"So you are the—"
"Don't misunderstand. By no means is it anything more than a role I have been assigned. You were given the part of the one who indicts the culprit, and I was given the part of the one who is indicted. That is how things have been set up."
"So, basically... you're a dummy culprit prepared by the real culprit?"
"Yes."
"There's something fishy about that. I mean, there's something fishy about there being a challenge at all. Like, what does the culprit have to gain from sending a letter announcing their crime ahead of time? And you said I'm playing the detective? From the culprit's point of view, I don't see why they'd ever need a detective."
"That's why I believe this is a game."
"That doesn't make any sense. You're saying killing people is a game?"
"Rather... it's a murder game wherein the culprit issues a challenge to the detective."
"That's..."
"That's the only thing I can think of, considering the existence of the written challenge and the reasoning behind leaving the two of us alive."
"The culprit just wanted to see our reactions?"
"I wonder?"
"So basically, this is what you're trying to say. Right now, this whole situation, this is a real time mystery game that the culprit set up as a challenge for me?"
"Yes."
"There's no way I'm gonna believe that! That's ridiculous!" I denied. "Why me? Out of sixty-five thousand and five hundred detectives, why would they single me out?"
"Perhaps they wished to issue a challenge to all detectives—or, alternatively, the very concept of private investigators." Kirigiri narrowed her eyes and shook her head, swishing her hair back from her cheeks. She looked like she was prepared to face the culprit's challenge head on.
"Fine, I get it... For now, let's just pretend everything that's happening right now is a game to the culprit... How am I supposed to solve the case? That still wouldn't change the fact that you're the only suspect."
"I'm going to speak based solely on my own personal perspective, but... I am not the culprit, and neither are you. Your hand feels completely different from the culprit's."
"And so?"
"The culprit is another person."
"I have already rigorously investigated that option. We're the only ones here."
"No; you still have some gaps in your investigation."
Is there anywhere I haven't investigated yet...?
We all confirmed that there were no hidden rooms or secret passages before we lost consciousness. There were no traces of anyone exiting or entering the building in the surrounding snow. The front door and all of the windows were locked from the inside. Even if, hypothetically, someone were to have a copy of the key to the door, there still wasn't any trace of anyone going through the automatic door, so I could safely say that no one had gone in or out.
If, hypothetically—the culprit was someone other than Kirigiri, then where did they come from, and where did they disappear to? They didn't fly out through the automatic door on a balloon, did they? Maybe they shrunk to water bottle size so that they could hide in the fridge? Neither of those could possibly be true.
"There is something I would like to confirm before anything else," Kirigiri opened her mouth again to say. "Regarding the corpses, you told me about how they had all been decapitated. However, 'Dismemberment' is what is written in the challenge."
"You don't mean..."
"Perhaps a more thorough investigation should be performed on the corpses."
Were their heads not the only part severed?
"If you remove my handcuffs, I will perform the investigation," said Kirigiri.
"No, you sit there. I'll investigate."
"Be thorough about it. How were they cut? I'm sure the corpses will tell us everything we need to know."
"...Got it."
Or so I said... but there was no way I could investigate dismembered corpses and keep a level head. Probably the only people who can do that are Number 9 detectives.
But I had to do it despite that. If it was true that I'd been slapped with a challenge, then I had to stand up and face it.
