"I started with nothing, so to me, those were my weapons to fight against the detective," Asakura offered. "In an RPG, the hero goes to buy weapons and armor at the shop to make himself strong enough to beat the boss, right? So basically, I bought an impossible crime from those people with real life money, to beat the detective."
Someone was selling all the murders and dismemberment that happened here at the Sirius Observatory? I can't believe—why would Asakura go along with this game in the first place? Would there have been some kind of prize if he won against the detective?
"Heh..." Asakura stared down at the ground and let out a short huff before raising his head. "It's all over for me anyway. Sure, I'll tell you everything. It's not a bad idea—wiping the smiles off the faces of those voyeurs watching us. Messing with my life like that... I hope you're all shaking in your boots right now, you pieces of shit!"
Asakura raised his middle finger on the hand holding the knife, threatening the empty air. I followed his gaze, but of course, there wasn't anyone on the other end of it.
"First of all... Right, I guess I should talk about how this happened to my legs. I don't have much time. I'll make this brief, so listen up. You guys have to make yourselves a threat to those people. Or, no, maybe I should say—a hope for victims like me..."
Asakura started telling us about his past, and the serial arson case he experienced. Apparently, as a victim, his legs had been burned so badly that the only option was to amputate. The prime suspect in the case committed suicide, and so the case was settled with that. But one day, a mysterious old man appeared before him. The old man came to whisper in his ear, saying he would tell him the true culprit.
"The bastard who stole my family from me and left me in this wretched state was out there living scot-free, without a care in the world. You think I could just let that slide? Of course not. I did what anyone would have done."
The old man told Asakura he would reveal the true culprit, on one condition. That condition was this murder case.
"Those people probably go around finding people like me, with the coals of revenge all ready to burn inside of them, and they instigate us to murder. The whole thing's a big show, sponsored by the filthy rich."
"Do things like that... really actually happen?"
"All the proof you need is in what you experienced from yesterday up until today."
"Who are 'those people' you refer to?" Kirigiri asked.
"The old man said he was from the Victims' Catharsis Committee. He went on and on about catharsis like it's their slogan or something, but really the whole thing's just to entertain some sickos I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Of course... I knew all that when I started this game. I think they called the game itself a Duel Noir. Apparently they've done countless of these."
"If you knew all of that... then why did you choose to have this blood on your hands? There must have been some better way..." I trembled as I spoke.
"Spare me the concern trolling. At the very least, I really could sense catharsis in what they were saying. The chance to start my life over again..."
Asakura summarized the Duel Noir—all of it, without hiding anything from us. Once the letter of challenge was opened, I had been given 168 hours to indict the culprit. If I had failed, he would have received all the money indicated that was used to buy the tricks and so on, and on top of that, he'd be given the privilege to start a new life as a different person.
It was unfortunate that his experiment had failed, but... he was a murderer now. In the end, he wasn't any better than the person he had resented for so long. The futility of it all was almost too much.
