Chapter Three: Main Island, Filming Interrupted (2)
As he'd expected, most of them changed their expressions to ones that said “Then stop wasting our time and tell us”. The only exception was Mikumo, who looked more concerned than annoyed.
With that expression firm in his memory, Yuki took a deep breath and began.
“There are two things about the crime scene that bothered me. The first is, as I've already explained, that there are no footprints around it that could belong to the culprit.”
Hearing that, Motegi shrugged.
“So the murderer employed some trickery. Considering the circumstances, I believe they threw the ice pick as though it were a dart.”
Yuki's jaw dropped.
He hadn't expected Motegi to make such a wild guess. The original plan was for him to play the detective who would uncover a false truth. Apparently, he'd need to rethink that plan...
Yuki sighed before responding.
“With all due respect, sir, throwing an ice pick wouldn't give it enough force to penetrate all the way through a person's body.”
“Then they must have hoisted the body up on something and moved it into the shrubbery. That is the only explanation.”
“But as you can see, there are no branches or anything else above the bush. There's no way they could have dangled the body above where it was found.”
“Then there is only one remaining possibility... A large drone.”
There were actual deductions to make, so Yuki interrupted Motegi.
“Let's forget the footprints for a moment. The thing I think we should be asking ourselves now is 'why did the culprit pull out the weapon?'”
Shigaraki started.
“You're right. If they hadn't pulled out the weapon, there wouldn't have been so much blood splatter.”
“Removing the weapon means being covered in blood splatter, which is bad for the culprit. The fact that they pulled the weapon out of the corpse despite that means they had a compelling reason to do so.”
As if they'd been prompted, everyone began to check each other's clothes. Some of them even turned and showed off their backs to prove their innocence.
“But no one has any bloodstains on them, and no one has changed clothes. Oh, except Mr. Ryuuzen and Mr. Saijou, but you two have alibis.”
Yuki nodded.
“The culprit must have been wearing something like a raincoat to avoid getting blood on their clothes. Either that, or they did get blood on them, and it's somewhere we can't see. ...I believe those are the only possibilities.”
“The second isn't very likely, is it? No one is dressed in black, so if there were bloodstains, they'd show, right?”
It was a valid point, but Yuki didn't necessarily agree. As if taking advantage of the brief silence that followed, Motegi spoke up again.
“Let us think about why the murderer pulled the weapon from the corpse... The ice pick was found right next to the body, so for it to have been to hide the weapon seems most improbable. In that case, the only conclusion worthy of consideration is that the culprit splashed the scene with blood to hide the fact that there was already blood present beforehand.”
Yuki ignored his ramblings and picked up the fallen ice pick from under the bush with a handkerchief.
“I'm sure many of you have realized this already, but this ice pick isn't the murder weapon that killed Director Unno... As you can see, the spike is too short.”
Saying that, Yuki pointed at the spike of the ice pick. Mikumo was the first to agree with him, since she'd actually used the ice pick when making highballs.
“You're right. A spike only six centimeters long can't penetrate through a human torso.”
Kikyo, the pick's owner, interjected.
“That makes sense. I chose the miniature-sized model because it's easy to take when traveling.”
“Now, one of our basic assumptions about the case has been overturned. The murderer killed Director Unno using something other than this ice pick. ...With that, we can assume the culprit had no choice but to pull the weapon from the body because it was something they couldn't leave behind.”
Saijou let out a small gasp.
“Since they even went to the trouble of preparing a fake murder weapon, that would suggest the real one was something that could identify the culprit, wouldn't it?”
“...I'm sure it was something out of the ordinary.”
As Yuki said that with downcast eyes, Motegi interrupted again.
“The murder weapon was a crossbow bolt. If they took aim at Unno as he stood beside the foliage, that would allow them to commit their foul crime without leaving any footprints.”
Yuki couldn't let that one go.
“Even if they used a crossbow, I don't think it would have left a wound that deep. Because they'd have needed to attach a string to the bolt in order to retrieve it.”
Attaching a string to the bolt would have increased its air resistance, reducing its power. Yuki continued.
“But even if they had done so, the culprit couldn't have retrieved the bolt.”
“Whyever not?”
“Because a crossbow bolt lodged in a person doesn't come out easily. On the contrary, it's far more likely the body would have been pulled alongside the bolt and moved.”
And thanks to the footage shot by Saijou... Yuki could use the clear indentation left to prove that the body hadn't moved after it fell into the shrubbery.
Yanagawa carefully looked over the footage, then spoke up.
“Lookin' at the bloodstains left near the body, it don't look like they dumped the body after removin' the murder weapon, right? If'n they did, there'd a been more blood leadin' to the bush an' less on it.”
“You're right.”
“Then... wouldn't they've had to go over to the body to pull out the thing?”
“Yes, I have no doubt the culprit pulled the weapon out of the body with their bare hands.”
Kikyo, who had listened to the conversation thus far in silence, broke into laughter.
“That contradicts the lack of footprints at the scene. The case is still a mystery, and we haven't made a shred of progress, have we?”
“No no no, we're only a step away from identifying the culprit... Or at least, we've uncovered a new contradiction in their actions. The scene made us think the culprit was clever and thoughtful, but they're actually quite careless.”
“What's that now?”
“To be precise, the culprit was clever enough to make a plan to confuse us with a scene with no footprints and protect themselves from the blood splatter. ...On the other hand, they were also thoughtless enough to use a weapon that they couldn't have left at the scene, and stab Director Unno so deeply even though the ice pick they'd prepared as a false murder weapon was a miniature.”
Kikyo exhaled, slightly impressed.
“If you lay it out like that, I suppose it makes sense.”
“The location shoot was still ongoing. Even if the culprit wanted to kill Director Unno, there was no reason for them to rush. They could have prepared a different murder weapon to attack him with.”
This was Yuki's own experience. He'd been planning to commit the crime while everyone was asleep. From the start, he'd been puzzling over why the Interloper hadn't done the same.
“...So, how do we resolve this contradiction?”
“If you analyze everything the culprit has done, you'll see the answer. They attacked Director Unno in broad daylight not far from the former community center, where they could have easily been heard. It was blind luck that there were no witnesses to their crime.”
Mikumo nodded in agreement.
“That's another point towards the murderer being thoughtless.”
“Hypothetically, if the culprit's profile is careless and thoughtless... then what we thought was evidence of cleverness and premeditation might have actually been nothing of the sort.”
Mikumo fell silent, seemingly not understanding what he meant. Instead, it was Motegi whose eyes shot open.
“You don't mean to insinuate that the killer didn't employ any sort of trickery with the footprints or some way of protecting themselves from the blood spray?”
“Yes. There was no footprint trick to solve, and nobody noticed the blood on the culprit.”
“...How strange. It sounds like you're insinuating the culprit is someone other than us eight.”
“I am. That's the truth.”
“I understand. In that case, there is someone here who fits the criteria to be the culprit.”
He pointed at the black cat. The cat whose jet black fur wouldn't have showed a single bloodstain.
Yuki nodded, never taking his eyes off the cat.
“You're right. That creature must be the one who killed Director Unno.”
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