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

The guest rooms in Puppet Hall looked very similar to those in the real world.

The only difference was that the wallpaper in Megalodon Manor was a uniformly a cream color, while in Puppet Hall it was dark gray. This was probably done on purpose so the players could easily tell the two worlds apart.

The ceilings in both the real and virtual buildings were pure black, making just looking up suffocating.

Inside the room, there was a single bed with a metal frame that looked like it had come from a prison. Next to the bed was an armchair sitting in the center of a glowing circle.

The time was 9:40 P.M., and VR Crime Time was about to begin.

“I just turned on voice chat again.”

Kamo hadn't realized that the word “Kurata” had appeared in the lower left corner of his vision.

“An armchair-shaped save point that matches with your VR headsets has been placed in each of your rooms. Please be sure to save before leaving the VR space.”

Hearing that, Kamo felt a bit strange.

Most modern games had autosave features, eliminating the need for players to save manually. From that point of view, this game system was kind of archaic.

Did they intentionally add manual saves to prevent players from leaving the VR space unexpectedly?

Kurata seemed to sense his thoughts and said “Didn't games in the past used to force you to check a typewriter or use the bathroom to save? I brought that idea back. For the nostalgia value!”

Suddenly, YUKI's voice interjected.

“But there's no save option on the menu screen.”

YUKI should have been in his room, so it seemed that everyone's words were being shared.

“Just sit on the save seat and drink some water and everything will be hunky-dory.”

Kamo looked down to see an ankle-high shelf next to the dark gray armchair, which did indeed hold a pitcher of water and a cup.

“...As soon as you're all done saving, you'll be free to return to the real world. Megalodon Manor is equipped with bathing facilities, and there's also plenty of food.”

Hearing the word “food”, Kamo suddenly felt thirsty.

Come to think of it, he hadn't had a drop to drink since that drugged coffee, and that was around 2:00 P.M. Although he didn't feel hungry yet, it would be better to hydrate before Crime Time began.

Kurata continued to read the instructions in a bored voice.

“Only, please do not leave your respective rooms within Megalodon Manor without permission. Those who do not follow this instruction will be considered in violation of the game rules.”

It seemed they were only free to leave Puppet Hall and return to the real world, not to explore Megalodon Manor at will.

Kamo walked towards the table.

In the room in the real world, the table had food and other items, while in the VR space, it had pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a pair of white gloves and a notebook for investigations.

On top of that, in the left hand pocket of his shirt, Kamo had a pair of black gloves and a mask. These were special tools for him to use while committing crimes, and the gloves were also waterproof and would protect him when handling chemicals.

He once again surveyed the interior of the room, then frowned. Even when he'd been supervising the original construction, he'd felt that these rooms couldn't exactly be called comfortable.

The main concept of Puppet Hall was, of course, being a hall of puppets.

This concept was reflected in the large number of puppets that took up a third of the desktop space. They were all about fifteen centimeters in size. The staggered shelves on the wall were also full of puppets, and even the bed was surrounded by them.

If they'd been replaced with teddy bears, it would have been a bit cuter.

However, the puppets in the room were all freely movable types with particularly realistic head to body ratios and appearances. Maybe the developers had been having fun, but some of them were posed like tokusentai heroes and others were doing the Frankenstein/diving board walk made famous by horror movies.

Back when Kamo wrote for an occult magazine, he once went to a ryokan that was rumored to be haunted by a zashiki-warashi. That old inn had also been full of dolls and other toys. Of course, they were all offerings made by travelers to show their gratitude to the zashiki-warashi.

This felt the opposite of back then... All he felt from these toys was malice.

He reached out and picked up a puppet dressed as a dwarf.

Looking closer, it seemed that the parts making up the puppet's body were made of wood, the axe in the puppet's hand was made of real metal, and the clothes were proper fabric. The puppet was heavier than it looked. Looking around at the blonde elves and armored knights that were the other puppets, Kamo guessed that this room's theme was traditional fantasy.

At that moment, Kamo's eyes met those of the puppet in the distance, and he couldn't stop the chill that ran down his spine.

The puppet was the spitting image of Kamo, and it held a rope around the neck of the puppet next to it. Perhaps the message was that he himself was just another puppet, dancing on Kurata's strings.

Kurata spoke again.

“The setting for the next section is that everyone is resting in their rooms when an incident occurs, so please, all Detectives, be sure not to leave your rooms within Puppet Hall. Unless, of course, the Murderer asks you to.”

Even though nobody offered any thoughts, Kurata seemed to sense something in the following silence.

“...Do you think that's a bit too generous for the Murderer?”

Having the regular “taunt everyone with seeming omniscience” section done, the explanation continued. “Don't all mansion murder stories have the interesting bits happen while everyone is alone in their rooms? Of course, saying that is just an excuse. The real issue is that if you knew when the crime would occur ahead of time and were still allowed to act freely, that would cause trouble for my Executioner.”

FUWA's voice interjected.

“Can Detectives only do what the Murderer orders them to?”

“How could I do such a thing!? I'm not asking you to go down without a fight here. Once you have a specific reason, even something like hearing a suspicious noise from outside the room, you can leave.”

At that moment, Munakata was giving a rare smile.

“So in other words, we can do whatever we need to defend ourselves?”

Kurata also smiled and said “More than that, please, Detectives, take advantage of all of the Murderers' mistakes and stop them from committing their crimes. After all, in the VR space the victims will just come back as ghosts, yeah?”

“Oh? So the rule that dead men tell no tales doesn't apply here?”

“Exactly. All the killing roles have been given masks to conceal their identities, but the victim is able to use what happened to them and whatever they see and hear as material for use in their deductions. And of course, they can share that information with the others.”

...The Murderer had to hide their identity and the tricks they'd prepared even from the victim.

Kamo had known this from the beginning and had naturally devised appropriate countermeasures. Nonetheless, it was still a highly unfavorable element for the Murderer.

Kurata continued somewhat frantically “The harder you struggle, the closer the Detectives will get to the truth. That means this battle between Detectives and Murderers is about to explode!"

***

Kamo sat down on the dark gray armchair/save point and reached for the water pitcher.

The shelf that held the pitcher and cup was only ankle high, so it was hard to pour the water.

The water in the cup was crystal clear and looked better than any real water Kamo had ever seen. However, even if he drank it, it wouldn't quench his thirst; all that happened was that the water level lowered as he held the cup back.

At the bottom left of his vision, the word “Saving...” appeared.

Kurata had told him to save his game at the start of the section, and now he had.

The time was 10:00 P.M... VR Crime Time had now begun.

“Just to remind you – Oh, by the way, the other players can't hear us right now.”

Kamo had just stood up when Kurata opened the voice chat, and he smiled bitterly.

“Am I up to bat first, then?”

“Mr. Kamo, the time you've been given is two hours, until midnight.”

“You only give me two hours, but the Executioner gets three?”

“It's no use complaining. If you don't complete your crime within the time limit, that'll be considered a failure condition.”

“...Got it.”

Kamo stepped out into the hallway.

The guest rooms all had autolocks, and on the walls outside were sensors that unlocked the doors when the avatar's smartwatch was help up to them.

If he made any sudden movements at this point, it was likely that the Detectives would realize that someone had left their room, so he walked carefully on the wooden floor of the corridor.

Kamo had already familiarized himself with the layout of Puppet Hall during his preparatory work, and it could even be said that he was the master of the building.

However, during VR Investigation Time, he had to join with the other players and pretend he was also exploring an unfamiliar place.

Since there hadn't actually been any incidents yet, none of the other guests seemed to be investigating all that seriously, and some of them even wrapped up and went back to their rooms early. On the other hand, Kamo, who was putting on an act, was much more active than any of them. Before he'd realized, he and MUNAKATA were the only two left in the main hall. As Kamo decided to go back to his room, MUNAKATA kept on watching him, his expression unreadable.

...Munakata might be the most dangerous person of the seven.

Thinking that, Kamo reached his left hand into his pocket.

The names of the items in that pocket were displayed in the lower right corner of the screen: “Crime Gloves” and “Murderer's Mask”. He selected an item with his finger.

Kamo first took out the black gloves and put them on.

The gloves were made of a thin, flexible material that molded perfectly to Kamo's hands. There were elastic bands at the wrists to secure them, and a non-slip treatment on the palm sides... Needless to say, these were gloves meant to be used for crime.

Then, he lifted his smartwatch and pulled up the floor plan of Puppet Hall.

With Roppongi's death, the number of vacant rooms had increased to two. KAMO (Kamo's avatar)'s room was in the northern section, alongside those of FUWA, KENZAN, and AZUMA.

Coming to the end of the corridor, Kamo crouched down. The similarity of the situation to when he was playtesting made him smile bitterly.

...He'd suggested that he wanted to be able to see into the main hall from the corridor, so the staff put a cat flap on the door connecting the two.

There weren't any cats in the game, so that cat flap's presence was unusual. That said, no one should have been able to deduce that Kamo was the Murderer just from that.

There was just a piece of black plastic film covering the cat flap, and there wasn't any sort of seal, so voices could be heard clearly. He listened carefully at the door, as someone was in the hall.

It was MICHI.

MegalodonSoft had designated the victims beforehand; MICHI was first, and FUWA was second. Kamo had been told this before he started planning his crime scenario.

In the preparatory stages before the crime, a card had been placed in MICHI's room reading “Come to the storeroom at 10:15 P.M.”

Although it wasn't necessarily a good idea to spy on her via the cat flap, as long as he didn't get caught, everything would be fine, and MICHI didn't catch him as she walked straight to the kitchen.

Kamo also quickly crossed the hall and crouched by the kitchen door. That door also had a cat flap.

Click, click, click, click.

MICHI's heels tapped on the concrete floor with a series of light clicks. The brief pauses in between must have come from her carefully observing her surroundings.

Kamo once again reached his left hand into his pocket.

The name of the item in the pocket – “Murderer's Mask” – appeared at the bottom right of the screen. He took out the collapsible mask of pitch black.

This flat mask had also appeared in the previous Mystery Maker as a special item for the Murderer character. By putting on the Murderer's Mask, the player's avatar would appear to all other players as the black shadow figure from a certain mystery manga. It might have been a bit ridiculous, but the leather mask could even disguise the wearer's height and figure.

Not only that, but it also had built-in night vision.

To ensure the target couldn't fight back while being attacked during the crime, the Murderer had permission to turn off all the lights in the entire building during Crime Time. This was one of the advantages given to the killers in Mystery Maker 2, as then they could escape with the help of the night vision function while the building was plunged into total darkness. However, if they kept that permission during Investigation or Answer Time, someone could use the darkness to destroy vital evidence. In order to avoid such behavior, permission to turn off the lights was only granted during Crime Time.

However... if things go according to plan, I won't need to turn the lights off at all.

Thinking that, Kamo put on the Murderer's Mask, then went back to observing MICHI's movements.

Click.

The footsteps stopped abruptly. A moment later, he heard the rattle of the iron door closing.

Kamo, judging that MICHI had entered the storeroom, immediately walked into the kitchen and locked the door to the storeroom.

He barely made a sound, so MICHI shouldn't have realized she was locked in the storeroom.

Everything had gone well up to now.

***

In the end, it took Kamo an hour and twenty minutes to complete his crime.

After dying in game, the real Michi must have been forcibly logged off. Only the corpse of her avatar, MICHI, remained in Puppet Hall.

That, and... the feeling of squeezing down on MICHI's neck never left his fingertips. Whenever Kamo closed his eyes, traces of the realistic nosebleed left on the concrete floor as he dragged the corpse floated to his vision.

When he was testing them, the murder scenes in-game were never that realistic. It mush have been Kurata, maliciously changing the parameters of the VR space to force them to experience violence and bloodshed infinitely close to reality.

Kamo forced down his nausea and kept reassuring himself.

There was nothing wrong with the Michi in reality. She would be resurrected as a ghost first thing in the morning. There was no need for concern.

Before he realized, it was already 11:45 P.M.

Even though the crime had only been committed in VR, Kamo was exhausted from having done every action inside the RHAPSODY, and he'd had to take several breaks in the middle of the crime. The VR suit and the insides of the poorly breathable gloves were already soaked in sweat.

Kamo turned back to the storeroom door.

The locked room was complete. While his ruse wasn't bulletproof, at least he wouldn't be immediately exposed as the Murderer.

He dragged his tired body back to the main hall.

There was still time to spare, so he made his way to the dollhouse.

Back when he was developing the setting, Kamo had given special attention to the huge model. The miniature furniture inside was exquisitely crafted, from the round table in the main hall to the beds in the guest rooms, everything was identical to the real article.

The dolls, pencils, and even the condiment bottles in the kitchen were reproduced at a perfect twelve-to-one scale. The wall sconces in the dollhouse even illuminated the model from inside. It was a flawless recreation.

Of course, the dollhouse hadn't been painstakingly hand carved by artisans. As a work of art or a display of craftsmanship, it was worthless.

Despite that, the virtual dollhouse had all the charm of a miniature model one could never grow tired of looking at.

Kamo suddenly noticed a note on the low table where the dollhouse was placed, near the model's hall windows.

On it were two lines written in pencil:

ArteMis Hero

Ares hinted Pen

“AreteMis Hero, Ares hinted Pen... What does it mean?”

The meaning of the words was unclear, not helped by the awkward grammar.

In Greek mythology, Artemis was goddess of the moon and the hunt, and Ares was the god of war. The only thing the two had in common was being Greek gods, but the message as a whole seemed meaningless. The stories of the two gods didn't suggest anything in particular, either.

...Did Yuki write this? But why would he?

He didn't know how long he'd been thinking about it, but Kamo looked at his watch and was shocked to realize that the time limit was almost up.

He scrambled for the door to the northern section and grabbed the doorknob – at that moment, a sudden sensation came from his right hand that stopped his heart for a second.

The tips of his fingers were numb with pain.

He reflexively let go of the doorknob, not knowing what had happened.

His right hand was still a bit numb. Kamo started to get scared and almost pressed the button to lift his lenses. He caught himself at the last moment.

...No, lifting the lenses now would be a violation of the rules. I'd be killed before I had a chance to explain myself.

After calming himself as best he could, Kamo realized that the doorknob was stained with blood.

He looked at his right hand in shock, only to see a cut from his index finger to his ring finger, the glove torn.

The wound wasn't deep, but the blood kept dripping down to the carpet. Since the injury had been sustained in VR space, the pain hadn't lasted long, and already he couldn't feel it anymore.

Kamo tried to take off his gloves to check the condition of his right hand, but the elastic band at his wrist was tight and the gloves were extraordinarily close fit, so they weren't easy to remove.

When he finally got them off, he realized that the blade of a utility knife had been left in the wound.

He panicked and checked the doorknob.

On the underside of the round, spherical handle... was a coating of bloodstained glue. It was so well hidden it was almost impossible to see from above.

Kamo couldn't help but mutter aloud in a low voice “Did someone glue the blade of a utility knife to the doorknob?”

Kamo had touched that doorknob during VR Investigation Time and knew there had been nothing there then.

He turned back to the dollhouse. This time he wasn't looking at the model, but went to check the drawer of the low table. Sure enough, the glue and utility knife were both gone.

...Munakata did this.

Kamo frowned as the thought so on a hunch.

MUNAKATA had been dawdling in the main hall until the very end of VR Investigation Time. He must have waited for everyone else to return to their rooms before he attached the blade to the doorknob. Of course, the purpose of this impromptu trap was to identify the Murderer.

“...Oh, this is a problem,” Kurata whispered happily.

Kamo covered his wound to keep the blood from dripping and went to check the door to the southern section, which also had a cat flap.

Sure enough, there was a blade glued to the doorknob of that door as well.

The plan was for those traps to go off when the killer moved from their section to the opposite section, or when they returned to their section from a common area like the main hall.

Kamo was in the latter situation.

“They'll find out the Murderer's identity if they search the avatars in the morning. That's a fatal problem.”

Even though the situation was critical, Kurata was laughing pleasantly. A demon with an angel's laugh...

Kamo lowered his voice and replied “As long as they don't find out how I did it, there's no problem.”

“'It doesn't matter as long as I don't get hit'? Players who talk like that tend to die young.”

Kamo went to the kitchen and took a rag, wetting it with his left hand. Even though he knew it was useless, he wiped the blood from the handle of the north door.

“What's the point of you doing something like that?”

...There was no point to anything.

As long as his avatar had an injury to his hand, it was useless even if he wiped off the blood.

Even so, Kamo wiped off all the blood he could find. It was lucky that the hall's carpet was dark brown, so the dripping blood wasn't very noticeable.

He didn't have time to hide the blade lodged in his glove or the blood-stained rag, so he had to take them back to his room.

It was a bit past midnight when he arrived in the northern section. But Kurata didn't say anything about that.

Kamo thought for a moment that Kurata just hadn't noticed, but then he thought that since the rules had been so strictly enforced otherwise, it might have been that just the impossible crime had to be accomplished within the time limit, but it didn't matter if he was a little late getting back to his room.

Kurata chose that moment to gloat.

“Next, you'll be subjected to a concentrated attack by all the Detectives. Do you think you'll make it? If they see through your trick, your wife and daughter are in for it, too.”

To protect Rena and Yukina, by any means necessary.

But if the detectives saw through his trick, there wasn't anything Kamo could do. All he'd have left was the prayer that the Detective who solved it would clear the entire case.

Kamo walked forward in silence.

“I, for one, am most eagerly looking forward to seeing you flailing in desperation. Hey, say something, will ya?”

There was only one thing he could do... to ensure Rena and Yukina's safety.

To encourage himself, Kamo grunted and said “You're so boring. Don't I just have to solve the Executioner's cases before anyone else?”

Kurata didn't respond.

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