the fabricated photograph as evidence, she could send it to Orca’s editorial department. All she had to do was write in to expose what Patissier Tochino did. Marronnier Champs’ treatment in the magazine would probably change.
“Say, Osanai-san.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think Kogi-san will write in to Orca?”
For the sake of revenge.
Osanai-san seemed to be somewhat sleepy. With heavy eyes, she replied.
“I don’t think so. She’s a good kid, after all.”
With just those words, she lapsed into silence. She was probably tired and fell asleep. I would have to wake her up later, so I should not sleep as well. The packed train trundled its way back to Kira City – leaving behind Kogi Cosmos alone for the night.
The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 5) | Contents | The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 7)
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Editors (Tier 2): Dedavond, Egi Pratama, Pearl H Nettle, Sworderline
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