Friday, October 18, 2019, 2:25 P.M.
From the ship's deck, Yuki watched Kakuriyo Island fade into the distance like a forgotten nightmare.
The boat arrived at 1:40 P.M. Fortunately, by then the waves had calmed to the point where the boat could safely dock. En route to the island, the captain had seen the rising smoke and called the fire department... as well as the police. It would only take a few hours before they both arrived on Kakuriyo Island.
The six survivors had all boarded the boat in the name of transporting the injured to a hospital.
Motegi's fever continued to rise and fall, and he really did need to go to a hospital as soon as possible. In addition, Yuki and Mikumo had sustained minor burns on their arms from the explosion... and the other three had small cuts from when the blast sent window glass flying.
After first aid was administered, Yuki asked the other five to meet him on deck, without the captain's presence.
Shigaraki did as he was asked and came up, but it looked like the seasickness he had experienced on the journey there was already kicking in again. His face was pale.
“We don't need to discuss how to explain things to the police. Haven't we talked enough already?”
Indeed, that was what Yuki and the others had discussed nonstop until the moment the boat arrived... “What do we tell the police?”
Obviously, telling the truth wasn't an option. If someone said “It was the Visitor!”, the best case scenario would be their story being written off as shock and confusion following the traumatic incident. Otherwise, the police would have placed the suspicious storyteller at the top of the suspect list.
So they'd discussed how they could omit those parts of the story, and who they could blame for the crimes instead of the Visitor.
In the end... Kikyo was chosen to play the role of culprit.
As the last victim, he was made to bear the responsibility of killing Unno and Koga, and burning down the former community center. Perhaps it was due to resentment that had been built up within him over the course of years? No one raised any objections, and no one spoke in Kikyo's defense.
At any rate, the scene of Unno's murder and the former community center where the other two murders had taken place were already burnt to a crisp. There shouldn't have been any evidence left with which to pinpoint the culprit. The police would have no choice but to rely on their testimonies.
Yanagawa also sounded exhausted and looked like she'd lost the will to live.
“I'm with Shigaraki on this 'un. We've already settled on a story, so there ain't nothin' left to discuss, is there?”
First, Yuki confirmed that the captain was still in the wheelhouse and didn't look like he was listening to them. Then he spoke softly.
“Unfortunately... this case isn't over yet.”
“What are you saying?”
It was Mikumo who found that the biggest shock. She was more distraught than Yuki had ever seen.
“I'm sorry I deceived you all. The theory I explained at the former community center... it isn't true.”
Saijou blinked in confusion.
“I didn't notice any flaws with your deduction. Did you notice a problem afterwards, Ryuuzen?”
“No.”
Everyone on the deck started shouting at him. It wasn't unreasonable, given how strange Yuki's behavior was.
“Back in the former community center, I knew from the start that I was speaking nonsense. I only said what I had to.”
Motegi, who was sitting on a cushion he had borrowed from the captain, smiled.
“I see no problem with that, my boy. The Visitor was captured and we all escaped the island. I'd call that a success.”
Yuki nodded absently.
“I suppose, but... I still think you all deserve to know the truth. And why I had to tell a nonsense theory I knew wasn't true in the first place.”
Each of the other five was looking at Yuki with a mixture of anxiety, doubt, and fear.
Yuki looked at Kakuriyo Island, floating on the horizon, and began.
“The truth I'm about to explain... in many places, it's the same as what I told you all back in the former community center. For instance, everything up until the point where the Visitor kills Mr. Koga in the form of Director Unno. However, the explanation I gave as to how Producer Kikyo was killed wasn't true.”
In the previous deduction, the murder of Kikyo was the decisive factor in identifying the culprit. Because that murder was the only one to be an impossible crime, the constrained possibilities formed into a noose around the Visitor's neck.
Mikumo chose that moment to ask a question.
“Even if the method was different, it shouldn't change the fact that the Visitor could only have been in one of the two small rooms. Shouldn't it?”
“No. The one who killed Producer Kikyo was there in the multipurpose area with us.”
Surprisingly, nobody reacted to that bombshell.
Perhaps they'd suspected that's where Yuki was going with this as soon as he'd announced there was a different truth. Or... perhaps they were just so exhausted they no longer had the strength to argue.
Looking at each person's face in turn, Yuki continued.
“The culprit entered Producer Kikyo's small room via the hallway.”
“How?”
Saijou's question was barely audible.
“For the time being, let's forget the Visitor and its special rules. Sometimes that makes things simpler, you know? I think the first thing we should be asking is... was Tara the culprit's accomplice?”
Suddenly, Motegi broke into a grin. He still appeared to be delusional with fever.
“I see... That is one of the most famous tricks in all detective fiction. I'll never forget how surprised I was upon my first reading of that classic masterpiece, 'The Adventure of S-'”
Yuki hurriedly cut him off.
“Don't say any more than that, that's a major spoiler.”
Mikumo glared at Yuki with a look that could sour milk. How dare they talk like this during a murder investigation?
“So if you were able to tame Tara, you'd be able to pass freely through the hallway, right? But that isn't possible... There's no doubt the Visitor is involved in this case, so it's just not possible.”
“And why is that?”
“Because it would mean the Visitor and a dog were accomplices. Are you trying to say my grandmother's final message was a load of rubbish?”
Mikumo looked as confused as anybody. Yuki gently shook his head.
“Of course, I have no intention of casting doubt on Ms. Eiko's notes. I have no doubt that a dog would bark at a Visitor without fail. Especially Tara, who barks at everyone he sees other than his owner.”
“Then that would mean that Tara was a fake, the Visitor in his form. Don't tell me... You think the Visitor had a human accomplice?”
“I don't think that either. To the Visitor, humans are nothing more than food. We wouldn't trust an important part of a crime to a pacific saury or a pumpkin, would we?”
Mikumo was at a total loss. The other four people also stiffened with their mouths half open. Yuki knew why. What he was about to say would destroy the basis for all their previous reasoning.
Suddenly, Yanagawa started violently shaking her head.
“No, that can't be true! If yer right, then that'd mean there were two Visitors on the island working together!”
Yuki smiled at her.
“That's exactly right. There were two Visitors the whole time.”
“...That isn't possible. Are you saying that two Visitors appeared in the Divine Land?”
As she voiced her objection, Mikumo searched the pocket of her windbreaker. Inside were Eiko's notes, which had been entrusted to her.
Mikumo had also clearly said she'd heard the same thing from her father that was written in the notes: Exactly one Visitor appeared in the Divine Land every 45 years.
“No, that rule hasn't been broken. Only one Visitor appeared in the Divine Land... the other is the same Visitor that appeared 45 years ago and committed the Beast of Kakuriyo Island incident.”
“WHAT!?”
Saijou was the one to raise his voice in surprise. Total incomprehension was written all over his face.
“But the night before last, in the Divine Land, you were the one to explain it, Ryuuzen! You said that the Visitor that appeared 45 years ago was thrown into the sea by Ms. Eiko... Oh, the rest of you didn't hear about that.”
Yuki obligingly summarized what he'd previously told Saijou and Kikyo to the other four people.
If the Visitor that had appeared 45 years ago hadn't been killed, it would have immediately attacked Mr. Sotani, who'd come to the island, stolen his boat, and escaped. That would be the quickest way to leave Kakuriyo Island.
In actuality, however, Mr. Sotani had called the police and obligingly waited on the island until they arrived. That was an action the Visitor wouldn't have taken. Based on that... he'd concluded that Mr. Sotani, who waited for the police to arrive, was real, and the Visitor was already dead by the time he'd arrived on the island.
However, Yuki had realized his assumption was wrong.
He took out his phone, which barely had some charge left, and opened a PDF copy of the article from Unsolved Mysteries. He enlarged a photo and showed it to everyone.
○(The Eirianmaru is floating in T. Port, being towed by a police vessel)
Mikumo looked at it with furrowed brow.
“The problem is that Mr. Sotani's boat is being towed by a police vessel.”
Shigaraki, who had taken out his own phone to check the article, gasped out loud.
“If it's being towed, then... You mean the Eirianmaru broke down?”
“Yes. For whatever reason, the Eirianmaru malfunctioned after reaching Kakuriyo Island, which means the very first link in my earlier deduction chain has been shattered.”
“If the Eirianmaru wasn't working, then there would be no way to escape from Kakuriyo Island without calling for help. That would give it a reason to call the police and wait for them to arrive whether it was human or Visitor.”
Shigaraki's voice was shaking like a leaf.
“Could it be that the Visitor was trying to use the police to escape the island?”
“That's it. Based on the estimated times of death, it likely believed that 'Mr. Sotani' would never be treated as a suspect no matter what. The truth is that everything that happened actually went according to the fake Mr. Sotani's plan.”
As he said that, Yuki swiped at the screen of his phone.
“According to this article, Mr. Sotani committed suicide by jumping into the ocean two months after the incident. I believe that was a false suicide while the Visitor took a new victim and mimicked their appearance.”
Of the five, Mikumo was the most resistant to this new theory. She took a stab at debunking it.
“No, Mr. Sotani can't have been mimicked by the Visitor.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because of the bodies. When the Visitor mimicked Mr. Sotani, it would have left behind his skinned corpse, right? Even if the Visitor dumped the body into the sea... there were no boats for it to use, so it would have had no choice but to toss it directly from the island to the ocean. There's no way it could have been sure it would be swept out to sea, and in fact it'd be more likely for it to drift back to shore or get caught on the nearby rocks.”
“Yes, all of that's true. Even if they weighed it down and sank it into the sea, the police thoroughly searched the entire island and the surrounding waters. I don't think it could have hidden the body without an extremely clever hiding spot.”
“So then, how did it do it? Where did the Visitor hide the real Mr. Sotani's body?”
Straight to the point. Yuki decided to answer with another tangent.
“During the incident 45 years ago, the Visitor was cleverly able to hide Mr. Sotani's skinless body. But haven't you noticed, in this case we're facing now, there are still inconsistencies regarding the bodies? Or... maybe it would be more accurate to say 'the inconsistencies have resurfaced'.”
Mikumo looked startled, but she quickly came to an answer on her own.
“If there were two Visitors, than one of them was mimicking Tara, and the other, Producer Kikyo's murderer, was in the multipurpose area. If we assume all that... then we'd have no choice but to assume that the body of President Koga in his room was real, wouldn't we?”
“That's the problem. According to our reasoning, it was actually Mr. Koga's body that was burned beside the pandanus tree. However, since the real Mr. Koga's body was still in the room, that burned body must have been someone else.”
Saijou, who hadn't stopped looking completely bewildered, spoke.
“Does that mean there was one more body on the island that we weren't aware of?”
Yuki answered with a shake of his head.
“One more? Not at all. There were so many bodies on that island I can't count them all.”
“What are you saying?”
Shigaraki almost choked on his scream, and simultaneously, Mikumo's eyes widened and her mouth flew open.
“You don't mean... the cemetery?”
“Got it in one. It's no surprise to find bodies buried in a cemetery.”
Shigaraki's face went blank at Yuki's words.
“What are you talking about? What's buried in that cemetery isn't bodies, it's ashes, right?”
“That would be the normal assumption. But on this island, after the war, in-coffin cremation became the burial custom.”
That had been written in Unsolved Mysteries, and Yuki recalled that he himself had explained it to Mikumo and Saijou at the cemetery.
As late as 1974, no crematorium had existed on Kakuriyo Island, so cremation was carried out by starting an open fire with firewood laid on the ground and placing the coffin on top of it.
“...I don't think it's that strange that the shape of the body would remain intact, since open-air cremation would produce much lower temperatures.”
“Ryuuzen's right. Come to think of it, there were marks in the cemetery that looked like they'd been dug up.”
Saijou looked stunned. Yuki gave him a nod before continuing.
“We'd assumed those marks were from the Visitor trying to find the location indicated by the code, didn't we? But they were actually the remains of it digging up a body to remove from the cemetery.”
“In addition, the burned body we found was charred and shrunken like a mummy, but that wouldn't have happened if a fresh body had been burned normally. That's another piece of evidence against the theory I gave at the former community center... It was a result of re-burning a body that had been dead for 45 years.” (See Figure 3)
Yuki was running out of breath from his long explanation, so he paused for air before continuing.
“Also, I don't think the Visitor was the one responsible for removing the body's head and neck. That was probably the state the body was in when it was placed in the grave.”
Motegi, who they'd thought had fallen asleep, started and mumbled something.
“So... the Visitor started the fire in the cemetery...?”
“Most likely, it was trying to destroy Eiko's notes, but we should also consider the possibility it was also attempting to obscure how much digging it had done.”
Motegi gave a mysterious smile.
“Ah, I've solved it at last. ...The cemetery was used in the same manner to make Mr. Sotani's body vanish forty-five years ago, was it not?”
“Yes, it was.”
By the time he replied, Motegi was already back asleep. Yuki finished explaining to the remaining four.
“45 years ago, the Visitor dug in the cemetery and removed a body from its coffin. Then, it burned Mr. Sotani's body... and buried it in the old coffin.”
45 years ago, someone had dug up the island's cemetery.
At the time, the police had concluded that the graves had been searched in hopes of collecting gold buried in the coffin, but that was a mistake.
The police probably hadn't examined every coffin in the cemetery. As a result, they hadn't found Mr. Sotani's burned remains. But it was an understandable mistake. There was no way they could have known to even consider the possibility.
As a result, they'd assumed the old body the Visitor had left in the cave was unrelated to the Beast of Kakuriyo Island incident and disposed of it.
“...The Visitor that appeared 45 years ago also faked evidence that it had been killed by Ms. Eiko. I believe it was afraid there may have been people beyond the island who knew of its existence.”
In fact, the newspaper article written at the time had mentioned something strange.
Although Mr. Sotani visited Kakuriyo Island on the 5th, he hadn't radioed the police until the early morning of the 6th. He had probably made the excuse that he'd gone into shock at the horrible sight... but in actuality, the Visitor hadn't called the police until after it was finished digging up the cemetery and disposing of the real Mr. Sotani's body.
Yuki went on.
“So, I believe that the Visitor escaped from Kakuriyo Island and spent the next 45 years in hiding.”
Saijou shook his head, still not able to accept it.
“But that doesn't make sense. Visitors attack humans and drink their blood, don't they? Surely something like that would make the news.”
“I think it already did. Only, nobody has made the connection between it and the Visitor.”
“...You don't mean...?”
“For five years now, there's been an ongoing series of assaults on homeless people in Tokyo. In the pages of Unsolved Mysteries, a certain writer theorized that the culprit may be the same person who committed a series of street assaults in Kansai... It's entirely possible that the culprit of both those cases is the Visitor.”
The deck was enveloped in silence. Even though the sea breeze was warm, Yuki felt a chill. Still, it was too late to stop now.
“Let's get back to the case we lived through.”
There wasn't a droplet of blood left in Yanagawa's face.
“So who is it? Who's the Visitor among us?”
“The three things we need to identify them are... 'Producer Kikyo's sneakers', 'the wine bottle Producer Kikyo dropped', and 'Ms. Eiko's code'.”
Saijou jumped as though he'd been bitten.
“That's all? Is that really enough to identify the Visitor?”
“Of course. Let's start with Producer Kikyo's sneakers. Those sneakers were Producer Kikyo's favorites, but there was almost no dirt on their soles.”
Mikumo frowned when she heard that.
“That is a bit strange. Since his arrival on the island, Producer Kikyo traveled all the way across the island to the Divine Land and back. There should have been some dirt on his soles.”
“It looked like they'd been recently wiped clean. That was what bothered me.”
“But that could just have been Producer Kikyo taking care of his shoes... What about the wine bottle he dropped?”
“I think you were there when I noticed it, Ms. Mikumo, but do you remember the stain on the wall to the left of the restroom door?”
“Yes, there was a mark on the wall that looked like wine had spilled there. That was from when Producer Kikyo spilled the wine, wasn't it?”
Yuki was relieved that she remembered.
“I agree, it was spilled by Producer Kikyo. But that stain was on the inside wall of the bathroom (see Figure 1). That means Producer Kikyo dropped the wine bottle against the inside wall of the restroom.”
“...I suppose he must have.”
Although she didn't sound happy about it, Mikumo agreed.
“In that case, it would be safe to assume that Producer Kikyo had the wine bottle in his left hand as he was trying to leave the restroom and it got caught on the wall. If he dropped the wine bottle in that position, it almost certainly would have spilled some wine onto the ground at Producer Kikyo's feet as well.”
Yanagawa nodded and cut him off.
“Yer right. If'n he dropped the bottle there in the doorway o' the restroom, there's no way his shoes would have stayed dry. The wine covered the whole space 'round the exit.”
“However, there were no footprints left in wine in the hallway. Also, Producer Kikyo's sneakers and pants were both black, so I couldn't confirm whether or not they were dirty, but the soles of his shoes were unnaturally clean... That got me thinking. I suspect that someone wiped the wine footprints from the corridor and the wine stains from the bottoms of his shoes.”
Yuki paused and looked down.
“It wasn't until I realized that that I began to suspect the existence of the second Visitor. ...For the footprints to have been wiped would mean someone had gone out into the hallway without being barked at by Tara. Of course, that wouldn't have been possible unless Tara was an accomplice. Hence, two Visitors.”
Yanagawa groaned.
“But it still don't make sense. Why did the Visitor need to hide the bossman's footprints and clean his shoes for 'im? The wine wasn't fillin' the whole hallway, so why didn't it just step around the puddle on its way to the room?”
“That's where Ms. Eiko's code comes in. Shigaraki said before that it's too simple for a code, didn't he? In fact, it is a code any human could solve in an instant. But... what if it's completely impossible for a Visitor?”
Mikumo looked at him, clearly confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Ms. Eiko, who created the code, must have feared more than anything that a Visitor would intercept her final message. She was a cautious woman, so she wouldn't have left the code without taking some precautions.”
Now it was Shigaraki's turn to tilt his head.
“But everyone here read that poem, didn't they? All they'd have to do was find the four red tiles in the cemetery.”
“Yes, which leads me to suspect... that Visitors can't see red.”
Everyone gasped as one. Yuki immediately continued.
“In Ms. Eiko's notes, it was mentioned that Visitor have two types of sensory organs. Furthermore, it was also mentioned that the sensory organs used for digestion and mimicry were much more powerful than the ones used to observe the outside world. In the notes, the part beyond that was rendered illegible, but... I think it originally said that the sensory organs the Visitor use to see the outside world cannot recognize the color red.”
Yanagawa, the camerawoman, understood immediately, holding her head in her hands as she spoke.
“I getcha. If they couldn't see the color, then red'd look black and pink'd look gray.”
“Incidentally, no two tiles in the cemetery are the same color; there was a complete spectrum of shades of gray. In that situation, it would be impossible for a Visitor to identify a tile that was actually salmon or plum.”
“You mean my grandmother had thought that far ahead when she made the code?”
Mikumo's eyes were wide. Yuki nodded towards her.
“That's what I've concluded. ...And thanks to that code, we were able to to obtain the final information we need to identify the Visitor.”
“I see.”
Motegi rejoined the conversation. They'd thought he was asleep, but apparently he was still listening. He continued muttering to himself.
“This case, the Mystery of the Ambush... it is a special setting mystery which requires two stages of deduction to solve. At long last, all of the rules have been put into place and the first stage has been completed, has it not?”
Yuki gave a bitter smile to hear his delusional ramblings.
“In a way, Mr. Motegi is right. At any rate, the Visitor wiped the footprints from the hallway. Because the floor of that hallway is gray vinyl, remember? It would have been difficult for the Visitor to identify the location of the wine.”
After a moment's thought, Mikumo spoke up.
“But the wine and the floor weren't necessarily the same shade. Even a Visitor could have told the difference, couldn't it?”
“Yes, it might have been able to see the boundary between the puddle and the floor, but the footprints would have faded. I don't think there's any way it could have told the difference between clean flooring and the faded footprints. They would have all been a continuous mass of gray.”
“Which means... the Visitor couldn't have avoided Producer Kikyo's footprints. So in order to avoid leaving its own footprints on top of Producer Kikyo's, it wiped the entire floor?”
“Yes. It had access to toilet paper, wet wipes, and plastic bags from the portable toilets to work with. It could have tossed everything it used in with the rest of the bathroom's trash and been sure nobody would suspect a thing.”
“But that puddle of wine was a neat oval shape. If Producer Kikyo had stepped in it, I think it would be a bit more misshaped.”
“Oh, that's because the Visitor overwrote the wine puddle.”
Mikumo's eyes shot wide open.
“Overwrote?”
“There were two empty wine bottles of the same brand lying in the small room. One was the bottle Producer Kikyo dropped in the bathroom. The other was the one the Visitor used to recreate the puddle... as well as to destroy the recording device.”
“And it also wiped down Producer Kikyo's shoes?”
“The soles of those sneakers are a pinkish-gray color. It's a color that would be hard to recognize a wine stain on, but to the Visitor, it must have looked plain gray. As a result... it couldn't tell how much wine was on the shoes, so it carefully wiped them down entirely with a wet wipe.”
Yuki looked around at all five people on the deck.
“So the question remains: who is the Visitor?”
Yuki pointed to each of them in turn.
“First, Mr. Motegi. You didn't act alone a single time between last night and this morning. I can confirm you never set foot in the hallway, so you aren't the Visitor. Shigaraki... was the first to find a pink tile when we went to the cemetery. Shigaraki can see red, so he isn't the Visitor. Likewise, Ms. Mikumo was able to find a plum tile by herself. ...Ms. Yanagawa also isn't the Visitor. She looked at Ms. Eiko's journal and casually pointed out which parts were written in red.”
Yuki took a breath, then turned to the last person left.
“In conclusion, you're the Visitor, aren't you, Mr. Saijou?”
Saijou looked down at the deck floor in silence. He neither confirmed it nor denied it.
“If you'll recall... Mr. Saijou didn't try to find any tiles himself, and he also mixed up the magenta and blue-gray tents when we were setting up the multipurpose area. He isn't able to see red.”
Though she probably didn't know what they were talking about, Fuwawa poked her head out of Yuki's bag and hissed at Saijou.
When the thing that looked like Saijou saw that, it chuckled.
“I suppose that kitten's recognized me from the beginning. Ever since I took this form, it's been threatening me.”
It then raised its gaze to stare directly at Yuki.
“You knew the truth, but you still went on and on about your false theory at the former community center... were you hoping to lure me off guard here on the ship?”
“Yes. On a boat, there's nowhere for you to run. Just when you were sure you'd managed to escape, your hope would be snatched away and you'd fall into despair. A fitting fate for someone like you, I'd say.”
Yuki's voice was cold and pitiless.
It was the same thing he'd originally intended for Kikyo, but now that he wasn't available, Yuki had transferred the same fate to the Visitor.
And yet, the Visitor, still wearing Saijou's face, began to laugh.
“This boat is out in the middle of the sea. Certainly, a fall from here would kill me.”
For the first time, Yuki allowed himself to scowl.
“What did you do with the real Mr. Saijou...?”
“Oh, I ate him. What did I do with the dregs he left behind? Did I bury them somewhere? I don't remember.”
That much should have been obvious. But hearing it from the Visitor's own mouth made Yuki feel like someone was digging into an open wound.
Seeing the look on his face, the Visitor smiled.
“You know, I absorbed Saijou's memories alongside his body. He saw a lot of himself in you, Ryuuzen. Even though he got worried whenever you'd pick fights with Kikyo and Unno, he valued you as a junior and as a friend... Have I been doing a good job replacing him?”
Yuki couldn't keep the hatred from his glare, but the thing turned away, looking irritated.
“There's no point getting emotional... Saijou's already dead.”
The Visitor leaned against the deck's railing. It looked completely self-assured, as though it were confident it could take all five of them.
“We've still got a ways to go until we reach land. As long as I'm here, I may as well explain what's happened since I arrived on this planet.”
Saying that, the Visitor turned to look at Yuki again.
“Forty-five years ago, I appeared in the Divine Land. Those islanders almost killed me, but Sasakura, the ignorant outsider, opened the gate blocking my escape across the sea. That man was convinced the island was home to a hidden treasure.”
“And so you attacked Professor Sasakura and mimicked him?”
The Visitor nodded at Yuki.
“Yes, he was the first human I met. As I attacked the islanders in his form and drank their blood, I gradually learned the secrets of the island. You humans are greedier and more fearsome animals than we could ever be... At least we don't use up our victims' corpses and then hold festivals where we parade them around.”
“Did you kill my grandmother?”
Mikumo's voice trembled with anger.
“Mikumo Eiko was a formidable opponent. She destroyed the boats to trap me on the island, then emptied her hunting rifle at me. Not only that, but in order to stop me from drinking her blood and obtaining her knowledge of the code... As soon as she accepted her death, she threw herself off the cliff into the sea. If only I had been able to properly take her memories for myself back then, none of this would have happened...”
Filled with disgust, the Visitor continued.
“Sotani arrived on Kakuriyo Island, but his boat, the Eirianmaru, broke down. I had no choice but to falsify the appearance that I, the Visitor, had died, then call the police.”
“So you dug up the cemetery and hid Mr. Sotani's body there?”
“That's right. I took the gold from the cemetery to draw the police's attention to the legend of the treasure. Everything went as planned, and I was able to escape the island. Later, I arranged for Sotani to 'commit suicide' and completely disappeared from your society.”
The Visitor's face formed a wistful smile.
“I was the culprit behind the street assaults in Kansai and the homeless assaults in Tokyo. That writer from Unsolved Mysteries is surprisingly astute.”
“And... did you mimic Mr. Saijou before this location shoot?”
“It was... about five days before we left, if I recall. When I heard a production company was planning to do a location shoot on Kakuriyo Island, I couldn't very well not take advantage of it. I attacked Saijou the next day. I knew it was almost time for the next Visitor to arrive, and I needed to meet it on the island. …I was so happy when I met it in the form of that black cat. It had been so long since I'd had the chance to speak with a comrade.”
Yuki raised an eyebrow.
“Talk? Come to think of it, I was curious about that. How was it you and the black cat were able to work together, even though I didn't see you ever have a chance to meet up and strategize?”
“It was mentioned in Eiko's notes, wasn't it? Visitors can make sounds beyond the range of human hearing. Our conversation took place in high frequency... the so-called 'ultrasonics' that you humans can't hear. So we were speaking right in front of you, and you couldn't hear a thing.”
“...I didn't expect you could do something like that.”
Yuki looked exhausted. The Visitor resumed its monologue, relaxed as can be.
“My new ally wanted to eat a human as soon as possible and wouldn't take no for an answer. Indulging them was a mistake. I never expected you'd be able to identify the black cat as the culprit after one kill. Well, I couldn't help that my partner was a bit of a scatterbrain... So I deliberately let them escape as the black cat and went to the Divine Land.”
“To give yourself an alibi?”
The Visitor grinned.
“That's right. As long as you and I stuck together afterwards, my 'innocence' would be beyond question. Although we wound up narrowly managing to make it across the gravel path before it sank, it was worth the risk... And so, they mimicked Unno, just as we'd planned. However, I left deciding who to attack in the former community center and when up to them. It was their idea to attack Koga in his sleep and drink his blood.”
Yuki thought for a moment before asking.
“There's something else I don't understand. Did you dig up the cemetery before I mentioned the code, or afterwards?”
“Before. I instructed them to dig up the cemetery and obtain an old body before we separated. I knew there was a body in the cemetery that was just perfect for us.”
Yuki felt his eyes widen.
“You mean the body of Mr. Sotani you'd buried 45 years ago?”
“I don't know if they actually grabbed that specific body, but it's entirely possible that Sotani is the one lying in that bush right now. ...Oh? Is something the matter? You look pale, are you perhaps feeling sick?”
Eyes narrowed in amusement, the Visitor went on.
“When I heard about the code from Ryuuzen, I couldn't believe how lucky we were. It was all thanks to you that nobody thought anything of the digging and burning in the cemetery.”
“You say that, but Ms. Eiko was still one step ahead of you.”
The Visitor gave a bitter laugh.
“Mikumo Eiko was truly incredible. I never expected her to create a hiding place a Visitor couldn't even see. ...When Ryuuzen, Kikyo, and I came back from the Divine Land, they were still pretending to be Unno's body. We had a quick ultrasonic conversation before we separated.”
“And that's when Fake Unno grabbed the old body and burned the bush to make us think it was Mr. Unno's body?”
“Yes, it was. From there, all they had to do was switch to mimicking Tara. Though unexpectedly, that was the hardest part. The dog would have sensed our approach and started barking at us.”
“Before we left on our walk, Tara was still light... Did you make the swap during the walk?”
“Of course. I took Tara outside specifically to create an opportunity to feed him to my partner. But I knew you'd come along too, Ryuuzen. That's why I deliberately arranged for you to discover that burned body. I knew you'd be so distracted examining the body and its surroundings you wouldn't pay me or Tara a moment's thought.”
Hearing that, Yuki lowered his head.
“I was too careless. Thinking back... There was a moment while I was examining that charred body when Tara went quiet. Tara was so loud, barking all the time, then all at once, it... stopped.”
“While you were engrossed in the corpse, I threw Tara out of the carrier bag and let my partner eat. A cat-sized dog like that took about two minutes to mimic. You gave us plenty of time, you know? We got up to all sorts of other stuff behind your back. Thank you.”
Yuki ignored the Visitor's provocations.
“So what did you do with Tara's body?”
“We tossed it in the bushes. Even if you'd found it, there wasn't enough left for you to identify. The only problem now was that my partner was too heavy to carry in the carrier. A Visitor weighs at least 20 kilograms, so the cloth bag would have torn. That's why we had no choice but to walk them on the leash.”
Yuki groaned.
“And right afterwards, you completely took over as Fake Tara's caretaker and did everything yourself, including holding its leash. Was that so nobody else noticed the weight change?”
“You're quite perceptive. Afterwards, they did a commendable job pretending to be a stupid dog... After you all holed back up in the former community center, Kikyo and Mikumo came up with that foolish 'defense'. I wanted to laugh until I cried. You created a scenario where we could walk right up to him and kill him without us even having to ask!”
“Fake Tara stood right against the door to make sure we knew there was no way it could be the culprit. You, on the other hand, said you were going to the bathroom, stepped out into the hall, and went to Producer Kikyo's room, I take it?”
Saijou had taken two bathroom breaks of ten minutes each. Twenty minutes was long enough to do everything the Visitor had done that night.
The Visitor gave a slight nod.
“Unless you considered the possibility of us being accomplices, there was no way either one of us could have committed the crime. However, I miscalculated where Kikyo spilled that wine and left some footprints. Just as Ryuuzen deduced, I had no choice but to carefully wipe down the entire hallway and the soles of his shoes. I never expected that would be enough to expose me as the Visitor.”
“Did you destroy the recording equipment to erase the footage from the camera in the hallway?”
“Naturally. The only thing to give me a scare was when I saw that Kikyo hadn't smoked. That 'unopened' pack of cigarettes I'd given him was full of cigarettes I'd drugged with sleeping medicine.”
Yuki started.
“What? Those Six Stars were drugged?”
“I'd prepared them in advance just in case I saw a use for them... I figured that, at the rate he usually smoked, he'd have smoked one and passed out long ago, but when I entered the room, the plastic hadn't been removed. Lucky for me, he was still asleep, but I was terrified he was just waiting to ambush me.”
After giving a shrug of its shoulders, the Visitor continued.
“If it was impossible for anyone in the multipurpose area to be the culprit, you'd have no choice but to conclude that my partner was mimicking Koga's body. I was waiting with bated breath for someone to propose that theory. That was my plan.”
“But your plan failed. You know that even if we did make a false deduction... we never would have stopped until we'd identified the Visitor's body, right?”
Mikumo sharply interrupted. Yuki nodded.
“That's certainly true. Which is why I need to ask... were you planning to sacrifice your partner, the other Visitor, from the beginning?”
The Visitor's smile held bottomless cruelty.
“Of course I was. That's why I quietly injured 'Tara' when I brought them to the waiting room.”
Recalling the way Tara had quietly lay on the floor, Yuki was at a loss for words. The Visitor continued undaunted.
“If no one else proposed the theory that Koga's body was the Visitor, I was going to play detective myself. Afterwards, I would burn down the former community center myself, and my injured, slow moving partner along with it.”
Yanagawa's face twisted.
“But why? Weren't you two workin' together?”
“I had no use for them, so I offered them up to the humans. I thought that if you saw them sink into the sea, you'd conclude the incident was over and relax... When humans gather in groups, it creates problems for us, you know? It was safer and more efficient to pretend to be one of you and join your group than to risk trying to kill everyone.”
No matter how hard Yuki thought, he couldn't make the Visitor's claim make sense.
“You impersonated Mr. Saijou and took the risk of returning to Kakuriyo Island because you wanted to welcome the new Visitor in the Divine Land. Despite that... you 'had no use for them'?”
Yuki realized a possibility, and a chill ran through his body.
“In Ms. Eiko's notes, it was written that Visitor 'have biological sexes and reproduce'... It can't be!”
The Visitor wearing Saijou's skin burst into uproarious laughter.
“To even realize that much, you're such an interesting human, Ryuuzen. Humans really are creatures with great individuality... My current form might be that of a human male, but as a Visitor, my sex is the one that carries children. While you were distracted by that burnt corpse, we did what we needed to... The bountiful world of Earth will be a perfect place to raise our children. As long as the five hundred new lives growing within me survived, I didn't care what happened.”
Those were the final words that made everything fall into place.
According to Eiko's notes, the following words were passed down on Kakuriyo Island:
“Failure will result in sacrifices, and repeated failure will result in irreparable devastation.”
Allowing one Visitor to escape from the island would result in many sacrifices... when the second Visitor escaped and the two reproduced, their numbers would increase exponentially, and the world would be consumed.
The Visitor couldn't be allowed to live.
Yuki ran at the Visitor, still leaning against the railing... Naturally, he was planning to push it into the sea.
However, the Visitor had seen him coming. When it told its story, it must have been able to predict how they'd respond.
The Visitor casually reached out its left hand and grabbed Yuki by the neck.
“I've been mimicking this human for a long time now. I know how to move efficiently, and I know all of your human weaknesses. Come at me all five of you at once if you want. You're no match for me.”
The Visitor pressed directly on Yuki's carotid artery. He could breathe, but he felt his consciousness dimming.
The reason the three (non-Motegi) people weren't fighting back was probably because the Visitor had Yuki hostage and was threatening him. Yuki vaguely realized that, but he didn't even have the energy to struggle.
Just as he was about to lose consciousness, a gray mass suddenly appeared.
“You!”
The sound of a scream cleared Yuki's head. All at once, he was awake again.
When he raised his head, he saw Fuwawa, clawing at the Visitor's face.
Near simultaneously, Yuki stepped forward and Yanagawa charged in. The Visitor, its vision blocked, took both their hits head-on and went head first over the railing.
Immediately, they heard a loud splash. ...The Visitor that had stolen Saijou's form was instantly swallowed by the ocean and disappeared. Yuki also climbed over the railing.
“What are you doing!?”
He heard Mikumo behind him.
“I'm going to save Fuwawa.”
With those words, Yuki jumped into the sea.