Hyouka - Volume 03 - The Kudryavka Sequence - Welcome to KANYA FESTA! (1)

the mood seemed strange. Satoshi was unusually frowning for once. In
contrast, Chitanda looked pleased. Ibara just looked downright depressed. As
she probably doesn't wish for anyone to speak to her, I decided to ignore her
for now.
"We've been outfoxed, Houtarou."
As Satoshi spoke, he suddenly stared at my face and asked puzzledly, "What
happened to your eye?"
Is it still red?
"Oh, my eye got hit by a heart."
"Huh?"
"Like I said, my eye got hit by a heart."
Satoshi looked dumbfounded, but quickly regained his composure.
"Anyway, we were completely outfoxed. A candle was taken from the Magic
Club."
"Isn't that good news?"
I said truthfully, "It wouldn't be good if 'Juumonji' was caught before he
reached the Classics Club, would it?"
"Yeah, I guess."
Satoshi nodded grudgingly. Hearing his story, it seemed he had hoped to
catch "Juumoji" red handed. Firstly, none of the items from [A] to [KA] had
been stolen during events. Secondly, "Juumoji" wouldn't be so stupid as to
pick an inconvenient time like during a performance to carry out his thefts.
He would simply do so at a time of his convenience, regardless of whether an
event was ongoing or not.
"You could've told me that earlier..."