A/N:

Thank you so much for all the kind words! I'm really flattered even though it was just the prologue. It is probably too soon to tell, but I hope this will stay true to the canon and more importantly be as enjoyable to read as it is for me to write :)

Chapter 1 (First Arc)

When Houtarou finally reached his destination and slid the door open, Mayaka was already there.

'Oreki,' she said simply by way of greeting.

The room was tidy as usual, small globes and huge atlases packed neatly away when the room functioned as the school's Geography Prep Room during the day, western and Japanese literature standing on the shelves more as decoration than actual reading material.

The same couldn't be said for the room's sole occupant at the moment, with her bag lying open beside her, a few books strewn haphazardly on the desks as she busied herself with work. But what caught Houtarou's attention was Mayaka herself, who had a band-aid taped on her nose and several more applied across her right arm, and the few red scratches that remained unconcealed. It looked like she was having a rough day.

Mayaka probably caught on to his stare, because she narrowed her eyes and lowered her tone in mild annoyance. 'Don't look.'

'Are you all right?' Houtarou asked as he made his way to his usual seat. 'What happened to you? Did you happen to get yourself into a gang fight?'

'Very funny, Oreki,' Mayaka said, and then grunted readily, as if she had been waiting for a chance to vent off her bottled frustration. 'This has got to be the worst day of my life. My alarm clock broke and I was late to school, my breakfast fell on the floor, I left all my homework at home, and then this kid crashed into me on his bike. He ran away without even apologizing, the nerve of him – ' she stopped short and frowned at Houtarou. 'Why am I even talking to you about this? You don't have a drop of compassion in you.'

'Ouch,' Houtarou said, but didn't sound offended at all. 'I can be compassionate. I do feel bad.'

'You could at least sound like you mean it, you know?' Mayaka sighed and gestured at everything in front of her. 'Now I have to redo everything I've already finished. Stupid, little…!'

It looked like Houtarou had to be extra careful today not to provoke Mayaka, especially since she was angry. And contrary to what she was saying, Houtarou did feel a bit of concern for his friend, but seeing that she was still her energetic self, he probably had nothing to worry about.

He sat idly for a few minutes, head rested lazily on his hand, taking a moment to savor the quietness of the clubroom and not wanting to disturb Mayaka's frantic race for the deadline. Outside the windows, blowing whistles and the distant yelling of track coaches could be heard as the more athletic students began to train for the day.

For a moment, he considered doing his own homework as they waited for Chitanda to show up, but as soon as he put pen to paper he realized he somehow couldn't concentrate. So he just sat, twirling his pencil as his mind drifted back to mere moments ago. The mysterious note and sudden confession had shifted things out of equilibrium for Houtarou, and questions were starting to pop up uninvited into his mind, nibbling away at his energy reserve. He would much rather leave all these mysteries alone; if only it worked the other way around. He also couldn't very well read the letter with Mayaka sitting right in front of him. But at the very least, he decided he could try to remember what he knew about the girl, and what little he knew indeed.

She was the same age as him, and was studying the Arts subjects. She was shy around people and never talked much. They had first met about a month ago, when Houtarou learned that she was a member of the Cosmic Appreciation Club – it seemed like strange club names were par for the course with the school. It didn't seem to fit the girl either, but Houtarou wasn't one to question other people's tastes. After that, they really didn't have much chance to speak, aside from the occasional greeting when they happened to bump into each other in school.

Other than that, nothing really special came up.

'Ibara,' Houtarou said absentmindedly as he tapped his pencil to the table. 'You're in the same class as Mizuki-san, right?'

'Mizuki? Are you talking about Eriko-chan?' Mayaka said without looking up, and flipped over a page she had just finished writing. 'Mm-hmm. Why?'

'What is she like?'

'What do you mean?'

Houtarou tried to pinpoint exactly what he was trying to ask. But he really just needed information. 'Her person. What are her hobbies, for example?'

The distinct lack of the sound of pen scratching paper and a long pause from Mayaka caused Houtarou to look up, and he immediately regretted asking the question. Mayaka was looking at him with eyes so wide with shock they looked ready to pop out, but there was a definite, devious glint in them that suggested maybe some of the surprise was feigned.

'Oreki… are you asking me about a girl?'

Houtarou looked away, his lips curled up a bit defensively. 'Is it that surprising?'

'Maybe not as much as the sky falling, but yes.' Mayaka was certainly not holding back on her tease. 'I didn't know you were even interested in girls, Oreki. I think you're actually evolving.'

'So noisy…' Houtarou retorted and tried to phrase the whole thing differently. 'And it's not even like that. It's just something I need to know.'

It obviously didn't have Houtarou's intended meaning as Mayaka burst into a fit of laughter. 'Oreki, you should seriously practice talking with other people more, or everyone is going to misunderstand everything you say- ow!'

Mayaka wrinkled her nose where she accidentally pulled on her injury, then said in a less playful tone, 'Well, I guess since you asked, let's see… she's not really much for talking, but she has her own group of friends. She listens to teachers, is never late to class, so she's kind of a model student. And oh, she goes to the library a lot.'

Houtarou knew Mayaka had to know that much, given her continuous status as the school librarian.

'I guess she's just as normal as normal can get,' Mayaka added.

A normal girl, and certainly not one who would pull an elaborate locker trick. The thought had never crossed Houtarou's mind in the first place, definitely not by the way she had been acting, but it never hurt to consider every possibility. But whoever it was, it was someone who knew about Mizuki's actions, and not less foretold it – although Houtarou would never believe that anyone could actually tell the future. So maybe it was someone who Mizuki was acquainted with?

In any case, there was far too little information to reach a definite conclusion. And Houtarou had to guess the perpetrator would hardly stop here. It looked like this mystery would not leave him alone after all, and he just hoped maybe he could resolve this before a certain someone knew about it and made it bigger than it was.

All this thinking seemed to have roused Mayaka's suspicions, as she arched an eyebrow at Houtarou. 'Seriously, why do you ask anyway? It's never a good thing when you start thinking like this. It wouldn't have something to do with Detective Oreki, would it?'

Ever astute, this Ibara. Houtarou was about to brush it off lightly with an excuse, when a gentle knock on the door became his saving grace. He could immediately tell from that polite gesture that Eru Chitanda had arrived.

'Chi-chan!' Mayaka beamed.

As courteous as ever, Eru bowed once upon entering. 'Good evening, Oreki-san, Mayaka-san.' Then she looked around the room. 'Fukube-san isn't here yet?'

Houtarou opened his mouth, but Mayaka beat him to it. 'Oh, Fuku-chan has something to do at the Student Council, so he won't be able to come today.'

It made sense that Mayaka had to know about Satoshi's schedule, now that they were officially a pair. Mayaka had acknowledged her thanks to Houtarou, who had become a Cupid of sorts during earlier Valentine's Day, even though it had not been his initial intention. To Houtarou's dismay, however, her gratitude wasn't enough to lessen any of her usual tease.

'Ah, I see,' Eru nodded as she sat beside Houtarou. 'That's too bad. I was hoping everyone could gather here today.'

'Does it have something to do with our meeting?' Houtarou asked. 'What are we supposed to discuss anyway?'

'Well,' Eru said. 'I was thinking we should start discussing how to organize our club booth.'

'Our what?' Houtarou was confused.

'It's almost time for Club Promotion Day,' Eru explained with a smile. 'We need a strategy! Something that will increase our popularity and help us attract new members!'

Now that memories were stirred, Houtarou seemed to vaguely remember receiving some notice of the sort. Sometime in late September there would be a day reserved for students to promote their clubs. Everyone seemed excited at the prospect of gaining some new blood, and a lot of his classmates were pouring their souls into it, cooking up the most creative ways to attract the unsuspecting freshmen. Maybe it was one of the reasons for all the eccentric naming that was gaining popularity.

There was a certain thread of logic to it. After all, which sounded more appealing? The Cosmic Appreciation Club, or the Astronomy Club? Houtarou would have to be the only one old-schooled enough to opt for the latter.

In all honesty, Houtarou was perfectly content with the way things were now. The four of them had got along just fine in the past year, and he could look forward to that again this year. But he refrained from voicing it, because he knew there was no way Eru would let that pass.

'And when is it again exactly?' Houtarou asked.

Mayaka sighed a bit too dramatically. 'You're hopeless, Oreki. It's scheduled for next Thursday. All afternoon classes have been cancelled in favor of the event. Seriously, you're going to be left in the dust if you keep ignoring things that happen around you.' Houtarou didn't like the smirk she was wearing as she said that.

'Oh yeah, Mayaka-san, has the Manga Club decided what to do at the event?' Eru asked.

'Oh.' Mayaka looked slightly caught off guard by the question. She thought about it for a moment. 'Well, I hear it's pretty much the same as last year. Some of us are going to do how-to-draws on the spot, and I think we're also handing out some of our original works for free.'

'You think?' Houtarou asked. As an actual member of the club, Houtarou thought Mayaka had to be more certain than that.

'Well, they're supposed to finalize everything today, so nothing has been set in stone yet,' Mayaka admitted.

'But doesn't that mean you should be over at the Manga Club right now?!' Eru looked slightly troubled.

Mayaka laughed and waved her hands in assurance. 'It's okay, Chi-chan. We have plenty of people there already. I already told them I would be helping out here, and I'm sure they will understand.'

Eru accepted her excuse readily, and she didn't fail to express her gratitude. But there was something about Mayaka's aversive gaze that told Houtarou there was more than met the eye. He knew that there was a time when Mayaka had not been in the best of terms with her friends at the Manga Club, but the matter had been resolved a long time ago. Had something happened again this time?

Conflicts tended to spark when opinions differed between passionate-yet-stubborn people, Houtarou decided. For a second he was really grateful how well everyone seemed to get along here at the Classics Club.

Meanwhile, Eru had produced a small box of dessert on the table, offering both of them to a treat.

'Wow, is this mochi ice cream? This is so good!' Mayaka commented as she helped herself to a bite.

'I'm glad you like it, Mayaka-san.' Eru smiled. 'Please have as much as you want. We have plenty at home.' She turned toward Houtarou. 'So what do you think, Oreki-san?'

'Huh? Oh, I think they're delicious.'

Eru shook her head. 'No, not that. How do you think we should promote our club?'

Mayaka grinned mischievously from the side with her mouth still filled with rice dessert. 'I bet he would just write "Please join our club" on a blank sign and then slept while watching over the booth.'

'You overestimate me, Ibara. I might even forget to bring that sign.' Houtarou hmphed and turned toward Eru, flinching a little at her expectant eyes. It seemed Eru had got into the habit of waiting for Houtarou to come up with the most brilliant and inspiring solutions for nearly everything they faced.

It was a very bad habit.

'Why are you asking me, Chitanda? You're the club president.'

'But I want to hear everyone's opinions!' Eru said as she inched suddenly toward Houtarou, hands held out to assert her point. Houtarou leaned away.

'Then take Ibara's suggestion. I actually think it sounds very appealing.'

'Please be more serious, Oreki-san!' Eru inched even closer, and poor Houtarou had to grab at the edge of his chair to avoid falling down.

Houtarou sighed. 'What do you think, Chitanda? If there is anything worth promoting, it should be something special to the club, right?'

'Well, we can solve a lot of mysteries!' A sparkle captured in Eru's eyes as she said that. Strange that it was the first thing she mentioned, considering it wasn't something people would normally associate with what their club name was supposed to imply. Houtarou also didn't have to remind her that he was the one who had contributed majority of the work, much against his own will and better judgment.

'We go to hot springs, we pass New Year's together. And we have a lot of fun.' It seemed like Eru wasn't letting go of that train of thought.

'Then that's the first thing we have to decide on. Are we really going to promote ourselves as the Classics Club, or something else entirely?'

Eru retracted back into her seat, finally giving Houtarou some breathing space. She put a curling finger on her lips, deep in thought. 'I guess you're right.'

'Don't listen to him, Chi-chan,' Mayaka said. 'There's absolutely nothing wrong with doing what you like.'

'But I do agree we should be clear about what new members should be expecting. If they join because of the name, then they will be disappointed if they don't get what they want.'

Chitanda was being her usual, considerate self, and her concerns were not ungrounded either.

'Why don't we let the newcomers decide then?' Mayaka conceded. 'We can write out a tentative list of things that we can do, and ask what interests them.'

'That's a great idea, Mayaka-san!' Chitanda looked content. 'Keeping the customer's best interests in mind is the most important rule after all.'

'Haha, that's not exactly what I was thinking of, but I guess you can take it that way.'

Houtarou didn't have any objections to that. Letting someone else decide for you took much less energy than having to do it yourself.

'Okay, it's decided.' Chitanda had her fists held in front of her, determined. 'Mystery-solving is still our main attraction after all.'

'Oi, oi,' Houtarou protested. How did she get to that conclusion?

After that, they talked about how to divide all the work. Chitanda decided she would be in charge of creating the club's promotion poster, and Mayaka volunteered to overlook booth decorations. Houtarou somehow got away with mere mental work, as he would be in charge of thinking up a list of activities any potential club members might be interested in. Once the big direction was decided on, it didn't take much longer for smaller details to get settled.

The rest of the day was spent pretty normally in the clubroom, there was sufficient time for Mayaka to finish everything she had left at home, and Satoshi never showed up to the clubroom after all. Then they said goodbye and went their separate ways.

All in all, Houtarou was pretty satisfied with how everything ended. His workload was light, and more importantly, Eru hadn't come harboring any mystery today. He really didn't want anything to add to the list of things he already needed to solve.

He took out the letter he had kept concealed the entire time. And it will start with this.