Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 3 Chapter 4 Part4

"Can each of you explain what you were doing after three in the afternoon?" Kyoko asked with one hand on her hip.

Her actions finally started to seem befitting of a homicide detective. I expected no less from her.

"Are you asking for our alibis?" Mizuiyama asked with a look of confusion. "I don't mind, but why after three? Mr. s.h.i.+rasu wasn't killed until eleven…"

"The victim was last witnessed alive around three. It's possible the killer approached him at that time."

"I see," Mizuiyama continued. "It doesn't make for much of an alibi, but I was in this room reading a book. Since we chose this room as our base, everyone was coming in and out throughout the day, but I remained here most of the afternoon."

"I'm sorry if this comes off the wrong way, but were you really taking things seriously?" I asked in as gentle a tone as possible. "A mysterious stranger called you to a haunted mansion, and you chose to spend the afternoon reading?"

"Nothing felt unusual at the time, and I wasn't aware of the rumors surrounding this place until later. I determined that patiently waiting for my client to appear was the best course of action. After all, as a detective, I had an obligation to my client."

She had a point. Aside from the mysterious request, there was nothing abnormal about the situation. I likely would've acted the same way.

"Did you see the victim at any point?"

"He was toying with his cell phone on that sofa until three. I don't know where he went after that."

"Was he on the phone with someone?" I asked.

"No, he told me he was trading stocks. I didn't even have to ask."

"I went around examining the paintings and scrolls inside this mansion," Yadorigi answered next. "Since my mission was to investigate for counterfeits, I figured it couldn't hurt to do some groundwork before my client appeared. I spent a great deal of time checking the paintings in the entryway. I crossed paths with s.h.i.+rasu several times, but nothing about him seemed out of the ordinary. I can't recall the exact times."

Then, Yaki spoke up. "I ain't got much to say. I was wanderin' around. Didn't run into that guy even once, but I kept b.u.mping into that loose woman, and boy, was she not happy to see me. She yelled at me to get lost since she was on the phone with someone."

Since everyone was alone, none of their alibis could be confirmed. Although, if any of them did have an airtight alibi for the entire day, it would raise some red flags.

"Ugh, I'm p.o.o.ped." Kakitsubata finally returned to the living room and threw herself onto the sofa. She lay her head on one of the sofa arms and started playing with her hair. "Hey, gangster wannabe, the scary men want to talk to you."

"Who you callin' a gangster wannabe? I ain't no poser." Yaki fixed his hair and headed to the other room.

I turned to Kakitsubata. "We already asked everyone else, but can you tell us where you were and what you were doing after three?"

"How cute! You're like a little inspector," she clapped in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Three? Do you really expect me to remember the nitty gritty details?"

"It doesn't have to be exact…"

"Hmm… I peeked into a bunch of different rooms while chatting with a friend over the phone… I think?"

"Noted."

I shouldn't have asked.

"Yui," Kyoko leaned over and whispered into my ear. "We're done here. Come with me, there's someplace else I want to investigate."

"Huh? Where?"

Kyoko grabbed my arm and started pulling me forward.

"H-Hey, don't s.h.i.+rk your responsibilities!" Kakitsubata yelled out.

"Sorry, we'll be right back!" I shouted while being dragged out into the hallway.

"Is something wrong?" I asked Kyoko. "You're so energized all of a sudden."

Her change in att.i.tude took me aback. This was the same girl who saw no point to solving a case without a request, focused solely on ranking up, and sought to avoid getting tangled up in Duel Noirs at all costs.

"…I can't afford not to be."

"Are you worried about the time limit? Sure, time is slowly running out, but we can spend an average of 28 hours per case, so it's not like we're behind."

"That's not it…"

She turned away to hide her solemn expression, but her grip on my arm didn't weaken.

As I walked behind her, I took a good look at her tiny shoulders and back. How heavy a burden did this thirteen-year-old girl have to bear? And how much of it was of her own volition?

Was there anything I could do to lighten her burden?

"You're hiding something from me, right?" I asked. She didn't stop to nod or turn around. "I haven't been able to ask because of the Duel Noir and all, but is there a reason you can't go home?"

"Save it for later," she replied curtly, turning away my offer of support.

That didn't faze me.

"Did something happen at your house?"

"Yui," she turned around and shot me a piercing glare. "We don't have the liberty to be discussing trivial matters."

But this isn't trivial. I stopped myself before I could counter.

An invisible wall divided the two of us. I had thought it had crumbled after everything we'd been through, but it was clear that it still stood firm.

We stepped into the hallway linking the main building and the dojo. Several forensic officers were dusting for fingerprints and checking for footprints around the door.

We greeted them, presented our armbands, and entered the crime scene.

A few officers were bustling about inside. The body had been removed, leaving a darkened pool of blood in the center of the room as the only remnant of the murder.

The two suits of armor remained unmoved.

As a result of the investigation, the bizarre impression we had of the room when we discovered the crime had faded. The armored warriors, with their imposing aura, now clearly looked out of place.

Kyoko walked up to the katanwielding warrior.

"Careful, that there's a real sword," one of the officers warned.

Kyoko craned her neck to inspect the katana from a safe distance. It appeared to be the same kind as the one used to stab the victim. I was unaware of the special techniques that went into crafting it, but it was probably okay to consider it a standard katana.

After brus.h.i.+ng her hair back with her hand, she took a step away from the armor and donned a pair of black gloves.

"You gals are two of Ryuuzouji's kids? He's found some serious ones recently," the officer said with admiration.

I a.s.sumed Ryuuzouji regularly sent helpers to gather information at crime scenes. n.o.body but a distinguished detective like him would be permitted to do such a thing.

Unfortunately, few people were aware of his activities as an executive in a criminal organization. I wondered if the crimes he helped solve outnumbered the Duel Noirs he planned.

But he likely didn't distinguish between the two. To him, both were a form of salvation.

"What's the estimated time of death?" Kyoko asked the officer.

"When we arrived on the scene, the victim hadn't been dead for more than an hour or so. That'd place it around 11 PM."

At that time, we were standing outside the room and heard a noise coming from inside. As I suspected, that was when the victim was being stabbed beyond the door.

Kyoko stared at the pool of blood for a few moments before s.h.i.+fting her gaze to the warriors.

"Apparently the armor had been by the wall before," I said to her. "I wonder why it was moved for the murder."

She didn't turn around. She crossed her arms and slightly tilted her head.

After a while, as if having a eureka moment, she walked over to the weaponless warrior and crouched down to check its feet. The warrior had on white tabi socks and sandals woven from straw.

"Figure something out?" I asked.

"Look, there's a stain on the straw."

The forensic officer and I peeked over.

"You're right, looks like mud," the officer remarked. He lifted up an edge of the sandal with the tip of his pen and peeked at its sole. "Slightly wet. Might've been used to walk on the snow."

"Th-Then… Don't tell me…" I got gooseb.u.mps picturing the warriors marching around in the snow.

Were these warriors capable of walking on their own? Maybe the rumored sightings of the souls of fallen warriors had been of them…

"Yui, do you have a tape measure on you?"

"Yep." I pulled out a tape measure from my bag. "Need it for something?"

She nodded, took it, and swiftly measured the length of the sandal.

"10… 10.5 inches."

"What does the armor's shoe size tell us?"

"It's worth noting." She stood up and handed back the tape measure.

"We'll be taking the armor at some point," the officer mentioned. "There's blood on the torso that requires further examination."

"Is it the victim's?" I asked.

"We won't know for sure without a DNA test, but it matches the victim's blood type—AB."

"I see…"

I could only think of one possibility—the armor moved by itself and attacked the victim. I imagined the scene playing out in my mind. The warrior unsheathing its s.h.i.+ning blade, plunging it deep into the victim's back…

"Do the police have a working theory yet?"

"We're investigating this as a suicide."

"S-Suicide?"

"We've yet to find any evidence suggesting someone else was in this room at the time of death."

"But wasn't the victim stabbed in the back? I could understand if it was a knife or dagger, but could he really kill himself with a katana?"

"Sure, all he'd have to do is secure the blade somewhere. It's an old trick, made to disguise a suicide as murder."

"Where could it have been secured…?"

Then, it came to me. The perfect tool.

The armored warriors.

He could've made a warrior hold the katana before flinging himself backwards onto it.

But I discounted the idea as soon as it popped into my mind. This was a Duel Noir. Suicide couldn't be the answer.

…But what if it was? What if this gathering had nothing to do with the Duel Noir in the first place?

"Hey, Kyoko, what if—"

I tried to get her attention, but she lost interest in the warriors and had moved to the double doors in the back of the room. Rubber bands were still wrapped around the handles. The doors were equipped with a thumbturn lock that could be engaged from the inside, but the killer intentionally left it unlocked, using rubber bands to seal off the exit instead. Maybe this setup was part of the murder trick.

Kyoko quietly walked up to one of the doors and pushed her body against it. The rubber bands stretched slightly, creating a gap large enough for wind to blow in.

The backyard was on the other side, but it was pitch black outside so I couldn't see anything.

"Let me help," I offered.

I stood beside her, placed my back against one of the doors, firmly planted my feet on the ground, and pushed against the door. The rubber bands stretched a surprising amount, creating a gap large enough for a person's hand to fit through.

"Huh? Was it this loose to begin with?"

"We need to consider why the killer used rubber bands," Kyoko said, stepping away from the doors. "I think the gap must have been used for something. Let's try putting pressure on both of these doors simultaneously."

I pressed my weight against both doors. Doing so resulted in a gap large enough for a slender person to slip through. Of course, since the handles were positioned at waist height, one would need to duck under the rubber bands and wriggle through the small opening below, which would require some flexible maneuvering.

"One thing is clear—this room wasn't completely sealed."

Inserting an object such as a doorstop into the gap would make it easier to slip through. Although the rubber bands created the perception of a firmly sealed room, there was a hidden opening all along.

"But there were no footprints outside," Kyoko added.

"Right…"

Anyone entering or exiting through the double doors would have to walk through the backyard, but when we discovered the body, there were no footprints in either the courtyard or the backyard. We confirmed that with our own eyes.

"Oh!" A thought suddenly came to mind. "What about the door to the hallway? If the rubber bands over there were looser than we thought…"

"It required tremendous strength to open up a gap for the box cutter. No person could fit through there."

"Then was this actually a locked room? Did we witness an impossible crime?"

"Doubtful. After all, an impossible crime is nothing more than a crime designed to look impossible. We merely perceive it to be impossible. But as long as someone continues to doubt the impossibility, the illusion crumbles. As detectives, we must fulfill that role even if we stand alone."

Kyoko stated it so matter-of-factly, but her conviction was leagues beyond that of an average detective. Her state of mind could only be achieved by someone born a detective, whose every waking moment was defined by a sense of duty.

That may have been the very ident.i.ty of the wall between us.

Next: Chapter 4, Part 5 (Coming Soon!)
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