Chapter Text
That morning Izumi had woken up to some concerning news. Her mother told her over breakfast that she had heard through the grapevine (already at 7 AM, Izumi found this impressive) that the neighbour house had experienced a break-in during the night. It was always a shock when this happened in their neighbourhood, considering the great amount of money invested in security and keeping them all safe.
However, it was not the first time something like this had happened. When her mother told her, Izumi had an immediate flashback to that summer. Her family had taken a week holiday together to visit her grandparents in Okinawa. Halfway through the holiday they had gotten a call from the house sitter that someone had broken in; and several valuables were taken. They interrupted the holiday to go home and check everything over. Her parents fretted over her mother's jewellery but Izumi herself was horrified to find what had gone missing from her room.
Someone had clearly gone through her drawers and several items (including some jewellery, which she wondered why weren't stolen too) were scattered on the floor. What was missing though, was her diary. To Izumi, that was way worse than if they had taken something like her earrings. She struggled to understand why anyone would bring her diary of all things. The only thing she could think of, was that it was just that tragic, even this cold-hearted burglar found it really entertaining and brought it along for his own amusement. And well... That thought was simply mortifying.
Her little bear Kuma was also gone. It had saddened her a little because she had slept with him in the bed for almost a decade, ever since she so proudly won it at a town festival when she was six. But at least Kuma couldn't reveal all het embarrassing secrets to the world. So whilst she missed him, it was the diary she was thinking about. Even now, six months later.
Izumi had of course called all her friends and cried about the incident when it happened. Now, she was feeling that same insecurity and fear, knowing the person might be back to steal her new diary. Or perhaps this burglar was someone else... Someone out to hurt them?
She was quiet through their first period, knowing it was better to wait for a longer break to talk to the girls about it.
Finally, they were all sat together in the cafeteria for lunch. Izumi had trouble focusing on the joyful conversation going on, but she thought maybe Yuka was teasing Yukie about walking straight into a trash can earlier because her eyes had been too occupied checking out Nanahara's new hair cut to focus. Waiting for an opening, Izumi spoke up quietly.
"U-Uhm, you guys..." She cleared her throat. Get it together! It's not like you were attacked.
In a sturdier voice, she continued: "Do you remember... When my house was broken into this summer?"
Noriko hadn't been paying much attention to the girls' loud conversation, as she was preoccupied with writing in her poetry notebook. However, when Izumi mentioned when her house was broken into, Noriko immediately raised her head. Even though not a whole lot of items of monetary value were stolen, the theft of Izumi's diary was a disaster only other teenage girls could comprehend.
"I remember. Is everything okay...?" Noriko asked hesitantly.
Yuka immediately halted her dramatic gestures that she'd been using to tease Yukie with, her arms still paused mid-air. "Huh?" she mumbled, now lowering her arms and focusing her attention on Izumi, "No way, it happened again, didn't it?!"
"Again?" Satomi looked up from her book, her attention now captured by this apparent game of broken telephone, "What have they taken this time? Are you alright?"
"Now, now, she didn't say that," Yukie shushed the girls. She'd actually been paying attention, doing her best to look away from Yuka's teasing so that she wouldn't blush. She turned her attention to Izumi again, "Yes, we remember. Have they finally caught the thieves?"
Izumi felt a little bad taking all the attention away from whatever else had been going on, and especially since several of her friends seemed to fear the worst the second she mentioned the break-in. Of course, why wouldn't they?
"Yes, everything is alright! I'm alright!" she was quick to dismiss, wanting to get that out of the way first. She then shook her head slightly to Yukie, who was observing her softly. "No... No, there is still no news about that," Izumi told her. In truth, she had completely given up on any answers about who took her things and why.
Maybe these recent events would bring her closer to knowing, though.
"But my mother told me there has been a new break-in, in one of the other houses in our neighbourhood. She just heard this moment," Izumi continued. She was almost whispering, as if worried whoever the theif was could hear her. Which was of course ridiculous, as they were currently safe at school. "I don't know... I was a little worried they would come back to my house now, too. I can't let them take another diary!"
Haruka frowned slightly as Izumi described this new situation. The idea of one of her friends feeling unsafe in their own home made her blood boil and tugged on her heart all at the same time.
" Bastards, " she muttered under her breath." Maybe you can increase security? I could come over with a bat?" she suggested, only half-jokingly.
"Not another diary..." Chisato murmured. "Izumi, what have you written in this one?" Given the disappearance of the last diary, it was vital to know exactly what kind of information these kidnappers would be getting their hands on. If that information contained anything sensitive about crushes or their group's secrets, she knew this was a ticking time bomb of a mission.
Izumi turned bright red when Chisato asked what she had written. Well, a lot of thoughts about a certain boy, for one. Some of them not necessarily something she would want anyone to read ever. It would so not be classy if those come out. Of course, she also wrote little notes about observations from the friend group, like how Chisato had dressed up in a disguise to go spy on Mimura's away game a few weeks ago, or how she thought some of Noriko's poetry was getting a little repetitive. No, it would be awful if anyone ever got a hold of this one!
"We can solve this without violence, can't we?" Noriko asked uncertainly, refering to Haruka's bat comment. "We need to figure out a plan...!"
"Right! Like, uh," Yuka looked as if she were in serious, deep contemplation for a moment, much to the surprise of the other girls. "We'll set bait! Put a fake diary on the lawn and then when they come to steal it... BAM! We jump out in gorilla suits and beat the hell out of the robber!"
Looking horrified, Satomi muttered, "Gorilla suits...? Dare I ask why?"
"Gorillas are super scary! Have you ever wondered where the term 'apeshit' even came from?! It's cause you don't wanna piss one off!"
"I do like the gorilla suit idea," Izumi said, although she wasn't sure she did. "But what if the robber is more than one person, too? And like, big men, or something! Even with the suits, we wouldn't stand a chance!"
"Bait... An interesting idea. Minus the whole gorilla suit thing, I mean." Yukie murmured, "Speaking more realistically, perhaps we could try and map out which houses have been robbed locally and try to see if the burglar is following a pattern? It would help us to know ahead of time if you may end up becoming victim again and then we could plan accordingly around our predictions!" She almost sounded excited at the idea- not about Izumi's distress naturally, but a good plan? She couldn't resist.
Haruka nodded her head along to the suggestion. "Right. There were others in class that it happened to as well, weren't there?"
Yukie's idea seemed like it was a bit more realistic, and Izumi thought about it for a moment.
"Yes... Well, it was me, Oda-kun, and Motobuchi-kun, right?" she said, biting on her lower lip as she thought. "Those were the three houses last summer. But this one yesterday wasn't anyone in class."
"It's a little suspicious that they were all the richest kids in our class, isn't it?" Haruka pointed out.
"Well... Except Kiriyama," Satomi added to that observation.
Izumi knew what she was getting at, of course. Oda had made quite a big deal about how he had caught the Kiriyama Family robbing his house, but had gotten away just as the basement was burning up in flames. It had sounded like a pretty dramatic tale, and Izumi wasn't sure why he would make that up... Yet she was very sure he was wrong. There was no way Mitsuru would have let that happen to her; no way. He was way too nice for that.
"It's a coincidence," Izumi replied quickly. "I know what Oda-kun has been saying, but... I'm sure he just thought he saw something that could explain it all, to get some kind of answer to the mystery. It must have been quite scary for him, being home when it all happened, after all."
"I'm sure it must have been scarier for those robbers, breaking into his house and seeing him there." Yuka snickered.
"Yuka, don’t be so mean!” Noriko protested, but struggled to hide her smile. Out of their entire friend group, Izumi was the only one who could actually get along with him, for reasons they couldn’t explain.
“I don’t know if scared is the right word for him, if he was willing to set fire to some of our classmates,” Chisato said, but then sat upright. “But between Oda-kun’s story and the fact that Kiriyama-kun’s house was the only one out of our rich classmates’ that was unrobbed... it had to be that group, didn’t it?”
Satomi raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips in a look that said, 'Told you so.' Yuka witnessed this and roared with laughte
"Oh she totally wants to go off right now," Yuka said.
"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Satomi interjected, "Oda clearly despises them all and may want to embellish stories to make them look worse, sure, but his story has credibility when you consider the facts."
Izumi frowned, knowing she probably wouldn't be able to convince some of her friend otherwise, but also very reluctant to accept this scenario.
"I still think Oda-kun, and you, are wrong about this," she said with some sense of finality to it. "Perhaps the robbers were making their way to Kiriyama-kun's house but being scared off by Oda-kun stopped them for a night? We don't know exactly what went through their heads!"
Pausing for a moment, she decided to mention something the girls might be interested in. Especially the more skeptical ones.
"Anyway... The Kiriyamas are having a banquet this weekend. I will be going with my family, and I'm pretty sure Oda-kun will be there too. Maybe... Maybe if it will settle this debate, the two of us could attempt to sneak around a little? I am sure we will find no evidence that Kiriyama-kun and his friends have been breaking into places. Then maybe both Oda-kun, and some of you, can let the idea go," she sighed.
"Izumi, I think you might have a bias here," Satomi said, sighing as she placed her palm under her chin. "Everyone else can tell it was obviously Kiriyama's group." Izumi cleared her throat, her cheeks a little pink.
"I don't... Understand what you mean? W-Why would I be biased?" she asked awkwardly, though trying to keep herself sounding casual.
"Oh she don't know?" Yuka snorted, giving the others girls a look that made them all laugh, "Come on, Izu! It's like you're taking along two extreme opinions to look for evidence here. On one hand, you have Oda, who despises them, and on the other hand you have... y'know, you."
Izumi looked confused at her friend group. What did they mean, biased? What made them think she had any horse in this race whatsoever? Yes, true, she didn't dislike the Kiriyama Family, but it wasn't as if she would try hard to prove their innocence if she actually believed they would have done this. Why would she do that... Right?
"Well, let's just assume the best right now, but... make sure to really look for evidence, okay? Even if you see evidence you don't like... you have to take it," Noriko said, trying to gently imply what Izumi probably didn't want to acknowledge.
"What every fair assessment needs is an unbiased opinion so that the evidence found is fair. Otherwise both people may just see what they want to see," Yukie interjected, hoping to explain more clearly, "Maybe you'll need to team up with a third person who has no strong opinion one way or another?"
"Yes, exactly! What about..." Noriko said, looking around the room, frowning. There weren't a whole lot of people in the class who didn't hate the Kiriyama Family.
She was about to give up, but then an idea hit her. "What about Kyoichi? He doesn't necessarily like Kiriyama's group, but I do think he'd evaluate any evidence fairly."
She had been trying to sort out her thoughts about her assumed bias, but Izumi snapped back to reality when Noriko mentioned Kyoichi Motobuchi. Izumi nodded slowly. This might just work.
"I think he would probably be invited to the same event," she agreed. "And he is quite a calm and collected person, isn't he? I don't think he would be actively looking for the worst."
"Well, just remember, even if you don't find any evidence that they were there, it doesn't mean they weren't. They've had months to get rid of everything, right?" Haruka pointed out, causing Izumi to sigh.
"If we don't find anything now, we will have to drop this," Izumi said. "And this will remain a mystery."
Finally being more serious, Yuka smiled at her friend and nodded her head enthusiastically, "You've got this, Izumi! Remember to stay calm if you run into any trouble and if you take any pictures of evidence, text them to us right away incase your phone gets stolen or destroyed or something! We got you!"
"You can do this! Gather as much evidence as you can!" Chisato added, before giving a concerned look over at Kyoichi. Would he really go along with something like this? she wondered.
The weekend quickly approached, and Izumi felt herself get more and more nervous with each passing day. How would she even present this to her two classmates? Hello, do you want to spy with me and hopefully get to the bottom of our break-ins this summer? It sounded crazy, even in her head. Especially considering she felt confident nothing would even turn up.
That Saturday, Izumi and her parents arrived at Kiriyama's mansion dressed in some of their finest clothes. A banquet here was considered a formal occasion where the upper class of the whole prefecture were invited, including some exclusive guests from different regions too. It was important to look your best and impress all the judgemental and snobbish attendees.
Izumi was given a non-alcoholic welcome drink and ushered inside the dining hall with her parents. The dining table and chairs had been removed for this occasion, making room for several large buffet tables and two bars instead, with a lot of space left to mingle. Which her parents were quick to do; it was part of her father's job as a politician to constantly campaign for himself, no matter how secure his position was. It wasn't as if elections, local as well as national, really mattered in this regime.
Still, Izumi quickly found herself standing off to the side on her own. Her eyes searched the room, desperate to find any familiar face; and most preferable one of the boys she was hoping could help her with her private mission of the night.
Luckily, the Motobuchi's were a prudent family that believed arriving on time was as good as being late. It was always easy to spot them, as they were always ten minutes early and dressed in their finest. Their son, Kyoichi, carried this way of life with him everywhere he went, even in school. So when he glanced over, catching a glimpse of his classmate, Izumi, who he often saw at these events, he gave her a polite bow from a distance, his posture as stiff as the gel holding his signature neatly parted hairstyle. Izumi nodded back to Kyoichi, wondering if she should approach him. But she felt too awkward. She never spoke much to him, even at school.
At any major banquet in Shiroiwa, the Odas had to be in attendance. Toshinori stood off silently to one side moodily as his parents dragged his older brother into a conversation about business. Normally, he would be in a better mood, considering that he was usually asked to play his violin at these events, but musical entertainment had already been provided for the night. This music is ridiculous. Who did they hire to play the piano? A monkey? he thought bitterly.
He glanced around the room, briefly making eye contact with Kyoichi Motobuchi, but quickly glanced away again. They were on neutral terms, but he would hardly consider them friends. He continued to look around the room, and eventually his eyes fell on Izumi Kanai, who he was on better terms with. She was the closest thing he had to a friend. As he gazed over at her, he wondered if she would notice him.
Izumi's eyes landed on Toshinori and she instantly felt a little more relaxed. Whilst the Motobuchi family were not present at every formal event, the Odas always seemed to be. Thus, she had spoken to Toshinori several times before in situations like these. It felt slightly more natural to approach him.
So, she did. Wearing a bright smile, she walked towards him, tapping the glass in her hands nervously with her manicured nails. Would he think she was crazy for what she had planned?
"Oda-kun," she greeted, bowing slightly. "It's nice to see you here. I thought it would be all strangers, for a moment."
Toshinori looked up as he heard a familiar voice. Despite his usual prickly exterior, he found himself smiling as Izumi greeted him.
“Kanai, it’s a pleasure to see you too,” Toshinori said, and then scoffed. “As if our families would ever miss one of these events. It’s all a perfect opportunity for my parents to show off my brother.”
Izumi smiled back to him, figuring she should try to get off to a good start before presenting her idea.
"Well, who they really should show off is you and your musical talent. How come you are not playing tonight? I was hoping to hear your violin," she said eagerly, hoping some good old flattering would do the trick.
Toshinori rolled his eyes, gesturing towards the person playing the piano. “Apparently, lesser talent is appreciated here,” he grumbled. “My violin playing will have to wait for another day.”
Izumi shook her head with disappointment, as she contemplated her next words.
"W-Well," she began, clearing her throat slightly. "In one way, I am a little... relieved that you are free of that responsibility too. I was hoping... I was hoping we could do something tonight. It might sound like a crazy idea, but... Would you hear me out?" she pleaded, looking intently at him.
Toshinori raised an eyebrow at her. If any other classmate had suggested a 'crazy idea' to him, he would have immediately walked away. However, with Izumi, he was willing to sit and listen.
"Elaborate," he told her. Izumi nodded.
"Did you hear about the break-in the Tanakas experienced earlier this week? It's really frightening, right? It made me remember what happened to our houses this Summer. Well, I already did remember it, of course, but it brought it to the front of my mind again." Oh no, she was beginning to ramble. Get to the point, Izumi.
"Anyway... It made me think about how no one ever were caught for that, but you did have your own... theory about the culprits."
When Izumi had heard Toshinori's theory, she had dismissed it just like she did when her friends suggested the possibility. So, she hoped he would not just dismiss her that easily now.
"And I thought maybe we could... Explore that," she finished vaguely.
As Izumi mentioned the break-ins, Toshinori had vivid flashbacks to the night he almost vanquished the Kiriyama Family once and for all. He knew it was them, but they had gotten away with not only their lives, but with the crimes they have committed.
He had been frustrated about it for a long time, but now, he had the opportunity to finally bring them to justice.
“Are you saying you want to look for evidence that will lead us to that vulgar group’s crimes?” he asked. “Because if so, I’m most certainly willing to help.”
Izumi was surprised. It was as if he read her mind. Of course, except that her own intentions were... the opposite.
"Exactly!" she said anyway, nodding enthusiastically. "If Kiriyama's group were involved, and are doing it again now, perhaps they would keep some of their bounty at their leader's house? It's a long shot, but... We could maybe try to sneak away from the crowd and look around a little?"
“We should. Let’s go find some evidence that they did commit those crimes. With certainty,” Toshinori said firmly.
As the conversation between the two was going swimmingly, they were unexpectedly interrupted by a third voice, "Good evening, classmates. This is certainly a party."
This voice, of course, belonged to Kyoichi Motobuchi, who had little inflection in his voice. He was never a big fan of these parties, as they cut into his precious study time, but he understood that upholding a positive social image was another important aspect of life, even if he didn't much care for it personally. This sort of thing was pretty obvious to anybody who met Kyoichi Motobuchi, as he did very little to hide his disinterest.
And then, almost immediately, he appeared to be ready to leave. "My parents informed me that I must greet the two of you, and so I have. Have a pleasant evening."
Izumi blinked at this sudden greeting, and almost as sudden disappearance.
"Wait," she said automatically, as she glanced at Toshinori. "We were just... Discussing something and... Well, it could be interesting for you to take part of it too, maybe. It... Kind of does concern you too."
She kept looking at Toshinori, as if allowing him to be the one to explain the situation. After all, it was known to them both that Kyoichi's house had also been a target previously. Apparently his dog had succeeded in getting a piece of cloth from someone's clothes between its teeth, but that hadn't been much to go off, so Kyoichi might also be curious as to who had been behind that.
"Yes, Motobuchi. I'm sure you remember the traumatic robberies that our families suffered from earlier this year at the hands of-" Toshinori stopped himself, knowing Izumi would object. "Kiriyama's goons, allegedly. Well, we believe that the thieves from last summer are back to their usual tricks, and we were planning on seeking out evidence to prove they did it and stop them once and for all. Would you care to partake?"
Kyoichi, who had been frozen in place since the first mention of the robbery incidents, turned to face the others with a curious look. To be honest, he never knew what to think of those robberies. Oda had insisted that it was the doing of the Kiriyama family but the 'dutiful' police had not been able to prove anything at all. He'd be lying if he said that the predicament didn't have him in a constant state of worry ever since.
"I hardly think we're qualified to pull off an investigation," Kyoichi responded, but he quickly added, "Although I suppose if we find any of the stolen items then it would be clear enough evidence to prove them guilty. I suppose I am intrigued. I would like to have my three hours of sleep a night back."
After contemplating to himself, Kyoichi concluded rather easily, "Alright. I'll assist so long as we stay out of trouble. If we get caught I am immediately throwing you two under the bus."
Toshinori shrugged to Kyoichi. "That's fair. We won't hesitate to throw you under the bus either."
Izumi wondered how they had turned into teams of her and Toshinori versus Kyoichi. We won't hesitate to throw you under the bus? She had no intentions of doing that to anyone! Still, she said nothing.
Either way, she couldn't help but feel like their chance of success had just increased. Izumi smiled brightly at Kyoichi.
"Wonderful!" she exclaimed, nodding. "I am sure we won't find anything here, but... It will finally set that worry to rest, right?"
She glanced at Toshinori as she said this.
"Well, I have a wonderful feeling we will find something," Toshinori said, giving Izumi a pointed look,
Letting herself gaze around the room, Izumi couldn't feel anyone's eyes on them. Everyone seemed preoccupied with their own conversations.
"No one is looking..." she pointed out. "Do you think we can sneak away? Perhaps look for Kiriyama-kun's room?"
Toshinori nodded and slowly began to pace towards the stairs, hoping the others were following. "Have any of you ever been in his room before?"
"What an absurd question," Kyoichi answered, "When would I have ever been in Kiriyama's bedroom?"
"My apologies, Motobuchi. It slipped my mind that you have no friends," Toshinori said, trying to keep the snideness out of his tone.
"My apologies that I have more important things to focus on, Oda," Kyoichi remarked back, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
Izumi's face turned bright red at the question Toshinori asked them so bluntly.
"Of course not!" she was quick to insist. She had never been in any boy's bedroom and didn't want anyone to get that idea either. She agreed with Kyoichi that the question was rather absurd.
Relaxing a little, she added:
"They probably have quite a lot of rooms, right? This place is so huge. Will it be like finding the needle in a haystack?"
Toshinori looked up the long winding stairs, sighing. "If it is anything like my wonderful home, there is a strong chance this will not be an easy journey. Let's hope that godawful piano playing will keep those fools downstairs distracted."
Finally making it to the top of the long stairs, Kyoichi looked to the left and right hallway with a question look.
"Shall we split up or work together? If we split up we may cover more ground but may risk getting caught in a dangerous situation alone." He wondered, "Perhaps we should stick together. I do not care to die brutally and have my soul stuck between the walls of this mansion."
Izumi didn't really want to split up, but she wasn't sure if the two others felt much sense of unity anyway. Actually, this might work to her advantage in reasoning how they should work as a team.
"Well... If we split up, and one of us gets caught alone, there is not much chance of throwing anyone else under the bus, right? How would you, Oda-kun, blame Motobuchi-kun if you were the one standing there with your hands full of whatever potential evidence you can dig up in Kiriyama-kun's bedroom?" she reasoned, looking at her friend.
Kyoichi's part about not wanting to die in some scary mansion dungeon made some sense to her too.
Toshinori hesitated. He didn't like the possibility of being caught alone, but if he stuck by the others, at least he could throw Kyoichi under the bus if they got caught. He wasn't too concerned with dying in Kiriyama's home, but he refused to bring shame onto his family.
"Let's stick together, shall we? I'm sure all three of our minds can be utilised to find clues," Toshinori said. "Starting with finding Kiriyama's room."
"Alright," Kyoichi concluded rather simply. He eyed the long hallway curiously, pondering where best to start. As much as he'd like to pretend that such a large mansion was no sweat off his back, it was a great deal bigger than his own house was, making him feel like a child lost in a big-box store without his parents.
"I suppose we could begin at the right, and progress to the left as we go," Kyoichi suggested, pointing to the end of the long hall, "There seems to be an equal number of rooms on both sides. This house is very interestingly symmetrical."
"No one should be in any of these at the moment, right?" Izumi asked cautiously, as she dared to slowly open the first room to the right. She was worried someone would lay waiting, but the entire staff seemed busy catering to the party right now. And of course, the household members were all downstairs too.
The first roomed looked very clean and tidy, with minimalistic furniture. Due to the lack of personal details, she assumed it was a guest room. The floral bed sheets definetly did not scream Kazuo Kiriyama. (Though what did? She had no idea what he liked, really.)
"I doubt this is it," she whispered, closing the door again.
Toshinori poked his head into the room, smirking. Of course, it was natural to assume that this room was decorated by his mother. Granted, at home, his mother also had very feminine taste, but it wasn't as tacky as this.
"Are you certain about that, Kanai? Perhaps Kiriyama is more in touch with his feminine side than we imagined," he said.
"Indeed," Kyoichi replied, "He does, after all, hang around with-" he raised his hand, loosening his wrist. “that type.”
Izumi's mouth fell open for a second at the hand gesture. She knew exactly what, or should she say who, he was referring to... And she couldn't say she liked how he did it.
"I think we can just conclude this is the wrong room," she said simply, going further down the hallway. "We don't have to speculate further! Oda-kun, will you please look into the next room?"
Toshinori had smirked at Kyoichi's implication but decided not to add to it. He strode down towards the next room and pushed open the door.
The room was almost completely bare. The walls were painted white, and there was a simple wood flooring. Pressed against the back wall was a computer, which was currently turned off. He turned to face the other two.
"In all seriousness, I believe this may actually be Kiriyama's room," he said.
Kyoichi dared to go further, and took a few steps into the room. He opened up a closet door, but it was filled with nothing more than boxes of files. "Shall we go through some of them?" he asked, gesturing to the boxes at the bottom, with no markers indicating what might be inside.
Izumi walked into the room too. She was surprised by how... sterile it looked. It didn't look like anyone was actually living there.
"Sure..." she agreed, suddenly feeling like this was actually a horrible idea. What could they find in these boxes? What if her things were actually there? She had been so sure this would lead to nothing, and now they were here, it made her heart race to think that just maybe she had been wrong.
"I feel like we are doing something... illegal," she whispered, sitting down onto the floor by the closet and taking out a box. It was heavier than expected. "Which we probably are... I'm not sure I can open it..."
"Well, rest assured, Kanai. Kiriyama and his goons already performed illegal acts against us, so it cancels out, does it not?" Toshinori said.
However, his daily shading of the Kiriyama Family was briefly halted when he saw her struggle with the box. He went to her side, taking the other side of the box and laying it gently onto the floor. He removed the lid, exposing its contents.
"So, where do we begin?" he asked.
"Hm," As much as Kyoichi didn't want to agree with Toshinori, he made some good points. He watched as the two struggled with the large box and peered over as they opened the lid. "I suppose this box is as good as any, given how large it is. I can't deny that I'm rather curious about what contents it could hold."
Izumi felt a bit easier snooping into the box once Toshinori had already opened it. It somehow felt less wrong now.
"Let's see...!" she said, swallowing. She started picking things out of the box. The top layer seemed to mostly reveal a bunch of different books. Izumi frowned as a lot of them had to do with anatomy of the human body. And one dedicated purely to dissected animal corpses.
"Alright... This is strange..." she mumbled, feeling uneasy.
She also pulled out a thick sheet of violin chords. She let out a small laugh.
"Oda-kun, look at this...! Do you know this?" she asked curiously. It was a nice contrast to the dead animals at least.
Toshinori snatched the sheet from Izumi. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The chords listed were impossibly complex- chords that he didn't think he would have to worry about until college. Since when is Kiriyama so much better than me?! He wishes! This showoff! he thought angrily, his fingers tightening around the page.
"Garbage. He's clearly trying to show off, but these chords are just pure, utter... garbage," he seethed, but didn't let go of the pages. "In fact, you know what? I believe he may have stolen these from my home."
Kyoichi snickered at Toshinori's response, watching the irritation present itself through his body language. "You call it garbage and yet you imply that he may have stolen it from your home? Pray tell, why would somebody such as Kazuo Kiriyama steal such a thing from you?"
Izumi was wondering too if Toshinori hadn't thought his comments through properly, accidentally insulting himself in the process of insulting Kiriyama. She gave both boys a small smile, not wanting to get involved. She kept digging through the box, but it seemed to be mostly books.
"I meant that I had already surpassed these beginner chords. Poor Kiriyama probably wanted to learn from me. But stealing my beginner chords? Childish," Toshinori tried to save himself.
"Hm," Kyoichi responded with a simple eyebrow twitch to show that he was unconvinced by Toshinori's response, "Certainly childish."
Giving the boys a chance to bicker it out, Izumi reached for one of the other boxes in the closet. She got a slightly smaller but a lot lighter one, and opened it slowly.
Her eyes widened when she realized it was filled with tobacco and... Potential other substances. She quickly shut it again, thinking this was irrelevant to their cause. No need to rile the two others up over illegal substances.
"Nothing in this one," she said innocently.
Toshinori's attention was drawn to Izumi's suspicious behaviour. "Did you find something of note? Why are you withholding it?" he asked.
Kyoichi's mood swung to one of curiousity as he stuck his nose up, catching a whiff of something unpleasant. "What was that, Kanai? It smells dreadful."
"Tobacco," Izumi replied quickly, nodding. "It does smell quite bad, doesn't it? Not very pleasant," she pointed out as she noticed Kyoichi's reaction to the smell.
She frowned a little as she threw a look at the third box inside the closet.
"Does... Does that one have a lock?" she questioned out loud.
Toshinori pulled out the box that Izumi was referring to. There was a small lock on the front, but nothing that couldn't be broken. Clearly, Kiriyama didn't care too much about what happened to this box.
"Does someone want to break into Kiriyama's possessions?" he asked, offering the box to the other two.
Kyoichi gulped back and shook his head. "I've risked enough coming this far. I refuse to damage any property."
"Oda-kun... Will you please do it? I'm not sure I am strong enough," Izumi said with a small pout of. The truth was she didn't feel comfortable ruining it either. Although for different reasons than Kyoichi. Her conscience just wouldn't allow it. "If anyone sees us with it, I don't mind saying it was me!" she quickly added.
Toshinori nodded. He wouldn't have done it for Kyoichi, but for some reason, he found it hard to say no to Izumi. He stood up and brought his foot down upon the lock. Since it was only a cheap thing, it snapped easily, falling off.
"Okay, now that we have damaged the property, can we look now?" he asked.
"Alright. I suppose the deed has already been done. We're officially criminals," Kyoichi said, pondering how he would fare in the prison system, "Lets see if this was worth risking our life's for."
Izumi nodded to both of them. After all, this might be what they had come here for. So it would be too late to turn around now, wouldn't it?
Toshinori's foot had gotten rid of the lock, and Izumi could now remove the lid without any problem. This box was smaller than the other two, and the second the lid came off, her heart froze.
Due to it's smaller size, the contents were immediately visible. She could see some jewelry thrown in carelessly, as if in a rush. It looked a little bit like when you saw pirates open their treasure chests in movies. Except no gold coins. Instead, some odd figurines seemingly made of glass were placed there too.
As was something else that the scattered jewellery couldn't quite cover. A light blue notebook which she immediately recognized but wish she hadn't. Izumi slowly picked it up, her hands trembling as she clung into it for dear life. She thought maybe she stopped breathing for a moment, or maybe time itself had stopped. She found herself staring down onto her missing diary.
Toshinori peeked over to examine the box too, but couldn't find anything that he could recognise. He picked up the figurines, raising an eyebrow.
"Now, who owns these? They don't look like something Kiriyama would like," he murmured.
Kyoichi's face paled at the sight of those familiar Lladró figurines that his mother had cherished so deeply and had been so distraught about them going missing that she still talked about them.
"These belong to my mother!" He immediately bellowed, louder than intended, as he scooped the figurines into his arms, "These are her precious Lladró's!"
"My God..." Kyoichi now had a slight shake, "It truly was them, after all. They did this..."
Toshinori noticed Izumi clutching the diary. "What is that? Is that a confession of all their wrongdoings?" he asked.
Kyoichi turned to Kanai, and glanced down at what she was holding, "That is something that belongs to you, isn't it?"
Izumi couldn't even hear what the boys were saying. Something about Kyoichi's mother. Her mind had gone completely blank, as she kept staring down onto her diary, her hands still shaking furiously.
She saw small, wet spots form on its cover, only to realize those were her tears falling onto it.
"It's... my diary," she whispered, her voice quiet yet oddly clear at the same time. "My diary."
Toshinori gave Kyoichi a concerned glance as Izumi had a bad reaction to discovering the notebook. But then, he reached over and laid a comforting hand on her arm.
"I understand this may be upsetting, but we have solid evidence of what they have done. We'll sue them for this, I guarantee that," he said.
"Indeed," Kyoichi concurred, having seen the tears of the girl had made him freeze up despite his own anger. "The three of us will sue them blind. Even their grandchildren will work their entire life's to pay the debt that they'll owe us."
Izumi hardly noticed Toshinori's hand on her arm, nor did she hear a word the boys were saying.
She staggered to her feet, still clutching onto the diary for dear life. As her mind started working again, it was like the thoughts couldn't stop coming.
Why? How could he? Did he read this? Why did he do this to me? I thought he was nice! I'm such a fool! Why?!
Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. She had always defended him, every time her friends worded their doubts or suspicions. She had always had faith in him. And now, she looked like a complete fool.
Letting out a sudden cry, she threw her diary hard across the room. It ended up hitting Kiriyama's full size mirror, smashing it. As Izumi caught her own reflection in the broken mirror, it was as if she was seeing a stranger.
"Suing them... Is not enough!" she cried, the anger and hurt overwhelming her.
Toshinori froze up, alarmed at the anger that Izumi was showing. Out of the three of them, she was probably the most kind-hearted and forgiving, while he and Kyoichi were the bitter assholes of the group. However, right now, her anger was more bright than he had ever seen.
"Are you planning on... murdering them?" he asked.
Kyoichi gave a curious look to Toshinori. He didn't know Izumi well enough to say whether this was completely uncharacteristic or not, but based on what he'd seen from her at school, this was hard to process.
"Perhaps we should begin by contacting the police immediately, now that we've found the evidence."
Izumi was breathing heavily, Toshinori's idea not too bad to her right now. Still, she knew all wishes for revenge was just her aching heart talking. When she calmed down, she might regret it.
Then again... Considering they had stored their things here for a half year, the Kiriyama Family clearly did not regret what they had done to them. So, why should she?
"The police," she repeated quietly, nodding. "You're so smart, Motobuchi-kun." Her tone was dazed, as if she was in a trance.
Toshinori's eyes lit up. "Yes, the police! Oh, what a show it'll be. A big event at Kiriyama's house, and then the police show up to arrest him... he'll be the shame of the class!" he laughed, before adding, "Oh, yes, and you'll be avenged, Kanai."
Kyoichi nodded his head firmly and pulled his flip-phone out of his pocket. He walked to a corner of the room where he dialled the number for emergency services and then relayed his information. It took less than a moment, but he felt his heart racing as he spoke calmly to the dispatcher.
He turned to face the others with a smug look, "The police should be here within ten minutes."
Izumi was already starting to panic about what they had done. The police would crash Kiriyama's own party to... What? Arrest him? The Kiriyamas were the richest family in town. And their legal system weren't exactly known to play it fair either; some generous bribery from Kiriyama's father and this could probably all be settled out of any court.
And if not, what would happen to Numai? Thrown into jail for how long? Losing any chance of a future?
Taking a few deep breaths, Izumi sat down onto Kiriyama's bed, trying to collect her thoughts.
"Ten minutes," she nodded. "Thank you, Motobuchi-kun. That's..."
Before she could say anything else, a monotone voice interrupted her.
"Hello. This is my room."
Kazuo Kiriyama was suddenly standing in the doorway, looking in at them.
Kyoichi screamed loudly and immediately passed out on the spot.
Toshinori stood up slowly, glaring at Kiriyama. "Hello. You're a criminal, and we have proof," he said back calmly, whilst Izumi ran to Kyoichi, bending down to make sure he was still breathing. His scream had been so dramatic.
"He seems alright..." she whispered, turning her attention back to Kiryama. She got back up and joined Toshinori by his side, glaring at Kiriyama despite the inner panic she was feeling.
"I have a lot of questions... A-And I want you to tell us what happened," she said quietly, her voice breaking ever so slightly.
Kiriyama looked like he wasn't startled to find them there at all. Nothing about his expression revealed that this was an odd situation, and he gave the two a simple nod.
"I suppose I don't mind answering them," he replied simply.
Izumi and Toshinori exchanged a look, as she wondered where to begin.