Immortal Detective, Reidou Momiji volume 4 chapter 4
Chapter 4: You Are Already Dead
December 21st, 10:00 AM — Tennai Haruma
Amidst the tense, suffocating air, the ticking of the clock echoed loudly.
It was the exact same sound from last night, when Reidou had fallen asleep and left me entirely alone with Tsubaki-san... That was the thought that crossed my mind.
Reidou and I had immediately returned to our room without eating breakfast.
Sitting on the sofa, my hands clasped together, I was simply utterly stunned.
Tsubaki-san was dead... There was absolutely no way I could easily process a reality like that.
She had been spending time with us up until just last night.
Reidou was completely despondent, slumped on the tatami mats in the bedroom. Her head was hung low so I couldn't see her face, but she was crying, letting out quiet, muffled sobs.
Sitting directly across from me on the sofa, Mito was shedding massive tears and aggressively sniffling.
"Guh... Ugh... Dammit..."
...When we discovered Tsubaki-san floating in the aquarium, Mito had been there too.
Naturally, he had seen her dead face as well.
Unable to bear being alone, he had followed us back to our room.
Mito seemed to have fallen for Tsubaki-san, after all... Even though they had only just met yesterday, they had grown reasonably close. The shock must have been massive for him.
"This is my fault..."
The words slipped out of me in a hoarse, tiny whisper.
Last night, I hadn't escorted the dead-drunk Tsubaki-san back to her room. I let her go all by herself.
I had no idea why Tsubaki-san had ended up dead inside that aquarium, nor did I know the circumstances behind it.
But... if I had properly walked her back to her room... things might not have turned out this way.
"...Son of a bitch!"
Just when I thought he had cried it all out, Mito slammed his fist down onto the table with all his might. The loud BANG made both Reidou and me flinch violently.
"Listen here, Tennai! There ain't no way in hell we're letting the piece of shit who pulled this half-assed stunt get away with it!"
"...I mean, you're right, but..."
"If I don't beat 'em to a pulp and make 'em pay, I'll never be able to show my face to Tsubaki-san again!"
Tears still brimming in his eyes, Mito fiercely slammed his fist into his own palm.
Whether we were actually going to beat anyone or not, we did need to uncover the truth.
...Mito's words assumed that Tsubaki-san had been murdered by someone's hand, though at this stage, it was still impossible to say for sure. However, if there really was a culprit, my inability to forgive them was exactly the same as his.
I absolutely had to find out the truth and clear Tsubaki-san's regrets.
...But...
I cast a brief glance toward Reidou.
Reidou had lost precious people in the past, and she herself had been hurt time and time again. And now, a friend of hers had died right in front of her eyes once more.
...Previously, when Reidou had lost Elaine and Mearin, she had thrown herself off the school building.
My heart felt like it was going to burst from the sheer anxiety of wondering if Reidou's mind had broken, combined with the crushing guilt that I was the reason Tsubaki-san had died.
"...I too..."
Perhaps having heard our conversation, Reidou, still sitting on the tatami, spoke up.
Then, lifting her head, she turned her bright red eyes toward Mito and me.
"I too... if there is a culprit who murdered Tsubaki-san... I will absolutely never forgive them."
"Reidou..."
Despite my worries, Reidou was rousing herself to fight.
My fear that her spirit would plummet and she would close herself off entirely... had that simply been a baseless worry?
Reidou tightly clenched her fists.
"I'm going to... beat them to a pulp."
"O-Oooh!"
Hearing her resolve, Mito leapt to his feet and approached Reidou with his arms spread wide.
"Now you're talkin'! That's the spirit, Ane-san!*"
(T/N: "Ane-san" is a respectful Yakuza term for a boss's wife or a female superior, meaning "Boss Lady" or simply "Boss".)
...Wait, Ane-san? Taking advantage of the chaos to call her something like that.
Regardless, hearing Reidou actually say she was going to punch someone was a surprise.
Did that mean she had grown that much stronger...?
Just as I had grown through the various incidents we faced, Reidou was acquiring the strength to keep moving forward.
Standing up, Reidou continued her declaration to Mito and me.
"Furthermore, it is not your fault that Tsubaki-san passed away, Haruma-kun. If there is a culprit, the blame lies entirely with them."
Standing perfectly straight, she looked at me with a dignified, unwavering expression.
"To prove that... let us do this."
The moment I heard Reidou's words, a powerful sensation swelled through my entire body, filling me with a sudden surge of courage.
She was right... We didn't know anything yet. Beating myself up could wait until we brought the entire truth to light.
Following their lead, I stood up as well and gave a firm nod.
"You're right. Understood."
I would accept Reidou's resolve. I needed to brace myself and face this head-on with everything I had.
"This case... we're going to uncover the truth ourselves."
...The aquarium where we discovered the body was a massive structure that vertically connected the floors of this hotel.
Tsubaki-san had been floating inside it. Was her cause of death drowning? What floor did she fall into the tank from? Everything was still a complete mystery.
Reidou, Mito, and I left our room and headed down to the hotel lobby.
We figured the hotel staff must have reported it, and the police would already be here.
Just as expected, a massive swarm of police officers had gathered at the front desk.
Were they locking down the exits, maybe?
"Let's try asking the police for information. We don't know a single thing right now," I said.
Mito crossed his arms and tilted his thick neck.
"Hey, you really think the cops are gonna just hand over info to us?"
"Ugh..."
He hit right on a sore spot, making me groan involuntarily.
He was right... If Yunomiya was here, she could easily steer things so we'd be allowed to cooperate with the investigation, but she didn't seem to be at the scene today.
Reidou scanned the faces of the gathered police officers.
"This is outside Yunomiya-san's jurisdiction, I suppose. Regardless, let us try asking."
Investigations outside your assigned area leave you out of the loop... I felt like I heard that kind of thing a lot. Not that I understood the intricate details of police politics.
Either way, our only option was to go for broke and try talking to them. We were Tsubaki-san's companions; the police should want to hear our side of the story anyway.
Watching the officers bustling around the lobby, I noticed a woman giving out orders. She looked to be in her thirties, wearing a suit and an armband.
She gave off the impression of being higher-ranked, so I decided to approach her.
"Um, excuse me..."
When I called out, the woman responded with a soft, gentle smile.
"Oh my, what is it~?"
She was a mild-mannered woman with lightly curled, fluffy hair.
It was a completely baseless assumption, but she looked like the type who drank a lot of tea.
We had only exchanged a single sentence, but I could already feel an aura of profound kindness radiating from her responses alone.
"Well, my name is Tennai Haruma. I've been staying here since yesterday..."
For starters, I introduced myself so she would understand I wasn't anyone suspicious.
"Oh dear, you were a guest here~? What a terrible thing to have to go through~"
The woman pulled a police badge from her coat and, keeping her warm smile, flipped it open for us to see.
"I'm Kon Chiyuki. It's a pleasure to meet you~♪"
According to the badge, Chiyuki-san was an Assistant Inspector.
As I thought, she was the highest-ranking officer currently on the scene.
"Umm, so anyway~... did you need something from me~? Is there something troubling you~?"
Stowing her badge away, Chiyuki-san spoke while resting a hand gently against her cheek. It was a very refined gesture.
Reidou stepped forward, her expression far more serious than usual.
"We are friends of Aika Tsubaki-san. We traveled to this hotel together."
"Oh my, oh my, the victim's... Oh dear, I don't even know what to say~"
Dropping the corners of her eyebrows, Chiyuki-san looked at the faces of all three of us. She genuinely seemed to be mourning the fact that we had lost a friend.
"We want to uncover the reason why Tsubaki-san died. Would you be willing to share what you know with us?"
As Reidou pressed the issue, Chiyuki-san took a step back in contrast.
"Hmm~, I'm afraid I can't quite do that~..."
As expected, they wouldn't normally hand over information to ordinary civilians...
Even so, feeling I had to try, I followed up after Reidou.
"...Did Tsubaki-san die in an accident? Or... was she murdered by someone?"
"I'm really sorry, but I absolutely cannot share information pertaining to an active investigation~... I apologize~. But I completely understand how you feel~. If we need your cooperation, we'll be sure to ask, so please leave it to us for now, okay~?"
Chiyuki-san's words carried a gentle, admonishing tone.
She hadn't said anything wrong; it was a perfectly sensible, mature response.
I supposed we couldn't push it any further than this...
As I gritted my teeth in frustration, Mito heavily clapped a hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, what're we gonna do, Tennai?"
"...We don't have a choice. I'm going to contact Yunomiya-san and explain the situation."
I pulled my smartphone from my pocket and searched for Yunomiya's name in my contacts.
"Yunomiya?"
—Mito had seen Yunomiya during the school festival, but he probably didn't know her name. Stepping in for me as I operated my phone, Reidou explained.
"She is an acquaintance of ours who is a detective. She places a great deal of trust in us. If Haruma-kun asks, she may be willing to cooperate."
Well... it felt weird saying it myself, but Yunomiya was apparently a 'fan' of mine... or something.
So the chances of getting some kind of backing from her were pretty high.
All I had to do was tap the screen to initiate the call. Just as I reached that point, Chiyuki-san, who had been listening to our exchange, suddenly grabbed my arm.
"...Yunomiya? Do you mean... Yunomiya Hiro-san?"
The fluffy, laid-back atmosphere Chiyuki-san had carried until just a moment ago vanished instantly, replaced by a distinctly cold tone.
"Yes, but..."
When I confirmed it, Chiyuki-san shook her head with dramatic exaggeration.
"Don't do it, don't do it~. That woman is terrible at socializing~. Even if you call her, there's no telling if she'll actually pick up~..."
"...?"
I had no idea why she was suddenly saying this, but Chiyuki-san just kept talking.
"Yunomiya Hiro, twenty-seven years old, single. She's serious and handles her work flawlessly, but her personality is incredibly strict, giving her this unapproachable aura—a real ice queen of a detective..."
"U-Umm..."
I tried to interject several times after that, but Chiyuki-san simply wouldn't stop.
"She has the beauty of an actress and is overwhelmingly popular with men, plus she actually has a track record of correcting corruption within the force, so even the women highly respect her. But despite all that, no one actually knows what kind of person is her type!"
"E-Excuse me?"
"She's not a bad person, by any means, but there's a wall she just won't let anyone step past... She's a very mysterious woman!"
"Heeeey."
"But that's exactly what makes her so great...! Yunomiya-san!"
"Are you still going?"
"Above all else, it's her visuals! Not only is she jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but she's so incredibly youthful! You could call her a college student—no, a high schooler—and people would believe you! Her skin is flawless, and she has the slender, model-like figure that looks amazing in a suit! She's the absolute ideal female detective!"
No matter what I tried to say, Chiyuki-san completely ignored me, continuing her passionate dissertation on Yunomiya.
It was true that she had been mistaken for a high school student at the cultural festival, so I couldn't entirely disagree with what Chiyuki-san was saying...
But hearing her described as having a 'strict personality' and 'mysterious tastes' made it clear that her demeanor at work was exactly the vibe she gave off when I first met her.
"H-Hey, ain't this lady kinda bad news?"
"............"
Mito was completely put off, and Reidou was making a thoroughly skeptical face.
For whatever reason, Reidou harbored a strange sense of hostility toward Yunomiya, after all.
Completely unresponsive to our calls, Chiyuki-san's eyes sparkled brilliantly as she continued to passionately narrate Yunomiya's greatness.
"☆☆☆☆※※※※※♡♡♡♡"
...Were people in the police force really all like this?
—Chiyuki-san's Yunomiya monologue continued for quite a while after that... It was several minutes before she finally settled down.
"Pant, pant... I'm so sorry~. I just heard Yunomiya-san's name out of nowhere, and~..."
Out of breath, she apologized to us while wiping away the sweat trailing down her chin.
It seemed she was finally in a state where we could have a normal conversation again.
All we tried to do was call Yunomiya, though.
"U-Umm... Are you close with Yunomiya-san, Chiyuki-san?"
When I asked, she took deep, heaving breaths before reaching a hand inside her coat.
She pulled out a pass case and held the front of it up for me to see. It was the exact same posture as a samurai flashing a crest of authority.
The contents of the pass case looked like some kind of membership card, but...
"I am Member Number 125 of the Yunomiya Hiro Fan Club~."
...The Yunomiya Hiro Fan Club!?
While I was utterly struck dumb by the shock, Mito, who had no idea who Yunomiya even was, reacted with carefree ease.
"Oh yeah? She's got a fan club? That's pretty sick."
"Hehehe, she certainly does~. Police officers all across the country proudly call themselves her fans in secret~♪"
Chiyuki-san spoke while gazing enchantingly at her membership card.
F-Fans across the entire country...? I never would have imagined Yunomiya was that big of a deal. The image of her getting a nosebleed right in front of me was just way too strong.
"...Anyway. If you are a fan, Chiyuki-san, then things might go much faster. Let's contact Yunomiya-san."
Reidou urged me to make the call with a totally deadpan, serious expression.
I had gotten completely swept up in Chiyuki-san's pace, but Reidou wasn't exactly in the state of mind to tag along with such lighthearted banter.
Nodding back, I tapped Yunomiya's name in my smartphone's contacts and placed the call.
Watching me, Chiyuki-san trembled, muttering, "A-Are you really calling her~!?", but I decided to ignore her for now.
Bringing the phone to my ear, the dial tone began to ring.
Ring— "T-T-Tennai-kyun!?"
That was way too fast...
She had answered the phone in a half-ring, before it even finished the first tone. I could vividly picture her flustered face, panting heavily, just from her squeaky voice.
Well, I was getting used to it by now. Paying it no mind, I cut straight to the chase.
"I apologize for the sudden call, but there's something I urgently need your advice on..."
"Leave it to me! I'll do anything in my power to help you!"
Well, it certainly helped that things moved quickly.
I felt a little guilty, like I was exploiting Yunomiya's trust in me, but she sounded so happy about it...
If the time ever came when I could repay the favor, I absolutely had to give it my all.
I explained that my friend Tsubaki-san had died at the hotel we were staying at, and that I wanted to investigate the matter.
"...I see, your friend... Is Reidou-san alright?"
Yunomiya's tone shifted to a serious one. It made me a little happy that her first instinct was to worry about Reidou.
"I was worried about her too, but right now it seems she's prioritizing uncovering the truth over grieving."
"If that's the case, I understand. Could you put Chiyuki-san on the phone?"
Prompted by her request, I held my smartphone out toward Chiyuki-san.
"Yunomiya-san says she wants to speak with you, Chiyuki-san."
"Eh... Eeeeeh!? With me!?"
Panicking, Chiyuki-san almost dropped my phone as she snatched it from my hand.
Not wanting to keep her idol waiting, she immediately pressed it against her ear.
"Y-Yes! This is Chiyuki Kon, yes! Thank you for your hard work! No, no, not at all...! That's far too kind! If that is what you wish, Yunomiya-san, then as for me... yes! Understood! Of course!"
Chiyuki-san's voice pitched an octave higher than when she was talking to us, and she bowed frantically to the empty air.
...Yunomiya was almost certainly younger than her, but the level of subservience was incredible.
Mentally, it was the exact dynamic of a hardcore fan talking to their favorite idol on the phone...
Finishing the conversation, Chiyuki-san returned the smartphone to me with a dazed, flushed expression.
The call switched back to Yunomiya and me.
"Tennai-kyun, you're amazing. I talked to Chiyuki-san and she readily agreed."
"That wasn't my doing, it was entirely thanks to you, Yunomiya-san..."
"??? Anyway, I'm sure she'll be a big help."
It seemed she hadn't realized that Chiyuki-san was a member of her fan club.
"But make sure you don't push yourselves too hard, okay? Especially Reidou-san. I think it would be best if you kept a close eye on her."
Just like earlier, Yunomiya was prioritizing her concern for Reidou.
It was true; precisely because Reidou was so fired up to uncover the truth, there was a risk she would push herself too far... Just as Yunomiya said, I needed to watch over her properly.
"Understood. Thank you for everything."
"Things are a bit chaotic on this end today, so... I'll try to head over there myself by tomorrow. Catch you later."
Saying that, Yunomiya hung up the phone.
Things were chaotic... Did that mean there had been an incident on her end too?
Regardless, the end result was that we had secured the cooperation of the police.
Moreover, the fact that Yunomiya was coming to this hotel was incredibly reassuring. This made things dramatically easier for us.
"Hehehe~, working together with a detective... this is a first for me~♪"
Doing a complete 180 from her previous attitude, Chiyuki-san seemed to have placed her full trust in us.
She had introduced me as a detective, huh...
Without missing a beat, Reidou spoke up.
"...Well then, could you tell us the details of the incident?"
Deciding it would be best to discuss the details while moving to the scene, Reidou, Mito, and I got into the elevator with Chiyuki-san.
As we traveled from the first floor to the upper levels, Chiyuki-san explained Tsubaki-san's situation.
"You kids might have already seen it, but... the victim, Tsubaki Aika-san, was discovered floating in the hotel's aquarium this morning~. The cause of death was asphyxiation. In other words, she drowned in the tank~."
Placing a finger against her chin, Reidou asked a question.
"Does that mean Tsubaki-san was pushed into the tank?"
"We don't know yet if someone intentionally dropped her in, or if she fell in by accident~."
"............"
Reidou and I crossed our arms, sinking into thought.
...We were thinking about her ability.
Tsubaki-san possessed an ability that kept anything harmful away from her—to put it simply, a barrier.
If a car was about to hit her, it would suddenly stop; if someone approached her with hostile intent, her ability would prevent them from getting near.
In short, it was impossible to attack her.
"...Were there any external injuries on Tsubaki-san's body?"
As Reidou piled on the questions, clearly thinking the exact same thing I was, Chiyuki-san answered while lightly tapping her cheek.
"It doesn't seem like there was anything in particular~. Doesn't look like she was beaten and then thrown in, or anything like that~."
Considering her ability, the lack of external injuries wasn't unnatural... but if that was the case, wouldn't it be incredibly difficult to push Tsubaki-san into the aquarium?
For instance, physically pushing her down into the water, or knocking her out first to drop her in—those actions should be impossible.
If that was true, the conclusion that she accidentally fell into the tank was the most natural, but...
—Led by Chiyuki-san, we arrived on the fourteenth floor.
Right next to the elevator was a completely unadorned, rugged metal door.
The words "Authorized Personnel Only" were posted on the front.
A plaque affixed above the door read, "Aquarium Inspection Room."
"Apparently, they manage the hotel's suuuper-long aquarium from this room~," Chiyuki-san explained, nodding to the police officer stationed beside the door before opening it.
Beyond the metal door lay a hallway. After walking for a bit, we emerged into a wide space surrounded by gray concrete.
"Whoa, so this is what the top of the tank looks like."
Seeing the inside of the room, Mito reacted like an excited child.
The room was dim. However, light spilled from a massive, gaping circular hole in the center—easily twenty meters in diameter—casting a shimmering glow across the interior.
Water pooled inside the hole, the surface rippling slightly... This was the hotel's famous centerpiece, the aquarium that pierced through the floors. Which meant this was the very top of it.
Peering into the water, I could see fish swimming around.
So this was where they fed the fish, or climbed inside to do maintenance.
A sturdy fence to prevent falls was firmly installed around the perimeter of the hole. The floor was made of metal grating, presumably to keep water from pooling.
In the corner of the room sat equipment for cleaning and maintaining the tank, along with some sort of box. It probably held fish food or something similar.
"It doesn't look like a place where someone could accidentally fall..." Reidou remarked, tracing a hand along the fence surrounding the hole.
The fence came up to roughly my chest; even if you slipped and fell, you wouldn't tumble into the hole.
It was incredibly sturdy, with no broken sections whatsoever.
There was a ladder to climb down into the hole, but there was absolutely no reason for her to go out of her way to climb it.
Chiyuki-san peered over the fence into the tank, gazing at her own face reflected on the water's surface.
"We're also thinking the possibility of an accident is low~. And since there's no suicide note, it's hard to imagine she took her own life, either~. We're trying to narrow the focus under the assumption that someone pushed her into the tank, but~..."
Unless someone literally picked Tsubaki-san up and hoisted her over, it was hard to imagine her falling into the water.
Therefore, it wasn't an accidental death, but a homicide. That was the logical conclusion, however...
Chiyuki-san didn't know about Tsubaki-san's ability.
As long as she had that ability, dropping Tsubaki-san into the water wasn't going to be easy... Or rather, it was so difficult I couldn't even think of a method right off the bat.
You couldn't forcibly grab her. You couldn't strike her and knock her unconscious. You couldn't use drugs to put her to sleep. You shouldn't even be able to touch her to pick her up.
If it wasn't an accident, and murder was impossible, then that meant Tsubaki-san threw herself into the water of her own volition and drowned... In other words, suicide was the only option. Yet, as Chiyuki-san just said, there was no suicide note.
—How exactly was Tsubaki-san, possessing an invincible ability, murdered?
That was the mystery we had to solve this time.
"Was there any weird stuff dropped around here or somethin'?"
As Mito closely scrutinized the room from corner to corner, Chiyuki-san shook her head.
"Doesn't seem like we found anything in particular~. We asked the hotel employees too, but aside from the victim being inside the tank, apparently there was nothing suspicious~."
Connected to the tank where Tsubaki-san died, this "Aquarium Inspection Room" could very well be called the scene of the crime. Yet in this room, there was nothing suspicious, and no physical evidence... Huh.
"...Well then,"
Just as Reidou was about to say something...
Rumble-rumble-grooooowl... A sound like a raging storm tearing through and exploding echoed through the sterile Aquarium Inspection Room.
Mito, Chiyuki-san, and even the police officers investigating the room all turned toward the source of the noise... Reidou.
"Nngh..."
Her face burning beet red, Reidou hung her head, desperately stifling a scream of embarrassment.
"Come to think of it, we haven't eaten breakfast yet..."
Reidou had been completely tense with the effort of searching for the truth, but regardless, she still got hungry.
We left the Aquarium Inspection Room to get some food and moved to the dining hall.
The four of us—myself, Reidou, Mito, and Chiyuki-san—sat down at a table.
"I am very sorry..."
"Well, ya can't fight on an empty stomach! Don't sweat it, Ane-san!"
Mito laughed boisterously, waving off Reidou's apologies.
...I felt a little relieved to see Reidou acting somewhat like her usual self again.
As Mito said, you can't deduce anything on an empty stomach... Let's eat while we still can.
Scanning the area, I saw a scattering of other hotel guests eating as well.
Since the buffet was over, they were ordering light meals from the waitresses.
"Even though there was an incident, everyone is just staying here like normal, huh."
When I said that while opening the menu, Chiyuki-san answered.
"Actually~, we asked the hotel to keep all the guests from leaving~. Even if they try to check out, we've told the staff to stop them~."
Come to think of it, when we went to the lobby earlier, it did look like they had locked down the entrances. I was surprised they were actually preventing the guests from leaving.
"That's... quite a bold move."
I'd seen it in novels and dramas, where an incident happens at a commercial facility and they don't let the guests who were on the scene go home... but trapping every single guest staying in a massive hotel like this was a pretty large-scale operation.
"Like I mentioned earlier, we judged the possibility of homicide to be high~. We did it so the culprit wouldn't escape~."
She spoke in her usual drawn-out, relaxed tone, but her words carried a fierce determination to catch the culprit. Chiyuki-san might actually be a surprisingly passionate person.
...Just as Chiyuki-san finished answering my question, the mechanical voice of a woman drifted over from somewhere.
"Is there a possibility she chose suicide?"
We all turned toward the voice at once.
Standing there was a highly distinctive woman wearing a black dress with white lace, and a sticker of an 'X' mark placed over her mouth... Showatari Tsubasa-san.
She was the person who had told our fortunes in the hotel lobby yesterday.
"Good morning, Showatari-san."
"Good day, Tennai-kun."
As Showatari-san and I exchanged greetings, Chiyuki-san stared intently at the sticker over her mouth.
"...Umm, and you are~?"
Her voice dropped a register, giving off a distinct air of suspicion.
Well, considering how eccentric she looked, it probably couldn't be helped that she found her suspicious.
"Showatari Tsubasa. I have been staying at this hotel since the day before yesterday."
After introducing herself to Chiyuki-san, Showatari-san bowed her head toward Reidou and me.
"The woman who passed away was your companion, was she not? Please accept my deepest condolences."
"O-Oh, thank you."
While I was still shaken by the sudden condolences, Reidou spoke up to Showatari-san.
"But Showatari-san, Tsubaki-san was..."
She was likely going to say it wasn't suicide. However, Chiyuki-san held her palm out toward Reidou, stopping her.
"That is classified information, so we can't discuss the details. I'm sorry~."
Showatari-san raised her bowed head.
"If I offended you, I apologize. I simply overheard your conversation and thought it best to eliminate the possibility."
So she had been listening to us... We might have spoken a bit too freely about the case in a public space. I'd have to be more careful.
Our opinion remained unchanged; under the current circumstances, the theory of homicide was still the most plausible.
"By the way... what floor is your room on, Tennai-kun?"
Suddenly, Showatari-san's mechanical voice called my name. I answered immediately.
"The fourth floor, but..."
I answered, but then I wondered... hadn't I avoided answering this question yesterday too?
Ignoring my internal questioning, Showatari-san continued broadcasting from her smartphone.
"And what about your deceased friend's room?"
"I believe it was the thirteenth floor."
"I see."
Tsubaki-san had apparently managed to snag a nice room that happened to be vacant, so she was staying on one of the upper floors.
"The hell? What're ya gonna do with that info?"
When Mito eyed her suspiciously, Showatari-san replied via her mechanical voice.
"No reason. Well then, I shall return to my room. I think I will get some sleep."
...Just what was the intent behind those questions?
Leaving us thoroughly confused, Showatari-san exited the dining hall.
Once Showatari-san was completely out of sight, Chiyuki-san leaned in, adopting a whispering pose, and spoke in hushed tones.
"Man, she seemed incredibly shady~."
...Well, I couldn't exactly deny that. That little Q&A session just now was, frankly, incredibly suspicious.
Though that didn't necessarily mean Showatari-san was the culprit...
"Thank you for the meal."
Pressing her hands together, Reidou bowed her head to her empty dishes.
It seemed she had completely polished off her food during our exchange with Showatari-san. Her appetite was as impressive as always.
Glancing over at Chiyuki-san, I noticed she had barely touched the meal sitting in front of her.
"Huh, are you not going to eat, Chiyuki-san?"
When I asked, Chiyuki-san cupped both her cheeks and spoke with visible embarrassment.
"Well, you said Yunomiya-san is coming, right~? I'm so nervous I can't even get the food down my throat... Whatever will I do if I actually get to talk to her...?"
So she wasn't eating just because of the anxiety that her idol was coming to the hotel?
I really wished she'd pull herself together a bit more, but then again, we were the ones who used the fact that she was Yunomiya's fan to our advantage...
Mito and I finished our meals as well, and with our stomachs full, Reidou stood up.
"Now then, let us resume our investigation of the incident."
Alright, let's go... Or so I thought.
"...But before that."
Reidou swiftly devoured the entire meal Chiyuki-san had left untouched.
The four of us—myself, Reidou, Mito, and Chiyuki-san—left the dining hall and moved to the hotel lobby.
There was a floor plan of the building set up in the lobby, and Reidou touched it with her finger.
"Ahem. Regarding what I was attempting to say earlier..."
Reidou gave a small cough. Right, she had been about to say something when her stomach growled.
"Assuming this incident is a homicide... it seems no decisive evidence was found in the aquarium room, but wouldn't we be able to identify the culprit if we checked the security cameras?"
Hearing this, Mito clenched his fists and trembled with excitement.
"Kuhhh, just what I'd expect from ya, Ane-san!"
"R-Right............"
Reidou made a highly complicated expression.
Well yeah, normally, being called "Ane-san" by a former Yakuza would put anyone in an awkward spot.
Anyway, Reidou's point was perfectly valid.
A facility this large would surely have a massive number of security cameras. If we checked the footage from last night, we might be able to figure out who dropped Tsubaki-san into the tank, when they did it, and how.
Ignoring Mito, Chiyuki-san answered Reidou.
"That's true~... I thought the same thing, but we've run into a bit of a problem~."
"A problem?"
Reidou tilted her head in question. Chiyuki-san started rummaging through her bag.
"I made a copy of this, so you can have it~. Take a look~."
Chiyuki-san pulled a folded piece of paper from her coat and handed it to Reidou.
Unfolding it, it was a large B2-sized sheet completely covered in diagrams.
I peeked at it from the side.
"The hotel's floor plan...!"
Since it covered fourteen floors, it was packed quite densely. However, it seemed most of the floors shared the same basic layout.
Chiyuki-san pointed a finger at the unfolded paper.
"We checked where all the security cameras are installed in this hotel, and I marked them on that map~."
Scattered across the floor plan were hand-drawn triangular pyramids. These seemed to represent the security cameras.
Looking at it, Mito muttered.
"...Ain't there kinda few of 'em?"
"Right~!? Apparently it's the manager's policy or something, but anyway, there are barely any eyes watching the place~!"
It seemed the manager was particular about providing a relaxing atmosphere or whatever, so they had only installed the absolute bare minimum number of cameras.
Even the hallways lined with guest rooms had very few cameras, leaving plenty of blind spots.
"So the door leading to the aquarium room isn't caught on camera, either... Which means we can't identify the culprit, nor can we tell when Tsubaki-san went to the 'Aquarium Inspection Room.'"
At Reidou's words, I nodded in agreement.
"This is a real problem..."
No evidence was found at the Aquarium Inspection Room, the actual scene of the crime, and the security cameras were hopelessly inadequate.
As of right now, we hadn't obtained a single piece of solid information leading to the culprit.
Now then, what should we do... I thought for a while, but couldn't come up with a decisive method.
"...Let's try to retrace Tsubaki-san's actions from the moment she left our room last night, as far as we can."
I made the suggestion.
We would mostly have to rely on stringing together footage from the scattered cameras and asking around. Right now, doing the legwork was our only option.
"Oh my, were you kids together with Tsubaki Aika-san until late last night~?"
Come to think of it, we hadn't told Chiyuki-san about that yet.
It would be best to share that information with her.
I explained that Tsubaki-san had hung out in our room with Reidou and me last night, and that she had left around midnight.
"You remembered the exact time quite well, Haruma-kun."
"I just happened to catch sight of the clock when I was seeing Tsubaki-san out."
After all, Reidou had been dead drunk and fast asleep... It wasn't so much that she didn't remember, she just flat-out didn't know.
Chiyuki-san jotted down what I told her, closed her notebook, and looked up.
"We're still meticulously reviewing the security footage on our end too~, so I think we should be able to piece together her movements within the areas the cameras caught~. I'll be sure to thoroughly track her whereabouts after midnight~."
"Thank you, that's a huge help."
When I thanked her, Chiyuki-san warmly told me there was no need to bow.
Just then, Chiyuki-san's smartphone rang. She had been called away, so we ended up splitting up.
Now down to just the three of us, we moved to a cafe inside the hotel.
Without Chiyuki-san... it was me with my time-leap, Reidou with her immortality, and Mito with his Purifying Magnetic Fire Ability, Star Murger.
It would be a conversation solely between ability users.
Holding a cup of coffee, I looked at Reidou through the rising steam.
"Hey, Reidou. About how the culprit managed to kill Tsubaki-san..."
"You are referring to her ability, correct? That has been bothering me as well."
Just as we were about to discuss exactly what method the culprit used, Mito looked toward me while sipping his black tea. He wasn't sticking his finger through the handle loop—a surprisingly refined gesture.
"Before we get into that, what exactly is Tsubaki-san's ability anyway?"
...I debated for a moment whether I should tell Mito about the details of her ability.
Normally, it wasn't something I should just casually reveal... but now that things had come to this, was there even any point in hiding it anymore?
When I shot Reidou a glance, she gave a silent nod, so I explained Tsubaki-san's ability to Mito.
"To put it simply, it's like a barrier... It's an ability that prevents anyone from touching her, and keeps anything harmful from getting close."
According to the woman herself, a car about to hit her would perfectly slam on its brakes right before impact.
In the past, it had even prevented a culprit trying to attack us from getting near her.
Given the circumstances, Tsubaki-san likely hadn't lied in her explanation. It shouldn't differ much from our own understanding of it.
"So she's basically invincible."
"Well, yeah."
Calling it 'invincible' sounded like something an elementary schooler would say, but it was a fact that actually attacking and killing Tsubaki-san wouldn't be a simple task.
Mito violently scratched his head.
"So basically, you can't touch her, and you can't attack her. How the hell do you drop someone with a crazy invincible ability like that into a fish tank?"
"But it seems it's not perfectly invincible all the time. Her ability probably doesn't activate while she's asleep."
This was obvious if I recalled what happened last night.
When I tried to carry Tsubaki-san after she fell asleep, I had been able to pick her up.
However, the moment she woke up, I was instantly blasted away by her ability.
It was proof that the ability was inactive while she was unconscious, and activated the moment she woke up.
This was a vulnerability that could be exploited.
It meant that if Tsubaki-san was unconscious, it would be possible to carry her and drop her into the aquarium.
Reidou crossed her arms and murmured, dropping her gaze to the table.
"...Even so, it is a difficult problem. Is there even a way to make Tsubaki-san lose consciousness in the first place?"
...It would be fine if you could intentionally knock her out, but even if you tried to make her drink a drug or inhale chloroform, it would never reach her. Using gas to knock her out... was also unthinkable.
One possibility was while Tsubaki-san was sleeping naturally... but when I asked Chiyuki-san, she said Tsubaki-san never appeared on the security camera outside her own room.
In other words, it was clear she had died sometime after leaving our room around midnight, before ever returning to her own. Normally, you'd sleep in your own room.
...A way to knock Tsubaki-san out, huh.
Glancing briefly at Mito, I actually had an idea in mind. But I decided to keep quiet about it for now.
"...What were you doing after dinner last night, Mito?"
The last time I saw Mito was when we ate the dinner buffet together.
I had no idea what he had been doing while Tsubaki-san was drinking in my and Reidou's room.
Mito crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling.
"Lemme see... After grub, I hit the bath, then went to this 'Game Room' place and played billiards while knockin' back some booze. I don't remember the time, but when I got sleepy, I went back to my room and crashed."
"Were you with anyone in the Game Room?"
"Yeah, I was hangin' out with some old guy I didn't know."
"...I see."
The location of the Game Room was marked on the floor plan Chiyuki-san had given us. It should be on the fifth floor.
"............?"
Mito's movements... Reidou looked at me with a puzzled expression as I asked questions seemingly aimed at verifying his alibi.
"As always... the only ability users in this hotel are me, Haruma-kun, and Mito-san."
Vrrrm, the sound of a hair dryer blowing air drifted out from the changing room.
—We had decided to temporarily return to our respective rooms. Not feeling like using the large public bath, Reidou had taken a shower in our room and was currently drying her hair.
I was sitting on the sofa, fingers interlaced in a meditative pose. Knowing that Reidou was in the changing room wearing nothing but a towel made me incredibly restless.
Putting that aside, the fact that there were no other ability users was a blessing. If there was an unknown ability user involved, there would be no way to reason through the mystery...
"Are you suspecting Mito-san, Haruma-kun?"
She probably thought that because I had asked Mito for his alibi earlier.
Fidgeting nervously while talking to the changing room, I answered Reidou's question.
"...Well, yeah. I don't have any solid proof, but Mito might be able to bypass Tsubaki-san's ability."
"Do you mean by using Mito-san's ability? But that would..."
Reidou's voice faltered in confusion.
...Mito's ability allowed him to punch the air and deliver the impact to a distant target. Reidou had heard about it from me and understood the details.
By the way, the ability was called the Purifying Magnetic Fire Ability: Star Murger. ...It was actually kind of cool.
"No, not his ability."
I firmly denied it.
...It was highly unlikely he had used his ability in this incident.
Hearing "delivering an impact without physical contact" sounded like the ultimate spear against the ultimate shield when pitted against Tsubaki-san's "preventing anyone from getting close" ability.
You wouldn't know for sure without trying it, but there was a fair chance Tsubaki-san couldn't block Mito's Purifying Magnetic Fire Ability, Star Murger.
Meaning the crime seemed possible, but that wasn't it.
"Even if Mito-san's ability could somehow attack Tsubaki-san... it would leave marks, wouldn't it?"
"Exactly. If she was hit with a blow strong enough to knock her unconscious, it would be completely unnatural for it not to leave a mark."
Having taken the full brunt of Mito's Purifying Magnetic Fire Ability, Star Murger myself, I knew from experience: just because he wasn't directly touching you didn't change the fact that an impact was an impact, and a punch was a punch. If you got punched, it left a visible mark.
Yet, Chiyuki-san had stated Tsubaki-san had no external injuries.
Well, if Mito's Purifying Magnetic Fire Ability, Star Murger exceeded my understanding and could somehow damage a target without leaving external injuries, then my theory was shot... but as Reidou just pointed out, even excluding his ability, I still suspected Mito.
"...Reidou, do you really not remember anything from last night at all?"
"Ugh... I am ashamed to admit it, but my memory cuts off right around the time I started drinking..."
Even without seeing her, I could clearly hear the embarrassed squirming in her voice coming from the changing room.
To go on a rampage like that and have no memory of it... Alcohol really was terrifying.
That meant I had to explain this to her, but... it was really hard to say.
After agonizing over it for a moment, I steeled my resolve and mumbled it out.
"...You know, Reidou... when you get drunk, you turn into a kissing fiend."
"Wha—?!?!"
Clatter! A sound like something dropping or falling over echoed from the changing room.
Flustered, Reidou leaned halfway out of the doorway and shouted back at me.
"I-I-I-I would never do something like that!"
Leaning out with only a towel wrapped around her upper half, she pleaded her case desperately.
I could only see from her waist up, but... being suddenly presented with such a sight, I hurriedly averted my eyes.
...However, the image of her breasts, squished tightly together by the towel and looking like they were about to spill out, was hopelessly burned into my retinas.
"Y-You actually did. You forcefully forced yourself on Tsubaki-san, over and over..."
"F-Forced myself...? And what does that have to do with what we are discussing now!?"
Perhaps feeling humiliated, Reidou, her blood flow already improved from the shower, looked like her face was about to burst into flames even more than usual.
Of course, I wasn't trying to embarrass her just for the sake of it.
It was just... there was an unavoidable point to this story.
"...Because, doesn't it seem weird that you were able to forcefully kiss Tsubaki-san?"
"...!"
Reidou, who had been writhing in embarrassment, suddenly snapped back to a look of realization.
Right, Tsubaki-san's ability kept harmful things away. It could also prevent people from getting close to her.
Because her ability was constantly active on auto-pilot, even if someone suddenly threw coffee at her, it wouldn't hit her.
In other words, forcefully kissing Tsubaki-san should have been utterly impossible.
She herself had even said, "My lips are protected by my ability."
If it was a consensual kiss that Tsubaki-san had accepted, it might have gone through... but that clearly wasn't the situation back then.
The fact that Reidou was able to kiss her was, indeed, unnatural.
"That is... I see. I am beginning to understand what you mean, Haruma-kun."
Since Reidou had no memory of becoming a kissing fiend, she hadn't noticed it until now, but remembering that fact would easily lead her to the same deduction I made.
Still, how long was Reidou planning to stay leaning out with only a towel on her upper half? Paying no mind to me as I struggled with where to look, Reidou continued.
"In short, Tsubaki-san allows specific individuals... for instance, people she has let her guard down around, to make unexpected physical contact with her... Is that what you are saying?"
"Looking back, I think the chances of that are high. Being completely unable to be touched would be far too inconvenient in daily life, and it would cause far too many unnatural situations."
Spending time with friends and family and never being able to be touched at all... actually experiencing that would be far more difficult than one might imagine.
Reidou had apparently never heard Tsubaki-san complain about such hardships.
As a hypothesis regarding Tsubaki-san's ability, it lacked definitive proof, but it made a fair amount of logical sense.
And the only person currently in this hotel who could fit the bill of being that 'specific individual' was Mito.
Those two had grown close rapidly, and they had even played with the children together.
Actually, I had even seen one of the kids sitting on Tsubaki-san's lap at the time.
It was almost certainly true that the ability could be bypassed depending on the person.
—Using a kiss between two beautiful women, Reidou and Tsubaki-san, as the basis for a deduction... If a mystery novel like that actually existed, the author was undoubtedly a massive pervert who spent their daily life thinking about nothing but weird things.
...And here I was internally delivering a cool finishing line like I had already reached a conclusion, but there was a flaw in this hypothesis.
"The problem is, it's highly debatable whether Mito would be considered someone she 'let her guard down around'."
The phrase 'someone she let her guard down around' was just a working theory, but since it was easy to understand, we would use it to move the conversation forward for now.
It seemed they had grown friendly after playing with the kids, but it was highly doubtful that alone would push her trust in Mito to the point of letting her guard down.
"I agree. I do not believe Tsubaki-san was that easy to win over..."
Reidou, still in her towel, sank into deep thought.
...I mean, when I tried to carry Tsubaki-san after she fell asleep last night, I was blasted away by her ability.
If the truth was that Mito was fine but I wasn't, I'd be a little sad.
Even so... as it stood, it was a hypothesis with enough persuasive power to overcome the mystery of 'How did the culprit drop Tsubaki-san, who possesses an invincible ability, into the tank?'
"Despite the lingering questions, it means there's a slight possibility Mito could have committed the crime."
That was exactly why I had checked Mito's alibi—his whereabouts after dinner last night.
Since he claimed to be playing with another guest in the Game Room, if we could identify that person, we could prove his story.
There were security cameras installed at the entrances and exits of the Game Room, so checking those should also corroborate Mito's alibi.
If his alibi was solid, we could eliminate the possibility of Mito being the culprit.
From here, we needed to think about other possibilities as well.
It might lead to an even more solid deduction.
Perhaps because the discussion about Mito had reached a natural stopping point, Reidou retreated back into the changing room.
Once again, it was just her voice reaching me.
"Regarding how to bypass Tsubaki-san's ability... in the past, they used the method of blowing up a shopping mall, did they not?"
"Yeah."
The crime carried out by Ritsune Mio... Mio-san, and Fuse, connected to the incident where Elaine and Mearin were murdered this past fall.
It was a completely unhinged plan to cause a massive explosion, but as a method to defeat Tsubaki-san's ability, it made logical sense.
If a fire consumes all the oxygen, you can't breathe.
Tsubaki-san's ability rejected attacks, but it was a clear matter of logic that she couldn't overcome a 'state of being unable to intake what is necessary,' such as oxygen deprivation.
Thinking about it that way, there was a sense of inevitability to this current incident as well.
Because if Tsubaki-san sank into the water and became unable to breathe, she would die regardless of her ability...
"............Huh?"
Reaching that point in my thoughts, something felt caught in my chest, like a small fishbone.
I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was, but it felt like I was overlooking something vital...
If Tsubaki-san drowned, she would die. That much made sense.
But in the end, that brought us right back to the original mystery: 'How did they drop her into the tank?'
What exactly was I hung up on?
"Is something wrong?"
Perhaps noticing my sudden silence, Reidou called out from the changing room.
"No, it's just... I feel like there was something really important in what we were just talking about."
"You mean regarding the oxygen deprivation?"
...Oxygen deprivation...
Let's summarize Tsubaki-san's ability once more.
It is a barrier-like ability that keeps harmful things away.
It activates automatically, preventing even unforeseen accidents.
Anyone attempting to attack her cannot even get close.
The ability is inactive while Tsubaki-san is unconscious.
It is believed to be useless against a 'state of being unable to intake what is necessary,' such as oxygen deprivation.
Organizing the information in my head... another hypothesis bubbled up to the surface.
"Ah..."
My eyes flew wide open, a sound slipping from my lips involuntarily.
If it was that place, it might be surprisingly easy to make Tsubaki-san lose consciousness.
Sweat beaded on my forehead. I wiped it away and shot to my feet.
"...That's it! If it was like this..."
Considering Tsubaki-san's actions, it was entirely possible...
Without proof, it was still just a hypothesis, but I could verify it.
Hearing the tone of my voice, indicating I had figured something out, Reidou called out quizzically from the changing room.
"Haruma-kun, what is it?"
"I might have just taken a step closer to the truth behind the incident. I'm going to go investigate something real quick!"
I bolted from the sofa, practically sprinting toward the room's door.
"Ah, I will come too—"
"I'll be right back!"
Shouting that to Reidou in the changing room, I dashed out of the suite.
"Alright, but before that..."
Perhaps because of the incident, the hallway was deserted and eerily quiet. I pulled my smartphone from my pocket and called Yunomiya.
"Ah, Tennai-kyun! Hello!"
As always, she answered on the half-ring. Was she just staring at her screen constantly?
"I'm sorry, Yunomiya-san. There's something I need to ask you..."
"Yes, ask me anything. ...Oh. I just got a message from Ashihara-san."
"Ashihara? Yunomiya-san, did Ashihara and—"
Suddenly, a shock like a jolt of electricity ran through my entire body.
"Actually, there was a shooting at a family restaurant yesterday. I was planning to tell you about it, Tennai-kun..."
Yunomiya was speaking on the other end of the line, but I found myself completely unable to even vocalize a response.
It happened in such a flash, I had no idea what was going on.
My vision pitched into pitch black, and I collapsed right there on the spot.
"We haven't found the culprit yet, but—"
Listening to Yunomiya's voice as she continued talking, completely unaware of what had happened to me, I lost consciousness.
December 21st, 12:00 PM — Reidou Momiji
Having finished showering and drying my hair, I got dressed and returned to the living room from the changing room.
Haruma-kun was nowhere to be seen in the room. Only the ticking of the clock echoed in the silent space.
He said he would be right back, but... where exactly did he go?
It seemed he had suddenly realized something and dashed out.
Judging from the flow of our conversation... did the phrase 'oxygen deprivation' trigger something for him?
I wanted to chase after him, but since I hadn't heard where he was going, I had no idea where he was.
Since I don't own a smartphone, I couldn't contact him either.
...It couldn't be helped. I would just have to wait for a while.
Unable to bring myself to watch television or read a book, I sat on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling.
In the quiet room, my body, fresh from the shower, gradually cooled down, sharpening my senses.
With a cool head, I recalled everything that had happened since meeting Tsubaki-san.
We first met at the shopping mall.
Working at the clothing store, she, along with Elaine and the others, had picked out clothes for me.
We became good friends after that, and I was always comforted by her cheerful, easygoing smile.
Her fixation on money, her love for clothes, and how much she enjoyed playing dress-up with others were all so endearing.
"Tsubaki-san..."
The reality that she was gone hit me... and tears streamed down my cheeks.
...Why did things always turn out this way?
Since leaving the orphanage, I had experienced so many fun times and felt so much happiness... yet misfortune always came, as if determined to paint over it all.
When I closed my eyes, the tears that were pushed out fell heavily to my lap.
If there is a God, I wish to pray to them.
I do not care what happens to me; I cannot die. But please, I just ask that you do nothing to the people around me.
...It seems I drifted off to sleep at some point.
Lying on the sofa, I slowly fluttered my eyelids open.
Wiping away the tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, I checked the clock; roughly two hours had passed.
I was still entirely alone in the room.
Had Haruma-kun really not returned...?
He said he would be right back. No matter how you looked at it, this was far too late.
I felt a dark, restless squirming deep in my chest.
...I had a terrible premonition.
Steeling my resolve, I put on my shoes and left the room... but I still didn't have the slightest clue where he might have gone.
Thanks to the scent unique to ability users, I could faintly track his presence.
However, for some reason, his scent was incredibly weak. I could only tell that he was somewhere inside the hotel.
...The bad feeling wouldn't stop. The situation was simply too bizarre.
Searching this massive building all by myself was impossible. I needed to borrow someone else's help.
I headed down to the first-floor lobby to rely on Chiyuki-san.
Currently, she was the most dependable person I had access to.
Chiyuki-san was talking with another police officer, but she noticed me immediately as I jogged over.
"Oh my, Reidou-san. What's the matter~?"
Responding with her usual gentleness, I frantically explained the situation to Chiyuki-san.
"Umm... Have you seen Haruma-kun? He left our room about two hours ago and hasn't returned."
"Tennai-kun? No, I haven't seen him~."
Chiyuki-san replied with her refined gesture of placing a hand against her cheek.
"Come to think of it, Yunomiya-san contacted me earlier~. She said she was on a call with Tennai-kun, but it suddenly cut off~..."
The call suddenly cut off... As I feared, had something happened to him?
"He should still be somewhere inside the hotel. I was hoping you could help me search for him..."
As Chiyuki-san and I were talking, a man sitting on a sofa in the lobby fluidly stood up.
Folding the newspaper he had been holding and setting it aside, he approached us, his sandals slapping softly against the floor.
"...I'll help."
He was a highly suspicious-looking man with a long, two-tone black-and-white beard, his long black hair tied back in a ponytail, dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans.
I was bewildered by the sudden offer of help delivered in such a low voice.
"Umm, and you are...?"
"...Hadou Garayama."
This two-tone beard... Could this be the person Haruma-kun mentioned speaking to in the hot springs?
As the man introduced himself to me, Chiyuki-san stepped in front of him, physically intervening.
"Garayama-san, before that, we need you to comply with questioning..."
"...Hmph."
The man named Garayama scoffed at Chiyuki-san, treating her with dismissive contempt.
It seemed he was refusing to comply with the questioning.
Was he someone connected to the incident... a suspect?
It was deeply mysterious that he was offering to help search for Haruma-kun, though...
As Chiyuki-san and Hadou Garayama glared at each other, a hotel staff member approached timidly, calling out, "Excuse me." It seemed they needed Chiyuki-san.
"The chef just consulted with me. Something rather strange has happened... We were hoping the police could check it out."
Chiyuki-san temporarily ignored Hadou Garayama and turned her attention to the staff member.
"Has something happened?"
"The thing is, the freezer door won't open..."
According to the staff member, they had gone to the freezer to prepare for dinner, but the door refused to budge even a millimeter.
There was no lock on the freezer door, so it couldn't be locked; therefore, it being unable to open was supposedly impossible.
Hearing this, Hadou Garayama stepped forward imposingly, issuing a commanding order to the staff member.
"...Show us the way."
"I-I will come too!"
An abnormal situation where an un-lockable freezer door wouldn't open... this might somehow be connected to the incident.
Which meant it might also be connected to Haruma-kun.
When Hadou Garayama and I told the staff member we were coming, Chiyuki-san glared at Garayama.
"Reidou-san is fine, but Garayama-san, please stay here! ...Let's go."
...Chiyuki-san's attitude toward Hadou Garayama carried a hint of genuine hostility.
Was he truly that suspicious of a character...?
Regardless, Chiyuki-san and I were guided by the staff member to the freezer.
According to the floor plan, the freezer should be on the fourth floor.
Chiyuki-san and I were led into a dimly lit, warehouse-like room lined with shelves stocking seasonings and other supplies.
The door leading to the freezer appeared to be at the very back of this room.
The freezer seemed to be a massive, single room of its own, and its door was a large, thick, heavily insulated thermal door.
You were supposed to pull the latch to release the metal fitting, then push inward to open it.
Arriving at the scene, the gloved Chiyuki-san attempted to pull the door open.
She pulled the latch and shoved her weight against the door.
"Nnnggggggghhhhhh...!!!"
She was pushing with all her might, gritting her teeth in an expression completely at odds with her usual demure aura.
Yet despite putting that much strength into it, the door didn't budge an inch.
"...It really won't move at all, will it~. I wonder why?"
Chiyuki-san pulled her hands away from the door, rubbing the strained muscles in her arms.
Just as the staff member had said, there appeared to be no actual lock on the door itself.
What could it possibly mean for a door that couldn't be locked to refuse to open...?
...Before I realized it, I was sweating buckets.
Because stepping this close to the freezer made me realize the truth.
Haruma-kun was inside. There was no mistaking it.
Because he was locked inside a hermetically sealed freezer, I had only been able to pick up the faintest trace of his scent.
This was a truly catastrophic situation. My anxiety finally hit its absolute peak.
I violently slammed my shoulder into the door, trying to force it open.
I pushed with every ounce of strength I had, desperately straining against the metal, but as expected, it didn't move a millimeter.
"Kuh... uuuuuugh...!"
Even as the bones in my shoulder groaned in protest, the door remained completely immobile.
I was agonizingly aware of my own powerlessness.
Immortality... was utterly useless at a time like this...
...Assuming he was deep inside, what kind of state was he in right now?
Despair I didn't even want to imagine began to tangle with dark, terrifying thoughts.
As if my anxiety had taken physical form and was overflowing, tears spilled from my eyes.
"R-Reidou-san? What's wrong?"
Panicking, Chiyuki-san hurriedly placed a hand on my shoulder.
From her perspective, it must have looked like I had suddenly lost my mind.
I answered Chiyuki-san in a desperate scream.
"Haruma-kun is inside there!"
"How... how do you know that?"
She looked like she wanted to ask, but I didn't have the luxury of explaining it to her.
Perhaps seeing me throwing my body against the door so frantically convinced her, even without knowing the reason, because Chiyuki-san joined me in pushing against the door.
"Open... Please..."
Why was a door that couldn't be locked shut so tightly?
And why... was he, who should be on the other side, not responding at all?
A searing, agonizing impatience raced across my back like wildfire.
"Open, open up!"
Screaming, I slammed my fists into the door with everything I had.
The impact reverberated through my bones, scraping the skin off my knuckles and drawing blood.
"U-Umm..."
Unable to fully grasp the situation, the hotel staff member simply wrung their hands, bewildered as to what they should do. A man's hand firmly clapped their shoulder.
"...Can this freezer be turned off?"
Standing there was the man with the two-tone beard, Hadou Garayama.
Chiyuki-san had refused to let him accompany us, but it seemed he had secretly followed us anyway.
Panting heavily from pushing the door, I turned toward Hadou Garayama, who had suggested shutting it down.
The staff member blinked in surprise.
"S-Shut it down?"
"...There's a person inside, right?"
As Hadou Garayama turned to me and asked, I gave a firm nod in response.
"...Turn off the power and raise the temperature. Prioritize human life."
"Y-You're right...! If you press this button, the freezer will shut down!"
The staff member pointed to an emergency stop button encased in a plastic cover.
Without hesitation, Hadou Garayama smashed the cover and instantly pressed the button.
The mechanical whir of the active motor wheezed and died, winding down like a deflating balloon.
The staff member cast a quick glance at their wristwatch.
"It will probably take about thirty minutes to return to near room temperature, I believe..."
The temperature inside the freezer would begin to gradually rise, but the situation hadn't drastically improved.
The door still refused to budge, and waiting thirty whole minutes would be far too late.
"...I'll help."
Hadou Garayama rolled up the sleeves of his T-shirt, placed his hands against the door, and began to push.
Between his decision to cut the power to the freezer and his willingness to physically assist us, there was no denying he was trying to help... Even Chiyuki-san didn't reprimand him for following us without permission.
For a long while after that, we wrestled with the door.
Behind us, Chiyuki-san was making a phone call to someone. Realizing human strength alone was going to be tough, she seemed to be arranging for some kind of tools to be brought up.
The hotel staff gathered more people, and several of them joined in pushing against the door.
"............!"
...Tens of minutes after cutting the power to the freezer.
The door we were pushing gave a loud CLUNK and finally shifted.
It felt as though whatever had been jammed had suddenly given way... behaving so smoothly it was hard to believe it hadn't budged an inch until just moments ago.
"It opened!"
Screaming to no one in particular, I practically dove into the freezer.
Slipping on the melted ice and water pooling on the floor, I rushed deeper inside.
Past the entranceway and up a small step, the freezer opened up into a wide space.
The interior, its temperature having risen, was thick with humidity, creating an incredibly uncomfortable atmosphere.
The floor was flooded with water, and droplets dripped continuously from the thawing ingredients.
...Deep inside that room, he lay.
Face up, eyes closed. He looked almost as if he were sleeping.
"Haruma-kun!"
Nearly slipping on the flooded floor, I rushed over to him.
I dropped to my knees, soaking my clothes in the water, and touched his cheek.
I felt no body heat.
It was a coldness akin to touching solid ice.
Trapped in this freezer, his body had been completely chilled to the core.
No matter how much I called out to him, there was no response. No matter how much I shook him, his eyes refused to open.
I couldn't hear him breathing. I pressed my hand against his chest, but no heartbeat pushed back.
Perhaps because of the freezer, his skin was rigid, devoid of any elasticity. Like a doll, I thought.
No... I wanted him to be a doll.
My mind was consumed by the desperate wish that this was just some corpse-swapping trick out of a mystery novel.
Someone crouched down across from me. It was Chiyuki-san and Garayama Hadou.
Chiyuki-san gripped Haruma-kun's left arm, checking his pulse.
"...I'm sorry. We didn't make it in time."
Chiyuki-san murmured, shaking her head. Her hands trembled as she clenched her fingers tight, biting her lip.
"I-Is there any chance it's actually just a doll...?"
I voiced my desperate hope through tears, my nose running. Please, let it be so.
But Garayama Hadou, who was touching the body, lowered his gaze and answered bluntly.
"...No. It's not a dummy or anything. It's Tennai Haruma's corpse."
Hearing those words felt like a fissure tearing straight through my heart.
Deep down, I already knew.
No matter what, my eyes weren't so blind that I couldn't tell the difference between a human and a doll.
—Afterward, the police, including Chiyuki-san, examined him and confirmed unequivocally that it was the corpse of Tennai Haruma-kun.
Haruma-kun... was dead.
The fissure in my chest grew wider and wider, my fractured heart no longer able to hold its shape.
"U-Uh, uuuugh..."
Tears overflowed, and a choked groan escaped my constricted throat.
"Uuh, uwaah, aaaaahhhhh!!"
Pushing past Chiyuki-san, who had been examining the body, I clung to him, wailing in agony.
Death... human death is the one thing that can never, ever be undone.
Even if I uncovered the truth behind why Tsubaki-san and he had to die, it wouldn't erase what happened.
Every time my heart shattered, I was able to stand back up because of Haruma-kun.
Now, there was nothing I could do. I couldn't overturn this despair.
My vision went pitch black.
I had nothing... nothing left at all
---
Chapter 5
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