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I Demand Fifteen Mysteries – Part 03

“I gotta say…” Kazuya murmured to himself as he continued his stroll. “So far, I haven’t come across any strange incidents.”

The familiar green roof of the general store came into view. The large intersection at the village’s center was now a snowy spectacle. A left turn led to the train station, while a right turn reached the main street with its plaza and movie theater.

Hmm? Kazuya furrowed his brow.

Among the village girls, easily distinguished by their cotton blouses and linen skirts, he spotted several women in a different attire—a long dress covered by a cashmere coat—entering a shop selling bread and cakes.

From a carriage, a gentleman in a frock coat, his wife, and their small children alighted and swiftly entered the village’s only inn.

They were aristocrats and the wealthy from the city, a rare sight in the village.

“Are these people planning to spend their winter vacation in a remote mountain village?” Kazuya wondered. “Was there such a custom in this country?”

He stepped into the general store. The clientele at this establishment was different from the usual crowd. Families that seemed to have come from the city were selecting shirts and various daily necessities. Even the charming village girls who would usually chitchat by the cash register appeared different today. They all huddled on the other side of the counter, shooting sidelong glances at the unfamiliar customers while whispering among each other.

As Kazuya walked in with measured steps, they raised their heads simultaneously. The sight of a familiar face gave them relief.

“Hi,” one greeted in a hushed tone.

“It’s been a while!” another added.

Kazuya blushed slightly. “Hello, ladies.”

“Where’s that girlfriend of yours? You know, the blonde one, always so energetic, goggling all the time.”

“Goggling? Ah, you mean Avril…”

Kazuya blushed again and nodded awkwardly. He then explained that Avril had returned to England. He sighed, shoulders slumping.

Just then, a man and a woman, who appeared to be from the city, entered the store.

Kazuya turned around to observe them, and the village girls tugged at his sleeves, scarf, and hair, dragging him into their circle as well.

“Wh-What are you doing? S-Stop…”

The village girls leaned in, and whispered, “Those people seem to be from Saubreme, too.”

“Weird, right? I think it was yesterday, or the day before.”

“When they suddenly multiplied. The inn is already full. I wonder why?”

“Is that so?” Kazuya, too, dropped his voice low. “I did notice quite a few outsiders on the way here.” He watched the customers from behind the counter.

The two newcomers seemed to be in a hurry. The man had eye-catching, long black hair, and sported a stylish coat and hat. He was presently holding two plain and unfashionable hats, a far cry from the one he was wearing in terms of flair. Kazuya couldn’t help but be intrigued. He was unfamiliar with fashion, and even to his eyes, the hats were not the kind typically worn by men with long hair, and they didn’t match his clothing style either.

The woman’s choice of goods was even more peculiar. She was holding a thick vest with many small pockets, the kind used for fishing, and she kept turning it inside out, scrutinizing it thoroughly.

Then, the two began whispering. The man’s voice was high-pitched and had a peculiar ring to it, while the woman’s voice was soft and bore a unique intonation, possibly due to a foreign accent.

Having made the odd purchases of two hats and a thick vest in a hurry, the peculiar man and woman quickly left. As Kazuya watched them go, he tilted his head in the same direction as the village girls.

“So strange.”

“Right?”

“Aren’t you a student at that academy for smart kids? Do you know anything?”

“What? I-I have no clue. The only thing I can do is read Latin and German, and solve difficult math equations.”

“Those skills are useless. You’d be much cooler if you could hunt or chop wood.”

“S-Sorry…”

Just then, the store’s door flung open, admitting another pair of customers. Although their faces were mostly concealed by woolen hats and scarves, their attire betrayed them as villagers. Spotting Kazuya, crouching down behind the register with the village girls, they strode towards him.

“Kujou? What are you doing here? Working with the girls during winter break?”

“Oh, no! I don’t think students are allowed to work part-time. As a teacher, I have to reprimand him!”

“All right!”

Both customers wore knitted hats pulled down over their eyes and scarves covering their noses, so their faces were hardly visible.

Judging from their voices, it was Ms. Cecile and the dorm mother, Sophie. The smaller person standing with arms crossed, posing like some kind of a dictator, could only be Ms. Cecile. The tall woman beside her, elbow resting on the teacher’s shoulder, holding back laughter, was the dorm mother.

Kazuya let out a yelp as he jumped out of the counter. The village girls laughed.

---

Kazuya, accompanied by two individuals, headed back to the academy, marching along the village road now blanketed in more snow.

“Find fifteen mysteries? Well, well. Victorique sure knows how to show affection.”

“Affection?!”

“Am I wrong?” Ms. Cecile asked.

“No way! This is outright harassment. I just can’t find any more at the moment,” Kazuya explained with a hint of anger.

Ms. Cecile, regarding Kazuya’s face through her round glasses, nodded with a smile. Beside her, the dorm mother was fiddling with the end of her scarf.

As they passed by villagers, shoulders hunched from the cold, they nodded and made way for each other, then continued walking. The snow underfoot glistened as it started to melt.

“So, you went all the way from the academy to the village to search for strange incidents,” Ms. Cecile said approvingly.

“That’s right.”

“Did you find anything?”

“I, uhh… only managed nine.” Kazuya shook his head dejectedly.

The snow absorbed the sound of their footsteps. The Alps, capped in pure white, glittered brightly under the sun.

Ms. Cecile suddenly puffed up her chest. Using her thick woolen gloves, she tapped her chest and said, “I’ll help you out. You never forget to do your homework, and you always study ahead. You’re an outstanding student. This is a one-time thing. Sophie will also help.” She pulled the dorm mother’s sleeve.

“What?” Sophie looked at the two. “Me too?”

Ms. Cecile’s round glasses glinted. “Let’s see… Ah, what about that incident where the principal’s Chinese vase in the office split in two in the middle of the night?”

“What?!” Kazuya leaned closer.

Sophie cast the teacher an incredulous glance. “I thought you tripped and broke it.”

“Uh…”

“You heard a rumor about a surprise test for the teachers, so you conspired with other teachers to sneak in at night and steal the questions. That’s when you stumbled over the vase.”

“Shut up! A refined lady refrains from gossiping too much, Sophie.”

“What are you even say—”

Ms. Cecile raised a gloved hand to her face. “Then, how about the incident where one of the mirrors of the chairman’s new motorbike came off?”

“A-About that…” The dorm mother turned pale.

Ms. Cecile smirked, and Sophie glared at her.

“That reminds me, Kujou,” Sophie growled. “There was a terrible incident of theft at the boys’ dorm this morning.”

“Really?! Please tell me more about it.” Kazuya eagerly leaned in.

“Well, you see… Since it’s New Year’s Eve and all, I thought of taking some back to my younger siblings at home… Last night, I baked a pie about this big…” Sophie formed a circle with her arms, with a diameter of around fifty centimeters. “I baked apple and pear pie. The oven here is huge, so it can whip up dishes I can’t make at home. They were sweet and delicious pies! But then…” Sophie’s face clouded over.

Kazuya was nodding with interest, but Ms. Cecile, curiously, was looking somewhere else. Suddenly, she placed a hand just above her forehead and stretched herself on tiptoe to peer intently at the snow-capped Alps.

“When I woke up this morning, about two-thirds of it were gone,” Sophie lamented.

“Two-thirds? A pie this big?!” Astonished, Kazuya made a circle with his arms.

Sophie nodded gravely and formed a circle herself. “Yup, it was a splendid pie. But then…”

“I smell a case. Right now, there’s not a lot of suspects within the academy. All right. I’ll tell Victorique about this right away!”

“Well, actually…” Sophie’s face abruptly turned dark. “I kind of have a clue who the culprit might be.”

“What?! Who is it?”

“Well…”

Ms. Cecile kept walking, ignoring the topic at hand. Sophie pulled an apple and a pear from the pocket of her coat.

“Cecile, you must be hungry from walking all the way to the village. Want an apple? I have some yummy pears, too.”

“Stop! I’ve had more than enough apples and pears last night… Oh, crap!”

“I knew it!”

“I-It’s not what you think!”

“That reminds me, the lovely and elegant Ms. Lafitte also stole my cookies years ago.”

“Are you seriously bringing up something from six years ago? I’ve already apologized for that. Let it go already!”

Kazuya gaped at the two women arguing vehemently. Then, recalling something, he went into thinking.

A moment later, Ms. Cecile, noticing the look on his face, stopped her bickering with the dorm mother.

“What’s the matter, Kujou?” the teacher asked.

Kazuya told them about something he had observed and found intriguing in the village: the unusually large number of visitors from the city.