Persona x Tantei Naoto

Chapter 6

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Upheaval

April 11   Yagokoro Police Station   Special Forensics Division

The results of the autopsy concluded that Alex Brown’s cause of death was loss of blood due to a stab wound to the chest area. The murder weapon used was the survival knife belonging to Alex Brown himself.

Furthermore, inspection of the scene in the back alley where Alex Brown had died had found traces of a struggle against the person believed to be the murderer. However, there was none of the evidence necessary to specifically identify the criminal. The only thing we knew from the traces left behind was that the fight had taken no more than a moment.

He had murdered Alex Brown, a former legionnaire, all by himself. Moreover, he had easily overcome his opponent, a large man over two meters tall. That was the hard-to-swallow truth.

Just as I antic.i.p.ated, the search of his apartment confirmed that the late Alex Brown had been Tajikarao. Upon accessing the Midnight Site from Alex Brown’s home computer, “Tajikarao” was displayed. In addition, rough drafts of posts Tajikarao had written on the Midnight Site were saved on the computer.

From what we could deduce from our interactions, Alex Brown did not seem to hold a favorable impression of us. He was closed-off and belligerent, and his furious eyes, which seemed to view every person in the world as an enemy, were burned into my memory.

However, hearing his circ.u.mstances left room for sympathy.

From a young age, Alex Brown had not been able to effectively communicate with the people around him, due to his eye-catching dark brown skin. As Alex Brown aged and his body grew larger, he resorted to violent means to resolve that friction. As a result, he had had countless run-ins with the police, creating a feeling of distrust towards them that continued until today.

He may have gone to France, his father’s native country, in search of a place to belong. However, in reality, there may not have been a place for Alex Brown in France either. That he was a member of the Foreign Legion, not the regular army, and that he returned once again to j.a.pan, could not be entirely unrelated.

By chance, he had been born into the gap between two cultures, and unfortunately, it had ruined his life. I was saddened when I considered what could have been had he been born under normal circ.u.mstances. Even so, I wanted to tell him clearly.

“You are mistaken.”

It was common knowledge that the environment had a large influence on the development of one’s personality. However, there were many people who achieved remarkable growth even in an unfavorable environment. There were countless people deserving of respect. I could only conclude that the main cause lay within Alex Brown himself.

He should have fought without yielding to his environment. He should have struggled so as to make a place for himself. At the very least, it was not right to have taken the narrow-minded stance of actively denying others as a method of protecting himself.

For example, even if Alex Brown had been unable to do anything on his own, if he had had even one trustworthy person who could set him on the right path, I would not be feeling this regret.

Similarly, I thought fruitlessly that this sad incident may not have occurred if Kyouhei Hioka had also had such a person.

In truth, the night that Alex Brown pa.s.sed away, a post went up on the “Midnight Site” that threw the Internet into an uproar.

“MY NAME IS – KAGU-TSUCHI. MY GRUDGE IS BORN FROM THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN CONDEMNED. TODAY I HAVE Pa.s.sED DOWN ‘CONDEMNATION’ UPON ‘TAJIKARAO’, OF THE EVIL GROUP THAT CALLS THEMSELVES TOGAKUSHI. OMOIKANE, SARUTAHIKO, FUTODAMA, YOU THREE WHO REMAIN, MY REVENGE SHALL CONTINUE AS PROCLAIMED UNTIL ALL FIVE HAVE BEEN CONSIGNED TO OBLIVION BY MY HANDS. LET US BEGIN THE COUNTDOWN TO YOUR LAST BREATHS. IN NO WAY WILL I FORGIVE YOU.”

He had declared his intent to kill and followed through with it. The mysterious “Kagu-tsuchi” was now a hot topic on the Internet. The backlash at Kagu-tsuchi over his actions was already approaching the level of a social movement. On the other hand, there was a similar amount of intense criticism directed at the Yagokoro police, who were letting the murderer Kagu-tsuchi do as he pleased.

Among the “Five Togakushi Judges”, two of them, Uzume and Tajikarao, had been murdered by Kyouhei Hioka’s hands. Though Osamu Haida, known as Omoikane, was being sheltered by the police, if they were unable to protect the remaining members, Sarutahiko and Futodama, their reputation would be ruined. There was the possibility that numerous top officers among the police would be fired.

I did not hold much interest in that bureaucratic aspect, but I felt that allowing a crime to successfully be committed right under my nose was shameful for me as a detective.

Sousei-san and I detected the past conversations at the place where Alex Brown’s corpse had been discovered, as we had done for Miyuki Midorikawa.

“You? Kill me? Ha! See the difference between my body and yours? You think you can win?”

Among the many things detected, that line was the most worrisome. I could recall Alex Brown’s behavior within the station corridor as he snorted at my small stature and dismissed me as a little fool. I surmised that these were his words upon seeing Kyouhei Hioka.

At 172 centimeters, Kyouhei Hioka was of average height for a man, but there was more than thirty centimeters’ difference between himself and Alex Brown, whose height surpa.s.sed two meters. From Alex Brown’s viewpoint, everyone except Sousei-san must have seemed like a child.

I postulated that Alex Brown, who fought on the same level as Sousei-san, had been so easily murdered because he had let down his guard around his opponent. Naturally, this much of the a.n.a.lysis I could deduce from the information available at the crime scene.

Before I realized it, three days’ idleness had pa.s.sed without obtaining any useful information.

We repeated our appeals in the chatroom, but there was no response from the two remaining “Togakushi Five Judges”, Sarutahiko and Futodama.

Did they not notice the appeals themselves? Or were they watching and waiting? From the personality of Shirou Konno, known as Sarutohiko, was it correct to a.s.sume that he was watching and waiting?

He was such an exemplary student that he was chosen as student council president, but on the other hand, he was a coldhearted person who objectively judged others as a member of the “Five Togakushi Judges”. He was able to wear those two faces without those around him catching on. It was not as simple as Tajikarao’s case.

Taking that into account, my current reasoning was that Shirou Konno’s disappearance was not involved with the case, but rather because he sensed danger and chose to conceal himself of his own will.

However, concerning the other person, Futodama, it would have been preferable to receive a reply. According to Osamu Haida, known as Omoikane, Futodama was the type of person who was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity. Putting aside the question of whether or not he would cooperate with our proposal, I expected it would not have been strange for him to show himself in the chatroom, but I may have miscalculated.

Regarding the whereabouts of Kyouhei Hioka, the person of interest, Touko-san was playing a leading role in the investigation, but there was no particular progress.

Each day, wild speculation ran rampant on the Internet and ma.s.s communication concerning the illusory Kyouhei Hioka: perhaps he was disguising himself as a woman, perhaps he had had plastic surgery and was masquerading as a different person, perhaps he had an accomplice.

With no progress being made, a suffocating atmosphere began to permeate the station. The faces of the investigators were slowly becoming darker with fatigue.

It happened on April 11, as we drifted in that sea of helplessness. Something happened that should not have been allowed to happen.

Osamu Haida, called Omoikane – was murdered by someone.

Osamu Haida had been sheltered inside one room of the police dormitory. Of course, Osamu Haida’s whereabouts were generally kept secret and were treated as top-secret information among those a.s.sociated with the police.

The first to discover the body was the dormitory caretaker. Incidentally, the caretaker had not known that Osamu Haida was Omoikane. It seemed she had been told that he was a new police officer.

As always, after eight AM on the eleventh, the caretaker made breakfast and waited for Osamu Haida, but no matter how long she waited, he did not come. When, worried, she went to his room, she discovered Osamu Haida, lying dead and bleeding on the bed. It seemed the door had been unlocked.

Immediately after it was deemed a crime scene, traces of an outside trespa.s.ser were found. The autopsy results confirmed that the cause of death was hemorrhagic shock. The murder weapon was a gun. Most likely it had had a silencer attached. He had been shot only once, but the carotid artery had been precisely hit through the back of the neck.

In addition, from the type of bullet, which had pierced through the bed and remained in the floor, we knew that the gun used had been a Sig Sauer P230. However, it seemed the rifling marks were not consistent with those found in Miyuki Midorikawa’s case.

The results of a full day’s investigation revealed that an unregistered gun had been stolen. In other words, Osamu Haida had been shot and killed by a stolen Sig Sauer P230.

How he had come to know of Osamu Haida’s whereabouts was a mystery; however, most were of the opinion that it was a crime that could only have been committed by a person with intimate knowledge of the workings of the police, and the complicated expressions of the investigators indicated the reality that we had once again been outwitted by Kyouhei Hioka.

Sousei-san and I used our Personas and searched the scene for past conversations, but we were unable to detect any conversations from the time of the murder. Most likely Osamu Haida had been shot with the gun as he slept. He may have slipped into eternal sleep, not knowing when he had died.

In the middle of that night, a post from Kagu-tsuchi went up on the Midnight Site.

“TWO REMAIN. MY FLAME OF RESENTMENT HAS NOT YET FADED.”

It was brief compared to the previous posts. Nevertheless, the one-sided situation had us at wits’ end; from where we stood, we glimpsed in that brevity Kagu-tsuchi’s strong determination to “surely consign the five of them to oblivion”, and we were made to taste a greater despair than ever before.

At present, we could see no future besides the one proceeding just as Kyouhei Hioka had foretold.
“...Even if it’s because he regrets his sister’s death, for Kyouhei to go this far…”

As expected, Tsuge-san wore a grim expression, and he had little to say.

It was the same for Touko-san. She was not normally the type of person to say anything unnecessary, but more than usual, I was unable to tell what she was thinking. That she had been appointed to an important position in the Kyouhei Hioka disappearance case may also have been a primary contributing factor, but she may have been working at her job with more than the usual vigor because she did not want to harbor unnecessary thoughts.

I chose a time when it was just the two of us in the supervisor’s office.

“Touko-san, what do you think of Kyouhei Hioka?”

I came right out and asked the question that I had been holding back until now.

Touko-san gazed at me wordlessly. I wanted to avert my gaze under the peculiar air of intimidation that she was giving off.

“...Will you not tell me?”

Even so, I did not look away. I believed we could not beat around the bush if we wished to break the current status quo. Even if that meant asking Touko-san a cruel question.

“I don’t think this is the case, but… Do you suspect me?”

In the next moment, Touko-san’s gaze had sharpened.

“...I’m asking because I do not wish to suspect you.”

–Didn’t Kyouhei Hioka have an accomplice?

That was the suspicion harbored by many people, not just myself. Moreover, if that accomplice was part of the investigation team, it would be completely consistent with our absolute inability to grasp Kyouhei Hioka’s whereabouts and how he was always one step ahead of the investigation.

“...How much have you heard?”

“That the two of you were living together.”

There were several people who met the conditions of being former coworkers, but it was also true that there would be no one closer to Kyouhei Hioka than his former lover.

“...That old man’s such a blabbermouth.”

Touko-san gave a shrug of her slender shoulders, wearing a complicated expression.

“...I told you before, Naoto. It was a long time ago. There’s no longer any special connection or special feelings between us. But Kyouhei is still an important person to me even now. Back when I didn’t know left from right, when all I had over everyone else was spirit, Kyouhei was the one who raised me into a full-fledged detective. If it wasn’t for Kyouhei, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”

I caught a glimpse of the depth of her feelings in her sincere gaze.

“Did he speak to you at all concerning this case?”

At my next question, Touko-san sent one glance at the ceiling and whispered, “...He did.

“Kyouhei said he wanted to know the truth of his sister’s death, and I told him to just let it be. Even if we know the truth, it won’t bring back someone who’s gone. I only gave him more empty words. But Kyouhei didn’t listen to my advice. I decided to just keep an eye on him for a while. He thought finding the truth would fill the void left inside him by the death of his sister. Frankly, I was skeptical about how much he could accomplish alone, trying to find the truth within the anonymity of the Internet.”

The corners of Touko-san’s mouth twisted in self-deprecation.

“I was wrong. Once he went renegade, his excellence worked against him. No… It might be more accurate to say that I underestimated Kyouhei’s tenacity. Not only was he able to reach the truth of the ‘baseless slander on the Internet’ that caused his sister’s death, but he showed me he could find a member of the ‘Five Togakushi Judges’, who would not have been found with the organized power of the police.”

“...Could you be speaking of Miyuki Midorikawa?”

“Yes, most likely. He didn’t tell me her name, but considering all that has happened until now, it must be Miyuki Midorikawa, known as Uzune.”

Touko-san nodded.

“He continued to make inquiries of the students at his sister’s school every day, and he set his sights on one female student who behaved suspiciously. Somehow Kyouhei extracted the truth of the death from that girl, Miyuki Midorikawa, and became enraged and completely unable to forgive those who had sent her to her death. It was unlike him to be so obsessed.”

Touko-san snorted slightly.

“It’s not just the hatred a victim’s relatives have for the perpetrator, but a feeling of worthlessness because he couldn’t protect her as her older brother, even though he was a detective… This may have been the result of such complex emotions. I felt that the situation was becoming dangerous, so I warned him more strongly than before, ‘Please stop being foolish.’ But in the end, it’s as you see. I wasn’t able to stop Kyouhei.”

Touko-san worried at her lower lip.

“...That man is stupidly serious and absolutely hates things not on the straight and narrow. He would argue with someone if he thought they were wrong, even if they were his senpai or his boss. But strangely, everyone loved him. He was that kind of detective, like a hero of justice. It’s different than with me; I’m not so serious. I couldn’t have imagined Kyouhei would go renegade like that…”

Touko-san casually brushed her bangs back. Her eyes looked sad, peering out between the gaps in her soft hair as it fluttered gently down. I thought that Touko-san may have harbored the same kind of regret over his sister as Kyouhei Hioka did, though she had failed to stop him.

“–So, how was it, Miss Detective? Did you find anything strange in my story?”

When next I realized, before my eyes was her usual fearless smile.

“...No. Nothing.” I slowly shook my head.

“Huh? Is there a reason you trust me so easily?”

“At the very least, I am convinced there were no lies in what you just told me.”

I could say so with confidence. Touko-san was not deceiving me; I could tell her true feelings from her honest tone and behavior.

Touko-san laughed as if she found something humorous. “...In ‘what you just told me’, huh. You’re as shrewd as always.”

Naturally, there was still much about Touko-san I had yet to know.

“I have high hopes for you, Naoto. You might be able to do what I could not.”

Leaving behind those words, Touko-san jauntily left the room. The warm glance she sent me as she went left an impression on me. That was why I was convinced.

–That Touko-san was hiding something from me.

Sousei-san came and took Touko-san’s place in the director’s office. “Oi, Naoto. Is there any progress?” As usual, he conducted himself insolently.

“Not in particular,” I answered coldly as I used the computer. I was nervous because the investigation had reached a dead end, and I did not have the time to courteously deal with Sousei-san’s arrogant att.i.tude toward me.

He did not take well to my behavior.

“Hmph! Some great detective you are!”

Sousei-san stretched out on the sofa as he berated me rudely.

Sousei-san did not have a shred of compa.s.sion. He felt nothing even when people died. Sousei-san had held no love for the members of the “Five Togakushi Judges” from the beginning, and when Omoikane had died, he had reacted indifferently. “You reap what you sow.”

I gazed at Sousei-san, reflected on the screen, as I pretended to work with the computer.

The more I looked at him, the more I thought he was as different from me as could be, from our physical sizes to our genders to our personalities. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Sousei-san and I were exact opposites.

Our respective beliefs were born from those differences, and up until now, I had come into frequent opposition with Sousei-san over our conflicting opinions. I thought it would be near-impossible to form a good partnership with such a person. The fact that our Persona abilities had good compatibility was the sole saving grace.

However, it occasionally had its merits. Sometimes I gained new insights from someone who was my complete opposite.

“That Kyouhei Hioka’s more slippery than a snake. He’s like a ghost.”

It was unmistakably one of Sousei-san’s offhand remarks. However, in that moment, I whirled around.

“–What did you say just now?”

“...Huh? I said Kyouhei Hioka’s more slippery than a snake?”

“No, after that.”

“Oh, the ‘he’s like a ghost’ part?”

Sousei-san looked displeased at my question.

“What’s so funny? That’s how it is, right? Kyouhei Hioka’s name keeps coming up, but we haven’t seen him even once.”

My heartbeat accelerated and my thoughts whirled. Before I ascended that bright hope like a thread descending from the sky, I saw the grand scenery spread out underneath me. That was how I felt. I see. So that kind of reasoning was also possible. I had reached a new answer.

[Possibly a reference to Akutagawa Ryuunosuke’s The Spider’s Thread.]

“...It’s just as you say, Sousei-san. He really is a ghost.”

I repeated and nodded.

“Oi, if you figured something out, just say it.”

“No, it’s just that Kyouhei Hioka may be a ghost.”

“...Huh? Naoto, you feeling okay?”

Sousei-san gave me a pitying look at my completely unexpected claim. This was important, and so after straightening up in my seat, I addressed Sousei-san in a serious voice. “What I’m saying is–

“–Perhaps Kyouhei Hioka is already dead.”

With a surprised expression, Sousei-san raised his upper body from where he was lying on the sofa.

“Well well well, isn’t that just ridiculous no matter how you look at it? You don’t mean something occult like the Five Togakushi Judges were killed by Kyouhei Hioka’s ghost, right?”

“If it really is the work of a ghost, I give up. It would be best to call in an exorcist to resolve the case. But this is the work of a human, and that is my specialty.”

“So then who killed Omoikane and them?”

“...I wonder. Most likely an accomplice is involved.”

“An accomplice? Do you know who it is, Naoto?”

Immediately, I shook my head to hide the way I averted my gaze from Sousei-san.

“...No, not yet.”

In truth, I had an idea. I had just now connected the dots. However, I did not yet have enough proof to openly speak of it.

And also, more importantly – I very much did not want to believe it.

“Ah! Geez! I don’t get it! If Kyouhei Hioka isn’t alive anymore, then why? How did he die? Suicide? Or was he killed? And how long has he been dead?”

Agitated, Sousei-san babbled loudly.

“P-please wait a moment. I’ll answer in order. But first, please do not forget that this is merely my conjecture.”

Sousei-san stood right in front of me, scowling, and I pushed him away with both hands.

“...At most, this is only a possibility, but please imagine that Kyouhei Hioka is dead. Even though the murders have occurred, there is not a single witness who has seen the criminal. We can a.s.sume he, the former detective, has the advantage in the beginning. Kyouhei Hioka has experience with countless cases, and so I believe he will have a thorough knowledge concerning the possible movements of the police. However, abnormalities begin to surface when you consider that there are no traces at all of Kyouhei Hioka, despite the murders of Uzune, Tajikaro, and Omoikane. I also feel that his existence is like that of air.”

Then I recalled Sousei-san’s “talk of ghosts” and a new idea emerged.

“Huh? No, it’s not like we haven’t seen any trace of him at all, right? Like with Miyuki Midorikawa. The rifling marks on the bullets that killed her matched with Kyouhei Hioka’s gun. And he’s posted as Kagu-tsuchi on the Midnight Site’s forums a few times.”

“It’s true that those are promising clues, but in the end the bullets and forum posts are merely tools, and he was not necessarily the one behind them.”

At my response, Sousei-san answered, “I see,” and nodded, wearing a complicated expression.

“But what about the info on Kyouhei Hioka we got with our Persona abilities? Didn’t we find traces of him in the past conversations with Miyuki Midorikawa and that former soldier?”

“But if we keep in mind the condition that ‘Kyouhei Hioka is not alive’ and once again review those past conversations, something new comes to light.”

At my words, Sousei-san crossed his arms and stared into the distance. He may have been remembering the contents of the various past conversations.

“Take the case of Miyuki Midorikawa. Do you remember how we could not detect Kyouhei Hioka’s side of the past conversation?”

“Oi oi, there’s no way I’d forget that. But that’s because my Tsukuyomi’s ‘Past Reading’ power only detects the conversations of the dead. Then doesn’t it make sense that Kyouhei Hioka’s alive, because we didn’t detect his conversation?”

“...It’s true that was the logical conclusion at the time. How thoughtless of me. I apologize. I was convinced that he must be alive because we did not detect his conversation.”

I bowed my head, and Sousei-san let out an admiring sound. “Heeh.”

“However, if you consider the possibility that he is not alive, like we are now, we can think, ‘Back then, we couldn’t detect Kyouhei Hioka’s conversations because he did not say anything in those places.’”

“...Huh? Is there anything in the past conversations that makes you think so?”

There was a noticeably deep furrow in Sousei-san’s brow. That was why I slowly repeated verbatim the words Miyuki Midorikawa had left at the crime scene.

“H-hey! I talked, right! Put that down! Are you listening to me? Say something! Why me! Why do you have to make me suffer! It’s the Midnight Site’s fault that girl died! And anyway she was. .h.i.t by a train! She shouldn’t have just gone and fallen from the platform! You reap what you sow! Ah–––––––”

“...Are you kidding me? I’m a robot and you’ve got a better memory than me. Are you really human?”

“I’ll turn those words back on you. Why is your memory so poor, Sousei-san?”

“Shut up! I’m a robot almost exactly like a human, not a computer!”

“It’s the same for me. It’s simply that having a good memory is an essential skill for a detective.”

I cleared my throat quietly. This was not the time for unproductive arguments, and I resumed my explanation. “Take note of the first half.

“Just before Miyuki Midorikawa died, she said ‘Are you listening to me?’ and ‘Say something!’ in a harsh tone to the other person. Following that, from what she says in her confusion, I imagine a scene where she faces ‘an opponent who does not say a word’, who is looking down on her with a cold gaze and has a gun right in front of her.”

“Well, I can see it too, but why…”

Sousei-san’s eyes widened as he realized something halfway through.

“...Oi oi, you don’t mean Kyouhei Hioka might’ve already been dead the night we went to the crime scene?”

“The possibility does exist.” I nodded. “What I propose is ‘we operate under the a.s.sumption that Kyouhei Hioka is dead’. In the end it is merely a hypothesis, and you have voiced your doubts, Sousei-san. I cannot hazard a guess as to his time and cause of death. In reality, I believe the probability that Kyouhei Hioka is alive to be roughly equal to the probability that he is dead.”

“...Huh? What the h.e.l.l does that mean? Can’t you put it simply? So then what’re we supposed to do? I won’t stand for it if we just wasted our time after all that work.”

Sousei-san shook his head in an exaggerated motion like a Westerner.

“...It’s true that it may have been a waste of time. But since we don’t have any other clues at present, we absolutely must not overlook even the slightest suspicion.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m so grateful for your opinion, oh great detective… I think I’m gonna throw up.”

“Please don’t mock me.” I glared at Sousei-san reproachfully. “Sousei-san, are you forgetting that there are things only we can do?”

“...Yeah, I know. We’ve got ‘Personas’.”

Sousei-san grinned broadly.

“Exactly. Sousei-san, if we have your Tsukuyomi’s ability, ‘Past Reading’, we can confirm whether Kyouhei Hioka is alive or dead. This is something only we can do.”

April 11   Kyouhei Hioka’s apartment

It was inevitable that we chose Kyouhei Hioka’s own apartment as the place we went to determine whether he was alive or dead.

We knew from the investigation reports that Kyouhei Hioka’s apartment was located in the suburbs of Yagokoro, and we traveled there at once, using Sousei-san’s bike form.

We explained to the apartment landlady that we were from the Yagokoro Police Department. She wore an expression of obvious displeasure. “...Again?” Perhaps it was because she had interacted with the police countless times, but she showed us to the landlord’s room, said “Drop the key in the room’s mailbox when you want to return it,” and departed, leaving us to our own devices.

“The h.e.l.l’s up with that old woman?” Sousei-san objected to the landlady’s rude behavior, but it was a great help, for it saved me the effort of hiding the existence of our Personas.

It was on the third floor of an apartment building in a sunny place. It was a three-bedroom apartment with living room, dining room, and kitchen. The flooring was done in the Western style. It was quite an ordinary apartment.

It seemed Kyouhei Hioka had lived here together with Kaoru Hioka, his younger sister, who had moved to this apartment from the countryside to attend high school in preparation for going to university. There were traces of the police’s investigation everywhere. But the impression of the Hioka siblings’ daily life together still lingered in the kitchen, washroom, and bathroom, causing pain within me.

“Well, it’s not a very big apartment, so I could do it on my own, but there’s no way I’ll be satisfied doing it all myself. Naoto, you’ll call out your Persona and power up my Tsukuyomi, right?”

It was discomforting that I had grown surprisingly used to Sousei-san’s arrogant behavior, when he had been disagreeable from the very beginning. But, well, I was grateful that his way of going about his business meant he did not feel inclined to have a serious discussion with me.

“That was my intention from the beginning, even without you telling me.”

Naturally, I had come to adopt an unrestrained att.i.tude in matters concerning him.

“Hmph!” Sousei-san snorted in dissatisfaction.

“–Come out! Tsukuyomi!” he shouted, facing the center of the room and holding his hand up.

At the same time, I laid my palm on Sousei-san’s back, supporting him, and whispered, “...Give me power, Amatsu Mikaboshi.” The words that left my mouth were firm, but the fact that we were about to “work to determine if someone is dead” weighed heavily on my mind.

The marquee on Tsukuyomi’s head filled with words as soon as we began searching. There was a huge number of past conversations. Sousei-san and I exchanged glances full of confidence.

The reason there were many past conversations was because there were “two people’s worth of lines”.

“B-brother, how’ve you been lately?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Um, like with work?”

“Ah, it’s the same as always. I’m busy. But I’m satisfied, because I can protect the peace of this city through my hard work. See? Don’t I say some cool things? Do you respect me more now?”

“Are you stupid? You only ever think about work. That’s why you won’t ever get married.”

“H-hey. No matter how you look at it, a lot of girls want to marry me, you know? A little while ago, a young woman in the traffic division asked if I have a girlfriend!”

“Was that all? No progress? You’re not going out with her?”

“...Well, you know, adults have got a lot of complicated things going on.”

“How suspicious. You had a girlfriend five years ago, right? Are you actually still in love with her?”

“S-shut up!”

“Uwah, you’re serious! You really do still like her a lot!”

“No, uh, enough about me! Wasn’t there something you wanted to talk about?”

“...N-not really. It’s nothing.”

“...It’s not nothing. If there’s something you want to talk about, don’t hesitate to tell me, okay?”

“...I wonder. Isn’t it too hard for you to understand the worries of a modern-day high school girl?”

“...No, if you put it that way, there’s not really anything I can say… well, just don’t hold back, okay? You’re the only sibling I’ve got.”

“...Ah, yeah. If there’s anything I want to talk about.”

The speech style was that of a young woman. This could only be a past conversation of Kaoru Hioka, who had been confirmed dead. The speech style of the other person was that of a man who referred to himself using “ore” – and from the fact that Kaoru Hioka called the man “Brother”, it seemed there was no doubt he was Kyouhei Hioka.

[“ore” is a rough way of referring to oneself, generally pretty rude, and used only by men.]

“Be happy, Naoto. Bingo. Just as you predicted, Kyouhei Hioka is already dead.”

“...I’m not happy about this kind of bingo. I am only happy that this discovery will propel the investigation forward.”

The sooner we could resolve this sad case, the better.

“So now the problem is when Kyouhei Hioka died, right? If we know when, then a lot of the a.s.sumptions change?”

“...Yes.” I nodded quietly. “However, we’re still in the process of detecting past conversations, so we’ll think about that after we’ve exhausted the available information.”

“Hmph.” Sousei-san gave a slight nod and started concentrating again.

We detected countless of the Hioka siblings’ conversations in the living room alone. However, because it was the living room, they were all everyday conversations with no connection to the case.

“–At any rate, simply having confirmed that Kyouhei Hioka is dead is a good enough result.”

That alone made coming to the apartment worth it. In addition, by changing locations and continuing to use Sousei-san’s “Past Reading”, we would certainly be able to find the information we needed.

Once we had left Kyouhei Hioka’s apartment, we returned to the Yagokoro police station. That was to obtain information on Kyouhei Hioka’s favorite shops and places before he went into hiding.

“–Sousei-san. Will you please keep this matter a secret between the two of us?”

I murmured to the bike I was riding as it ran along the highway to the police station.

“Huh? You mean that Kyouhei Hioka is really dead?”

I nodded when Sousei-san asked me in a suspicious voice. “Yes.”

“I get it if you’re talking about Ai and Gramps Tsuge, but… you want to keep it a secret from Touko too?”

I hesitated briefly before nodding a second time. “...That’s right.”

“...Oi, Naoto, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Sousei-san’s voice momentarily sharpened. He pulled the bike to a sudden stop in the roadside zone.

“I won’t just go along with hiding something from Touko, you know? Tell me why.”

I could see Sousei-san’s seriousness in the way his tone had changed suddenly and his voice had lowered from before.

I had heard they were old acquaintances. Before, I had thought from the way Sousei-san acted that Touko Aoi was a very special person to him. But I was only now realizing that she was more “special” to him than I had thought.

“It’s… Though he may be her ex-lover, I believe it will not be easy to tell Touko-san that Kyouhei Hioka has actually pa.s.sed away…”

And so I lied to Sousei-san.

“Ah, I see… No, but she’ll find out sooner or later, right? So instead of finding out from someone else, it’s better if she hears it from me… But then, Touko’s a woman even if she acts all tough, so she’ll feel hurt… Maybe I should be careful…”

Sousei-san was honestly worried, not suspecting me of lying in the slightest and thinking only of Touko-san’s feelings.

“Dammit! It’s impossible! I’m bad with this sensitivity thing! You do it, Naoto!”

“...Yes. I will take responsibility for this matter.”

“Okay! I’ll leave it to you!” With an encouraging yell to the surroundings, the bike starting running again.

I was saved just now by the fact that I was riding atop the bike. I did not want to speak to Sousei-san face-to-face.

I was sorry that I had to lie to Sousei-san, my partner. However, seeing his faith in Touko-san, I did not believe he would be able to listen with an open mind to what I had to say.

–I suspected Touko Aoi.

If I said that, I would meet with strong resistance from Sousei-san. That resistance was not the problem. The problem was that I could not offer a reb.u.t.tal.

Even if I said I doubted Touko-san, most of my reasons were insufficient to support my deduction.

I did not have decisive evidence and I could not even imagine a motive. It was nothing more than that Touko-san was the closest match of the conditions necessary to be Kyouhei Hioka’s accomplice. Right now I was still working to gather proof and I did not yet have the confidence to tell anyone.

In this situation, I believed that it was too early to tell Sousei-san that I suspected Touko-san. I thought it would only lead to unnecessary strife.

So I persuaded myself, but an unpleasant feeling tightened around my heart.

–It was at that moment. The smartphone in my jacket pocket vibrated. I quickly grabbed my phone and checked the display. It was an e-mail from the station.

“...Sousei-san, ‘Sarutahiko’ is finally on the move!”

Sarutahiko, one of the two remaining members of the “Five Togakushi Judges” and otherwise known as Shirou Konno, had revealed himself in a public place. The location was one familiar to us – Yagokoro High School, where Shirou Konno served as student council president.

“Oh, isn’t this lucky? The b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s saving us the trouble of looking for him.”

“No, he’s not that careless. This is the worst possible situation.”

Shirou Konno had not simply returned to the school after going missing.

“It’s uncertain where he obtained it, but Shirou Konno is in possession of a ‘pistol’. Moreover, it seems he has taken one of the female students hostage and has barricaded himself on the school roof…”

“d.a.m.n, every one of those ‘Five Togakushi Judges’ is f.u.c.king insane!”

I too found Shirou Konno’s actions to be incomprehensible.

Just as Sousei-san said, it would be difficult to call Shirou Konno a good person. On the surface, he wore the face of student council president, but he was also a member of the Five Togakushi Judges, and he could easily utilize both sides for his purposes. However, I found it shocking that Shirou Konno, who possessed the determination and caution to hide his other face from everyone at school, would take such hasty action as taking a hostage.

What had happened to change his mind?

“...In any case, let’s hurry to the school.”

The matter involving Kyouhei Hioka was also important, but right now, the current incident took top priority.

“Okay! Let’s fly! Hold on tight!”

“Eh! What? W-wait–”

Without my consent, without any attention to the chorus of horns from the cars pa.s.sing around us, Sousei-san drifted on the main street and did a U-turn. It felt as if I was about to be thrown off the bike by the strong force throughout my whole body. My insides grew cold. I was furious, and I struck the body of the bike with my fist with all my strength.

“Huh? What? Naoto? What’s up?”

“...N-no, it’s nothing.”

Sousei-san was calm and composed, and my revenge led only to my fist hurting.

April 11   Yagokoro High School   Rooftop

When we reached Yagokoro High School, the area was already in an uproar. Curious onlookers milled about, asking what had happened, and I did not know where they had heard the news, but people who seemed to be reporters were scattered here and there within the crowd.

It was forbidden for those not connected to the police to enter the school grounds, and there were uniformed policemen wearing bulletproof vests lined up neatly near the gate. I could hear the policemen arguing whether they “should send in the Special Investigation Team.”

It was an imposing sight that made me wonder if this was really the school I went to every day.

“Excuse us.” As Sousei-san and I pushed through the people and neared the gate, the students, who it seemed had been made to evacuate the school grounds, simultaneously raised their voices and cheered. I merely greeted everyone quickly, but Sousei-san answered with an energetic cheer of his own. “It’ll be fine now that we’re here!”

“Do your best!” There were faces I recognized from the newspaper club among the students, and I could hear them encouraging me.

As we drew closer, my homeroom teacher emphasized with a worried expression, “...I know this is your job, Shirogane, but don’t push yourself too hard.”

I nodded firmly. “...Yes.” I was truly happy that everyone felt this way.

We received permission from the uniformed policemen standing before the gates like gatekeepers and set foot on the school grounds. The premises were quiet and calm. I felt uneasy, as if I had become lost in an unknown place.

When I directed my gaze to the roof, I could see what looked like the shadow of a person. We pa.s.sed the shoe racks and climbed the stairs, heading for the roof. As we ascended, the voice of an elderly man steadily grew louder. That voice, transmitted through a megaphone, was trying desperately to persuade the one who had barricaded himself on the roof.

The entrance to the roof was crowded with police officers, both in and out of uniform. I spotted Touko-san among them. I caught my breath to calm myself, and:

“Will you be quiet for a moment!?”

A shrill voice came from near the fence on the rooftop.

“You know! I don’t believe a single word of those makeshift promises you adults make! Don’t give me words, give me action! Don’t give me promises, give me results! I want proof you’ll guarantee my safety!”

The source of the voice was a nervous-looking boy with black-rimmed gla.s.ses who I had seen in photos in the investigation files. However, perhaps because of his lifestyle when he had been missing – no, when he ran away – he looked like a completely different person. There were black circles under his eyes, his cheeks were hollow, and his hair was unkempt. All traces of the former Shirou Konno, an intellectual so much an honor student that he had been chosen as student council president, had disappeared.

“...Don’t worry, Konno. We, the police, will a.s.sume full responsibility for protecting you.”

“Huh? Are you serious? If you are, doesn’t that say a lot about your sense of justice?”

Shirou Konno’s mouth twisted into a vulgar smile unbefitting of a high school student.

“You’ll a.s.sume full responsibility for protecting me? Don’t make me laugh! Didn’t Omoikane die because you police were incompetent!? If you adults were a just little smarter, Tajikarao wouldn’t have died!”

Shirou Konno’s expression was filled with madness.

“You’re only good at bragging! Catch Kagu-tsuchi right now! I’m fed up with running away! Why is the world full of idiots? Why does someone superior like me have to be yanked around like this by rabble?”

His mental stability was on its last legs. His a.s.sertions were incoherent. These self-centeredness thoughts may have reflected his true nature, but it was quite removed from the kind of person I had imagined.

Hearing him speak as he pleased, the surrounding policemen gritted their teeth and tightly clenched their hands into fists to bear his jeering. It was surely frustrating. Nonetheless, we could not move. Careless actions would compromise the safety of the hostage.

Shirou Konno’s right hand gripped a revolver that glinted a dull black. Though he was far away, I knew it was an automatic. The type of gun was – a Sig Saeur P230. Beside him was a female Yagokoro High School student who had been taken hostage. Shirou Konno’s and the hostage’s waists were tied together by a yellow and black construction rope. In a cunning move, Shirou Konno and the girl he had taken hostage were standing on the edge of the roof.

In other words, he was telling everyone that, if anything happened to him, he would take the hostage down with him. For example, if an SIT sniper shot him, the hostage would tumble from the roof headlong into the ground.

“...S… Shirogane-ku… n… h-help…”

At that moment, the girl whispered in a hoa.r.s.e voice like a mosquito buzzing. I looked closely at the hostage. I caught my breath at the haggard face peering at me from behind the messy hair. “...Ta-Takizawa-san.”

The female student who had been taken hostage was the one who sat in the seat next to mine in cla.s.s and was deeply connected to Kaoru Hioka’s case, Takizawa-san.

“I only have one demand! Catch Kagu-tsuchi! I don’t care if he’s dead or alive! Actually, the world would be better off if a murderous demon like him was killed! Anyway! I won’t release the hostage under any other conditions!”

Touko-san clicked her tongue quietly at Shirou Konno’s shouts.

“...If Kagu-tsuchi is a demon, what does that make you guys… You’re devils disguised as humans…”

Touko-san appeared to be as beautiful and cool as usual, but I could clearly feel a strong anger from the words she murmured as if they were forced out of her.

“All of you police guys! Don’t just stand around there forever! Hurry up and arrest Kagu-tsuchi! ...I’m telling you, I’m serious.”

Saying that, Shirou Konno ground the muzzle of the gun against Takizawa-san’s temple as she sobbed, “H-Hic… I-I’m sorry… P-please forgive me…”

In the next instant, Shirou Konno’s eyes filled with anger.

“...It’s not just a bluff… I really will shoot… Shooting one person’s not much different from shooting ‘two’, is it?”

Everyone was taken by surprise at Shirou Konno’s sudden confession, and the scene became an uproar.

“K-Konno! W-Who are you saying you shot…?”

The veteran detective in charge of persuasion asked the question on everyone’s minds.

“I don’t know! That person came to kill me, saying it was for revenge, so I just turned the tables. It was legitimate self-defense. By the way, I borrowed this gun from ‘em. Ah, they had a gun, so they might’ve been with you police guys. A police officer coming to take the life of an innocent citizen like me, what’s the world coming to…”

“...K-Konno, was this person a man? Or a woman? Did they give their name? And when was this…?”

[Konno uses “aite” to refer to the person when he needs to, which is a gender-neutral “partner/opponent” type of word. j.a.panese doesn’t really use gendered p.r.o.nouns, thus why the next paragraph asks. I couldn’t really preserve the ambiguity very well without using “them”, which is odd in English no matter how you look at it.]

“Ahh, geez, if you want to know! Then bring Kagu-tsuchi to me already! I’ll add more conditions before I release the hostage!”

Standing amidst the surrounding tumult of indignation, agitation, and various other emotions, I was convinced.

“–Hey, Naoto, the cop that b.a.s.t.a.r.d turned the tables on, it can’t be…”

Sousei-san whispered in my ear, as if taking no note of our surroundings, and I nodded slightly in return. “...Yes, there’s no doubt.”

It was valid to a.s.sume that Shirou Konno had killed Kyouhei Hioka.

Logically, wouldn’t it have occurred after Kyouhei Hioka murdered Miyuki Midorikawa?

Kyouhei Hioka, who had discovered the Five Togakushi Judges, beginning with Miyuki Midorikawa. And Shirou Konno, who had had a close relationship with Miyuki Midorikawa. I could easily imagine that Miyuki Midorikawa had told Shirou Konno to beware of Kyouhei Hioka. If he had lost communication with Miyuki Midorikawa… Taking into account Shirou Konno’s personality, it was inevitable that he would next take drastic measures to preserve his own safety. Running away could then be considered the first of Shirou Konno’s countermeasures.

“Ahh, why did this have to happen to me… Dammit, dammit, it’s all over… Everything’s all messed up…”

Shirou Konno gazed at the barrel of the gun and grumbled in a whisper. He was in a dangerous mental state. If we did not deal with the situation promptly, I could well imagine the worst-case scenario, that he would reach his limit and go wild, taking Takizawa-san along with him.

Be that as it may, there was no way the police would acquiesce to his demands. At any rate, the police had not yet even found traces of Kyouhei Hioka, believed to be Kagu-tsuchi. In addition, Shirou Konno’s unexpected, sudden confession that he “shot someone who was a police officer” had thrown those around us into extreme turmoil.

–Perhaps Kagu-tsuchi was already before us. That was what I thought as I sent a sidelong glance at the cool beauty who was scowling silently at Shirou Konno.

But my current priority was Takizawa-san. I looked at her as she continued to tremble slightly; the mental rather than physical strain seemed to be the more extreme.

After my short moment of indecision – I took advantage of the confusion to jump out onto the roof.

“Shirou Konno! I have a proposal for you!”

The sun sinking behind the capsule-shaped water tank left a dark shadow on the concrete floor. Of course, there was no one else around me. I was alone. Before me stood Shirou Konno. There was no place to take cover.

“W-What? Naoto! What’re you doing!?”

Sousei-san’s yell came from behind me. I let the additional warnings raining on me simultaneously from those a.s.sociated with the police slide right past me; I already knew well enough myself.

I confirmed that Shirou Konno had slowly lifted his face and registered my presence with hollow eyes before continuing.

“I am Shirogane. This spring, I transferred into Yagokoro High School as a third-year. Please take me as a hostage instead of that girl.”

A commotion arose among the police as they heard my words.

“...You look familiar… Oh yeah, you’re the rumored Detective Prince?”

Shirou Konno narrowed his eyes in an open display of wariness.

I was well aware that I was grandstanding. However, I had not thought I would receive permission through negotiations. Even had I been given permission, I did not know how long I would have had to wait, with the situation in its current state of confusion.

“Look. She is already at her limit. Please release her.”

At my words, Shirou Konno sent the girl a sideways glance. Takizawa-san’s face was pale and she would not stop trembling.

“I am accustomed to these situations. As a detective, I am well-known to the police, and I believe I can be of help in the negotiations later on.”

There was no more time to waste for Takizawa-san. Any further pressure on her would likely cause irreparable damage to her spirit.

I took off my jacket so that I was wearing only a single shirt. Next I turned out my pockets and showed them to Shirou Konno. “As you can see, I am unarmed.”

“A-a woman?” Shirou Konno looked closely at me, suspicious. His gaze was focused on the curves of my chest.

“...Yes, I’m a woman,” I immediately responded.

I was being sarcastic. I didn’t want to be looked down upon by the adults around me, so I had, up until now, gone out of my way to avoid admitting that I was a woman at the scene of an investigation. That being said, it was possible that he would let down his guard if he were aware that I was female, and so I actively a.s.serted that fact.

Shirou Konno was silently studying me from head to toe. His gaze, full of suspicion, crawled slowly over me like a slug, and I felt as if I would let out a shriek of disgust.

“...That’s fine. Come here.”

Somehow it seemed that I had pleased him.

“...But if you act even a little bit weird – I’ll shoot without mercy.”

I nodded sharply and moved slowly toward Shirou Konno. My feet were leaden as I stepped forward.

If I made any imprudent movements, this man would not hesitate to pull the trigger. I could not a.s.sume any leeway in the handling of Shirou Konno just because his self-a.s.surance was turning into desperation. The slightest incentive could cause him to blow his top.

I carefully walked forward until I was beside Takizawa-san.

“...It’s all right now,” I whispered, and perhaps Takizawa-san calmed down, because her knees suddenly gave out under her and she sank to the concrete floor. Fl.u.s.tered, I propped up the dazed girl as she kneeled on the pavement.

“Untie the rope around that girl’s waist and tie it around yourself.”

Shirou Konno looked down at me and ordered oppressively. The gun’s barrel was pointed at the back of my head. I nodded without looking at the gun and did as Shirou Konno ordered, untying the yellow and black rope from around Takizawa-san’s waist.

To be honest, I had no plan for what would come after becoming a hostage. In any case, I believed that rescuing Takizawa-san took precedence.

However, now that I was near Shirou Konno, I thought that perhaps the opportunity to persuade him would arise. In addition, I had Sousei-san. There was still much friction between us, but I had full faith in Touko-san’s ability to handle incidents at the scene.

...It happened just as I finished untying the rope – a single gunshot echoed across the roof and into the reddish sky above.

Suddenly, a warm “something” touched my cheek. When I reached up and touched my skin, a sticky liquid redder than the sunset clung to my fingertips. Thinking that I had been shot, my entire body stiffened. However, I did not hurt anywhere. I promptly lifted my head.

Before me, Shirou Konno’s eyes were wide with shock and he was standing stock-still. In the next moment, the gun tumbled from his hand and made a dry noise as it fell on the concrete.

–Then, with his eyes still wide open, Shirou Konno slumped over slowly and fell face-first on the floor. The dull crack of a human body hitting concrete echoed across the roof.

When I looked, there were purplish-red traces of a bullet’s scorch marks on Shirou Konno’s temple, and a fan-shaped stain the color of a ripened tomato thrown against a wall was spreading out across the gray floor.

I realized that there was deep shadow as long as a cypress at my feet. Fl.u.s.tered, I turned around. The smell of gunpowder a.s.saulted my nostrils, accompanied by gray smoke which rose up from a dark hole – standing there was a woman in a daunting pose, both hands grasping a revolver. There was only that one person, her face expressionless.

At once, I felt anger well up from the depths of my heart, and I opened my mouth to shout that woman’s name at the top of my lungs. However, faster than I could give it voice, my words were lost amidst the shouts of the surrounding police, though whether they were screams or roars of anger, I could not tell.

At last, she quietly lowered the gun she held and turned on her heel, facing the police gathered at the entrance to the rooftop.

“–As the one in charge here, I am proud to have chosen the best course of action. If you insist on saying my actions in this matter were mistaken, resign yourself and accept your punishment.”

Everyone wore complicated expressions as they gazed at Touko-san. However, no one was able to say a word. Most likely, no one could fathom what had just happened.

Were her actions excessive or justified?

It was not a simple question. We would not have an answer until the time was right. Along those lines, all I could do was mutter dumbfoundedly, “Why?”, as I continued to glare at her.

April 11 Yagokoro High School In front of the main gate

Several hours had pa.s.sed since the “hostage barricade incident”. The sunlight had waned and the campus was beginning to be enveloped in the shrouds of night.

Most of the police had disappeared, save for a few who remained to conduct the crime scene investigation. There was to be a press conference tonight on the incident at the Yagokoro police office, and so the reporters had already departed. The bystanders had left before the sun set. Similarly, there was no pa.s.sing traffic.

I was the only one still standing in front of the now-deserted school gates.

“...How long are yo

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