Epilogue: Our Adventures in a Locked Room

The first Sunday after my return from Wire Mesh Island, I woke up in the afternoon and went downstairs to find Yozuki, who had apparently come over to visit, rummaging through my fridge. Then, she turned around and said “Kasumi, what a surprise!”

“There's eclairs in the fridge.”

...So?

“...There's eclairs in the fridge.”

“...So?”

“I'm gonna have to eat them now.”

“They were in the refrigerator in someone else's house.”

“Kasumi,” Yozuki said with a deathly serious face. “Is there a law against eating eclairs from other people's houses?”
“Yes.”

Probably.

“Well it's probably not written out in writing anywhere. So I'm going to eat them.”

Yozuki declared that and started eating the eclairs. Then she handed one to me and said “You want one, Kasumi?” I put the eclair in my mouth and headed to the living room, where I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. The news was on. The mass murder at Wire Mesh Island was still on the news, and apparently, the results of the analysis on the miniature knives with “The Living Locked Room Library” engraved on them had been released. The knives were fakes – in other words, it was confirmed that Otomigawara, who had committed the crime, wasn't the real Living Locked Room Library after all.

The newscaster said that the investigation into why Otomigawara had called herself the Living Locked Room Library was still ongoing, but her smartphone had contained a large amount of evidence that she had extensively researched the Living Locked Room Library. A criminal psychologist who appeared on the news said that may have been evidence that Otomigawara admired the Living Locked Room Library, which may have led her to copying their M.O. However, that was just one criminal psychologist's personal speculation, and I didn't think it was that unusual that a young lady with such a deep love of locked rooms would research the Living Locked Room Library as a hobby.

Either way, Otomigawara wasn't the Living Locked Room Library. That was beyond question.

In that case, where was the real Living Locked Room Library?

A sudden thought occurred to me.

What if the real Living Locked Room Library was the one who'd shot Otomigawara with an anti-materiel rifle?

I gave a wry smile.

There was no way a coincidence that big would happen.







The Living Locked Room Library walked toward the station, pulling a wheeled carry-on bag behind them. It was a hot May day, but there was a firm breeze that felt good on their skin. In addition, the Living Locked Room Library was in a good mood. They had been ever since they killed Otomigawara with the anti-materiel rifle.

The Living Locked Room Library didn't know why their client asked them to kill Otomigawara. Or rather, they hadn't asked. Otomigawara was a wealthy woman, so she must have done something to earn someone's hatred – that was as far as they understood. However, when they'd received multiple requests to kill her, back to back, they'd had to laugh. What had that young lady been doing in the shadows? Was she really that bad?

In any case, Otomigawara was just another target to the Living Locked Room Library, and that was why they felt no remorse at her death. In fact, the Living Locked Room Library rarely felt joy or sorrow at the deaths of others. Those emotions had long since dulled to the point where they'd almost lost them altogether.

So why did they feel so good? Of course, there was only one reason. It was because the scene of Otomigawara's murder had become a locked room.

Although it hadn't been their intention, in the end, that murder had become a solid locked room murder. And that made the Living Locked Room Library inexplicably happy. Although they'd taken a break from committing murders in locked rooms, this latest locked room, unintentional as it may have been, had made them realize that locked rooms were irreplaceable to them. After a long session of soul searching, they'd finally come to understand what was truly important.

As they walked with their carry-on bag in tow, the station's ticket gates eventually came into view. The Living Locked Room Library took their pass out of their pocket. At that moment, someone bumped into their arm, and the Living Locked Room Library's pass slid across the tiles. When they quickly reached out to grab it, someone else got it first. It was the same person who'd bumped into them. The Living Locked Room Library took it and thanked them. 

“I'm sorry. I appreciate it.”

As they stood in the sunlight, a sudden gust of wind blew by, swaying the Living Locked Room Library's hair.

Pure white clothes, pure white skin, and pure white twintails. As they fluttered in the wind, the Living Locked Room Library thought to herself.



“Now, who will I kill in a locked room next?”







“Come to think of it, I saw Sotodomari in front of the station yesterday.”

At the beginning of the week, when I went to the literature club room after school, Mitsumura said that to me. “Sotodomari?” I said.

“Did she live in this town?”

“I don't know. She had a big carry-on bag with her,” Mitsumura said, recalling the moment. “Maybe she was just stopping by while traveling somewhere. But she seemed to be in good spirits. I picked up her pass and she thanked me.”

“Hmm, you picked up her pass?”

It wasn't a very interesting story. I didn't think it was worth telling.

“Well, Sotodomari looked very cool, with her twintails waving in the wind.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She was looking up at the sky with this total lack of expression.”

“That's embarrassing.”

“She had this look on her face like 'Yes, I'm extremely beautiful, what of it?'”

“Was she trying to become a light novel character?”

“Well, it did make for a striking image.”

With that, Mitsumura looked down at the hardcover book she was reading. I couldn't tell whether she liked Sotodomari or not. Her eyes scanned the hardcover for a while, but then, as though she'd finished, she suddenly slammed it shut. And then she casually said “I have something I want to ask you.”

“Just a thought.”

“A thought?” I replied.

“Yes,” she said. “Or maybe a thought experiment. We were recently caught up in a series of locked room murders on an island – and the culprit, Ms. Otomigawara, was shot and killed, right? What if her killer had been among us? In short, if the killer had been one of our group, who would it be? Who do you think is the culprit?”

“What if the culprit was among us?”

It was a rather unusual thought experiment. I'd recently thought that maybe the real Living Locked Room Library had been the one to kill Otomigawara, but in terms of outlandishness, that theory was no better... well, maybe it was a little better.

However, it was also a very boring thought experiment. Because if the culprit had to have been among us, then it was obvious who they were.

That's why I told her.

“In that case, Sotodomari must be the culprit.”

Mitsumura tilted her head and asked “Why?” Was she making fun of me? Although I was suspicious, I told her why.

“Because Sotodomari is the only one who could have committed the crime.”

Mitsumura nodded at me and said “I see.” Then she immediately argued. “But is that really the case?”

“Because, as you know, the entirety of Wire Mesh Island is surrounded by a 30 meter high fence, right? It's too high for a person to cross, and even if they did, they'd be seen by the surveillance cameras mounted on top of the fence. Therefore, the only way to get on or off the island is to go through the main gate of the fence, which is also monitored by a camera. In a sense, the entire island was one enormous locked room. So, an obvious question arises: How did Sotodomari escape from that enormous locked room and get to the mansion on Crescent Island, which is where the sniper shot was made?”

Seeing the serious expression on her face, I burst out laughing. “You're a funny girl, Mitsumura,” I said. “I am?” she replied, looking surprised.

“I wasn't joking.”

“That's got to be another joke.”

When she looked at me in astonishment, I said “I mean, it is, right?”

“There's no need to think about 'How Sotodomari escaped from Wire Mesh Island'. Because Sotodomari was never on Wire Mesh Island from the beginning.”

Mitsumura's eyes went wide.

Sotodomari wasn't on Wire Mesh Island?”

“No, she wasn't,” I said. “Sotodomari wasn't on Wire Mesh Island. There was no need for her to move to Crescent Island to begin with. Because for the three days the murders were occurring on Wire Mesh Island, Sotodomari wasn't there, but on Crescent Island.”







Mitsumura looked at me in total astonishment.

“What on Earth are you talking about? Sotodomari was on Crescent Island?”

I got the impression things were strange for a while now. What was she talking about? Yeah, Sotodomari had always been on Crescent Island, not Wire Mesh Island. Didn't Mitsumura know that?

That's when I finally realized. Ah, were we playing the Narrative Trick Game? Apparently, we were, and I hadn't even noticed.

The Narrative Trick Game was a game Mitsumura and I used to play in middle school. One player was the “reader” who had fallen for a narrative trick, and the other was the “author”, who revealed hidden facts in their story – that kind of game. We were probably the only two middle school students in the world to ever play it, but it was fun. And somewhere, without realizing it, I had been appointed as the “author” of the Wire Mesh Island Locked Room Murders Case. Therefore, it was up to me to explain the last remaining mystery to Mitsumura, who was playing the role of the reader.

I cleared my throat, then said “What do you mean? Isn't it obvious?” in my authorial voice. When Mitsumura heard, she let out a small gasp. “Sorry,” she said teasingly, “But that was really lame.” I thought she was being unreasonable, but I repeated the line again, giving a slightly better performance.”

“What do you mean? Isn't it obvious?”

Mitsumura's expression immediately changed, and she pretended to be confused. “What do you mean 'obvious'? I don't understand anything.” It pained me to admit it, but she was the better actress. As expected, someone who'd been arrested and subjected to a police interrogation was on another level.

Mitsumura continued her realistic performance.

“Because, you had all those conversations with Sotodomari, didn't you? You and Yozuki even received roasted taro and marshmallows from her, right? So it's definitely weird. If she was on Crescent Island all along, wouldn't it be impossible for her to talk to you and give someone on Wire Mesh Island roasted taro?”

“It might seem impossible,” I said. “But it actually isn't. Mitsumura, what do you think the positional relationship between the two islands is? Please, draw it for me.”

Mitsumura looked at me suspiciously as she took a piece of paper and a ballpoint pen from the bag next to her. And on that paper, she drew a map.


 

“It's like this, right?”

The map Mitsumura drew was exactly as I'd expected. There was Wire Mesh Island, and Crescent Island to the north. I couldn't suppress a grin. She furrowed her eyebrows in displeasure at my attitude.

“What's the matter with it, then?”

“Everything. It's completely different.”

“Completely different? What?”

Mitsumura was confused, so I asked her to hand over the pen and paper. I drew her a new map.


 

Mitsumura's eyes widened.

“You mean...”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded.

“I think 90% of 'readers' will have forgotten by now, but the actual distance between Wire Mesh Island and Crescent Island is very close, only a few meters apart. So if Sotodomari were right on the southern end of Crescent Island, the closest point to Wire Mesh Island, we would be close enough to converse through the fence, and she could even pass us roasted taro or marshmallows through the wire mesh of the fence.”

And in reality, that was exactly how it was. Sotodomari had been at the southern end of Crescent Island, camping in front of a cottage. Not one built on Wire Mesh Island, but one built on Crescent Island. By wading just a meter or two into shallow water and getting up to the fence, we could pass food through the wire mesh or even flick each other, as Sotodomari had done to me. Since the gaps in the wire mesh were each five centimeters square, it wasn't even hard. But we couldn't pass items too large to pass through the mesh. For instance, a corn cob. That was why, when I'd asked Sotodomari for her corn previously, she'd replied “Unfortunately, I cannot share this with you.”

When Mitsumura heard my explanation, she looked astonished. “What the heck...” she groaned. Then, she suddenly jerked back upwards in realization.

“Maybe, her name is Sotodomari...”

“Yes? What is it?”

“No, it's just, I'd thought Sotodomari was called that because she was camping outdoors. But that wasn't it... From the beginning, Sotodomari was soto ni tomatte Wire Mesh Island itself.”

My eyes immediately went wide, and I wondered just what this girl was talking about. After all, Sotodomari was her real name, and the fact that she was camping outdoors and the fake that she was outside the closed circle were both just coincidences. There shouldn't have been any causal relationship with either of them.

“But isn't it too much of a coincidence?”

“Coincidences happen all the time.”

“You probably think that sounded smart, but it was actually extremely shallow.”

Mitsumura said that coldly. Then, apparently satisfied, she balled her hands into fists and stretched towards the ceiling. Apparently, that was the end of the Narrative Trick Game.

“Anyway,” I said, “If this were the plot of a mystery novel, it would be really unfair.”

If you didn't know that Sotodomari wasn't on Wire Mesh Island, there would be no way to conclude she was capable of committing the crime. But that information was hidden by narrative tricks. In other words, some of the information necessary for deduction was not made available to the “reader”.

So it was unfair – at least, that's what I thought...

“No, it isn't like that at all.”

That's what Mitsumura told me. Then, as she tucked a lock of her long black hair behind her ear, she said...

“The fact that Sotodomari was not on Wire Mesh Island could be logically deduced based on the information presented to the 'reader'.”







“You could logically deduce that Sotodomari wasn't on Wire Mesh Island?” I said, taken aback. “You mean it was possible to logically escape the narrative trick?”

Mitsumura nodded at me. Then she said,

“Of course, the narrative trick here only applies to the idea that this incident was a novel with readers. In other words, it's just another thought experiment – think of it as a continuation of our Narrative Trick Game from earlier.”

“Well, yeah.”

Of course, we weren't characters in a novel. There was no need for her to explain that to me. I could take for granted that there were no readers to this story, but what Mitsumura was about to say was based on the assumption of one.

Once she'd confirmed that we all understood each other, Mitsumura began.

“Then, let's begin the story. The starting point for our deduction will be the body of Ms. Otomigawara, who was found in the study of the Tower of Heaven. Inside the study, Ms. Otomigawara had prepared a toy rabbit, so we could assume she was planning on killing someone.”

I nodded slowly. All of that made sense.

“And she wore the helmet of the armor to hide her face during the crime. Is that also okay?”

“Yeah.”

“But if you think about it, it's strange.”

I tilted my head to the side.

“Strange? What's so strange about it?”

Otomigawara put on her helmet in the study of the Tower of Heaven, then planned to leave the tower to kill her next target. But in actuality, she was killed before that happened. I didn't see anything unusual about that interpretation.

“But there is something extremely unusual,” Mitsumura said. “Because there was a surveillance camera right at the entrance to the Tower of Heaven.”

When she said that, I let out a gasp. That was right. There was a surveillance camera in front of the entrance to the Tower of Heaven. In other words, if Otomigawara left the tower while wearing the helmet, she'd be seen on the camera. The study of the Tower of Heaven was Otomigawara's private room, so if someone wearing a helmet was seen coming or going from it, they would instantly be recognized as Otomigawara. In other words, she'd instantly be exposed as the culprit.

So even though Otomigawara put on the helmet in her study, she had no intention of leaving the Tower of Heaven with it still on. So did she intend to take it off and then put it back on outside the Tower of Heaven? But that didn't make sense, either.

“Then why was Ms. Otomigawara wearing the helmet in her study?”

If she was going to take it off later, why put it on in the first place? It was a waste of effort.

“It's simple,” Mitsumura said. “The hint is the full-length mirror.”

“The full-length mirror.”

It's true there was a full-length mirror next to Otomigawara's corpse. A full-length mirror. A mirror you used to observe yourself. I gasped again.

“Was Ms. Otomigawara using the mirror to see how she looked in the helmet?”

That is, she was using it to make sure it properly hid her face. Since it was a full face helmet, it was probably safe to assume it did, but it was only natural that someone planning to commit a murder would want to confirm everything themself. It was like a fitting. A fitting for her look as a murderer.

But after thinking about it a bit, I realized that didn't make sense. Otomigawara wouldn't have worn the helmet at that point. Why would she have? Because...

“At that point, Ms. Otomigawara had already killed five people.”

The 1st through 5th murders were all Otomigawara's doing. And as she was preparing the sixth murder, she put on her helmet and stood in front of the mirror to make sure it hid her face properly.

That was clearly unnatural. Because...

If we assume that Ms. Otomigawara wore the helmet for every crime, she must have already know how it looked; that is to say, that it hid her face properly. And if she knew that already, there's no reason for her to have checked it in the mirror.”

Despite that, Otomigawara had put on the helmet in front of the full-length mirror. It was like going into the fitting room to check the fit of an outfit you'd owned for years. It was obviously a waste of time. And again, she would have had to take it right back off. So why would Otomigawara have done that? I could only think of one possibility.

“Did Ms. Otomigawara not wear the helmet during the previous crimes?”

So she hadn't worn the helmet during the 1st through 5th murders, but only for the 6th murder. Therefore, she would have had to check her appearance in front of the mirror beforehand to make sure it properly hid her face.

Mitsumura nodded at me.

“Yes, that's exactly what happened.”

“Why would she only wear the helmet during the sixth murder?”

That was the obvious question. Mitsumura held up two fingers of her right hand in a peace sign.

“I can think of two possibilities.”

One, witnesses – specifically, that for this crime she was planning to commit the murder in a situation where it was likely she'd be witnessed,” she said. “However, we can deny this. By the way Kuzushiro, in the first place, who exactly was Ms. Otomigawara planning to kill in the 6th murder?”

“Uh...” Didn't we know that already? “Either Ms. Hitsujiko or Sotodomari?”

What had been left in the Tower of Heaven was a toy rabbit in a dress. Therefore, Otomigawara's next victim should have been someone who corresponded to a female character from And Then There Were None. And that was Ms. Hitsujiko and Sotodomari.

“In other words, if Ms. Otomigawara was planning to commit a murder in front of witnesses, she would have been going after either Ms. Hitsujiko or Sotodomari. For example, she might have killed Ms. Hitsujiko in front of you, Kuzushiro.”

If that were the case, I definitely would have seen the culprit. If she didn't hide her face with the helmet, her true identity would be revealed. In other words, she would have had to wear the helmet.

“But we can easily deny that possibility now that we have the note written by Ms. Otomigawara.”

What Mitsumura was talking about was the message in the bottle found near Wire Mesh Island. And in that message...

Ms. Otomigawara wrote how she planned to kill Ms. Hitsujiko and Sotodomari,” she told me. “Ms. Hitsujiko was going to be killed in a cottage locked with five padlocks, and Sotodomari was going to be found in a 'locked room with no footprints', with her body being found on a sandy beach. They're no different from the previous five murders in that the bodies would have been found after the crime, and they're extremely orthodox locked room concepts. And neither of them require the culprit to act in front of witnesses. So it seems extremely unlikely that the reason she wore the helmet was to commit a murder in front of witnesses.”

In other words, of the two possibilities Mitsumura had raised, one had already been denied. There was still one possibility that explained why she'd worn the helmet. What was it?”

“It's obvious,” she said. “To hide her face from a surveillance camera.”

My eyes went wide. Ignoring me, Mitsumura continued.

“So, when Ms. Otomigawara committed the sixth murder, she had to go somewhere where she would have appeared on a surveillance camera. And as Ms. Hitsujiko told us, there are only three surveillance cameras on the entirety of Wire Mesh Island, excepting the one on the entrance to the Tower of Heaven for the reason I explained earlier. Those being the one on the entrance to the 'prison' I was kept in after losing the Locked Room Trick Game, the one monitoring the room where the sixth key to the safe was kept, and the one on the gate of the fence surrounding the island. There were also cameras on top of the fence, but since the fence also had motion sensors and can't be climbed, we can ignore them. Now then...”

Mitsumura held up three fingers on her right hand.

“Ms. Otomigawara was planning to commit a murder in one of the three places monitored by that camera. However, the person in the 'prison' was me, not Ms. Hitsujiko or Sotodomari. And by then, I had already left the 'prison'. So, what about the room the sixth key was kept in? No one had set foot in it in almost two weeks, so we can ignore it. Ms. Hitsujiko or Sotodomari, neither of them would be spending the night there.”

So there was only one conclusion.

Otomigawara wore the helmet to avoid being seen by a surveillance camera. That meant she needed to step outside the fence to commit the sixth murder.

“Which means...”

“Yes, there was someone outside the fence – that is to say, not on Wire Mesh Island,” Mitsumura said. “And since Ms. Hitsujiko was obviously on Wire Mesh Island, she couldn't have been the target. Therefore, the person who was supposed to have been killed in the sixth murder was Sotodomari... which only makes sense if she was outside Wire Mesh Island.”







Sotodomari had been outside of Wire Mesh Island, and I was honestly impressed that she'd been able to prove it. I'd never dreamed that Mitsumura would be able to logically break down the narrative trick.

As I listened to her story, something dawned on me. Otomigawara's body was discovered just before sunset. If she was wearing the helmet to go out and kill someone, I felt like she was a bit early. However, it made sense if she was trying on the helmet to see herself in the mirror. I was sure Otomigawara was planning to commit the murder later that night. Around midnight, she could have put the helmet back on outside the Tower of Heaven, worn a cloak to disguise her figure, and snuck through the gate to kill Sotodomari.

“Everything beyond this point is pure speculation,” Mitsumura said. “Perhaps, in the original plan, Ms. Otomigawara wasn't planning on wearing a helmet. Maybe she didn't even realize she needed one until halfway through.”

When I heard that strange statement, I cocked my head to the side. “What I mean,” she said,

“Is originally, Sotodomari was planning on staying on Wire Mesh Island, not Crescent Island – if you think about it like that, a lot of things make sense. Ms. Sotodomari was originally planning on killing Sotodomari on Wire Mesh Island, and the locked room of no footprints she mentioned wasn't going to be made on Crescent Island, but Wire Mesh Island. However, when Sotodomari arrived with her camping equipment, she said she wanted to camp out on Crescent Island. She happily agreed, but when it came time to kill Sotodomari, she realized she'd made a terrible mistake. There was a surveillance camera on the gate of the fence. Of course if she passed through it, her face would be seen on camera, so she had to find something to hide herself – as she was thinking that, she noticed the armor's helmet in the entrance hall of the mansion. It was vintage mystery novel stuff: the unknown, monstrous killer, lurking in the night. Ms. Otomigawara impulsively grabbed the helmet and planned to use it in the murder. Since it was Ms. Otomigawara's private room, there was a surveillance camera on the entrance to the tower, but since she was wearing a long, fluffy skirt that day, she could easily sneak the helmet past it into the study. The, Ms. Otomigawara put on the helmet for the first time in front of the full-length mirror, and a smile appeared on her lips. I'm sure she was excited. Ms. Otomigawara did a twirl in front of the mirror and struck a pose. And at that moment...”

She was shot with an anti-materiel rifle that blew her head clean off.

Certainly, that would explain everything that led up to the moment Otomigawara wore the helmet in the Tower of Heaven.

“It's just a guess. I don't know if it's true.” 

She laughed it off like that. Then she took a stretch, looked out the window, and said “It's about time to head home.” Indeed, the sky was already turning red from the setting sun.

Mitsumura got out of her chair and started getting ready to leave. I asked her something.

“By the way, why was Sotodomari staying on Crescent Island?”

It was a bit late, but I hadn't heard the reason. I'd heard that she was using the showers and water from the cottages on Crescent Island, so it seemed the infrastructure there still worked, but why had she gone to the trouble of staying on Crescent Island instead of Wire Mesh Island? I didn't know. It would be doubly strange if what Mitsumura had said about her originally planning to stay on Wire Mesh Island was true.

To be honest, I didn't see any reason why she would have needed to go to the trouble of staying on Crescent Island.

Mitsumura said “Oh, that,” and tucked her long black hair behind her ear.

“After the case was resolved, I got a bit curious and spoke to Sotodomari, and she said 'There are no waves on Wire Mesh Island.”

“No waves on Wire Mesh Island?”

It sounded like a philosophical statement, but,

“Of course, it isn't that deep,” Mitsumura said with a giggle. “There literally, physically are no waves. Because, you know, Wire Mesh Island is surrounded by wire mesh.”

I see, I think. The fence surrounding Wire Mesh Island is built on top of a 50 cm tall concrete embankment completely encircling the island. That would have blocked the waves, keeping them from reaching the island. In other words...

“There's nothing more boring than camping on a sandy beach with no waves,” Sotodomari said.

That's why she was staying on Crescent Island instead of Wire Mesh Island. What an innocent reason. I decided to ask Mitsumura about something else I was curious about.

“Was Sotodomari the one who killed Ms. Otomigawara?”

Mitsumura shrugged at me. “What do you think?” she asked.

“It's true that if the culprit is one of us, it can only be Sotodomari. But at the same time, there's also the possibility that the culprit is an outsider. In fact, I'd say it's more likely. Crescent Island is pretty big, so it's entirely possible that Sotodomari, who was staying on the southern edge of the island, never encountered the killer, who was lurking in the mansion on the northern end. I told the police it was at least possible that Sotodomari was the killer, but it seemed they only half-believed me, or rather, they half-doubted me.”

“So, 20/80 belief/doubt?”

“Well, maybe it was me they didn't believe in.”

But if Sotodomari was the culprit, it would be quite the strange tale. Just as Otomigawara was preparing to kill Sotodomari, she was killed by Sotodomari. And I was sure Sotodomari didn't realize she was about to be killed. Even so, she wound up saving herself by killing Otomigawara.

Thinking that, I couldn't help but smile. One thing was for sure.

“It sure makes for an interesting story.”

After saying that, Mitsumura said “See you,” grabbed her bag, and left the literature club room. But she quickly ran back and peeked her head through the door.

By the way, Kuzushiro, how's your homework going?”

“My homework?”

“You know, that,” Mitsumura said, scratching her cheek. “You told me before you would definitely solve it.”

Ah... I remembered.

It was a day just like today, when the club room was dyed a beautiful shade of red by the setting sun.

I'd suffered a decisive defeat at Mitsumura's hands.

I'd tried to solve the mystery of Japan's first ever locked room murder, allegedly committed by Mitsumura three years ago, and I failed miserably.

“I'm afraid you're wrong.”

Her words at the time echoed in my head.

That's why I'd said I would definitely solve it some day. When she heard that, she gave me the slightest of smiles and said “I'm looking forward to it, Kuzushiro.”



“Because this story won't end until you solve the mystery behind that locked room.”



That's right, the story between the two of us will never end. The story of our locked room.

“I'm glad you didn't forget your promise that day.”

Mitsumura, who was still looking at me through the entrance to the club room, said that with a sense of relief. Had she come all the way back here to say that? Was it safe for me to believe that?

As if she'd sensed my thoughts, Mitsumura fixed her hair and said “Well, at least do your best.” Somehow, I thought she sounded lonely.

“If you don't do your best, someone else might solve it first.”

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Mitsumura looked at me with a strange expression.

“What are you laughing about?”

When she asked me that, I was a little confused. When she asked again, I felt embarrassed. Of course, it was a baseless thought, and in a way, it would expose all my feelings for her.

But in the end, I decided to tell her everything. I wanted to take this opportunity to convey my feelings properly.

That's why I said it. Even though I had no basis, I really believed it. “I'm sure it will be fine,” I said. Because...

“Even if we gathered every great detective in the world, there would be no one other than me who could unravel the mystery of the locked room you created. Because I'm the only one in this world who can ruin your life.”

Even I didn't know where my confidence came from.

But for some reason, I was sure.

If the mystery of the locked room were destroyed and her life were ruined beyond repair...

I was sure I was the only one who could do it.

I wanted to be the only one.

“Hmm, is that so?”

Mitsumura turned away from me and absentmindedly touched her black hair. Then, with a faint smile on her lips, she said “I hope someday, that day comes,” and left the club room.

It was probably just my imagination, but,

The sound of her indoor shoes running down the hallway felt lighter than usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This translation also comes with many thanks for the patience of our patron,


ISAAC WARD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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