Part 4: Episode 4: The Christmas Thieves Strike Again!

The morning air this time of year is dangerous indeed. It makes my nose hurt.
The birds are all in full winter plumage… I wonder if it’s like wearing a down comforter everywhere. I wish I had winter plumage.
Sadly my skin is as bare and tender as my heart, so I might as well hurry up and get to school.
The music stops.



As I reached the school, I noticed that something was amiss.
There’s an awful lot of activity on the grounds today. A crowd of birds is milling around the side of the building.
At the front of the mass was Mr. Nanaki, desperately trying to keep everybirdie in line.

Stay calm, everyone. It may be dangerous, so don’t get too close. Let’s make sure nobirdie gets hurt, all right?
Mr. Nanaki! What’s happened? It must be bad, if you’re up and about and wide awake at this time of day!
Oh, good morning, Lourde.

The thieves…?

Could he mean…

That’s right, the Christmas Thieves… Apparently they broke in last night.
It seems they took the tree from the student council room.

Nice work, Sakuya! Nice flag retrieval!

But Sakuya looked so self-satisfied when he was talking about his perfect security! What happened?
Mmmm… Well, look up.

Up? As in, up at the council room?
As I turned my head to look up, I made a small gasp.


The council room’s window… or rather, its wall, is blasted open.


Wow! They’re not just thieves now! I bet they had to break at least five more laws to pull that off!


Huh? The tree was placed near the window, right?
If they broke in like this……
……

Ah!

I let my gaze drop as I was lost in thought, and I see something white on the ground.
It’s extremely hard to tell with it mixed in with the broken glass and bits of plaster, but it looks like some sort of fur.
It’s… not a feather. It looks like something that came off of a stuffed animal, or maybe some sort of mammal.
But I’m the only mammal in the school… This could be a valuable clue!
Standing here won’t help me find anything out, though.
I need to get Sakuya to tell me exactly what happened. I might as well check a few other things along the way.

Since I knew I would end up at the council room at some point regardless, I decided to take a slight detour to the library. I thought there was someone there who might know what happened.
The music stops.



You’re looking pale.
!

I turned to see a familiar face.

Oh good, you’re here!



I always come to see you around lunch and after school… I wasn’t sure you’d be here this early!
I’m always here. In the morning, and the evening. And every time between. Is there a problem?
Of course not! I’m here to see you, after all.
Even though you’re clearly uncomfortable in here? You’ve been shivering since you came in.
Aah… It really is cold in here. They don’t turn the heating on until later, after all. I think my ears are frozen.
Don’t you want to do whatever you came here for quickly and go somewhere warm, then?
U-um! Yes! Some thieves broke into the building last night. I was wondering if you saw them?
Thieves…?
Yup! They came sometime between evening yesterday and morning today… I think? Anyway, they broke into the student council room.

Okay…
…Sorry. I guess I can’t help.
No, don’t worry about it! Sorry for bothering you this early, Nageki.
…Oh! Here! You can have this!
……?
It’s a disposable pocket warmer. I was going to use it today, but I forgot all about it…
Even with your feathers, you shouldn’t let yourself get too cold! Use it if you feel chilly.

Bye!

With no other business in the library, I headed towards the council room.
The music stops.


…Wait…
Nageki doesn’t seem anywhere near as fluffy as the others, even now. Am I imagining things? Or maybe he’s just the slender type.
Either way, I hope he can stay warm in that frigid library!


It didn’t take long to reach the crime scene.

As if a robbery weren’t enough, there was even a bombing… Out of those two, the latter is almost certainly the more worrying.

Goon!
Oh, Ryouta! Good morning!
As you can see, Sakuya has magnificently recovered the flag he raised the other day. As expected of an aristocrat!

Now, then! On to the crime scene!



Sakuya’s flawless security has been completely destroyed.
As if beckoned by my critique, Sakuya stormed into the room.


What is this lunacy!? Do you mean to tell me that bombing school buildings in common practice in this barbaric land!?
Ummm… No, I don’t think it is.
I’ve never seen anything like this before.

Wasn’t your security perfect, Sakuya? I thought you said it was on a completely new level compared to our primitive concepts.

I know I shouldn’t kick a bird while he's down, but his attitude yesterday really calls for some sass now.

Arrrgh… It was perfect! Around the door, at least!
What kind of rascal blows their way in through the wall!? If they’re going to break in, why not act with some semblance of decency and come in through the door!?

Blowing up the window isn’t exactly a common way of forcing an entry, but isn’t it a little bit of a problem if there’s only security on the front door?

Did you see the criminals at all, Sakuya?

Look! Look at that.

He gestures at the corner by the window.
There’s a pile of blackened stuff on the floor… What is that?


…W-what is that…
The Christmas tree? Or what’s left of it…

Looks like it got blown up along with the window!
I was wondering if something had happened to the tree. It was right next to the window and wall that got blown up, after all.

Nothing left but ashes…
They’ve left a criminal ultimatum next to it.
An ultimatum!? They haven’t done that before, have they? Let’s take a look.
We all gathered around in order to read the note left at the scene.
The music stops.


Umm…
“We oopsed. We’re very sad the tree went boom. Sowwy. It’s a little lonely but we’re taking mister sparkly star. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.”
That’s… the ultimatum…?
It reads more like a kid’s note apologizing for breaking Auntie Mildred’s antique vase…



Tree topper??
The star that sits at the very top of the tree.
Oooh! So that’s what it’s called!

That would be vigilantism, Sakuya! Japan is a constitutional nation! You can’t do that!

But it’s not as if I don’t see where he’s coming from.
If I spent that much time and effort decorating something just to have someone blow up the room it’s standing in, I’d be pretty angry too.
Mr. Urushihara’s tree stolen, Sakuya’s tree reduced to cinders and the topper stolen… We have to make sure these tragedies don’t repeat!

…But we can’t really find the culprits just from this apology, or Christmas card, or ultimatum, or… whatever it is.
Let’s ask Mr. One if he saw anything. He’s on night shift, so he should have been here.
Oooh, good plan!
Lead us there, Lourde.

Stop treating me like your underling, you satin-pantsed prairie chicken!


See you in a little while, Ryouta!

And so Sakuya and I left to see if Mr. One had any information on last night’s activities.
The music stops.








It’s awfully cold in here… I guess with a hole that large in the wall I might as well be outside.

I know I signed up to watch the room, but I was starting to regret it now.
However, I was startled out of my chill when I heard the door to the council room open. A familiar face entered.

Doctor Iwamine…? I hadn’t expected to see you here.



Wh-what corpse!? Where’d you hear there was a corpse!?
Oh. No corpse? And here I had my hopes up…
Please don’t say that with such a genuinely dejected look on your face.
Well, no matter. It still is quite the fascinating crime scene. I suppose I shall look around.

Hohoho…
Alone with the doctor is a half-collapsed room… I hope I make it out of here alive.