E. Epilogue

-x-

I am Mouri Kogoro. A detective. The Sleeping Kogoro, to be exact. I'm a famous man. No, not the astronaut. The detective. Yes, first-rate detective.

I don't even know why I'm doing this. This was such a pointless case. I mean, I wasn't even hired for anything. I just "bumped" into it. You know, like money falling from the sky. Except it wasn't money. It was a case like you've never seen before.

So I was walking home from dinner with my daughter Mouri Ran and the Twerp who's lodging in my house currently. Why wasn't Ran cooking that day, you ask? Well, how should I know? It was something like we've run out of oil or salt or pepper or whatever it is you use for cooking. Instead of buying some more of whatever it was we ran out of, Ran suggested that we should go to the newly opened Thai restaurant. Sometimes, I think she just doesn't want to cook. Anyway. We went to the restaurant. The food was good, by the way.

I was ready to climb the stairs to go back to my house and sit at my desk to let the food settle in my stomach when it all happened. That's right. It happened on the front steps of my house.

This girl no older than Ran (well, okay, she was a year older when I questioned her at the police station, but no matter) shot this man.

The Twerp, being as stupid and annoying as he is, rushed up to the girl, and yelled, "Don't run!" and "Call the ambulance and police, Ran-neechan!"

Now. Seriously. Any smart person would've realized that the girl was not running anywhere. She stood there and slowly lowered her hand that was holding the gun. For a moment, I thought she was a kid who'd fired the gun by accident. I thought she was too shocked by what happened. But when I saw her eyes, I realized I might be dealing with a cold-blooded murderer. Those eyes were determined to kill. And for those eyes to come from such a young girl, you start to wonder what they're teaching kids in school nowadays.

I ran up and caught the girl, grabbing her arm so she wouldn't run away. Hey, you never know when they'd change their minds and take off like they're trying to win a hundred-meter race. I twisted the gun out of her hand, but I very much so believe she dropped it on her own accord. Before I could give that a second thought, she said calmly, "Don't worry. I will not flee. I've done what I've come to do. I readily accept whatever punishments the law will sentence."

If you've solved as much homicide cases as I have, you'd know instantly that there was something wrong with this girl. Every murderer I've come across denied all accusations like screeching sea gulls. As for those people who puffed their chests out and claimed they were the murderers... it turned out they were covering up, trying to help the real murderer because they loved the murderer so much. People these days. Do they really believe love conquers all? Look at Eri and me! But I digress. I have a report to write up. And I most surely do not want to do it at all. This was such a weird case.

But look at her! The girl, I mean. She pulled the trigger of the gun. She killed the man. I saw her with my own eyes! Oh, I get it now. She knew that I, the famous Sleeping Kogoro, a first-rate detective, in fact, the best around, witnessed her crime. She was smart to not deny it. But we now have the question: why the hell did she want to commit the crime in front of my eyes? Did she like a flashy show or what?

Inspector Megure came, and like me, his eyebrows went up to the clouds when he heard about the case. Of course, I didn't hear about it. I saw it. And my eyebrows are actually still up in the clouds, if you care to look.

We brought her to the police station. We asked the regular questions. Name? Date of birth? Family? Relationship with the victim? ...Motive for murder?

That's where we were stumped.

Here's the question-and-answer in detail:

Name?

Saruwatari Miharu.

Date of birth?

November xx, xxxx. 18 years old.

Family?

Mama Saruwatari, Papa Saruwatari.

Relationship with the victim?

My sister was his girlfriend.

Oh? You didn't mention you had a sister. Older or younger?

She's dead. Older.

...Oh. And here, the Twerp interrupted. When? When did your sister die? And how?

She paused and stared at the Twerp in a way that made the Twerp frown. Last month. Suicide. Fell off a hotel balcony in New York City.

I cleared my throat and punched the Twerp on his head before he could continue blabbering. What is your motive for murder?

What difference will it make to my sentence if I told you my reason?

We stared at her. Inspector Megure, me, and the Twerp. Maybe it was time to use that American "You have the right to remain silent." We continued to stare.

She added, "I've done what I've come to do." It was her second time saying that. Maybe she thought that sufficed as a motive. What a strange girl.

We couldn't get the motive out of her. So we gave up. She was right, in a way. Her sentence wouldn't have changed. We wouldn't have accepted her motives. We might not have even understood. Well, for the "motive" we have currently, I certainly do not understand it at all.

So she's in prison now, serving her time. We interviewed Mama and Papa Saruwatari, but we got nothing out of them.

Miharu-chan was treated for several personality disorders. Miharu-chan always wanted us to leave her alone. Miharu-chan always spoke of wanting to escape from this world so that we would be safe. Miharu-chan always mentioned voices telling her to do things she didn't want to do... These started three years ago. She used to be such a brilliant and happy girl...

When we (the Twerp and I) tried to find out more about what happened three years ago, we were told that they (the parents) didn't know either. Just one day, she came home, pale faced, and everything fell apart for her. They'd tried asking her friends and classmates. None of them knew what happened.

We asked about her sister. Her parents only said it was possible that Miharu-chan's condition depressed Kanna-chan. They were such close sisters... We later found out the suicide note contained Kanna's hope that her sister's life would be returned to her sister with the exchange of her own life.

We asked about Kanna's boyfriend. He was a quiet man, Papa Saruwatari told us. Very quiet, very respectful, very knowledgeable. A businessman. But in truth, they didn't know much about him or his relationship with Kanna. He seemed trustworthy enough, however.

We found no information on the victim's family.

I have no idea why I investigated that far for the strange but simple case. It was the Twerp. He wanted to investigate further. And now I have to write up the whole report. Stupid Twerp. Of course he wouldn't mind investigating. He has this thing for investigations. And it's not like he's writing the report.

Tomorrow's Ran's birthday. Professor Agasa invited me (and Eri...) to another birthday party for her this evening. Damn Brat. Making this report so much longer than it had to be. Now I barely have time to get dressed!

The report's good as it is. Oh right. Forgot one thing. Miharu's lawyer (I'm surprised she actually has one) is making such a big fuss. Demanding the case be reevaluated because of Miharu's mental condition. I personally think she's very sane. From the conversations I've had with her anyway. She was just cold and didn't want to associate herself with people much. If there's a personality disorder with her, it'll be she's a natural loner. Or... loner since three years ago.

And Eri is here.