Chapter Nine: Demo Playtest, Day Two, Answer Time ②, Scene Three

 “You said earlier... that you gave the Executioner and the Murderer each a pair of black gloves, right?”

Kamo asked Kurata after the group returned to the lounge.

“It's true that I gave each killing role a pair as starting items, yes.”

Kamo put on his glove controller and pulled up a picture of the Main Hall in the VR space on the round table, then zoomed in on the light switch on the southern wall.

There were three vertical finger marks on the switch, arranged in order from thumb to middle finger, apparently left by someone touching the switch with their right hand.

“50 minutes after midnight, there were no puppets on the round table. From this... we can deduce that the marks on the switch were left by the Executioner when they placed the puppets on the round table.

Then, he explained the conclusion he'd come to while investigating with Yuki and Azuma.

The switch had been stained with black pencil lead, which Yuki had left when he investigated the main hall at 12:50. The three fingerprints showed the shape of non-slip coating unique to the Crime Gloves. Since only the palm side of the glove had non-slip coating, that proved that they were indeed marks left by a right handed Crime Glove yadda yadda yadda.

Fuwa heard those words, but his expression didn't change at all as he said “The only information we can derive from that is that this trace appeared after 12:50, right? The fingerprint doesn't have any identifiable characteristics that could identify its owner.”

The other four people around the table all watched Kamo and Fuwa without a word, as though they were afraid the slightest sound would disturb them.

In the face of Fuwa's claim, Kamo nodded.

“The switch is 10 cm long and 4 cm wide, so it's not surprising that it would leave such a mark if the whole hand was pressed on it. Except, of course, if the person had exceptionally large hands.”

Fuwa's expression finally faltered, then he looked down at his right fist, wrapped in a handkerchief to stop the bleeding. He was extraordinarily tall and his hand was much larger than average.

...If his fingers were that thick, it was definitely impossible that he could leave three clear fingerprints on a switch only 4 cm wide.

In other words, even though he had killed YUKI, he wasn't the Executioner.

Kurata had clearly stated that there was only one Executioner...

But never once claimed that there was only one Murderer. That's because there were two Murderers from the beginning.

In other words... besides Kamo, Fuwa was also a Murderer.

The Executioner... was someone else.

“What's the point of proving I'm not the Executioner? Why do it?”

There was intense confusion in his voice. Maybe it was because he'd been misled by Kurata and firmly believed Kamo was the Executioner.

In fact, even Kamo hadn't realized his mistake until he saw Fuwa's fist smash into the wall.

...To have made such a basic error is really embarrassing.

Since the beginning of the Answer Time, though, things had been changing at a dizzying rate. Kamo had only figured out “the truth of YUKI's murder” fifteen minutes ago, and he hadn't had time to confirm if there were any discrepancies between his theory and the actual evidence.

Kamo and Fuwa had hated each other, and tried to make each other fail, be defeated... and die.

If Answer Time ended like that, Fuwa wouldn't listen to anything Kamo said anymore. Not only that, he would persuade everyone else to veto all of Kamo's proposals and stop him from acting even at the risk of their lives.

In that case, things would get so difficult they could probably never be fixed.

That was why Kamo had taken the risk of continuing on to prove he wasn't the Executioner. It was all to make Fuwa realize that the Executioner was someone else before the end of Answer Time, so he could get Fuwa's full cooperation next Crime Time, so they could open a path to overturn their current situation.

Kamo was about to go on when Kurata suddenly cut in.

“Kamo, if you say anything else that isn't relevant to your defense, you'll be penalized, okay?”

It seemed Kurata sensed that Kamo was approaching the truth and once again interrupted him with perfect timing.

Kamo shook his head.

“No, I haven't said anything unrelated. Whether or not these three fingerprints belong to me is an extremely important question. Speaking of which, I'm sure you all know that my avatar's right index finger was cut, right?”

Fuwa shrugged.

“You don't need to remind us of that, we know.”

“Then let's assume I did fall for Munakata's trap. In that case, the piece of glove that Munakata found was from when my right hand was cut along with my glove. Do you think that a glove torn like that could leave fingerprints on a light switch where even the particles of non-slip substance are clear?”

In response, Fuwa pondered for a moment before replying “It's impossible. Together with the fact that it was previously stated that the Executioner also only had one pair of black gloves, the possibility of wearing a spare to press the switch is ruled out, too... But it's just a matter of the order, isn't it? All that you've proved is that the black powder appeared around 12:50, and that the light switch was pressed later, but it's entirely possible that you weren't injured until after that...”

Halfway through his sentence, Fuwa's eyes flickered, perhaps because he'd noticed the contradiction.

Kamo laughed and said “That's right, Munakata also found that piece of the black glove at 12:50. In other words, I couldn't have left those fingerprints after 12:50.”

But Fuwa still didn't budge.

“No, that fragment could have been faked, you deliberately put it there to mislead the investigation.”

Hearing that, Kamo operated the 3D monitor to view the table in his room. Upon seeing what was on it, everyone around the round table sucked in a breath.

“...The Crime Glove!” Fuwa almost choked.

Kamo said dubiously “Why are you all so surprised? I found it in the corridor this morning. Sorry for not telling everyone, but that's not against the rules.”

Of course, that was a lie.

On the table was one of the black gloves Kamo had used to commit his crime. The fingertip of that right-handed glove was cut open and stained with virtual blood.

Kamo pointed at the glove and continued “The piece of the glove that Munakata picked up should be a match for the missing part of this glove. As long as it is... then that proves that the person who fell into the trap set by Munakata wasn't the Executioner.”

Fuwa plopped down on the round table, mumbling something inaudible.

Kamo quietly waited for his reaction.

The person who had pressed the lightswitch wasn't Fuwa, something he himself must have know best. Judging from the size of the hand and what he had done within the VR space... there was no way he could have left those prints.

Kamo had just proven that he couldn't have pressed the switch either, so there was only one possibility.

A third pair of Crime Gloves existed in the VR space... and the owner of that pair of gloves was the Executioner.

Kamo wasn't worried. Fuwa's previous reasoning proved he could be trusted to draw that conclusion on his own.

No one moved to break the silence. Not even Kurata said a word.

When Fuwa looked up again, his expression had changed to one that understood everything. But when he saw Kamo, it quickly twisted again.

“Ah... I did something stupid again. My theory was horribly wrong. I'm sorry... I'm sorry.”

Hearing his words, Kurata scoffed coldly. “Honestly, you're the same as twenty six years ago. The moment you open your mouth, it's just nonsense dressed up as reasoning, and you don't care how many people die because of it.”

A look of fear appeared on Fuwa's face. But it wasn't Kurata he was afraid of. It was himself.

After a moment, he nodded, accepting the scorn.

“What you say is true... However, I finally understand the truth.”

“There's no point in seeing it now, because your Answer Time is over.”

Kurata's voice was vicious, and Fuwa smiled sadly.

“I recognize that I failed. If it's my destiny to be killed by the Executioner, I'll accept that. Maybe this really is what I deserve.”

“That's an admirable attitude you've got there. What's with this sudden 'a new wind is blowing' moment?”

“But in exchange, before this Answer Time ends... as the contestant, I want to ask two questions.”

Those words caught Kamo by surprise as well. He silently cast a questioning look at Fuwa, while the other calmly continued “This might be the last useful thing I can do.”

A full thirty seconds passed before Kurata gave an answer.

“What do you want to ask?”

“My first question is simple. You said that there's only one Executioner among us, so how many Murderers are there?”

Fuwa deliberately asked the question in a roundabout way, worried that his question could be interpreted as surrender.

“Oh, that's all you want to know... It's not like I was trying to hide it. There are two Murderers among you.”

There was a commotion around the round table as soon as Kurata's words arrived.

It wasn't that the other four people around the table were slow, it was just that the secret communications that Kamo and Fuwa had exchanged could never have made total sense to anyone other than a Murderer.

Meanwhile, Kamo once again felt a chill.

The fact that Kurata had so casually admitted the existence of the second Murderer unnerved him. It was as though this thing that should have put the Executioner in an unfavorable position was totally acceptable...

“What's your second question?”

Fuwa's expression instantly grew tired.

“Before I ask this question, I'd like to explain what really happened between me and your father 26 years ago. After all, this is my last chance to explain it, and I want everyone here to know.”

Kurata said nothing as Fuwa spoke.

“It was over thirty years ago now. I was a young man in my twenties working for a credit bureau. At the time, I got involved in investigating and solving countless cases... But I probably made countless mistakes.”

“Mistakes?” Kenzan asked, sounding confused.

Fuwa nodded.

“You're still young. You don't know what it's like to have hardship, do you? All these years, I've given what I thought were correct answers. But in the end, no one can know if a theory is actually correct or not. Because, as we all know, no matter how much humans struggle, they can never become gods.”

“But can't you just make deductions from decisive evidence to identify the culprit and see through their schemes?”

“Can you guarantee you haven't made any mistakes in interpreting that evidence? That your 'evidence' is even related to the crime and not something that was there by pure coincidence? Or... that the real culprit isn't someone familiar with the way 'detectives' like us think, and used forged evidence to leave a trap for you? Can you definitively assert that none of those things happened?”

Kenzan sounded annoyed hearing that, and he retorted “Then what if the murderer confesses? With evidence and a confession, there shouldn't be any flaws, right?”

“Confessions can also be fake. Moreover, human memories are deeply flawed, so even if they aren't intentionally lying, a person can have their memories misled and falsely believe they committed the crime.”

“...So by your logic, we're going to need to seriously expand our suspect pool.” Kenzan had stopped taking this seriously and mocked Fuwa. “Because I guess we also need to consider the possibility of aliens and people with superpowers! After all, you can't argue that they're completely impossible either.”

Hearing Kenzan say that, Kamo couldn't help but laugh.

“Let's not argue whether it's right or wrong to apply reductio ad absurdum right now... The problems Fuwa just described aren't unique to the world of great detectives. Any time an investigation is done, problems like that are bound to arise. Whether the investigator is a policeman, a prosecutor, or an amateur, it's all the same. There are times even judges rule based on false presumptions.”

Kamo, who had investigated and reported on a number of wrongful convictions, knew well the horrors that they brought.

Fuwa smiled sadly.

“When I first started doing this kind of work, I thought I understood the dangers very well. I even secretly teamed up with the police behind the scenes every time I investigated an incident. I thought that would be enough to help me avoid any incidents of severe negligence.”

Fuwa's gaze drifted into the distance as he continued somberly “I sincerely hope that most of the reasoning I've done these past thirty years has been correct. But... I know there have been cases where I learned later that my theories were wrong. And one of those cases claimed the life of Kurata Youji.”

Kurata Youji – that was the name of Kurata Chikage's father who Fuwa had mentioned before.

“29 years ago, I became acquainted with Mr. Youji. At the time, I was still a rash young man of less than thirty who couldn't even make rent consistently. Finally, my landlord got fed up with me and kicked me out. I was homeless and penniless.”

“Mr. Youji was ten years older than me, and was a regular at a fast food place next door to the credit bureau I was working for at the time. He and I... we often sat next to each other as we ate lunch. Slowly, we grew familiar with each other and started to talk.”

“I remember once I complained to him about my situation, and to my surprise, Mr. Youji said to me 'Then let me help. We all have to help each other out when times are hard.' I learned later that he'd recently inherited a two story apartment building, and he rented me a second floor room for almost nothing.”

“At the time, my salary was entirely performance based, and as my income gradually stabilized, I begged him again and again to raise my rent to the normal rate. He never agreed, and I felt terrible about it.”

“The apartment building was far from the station, and the road it was on was too narrow for a car, so three of the four rooms there were empty. I was the only occupant. Mr. Youji had no plans to tear down the apartment and sell the land, saying that it was full of memories he had with his grandfather. Because of that, I never moved out, even after I got the money. I wanted to thank him for always taking care of me.”

“In retrospect, that was the first of my many mistakes...”

“Mr. Youji's wife had passed away at a young age, and he worked at a real estate company to raise his two children. The first time I saw those two kids... would have been when I visited Mr. Youji at his house to say thank you before I moved into the apartment. I remember the older sister was ten, and the younger brother should have been around eight.”

“Unfortunately, I don't remember their names. But the sister, that should have been Chikage, right?”

“The older girl, Chikage, never greeted me and would even run away in fear whenever she saw me. The younger brother, on the other hand, always glared at me fiercely to protect his sister.”

“I'd been to Mr. Youji's house several times, but neither sibling ever wanted to approach me. But... I could tell that they were very close. Though I did think it was strange that they didn't look alike.”

“Once, Mr. Youji told me about that. It turns out the sister, Chikage, was actually Mr. Youji's niece, who had been adopted by Mr. Youji.”

“And the reason Chikage had lost her parents and her happy life... was a murder.”

“Three years before she met me, Chikage had lived with her parents in Tokyo. One day, a couple was brutally murdered near their home. The police investigated and concluded they had been victims of a home invasion. However, there was something suspicious about the scene.”

“At the time, Roppongi Shido had just retired from the police department and started working as something like an amateur detective. Yes, the same Mr. Roppongi we all know...”

“He publicly declared that he would be investigating the murder of the couple. Of course, he'd hadn't been commissioned by the police and he wasn't part of the official investigation. It seemed he wanted to use the investigation to kickstart his own fame.”

“I don't know exactly what happened at the time... but in short, Roppongi claimed that the man who'd been murdered had been having an affair with Chikage's mother, and that Chikage's father had found out and broken into their home to kill the man, and also killed the man's wife, who'd witnessed the crime.”

“Mr. Roppongi even went so far as to interrogate both of Chikage's parents.”

“Of course, his claims were baseless. If there had been any evidence of that, the police would have acted long ago. All Roppongi did was exploit someone else's tragedy to become famous.”

“But a lie can run a thousand miles, and the rumors that Chikage's father had been having an affair and was the real culprit spread in an instant. They might even have been spread by Roppongi himself.”

“Chikage's parents were so overwhelmed by the humiliation and harassment that they both took their own lives. They even did it on the same day. They addressed their last notes to each other, each asking the other to forgive their weakness... and for the other to take care of Chikage. And just like that, they left this world.”

“It's so sad... The husband didn't know his wife was going to commit suicide, and the wife didn't know her husband was going to commit suicide, and they gave up their lives without a second thought. Chikage, who'd been left behind, was a smart kid, and she already knew that it was Roppongi who'd driven both her parents to suicide.”

“Her parents had been taken away from her by Roppongi, a detective, and only later did she regain a peaceful life under the roof of Mr. Youji. Mr. Youji was a kindhearted man, and no doubt Chikage was happy during the years they lived together. Then I came along. Once again, a detective threatened her peaceful life.”

“It wasn't unreasonable that she was afraid of me. I sympathize with Chikage very much. ...No, if I really thought that, I should have gotten away from Mr. Youji much earlier.”

“In the third year of my friendship with him, I thought I'd finally reached the top of the world.”

“Because I managed to solve a serial murder case that was on the verge of going unsolved. I discovered an unknown connection between the victims the police had missed... and then I got the real killer arrested in one fell swoop.”

“I thought for sure that now I'd be able to get the trust of major clients and that my detective work was about to get much busier. I started thinking about leaving the credit bureau and starting my own business.”

“It's true, at the time I was blinded by fame and fortune. In a way, I wasn't any different than Roppongi.”

“That day... I was chatting with Mr. Youji at the fast food restaurant when I suddenly remembered that I'd left the bathroom faucet on back home... That was the first time I'd ever made such a careless mistake, and I was extremely flustered. Mr. Youji laughed when he saw me like that and said:”

“'Busy with work, huh? I'll just go turn off the water for you then... It's fine, the apartment is near where I was going after this anyway, and it just so happens that I forgot to return the spare key when I stepped out today.' He joked that if he found the room flooded or the water heater broken he'd charge me for the repairs. In fact, I knew that he was the sort of person who wouldn't charge me a penny no matter what happened to the room. He'd just say he'd 'wait until I got settled'.”

 “Mr. Youji died in that room.”

 “The person who killed him was the mother of the person I'd gotten arrested for the serial killing case.”

“Yes, back then... I'd gotten it wrong then, too.”

“The connections I'd found weren't complete, and the information I gathered was also incomplete. So the man I'd accused had nothing to do with the serial killings.”

“The police didn't convict him without evidence, but the fact that he'd been questioned by them as a suspect had made national news and everyone believed he was the real culprit. The man had been subjected to severe harassment, assailed on the street, been bombarded with phone calls, had his home graffitied... the behavior escalated, and finally people were even throwing rocks his house.”

“Early in the morning the day Mr. Youji was attacked, he was hit in the head with a rock and fell to the ground, hitting his head again... and he died.”

“His mother said later that as she held her son's body as his warmth slowly faded away, she vowed then and there to kill the detective.”

“Why had things gone so wrong?”

“I just forgot to turn off the faucet, the odds of that were less than one percent. But if I hadn't made that mistake on that day... or if I hadn't remembered it in that fast food place... or if I hadn't asked Mr. Youji to turn it off instead of doing it myself...”

“The mother waited to ambush me at my apartment, saw Mr. Youji open the door and go inside, and viciously slashed him again and again with a kitchen knife. Then when she saw that she'd killed the wrong person, she waited where she was for me to return.”

“When I got back to my home that night, I found Mr. Youji's body at the door, and saw the mother rushing at me with a knife, and I realized everything.”

“It's true that what I'd done was a crime worthy of dying for, but Mr. Youji hadn't done anything wrong. I should have been there to protect him, but... why did I get to live when Mr. Youji died? The kitchen knife pierced my shoulder, but I barely felt a thing. It pierced into my side, but I just watched as though it were happening somewhere far away. It felt like nothing even mattered anymore...”

“Then someone from the neighborhood heard the noise and called the police, and they were able to save my life. The moment I woke up in the hospital, I cried as I realized how precious life is. It's true I'd once felt that nothing mattered, but I still didn't want to give up my life.”

“After a few months of recuperation, I was discharged from the hospital. I found Mr. Youji's house empty, his children gone.”

“Later, I heard that Mr. Youji's funeral was long over, and that his children had been adopted by relatives. But I didn't bother tracking down where they'd gone.”

“Because I was afraid.”

“What would I say if I ever saw them again? How could I apologize? So... eventually, I chose to run away.”

“I didn't want to think about anything anymore. In order to escape the unbearable memories, I kept pursuing new cases. Because when I was on a case, I didn't need to think about anything but the evidence in front of me. That was how... I buried everything in the deepest recesses of my mind, and hardened the soil it was under.”

“And that's how I became the second detective to take away Chikage's family.”

“Taking away the siblings' father, ruining their lives, and prompting Kurata to plan such a horrible game – there's no way around it. It's all my fault.”

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