The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 4) | Contents | The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 6)
Only Tasaka-san and Osanai-san would be entering Reichi Middle School, so I had to wait outside. We couldn’t possibly all tag along behind Tasaka-san and introduce ourselves as a mother, an older sister, and an incompetent older brother, so there was no helping it.
In the meantime, I returned to Nagoya Station and killed time at the shopping mall there. I thought about sitting in a cafe, but considering that I’d spent money on the train ride here and on coffee at Fugaku, I decided to tighten my purse’s strings a little. I rode the elevator to the top floor to get to the bookstore, and found it to be rather packed, as one might expect of a Saturday, with a long line at the register. As I cooled down in the corner for newly published paperbacks, I did some contemplation.
The question of who set this trap for Kogi-san with bad intentions still could not be considered at this point in time. That was due to a lack of information, but we were steadily gathering information pertinent to the case. I should have already known, but the initiative Osanai-san displayed was astonishing, and even though I’d taken the trouble to travel to Nagoya on a weekend, I’d had almost no opportunities to show off my prowess. That was quite unsatisfying… even I wouldn’t have that thought. I also understood the frustration of getting punished for no reason.
While reaching out for a paperback that caught my eye, I was struck by another realization. I scanned the bookstore, found a “Study Reference” sign hanging from the ceiling, and headed to that section. While the third trimester was a short one, meaning that it would soon be time for the end-of-year exams, but I was worrying about something else. Looking at a shelf that contained college entrance exam workbooks and problem sets, I searched for my target.
“There it is.”
I found a shelf lined with English-Japanese dictionaries, but somehow felt apologetic taking one out of its box, so I gently pulled out a dictionary that came without a box. I flipped to the pages for words starting with “M”, but instantly realized that it wouldn’t work. The word I wanted to look up probably wasn’t in English. After thinking for a brief moment, I picked up a Japanese dictionary and looked at the words under “ma”.
“…So it was as I thought.”
I closed the dictionary and returned it to its shelf. I’d managed to learn an interesting fact, though I still couldn’t say if it bore any relation to Kogi-san’s suspension…
By the way, it would have sufficed to look up the word with my mobile phone, but I was unable to be contained by arrows or shields1, and went straight to a dictionary once I remembered that word. I felt it wouldn’t be right if I simply left after gaining information from browsing at this bookstore, so to make up for it, I retraced my steps to the bookshelf of paperbacks, and purchased the short story collection I’d had my eye on for some time now. While I was having a cover fitted on the paperback, I received a notification on my mobile phone. I glanced at the monitor to find that Osanai-san had sent me a message.
I walked out of the bookstore to read it.
“We’re done. Let’s meet at Kakuouzan Station, kay?”
Her message had a weird ending; perhaps it was caused by Autocorrect.
Since it was my second time in the Nagoya subway, I didn’t get lost that badly. When I arrived at Kakuouzan Station, I looked around, wondering where we would meet, and spotted a thickly dressed Osanai-san sitting on a bench and looking towards the ground, at one end of the platform that was illuminated by LED lights. She didn’t stand up when I approached, and since it would be awkward if I was the only one standing, I sat down next to her.
“What happened to that person?”
I asked, and Osanai-san answered through her muffler, still staring at her feet.
“She went back to the store.”
Tasaka-san was away from the store for a full two hours. Just because she was the manager didn’t mean that she could leave whenever she wanted, and she’d probably taken her break in the afternoon. Thus she returned to the store, as expected.
“She said not to tell Kogi-san that she was involved in this.”
“Got it. So, what was the result?”
“Superb.”
A train arrived at the inbound line platform, and it left in a few dozen seconds as a bell sounded. After waiting for the noise to fade, I asked.
“Could you tell me how it went?”
Osanai-san nodded, then started speaking in a muffled voice.
“We immediately met Sanpongi-sensei. There was no staff member to show us the way on a Saturday, so we were told to go directly to the reception room. There were also no guards, and I was surprised by how easy it was to get in. Sanpongi-sensei was in the reception room and he seemed to be doing some kind of work. He kept the documents laid out on the table in his bag when Tasaka-san knocked on the door and we entered. As expected of a private school, the room was impressive. The tables were heavy, the sofas were fluffy, and the carpet had long hairs.”
There were now no other people on the platform. Only cold beams of LED light shone down on us.
“Sanpongi-sensei was about forty, I think. I was under the impression that he would look stern, but that was an assumption I had after hearing that he was the type of teacher to yell at students. He didn’t try to hide the fact that he felt bothered by this meeting and didn’t serve tea, but said to Tasaka-san, ‘Please, sit down.’ He only took a glance at me, and didn’t ask who I was.”
It seemed that the title of “guardian” was really effective. I should have come along as well if we didn’t have to identify ourselves.
“In conclusion, it was as we deduced, and Kogi-san was suspended because they were sent a photo of her at a party. Sanpongi-sensei said he couldn’t reveal the sender’s name, but that was probably because he forgot, or because they sent the photo anonymously. Tasaka-san said that Cosmos wasn’t at that location, but Sanpongi-sensei got annoyed and retorted that we can’t make excuses for her because the photo exists.”
“…Did he not ask if Tasaka-san was with Kogi-san on New Years’ Eve?”
“Yeah, he didn’t. I think it’s because he wouldn’t be able to do anything if she claimed they watched the Red and White Song Battle together.”
That made sense.
“Sanpongi-sensei insisted that kids at her age are good at lying so we shouldn’t listen to what she has to say, and also mentioned that though the school is trying its best, guidance at home is also important. That got Tasaka-san angry. She accused the teacher of trying to push through the decision without doing proper investigation.”
That got Tasaka-san angry, huh? Her choice of words implied something else.
“You didn’t think so?”
In the gap between her fringe and her muffler, Osanai-san grinned with her eyes.
“He showed us the photographic evidence when we asked him to, and when we asked to borrow it, he printed it out for us. That’s the first time I’ve seen such a conscientious teacher. I can’t get angry at someone like that.”
That’s impressive.
“Even if you used the title of a guardian, he still handed information to outsiders. He’s actually a good person. I suppose we can say the negotiations went very well?”
“Though I did say I wanted to confront Cosmos with the evidence because she kept insisting that she didn’t go to the party.”
“He probably took your word for it.”
“…I did a bad deed.”
She must have felt guilty for telling a lie, with the other person believing it wholeheartedly.
A bell chimed again, and an outbound train arrived at the platform, accompanied by a rush of wind. The platform’s doors opened, prompting several people to board and alight from the train. It felt like quite a long period of time passed before it eventually moved off, but was it because the train was waiting for us to get on, or was it just my imagination? When silence descended on the platform, Osanai-san spoke.
“Anyway, here’s the photographic evidence.”
She showed me a photograph printed on copy paper. The image quality was poor, but just enough for one to make out what was depicted on it, which was a girl holding a wine glass, a bottle of wine or champagne, and Kogi-san with a wide smile on her face. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything suspicious about it – meaning that it was quite the elaborate fabrication.
It was cold and dark at the subway bench. Not a suitable place to examine a photo.
“Incredible. I didn’t imagine we would get these so quickly… right, shall we go?”
Osanai-san wordlessly nodded and slowly stood up.
On the bench was a disposable heat pack. It seemed that Osanai-san had been sitting on that the whole time. With a innocent look on her face, she retrieved the heat pack and said in a low voice.
“The real battle starts now.”
Thus, the two of us returned to Kogi-san’s apartment.
Kogi-san received us with a wistful look in her eyes. She probably wanted to say something to us about arbitrarily contacting Tasaka-san. However, after taking one look at the evidence photograph Osanai-san peremptorily thrust at her, she exclaimed in a shrill voice.
“That’s a lie! It’s fake!”
Her eyes twinkled with tears.
“I mean, I didn’t do anything like this! This… Yuki-chan-senpai, it’s a lie!”
Osanai-san looked Kogi-san straight in the eye and spoke.
“That’s what I think.”
“…Eh?”
“I also think this photo is a lie.”
Kogi-san hurriedly wiped the corners of her eyes and asked, clearly surprised.
“Why?”
“You’re innocent, aren’t you? So it has to be a fake.”
It was a way of speaking that showed not a hint of pretense, over-eagerness or doubt. Kogi-san only managed a “Yuki-chan-senpai” before lapsing into silence, and seemed to be temporarily rendered speechless.
In the meantime, Osanai-san and I observed the photo again under a bright light. Osanai-san then operated her mobile phone and brought up the photo that Kayazu-san had sent her. The photos didn’t need to be compared; they were completely different.
Kayazu-san’s photo depicted her, Sada-san and Tochino-san each posing with a glass in one hand, as well as a table in front of them that had a bottle of wine or some similar substance placed on top. Only Tochino-san posed with her mouth touching her glass. The three of them were standing next to a wall, so I couldn’t tell the size of the room they were in, and all I could see was that the wallpaper had a striped pattern.
The photo obtained from Sanpongi-sensei showed Kogi-san looking slightly upward and to her right and smiling with a satisfied look on her face. She had a glass in her right hand, and was making a peace sign with her left. She was clad in a sweater and skirt, with the sweater being decorated with a big black ribbon. Near her, Kayazu-san was filling up a glass with champagne, and behind Kogi-san was a girl sipping from a glass and also looking at the camera. The room’s wallpaper had a striped pattern.
The photos seemed to be taken at the same room, but the angles they were taken at and their subjects were different. The only common person to both photos was Kayazu-san, and besides that, the other common factor was that they depicted a person drinking something that looked to be alcohol.
“Now that we can see the two pictures together, the one you received is a little strange.”
Osanai-san asked.
“Where?”
I pointed at Kogi-san’s left hand.
“She made a peace sign, so she should know that her photo was being taken. Yet she was looking upward and to the side, so I find that weird.”
“…Yeah, that’s certainly weird.”
Kogi-san seemed to have finally calmed down, so I asked her a question.
“Kogi-san, are these clothes yours?”
Her face still red, she peeked at the photo and shook her head.
“No, I don’t have clothes like these.”
“Meaning that they only cropped your head in.”
Once again, I looked at the photo and focused only on Kogi-san’s head. The image quality was bad, but once I knew what to look out for, I noticed that her head’s contour lines were slightly blurred, and seams could be seen at her neck. Additionally, I found that something yellowish was stuck to her cheek. What was that?
“The question is…”
Osanai-san murmured.
“Who was able to take the party photo? Only the person with the original photo could have produced this fake.”
That was true, but…”
“Everyone at Kayazu-san’s New Year’s Eve countdown party could have taken the photo. She said there were twelve or thirteen people in total, right?”
Kogi-san piped up with enthusiasm.
“So we just need to ask everyone about who took the photo, right?”
“We can’t do that.”
I replied, causing Kogi-san to knit her eyebrows and fall silent. Osanai-san explained from the side.
“That would be very difficult. Even Kayazu-san doesn’t seem to know who exactly attended the party on that day, and more importantly it would be a nuisance for them, so we might not get an answer if we ask. On top of that, if the photo was uploaded on the internet, it’ll be almost impossible to figure out who downloaded it.”
“Is that so…”
Kogi-san stared at the printed photograph.
‘Why did I have to get into this mess? You’re saying that someone who attended the party hated me and did this, right…”
“Any ideas?”
Osanai-san asked, but Kogi-san shook her head weakly.
“No. But who would hate…”
Her voice rose again.
I’d perceived hidden enmity multiple times before. I’d detected intentions to undermine someone behind the facade of a smiling face. However, I’d never witnessed someone on the on the receiving end react to that animosity before. Kogi-san should have already known that she’d been entrapped by someone else, but only now was her heart wildly shaken with the fruit of that hostility, the falsified photograph, before her. So that’s how it goes.
I was just a petit bourgeois, or if not, just an impertinent sleuth. Could I do anything at all to help? Would Kogi-san be able to relax a little more if I revealed who was harboring enmity towards her… I had some doubts about that.
But Kogi-san did say that she wanted to find her adversary no matter what it takes. Thus, I shouldn’t hesitate at this point.
“That’s not like you, Osanai-san.”
I said, causing the two girls to look at me in unison.
“The question is not just, ‘Who was able to take the party photo?’ What we should be focusing on is, ‘Who could take a photo of Kogi-san smiling like this?’ and ‘Who could get their hands on both the party photo and Kogi-san’s photo?’ Kogi-san, do you happen to know where this was taken?”
Having a question suddenly directed at her, Kogi-san replied in a somewhat nervous manner.
“Eh? The photo was taken well, so it could have been at the Cultural Festival, or after school…”
“Look at it carefully. There’s something stuck on this cheek.”
“Cheek?”
After asking in return, she moved her eyes closer to the photograph. Osanai-san had good eyesight, but also peeked at it in the same way. Kogi-san muttered.
“You’re right. That’s embarrassing.”
Suddenly, the two of them raised their heads at the same time.
“Ah!”
“Kobato-kun, this means!”
Osanai-san seemed to be on the right track. She continued in a firm voice.
“Kogi-san, you have the latest issue of Orca, right? Bring it over.”
“Right!”
A copy of the mini-media magazine Orca was instantly placed on the table. The top article of the latest issue was the Italo-Japanese pasticciere gathering. It contained photos of the gathering party held at a hotel in the city, of neatly arranged Italian desserts, and of the smiling participants. Behind two men who were having a pleasant chat while holding wineglasses in their hands, Kogi-san was smiling as if there was nothing more blissful in the world than this, with cream stuck to her cheek.
I compared that photo published in Orca with the fabricated image. The angle of Kogi-san’s eyes and position of the cream on her cheek were exactly the same.
“This is it. It must be embarrassing that you didn’t notice.”
Osanai-san said earnestly.
Orca was not just sold within Nagoya, but also in the neighboring cities, so anyone could have gotten hold of that photo. By turning the relevant picture into data by scanning or taking a photo of it, one could combine it with the countdown party photo to produce fake evidence. However, covering a part of Kogi-san’s head was the word “Party” from the caption “High Spirits at the Gathering Party”. It wouldn’t be impossible to remove that word with a computer, but the culprit’s image editing technology was at the level where they were unable to remove the seams from Kogi-san’s neck without making the picture feel strange. It was quite unlikely that they created the fake photograph by scanning the magazine. Meaning…
“The culprit is someone from the editorial department…?”
Kogi-san muttered. That was not impossible, but it was difficult to think of a common thread between Orca’s editorial department, the countdown party and the culprit being someone with enmity towards Kogi-san.
“Or it could be someone who received the photo data from Orca’s editorial department.”
“…Is that something you can simply receive?”
“I think Kogi-san could get it easily if she requests for it. She is one of the subjects, after all. Likewise, the other people in this photo could obtain this photo’s data.”
I pointed at the two men conversing with wineglasses in their hands. One of them was a middle-aged man who looked to be Japanese, while the other was a young bearded white man.
“These two should be patissiers, but do you know any of them?”
Without hesitation, Kogi-san pointed at the middle-aged man.
“This person…”
She spoke, her face pale and her voice trembling.
“I remember him. I don’t know his name, but when I ate a cream puff, he came over and said, ‘So there are uncultured stores that would serve cream puffs for an Italian sweets gathering.’”
“Do you know which store served those cream puffs?”
“…Ours.”
That probably meant that person knew that Kogi-san was the daughter of Patisserie Kogi’s owner, and intentionally approached to make a snide remark.
“At that time, I was just having fun so I didn’t think much about it, and I replied that I heard that cream puffs were brought to France by a princess from Florence. That person then left without saying another word.”
Osanai-san frowned.
“He probably felt humiliated… but did he create the fake photo and send it to the school just for that? And how did he get the countdown party photo?”
I could answer that question. Placing my hand on the issue of Orca, I replied.
“Kogi-san, call the Orca editorial department and ask them if they sent photos from the Italo-Japanese pasticciere gathering to Pattisier Tochino from Marronnier Champs.”
Kogi-san’s eyes widened. It seemed like she needed some time to digest my words.
The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 4) | Contents | The Florence Cream Puff Mystery (Part 6)
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Editors (Tier 2): Dedavond, Egi Pratama, Pearl H Nettle, Sworderline
Assistants (Tier 1) : Rolando Sanchez, Liliam
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