Suto carefully read through the police announcement in the news twice.
It did indeed say that two paintings had gone missing from Jinbo Art Museum last night.
One was the painting Cat’s Eye had mentioned in the notice during the day.
The other had nothing to do with it at all and had not even been displayed in the same gallery.
Because the police had not seen anyone last night, they only discovered that the painting had been swapped out during the routine inspection afterward.
Although the police immediately increased manpower and searched the entire museum, they still found nothing.
Because of that, the announcement did not include any information about Cat’s Eye.
The police did not know whether Cat’s Eye was male or female, tall or short, fat or thin, young or old…
Suto placed his phone aside, peeled an eggshell, and lowered his head in thought.
From the looks of it, his initial guess had been wrong.
The fusion of this mixed anime world had still affected Cat’s Eye’s plotline, causing some unknown changes.
Did Cat’s Eye accidentally discover another painting belonging to their father while stealing the first one, so they took it along the way?
Or was someone else fishing in troubled waters, stealing a painting and framing Cat’s Eye for it?
The phone on the table rang.
Suto glanced at it.
He found that Katsura Kotonoha had sent him a good morning message.
It was not just Cat’s Eye.
In truth, Kotonoha had also been greatly affected by the fusion of this mixed anime world.
Not only did she no longer have androphobia, but even her weakness at cooking was gone.
Instead, she had become very good at cooking.
The current Kotonoha could be considered a standard Yamato Nadeshiko.
Suto placed the peeled egg aside, wiped his hands, picked up his phone, and sent her a good morning reply as well.
After breakfast, he picked up his schoolbag and went out for school.
He left at around the same time as yesterday, and he also arrived at the subway station at around the same time.
Because of that, the subway he boarded was the same one as yesterday.
Suto deliberately chose the same carriage he had been in yesterday and walked to the spot by the window.
When the subway reached the next station, he saw a familiar girl on the platform through the glass.
It was Kotonoha.
As soon as she got on, she looked this way.
After seeing Suto, a happy light immediately bloomed in her eyes.
Suto waved to her and smiled.
“Come over here.”
Kotonoha did not hesitate much and nodded.
“Mm.”
When she came over, Suto braced both hands against the window like yesterday, leaving a safe space for her.
He lowered his head slightly, looked at the girl in front of him, and said, “What a coincidence, Katsura-san.
We meet again today.”
Kotonoha raised her head and met his eyes for a moment, then shyly lowered her gaze and said softly, “Mm, what a coincidence, Suo-kun.”
She did not tell Suto that she had deliberately rushed for this train today just to see if she could meet him again.
Of course, Suto did not tell her that he had also deliberately chosen this train because he wanted to see if he could meet her again.
Both of them had their own little thoughts, yet those thoughts happened to meet in the same place.
Suto knew that Kotonoha was rather introverted, so he took the initiative to guide the conversation toward shared topics.
For example, calligraphy.
That was also one of his hobbies from his previous life.
“Katsura-san, are you interested in calligraphy?”
In truth, her mother, Katsura Manami, had forced her to learn it.
Kotonoha herself did not have much passion for calligraphy.
Aside from that, there were also ballet, musical instruments, swordsmanship, and various other “noble lessons.”
Those heavy courses had always pressed down on her until she could barely breathe.
It was because her mother promised that she would no longer be forced to learn all kinds of extra lessons that Kotonoha worked hard to get into Sakakino Academy.
But at this moment, looking at the smile on Suto’s face that seemed to say, “I didn’t expect you to like calligraphy too, that’s great,” she suddenly felt a little grateful to her strict mother.
Thanks to her mother’s pressure, she could now talk to Suo-kun about calligraphy.
The subway was about to arrive at the station.
Kotonoha felt somewhat reluctant.
“Suo-kun, I have to get off.”
“Wait.”
“Mm?”
“I’ll show you another magic trick.”
Suto stretched his hand out in front of her, opened it, clenched it, then opened it again.
A piece of chewing gum appeared in his palm.
“Eh?!”
“How was it?”
“That was amazing!”
“Here, have some candy.”
Kotonoha reached out and took the gum from his palm.
“Thank you.”
Suto smiled as he saw her off the train, waved goodbye, then checked the system wallet.
[0 gold coins, 1 silver coin, 31 copper coins]
Mm.
Today was another day of fortune.
…
Toyogasaki Academy.
During first period, Eriri looked at the blackboard with her mind elsewhere.
Far from being an honor student, Eriri rarely paid attention in class—not because she had already mastered the textbook, but because she was too exhausted from thinking about Suo Suto all night.
‘It’s already been a day.
Why hasn’t that guy told me the title of that light novel yet?’
‘This feeling of being held in someone’s hand is seriously unpleasant.’
After a boring wait, class finally ended.
A group of girls immediately gathered around Eriri’s desk and excitedly started talking about the “big event” that had happened last night.
“Did you see the news?
The Cat’s Eye thing!”
“Of course I did!
It’s amazing.
They really took the painting exactly like the notice said.”
“The Metropolitan Police Department is as useless as ever!”
“No, Cat’s Eye is just too amazing!
I bet this is definitely Kaitou Kid’s new alias!”
“Ahhh!
Kid-sama!”
Eriri glanced at the girls with abnormal excitement on their faces and felt that they might have something seriously wrong with their heads.
What was there to admire?
However, she could not openly show what she really thought, so she could only smile and go along with them.
Sigh.
Staying with these girls really is boring.
…
Toyogasaki Academy, Class 1-E.
At this moment, most of the students in class were the same as those in other classes, gathered together and excitedly discussing “Cat’s Eye stealing a painting” from last night.
Except for Suo Suto and Kato Megumi.
Suto knew Cat’s Eye’s true identity and their purpose for stealing paintings, while Kato simply was not interested in that kind of thing.
Today was Wednesday.
Suto stood up and walked toward a window seat in the back row.
Aki Tomoya was chatting about Cat’s Eye with one of his few friends in class, Kamigo Yoshihiko.
“Aki-kun, there’s something I’d like your help with.”
Aki raised his head and looked at him.
“Oh, Suo-kun.
Do you want to borrow a textbook again?”
Suto shook his head and smiled.
“Not a textbook this time.
It’s something else.
I heard Aki-kun knows quite a lot about computers?”
Aki scratched his head.
“About that… I only know a little bit of everything.”
He was not a computer expert, but he had the practical skills necessary for a blogger.
Because he played games and made videos, he knew how to build PCs.
Because he made MADs and promotional materials, he was skilled at editing videos.
He was also extremely good at gathering information online, practically a “human search engine,” though it was mostly so he could quickly find rare information, bug reports, and doujin resources related to games and anime.
Looking at him, Suto said, “As long as Aki-kun understands it, that’s enough.
Here’s the thing.
I want to build a high-performance computer, but I don’t know much about the hardware market, so I’d like someone knowledgeable to give me some advice.”
Aki pushed up his glasses and said, “I see.
What will you mainly use the computer for, Suo-kun?
Also, what’s your budget?”
“Mainly video editing.
As for the budget, around 200,000 yen.
Is that enough?”
“That’s more than enough!”
“I also want to buy a set of filming equipment for outdoor livestreaming.
Do you have any recommendations?”
“There are a lot of options for that…”
At the same time, Eriri was walking past Class 1-E.
She glanced into the classroom through the window as if by accident.
Then her eyes froze slightly.
Suo Suto and Aki Tomoya… Why were those two together?