Chapter Ten: Demo Playtest Day Two, Round Three

Saturday, November 23^rd, 2024, 11:05 P.M.

“Now then, please return to the VR space, everyone. There, you all shall confirm via your virtual avatars that Fuwa has returned safely to his room before the beginning of Crime Time.”

Munakata had done the same thing after he'd been judged a failure in his reasoning, and he'd been killed.

...If we don't do something, that tragedy will repeat itself.

Thinking that, Kamo shouted “Don't make me laugh. You're just planning on attacking us while we're wearing our VR headsets and can't confirm what's going on, aren't you?”

Kurata Kaito laughed from the other side of the floor to ceiling window.

“Well, never mind then.”

“...What?”

“Seriously, it's okay if we skip the meeting in VR. Because for me and my Executioner, it doesn't matter.”

The overlapping voices were full of confidence.

Kamo felt particularly unnerved. He couldn't shake the feeling that even his resistance was part of the enemy's plan.

Kurata happily continued “Then we'll start Crime Time as soon as you all return to your rooms in Megalodon Manor. Well... let's go too, dear sister.”

His voice faded away, and he respectfully gripped the handles of the wheelchair and slowly pushed it away. After a few moments, his figured disappeared off the left side of the window.

His real voice left alongside it, leaving only the artificial female voice to fill the lounge.

“...The exact length of the next Crime Time will be announced later.”

The words came and went, and the lounge fell into complete silence.

“I have a request.”

Fuwa broke the silence. Looking around at everyone, his voice sounded cheerful, but his expression looked as though he could burst into tears at any moment.

“A request?” asked Kenzan, making no effort to hide the unease he felt.

“No matter what happens, I don't want any of you to try and save me... You all understand, right? I created the monster named Kurata Kaito, so I have to face the consequences.”

Tears formed in Azuma's eyes.

“How could we possibly accept that!? Mr. Fuwa, who have you been working so hard all this time for?”

“For my wife, who was taken hostage...”

“Then you should do everything you can to survive, and return to her alive. Didn't you tell me that before? For Wataru's sake, we should all work together and overcome this challenge...”

Azuma's voice was getting lower and lower.

Fuwa smiled softly. “For your son's sake, this is for the best.”

Michi switched to her rare serious tone. “That's no good. If you give up now, you'll be doing exactly what that siscon bastard wants you to.”

“...Give up?”

Fuwa muttered, but his eyes gleamed with life.

“Kurata Kaito just said that he was going to make my death a new mystery to challenge you all, right? I don't doubt that it will indeed be a challenging puzzle, but at the same time, it's a chance to stage a counterattack against Kurata and the Executioner.”

Hearing Fuwa's words, Yuki responded grimly “It's just common sense that increasing the number of crimes committed would be bad for the criminal. Even though the Executioner appears to have committed the perfect crime when they killed Mr. Munakata... there's a possibility that they could make a mistake during the next crime, and the whole situation could be turned about. But having said that... it's too much to ask us to just hope for that.”

He didn't say any more, so Kamo took over.

“He's right, I can't accept this solution. No matter what, we won't just sit and watch you die, Fuwa.”

Kenzan nodded decisively.

“As detectives, we can't allow that.”

Fuwa smiled weakly.

“You say that, but you're playing a game rigged in Kurata's favor. You're all bound by the rules, so I'm afraid you couldn't protect me no matter how hard you tried... and no matter how much you want to. Because everything you do fits into what's acceptable to a man who wants me dead.”

This time, everyone, including Kamo, lowered their heads. Because Fuwa's words were undeniably true.

Fuwa suddenly smiled again.

“Thinking about it, I never deserved to be a detective from the beginning.”

Michi hurriedly cut in. “No, no, how could you possibly be unqualified, Fuwa? Look at all the illegal shit I got up to, and now, even after I've washed my hands of it, I'm still stuck in a gray area...”

Michi stammered and stopped talking, but her meaning was obvious to everyone.

However, Fuwa kept it up, and continued “The day I lost Mr. Youji 26 years ago, I should have died. Back then, I chose to live on, and boldly threw myself into my work as a private investigator... that is my pride as a detective. But to Kurata, that must have looked like nothing but arrogance and hypocrisy.”

“Who cares what he thinks? Mr. Fuwa, you weren't wrong to live!”

Fuwa ignored Azuma's tearful plea and stood up.

“Whether I was or not doesn't matter anymore. If I can't solve this case and live, then let my death be what unlocks the door to the truth for you all.”

Yuki silently lowered his head, while Michi looked at Fuwa with a mix of resignation and pity. Azuma and Kenzan kept trying persuade him, but they were both finally overwhelmed by the look in Fuwa's eyes and fell silent.

Kamo took a breath before asking “...What are you going to do?”

Fuwa sternly announced “I'm going to my room here in Megalodon Manor, and I'm not leaving until I die. You hear me, Kurata? No amount of coaxing will get me out. No matter what happens, I won't leave the room, and I won't let go of anyone who comes in. Even if it kills us both, I will personally restrain the Executioner... to increase the odds of everyone else surviving.”

“Mr. Fuwa...”

Fuwa glanced at the murmuring Kenzan and continued “Enough. Instead of thinking about me, you all should spend your time solving the mysteries left. This is my final request.”

***

Kamo lay on the bed and stared at the cream wallpaper.

Based on the color of the walls, he could tell he was in Megalodon Manor... in the real world.

According to the smartwatch, it was 11:30 at night. Although Kurata hadn't announced the start of Crime Time, he felt like he'd already fought a war.

From nowhere, there came a shrill electronic noise, like the sound of a hearing check. No, not from nowhere. It was coming from the VR headset.

Kamo carefully picked up the headset, fearing a trap.

“You and I are the only ones who can hear this conversation... You don't have to put on the headset, just hold it closer to your ear.”

The voice was so small it was barely audible, but it was Kurata's voice. Figuring there shouldn't be any danger in just holding the headset, Kamo did as he was told.

“Are you still using your sister's voice?”

The microphone built into the headset picked up Kamo's voice, and Kurata let out a chuckle that scratched at his eardrums.

“Because this revenge must be done in the name of Kurata Chikage.”

Kamo sat on the bed and said “Whatever you say. Why are you calling about something other than announcing the start of the next Real World Crime Time?”

“I have a score to settle with you, Mr. Kamo, before the next crime scene is unveiled. Because you surrendered.”

“When did I do that?”

Kamo wasn't planning to deny it. It was just that he'd made several risky plays over the course of the game, so he wasn't sure which one Kurata was referring to.

“Submitting your own Crime Glove as evidence, of course. You went too far that time, and I can only interpret it as your surrender.”

“Why? Didn't I say that I found it?” Kamo asked, voice confident.

If Kurata had actually read that as his surrender, he should have been killed on the spot. The fact that he was still alive was proof that the game's mastermind had another purpose.

Sure enough, Kurata let out a long sigh.

“I figured you'd say that... but what counts as a surrender is determined by the listeners. And everyone who heard your words earlier, including Fuwa, should believe that you just admitted everything.”

“However dark it is, I kept it in the gray area.”

“Indeed you did, which is why I didn't get rid of you and your hostages on the spot. It's just that you'll have to make a little bet with me now.”

Kamo thought for a moment, then said “A bet? So if I win, I won't be considered to have admitted anything, and if I lose, I'll be judged as having violated the no confessions rule?”

“Exactly.”

“I don't have the right to refuse, do I?”

“How could you? I want to hear your reasoning in the YUKI case, if you would. If you get it right, you win the bet.”

The unexpected proposal made Kamo go silent. Kurata's signature silver bell laugh rang in his ears.

“Honestly... I'm a bit concerned what you've deduced. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say I've been shaking with fear.”

“Really? You sound like you're enjoying yourself.”

“Oh, I just thought it'd be nice to take this chance to confirm your thoughts. Of course, if your answer is even slightly off, I'll show no mercy.”

Kamo was afraid that this was just a ploy to find out what cards he was holding while also looking for a chance to get rid of him.

Even if that didn't succeed, Kamo would still have been kept from giving any thought to Munakata's case until they were done. In addition to stalling for time, it might also have been to take up his energy and stamina.

Despite thinking all that, Kamo couldn't oppose Kurata, who dominated the game.

“Then hurry up and start.”

“Don't be in such a hurry to die. Before that, can I talk a bit about the MICHI case?”

Although Kurata used the tone of someone asking for permission, there was no pause before the continuation. “Fuwa already saw through 80% of the trick you came up with. The foundation you laid down is already riddled with holes. It can't stand any more.”

Kamo could only listen and smile bitterly.

Last night, Kamo had locked the virtual MICHI inside the storeroom. Then he used the air control system to pump the air out of the storeroom, causing the air pressure to plummet and MICHI to faint. After leaving the storeroom, he'd created the locked room from the outside using the air conditioning and control functions...

Up to that point, Fuwa had gotten it right.

Kurata said regretfully “I was really looking forward to him telling the whole truth, but I forgot that the contestant was Mr. Fuwa. I didn't expect him to come up with something as outrageous as using wind to blow the door shut.”

Kamo nodded.

“When the body was found, there was no pressure difference between the storeroom and the kitchen... Furthermore, we can tell because of the cat flaps on the main hall doors and the gaps above the guest room doors that no room in Puppet Hall is airtight except the storeroom. In other words, not only the kitchen, but also the main hall, northern corridor, and southern corridor also had no difference in pressure.

“Fuwa ultimately failed to escape that preconceived notion.”

There were actually several hints.

How could the air pressure in the storeroom be lowered so easily, even with the air control system?

Why did Kamo and the others briefly feel heavy when they entered the VR space at 8:00 A.M.?

Why did the carpet in YUKI's room dry so quickly?

Kamo's smile was very complicated.

“Then again... you told everyone that 'outside of Puppet Hall is just an endless void' before, right? I broke into a cold sweat when I heard that.”

“That was the truth, wasn't it? After all, outside of Puppet Hall is literally nothingness... that is, a vacuum like you'd find in outer space.”

The reason why the air conditioners in Puppet Hall had the function of distributing air was because the building was located in a special environment where fresh air and oxygen had to be resupplied on a regular basis.

Kurata continued “After you left the storeroom, you used the air control systems in each room in Puppet Hall, and one by one, little by little, you pumped the air out of the entire hall. It took you over an hour, but you eventually set a balance so that the entire building was in a state equivalent to the top of Mt. Fuji... which is to say, less than 0.7 atmospheres, right?”

At high altitudes, an unopened bag of potato chips will expand as though inflated. This is because of the drop in atmospheric pressure around the bag.

“That's right. A rubber dinghy that's only filled to 1/8^th its total capacity in an atmospheric pressure environment is able to expand automatically as the air pressure around it drops...”

That was how the locked room had been created.

Kamo had only taken the one step of lowering the average air pressure inside the building. Thus, when the group found the body, the storeroom door would have been blocked by the shelves and the inflated rubber boat.

“When you broke down the storeroom door, the fallen shelf cut the rubber boat. Even if the air pressure were restored later, there's no way to tell how much air was inside. Then you used the air conditioners to slowly raise the air pressure inside the building back to normal levels.”

In actuality, there was the risk that if the door wasn't broken down with enough force, the dinghy wouldn't have been torn. If that had happened, Kamo would have suggested that they checked the boat for signs of internal tampering, and had one of the Detectives cut the boat open before he restored the pressure.

In addition, there was one other thing Kurata had failed to mention... When changing the air pressure, it was also important to keep the rooms' temperatures from changing as much as possible, so that the other players wouldn't notice. To do that, Kamo had utilized all the air conditioners in the building and spent over an hour making a slow, gradual change to the air pressure.

At that point, Kurata let out a long sigh.

“But man, what a bunch of losers the Detectives in this game are. When they logged into the VR space again, before the air pressure was fully restored, surely they must have felt their bodies getting heavier, but to my surprise, nobody seemed to care.”

The reason they'd all felt heavy was because their avatars were suffering from altitude sickness.

Their VR suits and the RHAPSODY reproduced the low-pressure environment their characters were in as much as possible, which was reflected by the ringing in their ears and the feelings of heaviness.

“Didn't the wet carpet in YUKI's room dry out extraordinarily fast? They should have noticed that that was abnormal, so why didn't they!?”

In places at high altitude with low air pressure, the boiling point of water is reduced below 100 degrees Celsius... conversely, pressure cookers work by raising the boiling point of water, enabling ingredients to be cooked at high temperatures.

As Kamo lowered the air pressure inside Puppet Hall, the boiling point of water dropped, so the damp carpet and clothes dried faster than usual.

Kamo frowned and said “I don't want to hear any more complaints, can we start with my answer for the YUKI case already?”

“Then please start by naming the culprit.”

Kamo looked down at his hands.

“The black glove that fell in the foyer reveals the identity of the culprit.”

“...Oh?”

“That glove was badly worn, and from that, we can be sure that the glove's owner acted with the glove on during VR Crime Time.”

“But that doesn't mean they're the one who killed YUKI, does it?”

That was indeed a possibility they had to consider.

“If it was just to move the puppets into the main hall, the glove wouldn't have been worn out so badly. So the glove should have been used either for both killing YUKI and moving the puppets, or killing YUKI without moving the puppets. Either way, we can be sure that the owner of that glove is the culprit who killed YUKI.”

“I see.”

Kamo sighed softly and continued. “Since the glove still had use, we should expect that the culprit would be careful not to lose it. Thinking on that premise, why would that person have taken the glove off of their hand? Obviously, if he just wore them all the way back to the room, he wouldn't have to worry about losing them.”

“Didn't you take off your glove in a panic after getting injured, Mr. Kamo?”

Kurata's voice held a smirk, but Kamo frowned and continued.

“It's because I experienced that I can say with certainty that there's no way that glove could have been lost by accident. That's because it's elastic and molds closely to the shape of your hand, and is fastened with an elastic band at the wrist. That means... the culprit of YUKI's case encountered a situation in which they absolutely needed to take of their glove before returning to their room.”

“Huh, so that's the first step of your reasoning?”

Kamo picked the VR headset back up and continued. “But that isn't enough to identify the culprit, so we need to think a step further... Why didn't the culprit pick the glove back up?”

“Just didn't realize they'd lost it, I guess.”

Kamo shrugged.

“Not likely. Everyone currently inside of Megalodon Manor is a highly observant veteran detective, someone with abilities rivaling or even surpassing the person you've chosen as the Executioner.

“I don't deny that.”

“Even if the culprit made it back to their room with the glove missing, they should have realized it was gone by the time they got to the room. Everyone here has keen powers of observation, including him.”

“...He could have gone to stuff the gloves in his pocket and not realized that one of them had fallen out.”

“That also shouldn't be possible. When putting something in or pulling it out of a pocket in VR space, the name of the items in the pocket are displayed in front of the player's eyes, so any course of action involving the inventory will be accompanied by a visual cue, right?”

“Yes. For example, if you take out the Murderer's Mask, the game setting will ensure that the player doesn't accidentally grab anything else.”

Kamo nodded and continued. “When putting the glove in the pocket, the culprit would have immediately noticed that one glove was missing. That's because the items' name would have displayed as 'Crime Glove (Left Hand).”

When Yuki was given the glove they'd found in the foyer to hold on to, he'd said the item's name was displayed as “Crime Glove (Right Hand)” when he put it in his pocket.

“...I see, if it was a great detective, surely they wouldn't have ignored that.”

“That's right. The perpetrator of the YUKI case must have known that one of their gloves was missing but chose not to pick it up for some reason.”

Kamo heard a scoff.

“That's your second point? Assuming the culprit realized their glove was missing, it would only take them a few minutes to go back the way they'd came and look for it. Are you trying to say that person didn't even have a few minutes to spare?”

“You think it's weird too, right? Even if the glove couldn't be retrieved during VR Crime Time, there was still the next morning. That morning, the first person to enter the main hall was me... but that was after 8:00 A.M. If the culprit had taken action at exactly 8:00, they could have retrieved the glove from the foyer without running into me. Even if it was too late, they could have taken the glove and gone straight from the Foyer to the main hall ahead of me, or even taken the side door and come in behind me. And yet... the culprit didn't do any of that. The reason why is the key.”

“They couldn't retrieve the glove... Among the lot of you, only Mr. Yuki would have had that problem, right? After his avatar was poisoned, he was forcibly logged out and couldn't return to the VR space until his character's body was found the next morning.”

Listening to Kurata's malicious interpretation of the facts, Kamo shook his head.

“As I said, that glove is all worn out because it was used in the murder of YUKI. If the victim himself had directed his own death, what would he have needed to do that would involve that much work? Therefore, Yuki isn't the one who lost the glove.”

“So then there's nobody who can fulfill the second condition.”

“No, there is one person who fulfills both the first and second conditions... Fuwa Shinichiro.”

After a short silence, Kurata sighed.

“Please explain how he fulfills the conditions.”

“Like you said, it would have only taken a few minutes for the culprit of YUKI's murder to retrieve the glove. Moreover, if he'd noticed that he dropped the glove as soon as it fell in the foyer, he wouldn't have needed ten seconds to stoop down and pick it up. Yet, the culprit didn't retrieve the glove at the time or the next morning... I can only think of one reason why.”

“What's that?”

Kamo gave a weak smile and continued “The culprit was nearly seen on his way back from the murder and momentarily panicked. In the heat of the moment, he pulled off his Crime Gloves and hastily shoved them in his pocket, then met up with us.”

Kamo was referring, of course, to the scene where the virtual FUWA had shown up late to the gathering when they had started filling the main hall that morning.

“Are you trying to say that... Mr. Fuwa's crime didn't end during VR Crime Time, but took until the next morning?”

“In this game, it isn't a problem if the Murderer doesn't return to their room within the time limit, is it? In fact, after I killed MICHI, I also didn't get back to my room within my time slot, but you didn't punish me. I presume that as long as the actual crime is completed within the time limit, it's considered a pass.”

Kurata didn't answer, and remained silent.

Kamo took a breath and continued “I think it was Kenzan who got worried about Fuwa and the others who didn't show up this morning and offered to go check their rooms, and then said he'd check FUWA's room first.”

In hindsight, when the people in the main hall had been talking about the people who weren't there and were just about to head out to confirm their well being, FUWA had opened the door at that exact moment. The timing was unnatural, and compared to the others who'd casually walked into the room, FUWA looked as though he'd heard someone talking about him and run in in a hurry.

Perhaps Fuwa had only just then completed his scheme had was just about to return to his room via the foyer when he heard KENZAN speaking in the hall.

They're about to go investigate my room... Thinking that, Fuwa must have flown into a panic.

“If we had gone to his room, we would have discovered that FUWA wasn't there. The point is, for some reason, Fuwa couldn't let us know that he'd stayed in the foyer.”

“Oh, it really isn't hard to imagine Mr. Fuwa panicking. I bet he was sweating like a pig as he clumsily ripped off his gloves and mask and hastily shoved them in his pockets.”

Kamo nodded. “Now he fulfills the first condition of the culprit. Then, without giving KENZAN time to enter the northern corridor, FUWA entered the corridor via the foyer and opened the hall door to join us. At the time, of course, he pretended he'd just come from his room. But because of his quick action, even if he'd noticed that the glove had fallen in the foyer, he couldn't have gone back to pick it up.”

Kurata grinned.

“That makes sense. After joining the group and having all of your eyes on him, there's no way he could sneak off and grab it.”

“Exactly, so Fuwa also fulfills the second condition for being YUKI's killer.”

“I understand your reasoning as to why you believe the culprit of YUKI's case is Fuwa Shinichiro. Then, what method did he use?”

“The first thing to take note of is your wording.”

“...Oh?”

“When you announced the stage on the 22^nd, you naturally used the name 'Puppet Hall', but when you announced the stage on the 23^rd, you stopped calling it Puppet Hall and started using vague terms like 'building that reflects the conditions' instead, right? That subtle change hints at the trick Fuwa used.”

Kurata once again answered him with silence.

Kamo continued “The stage we entered on the 23^rd after we logged back in... No, I think it would be more accurate to say 'the building we entered on the second day'. It wasn't Puppet Hall, but another building that looked identical.”

Kurata played dumb. “Even if you're right, what does it have to do with the YUKI case? Fuwa poisoned the YUKI avatar without getting caught, and he did it all on the 22^nd. What's the need for a second building when it was all done in the same building?”

“I'll explain that next. For the moment, let's call the stage on the 22^nd Puppet Hall and the stage on the 23^rd Dollhouse Hall.”

“Heh, that's a funny name you came up with.”

Kamo gave a long sigh before he continued his explanation.

“The immediate trigger for my discovery that there were two buildings was the information on the participants in the game. My height is 179 cm, and my profile shows '5.87', which I originally thought was my height in feet, but there are no units shown after that number. And if we converted it to imperial units, it would normally be expressed as 5'8'', with two units used.”

“Yes, that's the way it's usually done in America and Europe.”

“One inch is 1/12 of a foot. And the dollhouse is a twelve-to-one scale model.”

“Since most dollhouses are made at a scale of one inch per one foot of real world scale, that's normal.”

Kamo looked up at the dark ceiling and said “Think about it this way: The stage on the 22^nd was Puppet Hall, and the stage on the 23^rd... was the twelve-to-one scale dollhouse in the main hall of Puppet Hall.”

“This theory of yours is quite whimsical.”

A whistle came from the headset, and Kamo laughed despite himself.

“I originally thought it was too outrageous, too. But then I thought Fuwa was the sort of person who actually would come up with such a whimsical plot.”

Fuwa, although he looked like a serious detective, often engaged in behavior that was out of the ordinary. Considering that together with his strange dreams, he should have been someone whose mind was full of whimsy.

“I suppose I can't deny that. But how exactly did you come to such a conclusion?”

“The first thing that made me suspicious was that there weren't any units after the numbers on the profile. I began to think that lack of units might be because the units on the first day weren't the same as the units on the second day. Thinking about it, all the clues formed a straight line pointing towards the existence of Dollhouse Hall.”

“I see. You think that your character on the first day was 5.87 feet, and your character on the second day was 5.87 inches, the Dollhouse Hall scale.”

Kurata appeared to be enjoying their little battle of wits progressively more.

“So, how did Mr. Fuwa poison him?”

“After midnight, FUWA went to the main hall, lowered the roof of the dollhouse, and turned off the lights in the hall.”

At that time, FUWA would have had to pass through the northern door of the main hall. Not long before, Kamo had triggered the trap on the door and removed the utility knife blade there, so FUWA's hand avoided injury.

“Why did he do that?”

“The dollhouse was going to be the game's stage on the 23^rd. If the roof of the dollhouse were still hanging overhead, we would have immediately realized that we weren't in Puppet Hall.”

“And the lights were out for the same reason?”

“Yes. Outside of Puppet Hall is a void, outside the dollhouse isn't. That's because it's inside the main hall in Puppet Hall. If he hadn't turned out the lights, we would have realized that outside the house was a giant version of the building.”

Kurata's laugh was surprisingly pleasant.

“I see. As soon as you turn out the lights in the main hall of Puppet Hall, the area around the dollhouse turns pitch black, and no one will realize that there is anything outside.”

The table the dollhouse was on was black, and the wallpaper in Puppet Hall was a solid dark gray. As soon as the lights in the main hall of Puppet Hall went out, the view from the windows of Dollhouse Hall showed nothing but black.

Then Kamo remembered the piece of paper with the names of the Greek gods he'd found on the dollhouse's table.

“There was a piece of paper with some inexplicable contents on the table last night, and it was FUWA who threw it in the trash.”

“Why?”

“It had nothing to do with what was written on the paper, it was just because it was left near the dollhouse... If someone looked out the window of Dollhouse Hall and saw a giant piece of paper, that'd be bad, wouldn't it?”

That was why Fuwa had crumbled up the piece of paper and thrown it in the trash.

Kamo paused for breath before continuing his long story.

“Then, Fuwa returned to his room, finished logging off for the first day, and logged back in again. By then, the date had changed, so he logged in to the stage for the 23^rd.”

“Which, according to you, would be the twelve-to-one scale world... which you've dubbed Dollhouse Hall, right?”

“That's right. The virtual FUWA became a miniature, only 16 cm tall.”

When the miniaturized FUWA logged in and arrived at Dollhouse Hall, his first action would have been to leave the room for the foyer.

Kamo envisioned the scene in his mind's eye as he continued. “Mini-FUWA walked out the front door of the dollhouse and onto the low table in Puppet Hall. For Mini-FUWA, that low table the dollhouse was on was four meters high, so the only way he'd be able to get down was by using the black rope you gave him. I guess he hung it from the iron nail jutting out of the corner of the table near the wall.”

“The main hall of Puppet Hall was already dark by then, wasn't it?”

“The Murderer's Mask has night vision, so that wasn't a problem. But it wouldn't have been as easy as if the lights had been on.”

Kurata didn't object, so Kamo spoke on.

“After descending to the ground, Mini-FUWA made his way through the main hall of Puppet Hall to the southern corridor.”

The hall's doors were all equipped with cat flaps, so the miniaturized avatar breezed right into the southern corridor.

“At around 12:50, Mini-FUWA made a loud noise in the corridor. Then, he took advantage of Yuki opening the door to sneak past him and entered the room. Because Mini-FUWA is only 16 cm tall, nobody would have noticed him if they hadn't been specifically forewarned such a small character could exist.”

The risk of discovery would be even lower if he stood right next to the door and ran in quickly while Yuki momentarily turned away.

“You mean, he just entered YUKI's room and poured the poison in his glass while YUKI was checking the corridor and main hall?”

“Since the shelf where the water cup was only reached ankle height, it shouldn't have been that hard for Mini-FUWA to climb up. In that case, you said the poison vial contained over 8,640 times the lethal dose for a human, right?”

“You were only told that once, you have a good memory.”

“Meanwhile, the glass of water at the save point is large enough to hold five sips. If the poison vial was completely emptied into the cup, the dose taken in a single save is 1/5^th, or 1,728 times the lethal dose. That's twelve cubed.”

An applause came from the VR headset.

“That's correct! What that was meant to be a hint for was the lethal dose for after your avatars were miniaturized. Comparatively speaking, on the first day Mr. Yuki was still in a world twelve times its size. Making a simple calculation based on the weight difference... to kill a giant you increase the dosage by twelve times twelve and twelve times that.”

Kamo narrowed his eyes and continued “After Mini-FUWA poisoned him, he probably hid inside the pile of puppets in the room. After Yuki returned to his room, he didn't even consider the possibility that a miniature person had entered his room, and drank the poisoned water... that all happened before 3:00 A.M.”

“Shrinking explains how he entered the room, sure, but it doesn't help him leave, does it? First off, he couldn't even reach the doorknob, and second, he would have been too weak to do anything... Oh, I suppose there's also the five millimeter gap above the door, but even Mini-FUWA wasn't so small he could have squeezed through that.”

Kurata was right. Even from Mini-FUWA's point of view, the door gap was only five millimeters times twelve... or six centimeters.

“So tell me, how did Mini-FUWA leave YUKI's room?”

“Just before 3:00 A.M., you ordered us to log out and log back in. That caused all of the avatars who logged back in at that time to be transferred to the stage for the 23^rd, which was Dollhouse Hall.”

At that time, Kurata said that the building Kamo and the others had just logged into “accurately reflects 'the condition of the interior of Puppet Hall saved at 3:00 A.M. on the 23^rd'”.

In other words, at that moment the inside of Dollhouse Hall was synchronized with Puppet Hall's.

Although everything had become 1/12^th its size, the interior of the building, whether it was the items, furniture, doors and windows... or even the corpses of the virtual characters, everything reflected the situation and configuration of the interior of Puppet Hall. As a result, Kamo and the others hadn't felt any abnormality and were convinced that the building they were in on the first day and the building they were in on the second day were the same.

Continuing by loading a save was a necessary step for resuming any game. Kamo hadn't considered the possibility that someone would take advantage of it for their crime. He'd been careless.

He sighed softly and continued “After everyone moved to the dollhouse, Mini-FUWA was the only one left in Puppet Hall. Since there was nobody left in Puppet Hall but him, he could move about freely.”

“Maybe.”

“...Earlier, somebody cut the rubber boat with a sword, right? It looks like the puppets in Puppet Hall reproduces even the sharpness of the items perfectly. Mini-FUWA also borrowed a prop like an axe from one of the puppets and broke a hole in YUKI's room door.”

The guest room door was made of wood. Although it happened the next day, Kamo remembered that when they broke down the door, it had warped in a flash. If the guest room door was made of a flimsy wood, then with a bit of time and effort, even a miniature FUWA should have been able to break a hole in it.

Kurata suddenly burst out laughing. Kamo sensed the meaning behind it and frowned. “Unfortunately... his door breaking didn't go as smoothly as he'd hoped.”

“Oh, and why's that?”

“Because I lowered the air pressure in Puppet Hall to a level able to trigger altitude sickness for my own locked room trick in the MICHI case.”

Kamo had spent a long time pumping the air out of Puppet Hall little by little. The air pressure had dropped to its lowest point around 3:00 A.M.... and that had caused Fuwa to suffer greatly.

“Exactly. RHAPSODY determined that Mini-FUWA was suffering from altitude sickness, which severely hampered his movements. I'm guessing that breaking open that door was countless times more painful then when he was testing it out.”

Kurata's tone was flat. That things would work out this way couldn't have been a surprise to the Gamemaster, but Fuwa's plan was allowed anyway. Kamo clenched his fists so hard he nearly drew blood.

“Originally, according to his plan, Fuwa should have had an easy time returning to his room in Dollhouse Hall. But because he'd been hindered in his escape, the plan was delayed significantly. I'm afraid... that by 8:00 A.M., he was still climbing the rope in the main hall of Puppet Hall.”

That morning, Fuwa had appeared in the main hall of Dollhouse Hall almost ten minutes after Kamo.

Back then, the reason he'd been breathing strange... was probably because he'd just climbed the rope up the giant low table.

Finally, Kamo's mind drifted back to the state of the Crime Glove they'd found in the foyer.

The non-slip layer being so badly worn was because it had been used to climb down then back up a four meter rope. The wood shavings on the glove were from the door being broken, and the black fibers were rubbed off of the rope by the friction.

Kamo continued “He returned to Dollhouse Hall, locked the front door, and before he had a chance to catch his breath, he heard someone in the main hall say they were going to search his room.”

“He must have been in quite the hurry.”

“...There was nothing he could do but meet us in the main hall. But because he was tired and flustered, he accidentally dropped a glove in the foyer and never got a chance to retrieve it.”

“Because after you met up, all you amateur detectives started spying on each other, yeah. So why did Fuwa need to hide that he'd been in the foyer?”

“If we guessed he'd come through the foyer, there was a chance that we'd see how he committed the YUKI case. That's what he was afraid of.”

The whole point of the YUKI case's trick was to make everyone think “the entrance door in the VR space can't be opened, and there's nothing on the other side, not even ground”. He had to do everything he could to make sure nobody ever suspected “I can leave the building”.

But all his efforts had been in vain because he'd dropped a single glove in the foyer...

***

“Sure enough... You've seen the truth of the YUKI case.” Kurata said with both reluctance and admiration.

“Actually, I realized it during the Answer Time earlier... But it took me a bit longer to realize that Fuwa couldn't have left the three fingerprints on the switch, and from there deduce that the Executioner was someone else.”

Kurata was silent for almost a minute.

Just when Kamo wondered if the line had died, the voice returned. “It seems like you are good at making deductions and solving puzzles, but you still won't be able to survive this game.”

“What's the point of cheap threats at this stage?”

Kurata laughed with cheer.

“Since you're going to die anyway, you might as well tell me. Why did you become an amateur detective?”

Hearing the unexpected question, Kamo shifted the VR headset in his hand, then spoke.

“I never considered myself an amateur detective in the first place. I should say I never considered myself a detective at all.”

“Mr. Yuki and Ms. Michi said something similar.”

Kamo sighed, then laughed softly.

“The eight people gathered here... It's true that we've all got some experience solving mysteries. If this was a detective novel, maybe we would all have that world's universal concept of 'detective' within us. But it doesn't work like that in reality.”

“Oh? So you mean to say that some people embrace the love of mysteries and the identity of 'detective', and some people are like you?”

“The methods and the reasons why the eight of us solve mysteries must all be different.”

“Then enlighten me, why do you go digging up all those old cases?”

Kamo replied without hesitation. “I listen to people who claim to have experienced being wronged, and then I write about them. By trying to organize events as objectively as possible, I want to be a voice for anyone that I find has the slightest possibility of being innocent.”

“But you're just an ordinary person, so why...”

“If nobody does, then the wronged won't have a voice, will they? So I choose to listen to them. That's all. It had nothing to do with being 'a detective'.”

Kurata filled with intense rage. “Liar! If that were the case, then why have you gotten into dangerous situations so many times, and solved them so many times, and still managed to stay so calm now? Something like that... is only possible for someone with the conviction of a detective, and an obsession with the sense of accomplishment that comes from solving a mystery.”

Meister Hora had also said that Kamo was good at solving unusual mysteries. But being good at something was different from being obsessed with it.

“You kidnapped my family and stole every option other than solving the case, and you have the nerve to say something like that?”

“Are you trying to say... that your only motives are to protect your family, your desire to be reunited with them, and your hope that nobody else will become a victim?”

Kamo didn't answer. Kurata groaned and laughed.

“Even so, you're just like Mr. Fuwa and Mr. Roppongi! Because you think as long as a genius like you is involved in the investigation, you're certain that you'll be able to save people, you're certain the number of victims will only go down. Let me tell you, that blind arrogance will be your undoing.”

“I'm not doing anything that great.”

“Huh? Then tell me exactly what the difference is between you and them.”

“If you were me, if you were in a situation where you could save someone just by reaching out your hand... would you stay still? I'm sorry, but I don't think I could do that anymore.”

“Anymore...?”

There was a moment of doubt in Kurata's voice.

In fact, the offhand word confused Kamo as well. But he was pretty sure... if he were the same person he'd been a decade or so ago, he would have remained indifferent and turned a blind eye no matter how much pain someone else was in.

Kamo smiled self-consciously.

...Yes, back then I still believed life was struggle.

That was before he'd met Rena.

Raised away from the cruelties of the world, she could be too kind for her own good and had never learned to doubt others. Even Kamo, who never got close to anyone because of his rough personality... she'd been able to give him unconditional trust from the moment they'd met.

Looking at her like that, Kamo felt words lose their power.

That was why when they first met, Kamo had tried to scare her, tried to show her how dangerous trust could be. But... Rena remained the same Rena, and it was Kamo who'd changed without realizing it.

Rena had altered the path of his destiny... Now, Kamo had someone he wanted to protect.

Kurata sounded irritable. “How do you know the person you're reaching out for wants to be saved? The other person might die as a direct result of your failure. Or because you saved them, someone else might face misfortune instead. Even knowing that... are you still going to reach out to help simply to satisfy your arrogance?”

“I was about to ask you why you're so arrogant.”

Silence.

“None of us are God. No matter how smart someone is, it's impossible to accurately predict the entire future. Because of that, whether we're groping our way through darkness or gazing into hell... all we can do is look with our own eyes and choose a path forward.”

Kamo believed that was what it meant to live.

“That's why in the future, I'll keep choosing to 'help'. If you'd rather sit and wait until the future becomes the past and then kick back and laugh about how pointless is would have been to act, then go ahead.”

Kurata let out a long sigh.

“We really are incompatible.”

For some reason, the voice from the headset sounded extremely tired. But then came bitter sarcasm. “So you want to win the game and try to save others? If you believe that, then I have nothing else to say. But.. you should start thinking about how to survive your next Crime Time first.”

Hearing those words, Kamo's face twisted.

“I see, is that your next move?”

“It's like this, the Executioner is busy preparing for the next Real World Crime Time right now, so I want to leave you to handle the next VR Crime Time on your own. You prepared two cases for the demo playtest, and now that the MICHI case is over and done with, next is...”

“The FUWA case.”

According to the original plan, the victim of the second case was supposed to be Fuwa.

“That won't work, since he's now being targeted by the Executioner. So you'll have to change targets.”

“What!?”

The unexpected instruction made Kamo stumble back against the bed.

The plan he'd come up with hinged upon the location of FUWA's room directly next to his own... and also required a particularly tall victim. Therefore, there was no way he could apply it to another victim.

Kurata kept on talking. “As I said before... the key to murders in the VR space is that the victims will come back as ghosts. That means the Murderer has to keep their identity even from the victim, thus making it harder to commit the crime. Wouldn't it totally defeat the point if Mr. Fuwa died in the real world immediately after the FUWA case?”

Kamo clenched his teeth.

“There's no point making excuses. I think you just want me dead.”

Laughter exploded from the headset.

“You're so perceptive, I love it. If you like, you can go after MICHI or YUKI, who are already ghosts. Or you can kill yourself. The current time is 12:25 A.M. Assuming it takes five minutes to make the announcement, let's have the VR Crime Time last until 2:30 A.M.”

Kamo glanced at his smartwatch and was shocked.

“Only two hours?”

“Even if you saw through the YUKI case, it's all useless. Well, please pick a new target, come up with a whole new impossible crime, and commit it within the next two hours... if you can.”

It was nothing less than Kurata's declaration of victory.

***

Afterwards, Kurata informed everyone in Megalodon Manor that VR Crime Time had begun. The conditions were almost the same at last night's VR Crime Time.

In principle, the players all had to stay in the VR space and wait. However, an additional rule was added, which said that Fuwa was guaranteed not to be the target this Crime Time, so only he was exempted from the rule that he had to remain in VR.

After the instructions were over, Kamo entered the VR space.

He knew intellectually that he was in Dollhouse Hall, but no matter how hard he looked, the place he was in looked exactly like Puppet Hall on day one. It was hard to imagine he was in a world 1/12^th its size.

Kamo took several deep breaths, then checked the injury on his right hand.

The bleeding had completely stopped. Probably because he'd been cut by a particularly sharp blade, the wound was small and had healed quickly.

Kamo got off the save seat and told the void “I want to confirm two things.”

Kurata opened a private chat and cheerfully asked “What's up?”

“The stage on the third day won't turn out to actually be the model house inside Dollhouse Hall, will it?”

Kurata giggled.

“The stage on the 24^th is still Dollhouse Hall. The unit of height for all the characters on day one is feet, on day two is inches, and there's nowhere further down to go from there, y'know?”

That answer was within Kamo's expectations, so he continued. “You just said 'if Fuwa died in the real world immediately after the FUWA case', right? So does that mean the next Real World Crime Time will be immediately after this VR Crime Time?”

“That's the plan.”

“To be clear... Fuwa will be safe until the end of VR Crime Time, won't he?”

“The rules of the game are that different killings go in different time slots. I guarantee that no one will attack Mr. Fuwa during the span of VR Crime Time.”

Kurata may have already decided that Kamo didn't have long to live either, holding the pity a winner has for a loser.

Kamo smiled. “Very well, then... I'll only need an hour.”

“What!?”

Kurata's attitude changed on a dime. The scream stretched on until it dissolved into choking.

Kamo ignored it and put a white Investigator's Glove on his right hand, then slipped the Crime Glove he'd thrown on the table over it. Of course, it was the one with the cut fingers.

Then he took out the other glove and the Murderer's Mask from his left pocket and put them on.

On his way to the foyer, Kurata kept whispering questions in his ear. To be frank, it was really annoying.

“What the hell are you doing...”

It was only after he'd arrived at the foyer that Kamo answered.

“I'm not the only one who prepared another crime plan for the demo, am I? After all, there are two Murderers.”

Kamo pulled the entrance door open with his left hand. Kurata sounded halfway to the grave. “Impossible... how do you know about the trick Fuwa designed?”

“Call it collateral from solving the YUKI case.”

Outside the front door lay a world of darkness. Even though Kamo knew that outside Dollhouse Hall actually lay the main hall of Puppet Hall, he couldn't help but hesitate in the face of such heavy darkness.

He stepped outside and closed the door behind him as he said “In the case of YUKI, Fuwa used the whimsical trick of switching between two buildings of different size. That man... how do I put it, even though he looks quite put together, he's actually kinda weird.”

Even though he had acclimated to the darkness, it was hard to see inside the darkened hall with just his avatar's naked eyes.

Kamo turned on the night vision in the Murderer's Mask, and in the blink of an eye, his vision went black and white.

He tested the night vision. Although he could see the outlines of his arms and legs, he couldn't tell where the bottom of his shirt ended and the top of his pants began. However, he could make out the edge of the low table and the wall of Dollhouse Hall, so it shouldn't have affected his actions.

Kamo walked around the dollhouse as he explained “He prepared such a massive trick, so as a Murderer, it would have been a shame to discard it after a single use. Knowing Fuwa, I figured he might have used it for his second case.”

Soon, Kamo stopped in front of the giant remote.

It was the remote control he'd seen on the table in the main hall of Puppet Hall on the first night.

Now that Kamo was 1/12^th his size, the remote looked about 80 cm long. By pressing the switch, the piano wire hanging from the ceiling of Puppet Hall would retract, and lift the roof off of Dollhouse Hall.

Kamo looked down at the remote and grinned.

“In order to facilitate escape, Murderers have the authority to turn off all lighting in the building during Crime Time, correct?”

Kurata didn't say a word, but panic was clear in the heavy breathing picked up by the microphone.

“Also, the roof and ceiling of the dollhouse can be raised and lowered using this remote control. Put all those conditions together... there's only one thing left to do, right?”

Kurata murmured “...I should have killed you a long time ago.”

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