I returned to where she was. Kyouko Kirigiri was still lying on the floor of the hall. Her head was still firmly connected to the rest of her body. There was no doubt that it would have been much easier to cut through her slender neck, as opposed to those of the other men. But she hadn't received any damage. And the very weapon that seemed perfectly suited to the crime had fallen by her hand...
If you asked me, just from looking at her, I wouldn't say she was anything but a pure and innocent girl. Could I really say that she went around chopping three men's heads off? That would be stupid... but...
I stepped back to observe her from a distance. She was a cute girl, but her features left me with the impression of enigmatic mystery. Talking with her, too, had demonstrated that she was wary, and concealed her true thoughts. Though maybe that was related to whatever reason she had for being a detective at such a young age.
As I was pondering what reason that might be, I suddenly saw something glinting in her left hand. ...A key? I had a flash of intuition. The key to the handcuffs!
If it could be said that "the person who murdered the three detectives" equalled "the person who restrained me with the handcuffs", then wouldn't the key in her hand serve as proof that she was the killer? If the key really was the key to the handcuffs...
I needed to make sure. And I wanted to get those handcuffs off of my right arm as soon as possible, anyway.
I approached her, softly extending my hand, trying to go unnoticed. If I wanted to steal the key, I first had to extract it from her grip. Her fingers looked almost like small white flower buds closing over it. One by one, I gently spread those fingers out. I discreetly removed the key, and then backed away from her. She still hadn't noticed me.
Immediately, I thrust the key into the keyhole by my wrist. It fit perfectly. I turned the key, and it opened the handcuffs.
The rush of freedom that I felt was joined by a simultaneous flood of despair. Is she really the culprit? I didn't know what had happened to her, but maybe she'd killed those men, and then restrained me, and then lost consciousness and collapsed? Maybe she'd hit her limit for physical exertion, or maybe it was anemia.
Testing one more time to see if the key was the real deal, I stuck it in the other keyhole and tried turning it. Just as I thought, the handcuff opened with a click.
At that moment, Kirigiri stirred slightly at my feet, as if in response to the noise from the handcuffs. She's waking up!
I immediately took half a step back. She opened her eyes while still on her side, staring down at the floor. At last, she shifted to sit up, rubbing her eyes, and looked up at me with a look of astonishment on her face. She was dazed and defenseless, sitting on the ground with her legs out to the side.
And then, she abruptly noticed the shears on the floor. All at once, her innocent expression froze over. She reached out her right hand to pick them up.
"Don't move!" I ordered her to stay still. But her hand didn't look like it was going to stop moving any time soon.
There was no other choice. I kicked off the floor to quickly jump towards her, locking her left wrist in the handcuffs. Then I tugged at the chain forcefully, attaching the other end of the handcuffs to the column of the nearby armchair's arm rest.
She was tied to the chair. It was only a one-person armchair, but her arms were so skinny, it didn't seem like she would be able to drag it along with her. Her right hand couldn't reach the shears anymore. She stopped trying, looking up at me, expressionless. But I could tell that her eyes were hiding just a tiny bit of aggravation.
