( closed ) this is how confessions work, right?

[unluckily]

[ Today, Naegi Makoto made the decision to call Kirigiri out for something important. At least, it was important to him, anyway. He was nervous about going through with it, especially since this would probably be easy for someone who was known for her talent as a detective, but he also thought that maybe she'd appreciate his hard work.

So when he invites her over, he has a rather large rectangular table that has boxes of many different shapes and sizes, Naegi standing behind the table, gulping a little nervously before he warns her, carefully: ]

Ah... don't touch the boxes, Kirigiri-san. [ It's like a warning, even if it doesn't work out with the slight wavering of his voice. But he's trying! ] I know you're a really good detective, and I'm probably not that good at making puzzles like this myself, but--

I wanted to try something. I guess you can call it a deduction game? Um, anyway, I brought in twenty boxes. They're all different sizes and colors. One of the boxes has something that the other twenty don't. If you want to play, there's just a few rules you have to follow. The first is that you can't touch the box unless you've chosen it. The second is that while you can ask me any question and I'll answer truthfully, you're not allowed to ask me a question like "is this the box the item is in?" or anything that indicates which box hid the item. And the third is that you can ask up to thirty questions... although if you've figured out the answer, you can pick up the box and open it to see if you're right. Only one box has a good item while the other nineteen are duds.

[ That isn't to say that they're empty, however. ]

If you don't want to do it, Kirigiri-san, it's okay. We can do something else, instead. [ AT LEAST HE TRIED???? ]

Comments

[useyournoodle]

[ When Naegi had invited her over, Kirigiri hadn't expected to be greeted by a sight like this: a mishmash of boxes laid out on a table, so discordant that it had to be intentional. That in itself could have been a mystery to solve, if it weren't for his quick explanation.

Once she gets the idea, though, she can't help but smile in amusement. It's so like Naegi to put in this sort of effort for his friends. She can only assume he'd made the puzzle for her, knowing her penchant for reasoning through cases, the same way he'd tailor an activity for their other classmates to their interests. She doesn't expect it to be an amazing challenge, but it doesn't need to be. ]

No, this is fine. I'd hate to let all this effort go to waste.

[ ...Which might be as close as he'll get to a thank-you, depending on how all of this ends. But it's at least an acknowledgement that she recognizes that he'd worked on this, and appreciates it at least somewhat.

As for the questions... she figures there are a couple of different ways to narrow things down, but it depends on whether or not he'd consider them fair game. So she'll start with something basic, more to frame her mindset than anything else. ]

What is the item I'm looking for?

[ That should be a valid question, right? Though if he means it as a surprise (a bit of a risk considering her feelings on surprises), he might try to wriggle out of answering it regardless. ]