Chapter Three: Main Island, Filming Interrupted (1)
Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 3:15 P.M.
By the time they returned from the cemetery, a delicious aroma had filled the area around the old community center, originating from something Shigaraki was cooking in a Dutch oven.
“You all finished yet?”
Yuki shook his head at Shigaraki's question.
“I just came back to get some tools. Ms. Mikumo and Mr. Saijou will be staying here for a bit.”
The smell made Yuki realize all at once how hungry and tired he was, so he took a bottle of barley tea from the cooler and decided to take a break. Mikumo and Saijou got a sports drink and a coffee as well.
Sitting down in a folding chair, Mikumo let out a relieved sigh before asking Shigaraki a question.
“What's on the menu for today?”
“It'll be a simple buffet-style meal. Hope you're hungry.”
Yuki suddenly remembered something Shigaraki had said earlier.
“...Come to think of it, earlier, you said 'Oh, so your team is back, too?'. Did the Motegi team also come back?”
“Yeah. They came back really early, so I was a bit surprised.”
Yuki glanced towards the multipurpose area in the former community center before replying.
“But it doesn't look like they're here now. I wonder where they went.”
“I've been busy cooking this whole time, so I'm not sure. But Producer Kikyo and President Koga up and vanished on me without cleaning their cups and bottles first. They're both so fickle.”
Saijou, with his camera slung over one shoulder and a cigarette in his mouth, smiled.
“It does happen every time, doesn't it?”
“They were just getting in the way, so I'm grateful they left eventually.”
“Hey, you're being honest again.”
“Sorry for being so rude. I think they're in the rooms in the back right now.”
There was no sign of anyone in the multipurpose area, but if they were napping in the small rooms, they might not have been heard from here even if they were snoring as loud as running chainsaws.
“...What's that?”
Suddenly, Mikumo interrupted them. She pointed at the folding table. On the paper plate past the tip of her finger was an uncooked horse mackerel. It didn't look like anyone's snack.
Shigaraki looked a bit embarrassed.
“I was going to give it to that black cat I saw earlier. She looked friendly, so I thought maybe she'd eat it... But while I was preparing it, she ran off.”
Yuki looked around, but the black cat didn't appear to be anywhere nearby. Slightly disappointed, he resumed questioning Shigaraki.
“So, where is the Motegi team now?”
Shigaraki answered in a whisper.
“I think Professor Motegi and Director Unno got in a fight. The professor was shouting that he had to go out on his own because he didn't have enough research material, and Ms. Yanagawa also left, saying she wanted more footage of the island. I'm sure they'll both be back soon.”
“What about Director Unno?”
Shigaraki didn't have an answer to that.
“Uhm... I don't really know what's up with him. He looked kind of upset, but I don't think he even entered the building.”
Saijou cheerily spoke up between sips of his coffee.
“He probably went off for a smoke, like usual.”
“He was fidgeting, so maybe his nicotine rush wore off.”
...He probably hadn't gone out for a cigarette.
For the past six months, Yuki had been quietly sitting on evidence that Unno was a regular user of marijuana and LSD. He must have brought some drugs to Kakuriyo Island, and it was likely he'd gone off to get his fix under the guise of a smoke break.
Yuki took the transceiver out of his bag.
“I'm going to call him.”
It was time for them to report back on their location shooting. He spoke into the transceiver.
“This is Ryuuzen. Mr. Unno, I have something to report regarding the filming. Please come to the former community center right away.”
However, there was no response.
“...Mr. Unno? Is something the matter? Please, respond.”
After more than a minute of no response, Yuki felt a sudden weight in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong.
Unno was a drug addict, so there was a possibility he may have given himself an overdose and fallen unconscious. His life may have even been in danger.
...And Yuki didn't want him dying before he had a chance to kill him.
Yuki clicked his tongue as he roughly shoved the transceiver back into the outer pocket of his bag. He then called Mikumo and Saijou.
“He's not answering. I'm worried he might have gotten sick, so let's split up and look for him. I'll go search by the port, you go behind the old community center-”
“May I say something?”
He looked back and saw Mikumo, looking at him tensely.
“When you were calling on the transceiver earlier, I thought I heard your voice coming from that direction. It was just a faint sound on the wind.”
“I think I heard it, too.”
Mikumo and Saijou were both pointing east of the former community center. It was a direction where the trees were dense.
“I'm going to take a look.”
Saying that, Yuki started walking. Saijou, still with his camera over his shoulder and a plastic coffee bottle in his hand, followed him. A moment later, Mikumo also followed...
Saijou shoved the bottle in his backpack and spoke up.
“Director Unno probably just dropped his transceiver. You know how careless he is. There's no need to be so serious.”
“It's better to assume the worst and be wrong.”
As he said that, Yuki took the transceiver back out and flicked the microphone with his finger a few times while holding the call button.
As if in response, a thmp-thmp sound came from the other side of a tree just ahead of them. Just as Mikumo had said, it seemed the transceiver was here. They were about 50 meters from the area in front of the old community center.
The tree was about five meters tall, and had large, needle-shaped leaves. Its most distinctive feature was that it bore many fruits that looked like pineapples.
Saijou blinked several times at the sight.
“Do pineapple trees grow this big?”
“No, this is a pandanus tree.”
“Pandanus?”
“The fruit is edible, but it doesn't taste very good. In Okinawa, the coconut crabs like to eat them.”
“...You're much better informed than you look, Mr. Ryuuzen.”
Mikumo interrupted him in a teasing tone.
“I just heard it from the guide when I came here for location scouting.”
That was a lie. In actuality, Yuki had learned that during his extensive reading of illustrated manuals of subtropical botany and many visits to botanical gardens as part of research for his plan.
While he did make a defined plan, Yuki was aware that it was inevitable he would run into unforeseen circumstances. In preparation for such an eventuality, he had done extensive research, particularly on the toxic plants and insects. Of course, that was so he could harvest poison locally.
The sweet smell of ripe pandanus fruit wafted to them. As he walked around the tree, Saijou saw where the transceiver had fallen into the undergrowth and pointed to it.
“See, I told you. He just dropped it...”
Saijou, who was the first to go behind the pandanus tree, stopped in shock.
At first glance, he couldn't make sense of what he saw.
Unno was lying on his back on top of a bush sporting large reddish-purple flowers.
The bush was about 60 cm tall, but its branches were bent under Unno's weight, and his body was sank deep into the flowers.
If you looked the right way, it might have seemed like he was sleeping on a natural bed decorated with flowers. But such a silly thought couldn't be reconciled with reality.
The abdomen of his layered T-shirts were stained bright red, and there was a small hole in his center, from which blood was still slowly seeping.
“...Who?”
It was an unusual first response from someone who'd found a corpse, but there was no way he could keep it down. It was all Yuki could do to stop himself from finishing the sentence that rose up from the depths of his soul: “Who killed him before I could?”
There was blood everywhere. The leaves of the shrubbery enveloping Unno's whole body were also covered with blood. There were traces of blood on other parts of Unno's body, and many bloodstains on the surrounding leaves and flowers, as though it had splashed there from the body.
Saijou eventually managed to find his voice, still trembling.
“What's going on here?”
Yuki wanted to know that more than anyone.
He desperately forced his brain, paralyzed with astonishment, to make sense of what lay before him.
First off, Unno was definitely not the sort of person who'd try to prank his own staff. If he'd had such a cute side to him, that would have been some redeeming quality. So if this wasn't a stunt, the only other conclusion was that someone had beaten him to it.
This was literally the worst possible outcome.
Yuki clenched his fists until his fingernails drew blood from his palms. But any pain he felt was insufficient to penetrate the storm of emotions swirling inside him.
Of course, he was frustrated, and upset that his plan had gone awry. But what he really couldn't stand was that he could no longer keep the vow he'd made to Naoko and Ryuzo's bodies. ...Who could have done this? He grit his teeth, enraged with himself for his failure.
From the looks of things, Unno had been stabbed in the heart.
From the small size of the wound, the weapon must have been something the shape of an ice pick. It was pulled out with force, sending blood splattering everywhere. Under the circumstances, it was hard to believe it could be suicide.
Saijou opened his mouth again, apparently having just drawn the same conclusion.
“Isn't this just like... the Beast of Kakuriyo Island incident?”
He was right. There didn't seem to be any doubt that the person who'd stabbed Unno was deliberately trying to recreate that case from the past.
Mikumo's face went pale and she staggered at the sight. Saijou rushed to support her, but Mikumo pushed him off, bracing herself on the pandanus tree with her right hand.
Yuki couldn't think at all, his head pulsing with heat. He shut his eyes and tried to force himself to calm down.
It was certain. There was someone on the island with murderous intent... other than himself, that is.
It made sense that a man as awful as Unno would have more than one enemy. There were probably countless people who wanted to see him dead. In a sense, he was someone who could have been killed at any time.
Just as he'd been about to execute his murderous plan, someone else beat him to it. Yuki had read novels and seen movies with that plot, but to have it happen to him...
In addition, Yuki's “Interloper” appeared to be taking the exact opposite approach of his own “practical crime” plan.
Gradually feeling his heart slow, Yuki opened his eyes.
He didn't know who they were or where they were, but he wouldn't let them interfere with his revenge plan any more. And he could think of only one way to stop them for sure.
Find the identity of the Interloper who killed Unno and have them arrested... That was the only way.
Yuki couldn't believe how ridiculous it all was. He'd never expected that he'd have to play detective in order to clear the path of his murder plan. The Ryuuzen clan motto “This world is full of wonders. Anything can happen, even the impossible” was more accurate than he'd realized.
In mystery novels, it was common for criminals to play detective in order to protect themselves. However, Yuki had no intention of defending himself.
He had come to terms with the possibility that he might be arrested or lose his life as a result of his revenge. However, he didn't want to be killed by someone who'd interfered with his plan.
...Whoever they were, he'd stop the Interloper as soon as possible.
He looked around the crime scene again, searching for clues.
The shrubbery was surrounded by several meters of muddy ground, which held a thin line of footprints leading to the bush. With the exception of a few cat tracks here and there, there were no other footprints of any kind.
The single set of human footprints that had been left were undoubtedly Unno's.
Yuki felt a headache coming on.
He realized that the Interloper had staged an impossible crime, a classic “no footprints murder”. It seemed Yuki and the Interloper were incompatible in every way.
“...Mr. Saijou, please record the area with your camera.”
When he called out, Saijou, who had been standing there with a dazed look on his face, looked confused.
“What? But there's no way we can broadcast this on TV, right?”
“It's not about TV. I think it'd be better to record what happened on this island for the police.”
Suddenly, Mikumo raised herself off the pandanus tree and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“We should focus on getting footage of those footprints in the mud.”
Yuki's eyes narrowed. He was surprised she'd noticed them too.
“I understand.”
As he waited for the recording to finish, Yuki checked the cat tracks left around the shrubbery. The cat's paws were a bit larger than those of the domesticated cats he'd seen in his life, probably because this one was feral. The cutely shaped paw prints were all left clear and deep in the ground, making them easy to follow.
Apparently, the cat had moved to the bush and back. Some of the prints appeared to have been left after it stepped in blood. It also appeared to have jumped at one point near the bush, then left a trail of steps. Perhaps it had seen Unno's body, approached it, then run away in surprise.
Yuki slowly approached the bush. He tried to avoid covering Unno's footprints just in case, but each step he took recorded a new footprint. The ground was still soft.
Unno's body was buried in reddish-purple flowers.
Despite his vow of revenge, Yuki's life thus far had been the picture of peace. He'd never once even injured another person before. Although he enjoyed reading mystery novels, this was his first time seeing a murdered body. And it was his first time seeing such a bizarre death.
Suppressing the urge to flee, Yuki placed his fingertips on Unno's neck... There was no pulse. However, the body was still quite warm.
“It's no good.”
After about five seconds, he removed his hand and looked back to see Mikumo standing right behind him. The color had yet to return to her face. Saijou, who had stopped filming, came up as well and spoke nervously.
“Was he murdered?”
“Looking at him, there's no other possibility. His body's barely started to cool, so it must have just happened.”
“...Who did this to him?”
“I can say for sure it wasn't me, Mr. Saijou, or Ms. Mikumo.”
Saijou, who hadn't thought that far ahead, frowned in thought before giving a frantic nod.
“Right. Of course.”
Mikumo elaborated in a low voice.
“The last time we saw Director Unno was when we had the near miss with the Motegi team while we were crossing the island. We've been together ever since, so we have to assume the culprit is one of the remaining five people.”
“...Or that there's someone else on the island.”
Saijou sounded like he hoped that was the case. However, Yuki couldn't help but think that was unlikely.
First of all, you needed permission to even set foot on Kakuriyo Island, and even though there had once been rumors of treasure there, it wasn't a place the general public easily recognized. Even if a treasure hunter had come to the island without permission, it would be too much of a coincidence for them to also be a murderer.
Considering Unno as a person, it was more likely that he was killed by someone close to him.
“...It doesn't look like the work of an outside culprit.”
Yuki, who had been crouching down, said that and raised his head. As though he were being dragged along, Saijou also got down. Beneath the shrubbery was a small ice pick.
“Is that the murder weapon?”
It had fallen in the area where Unno's blood was dripping. Though it was still brand new, the spike was fully stained crimson. Mikumo felt dizzy and collapsed to a hand and a knee, but, without opening her eyes, she spoke.
“That's the same ice pick they used to make highballs earlier, I'm sure of it. It's the same size, shape, and it even has the manufacturer's seal.”
“If this is the one Producer Kikyo brought, then the culprit must have taken it from the campsite.”
Saijou said that with a groan, and Yuki nodded.
“Shigaraki was preparing the food right next to it. If there was someone else on the island, they wouldn't have risked grabbing the ice pick.”
“I agree.”
“On the other hand, it wouldn't have been hard for someone from the film crew to take the ice pick without Shigaraki suspecting anything.”
A heavy silence fell over them. Eventually, Saijou opened his mouth, looking confused.
“In cases like this, you aren't supposed to touch the scene until the police arrive, right?”
“Usually, yes, but even if we did report it, it would take a long time before they arrive on the island, wouldn't it? It would be really nerve-wracking to spend all that time not knowing who the culprit is.”
Mikumo raised an eyebrow.
“Don't tell me you're planning to find the culprit before the police arrive.”
“I thought about it. For self-defense, you know?”
The two of them looked probingly at each other.
“...How can you be so calm in the middle of a murder case?”
“I'm just practicing the family motto. I could ask you the same thing, Ms. Mikumo.”
“Would you prefer if I cry, scream, and faint?”
She smiled at him, but the way her body trembled betrayed her.
It was only then that Yuki realized that her assertive demeanor was all a bluff. Her eyes were filled with an intense fear alongside a sense of vulnerability and fragility she couldn't hide.
Saijou must not have been able to stand seeing them like that, because he spoke in an unusually pitiful voice.
“Don't fight, you two. Not here, not now. Please.”
They were fighting, and Yuki realized that and regretted it, but he couldn't bring himself to apologize. He pretended he hadn't noticed how false Mikumo's bravado was.
“...For now, let's get the body out of that bush.”
Yuki and Saijou then lifted Unno's body together.
His limbs were limp and grew tangled in theirs as they moved him. Yuki's gray T-shirt was quickly covered in blood, but he didn't care.
Saijou almost tripped as they moved him.
“You okay?”
“Sorry, my foot got caught on Director Unno's transceiver. I'll just kick it back under the bush.”
Making some room, they lowered Unno to the ground. Yuki looked back at the bush, which was hollow without the body.
If it weren't for a few branches they'd broken while moving Unno, the bush would have had a perfect human-shaped indent. They could be sure the body hadn't moved after falling into the shrubbery.
“Ugh, it looks like the wound went all the way through him.”
Unno's T-shirts had another set of holes in their backs, also slowly leaking blood. From the direction of the tears in the fibers, it was clear he had been stabbed in the chest and had the weapon pierce through to his back.
Saijou shuddered as though he couldn't take it anymore.
“The murderer must have stabbed him with a lot of force.”
“...I'll go back to the former community center and call the others.”
With that, Mikumo turned and started walking away. Judging from her complexion and the way she stumbled, she was probably about to vomit. She couldn't keep pretending to be unaffected anymore.
“Hey, don't go off on your own!”
Saijou called out after her, but Mikumo didn't stop.
“It's dangerous for her to be by herself. Can you go with her, Mr. Saijou? I'll take care of the body.”
“Alright.”
“And if you get a chance, check if the ice pick is missing.”
Saijou rushed off with his camera under his arm, and Yuki looked coldly down at Unno's body. Yuki knew that there was a hidden compartment in the bottom of his portable ashtray, which he always kept full of illegal drugs.
Yuki let out a small sigh.
“All I can say is I'm sorry it had to end like this. I was supposed to be the one to kill you.”
Of course, Unno didn't respond. Still, Yuki continued in the same polite tone he always used with his superiors.
“I'm not joking. You murdered Tsuzuki Naoko in the most horrific way. I wanted you to pay for that no matter what.”
Yuki hadn't doubted a single word of Naoko's last words from the moment he saw them. However, he had gathered evidence.
First, Yuki had asked an acquaintance about the tire tracks at the scene of Naoko's “accident” and the state of her subcompact, and concluded that there was a strong possibility that Naoko had been murdered. He also confirmed that Unno had been seen on a neighborhood security camera, approaching the Tsuzuki household before the arson attack and leaving afterwards.
After joining J. Production, he spent over four months investigating the private lives of his three targets, including what they did at their workplaces and what happened in a certain country in Southeast Asia.
What he'd found was confirmation of one point of Naoko's letter after another, and Yuki became determined to see his plan through.
Yuki suddenly broke into an ironic smile.
“...It's frustrating how easily you managed to escape. I'm no match for your bad luck.”
Spitting those last words, Yuki slowly got back to his feet. He looked at the footprints the three of them had left behind.
The footprints he and Saijou had left while carrying Unno's body were a bit deeper than the others. In contrast, Unno's own footprints were extremely shallow, looking the same as the ones Yuki's group had left while walking normally. Unno definitely made those footprints while walking alone...
Finally, he looked back at the bush.
There were no tree branches extending above it; the area directly above the bush was empty. That would make it difficult to carry or suspend anything above the bush.
Yuki sighed again.
“I really don't want to play detective... but I have to solve this case quickly.”
It took less than five minutes... the eight people on the island all gathered together under the pandanus tree.
By the time Saijou and Mikumo returned, Motegi and Yanagawa had already rejoined Shigaraki. Kikyo and Koga had been asleep in their tents in the small rooms.
Yuki surreptitiously checked each of their clothes, but no one had changed.
No one was dressed in black, so it would have been easy to tell if their clothes were stained in blood, but no one had any stains. Except for Yuki and Saijou, who'd moved Unno's body, of course.
Shigaraki, who arrived last, looked about to cry as he clutched the satellite phone.
“It's terrible, the satellite phone is broken, I can't call 110.”
Kikyo and Koga had also completely sobered up in the face of the extreme situation. However, neither of them looked the least bit upset by what had happened to Unno.
Koga, holding Tara in his left hand, deftly snatched the satellite phone from Shigaraki.
“Give me that!”
Koga screamed as though he'd lost his mind.
There was nothing Yuki could say. He was the one who'd broken the phone, after all.
Mostly in order to keep himself from losing his nerve partway through, Yuki had decided to force his own hand by destroying the satellite phone.
In hindsight, that had been a mistake... Although Yuki felt bad, there was no way he could have foreseen such a desperate situation. It was certainly a pity, though, for those who had nothing to do with his revenge.
In contrast to Koga, Kikyo was quiet. He looked like he felt that this death was a bit of mild unpleasantness. Yuki heard him talking to himself.
“Guess we'll have to put the project on hold.”
He looked down at Unno with cold eyes and leisurely smoked a cigarette, perhaps thinking of ways to salvage the situation. Apparently even Koga couldn't stand seeing his people treated like that, as he threw the satellite phone to the ground as hard as he could and began to scream.
“Dammit Kikyo, now is no time to be acting all aloof!”
In response, Tara began barking furiously. The satellite phone had unfortunately landed directly on a large rock, and the antenna was bent. Kikyo gave Koga a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
“...Careful. You're spraying spittle.”
“WHY YOU-!”
Koga dropped Tara to the ground and grabbed at him. Motegi and Yanagawa, the two standing closest, rushed to stop him. Koga, who wasn't what you'd call muscular, was easily pinned down.
Tara didn't seem to care for his master's predicament and just kept barking at Yuki, who stood nearby, then ran up to Saijou and barked at him. Perhaps he was reacting to Unno's blood on their clothes.
Koga signaled that he would stop resisting, then spat out a dismissive line.
“Isn't there anyone here with enough brains to understand what's going on? We've all been trapped on this island by the one who murdered Unno!”
He wasn't that far off. There was every possibility the Interloper would have destroyed the satellite phone if Yuki hadn't beaten them to it.
Everyone there had probably already realized they were trapped on the island. However, being told so point blank seemed to be a shock. Everyone, including the once frenzied Koga, fell silent.
Yuki took the opportunity to explain how they'd found Unno.
With Saijou and Mikumo chiming in now and then, he also explained how they'd made a recording of the scene with Saijou's camera, and how it was definitely impossible for anyone from the Mikumo team to have committed the crime.
Towards the end of his explanation, he heard a voice say “meow” from somewhere.
Yuki nearly jumped out of his skin, but he quickly realized it was the meow of the black cat. He hurried to find her.
The black cat was lying at the base of a tree about 20 meters away. She was swiping at a butterfly fluttering nearby with her right paw.
Tara turned to the black cat and began to growl ferociously. Koga noticed and hurried to pick up his dog.
“Tara, don't get near that thing. You'll catch a disease.”
The black cat gave Tara a dismissive glance, but didn't bother getting up. As Yuki stood distracted by the cat, Mikumo spoke up.
“...Since the murder weapon was our ice pick, I can only assume one of us is the culprit. I'm sorry, but we'll need to discuss our alibis.”
She showed no intention of sugar-coating it. As expected, the air surrounding them instantly froze, and Koga, who was getting heated again, glared at her with bloodshot eyes.
“What, are you a cop now? You think you're special or something? You're a crappy singer who lost your company money before we gave you this one TV gig.”
Mikumo's face fell when she heard the words, clearly intended just to vent his frustrations. Yuki had seen that face several times before. It was the expression those abused by Kikyo and Unno made just before they were hospitalized by their mental struggles.
Yuki couldn't keep his mouth shut.
“With all due respect... Since the satellite phone is broken, there's no way for us to leave this island until our boat arrives on October 18th. Under the circumstances, I don't think it's a good idea to sit on our hands and wait until then.”
Koga narrowed his eyes at the young man who dared talk back to him.
“You're the AD from J. Production, aren't you? I heard you were saying some dumb shit to Kikyo earlier.”
“Yep, that's me. And I have a name you know. It's Ryuuzen Yuki.”
His family name often had a dramatic effect on those who worshiped power. As expected, Koga flinched for a moment. However, he quickly regained his petulant attitude.
“I heard from Kikyo that there was some useless bonbon under him who was a real pain in the ass.”
“...Calling a rich kid a 'bonbon', is that Kansai dialect?”
As Koga stood choking on his anger, Kikyo stepped forward, flicking his discarded, half-smoked cigarette away.
“Stop acting so dumb. This situation is unpleasant enough as is, I don't need you making things worse.”
Yuki stomped out the cigarette that had fallen into the underbrush before picking it up.
“I wasn't acting, I just wanted to know what a bonbon was... Anyway, I understand.”
Kikyo chuckled.
“You've got thick skin. If I didn't already know this crime is impossible for you, you'd definitely be my prime suspect.”
It seemed Kikyo had acknowledged Yuki as someone to watch out for.
That was undoubtedly bad, but for now, the best move would be to eliminate all obstacles as soon as possible.
“Getting back on track, we can find out who killed Mr. Unno without needing to look into alibis.”
It must have taken ten seconds for his words to sink in. The black cat sprawled lazily at the base of the tree.
It was Yanagawa who spoke first. She crossed her arms as she spoke.
“I ain't afraid to tell y'all what I did... But since Doc Motegi and I split off after we got done filmin', I guess that makes me a suspect.”
With some reluctance, Motegi also opened his mouth.
“I merely witnessed a Kallima inachus near the port and went to investigate. The species is rated Near Threatened by the IUCN, and to see one on this island is rare. I can't be called a suspect for such a reason, surely.”
Yanagawa, as if she'd been provoked, spoke again.
“'Ey, I ain't done nothin' suspicious neither. I just wanted to get some more footage a' the island.”
“But you came back too soon to have done that, didn't you?”
Saijou, the fellow cameraman, was the one to notice.
“Well it was the Doc and Director Unno gettin' into that blow up that made me haveta stop shootin' normally. I just thought they'd had enough time to get over themselves an' came back to see if they'd stopped. 'Course, I didn't see no one, so that don't really give me an alibi or nothin'.”
Motegi spoke sharply, as though he couldn't stand that the two of them were the only ones being suspected.
“If those are our standards, then Young Shigaraki, who spent the whole time cooking alone, must also be treated as a suspect. No one would have noticed if he deserted his post for a spell, so he would have had free reign to traverse the island.”
Shigaraki answered with a sweltering look.
“We could say the same about Producer Kikyo and President Koga, no? I was so focused on my cooking I don't remember how long they were there drinking highballs, and even though I had a vague impression that 'they went into the old community center', I didn't actually see them.”
Once again, he'd allowed his true feelings to show.
This time may not have been inadvertent, but a sign that he'd made up his mind to quit as soon as the location shoot was over. They say that people who've decided to quit their jobs become fearless, and Shigaraki wasn't an exception to the rule. He didn't back down when Koga stared at him or when Tara started barking again.
Suddenly, Kikyo gave a low chuckle.
“What's the matter, everyone? You were told it didn't matter whether or not you had an alibi, and you all started chattering like women.. Incidentally, I don't remember when I stopped drinking. After we ended, I went straight to sleep in my tent. So I don't know what Koga's been up to since.”
Koga's silence was a reluctant acknowledgement . He looked a bit relieved that at least he wasn't the only one with no alibi.
Yuki smiled bitterly.
“Sorry to repeat myself, but it really doesn't matter if you have an alibi or not.”
“Then what does matter?”
Mikumo sounded like she was challenging him.
“The truth itself is simple... the only problem is whether or not I can convince you all of it.”
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