Chapter Thirteen: Demo Playtest, Day Three, Answer Time ④, Scene Two

A silvery laugh.

“.....................Do you really think I will just because you asked?”

Chikage looked at Kamo and the others sitting with bated breath and slowly put on the glove controllers.

“I can only grant you one wish. So I guess you'll just have to live... with what's about to happen.” 

Her fingertips danced rapidly on the 3D display. The next moment, Kamo felt a lightness on his left arm and heard something fall to the floor.

“The smartwatches of all guests and hostages have been unlocked. Don't worry, I won't make any further moves on your hostages.”

Kamo reflexively picked up the watch from the floor.

It was 11:40... the mass murder planned using “The Supreme Great Detective” would begin in only 20 minutes.

However, the situation had changed.

Kamo and the others weren't securely imprisoned inside Megalodon Manor. It didn't have indestructible doors or windows. What kept them inside had been the death traps installed in their smartwatches.

Now that the threat had been removed, there was no reason for them to stay.

Yuki was the first to recover and bolted for a floor to ceiling window. Kamo wanted to call out to him, but Yuki turned around first.

“Follow the instructions on the note and go look for our belongings first, right?”

Kamo and Yuki hadn't exchanged a note, but it looked like Yuki understood... so he nodded reassuringly.

“Well... call the police and MegalodonSoft as soon as you find our cell phones. Ask them to cancel the event.”

Kenzan opened the window and looked outside.

“There's no problems, we can go out this way.”

“Then let's go.”

Kenzan and Yuki's figures disappeared into the outdoors, and Michi, who'd only then recovered, hurriedly chased after them.

Only Chikage and Kamo were left at the round table. Chikage cocked her head and asked “The game is over, aren't you leaving?”

“There's only twenty minutes left; even if I call, it'll be too late. 'Producer Kurata and Director Juumonji are planning an unprecedented massacre!' Even if I say something like that, nobody at the police or MegalodonSoft would believe me, right?”

Chikage sighed. “And yet looking at your expression, it doesn't look like you've already given up.”

“No way, are you seriously trying to convince me?”

Faced with Chikage's mockery, Kamo decided to change the subject.

“I want to ask a question. This glove controller can't simulate pain, right?”

Earlier, Kamo had tried hitting his hand on the table in the VR space, and confirmed that he didn't feel any pain while wearing the gloves.

Chikage nodded and said “Well, you aren't wrong.”

“But when my avatar's fingers were injured, I felt... a paralyzing pain like electricity coming from the glove controller. That was actually a low power activation of the death trap inside the controller, right?”

Chikage shrugged.

“That wouldn't do us any good. All risk, no reward.”

It was certain that the Kurata siblings hadn't been trying to kill him back then. He could tell because the electrocution had only lasted an instant and the power was controlled to only affect his fingertips.

She continued “The death trap in the glove is our ultimate trump card, so if we did something like that, wouldn't that just be giving you a chance to crush all our plans at the last minute?”

Kamo gazed into Chikage's eyes.

“That was your intention, wasn't it? I'm guessing... that was a final cry for me to stop your vengeance.”

Chikage suddenly grunted.

“My brother is the Gamemaster, how would I know what Kaito was thinking when he did that?”

“Liar.”

“...Eh?”

Chikage's lips began to tremble.

“Indeed, for most of the game, the one contacting us was your brother Kaito in his capacity as the Gamemaster. But... the person who spoke to me during VR Crime Time and who called me in my room last night to ask about my progress in theorizing was you.”

“On what basis are you...”

“Two reasons. One is the basis of laughter. You aren't like your brother. Your laugh is particularly pleasant.”

From the moment he heard it for the first time at the kickoff meeting, Kamo hadn't been able to forget it. Chikage's laughter was full of joy and light as a silver bell.

Chikage's eyes were wide as saucers for a fraction of a second. Then she forced them into a glare directed at Kamo.

“That's nothing! You heard a laugh filtered through a voice changer! My brother was doing an impression of me, of course we'd laugh the same!”

“But he didn't. I only ever heard a laugh that sounded like yours at night, when you were the one speaking.”

“Coincidence!”

Chikage's face twitched erratically. She looked as though she were having some sort of attack.

“Maybe, but you won't be able to say the same about my second reason.”

Chikage was silent. It seemed she knew too much to assume Kamo was bluffing.

“Honorifics.”

“Honorifics?”

“The voice on the headset that talked to me during the VR Crime Times called me “Mr. Kamo” several times, and I also distinctly remember you referring to “Mr. Munakata”, “Mr. Fuwa” and so on. Kurata Kaito hasn't been so polite a single time all game.”

Chikage suddenly revealed a silent smile.

“When I was pretending to be Azuma Yuzuha, I kept myself under control. But during VR Crime Time, I guess I got a bit careless. I wasn't able to keep my laugh in, but I was still too in-character.”

After a moment's silence, Chikage indignantly added “But even after all the hints I gave you, you still didn't realize our true purpose!”

“Yes, I did wind up being pretty useless. But... before it was too late, I did finally hear your cry. So I'm going to stop you now.”

“You can't stop me.”

Kamo and Chikage's final battle began.

“Actually, you understand it perfectly well, don't you? It isn't just amateur detectives, you're about to sacrifice a whole lot of innocent people who just love your game... so don't do this.”

Chikage propped up her chin with her hand in the glove controller.

“Let me tell you a bit about the past.”

“Your past?”

Chikage nodded and spoke.

“Roppongi killed both my parents, and Fuwa killed my adoptive father. You knew those bits already, right? You could say they made Kaito and I who we are today. But to me... there are two other amateur detectives who are special.”

“...Is one of them the real Azuma Yuzuha?”

Kamo didn't have a solid basis for asking.

He recalled the scene he saw on the ferry when Azuma Yuzuha and Kurata Kaito had been talking intimately. Their closeness was enough to make Kamo mistake them for siblings... Since they weren't, there must have been some other reason why Kaito and Azuma could have gotten so close.”

But unexpectedly, Chikage shook her head.

“No. Azuma Yuzuha... is a false detective I created.”

Kamo couldn't help but frown as he asked “The setting that she worked at a hospital and had a son at home, were they all fake?”

“Neither. I just changed her height in the profiles to match my data... Her son's name being Wataru, and her brother being a famous amateur detective, that was all true. And like Michi said, her brother Kousuke was murdered five years ago.”

At that moment, Kamo's mind jolted with a chilling speculation.

“Michi said that the Azuma sisters were the World's Least Lucky Detectives who got involved in murders every time they traveled together. You yourself told me that Azuma Yuzuha had a sister-in-law. Every time she got involved in an incident as a detective, that sister-in-law became her rock.”

If Chikage had created a false detective, then staying by the puppet's side and manipulating her actions by playing Watson would have been the easiest way to do it.

In that case...

Chikage smiled with her right hand over her eyes, just like earlier.

“Your intuition is spot on. That's right, I'm Azuma Kousuke's wife, or Azuma Yuzuha's sister-in-law.”

“I see.”

To the real Azuma Yuzuha, Kurata Kaito was a sister-in-law's brother. He was sure Kaito used that kinship to shorten the distance between them. With that in mind, it wasn't surprising that the two of them had looked as close as siblings on the boat.

Chikage continued “I still use the name Kurata Chikage at work... but legally, my name is now Azuma Chikage. So when my brother called me 'Azuma' at the beginning, it wasn't a lie.”

Japanese law doesn't allow married couples to have different surnames, so many women legally take on their husbands' surnames while still using their old ones at work. It was no surprise that Kurata Chikage, a famous game developer, was one of them.

She continued disinterestedly “The last name Kurata is pretty rare, and I can't help but get attention wherever I go, so I guess changing my last name was handy for operating under the radar.”

Kamo stared at the woman in front of him with bone-deep horror.

Her brother, Kaito, had said that Chikage's husband lost his life and that it was also a crime committed by an amateur detective. Hearing it at the time, Kamo had assumed that Chikage had lost not only her parents and her adoptive father due to the actions of amateur detectives, but had later lost her husband due to a similar tragedy.

However, the truth appeared to be different.

Chikage finally removed the hand covering her eyes and continued in a hoarse voice. “When I was young, I decided to take a gamble. Perhaps... back then, I was still hesitant about whether or not I should take my revenge. I can't believe I was ever so young...”

“What did you do?”

“Today, I want to eliminate every person who could potentially metastasize into a human tumor in one breath, but back then, I felt the exact opposite... I wanted to place all my faith in one person. That's why I picked someone who was an amateur detective, but who was capable and seemed to be a good person.”

“That was Azuma Yuzuha's brother, Azuma Kousuke?”

Kamo was confused where the conversation was going, but pursued it anyway.

“That's right. I approached Azuma Kousuke and observed him, but of course, all I wanted was to see what kind of person he really was. I decided that if he could convince me, really, truly convince me in my heart that the world was a better place because he was a detective... then I would give up on all my plans for revenge.”

Chikage's voice had started shaking.

“It turned out it was. Azuma Kousuke was infuriatingly perfect. He was like goodness embodied in a single person, and his reasoning skills were unbelievable. His only flaw was being too good. As a result... despite Kaito's strong opposition, I insisted on marrying him.”

“I completely forgot all my plans and married the object of a bet, you must think I'm an idiot, right? But I never expected Kousuke to accept my feelings...” As she continued her story, Chikage seemed to fall into a trance.

Kamo looked at her unblinking and asked “So why did Azuma Kousuke die... and why did you continue your revenge?”

“It was all his fault.” Chikage seemed to have given up on acting and was openly crying. “He was too good. Not long after our marriage... he found out what I'd done. Before we met, I'd already killed several other self-proclaimed detectives... Kousuke uncovered all my crimes based on what little evidence I'd left.”

A feeling of disgust rose within Kamo, and he couldn't stop himself from frowning.

“So you silenced him?”

“No. If he had called the police, or asked me to turn myself in, there would have been no problems. But he did something a detective should never do.”

“Could... Could he have covered for you?”

Kamo's eyes widened in shock. Chikage nodded.

“He burned all the evidence he'd collected right in front of me, and fabricated evidence that got all of the cases I'd committed closed as accidents. In the end, he told me...”

“It's okay now. No one will ever threaten you again, Chikage. So promise me you won't do this kind of thing anymore.”

“At that moment, he looked so calm, as though he truly understood everything.”

Chikage giggled, and the resonance of a broken bell seemed to mingle with the sound.

“Instantly I came to my conclusion. In the end, Azuma Kousuke was exactly like all those detectives who'd caused me so much pain. They all fabricate the truth without the slightest shame, just to produce the event that causes the most good for themselves.”

“That's not true.” Kamo couldn't stop himself.

“Of course it is. If he hadn't thought that way, how could he have forged evidence as though it were nothing? He must have had plenty of experience, he did it so naturally... I just never realized.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Of course.”

Although he could only guess, Kamo didn't believe that. He felt that that may have been the first and last crime Kousuke committed in his life.

Kousuke had found evidence of a crime committed by the person he loved most in all the world. He must have thought about what he'd do for a long time. He had known all about Chikage's dark past and chosen not to turn her in... Kamo couldn't deny him that choice.

Chikage spoke again.

“Afterwards, I plotted with Kaito to kill my husband. He didn't resist as I plunged the knife in. Maybe he had guessed things would end that way. Then, we pinned the whole thing on some bad guy who fancied himself an amateur detective... I used Azuma Yuzuha, who was suffering from the loss of her brother and wanted to avenge him, and covertly steered her reasoning until we convinced the police to arrest the bad guy.”

At that moment, Kenzan returned from the outside, walking back through the floor to ceiling window.

He should have been able to hear the conversation between them, but he purposely his his eyes behind his bangs and quietly reported his results.

“The phone lines in the building have been cut, but we found the confiscated cell phones and other belongings. As Kurata said, they were all in special boxes that blocked signals. Mr. Yuki and Ms. Michi are contacting the police and MegalodonSoft to explain the situation as we speak.”

Kenzan had his hands in his uniform pockets, from which bulged a cell phone and a silver chain, confirming what he'd said.”

“...Great.”

Kamo let out a long breath and picked up his smartwatch to check the time. Only five minutes left.

Chikage shrugged.

“It's useless. No matter how much you struggle, it's too late...”

Then she turned back to Kamo and spoke on. “Then Azuma Yuzuha played the role of amateur detective brilliantly, encountering events that Kaito and I had planned one after the other, obediently accepting every hint I gave her, and leaving convinced that she'd successfully solved every case.”

Azuma Yuzuha must have admired her older brother, a genuine great detective, and that's why she had fallen so deep into Chikage's trap and been unable to escape.

Chikage was already shaking with laughter.

“Azuma Yuzuha seems convinced that the events constantly happening around her are her destiny as a detective. Ahahahaha! How could that even be possible?”

“...Hard to say.”

The Ryuuzen clan had already been at the center of three bizarre incidents, and Kamo wasn't sure if he could write them off as coincidence anymore.

Chikage gave him a puzzled look, but quickly continued “It's precisely because she's such a simple person that she didn't realize she was being used as a body double for Kurata Chikage. If she had, Kaito would have had to keep her segregated from the other guests. So really, if she were a detective, it would have just brought her more suffering.”

Then, her expression sank and she murmured to herself “It's just... she looks so much like Kousuke. I had hoped to at least preserve the good memories I had with my husband, but I wound up trampling them underfoot myself...”

There were less than three minutes.

Kamo put down the watch and asked “Are you done with the past?”

Chikage returned to her senses and nodded, interlacing her gloved fingers as she asked “Please answer me one last question – if you learned that the person you love most had committed a crime, could you expose their crime without hesitation?”

“I don't know... No. I'm afraid I couldn't.”

Kamo answered honestly.

It was certainly true that it would have been better for Azuma Kousuke to have exposed his wife's crime.

However, if Kamo had been faced with the same situation, if he'd discovered that Rena or, God forbid, Yukina had killed someone, he wasn't sure he could just heartlessly turn them in to the police. He would probably have looked for another way to solve the problem, just like Azuma Kousuke had.

Chikage bristled and looked halfway between laughing and crying.

“You're so stupid, you should really lie at times like this, you know? You just have to answer what you should do as a detective as a matter of course... The future could wind up very different, you know?”

“Did you want to hear that kind of lie?”

“............No.”

Chikage reached out her hand and moved her fingers quickly on the 3D monitor.

Kamo and Kenzan could only watch in disbelief. The speed of her movements was so fast that nobody could make out what she was doing.

Thirty seconds...

She closed her eyes and announced “Are you satisfied now? I discontinued the update of the glove controllers and deleted the upgrade data. The death trap function will never be triggered again... All your wishes have been granted.”

Kamo had never seen Chikage look like that. She looked so exhausted, like she had given up on everything.

“Can we trust you?”

She slowly removed the glove controllers and said “...I told you earlier that there were two other amateur detectives who were special to me. One of them was Azuma Kousuke.”

“Yes. And who was the other?” Kamo had vaguely sensed the answer, but he asked anyway.

“It's you.”

Kamo was speechless.

“Are you even surprised? It's only natural. Since you were the one who saw through most of the schemes I worked so hard on... But that's only part of it.”

She looked down at her left wrist.

At that moment, Kamo realized that, although they hadn't been able to see it before because of the gloves, her smartwatch had never been unlocked. She gazed at the watch as she continued. “The truth is, I was originally planning to have the two people I hated most, Roppongi and Fuwa, play the Murderers, because the Murderer role is much more difficult and there's a much higher risk of death... However, when I was investigating the eight people I was going to invite, I realized you reminded me a lot of Kousuke. It's strange, isn't it? We'd never even met before, and you don't look anything like him, but despite that, I got the same feeling from you both.”

Kamo's heart was full of complicated feelings as he asked “Is that... why you chose to make me a Murderer?”

“Yes. There was also the issue of Roppongi's abilities; he would have made a terrible murderer. I think my intuition has paid off.”

Her eyes looked past Kamo, as though she were searching for a faraway figure. Then Chikage spoke dreamily.

“I thought that Kousuke had come back to stop me... I stabbed Kousuke to death with my own two hands, so I should have been able to kill you without hesitation. But... even though I've tried to kill you several times, I always hoped you would survive.”

Finally, she gave a smile of deep self-loathing.

“Maybe I did want you to stop me. If I could have met you earlier... or rather, if we hadn't met under such terrible circumstances... maybe our futures would have both been different.”

Kamo was silent, and he didn't know what face to make. All the knew... was that the deep pain etched on Chikage's face would stay with him forever.

“It shouldn't be long now. This is farewell, Mr. Kamo...”

Before the words were finished leaving her mouth, she had collapsed on the round table.

Kamo rushed to pick her up as Chikage began to spasm.

With a click, Chikage's smartwatch fell to the floor. There was a pinprick on her left wrist.

Kamo realized then. When she'd been operating the 3D display, Chikage had set a delayed release for the poisoned needle on her watch.

Her mouth foamed, her breathing gradually slowed and stopped, and her heartbeat grew weaker and weaker.

The attempts at resuscitation performed by Kamo and the others had no effect... And just like that, Kurata Chikage passed away.

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