Solving Cases is My Daily Life Now: Volume 3

Chapter 11

    Rina blinked a few times, in shock from Masaru's mother's revelation.

"She...what?" Rina asked.

His mother looked away, closing her eyes.

"I'm not completely surprised that he would keep it from you. Masaru has never been very good at facing his emotions." She said solemnly.

"But he...lied to us." Rina said, looking down at her lap.

Suzu remained silent, clearly not knowing what to say. Rina clenched her fists, she wasn't angry, she simply felt stupid. Stupid and weak. All this time...

"On Emiko's birthday, she helped him come to a decision. He was going to start a club, and follow his dream of being a detective. But a couple of months after that..." His mother trailed off for a moment, "So he buried everything else away and devoted himself to that club, and to that dream."

"So that was the promise he told me about." Rina said, feeling her own eyes grow wet.

"M-Masaru has been hurting all th-this time, even more than w-w-we knew..." Suzu said quietly.

Rina nodded in agreement, and they both looked up at Masaru's mother.

"Did he-" Rina was cut off when she heard a door opening in the distance.

They all turned to look at the hallway in dead silence, and surely enough Masaru came walking out, wearing a maroon sweater, with matching pants and socks, likely his pajamas. His hair was shaggy instead of slicked back, and his nose was pink.

"Mother, I think-" He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Rina and Suzu sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Masaru." Rina said with her best warm smile.

Masaru furrowed his brow.

"I'm almost certain I told you not to come." He said, quietly and almost coldly.

"W-we wanted to see if you were o-ok!" Suzu said.

"It's a cold." Masaru said with the same tone, "I'm not terminally ill or anything."

"We were worried about you all the same." Rina said, "And I feel partially responsible, so..."

"Well, don't. You're not responsible." Masaru said, walking over to his fridge.

"That's easy to say, but..." Rina trailed off, twiddling her thumbs and looking at them.

Masaru took out a jug of milk and began to pour himself a glass.

"Well, you can see that I'm fine." He said as he put the jug back, "So you can go."

"Masaru, you're being rude to your friends." His mother said gently.

He took a sip of the milk for a moment, and looked over at them.

"Fine. I appreciate your concern. But I'd like it if you left now." He said.

"Masaru..." His mother said, tilting her head slightly, "We were just talking about Emiko."

Masaru's expression didn't change, but his face suddenly looked considerably more pale than it had before.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, taking another sip of his glass.

He closed his eyes, and stood there in silence. Nobody spoke at all, the lack of noise was deafening and the air felt thick with tension.

"Did you tell these girls that Emiko was still alive?" His mother finally asked.

Masaru opened his eyes, looking down at the counter.