While sleeping, I felt like I shed a lot of tears.
Why was I crying? Was it something sad that happened? Or, because of that dream again? I don’t know why.
My cheeks were completely soaked with tears.
I tried to wipe my face but, I got a strange feeling that something was off.
My right hand couldn’t reach my face. I feel pain in my wrist. Going off of this information, I slowly became aware. Mind still fuzzy, I slowly lifted my head and looked at my right wrist. An unfamiliar bracelet was placed around it. It’s a sturdy bracelet that shines black. Even if it’s pretty, it’s decorated with a chain that made it rather difficult.
This isn’t really something I’m into.
More than anything, the chain was the problem. When I tried to move my right arm, the chain became tight and prevented me from doing so. My right arm was restricted and unable to reach my head. My eyes followed the chain, and I saw another bracelet fitted to the leg of the bed. In my hazy state of consciousness, I finally began to understand the situation I was in. I wasn’t on top of the bed, but on the floor.
Somehow my right wrist became handcuffed to the leg of the bed, so I couldn’t move from that spot. However only my right arm was restrained, so I could move the rest of my body freely. I crawled closer to the bed until my right arm could move as much as possible, then I put both hands on the floor to push myself up carefully into a sitting position. I felt dizzy.
What on earth happened?
Why did I collapse in such a place?
I tried to remember, but my memory was hidden by meaningless noise. I tried to adjust my mental frequency, searching for the most recent memories. That detestable sign was what I remembered first. The letters briefly flashed back what was written on it.
“Welcome to the Picturesque Sirius Observatory”.
Looking at that sign in the dim dusk light, I’d seen the result of someone’s prank,
where they’d crossed out the beginning of the word “picturesque” with red spray-paint, writing “despair” instead.
“Welcome to the Despairesque Sirius Observatory”.
Right, this building was called the Sirius Observatory. A privately-owned observatory specialized to astronomy, the building itself supposedly had a unique star design at a bird’s eye view. Each of the five points of the star were guest rooms, shaped like glass-paneled isosceles triangles. The center pentagon was a dome-shaped hole, where the observations of the galaxy took place at one time.
I guess I collapsed in one of the guest rooms. My memory gradually became clearer.
It’s okay, I can remember.
My name is……
Samidare Yui, age sixteen.
Detective.
At the request of a prominent person, we five detectives were called to the Sirius Observatory. A request like this is the sole reason a detective lives. Even more so if the requests imply hidden secrets; we can’t avert our gaze from the allure. However the person who made the request never appeared. There was no room for doubt this time, we were tricked. As they gathered us all here, that person was planning a crime, and that’s how I ended up in this situation.
With the situation now clear, dread began to settle in. I had no idea who was responsible for this, but this strange situation had stolen my freedom from me completely. More than anything, the fact that they toyed with me while I was unconscious gave me chills. I wondered if they did anything weird to me, but for the time being, my only solace was I had no pain or external injuries.
Finally fixing my glasses back to their proper place, I looked around the room. My backpack was sitting atop the bed.
So that must mean this is my room.
The curtains were drawn across the windows. Despite not being able to see outside, I could tell that it definitely wasn’t light out there. Whether it was due to it being nighttime, or maybe even the snow….
A telescope was set up in the room. It wasn’t something I had brought with me, but an object that had been here to begin with. However I remembered that I hadn’t been able to look at the stars in the sky because of all the snow falling.I turn to look over my shoulder. The door to the room was closed, so I couldn’t see the state of the pentagonal hall outside.
It’s too quiet……
What about the others? Why is no one making a fuss about these circumstances?
Maybe they’re restrained like me, and can’t move either.
Or maybe they’re still unconscious.
I didn’t know who was doing this or what they were planning, but I couldn’t just let them do as they pleased. I had to stand up to them. Because I’m a detective. First thing’s first, I had to do something about the handcuffs. In the state I was in I couldn’t stand up as long as I was tied to the leg of the bed. There was a keyhole around the base of the chain, but I couldn’t see a key anywhere.
I probably can’t just drag the bed along….
Hm?
The legs of the bed were four columns, one on each corner. The handcuffs were attached to one of them, but like that……
As I thought about it carefully, I realized that if I just lifted up the bed, I could slip the handcuffs out from underneath. It was a regular wooden bed that couldn’t be more than a twin size. I quickly grabbed the edge of the bed and began lifting. Even for someone like me, who didn’t have much arm strength, I was just barely able to lift it. That was all I needed. I only needed to make the gap large enough to slip the cuffs free from the leg.
I counted to three, gathered my strength, and lifted the leg of the bed a few more centimeters. I then slid the handcuffs through the gap.
I did it! I was able to regain my freedom unexpectedly easily!
I wonder if the person who chained me here thought that a girl wouldn’t be strong enough to lift the bed. If so, I thank them for their carelessness. I finally got up. I felt a little dizzy, but that was fine. After some light stretches to loosen my body, I felt much better.
No problem. I can do this.
With the handcuffs dangling from my arm, I gently opened the door and peered into the central pentagonal hall. Empty.
I carefully check my surroundings before going out into the hall. In the center of it is a wooden, round table. At one time, there appeared to be a round, iron pedestal there with a gigantic telescope, but it had been removed long ago. Now there was nothing but empty space. The hall was silent, with no one to be seen. A glance at the analog clock on the wall told me it was past twelve o'clock. Judging from how dark it had been outside, it was probably midnight, right after the date had rolled over.
Where did everyone go? I considered calling out, but abandoned the idea quickly. What the…..?
As I rounded the table, I saw two tiny legs poking out. Black loafers and black knee-high socks. At that moment, I knew who it was. One of the other detectives who had accompanied me
Kyouko Kirigiri.
She was spread out across the floor with her legs outward. She appeared like she had somehow collapsed face down. There were no signs of movement. As I traced her legs with my gaze, I went around the table and approached. Her legs were very frail in appearance. The thin curves running from her calves to her pale thighs betrayed her girlish, immature physique. The pristine fabric of her skirt was intact, fanning outwards from her waist to the floor, all while keeping clean folds in a delicate curved line.
Is she alright…….?
As I was about to move closer to her, my feet halted on their own. She was laying with her head on its right side, as if turning to face me. Her braid hung across her cheek, shielding her tiny mouth. Her eyes were closed. The hue of her skin looked icy cold, without any trace of body heat remaining. Even though it wasn’t much different from her appearance when I first met her, now it looked even more apparent.
No way……she can’t be dead, right?
No, her small back was slightly moving up and down. Is she just unconscious?
I couldn’t tell from this distance, but I hesitated to get any closer to confirm her status. Because a huge, bloody pair of scissors lay directly next to her right hand. Could they be pruning shears? They were the type that would need both hands to utilize. The solid blades seemed likely to cut though any branch, regardless how thick they’d be.
Usually they’d be used to prune trees or shrubbery, but I had to wonder about what they would have been used for to get bloodstains all over them. At first, I thought the blood might have been hers, but I couldn’t see any injuries on her. Nor could I see any traces of blood on her clothing or on the floor, either.
Then whose blood was on the shears? Judging from the fact that they were laying near her hand, was she actually the one who used them as a weapon? My fear of the possibility gave me pause to move closer.
What happened to Kyouko Kirigiri?
Whose blood could it possibly be?
I had to find out!
For the moment, I left her in place, and continued across the hall. I bee-lined for the nearest guest room. The door slightly ajar. I gently opened it further. The lights were on in the room. Due to the curtains being drawn, I still couldn’t see the situation going on outside. The blanket on the bed was bunched up in the shape of a human body.
Someone’s sleeping.
Probably one of the other detectives.
As I peeked in from the doorway, it appeared like they were sleeping very peacefully.
-Without taking a single breath.
I hesitantly walked closer to the bed and took a peek. A man was there, looking up at the ceiling with his mouth slightly open. I was pretty sure he said his name was Eigo Amino. He was a practicing detective in his mid-thirties. He didn’t seem to notice me, eyes slightly open and completely passed out.
“Um…I’m sorry for bothering you while you’re trying to sleep,” I tried calling out to him. No response. I could tell it would be useless no matter how many times I tried. Somehow, even back when I had just entered the room, the scent of despair had already wafted towards me.The man kept his eyes open, remaining completely still. Frantic, I suppressed the urge to scream, slowly reaching out my hands to grab the blanket and carefully pull it away……
At that exact moment the man’s head turned, facing towards me. I jumped back, my hair standing on end.
His head rolled to the side of the bed, coming to a halt when the tip of his nose pressed into the mattress. Normally, it’s impossible for a person to turn their neck that far without adjusting the rest of their body, but from the neck down the man didn’t seem to stir an inch. Instead, his head was obviously in a very strange position. Once I removed the blanket however, the reason was painfully obvious.
His neck had been completely severed from his body, decapitating him.
Underneath the blanket, there was blood everywhere, its bright red color practically burning my retinas. I adverted my gaze as if trying to remove the color from my vision, backing away quickly. My body started to tremble of its own volition. I suddenly felt ice cold.
Did the temperature suddenly drop? Or was it because I had discovered that horrific corpse?
It was so cold, and yet my whole body became covered in an unpleasant sweat. I ran towards the next guest room close by. Just like the previous room, the door was slightly open. I peered through the crack inside the room. Again, it seemed like another of the detectives was on the bed, under a blanket.
I didn’t want to look, I didn’t want to know anything. But I had to see, I had to know. If I was ever going to call myself a detective, I had to face reality.
No matter what tragedy or despair was waiting to be seen-
As I stepped into the room, I approached the bed. As I took note of my surroundings, there didn’t appear to be any evidence of the room having been broken into and it was spotless. Perversely, there was no trace of death that stood out on the man’s sleeping face. He seemed perfectly undisturbed, and even classically beautiful. Rather, the form sleeping on the bed was wearing light gray sunglasses. However they weren’t trying to hide the shadow of death on his face.
Shiita Enbi. He’s a detective in his prime. No, WAS a detective.
Removing the blanket, again I saw the same cut through his neck. But there was more. I noticed other certain strange facts. The head lying face-up on the pillow definitely belonged to the man called Enbi, but from the neck on downwards, the torso appeared to belong to someone else. Surely, I recalled, that Enbi had a strong, muscular build. Yet, the body lying under the blanket was a stout, heavy-set middle-aged male.
I know that body. It belonged to another of the detectives who had accompanied us, Inuzuka Kou. Wh-What does this mean?
From beginning to end this was just bizarre. In my tiny head, I had more information than I’d ever asked for swirling around. I dashed out of the room and moved to another one next to me. I already had a rough idea about what I’d find there. And, as I thought, Kou Inuzuka’s corpse was on the bed. But it was doubtful whether this should really be called Inuzuka’s corpse. Again the body seemed to belong to another person. It was different from Enbi’s body as well.
So does that mean it belongs to Amino, the first one I found…….?
I see, so either the head or body is being switched around.
I wrapped my arms around my body, trying to warm myself up as I retreated back into the hall. Everything was so messed up. I wondered why this was even happening.
Of the five people who came to the Sirius Observatory, three of them died undetected. Moreover, their heads had been severed, and for some reason the bodies had been switched around from their owners and then left like that. There wasn’t anyone else other than us at Sirius Observatory.Not to mention, before and after we arrived, a severe snowstorm surged outside, so the building was currently isolated by the snow. It was safe to assume that this wasn’t the interference of an outsider.
Eigo Amino.
Shiita Enbi.
Kou Inuzuka.
Yui Samidare.
Kyouko Kirigiri.
Of these five, three were dead and two were still alive. Clearly, I can safely affirm that I hadn’t killed them. Even though there were parts of my memory that were still hazy, it’s insane to think that I’d kill three people and yet have no sense of it after the fact.
And why would I restrain myself with handcuffs in the first place? Someone else had to have restrained me. It’s very possible that whoever did might have killed me next.
So then who was that person? Using process of elimination, I could only think of the culprit as the other survivor.
There’s no way she-
I quickly returned to where I left her. Kyouko Kirigiri was still laying on the floor of the hall. Her head was still firmly fixed to the rest of her body. Cutting through her slender neck would have been much easier than those of the men, of that I was certain. But she remained unharmed. While the very weapon that seemed perfectly oriented for the crime lay next to her hand……
The more I looked at her, the more she appeared to be nothing but a pure and innocent girl. Could I really say that she went around and chopped three men’s heads off?
That would be stupid……but……
I observed her from a distance. She was a pretty girl, but her appearance gave off the impression of an enigmatic mystery. Even from just talking with her, I noticed her cautiousness and concealment of her true thoughts. Or perhaps that may relate to the reason she had for being a detective at such a young age. As I began to speculate what that reason might be, something glittered in her left hand.
……A key? I had a sudden flash of inspired intuition. The key to the handcuffs!
If that was the case, then “the person who murdered three detectives” equaled “the person who restrained me with handcuffs”, then wouldn’t it be proof that she’s the murderer if she had the key?
At least if it really was the key to the handcuffs.
If it really was that key…. I needed to be sure. Plus I wanted to remove the handcuffs off my right arm as soon as possible anyway. I moved towards her, gently extending my hand while trying to go unnoticed. If I wanted to steal the key, I’d have to remove it from her grip first. Her fingers were closed around it as if she held a small white flower bud. Bit by bit I carefully spread her fingers slowly. I warily extracted the key and backed away from her. She hadn’t noticed me yet. I immediately inserted the key into the keyhole by my wrist. A perfect fit. Once I twisted the key, it opened, and the handcuffs came off.
At the same time as the feeling of liberation, feelings of despair joined the flood.
Is she really the culprit? I didn’t know what happened to her, maybe she’d killed those men, restrained me, and then fainted? Was it due to her reaching her limit of strength, or maybe it was anemia.
I plugged the key into another keyhole and turned it, so I could verify again that the key was genuine. As I thought, the handcuff opened with a click. At that moment, Kirigiri stirred slightly at my feet, as if reacting to the sound of the key.
She’s waking up! I slowly took a step back.
She opened her eyes while still lying down, staring at the floor. Finally, she shifted her body to sit up, rubbing her eyes, and looked up at me with a vague expression on her face. She was dazed and defenseless, sitting on the ground with her legs to the side. Then, she saw the shears on the floor. Suddenly, her innocent expression froze. She reached out her right hand and attempted to pick them up.
“Don’t move!” I commanded.
But her hands appeared unlikely to stop. I kicked off the floor and quickly jumped towards her, trapping her left wrist in the handcuffs. I then yanked at the chain forcefully, connecting the other end to the column of the nearby armchair’s arm rest. Her body was now tied to the chair. Despite it being only a one-person armchair, her arms were so skinny, it didn’t seem like she’d be able to drag it along with her. Her right hand could no longer reach the shears anymore. She stopped trying, looking up at me, expressionless. But I noticed a tiny bit of aggravation was hiding in her eyes.
“Why are you doing this, Onee-sama?” Kirigiri asked in a calm tone, without raising her voice. Onee-sama- so she says, but her eyes didn’t show even the smallest bit of submission. Well, that was only natural. Originally, I’d just been tolerating her calling me that to begin with. Still, when she said it with such an innocent face, I could mistake her for my real little sister……
I shook my head, as though I were shaking off my sudden burst of sentimentality.
“What do you mean, why? That’s what I want to know.” I kicked the shears across the floor, keeping them further away from her. “I thought I’d finally made a good friend, but you killed all three of them?”
“All three of them…? Killed……?” After a moment her eyes went wide, before she looked down pensively. “I see… So I was too late…” She sat on the floor, her head hung low. Somehow, she looked really despondent.
“Don’t play dumb. Why did you kill them? What were you planning to do with me?”
“Calm down. I’m not the culprit.”
“You’re not the culprit…… There are no other culprits besides you! Three of the five people have been killed and all that’s left are you and I. If I’m not the culprit, you HAVE to be!”
“Where is the proof that you are not the culprit, Yui-oneesama?”
“Proof? You’ve got a witness standing right here!” I pointed at myself. “I was completely unconscious until just a little while ago. When I came to, I noticed that three people were dead. I’m as certain that I didn’t kill them as much as I am that I’m a sixteen-year-old high school girl and that I’m as much a virgin as Virgo!”
“Then, I also plead my innocence, using myself as a witness.”
’“Nooo way, that’s not gonna work in your case! You’re the one who had the shears that are probably the murder weapon, and you had the key for the handcuffs that were on my arm. That’s pretty damning evidence against you. How are you going to refute that argument?” I look down at her, armed crossed in defiance. Sitting up with her back to the side of the chair, she stretched out her legs, shifting to look up at me. Clearly, I’m superior both in terms of physical position and intelligence.
“I only just saw the shears a short while ago. I don’t recall anything about any key to your handcuffs……”
“You were holding the key in your hand!”
“Someone else made me hold it.” Kirigiri shook her head slowly. “It seems while I was unconscious, someone set me up.”
“Someone like….?”
“Who knows? Maybe it was one of the detectives who came with us here, or perhaps it was you, Yui-oneesama.”
“I’m telling you that’s wrong! I’m a victim!”
“From my point of view, your sudden attack of me makes you the more likely culprit.” She raised her left hand, showing off the handcuffs.
“I wasn’t attacking you. I did it for self-defense reasons. Because you were trying to grab the shears, weren’t you?”
“If you see a pair of bloodstained shears on the ground, isn’t it natural to want to pick them up and examine them?”
“No, that’s not natural! I’d never do that!”
“Even though you’re a detective?” she asked, tilting her head for the second time and turning her eyes towards me. Unsure how to respond, I bit my lip.
“Mmmph…”
“If people have been killed, shouldn’t you be investigating the murder weapon? Do the wounds on the victims match the shape of the weapon? How heavy is it? How long is it? The list goes on…”
“I know all that,” I cut in, adamant."But you shouldn’t just go touching them with your bare hands, Little Miss Detective. You’re going to leave extra fingerprints on them, right?“
“…Right, that was careless of me. I was still a little sleepy then. I’m sorry,” she apologized obediently.
“Or maybe the shears are already covered in your prints. You were thinking you could just trick me by touching them now.”
“You could take it that way.” She looked down at the shears, eyes narrowed. “Are you sure that they are the murder weapon?”
“Probably, seems suitable enough for a quick decapitation.”
“Decapitation……?”
“Yeah, the three of them had their heads separated from their bodies…. Wait, you’re the one who did it. I bet even with your tiny arms, you could still do some serious damage on someone’s neck with sturdy pruning shears like those.” She showed no reaction at my words, giving a moment of silence. I thought she’d be a little disappointed that I suspected her, maybe even show a little grief on her face, but she looked as unfazed as ever. In fact-
“There seems to be something very mysterious happening.” Her eyes seemed to shine, with such radiance that you might call it innocence.
“Yeah, I can’t understand it,” I replied bitterly. “To think a child like you would be an extraordinary murderer…”
“I will say it again, I’m not the culprit…. How do you still not get it, Yui-oneesama?”
“Then who’s the culprit? Everyone else is dead. There’s no way they’re faking it. They’re all decapitated. Or are you trying to say that you still think I’m the culprit?”
“No,” she answered without hesitation. “Despite what I said earlier, I don’t think you’re the culprit.” That was a surprise. In this type of situation, she shouldn’t have any other valid reason other than to name me as the culprit.
Or was there some ulterior movie she had to exclude me from the pool of suspects?
“Why do you think that?”
“Remember what happened right before we fell unconscious. I believe it was around 8 o'clock. We were all gathered here in the hall, discussing what to do about dinner.“
She was right……
We had been puzzled by the fake request we’d received. It was dark outside, and we weren’t able to go home during the snowstorm. We had gathered around the table to discuss our plans from there on out.
Just then, without warning, the first person collapsed. I’m pretty sure it was Amino. He suddenly crumpled up, falling from his feet onto his side. Then, white smoke started spewing out of nowhere. Someone screamed,
“Fire!” But there weren’t any other signs of a fire, and it didn’t feel hot. I had been nervously trying to figure out what to do, but before I knew it, I also started to pass out. I had no idea what was happening.
“There’s the object responsible for the smoke.” Kirigiri pointed underneath the table. A small aluminum can-shaped object had rolled under there.
“What is this?” I crawled under the table, pulling it out from under there. “It looks like a can of juice… but there’s no hole to drink from.”
“It’s a home-made smoke generator, isn’t it? Someone rolled it under the table. Fortunately it doesn’t seem to have been tear or sleeping gas. But that dreadful white smoke obscured our fields of vision entirely.” I had lost consciousness pretty quickly, so I didn’t really know what had happened afterwards.
“What on earth happened?”
“Well, I don’t quite understand it either, but everyone started collapsing, one after the other, and so I quickly pretended to collapse too,” Kirigiri said.
“Pretended? What do you mean, pretended? Are you saying you’re the only one that was unaffected?”
“Yes. Because the smoke itself was harmless. I believe that everyone collapsed not because of the white smoke, but due to some other cause. Case in point, the first person collapsed before the smoke came out. I wonder if perhaps, at some instance, you were made to ingest a sleeping tranquilizer of some kind. Do you have any recollection of that?”
“Hmmmm… Sleep tranquilizer?” I didn’t know about the others, but at the very least, I could speak for myself in saying that I hadn’t ingested anything since arriving at the Sirius Observatory. There shouldn’t have been any point at which I could have taken any drugs. But thinking back, right before I lost consciousness, I did feel sort of drunk. I thought I just wasn’t feeling well, but…
“Still, what’s up with you being the only person who escaped danger?”
“Perhaps it’s thanks to my constant training,” she said bluntly. “Sensing danger is my specialty. But, when I do sense it, it’s often nothing more than a simple ‘bad feeling’ or ‘foreshadowing’, and so it’s only in looking back on events that I am able to string together a logical explanation of the events… Grandfather calls it ‘hearing the Shinigami’s footsteps’.”
I hear that great mathematicians are able to come up with propositions even when they skip some calculations along the way. I’ve heard of a lot of episodes where they struggle to explain themselves afterwards. I wondered if she was that kind of genius.
No, right now, we don’t really know why we fell unconscious, so it’s possible she’s just full of shit. Or maybe she is the culprit, and so obviously she’d be able to avert danger…
Wait, what “training”…?
“Everyone started collapsing one after the other, so it was clear that some devious scheme was being put into motion,” Kirigiri continued. “I pretended to collapse to see what the culprit planned on doing. But when I did, I heard the Shinigami’s footsteps again.”
“What happened?”
“They were the culprit’s footsteps. It seems our culprit is the very cautious type. They came closer to me, and forced some strange drug on me. It wasn’t chloroform or ether. It likely wasn’t an anesthetic… Perhaps it was some sort of synthetic narcotic. They covered my mouth with a handkerchief, and though I held my breath for a bit so as not to inhale it, at some point I still lost consciousness…”
So in the end, she just fainted too? Mm, wait a minute?
Shears, decapitated corpses, drugs that cause fainting… Those things together had a familiar ring to them. No… I recognized that combination.
There’s… no way that could be it. For now, I just need to hear out all that Kirigiri has to say. I might just be misunderstanding things.
“Did the culprit know that you were only pretending to faint?”
“No, I don’t think they did. They were likely going around and putting the handkerchief up to everyone. To ensure that they actually fainted.”
“And then what?”
“Despite my hazy consciousness, I still attempted to resist.” In the middle of her disinterested speech, this is the only place where she seemed to deliberately insert a pause. Almost as if she were pausing for dramatic effect before the big reveal.
“…So?”
“I grabbed the culprit’s hand.”
“Grabbed?” I asked, disappointed. “Is that all?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, I was unable to scratch or bite the culprit, but I was at least able to touch their hand. With the white smoke clouding my vision, that sensation has become my only clue as to the identity of the culprit,” Kirigiri said, looking down at her own fingertips.
“What did it feel like?”
“It was a man’s hand.”
“Really? Are you sure about that?”
“It was unremarkable, but unmistakably male. There’s nothing easier to sense than the difference between men and women by the hands and fingertips.”
“Hmmmm… Is that really true in practice, though? Have you ever held a man’s hand before?”
She looked taken aback by my question, freezing in place. There was a long pause—and then, she just resumed her explanation, acting as if nothing had happened. “I have never murdered anyone, but I have read up on the sensations of murdering someone. This is a similar situation. You understand, right? Then, moving on…”
“Wait, that’s some pretty strange reasoning. Oh, maybe, you haven’t held hands with any boy at all, ever…?” I asked, teasing, effectively shutting her up again. She was pretty pissed this time. She turned her head to look away, apparently ignoring the conversation.
Maybe I teased her a little too much. Even though she spoke and acted like she was indifferent, this reaction was surprisingly timid, so all of a sudden I didn’t feel like teasing her anymore.
“Sorry, sorry, that was a weird thing for me to say,” I apologized. “I’m sure you’ve at least held your dad’s hand before. That’s enough for your logic, so everything’s fine. Now, go on.”
“I forgot about that.”
“Huh?”
“I’m saying I forgot what my father’s hand feels like.” Kirigiri narrowed her eyes, brushing back her bangs with her right hand. That was the most emotional gesture I’d ever seen from her up until that point.
“I-I see. Gotcha,” I said, brushing it off. How complicated. It seemed like she had her own tangled circumstances, but getting too stuck on them would mean the real conversation would never progress. “So basically, what you’re trying to say is… since the person who caused you to faint was a man, then logically it can be concluded that I, Yui Samidare, am not the culprit, correct?”
Kirigiri nodded, still turned away.Among the detectives that were invited to the Sirius Observatory, Kyouko Kirigiri and myself were the only women. If her assertion was correct, then I could be excluded from the list of suspects.
“But that’s what I’ve been saying since the beginning,” I said, sighing. “The fact that I’m not the culprit is a fact that I already knew. I didn’t need proof for that.”
“No, I still wouldn’t call it definitive proof.”
“What? Are you saying you can’t believe it unless you touch my hand to make sure or something?” I asked, but Kirigiri just faced down, searching for the words to say, before looking up with only her eyes, nodding just slightly.
“…Your hand,” she said hesitantly, asking for my right hand. She seemed pretty serious.
Is this a trap?
If she was the culprit, then maybe all the testimony she’d just given was nothing but an excuse to get closer to me. Maybe she was hiding some kind of weapon, and was trying to lure me in range.
Kyouko Kirigiri—
I still didn’t know much about her. I hadn’t really had the time to get to know her, and in the time that we did spend together, I mostly learned that she was mysterious, and that she apparently had a complicated home life. Her claiming that I was innocent wasn’t going to be enough to get me to trust her.
“Okay, let’s shake hands and make up.” I still didn’t move closer to her, though. “But the real handshake will be after everything is settled, and we’re both proven innocent.”
“What that’s supposed to mean?”
“First, sit on the chair,” I ordered. She had been sitting next to the chair this whole time, but in accordance with my demand, she sat down in the armchair. “Now, show me your right hand.” She held out her hand just like I told her to.I carefully drew closer to her, taking her small hand in mine. It seemed as if it were made of glass, as if putting a little strength into it would shatter it, but I steadfastly refused to let go. Her left hand was restrained by the handcuffs. With me holding her right hand like this, she wouldn’t be able to attack me.
We shook hands, as if evaluating each other, exchanging a glance.
“So? Do you see the truth now? But we can talk about that later. I’m a detective too, so I’m going to try searching for my own truth.”
“What will you do?”
“First, I need to conduct a thorough search of the building,” I said, still holding hands with her. “I still suspect you. You’re a detective too, so you should understand where I’m coming from, right? But if I want to keep suspecting you… There’s one major condition I still need to accomplish before I can indict you as the culprit. That is, I have to investigate the possibility of a crime committed from the outside. Was someone other than us five guests able to come or go from this place?”
“You still hadn’t confirmed that either way?”
“…Y-Yeah, I mean, I was still half-asleep,” I scrambled to defend myself after she butted in. “A crime committed by a sixth, uninvited guest… If there’s any proof of that, I can let you go.”
“You’ll need to investigate quickly, before the snow erases the evidence. Particularly outside the windows and the entrance. There may still be traces of someone exiting or entering.”
“I’ll look into it.”
“If an uninvited guest is in fact present, there is no doubt that that person is a man. And he may still be hiding somewhere in the building.” Kirigiri looked a little worried.
“Yeah, I’m gonna check to see. By myself. Sorry, but I’m gonna have you stay like that for a while. And, I’m gonna bind your right hand too.” If she was the culprit, then she had to have been the one who prepared the handcuffs, too. If that was the case, there was a chance she had a spare key hidden somewhere. If I left her unattended, she might unlock the handcuffs. So I needed to restrict the use of both of her hands. “No offense.”
“None taken. Actually, I’d be more concerned if you weren’t the sort of person who would think of that,” Kirigiri said with a cold expression.But… even if I wanted to restrain her, I didn’t have any extra handcuffs, or rope, or anything to tie her hands with.
“Use my ribbon.”
“…Is that okay?”
“If it’s used to prove my innocence.“I nodded, and loosened one of the ribbons tied around her pig-tailedbraids. I used the ribbon to tie her right hand to the arm of the chair. And with that, both of her hands were secured to the armchair.
“I’m going to go around and investigate each of the rooms one by one. If our unwanted guest is around here somewhere, he might try to move between rooms and hide somewhere else so that I don’t see him. But if you’re here in the central hall, you should see him immediately.”
“So I’m serving as surveillance?”
“You got it. But our guest could be super dangerous for you, with both of your hands tied up like that. I mean, he’s a filthy murderer, after all. If he shows up, just scream at the top of your lungs. I’ll come rescue you in a flash.”
“You’ll rescue me?”
“The existence of an unwanted guest would prove your innocence. I’d protect you with all I’ve got.”
“I see… But I believe it will already be too late at that point.” As always, Kirigiri acted like this had nothing to do with her. “But, if you would allow me to say so, I don’t think you can logically conclude that I’m innocent simply because an uninvited guest might be present. That person’s reason for hiding would not necessarily be related to the murders; for example…”
“That doesn’t matter! Geez!” I interrupted. “In a situation like this, if someone’s here sneaking around, it’s just common sense for me to kick their ass before doing anything else!”
“…I suppose,” she responded meekly.
“I really doubt someone’s coming in and out of this building out in the middle of a snowstorm in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night… But whatever. I’m investigating.”
I left Kirigiri behind and went to investigate the closest room first. I opened the curtains, checked the locks on the windows, and investigated the state of the snow outside.
It didn’t take long for me to go around and check the windows in all of the rooms. The conclusion was that all of the windows were locked from the inside. There wasn’t anything amiss with the snow near them.None of the guest rooms had any air conditioning vents or anything that would lead out except for the three windows. So, following that train of thought, it was impossible for anyone to make it out with the windows locked.
Next, I investigated the entrance hall. The front door was locked, and even when I checked the snow outside, I didn’t see any signs of anyone entering or exiting through it.
In the end, I couldn’t find any evidence of anyone going in or out of the building. And I didn’t sufficiently detect the presence of the hypothetical unwanted guest, either—which is to say, anyone other than me and Kirigiri who was alive.
Kirigiri was waiting for me in the hall, still restrained on the chair.
“Unfortunately, it looks like there’s no one here except you and me after all.”
“There wasn’t any sign of anything in the snow outside?”
“Nope, I mean, in a storm like this, traces of anything would probably be wiped away by the snow really quick, but if a person was walking through that, there would definitely be a dent in it at least. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary like that.”
And so, the murder mystery became even more baffling.
No, you could say it makes it a lot simpler.
You could compare Sirius Observatory to an airtight bottle. As long as the bottle remains airtight, there won’t ever be any more or less inside of it. So if there are three corpses and two survivors, one of the survivors has to be the culprit. Therefore, Kyouko Kirigiri is the culprit.
The person in question looked up at me expectantly. It was too bad, but I couldn’t release her from her restraints just yet.If my reasoning was correct, then there was no doubt that she was the culprit. But it was also true that I couldn’t come to terms with that answer. Would it really be possible for a girl like her to kill three grown men and arrange their corpses on the beds?
“I don’t know what’s going on anymore… What’s with this case?” I complained unthinkingly. “This weird building is one thing, the weird request we got is another… But now, finally, I at least understand one thing. The incident described in that black letter wasn’t an incident that we were requested to solve, but an incident that we were getting involved in ourselves.”
“…Yui-oneesama,” Kirigiri interrupted. “What are you talking about?”
“Huh? The written request. There was a black letter with it, yeah? And it had the place, the weapon, and all that other stuff written in it.”
“…Show me the black letter.”
“I mean, sure?”
I left Kirigiri sitting on the chair, going back to my room and digging through my backpack. I pulled the black letter out and returned to the hall.
“Unfold it and show me.“I unthinkingly complied with her tense and urgent request. I took out the folded black washi writing paper from inside the black envelope. The contents of the letter were written on it in white brushstrokes.Kirigiri looked at those brushstrokes, and then it seemed as if her body temperature dropped significantly, her face paling. “Yui-oneesama… This is no ordinary murder case.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“This is most likely… a game.”
He had a dream that he was burned by a violent blaze. When he woke up, his cheeks were damp from the sweat that had traveled down his brow. Or perhaps those were tears? He carefully wiped them off with his right hand. He was in a hospital waiting room. With the quiet instrumental music, nurses came and went, the aroma of disinfectant sprinkling behind them and dispersing elsewhere. The electronic display would never show his number.
“Seems it’s going to take about an hour,” the old man in the chair next to him said. But he just gave a suitable response and ignored the remark. If he engaged, the old man was never gonna shut up. He looked away, pretending to fiddle with his cellphone. “Rehabilitation, huh? Sounds serious,” the old man continues.
“Nah, my legs are sore today, so I’m getting some meds…” he muttered while looking down at his phone screen, clearly indicating that he didn’t want to participate in the conversation.
“It’s pretty stupid, knowing the government’s aid doesn’t amount to much. You’re not compensated nearly enough for the injuries you have to live with,” the old man said in a kind voice. He looked up and turned to the old man. The gentleman wore a felt hat tipped over his eyes, and was wearing an expensive-looking suit. There was an old, lengthy scar that cut across the right side of his mouth, so when he smiled, it seemed distorted.
“Who are you?” he replied to the old man in an aggressive tone. “How do you know about me? Are you with the media or something?”
“I’m a sympathetic stranger.” The scar twisted on his face. “Someone with compassion and empathy for you.”
“Oh, the religious type. Go hit someone else up. I’m sick of that shit. You guys just pray on the weak.”
“Hardly, we have no affiliation to any relation. Nor ties to the media, of course.”
“So what then?!” his voice was starting to become uncontrolled in volume.
“This is who we are and what we represent.” The man held out a jet-black business card.
“Victims’ Liberation Committee….?”
“Correct. Rest assured, we have no connection to the government, so I’d like for you to think of us as an independent non-profit organization.”
“So it is like a religious thing after all, huh? You claim it’s some kind of group therapy or a care seminar, act all kind and caring to get close to people, and then you take outrageous sums of money as tuition fees. Sucks to be you Gramps. You better target the weaker ones with this bullshit,” he spat, getting up from his chair to go somewhere else. But then-
“You don’t want revenge?” The old man’s whisper reached his ears.
“What did you say?” he stopped unexpectedly and looked back.
“We are interested in the depths of your darkness. I see; indeed you do have a deep, dense darkness within you.” The old man touched the brim of his hat, adjusting its position on his head, but his eyes remained hidden. “It would be difficult to say that you’ve been happy, but at one time you had an ordinary, mundane life. You didn’t bother anyone, worked a respectable job, and as such, you had people who loved you. Then, five years ago, crime stole everything from your life. Suddenly, unreasonably, thoroughly…. What horrible thing had you ever done to deserve that? No, you are innocent. At the very least, you never knowingly ruined anyone’s life, or anything like that.” The voice of the elderly man shook his heart. Strangely, the voice sounded like he was hearing his own voice.
“What we offer is not therapy. Let us leave that, too, to the weaker ones. We assist others with taking back their own lives. An organization that can return what was stolen from you completely.”
“Take back….my own life?”
“You have that right….no, obligation to do so. For the sake of those who died because of that horrible crime.” The old man’s confident tone displayed convincingly strong power that was enough to brighten even his soul, that had long ago resigned itself. Just as the old man suggested, he recognized himself as a ‘robbed protagonist’. The spotlight hasn’t disappeared. It absolutely wasn’t there to illuminate anyone else, either. It was there to illuminate his own future…
But he smiled bitterly, tossing those delusions aside.
“Ever since then, lots of people passed me by. Police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, doctors, insurance workers… In the end, no one saved me. And now I’ve finally reached that point of getting sympathetic strangers reaching out. Honestly. If I had to pick someone to thank, it’d be the doctors. At least they made it so I can stand on my own in this world again. But that’s it. I’m nothing but a corpse that’s barely clinging to life… All my hopes and dreams died on that day.” He turned his back to the old man, leaving his seat behind.
“I’ll be waiting at the park outside. If you’re interested in our ‘Relief’, please come and visit,” the old man’s voice came from behind, as he disappeared into the shop.
Chalking up his involvement in the crime as just bad luck would be an understatement.
Five years ago, a serious of suspicious arsons occurred near his home. The security cameras around the area never caught the culprit on tape, and residents lived in fear of the crimes with a ghost for a criminal. The arsons continued for days. One night, the fires that had been relatively small up until then grew into a massive blaze. Probably due to the dry air that night. Two homes were burned to the ground. His family had been living in one of them. Him, his wife, and their two-year-old son. All three of them had been severely burned, but only he had lived.
Although the arson cases continued after the horrific tragedy, a certain detective led the way to solving all of them in one fell swoop. The detective focused on pointing out the fact that if you connected the dots of the sites, it made a bizarre star shape when connected. At the center of the star lived an astrologer in the divination business. The detective immediately went to the astrologer’s home, but the man had already burned to death. There was a message left by his side with his last words, some unintelligible rant like “I set the fires to change the path of the stars”. With the suspect dead as the conclusion, the case was closed.
His mind was thrown into chaos when he heard the news. The sword that he’d been sharpening on the grindstone of hatred, that he’d planned to someday strike the culprit with, no longer had a target. He had no one to focus his anger on anymore. He couldn’t turn to his dead wife or son, either.
Five years have passed since that day, and his body had mostly recovered. His soul, however, was dead. He’d lost his job, and was barely managing off the compensation payments from the country. He didn’t even bother pretending to have anything to live for, thinking his life would continue on until its conclusion, with no meaning, with the winner in this game of life already decided…
Until he heard the word ‘revenge’ from the old man.
It was like a single ray of light in the darkness. No one had ever shown him a light like that before. After all, no one could understand the depths of his darkness to begin with. What he was searching for was not a way to clear the darkness, it was a signpost to guide him through the dark abyss.
“I knew you’d come,” the old man said, scar on his mouth twisting.
In the sunlight, the park was full of lively voices; young mothers pushing strollers, and boys kicking a soccer ball back and forth. Against the scenery, the old man sat on a bench that was shaded by the giant tree, blending in quite well.
“Figured there wasn’t any harm to at least hear you out,” he said, sitting beside the gentleman.
“Good point. Unlike lawyers and therapists, we don’t need to charge you for a simply conversation.”
“So, who are you exactly?”
“We are an organization that offers ‘liberation’ to those who have been severely victimized by crime.”
“Enough PR bullshit. What are the details? Do you send out other agents to get revenge or something?”
“Ah, a common misunderstanding. As I said before, our primary objective is your liberation. If you have doubts regarding your capabilities, then I recommend you reconsider it.”
“You’re really dragging this out Old Man. So what’s in it for me?”
“I shall reveal to you the true culprit’s identity. The one behind the incident that left you in such a state- “
“Whoa? What ‘true culprit’?” He couldn’t believe the incredible words that came from the old man’s mouth. He never even considered it before. Was the arson not the work of an astrologer who wasn’t quite right in the head? “Who is it?! Who’s the real culprit!?”
“Please wait,” the old man spoke, raising both hands. “I will tell you, but only on one condition,”
Here we go-
He braced himself. Most likely, the ‘condition’ would be a fee or something.
“What’s the condition?”
“You must carry out your revenge against the true culprit.”
“Revenge-“
“Yes, it is essential that you exact your revenge and end the life of the true culprit.”
“You mean you want me to kill them.”
“Correct.”
In a corner of the peaceful park, a bloody conversation was being exchanged. There was no one around to overhear their communication.
“Gramps, I’m sure your organization has thoroughly investigated me. Know what I mean? There’s no way I’d turn you down on a condition like that.”
“Those are very promising words.” The old man bowed deeply.
“So hurry up and tell me who the true culprit is.”
“Before that, you must grasp our true intention.”
Looks like he’s going to drag this out some more.
-But it made sense, he didn’t know the reasons this mysterious organization had for instigating revenge.
“Revenge- we call this ‘Liberation’. That is, it’s ‘Liberation’ for you- it can’t be done by anyone else, it must be yourself. Let there be no mistaking this. Is that alright?”
“You’re saying they need to die by my hands, right? Absolutely. That was my original plan from the beginning.”
“Then let us continue. Three things are necessary for ‘Liberation’. Do you know what they are?”
He was beginning to feel exhausted at the old man’s constant talking in circles, trying to remain in control and calm but unable to reflect it in his response.
“How should I know? I’m just beginning here, so maybe you could save us some time and just tell me.”
“Of course, of course. First of all, is ‘Determination’. Regarding this, you say that you have already cleared this objective. Is that not right?”
“Yeah.”
“What you need next is ‘Money’. In this world, money is a necessity in accomplishing anything. Accomplishing something on a grander scale in particular requires a substantial amount of capital. How do you feel regarding this?”
“Well, unfortunately, I can’t say I have enough for that.”
“Understood; for the sake of your Liberation, we are ready to assist funding you through a sponsorship arrangement. As for a maximum limit…there’s no amount of money that we would say is too much.”
Sponsorship arrangement with no maximum limit? This was staring to sound too good to be true.
“And finally, the third requirement- ‘Techniques’. In order to kill a person, there has to be some sort of technical feature included. Do you understand? In that regard, many, including you, are novices regarding this requirement. Therefore! We will offer you Techniques to kill your target that will not be discovered by anyone. Using these Techniques, you’ll be able to commit the perfect crime.”
“That seems a little too good to be true.”
“However-” The old man took a dramatic pause. “These ‘Techniques’ require a fee.”
“Haaa?”
“This means, you will purchase these Techniques from us.”
“See, look! It’s the same shit that ends up taking money from the weak after all!” He stood up, irritated. “Pretty elaborate story you had going… But you’re still nothing more than a con artist!”
“Calm down. As I said earlier, we will offer an unlimited sponsorship to you. You are free to use the funds to purchase these Techniques, of course.”
“…What’s that mean?”
“It means that you have no need whatsoever to pay your own way to your Liberation.”
“I don’t get it. What’s the point of a fee at all, and the whole technique offer then?”
“That’s the most important point of ‘Liberation’. Liberation involves risking your life in a spectacular reversal of your fate… It is what it is, and it’s a very dramatic situation, wouldn’t you say? Much more than any documentary or work of fiction.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“There are many people who would look forward to watching your comeback. By the way, do you enjoy horse-racing? Probably not; the data we have on you didn’t mention any interest in gambling. You may not understand the feelings of the horse racing enthusiasts. But in our world, however, there is no small number of people who watch them run and compete for ranks, left with shaky breaths, shelling out ridiculous sums of money, moved to tears. In similar fashion- there are also those who find the same exhilaration in watching someone plot revenge and endeavor to commit the perfect crime.”
“Wh…What the hell do you mean by that?”
“In short… These individuals of exceptional taste and particular penchant in this world, their ideal entertainment is watching people like you, carrying a darkness such as yours, get their revenge- your ‘Liberation’.”
He was left awestruck by the old man’s words. It felt like he’d accidentally stepped into a world that he should never have entered. He could understand more or less what the old man was trying to say, but did such a thing really happen…?
“Are you going to turn my revenge- into a game?”
“I suppose you could use that word to simplify it.” The old man lowered his voice and laughed. “By offering high-quality content, we receive funds from sponsors and provide them more completed content… That is how our Liberation is established.”
“So that means you’re backed by a bunch of people with more money and free time than they know what to do with.”
“Do you understand now? However the fact itself is not indicative of anything except the origin of the money. Our purpose is always to give you your Liberation. It’s only to say that those interest simply align with the interest of our investors. Furthermore, the biggest names in every industry find entertainment in Liberation. So, we obtain special benefits in the financing of our own business.”
Is it true?
Then maybe the ‘Liberation’ the old man referred to was just the official front, but in reality, it was just turning acts of vengeance into show business. But it didn’t matter either way to him. The objective of killing the true culprit was nothing more than a means to an end. To him, it was simply a challenge on the road to reaching his ultimate goal- getting his life back.
“Will there be cameras following me around 24/7 like some TV documentary?”
“No, there will be no cameraman to accompany you. I’ll explain the rules regarding that later on.”
“Alright, tell me the true culprit already.”
“The explanation isn’t over yet.”
“What else is there?” He raised his voice unintentionally, irritated.
“I haven’t mentioned the important point. From now on, you’ll await your loan and assume the objective of killing your target, but that alone is not enough. For example, if at night, you were to sneak up on your target from behind as they walked down the street, and bludgeon them to death with a blunt object… That would certain be revenge, but not Liberation. It definitely doesn’t qualify as Liberation.”
“What do you mean?”
“Salvation is found in overcoming obstacles. Only after prevailing difficult trials can true Liberation be obtained.”
“Huh?”
“Let me elaborate.” The gentleman adjusted his position to face him. “As I mentioned earlier, you will be purchasing the Techniques we offer. Let’s call this choosing your ‘cards’. We possess an endless supply of these ‘cards’, all perfectly capable for committing the perfect crime. For example, there are ‘Weapons Cards’, ‘Location Cards’, ‘Instructions for Impossible Crimes Cards’… and so on. The price of these ‘cards’ are set according to their effectiveness and practicality. Once you buy a ‘cards’ you would like, then, a ‘Deck’ is built in advance for the Liberation, using what you have selected.”
“I don’t really get your meaning…”
“For reference, let’s use a past case of Liberation. In this instance, the person seeking revenge bought a ‘School’ location card from us. They also selected the ‘Metal Bat’ weapon card and a ‘Hidden Room Trick’ to avoid suspicion.”
“A Hidden Room? You can buy things like that?”
“Well, provided you have the funds there’s nothing money can’t buy, so long as someone is willing to invest the money in you. In this example, the cost of the ‘School’ was 40 million yen ($369,480 USD), the ‘Metal Bad’ was 3 million yen ($27,711 USD), and the ‘Hidden Room’ was 100 million yen ($923,847.30 USD), a total of 143 million yen ($1321038.30 USD). All prices are calculated in yen.”
“Wait a sec, those prices are insane. Why’s the ‘Metal Bat’ cost 3 mil? That kind of thing you can go buy for less than 10,000 ($92.35 USD) at a sports shop, don’t you think?”
“Please realize that the weapons we offer are worth no less than presented. Now, pay attention, if you did go to the sports shop to buy a weapon, you’d instantly be leaving tracks behind. Product shape, model number, the store, and surveillance footage in the store… Every piece of information would link back to you. But there’s no need to concern yourself with such things in the weapons we prepare for you.”
“I see…I get it now.”
“Now here’s the important part: It is about the obstacles I said you would have to overcome… We will give you the opportunity to take revenge, but at the same time, we also summon a detective to pursue you.”
“A Detective…?”
“Correct. A single detective will be chosen according to the total cost of your ‘Deck’. The higher the cost of your Deck, the higher the rank of the detective that’s chosen. Same as if you keep your costs low, then you’ll receive a low-ranked detective; however, there will be a shortage of cards needed to commit a perfect crime.”
“What the hell? You mean I’m being chased from the beginning?”
Yes; we believe that Liberation will only come about under fair conditions. Confronting the obstacle of a detective, that alone, delivers pure Liberation and a sense of fulfillment. It’s about obtaining that feeling. If you don’t agree with this idea, there is obviously a clear difference in our opinion from yours, and I will be forced to report to the higher-ups that our conversation was fruitless today.”
“I still don’t know what you’re thinking… But, personally, I don’t think I’ll find any salvation in taking the coward’s way out either,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “In short, you’re saying that the whole point is to obtain my revenge fair and square, right?”
“Indeed. So you meet old Endou’s expectations perfectly after all. As such! What is required of you is not a successful revenge. It’s that you triumph over the ordeal of the detective. Is this agreeable?”
“Yeah.”
“Excellent! Let’s review the sequence of events. First, you will use our funds to purchase our ‘Techniques’. Then, you incorporate those purchased into a plan or your ‘Deck’, gradually building on your ideas until you have something practical and concrete to put into action. Afterwards, the Deck you created will be sent to the selected detective as a written challenge.”
“Hey, hold up a sec. Written challenge? You mean you send the detective an official statement announcing the crime that’s about to happen? That puts me at a huge disadvantage.”
“We want to provide you with the absolute most fair challenge to the end. The strategy starts at the very beginning. It’s vital to construct your Deck with this in mind.” The old man’s scar warped. “The only information provided to the detective in advance is what’s written on the Deck you have built. Naturally, your name, current location, etc., are withheld.”
Doesn’t that still put me at a major disadvantage? Perhaps it would be better to keep the cost of the Techniques in my Deck as low as possible, this way I’ll get a lower-ranked detective. Or maybe I should go all in with the funds, to use whatever Techniques I want for a perfect crime…
“Now then, the envelope for the written challenge has a small chip build in it, and will transmit an electro-magnetic wave when the seal is broken. The moment the detective opens the envelope, signals the start of the challenge. The conditions for your victory are for you to murder the target, and then surpass 168 hours without being accused by the detective. When the time limit expires, your Liberation will be complete. And in the event this transpires- presto! The amount you used for your Deck will be repaid to you. And, to prevent anyone from pursuing you as a criminal after that, we will apply for you to be placed in a protection program. If you wish, we will erase all traces of your past up until that point, providing you with the possibility of beginning your life again from scratch, as a new man.”
“Is that…. really possible?” For him, that was the most important part. Starting over with a new life. If such a thing could be done….
“It is possible.”
Those words alone were enough.
“What happens if I lose?”
“You shouldn’t think about things that might happen if you lose. However- I would be careless to not answer your question. I could hardly call that fair, after all. It’s as you can imagine. First, the condition for your defeat is when you are accused of being the criminal by the detective within the 168-hour margin. At that moment, you will lose instantly, and consider any relationship with us severed. You will be apprehended by the police as a common criminal, but you will receive no further assistance from us. No matter how many times you try to turn us into the police, it will be futile. Please know this.”
“No use for losers, huh?”
“We are those who bring Liberation. Our Liberation is perfect, but unfortunately, there are those who cannot achieve it. Often, those people lack the mindset to accept Liberation.”
“Are there any other penalties?”
“You will be held accountable to pay us the amount for the Deck you used.”
“Ahhh, so that’s it. But that’d be impossible…… Even if you tried to extort it out of me, I just don’t have any money.”
“In that case, I will enroll you in various insurance policies in advance. The recipients will be the people we have prepared.”
“So you’re saying if I fail, I should just die before the police catch me?”
“Correct. Well, this only applies in the event that you are unable to repay yourself.”
“But you already know it’s impossible for me to do so.”
“We will reclaim the cost used by any means necessary.” The gentleman’s expression did not change. “To avoid this, do not let the detective win.”
“Any other major rules that I should know about?”
“This one is of extreme importance… you are not allowed to kill the detective. You’re free to kill as many other people as you wish, including the target, but please be sure to keep the detective we selected alive. If the detective dies within the prescribed 168 hours, it will count as your immediate defeat.”
“Even if they die accidentally or something?”
“Yes. You are also forbidden from causing any significant harm to the detective.”
“That’s harsh.”
“There’s no worth in watching a game with no opponent, don’t you agree?”
Guess trying to kill off the detective in my way first isn’t an option. The organization seems determined on having a showdown with a detective.
“Regarding the finer details of the rules, I’ll inform you as soon as your challenge is decided.” The old man turned towards him again. “A harrowing duel to take back one’s life- we call this the ‘Duel Noir’. If you can win against the detective, a new future will be yours for the taking. How does this sound to you?”
The answer to that question was more-or-less decided. But he couldn’t reply right away. The story the old man said was so far removed from reality, it sounded absurd. It was sprinkled with all these ridiculous words about a Committee, perfect crimes, and whatnot. He still wasn’t sure if he was a fraud. Still, he couldn’t afford to just laugh it off- not when it had been prefaced with the promise to ‘tell him the true culprit’. If the person responsible for putting him in such a miserable state was still alive and living easily, he could never forgive them. They would pay with their life.
“If I don’t agree, you won’t tell me the truth behind the arson case five years ago?”
“Correct.”
It was bait.
Bait that was probably just bring him into this game. But it was an attractive bait. To someone like him, who lost everything, who became completely empty inside, that type of bait could be mean salvation. If he refused it now, he’d regret it for the rest of his life. Blaming himself through the rest of his meaningless days, wondering why he decided to spend the rest of his life without accepting the duel at this very moment.
Then…Shouldn’t I fight? It’s better than living like I’m dead.
“I like the look in your eyes.” The old man’s shoulders shook as he laughed, quietly. “I don’t know if this will influence your decision, but let me tell you some facts from our data. In all Duel Noirs that have occurred thus far… the detective side has a win percentage rate of 28%. Only 28%. That means that over 70%, those who use our Techniques to achieve revenge are able to successfully carry out a perfect crime.”
“Are those numbers true?”
“Although we say detectives, we are speaking about all of them, from the best to the worst in the business. There has even been those who receive the written challenge and simply ignore it, sleeping through without noticing the incident. Well, those are just the particularly lucky cases…”
I have a 30% chance of defeat? There’s no way, right? I’m almost guaranteed to win.
“It seems you’ve decided on your answer. But we will give you the night to consider. Let the night air cool your head, and if you still haven’t lost your determination to duel in the morning, please come here tomorrow at 10 AM. Is that alright with you?”
He nodded in response to the old man’s question.
“Of course you already understand this, but should you go and tell anyone else of this, the offer will be forfeit. In the event you talk to anyone- not just the police, but even one of your acquaintances- we will not appear before you again.”
“I understand.”
“Then, until next we meet.”