- 2.2 - The Lock Picked Locker (The Interrogation)

HIBARA

I SECRETLY MADE my way to the gymnasium. I am going to bump into Toto, Levy, and Irish, and give them an unexpected grilling. Oh, this is exciting!

“Mrs. Torres, excuse me. May I go to the restroom?” Levy raised his hand. Hmm, I think I will be interrogating him first.

I entered the male restroom and had to put up with the stench. Why do all the male restrooms I know reek of such smell? Maybe I’m just not used to it because I’m a female.

From the cubicle, I saw Levy arrived and stood in front of the urinal. Shocks! I stepped back so I wouldn’t move the door. He might be suspicious if the door suddenly changed its position without anyone else entering the area. When I heard footsteps, I returned to my position and found Levy leaving the restroom!

“Hold your position, Levy,” I announced my presence as I pushed the cubicle open.

“AHH! STALKER!” I almost laughed when his voice cracked as he shouted.

That is Levy Ray Ticcus. The actor-looking guy of our section even if his voice always cracks, according to my classmates. They have briefly informed me of his vocals that even if he’s normally speaking, it cracks unintentionally.

"Hey! I’m not a stalker, okay?" I defended, placing my hands on my waist.

“Then what are you doing here? This is the male restroom!” He said with two heard voice cracks. It was getting hard to maintain my serious face.

I cleared my throat. “Did you steal Esmilzo’s rubber shoes?” I threw the question at him.

His face looked shocked. “Me? N-No! Okay, uhh, I better g-go back to class… Mrs. Torres m-might wonder why I took long in the restroom,” he answered fast and with stutters. Suspicious. I confirmed one thing though. My classmates were right about his voice cracks!

I walked towards the exit when— THUD!

“Oww..,” my glasses fell to I don’t know where and my bottom feels bad. Hold on, who is this guy? I looked up to find the answer.

Meet Toto Lei Chavez. He’s slightly thin for his age, has naturally tanned skin, and wearing thick black eyeglasses which are his distinctive feature among our seven boys. His hair looked like it was licked by a dinosaur but he still looks decent so I think that’s okay.

"Sorry, Miss! Wait… Hibara? W-Why are you coming from the male restroom?" Toto asked, clearly confused. Nevertheless, he helped me get up and he also fetched me my glasses.

“Ah, I was searching for clues that might lead me to the thief who stole Esmilzo’s expensive rubber shoes,” I directly stated while wiping my lenses. Sometimes, if the suspect is in a state of shock, there is a possibility that they may accidentally spill the beans.

“You mean to say, someone was able to pick Ish’s padlock?” Toto asked again but was now surprised. Wait…

"Ish? No way in hell would Ish be Esmilzo’s nickname. That sounds silly," I commented.

"Ahh, hahaha! The boys just call him Ish for fun. It’s actually unexciting to tease Esmilzo because he doesn’t get affected. We got that from the thought that his name would be funny if it is Ishmilzo,” he chuckled.

“So… Do you have any idea on who might be the thief?” I asked. We should go back to the main topic, of course.

“In this situation, I’m actually suspecting Irish. There were times that I heard her talking about some shoes that she likes but someone already bought them first. I am not sure, but maybe she’s pertaining to Ish’s rubber shoes. I also noticed that he’s wearing a different one today,” Toto paused for a bit. He looked at the restroom then at me. He seemed to have connected the dots. If he did, then I might find him as a member of my student network.

“Wait, did Ish tell you that I told him last Thursday that I like his new shoes? Am I a suspect? Have you been waiting for me in the male restroom? I’m innocent, I can prove it!” He babbled then took a deep breath. He touched his chin and his eyes looked on the ground. He tapped his shoes and his head bounced along with the beat. Is that his thinking position?

After a few seconds of me watching him doing his thing, he finally faced me. “If the shoes were missing exactly when we entered the locker room, then it was stolen before our P.E. time which happened to be our first subject. I was in our clubroom from ten o'clock to eleven. My club mates in Science Nerds can prove my alibi,” he stated. Now, it’s getting really interesting.

I rebutted, “Eleven-fifteen is the start of our classes. If you say you stayed in your clubroom until eleven, fifteen minutes is enough to steal a pair of shoes depending on your lock picking skills.”

“Ella’s attendance folder will show you that I entered our classroom from around eleven-o-five to eleven-ten. Surely, you know that eight minutes is somehow the approximate time taken when you walk from the SHB up to climbing flights of stairs. Running the distance would make your time taken five minutes. Unless I can fly or do roof parkour, I cannot be much faster than five minutes. I’m talking about the physics of distance, displacement, and time right now, in case you don’t know.”

I smiled, “I must say I’m impressed, Toto. There are not that many people who can impress me, but hey, Irene Adler said: brainy is the new sexy. I just need to confirm your alibi for assurance, but with your statements, I’m quite convinced that you’re innocent. Esmilzo was right about you. He said you must be crossed out of the list.

“Just… one additional question: did you see anything out of the ordinary before you went into our building?”

He nodded and answered, “There were people in front of Room 103. I didn’t know why at first because I was rushing upstairs, afraid I might get a late record and I can’t afford to have such; I’m a scholar. I only knew about the terrible news when I heard it from our classmates.”

 I then left him to do whatever he had to do. I was satisfied and need not check his alibi anymore. Somehow, I didn’t expect that Toto will be using his knowledge of Science on me. He really is the vice president of Science Nerds (they apparently dislike club), tested and proven. Now, the remaining suspects are Irish and Levy, but more on our shortest classmate. I am also thinking about the possibility that Esmilzo’s shoes were stolen by someone outside of our section. They would be a little difficult to find since I haven’t built my network yet. I do not know that many people around this new environment.

I walked in the direction of the Sports Office which is upstairs beside the Electronics Booth. Two steps on the stairs, I stopped when I heard a recognizable bothersome voice. In some way, I expected that he will be here. The news has wings, or in this situation, the case has. Esmilzo will not report to them so probably someone overheard our conversation in the locker room and told them or they’re spying on me. My money’s on the last one because that’ll be quite interesting.

“Looks like 10-I’s fake detective is solving a complicated case.” Standing by the front gate of the gymnasium is a male student with his arms crossed and slightly disheveled hair. His dark brown eyes seemed to be glaring at me or he’s trying to deduce something from me. His uniform is evidently unkempt properly. He even had the guts to call me a fake detective! Of course, such description fits the president of The Forensic Club, Jacob.

"What are you doing here, detective wannabe?" I asked, clearly showing my annoyance. Surely, he’s going to sabotage my plans for solving this, or he will steal the Lock Picked Locker case from my hands.

“I was hoping that you’ll come to our clubroom and ask for my help,” he said in a mocking tone as he walked towards the staircase. He stopped in front of me and thanks to the two steps I have taken; it gave me some sort of distance from this annoying detective wannabe.

"I will never ask for your help, ever. But maybe it might happen… if you accept me as a new member of your club," I smirked. He annoys me so I’ll annoy him as well.

Instead of getting annoyed, he chuckled lightly and spoke, "Do I have any reasons to accept you except for being ‘the 14-year-old student blah blah blah’?”

“Oh, good to know you’re acknowledging the fact that I beat you earlier,” I replied mockingly and flipped my hair. “As additional info, my mind contains lots of codes and ciphers.”

"No, I don’t care about those." He’s obviously just wasting my time!

“Between the two of us, I am the only real detective; a graduate of University for Future Detectives in the States at the age of thirteen and a Valedictorian,” I flashed a victorious smile as I spoke. He blinked his eyes multiple times. Ah, it must have shocked him.

He awkwardly cleared his throat before speaking, "Being a Valedictorian of the renowned ‘school of detectives’ means you have your ID. Now, where is it? Where’s your proof?"

There goes my cue to show him my ace card. Why am I even doing this? The number one reason would be kicking him out of his presidential throne once I managed to infiltrate his club. I presented him my ID, intentionally covering my last name so he would only see "Hibara White" in the name blank. It is vital that they wouldn’t know my family name. My ID showed my 1x1 picture wearing a black suit and tie with a UFD logo pin on the collar of my white polo. It was also stated in my ID that I have the rank of "Senior Investigator" which will somehow be equivalent to a Corps Commander in CAT’s terminology. My thoughts traveled back to the time when I met the aspiring detectives who were below my rank. They were all older than me, definitely, because I'm the youngest in our batch.

"Alright, fine,” he said with eyes closed. This is going according to my plans!

“APPLICATION REJECTED,” the detective wannabe glared at me. “Now, give me the details of this Lock Picked Locker case so I can solve it," he ordered and I almost laughed.

"Oh, you want the case?” I asked in a sarcastic tone. “No, sorry. I refuse to accept orders from someone who’s obviously below me. I also refuse to give information to spies. The cases on my plate are as confidential as it gets,” I said, staring straight into his eyes.