Chivalry of a Dark Knight [Batman x Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry]

CH10: Lucky Roshi (prt 4)

The older student addressed Kagami again.

"Was there anything else she said? Anything at all?"

She glanced downwards and pursed his lips in thought.

"Well, no. That was it. Aside from asking me for a favor, that is."

"A favor?"

"Nothing much, she just asked me to return a book to the library. Kinda out of the blue too. Though, I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"May I see it?"

Kagami looked at him weirdly, wondering why would he ask for something like that.

"Err...sure, hold on."

She slid off the desk, retrieved the book in question from her nearby bag and then handed it over to Bruce.

He looked it over, seeing that it was pretty thick with a plain cover that had simple text over it. He then opened it and looked behind the cover to find an attached borrower's card which had a number of dates and signatures written on it.

"Oh come on, it's just a library book! It's not gonna tell us anything." Stella huffed with impatience.

But Bruce paid her no mind and continued to examine the book. He opened the book slightly from a gap he noticed between the pages and then tapped it on top of the desk.

Sure enough, a white flat object fell from it.

"There's actually something inside it!" Ikki commented with piqued interest.

Kagami of course was totally psyched about this revelation and leaned towards it, bouncing on the spot like an excited kid.

"Whoa! I had no idea! What is it!? Is it secret message!?"

Bruce picked up the object for a closer look.

"It's only an empty envelope." he noted.

This made Kagami deflate while Stella smiled with vindication.

"See, I told you it wasn't a big deal. She must be using it as a bookmark."

"I guess your right." Kagami pouted with disappointment.

Bruce peered at the envelope closely, turning it against the light a few times.

"There's are some indentations here, like something had been written over it."

Kagami's eyes lit up again as if a lightbulb turned on above her and she eagerly held up a hand with like she was in a classroom.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know what to do! Let me!"

Without hesitation, she snatched the envelope from Bruce, laid it flat on the desk and then pulled a pencil from a nearby cup.

"Heehee! I always wanted to do this." she giggled with excitement.

Then lightly yet vigorously, she rubbed the lead of the pencil over the envelope. The shading highlighted the indentations and revealed the hidden writings.

But it wasn't the least what she expected.

"It looks like a math problem." Ikki observed. "Maybe it was Nanami-san's class assignment?"

"That's it? Aww...and here I thought we just discovered a clue." Kagami bleated with a dejected face.

Bruce picked the envelopes back up and studied the numbers more closely.

"Maybe we did."

Stella let out a sound of irritation. She was not only getting antsy because they weren't making much progress but also because the possibility of Ikki being disqualified was weighing heavily on her mind.