Almost a minute after Miyu went into the room, I heard footsteps in the hallway and when I turned around, I saw Ken coming towards me with a can of soda in his hands.

Seeing me, he immediately walked in my direction.

"Ah... I was told you were here to help with the costume... I suppose you're waiting for me to ask about what happened?" he asked without wasting any time.

I also decided not to beat around the bush and get straight to the point.

"Yes, that's right... you don't mind if I ask you a few questions, do you?"

"No... Feel free to ask anything you want," he said calmly.

Looking at Ken from the outside, he gave the impression of a withdrawn, quiet person.

"Then... let me ask you, what do you think happened? Do you think someone stole the costume?"

I asked the same question I had asked the others.

"Stole it? I don't think so..." he replied rather confidently.

"Then what do you think happened?"

"I think it's just a prank," he said, fixing his glasses.

"A prank?" I asked, surprised at how calm he sounded saying that.

"Yeah, just a stupid prank."

"Do you know something? Or is it just a hunch?"

"Just a hunch," he replied. "Where else could it have gone? I couldn't think of anything other than it was a prank."

"Why... a prank?"

"Well, you need a motive to steal something, right?" he asked.

"Yeah..." I said.

"Exactly," he said confidently, "I'm sure someone just decided to play a prank on us to get on our nerves and will return the costume soon."

I couldn't understand his logic...

"I don't know… what if someone wanted to sabotage you?" I asked. "After all, the costume went missing at the worst possible time."

"Sabotage? Do you really think so?" he asked.

"Did you not consider that possibility?"

"I've honestly thought about it, but I can't think of anyone who would want to sabotage us."

"Are you saying no one had a motive?"

"I don't think so."

Now I understood what Mai meant when she said that the members were useless.

"Then what about the former club member?"

"Ah... Jiro?"

"His name was Jiro?"

"Yes."

"Do you think he might have stolen the costume?" I asked.

"I don't know... I don't think it was him..."

"You don't?"

"I mean, if he had something against us, I think he would have said it openly... And he wasn't that interested in the club, he was hardly ever involved in it. The only thing he could do was try to flirt with the girls," he said.

"Were you close to him?"

A look of obvious disgust immediately appeared on Ken's face at my question.

"What? Of course not," he replied sharply.

"I'm sorry if I offended you with that question..."

"It's okay..."

"Was he... a bully or something?"

"I wouldn't call him a bully, just a troublemaker... but he's not very good at fighting."

Not very good at fighting?

"...Then do you know why he joined the drama club if he wasn't interested in it?"

"I have no idea, honestly..."

"Hmm..."

I paused for a moment, thinking.

"Anyway... is that all you wanted to know?" he asked.

Was it just me, or was he in a bit of a hurry?

Feeling like I wouldn't learn anything more from him, I decided to end the conversation, "Yeah... I've learned everything I wanted to know for now, thanks."

"Okay then, I'll go back to the club room."

"Okay... Thanks for your time."

"Thank you... for helping us."

Saying this with a little hesitation in his voice, he entered the Drama Club room.

Ok, I got a lot of interesting information to think about, but there was still one member who was absent today.

I can talk to him tomorrow, though. Right now, I need to study the crime scene.

Wasting no time, I immediately went to the storage room located a floor above.

I reached the room quickly and opened the door with the key Miyu had given me.

The room was small, with shelves leaning against the walls and the floor filled with boxes.

I immediately noticed a rack in front of one of the shelves with costumes and some empty hangers. It looked similar to the picture Miyu had shown me in her photos. And just like in the picture, there were some chairs next to it.

I approached the chairs and took a closer look, but I didn't notice anything suspicious.

In the photo Miyu showed me, two of the chairs had definitely changed places...

Who would do that? Someone had definitely been here... Was the costume stolen by the same person? If it had nothing to do with the costume, why did they come here at all? But one thing is clear, someone other than Miyu has the key to this room...

I moved some boxes around, but I couldn't find anything under them.

Then I decided to look under the cabinets, and I found something under one of them... When I reached under the cabinet and pulled it out, I found that it was, as I suspected, a chocolate wrapper.

I know this wrapper. It's a chocolate wrapper from the school vending machine. And judging by the expiration date, it wasn't that old.