"Am I distracting you?" I asked, walking over to them.

"Not really..." Rina said, looking at me.

Her tone sounded a little cold. But it didn't bother me much, and I just smiled softly, realizing that she wasn't in the best mood right now.

"I'm from the Culinary Club, and I happen to like mysteries. My friend Mai asked me to help her with this case," I said. "And of course... I don't want to waste your time, so if you don't mind, can we talk in private?"

I thought it would be a good idea to talk to each member individually to give them a chance to be more open with me and so they wouldn't have to worry about unnecessary ears.

I also wanted to get the information I needed quickly since the atmosphere here was a bit tense.

Rina looked at me, a little surprised by my polite tone, and then sighed slightly as she lowered her eyes.

"Okay... let's step out into the hallway," she said.

"Okay, and thank you," I replied.

As I headed for the door, she followed, muttering, "So stupid."

I decided not to pay much attention to her little comment.

As we stepped out into the empty hallway and Rina closed the door behind us, I immediately went to the window and leaned my back against the sill.

Rina walked over to me and crossed her arms, looking at me expectantly.

"You should get right to the point," she said. "And you don't have to be super polite. Just be yourself."

I see... She's the kind of person you don't want to play games with, and be as direct as possible.

She saw right through my fake smile.

"Okay..." I said. "Then let me ask you straight out... Who do you think stole the costume?"

"Stole it...?" she paused, looking at me questioningly.

"Yeah..."

"So you came to the same conclusion as Mai? Are you sure it was stolen?" she asked calmly.

"I mean, it makes sense that it was stolen, don't you think? As for the reason... Whether it was a prank or a deliberate act is another matter. It's just really hard to believe that it got lost on its own..."

"Well, you're probably right, I suppose..." she said emotionlessly. "And who do you think stole it? Someone from the club?"

"I can't be sure of that yet, which is why I thought I'd ask you first. What do you think? Do you think it was a member of the club? Or an outsider?"

"I don't know... First of all, I don't really like the word 'stolen' because I can't be sure it was actually stolen, and second of all, why would anyone want to steal it anyway?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out. Can you think of anyone who might want to harm your club?"

"I doubt that such a person exists..."

"Then... Have you or any of the members had a fight with anyone lately?"

"No... at least not that I know of," she replied.

"Hmm... then let's say it was someone from your club. Who do you think it might have been? Just a guess?"

"Are you really asking me that?" she asked sarcastically.

"I know how this sounds, but you're the one who told me to be direct, right? And don't worry, I won't take your words too seriously and I won't tell anyone about our conversation, I just want to know your thoughts on it."

"Are you going to ask the other members the same questions?"

"Yeah, more or less..."

"Well... I don't know, I can't say. Do you have any ideas yourself?"

"Me?" I asked. "No... I don't know much about you guys, after all. Uh... What about Miyu? She's responsible for the storage room, right? Do you think she could or..."

"No," she cut me off. "She wouldn't do something like that on purpose, and I saw her put the costume in storage the day before it went missing, so it's not her."

Surprised by her abrupt tone, I just said, "Okay... I see..."

I guess she felt the need to defend her sister from my unfounded accusations.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to accuse her or anything," I added.

"It's okay..." she replied.

For a moment we were both silent.

Then she suddenly started playing with her hair, and grinning as if she had a funny thought, she sarcastically said, "I don't know… maybe it was Ken? Maybe he was the one who stole the costume?"

"And Ken, I assume, is the guy who was just in the club room?" I decided to clarify.

"Uh-huh..."

"And why do you think he stole the costume?"

"I was joking," she said, obviously surprised that I took her seriously for a moment.

To be honest, I had the feeling that she wasn't taking the whole situation seriously... Or rather, she wasn't taking me seriously.

She must think I'm an idiot.

Yeah... She totally thinks I'm an idiot.

"Can I ask you something else?" I asked.

"Go ahead."

"I saw you and Ken having a little argument in the room. You two aren't exactly on the best of terms, are you?"

"Oh, him? Yeah, I don't really like him," she replied calmly.

"I see..." I paused. "...So you really don't know who might have been behind the theft?"

"Nope," she paused. "All I can say is that if it really was a deliberate theft, then only a complete idiot could have done it..."

"An idiot?"

"Well, yeah... Who else would think of stealing the costume? There's no reason."

"...What about the former club member? I heard that you had another member. Do you think it could have been him? Revenge, maybe?"

As soon as I mentioned him, a clear look of disgust appeared on Rina's face.

"Oh... Him? You're right... Yeah, I completely forgot about him. It could be him. He was kind of an asshole..."

But there was something nonchalant about her tone.

It was as if she didn't really believe what she was saying.

I figured I shouldn't take everything she said seriously.

Still, that look of disgust was genuine.

Realizing that I wasn't going to get any more information from her, I decided to stop questioning her.

I also didn't want her to feel like she was being interrogated.

"Okay, thank you. I won't waste any more of your time. The information was helpful," I said.

Realizing that the conversation was over, she immediately turned to the door.

"Can you get your sister?" I said before she entered the room.

She didn't answer and just disappeared behind the door.