Chapter 8: Please Continue to Support Your Clever Yuriu
We were led by Belka to Room 111—Ivan's room.
"Took you long enough."
Fido had already taken up position in the center of the room. Carmina and Altra were standing by the window.
"So, why did you go out of your way to gather everyone? What are you planning?"
Katia, having been dragged here against her will, looked quite displeased.
"Now then! Behold the deduction of the UK's proud Detective Dog!"
Standing quickly next to Fido, Belka made a grandiose declaration.
"Detective Dog...? That doggy is...?"
Ursna looked at Fido in the middle of the "stage," unable to hide her bewilderment.
"We kept it quiet, but Fido is actually a detective."
I introduced Fido formally.
"Hah..."
Naturally, Ursna didn't seem to fully digest the fact.
"Fido, I don't know what you're about to start, but listen to this first. It's about Lyle..."
Once the introductions were over, I quietly conveyed what I had seen, heard, and experienced only to Fido. Upon hearing it, Fido's ear twitched, but he showed no other major reaction.
"Hey, if we're all here, hurry it up."
I actually wanted to share the details about the journal found in the atelier as well, but Chardina blocked that attempt.
"Is it really okay to be taking your time?"
Chardina was standing in the corner of the room, lined up with Belka.
"No... but..."
"Are you planning to put the results of what you made Char help with on the back burner?"
Ah, she's pouting.
"All right, I get it. But where are the others?"
Yuriu and Luciolla were missing.
"What time do you think it is? Normally, people are asleep. Even Char is sleepy, but she's playing along. Do you understand?"
Rich coming from someone who visited my room in the middle of the night.
"I get it, so stop whining, little girl. We're starting the lecture. Kozo, I'll hear the rest of your story after."
Fido said this as if to soothe my frayed nerves. True, if everyone else was locked up tight in their rooms, perhaps there was no need to force them awake to gather here.
"Did you figure something out?"
"Yeah. This will probably clear things up. The mystery of the swapped moon, that is."
"Mystery of the moon?"
I instinctively looked at the round window in the room. Painted there was a green full moon floating in the night sky.
"I'm going to explain how Ivan, who was killed in Room 303, vanished in the blink of an eye."
"In that case, shouldn't we go to the crime scene, Room 303?"
"No. Here is fine. Because this was the crime scene."
"Eh?"
"Ivan never went to Room 303. He was in this Room 111 the entire time. During that phone call, and when he was attacked."
"But hey, doggy-kun," Altra interrupted arrogantly from by the window. "At that time, the geezer who got killed said there was no moon, right?"
"That's right. But the painting in this room clearly has a full moon. It's completely different. Or are you saying they swapped the wall paintings just for the moment of the murder?" Carmina added. It seemed they hadn't been told the truth yet either.
"Swapped the paintings? Hmph. That would mean running back and forth between the first and third floors in a huge rush. There wasn't time for that. Think a little, you endless chatterboxes Cheerleaders."
Even against dangerous women, Fido didn't break his usual tone.
"There's no need to do anything like that. The point is, all you had to do was hide the moon from Ivan's vision for that moment."
Hide the moon?
"In other words, they utilized complementary colors," Lilitea said, arriving at the answer first.
Hearing that, Fido nodded in satisfaction.
"Exactly, Lilitea. I'll let you pet my back later."
It was a joke that only worked because Fido was a dog, though for some people, that might actually be a reward.
"We're going to demonstrate it now. Watch."
Saying that, Fido gave a small bark toward Belka. On cue, Belka hurriedly walked over to the side of the round window.
"Been waiting for this! ...Come on, you're up, Chardina! Just like we practiced!"
"Eh? R-Right!"
Forcefully dragged along, Chardina stepped forward too.
Belka pulled something small and folded out of her hot pants pocket. She snapped it open. I thought it was a handkerchief or something, but it was a transparent red vinyl sheet, about a meter in diameter.
Standing on either side of the round window, they worked together to spread the sheet over the glass. So this is what Belka meant earlier when she asked for help.
"Jaan! Come on, Chardina! Smile, smile!"
"Jaan."
For some reason, Chardina was actually getting into it.
"Char-ojousama! So cute!"
Leaving the excited Carmina aside, once I saw the spectacle floating before my eyes, I finally understood everything.
"It disappeared!"
Indeed, it had vanished. Only the part depicting the full moon was erased by the red vinyl sheet. What remained was a completely black sky.
A pitch-dark new moon.
"This is the picture Ivan saw."
Green things appear black when viewed through a red filter. It was the same principle as the red sheets used for memorization during exam study.
"We cut this into a circle together, you know. Chardina is so clumsy with her hands—"
"Be quiet! I had no idea what I was being made to do, but... aha! I understand now! The culprit stuck a vinyl sheet, cut perfectly to match the shape of the window, onto the glass to make the original painting look like a different one!"
Chardina looked at the painting through the vinyl sheet she had spread out herself, impressed by the change in appearance.
"After Ivan disappeared from Room 303, I was bothered by this Room 111. So I investigated it thoroughly. And! And then! I found a scrap of scotch tape remaining on the edge of that round window! So Sensei deduced that the culprit must have pasted something there, and the rest came together in a flash! As expected of Sensei!"
Belka was endlessly proud as an assistant. Fido himself continued speaking as if that praise didn't matter.
"Ivan said this: 'There is no moon, it is pitch black.' So, I figured the culprit used a color trick."
"I see... By doing this, they changed the appearance of the moon painting, making Ivan-san hallucinate that he was in a completely different room."
"It wasn't just Ivan who was tricked. The culprit played the same song in both Room 303 and Room 111, intentionally letting us hear it over the intercom to make us believe the crime scene was Room 303."
Quite an elaborate setup, Fido remarked, baring his fangs slightly.
"I see... in that case... no, if that's true..."
If that were true...
"Sakuya-sama? What is the matter?"
"No..."
Could it be...
"As for the song, you just dub it onto another cassette tape. If you search a bit, you'd find boomboxes in other rooms too. Recover it after the crime and take it out of Room 111, and the evidence regarding that point is gone."
But that's not the focus right now, Fido said, continuing:
"The main topic is the moon. While looking for items to prove the complementary color trick, I remembered the vinyl sheet."
"Vinyl...?"
Come to think of it, why did such an object suddenly appear in the first place?
"Ursna had it in her pocket, didn't she?"
"Ursna-san's...? Ah!"
I remembered. That thing she dropped when she first showed us the room. She said she had prepared it secretly for Luciolla's birthday decorations—.
The moment that information came out, everyone looked at Ursna simultaneously. She was clearly flustered.
"I felt bad about it, but while you were out, I rifled through your room a bit. I borrowed the vinyl sheet from the desk drawer. The red one."
"N-No way...!"
Rifling through a woman's room without permission is quite scandalous. Ursna started to voice a complaint but stopped. She seemed unsure if she was allowed to get angry at a dog.
"I feel bad about it. If bowing a dog's head is enough, I'll bow as much as you want later. By the way, back then it was just a silly scene of a kid being toyed with by an older woman, but you really should watch everything carefully. Right, Kozo?"
"I-I wasn't being toyed with, though?"
"You were," Lilitea whispered in a small voice. It was a misunderstanding, I tell you.
Then, as if to pull the conversation back from derailment, Belka raised her voice.
"I get it! So basically, this is what Sensei wants to say, right?"
"Oh? You understand?" Fido narrowed his eyes at his confident assistant.
"I understand! Then say it. The trick using colored vinyl... the only one who could have done it was Ursna-san! Right?"
".........Eh?"
After a moment of silence, Ursna let out a weak breath.
"It was you!? You killed Father...?"
Katia revealed her anger.
"N-No! I know nothing about it! I didn't do it!"
Ursna showed a strong will of denial instantly.
"When the call from Ivan-san came, you weren't in the lounge. Just before the call, you left the room saying you were going to make coffee, didn't you?"
"That might be true, but... that was a coincidence...!"
"If you headed straight to Room 111 at that moment, attacked Ivan, and hurried back to the lounge, the crime would have been possible, wouldn't it? You could have prepared the coffee on the wagon in the kitchen from the start."
Indeed, speaking only of alibis, that might be true.
"If the crime scene had been Room 303 on the third floor, I think it would have been physically impossible due to the distance. But the actual crime scene was this Room 111. By making us mistake the location of the crime, you tried to remove yourself from the suspect list."
There's more, Belka continued.
"As a server, it would have been easy for you, Ursna-san, to mix sleeping pills into Ivan-san's drink, right? You could offer it with the excuse of bringing a new drink or something. Then, after Ivan-san fell asleep, you set the filter on the round window!"
"Wrong! That's all completely misguided delusion! That's cruel, Belka-chan! I thought you were a kind girl!"
Under the rapid-fire questioning, Ursna finally let her emotions explode.
"Eh? I-I'm sor..."
Belka was easily overwhelmed by her intensity. She looked blatantly dejected.
"Um... I'm not doing this because I hate you or anything. Sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I'll continue the deduction, okay?"
Apparently, the deduction would continue firmly.
Belka walked over to an empty bookshelf by the wall and pointed to its base.
"I noticed this while observing earlier. Look, there are traces that this was moved."
Indeed, there were faint but old marks visible on the floor. When furniture sits in the same place for years, it leaves something like a tan line on that spot.
"While Ivan-san was sleeping, you changed the furniture arrangement as much as possible. Of course, this was to make Ivan-san hallucinate that he had been taken to a completely different room when he woke up. You're tall and hardworking, Ursna-san, and you look strong for a woman. You could have easily moved an empty shelf, and you should have been able to return it to its original spot immediately."
"Thinking you could fool Ivan immediately after he woke up, while his consciousness was still hazy?"
"Exactly as Sakuya says. The missing moon and the changed furniture arrangement. With those two factors, Ivan-san mistook his own room for a completely different one at that time."
For once, Belka's deduction had evidence for each point, and it sounded somewhat logical.
"But what about the song playing in Room 303? When did the switch on the boombox get pressed?"
"That's right. If it was Room 111 on the same floor, a crime might have been possible in a short time. But in the end, didn't someone have to go up to the third floor to press the switch? Ursna didn't have that kind of time, did she?"
"Well?" Chardina pressed Belka.
"Umm, err... that's..."
"Come on, dog assistant, explain."
That wasn't an attitude for asking for an explanation from a person or a dog.
"That is..."
"Big discovery—!"
At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and Yuriu burst in.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
Taken from behind, Chardina lost the strength in her legs in an artistic fashion.
"O-Ojousama—!"
"You bastard! Don't just appear behind Ojou like that! Don't get cocky!"
Chardina stood up unsteadily while being nursed by her subordinates.
"W-What is it, all of a sudden! Don't scare me!"
"Sorry! I was so curious I couldn't sleep. Ahya!"
"Don't 'Ahya' me!"
"I went to Room 303, you see."
"To that room alone? Yuriu-chan, don't be reckless."
I wanted to say don't go wandering around when we don't know where the killer is hiding—but since I had done the exact same thing, I couldn't say anything more.
I mean, in the end, everyone is awake tonight.
"I'm sorry. But I wanted to be useful to Shishou in at least one way."
"So, what did you verify?"
"The cassette! It's the cassette! Heave-ho."
Yuriu lifted the boombox she was dangling from her hand above her head.
"I was wondering the whole time when on earth the culprit pressed the playback switch during that incident."
Come to think of it, she had been curiously checking the boombox.
"But when I checked it again, it was simple."
Yuriu rewound the cassette to the beginning and pressed the play button again.
Reflexively, everyone fell silent and strained their ears.
But no matter how long we waited, no sound came out.
Yuriu repeatedly fast-forwarded it bit by bit. Then, when the tape had spun about halfway through, the song finally began.
"See, just like this! This tape has silence for the first twenty or thirty minutes, and the song comes in halfway through!"
"I see. So if you start playing from the beginning of the tape, the song starts flowing about thirty minutes later. The culprit used this like a kind of timer function."
"That's right. They rigged it so the singing voice would ring out from that room at the targeted timing!"
"In that case, there's no need to go to the room right before the crime. Yuriu-chan, you're brilliant!"
"Kuuun! I got praised. Please continue to support your clever Yuriu from here on out!"
When I praised her achievement straight out, Yuriu jumped up in joy, nearly dropping the boombox.
"Regarding the cassette, you saved us the trouble of explaining, and the Kozo's disciple even commentated on the trick. Be grateful, Belka."
Fido, having heard the conversation, gave a rare growl of satisfaction.
"If it's about the tape... I-I kinda had a guess about that too! Believe me, Sakuya. Really—"
"I know, I know. I believe you."
"Yay—!"
Her mood was fixed with a single word. Aren't you too easy, Belka?
"Now the tape issue is resolved! Ursna-san guided us to the third floor, and during that time, she leisurely removed the setup in Room 111, carried Ivan-san's body out, and hid it somewhere. How about that?"
Although she had borrowed Yuriu's help, Belka summarized her deduction like that.
Still, Ursna shook her head, asserting her innocence.
"It's all a misunderstanding! In the first place, if you say I'm the culprit for everything, what about the incident with Dmitri-san!? I went outside the mansion with everyone else at that time, didn't I!?"
Indeed, at that time, Ursna had gone to the pier to check on the boat.
"After returning to the mansion, there was immediately a commotion about Ojousama..."
"But you excused yourself, saying you were going to get a first-aid kit and towels for Lou-chan who was hurt, right?"
"That is... true, I left the room... but it was only for a minute or two at most! My room isn't that far from Ojousama's room..."
Ursna likely wanted to say that a crime was impossible in such a short time.
"Umm... Dmitri-kun was attacked in a room on the third floor of the West Wing... so making a round trip from Lou's room... urgh."
Realizing that the crime was tight time-wise, Belka choked on her words.
"See, it's impossible! Besides, I have no reason to kill anyone..."
"It wasn't... just that one time, was it?"
"...Eh?"
Hit with a doubt from an unexpected direction, Ursna froze.
The one who spoke quietly was Lilitea.
I immediately understood what she was trying to say.
"It was the timing when we first went outside the mansion. Sakuya-sama, Yuriu-sama, and myself—the three of us went to search for Mr. Herbie... and Belka-sama, Ursna-sama, and Lyle-sama went to the pier."
"At that time..."
"I believe you said this: on the way to the pier, the three of you got separated and scattered for about five minutes."
"Ah—"
Ursna let out a small voice. Almost simultaneously, Belka's expression changed. She seemed to remember that moment.
"Hypothetically speaking, it is conceivable that you pretended to get separated on purpose, rushed back to the mansion, and went to kill Dmitri-san."
"No way! Lilitea-san!"
"It is merely a hypothetical discussion."
Lilitea emphasized this with a calm demeanor.
"That time—!" Belka looked up at the ceiling, impressed. But her face soon clouded over as she voiced a doubt. "But even so, getting from there to the crime scene on the third floor of the West Wing is pretty hard, right? I think we were separated for more than five minutes, sure, but in terms of distance, it's even farther than from Lou's room. Would she make it?"
That question was directed at Lilitea, but she gave me a glance as if passing the baton.
Is she trying to let me take the credit as an assistant? She doesn't need to be so considerate.
"Ah... about that, a route that allows for a shortcut was found."
"Eh!? Sakuya, is that true!?"
I pointed directly upward and explained.
"The roof. The culprit jumped from the roof of the East Wing to the roof of the West Wing."
Then I told everyone the conclusion I had reached after verifying it with Lilitea on the roof earlier.
"The distance to the West Wing side is a little over six meters. It involves danger, but if you jump back and forth, you can shorten the time significantly."
"Ehh... but that's three stories up? I-It's impossible for me—"
"It's impossible for me too, Belka. But speaking only of conditions, it is possible for Ursna-san. Because—"
"Because I used to do the long jump... is that it?"
Understanding what I was about to say, Ursna said it herself.
"Yes. You said yourself that you were an Olympic representative."
"Olympics! Then she's perfect for it!"
"No, Belka. Even so, in the end, I believe Ursna-san could not have made that jump."
"Ehh...? Why?"
I didn't intend to, but it felt like I had pulled the ladder out from under her. Sorry, Belka.
I faced Ursna directly again.
"Ursna-san, perhaps, you can no longer jump like you used to, can you?"
Ursna remained silent for a while at my question.
"Can't... jump?"
But eventually, she raised her head and admitted everything.
"That's right... Not just like I used to, I can't even jump like a normal person now. I wanted to forget it... if I could."
"I'm sorry."
"But Sakuya-san, how did you...?"
"The first time I thought it was strange was when we all chased Lou as she fled underground. You were more worried about Lou than anyone else there. Considering your relationship, that's natural. Yet, when we arrived at the elevator in the entrance hall, you were the last to catch up to us. You, who should have been worried about your master more than anyone. And you, who were a track and field athlete until just a few years ago, despite having retired."
While listening to my story, Ursna gently leaned her back against the wall of the room.
"And then after that. When everyone was jumping across the rocks over the water after descending into the underground cavern, only Ursna-san chose to walk through the water instead of doing that."
The distance between the rocks wasn't that great, yet she didn't try to jump.
"That was the deciding factor."
"You observe very closely, don't you..."
"I forgot to mention, but I am a half-fledged detective myself."
After doing all this deduction-like stuff, what a pitifully late self-introduction.
Detective—Ursna murmured softly, her eyes widening.
"Could it be that a major injury affecting your athletic career... or perhaps psychogenic movement disorder caused by it—the yips—is why you can no longer jump?"
Ursna let out a deep breath.
"It is as you imagine."
Then, she slowly took off her shoes and socks to show us.
"I was actually quite expected to do well as an athlete back in the day. But I was plagued by repeated injuries. I even had surgery several times."
Carved into her exposed Achilles tendon area were painful-looking surgical scars.
"I have to make a comeback to meet everyone's expectations. I have to overcome the injuries. I suppose thinking that strongly was the mistake. Before I knew it, my form collapsed... and I realized that running toward the takeoff board itself... had become terrifying."
I cannot jump. I simply cannot.
Ursna's monologue concluded with those words.
At that stage, Belka had completely lost her words too.
The crime is impossible for Ursna.
She is not the culprit.
"Ugh... Sensei... I missed the mark..."
Belka was visibly depressed because the deduction she presented had missed.
"Crushed again, Belka. Well, I knew it from the start. Anyone could have taken out a vinyl sheet. It's not grounds to suspect Ursna alone. By the way, the one allowed to be hurt right now isn't you. You understand that much, right? Assistant Belka."
Fido was strict even with the drooping Belka.
"Sniff... I-I know! Fido, you meanie!"
Fighting back tears, Belka timidly walked up to Ursna.
"Um... Ursna-san... I'm really sorry!"
"Belka-san, it's fine now. I also have responsibility for keeping quiet about my past in this situation."
Ursna hugged her gently and forgave her.
"So kind... Mamaaa!"
"I am not your Mama, though..."
Good grief.
The air in the place relaxed for a moment at their hug.
In the midst of that, Yuriu voiced a simple question.
"But Shishou, in that case, who is the culprit after all?"
That question pierced deep into the center of my chest.
"That is..."
From around the middle of his deduction, a nasty sensation had begun to swell in my chest.
And as I listened to the story, that sensation gained a definite texture and mass.
"Sakuya-sama... you have been acting strange for a while now. Is your body feeling unwell somewhere?"
"I'm fine."
My assistant doesn't miss even the slightest change in me.
I didn't notice it myself, but it seems it showed on my face.
"I wondered what would happen, but I'm glad Ursna-san's suspicion has been cleared!"
Yuriu was relieved at the peace before her eyes for the time being.
But Chardina spoke spitefully to her.
"Is it really okay to be so calm?"
"What is it? Is there a problem with being calm? Bleh!"
Rarely for her, Yuriu snapped back directly. While deflecting Yuriu, Chardina sneered happily.
"We still don't know who the culprit is, you know?"
"That's true, but surely Shishou will..."
"Do we have enough time to be saying 'surely'?"
"Char...!"
I instinctively tried to interrupt her words. But I didn't make it in time.
"Oh my, Sakuya. Haven't you told Ursna about the time limit yet? Isn't it pitiful not to tell everyone?"
"W...What are you talking about?"
Ursna looked anxiously back and forth between my face and Chardina's.
"Very soon, missiles fired from Char's private submarine will rain down on this island. That's the story."
Enjoying her reaction like candy, Chardina mercilessly revealed the secret.
"Wh... What did you say...? Why would you do such a terrible thing...!"
"But rest assured. If the detective over there, Oitsuki Sakuya, can solve the truth of this series of incidents within the time limit, I've promised to stop the launch."
"No way..."
Ursna instantly realized the danger. Even without being her, after being shown that submarine in reality, one couldn't laugh it off as a bad joke.
"We, we have to run..."
"Right now, there is no such place on this island."
That's right. There are no boats on the island that can move right now.
Ignoring Ursna, who had collapsed to the ground, Chardina Infericous stared straight at me, a smile surfacing as if she were about to bite.
"So, Sakuya. It's about time, but have you figured out who the culprit is?"
Taking that ferocious smile with my whole body, I organized my thoughts in my brain.
"I think I can identify the culprit if the final pieces fall into place."
"Sakuya, is that true!?"
"Yeah. Thanks to the deduction Fido and Belka presented, the fragmented information has come together."
"So, what is that final piece?"
Yuriu pressed closer impatiently.
"To gather it, there's something I have to check."
If it's as I expect, I can solve the case before the missile launch.
But if I'm wrong—
Shaking my head as if to shake off the thought, I proposed to everyone.
"Since it's awkward to keep staring at each other here, why don't we move to the lounge? There are things I still need to talk about."
"I think that would be best as well."
Starting with Lilitea, everyone agreed.
"So, Ursna-san, I'm sorry to ask this after that conversation, but..."
"What is it?"
"Could you go wake up Lou? Everyone has gathered without sleeping after all, and at this point, it's better if that child is with us too."
"You're right! I'll go call her immediately!"
The hardworking Ursna immediately turned on her heel and headed toward Luciolla's room.
□
We headed to the lounge ahead of them and settled in our preferred spots, such as on the sofas or in front of the fireplace.
A little later, Luciolla appeared, her wheelchair pushed by Ursna.
I thought it took time because she was grooming herself, but Luciolla appeared clutching her favorite blanket securely.
"I called out to her from outside and waited, but I had trouble getting her to wake up..."
Ursna said apologetically.
Outside the window, it was gradually getting brighter. Sunrise was near.
The grandfather clock in the lounge pointed to 5:35.
Twenty-five minutes until missile launch.
But that should be enough.
"...Party with everyone... while Lou wasn't here?"
"Eh? No, no. We didn't leave you out or anything—"
Belka hurriedly tried to soothe the just-woken young lady's mood.
I waited for Luciolla to arrive at the table before resuming the conversation.
"I'm debating where to start regarding the complex incidents that occurred in this mansion, but first, there is something I want everyone to know."
"What is it, so formally?"
Katia reacted nervously.
"I was looking around the mansion until just a while ago, but..."
"...You do pretty reckless things."
"It's part of the investigation as a detective. So, Katia-san, please listen calmly. Actually, Lyle-san attempted suicide in his room on the second floor."
"Ehh!?"
This caused a ripple of agitation to spread not just to Katia, but to the others even more than before.
"I discovered him by chance when I visited his room."
"S-Suicide... then does that mean the culprit died!?"
"Ah, sorry. I made you jump to conclusions."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
Lilitea stepped forward at Yuriu's words.
"Lyle-sama managed to survive. Fortunately, the poison did not reach a lethal dose. He is currently resting in the bed in his room."
"He was saved! Thank goodness..."
Yuriu sighed in relief.
In contrast, there was a person who showed the exact opposite reaction.
"That can't be...!"
It was Katia.
She half-rose from the sofa she was sitting on, her eyes wide open.
"Ah..."
Yuriu tilted her head at that suspicious behavior.
"Katia-san, what do you mean by 'that can't be'? Your husband survived, you know? Aren't you happy?"
"Hey... I was just flustered..."
Realizing everyone's gaze was gathering on her, she sat back down as if reconsidering.
Observing her behavior, Lilitea continued her explanation calmly.
"When discovered, Lyle-sama's heart had stopped, but upon performing emergency resuscitation measures, he started breathing again. It was truly a close call. Isn't that right? Sakuya-sama."
"Yeah. At first, I was going to give up and leave the room, but Lilitea stopped me. She said he might still be saved."
"Is that so... But why would Lyle-san try to commit suicide? In the first place, how did Shishou know it was suicide?"
"Ah, that's because this suicide note was left on the table in his room."
I took the memo paper in question out of my pocket.
"Let's see, let's see."
Belka took the suicide note and immediately looked it over.
"Wow, this is definitely a suicide note, no mistake."
"But that's a fake."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"The truth is it was a murder, but someone left a fake suicide note to make it look like suicide. Lyle-san, who started breathing again, told me he didn't write such a thing."
"This is a fake prepared by the culprit... heh."
Belka looked at the paper from the back, seemingly impressed.
It looks the same no matter which side you look at it from, you know.
"After teaching me that, Lyle-san lost consciousness again immediately."
"I believe he will wake up again soon. Once he calms down, it might be good to ask him for his story again. Why he had to be poisoned, and who did it."
"Yeah. The person himself might have an idea of who poisoned him. And the person who did that might possibly be the culprit of the other murders that occurred in this mansion—"
"I-I'm going ahead for a bit!"
Suddenly, Katia stood up and tried to leave the lounge.
"I have to nurse that person!"
What beautiful marital love—how nice it would be if that were true.
"Katia-sama."
Lilitea called out to stop Katia.
"I understand your feelings, but Lyle-sama's condition is already stable. I think it would be better not to act alone right now."
"B-But..."
"If you wish, I shall accompany you."
"None of your business! I can go alone!"
"Katia-san, is there some reason you want to head to Lyle-san alone as soon as possible?"
I blocked the door to the lounge and questioned Katia.
"For example, thinking of finishing off the opponent you failed to kill this time for sure... or something?"
"Are... are you trying to say I tried to kill him!?"
"If you're going to silence him, now is the only time. Besides, you were acting strange earlier too. No matter how flustered you were, making such a shocked expression instantly upon hearing your husband was safe. It was as if you thought it would be bad if Lyle-san stayed alive. Aren't you afraid that the culprit will be revealed as his wife from his own mouth?"
"Wh-What are you saying...! Why would I have to kill my own husband!"
Katia shook her head desperately. But by now, everything looked hollow.
"Is that so? Then let's go visit him right now with everyone and ask directly. He might be awake already."
"W-Wait!"
Katia hurriedly stopped me as I tried to leave the lounge briskly.
"Why are you stopping me? Weren't you worried about Lyle-san's condition?"
"Because... that is!"
Already, the truth was obvious to anyone's eyes from that attitude.
"Could it be that actually, you aren't worried at all?"
"Wh! How rude! What does a brat know about married couples! Our married life is perfectly fine...!"
I deflected Mrs. Katia's abuse and decided to hit her with what I had secretly felt.
"Married life? Are you guys really a married couple?"
This made the air in the entire lounge freeze for a moment.
Everyone looked at me with eyes like they were watching an actor shouting lines not in the script.
"Marriage is all a disguise, and actually you are total strangers... isn't that right?"
"S-Shishou! Not a married couple... wh-wh-what kind of talk is that?"
"It means exactly what I said. In fact, the whole Zavattini family was a fake family."
"Ehh!? Dmitri-kun too... Ivan-san too..."
"Lyle-san too!?"
Yuriu and Belka raised their voices in unison.
"Yeah. In my opinion, they are complete strangers to each other. Saying they are Lou's relatives is probably a lie too. I think they were existence-like agents who came here seeking the same thing."
This was a thought that surfaced triggered by Lyle being killed.
"Agents... Shishou, why do you think that?"
"Points that made me feel that way... there were several inconsistencies from the start. First, the Zavattini family's facial features and ethnicities were too different. And Katia-san's concerning behavior seen here and there."
—To think he would get erased... We never should have come to a place like this...!
—I am worried. R-Rude! We're not strangers!
"All of them suggested they weren't a normal family, but I had overlooked it until now. But the words of Lyle-san on the verge of death became the deciding factor. In a hazy state of consciousness, he said something like this. Once I get the target item, it's goodbye to this island I have no connection or ties to..."
Strictly speaking, that happened on my deathbed, not his, but in terms of words, I'm not lying.
It's information I got by offering my own life. Let me use it effectively.
"No connection or ties... if he really was Lou's relative, those words definitely shouldn't have come out. So I thought they matched their stories and played a pseudo-family. All of them falsified their identities, used disguises, and visited this mansion pretending to be relatives."
"B-But Shishou, why on earth did they do such a thing? It's not like they're filming a movie."
When Yuriu says it, it sounds sarcastic.
"Just as Lyle-san said. He... no, they came to this island to obtain a certain item."
"Ah! Could that be the reason Dmitri-kun was unnaturally going to the West Wing?"
"He was probably searching blindly for that certain item while other people weren't watching. He was trying to get a head start in the midst of the commotion about Herbie-san going missing."
"Head start... was he trying to outwit his comrades?"
"They weren't comrades in the first place. They might have matched stories for the objective, but they weren't a team. That's why Lyle-san was betrayed by Katia-san and poisoned."
"So Sakuya, what exactly is that certain item?"
"Uhh, let's put the certain item aside for a moment..."
I gently deflected Belka's question.
The certain item. That is, of course, the secret medicine in question, Sea-Wraiths.
But if I started talking about the history surrounding that secret medicine from scratch right now, we'd go over the time limit.
"There was a journal with its hiding place written in it. That is the source of the calamity."
"Journal...?"
"Eliseo's journal. Among them, only Lyle-san quickly obtained that, which had important hints to the hiding place of the target item written in it."
"How... how do you know about the journal...!"
Katia was stunned.
As expected, she seems not to know that Lyle killed me and stole the journal.
It was Lilitea who answered Katia's question on my behalf.
"You ask why he knows? Sakuya-sama is a detective, after all. He was not wandering around alone in the middle of the night risking danger meaninglessly. He is always gathering various information in places you do not know of."
It's not a lie. She's even praising me.
But why do my ears hurt slightly?
Are you angry that I went out alone?
Anyway, the moment she reacted to the journal, Katia was confirmed 'black' (guilty).
"Realizing Lyle-san obtained the journal, Katia-san didn't want him to get ahead of her, so she poisoned him."
"I don't know! I tell you I don't know!"
"And in the process of achieving that goal, you also killed your rivals Dmitri-kun and Ivan-san. Am I wrong?"
There was no need to gauge the opponent's reaction anymore. I threw the suspicion at her directly.
That seemed to be quite effective, and Katia finally blurted this out.
"Wrong! I really don't know about those!"
"Those? Then you definitely killed Lyle-san, right?"
"I am innocent...!"
"Then let's go ask Lyle-san himself directly after all. Maybe peel an apple for him."
"Gh... guu...!"
Seeing Katia's complexion, Lilitea and I nodded to each other gently.
That should be enough.
"Please rest assured, Katia-san. The truth is, Lyle-san did not survive. Apples won't pass through his throat anymore."
"...Ha?"
Katia showed an expression as if her soul had been sucked out for a moment.
"Unfortunately, saying he survived was Lilitea's bluff."
Yes. He is already dead.
At the time of discovery, without room for doubt, without room for resuscitation, he was dead.
"Eh? Eh? Shishou, my head is getting confused, so in the end, Lyle-san is...?"
Yuriu spun her eyes.
"He didn't make it. The poison had reached a lethal dose."
Back then, Lilitea stopped me as I tried to leave Lyle's room and proposed this.
—Let us resurrect this person.
That didn't mean saving Lyle's life.
It meant pretending to succeed in Lyle's resuscitation to smoke out the culprit.
Honestly, it was a gamble whether it would work.
But since there was a strong scent of impulsive crime regarding Lyle's murder, I thought a rudimentary trap like 'unexpectedly failed to kill him' might shake the culprit's mind, so I decided to ride on my assistant's proposal.
As a result, the culprit took the bait spectacularly.
"Lyle-san denied the suicide note to me... and passed away just like that."
Here, I mixed in one small bluff again.
If I don't do that, the reason I immediately concluded the suicide note was fake disappears.
But doing something like this back door method feels exactly like something my old man would do, so I feel reluctant... Thinking that, I looked at Lilitea, and for some reason, she was looking at me with satisfaction.
Stop it. Stop that 'You've grown up' face.
"So we can't ask for direct testimony. Though seeing the slip-up Katia-san just made, that doesn't seem necessary anymore."
Katia's eyebrows twitched, trembling with anger.
"Ku... You brat! With a sly trick... making a fool of me...!"
Frankly speaking, she's quite scary.
"Good grief. To think you'd really execute such a clumsy bluff."
Fido sighed in amazement.
"Eh? Sensei, you knew!?"
"Sorry, Belka. When I whispered to him earlier, I told only Fido the truth."
"Unfair!"
Though amazed, he probably thought it wasn't a bad plan. Fido didn't interject and watched quietly, knowing it from the start.
I turned back to face Katia, who was glaring at us again.
"I don't know! It's all the Siren's fault!"
"Katia-san, weren't you planning to betray the other guys from the start and came here hiding poison? If you want, we can go check your luggage right now. Do you mind?"
"Ugh...! Such a thing..."
"Along with the poison, that journal you stole might come out too," Fido added his support.
"Y... You bastards! You...! Just a miso-soup-stinking Oriental brat and a damn mutt!"
Suddenly, her language changed.
It seemed we hit a really sore spot. She stood up from the sofa and backed away toward the wall inch by inch.
"Katia-san, no... is that a fake code name, and your real name is something else?"
"Shut up!"
The enraged Katia pulled a small pistol out of her skirt pocket.
"You were hiding something like that! Saying it while pointing a pistol has no persuasive power! Like I'd believe you! Even with Dmitri-kun, didn't you pretend to be the first discoverer and kill him yourself?"
Belka responded bravely with words.
Standing next to Belka, I also spoke to Katia.
"Pistol... you didn't use it when you killed Dmitri-kun or Ivan-san, right? I see, the gunshot would reveal the crime, so it means you only use it when you're really cornered?"
"Wrong! I really only did kill Lyle!"
"I believe you. You didn't do it."
"Right! Katia-san committed crimes one after another... Heh? Wait, Sakuya! Why—!?"
Having the ladder pulled out from under her again, Belka was flustered. I'm sorry.
"Earlier Sakuya suspected her too—!"
"Sorry. At that time, I dared to forcefully pursue other crimes to make her admit to Lyle's murder. Katia-san didn't kill Dmitri-kun or Ivan-san. She just poisoned Lyle-san."
"What does that mean?"
"Lyle's murder and the others are separate incidents. Katia-san cannot kill Dmitri-kun or Ivan-san."
"I-Is that so, Sensei?"
Belka sought help from Fido, but Fido remained silent.
"Initially, I also thought the person who killed Lyle was the true culprit of all the incidents. But if Lyle's murder is Katia-san's crime, I can't say that anymore."
"What do you mean...?"
"Alibi. First, regarding Ivan-san's murder. At the time of the crime, she was in this lounge with us the whole time."
"That is... true."
"Regarding Dmitri-kun, look, remember the roof story."
"You mean the culprit jumped from the East Wing to the West Wing?"
"Right. But that is impossible for Katia-san."
"Impossible? She might be hiding tremendous athletic ability."
"No, it's not a matter of athletic ability. Because nothing was left. If she jumped in that environment on the roof, traces that a normal human would definitely leave were not there."
"Traces?"
"Footprints. The takeoff point and landing point are fields... in other words, soil is laid there. But there were no human footprints there."
"Didn't she smooth out the soil later to erase the footprints?"
"From East Wing to West Wing, at the landing spot, maybe she could do that. But what about the way back?"
"Way back... Ah!"
"When jumping from the West Wing to the East Wing, takeoff traces should definitely remain as footprints on the West Wing's soil. But they weren't left. Therefore, the crime is impossible for Katia-san."
At the same time as I asserted this, Katia slumped down by the wall.
"Then... hey Sakuya, who on earth did the first two incidents? Who jumped the roofs without leaving footprints! You're not going to say it was really a winged Siren..."
"There are no Sirens. The one who jumped... was you, right?"
I held back Belka, who was pressing closer, and walked up to her—the one who had been watching the course of events.
"Saku?"
She—Luciolla turned innocent eyes toward me.
"Eh...? W-Wait a minute, Shishou. Jumped... you mean Lou-chan!? Between the East Wing and West Wing!? That's impossible no matter what!"
"That's right, Sakuya. Sure, it seems Lou got prosthetics through surgery and became able to walk, but surely..."
Yuriu and Belka objected reflexively.
Trying to calm my heart, I reached out to Luciolla.
"Are you saying it's impossible for her who doesn't have her own legs?"
And then I gently grabbed the blanket covering her body.
"Lou, could you lend me that blanket for a moment?"
"...No."
"I want you to show me again what's hiding under there. Please... Lou."
".........Saku."
I gently pulled the blanket from Luciolla's hands.
In that instant, Luciolla's small body left the wheelchair and leaped greatly like a wild hare.
The blanket danced in the air like a celestial maiden's raiment, blocking my vision for a moment.
"Lou!"
It has already been proven that Luciolla can stand up from the wheelchair. But her leap at that moment was a movement almost impossible with normal prosthetics.
"Stop! Lou!"
When the blanket fell to the floor, Luciolla had already taken Katia's back.
She was pressing a small folding knife against her opponent's neck.
"Hii...!"
Katia hadn't fully understood what was happening to her yet.
"Lu... Lou! Those legs... !?"
Belka's voice, close to a scream, echoed in the lounge.
Luciolla's legs, firmly planted on the floor, were neither Sirenomelia nor the prosthetics I saw yesterday—they were completely different prosthetics.
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