The Five Treasures of Inpei Kaguya

I dashed back and forth through the store, trying to look for more gifts to buy. I didn’t really know what I was looking for, or why, but I felt obligated to. My girlfriend was having a dinner party that night, and I felt like I would be ashamed if I didn’t show up with a gift. She was the heiress of a rich family, and could have bought anything she wanted, which only made picking out a gift for her even more difficult… I shuffled through the items I had obtained so far. A box of her favourite sweets, two tickets to see the film she’d been anticipating the release of, an ornate necklace, a keychain that she said was “cute” the last time we’d walked through the mall together– whatever that was supposed to mean, as I’d never have called it cute. Would this be enough? Actually, was it too much? I wasn’t sure. It’s the thought that counts. Hopefully Kaguya will agree with that sentiment. This was the weirdest shopping trip I’d ever been on. I’ve ran back and forth between different malls, supermarkets, random street vendors, and whatever else I could find. Yet there was nothing that felt unique enough to impress the eccentric whims of Inpei Kaguya. And I certainly wasn’t talented enough to make her something myself. Knowing her, she’d probably toss aside the stuff I did manage to obtain, and say something along the lines of “Cool; thanks.” To make matters worse, my bike had been broken for most of the week, and I had to run around on foot while carrying a bunch of grocery bags. Anyone who saw me would think I was insane, and they probably wouldn’t be too far off. I stumbled out of the store with my bags of assorted goods, and started down the sidewalk towards Kaguya’s house.

As I was on that trail, I was caught off guard by what I saw next. There was Kaguya, in her car, flying down the road. I guess she’d just gotten off of work. Well, she’s going too fast for me to follow her, but at least that indicates I’m going in the right direction. After that, someone going impressively quickly on a bike flew past in the same direction. She looked familiar, and it seemed like she was heading for Kaguya’s house too. Just when I thought the weird people were going to end, a girl ran up behind me. It was Kaitou Umi, the daughter of the police chief, and a friend of mine. “Hey, Makoto-kun!” “Oh, Umi-chan. What brings you here?” “I got invited to Inpei-chan’s big fancy mansion for a dinner party. Wait, don’t tell me…” “Yep. Me too. Oh, right! You haven’t heard about me and her yet…” “You and Inpei-chan? Wait, you don’t mean!” I told her. The look on her face was priceless. “Pffah! Inpei Kaguya, your girlfriend? What kind of bet did she lose?” I sighed, and we walked the rest of the way to Kaguya’s house, with Umi giggling the whole way there.

Kaguya opened the door, and let us enter her massive house. I looked around at all of the fancy decorations, until I got distracted by the food, and swiftly sat down at the table. I thought maybe that’d give me a chance to get away from Umi and her teasing, but unfortunately, she sat down next to me. Once we were both sat down, the rest of the guests quickly followed suit, until only Kaguya remained standing. She then announced it as the beginning of the dinner party.

“Welcome, everyone!” began Kaguya, “I hope you’re prepared for my amazing dinner party! Many thanks to my older brother for preparing all the food. “I just do what I can,” said her brother, “Let me know if you run out of food.”

The girl who had just rushed by us on her bike began to chow down. She must have been hungry from pedalling that hard. “It’s delicious!” “Yes, thank you for having us, Kaguya!” I echoed the sentiment. Umi gave me a strange look. “I expect it will be wonderful,” said the girl who had ridden in the car with Kaguya. “What gave you the idea for a dinner party, anyway,” she continued, “You never said.” “Yeah, I’d like to know, too,” chided Umi suspiciously. “You’re not really one for big social events.” “Well, you know…” Kaguya began to trail off… “I just thought it’d be fun…”

Yeah, we all knew that was nonsense. Kaguya hardly did anything for fun, let alone something that would take this much effort. I called her out on it. “Yeah, you even only get dinner with me if the restaurant is close to whatever you’re investigating!” “It’s not like you at all.” The bicycle girl backed me up. Umi confronted Kaguya more directly. “You always have hidden motives. I doubt this party is anything different.” Kaguya started a mysterious but cute giggle, and gave the confession we were all waiting for. “You got me! I’ll put it this way… The point of this dinner party… is to figure out the point of the party!” That was a rather unsatisfying answer. Her brother offered his own explanation. “You’re a strange girl, Kaguya. Is this part of your mystery novel obsession? Inviting everyone to this mysterious dinner party. It’s like Christie, isn’t it?” Christie? What was that? Some American mystery novel? Regardless, it seemed to work on Kaguya, as she gave another cute grin. “Well, I can neither confirm nor deny, of course.”

Umi seemed disinterested in Kaguya by that point, and began questioning her brother about work with the police chief, who was Umi’s dad. “Inpei-kun, how’s work going?” she asked, “I hardly hear a thing from my father.” “He’s been awfully strange today,” told her brother… Honnoh, I think it was. “He sent me home as soon as he heard I was onto the Mondai Group.” Honnoh’s investigating the Mondai Group?! I wonder if Umi knows about this… From her response, it seemed like she did, but also that she was confused about something. I’ll have to talk to her about it in private after dinner. “Strange,” she said, “I didn’t know the police were interested in the Mondai Group. I thought they were rather low-level criminals.” Umi knew better than that, and I was about to say something myself, but seeing her glare at me I knew I had better keep quiet and let her finish. “That’s what I thought, too,” said Honnoh. Really? Him, too? “Until Kaguya told me to look into them more. Oh well… At least I could spend the afternoon looking for Shikishi’s Necklace.” Necklace? That reminds me, I had my gifts for Kaguya… Wait a minute, that bicycle girl. She looked awfully familiar. I convinced myself that my guilt for some prior actions was causing me to hallucinate and went back to eating. “Have you had any luck finding it?” asked the bicycle girl, apparently named Shikishi. “Well, I have my ways of tracking it. I expect to find it soon.” I hope all necklaces can’t be tracked… Wait, that girl… That was the girl from this morning! I made a strange face, eliciting a curious look from Kaguya, but managed to play it off as if I was choking on a small bit of food. “Don’t worry,” continued Honnoh, “I’ll find it for you. I know it’s a priceless Inpei artefact.” “You’ll find it!” encouraged Kaguya, “You’re the great detective Inpei Honnoh!”

“I hope it wasn’t someone from that Mondai Group,” worried Shikishi. “They might be an international necklace smuggling ring.” I’m not sure if that girl is smarter than she looks or quite the opposite, but either way she’s dangerously curious.

“Kaguya, Hachiko,” asked Honnoh, “How’s work going for you two?” “It’s going well,” replied Hachiko, the girl who rode in Kaguya’s car, and apparently her coworker. “Kaguya’s training has only two months left!” That reminds me. I don’t know what Kaguya’s job is. I decided to ask, but Hachiko picked up the question instead. “It’s pretty simple! It’s called remote therapy. You chat with people to give them therapy and counselling. I do my best to help, but… I’m not even as good as the prodigy trainee Kaguya here! She’s just about to get her licence! Say, Kaguya, why did you want to become a therapist anyway?” “It’s pretty simple!” said Kaguya, imitating Hachiko. “I’ve dealt with so many criminals that I started feeling sorry for people in those types of situations. A lot of crime comes from mental struggle, you know. I’ve even talked to several people from the Mondai Group. I’ve gotten as much information as I can, in spite of our clients’ anonymity privileges… Don’t tell your dad, Umi!” “That sounds like a crime for someone higher up than the city police,” retorted Umi, rolling her eyes. “Maybe!” interjected Shikishi, “But so does that Mondai Group! And Chief Kaitou was definitely interested in them.”

“I suppose that depends on how deep the Mondai Group truly goes,” stated Kaguya. “Sure, they’re mostly known for acting in the city, but if my suspicions turn out to be true, even INTERPOL could get involved…” How much does this woman know? “Really?” asked Umi, “What makes you think that? International smuggling? Weapons, even?” I couldn’t tell if that was a bluff or not. I don't even know these things for sure… “No evidence of that,” admitted Kaguya, “As far as I can tell, all of their weapons have been obtained domestically. Plenty illegal, of course, but it’s not smuggling.” “A domestic weapons market!” My curiosity got the better of me. “Sure sounds interesting!” “I’m sure you’d love to know all about it,” teased Kaguya. “Can’t blame him!” Honnoh commented. “I could use a better pistol myself.” “Don’t you work for the police?” reminded Umi. “Hardly a good look to be using illegally smuggled pistols, I think.” Honnoh laughed, responding: “That’s true! I hope the pistol I have scares the Mondai Group off from me!” Kaguya’s face lit up with mischief and enigma. “I wouldn’t be so sure, nii-san.” If only she knew.

“Well, I’m full!” said Shikishi, abruptly ending the conversation. “The food was wonderful,” added Hachiko graciously. “I’m looking forward to an enjoyable evening.” This was my chance to go talk to Umi. I gave her a kick under the table and spoke up. “Me too! I’m going to take a walk to clear my head.” “Yes, I could use a walk, too,” said Umi, picking up on my, er, hint. “Have fun, everyone!” Kaguya waved us off. “I’ll prepare some games in the meantime.”

I headed outside, but unfortunately, Kaguya stopped Umi before she could follow me. Instead, Kaguya’s coworker came up behind me, and started talking to me. I struggled to remember her name, but eventually I was able to think of it from Honnoh’s comment at dinner.

“Oh, hey. You’re Hachiko-chan, I think, right? Kaguya’s coworker.” “Yes, that’s me. I didn’t catch your name, though.” “My name is Makoto. I really liked your speech about helping people, by the way. Say, do you know what Kaguya’s like at work? She’s pretty interesting outside of it, but she never tells me what goes on.” “Thank you! She’s… interesting. She definitely helps people, but her methods are awfully strange. It’s like she manipulates them into feeling better. Whatever works, I suppose. ” “Yeah, I guess so…”

“So… Can I ask you about something?” Hachiko suddenly started shifting around, and looked down at the ground. It looked like she was concerned about something, so I started to feel bad for her. “Sure, go on. Ask away.” “It’s about the Mondai Group they were talking about at dinner. Well, they’ve been sending me letters asking suspicious questions about Kaguya.”

Oh, right. Umi had told me about that. She was trying to get information on Kaguya before this dinner party to see if she could deal a decisive blow to the Mondai Group’s only threat. I guess this girl had gotten caught in the crossfire… It’s a shame. She seems awfully nice. …You know, I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I offered to protect her.

“Well, let me be honest with you… I’m actually a part of the Mondai Group.” “Really? You did seem pretty tough, I guess. So, is any of the stuff Kaguya said at dinner actually true?” Unfortunately, I wasn’t privy to any of that information… That’s stuff someone more on Umi’s level would know. “Well, I can’t say for sure. The people in charge like to keep things hush-hush, you know. I imagine that’d go double for anything illegal. All I know is that they think Kaguya is dangerous, so they want some information on her to be prepared.” “Alright… It’s a bit of a shame that I’m caught in the middle of everything…”

At that moment, Kaguya walked up behind us. Wait, how long has she been there? I hope she didn’t hear anything I said… She’ll never go on a date with me again… Regardless, she walked off with Hachiko, leaving me all alone to look at the fish. I’m no marine biologist, but from what I can tell, they looked awfully hungry…

I looked around outside for a while, but I couldn’t really find anything. Though, I will admit, I don’t have a clue what koi fish eat… I’m pretty sure it’s not stir fry. The garden was awfully nice, though. Well, other than two impressively sized trees and a little bit of grass, it was more of a pond than a garden. The bridge that continued the path out of the dining room made a sharp bend and went back into the other side of the mansion, leading to what seemed to be some kind of sitting room. I made my way back to the corner of the bridge and bent over, looking at all of the fish swimming below.

I went inside to see if I had any better luck at finding fish food there. The dining room had food, right? Maybe it had fish food, too. I began digging around, through every drawer, cabinet, and cupboard I could find, when Honnoh suddenly came into the dining room. Perfect! I’m sure he’d know where the fish food was.

“Inpei-kun! Just who I wanted to see. Where do you keep the fish food? The koi all look so hungry… If I didn’t find any, I was about to feed them some of your delicious stir fry!” “Heh, thanks.” He gladly accepted my compliment of his chef skills, and opened up the cabinet where the fish food was. “Here it is,” he said, handing me a container. I headed outside, excited to start feeding the fish, but the girl who I had stolen the necklace from was standing there, and she looked awfully angry…

“You stole my necklace, didn’t you! I remember you!” I was about to confess, and apologise, but then I remembered what Umi had told me… If anyone finds out I have that necklace, especially Kaguya, something terrible will happen! I have to deny it at all costs! “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” “I remember you from this morning! And I know you’re a part of the Mondai Group! Plus, we have a tracking device in that necklace!” “Okay, okay! I’ll admit it! I am a part of the Mondai Group… But I don’t know anything about a necklace! If you have a tracking device, you should be able to see exactly where it is, right? Show me this tracking device, and I’ll help you look for it!” Well, that settles it. For better or for worse, I was going to have to throw the necklace into the pond… Maybe if I cover it in fish food… “Well.. I don’t have the tracking device with me…” “That’s it, then. You don’t even have any evidence.” “I’ll… go get it, then!” She finally relented, heading back into the dining room, and I got to take a breather. Just as I was about to pull out the necklace, though, Inpei-kun came up behind me…

“Hey,” I said, “Thanks for the fish food.” I took some out of the container and sprinkled it into the pond. “They really seem to be enjoying it.” “Glad to help. Can I ask you a question?” Just from the way he said it, I could tell it was supposed to be about the necklace, and I was not in the mood… “Ask me when we get inside. It’s too cold and dark out here… I’ll head inside after I finish feeding the fish.” Somehow, that worked, and he went into the dining room and shut the door. I went back to the edge of the bridge and started feeding the koi, when I remembered my plan for the necklace. I took it out of my pocket, but before I could throw it in, I felt something cold and sharp pierce my back. I went limp, falling over the railing, necklace in hand… The last thing I remember was turning around to see a shiny, moonlit knife fall down into the pond beside me.