Vol 5 Chapter 1 (1/2)
There are no flowers that do not wilt but there are flowers that do not blossom
The world is absolutely unfair
1
”-- you good-for-nothing!”
Professor Kyouichirou shouted with a cracked roar, and beat shi+to-kun with his wooden staff shi+to-kun did not atteet out of the way, took a blow to the head, and cruround However, Professor Kyouichirou did not let up, and continued to lay into shi+to-kun's body with his staff
”Good-for-nothing, good-for-nothing, good for nothing!” he repeated
We watched that
With nothing to say or do, atched that
In that visitor room in the first ward Shadou Kyouichirou, Koutari Hinayoshi+, Neo Furuara, Miyoshi+ Kokoroaki shi+to And Suzunashi+ Neon, Kunagisa Toathered This athered here
”--”
At least an hour had passed since then, but a police organization had still not arrived Misachi-san had apparently already handled contacting authorities after discovering the body, but our location so deep in the ht rain affected their response The roads probably were not affected er to arrive
A murder
Is what it would be, would it not?
It did not sink in yet, but I think that should be right It was not sinking in yet at all, that the Utsurigi Gaisuke that spoke so frankly yesterday would be killed, but that should be about right
”shi+t it was supposed to be my turn for questions today”
Iscolded reflecting off my eyes If the reality were otherwise, ould I have asked that s I needed to ask, but I also felt like there was nothing to ask In the end, Utsurigi was able to quit while he was ahead Regardless of whether that hat he wished or not
”-- please stop”
Said Misachi-san, clinging to the Professor's arm
”Professor, calm down--”
”Shut up!”
Professor Kyouichirou then flung Misachi-san away, and on top of that, beat her with his staff the same way he did shi+to-kun Misachi-san covered her face with her arround
”Each and every one getting in mind--”
The Professor said, as he kicked Misachi-san's back
”--”
So easily they crumble
Those things called people
Right now, the s a tantrum in front of me had not a shred of that presence, that veteran feel Nothing whatsoever that I saw yesterday In its place was someone like a child who just had a previous toy broken, sos everywhere like an infant Even a person of that nitude falls apart this easily For better or for worse, it was no longer the Shadou Kyouichirou that cowed me with his far superior presence
That is why, if it were to have been me instead
”How unsightly, Professor Shadou”
Right as Professor Kyouichirou raised his staff to beat Misachi-san once more, a voice that sounded like an fired arrow echoed around the room Due to that, the Professor's arm froze at its apex
The voice belonged to Suzunashi+-san
She sat in a chair with a leg crossed over the other, her jaas raised as if to look down on the Professor, and truthfully, she looked at the Professor with disdain
”Jeez -- I had sorandiose nickname like the Mad Deot a boring life, you Unbelievably boring A person who's lived sixty years loses control just because one person died, even beating on wo a tantru to check on the situation Really, how unsightly, how unsightly, how unsightly--”
”Shut up! A girl who hasn't even lived thirty years has no right to talk back to !”
The Professor shouted, and then he threw the staff at Suzunashi+-san Suzunashi+-san did not bother to avoid it, and did not even blink The head of the staff shattered at Suzunashi+-san's forehead Even then, Suzunashi+-san si at the Professor with disdain
A look that was truly as if she was si at a pathetic animal As someone who had been looked-at by Suzunashi+-san like that before, I could ure how the Professor felt That look nificant you are
”You looking at me with those eyes--”
”Professor! Please stop!” shi+to-kun yelled while still on the ground ”Calm down -- please cool your head”
”Calm! How can I become calm like this! If that dies--” the Professor turned back to shi+to-kun ”If that dies, if that disappears what happens! Everything is over! Every thing that I've built up until now is done for!”
That -- Utsurigi Gaisuke
” who,” the Professor looked toward the table where everyone was seated with hostility-filled eyes ”Who killed that? Who did it! Who pulled this stunt and for what purpose! It's one of you wasn't it! You shameless immoral!”
The Professor shouted and slammed both hands on the table However, no one responded That was probably not because anyone was intimidated by the Professor, but rather siive toward that question
Suzunashi+-san was no longer looking at the Professor, as if she wanted to say there was no longer any value in looking A bit of blood could be seen on her forehead, presumably from the staff However, Suzunashi+-san did not see about so, but at the sa
And Kunagisa, sitting next to her, just quietly observed
”-- it is nonsense”
The start of this -- well, I do not know if it could be called that, but anyways, it was supposedly shi+to-kun who first realized the abnori did not make his usual call That alone had happened several ti or i-like reasons -- so he did not pay that i, there was no response
He thought so was off about that and let the Professor and Misachi-san know And then the Professor ordered, go check on hied This was around six-thirty
And then shi+to-kun discovered that The bloodied body that had been violated all over with blades that belonged to Utsurigi The murder art of the immoral that had been displayed on a whole wall, had been completely shown to him
The discoverer of Utsurigi Gaisuke's corpse was Oogaki shi+to
” immoral”
I do not knohy the Professor used that word, but the htforward This was deep in the mountains, and thus in one way a sealed space If someone inside were killed, then the suspect would therefore probably be one of the others
In other words, a terrible and typical happening
”-- well, let's calm down, everyone”
Just as an insufferable feeling was descending on everyone -- no, just as an insufferable feeling was about to settle in on everyone, it was Neo-san who changed the mood As if he were about to play a joke on everyone, he lifted both of his hands and took a composed posture
”There's nothing to gain froht? Professor We need to think about what to do next”
”Next?” the Professor looked at Neo-san with irritation ”What do you mean to do now? There exists no next Nowhere”
”No, it's not good to throw everything by the wayside like that That's right, how about wetake responsibility Come come, look at how out flamboyant it was, there's no way there's no evidence Once the police arrive they'll figure it out right away And then--”
”Suspect? It's one of you isn't it?”
”That's just short-sighted, Professor Not like you at all, Professor Kyouichirou Didn't we just have an intruder alert the other day? We can't just decide that it wasn't soh castle to crack, it doesn't mean it's infallible”
-- intruder
I stiffed a bit at that word, though only to the point where no one would notice
”I don't bla an inside job, but that's not a good way to start After all, we -- as researchers would have no reason to do that, right? That was a precious, precious specimen even for us”
”Neo!”
This time the Professor shouted in a different way However, Neo-san simply waved that off and said, ”Oh what does it matter”
”The Lady of Kunagisa and that bright-looking lady, even the boy ured That's why they cah with deceiving and ainst each other Isn't this a situation to just open up?”
”” ””
Neo-san said and looked at the Professor and Kunagisa, and while the Professor looked back silently with his teeth grinding, Kunagisa siin with Neo-san shrugged his shoulders, ”golly golly”
”Well, that's that, let's continue Anyways, that's why no researcher would want to kill Utsurigi-san That's obvious Then what? Would it be the Professor's secretary, Uze Misachi, or perhaps the assistant, Oogaki shi+to-kun?”
Misachi-san and shi+to-kun, still lying on the ground to the left and right of the Professor, reacted at the same time
”However, this too cannot be Everyone kno loyal they are to the Professor Not to mean any offence, but shi+to-kun's devotion in particular is abnor would obviously only draw the ire of the Professor, so it would be out of the question Then, ould you do? Yes, you would suspect the Guests, the Lady of Kunagisa and her friends, but--”
Neo-san then turned toward us
”This, too, cannot be Because these three cai-san Save is a rather painful word to use toward us, but anyways they wouldn't be trying to kill hiht?” and then Neo-san turned back to the Professor ”Then, Professor, it means nobody here is the suspect Of course, that includes you”
””
I do not know if it could be called suic silenced even the Professor Nocal he was still Shadou Kyouichirou, a ic
”And in that case, I can't think that anyone other than an outsider did it Especially given that anization to the Professor? I think the Hariura Syndicate or the Visar Organization are particularly suspicious”
” they would never be so overt”
”Maybe But the possibility is there So I think it's too early to declare that there's an iht, everyone?”
Neo-san turned around as if seeking everyone's opinion
””
Indeed, I agreed His speech mannerism was extre through the heavy feeling At the very least, Neo-san succeeded in cal everyone -- especially the Professor -- to the point of being able think rationally
Of course, that included me
”-- Kokoromi-sensei”
I, I called to Kokoromi-sensei, who sat a small distance away from us Sensei widened her eyes and responded, ”Hrinned a bit, and turned to me and asked, ”What's it, my pupil?”
” what's it, got so to ask, my pupil?”
” sensei Would you not be able to deduce so at that?” I said, nervously ”After all, you are an expert in dissecting hui Gaisuke was killed, the cause of death or so--”
”Heheh I'd never'ave expected ya'd depend on uess it's worth living for ave ive me, that detestable s much t'say”
””
”Bled to death If not, shock from his wounds Well, anyone could tell thatto everyone without looking at anyone in particular ”The tiht, in the three hours frouess”
”Rather large interval”
”Well yah Norlance, I use their state of rigor mortis and the state of their eyes, but I haven't touched Utsurigi-san's body, and well ya know about his eyes”
Utsurigi-san's eyes, which were pierced with scissors
”Sorry I can't live up to your hopes, but that's all I can tell ya now”
” thanks”
I nodded, and looked away from sensei
Midnight to three as I doing then? If I reai-san around one, and then, after that--
”What here what here Are you thinking of asking for alibis, young ht, Uze-san?”
Misachi-san snapped her face up with a ”What?” when she was suddenly mentioned
”-- what is it?”
”Go take a look At the door entry logs”
””
Misachi-san looked dubiously at the Professor, who irritably barked, ”hurry up and go”
” understood”
Misachi-san nodded, and then quickly left the room
Log? I tilted my head to the side at the word What did thatand exiting the laboratory wards (card key, nunition, and even a retina scan--) recorded everything in some central computer somewhere I see, then indeed, the time of the crime would be definitively narrowed down After all, in order to enter the seventh ward--
” to enter?”
My thoughts broke off there
Right It was not just a matter of records In order to enter the seventh ward you would need to break through that severe security systeistered with a key would not be able to even enter, i
Then -- I looked at Neo-san Did Neo-san not realize? Because in that case, not one outsider would be able to step foot inside the seventh ward
For example, the red Contractor, Aikawa Jun She was so skilled in voice- that there would be no one to her right, and she was so far ahead that no one would be to her left, either (at least, according to her) It iven how much of a narcissist and howherself est, but I think even that Aikawa-san would not be able to break through that iic-based machines, after all
Neo-san si completely composed There was no way of course that he had not realized it There was no way that Neo-san would have failed to recognize the paradox that he hi the Professor?
-- how shrewd
I thought that once ht that, I became even more calm
As such, the truth is that the three of us -- Kunagisa and Suzunashi+-san and I -- the three of us would not have been able to coistered as researchers, ould not be able to clear ourselves through the locks, and as a result, ould naturally be removed from the pool of suspects
”--”
At the sa the suspect That left seven -- that narrowed the suspects down to the seven researchers ere in this facility to begin with Because thy were the only ones capable of invading a ward, so this was certain There were no large ic, no es to this set of logic
I subtly doubted -- Professor Kyouichirou, Neo-san, Koutari-san, Kasugai-san, Sensei, and shi+to-kun -- and Misachi-san, who had left the room Seven people However, what Neo-san had said earlier was not entirely aI could not think of a i-san -- and in such a brutal way I could not think of any
”But you know,” Neo-san ”All last night I was just in my lab -- the fifth ward How about you, Koutari-san?”
”Saave a short reply ”No reason to walk at night”
”Same here, yah”
”I went outside once to walk the dogs And I ran into that boy on the way, right?”
Kasugai-san said to me I nodded silently
”How about you? Professor?”
The Professor answered Neo-san's question irritably, ”Same”
”I was here in this first ward the whole time, with shi+to and Uze That'll be apparent fro”
”I see, and you?” Neo-san shi+fted his attention to us ”What were you all doing last night?”
”We were in the inn the whole tih”
”Mht walk, rather human Hmm, then it would mean there's no suspect here Because no one went by the seventh ward”
But Neo-san hiht, and then lie about it, that is what a hu said that everyone is honest to everyone
” hey, Inoji,” Suzunashi+-san whispered so that only I could hear ”This is going to turn out to be a bit bad for us”
”---? Is it not already” I glanced sideways at Kunagisa (she was still staring off into space) and whispered back to Suzunashi+-san ”Not to take the Professor's words, but everything is over now because Utsurigi was killed, so there was no point in us co here, and we are just a bother now”
No, Suzunashi+-san was probably not ation and such that would follow We would probably go through a lengthy investigation process, and presumably, ould be considered suspects for a while, and would be stuck in the Aichi prefecture Weback to Kyoto I aisa is an unemployed hikikomori, so we do not mind, but Suzunashi+-san has work (even if it is part-ti to, but Suzunashi+-san said, ”that's not what I mean”
”I ainst us really, nothing good ever co to Asano's requests I won't say always even though it's always the case and I still always listen to her even though I know it”
”Um, Suzunashi+-san?”
As I was bewildered by Suzunashi+-san, who appeared to be berating herself, Misachi-san returned She had a troubled expression, and first walked toward everyone, and then hesitated, and walked to the Professor And then she whispered so in his ear
” what?” the Professor blurted out, and he confir with Misachi-san ”Are you sure about that?”
”Yes there is noit”
She confirmed I do not knohat she confirmed, but in any case Misachi-san nodded And then the Professor took that and looked like he began thinking hard And then the Professor sat in his chair and turned toward the table And then, still seated, he hunched over in ht
””
what in the world did Misachi-san tell the Professor?
No, as said was not the probleained his coave was reminiscent of the first time I had seen him, and it was like he had settled back into his sain was a problem for me I did not know yet why it was a problem, but anyways, it was a problem
In other words, I had a bad feeling The sa I had when I confirmed my reunion with sensei swirled aroundJust like that worst fortune-teller, it never once missed
”-- hmph”
The Professor raised his head, his body still hunched over Suddenly, everyone looked at the Professor
”It seeentlemen”
Upon hearing the single word, trouble, I looked at Suzunashi+-san She had closed her eyes, and was looking like she was trying to sleep It looked like blood had already stopped flowing from her cheeks I turned ained that wily, old grin and expression
”--hey, Uze,” the Professor looked at Misachi-san ”-- go contact the security guards at the gate Tell them if the police arrive, turn them back”
”What” Misachi-san looked surprised at the Professor's words ”But, what, why”
”Who cares about the reason Well, right, just tell them it was a mistaken report A child's” the Professor looked at shi+to-kun ” mischief”
” huh,” Misachi-san nodded without understanding She looked like she did not understand the situation very well -- no, like she did not understand the situation at all ” a mistaken report”
”What? Hurry up and go”
” but, why”
”Are you unable to work forfor the reason every time?”
”No, that's not I'ht back”
Misachi-san hurriedly bowed her head to the Proefssor, and then ran out of the rooain
” what's going on, Professor?” Neo-san asked, while staring at the door that Misachi-san had just passed through ”Turning back the police? I think that's insane What did Uze-san whisper to you?”
”That's the thing, Neo That's the thing,” the Professor Kyouichirou grinned ”We're in quite some trouble”
” well, of course we're in quite a pickle But that's a different proble our predicament?”
”Now listen”
The Professor waved off Neo-san's complaints And then he paused for a few seconds, before resu, ”to start with, Neo”
”What you said is odd The entrance to Utsurigi's seventh ward has a tremendous aet through At the very least, that's the case for Hariura or Visar”
The Professor eht behind those words that I did not understand What was this elder trying to say?
Neo-san exaggeratedly followed the Professor's point with an ”Ahh, that ht of that”
”However, does that still provide the grounds for suspecting the people within? Professor, we've all worked together for soi-san ended up the way he did, but it's a bit of a tough predicament for us”
”Out of sorts? How rude I'm not, at all I'm extremely calm”
The Professor said, boldly, as if his early tantrum was an optical illusion
”But, however, Professor”
”Don't worry, Neo I wouldn't suspect soht? Wanna knohat Uze just told me?”
While everyone probably had issues with the first half of his words, they were drawn to the latter half, and awaited the rest Professor Kyouichirou played coy for a moment, and then,
” last night, there's no record of the Seventh Ward being opened”
He said
” no record?” Neo-san repeated ”No record, so does thatthe Seventh Ward last night?”
”Exactly The last person to open the door to the Seventh Ward was shi+to and the Lady of Kunagisa and that boy, when that trio i Of course, if you think about it norht, Neo?”
The Professor this time e to say that there exists a method outside of the normperhaps the Professor already knew the suspect already kneho the immoral was? It had only been an hour since the incident had been discovered, yet we may already be at the solution scene However, not to take Suzunashi+-san's words, but this is not atime Part of me thinks this is it, and part of me thinks we are still only half way There was no way for es left
My position was uncertain
”Well then everything gets messed up That means no one entered the Seventh Ward Are you sure it's not a machine error?”
”That's impossible You know that best, don't you?”
”Then” Neo-san seemed to think a bit ” in teraki-kun or the Lady of Kunagisa or her friend the suspects, because they entered last however in that case Miyoshi+-san's esti Professor, that would make this an impossible crime”
”There's another problehed with plenty of composure ”Well, settle down and listen to htly for an adult to lose their coated ent in and out of the Seventh Ward too the records of whether the other researchers, including myself, entered or left”
”? Other you mean us?”
”There are others,” Professor Kyouichirou said heartily As if the more he talked, the more his excites or ratherlike it, sank ever deeper
I was beginning to understand I was not exactly sure what the Professor anting to say, but I was beginning to understand where he anting to head And the coht by it, that self-iht by it Jones' Principle[1] People who laugh despite the things going against the of whom to blame
Then--
”The result -- I'll say it because Uze isn't here, but the result -- is that at night, at the very least during the timeframe that Miyoshi+ said, no one left their own research ward”
Everyone sucked in their breath at what he said
”Aside froai”
Said the Professor Kasugai-san twitched in response to the Professor's words, with almost no expression
”Kasugai left the fourth ward from around 1 AM for about five s she referred to But this isn't worth fretting over That sort of spectacle could not be constructed in just five minutes”
” well, thank you,” Kasugai-san said with a tone of voice that sounded as if she wanted to continue, though I don't really understand ”Thank you, in any case”
” h voice ” huh? Then, Professor, that ht? We didn't leave our research wards And there are no entry logs for the seventh ward Then”
”An impossible crime”
Kokoromi-sensei stole Neo-san's words
”Wouldn'tcha think that's the case, my pupil?”
” I do think that would be the case”
I chose my words carefully as I affirmed my teacher's words Indeed, theoretically, if you were to accept the Professor's words at face value -- then it would mean no one entered the seventh ward, and it would mean that no one left their own research ward In that case, if you were to summarize this with a simple word
A sealed-room mystery