Case 1: The Love Expert

Nearly half a year into high school, I—Amari Seiji—was about to face my greatest challenge yet.

Namely, confessing to the prettiest girl in the entire grade.

All schools have someone like that. A perfect diva, a girl so stunningly radiant that boys’ heads threaten to unscrew whenever she passes by. A kind and helpful personality accompanied by a face and a figure that are easy on the eyes.

Many martyrs had undertaken this perilous quest, never to return. Not just from our grade, either; she seemingly competed even with our seniors. All the while remaining unbeatable.

Even so, as I left my classroom that day and made my way to the second floor, I was determined to make that most dangerous climb.

I was going to confess to Takai Hana!

Well, not right now, though.

Not like I was scared or anything, though I was feeling a bit rusty… It was simply that there was one thing I wanted to check first, in order to increase my odds of success.

I’d lately heard some interesting rumors.

It might sound silly, but apparently this school, Ajimu High, had a so-called love expert. These sorts of whispers gradually reached my ears.

They said there was this odd student, a freshman, described almost like some kind of fairy or yokai, who would solve any and all problems related to romance.

I obviously scoffed at the very idea at first and never bothered trying to ask for any concrete details. However, now that I decided on my ultimate goal for this year, I decided to go check it out on a whim. Even if it was something stupid, no harm done.

Therefore, I was making my way not to that mountaintop flower on the frozen summit, but to the place mentioned in the rumors.

An unused room on the second floor, right across from the stairway.

Every day after school, she would wait inside, willing to help any boy or girl in need.

The moment I entered the room, I was blinded—the sun apparently came glaring out of the window at that exact moment.

And after I blinked, I finally saw her.

There really was someone waiting there.

Seated, she placed her head on the desk such that her gaze was directed straight at the open door. Noticing my appearance, her half-closed eyes widened and were filled with light, and she immediately straightened herself.

“Ah, a client!” said the girl. “Welcome, come in!”

There wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy about her appearance. She was on the shorter side and her dark hair was arranged in two high twintails tied by ribbons. Probably cute enough to be thought of as a “fairy”.

“Uh, hello. Are you the expert from the rumors?” I asked, casually stepping into the classroom.

This put a smile on her face. “Yup! Shiomi Yua, at your service.” And then she extended her hand, palm faced upwards.

I looked at it. I then looked at her expectant eyes, and back to her hand. This probably wasn’t an invitation to shake hands.

“Err… am I supposed to pay you?”

Her smile faltered. “Wait, didn’t you hear the rumors? Well, it’s not exactly payment, it’s more like a tip… and it’s not in money, of course.”

“Oh. What is it, then?”

“Snacks!” the girl said cheerfully. “The type doesn’t really matter, I’m not picky.”

Now that she mentioned this word, I noticed there was an open bag of snacks on the desk. She was likely engaged in eating from it shortly before.

“Err, sorry, Shiomi-san, but I don’t have anything on me right now.” Probably my bad for not checking any details.

Yua did look a bit disappointed, but shrugged. “It’s fine, you can pay later. First, let’s see: what is it that you need me to solve?” Her eyes seemed to sparkle again.

Solve? That was certainly a funny way of saying it.

I scratched my cheek. Although I was the one who came all the way here out of curiosity, it was kinda embarrassing to have to talk about the reason for that.

“I, uh… wanted to ask you for tips. I’m planning on confessing to a certain girl. Since you’re a so-called expert, I just wondered if you…”

I trailed off because I noticed that whatever stars were twinkling in her eyes before now fizzled out.

She was practically radiating disappointment.

“I don’t do love advice,” she said, waving her hand.

“…Eh?”

She turned her seat to me, one leg crossed over the other, softly pouting. “I thought people already knew that? I do not give love advice. I have no interest in something as stupid as romance.”

“What do you do, then?”

“I’m not some sort of matchmaker, I’m a detective!”

I blinked. “A what now?”

“A detective!” she repeated. “People come to me with many different kinds of requests. For example, they ask me to figure out if their partner cheats on them. Or they want me to identify the sender of an anonymous love letter. Or they ask me to find out what their crush likes. Those are the kinds of jobs I take!”

I was honestly befuddled, and more than a little confused, by that description.

A “love detective” taking snacks as payments and helping people with such silly problems? Seriously?

Maybe it was my fault for buying into the rumors so blindly.

Something about her expression changed. Rather than anger or disappointment, it was more like a type of mischievousness. “I don’t need to be a detective to see you’re heavily underestimating me, Amari Seiji-kun of Class 1-C.”

Hmm?

“Wait, have I introduced myself?” I wondered aloud.

“No, but figuring out something of that caliber is easy for someone like me, you know? All it takes is a little reasoning.”

“Huh?”

I must have triggered some switch, because the girl was suddenly much more animated than before. She pointed right at me.

“Let’s start simple: your tie is red, so you’re a first-year. That’s a given,” she said smugly. “This means there are only four possible classes.”

“Four?” I interjected. “There are five in our grade.”

“You’re obviously not in my class, silly. Like I said, four. You can’t be from 1-A, either; I recently solved a major case there, so it’s impossible for you to not have known about me. 1-E has had a school trip today, so it can’t be that, either.”

With each new piece of information, I found myself even more shocked. Was this for real? Was she literally going to narrow it down all the way down to me…?

“This also leaves us with 1-B, but since their final class today is held on the other side of campus, you couldn’t have possibly gotten here so quickly after classes ended.”

“I could have run all the way here,” I suggested, raising a finger.

And yet Yua shook her head. “No signs of elevated breath or perspiration. You were casual when you entered.”

Not like it was completely foolproof logic, but it was solid enough for the time being. However, even if she narrowed it down to a single class, there was still a major issue…

“Alright, I can follow you this far, but how did you know my name? You couldn’t have possibly memorized all names and faces in our grade, right?”

The small detective smiled. “Even I’m not that good. It’s simply another round of reasoning.”

Oh boy, here we go again?

“There are 14 girls and 12 boys in your class. Out of the latter, five have come to me before. Three belong to the Soccer Club and their coach is so strict he’ll never let them skip practice. One student hasn’t come to school this entire semester, and one is currently being hospitalized for a broken arm.”

Right, poor Itou-san. I heard it had something to do with a girl, come to think about it.

“So we’re left with just two options: Sagara Hikaru and Amari Seiji,” she said, raising a single finger on both hands.

“Alright… so how did you figure out which one of them I was, then?”

“I guessed!”

“…What?”

For some reason, she even looked proud of it. “You just looked like an ‘Amari’ sort of guy. In a sense that was a bet, but my instincts are as sharp as ever. That’s what it means to be a master detective!”

I was honestly shocked.

It was unbelievable how this girl not only gathered so much data about the school and the student body but also managed to apply it so well that she managed to identify me by name within a minute of meeting me.

She really was like some great detective from all the classics.

My heart was pounding and I found myself smiling. Before I even realized, I decided to throw away my original goal.

I never felt like this before.

It couldn’t possibly be called a “love at first sight”, but maybe it was similar enough.

Faced with a new challenge, I found myself speaking before I could help myself.

“Please, let me be your assistant!” I called out loud.

“…Wait, what?”