A/N: Been sleeping way too much. Ache all over. XP

Chapter 20: Jacklyn Ripper

When Hiyori's consciousness began to resurface, it was because she felt a dull ache hurting the left side of her head. The first thing she thought of was whether Kanami accidentally pushed her out of the bed again in her sleep. It was only one of the many things Hiyori discovered her girlfriend had an unconscious habit of doing since they started dating. Under the term "many things", Hiyori classified a group of miscellaneous dislikes. Kanami hogging all the blankets, snoring the roof down, accidentally waking Hiyori up by smacking her in the face... Weakly opening her eyes, the Origami Head prepared herself to get up from the floor and just sleep on the couch.

However, when she tried moving her limbs, she discovered they were held down for some reason. Becoming more aware of her surroundings, Hiyori started struggling, but lack of strength made her body scream in protest. Her eyes now adjusting to the darkness, all sense of security vanished. She was not in her hotel room; she was in the library, tied to the large table. Alarm jolted through the young Toji as a sinister face came into view, hovering over her.

Determined to not show her fear, Hiyori scowled at her captor. "It was you all along, huh? Taniguchi Yayoi."

The musician gave a smile very unlike the silly voluble ones she'd make when talking ecstatically about her foreign husbands. "I'm surprised you and your little lovebird didn't figure it out sooner."

"Actually, you did trigger my memory once. And seeing your true nature now has reminded me about something."

Yayoi raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Her frown deepening, Hiyori said, "Yes...but as you intended, I became so blind with humiliation that I failed to notice it until now. On the first night, you said, 'And indeed wearing such a diadem must be very heavy—and not because of the diamonds, I'll bet.' And then I remembered saying similar words at my inauguration. I don't doubt that you heard them yourself—storing it up in your memory to taunt me in the future of being superfluous and incompetent as the Head of the Origami Family."

"I see that it's true what they say," Yayoi laughed. "You do indeed have eidetic memory. Too bad it'll never again be put to use when your precious lovebird solves future mystery cases."

Before Hiyori could cry out, Yayoi slammed her head against the table, forcing it to stay still. Taking a rag, the musician then swiftly gagged the Toji's mouth. Clearly taking pleasure in seeing the growing fear in Hiyori's eyes, Yayoi pushed her Russian faux fur shawl slightly, revealing a scalpel underneath it. It gleamed in the moonlight, showing off its razor-sharp edge.

"I still can't believe you actually took the bait in coming to this dump," Yayoi said. "I admit I never intended to shoot to kill that bitch, Akane. I just knew that you, as a strong-willed person of justice, wouldn't come to the Hotel Tsubaki, unless your loved ones were outright threatened."

Her comment about Akane, a person Hiyori came to see as a parental guardian, filled the Toji with so much hatred that she actually let out a small muffled growl. She didn't close her eyes, even as Yayoi inspected her bound body, parting the folds of her green nightgown slightly.

"Should I start by slicing open that flat chest of yours...or perhaps that certain place Etou Kanami probably fucked a thousand times?" Yayoi purred.

If Hiyori's mouth wasn't gagged, the musician would've clearly heard every swear word the Origami Head was trying to spew at her. As Yayoi raised the scalpel, Hiyori braced herself for the agonizing torture knowing that the serial killer meant to murder her slowly as possible.

"I think I'll start with your tiny breasts," Yayoi said. "That way, I'll have easier access to cutting out your heart. Maybe I'll give it to Etou Kanami as a present in my next letter to her. Now, for the last part of my game..."

Just as the scalpel's edge was about to pierce Hiyori's pale skin, the sudden banging against the library door caused both the Toji and Yayoi to look towards it. Then, without warning, a powerful force burst the door open from its hinges and two familiar figures barged in. Hiyori could hardly describe her relief and joy at the sight of them.

"Freeze!" Officer Kuroda shouted, pointing his revolver at Yayoi.

Kanami was right behind him with Chidori raised. Yayoi sneered at the two, but particularly at the Minoseki Toji.

"How are you awake?" she demanded.

Kanami ignored the question, ordering, "Get away from Hiyori-chan."

"And if I don't?" Yayoi crooned.

The smile on her face dropped when Officer Kuroda shot the scalpel out of her hand with one bullet. Getting the idea, the musician rolled her eyes before putting her hands up.

"Step back from Hiyori-sama," the policeman said.

Yayoi gave a sulky glare and did so, allowing Officer Kuroda to immediately go and restrain her. Her heart in her throat, Kanami rushed over to Hiyori, untying her and taking the gag out of her mouth. The embrace Kanami gave Hiyori almost squeezed the air out of the ebony-haired girl. Her body shook as ragged sobs came from her throat.

"Hiyori-chan! Hiyori-chan!"

"Kanami..."

"I almost lost you!" Kanami cried.

She was almost as hysterical as Mary had been when she lost George. Sadness and relief then swiftly turned to anger and she slapped Hiyori across the face.

"What did you think you were doing?!"

Clutching her red cheek, Hiyori whispered, "She threatened to kill you...I had to."

She would have said more, but Kanami interrupted her with a raised palm. "Never mind that. We'll talk about this later."

"And so now we come to the explanation of it all."

In the lounge, wearing their pyjamas and nightclothes, everyone had their eyes focused on Kanami. The Minoseki Toji stood with her back to the fireplace, prepared to address her audience. She took a deep breath, before beginning.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now tell you how it all came to be—the story of a cold-blooded killer. I shall first begin with the murder of Kameyama Noboru. On the first night, during dinner, the victim showed Hiyori-chan and I a photograph of the inauguration. It was a tragic mistake of his to exuberantly express his interest in the attempted murder, along with Jacklyn Ripper. For now, he needed to be silenced. Now at first, I thought that perhaps it was the gun that was incriminating, but no. It was where it was in the photo—near where the musicians were playing."

Daisuke, who looked rather sick and drowsy for some reason, said, "It doesn't make sense. Taniguchi-san was with General Wilson and I the whole time!"

Kanami nodded. "Oh yes. It seemed so. Until, thanks to a chance remark made by Hiyori-chan during our game of Coup, when she said, 'Where one person may not be who they seem.'"

She paused letting that sink in before continuing, "And that is where Taniguchi-san's accomplice comes in...isn't that right, Carter-san?"

Everyone looked at Mary with wide eyes. The English professor tossed her strawberry-blonde curls slightly and scoffed, "I beg your pardon?"

"Later that evening, when we all gathered in the lounge, Carter-san pretended to have a stomach-ache," Kanami explained. "Taniguchi-san took her upstairs, and this is when a masquerade so cunning began to take place. It is known that Carter-san has cancer and took chemotherapy treatment, so naturally, she would own a wig or two. Upstairs with Taniguchi-san in her room, the two women switch clothes. Carter-san puts on a wig that matches Taniguchi-san's hair before going back downstairs, as the musician. For the rest of the night, she is Taniguchi-san."

Daisuke exclaimed, "So, it was Carter-san that General Wilson and I were talking to! But such an act surely would've been risky."

Kanami flung her hands up slightly. "And yet, it worked, sir. There was the wig and also Carter-san was mostly wrapped up by Taniguchi-san's faux fur shawl. General Wilson even mentioned that night that Carter-san used to be an actress in her younger years. So, of course, she'd be an expert at putting on a convincing façade. The only light in the lounge came from the fireplace. If Carter-san made sure to keep her back to it, her face would've been in shadow. And one must remember nobody at the hotel had ever met Taniguchi-san in person, except for Fujimori-san. But even he only ever saw Taniguchi-san whenever she'd occasionally stay at the Hotel Tsubaki."

"Surely, the general would've recognized Carter-san that night, wouldn't he?" Naomi asked.

"Ah, which brings me to something that you all do not know, except for Hiyori-chan and I. Hiyori-chan, tell me: when we went on the bus to go to the hotel, General Wilson mentioned he and Carter-san hadn't seen each other for a long time. Remind me how long did he say."

Hiyori's response was immediate. "Ten years—a decade."

"Indeed. He even remarked that he barely recognized her!"

"So, if Carter-san was downstairs, what about the real Taniguchi-san?" Kenzou asked.

"It is simple, Doctor Ishikawa. Taniguchi-san went to Kameyama-san's room to await his return. And when he did...that was the end of him."

For a long time, there was a dead silence. Hinata, wrapped in a robe with his hair out of his ponytail, looked even more frazzled, in particular, from the words Kanami just uttered.

After waiting a few more seconds for everyone to take things in, the Minoseki Toji continued, "Now with the murder complete—along with Taniguchi-san fulfilling her sadistic thirst by tearing Kameyama-san open—she and Carter-san prepare for the final parts of their malign joke. Taniguchi-san quickly washes the blood off of her hands in Kameyama-san's bathroom, the noise of the tap water that Shinbo-san heard. She then takes the photograph of the inauguration and hurries back to Carter-san's room. When Carter-san returns at midnight, they switch back their clothes. They are almost done, but there is still evidence to be destroyed.

"The next morning, Carter-san and Taniguchi-san decide to incriminate Shinbo-san as the possible murderer. When they are certain she is out of her room, they burn the wig and the photo in her fireplace. I am guessing they either did it after the commotion of finding Kameyama-san's body or even when Shinbo-san was being questioned by us in the lounge. When we were searching Shinbo-san's room, I found tufts of what appeared to be hair in her fireplace."

"You can't prove I'm involved in this! You can't!" Mary shouted.

Kanami glared at her. "Oh, indeed I can, ma'am! Just yesterday, I made a few phone calls to the schools of the Five Traditions. I know that you lied when you said that you were only employed at Minoseki and Heijou. In fact, I learned that you had taught at every single school of the Five Traditions! And not just that, at whatever school you were teaching at, Jacklyn Ripper killed a Toji from that same school during your employment there. Furthermore, you never stayed at one single school for more than two months! All because you were hasty to leave, due to being the accomplice and fence of Taniguchi Yayoi. And as her accomplice, you knew you had to put your own feelings aside. Even when it came to the heartbreaking task of murdering the man you loved, General Wilson."

"So, he was murdered!" Hinata said.

Daisuke asked, "But why?"

Kanami addressed Yayoi with a frown, "Because of the conversation you had with the general during breakfast yesterday. A conversation that would've exposed you, if he started putting two-and-two together. At breakfast, General Wilson talked about his aunt, Sydney, which you believed to instead be the Australian city."

The Minoseki Toji turned to Hiyori and Officer Kuroda. "You will remember that when we questioned General Wilson, he told us that on the night of Kameyama-san's death, he talked with the supposed Taniguchi-san about how he was writing a memoir on his aunt, a famous writer."

"Yes, that's correct. I remember that," Officer Kuroda said.

Turning back to Yayoi, Kanami said, "And yet, during breakfast, you had no clue what he was talking about! It did not make sense. That you, who were so interested to learn about his aunt that fateful night, could now be so clueless. For it was not you that the general talked to about his Aunt Sydney that night, but Carter-san."

Then, she looked at Mary with saddened eyes. "But Carter-san really did love General Wilson. Didn't you, Carter-san?"

Her eyes becoming as tearful as yesterday, Mary lowered her head. "I begged Yayoi to let me do the deed when she expressed her wish to kill him. I couldn't bear the thought of her ripping out his organs like all the others. So, I gave him the overdose. I knew he took painkillers, so I switched them for Doctor Ishikawa's morphine tablets. I picked the lock of his room and gave George a painless death."

"But what about when Taniguchi-san was attacked?" Naomi asked.

"Oh, that was an act most clever. By making it look as if she was a victim, Taniguchi-san was able to throw us off the scent...with the help of Ishikawa Kenzou."

Everyone stared at the doctor. With denial across his face, Kenzou snorted, "What?"

"As a doctor, you knew how to wound her non-fatally. By wearing the bathrobe, you took care to be witnessed running out of Taniguchi-san's room, making it appear as though a mysterious man had attacked her."

"So, it was the doctor I saw then! But he said himself that he saw the mysterious man," Naomi said.

"And of course, that was a lie, Shinbo-san, for we only have his word. There is no proof that Doctor Ishikawa saw the man himself for he was the man! You will recall that during our game of Coup, Doctor Ishikawa accidentally addressed Carter-san by her first name. Despite them supposedly being strangers, he addressed her with such intimacy. And it became clear to me that they knew each other before. They were both in on Taniguchi-san's scheme."

"But why did the doctor wound Taniguchi-san?" Officer Kuroda asked.

"Because he was a brother most devoted and loyal to his sister. Isn't that right, Doctor Ishikawa? You wished to shift everyone's eyes from her as a possible suspect."

By now, Yayoi, Mary, and Kenzou were all shooting daggers at the Minoseki Toji. Their stares of hatred did little to affect the Minoseki Toji, as she continued on.

"A piece of paper that Officer Kuroda, Hiyori-chan, and I found in Shinbo-san's fireplace... It pointed a finger to Kawamoto Kyoko, a woman who once tried to steal Izanamihime's six jewels two years ago. I believe when she took the photo from Kameyama-san's room, Taniguchi-san found the news article on her mother and knew that it too would be incriminating. So, she destroyed it as well with the wig and photo."

Kanami looked at Yayoi straight in the eye addressing her, "All because it would point to you and your brother because now it gives you a motive. Vowing to fulfill the theft your mother so desperately tried to attempt...vowing to avenge your mother...and vowing revenge on me, the one who stopped her. And the challenge letter you sent me?"

"All I wanted was to punish you. But killing you would've brought no victory to me. No, I wanted to kill her," Yayoi scoffed, sneering at Hiyori, who frowned back.

Kanami shrugged. "And your plan would've worked...if I hadn't witnessed Hiyori-chan do something rather peculiar last night. It was essential that I did not become a hindrance during her rendezvous with you, Taniguchi-san. And so, most likely before dinner, you had sent a threatening letter to Hiyori-chan, along with a vial of some sleeping drug. And everything would've succeeded, if last night in the lounge, I had not seen Hiyori-chan drug my water in the mirror above the decanter set. Aware of what Hiyori-chan's intention was, I thus switched my water for Hashimoto-san's."

"Oh, is that why I feel like I have a heavy hangover?" Daisuke asked, with a frown.

"My apologies, Hashimoto-san," Kanami said, before turning back to Yayoi. "Your revenge would've succeeded indeed, Taniguchi-san, but you lost this game, I'm afraid."

Yayoi looked like she could leap from her chair at any moment. "You don't know how it feels, so I wanted to give you my pain. After all, what greater revenge is there than killing the one you love most, leaving you alone? Just like how you killed mine."

Her head swivelled towards Hiyori. "You yourself know what it is like. You've lost your mother too. Don't deny you had the thirst to kill as well. To take revenge."

"I'm nothing like you," the Origami Head spat.

Yayoi threw back her head with laughter. "Oh yes, you are, Hiyori-sama. But I'm better than you'll ever be."

"So, what about the Origami Family diadem?" Officer Kuroda inquired.

Kanami pointed to Yayoi's dress. "Taniguchi-san, lift up your skirt if you please."

The musician only frowned; her smile of amusement gone.

With authoritative command, Kanami added, "Now."

Grudgingly, Yayoi did so, revealing for all to see the Origami Family diadem tied to her thigh. Hinata and Daisuke both let out an oath.

"You have so many trousers in your closet...and yet, you wear the same dress for three days straight," Kanami said. "And the rest of the six relics of Izanamihime? I bet they're all in Taniguchi-san's jewelry box. However, the gems have been split and made into entirely different pieces of jewelry. Remember that when Taniguchi-san took out her emerald earrings, she was careful to not show what else was in her jewelry box and quickly snapped it shut."

"Yes, I do remember that..." Officer Kuroda said.

Nobody said anything else as they all watched Kanami and Yayoi stare each other down. Two bitter enemies fully face-to-face showing off their true nature...

With raised eyebrows, Kanami murmured, "It seems I have won the game, haven't I...Jacklyn Ripper?"

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then Yayoi's mouth twisted into a grin—a cold wicked grin. Before anyone knew what was happening, the musician lifted the other side of her dress and whipped out the revolver that was tied to her other leg. Exclamations of fear filled the room as she jumped from her seat, pointing the barrel at Hiyori.

"No!"

"Someone, stop her!"

Kanami and Officer Kuroda sprang forward, the policeman with his own gun, even though they knew they wouldn't be fast enough. With widened eyes, Hiyori watched as Yayoi fired—until Mary flung her body in front. She crashed heavily to the ground with blood coming from her wound. Screams from Naomi pierced the air. It was Kenzou that restrained his sister, assisted by Daisuke and Hinata, who took the firearm from her.

"Stop, Onee-san! There's no point now!" Kenzou cried.

His body shaking, Officer Kuroda knelt down and placed two fingers on Mary's neck, trying to feel for a pulse. But there was no need.

Mary Carter was dead—shot through the heart.

A/N: How many of you were expecting Jacklyn to be Yayoi? I know Mary and Kenzou were two of the main people that readers were suspecting.

This fanfic was fun to write. I hope you all found it just as entertaining to read. There will be one more chapter—an epilogue before this fanfic is officially complete. Until then!