Chapter Four

——According to your diary, the murders will occur in that order.

Kamo typed into the notepad app on his phone. Ayaka's face stiffened as she wrote in her own notebook.

——Tonight, the culprit will target Great-Uncle Soujirou, and Ms. Tonegawa the night after that. What then?

——There are no records for the 25th on.

——I see. There's no way I could have left a diary entry the day of the landslide.

After the landslide, the search and rescue team was able to recover five bodies: Koki, Kyuichi, Soujirou, Tonegawa, and Ayaka. With the exception of Ayaka herself, all of them had injuries or mutilations consistent with what was written in her diary. As for the others, the scale of the destruction meant there was no chance there had been any survivors.

In addition, according to a former police officer who'd worked on the incident, the police believed the survivors had all been outside the villa at the time of the incident. If they had been inside, there would have been better odds they'd be recovered from the wreckage, but with the exception of Ayaka, who'd fled to higher ground, it was believed that the bodies of all the others outside had been swept far away by the earth.

But Kamo decided not to tell Ayaka any of that. It was just too horrible.

The two of them were currently hiding in the cleaning supplies room on the second floor.

The room was right next to the baggage lift, directly across from the Tiger Room. The clock on his smartphone had been set to local time, so the 10:24 P.M. displayed on screen was the correct local time "here".

The inside of the cleaning supplies room was dimly lit, illuminated only by the light coming from under the door.

——Soujirou is supposed to be attacked in the Tiger Room, so as long as we keep an eye on the door, we can nab the culprit red-handed.

Although he typed that, being in a place like this at night with a middle school girl wasn't a good look for Kamo or Ayaka.

——By the way, do you want to go back to your room now?

——I thought about it, but my room isn't positioned well for keeping watch.

——No no, I meant that there's no way you can be allowed to spend the night alone with a middle-aged man.

If they were found out, the entire Ryuuzen clan would immediately declare Kamo a sex offender. Despite that, Ayaka looked disappointed and replied:

——Great-Uncle's life is at stake. If you keep going on about this, I'll scream. Do you want me to give your entire plan away?

Kamo sighed deeply. He knew she didn't mean it. She was just saying whatever she could to keep from having to leave. Even if it did sound like extortion.

There was another reason it was hard for Kamo to turn Ayaka away. That was because staying with Kamo might have been the safest thing she could do right now.

What if the culprit saw Ayaka outside the Rat Room? If they thought her actions were suspicious, they might kill her. It seemed like leaving her alone might put her in danger.

——I get it. Do whatever you want.

Kamo typed that on his phone, keeping his eyes on the bottom of the door as much as possible.

There was a gap of a few centimeters under the door of the cleaning supplies room. Looking through that gap into the hallway, they could clearly see the Tiger Room. If the door to any room on the upstairs was opened, or if someone came up the stairs, they'd definitely hear.

It was the best place for covert surveillance.

The room was about two and a half square meters, and on each side were shelves stocked with, as the name suggested, cleaning supplies, including brooms, deck brushes, and detergent. There was even a washing area with running water in the back. Although there was a lot kept inside, there was a space near the door set aside for work, so they had room to keep watch.

...Already, several hours had passed, but no one had come from or to the Tiger Room. Kamo tried keeping the blood flowing to his hand by fiddling with the hourglass pendant. Next to him, Ayaka began to run her ballpoint pen over her notebook.

——Do you want some konpeito?

When she finished writing, Kamo furrowed his brows. Ayaka pulled out her pocket watch. She scratched at the back for a moment, and there was a small pop as the back came off.

——I recommend the red ones.

Cute little red and white konpeito candies peeked out at him.

There was a small storage space in the back of the pocket watch, which she had apparently filled with konpeito. The space was large enough to hold five pieces of candy.

——What, you can hide things in your watch?

Kamo stifled a laugh as he typed. Ayaka, despite looking disappointed, popped a red konpeito in her mouth.

——Grandfather had it custom made to hold his medicine.

Kamo gestured "no thanks". Ayaka put away her pocket watch, put her serious face back on, and started writing again.

——I wonder why the culprit did such a horrible thing as mutilating the bodies.

——I have a theory I'm pretty confident in, but I haven't quite sorted everything yet... Decapitation is a staple body-swap trick, where one corpse is replaced with another. It's a pretty old-school trick, though.

——It is?

Seeing Ayaka's puzzled response, Kamo smiled.

In 2018, when forensic science was a developed field, no one would attempt a swapped corpses trick. If the body were subjected to a DNA test, it would be seen through immediately... but in 1960, it was a different story. It wouldn't be surprising for a culprit from this era to view swapping the corpses as a viable trick.

——No matter what happens, the one constant is change.

——I don't know what the future holds, but I don't think this is a "headless corpse" situation. Father and Mr. Koki both had their heads found.

Kamo noticed that her handwriting was getting shaky, and tears were forming in her eyes. He typed quickly.

——Don't push yourself. If it's too painful, we can talk about something else.

——No. I want to find out who did this. That's why I want to help Mr. Kamo solve the case. I have to become strong, for Father's sake.

Perhaps subconsciously, she echoed what she'd written in her own diary. Then, as though she'd just thought of something, Ayaka began writing.

——Maybe the culprit did all that to conceal the murder weapon.

Kamo remembered how both of the victims' necks had been torn to shreds. There were distinctive marks left where the killer had strangled them, so it was possible they'd been decapitated in an attempt to hide them.

——But if it was just to disguise those traces, it's strange that Koki's body was mutilated in several other places.

——You're right. We won't know the truth until we find out how they got the head and torso outside.

Ayaka drew a floorplan of the villa in her notebook, then drew a large circle near the back door.

——You can get as far as the end of the stones by the back door without leaving any footprints. I wonder if the culprit threw the body parts from there to the underground garden? Maybe they wrapped them in waterproof cloth or something.

As she'd said, not far from the back door was the stone staircase leading down to the underground garden. Kamo contemplated if it would be possible to take advantage of the two meter height difference to the underground.

——That's impossible. If a body were thrown down a two meter hole, there would be some kind of mark left from the fall. But there weren't any marks like that on the bodies.

——What if they looped a rope from the back door to the lattice on the window in the baths? I think you could collect the rope from either the basement or back door side.

Kamo was surprised. Ayaka had come up with a brute force trick that used a ropeway to move a package of body parts.

He thought for another moment, then shook his head.

——There were no signs that a rope had been tied to the lattice on the bath window, or any signs that it had been rubbed by something heavy. I think moving the torso, in particular, would be impossible.

The human head is heavier than it looks, averaging around four kilograms, and the torso would easily have been over 20. It was inconceivable that something like that could have been moved without leaving any traces on the bars.

Ayaka looked disappointed to have her idea rejected, but she turned back to her sketch. She had drawn all twelve of the private rooms.

Ten people had gathered for Taiga's birthday. Apart from the rooms of Kyuichi and Koki, which were both now empty, there were two other empty rooms.

The Boar room had been reserved for Ikeuchi, the opera singer.

She was one of the few people to escape the curse of the Ryuuzen clan. It may have been because she'd divorced Soujirou early on, so her connection to the clan was weak.

The other was the Rabbit Room.

No one had been willing to talk about that room, but the way Soujirou and Taiga had spoken, Kamo got the vibe that it wasn't available for some reason.

For a while after, Kamo and Ayaka's written conversation ceased.

Kamo, keeping a watchful eye on the corridor, began to reminisce about what had happened that evening.

...Kamo had been offered the Boar Room to stay in, and Amamiya gave him a key with a boar netsuke on it. Unfortunately, the Boar Room was on the first floor, so he couldn't guard a second floor room from there.

Once he got the key, everyone had locked their doors and began to prepare dinner.

Kamo had looked in the storage room and been surprised to see two refrigerators.

The Three Sacred Treasures that had achieved rapid popularity in the 1950s... the black and white TV, the electric washing machine, and the electric refrigerator. They were white boxes with silver handles.

Out of curiosity, Kamo looked in the two refrigerators. Unlike modern versions, these only had one door each, but they still had small freezer compartments inside. One was full of fruits and vegetables, the other held meat and fish.

However, it seemed even one fridge was out of reach for the common man. According to Amamiya, one of them would have cost two months salary for an average household...

It was decided that multiple people would cook dinner while monitoring each other for suspicious behavior. Tonegawa, Tsukie, and Amamiya, who were good at cooking, did most of the work, while everyone else except Taiga were assigned to supervise them.

However, not everyone was in the kitchen at all times.

Amamiya had to go consult with Taiga about something, so he left the kitchen for a spell, and Tsukie also stepped out on a break at one point. The supervisors, too, stepped out, as Genji left on a few separate smoke breaks, perhaps out of concern for Ayaka, who hated the smell of smoke, and Tsukihiko barely ever set foot in the kitchen to begin with.

The only people who properly monitored the cooks were Ayaka, Kamo, and Soujirou.

Taiga, who had changed into a brown jinbei, arrived in the dining room a bit before 7:00 P.M. and made small talk with Kamo. Kamo didn't know the first thing about what was going on in 1960, so he had no choice but to play the role of passive listener.

At 7:15, dinner was served.

As Tonegawa and Amamiya explained, today's meal was... tomato and grilled eggplant with ponzu sauce, cheese omelettes, sautéed beef fillet, French bread, and assorted fruits.

Since three cooks were in the kitchen, each with their own specialties, the final meal had ended up a bit disjointed. Still, for Kamo, who had been living on cup noodles and microwave dinners since Rena was hospitalized, it was an impossibly lavish meal.

Near the end of dinnertime, Taiga gave an order. "None of you leave your rooms tonight." This also matched what had been written in Ayaka's diary.

As they drank their after dinner coffee, Tonegawa and Amamiya cleaned up, finishing around 8:15. When Taiga saw the two of them return from the kitchen, he looked at his watch, then left the dining room without a word.

According to Ayaka, that was pretty normal.

It seemed that Taiga always returned to his room before 8:30. Immediately after he left the dining room, a sound like creaking metal echoed throughout the house. That must have been the sound of the wheelchair lift.

Kamo had planned to follow Taiga out of the dining room, but Soujirou and Amamiya suddenly bombarded him with questions. Soujirou in particular seemed anxious about the situation and was eager to get as much information out of the assigned detective as he could. Kamo was forced to spend about 20 minutes talking to the two. But he still managed to be the first person to leave the room after Taiga.

As he climbed the stairs, Kamo saw the steel plate of the wheelchair lift on the second floor.

Before dinner, he'd seen it on the first floor, so there could be no doubt that the old man had gone upstairs.

Near the stairs on the second floor, several oil paintings had been propped up. The space appeared to be used as a temporary storage area for the paintings. The painting directly in front of him was a still life of fruits such as apples and mangoes.

Kamo saw some sort of metal object and a red blanket in the gap behind an oil painting, but he was in too much of a hurry to think much of it. He passed the baggage lift with its closed bellows door and quickly entered the cleaning supplies room.

Just as he thought he'd finally have a chance to settle down, Ayaka appeared in the hallway.

Considering the timing, she must have left the dining room less than a minute after him. She went right past the cleaning supplies room and into her bedroom, but quickly returned with a cushion and joined Kamo.

A few minutes later, Genji came upstairs and entered the Ox Room. According to Kamo's smartphone, that was at 8:44.

After that, he and Ayaka had kept observing, and at 9:13, Tsukihiko returned to the Snake Room and locked the door behind him. Five minutes later, Soujirou also entered the Tiger Room.

There were only three rooms left on the second floor.

Tsukihiko, who was slippery and had a ruthless aura, was the snake, and Soujirou, who was a dangerous man who constantly carried a rifle, was the tiger... Kamo dedicated the connections to memory.

There were only three rooms left on the second floor.

The unoccupied Rabbit Room, the Dragon Room, where Taiga was staying, and the Rat Room, which was Ayaka's.

It seemed like everyone who had a room on the second floor was accounted for, so Kamo decided to wait for the culprit to make their move. There was every possibility they wouldn't do so right away, so he prepared for a long battle.

Kamo thought he saw Ayaka glance at him, but then she sent her pen moving again.

——By the way, earlier you said you had an idea about why the bodies were cut up. What was it?

Kamo, who was also starting to get bored, ran his finger across his phone.

——Sorry, guess I forgot to explain. I haven't been able to make sense of everything yet, but... I think the culprit is committing an imitation crime.

Ayaka stared at him in shock.

——You mean there's going to be a murder based off of Mother Goose?

It seemed Ayaka was familiar with Van Dine's "The Bishop Murder Case". It was one of the earliest works to feature imitation murders, based on "Who Killed Cock Robin?", "Humpty Dumpty", and other classic nursery rhymes.

——Something like that... Do you remember the painting hanging in the rec room?

——Chimera. It's Grandfather's most treasured painting.

——That painting depicts a creature made of parts from various different animals. But the actual Chimera of Greek mythology has the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a snake.

The girl tilted her head.

——But that creature's head doesn't look like a lion's, and its body isn't like a goat's either.

——The artist spells their pseudonym "Night Bird". That could be a clue to the monster's true identity. Ayaka, have you ever heard of the Nue?

——What's that?

——A while ago, I had to research it for a job for an occult magazine... I have no idea what people see in stuff like that. Anyway, I did some research on the Nue.

His memory let him recall it easily.

——The Nue has the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the tail of a snake, the limbs of a tiger, and a cry like a thrush.

When Ayaka heard that, she started.

——The creature in the painting has a red face, a greyish-brown body, a snake's tail, and yellow and black striped limbs. It's the Nue.

——And "Nue" is written as 鵺, combining the characters for "Night" and "Bird" into a single kanji.

——So the artist's name, Yachō, is also a reference to the Nue.

Kamo went to reply, but before he could, he noticed Ayaka staring. Curious, he looked down at the screen of his smartphone and saw that new characters were already appearing on his screen.

——Kamo is referring to the monster shot down by Minamoto no Yorimasa, correct? The story is told in the Tale of the Heike and other works, although there are some interpretations in which the Nue was actually a completely different beast, unseen but for its cry.

Looking down at the text that had been typed without his permission, Kamo gave an ironic smile. After confirming that the "malfunction" had stopped, he typed a message.

——But generally speaking, that creature can be considered "the Nue", right... Hora?

——Indeed. It has been a while.

The message appeared on the screen almost instantly.

"Where have you been?"

Hora ignored Ayaka's reflexive whisper and kept typing.

——It is quite dark in here. Ayaka appears to be struggling to read your messages. If you like, I can use the Hourglass to illuminate your surroundings. I can maintain the brightness level of your choice until morning.

——No! If you turn on the light, someone in the hall could see us.

——In that case, let us not... Oh, your phone's battery has grown quite low. The outlets "here" use almost the same standard, so why don't you charge it?

Kamo glanced nervously into the hallway as he typed.

——Will you quit interrupting us with irrelevant nonsense? If you want me to charge my phone, go get my charging cable from my car.

——Oh my, you left something in 2018? I was quite looking forward to having a pleasant chat.

Kamo shrugged slightly before going back to typing.

——Let's ignore this guy. About the imitation murders, I think the culprit is copying the form of the Nue.

Ayaka let out a small gasp. It seemed she was starting to see where he was going. Kamo continued.

——Kyuichi in the Monkey Room lost his head. Soujirou, who should be targeted tonight, is in the Tiger room, and he had both arms cut off. The next day, Tonegawa, from the Rooster Room, will have her throat cut. It's more of a stretch, but roosters and thrushes are both birds, and moreover, "Tsugumi", her first name, is Japanese for thrush.

Hora flashed a light on the smartphone to get Kamo's attention, then began writing a new message.

——However, Koki was in the Dog Room, correct? That doesn't seem to match with tanuki.

——Yeah, that's the piece that doesn't fit.

——No. It's raccoon dog.

Kamo was surprised to see Ayaka suddenly write that. She didn't stop writing.

——The name of Mr. Koki's beloved Shiba Inu is "Raccoon". In English, tanuki are called raccoon dogs.

Seeing the culprit kill and mutilate based on such a childish pun, Kamo felt a chill that froze his fingers in place. Hora took the chance to fire off another message.

——Allow me to write it in a way that's easy to understand.

Ryuuzen Kyuichi      Monkey Room (Monkey)      Head

Miyako Koki    Dog Room (Pet "Raccoon" + Dog = Raccoon Dog)    Torso

Ryuuzen Soujirou    Tiger Room (Tiger)    Arms

Tonegawa Tsugumi    Rooster Room (Bird or name meaning "thrush")    Throat (Voice)

Kamo nodded and resumed typing.

——In that case, we can also figure out who will be targeted at midnight on the 24th. Since the only piece left is the snake, Tsukihiko in the Snake Room will be targeted... How did you decide on room allocation for this villa?

He asked because he suspected that the person in charge of assigning the rooms may have been the culprit. Ayaka seemed to understand his thoughts, and shook her head.

——Aside from the Dragon Room, which has always been Grandfather's, everyone else decided on their rooms together two years ago. Mr. Koki chose the dog room because he loves dogs, and Great-Uncle chose the Tiger Room because he's a fan of the Osaka Tigers. Incidentally, I chose the Rat Room for myself because the mouse netsuke was cute.

Now that Kyuichi was dead, there was no way to find out whether or not the culprit was involved in him getting his room.

At the same time, Kamo shuddered. He realized there was another possibility.

It could have been that the culprit was aiming to annihilate the entire Ryuuzen family. In that case, it didn't matter what room the victims or the culprit were in... All that would change was the order they were killed.

Kamo heard a noise like a motor from somewhere.

It wasn't the sound of the wheelchair lift, and it was accompanied by a dull vibration. It shook the hearts of those in the cleaning supplies room. Ayaka looked frightened as well, so Kamo could tell she'd never heard the sound before.

She wrote in a trembling hand.

——What was that?

——Maybe it was a tremor. They say things like that happen before a landslide.

Hora flashed the light on the phone again.

——Don't worry, the landslide definitely won't happen until the 25th... That said, weren't you clever today? You successfully infiltrated the Ryuuzen household and managed to ensure the safety of the next victim, Soujirou. So far, you've managed to exceed all of my expectations.

Kamo frowned at the praise, detecting an undercurrent of mockery. But Hora didn't have any more messages for them.

*

Kamo looked down at his phone and breathed a sigh of relief.

The long night had given way to the dawn, and the morning of the 23rd had arrived. The time was 6:40 A.M... the time Taiga had ordered everyone to arrive at the dining room was approaching.

In the end, the culprit never showed themself, and they didn't hear anyone walking in the upstairs hall. The most concerning thing they had to deal with now was that Kamo's phone only had 5% battery left.

Judging from the view through the hall window, it looked like it would rain today. Kamo stretched, trying to work the kinks from his back and shoulders. Ayaka quickly imitated him. It looked like she was planning to leave the white cushion she'd brought in the cleaning supplies room.

Then they looked at each other.

Kamo knew exactly what she was thinking. He stepped out and knocked on the door to the Tiger Room.

Soujirou should have been safe. Even though he knew that, his palms were covered in sweat. Ayaka stood next to him, clutching his left arm.

"...Ah, Mr. Kamo. Good morning."

Soujirou opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Today's suit was a navy blue three-piece ensemble.

Kamo was so overcome with relief that he forgot to return the greeting, instantly turning to Ayaka.

He told Soujirou that he was just doing a round to check on everyone. Judging from the dark circles under his eyes, Soujirou hadn't slept last night, either. He said he was going back to his room, so Kamo and Ayaka decided to check up on the others on the second floor.

Just as he was about to approach the Snake Room, Tsukihiko stepped out.

In contrast to Kamo, who looked like a mess because he hadn't slept, Tsukihiko was freshly shaved and had his hair meticulously swept back. Today he wore jeans and a light blue polo shirt, both clean and without a single wrinkle.

Tsukihiko looked at Kamo and Ayaka with total disinterest.

"Well then... I'll be heading to the dining room ahead of you, Detective."

Kamo felt better after seeing him off. Confirming that the two of them were both safe was a major victory. He excitedly knocked on Taiga's door.

However, no matter how long they waited, there was no response. He knocked again. He called Taiga's name. Nothing.

"Is Grandfather feeling sick?"

Ayaka's face was already pale with sleep deprivation. She immediately ran to her room and called him on the extension line, but there was no response. Kamo feared the worst and tried to break the door down, but it was so strong it didn't budge in the least, no matter how hard he kicked it.

Hearing the commotion, Genji poked his head out of the Ox Room. He wore a white open collar shirt and loose-fit black pants. Soujirou appeared soon after.

Kamo asked them to keep watch, then ran down to the first floor. Less than five minutes later, he was in front of the Dragon Room with a toolbox-wielding Amamiya.

Since there were no master keys to the villa, Amamiya set to work unscrewing the door's hinges. It took about ten minutes. Eventually, the door came off, and Amamiya picked it up and leaned it against the wall.

Kamo entered the room first, Genji and Ayaka following behind. Soujirou and Amamiya appeared to lack the courage to even step inside. They stood in the hall and whispered to each other.

The room's layout wasn't that different from the Dog and Monkey Rooms, the biggest difference being the wheelchair sitting collapsed next to the bed. Atop it lay the dark red lap blanket.

A brown jinbei sat neatly folded on the chair, and a key lay at the foot of the bed. On the bedside table sat a black telephone and a glass half full with water.

The drawer of the bedside table was open, and inside, they could see writing utensils and a black envelope poking out. However, the most important thing, Taiga himself, was nowhere to be found.

"...Where is Grandfather?"

Ayaka hadn't let go of Kamo's arm since they entered the room. Genji had also stopped near the entrance and looked around in confusion.

When he crouched down, Kamo saw a key lying at the foot of the bed.

The key was in a bad shape. Specifically, that shape was "dramatically bent", and the string for the netsuke had also been cut. It was the same type of key as the others he'd seen, though it looked much older.

"For the time being... I'll hold on to this."

Without waiting for permission, Kamo picked up the key and dropped it in his breast pocket. He wore the army gloves again, having borrowed them for the investigation.

Finally, he examined the toilet, bathroom, and closet. Ayaka, unable to sit still, followed him. The old man was still nowhere to be found. All of the windows were locked.

"I don't see him anywhere."

When he looked back, he saw Genji with both hands on the bedside table with the open drawer. His face was stiff.

"...Where is Grandfather?"

Kamo was suddenly very interested in the drawer he was looking down at.

When he pulled it out further, he saw a pocket watch with a dragon engraved on it. In both color and shape, it was similar to Ayaka's, but this one was a size larger. When he picked it up and opened the lid, he saw it had stopped at 6:46.

The only other things in the drawer were a memo pad, a fountain pen, and a few stacks of paper that looked like business documents. No clues as to Taiga's whereabouts.

When he looked up, Kamo was more than a little confused.

He and Ayaka had been in the cleaning supplies room all night, keeping an eye on the second floor. However, they hadn't seen the old man leave his room.

The wheelchair lift had been moved to the second floor, and they'd heard the sound immediately after Taiga left the dining room after dinner, with everyone else still in the room. There didn't seem to be any doubt that he'd been the one to move it. If that were the case, the only conclusion was that he'd gone upstairs. So he should have been on the second floor.

So where was he?

When Kamo stepped back into the hall, Amamiya and Soujirou quickly moved out of his way. Ayaka quickly followed him. Genji also appeared a bit later.

They went in the order of Tiger Room, Ox Room, Snake Room, and Rat Room, but even after searching all the bathrooms, toilets, and closets, Taiga remained elusive.

When Kamo asked to search the remaining room, everyone except Ayaka and Amamiya looked concerned. Soujirou was particularly opposed to the decision. But in the end, the room was opened over his objections.

The door and lock of the Rabbit Room were both identical to all the others, and it seemed Taiga was in charge of the key. However, since he was still missing, they had no choice but to take off the hinges.

Amamiya seemed to have learned from last time, and had the door down in five minutes. As soon as the door was removed, stagnant air hit them. Kamo stepped into the room while Amamiya was still putting the door aside.

The first thing he noticed was the smell of stale oil.

The room was so dark he couldn't make out the insides. He went to the back of the room and pulled open the curtains.

The smell came from a palette for oil painting and about 20 brushes of varying thickness left on the table. The palette was covered in dust, as though it had been unused for a long time, and the colors on the palette had mixed and hardened.

Tubes of oil paint and a palette knife protruded from a wooden toolbox next to it, and several bottles of oil were lined up as well. A blank canvas lay next to the bed. Their long years of neglect were shown in the oil stuck to the bottom of the bottles, the yellowing of the canvas, and the coating of dust it all bore .

Before he knew it, everyone except Amamiya had gathered in the room. Kamo once again searched the bathroom and toilet, and once again, Taiga was nowhere to be found.

Unlike the other rooms, the Rabbit Room showed no signs of having been renovated; the wallpaper and floorboards were both faded, and the interior of the bathroom and toilet were different, probably the same as they had been when the villa was first constructed.

Kamo looked at the newspaper the brushes were wrapped in and saw the date April 17th, Showa 23. By the Western calendar, that was 1948, 12 years ago.

...The room probably hadn't been opened for over a decade.

Kamo wanted to question Soujirou about the room, but didn't. The first thing they had to do was confirm Taiga's safety. There was no time to waste.

As he stepped back into the hallway, he almost bumped into Amamiya, who was looking into the room. The door had been propped against the wall to the right of the door frame as viewed from the hallway side.

Next, Kamo checked the baggage lift.

It was on the first floor, so he used the control panel to call it to the second. With a dull mechanical noise, a small cage rose before him.

It was quite an old-fashioned lift. Perhaps it was a relic from the days when Japanese electric elevators were in their infancy.

The floor of the cage stopped at the height of the floor of the... floor, probably for ease of loading and unloading.

When he opened the latticed metal bellows door, he could see inside the cage. However, the lift was unlit, so it was darker than he expected. Borrowing a flashlight from Amamiya, Kamo examined the cage. It was empty, and there were no dirt stains or any visible damage to the cage or its surroundings.

What Kamo found most disappointing was... the small size of the cage.

Measuring it with a tape measure, the cage was 110 cm wide, 70 cm deep, and 85 cm tall. Moreover, it had two shelves.

Kamo tried to move the shelves, but found they weren't movable. It appeared they had originally been designed to be, but they had completely rusted to the surface and were now fixed in place.

If the shelves could have been moved, that would have been different, but as things stood, each space between the shelves was only 110 cm x 70 cm x 27 cm, too small for an adult man to hide inside. It would be impossible unless the old man was secretly a yoga master.

According to Soujirou, Taiga was 170 cm tall, so it would be even more impossible.

Although Kamo was upset he'd wasted his time, he continued on to check the cleaning supplies room. Of course, Taiga wasn't there, either.

After finishing their search of the second floor, the group wordlessly decided to check the rest of the house. Kamo, who had been put in charge of monitoring the others, followed the crowd from behind and silently watched everyone's backs as they went down the stairs. Soujirou and his children, Genji, Ayaka, and Amamiya... they totaled six people.

"...Where's Tonegawa?"

Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Tonegawa that morning. At his question, everyone stopped and exchanged confused looks.

"Come to think of it, I didn't see her in the kitchen, either," said Tsukie.

Today she was dressed in a slim, monochrome one-piece dress with short sleeves. Amamiya nodded in agreement.

"It was unusual for her to sleep in so late, so Tsukie and I made breakfast together. ...After all that had happened, we thought she deserved a rest."

There must have been others who noticed her absence, but in the commotion of Taiga's disappearance, they had all forgotten.

Naturally, Kamo led everyone to Tonegawa's room.

The Rooster Room was locked, and no matter how many times they called out, there was no response. Calling her on the phone got nothing, either. Amamiya once again went to work on the hinges. While he waited, Kamo checked his smartphone. It was already ten minutes past eight.

When Kamo looked through the space where the door had once been, he gasped.

Tonegawa lay on her back, still wearing her uniform. There was foam on her lips and scratches on her throat. Drying blood seeped from the wounds.

Kamo had been outwitted again.

...Tonegawa Tsugumi was murdered in the Rooster Room with wounds on her throat. The Nue's thrush cry had been silenced.

"Ms. Tonegawa?"

Kamo heard Amamiya mumbling in despair as he held the door. Kamo ran into the room and checked her pulse, but it had run out long ago, her body cold. He shook his head.

With a harsh cry, Ayaka ran to Tonegawa's side and knelt down.

"Why did this happen...?"

Kamo was as stunned as anyone as he looked down at the corpse.

According to Ayaka's diary, the next victim should have been Soujirou... why had the culprit changed their target? Had they found out that he was staking out from the cleaning supplies room? Or had the criminal's behavior changed simply because of his presence?

He looked at Ayaka shivering at his side. Come to think of it, she was the only one who knew he was in the cleaning supplies room. Had she leaked it to someone? Or was she the killer, and everything written in her diary was nonsense?

"...Poison, huh?"

Kamo was forced back to reality by Soujirou's tired voice.

"Yes, it's very likely."

Kamo looked back to the body and saw that Tonegawa's fingertips were covered in dried blood. She must have died clawing at her throat. Examining the body further, he found a key with a netsuke of a chicken in the pocket of her maid uniform. He decided to keep it next to the key he'd found in Taiga's room.

Then he examined the bedside table.

On a tray beside the black telephone was an empty glass and several packets of medicine labeled "Si Jun Zi Tang". He'd seen them yesterday when he checked the lattice on her window. Today, one of them was open and empty.

"Did Ms. Tonegawa have any chronic illnesses?"

Ayaka wiped her tears and answered.

"She said she has a weak stomach. It could be for that."

Amamiya gave a small nod.

"I'm sure of it. She took a similar packet of medicine every day at the main house."

Soujirou suddenly let out a noise of disgust.

"What's the point of investigating that? We aren't doctors or medical examiners, so there's no way we can tell if that herbal medicine was poisoned."

"You don't need to be a doctor to find out."

It was Tsukihiko, who was looking down at Tonegawa's body.

"If we set a trap in the forest, we can probably catch a mouse. Why not make it drink some water with the herbal medicine dissolved in it? If it dies, then we'll know it was poisoned."

Tsukihiko had a terrifying shine in his eyes. Earlier, Kamo had called Hora a psychopath, but now he thought this young man might fit the bill much better.

"...That wouldn't prove much, would it?"

Tsukihiko looked more than a little upset with Genji's interruption.

"What do you mean?"

"Even if we do determine that the medicine was poisoned, there would be no way to determine when it was poisoned. It could have been there since before we arrived at the villa, or it could have been added after. People might not have locked their rooms before Koki's body was found. Anyone could have done this."

Kamo noticed how clean the glass was and spoke up.

"It seems that Ms. Tonegawa was in the habit of rinsing her glass after use, so it might be difficult to detect any traces of poison as well."

Defeated, Tsukihiko kicked the wall in frustration. Ayaka and Tsukie both jumped. However, the man in question suddenly spoke very quietly.

"More importantly... shouldn't we be looking for Grandfather? At this point, we still don't know what's happened to him."

Tsukihiko's attitude was creepy, but Kamo was more concerned about how Tsukie had reacted. While Ayaka just looked surprised at his sudden action, Tsukie's eyes reflected a genuine fear of her brother.

After confirming that Taiga wasn't in the Rooster Room, everyone decided to split up and search the building. The groups were Soujirou and his children, Kamo and Ayaka, and Genji and Amamiya.

Every private room on the first floor, the kitchen, the dining room, rec room, the warehouse, storage room, and machine room... they were all searched, but Taiga was nowhere to be found. They didn't find anything that had changed since yesterday, either. The basement of the villa also yielded no new information.

If it could be said that they found anything new, it was from the baggage lift on the first floor.

When he checked it again, Kamo found that the bellows door connected an inner door on the cage and an outer door on the hallway side, and that the outer door was locked when the cage wasn't on that floor.

As a test, Kamo tried hitting the lift's emergency stop button. He thought about forcing the doors open, but as soon as he tried, a jingling bell made him jump.

Ayaka explained that the system was designed to sound a warning bell whenever the emergency stop button was pressed and the cage was left in an abnormal position. Although Kamo quickly returned the lift to normal operations, he'd still caused a commotion that caused all the other groups to come running... Whatever the case, if the alarm was this loud, they could be sure no one had pressed the emergency stop last night.

The search ended with no other major disturbances, but Taiga still hadn't been found.

They decided the next step was to expand their investigation to the space outside the building. The rain had stopped for the moment, but the heavy clouds looked like they could break again at any time.

The moment they stepped outside, they were assailed by a sickening burning smell. It got stronger as they went around to the back of the building. ...The only equipment for baking things outside was the pizza oven.

A netsuke had fallen in front of the two meter brick kiln. The dragon holding the blue jewel wasn't attached to a key, and the string had clearly been cut.

Kamo picked it up and put it in his pocket, then he gently opened the door... The light shining in from outside vaguely exposed the burnt human corpse.

The culprit had probably used the firewood to burn the body. Ash and cinder had accumulated inside the oven. The fire seemed to have gone out quite a while ago, and the temperature inside was only warm.

Borrowing a flashlight to look inside, Kamo inspected the body in detail.

The face had been burnt particularly badly, to the point where they could no longer make out its original shape.

Of course, the rest of the body was burnt as well, but probably because of the high humidity, it wasn't as bad. The body hadn't fallen apart or anything.

However... the two legs were an exception. Horrifyingly, the flashlight exposed that the burned corpse was missing everything about seven centimeters below the groin.

The moment Kamo saw, the paining "Chimera" came to mind.

When they'd searched the building earlier, they'd confirmed that the bodies of Kyuichi and Koki were still in the underground warehouse, and the burned body's head was still attached to its neck... they could be certain that this burnt corpse didn't belong to Kyuichi or Koki.

If this was Taiga's body, it meant that the person whose name was similar to "tiger" had been killed. If they had stolen the legs, perhaps that was also part of the killer's plan. Perhaps from the beginning, the killer had been targeting both Taiga and Soujirou. Of course. A tiger had both front and hind legs, so they'd need two people.

...Ayaka was the murderer. The contents of her diary were a hoax. The doubt still lingered in Kamo's mind.

However, Ayaka had been by his side since last night, so she had a perfect alibi. There's no way she could have brought Taiga's body out to the pizza oven.

Even if he assumed she had an accomplice, he ran into the same problem. ...That night, Taiga had been the first person to leave the dining room, and Kamo had been the second. There was no way someone in the dining room could have gone upstairs, killed Taiga, and brought his body outside without Kamo seeing them.

Suddenly, he noticed Ayaka staring at him.

Her eyes were full of suspicion. Kamo immediately understood her doubts.

One was that Kamo himself was the murderer and the story about being a time traveler was all a lie. The second was that, since Kamo had been the first person to go after Taiga, he could have killed the old man.

The latter could be resolved easily enough. Ayaka should have gone upstairs a minute after Kamo, and she'd immediately joined him in the cleaning supplies room. She herself could prove that Kamo hadn't had enough time to commit the crime.

"Where are Grandfather's legs?"

Tsukie asked in a soft voice that made Kamo look back as though he were being lured by a siren. They weren't anywhere they could see from here. Of course, they hadn't found them in their search of the building, either.

Tsukihiko looked at Kamo with a revolting grin.

"Well, Detective, two new bodies have turned up... Have you uncovered anything new?"

Kamo thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.

"I have uncovered some new information that may help solve the case. I'd like to ask you all about it, so let's all gather in the recreation room."

*

As soon as he set foot in the rec room, Kamo froze.

"...It's gone?"

The paining, "Chimera", had disappeared from the north wall. Ayaka was pointing at it with her hand clamped over her mouth.

When they'd searched for Taiga, Kamo and Ayaka hadn't been assigned to the dining room-kitchen area. As a result, they hadn't seen the painting's disappearance until just now.

Kamo gave a tense grin as everyone shared confused looks and whispers among themselves.

"Would the person who moved this painting like to speak up?"

Every one of them shook their heads.

"...Then it would seem the culprit has struck again."

As soon as he said it, Soujirou approached Kamo with a look of rage.

"What are you saying? Do you mean there's some connection between the painting and this case?"

"Yes. It's possible the killer is following the pattern of the Nue."

The room went completely silent. Everyone stared intensely at Kamo. They all looked afraid.

He explained what he'd figured about the imitation murders.

"...Mr. Kyuichi was the head of the monkey. Mr. Koki was the torso of the tanuki. Mr. Taiga was the tiger's hind legs, and Ms. Tonegawa was the thrush's call. It's highly likely that Soujirou, from the Tiger Room, and Tsukihiko, from the Snake Room, will be next."

When Soujirou was named as the next victim, he covered his face with both hands. Tsukihiko stared back defiantly. Kamo calmly went on.

"The artist of that painting called themself Yachō. That name may have also been derived from the Nue. If this imitation crime is a message from the culprit, then the motive is probably related to that artist. So... there were oil painting tools in the Rabbit Room, which was declared off-limits. The owner of that room was Yachō, weren't they?"

No one responded. Kamo didn't let up and continued on the offensive.

"There must be a reason why that room was sealed off. If I'm to solve this incident, I need you all to explain what it was."

Genji gave a small sigh of defeat, then, slowly, he opened his mouth.

"The artist of 'Chimera' was the former occupant of the Rabbit Room. His name was Hata Reito... Yachō was his pseudonym as an artist."

"Hata Reito, how do you spell that?" Kamo asked.

"The 'hata' for 'feather', and the 'rei' and 'to' from 'order' and 'person'."

"Thank you. So, what kind of person was this Hata Reito? What was his relationship to the Ryuuzen family?"

"From my point of view... he was my cousin on my mother's side."

For some reason, Genji hesitated with his answer.

"I see, so your mother's maiden name was Hata."

"Yes, Reito's father was my mother's older brother. ...I heard from my brother that when Reito was in elementary school, his mother took ill and Grandfather took him in to the Ryuuzen household to be raised as one of our own."

He narrowed his eyes as he looked nostalgically off into the distance.

"He'd been with us for as long as I could remember. I viewed him as a genuine brother. He wanted to be an artist and would make oil paintings whenever he came to the villa. The Rabbit Room was practically his atelier."

"So he was older than you, is that correct?"

"Yes, he was five years older than Kyuichi. He'd be 39 if he were still alive."

The way he'd phrased that caught Kamo's attention.

"Could it be that Mr. Hata has already passed away?"

"We don't know whether he has or not."

"...What do you mean?"

Ayaka was the one who asked, voice raised in confusion. Genji gave her a sad smile.

"You don't know, do you Ayaka? It happened twelve years ago now, so you would have only been a year old."

That was 1948, a time when post-war turmoil was still high. Genji went on, keeping an even tone.

"At the time, I was still in middle school, spending a summer vacation in Hong Kong. At Grandfather's recommendation, I decided to spend a brief spell there to expand my knowledge."

"That was three years after the war, right? It must have been difficult to leave the country."

"Oh, that was no trouble. Grandfather was in deep with GHQ. ...While I was in Hong Kong, my father, Eitaro, passed away, and the next day, Reito went missing."

Kamo held his breath.

"If you'll forgive my asking, what was your father's cause of death?"

"He was ill. If you want more details, ask Uncle, who was here in the villa at the time."

Soujirou reluctantly explained.

"If I recall, it was the end of July, 1948. My older brother Eitaro developed severe food poisoning. We rushed him to a doctor, but it was too late. He didn't survive."

Kamo looked at the page-a-day calendar on the table. The date had changed, so it was now August 23rd. It had been twelve years and a month since Taiga's eldest son passed away.

"Do you recall what symptoms he had at the time?"

Soujirou shuddered slightly.

"Severe vomiting and diarrhea... His mouth and body turned red as though he were burning up, it was horrible. He was dead by the evening of the next day. It seems his liver and kidneys were damaged."

"Did anyone else in your neighborhood experience similar symptoms?"

Kamo didn't know whether symptoms like that could result from food poisoning or not, but it seemed similar to an infectious disease, so he asked.

"No, not a soul. Even the doctor couldn't make sense of it."

From Kamo's perspective, it wouldn't have been surprising if the police had investigated the case as a suspicious death. However, it had been diagnosed as food poisoning by an unknowledgeable doctor. In a rural area in the confusion of the post-war period, things like that were probably unavoidable.

As Kamo scowled in deep though, Soujirou nervously spoke up.

"Could it be that my brother was murdered?"

"I don't think there's any way to find out one way or the other now... You say Mr. Hata disappeared the next day?"

"Yes, he didn't show up at breakfast, so Tonegawa and I went to check up on him in the Rabbit Room. When we did, we found his room empty and his luggage all gone. We thought he must have left on some urgent business."

"Do you have any idea why Mr. Hata disappeared?"

"Ever since he'd returned from the war, he often seemed to be depressed. He'd been stagnating as an artist, so it wouldn't be surprising if he wanted to go off somewhere where no one knew him and make a fresh start."

Genji seemed unconvinced.

"I don't think Reito would have disappeared without telling any of us. Grandfather loved him as though he were his own grandson, and my father, brother and I all viewed him as a beloved family member, too. Besides... afterwards, Grandfather told me that in the will he had at the time, his estate was to be divided so that Reito got the exact same share as my brother and I. I could go on, but I think you understand how serious Grandfather was about him."

When Tsukihiko heard that, he shamelessly allowed his face to warp and twist.

"What, so even though he wasn't a member of the family, he got a bigger share of the inheritance than my dear old dad! Dad's share is only 1/7th the size of Genji's."

Kamo was more than a little surprised by that. Indeed, since arriving at the villa, he'd seen plenty of instances of Taiga being lenient with Genji and Ayaka. Perhaps he'd been the same towards Kyuichi. In a sense, it could be said it was cruel to let such personal feelings be reflected in the inheritance.

Soujirou's face turned bright red.

"Tsukihiko! What are you talking about at a time like this!?"

At the unseemly argument between father and son, Genji looked down as though he regretted bringing up the subject, but he soon spoke again.

"After I returned to Japan, Grandfather filed a missing persons report to the police, but we still haven't received any information on Reito's whereabouts."

From what they'd said, it sounded like Hata had many supports within the Ryuuzen clan, but at the same time, he had his share of enemies. Anyone who knew the contents of Taiga's will would have found him a hindrance.

"By the way, did anyone suspect a connection between Mr. Hata's disappearance and Mr. Eitaro's death?"

Soujirou answered with a mocking laugh.

"I think the thought occurred to everyone at least once. Well, with the possible exception of Father. He loved that boy more than any of his own children. ...What, you don't think Hata's returned and is attacking us, do you?"

Kamo stared at Soujirou, who had suddenly turned pale and started trembling.

"I don't know. But I'm certain the murderer wants to frighten you all by reminding you of the events of twelve years ago."

By now, Soujirou's veneer of gentlemanliness had completely vanished, revealing the coward that lied beneath. If that wasn't an admission of guilt, what was? Kamo suspected that Soujirou was somehow involved with Hata's disappearance.

However, he'd set his mouth in a hard line and didn't look in any hurry to say more. Kamo let off for now and decided to change tactics.

"Who was in the villa at the time?"

Soujirou remained silent, so Genji answered in his place.

"Everyone except me should have been there. My grandparents, my father Eitaro, my older brother Kyuichi, and Kayoko and Ayaka should have been there too. Ah, forgive me. Kayoko is Ayaka's mother... She passed away eight years ago. Heart disease."

Ayaka looked at the floor without saying anything. Kamo, who had also lost his mother at a young age, understood her feelings.

"...Wait, then was Eitaro's wife absent?"

He had asked the question without much thought, but this time Genji's face darkened.

"Her name was Ryoko. She was killed in the air raids on Tokyo."

Those words made Kamo realize that these people had lived side by side with war and death. He asked Genji another question

"You already said that Soujirou was at the villa. What about Tsukihiko and Tsukie?"

Tsukihiko replied with a yawn.

"Twelve years ago I was only nine. I don't remember anything from back then."

Tsukie was about to say something, but Tsukihiko silenced her with a glare. Soujirou answered on behalf of both his children.

"If I remember correctly, I brought them both here because I thought it would be nice to let them play in nature."

"What about their mother... Ikeuchi Shizue?"

Soujirou's face darkened.

"Ikeuchi wasn't there. That was right after the divorce, and we still wanted to keep as far away from each other as possible. Koki and his mother Shoko were there. Ms. Tonegawa, too."

"Mm-hm. Tell me more about Ms. Shoko."

"Shoko was my younger sister. After her husband passed during the war, she moved in with Koki, but she was killed in the sinking of the Tōya Maru in 1954. She sank into the water and never came back up."

The sinking of the Tōya Maru was one of the worst maritime accidents in Japanese history, claiming over 1000 victims. From Kamo's perspective, it was a historical event from over 60 years ago, but for the Ryuuzen, it was a recent tragedy from which they still bore scars.

Kamo took another moment to organize the information in his mind.

Taiga and his wife, their eldest son, their grandson and his wife, and the great-granddaughter. Taiga's second son and his two children, his eldest daughter and her son, Hata, and Tonegawa. In total, there had been 13 people in the villa.

Although it seemed like a lot of people, Ayaka, who was only a year old, would have shared a room with her mother, and Tsukihiko and Tsukie, who were both in elementary school, had probably shared a room, so the number of rooms shouldn't have been a problem.

Thinking about it, Kamo suddenly realized something.

"Everyone who's been killed so far was in the villa twelve years ago, weren't they? The same applies to Soujirou and Tsukihiko, who are likely to be targeted in the future."

Soujirou shuddered, and Tsukihiko looked at Tsukie with disgust. Looking at them both from the corner of his eye, Kamo continued.

"It seems that Eitaro's death and the disappearance of Hata Reito are quite important to our culprit."

Tsukihiko spoke up in a sarcastic voice.

"I've been listening to you ramble on for a while now, but what's the point of any of this? Aren't we supposed to be trying to find out who the culprit is? ...I get it. Since everyone was holed up in their rooms last night, nobody has an alibi, right? So, Detective, how exactly are we supposed to find out who the culprit is? You're the brilliant super sleuth. Enlighten us."

As Kamo listened, he wondered how much of his activities last night he should reveal. Eventually, he decided he had to tell them something.

"I do have one thing to apologize for... The truth is, by last night, I'd already deduced that the culprit was copying the form of the Nue."

Kamo didn't even have time to finish before Soujirou leapt to his feet.

"Why didn't you tell us!?" he screamed.

"I was hoping that, by playing my cards close to my chest, I could catch the culprit in the act. That's why I spent all of last night staking out the room of a likely target."

Tsukihiko burst out coughing before responding.

"Are you saying you were watching Grandfather's room all night!?"

"At the time, I believed the culprit was only going by the names of the rooms, so the Dragon Room, which doesn't correspond to any part of the Nue, wasn't on my list."

"The three rooms that relate to the parts of the Nue are the Rooster Room, the Tiger Room, and the Snake Room."

"Yes. I couldn't keep watch over all three by myself, so I assumed the culprit would prioritize the blood members of the Ryuuzen clan and kept an eye on the Tiger and Snake Rooms."

Since he couldn't just say he was acting based on Ayaka's diary, his reason for prioritizing the second floor hallway became extremely vague. Fortunately, nobody asked any questions.

Then, Kamo revealed that he and Ayaka had been hiding in the cleaning supplies room on the second floor all night.

"Of course, I hadn't expected Ayaka to watch with me. Under the circumstances, there was no guarantee it would be safer to let her return to her room, so I agreed to let her stay in the cleaning supplies room."

Both Genji and Soujirou were taken aback by his confession. They seemed to have forgotten to be outraged or ask Ayaka if she was alright and merely sat with their jaws hanging. At that point, Ayaka spoke with a serious expression.

"I know you all want to be angry with me for being so selfish, but right now, I need you all to listen to me... Nobody passed through the second floor hallway last night while we were on our nighttime vigil. Nobody broke into the Dragon Room, and nobody took Grandfather away."

The statement landed like a bomb. Tsukihiko, frowning deeply, was the first to speak.

"Then how did the culprit attack Grandfather and shove him in the pizza oven? It's another impossible crime!"

Kamo had no choice but to be honest.

"I have no idea how the culprit killed Mr. Taiga and got his body from the second floor to the pizza oven."

The young man pointed mockingly at Kamo.

"The only conclusion is that you're the culprit. Weren't you the first one to leave the dining room after Grandfather finished dinner? Then you're the only one who had a chance to attack Grandfather. That's how it was."

Ayaka shook her head immediately.

"That's not it. I followed Mr. Kamo as soon as the left the dining room and met him at his stakeout. He definitely didn't have time for that."

Tsukihiko's mouth curled into a cruel grin.

"I guess that's true... if I really believe you aren't accomplices."

Kamo gave a casual shrug.

"If we were accomplices, we'd just focus on giving each other alibis. There's no point in claiming that nobody went through the second floor hallway."

"...More importantly, is that body in the oven really Grandfather?"

The soft question came from Tsukie. She didn't talk much, but when she did, it was always important. Tsukihiko nodded, then lazily fell back onto the white sofa that he seemed to have claimed as his own.

"I've been thinking the same thing. He pretended to go back to his room, then hid in the basement warehouse until nightfall. Then he faked his death by shoving a corpse he'd prepared in advance in the pizza oven. How's that work for y'all?"

Tsukihiko made his proud declaration with a flourish. Genji's jaw dropped.

"Now you're calling Grandfather a murderer... Grandfather turned 83 yesterday and he has bad legs. There's no way he could have carried the body himself."

"That's right. Even though he can use a wheelchair to move inside the building, the outdoors are different. The stairs and grass would both get in the way."

At Soujirou's objection, Tsukihiko gave a snort of derision.

"Then let me ask: Does anyone here actually know what's wrong with Grandfather's legs?"

Nobody looked confident in their answers. Ayaka was the first to speak.

"But before we renovated the villa, Grandfather was hospitalized for six months. The doctors were the ones who said he needed a wheelchair."

Genji nodded.

"That's right, there's no way Grandfather could have walked. His condition was so serious his life was in danger."

Tsukihiko seemed to find his own flesh and blood's illness amusing.

"I know. Even though he had diabetes, he neglected his health because he was too focused on his work, right? But in the end, all any of us were told was that surgery had been done, and nothing else. We weren't even allowed visitation rights until he was healthy enough to sit up on his own."

He paused for a moment before showing a wide smile.

"I think the truth is his legs have already healed enough for him to walk and he didn't tell anyone. I wouldn't put it past Grandfather."

Amamiya responded surprisingly aggressively.

"It's certainly true the Master liked surprising people more than anything else. It might be strange of me to say this, but... it's certainly possible that he would hide if his legs had recovered. But there's no way he would ever do something so horrible! You know that, don't you!?"

Tsukihiko, who hated when people talked back, and Amamiya, who was trembling with anger, stared each other down. Sensing danger in the air, Genji spoke to Kamo, probably just to change the subject.

"Certainly, Grandfather had his childish and stubborn side. He would try to surprise us with sudden gifts so often that we basically all stopped being surprised by anything. And on the contrary, he also hid his illness even from his own family."

"That's not good. Why would he do such a thing?"

"Grandfather was obsessed with the idea of keeping people from seeing him vulnerable. I think this was just an extension of that."

Soujirou nodded his head before adding his own two cents.

"Things like this have happened before. Twenty years ago, he went on a business trip without telling anyone that he had abdominal pain. He managed to get a contract over a competitor, but... his appendix ruptured, and he developed peritonitis. He'd didn't show a hint of regret for his decision, and he forced through the pain, constantly saying things like 'if I show any weakness, I'll be finished'."

"I understand keeping secrets, but why would he hide that even from his own family?"

Soujirou stammered for a moment, seeming to have a hard time answering.

"I think it's because of Father's past."

"Mr. Taiga's?"

"Yes. Father's father, my grandfather, had a twin brother, an identical twin. They were exactly alike in every way, from their heights to their faces. And they fell in love with the same woman. That was when the problems started."

Tsukihiko interrupted with another sadistic grin.

"In the end, my great-granddad married that woman. But the old man never stopped worrying that his wife was seeing his little brother behind his back... and he thought that maybe, his kid was actually the son of his wife and his brother. Of course, nobody has any idea if there was actually an affair."

Hearing their story, Kamo couldn't help but wonder.

If a man suspected his wife of cheating on him, he could get a DNA test and confirm whether his child was actually his own. Regardless of whether it was actually a good idea or not, at least everyone could confirm whether or not they were actually parent and child.

However, if the person his wife was cheating with was his own identical twin, a brother with the same genes... even if they'd lived in 2018, there'd be no way to confirm who the boy's real father was.

Soujirou frowned deeply before continuing.

"In the end, the conflict between the twin brothers didn't end even after Grandfather's wife passed away, but became a battle for the succession to the family headship. It was a conflict that could have even driven flesh and blood to kill each other. Even Father was forced to participate in their conflicts against his will, and finally, when he was in university, he was left all alone in the world, when Grandfather and his twin brother both died under suspicious circumstances."

As the only survivor of the clan, Taiga had worked hard to bring about the happy family life he'd never been able to have as a child. However, the wound on his heart never healed. Somewhere inside of him, he was never able to trust his own family.

At the same time, Kamo thought he'd also solved a mystery that had been bothering him for a while.

Ayaka's younger twin sister, Fumino, had secretly been given away to another family as a child and even now was living with one of Taiga's acquaintances. According to the lawyer's investigations, even Kyuichi, the girl's own father, believed she'd been stillborn.

Thanks to her existence being kept a secret, she was the only one of the family who was destined to never be involved in the Deadly Tragedy of Shino. However, Kamo hadn't been able to figure out why her existence had been kept a secret and she'd been sent away.

Perhaps old man Taiga had arranged everything. He knew that his great-grandchildren were twins and feared that they'd fight. So he'd faked the stillbirth and given one of the babies away to another family.

Genji looked down sadly as he spoke again.

"It's true Grandfather didn't trust any of us. But I don't think your health is something you should ever keep from your own family.... Ayaka is still a child. Aside from her, I think the only people he'd tell are the ones who lived with him at the main house: my brother, Tonegawa, and Amamiya."

Hearing his name mentioned suddenly, Amamiya jumped in surprise and waved a hand.

"What? No, no, no, no, I've never heard of the Master's legs having recovered!"

Soujirou nodded as though in understanding.

"Even though Father raised you from a young age, he was conscious that you weren't our blood. It wouldn't be strange if he kept things from you."

Amamiya looked down, saddened a bit.

As Kamo listened to them talk, he began to think. Tsukihiko's idea might not have been that far off. It's likely that the culprit had targeted Kyuichi and Tonegawa first since they knew about Taiga's condition...

Could that be why the order of the crimes changed? Had the poison always been intended to go off last night?

Many questions buzzed in Kamo's head. He found answers to none of them.

*

After the interviews concluded, everyone split up. Soujirou, who had left with the group, immediately ran back in with a pale face.

"My hunting rifle and ammo are missing! They're both gone from the basement warehouse!"

In the basement warehouse were a gun locker and an ammo locker, where the gun and its bullets were kept. Apparently, he and Taiga each kept keys for them. There were no other spares.

When they went downstairs to check, they found that the locks hadn't been broken. That meant the culprit was either Taiga himself, or the murderer, having taken the keys off his corpse...

If the killer had obtained a loaded gun, the threat they posed was incalculable.

In light of the emergency situation, they decided to search the villa and the wood chopping shed again. Just like last time, they split into groups of three, two, and two, and this time they also searched everyone's luggage. But they didn't find anything, not the gun, not even a single bullet.

After searching the entire interior and failing, they decided to break for a late breakfast-lunch combo. Given the circumstances, no one had any appetite, but they couldn't go such a long time without eating. Tsukie and Amamiya made rice balls, and they drank a strong gyokuro green tea.

By the time they were finished, it was already after 1:00 P.M.

Kamo wanted to reinvestigate the Dragon and Rooster Rooms as soon as possible, but Soujirou insisted that they go outside and search the Netherwood and the garden for his gun, so there was nothing he could do. It was decided that Kamo and the three people he'd been working with since yesterday, Ayaka, Genji, and Amamiya, would search the garden, and the others would search the Netherwood.

When they stepped outside, they found the rain had become a heavy drizzle. Even if they carried umbrellas, their shoes would still get wet. However, since it was summer, they at least didn't feel cold. The villa was comfortable even without air conditioning.

On the way, he heard Amamiya whisper to Ayaka.

"This is the first time I've ever gotten into an argument with Mr. Tsukihiko. I just got so angry, hearing him talk about the Master like that."

Amamiya sounded deeply regretful of his actions, but Kamo was more sympathetic to him and his circumstances.

He was treated like a member of the family, but at the same time, he was an outsider and made to play the role of a servant. Of course, no matter how much vitriol Tsukihiko spewed, he was never allowed to fight back... Perhaps, just this once, he couldn't take it any more.

More importantly, Kamo was convinced from the word go that this search would be useless. He didn't think the culprit was dumb enough to hide their gun somewhere it would be easily found. It felt like they were just walking around aimlessly.

"That's right, why don't we go to Kojin Shrine?"

Genji turned back, a look of surprise on his face.

"Why would we go there?"

The real reason Kamo had asked was because he wanted to see the only building to survive the landslide, but he quickly made up some other excuse.

"I don't know much about guns, but I think they're sensitive to water and humidity. So I think we should look for a building with a roof."

Seeming satisfied with the answer, Genji silently began to climb to the garden's higher levels. Kamo followed him.

At the top of the garden lay a small wooden building.

The way the tiled roof shined black in the rain was beautiful. The building had a size of about three tatami mats; it was smaller than he'd expected. It had no torii gate, just two wooden pillars erected outside. It was an unusual shrine, without the name of the enshrined deity written anywhere.

Genji pushed open the wooden door of the shrine and began talking.

"The inside has tatami mats, so let's take a break here. There's a sacred object behind the shoji door there... Hey, what's wrong?"

Kamo wasn't listening. He was dumbfounded. Genji also noticed something unusual, looked into the shrine, and then staggered backwards.

If the the rifle had been inside the shrine, they wouldn't have been nearly as surprised.

What they'd found was another lost item: Chimera. The painting lay propped up against the clay wall of the shrine. Kamo had seen it hanging in the recreation room not long ago, so he was sure it was the same painting.

Amamiya reached hesitantly out to touch the painting's frame and stammered in confusion.

"I guess the culprit took it after all..."

Kamo stood blankly and said nothing, so Ayaka nodded for him.

"That seems quite likely. Is the hunting rifle here too?"

The three of them minus Kamo began a thorough search of the shrine.

Kamo was so lost in thought he didn't even think to help... There must have been a reason why the culprit took the risk of moving the painting to Kojin Shrine. And that reason could be a clue as to the culprit's identity.

Eventually, the others finished searching from the floor to the ceiling, and it was clear the rifle wasn't anywhere in the shrine. It seemed the only reason the culprit had come was to hide the painting.

When they stepped outside, the rain had gotten even stronger. Although no one said so, they naturally started walking back towards the villa.

Around the same time team Kamo returned to the entrance hall, the three who had been searching the Netherwood also returned. Apparently, they had mostly confined their search to the path, but eventually they'd decided that the poor visibility made even that too dangerous and came back. Naturally, they hadn't found anything.

At 2:00 P.M., Kamo was finally allowed to resume investigating in the villa.

Kamo was fine if he had to stay up all night, but Ayaka was already looking tired. Still, it seemed she was planning to stick with him throughout the investigation, so she went back to her room to change out of her wet clothes. She returned wearing a white blouse and a fluffy navy blue skirt. Moreover, when Kamo suggested she go to the rec room and take a break, she ignored him.

He decided to investigate the Dragon Room first. Ayaka, Genji, and Amamiya followed.

Kamo had investigated here once while searching for Taiga. Afterwards, the search for the hunting rifle had been enacted, but Kamo and Ayaka hadn't been in charge of the Dragon Room at the time. That room had been searched by Soujirou, Tsukihiko, and Tsukie.

When they searched for the gun, Kamo made everyone promise not to move anything more than strictly necessary, and if they did, to return everything to where they found it. If the three of them had followed his request, then the room should have been in the same state it had been in when the door was first broken down.

Kamo and Ayaka decided to focus on areas they hadn't checked before. Genji and Amamiya seemed content to act as witnesses to the investigation, and stood waiting in the doorway.

After they examined the bed and mattress, Kamo remembered the crooked key he'd picked up in his first search. When he took it out of his pocket, Amamiya looked at it strangely.

"What's that key?"

"I found it when you first broke down the door to this room... Come to think of it, you didn't actually go into the room, did you?"

"I just peeked in for a bit, then I stayed outside talking to Mr. Soujirou. This is the first time I've actually been in here today."

That matched up with Kamo's memory. He had indeed not entered the Dragon Room after removing the door. Even when they'd searched the whole villa, he hadn't been in charge of this room, and since he was paired with Genji, he wouldn't have had a chance to sneak off and enter it alone.

Kamo help up the key as he spoke.

"Let's straighten out this key and see if it really fits in the keyhole of the Dragon Room."

Borrowing a pair of pliers from the toolbox, Kamo somehow managed to force the key back into its original shape. Then he went out in the hall and inserted it into the keyhole of the door leaning against the wall.

It stuck a bit, but the key went all the way in, and when he turned it, the door locked and unlocked. Kamo nodded thoughtfully.

"It looks like this is definitely the key to the Dragon Room."

When Genji heard that, he squirmed his shoulders a bit.

"The doors to each room can be locked and unlocked from the inside by just turning the bolt on the knob, but from the hallway side, there's no way to lock them without the key... But you found the key inside the room. That makes it look like Grandfather returned to his room after dinner. But in that case, how did the culprit manage to attack him and drag him outside without being seen by you?"

"It's possible Taiga was attacked on his way back to his room and the culprit took his key then. They could have somehow thrown it into the room from outside."

Ayaka crossed her arms, looking unconvinced.

"Even if that happened, I don't think it explains how they got past me and Mr. Kamo's surveillance."

Genji also nodded firmly.

"Ayaka's right. There's no way the criminal could have gotten the key into the room while you were watching from the cleaning supplies room, or when we were taking the door off its hinges. At that time, you, Mr. Kamo, were the first to enter. I was also watching from next to you, and I can confirm that nobody could have thrown the key into the room without you, me, or Ayaka seeing."

"And I took the key as soon as I saw it, so there's no way the culprit could have swapped it with another..."

Kamo resumed his investigation of the room, still thinking.

"...By the way, I heard earlier that there's another wheelchair. Do you know where it is?"

Kamo asked that as he stared at the wheelchair next to the bed. Genji answered immediately.

"It was right next to the stairs on the second floor."

According to his account, he found it while searching for the hunting rifle. Apparently, it had been collapsed and placed in the space behind the oil paintings. However, since Tonegawa was the one in charge of the wheelchairs, Amamiya didn't know if that was its regular storage location or just temporary.

Next, Kamo removed the dark red lap blanket from the wheelchair in the room and began examining the collapsed wheelchair itself. It appeared he's accidentally hit some sort of switch, and the wheelchair suddenly unfolded with a loud noise. At the same time, something jumped out and rolled across the wooden floor.

Genji's poker face held firm, but Kamo felt his face turn red as he heard Ayaka and Amamiya laughing. But he forgot that as soon as he saw what was on the floor.

"...What's this?"

It was a golden tie clip decorated with a large pearl. Ayaka followed his line of sight, and her eyes bugged out.

"Oh, it's Grandfather's."

Genji also approached the clip and nodded.

"I think it was the day before yesterday Grandfather said he'd lost his tie clip. I didn't expect it to be here."

"Yes, he also asked me to search for this, so I know the details."

Kamo picked up the tie clip and and placed it on the bedside table. There was nothing else he could do with it. His client was already gone.

As for the jinbei on the chair, even Kamo, who had confidence in his memory, couldn't be sure if it was the same one Taiga had been wearing at dinner or a different one.

Next, he turned his attention to the open drawer. There was a pocket watch, a fountain pen, a notepad, some work papers... if he looked closely, he could see some documents from a patent attorney relating to a pharmaceutical trademark. It had "URGENT" stamped on it in red, so Taiga must have brought it to the villa because it needed immediate attention.

Kamo looked at the beautiful dragon pattern on the pocket watch.

"Come to think of it... this watch is quite similar to the one that Ayaka has."

Ayaka searched her pocket and pulled out her own smaller watch.

"Twenty years ago, Grandfather gave hand-wound pocket watches to everyone in the family as presents. This one I have was the one Mother gave to me."

She said this as she held the watch tightly.

The watch Ayaka had inherited seemed to be a woman's watch, a size smaller than the one in the drawer. Kamo asked Genji for more details.

"Does everyone here have a watch like this, by any chance?"

He gave a small nod and a sad smile.

"I have one, though I don't usually keep it on me. ...I'm sure even Grandfather occasionally used a wristwatch."

"Yes, I've heard him say he usually didn't carry his pocket watch, either," Ayaka interjected.

Genji continued.

"In fact, these watches are special items that symbolize the bond between the Ryuuzen family. That must be why Grandfather brought his here to this villa and kept it in his room."

Kamo opened the lid to reveal the dial, marked with Roman numerals. The hands still indicated 6:46.

Kamo suddenly remembered the hidden space in Ayaka's watch, so he checked if this one had a similar opening. The watch's elaborate construction made its joints nearly invisible, but he managed to find a protrusion he could hook with a fingernail. With a soft crack, the lid opened.

"...Nothing, huh?"

He had expected to find something, but the space of 1 cm x 4 cm x 2 cm was empty. Genji looked at him in surprise.

"You found that hidden medicine pouch pretty easily."

"Oh, I just knew it was here because Ayaka offered me her konpeito."

Just a Kamo was about to put the watch back in the drawer, he heard a strange "chaka-chaka" noise from somewhere. It was a light sound, similar to a chime.

As Kamo looked around, Ayaka smiled embarrassedly.

"I think... I might have forgotten to wind it."

She took out her pocket watch and began to wind it. The gentle sound it made was soothing to the ears.

"That chime works a bit like an alarm, doesn't it?"

"Yes, the mainspring of this watch can only run for 12 hours, so it lets you know where there are only 30 minutes left. It's one of the functions Grandfather had installed."

Kamo nodded and returned the larger watch to Taiga's drawer, then decided to go upstairs and check behind the oil paintings before investigating the Rooster Room.

Behind the largest painting was the collapsed wheelchair, just like Genji had said. A dark red lap blanket had been casually draped over it. He pulled out the wheelchair and inspected it, but found nothing new.

...Thinking back, he remembered seeing them before hiding in the cleaning supplies room. Though at the time he'd only recognized them as "something metal" and "a red cloth" and hadn't though much of them.

Kamo took a few steps towards the window.

All of the oil paintings were leaning against the wall on the lift side, so the gap behind them was visible to anyone passing by. Practically speaking, there were no blind spots where a person could hide next to the stairs.

If there was any exception, it was behind the collapsed wheelchair. However, it was only about 30 cm wide, so an adult couldn't hide there.

Remembering where the wheelchair had been when he saw it last night, he decided to confirm whether or not person could hide behind it. As a result, he discovered that the wheelchair had been placed directly against the wall, and there was no space behind it... That also eliminated the possibility that someone had been lurking in the space next to the stairs before he started monitoring the area from the cleaning supplies room.

Tonegawa's clothes and luggage, which had been left in the Rooster Room, were the bare minimum for a person. She didn't have any notepads in her room.

Just to be certain, Kamo inserted the key with the chicken netsuke into the door and confirmed that it was actually the key to the room. Then he re-examined the glass and the medicine packet, but found nothing. However, Tonegawa's body was still in the room... Kamo couldn't shake the feeling that she was staring at him the whole time.

To conclude the investigation, they left the building to inspect the pizza oven.

The rain-soaked oven was by now completely cold, and the ashes inside were starting to harden due to the moisture. The pizza oven was large enough for a person to fit through the entrance.

Kamo once again shined his flashlight on the body, but even the arms and chest, which had escaped with relatively little damage and weren't completely charred, didn't feature any details that would tell him whether or not this body was Taiga.

Summoning all his courage, Kamo moved his face closer to the corpse.

He smelled the horrible odor of burnt flesh, but there wasn't any smell of rot inside the entire kiln.

"Is that some sort of wood?"

When Genji raised his voice, Kamo looked in the corner of the oven and saw a piece of varnished wood. When he moved the body out of the way, being careful not to damage it, he found that it was rounded. However, it was difficult to guess what it had originally been from the fragment of less than 5 cm.

Not willing to give up, Kamo dug around in the ashes, and he found objects that sparkled even in the soot. They were two small keys. Genji recognized them as the keys to the gun and ammo lockers.

Kamo stared at the charred, legless body, mind full of unanswered questions.

If they'd found the keys here, did that mean this was Taiga's body after all? Or had the culprit left the keys here to mislead them?