Case 15: The Detective's Heartbreak

“Are you feeling better now?”

“…Yes.”

After making our way out of school for a change of scenery, I took Yua to the nearby park—the park where we met Mochizuki two times in the past, including just the other day.

By then Yua had already stopped crying. She spent the way there completely silent and wouldn’t say anything to me, but let me take the lead.

I handed her some salad-flavored crunchy sticks and she started shoveling them into her mouth almost automatically.

…As expected, she really liked snacks.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Yua made no response.

“I’m not going to pry or anything… But if we’re going to find and beat the Love Sage, I want to understand you better… as, erm, your assistant.”

For a few moments there was nothing but the sounds of crunching, and then finally Yua raised her eyes to face me. As expected, they were red.

“…You’re the exact type of playboy I hate, though.”

“Hey! I’m not a playboy!”

She stared at me.

“W-what? Just because I went out with Hitomi that one time…” I mumbled, averting my gaze.

“Actually… now that I think about it, you might understand me better, since she tricked you like that.”

Tricked was a bit of a strong word. I bore no grudge or anything against Hitomi for what she did, since she had her reasons… well, I couldn’t truthfully say that I followed her logic there, but still.

Anyway, I didn’t really mind it, and in a sense I’d been taking advantage of her, too.

“Well?”

“Alright, fine… Um, this might surprise you to hear, but back in middle school I wasn’t really a popular girl.”

The right answer here was definitely to keep my mouth shut.

“I was too smart for most people in my class. With my abilities, I managed to unveil quite a few embarrassing secrets… So no one wanted to get close to me.”

Humans were fickle beings. In my opinion, Yua was such a fascinating and amusing person, but I could easily see how she might rub people the wrong way, just like with Takai earlier, for example.

“So that’s pretty much how my first year went,” she said, rummaging in her now-empty snack bag. Looking at it forlornly, she crumpled it in her hand. “And then, come my second year… One day, I was called out to behind the school building.”

I had a feeling this wasn’t some kind of heartwarming story, but I still had to make sure—

“What was it, a confession?” I asked half-jokingly.

“Yes,” she confirmed, to my surprise. “A boy in my class told me that he liked me and that he wanted to go out with me.”

I was surprised at hitting the mark.

But at the same time, I could already somewhat predict this story’s ending.

“I was always short and small, and I never had confidence in anything other than my brains… so frankly, this blew my mind. He wasn’t the most popular boy in class or anything, but he was pretty good-looking. Had a few girlfriends before, and all that. I honestly enjoyed the envious stares I got from those other girls that usually either ignored or badmouthed me. And my heart fluttered every time I saw him, every time we talked, every time we went somewhere…”

I remained silent. I felt something bubble up inside me.

A sadness with a hint of loneliness.

“It’s a cliché, but love is blind, and all that. My detective’s eyes were clouded over by my heart. It happened all of a sudden, just as we approached the three-month mark of our relationship: I realized that he actually didn’t like me at all,” Yua explained. “There were countless small signs of it… but can you guess what first tipped me?”

“…I dunno. Uh, did he laugh at you solving a case or something?”

For some reason, Yua giggled a little. She let go of her fist, revealing the crumpled bag of snacks in her hand.

“It was about snacks.”

“Snacks…?” I asked in shock.

She kept giggling—no, it was probably more like half-sobs. She crumpled the bag again.

“I’ve always liked snacks. One time, while we were together and I offered him some, he grumbled saying that he wasn’t a child and that it was time for me to grow up.”

I frowned. If anything, he sounded like the childish one there.

“It flipped a switch inside me. My brain cleared up from the fog called love,” she continued. “I started recalling that past month. Small comments he made… small barbs he threw at me between compliments, that I thought were just his way to show he cares. About me dressing awkwardly for a date, about me trying to stand out too much, about me needing to talk less… As well as hushed whispers and talks I could hear around me, and that time I heard him joking about me with his friends, which he quickly denied… I’ve been willfully ignorant up to that point, but as I gathered all the clues, I finally realized.

“—He was using me as a joke.”

“…Yua…” I mumbled painfully.

“Funny, isn’t it? After a little investigation, I found out that he’d made some sort of bet with his friends. Apparently, they claimed I’d never believe he was really into me… So he got a pretty penny for actually hooking up with me. He was going to get even more if we stayed together for the entire school year.” Once again, she half-sobbed, half-laughed. “Kinda pathetic how a genius detective like me fell for something like that, huh? What was I even thinking?”

“It’s… it’s not pathetic at all!” I snapped, surprising her into widening her eyes. “You couldn’t have possibly known that… it’s completely natural…”

I stumbled over my words.

For a moment, I tried to imagine that nameless, faceless boy who trampled over Yua’s feelings and compare him to myself.

I’ve dated some back in middle school, too… but my goal was never something like that. If I ever felt awkward in a relationship, I myself chose to step out. Sure, I’d hurt a few girls, but never to this extent.

Probably.

That was also why I never looked at Hitomi as a potential love interest.

However, it hurt me to think about the fact that boy and I were somewhat comparable.

“But hey! Don’t worry about it, Amari-kun,” said Yua, wiping her eyes. With her other hand, she threw away the crumpled bag. “I gave up on all of it. I don’t mind helping other people’s relationships by solving mysteries, but I’ll never be in one myself, so it’s fine. I’ll never get tricked again!”

Her eyes were sparkling with both tears and stars. This was Yua’s determination.

I felt like I also solved quite the major mystery at this moment, too. It explained a lot about her as a person.

Not being as smart as her, I never would’ve been able to piece it together on my own; I had no choice but to rely on Yua herself telling me all this.

“Hmm? Where are you going?”

This question came from Yua because I suddenly got up from the bench and took a few steps.

“Don’t worry,” I told her, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Getting down on one knee, I picked up the crumpled bag.

“First of all, don’t litter,” I said with a wink. “And secondly…”

She looked up with eyes devoid of any expectations.

What did she imagine I was going to do?

Try and tell her that one day, she, too, would find love? That she would get over her past trauma? Some other platitudes?

That wouldn’t work.

I actually had to hold myself back from confessing on the spot, right there and then.

She looked so vulnerable and cute at that moment that it just wouldn’t be right. No, more importantly, it simply wouldn’t work.

“Are you claiming that this is why you hate the Love Sage?”

“Naturally,” she said, her expression relaxing. She sniffed a little. “Whether they’re a girl or a guy, they’re definitely this kind of experienced predator. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to—”

“—Are you sure it’s not just that you’re attracted to them?” I interjected.

“Haaaah?” gasped Yua, her eyes opening in shock.

“You’ve been bothered by the Love Sage from the very first moment,” I explained. “But it wasn’t just your hatred for this type of person, right? By all accounts, they’re actually helpful and respectful. Instead, isn’t it more like… I don’t know, the relationship between a detective and a culprit?”

She kept pursuing them doggedly, even going as far as accusing unrelated parties. And the fact she tied her personal trauma to them indicated likewise.

“What… are you even…”

“It’s not that you see them as your enemy… but as your rival. Right? You don’t want to lose to them. You’ll unmask them no matter what, right?”

“Right!”

I smiled. “There you go.” I headed over to the nearest trash can. “So throw away your feelings of regret and pain for the time being.” I deposited the bag. “And focus on the task at hand. As the one and only detective.”

I could see my words were an immediate success despite the ridiculous things I said.

In this short time, I came to know—and appreciate— this sort of look in Yua’s eyes.

They were still red and swollen, but also shining with the intensity of many stars. An entire galaxy had been formed anew after a big bang.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll catch them, once and for all.”

The time for my confession was fast approaching—but first, I knew I had to help Yua find and catch the Love Sage.

That was the key to everything.