“To summarize the situation, ‘the same envelope’ has been ‘taken out and put back in at least twice,’ and ‘it contained a blank paper.’ But the envelope is cute, and the addressee’s name is written carefully! It’s odd to think this is a prank at this point! And it’s strange that Suzumoto ‘hasn’t seen the love letter at any stage.'”
Kariya started talking. I listened because it was interesting.
“Or rather! We should have noticed at the stage of taking out and putting back in! This is strange!”
“No, I think we all agreed it was strange.”
“No, no, no! We didn’t notice! Yes! The possibility that ‘the person who took it out and the person who put it back in were different!'”
…So? The person taking it out and putting it back… there were people who ‘took it out’ and people who ‘put it back in’?
“Let’s define the person who ‘put in’ the love letter first as Person A! And Person A is a cute girl!”
Why?
“It was definitely a love letter that Person A put in! Yes! Person A is a cute girl!”
At that point, Kariya became serious.
“Let’s define it like that.”
“Hey.”
“Otherwise, Suzumoto would be a bit… pitiful… right?”
“Hey.”
I get it, but somehow, even though I don’t quite get it, I somehow understand. Oh damn, I hate myself for somehow understanding.
“And we define that there is a childhood friend, Person B, on Person A’s side.”
Don’t think you can define everything. And where did the idea of a childhood friend come from?
“Person B likes Person A.”
Isn’t the story getting more and more absurd?
“And Person A consulted with Person B. ‘I like Suzumoto,’ she said.”
…..
Ah…
“Person B, who was consulted, was troubled. Because he likes Person A! And finally, Person A put out a love letter to Suzumoto! However! Person B, who doesn’t want A and Suzumoto to be together!”
“Stole the love letter?”
“Yes!”
So, in short. Even excluding Kariya’s incomprehensible delusions… ‘The person who put out the love letter and the person who took it back are different.’ It was different people who opened Suzumoto’s shoe locker.
Thinking that way isn’t so bad, I think. Setting aside the delusions.
“Uh… but in that case, there’s no need to put it back. They could just leave it stolen.”
“Oh, Hariu, you don’t understand a girl’s heart at all!”
Hariu’s face clearly showed displeasure. Of course, being told that by Kariya would only be infuriating.
“Think about it, girls would be curious if the love letter they put out was read by the recipient! So they would inevitably check the shoe locker again!”
“I don’t get it…”
“Maito-san, you’re not a girl!”
No, you’re not a girl either. Or rather, you’re definitely not a girl.
“And if Person A checked Suzumoto’s shoe locker again and found the love letter gone… they would think Suzumoto received it!”
Well, they wouldn’t think it was stolen. Normally.
“Then A would endlessly wait for a reply from Suzumoto! Worse, if A went directly to Suzumoto to ask ‘What about the reply?’ it would be revealed that Suzumoto hadn’t received the love letter! This would make B suspicious, and B would be disliked by A!”
In other words, B needed to keep showing Suzumoto an empty locker to hide the love letter’s existence from him, and keep showing A a locker with the love letter to hide the fact that he had stolen it from her.
Well, that makes sense to some extent.
“Back to the point. So, in Kariya’s hypothesis, B knew when A would check my locker again, and at that timing, he put the stolen love letter back?”
“Exactly. Timing isn’t that hard to manage. If he knew Suzumoto’s class schedule and the time he goes home, he could easily adjust it so that A could check without Suzumoto noticing.”
…Is B some kind of stalker? This is creepy. Both A and B.
“Hmm, maybe A and B were pretty close, and B knew when A would check the locker.”
Yeah, that makes more sense.
It’s more plausible that B knew A’s schedule rather than B knowing Suzumoto’s schedule. Otherwise, Suzumoto would be the one being stalked.
“Uh, uh… then, what about the blank paper? Why was the love letter a blank paper when it was last seen? Was it really a love letter? Maybe it was blank from the start?”
So the last mystery is ‘Why was the content of the envelope a blank paper?’
Even I can figure this one out. Actually, since I’m ‘not a girl,’ this is the only part I understand. And I don’t want to understand any more.
“That’s not impossible. But this envelope wasn’t sealed with glue, just a sticker, so it was quite possible to switch the contents. …Basically, it’s insurance.”
When I said that, Kariya made an ‘ohhh’ sound and clapped lightly. Annoying.
“Insurance?”
…I explained to the still puzzled Suzumoto and others.
“They put the love letter back in Suzumoto’s locker to let A confirm, but if Suzumoto checked the locker, it would defeat the purpose. In the end, the love letter would end up in Suzumoto’s hands. So they switched the content to blank paper. Just in case Suzumoto got it, A’s confession wouldn’t be conveyed.”
From B’s perspective, hiding the fact that he hid the love letter from A is less important than hiding the love letter itself from Suzumoto. So he took out insurance for that situation.
“Hmm, I thought there might be some reason for not just taking out the contents but putting in a blank paper…”
Toriumi said as he examined the blank loose-leaf paper.
“That wouldn’t work because the envelope would be flat. Look, the envelope’s appearance is different when it has contents and when it doesn’t. A girl would notice!”
The thin paper lace envelope only takes on a soft shape when it has contents. The envelope without the blank loose-leaf paper inside is thin and flat. Indeed, a girl… well, the person who put out the love letter would notice.
“…So, how about this! This great deduction!”
Kariya puffed out his chest, so I clapped for now.
As the lab filled with applause, Toriumi, who had been clapping enthusiastically, raised his hand.
“By the way, I think there’s still one mystery left unsolved.”
“What?”
Seeing Kariya’s reaction, Toriumi smirked and looked at Suzumoto.
“…What? Why are you looking at me?”
“Well, I was just curious about who exactly put out the love letter to Suzumoto.”
…Oh.
Yeah. Well, everything up to now was Kariya’s hypothesis. A and B only exist in Kariya’s mind.
So, in reality, who put out the love letter to Suzumoto…
…..
“…Just so you know, no matter who put out this love letter, I have no intention of doing anything about it.”
“What!?”
“Eh!?”
Suzumoto, while being glared at with a mixture of protest, resentment, and envy by Hariu and Kariya, continued, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“If Kariya’s hypothesis is correct, then there is a B. I don’t want to get involved and cause trouble. And even if there is no B, someone must have stolen A’s love letter. I don’t want to get involved and cause trouble. If A was the one putting in and taking out the letter alone, I don’t want to date such a strange person. And furthermore, if A doesn’t even exist, there’s no point in getting involved. …Besides, I didn’t receive the love letter. So, I shouldn’t get involved in the first place. That’s all.”
Well, it’s a typical response from him, and as a strategy to avoid trouble, it’s perfect.
“But what if A was a cute girl?”
“…That’s not the point.”
“But what if a cute girl told you ‘I like you’ face to face?”
“…I do long for that situation, though.”
“I’ll punch you.”
“I’ll punch you.”
“I’ll punch you!”
“This is absurd!”
…Well.
I mean, it’s kind of annoying, right? Somehow. This guy.
+Today’s Record+
We did experiments, prepared, and chatted.
Suzumoto annoyed us, so we all played UNO and kept piling on Draw 2s and Draw 4s.
Suzumoto ended up with a Draw 18.
*Postscript*
Adding what I figured out about today’s chat.
Kariya’s love letter incident hypothesized with A and B, turned out it wasn’t B but B-san.
*Second Postscript*
Adding a second postscript for correction because Kariya kept shouting ‘Yuri! Yuri!’
It wasn’t yuri; it was just two girls fighting over Suzumoto behind his back. There were two girls, A-san and B-san, who were friends, but both liked Suzumoto.
So, B-san kept putting in and taking out A-san’s love letter to prevent it from reaching Suzumoto.
This time, Suzumoto found the love letter (though it was blank), and B-san’s theft was revealed to A-san, leading to a big fight in class. It was a scene. But eventually, they made up somehow and started talking normally again, so I can’t understand girls.
Kariya might say something, but not understanding girls’ feelings might be better.
Oh, Suzumoto should just continue pretending he doesn’t know anything.
In the end, there was no love letter.
*Third Postscript*
I explained everything to Kariya, who said, “So, there was no love after all!”
Then Suzumoto walked in and said, “What about imaginary numbers?”
That conversation was funny, so I noted it down.