Asako makes her counterargument. Kazuo's misunderstanding is made clear.
Asako makes her counterargument.
Kazuo's misunderstanding is made clear.
“I'm the culprit?”
Hoshizono looked at Asako as though she were some curiosity under a glass case.
“I wonder what makes you say that. I could have sworn you just said you 'understood'.”
“Yes, I understand that you're a murderer.”
Asako's answer was deathly serious. Her lips were set in a hard line, communicating a clear desperation beneath her strong demeanor.
“Do you understand anything I just said?”
Hoshizono and Asako faced each other down across the table. His voice held undisguised contempt.
“Of course I did, and I think most of it was correct. Your logic was firm and thought out... although, there are a few points where I disagree.”
Her tone was firm, but she was struggling to hold her gaze on the man's eyes.
“You denied the very concept of the 'alibi' on the grounds that it didn't fit the facts, and thus, you declared Mr. Sugishita's testimony a lie. But I don't believe that's true. I think the problem isn't in the premise, but in your interpretation of it.”
“You're saying you believe his story?”
Hoshizono sounded skeptical, but Asako nodded.
“I think he told the truth. There's no reason he'd lie about something like that.”
“I don't understand. Don't you agree that two of the three sets of footprints found at Mr. Iwagishi's lodge belonged to the culprit?”
“I do. There are no other footprints, so those must be the culprit's.”
“And yet you still think that culprit is me?”
“Yes.”
“You're contradicting yourself. If what Kazuo overheard is real, than the only possibility is that the owner of those footprints was the owner of the voice he overheard. Immediately after, he went straight to my lodge and saw me. Are you saying I flew through the air to pass him without being seen?”
“No, you didn't. Those footprints were left later. You went to kill Mr. Iwagishi long after Mr. Sugishita overheard him.”
“And what about the voices? Did the person who talked to Mr. Iwagishi enter and leave his lodge without leaving any footprints?”
“No. When Mr. Sugishita overheard him, Mr. Iwagishi was alone.”
Hoshizono finally stopped staring at her. He even let out a chuckle.
“That's absurd. If Mr. Iwagishi was alone in his lodge, than that would mean Kazuo was lying after all. What was the voice he claimed to have heard? Are you saying he was hallucinating? Or was Mr. Iwagishi perhaps working on his ventriloquist's act?”
Asako's face remained serious.
“None of those. I think Mr. Sugishita just misunderstood.”
“Oh, so he just 'misunderstood'? A lie and a misunderstanding are quite different things.”
Hoshizono was clearly trying to rattle her, but Asako remained strong.
“I'd like everyone to try and remember what Mr. Iwagishi and Mr. Zaino said and did on the first night. After dinner, Mr. Iwagishi invited Ms. Akane to have drinks with him. When she refused, Mr. Iwagishi said something like...”
“The truth is, I've also got work to do.”
“At the time, I thought he was just trying to cover up how badly he'd been rejected. In fact, Mr. Iwagishi had no tools for work in his lodge, just his personal belongings. Later, we found an attache case in Mr. Zaino's room. Inside were office supplies such as writing utensils, as well as the company's secret ledger. Organizing a secret, hidden ledger for tax evasion... doesn't that sound like the perfect 'work' to do in a remote place like this? Therefore, I believe that attache case was originally in Mr. Iwagishi's lodge. Mr. Iwagishi brought some under the table work with him to do that night, and later, Mr. Zaino brought the relevant tools – that's what I believe. So, when did Mr. Zaino obtain the case? It can only have been when he discovered Mr. Iwagishi's body. Afterwards, we all went to the lodge, where Mr. Hoshizono and Mr. Sugishita investigated without finding it. The morning the body was discovered, Mr. Zaino went to wake Mr. Iwagishi, who appeared to have overslept. At that time, Mr. Zaino went out that door.”
Asako pointed to the printed wood grain door behind Kazuo.
“We all know the quickest way to the back door is through that door. However, when he returned after discovering Mr. Iwagishi's death, he came in through that door.”
This time, Asako pointed to the frosted glass door. She was right... Kazuo vaguely remembered when Zaino had breathlessly ran into the room, he'd nearly broken the glass panel.
“If Mr. Zaino came straight back after discovering Mr. Iwagishi's death, he should have gone back the way he came. No matter how you look at it, that door is closer to the back door. And since he was in a panic after discovering the body, it would be natural for him to go through the closest door. However, Mr. Zaino took an unnatural detour and entered via the frosted glass door. I believe that was because he had business somewhere else before he returned to us. That's when he grabbed the attache case. Perhaps Mr. Zaino knew about the work Mr. Iwagishi had been doing the night before, and wanted to avoid exposing the company's dark underbelly. It's clear from his position that Mr. Zaino was involved in the tax evasion, so if it were to ever come to light, he could wind up in trouble. That's why, when he found the body, Mr. Zaino must have removed the attache case containing the secret ledger before telling us about the incident. When he came back to deliver the news, he used a different door because he'd just thrown the case into his room. If he were coming from the staff room, the frosted glass door would have been closer. The travel time wouldn't have increased by that much. This is the only way to explain Mr. Zaino's detour. Mr. Zaino was empty-handed when he left, but on his way back he carried evidence of he and his company's crimes.”
Indeed, although Kazuo remembered seeing Zaino on his way to Mr. Iwagishi's lodge as he stood on the balcony, he hadn't seen him come back.
Asako continued.
“And inside that attache case were the items responsible for Mr. Sugishita's misunderstanding: a cell phone and a radio. What Mr. Sugishita heard was a voice coming from the radio, and Mr. Iwagishi himself was talking to someone on a cell phone.”
“That's quite a leap. Where did that come from? And people call my astrological readings fraudulent predictions.”
Hoshizono spoke for the first time in a while, but Asako didn't respond.
“Please try to recall what the two of them said and did. During dinner, Mr. Iwagishi bragged that he always traveled by train, and said that if an idea ever came to mind, he'd immediately call someone, even if he was in the bath or on the toilet. I think that's the sort of statement that can only be made by someone who carries a cell phone. Actually, it would be weirder if someone like Mr. Iwagishi didn't carry a cell phone. You often see people who, even though they're on the train or a street corner, loudly talk into their phone without a care – that's exactly the sort of person Mr. Iwagishi was. And Mr. Zaino – at the same dinner, Mr. Zaino said that he'd been to this lodge village twice before. I believe he said that the weather was pleasant both times and he thought it would be a good place for a leisure facility. However, the following day Mr. Zaino went out by car and came back due to the avalanche, and made one clear statement: In weather like that, we would get no reception, and there was no way to use our cell phones. It was when we were discussing how we could contact the city at the foot of the mountain, remember? He mentioned that they usually used cell phones in the villas because they did get signals. But Mr. Zaino had only ever been here on days with good weather. How could he have known we had no reception? It's proof that Mr. Zaino had attempted to make a phone call on a day like that and found there was no reception. In other words, he'd called that day. Perhaps in the car, or perhaps when he went to his room to change his pants after returning from the avalanche. Either way, from the way Mr. Zaino spoke and acted, we can be sure he had a cell phone. Their phones were probably all in the attache case as work-related items. He probably only needed to dispose of the secret ledger, but if he took too long looking for it, we'd think he was acting suspiciously. That's why he grabbed the whole case. I believe that's why Mr. Zaino couldn't tell us he had a cell phone, because he'd secretly taken it from the crime scene alongside evidence of his own wrongdoing. Since he'd confirmed it was useless anyway, he probably thought there was no point. When Yumi asked if he had a phone, Mr. Zaino hesitated to answer.”
Asako wet her lips with her tongue. Hoshizono didn't object. He just kept staring intensely at Asako. Kazuo had no idea what he was thinking.
Asako continued.
“And then there's the radio. Mr. Iwagishi described himself as the sort of person who thought about the stock market 24 hours a day. Since the incident occurred on a weekday... This might be a bit of a stretch, but I think Mr. Iwagishi would have wanted to listen to the day's stock market report on the radio that night. What Mr. Sugishita heard as he passed by was the voice of a radio drama or disc jockey, and Mr. Iwagishi talking on the phone. The sky was still clear at the time, so there shouldn't have been any problems making calls. Mr. Sugishita mistook the two voices for a quarrel, even though they weren't even in the same space. No wonder he found the voice a bit metallic; it was actually coming from a speaker. And, of course, the reason he couldn't identify it as belonging to anyone here was because it didn't. With the muffling from it passing through the wall of the lodge and the wind, it was probably hard for him to tell whether or not it was a real, live voice. Also, it's not uncommon for men Mr. Iwagishi's age to make movements as though the other person is right there in the room with them while talking on the phone. I saw a middle-aged man in town once, bowing politely at a vending machine. He was also on a cell phone.”
A memory vividly flashed through Kazuo's mind: on the night he'd pushed over the assistant manager, his friend had clearly shrugged his shoulders on the other end of the phone line.
“Mr. Sugishita said he saw Mr. Iwagishi through a gap in the curtains, gesturing with his right hand as though he were going in for a hug. But normally, if you were going to hug someone, you'd use both arms. I believe the reason Mr. Iwagishi only stuck out his right arm was because he had the phone in his left hand. Mr. Iwagishi was so absorbed in the conversation, he acted as though the other person was right in front of him. Or perhaps that's not it, but he just thought the radio was too loud and reached out to turn it down. It's common for people to turn down the TV or radio while they're on the phone. Because he heard two voices, Mr. Sugishita had the preconception is his mind that he was overhearing an argument, so he misinterpreted that action as him hugging someone. What he thought was two people was actually one man on a cell phone and a radio.”
Asako seemed to be gaining confidence as she spoke, her voice growing stronger and clearer.
“Of course, at the time, there was likely only one set of prints in the snow: Mr. Iwagishi's own from when he entered the lodge. It's the natural conclusion, since there was only one person there. It was dark, so I'm guessing you didn't see the footprints there at the time, Mr. Sugishita? So, Mr. Hoshizono left the other two later that night. Of course, that was when he committed the murder... What do you think, Mr. Hoshizono? I've just broken the 'alibi' clue. By your own logic, it's not only Mr. Sugishita. You are also a suspect.”
Asako said this straight to his face with a serious, earnest look. Hoshizono answered with a sneer.
“I think you're full of it, but fortunately for me and unfortunately for you, I'm still protected by the 'psychological element'. I'm a UFO denier and have been for a long time, so if – purely hypothetically, of course – I were the culprit, I don't think I would have gone to the trouble of digging a crop circle instead of fleeing the scene as soon as possible.”
“Then I'll just have to break that, too.”
Asako's firm demeanor no longer wavered.
“That crop circle wasn't the simple distraction you say it is.”
“Oh? So you're saying it was something else?”
Hoshizono acted as though he had no idea where she was going with this.
“Do you mean it really was the landing zone of a UFO? Or do you think that circle on the ground had any deeper meaning whatsoever? Because I can't see any possible interpretation other than a simple diversionary tactic from the culprit.”
“No, I think we can see the truth from the stains on Miss Yumi's parka.”
“More nonsense...”
“I remember Miss Yumi's parka was stained with soot due to the soot on the walls from the wood stove being lit in her lodge before – Mr. Zaino explained it.”
Asako's round eyes were fixed firmly on Hoshizono.
“First off... There's something important we're all forgetting. The way we've all been stranded here has created a major blind spot. When Mr. Iwagishi was killed on the first night, there's no way anyone could have predicted that this place would be isolated. The way the weather suddenly got so bad that we lost all communications with the outside was totally unforeseeable – even for the culprit. So the culprit must have expected that the police would arrive the morning Mr. Iwagishi's body was found and thoroughly inspect the crime scene. But we were so panicked that we forgot all about that. If we're going to construct a theory, we need to start from there: When the culprit committed the crime, they did so anticipating a rapid police response.”
Asako sounded like she was reminding herself.
“Now, let's re-examine Mr. Iwagishi's case from that point of view. After dinner, Mr. Iwagishi went to sleep on the top bunk. He said it was warmer up there, and his mattress was on the top bunk, so we can assume that to be true. The ceiling of the lodge was low, so the top bunk nearly reached the ceiling. I think it'd be difficult to hit someone sleeping on the top bunk with the ice axe, because if they swung it, they'd likely hit the ceiling... And if they did manage to pull it off, there would be no reason to take the unconscious body down. They could have easily strangled him in the bed. But Mr. Iwagishi's body was found on the floor. That's how I know Mr. Iwagishi wasn't killed in his sleep, but while he was awake. Whether he was awoken by the culprit and got out of bed, or whether he was awake when they arrived, I don't know, but he definitely wasn't asleep. So, picture the scene. The first weapon used, the ice axe, was hanging quite high on the wall. It would be difficult to reach up and take it without being seen. Mr. Iwagishi must have been awake and on his feet when he was attacked, so if the culprit who'd come to him in the middle of the night suddenly reached up and grabbed a weapon, there's no way he wouldn't have reacted. Mr. Iwagishi's arms didn't have any wounds on them, and there were no signs of a struggle at the scene. From this, we can conclude that Mr. Iwagishi was hit suddenly, with no chance to resist. I can't imagine that happening if the culprit had to grab the ice axe from a high place first. I think the culprit had an ice axe on them from the beginning, and attacked him with it suddenly. He probably had it tucked into his belt behind his back... In other words, the culprit had an ice axe on them beforehand. It wasn't the one displayed at Mr. Iwagishi's lodge. Which begs the question: Where did they get it from? It's simple: From their own lodge. All the lodges are decorated the same, so Mr. Hoshizono must have had his own ice axe to use as a weapon.”
Asako downed the rest of her coffee in one gulp. With how much talking she'd done, she must have been thirsty.
“From the beginning, I thought it was strange. Those footprints... It's like they were showing off, they were so distinct. As if they wanted us to notice that there were three distinct lines of footprints... They didn't overlap at all. That's extremely unnatural. If there's nothing stopping them, people tend to take the same path. That's the origin of roads, and even animals dig paths for themselves. But these footprints are different. They're all extremely clear. It's not like we're in a poorly written mystery novel, with an author intentionally leaving clues for us. That's why I think these footprints were made clear on purpose.”
“And what's so strange about the footprints not overlapping? It's fun, crunching virgin snow beneath your feet.”
Hoshizono was grinning, but it was clear from his voice he was losing confidence.
“That isn't it. Going to is one thing, but someone fleeing a crime scene shouldn't have had time to enjoy something like that.”
Asako answered Hoshizono's joke with complete sincerity.
“Mr. Hoshizono, you must have gone outside in the middle of the night, stood on the left path, and looked at Mr. Iwagishi's lodge. You stood under the starry sky, wondering if you could somehow kill him. When you heard from Mr. Sugishita that Mr. Iwagishi had brought a woman with him, you must have wondered if you could go to his lodge yourself.”
Asako cut right to the heart of the matter.
“When you went to Mr. Iwagishi's lodge, you must have noticed something strange: There was only one set of footprints, leading towards the lodge. You must have realized they belonged to Mr. Iwagishi. The person Mr. Sugishita mentioned hadn't left any footprints. Looking back now, it makes sense, since there wasn't anyone else there. And then you thought that was your chance. You must have guessed that Mr. Sugishita had misunderstood something and mistakenly believed that there was someone else. If you took advantage of that, you could spin your meeting with him right afterwards as an alibi. If everything worked out, you might even be able to blame your crime on the guest... And that was when your murderous intent became reality. So, in order to eliminate the possibility that there was anyone else there, you made sure to leave exactly three sets of prints. By leaving three clear sets, you eliminated the possibility that anyone other than the person Mr. Sugishita overheard could have ever gone there. You were the only one who knew what Mr. Sugishita heard that night, so it's safe to say you're the only one who could have planned something like this.”
Was that the reason Hoshizono had specifically pointed out the footprints that morning?
“Miss Asako, you appear to be getting off topic. What does this have to do with the crop circle?”
Hoshizono was forcing himself to look confident. Somewhere along the line, Yumi and Mikiko had backed away from him and retreated to the curtains by the window. It was clear Hoshizono was losing ground.
“Don't worry, I'll explain that now.”
Asako was still polite, even now.
“When you went to Mr. Iwagishi's lodge, you brought the ice axe from your own lodge with you. At the time, you weren't sure if Mr. Iwagishi had anything similar in his lodge, and you were reluctant to go searching the forest for any large rocks or branches to use as a weapon because you'd have left traces in the snow. And if you went to the administration building, Mr. Sugishita or Mr. Zaino, who were sleeping there, might have seen you. That's why you used your own ice axe. Even if it was yours, you could have just dropped it and claimed you never had one to begin with. However, after the crime, you must have been surprised to see the identical decorations on the wall there. Did that mean all the lodges had the same decorations? When the police arrived, they'd find that there was an extra ice axe at the crime scene, and that your lodge was the only one missing an ice axe. You'd be exposed in no time. Disposing of it would be difficult. Even if you threw it away, it wouldn't change the fact that your ice axe was missing. You couldn't bring it back, either. If the police investigated the wound and determined the shape of the murder weapon, the axes would immediately catch their attention. And if they examined all of the ice axes, yours would be the only one to show traces of blood, and that would be it. However, there was one solution, a simple one anyone could have come up with. Of course, you'd just swap axes. Leave your axe at the scene and take Mr. Iwagishi's axe to hang in your lodge. Problem solved. There was an ice axe where an ice axe should have been, so no one would suspect a thing. It was easy to think of and easy to do, so there would have been nothing stopping you. But you really were unlucky, weren't you? There was a problem – the ice axe used in the murder and the one on the wall in Mr. Iwagishi's lodge weren't the same shape. I'm sorry, but... During the day, while you were out trying to go down the mountain with Mr. Sugishita and the girls, I entered your lodge without permission.”
For the first time, Asako managed to make Hoshizono sweat. Come to think of it, Kazuo had also noticed last night. The ice axe in Hoshizono's lodge had a slightly longer tip than the one at the crime scene.
“However, you still absolutely had to make the switch. You needed a clean, blood free axe in your lodge. But the two ice axes weren't the same shape. And that meant the soot on the wall was a problem. The traces of soot formed a thin layer on the wall, capturing a different shape than your axe. It's like the walls of a room that's recently had its furniture replaced. If the soot marks found at the crime scene didn't match the ice axe, the switch would have been obvious. Even if it wasn't obvious at a glance, a proper police investigation would have spotted the difference. You didn't know that the police weren't coming the next day, so you were afraid of what they'd find. If they realized the ice axe had been replaced, they'd search all the lodges for one that matched the soot marks. So, you thought outside the box. If the ice axe had to be switched, then you'd just have to do something about the wall. If you started a fire, that would eliminate the wall, but that wasn't an option. If you started a fire, it would definitely wake everyone up. The crime had to be believed to have been committed at around the time Mr. Sugishita heard the 'conversation' – otherwise your alibi wouldn't hold up. You had to avoid anything that would cause us to believe the time of death was anything else. Perhaps you even did something to the body itself to throw off the estimated time of death... But, well, in the end the police couldn't make it, so it was all a waste of time.”
Asako finally gave a slight smile. But Kazuo thought it looked extremely tired.
“You couldn't destroy the whole wall, so that was left was to remove the soot. You could wipe it off with just water. But you couldn't just wipe the mark left by the ice axe; that would make your intentions obvious – You had to clean the whole wall. That required a lot of water. However, there was no running water inside the lodge, and the water in the kitchen outside was frozen. You couldn't get water from the administration building without risking waking up Mr. Zaino and Mr. Sugishita. So there was only one source of water you could use. Right: The snow. There was a massive amount of water right outside the lodge. Just like when Mr. Sagashima burned his hand and cooled it in snow instead of water. In other words, that crop circle is just where you dug the snow from. It's that simple. It's more unnatural to think the culprit did all that work as a meaningless distraction. The water... that's the only interpretation of the crop circle that makes sense. They collected the snow in the kettle and melted it on the stove... I'm guessing you used the towel and clothes from Mr. Iwagishi's bag to do the wiping. In the middle of the night, you diligently cleaned the walls. That is the answer to the mystery of the crop circle.”
Cleaning the walls of a crime scene in the middle of the night... The absurdity of it made Kazuo's head spin.
“I think I can also explain why the marks where the snow was collected were circular like a crop circle. It's surprisingly difficult to collect snow in a kettle – unlike with a bucket, there's a spout halfway up its length. Not only that, but the snow on the night of the murder was several days old and long hardened, so even if you moved it by hand, you couldn't collect much. So the quickest way to collect it was to use something flat like a board to gather a circle of snow into a pile and push it into the mouth of the kettle. There was paneling under the lodge that was perfect for the purpose. And if the leftover dirty water was poured under the eaves where there was no snow, nobody would notice a thing.”
Indeed, there were some pieces of what appeared to be paneling under Iwagishi's lodge. Kazuo remembered seeing it when he and Hoshizono investigated the scene. The fact that the kettle was empty when Sagashima knocked it over also made sense if you considered that the culprit had thrown away dirty water.
“So the circular pattern in the snow wasn't left to fake a crop circle, but to quickly collect a large amount of snow. And the dango skewer through the crop circle – I think it was called a 'channel'? – of course, that was just the route the culprit took. They'd made a calculated decision not to hide their footprints between the lodge and the left path, since in the hard snow, the size and details would all disappear over time. So why did they drag their feet to hide them there? It was probably to disguise the number of trips they made. If they left behind many footprints, it would be clear that they'd gone to the crop circle many times. And if we realized that, we might also realize why. I believe that's the reason they flattened it into a single line. Of course, Mr. Hoshizono probably knew about crop circles and channels from his work, even though he didn't believe in them, so he might have also thought that, since he'd be leaving unnatural marks in the snow anyway, he might as well make them look that way as camouflage. There's also-”
“Girl, don't forget,” Akane suddenly said. “Why did he go over there instead of collecting snow closer to the entrance of the lodge? He looks like he's about to ask that, so please explain.”
“Yes, ma'am, I'll do that right away. So, this is why Mr. Hoshizono collected the snow far to the left on the lodge, and not near the entrance: He couldn't have, because Ms. Akane worked all night that night. Her lodge was the only one with the lights on that late. It must have been dark out, because everyone else seems to have gone to bed early. I think Mr. Hoshizono was afraid of being caught in that light. If he gathered snow near the entrance of the lodge, there was a risk Ms. Akane would see him. If she opened a window to get some fresh air or even looked outside, she might have seen him gathering snow in the middle of the night. He couldn't risk being seen acting odd near a murder scene, so he had to chose a blind spot. The only place that was a blind spot to Ms. Akane's lodge was exactly where the crop circle was located, so he had no choice but to gather the snow there.”
Seeing Akane lean back in satisfaction, Asako took a deep breath.
“That's how Mr. Hoshizono hit Mr. Iwagishi with an ice axe, strangled him with the rope there in the lodge, then washed the wall. I guess he didn't see the attache case at the time, though he probably wasn't looking for it to begin with. I'm sure Mr. Iwagishi would have hidden something so important. Mr. Zaino either was told where it would be hidden in advance, or perhaps just desperately searched for it because he knew it held the secret ledger. Afterwards, Mr. Hoshizono cleaned the wall and washed out the kettle to remove any traces, then left the stove on. Of course, that was to dry off the washed wall. Then he returned to his lodge and hung the clean ice axe he'd taken there, then appeared before us the following morning, looking innocent as could be...”
Kazuo remembered when he'd gone to touch the ice axe at Hoshizono's lodge last night, Hoshizono suddenly stopped him with a stern voice. At the time, he'd thought it was strange that he was saying things about serial killings, but now he realized he probably wanted to draw attention away from the problematic ice axe.
Asako continued.
“Mr. Hoshizono, if I acknowledge your logic, the two clues of 'alibi' and 'psychological element' have both been overturned. If you say we can't dismiss Mr. Sugishita as a suspect, then we can't exclude you, either. However, I'd like to follow your example and add a new clue. You can call it 'choice of weapon 2' – the crop circle. The fact that it was made and the wall was cleaned proves the ice axe was brought from outside. Therefore, the culprit can't be someone who didn't have their own ice axe that night. Since Mr. Sugishita wasn't staying in a lodge, he couldn't get an ice axe, so we can exclude him. That means that you, Mr. Hoshizono, are the only one left. Everyone else has been proven innocent by your own logic.”
“...No. No, he could have gotten it from a storage room.”
It was a weak argument. Asako remained on the attack.
“Mr. Hoshizono, your crimes were extremely clever. You stayed flexible in the face of many unexpected complications, and to a one, your actions were intelligent, logical, and well executed. First, you heard Mr. Sugishita's story and decided to try and pin the crime on Mr. Iwagishi's guest. You took the initiative, pretending to search for the culprit, dragging Mr. Sugishita alongside you as a witness to your good intentions. You even predicted that Miss Yumi and Miss Mikiko would lose their wills and give up on the way down the mountain. It was a brilliantly subtle trick. Someone who tried to help escape and call the police themself wouldn't look suspicious no matter what they did. Excellently played. Mr. Hoshizono, you realized partway through that there was no guest using the same logic as myself, didn't you? And when you realized that the police wouldn't come, as you'd planned during Mr. Iwagishi's murder, you silenced Mr. Zaino as well. Once the cell phone, radio, and Mr. Zaino who took them were all taken care of, your 'alibi' would protect you no matter what. When you killed Mr. Zaino, did you only take the cell phone and radio and leave behind the attache case itself because you stood to benefit from Mr. Iwagishi's tax evasion being exposed? Or did you leave that ledger because you thought Mr. Iwagishi's remaining associates would find something strange if it was never recovered? Which was it? And what did you do with the cell phone and radio? Have you already disposed of them?”
Hoshizono didn't respond.
“So you won't answer... But Mr. Hoshizono, you came up with another brilliant idea today. It was quite creative. I'm impressed. I'm not being sarcastic right now, I really am... There's no better situation for a killer than a series of murders taking place in a closed circle, and by the time the circle is opened and the police arrive, all of the survivors being convinced that one person is the killer. Even if the person protests their innocence, if all of the rest of the survivors insist that person is the killer, the police won't have any reason to listen to them. The police, who have no idea what happened here, are at the mercy of our preconceived notions before they get a shred of evidence. And since everyone's testimony will already be based on the assumption that they know the killer, their memories will be subconsciously changed and inconvenient facts will be left out to suit their conclusions. Since the police's interrogations will be based on everyone's shared beliefs, the culprit will be decided from the start. You chose Mr. Sugishita to fall victim to that trap, didn't you? You even went to the trouble of dragging him along with you down the mountain to dirty his shoes and pants, since, as a guest at the administration building, his were relatively clean, didn't you? You even thought to make it look like he'd gone out in the middle of the night... And now that you know our rescuers will come tomorrow, you decided to take your gamble. Even if you highlight the flaws in your own crime, as long as you're able to convince us that Mr. Sugishita is the culprit, you'll get away with everything... I truly do respect your intellect and courage. However, I can't sympathize with anyone who can decide to kill so easily.”
Asako's stare hardened just a bit.
“Ms. Akane and have already figured out most of what you did, but we couldn't figure out your motive. The police were supposed to arrive after the first day, so we don't think the second case, Mr. Zaino's murder, was part of the plan. Once the police arrived, there was no way you'd be able to kill Mr. Zaino, so you wouldn't have just left his murder for later. That made it rather easy to figure out that the motive in Mr. Zaino's case was to ensure he never revealed that he'd taken a cell phone and radio from Mr. Iwagishi's room. But we still had no idea why you killed Mr. Iwagishi in the first place. So, we predicted that if you got to the point where your plan was almost complete, if you could create an environment where you'd convinced everyone of Mr. Sugishita's guilt – that would make you talk. That's why I insisted you explain his motive. I said that the motive was the last thing we needed, but it was actually what we needed to expose you.”
“Revenge for the president, huh? Unfortunately, the president hasn't done enough to earn my gratitude or loyalty.”
“Just what are you talking about?”
Akane's sudden question chilled to the bone.
“There isn't anyone here closer to him than you. We already know... that you're the president's boyfriend.”
Akane's words completely changed Hoshizono's face. His pale cheeks instantly went red.
Kazuo was astonished, helplessly staring at the man who was already dripping sweat. He was stunned into complete silence. The head of the Culture and Creative Department had said he'd ordered Kazuo to serve as his attendant to keep him from getting involved in any scandals, but in actuality, he was being ask to keep an eye on his boss's lover... Moreover, both lovers were men...
“Are you a complete idiot?”
Akane's accusatory voice echoed off the walls.
“It's a well-known story in the industry, to the point where even a writer like me with no connection to the world of TV knows about it. I doubt there's a single person in the entertainment industry or media who doesn't know it.”
“Everyone... Everyone knows?”
A shadow fell across Hoshizono's face. His eyes swam in their sockets.
“Yep, everyone. From the looks of it, you appear to be the only one who doesn't know. Well, your agency's pretty powerful, so nobody would talk about something like that to your face, but it's an open secret. I'm sure the hosts of the morning variety show and all the other talents you work with all laugh at you behind your back. 'Even though he's gay, he's fooling around with women and girls'... Japan is still such a prejudiced country.”
For just a second, Akane laughed at him.
The next moment, Hoshizono moved. One second Yumi was standing by the curtain, the next he had her by the hair. As though using her as a human shield, he got behind her and pressed something to her neck. In his hand, he held a small knife. Kazuo had no idea where he'd gotten it from.
Hoshizono was unrecognizable. His eyes shone with a deep madness. His mouth twisted with power and ferocity, and his gentlemanly demeanor was a distant memory.
Yumi stood with her eyes wide, the knife glinting at her throat. It appeared she was too shocked to even scream.
“AAAAAAAAAAHH!”
But that was alright, because Mikiko was doing it for her. She tripped on her own legs as she tried to escape and fell over. She kept going, crawling on all four under the table.
“DON'T MOVE, YOU IDIOTS!”
Hoshizono roared. His voice had changed too. He sounded like an animal. The hand holding the knife tightened. Yumi stiffened, sucking in a breath.
“Damn it all... Don't test me! You won't get away with this, you bastards!”
Hoshizono's voice broke, characteristic of someone possessed by rage.
It seemed this was outside of Akane's predictions, as she obediently went quiet. Next to her, Asako's face paled.
“Why couldn't you have just kept your mouth shut and let that worthless parasite be made the culprit? He wouldn't have amounted to anything but another of my hangers-on anyway! I won't go to jail for ridding the world of vile, lowlife scumbags like them! I'm taking this stupid brat and getting out of here. I gave that trash the opportunity to amount to something by taking the fall for me, and you RUINED IT! All you had to do was shut up and let a simple little nobody be executed and everything would have been fine...”
He ranted and raved. Hoshizono looked on the verge of breathing fire. Yumi's face crumpled inwards as he pressed against her.
He was still going, but despite the situation, Kazuo was surprisingly calm. Akane and Asako couldn't do anything about this. Yumi was paralyzed with fear; there was no way she'd be able to escape on her own. As a man, he guessed he'd have to do something. He carefully watched for an opportunity to jump at Hoshizono and disarm him.
“I'll get rid of that piece of shit woman there, too, while I'm at it. Damn it, spoiling my plan, you're so arrogant, talking like you matter when you're just the worthless secretary of a third-rate novelist! The hell do you mean I 'left traces from collecting snow'!? Cocky idiot little girl, a tiny, ugly thing like you is only good for picking the trash off the bottom of people's shoes! Ugly people should know their places and shut up! You'll never be able to stand up to a man like me! Ugly bitch has the nerve to cross me... Come over here. You're the one person here I can't let go. Come here. I'll cut that stubby little nose off and make it even stubbier. Come HERE!”
Asako's lips curved a bit. Whether from humiliation or helplessness, it seemed she couldn't even open her mouth.
“Hey, what's the matter, uggo? I'm telling you I'm going to make that ugly face of yours even uglier so people will stop looking at you. Get over here. You look like a goddamn child; no sex appeal, not even cute. You're so worthless I doubt it'd even matter if you lost a piece or two off your face, so let's get this over with.”
Something inside of Kazuo broke. What he did to me was one thing, but talking about Miss Asako like that... His self control shattered. He was full of rage. Impulsively, he kicked off the floor.
But a moment before...
The glint of the knife flew past Kazuo.
He didn't understand what had happened.
The knife sailed past him, grazed his ear, and flew in a straight line towards the ceiling.
Before Kazuo's astonished eyes, two pairs of shoes flew through the air. Of course, someone's feet were inside those shoes. The owner of the shoes sailed in a magnificent arc and landed on their back on the wooden floor with a tremendous thud. A hollow sound came from their throat.
The man on the floor was Hoshizono.
When Kazuo looked up, he saw Yumi standing in the exact same position she'd been in before, hand on her throat.
Beside her, Sagashima stood in a strange pose, making an 8 with his hands.
As everyone stared at him as though he'd been possessed, Sagashima left the strange pose and returned to his usual gloomy, middle-aged posture.
“I didn't want to have to do that... I don't like violence...”
He sounded bitter. As he rubbed his bandaged left hand with his right, he looked as though he were carrying all the world's self-loathing on his shoulders.
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