Chapter Five - Part Four

The first thing Kamo did was subject everyone else to body searches.

He did so to check if anyone was hiding D. Cassiopeia, but of course they didn't find any hourglasses in anyone's clothes or belongings. At Kamo's suggestion, it was decided that they would continue to subject everyone to random, unannounced searches.

Amamiya, who was in the kitchen, seemed to get tired of standing and sat down in the bedroom. Probably because he was too shy to approach Tsukie and Ayaka, he sat down at the bedside table, far from anyone else.

Just then, Genji sat down on the trash can in the kitchen and made a sudden noise, as though he'd forgotten something.

“Ah, I got so absorbed in all that talk of time travel I completely forgot... I actually wanted to talk about something completely different.”

Ayaka looked at Genji with confusion. He answered with a sad expression.

“I don't think Ayaka or Tsukie have ever heard this story before. I only found it out myself after considerable searching. Mr. Kamo, I have to tell you about the secret behind Hata Reito's birth.”

“Ah, I thought something like this would come up. Was he the illegitimate child of a Ryuuzen?”

Kamo was so brutally straightforward that Genji couldn't help but laugh.

“Officially, Reito was my maternal cousin. But in actuality... he was both my brother and my uncle.”

Kamo was confused.

If he were the illegitimate son of Taiga or Genji's father Eitaro, that would make Reito an uncle or a brother. But it seemed impossible for one man to be both. As he struggled to recall the Ryuuzen family tree he'd studied from the archives long ago, he realized a possibility.

“Could it be that he was simultaneously a brother from one side of the family, and an uncle from the other?”

Genji nodded solemnly.

“My mother, Ryoko, was a servant at the main house when she was young. Of course, that was before she met my father, Eitaro. And... Grandfather impregnated her.”

Small gasps came from both Ayaka and Amamiya. Tsukie stared at the floor in silence. Genji continued to speak in a sad, far away voice.

“Grandfather was afraid Grandmother would find out about his impropriety, so he immediately had my mother sent back to her parents' home. She gave birth there, and the baby was raised as the son of my mother's brother, my Uncle Hiromitsu.”

Kamo winced.

“So, Hata Reito... to you, he was both a half-brother and a paternal uncle?”

“Yes. My mother's family, the Hata, were poor, and I think Uncle Hiromitsu needed the money Grandfather had promised to pay for child support. That's why he had no choice but to accept that his sister had grown pregnant out of wedlock. I suppose he had no choice but to cry himself to sleep every night.”

“Grandfather... why?”

They couldn't imagine how upset Ayaka was to learn about a side of her grandfather she'd never suspected. Eventually, Genji continued, his face growing even darker.

“Later, my mother was given a job at Grandfather's company. Probably the reason she was paid so much more than a woman her age could have ever asked was because Grandfather was trying to atone for his sins... That was where she met my father, Eitaro.”

Kamo was confused again.

“So why did they get married?”

“Grandfather kept Reito's existence a secret, and my father had been gone studying abroad for a long time, so he didn't know a thing. He fell in love with my mother at first sight.”

“But-”

“It's unthinkable, isn't it? For a father's mistress to become the son's wife? At first, I think my mother hated my father and tried to push him away. But in her own way, she was unhappy. And... my father was an honest, kind-hearted man who wasn't suited to business. And above all, his feelings for my mother were real. It may have taken a while, but my mother cherished my father. I think she even came to love him.”

No one could say anything. Genji continued his painful confession.

“Even though he knew everything, Grandfather didn't object to the marriage. He hated the old ways and old customs with a passion that sometimes became madness... In fact, Grandfather offered to financially support the Hatas and promised to take in Reito and raise him as a Ryuuzen, and even give him a share of the inheritance equal to mine and my brother's. For the sake of her family and her son, I don't think my mother had any choice.”

The expressions on Ayaka and Amamiya's faces weren't a bit sympathetic. Genji, seeing this, finally turned his head down.

“Eventually, my mother and father were married, and a distorted situation arose in which they took in Reito and raised him as their own... I pray that her life was happy right until she was killed in the air raids.”

For some reason, hearing his story made Kamo think of Rena.

Kamo also wouldn't have cared what sort of secret she held, even if it was something wider society would never accept. He wondered what Ryoko had thought about her marriage to Eitaro.

He took a deep breath.

“Whatever the circumstances that led there, Ryoko was able to live a stable life with her three children... That's an irreplaceable gift. That's why I believe she was happy.”

Genji seemed surprised, but he soon smiled.

“Thank you.”

“By the way, did Reito ever learn the circumstances of his birth?”

Genji narrowed his eyes as if trying to remember something.

“I don't think so. At least, he didn't know when I was a child.”

“But even if Taiga kept it a secret, some of the relatives must have found out.”

“Yes, more than a few people figured it out. Koki's mother, Aunt Shoko, for example. I learned about the story from her when she was drunk. And there were others...”

“Father knew. So did Tsukihiko.”

Tsukie interjected without changing tone in the slightest. Genji's eyes went wide.

“I know Soujirou knew, but when did you learn? This all happened before you were born.”

“I learned about it when Tsukihiko and I secretly read my Father's hidden diary.”

Genji, who seemed to find that surprising, smiled bitterly.

“Is that so... Come to think of it, my aunt and uncle's attitude towards Reito was always cold. I guess that was because they knew the secret.”

Reito's share of the inheritance was supposed to have been quite large. It wouldn't have been surprising if some of his relatives found that dissatisfying.

Kamo thought for a moment and asked the first question that came to mind.

“Why did Soujirou and Shoko keep quiet about all this? They could have revealed everything to Eitaro and questioned Taiga's decision.”

Genji lowered his eyes as though he were struggling to answer, so Tsukie spoke for him.

“Father was extremely jealous of Mr. Eitaro, the heir to the Ryuuzen clan. I read in his diary... when he saw Mr. Eitaro raising his wife's illegitimate child without realizing, Father felt a twisted joy. On the contrary, he may have been planning to use the secret as material to extort Eitaro and Grandfather in the future. Father is that kind of man.”

Her direct, heartless declaration convinced everyone she was telling the truth. Genji gave a deep sigh.

“Let's get back on topic. Reito went off to war and returned in 1946, but he'd become a different person. He tried to distance himself from both myself and Kyuichi. I thought it was from what he'd gone through during the war, but it seems I was wrong.”

“You mean someone told Reito the secret of his birth?”

He gave a small nod.

“It's possible my mother told him everything before he left for the war.”

When the red paper came, Ryoko must have known there was a possibility that she'd never see her child again. It seemed only natural she'd choose to reveal her secret while she still had a chance.

“And then, two years later, Eitaro died and Reito went missing?”

“...Even now, I can't forget the telegram I received in Hong Kong.”

Genji paused for a moment before speaking again.

“I couldn't accept my father's death. He'd been in such good spirits when he saw me off at the port. It also seemed impossible that Reito would just leave us. That's why, when I returned home, I immediately questioned Kyuichi.”

Ayaka went pale at the mention of her father's name.

“And... what did Father say?”

“He tried to pretend he didn't know anything. But Kyuichi was a terrible liar, so I knew right away that he was hiding something.”

Genji turned back to Kamo.

“After that, I spoke to Grandfather, Soujirou, and Tonegawa, but it seemed they were all hiding something and I couldn't get a straight answer. I couldn't accept that, so I tried questioning Aunt Shoko while she was drunk, but... it was no use.”

Tsukie hugged her shoulders.

“Father was the same way. When I tried to talk to him about that day, he just scolded me and wouldn't tell me anything.”

At that point, Kamo could see two possibilities.

One was that Hata Reito had poisoned Eitaro and fled. The other was that someone else had come to the same conclusion, killed Reito, and dumped his body somewhere.

The second one felt closer to the truth... The murderer patterning their crimes on the Nue made it look like it was intended as revenge for Hata Reito.

Once again, Kamo looked around at all the faces in the trailer.

In 1948, Genji had been overseas, and Tsukie and Ayaka were ages eight and one, respectively. Amamiya hadn't even been taken in by the Ryuuzen yet. There was nothing more he could get out of any of them.

Kamo gave a small nod, then spoke quietly.

“I'm sure the only people who really know what happened back then are Soujirou and the murderer. Tomorrow, I'll ask Soujirou directly.”

“Assuming he lives that long,” Hora's voice rang out.

Kamo glared at the hourglass. Even though Hora was supposed to be an ultra-high-spec AI from the future, he sure couldn't read a room.

Kamo picked up the hourglass and tossed it into his breast pocket, leaving the chain around his neck. He hoped doing so would be enough to block Hora's camera.

“It's useless. I was designed such that, even if I no light reaches me, I can accurately see my surroundings to a range of about one meter... This is an essential function for safe movement through space and time.”

Kamo growled “Isn't there any way to shut you up?”

Hora didn't seem to understand why he was so angry, and his answer was confused.

“If you soak me in water, I think my voice would have a harder time reaching the air. If you wish to silence me forever, my weak point is fire... but you aren't being serious, are you?”

Kamo didn't answer that. Even Hora knew to shut up now.

Perhaps simply unable to take the awkward silence, Genji suggested they review the incidents so far.

They still had time until dawn, so the five of them decided to think about how D. Cassiopeia and her accomplice had committed the series of impossible murders. ...Thus far, there were four major problems standing between them and the solution.

① How had the murderer gotten the head and torso out of the building without being seen?

② How had Taiga gotten out of the Dragon Room while the second floor hallway was being monitored?

③ Who was the body in the pizza oven? Was it really Taiga?

④ Whoever the corpse was, where had their legs gone?

Although everyone gave their theories, the discussion never went anywhere. That was because nobody could come up with a hypothesis that fit the evidence.

As this was going on, everyone began to feel varying degrees of exhaustion. Kamo briefly suspected that they'd been given sleeping pills with dinner, but he quickly realized that wasn't necessarily the case.

Kamo and Ayaka had been up all night in the cleaning supplies room on the 22nd. Amamiya and Genji had also been up all night in the recreation room on the 21st, and it was hard to imagine they'd been able to sleep well the following night after the murders. Tsukie, the only one who hadn't pulled any all-nighters in the past two days, had boasted that she usually slept 11 hours a day, so she probably wasn't cut out for going long without sleep to begin with.

Ayaka, the youngest, was the first to fall asleep.

Amamiya noticed that she was breathing heavily, and retrieved a bath towel from the cupboard and gently draped it over her. Kamo also woke with a start near the trailer door and opened the lid of the pocket watch on the table. The dial showed 2:03.

Genji looked at it and murmured something.

“It's already 2:00?”

Kamo felt the same way. Judging by his internal clock, it didn't even feel like 1:00 yet. Tsukie yawned, then smiled at the others.

“It's been a long time since I last stayed up this late.”

Amamiya remembered that he'd left his watch to dry, so he went to the kitchen to retrieve it. When he saw it, he rubbed his chin in confusion. Even though he was still young, his skin was as fine as a woman's, and he barely had any stubble.

“My watch says 2:12... It's supposed to be waterproof, but I guess with rain this heavy, there are limits to what can be done.”

Glancing over at the watch, Tsukie gave her opinion.

“It doesn't matter which of them is right. I don't want to be bound by time, so I don't carry a watch at all.”

With that short declaration, Tsukie shut her eyes. Genji also reached for his watch, which was still wrapped in a towel.

“Looks like Ayaka's watch was correct.”

Kamo looked at his watch and saw that the hands pointed to 2:02.

After reapplying his watch to his left wrist, Genji reached for Ayaka's pocket watch. Kamo noticed him going to wind it, and suddenly stood up.

The back of his neck hit the lantern. Their only source of light went shaking, causing the shadows to wriggle long and short within the trailer.

He rubbed the back of his neck, fearing he'd burned himself, but he didn't feel any heat where the lantern had touched him. It looked like he'd gotten lucky.

Next to him, Genji froze in place and stared at him.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, I just... I thought Ayaka had a habit of winding her watch all the time, but I guess I was wrong.”

Kamo blushed a bit with embarrassment, but Genji answered with a nostalgic look.

“Yes, she knew it was necessary, so she did it. The watches Grandfather got us are all hand-wound, and they were deliberately designed to need lots of attention... I think Grandfather considered them a metaphor for family.”

Kamo reached out and took the pocket watch, which had been left unwound.

“So you mean that you need to be careful to regularly maintain it?”

“That's right. Grandfather was also careful to make sure his watch never stopped.”

Amamiya also nodded at his words. Kamo thought for a while.

“Come to think of it, I think Ayaka told me the mainspring of this watch only lasts half a day...”

“Yes, it lasts exactly 12 hours. That's how it's designed.”

Hearing Genji's words, it seemed Hora couldn't keep quiet any longer, and he began to glow in Kamo's pocket.

“Even for 1960, that is a rather inconvenient specification.”

“I'm not gonna take that from an hourglass. You can only measure five minutes at a time!” Kamo replied.

His pocket began to glow red. Apparently, that meant Hora was angry.

Then Tsukie, who everyone had thought was asleep, opened her eyes.

“Father has a watch just like the one in Grandfather's room. But Grandfather and Ayaka are the only ones who actually wound the watches multiple times a day. That's the gap between ideal and reality.”

Kamo couldn't help but smile painfully as he returned to sit by the door. Her analysis was harsh but true.

He decided to borrow Ayaka's pocket watch.

He felt bad, borrowing a memento of someone's mother, but he would ask permission to keep it a few more hours when she woke up.

 

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