Chapter 279: Chapter 278.

Chapter 278. The Planetarium, Operation Hook Up: The Post Show. (1/4)

With the question period over, the audience rose to their feet and crowded around the exit.

On the way out while holding Alicia’s hand, I noticed Angela hadn’t gotten up to leave yet. Was she waiting until it was less crowded? She probably wanted to avoid bumping into people. An accident could potentially happen in a crowd where her identity is revealed after all.

Then, I suppose what happened next would be up to Izora’s luck.

“Hey,” Alicia whispered to me quietly.

“What is it?”

“The person who asked the last question just now… I don’t know what it is, but I feel like there’s something strange about her.”

I raised one eyebrow curiously. I found it surprising that she’d catch onto something.

“What makes you think that?”

“Mmm… intuition? A hunch, maybe? Do you think they’re a criminal in disguise or something? Maybe my instincts as a future detective have awakened.” Alicia tilted her head to one side while repeatedly pinching her thumb and index finger together over her upper lip.

I was ready to burst out into laughter. I wrapped my arms around Alicia and hugged her tight. She was too cute.

“W-What is it?” She stuttered out.

“Oh, I just thought about how much I love you and I had a sudden urge to hug you.”

“I’m being serious though… her coat, why would she have it on? It got pretty hot in there when the heat was blasting from the vents, right? For her to be the only one in the audience to have not taken her coat off makes me think she’s trying to hide something.”

“Haha… that’s actually a pretty sound deduction. But what if she’s just worried about it being stolen? It might be a really expensive coat.”

“But… she said she was a university student. Do university students really have such expensive coats to worry about? Plus, it wasn’t an expensive brand. I’ve seen that coat before when shopping and it’s a pretty cheap one.”

Ah… right. Angela wouldn’t want to stand out, so she probably wore something pretty low-key and inexpensive. I’d automatically assumed she always wore expensive brand-name clothing everywhere since I figured she’d think it was unbecoming of a celebrity like her to wear cheap stuff.

“Well, you got me. So? What do you want to do, Alicia? Would you like to go up and outright ask her if she’s a criminal in disguise?”

“Huh? I can just go ask?”

“Sure, why not? It sounds like it’d be a pretty funny conversation to have with someone, don’t you think?”

“Haha, I guess it would be.”

While I had my arms wrapped around Alicia and chatted with her in the midst of the packed crowd on the way out, I secretly slipped my hand into her pocket and retrieved her phone without her noticing. I unlocked it with her passcode, ‘1128.’ She never tried to hide her passcode from me. She made it pretty obvious she wanted me to know it. It was her birthday after all. 

With her phone unlocked, I stealthily made a call to my phone with her volume low. I stuck my hand in my hoodie pocket and pressed the volume up button on my phone to answer it. After I confirmed the call connected, I minimized the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket before she ever realized a thing.

When we exited into the main hall, we stuck to the wall and waited for the disguised Angela outside.

Izora, who noticed us together, curiously approached us as Zale followed closely behind her. She asked, “what are you idling about here for?”

“Oh, nothing much really,” I gave a bland response.

“Ria, what are you still bothering with this guy for?” Displeased that Izora had come to find me, Zane asked her as he wrapped his arm around behind her waist. By how he addressed her, it seemed she’d given him a fake name. It still consisted of three letters from her real name though.

Izora maintained a disinterested expression despite Zane’s aggressive advances as she responded, “Are you an idiot? Why would I not bother with my boyfriend?”

“You’re calling him your boyfriend despite what we did? Don’t you think you’re being too cruel to your boyfriend by trying to keep it a secret? He saw everything you know.”

“What? You think because we did this once it means something? Are you the type of guy who gets attached to a girl after you do it once?”

“You can try to hide it, but your body suggests otherwise. You got pretty wet, didn’t you? If you weren’t into it, why would you give in so easily?” Zale didn’t let what she said bother him.

“I just felt you were a bit pitiful so I decided to satisfy your ego a bit.”

“You can try to lie all you want, but your boyfriend can’t compare to me.” That was some impressive self-confidence. This guy's ego was inflated to the extreme. Well, it was only natural. He had countless girls flocking to him.

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I decided to open my mouth and deliver a fatal blow, “Oh? Ya think I can’t compare to ya?”

“Of course not.”

“Then, why don’t we let Ria decide. Ria, who did it feel better with? Me, or him.”

“Oh, that’s a no-brainer. It’s obviously you. His technique was just sloppy and unrefined. It feels way better when I’m making out with you and you’re the one fingering me. His skill just can’t compare, he’s completely inferior.”

As soon as Izora made that comment, the complacent grin on Zale’s face disappeared. To be told he was inferior, it was probably a first for him, Mr. Perfect.

Right when the atmosphere soured, a woman exited from the planetarium to our side. With this woman around, I didn’t dare open my mouth again to say anything.

Alicia who’d found herself in a rather awkward position saw the woman who’d exited as her savior. She grabbed onto the woman’s arm and asked awkwardly, “Uhm, excuse me.”

When Angela had her arm grabbed out of the blue, her body jolted a bit.

“What is it?” She asked stiffly, worried her cover had been blown.

“Uhm, well… this might sound a bit weird of me to ask… but are you secretly a criminal in disguise masquerading around as a university student?”

When such a random question was asked of a complete stranger, the other members of our little group froze up. Internally, I found it hilarious. I mean, a celebrity like Angela, rather than being recognized, was asked if she was a criminal in disguise.

“A criminal! No way! No way!”

Angela frantically waved her hands back and forth.

“Really?” Alicia tilted her head to one side suspiciously.

“Yes, really. Why would you even think I was a criminal in disguise?”

“Well, I found it strange that you still had your coat on by the time the show was over. I only noticed it when you asked your question. It had gotten pretty hot inside by the end. I thought maybe you were hiding something.”

“What? Why would you even care!” Angela was flustered and visibly exasperated that she’d been called out for such a random reason.

“Your flustered reaction leads me to believe I’m correct. You see, I want to become an investigator when I grow up. My detective instincts flared up when I saw you and I thought for sure I’d uncovered a criminal in disguise. The culprit is you!” Alicia had a strangely content look on her face as she boasted about her deduction.

My shoulders trembled when I witnessed Alicia’s little act. 

Hahahaha! What culprit? What crime did she commit, great grandmaster detective Alicia? Please enlighten me.

“Culprit? Of what? I didn’t even do anything~” Angela, who’d gotten caught up in Alicia’s pace, whined.

Alicia’s definitely been too influenced by my exchanges with Rosa over the last few months. 

“Alicia, what’s gotten into you? This is completely uncharacteristic of you. Can't you see you’re causing trouble for this lady?” Zale dashingly stepped in and positioned himself between the two.

“It was only a little joke… it’s not like I’m being that serious. I was just a bit curious why she was wearing her coat the entire time when nobody else in the audience had theirs on.”

“Hmm… Alicia, isn’t she also wearing a wig? Could she really be a criminal in disguise after all?” Izora, who'd turned her attention to Angela, had been carefully scrutinizing her appearance in silence the entire time. It seemed Izora had also fallen into a detective mindset because she thought it looked fun.

“I’m not a criminal! I swear!”

“I’m very sorry for their baseless accusations .” Zale grabbed Alicia’s wrist and Angela’s hand then pulled them apart while he apologized with a sincere look on his face.

“It’s not baseless,” Alicia grumbled.

“Yeah, why would she keep both her jacket on and be wearing a wig? It doesn’t add up, she’s hiding her identity for sure.”

“What makes you say it’s a wig? There’s no reason to think that.” Zane was right, her hair was black, a pretty standard color that would hardly make anyone think it was a wig. It was extremely common and not the slightest bit unusual. 

Personally, I couldn’t tell the difference either. However, I knew Izora was experienced in such matters as a member of the theatre club and with the way she disguised herself at school all the time. It wasn’t too far-fetched to think she’d see through a wig.

She’d also proven she had a keen eye for these things when she saw through Rosa’s use of a wig as part of her disguise at the school dance.

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