Blades of Despair

-Chapter Twenty-Nine-

The Suspect Who Suspects Themself

We all looked at Morihei, some with faces of confusion, some with fear, others with shock.

"Wait, are you admitting to the crime, Morihei?" Yoneda asked, horrified. Morihei shook her head, her smile not leaving her face. Why is she smiling?

"I admit I am the most suspicious," she replied, "but we should discuss this before passing any judgement."

"You're awfully calm," Miyagawa noted.

"Don't worry about that for now," Morihei told him, "let's continue the debate for now. Morino, please could you explain to the others why I am the prime suspect?" Even Morino seemed taken aback by Morihei's willingness to cooperate in naming her the culprit.

"That would be," he said, mulling over his words, "because you were the only one on the third floor after eleven-thirty. You were the only one who had an opportunity to murder Ouji before midnight, when Tokunaga arrived."

"Morihei," whimpered Saza, "is this true? Did you kill Ouji?" Morihei bowed her head. "No..."

"The evidence is certainly balanced out of my favour," Morihei said firmly, "but there are still some queries we need to address."

"Such as?" Nishi asked.

"I admit it is possible that I killed Ouji. However, to do that I would have had to have known that Ouji was the student who received the cabinet key from Monoworth. I was in the insectarium all day after the motive was announced, which Nishi and Mitsumi can attest to, so it is impossible that I discovered Ouji's possession of the motive. Additionally, since I never left the insectarium, how was I to know that Ouji had left with Nishi and Mitsumi? Finally, the insectarium is positioned at the very back of the garden, as far away from the entrance as possible. Therefore, even if Ouji had returned to the third floor, I could not have heard her. The elevator is loud, but not loud enough for the noise to travel all the way to my beetles." All of Morihei's arguments were certainly convincing and caused further ripples of confusion to undulate among the group.

"What time did you leave the insectarium, Morihei?" I asked.

"A short while after midnight," she told me, "as that's when Monomenon's twilight announcement plays. I always return to my dormitory when I hear that."

"But can anyone prove that?" Nishi asked. Morihei shook her head.

"Unfortunately, no. I suppose I have to leave your decision to your belief in me," she said, her smile disappearing. There was that word again. Belief. Did I believe that Morihei would kill Ouji? I wasn't sure – Morihei was certainly intelligent enough to pull off a crime as complex as this, but there were still too many questions.

"I don't think we can decide who the culprit is yet," I said loudly to the group. "But we should answer Morihei's questions. Let's start with the Ouji and the key. Does anyone think that it is possible that Morihei knew Ouji had the key?" Everyone was silent.

"And does anyone think they can explain how I knew when Ouji left and returned to the third floor?" Morihei proposed, but for a few moments there was another silence.

"M-maybe it's not p-possible for Morihei to know w-when Ouji l-left," Mitsumi pointed out nervously, "b-but she could have s-seen Tokunaga on her w-way to the first f-floor."

"You did say that you left the insectarium after midnight, Morihei," added Mina, "so it's possible you and Tokunaga bumped into one another."

"Very true," Morihei hummed, "but even if that's true, by that point Ouji was already dead, right? That's what we agreed as a group. I had even less reason to attack Tokunaga given that he wasn't in possession of the key." Morihei's arguments were very convincing, and I was beginning to worry that she was not the killer after all. Yet, I could not think of anyone else that it could be.