Epilogue

Sunday, November 24^th, 2024, 10:05 P.M.

 

 “From the beginning, your declaration that you were giving up on deduction... that was all a lie, right?”

Under Kamo's interrogation, Ryuuzen Yuki was suddenly tempted to run away.

He glanced backwards. Behind him was the dark water of the Seto Inland Sea, and the motorboat they had just traveled on had already left them.

Realizing that there was no escape from Port K until the cab arrived to pick them up, Yuki gave up resisting and opened his mouth.

“Yes. I knew that Kurata would be eavesdropping, so I wanted to propose we split the work without just saying so... what I really wanted was for you, Mr. Kamo, to focus on solving the game of 'Delicious Death for Detectives' while I secretly dug into Kurata's true motives.”

“Well I'll tell you what, I didn't get any of that.”

In the face of Kamo's rare display of indignation, Yuki could only smile.

“I guess not. It was just an off-the-cuff remark, before I'd even finished I realized 'there's no way that conveyed what I meant'. But as soon as I gave up on the game, you'd have to make every effort to solve the case, right? So everything worked out.”

Kamo gave a long sigh.

“Really, kid, what he hell were you thinking?”

Night had long since fallen over the area, and the islands scattered in the Seto Inland Sea that were visible during the day were now indistinguishable from shadows.

While Kamo had stayed behind to try and convince Chikage, Yuki and Michi contacted the police and MegalodonSoft to try and cancel the update. Afterwards, they'd freed the real Azuma Yuzuha and the employees of MegalodonSoft, who'd been imprisoned next door... so they hadn't witnessed Kurata Chikage's death.

However, they had witnessed the death of another person.

While they'd been untying the hostages, Yuki and the others heard a sudden crack. They immediately went to investigate and found a man covered in blood on a motorboat docked near Megalodon Manor.

The man was Kurata Kaito.

Maybe he'd escaped then returned, or maybe he had been waiting for his sister, but whatever the case, he was spitting up blood and had a hole in his chest. And next to him... was a pistol he had somehow obtained.

Seeing the bloodstains on the gun, Yuki quickly guessed what had happened.

Kaito had tried to kill himself with the gun, but the recoil had thrown off his shot and he hadn't died instantly. Kaito was still breathing when Yuki and the others arrived.

Kaito held his cellphone in his left hand and repeatedly asked a question that would never be answered.

“Chikage, why? Chikage... why... why... why........”

He should have seen on his cell phone that the mechanism in the glove controllers had failed to activate, and realized that Chikage had taken the initiative to stop the update.

...Had he committed suicide because he felt that his sister had betrayed him?

Yuki looked at the convulsing body of Kaito with a million different feelings.

At 2:00 P.M., the Okayama Prefectural Police arrived on Inunojima.

Not only had 'The Supreme Great Detective' even not occurred, but the entire Mystery Maker server was down. Players from all over the world had taken to social media to express their anger.

However, the worst was yet to come.

Though they'd been lucky that Kurata Chikage hadn't activated the death trap in the glove controllers, there was no denying that the controller had a “flaw” that could threaten the lives of players. It probably wouldn't be long before MegalodonSoft issued a total recall of its glove controllers.

MegalodonSoft would probably go out of business because of this... Although they had prevented the massacre, Chikage's plan still had an enormous impact.

At 8:30 P.M., the police investigation was concluded and the group were given permission to leave Inunojima.

However, they couldn't return to Tokyo yet, as the police still needed their cooperation with the investigation for the next few days. However, being able to stay in a ryokan in K City, Okayama Prefecture on the government's dime for a few days was something everyone found quite satisfying.

At that moment, the group was waiting for a cab at Port K. There had been a female police officer accompanying them when they returned to Port K, but she'd gotten on a police motorcycle and left as soon as they'd disembarked.

The night grew deeper and deeper until Yuki couldn't even see the look on Kamo's face anymore.

“...What would you have done if I didn't find out the truth of the incident within the game's time limit?”

“No, I had faith that Mr. Kamo would find the truth, so the concern never crossed my mind.”

“This is you we're talking about...”

“Anything I can find out, Mr. Kamo can certainly find out sooner. And... I don't think you were the right person to follow Kurata Chikage's thoughts and discover her true purpose.”

That wasn't mockery, but Yuki's true belief.

 The reason why Yuki was so wary of Kamo was precisely because he was too perceptive. If there was such a thing as being a natural detective, then Yuki would have readily admitted that Kamo was a hundred times more of one than him.

However, he possessed an instinct... that wanted to know the true intentions of Kurata Chikage, who was desperately pursuing revenge. Yuki, who had also once attempted to destroy three people in order to fulfill a revenge, was much more suited to that task than Kamo.

Yuki continued.

“When I learned that you were the Murderer, Mr. Kamo... I wondered if maybe we should stop the division of labor. Because the Murderer role was a burden, you might have been too busy defending yourself to make theories. But after I watched you present your defense with such clear logic, I thought it would be okay.”

“Well that was nice of you. It's not like I almost died or anything.”

Yuki stopped looking at the exhausted Kamo and cast his eyes out over the Seto Inland Sea and said “Then again... I still don't know the truth behind the MICHI and KENZAN cases you created, Mr. Kamo.”

Kamo looked the other way, into the soft lights of the city in the distance, and murmured “Right now, I'm too tired to explain.”

Yuki grinned.

“Even though we split up the work, I actually did do a bit of reasoning. The MICHI case utilized the vacuum outside of Puppet Hall, and the KENZAN case utilized the giant remote, right?”

Kamo look a brief glance at Yuki, neither confirming nor denying him. Yuki was a bit miffed.

“What's with that lame reaction?”

“Enough about that, I want to ask you something. Earlier, when you said that you were too much like Kurata Chikage, what did you mean by that?”

“Oh, that was just nonsense.”

Yuki answered with zero hesitation, and Kamo gave another bitter smile.

“So... you just made it up.”

“Well, I suppose there's some truth to it. But... even if I have some similarities with the Kurata siblings, so what? I'm going to walk the path I chose, and it won't end in the same place as them.”

Kamo exhaled lightly, sounding relieved.

 “That's just like you, Yuki.”

After saying that, Kamo stared at the highway outside Port K and fell into silence.

The awkwardness that had been between them during the boat ride to the island, born from Kamo's inability to give words to the concerns in his heart that he couldn't say explicitly, was gone. The silence that remained was simply because they were both too tired to speak.

The silence lasted for five more minutes before a cab stopped at the curb. From the car emerged a mother and daughter, their figures illuminated by the streetlights.

The child looked well-behaved, while the mother couldn't conceal the excitement in her body language as she eagerly waved her right hand at the port. Just from the way they moved and the silhouette, Yuki recognized the identity of the visitor.

...Rena and Yukina rushed right over, huh?

Kamo also waved at the road. Yukina seemed to have finally noticed him and darted towards him. Kamo picked up his daughter in a warm hug while he comforted Rena, who was so emotional that she had tears in her eyes.

Looking at the image of the three of them reunited, Yuki also smiled.

Moments later, two more empty cabs pulled up. One of them should have been the cab Michi called.

Kamo overheard Michi tell Kenzan “I have to hurry home, or my failson will starve.”

...Was it really okay to say things like that to a high school student? Moreover, if she went back, there was a chance that she'd find her failson out on the town having taken all the cash in the house, right?

At that moment, Yuki received a text from Mikumo. She said she'd meet Yuki directly at the ryokan, and that she was already there. Earlier, Yuki had told Mikumo there was no need for her to come to Okayama, but in the evening, while he was still being questioned by the police, he'd received a message that she had caught the earliest Shinkansen.

...Then I guess I'll go to the ryokan early, too.

 The wind picked up after nightfall, and by then it was blowing so hard that standing around by the seaside was uncomfortable.

“Er, can I say a few things...?”

Yuki was about to get in the cab when Kenzan called out to him.

Kenzan was obviously freezing, with his hands in his pockets, and the thin silver chain was visible against his hand.

He looked at Yuki, who didn't know what he was thinking as he continued with a serious face. “Ah, my parents won't be coming to pick me up, they're both out on business trips abroad. The news about this incident should have reached them already, but they haven't contacted me yet. ...I'm used to it.”

It seemed Kenzan's relationship with his parents wasn't very good.

“Since we'll be staying in the same place, why don't we talk in the car?”

But Kenzan vetoed Yuki's proposal.

“There's no need, I'm not the one who needs to talk to you anyway.”

“...Huh?”

Just then, Yuki's cell phone rang. He was confused as to who would be calling out of the blue when he saw that Kenzan was already walking away, calling to Michi, who was about to get in the cab. It looked like they were going to the ryokan together.

It was an anonymous caller. Yuki pressed the button in a panic.

“Hello.”

“This is the first time we've ever spoken, Ryuuzen Yuki.”

Hearing the monotone male voice, Yuki felt his heartrate suddenly increase. He hurriedly walked towards the corner where there was no one to overhear.

“My cell phone is set to reject anonymous callers, you know?”

“Oh, I hacked your phone.”

He replied as if it was nothing. Able to hack into another person's phone in an instant... Yuki only knew one person like that. He couldn't keep down his smile.

“It's nice to meet you, Meister Hora. I didn't think I'd ever have a chance to speak to you. But did you call the wrong number? Mr. Kamo hasn't left yet, I can ask him to answer you.”

Hora had worked with Kamo before, so if he had something he wanted to talk about, it was more likely to be with Kamo.

And the Kamo family hadn't gotten into the cab yet, so it wasn't too late for him to call them over.

“No, there's no need.”

Hora's answer was casual. Yuki heard it and asked back seriously “Then what do you want from me?”

“I'd like to hear your perspective... Just how much do you think Kamo detected?”

Yuki switched his cell phone to his left hand, then said “Let's see. First of all, he must have sensed that someone had brought the hourglass pendant to Inunojima.”

He recalled the contents of the note in the VR space.

ArteMis Hero

 

Ares hinted Pen

 Those two lines contained the names of two gods of Greek mythology, however, they made no sense and weren't even grammatically accurate.

“We found a note in the VR space... but we couldn't exchange information freely because our every move was being watched by the Kurata siblings. I think someone desperately wrote down an anagram and hoped we'd understand the message.”

When he saw the unusual capitalization in the first line, Yuki's immediately used the “M” and “H” as initials, and then used the rest of the letters in the first line to spell out “Meister Hora”.

That had made him suspect Kamo may have been the author of the note and ask him directly. However, Kamo denied it.

...Then who wrote it?

 Yuki thought it was a bit creepy and began to ponder the meaning of the second line. Deciphering the second line had taken him some time. Knowing that it had to be something related to Hora, he finally realized that the word “pendant” was hidden in the text. He then used the remaining letters, and got “Pendant is here”.

At that moment, Yuki had been shocked.

“Based on what the note's anagrams had said, I found out that someone other than Kamo and I knew about Hora's existence, and it was very likely that person had brought the hourglass pendant with them to Inunojima.”

What had happened after Kurata Chikage had disabled their smartwatches confirmed that Kamo had also understood the message on the note.

After they regained their freedom, when he was leaving Megalodon Manor, Yuki had told Kamo “follow the instructions on the note and go look for our belongings first, right?”

What he'd meant was “Look for the hourglass in everyone's belongings”.

If Kamo hadn't been able to solve the anagrams, he would have said something like “I didn't give you a note”. But in reality... Kamo had just looked relieved.

Yuki sighed softly.

“As it turned out, I couldn't even guess who had left that note until I found our belongings. It was only when I saw Kenzan pull the hourglass out of his things that I finally realized

Hora's voice lowered as he said “So that's how it was... Kenzan has yet to tell me the details of the incident.”

“In fact, I also had a ton of questions I wanted to ask Kenzan, but I couldn't find a chance. At the time the most important thing was to stop the death trap from going off, so I was busy calling the police and rescuing the hostages.”

After the police arrived on Inunojima, they had been followed by officers nonstop, and Yuki couldn't bring up Meister Hora.

After a moment's pause, Yuki spoke up again.

“...You followed Kenzan to Inunojima, didn't you?”

“You are correct. I was the one who asked Kenzan to become the holder of the hourglass.”

Yuki found his words a bit strange, but Hora immediately went on in an unusually bitter tone, and he missed his chance to ask.

“...However, I proved rather useless. Even though we were on the island together, I didn't even know about the events that had taken place in Megalodon Manor until midday today.”

“That couldn't be helped, after all, all our belongings were forcibly taken away as soon as we got to the island.”

“Yes, even my hourglass pendant wasn't spared.”

At the time, Yuki had a disagreement with the staff member taking away the watch Mikumo had given him, and he remembered that someone else had objected to having their jewelry taken away. That person might have actually been Kenzan.

“When I first arrived on the island, I never expected Kurata Chikage to have such a terrible plan. That's why... even after I was separated from Kenzan, I wasn't too vigilant. Because no matter where I am, as long as I can maintain communication, my hacking ability will not be affected.”

However, the hourglass pendant had been placed in a signal-proof box, so Hora lost all means of interfering with the outside world and his abilities were all but sealed.

Still gloomy, Hora continued “The room where all your belongings were kept was empty, and there were constant noises from the outside. That's why I've been looking forward to listening to Kenzan's story after I got out... If I know what's going on outside, I can at least force myself to try and communicate beyond space and time.”

The sorrow in Hora's tone was far more than Yuki had expected. Yuki found this confusing, but said “Really, we were all the same. Everyone was too careless, getting dosed with sleeping pills and captured.”

There was a long silence.

 Yuki looked at the highway and realized that Kamo and his family had already left, their cab long gone. They should have gone straight to the ryokan. The cold wind coming from the pier was gradually numbing his limbs.

The silence lasted so long that Yuki thought the call had been disconnected. Just then, Hora spoke once again.

“...But why would Kamo do something like that?”

Yuki was unsure what he meant and looked confused.

“Huh?”

“Kamo knew that the hourglass pendant was on Inunojima, and knew that I had come here. Then, when he learned that the hourglass's communications had been restored, he could have not bothered trying to convince Kurata Chikage, because with my hacking ability, it would have been easy to stop the data upload.”

“That's...”

“After retrieving the hourglass pendant, Kenzan explained the situation to me and returned to the lounge. He also reported to Kamo that the pendant had been retrieved smoothly.”

Yuki had still been outside Megalodon Manor at the time, so he hadn't known that conversation had taken place. He frowned and nodded.

“I see. Then Mr. Kamo must have known that your hacking ability could have come in handy as well.”

“Actually, a minute after I was informed of the situation, I finished blocking the update. Therefore, even if Kurata Chikage hadn't taken the initiative to stop the update... I still would have ushered in a future where the tragedy was averted when the death trap failed to be activated due to what looked like coincidental programming bugs and mechanical failures.”

Yuki gazed down at the concrete floor of the dock.

“Then... did she just mistakenly believe she had stopped the data upload herself...?”

“I don't know. Why did Kamo not confirm the progress with me at all, but insist on continuing to talk with Kurata Chikage?”

Yuki narrowed his eyes and said “...If you want information, don't withhold it.”

Hora ignored him. Yuki looked towards the highway that was almost free of traffic and said “You just said that you asked Kenzan to become the holder of the hourglass pendant, so wouldn't that mean that you approached him with a specific purpose?”

“I admit it. I was interested in the demo of Mystery Maker 2, so I contacted Kenzan... in fact, this is the second time he's become my holder. To be more specific, he's the one who received the hourglass pendant from Kamo.”

That was unexpected. Yuki's eyes went wide.

“Huh? The boy who received the hourglass from Mr. Kamo was Kenzan?”

“That's right. Due to family reasons, Kenzan changed his last name, and he's grown up quite a bit over the past six years, so his appearance has changed quite a lot as well. I'm afraid Kamo wouldn't have recognized him as the child from back then.”

Yuki stroked his hair and spoke “If it's Mr. Kamo, he might have... Never mind, that's not important. What I can't figure out is why you infiltrated the demo playtest without Mr. Kamo's knowledge. On the boat to the island, Kenzan didn't hint at Hora's presence at all.”

“That's because I instructed him to keep his mouth shut.”

“Why?”

“...Some things are better left a mystery.”

Yuki grinned.

“It's no use, I don't care about that at all.”

“I see... It would appear that you're even tougher than Kamo.”

“Blame your own bad luck for getting stuck with me.”

But Hora didn't take the initiative to speak. Yuki was left with no choice but to ask, so he did. “You and Mr. Kamo once changed the past, right?”

“Exactly.”

“If you hadn't changed the past, then Rena and I would have died a long time ago... and Mr. Kamo would have met another woman and had a child with her, right? Looking at the current Mr. Kamo and Rena, I had a hard time believing it... But when I heard about this incident, I suddenly wondered. What happened to the woman who was originally destined to marry Mr. Kamo?”

Yuki took a breath and continued.

“If I'm wrong, please write off everything I'm about to say as the overactive imagination of a mystery novelist. Although I don't really believe in fate, could it be that the reason why you infiltrated the playtest... is because Kurata Chikage is Mr. Kamo's other destined partner?”

“...Why do you think so?”

“Kurata Chikage was obsessed with her plan, but she easily accepted Mr. Kamo's persuasion and canceled the data upload even though they'd just met. Mr. Kamo should have been someone she hated, yet she gave him her trust, and in the end, she even said he reminded her of the husband she'd killed, right?”

Hora replied in a low voice “That's all correct, and he also stayed to witness the last moments of her life.”

“Then don't you find it strange? Even if love and hate are two sides of the same coin, the changes she underwent were too extreme... So I just had a feeling. They might have had a special relationship I didn't know about, and that even they didn't know about. It was because of that relationship that Kurata Chikage had such a dramatic change that nobody understood.”

Yuki said all that in a single breath, and Hora sighed feebly.

“It would seem that it is useless to hide it any longer. You are correct... If we hadn't rewritten the past, Kurata Chikage was the woman who would have married Kamo. It wouldn't have been long before their marriage broke up and both of them fell to misfortune.”

Although he'd expected it, Yuki was still quite shocked to hear Hora's confession. He was dumbfounded as Hora continued.

“But please believe me when I say I didn't know what would happen before I infiltrated the playtest. I would have had no way to know of Kurata Chikage's true nature, either.”

Yuki unconsciously took on a reproachful tone. “No, you could have hacked into her computer and cell phone and learned of her plans beforehand.”

“There was nothing suspicious about her work email... I assumed that what Kurata was planning was just a playtest of a game demo with no relation to a crime, so I only investigated her work email and not her private communications. I really didn't think it would be necessary.”

“If you thought it was just a normal demo, then why did you go to Inunojima with Kenzan!?”

“I just... wanted to see what sort of encounter Kamo and Kurata Chikage would have in this rewritten present.”

Listening to the pain in Hora's confession, Yuki's thoughts grew complicated.

“Were you worried that Mr. Kamo and Rena would break up?”

“No. The bond between Kamo and Rena in the current present is very strong, and I didn't think Kurata Chikage's existence would affect their relationship. The future had changed... Kamo's new encounter with Kurata Chikage should have also been a pleasant one. But... but...”

Hora's voice grew fainter and fainter, until all that remained was the the sound of the waves lapping at the concrete pier. Yuki closed his eyes and exhaled before saying “...In the end, even if we change the past, we can't completely escape its influence.”

“The... influence of the past?”

“Mr. Kamo also met Kurata Chikage in the new present, and besides, the curse of the Ryuuzen clan was supposed to have disappeared by now, yet we keep getting drawn into unusual events.”

Suddenly full of doubt, Hora said “That can't be, it's mere coincidence.”

“It's hard to say. Sometimes I feel like the world that you rewrote in the past is 'swinging back' and trying to get closer to its original state.”

He actually hoped that Hora would categorically dismiss his thoughts, tell him that he was a fool, trying to force meaning into a series of coincidences that had occurred in a meaningless world.

 However, Hora simply continued breathily “I'm sorry, I'm not sure. I don't know if the events you've experienced were the result of a swing reset or not.”

"...Is that so?”

“Except... Kurata Chikage may indeed have been affected by the past before the rewrite. When she was dying, she said... that if she'd met Kamo earlier, if they hadn't met under the worst possible circumstances, her life may have led to a very different future. It's as if... she knew that another 'now' had once existed.”

Yuki's eyes widened, but he soon frowned.

“That's just... too sad.”

..................Just how long had the silence lasted? When his hands had gone numb to the point of losing all feeling, Yuki finally raised his head.

“Maybe... Mr. Kamo also sensed what Kurata Chikage had meant? Just as she had special feelings for Mr. Kamo, Mr. Kamo may have had special feelings for her.”

“It is indeed possible.”

Yuki held the phone under his arm as he rubbed his hands together for warmth, and continued “Thinking about it, it's understandable that Mr. Kamo didn't give up on convincing Kurata Chikage, right? If they hadn't met under these circumstances, she could have been his destined partner... That was why Mr. Kamo so deeply hoped that she would willingly give up on her plan.”

Even if Hora had used his abilities to forcefully stop the tragedy, it would have left Chikage with her heart full of hatred. Kamo didn't want things to end like that, which was why he'd kept persuading her to the bitter end.

Slightly hesitantly, Hora said “If Kamo knew all this... do you think he'd be able to bear the grief of losing Kurata Chikage?”

At that moment, Yuki noticed a cab pulling up to the curb directly across from the port, with Rena and Yukina peeking out. His eyes widened.

Rena waved at him and yelled “Sorry! We accidentally left you behind!” Her voice faintly carried to that side of the breakwater. A moment later, Kamo also poked his head out the passenger side window to say something, but his voice was lost in the noise of the wind and waves

Did... Did they come all the way back for me?

 Yuki nodded almost unconsciously as he looked at Kamo's happy family.

“Oh, I think he'll be fine. Mr. Kamo has Rena and Yukina... and you can count me in, too. We'll definitely be able to pull through, no matter what sorts of shake-ups the future throws at us.”

“I believe so, too.”

Yuki didn't know if Hora could see Kamo and the others, but the voice on the phone sounded like it had finally found hope.

Yuki waved at Rena and the others, then said “Goodbye, Hora.”

“Well, let's talk again next time.”

After hanging up, Yuki put on a smile and walked towards the cab where Kamo and the others were waiting for him.

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