The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 2) | Contents | The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 4)
Kayazu Mitsuki-san readily acceded to Kogi-san’s request. It was around lunchtime, so it was decided that we would meet in a cafe at the Nagoya Station Underground Mall at one o’clock after getting lunch on our own. According to Kogi-san, it was not a very popular place, so we would be able to get in on a Saturday afternoon with no problems.
Kogi-san would not be coming along for this meeting. If word got out that Kogi-san, who was supposed to be under “Home Learning”, had come into contact with Kayazu-san, it would be like giving the stamp of approval to the notion that she was a member of Kayazu-san’s group. Kogi-san said that her older cousin would meet on her behalf, a caveat that Kayazu-san agreed to.
So we left Kogi-san’s apartment and returned to the Nagoya Station. Though we got lost in the Underground Mall for a bit, we eventually reached the designated cafe. It was called “Fugaku”1, which was quite old-fashioned, and so was its interior design, background music, and taciturn, mustached shopkeeper. Even though I only ordered a coffee, it also came with toast, a mini-salad, boiled eggs and inarizushi2. Only Osanai-san was supposed to directly contact Kayazu-san, so I was to sit at a nearby table with my ears pricked up.
Osanai-san took a four-seater sofa, explaining that another person would be coming over later. She sent me a message with her mobile phone saying, “There’s pudding à la mode.” so I replied with “You should get lunch.” Seemingly having had no intention of substituting a dessert for a meal, she ordered sandwiches. After Osanai-san and I finished our meals without mishap, she ordered a hot cocoa, while I asked for a refill of my coffee, as we waited for the appointed time.
Showing unexpected civility, Kayazu-san arrived on the dot. The girl I saw in the photograph had her hair down today, and was wearing a fur-lined blouson. She looked around the shop interior that wasn’t very spacious, noticed that Osanai-san was the only female customer sitting on her own, then moved over to her with a dubious frown.
“…You’re Kogi’s older cousin?”
She said with a sharp voice. Osanai-san, who was holding her cup of cocoa with both hands and blowing on it, looked up.
“Yes, I’m Osanai Yuki. You must be Kayazu-san. Thank you for coming over on a weekend.”
Kayazu-san did not reply and sat on the sofa before being offered to. I could see Kayazu-san’s face, but only the back of Osanai-san’s face from where I was sitting. Kayazu-san ordered a banana juice from a waiter, wiped her hands with a wet towel, then spoke.
“Is Kogi alright?”
Probably not having expected such a question, Osanai-san’s answer came a beat late.
“She’s depressed.”
“Figures. Poor thing.”
She studied Osanai-san intently, then asked another question.
“You’re the same age?”
“I’m in high school.”
Kayazu-san waved her hands, as if saying, “Whatever.” She probably didn’t believe it.
The banana juice was placed on the table, and Kayazu-san drank almost half of it at once. Osanai-san started the ball rolling.
“I heard from Cosmos that you and your friends drank some alcohol on New Year’s Eve, but she also got suspended from school even though she doesn’t remember joining you. Could you let me know if there was anything wrong in what I said?”
“Sure, but nothing’s wrong. We had a countdown party in my friend’s house, so there was champagne and cider, and we had a sip. Kogi wasn’t there, but it was assumed that she was with us, and she also got suspended. It all fits.”
Kayazu-san leaned back on the sofa lackadaisically.
“There were also rumors that there were boys there as well, but that’s ridiculous. Well, there was one, but he’s seven, I think. He fell asleep halfway during the party, so we went to the nearby park to mess around with fireworks.”
It was bad that they drank alcohol, but that seemed like quite the fun gathering. Osanai-san piled on the questions.
“How many people were there?”
“About twelve or thirteen, I reckon. It wasn’t so crowded that I wouldn’t know if Kogi was there.”
“So you were hanging out with your friends, right? How did the school find out?”
Kayazu-san looked up at the ceiling.
“Cos there was an idiot there. Taking photos is fine, but she just had to upload them on the net. So, they were found, and some meddling fool reported it to the school. We were called for student counseling, where they showed us the photos and said, ‘You know about this, right?’”
“I see… I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Well, can’t be helped.”
How understanding of her. Or perhaps she was merely putting on a brave front. She might become wary if I raised my head too much, so I stared at my coffee, though that might be perceived as eccentric behavior as well.
“Er, do you have the photos that got uploaded?”
“Ah, I dunno, we took a lot of photos… Gimme a moment.”
She took her mobile phone out from her blouson and pushed some keys on it for a while.
“Ah, found ‘em. Here’s everyone making a toast.”
Kayazu-san turned her phone towards Osanai-san. After a short moment, Osanai-san remarked.
“Cosmos isn’t in the photo.”
Kayazu-san immediately retorted in an exasperated tone.
“Course she isn’t, she wasn’t there. That’s what we were talking about, right?”
“But Cosmos got suspended, even though she wasn’t in the photo… Why was that? Do you know, Kayazu-san?”
“Can’t say I know. The day after we were suspended, we were called to school, and the student counselor Sanpongi said, ‘Kogi was there as well, right?’”
She raised her voice.
“Just saying, I told him that Kogi wasn’t with us. I couldn’t get out of it, not that I felt like trying. But I had no intention of getting Kogi wrapped up in this, so I repeated many times that she wasn’t there. And he stubbornly insisted, saying, ‘Don’t lie,’ and stopped listening to what I had to say.”
“Does this Sanpongi-sensei always not listen to students like this?”
Osanai-san asked coldly, but Kayazu-san shook her head.
“Not really… It’s not always like that. I mean, he’s the student counselor, so he has to look tough. He has a loud and terrifying voice, so I hate him, but he’s not the type to go hysterical and say all kinds of things. There are others exactly like that, so I can clearly tell Sanpongi’s not that type.”
She then put on a slightly bitter smile.
“But then again, I also said that Maro and Nana weren’t at the party. If that’s what made them not believe me, then I’m sorry to Kogi.”
“Maro? Nana?”
Osanai-san parroted.
“Ah, right. Maro is Tochino, Nana is Sada, cos she’s Nanako. As for Maro… I can’t remember. Everyone just calls her that.”
Insisting that Tochino-san and Sada-san were not at the party even though evidence proving otherwise had already been shown would certainly make the student counselor deem her statements to be absolutely untrustworthy. I don’t think that it would necessarily disadvantage Kogi-san, though.
Osanai-san considered for a moment.
“Could you send me that picture?”
She asked. While it was the reason why she got suspended from school, Kayazu-san did not seem to be on guard at all.
“Sure, why not?”
The two of them then spent a while with the data transfer. Finally, Kayazu-san spoke.
“Do cheer Kogi up. I don’t think she’s used to this kinda thing.”
She finished her banana juice in one go, then left the exact cost for her drink in small coins on the table.
After watching Kayazu-san leave the store, I informed a waiter that I wanted to change my table, and sat opposite Osanai-san. With the cup of cocoa in hand, she asked.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yup, all of it.”
“We have to meet with Sanpongi-sensei.”
“Finally, a glimmer of light.”
Osanai-san nodded. Since Kayazu-san had been suspended from school with that photo as evidence, it was difficult to imagine that Kogi-san had been suspended without some sort of proof as well. And if we were to believe that she was innocent, that evidence had to be fabricated, meaning that someone had committed such an act, and that they would have left behind footprints. Those could be traced.
“But coming into contact with him will be hard.”
“Yeah…”
Schools are closed spaces. Non-related parties cannot gain access to it, except on the days of the Cultural Festival. Osanai-san had talked to Kayazu-san under the pretext of being “Kogi-san’s worried older cousin”, but we wouldn’t be able to do that with Sanpongi-sensei. We probably wouldn’t even be able to get someone to act as an intermediary for us.
Osanai-san expressionlessly put down her cup and placed both hands on her head. Was she cradling her head to say, “It’s up to you,” or was she massaging her head to get some ideas? It was probably the former, because to talk to Sanpongi-sensei, we absolutely needed an appropriate position.
“We could tail Sanpongi-sensei…”
No, we should refrain from tailing, for it could make the problem bigger. I drank some of my coffee that was going cold, and spoke without much thought.
“The only people who could ask for a talk are the guardians, I suppose.”
No matter how well Osanai-san or I exercised our acting chops, neither of us would look like Kogi-san’s guardian. I said that to mean that our hands were tied, but Osanai-san suddenly piped up.
“Ah, you’re right. As expected of Kobato-kun. We just have to work with Kogi-san’s guardian. That’s simple.”
“I’m not sure. Kogi-san’s father is a patissier who owns a shop in Tokyo, right?”
“He’s called Kogi Haruomi. After a long wait, he finally opened Patisserie Kogi, and…”
“Thank you. I remember your last lecture.”
Apparently, Kogi Haruomi only returned to his Nagoya home on rest days, but that wouldn’t mean weekends, which is the busiest and most profitable period for retail stores, so he wouldn’t be here on a Saturday like today. Additionally, Kogi-san’s mother was deceased.
“Come to think of it, how does Kogi-san normally manage? She’s only in middle school, but she’s living on her own in that apartment.”
I remarked, and noticed an utterly cold gaze directed at me.
“Why are you saying this now?”
She was basically implying, “This is something you should have known about since last autumn, isn’t it?” That was probably true, but I’d never cared about Kogi-san’s living situation until now.
“Her grandfather and grandmother live in a detached house nearby, and they help take care of her. She also told me that her father invited her to live with him in Tokyo, but she has friends here, she’s worked hard to get admitted into her current school, and she has just one year left, so she’s been torn about what to do for a while now.”
“I see.”
I wasn’t exactly worried about Kogi-san, but that made me feel a little relieved. The two of us brought our drinks to our mouths. Eventually, Osanai-san spoke.
“We have one way to do it, then.”
I knew exactly what she was referring to.
“Yes, there is only one way.”
Even if we asked her grandparents living nearby to cooperate, we probably wouldn’t be able to break through the school’s sturdy gates. The most we could achieve would be to receive a message saying, “We understand your concern, but communication with the school should be done by a guardian.” Here, we needed the position of a parent no matter what.
Kogi Haruomi was thinking of marrying Tasaka Ruriko, a patissier working in his shop. If they’d completed the registration procedures, Tasaka Ruriko would be Kogi Cosmos’ mother on the family register. Additionally, as the head of Patisserie Kogi Annex Ruriko which opened last year, she would be in this city. However, there was one matter of concern.
“I wonder if Kogi-san would be willing to ask for her help. She was against her father remarrying, wasn’t she?”
Kogi-san definitely wouldn’t like Tasaka Ruriko being involved in her problem. But Osanai readily asserted.
“Of course she won’t like it. But that’s the only way. First, we need to check with her if they did get married.”
Osanai-san stood up, then said to the austere shopkeeper, “I’ll make a phone call outside,” and left the shop. Well, I suppose that’s how it would go. Kogi-san asked Osanai-san for help, and Osanai-san responded to that request. If so, we should not hesitate when there is a solution to the problem – no matter what Kogi-san thinks of it.
Osanai-san returned in an instant.
“We’re good to go.”
Great. I drained the rest of my coffee and stood up. I couldn’t really tell the distance since we were underground, but Patisserie Kogi Annex Ruriko shouldn’t be far from here.
The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 2) | Contents | The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 4)
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Editors (Tier 2): Suleman, Dedavond, Egi Pratama, Pearl H Nettle
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- Fugaku, or the Nakajima G10N Fugaku, was a planned Japanese ultra-long-range heavy bomber designed during World War II.
- Sushi made of deep-fried tofu stuffed with rice. If you’re wondering why there are so many food items, there is a tradition in Nagoya (and the Tokai region in general) called Morning where coffee comes with a bunch of complimentary food.