An Eye-Catching Date (5)

They were bad for business.

That was the pretext, and on it Tales Tale was thrown out of Class 2-5 in a single sweep. Not one customer had stepped through the door the whole time they were there, so nobody bothered to object.

Out in the hallway, collecting the usual glares from whoever happened to be passing, Tae-il asked.

"We're looking through the rest of the classes too, right?"

"Obviously!"

Sakuya pulled a pamphlet from inside her blazer and spread it open.

"We have to get every stamp!"

"..."

In the corner of the pamphlet, three stamps — the kind you received for enjoying each attraction — were already pressed in.

"Get ten or more and take them to the operations office, and you can enter a drawing for limited-edition sneakers!"

"Sakuya, you suddenly feel really unfamiliar..."

"Me? How?"

"I forgot for a second that you're the ace of our school's athletic club."

"Grr!"

At Tae-il's teasing verdict, Sakuya raised a fist in threat.

"Haha. It just means you've blended into the band that much."

"Too late to dress it up. That train has already left, you know?"

Sakuya glared at him, prim and unimpressed.

"Sorry. Anyway, next is Class 4, right? Let's go."

"Shin-chan! Ayane looked into it ahead of time. Word is the attraction in Class 2-3 is especially fun!"

"Meaning...?"

"Let's get in line early!"

Ayane declared it with perfect confidence. It would definitely be fun.

Tae-il looked around at the members. Iris was the first to shrug.

"I don't care either way... so yes, for now?"

"I don't care either."

"Okay. Sakuya, and Yuuya-senpai?"

"Me, fun always comes first. Senpai?"

"I'll go with the majority..."

Opinions converged in a flash. Ayane flipped open her notebook and beamed.

"Great! Then we start with Class 3, Shin-chan! Quick, before the line gets any longer!"

"Yep."

And so, on Ayane's say, the group passed Class 4 and headed for Class 3.

"Welcome to the mystery room prepared by Class 2-3!"

"Ah. So it's an escape room."

Drifting into old memories, Tae-il took in the exterior, lavishly dressed in plywood and glass. This can't seriously be student work, can it? Studying the classroom's outside and the air of the room within, he had no choice but to marvel at the quality. The gap between the upper years and the first-years was especially stark. Set against the first-years, rough in every seam for want of real skill, these were nearly professional. At last he was seeing just how far a school that meant its Cultural Festival could go.

A world out of a manga, all right. Club ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠activities were already as close as anything to a symbol of Japanese school life, but colorful class events like this Cultural Festival left him honestly envious.

"Shin-chan! They say we can go right in!"

"Huh? Oh — coming!"

He had braced for a long line. Flustered, he followed Ayane into Class 3.

An escape room. Back in his practical-music days he had thrown himself into them, under the grand pretext of getting close to the vocalists and the composers. Getting close to people had always required group outings of one kind or another, and alcohol. Time to carry them like the veteran I am. If he shone here, the pride that had collapsed where games were concerned might recover, if only a little — and on that thought his motivation brimmed over. The dream did not survive long. It shattered almost at once.

"Shin-chan! Ayane thinks she knows this one!"

"Already?"

"No, that one's completely obvious."

"Even Rena knows it?"

"From the look of things, Shin Tae-il is weak at goroawase, huh?"

"Ugh...!"

"Ahaha. It's okay, Tae-il. I didn't know either."

"That is not comforting..."

Far from a chance to shine, the first problem was a quiz laced with goroawase — those Japanese number-puns foreigners always trip over — and he was benched on the spot.

"Let's see."

"All the hints give us are three people's profiles. Hobbies, jobs, and hometowns. That's it."

"Taichi, the hint written here says the password isn't a number..."

"Tch. It's the Reiwa era, and every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one of them was born in Showa. Lame."

"Showa... ah! Ayane's got it!"

Eyes sparkling, Ayane entered the password.

"The answer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is Momotaro!"

"Why...?"

"Shin-chan, look! Showa 31, Showa 32, and Showa 33!"

"31, 32, 33... is this goroawase too?"

"No! It's the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠year cycle!"

"Huh...?"

"Ah! I get it too. Tae-il, Showa 31 is 1956."

"1956...?"

Tae-il threw his brain into high gear, converting 1956 back along the sexagenary cycle.

"Counting back from this year... a little help, anyone?"

"Byeongsin year. The monkey."

"Sin... the monkey?"

"Right! So what comes after the monkey in the twelve zodiac animals?"

"Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit. Dragon, snake, horse, goat. Then monkey, rooster, dog, pig... so the rooster and the dog."

"Correct! They're all animals from Momotaro!"

"..."

Felled by a Japanese nonsense riddle, he was benched all over again.

And the next problem.

"Ahaha. A history question."

"Shin Tae-il, you were weak at Japanese history, weren't you?"

"..."

"Then I'll press it for you?"

Outside the Warring States period, Japanese history had never interested him. He had neglected it accordingly, and was benched once more.

Next problem.

"I—I know this one! I heard it when Rena was telling us about art history! The answer is Kuroda Seiki!"

"Hey! You put these together just to screw me over, didn't you!?"

"C-calm down, Shin-chan!"

Rena didn't even hesitate. "Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment. The trilogy."

"Renaaaa!"

Benched again.

The same pattern ran straight on from there. Tae-il, who would have been eliminated on the first question of a televised quiz bowl, got every quiz right, escaped the room, and then cried out in bitter grief.

"This junk isn't an escape room!"

There was no theme. There was no thread of story. There wasn't a single proper trick that used a tool.

"Let's go to Korea tomorrow if we have to! I'll take you on an escape room cafe tour there—!"

"Calm down, Tae-il."

"Pfft! Your pride took an even bigger hit than before, didn't it? Shin. Tae. Il?"

"At least give me a lock to deduce!"

Labyrinth Detective Shin Tae-il's brilliant deduction show: a spectacular failure.

What they challenged after the escape room was a maze.

Tae-il showed off what he knew.

"With a maze, you keep one hand on a single wall and follow it all the way, and the exit finds itself!"

Iris, hearing this, grumbled without much interest.

"It's only as big as a classroom no matter what. Does it even matter?"

"Shh, shh!"

Ayane hastily cut her off.

"Iris, we don't get chances like this. Let's give Shin-chan's pride a little boost!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

The others wore wry smiles of their own as they built him up, pride torn to ribbons as it was. Full-on did our Tae-il do a good job? baby-talk mode.

The world, however, declined to help.

"Uh... huh?"

Left hands planted on the wall, the group pressed ahead without a hitch — and spent more than five minutes circling the classroom, running again and again into a wall across their path.

Tae-il said nothing. At his silence, the rest of them lost their tongues and froze solid.

Yuuya, their senior, quietly opened her mouth.

"Another wall..."

Something felt off. Just in case, Rena opened the pamphlet and checked the attraction list again.

"Ah."

"Aaaagh!"

Tae-il had walked, without so much as a fight, straight into the organizers' trap.

Seven minutes and twenty-one seconds. That was how long the escape took. Exclude parents towing small children, and it was the slowest time on the board.

Next destination. They had sampled one outlandish attraction after another, but Class 2-1, at the far end of the second-year classrooms, was perfectly ordinary beside everything they had seen so far.

A casino. You could spin a roulette wheel, throw darts, or play poker against a dealer. Win past a set point total off the dealer, and a stamp was yours. That was the whole of it.

"This looks fun. I'll go challenge them first!"

Short on stamps and gunning for the drawing, Sakuya volunteered to take the dealer on.

"Yes. I win."

"Ah..."

She had charged in high spirits and been cleaned out down to her soul. Total defeat. Unable to take even a single hand, she couldn't bring herself to cry that it was rigged; her fists only trembled. Hopeless.

Realizing she had no talent for gambling, Sakuya shot to her feet and pointed at Tae-il.

"This won't do. Tae-il! I've chosen you!"

"I object."

"Tae-il, evolve me...?"

"It's a joke, so don't do that in front of other people..."

Under the sparkle of her eyes, Tae-il sighed and sat down before the dealer.

"Do you require an explanation of the rules?"

"No."

Five-card draw. Among the forms of poker, it was the most ordinary: five cards, and the hand decided it. Class 2-1's casino had a house rule of its own. You could exchange as many times as you liked, but every exchange after the first dropped your betting points by one. You started with three, which meant that change your hand four times or more and beating the dealer still earned you, in effect, nothing.

Points required for a stamp: twenty-one in total. A number that might as well have been winking at blackjack.

"I will begin."

The dealer shuffled with a flourish and dealt Tae-il five cards face down — a hand the dealer could not see, his alone. Chin propped on the table, he lifted the edges with his thumb and checked what he held.

♣3, ♣7, ♠A, ♦K, ♦9.

Tae-il squeezed his eyes shut. A hand even worse than Sakuya's, and she had at least held a pair every time.

"Would you like to exchange?"

"Yes."

His index finger tapped the table. How many cards, and which? It wasn't even a serious gamble, but the eyes at his back were eyes all the same, and the deliberation ran deep. First hand, so... Boldly, he kept only the ace of spades and exchanged the rest.

"Here you are."

He checked the four new cards the same way, thumbing up nothing but the edges.

"Ah, shoot..."

One look at the discard pile and he was scratching his forehead. ♠A, ♦J, ♦Q, ♥3, ♠10. He regretted, just a little, having thrown the king of diamonds away. Nothing for it? He exchanged once more. The cards he chose to swap were the ♥3 and the ♠10.

"Will you open?"

"Yes."

Tae-il turned over what the dealer had given him. ♠A, ♦J, ♦Q, ♠Q, and ♣2. A pair of queens.

"Pair of queens. Confirmed. I will now open my own cards."

♠2, ♦2, ♥2, ♥5, and ♥6. Three of a kind.

"Ah. I lost."

"Thank you for the game. Will you challenge again?"

"You can't give up, Tae-il!"

His resolve was buckling, and Sakuya — who had noticed — egged him on exactly like Agumon.

"Haa..."

Tae-il nodded. He tried several times more after that, but the points came in such pathetic drips that he gave up as well.

"It's all right, Shin. Seven points is still a lot to win."

Rena comforted him as he scratched the nape of his neck, looking as if the loss physically pained him. Her eyes slid over to Sakuya, grinning like a fool.

"...Unlike a certain someone who challenged ten times and came away with a grand total of zero, Shin took a whole seven points in five hands. Didn't he?"

"Mm. Sakuya being the comparison doesn't make it very comforting..."

"You two are awful!"

While the pair of them teased Sakuya, Yuuya took a seat. Iris, who had been keeping still because she liked mahjong better than poker, edged in as well.

"Would you like to try poker too, Senpai?"

"Mm."

"I'll deal the cards."

The dealer shuffled with practiced ease and distributed the hands. Yuuya checked hers.

"Oh my."

Iris, having seen the cards, startled.

"What's wrong, Iris?"

"Shin Tae-il, get over here and look at Senpai's hand."

"Senpai's hand?"

He ducked his head and looked. ♠8, ♠9, ♠7, ♠5, ♦9. A flashy hand, nothing like his own luck scraping the bottom. Lost for words, he blinked, dumbstruck.

"...You haven't exchanged yet, have you, Senpai?"

"Mm. This."

Yuuya boldly exchanged only the nine of diamonds. There was no other choice.

No way.

Watching the back of the card the dealer slid over, Tae-il smiled wryly.

"Come on. No way that actually..."

He wasn't even hoping for both at once. A six, or a spade. Either one would do.

But.

Yuuya took one look and checked.

"Then I'll open."

"Koff—!"

One glance at her hand and the dealer broke into a hollow cough. A straight flush. The goddess of victory had smiled upon Yuuya.

A moment later.

"Shin-chan! Sakuya! Ayane got a whole twenty points at darts— huh?"

She had filled twenty points at darts and come back to find something wrong.

Iris, cheeks oddly flushed, had latched onto Yuuya.

"Senpai! You wouldn't happen to be interested in a mahjong parlor, would you!?"

"M-mahjong...?"

Rena could not let it go.

"Hey, Sakuya. Three flushes in a row, on nothing but luck. Does that even make sense...?"

"It happened, didn't it? So Yuuya-senpai just won them all."

Sunk in shock, the two of them were staring grimly at the cards on the table and arguing it out. And to crown the scene, the dealer, face planted on the floor in a posture of absolute surrender.

Ayane, who had gone off to throw darts having seen nothing but Sakuya getting cleaned out, tilted her head.

"Shin-chan, did something happen while Ayane was gone...?"

"...Nothing happened."

??

Ha. Having witnessed Yuuya's overwhelming luck, Tae-il let a hollow smile slip. If a lottery ticket or a gacha pull ever comes up, I should have Senpai do it for me...

Shin Tae-il was, quietly, a materialist.