Chapter Six - Part One

Kamo saw a faint light peeking through the curtains, so he opened them. The sky outside the window was pure gray. It seemed the night had ended before he knew it.

Genji looked down at his watch.

“It's almost 5:30. It's a bit early, but I'm worried about Soujirou and Tsukihiko, so why don't we check out the villa?”

Kamo nodded and pushed himself up. His arms, legs, and hips all creaked, but he shook them loose. Amamiya fiddled with the hanging lantern until the light dimmed and finally vanished. Beside him, Ayaka was blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Tsukie also looked tired as she gazed out the window.

In the end, Genji and Amamiya had been the only ones able to keep the vigil inside the trailer.

At around 2:30, Tsukie wrapped herself in a bath towel and fell asleep... but Kamo had dozed off several times, too. He had tried to be vigilant, but staying up for over 48 hours straight was hard. However, he had remained seated with his back to the trailer's only door, so he could at least be sure nobody had left.

The rain outside was ramping up, and conditions were so bad it was a struggle to see even a few meters straight ahead. As he unfolded his umbrella and stepped outside of the trailer, Kamo stopped.

According to his memory, the trailer should have been parked about five meters from the building. However, that distance had increased to about eight meters.

Genji and Amamiya, who appeared to have also noticed something strange, exchanged a look.

Kamo crouched down and checked the trailer's hitch. The stop was still set, but the lawn was in disarray. The whole area was soaked.

“...Maybe it was moved by the wind.”

After saying that, Ayaka grabbed Kamo by the shoulder and dragged him along. When he looked up, Ayaka was pointing at the door, her face pale.

The front door of the villa had been forced open. An axe was stuck in the ground under the eaves.

Kamo ran to the door, sending water from puddles flying in his wake. Someone had used the axe to break the door's lock from the outside. However, it seemed the axe had been unable to break the bicycle chain. Instead, it was the wooden handle that had broken.

Kamo looked at the faces of his companions one after the other.

Amamiya and Genji were arguing. ...Everyone present had been together after dinner, and they hadn't been separated for longer than five minutes. There was no way the door could have been broken in such a short time. Especially after Kamo used his own body to block the door to the trailer, nobody could have gone out... That was the substance of their discussion.

Thinking about it that way, it had to have been someone other than the five of them who broke the door. Was it Soujirou? Tsukihiko? An outside culprit who had been lying in wait? Or had Tsukihiko's theory been right, and Taiga was actually still alive?

Listening to Genji discuss that possibility, Kamo realized a major contradiction. But Amamiya snatched the words right out of his mouth.

“No matter how strong the wind and rain were last night, breaking down a door with an axe creates a lot of noise. The window was open, so there's no way we could have missed the sound from as close as we were.”

He was right. No matter how long he'd napped, it was impossible that Kamo could have missed the sounds of destruction. It was an inexplicable situation.

“...I'm worried about Soujirou and Tsukihiko.”

There was a stern look on Genji's face, as though he'd already come to a conclusion. Kamo followed his line of sight and realized why. The axe stuck in the ground was covered in dried blood and bits of flesh. The conclusion was obvious.

Kamo pulled the axe out of the ground, wanting something to defend himself with. With him in the lead, they proceeded to the second floor hallway, keeping their eyes peeled for anyone lurking in the shadows. They took some pool cues from the rec room as extra weapons.

On the second floor, they found the doors to the Tiger and Snake Rooms also broken down. They went to the Tiger Room first, simply because it was closer.

A large hole had been left in the mahogany door, and the murderer appeared to have reached their hand through and unlocked the door from the inside. The barricade of tables and chairs on the other side had been forced away.

Beyond them lay a sea of dark blood on the verge of completely drying.

Soujirou lay in the middle of the room. The parts of his skin that weren't covered in blood were stark white, and he clearly didn't possess a trace of life. There was a gouge on his chest surrounded by what appeared to be a concentric circle of gunpowder. A shot from a rifle.

Not present with the rest of Soujirou's body: his arms. They had been carelessly tossed in the room's trash can. It appeared the murderer had stripped the body before making the cuts.

Apparently he was the tiger's front legs.

The endless parade of horrors they'd seen had long since rendered them numb. No one screamed. No one cried. They just stared at the body, expressionless. Kamo checked if there were any suspicious figures hiding in the bathroom, toilet, or closet. There weren't.

“...What about my Brother?” muttered Tsukie before she frantically ran off in the direction of the Snake Room. Kamo and the others followed.

Tsukihiko was in the closet of the Snake Room. ...He had been hanged, still wearing his jeans and polo shirt. Kamo checked his neck for a pulse, but it was already long gone.

The thin rope around his neck had been tied to a pipe within the closet. Unlike the other victims, he wasn't covered in blood or suffering any mutilations. Somehow that made it worse.

His once handsome face was unrecognizably congested, and there was dust affixed to his hair and forehead. Apparently he hadn't ever gotten that shower. His freshly-shaved mouth dripped saliva, and there were traces of incontinence on the floor, leaving a foul stench.

The pipe in the closet was only a meter and 40 centimeters off the floor, so he hung forward from the end of the rope, his hands dangling loosely. His feet, still in socks, drifted back and touched the floor.

Because he wasn't hanging all the way off the floor, the weight wasn't solely on his neck. Still, his airway and blood vessels had gradually been blocked off, eventually killing him. That was most likely what had happened.

Kamo heard a small gasp and turned around. Tsukie pointed to the inside of the closet door. A message had been written in English using human blood.

––This silly tale is over.

As Kamo read the message aloud, the hourglass glowed faintly at his chest.

“Shall we conclude that Tsukihiko committed suicide after leaving a confession to the crimes?”

Without answering him, Kamo looked around the Snake Room. He could already see they were alone. He looked at the items laid out on the bed.

There were the missing machete and hunting rifle, as well as the clothes and shoes that had gone missing. The machete was fully black with dried blood, and the long-sleeved pajamas and leather shoes were also bloodied. They were probably what Soujirou had been wearing when he was killed.

Kamo put down the axe he was holding, picked up the hunting rifle, and sniffed the muzzle. There was a definite smell of gunpowder.

Genji also put down his pool cue next to the bed and went to examine the body. When he lifted Tsukihiko's right arm, he saw blood on the fingertips of the corpse's right hand. Since there were no wounds on Tsukihiko's body, they could assume it was Soujirou's blood.

Amamiya, still clutching his cue, stammered in confusion.

“I guess Mr. Tsukihiko did write that message after all.”

In response, Tsukie lowered her long lashes and spoke as though she weren't talking to anyone.

“Or maybe it was written by the person who murdered my Brother.”

Kamo looked in the bathroom. Inside was the faint smell of blood mixed with soap. He turned back to the group.

“I think that bloody writing on the wall was forged. Someone else murdered Soujirou and Tsukihiko and tried to put all the blame on Tsukihiko.”

“How do you figure?” asked Genji.

Kamo pointed to the bed.

“When Soujirou was murdered, the culprit must have been exposed to a massive amount of blood. If they committed the crime wearing pajamas and leather shoes, most of their body would have been covered, but there was nothing to protect their face and hair.”

“I see, so they would have gotten blood on them.”

Next, Kamo turned to Tsukihiko's body.

“As you can see, there's still dust in his hair, but no blood... After he barricaded the back door with us, he was killed before he could wash it out. Or maybe the killer drugged him so he couldn't fight back.”

Ayaka poked her head in the bathroom, then held her nose with both hands.

“But it definitely seems that someone used the bathroom. It smells like blood and soap.”

“It was the murderer who used the bath. They must have been the one to wash the blood off of themself.”

The hourglass interrupted again.

“But Tsukihiko's death does not fit the pattern of the Nue. Humans do not possess tails, so the culprit could not have removed something that didn't exist to begin with.”

Genji ponderously tugged at the beard he was growing. Eventually, he spoke.

“That might not be so. In English, 'tale' and 'tail' are pronounced the same.”

Kamo couldn't help but give an exhausted smile.

“I see. So if you read it like that, then the bloody message is 'This silly tail is over'.”

Ayaka spoke quietly.

“In any case, now we know that the murderer isn't any of us. Because the culprit definitely attacked Uncle Soujirou and Tsukihiko while we were all together in the trailer.”

Amamiya's expression brightened.

“Thank goodness. We don't have to suspect each other anymore, right?”

Tsukie, however, was still thinking deeply.

“But it's still true that a murderer is lurking in the area. Maybe it really was Grandfather. Grandfather is the only one whose corpse has yet to be identified.”

This time, both Ayaka and Amamiya looked down, unable to come up with an objection. As he listened to her claim, Kamo stared intensely out the window.

The whole building was full of the sound of rain on the rooftop, and fat drops ran down the glass of the window.

“...With the weather like this, it probably isn't possible for the murderer to hide outside. They're probably still inside the villa.”

At those words, everyone went pale as they remembered the danger that surrounded them.

“For the time being, let's find out where the culprit is hiding.”

Kamo hurriedly shook his head at Amamiya's suggestion.

“It's better if we stop thinking like that. It's dangerous to search around blindly when we don't know what weapons our target has.”

“But this is our chance to find the murderer, isn't it?”

Kamo kept trying to convince the skeptical Amamiya.

“Right now, there are two things we should be doing. One is staying on alert against any surprise attacks from the murderer. The other is investigating to try to uncover the murderer's identity. If we find out who they are, then we might be able to find a way to fight back. ...That's the only way we can stop D. Cassiopeia.”

After confirming nobody had any objections, Kamo investigated the Snake Room properly.

A table and some chairs had been set up as a barricade in front of the door, but it had been broken down exactly the same as the Tiger Room.

The pants and Hawaiian shirts that had once hung in the closet were now tossed carelessly on the floor next to the bed. A black telephone and some cups were neatly arranged on the corner of the floor, and an empty black trunk lay beside them.

The bathtub was covered in water droplets, but there were no traces of blood left. It seemed the culprit had carefully cleaned up after themself to erase all traces of their presence. They had even collected the hairs from the drain.

Then Kamo examined the bed. Under the pillow, he found a knife with a 10 cm blade. It bore no traces of blood, or even a speck of dirt. It seemed this knife hadn't been used in the crime.

It must have been something Tsukihiko had found in the warehouse, or maybe something he'd brought himself. He may have hidden it under his pillow with the intention of using it to protect himself.

Staring down at the knife, Genji's brows furrowed.

“I think Tsukihiko was drugged by the murderer, like you said. If he had this knife, he would have tried to fight back while the culprit was breaking down the door. The fact that there's no evidence of that happening means that Tsukihiko was in a situation where he couldn't even take the knife out from under the pillow.”

Ayaka blinked a few times, looking confused.

“Could there have been a sleeping pill in his dinner?”

“It's possible.”

As he answered, Kamo thought back to what they'd eaten last night.

All anyone had eaten was rice balls and fruit. However, there were no drugs in anything Kamo or anyone else with him ate.  If there had been, Kamo and Ayaka would have fallen asleep rapidly after two straight days of wakefulness.

It would be difficult to predict who would eat which fruit, and injecting medicine with a syringe would require considerable preparation on the killer's part. Therefore, the sleeping drugs were either in the rice balls or the drinks... Thinking that, Kamo suddenly realized something.

“Now that I think about it, Soujirou and Tsukihiko always drank tea. Was it the same at dinner last night?”

Amamiya, who often served as the group's waiter, had an answer at once.

“Neither of them drink coffee. That was why we prepared tea for them.”

“So, if someone wanted to target only Soujirou and Tsukihiko with drugs, drugging the tea would be the quickest way.”

“But didn't we also drink coffee and tea yesterday evening? We were discussing how to protect ourselves from the murderer, I think around 4:30. At that time, I used the same tea leaves, pot, and tea cups. However, neither of them seemed sleepy at the time, especially not when we split up after 8:00. It didn't seem like they'd changed at all.”

Kamo narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. Amamiya was right.

“Then the murderer must have added the drug between then and when they drank the tea after dinner, that is, between 4:30 and 7:30. Does anyone remember where the cups were during that time?”

“I left them in the kitchen. After dinner, the Young Mistress brewed some tea herself, didn't you?”

Ayaka gave a nervous nod. Amamiya saw her and continued.

“I left the teapot on the dining room table.”

“As for the tea cups, I took them off the shelf and put them on the kitchen table while I was preparing the meal.”

Hearing Tsukie's addition, Kamo sighed.

“While the kitchen was empty, anyone could have drugged the tea leaves, the pot, anything... Even while we were preparing dinner, even though we were monitoring each other, it's not impossible someone managed to slip some drugs in under our noses.”

Tsukie suddenly smiled.

“But the killer definitely had to be inside the building to deliver the poison.”

“That's definitely a problem.”

After hearing Kamo say that, Ayaka asked curiously.

“The culprit just snuck into the house and has been hiding somewhere, right? I don't see what's wrong.”

Tsukie answered on Kamo's behalf.

“If they'd hidden in the warehouse or machine room, it's true they probably wouldn't have been found. However, there's no doubt that the murderer left the building afterwards, because the front entrance was broken from the outside.”

Ayaka gasped softly.

“You're right... But the back door was locked and barricaded, so there was no way to get in or out through it. And Ms. Tsukie and I were playing in the recreation room from 4:30 until we started preparing the meal.”

“After that, we all stayed in the dining room together the entire meal. For the culprit, going out through the front door must have been a dangerous act. Was there any reason they would have had to go outside, even knowing the risk someone would see them? Or...”

Genji finished Tsukie's thought.

“Or did they have an accomplice among us? It seems to me that the accomplice might have mixed the drug into the tea earlier, and then the murderer, who was outside, broke down the front door to get inside.”

“Impossible. D. Cassiopeia, whose mind is a copy of Malice, can only have one accomplice.”

Hora immediately objected. Kamo didn't know if Genji would accept that argument, but Tsukie spoke next.

“In any case, how the murderer breached the front door is still a mystery... It would have been impossible to break down the door without making any noise loud enough for us to hear.”

Kamo took a moment to look at each of his companions.

“Maybe we just don't have enough information yet. Right now, we have no choice but to keep investigating.”

Kamo examined Tsukihiko's body again and found a red dot on his left arm, a minuscule droplet of blood on it. It was in the same location you would take a needle to give blood. The wound was still fresh.

Kamo held up the dot that looked like an injection mark for all to see.

“The killer apparently put him to sleep with sleeping pills, then added more drugs using a syringe.”

Genji brought his face close and examined the marks. He tilted his head.

“Why would they do that?”

“I don't know how long sleeping pills usually last, but they could have been on the verge of wearing off and he was about to wake up. Or maybe the culprit just wanted to take precautions so be sure he wouldn't.”

Once they were finished investigating the Snake Room, a question arose: what to do with the rifle? It was a powerful weapon for self defense, but it would also be the worst possible thing to give to the murderer.

Genji checked the gun's magazine and determined that it contained no bullets... Which meant that Kamo and co. were in possession of exactly zero bullets, while the murderer had over 20. Those weren't good odds, so they concluded the best thing to do would be to just remove the gun from the equation.

Kamo forcibly snapped the gun at the joint, then took both halves to the sink and soaked them in water. He didn't know much about guns, but that should have been sufficient to render it unusable.

After the gun was taken care off, they armed themselves as best they could.

Kamo decided to keep Tsukihiko's knife, Genji took the axe, Amamiya the machete, and the women took a pool cue each. Then, they slowly made their way back to the Tiger Room, just across the hall.

There was no sign that the closet had been opened, and Soujirou's suits and shirts were hung neatly up. There was nothing unusual in the bathroom or toilet, except the black telephone, which appeared to have been placed there because it got in the way while making the barricade.

He checked the body again. Soujirou was still well-groomed. His hair was in order, and his mustache looked as neat as ever.

What Kamo really wanted to check was whether or not he also had any traces of needle marks. He examined the arms in the trash can and found what appeared to be an injection mark.

Kamo made a suggestion while scratching his growing beard.

“Let's go back to the rec room. It's near the main entrance, so it'll be convenient if we need to make a quick escape.”

 

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