Chapter Four: Demo Playtest, Day One, Round ①, Scene One

Friday, November 22^nd, 2024, 8:50 P.M.

Kamo returned to his room, locked the door and set the bar behind him.

He checked the bathroom and closet to make sure that he was alone.

When using the RHAPSODY, a person would inevitably be rendered defenseless. In order to reduce the risk of the Executioner taking advantage of the situation, he had to be prepared.

In the meantime, he kept thinking about what Yuki had said.

...Why would Yuki do that?

Although the rules prohibited players from collaborating on their reasoning, they should still have been able to cooperate on their investigations. However, Yuki seemed unwilling to do even that.

Kamo sighed and decided to enter the RHAPSODY again.

He leaned back and sat on the black pillar inside the RHAPSODY, and the interface automatically aligned itself to begin synchronization. Finally, he lowered his headset's lenses.

The next moment, Kamo was back at the round table in Puppet Hall.

It seemed he was the last one to return to the VR space. He saw six people at the round table, all sharing nervous glances at each other.

The players had already met in the real world, and one by one, Kamo confirmed that the identities of the people in the real world and the names of their virtual avatars matched.

However, that didn't guarantee their identities. How could he be sure that the YUKI in front of him was actually being controlled by Yuki?

“The seven of you have gathered.”

This time, Kurata's avatar didn't appear before them, but the word “Kurata” was displayed in the lower left corner of the field of view.

“Let's all use voice chat now. What's the matter, why are you all staring with those bug eyes? Could it be you're all worried that you can't tell who's who?”

Everyone, including Kamo, lowered their eyes. Hit the nail right on the head again... Kurata giggled and continued “Don't worry. During 'Delicious Death for Detectives', the virtual avatars all match their player's appearances, and can't be changed during the course of the game. Since your VR headsets have built in bioauthentication, you can be assured that you can't trade avatars mid-game, either. That makes it easier to just concentrate on the reasoning, doesn't it?”

At that moment, FUWA looked to the window and showed a pained expression.

“Mr. Roppongi...”

Kamo followed his line of sight and saw ROPPONGI collapsed by the window in the main hall.

The last time he saw ROPPONGI, he was standing with his hand raised to his right temple. But now, he had turned into the same side-lying position that Kamo and the others had seen when they were trying to resuscitate him.

...Did the lens getting lowered during the resuscitation briefly lift his frozen state?

“Ah, sorry, I almost forgot about Roppongi's avatar.”

As soon as Kurata spoke, ROPPONGI disappeared.

“Good thing the game hasn't started yet. Now, both his avatar and his real world corpse have been removed from the building. After all, non-participants' corpses and frozen models would only get in the way of our game.”

The tone was no different from someone asking thanks for pulling weeds from the road, and Kamo couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine.

“Well–” grunted MUNAKATA. “That doesn't matter, but why don't you show yourself?”

“How many times do I have to repeat myself before it's enough for you people? ...'Delicious Death for Detectives' is about to begin. As I've already said, once the game starts, both Puppet Hall and Megalodon Manor will be completely isolated from the outside world. Until the end of the game, no one other than you seven and your avatars can enter or leave these two places. Even I, the Gamemaster, am not immune to this rule.”

“That means you won't be able to remove frozen avatars from the VR space after the game starts, right?”

“I certainly wouldn't do anything to compromise the fairness of the game.”

MUNAKATA shrugged as Kurata continued “Once again, I welcome you to the stage here on the 22^nd. Starting now, the seven of you will start playing 'Delicious Death for Detectives'... The VR Investigation Time is set to last until 9:45 P.M.”

Kamo raised his wrist to confirm the time, it was just after 9:00 P.M.

“What's the Investigation Time for?” KENZAN asked suspiciously.

“It's supposed to be a period when you all can investigate the incidents... But, no incidents have actually happened in the VR world yet, so you can use it as an opportunity to familiarize yourselveswith the layout of Puppet Hall. You can all go wherever you please... as long is it's in the VR space.”

“...And what happens after the time period ends?”

“From 10:00 P.M. to 3:00 A.M., it's VR Crime Time! In short, that's the time period when murders will occur in the VR space.”

The division of gameplay between Investigation Time and Crime Time was a mechanic carried over from the first Mystery Maker. As originally planned, Kamo was going to create his own incidents during Crime Time, and it looked like 'Delicious Death for Detectives' was following that initial outline.

Kurata went on to explain “Murders committed in VR don't involve actual victims, so it's much more peaceful, right? Players who are killed are just forced offline, but they'll be able to come back as ghosts on the 23^rd.”

MICHI tapped the round table like a piano and showed a bitter smile.

“Which means... the Detectives are idle until three in the morning?”

“The only ones who'll be busy during Crime Time will be the killers and the victims. Ah, but the victims will be dead, so they'll also be idle.”

Faced with Kurata's vitriol, MICHI just looked impatient.

She left the round table to look out the window, into the deep darkness beyond the sealed glass, which the sconce on the wall was powerless to illuminate.

YUKI walked over to the window as well, his forehead resting on the glass as he stared out.

“It's so dark you can't even see the ground outside.”

“That's right. That's because the world beyond Puppet Hall is just an endless void.”

“There's nothing?”

“Literally, nothing exists outside this building.”

This was a virtual space, and they could have set some actual scenery outside the building. Kamo had specifically asked Director Juumonji about that, so he knew about it... But the truth was that there wasn't actually anything outside of Puppet Hall.

YUKI tapped his smartwatch to pull up the map, then frowned.

“The building has a door in the foyer, but you can't go through it?”

“Puppet Hall's entryway is basically for decoration, so I'm afraid you couldn't open that door even if you wanted to. Also, I'd advise against trying to break the front door or any of the windows. The building's exterior walls and windows are so sturdy they're nearly impossible to destroy. You'd just be wasting your time.”

MICHI sighed and muttered “Nobody would want to do that. There isn't even any ground out there.”

KENZAN raised another question. “Since I can't go outside to observe, I'd like to ask... The appearance and structure of Puppet Hall are identical to this dollhouse, right?”

He seemed to care quite a bit about the dollhouse in the main hall. Kurata once again responded cheerily “That's a twelve-to-one scale model of Puppet Hall. Except for the detail of the roof and ceiling being removable, it's identical to the real thing, right down to the structure and materials used.”

The model's outer wall was dimpled with red bricks. Although they couldn't go out and check, Puppet Hall should have been the same way.

Then KENZAN looked up at the ceiling and stroked his chin.

“The roof is suspended. Why is that?”

As he said, the roof of the dollhouse was suspended from the ceiling of the hall with piano wire.

“Wouldn't you rather be able to see the inside of the dollhouse without having to pick up the roof every time? Even if it is made of lightweight material, that roof is pretty heavy. A person can't lift it with their bare hands. That's why we hung it up, and you can freely adjust the height with the remote control.”

Kurata was right, there was indeed a small remote on the low table, sitting in the space between the model's foyer and KAMO's room.

“You can use the dollhouse however you like during Investigation Time. Speaking of, let's start Investigation Time now.”

The seven people in the main hall looked at each other blankly. FUWA cleared his throat and spoke. “As long as we're all here, we should introduce ourselves.”

“Ow! What's the–!?”

MICHI suddenly cried out in pain as she returned to the round table. It seems she hadn't realized that the stool by the round table was fixed to the floor and had banged her foot hard.

KENZAN looked at her flatly.

“You're being dramatic. This is a VR space, you can't feel any pain here.”

But MICHI still looked down at her right foot then the stool with trepidation.

“It was just for a moment, but that really hurt. What just happened?”

YUKI, who had already taken a seat, answered her absentmindedly. “It was released at the Tokyo Game Show a while ago, didn't any of you hear about RHAPSODY's features? When we sit on these stools, we feel it on our butts, and when we put our hands on the table, they get cold, right? That's because the VR operation suit can reproduce the human body's sense of touch, pain, and temperature.”

“...Boring.”

MUNAKATA muttered and stood up exasperatedly, walking towards the south side of the hall and looking up to search the shelves.

Ever since he'd met Munakata in the real world, Kamo had harbored faint suspicion that he was actually a woman. He had a few reasons: there were no signs of stubble on his avatar or his real face, and his Adam's apple wasn't obvious. Moreover, he had rather slender fingers.

Was he only pretending to be a man for some reason? Or was he...

Kamo didn't dwell on it, figuring he probably didn't want anyone digging into things like that. For all he knew, Munakata could be nonbinary.

FUWA glanced at MUNAKATA and smiled bitterly as he crossed his arms and rested them on the round table.

The contrast between his rough, poorly maintained hands and Munakata's was obvious. Probably because of his height, his hands were even larger than Kamo's, and even though they weren't very fat, his fingers were also thicker than an average Japanese man's.

After a moment, FUWA took a breath and began to introduce himself.

“My name is Fuwa Shinichiro, and I run a detective agency in Shinjuku.”

AZUMA, who was sitting to his left, suddenly grew shy and gazed at FUWA with a face turning red.

“I thought it when I saw your vest, but... You're the real Fuwa! My son, he's five years old, he's such a big fan of yours... It's an honor to meet you, sir!”

After the two shook hands, FUWA smiled and told AZUMA “The honor's all mine. What's your son's name?”

“Wataru.”

“Alright then, for little Wakaru's sake, let's work together to overcome this challenge.”

The rare heartwarming moment was ruined by FUWA's mistake. AZUMA blushed and said “Ah, that is... it's 'Wataru'.”

FUWA still didn't seem to realize his mistake and just nodded at her.

...The name “Wakaru” isn't exactly common. Would a person really make a mistake like that?

Kamo looked at FUWA with a complex feeling. Even though he was older and gave off a strong, dignified aura, he still seemed a bit unusual.

Whether it was a desire to change the subject or he'd just never learned to read a room, YUKI asked AZUMA in a low voice “Is Mr. Fuwa really that famous?”

AZUMA looked surprised, but quickly recovered and introduced him eagerly.

“Yes! He's solved so many incidents the police were stumped by, he's an exceptional private eye. Have you ever heard of the children's book series 'The Unbreakable Detective'?”

“The best-sellers? Oh, is it called 'Unbreakable' because his last name is Fuwa?” YUKI asked. AZUMA responded with a nod and a smile.

“The detective from that series was based on Mr. Fuwa. It's precisely because he's solved so many cases... that I'm afraid I'm not surprised someone holds a grudge against him.”

Hearing these words, FUWA's expression clouded over. However, it seemed he wasn't going to take the initiative on explaining why Kurata had accused him of killing someone.

Perhaps to alleviate the somber atmosphere that filled the room, AZUMA began her introduction.

“That said, my name is Azuma Yuzuha, and I work in logistics at T Municipal Hospital in Tokyo.”

MICHI snapped her fingers.

“I've heard of you. Your brother, Azuma Kousuke, was a famous amateur detective, wasn't he? And you became a detective because you admired your deceased older brother.”

“Yes, my brother died five years ago while on an investigation. But how did you...”

AZUMA looked suspiciously at MICHI, who was still muttering to herself “That's right. If two sisters both got caught up in murders every time they traveled together, you would call them the World's Least Lucky Detectives...”

As she listened to these words, AZUMA's face suddenly changed.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Seeing that she had angered the other woman, MICHI hurriedly defended herself. “Hey, don't get so mad... I'm just interested in what cases have happened in Japan, so I've collected tons of information.”

“Don't mess with me! Are you trying to say I invited misfortune this time, too?”

By the end of her sentence, AZUMA's hands were shaking and her eyes brimmed with tears.

But Kamo suspected that her emotions weren't anger at MICHI. What she really felt was fear of her own fate, and suspicion that maybe it really was her bad luck's fault that they had all been caught in this incident.

MICH calmed AZUMA down and said “My name's Michi Chiaki, a job hopper and Jack-of-all-trades who mostly solves or prevents scams for clients. Because I've wound up solving a few incidents in the course of my work, it seems I'm also being treated as an amateur sleuth.”

A second glare joined AZUMA's in looking at her. This one was FUWA's.

“...I've heard of your little 'work exploits'. Since you're already introducing yourself, why not also introduce your reputation?”

MICHI smiled indifferently.

“Aren't you embarrassed to say something like that? I know some people say I'm a crooked detective, but I'll have you know I've never once been arrested before. I'm clean as a whistle.”

It seemed MICHI came from a much more unusual background than Kamo had guessed. She turned to KENZAN on her left and said “This kid with the long bangs is the genius high school detective Kenzan, right? You're famous in the business for solving the cipher murder case at your cram school. You're a promising young up-and-comer.”

KENZAN bowed politely even though his face looked annoyed.

“My name is Kenzan Ryohei, a second year student at K O High School... The art club I'm in seems to attract an unusual amount of mysteries, so I've solved a few incidents that happened at my school and cram schools along the way.”

It was a weekday, so KENZAN was skipping school to be here. Wasn't giving a seventeen year old a highly paid job that required overnight stays illegal? ...Well, it was too late to think about things like that.

Unintentionally, the rule “introductions go clockwise around the table” seemed to have formed, so Kamo, who sat to KENZAN's left, opened his mouth next.

“My name is Kamo Touma. I'm a magazine contributor who writes a serialized column related to injustice in the monthly magazine Unsolved Mysteries.”

MICHI, who it seemed couldn't keep her mouth shut, smiled again and spoke.

“Mr. Kamo is famous for his work overturning false convictions. I went to hear one of your talks under an assumed name.”

“I appreciate it. But why did you use a fake name?”

“Don't sweat the small stuff! What you were describing was obviously a real case, but it was full of suspense and emotion, and there was even a surprise reveal at the end... It really was more interesting than a novel.”

Her tone didn't sound complimentary.

Then, YUKI nodded across the table and said “My name is Aoba Yuki, and I'm a mystery novelist. I'm better know by my first name than my last, so that's how I'm usually addressed. Incidentally, Mr. Kamo's wife is my cousin.”

Though written with different characters, the “Yuki” from Ryuuzen Yuki's real name was pronounced the same as his pen name, so when he signed copies of his book, he preferred to just write “Yuki”. This may have been why his name in-game was set to YUKI instead of AOBA.

The pen name was convenient. Even if Kamo called him “Yuki”, nobody would realize that was his real name.

“...Aoba Yuki? I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I've never heard of you.”

AZUMA said apologetically, and YUKI smiled helplessly.

“It's because I'm not a bestseller... My book hasn't even gotten its second printing yet.”

MICHI's expression was also hard to read.

“Even I haven't heard of you... That's strange, I like to think I'm pretty well informed.”

While she was still muttering to herself, everyone else's eyes had already turned to the last person.

“And now it's Mr. Munakata's turn.”

When FUWA called out to him, MUNAKATA was pulling out a drawer.

The black low table that held the huge model had a drawer containing glue, utility knives, and other tools, presumably simulating the scene of a dollhouse maker's workshop with all the tools stored inside.

MUNAKATA picked up a utility knife from inside and said “Munakata Nozomi.”

After saying that, he continued to rummage through the drawer with a silent expression. FUWA waited for a moment, then grew a stunned expression.

“Eh, that's it?”

At that moment, MICHI interjected.

“If you say 'Munakata Nozomi', of course you can only be referring to the Drifting Detective! Heck, we were on the same boat on the way to the island, and that's what I was thinking the whole trip over. I hear that for the past few year's he's been wandering with no companion but his husky, and as soon as the case is solved they're off to a new destination. Hence the 'Drifting' part.”

Kamo couldn't help himself any longer and finally asked the question that had been on his mind for a while now.

“All these Drifting Detective and World's Least Lucky Detective and what's-his-name nicknames, are these just things you came up with yourself, Michi? Surely there can't be anyone else who uses them.”

Even after being poked and prodded like that, MICHI was still all smiles.

“How can you doubt me like that? Even though Yuki is the only one here I don't know... but it looks like everyone else was chosen based on their ability as detectives rather than their popularity. You can tell Kurata is serious about this.”

FUWA stood up and said “Kurata said one of us is the Executioner. Then shouldn't that mean someone here is an impostor and is actually her accomplice?”

KENZAN shrugged.

“It's also possible that she's threatening a real detective into being her accomplice. By that logic, even Mr. Fuwa and Mr. Kamo, who are relatively famous here... it'll be difficult to prove they aren't the Executioner, right?”

Everyone examined the people around them suspiciously.

Before long, AZUMA shook her head as if in surrender.

“It's better to leave things here for now, we should prioritize exploring the interior of Puppet Hall first.”

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