Well hello! Here is a new chapter of Azure Redi-fanfiction. I start planning the next chapter. See you in the next chapter.
"Tatsuo!" Akie cried as she sat at the table in the dining room.
Natsue walked in front of Akie:
"Big Sister".
"It's all your fault!" Akie accused Natsue.
"Eh?" Natsue was surprised.
"If you hadn't brought Takeshi into this family, this wouldn't have happened!" Akie shouted. "What are you going to do about it?"
"You're 'lucky' because Takeshi-san killed father, as the entire inheritance goes to you!" Mariko said to Natsue. "That's what it says in father's will. Father bequeathed his entire inheritance to you because you were his favorite!"
"T-That's not true! I don't care about the legacy!" Natsue yelled.
"Sorry, but it still hasn't been confirmed that Takeshi-san is the murderer. We don't have any physical evidence of his guilt", Shizuka said. "The murderer could just as well be anyone else who just framed Takeshi-san as the culprit so he could get away with it himself like a dog on a leash".
Everyone seemed to get nervous at what they heard.
"I-Irene-chan", Ran said.
"Mōri-san, you looked thoughtful just now", Shizuka said. "What are you thinking?"
"The warehouse door that we locked earlier after taking Takeshi-san there. That warehouse lock can only be opened from the outside of that warehouse door. There were no signs of it being broken open, so it must have been opened from the outside. So someone must have let Takeshi-san out of the warehouse. That means one of you is Takeshi-san's accomplice!" Kogorō looked at the members of the Hatamoto family.
Takeshi sat on the floor of the ship's engine room nervously. He didn't know what he should do now, because everyone suspected him to be the murderer.
"So this has to happen. When Tatsuo-san was killed, all 3 of you were alone in your room Akie-san, Jouji-san, and Ichirou-san. And you 2 are the only ones sharing a room", Kogorō said to Mariko, and Mariko's husband.
"Y-Yes, but I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk", Mariko's husband said.
"This means that although like during the first murder, for example, none of you have an alibi like Natsue-san who was with Irene and Rani during the second murder", Kogorō said. "A good detective considers all options. To all of you should probably do body inspection to find the murder-weapon".
"You can not be serious!" Akie shouted. "My husband was killed! Why am I still a suspect?"
"Hmph! Aren't you the happiest person here since Tatsuo-san died?" Mariko asked Akie. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if the body inspection revealed that you were the one responsible for the Murders of father and Tatsuo-san, if a possible Murder Weapon was found in your possession".
Akie looked at Mariko in surprise.
"I know everything! I know you've had affairs with other men!" Mariko yelled at Akie, pointing at Akie with her right index finger.
"Hatamoto Mariko seems to want to know the secrets of all her relatives. Akie-san is a bit of a snob. Mariko's husband is shy. Ichirou seems a bit insecure. Jouji on the other hand seems a bit friendlier than his sister. One of them might still be the murderer who killed Hatamoto Gozou, and Hatamoto Tatsuon, and decided to blame it on Takeshi, but why?" Shizuka thought as she looked at the members of the Hatamoto family.
"Didn't you have the perfect motive to kill grandpa, Mariko-aunt? Didn't you care most about that legacy?" Akie asked. "You might as well have hidden the murder weapon in your kimono after murdering grandpa!"
"Stop it, both of you! Please!" Natsue yelled.
Shizuka, and Ran walked behind Ichirou, who was sitting on a chair, who opened his sketchbook and looked at a black and white picture of Natsue on one page.
"Did you draw this Ichirou-san?" Ran asked as she and Shizuka saw who the picture Ichirou had drawn was. "So Natsue-san is the model for your drawing".
Ichirou got nervous, and hid the magazine behind his back.
"Mariko-aunt, your son, Ichirou is no exception!" Akie said looking at Ichirou. "Am I right? Ichirou started crying because grandpa tore up Ichirou's drawing that won a prize in some art competition! I wouldn't be at all surprised if Ichirou decided to get revenge on grandpa!"
"I-It was father's fault for not recognizing Ichirou-san's talent!" Mariko put both hands on Ichirou's shoulders.
"Tatsuo always teased you didn't he?" Akie asked Ichirou. "Tatsuo kept calling you dark, and a blind artist".
"N-No, I didn't kill anyone!" Ichirou yelled nervously.
"But the person who has always wanted to get rid of grandpa is you, Kitarou-uncle!" Akie said looking at Mariko's husband.
"Wh-What?" Kitarou asked.
Suddenly, Ichirou stood up, and walked towards the doorway of the dining room.
"Ichirou, where are you going?" Kitarou asked.
"To the bathroom", Ichirou said.
"Are you sure you dare to go to the bathroom alone?" Kitarou asked.
"I'm fine. Unlike my father, I'm not a coward!" Ichirou said walking out of the room.
"Ichirou!" Kitarou said.
"Hello, Suzuki-san. Did something happen between Kitarou-san and his wife's father?" Shizuka asked.
"Kitarou-sama has always wanted to leave the Hatamoto family. He feels like he's the type of person who couldn't run a large company. Gozou-sama opposed it extremely well. Even if he didn't, I'm sure his wife Mariko would have allowed it, that Kitarou-sama would leave the Hatamoto Group. Why did you ask?" Suzuki whispered to Shizuka.
"I saw Gozou-sama yelling at Kitarou-sama earlier on the deck of this ship before the first crime. Kitarou-sama seemed a bit afraid of Gozou-sama then", Shizuka said.
"No doubt Gozou-sama could be pretty scary, so I'm not at all surprised if you noticed", Butler said.
"Thank you", Shizuka said, and sat down at a nearby table.
"Hmm, Mister Detective! According to the clock, it's already been 20 minutes since Ichirou went to the bathroom, but Ichirou hasn't come back from the bathroom yet!" Kitarou said standing up. He sounded concerned.
"C-Could Takeshi-san, or his accomplice...?" Mariko asked.
Ichirou was washing his hands in the bathroom when the overhead lights suddenly went off.
Ichirou looked around.
The ceiling lights in the dining room had also just gone out.
"Calm down, and don't move!" Kogorō shouted, looking around like the others.
"But Ichirou hasn't come back from the bathroom yet!" Kitarou shouted.
"Kitarou-sama, could this be a power outage?" Shizuka asked.
"I don't know. Maybe the fuse blew", Kitarou said.
"Ichirou-san!" Mariko shouted worriedly. She was about to leave in the bathroom to look for her son, but Kogorō put his other hand on Mariko's real shoulder, stopping Mariko.
"Ma'am, you can't leave this room for your own safety! Hey, Ran and Irene, are you 2 here?" Kogorō asked.
"Father!" Ran shouted.
"We're here, Mōri-san!" Shizuka shouted.
"I'm going to go to the fuse box room. You go to the bathroom to find Ichirou-san! Irene, use the gift you got from your uncle when you go to the bathroom!" Kogorō said digging a lighter out of his pants pocket with his right hand and lighting it.
"Yes", Irene put on her flashlight wristwatch, and headed for the bathroom with the others as Kogorō headed for the fuse box room.
"Luckily you got a watch like that from your uncle", Ran said following Shizuka. "It can still become a really popular product".
"Yeah", Shizuka said.
"Aaaah!" A scream from the toilet startled the girls.
"W-Wasn't that Ichirou-san's voice?" Ran asked.
Suddenly the overhead lights came back on and the girls ran to the bathroom like the others to see Ichirou lying on the floor grimacing in pain while holding onto one of his legs.
"Ichirou-san!" Mariko shouted worriedly.
"My f-feet!" Ichirou yelled.
"Stand still, Ichirou-san!" Mariko shouted, running into the room with Shizuka, and Ran, and crouching close to Ichirou.
"It's okay. It's just a small wound and I can take care of it right away", Ran said looking at the wound on Ichirou's right leg.
"I'm going to get the first aid kit!" Natsue ran out of the bathroom.
Shizuka turned off her watch, and looked around.
"Who did this to you?" Mariko asked.
"I don't know. The overhead lights suddenly went off, and I felt someone come into the bathroom. And then I got stabbed!" Ichirou yelled.
Shizuka looked around until she saw a kitchen knife under the sink table with blood on the blade.
"That knife was supposed to attack you", Shizuka said to Ichirou pointing under the sink table.
Everyone looked in the same direction as Shizuka.
"That's...!" Mariko shouted nervously.
"My kitchen knife!" Jouji said picking up the knife in disbelief.
"So then, Jouji, you're a suspect", Mariko was about to say.
"M-moment!" Jouji said. "I couldn't possibly do that since I was in the dining hall with all of you when the ceiling lights went out".
"T-That's true", Mariko said.
"There is only one person who could have done that", Jouji said. "It can only be Takeshi-kun, or his accomplice!"
"No, because we can't figure that out yet", Kogorō said, coming over. "We leave Ichirou-san to Ran, and Natsue-san. The rest of you follow me to the engine room of this ship".
Natsue walked over to Ichirou's side, and bent down to give the first aid kit to Ran.
The others followed Kogorō into the ship's engine room.
"Is there something here?" Jouji asked.
"Yeah. Look at that", Kogorō said, pausing to look at the fuse board in front of him. There was a string tied to it, with a small tool kit hanging from it. The cord had broken in one place, and a wax candle had burned out on top of the fuse board. One end of the string was tied to the handle of the toolbox, and the other to the lever of the fuse board.
"I-Is that?" Kitarou asked.
"It's a self-made timer", Kogorō said. "It's a simple setup that anyone can do. You put the ki on the ropes attached weights on top of the light switch and you create a fulcrum. Then you put the candle in the middle of the rope in such a timer. In time, the candle burns across the timer rope, and the weight closes the light switch as it falls onto the light switch lever. Looking at the wax material on that timer candle, it looks like it was made quite a while ago. In other words, any one of you could have done it, causing the ceiling lights to go out temporarily. Anyway, I'm in charge of finding Takeshi-san and his accomplice. In the meantime, don't take a single step out of the dining room".
"Shall we scatter to find them?" Shizuka asked.
"That should speed up the search. Takeshi-san and his accomplices have probably planned their revenge carefully, which is why you must stay in the dining hall until this case is resolved", Kogorō said to the members of the Hatamoto family.
Kogorō and Shizuka escorted the members of the Hatamoto family to the mess hall, and then left with Ran and Butler Suzuki to investigate the ship.
"S-does your leg still hurt, Ichirou-san?" Mariko asked.
Ichirou was sitting on a chair in the dining room, holding his right leg, grimacing in pain.
"1, and 2, no murder weapon was found at the crime scene, but at the 3 crime scene, a bloody kitchen knife was found, which the murderer used to attack Hatamoto Ichirou after first turning off the ceiling lights with Kogorō's newly found timer. Did the murderer forget the knife while fleeing the 3 crime scene, or did the murderer leave the knife on purpose at the 3 crime scene to scroll the reason for Hatamoto Jouji's neck? And how did the perpetrator manage to stab Ichirou even though it was dark in the bathroom? 1 crime scene found a crumb of bread in a pool of blood with traces of charcoal. Before the 2 murders I heard something being thrown into the sea. Then I heard a loud bang that happened from it, when the murderer murdered Tatsuo. Why did the murderer murder Tatsuo? Did the real murderer let Takeshi-san out of the warehouse to blame Tatsuo's murder on Takeshi's neck?" Shizuka thought as she stopped with the others in front of the ship's cabins.
"Huh! Shit! We haven't found Takeshi-san yet", Kogorō said leaning against the wall behind him.
"Takeshi-san is probably no longer on this ship", Ran said.
"I think there are still places on this ship that we haven't checked yet", Shizuka said. "Namely the Hatamoto family members' rooms".
The gang began to search the rooms of the Hatamoto family members.
"Takeshi-san is not in Kitarou's room, and his wife", Kogorō said. He then picked up Ichirou from a nearby table, and his parents photo development looking at it. "Their personalities seem so different, but will they still get along as a love couple?"
"Yes. They are cousins and have gotten along well since childhood, even though they seem different", Suzuki said.
"They-they're cousins, and they got married?!" Kogorō asked in disbelief.
"Now that you mention it, Gozou-sama was against them being together as well", Suzuki said.
"Responded to them being together too?" Shizuka thought. "Suzuki-san's words give the impression that Hatamoto Gozou has objected to someone else's marriage as well? Could it be related to this case in some way?"
The team continued their investigations.
"Looks like Takeshi-san isn't in Jouji-san's room either", Kogorō said.
"Sorry Mōri-san, but Jouji-san is a chef, so isn't this his way of keeping knives in this bag?" Shizuka asked placing the gray suitcase she had just found on Jouji's bed. He opened the bag, and there were indeed 5 kitchen knives inside. 2 knives were missing from the bag.
"What?" Kogorō asked looking at the newly opened bag. "2 knives missing".
"What does this mean?" Ran asked.
"The murderer probably retrieved knives from Jouji-san's bag before murdering Kozou-shi. Then the murderer probably left this room to commit the crime, and first lured Kozhou-shi to open the door of his room, and stabbed him with the second knife he took from this bag. Gozou-shi tried however, escape from the murderer to his room, and locked the door behind him, eventually dying of blood loss. Maybe the murderer took knives from this bag to frame Jouji-san as the culprit. We found 1, the knife missing from this case at 3 crime scenes right after the attack on Ichirou-san, but the other knife has not been found yet", Kogorō said.
"Does the murderer still have the other knife?" Shizuka asked walking to the door of Jouji's room.
"That will be clear when we find him", Kogorō said.
Finally, the group entered Ichirou's room.
"This is Ichirou-san's room, isn't it?" Ran asked looking at the drawing pad on the painting stand after first running into the room.
"Pretty careless considering there might be an assassin on this ship", Shizuka thought looking at Ran's carefree demeanor.
"See? He has his drawing here", Ran said watching looking at Ichirou's drawings.
"That doesn't mean you can just walk in like that", Kogorō said as he led the others into Ichirou's room. "Takeshi-kun might be hiding here with a gun".
"But Ichirou-san sure is a good artist!" Ran said while looking at the pictures Ichirou had drawn. "What if I drew a crime scene?"
Shizuka walked up behind Ran. Shizuka then suddenly saw that one of Ichirou's pictures had Natsue leaning on the rail of the ship looking out to sea. There were other people in that picture.
"Hey, stop going around and touching everything!" Kogorō said to the girls.
"Yes", Ran said.
"Charcoal pen? Oh yeah. Ichirou-sanhan is an art student and seems to have specialized in using charcoal pen for drawing. And there's bread in there. Charcoal artists use bread as rubber. And the first crumb of bread I found at the crime scene had traces of charcoal. Could Hatamoto Ichirou be the murderer we're looking for? Ichirou-sanhan drew on the upper deck of this ship before the first crime. Maybe the bread crumb I found fell on Ichirou-san's sleeve while he was doing his work. Maybe the bread crumb fell from his sleeve into the pool of blood when he stabbed his grandfather, and Ichirou-san didn't notice it when he left the crime scene. After all, he came to the dining room before Suzuki-san found Gozou-shi's body. Why would Ichirou-san have murdered his grandfather, and Tatsuo-san? To avenge his torn drawing, and the bullying he received from Tatsuo-san? Wait a minute! That was another picture that Ichirou-san had drawn of Natsue-san. Could it be that Ichirou-san is in love with Natsue-san? Ichirou-san previously hid Natsue-san's picture after Ran saw that picture, and Ichirou-san even seemed nervous then. Gozou-shi even criticized Ichirou-san's drawing before the first murder. Had Gozou-shi known about Ichirou-san's feelings for Natsue-san? I should ask Suzuki-san about that, as he clearly knows all about the Hatamoto family", Shizuka thought after seeing Natsue's picture on Ichirou's easel, and a charcoal pencil, and a piece of bread.
The team continued their investigations.
"Takeshi-san isn't here either", Suzuki said.
"Looks like it. It's Natsue-san's room's turn next", Kogorō said.
The team continued to explore the rooms.
"Takeshi-san wasn't in our room, or Natsue-san's room. The only room left here is Akie-san's", Kogorō said.
The gang went to Akie's room, and began to examine it.
"I don't think he's on the ship anymore. He and his accomplices may have already fled here to avoid capture", Kogorō said sitting on Akie's bed.
Shizuka opened the closet doors, and saw Takeshi standing in the closet.
Shizuka got a little nervous, and quickly closed the closet door. Blame!
"Did you find anything?" Kogorō asked after seeing what Shizuka was doing.
"No, but the man's shoes in the closet had been placed in the closet on the floor a little carelessly, and some pants had fallen on top of them. I thought they were Takeshi-san at first because of the darkness in the closet, but I was wrong", Shizuka said.
"I guess they were Tatsuo-san's clothes. He left them around the room sometimes (something I made up myself.)", Suzuki said.
"I guess we have no choice but to go back to the dining hall", Kogorō said.
"Excuse me, Mōri-san, but could we talk more later in this room?" Shizuka asked.
"Where from?" Kogorō asked.
"From what I heard during the second crime", Shizuka said.
"Alright", Kogorō said.
Kogorō and Ran left the room.
"Excuse me, Suzuki-san. Can I ask you something?" Shizuka asked.
"Sure", Suzuki said.
"Could it be that Hatamoto Ichirou was in love with his cousin Natsuen-san?" Shizuka asked.
"Huh?!" The butler was surprised.
"So it happened?" Shizuka asked.
"H-How did you know that? Only Gozou-sama, me, and that person himself know that!" The butler said.
"Mōri-san and I saw earlier when we visited Ichirou-san's room that there was Natsue-san in the pictures Ichirou-san drew. Mōri-san asked me to ask you about that while you were investigating the bathroom in Akie-san's room", Shizuka said. "Mōri-san even told me that he found out the real culprit".
"The real culprit?" Suzuki asked.
"Yes. Could you ask everyone to come to Akie-san's room so that Mōri-san can tell them the true identity of the culprit? He asked me to pass this message on to you. He even asked me to get some items to support his theory. Those items are Ichirou-san's, and In Jouji-san's rooms, so could I borrow your keys for a while?"
"Y-yes", Butler gave the keys to Shizuka, then went into the dining room.
"So I was right", Shizuka thought as she walked towards Jouji, and Ichirou's rooms. "In the first event, Gozou-shin was murdered in his room, and the bread crumb on the floor, and the murder weapon used in that crime murder weapon was not at the crime scene. In the second case involving Tatsuo-san's murder, I heard a splash and a crash, and the murderer then opened the locked door of the warehouse to frame Takeshi-san as the culprit. In another crime, no murder weapon was found at the crime scene either. In the third incident where Ichirou-san was stabbed, a bloody knife was found at the crime scene, unlike the previous crimes. I've discovered the one thing that connects all those crimes together!"
Shizuka retrieved Jouji's knife box, and Ichirou's drawing pad from their rooms, and took them to the sofa in Akie's room. Then he took his bottle of perfume from his pocket.
Finally, Kogorō entered Akie's room:
"Well, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"How do you think the perpetrator hid the murder weapon he used in Gozou-shi's murder?" Shizuka asked.
"Hmm. If I'm right, the murderer probably threw it into the sea before murdering Tatsuo-san", Kogorō said, turning his back to Shizuka.
Shizuka then pressed the perfume bottle she held out towards the back of Kogorō's head, and pressed the upper end of the perfume bottle, spraying the perfume towards Kogorō. Pssh!
A cloud of pink perfume enveloped Kogorō, and he fell asleep, falling to the floor on his stomach.
Shizuka put the perfume bottle back in her pants pocket, and sat Kogorō down on a nearby chair. Shizuka then adjusted her voice changer to Kogorō's voice.
"You're right about your assumption just now. Sorry, Mōri-san", Shizuka thought.
Shizuka sat behind the desk in front of Kogorō.
"Mōri-san, I did as you asked", Suzuki said entering the room with the others.
"Thank you, Suzuki-san", Shizuka said now mimicking Kogorō's voice. "Gentlemen of my rank, you must be wondering why I asked Suzuki-san to bring you here".
"Yes", Jouji said.
"The truth is, after thinking about the situation properly during the search of your rooms, I happened to find out the real culprit", Shizuka said.
"Did you find out who the murderer is?" Mariko asked.
"Yes. The person who committed these 3 crimes is on this ship", Shizuka said.
"W-who is that?" Jouji asked.
"It's obviously him!" Mariko shouted.
"It's Takeshi, isn't it?" Akie asked.
"Don't be in such a hurry. Before I say that person's name, let's first look at the crimes committed on this ship. In the first crime, Gozou-shi was stabbed in his room, which was locked from the inside. Looking at the blood on the threshold under the door, I realized that Gozou-shi was probably stabbed in his room outside after he opened the door of his room, at which point the murderer probably stabbed him after luring Gozou-shi to open the door of his room. Then Gozou-shi tried to escape from the murderer into his room, and ran back inside his room, locked the door, and bled to death. And then, that flower was in Gozou-shi's room outside ran away from the crime scene. And when Suzuki-san found Gozou-shi, before that Suzuki-san found a red flower outside Gozou-shi's room", Shizuka said.
"It's true. Takeshi had that flower in his jacket buttonhole before the first crime", Akie said. "So Takeshi is a murderer!"
"But there's something strange about it", Shizuka said. "Gozou-shi was stabbed outside his room, but there was no blood on the hallway floor".
"The killer probably did it so we could find the body later", Jouji said.
"I'm saying that the flower was in the area of the floor of the ship's hallway where the blood was wiped up in the hallway of Gozou-shi's room. If the murderer had dropped the flower while fleeing the crime scene after the first crime he committed when he first stabbed Gozou-shi, then I would understand. But the murderer wiped up the blood carefully away from the floor outside Gozou-shi's room. I noticed the wipe marks on that floor after realizing that Gozou-shi had fled to his room after the murderer had first stabbed his victim outside Gizou-shi's room. The murderer would have realized that the flower was near that room on the floor. If the murderer had accidentally dropped that flower on the floor while wiping up the blood on the floor, then he would have noticed it. In other words, the murderer deliberately dropped the flower on the floor in front of Gozou-shi's room to make it look like Takeshi-san did the murder", Shizuka said.
"What did the murderer use to wipe the blood off the floor?" Akie asked.
"Probably with a handkerchief, or a towel, which he later cut into pieces, which he flushed down the toilet in his room to dispose of incriminating evidence of his guilt before the murderer entered the dining room. The murderer was probably afraid that someone would find that handkerchief, or towel at some point, and then realize the real the identity of the murderer after first finding the item I just mentioned. That's why the murderer later came to the dining room", Shizuka said:
"Next is another crime where Tatsuo-san was killed on the other deck of this ship. In that case, no evidence was found at the crime scene any clues, like the flower dropped in the first crime, or the timer used in the third crime. If all three crimes were committed by the same person, then I think the second crime was not part of the killer's plan. So why was Tatsuo-san killed? Maybe Tatsuo-san did something that ruined the killer's original plan. The answer to the question I just asked has to do with what's inside that bag on the sofa. Irene, open that bag now, and show them its contents".
"Alright, Mōri-san", Shizuka said in her own voice, and walked over to the bag on the sofa, placing it on the table in front of her.
"T-That's my knife bag!" Jouji said after recognizing the bag that was just placed on the table.
Shizuka opened Jouji's bag, and showed the 5 kitchen knives and 2 empty knife slots inside. He then sat back down on the floor behind the desk, imitating Kogorō's voice again:
"As you can see, 2 knives are missing from this bag. 1 of those knives had fallen at the third crime scene. But what about the other knife? At this point, it is important to consider the two voices that Irene said she heard before Tatsuo-san's body was found on the second deck of this ship. The thump was probably when the murderer hit Tatsuo-san in the head with something like a lead pipe. So what was that splash-like sound Irene heard just before the thump? Akie-san, I believe the murderer had not planned to murder your husband. I assume the murderer the real intention was to only murder Gozou-shi, and then use Takeshi-san's backstory to frame Takeshi-san as the culprit. The first murder was probably out of personal grudge, but the second murder was a forced murder to prevent the murderer from being exposed. Akie-san, perhaps your husband saw something that he should not have seen, and he was murdered for it".
"What did my husband see?" Akie asked.
"Possibly disposing of Gozou-shi's murder weapon", Shizuka said.
"What?!" Akie asked in disbelief.
"Maybe the splashing sound Irene mentioned earlier came from the other knife missing from this knife bag! My guess is that the second crime happened like this", Shizuka said:
"First, the murderer threw the kitchen knife he used to kill Gozou-shi into the sea after Takeshi-san was first locked in the warehouse. If Tatsuo-san happened to see the disposal of Gozou-shi's Murder weapon, then it is reasonable to think that Tatsuo-san would have been murdered so that he could not tell anyone what he had seen the murderer do to the knife he used in Gzou-shi's murder, which is probably already at the bottom of the sea. In other words, Akie -san, the murderer realized that your husband had discovered the murderer's identity during the situation I just mentioned, and With Tatsuo-san becoming a potential eyewitness who could ruin the murderer's plan by telling us the murderer's identity, the murderer decided to kill your husband out of fear of being caught. In other words, the murderer was so afraid of being caught that he murdered Tatsuo-san because of it".
"But after the second crime, Takeshi-san had disappeared from the warehouse!" Mariko shouted.
"He's right. The most suspicious person is Takeshi!" Akie shouted.
"No, because that warehouse door was previously locked from the outside of that warehouse, as I said before. Unless someone opens that warehouse door from the outside, then escaping from that warehouse is impossible", Shizuka said.
"T-then who...?" Mariko was about to ask.
"Who do you think opened that warehouse door?" Akie asked. "Was it Takeshi's accomplice?"
"There's no accomplice, and the door to the warehouse was opened by the real murderer. The murderer who killed Gozou-shi and Tatsuo-san, and framed Takeshi-san as the culprit in order to escape like a dog on the run", Shizuka said. "The murderer is one of you 5 Hatamotos, as Natsue-san has an alibi that he got by being with Irene and Ran during the second crime".
"Huh?!" Everyone got nervous.
"Tatsuo-san's murder was unplanned and it happened while Takeshi-san was still locked in the warehouse. The murderer worked hard to make Takeshi-san a suspect, but this actually proved Takeshi-san's innocence. Therefore, the murderer unlocked the warehouse door to let Takeshi-san out from the warehouse to make Takeshi-san look suspicious in our eyes again. It was meant to look like Takeshi-san might have murdered Tatsuo-san as well", Shizuka said.
"W-Why did Takeshi-san escape from the warehouse?" Mariko asked.
"He's right! He's been missing this whole time!" Akie shouted.
"Let's let Takeshi-san explain it in person. Takeshi-san, stop hiding and come out!" Shizuka said.
"I-is he really here? In this room?" Jouji asked looking around the other way.
Ichirou looked the most nervous.
"Takeshi-san!" Shizuka shouted.
Then the closet doors opened, and Takeshi nervously walked out.
Everyone looked at Takeshi curiously.
"T-Takeshi-san!" Natsue yelled.
"Good. Now tell us what happened when you disappeared from the warehouse", Shizuka said.
"That's when I heard screams from outside that warehouse, and because of that I was afraid that something had happened to Natsue-san. I couldn't help but do nothing, so I impulsively tried to leave the warehouse. The Warehouse door was unlocked, so I ran out of the warehouse. And when I got to the other deck of the ship, then I saw you all around Tatsuo's body, and I heard what you were talking about. I knew I was being accused again, so I hid in Akie-san's room, which happened to be the closest. I've been in the closet of this room the whole time. Irene-san saw me earlier when you were investigating this room, and I think he told you when you left this room that he found me looking in the closet", Takeshi said.
"That's right. I advised Irene to keep quiet about that matter until I had figured out the course of events", Shizuka said. "I guessed something like what you just said before you came out of the closet".
"So in the third crime, when Ichirou-kun was stabbed, the real murderer is also someone else?" Jouji asked.
"Who did it? Why would he do this to Ichirou-san?" Mariko asked. "That's because the murderer made a big mistake during the third crime. That mistake already started when he freed Takeshi-san from the warehouse, and for the murderer himself, his mistake only got worse during the third crime", Shizuka said.
"Mistake?" Mariko asked. "What about your previous suspicions about the murderer's accomplice?"
"Those suspicions were only because the murderer had opened the Warehouse door, letting Takeshi-san out, to make him look Suspicious of Tatsuo-san's Murder as well by opening the lock outside that Warehouse door. Yes...by opening that Warehouse door , the murderer had planned to frame Takeshi-san as guilty of Tatsuo-san's Murder as well, but then due to the mistake made by the murderer at that time, it started to look like Takeshi-san had an accomplice who would help Takeshi- san to avenge Gozou-shi for Takeshi-san's father's suicide...The murderer was afraid also of the result of the body inspects, where the second kitchen knife, which he then hid under his clothes would be found on body inspection during the then performed body inspection, and he would be exposed as a result. So he decided to remove his own name from the list of suspects by committing one more crime. In short, the murderer first released Takeshi-san from the ware house to make it look like Takeshi-san was guilty of the two Murders on this ship, but after realizing the mistake he made, the murderer decided to divert the suspicion from himself by committing one more crime. In a panic, the murderer thought of a plan so that he would no longer be a suspect. The plan was the third offense where Ichirou-san was stabbed while he was in the bathroom. But with the third crime, the murderer just fell into his own trap. In that dark room, they shouldn't have been able to see Ichirou-san. But even so, the Assassin was able to attack Ichirou-san very precisely. What does this mean? In addition, the gun was left at the crime scene. Unlike the first two crimes, the murderer did not take the gun with him after the third crime. Mariko-san, I got the impression from the behavior of the people on this ship and the people I've observed that your father might have Enemies", Shizuka said.
"Yes. A lot of people didn't like my father, but why did you bring that up when you first talked about the third offense?" Mariko asked.
"I believe your father's behavior caused a rift between him and his relatives. However, it must be noted that one Hatamoto hated your father so much that he decided to murder your father, and blames it on Takeshi-san", Shizuka said.
"Who?" Mariko asked.
"I believe your father had objected to a proposal Hatamoto made to your father", Shizuka said. "While investigating this case, I realized something. The murderer wanted us to suspect that the murderer had only hated Gozou-shi, so that no one would realize that the murderer also hated Takeshi-san. With the help of that 'mask', the murderer managed to hide his identity from us for a while. But to return to the third crime , and to the mistake that happened during that time, to the extent that that crime differed from the two previous crimes to the extent that the murder weapon was found at the third crime scene, unlike the first two crime scenes. Well, it was because the murderer could not take the murder weapon with him when he escaped from the third from the crime scene. This was because his leg was injured during the third crime and because of that he couldn't move away from the third crime scene where we found him!" Shizuka said.
"T-Then that means", Akie said.
"It is true. The person who stabbed Ichirou-san right in the leg during the power outage he arranged at the third crime scene was Ichirou-kun himself! It means that the person who killed Gozou-shi and Tatsuo-san was just Ichirou-kun. It can only be you, Hatamoto Ichirou!" Shizuka said.
"Ichirou-san!" Mariko said in shock.
"Ichirou-kun started the previous blackout because he didn't want to portray the attacker. If he said that Takeshi-san stabbed Ichirou-kun, then Ichirou-kun would be disbanded as a suspect in the possibility that Takeshi-san was the attacker, so that Ichirou-kun would show himself innocently", Shizuka said.
"You guys are just guessing! Do you even have proof that Ichirou-san is a murderer?!" Mariko asked, slapping her palm on the table. Slam!
"This is proof. Show it to him, Irene", Shizuka said.
Shizuka stood up, and put the bread on the handkerchief on bread crumb's table.
Shizuka then sat back down on the floor:
"This piece of bread lay in the pool of blood next to Gozou-shi's body after the first crime".
"A piece of bread? How did it end up in the pool of blood at the first crime scene, because dad hated western food?" Mariko asked.
"Ichirou-kun is an art school student. He also drew this on the deck of the ship right before Gozou-shi's murder. Breadcrumbs are used in charcoal works as erasers when charcoal makers do their sketches, and they fall into artists' sleeves quite often. That piece of bread fell out of Ichirou-kun's sleeve when he stabbed Gozou-shi. That bread was covered with blood. Then there are small ember marks on this piece of bread. That's why I believe this is enough proof. That's why there's no doubt that Ichirou-kun dropped it in the pool of blood", Shizuka said. "Irene found that piece of bread in the pool of blood before we took Takeshi-san to the warehouse and gave that piece of bread to me".
"B-But Ichirou-san has no motive!" Mariko shouted. "Ichirou-san has no reason to kill my father! What Ichirou-san's proposal would my father have objected to?!"
"When we were still searching your rooms before the real culprit was revealed, we found your brother's bag with two knives missing. That's why I thought that the murderer took them from there before he murdered your father. I thought that the murderer might have initially wanted to frame your brother as the culprit by using your brother's knives with your father's before I understood the correct course of events, I thought like this during the third crime:
"Did the murderer forget the knife when he fled the 3 crime scene, or did he intentionally leave it at the crime scene to blame Hatamoto Jouji? Maybe the murderer took knives from this bag to frame Jouji-san as the culprit". But as we searched your son's room, I realized he was the culprit. At first, I thought that he wanted to take revenge on your father for that torn drawing that Akie-san mentioned earlier, and take revenge on Tatsuo for the bullying he received from Tatsuo. I also couldn't figure out that motive until the end until I found a certain item in Ichirou-kun's room", Shizuka said.
"With the item?" Mariko asked.
"Yes. When I found that object, I remembered that I heard from Suzuki-san that your father had objected to that matter sometime before. Only Gozou-shi, Suzuki-san, and Ichirou-kun himself knew about that motive", Shizuka said. "Irene, show them that motive".
Shizuka walked out from behind the desk, and opened Ichirou's sketchbook, placing it on the table after first showing everyone one picture of the sketchbook. The picture in question was Natsue.
Ichirou became more nervous.
Shizuka sat back down on the floor:
"There it is. This is Ichirou-kun's motive for killing Gozou-shi".
"Why would a drawing be a motif?" Akie asked walking to the front of the table.
"I'm talking about what all of Ichirou-kun's drawings show", Shizuka said.
Akie took the notebook, and walked in front of the other Hatamoto's, while looking at the drawings drawn on the notebook:
"But in all these drawings".
"Stop it!" Ichirou yelled. "Stop it!"
"Hey! Natsue is the model in all these, Ichirou's drawings!" Akie said after seeing that thing.
Mariko walked over to Akie's right, looking at the pictures her son had drawn in disbelief.
"What?!" Natsue asked surprised.
"Stop it!" Ichirou ran forward, scooped up his paper in his lap, and hugged it tightly, falling to his knees as the drawings fell to the floor. Plur!
"I-Ichirou-san! Are you?" Mariko asked after finally understanding the situation.
"It's true. Ichirou-kun was in love with his cousin Natsue-san", Shizuka said. "I realized it after seeing the pictures Ichirou-kun drew of Natsue-san. Irene also realized it after seeing those pictures".
"I-Ichirou-san", Natsue said in surprise.
"After realizing that, I asked Irene to ask Suzuki-san about it. Ichirou-kun, you had previously approached Gozou-shi because you couldn't tell Natsue-san how you felt", Shizuka said. "Am I right, Ichirou-kun?"
"Right! I asked grandpa to let me marry Natsue-san", Ichirou said.
"Huh?!" Mariko shouted in surprise.
"But grandpa wouldn't even think about it. Grandpa told me there was no way he could give his precious Natsue-san to me! Soon after that, Natsue-san and Takeshi-san were going to get married! And later grandpa made fun of me for the drawing I made of Natsue-san on the deck of this ship. I couldn't forgive grandpa, who refused to let me marry Natsue-san, and I couldn't forgive Takeshi-san, who took Natsue-san away from me. I couldn't forgive them!" Ichirou yelled.
(Later)
"Takeshi-san, do you still hate the Hatamoto family...my grandfather, and all of us?" Natsue asked Takeshi as they stood on the deck of the ship.
"It is true that I am the son of Zaiki Isao, a committed managing director, who committed suicide after my father's company was taken over by your grandfather. It is true that I approached your grandfather at first because I was full of hatred then. But ever since I met you, I changed it", Takeshi said.
Natsue nodded.
"This Tragedy only happened because of the love that the fair, which a shy young man couldn't put into words. The ship is about to reach Tokyo. Even though Ichirou-san, and the Hatamoto family are now shrouded in sunset-tinged sadness and despair", Shizuka thought as she stood with Ran and Kogorō on the deck of the ship looking at Takeshi and Natsue.
Sun was counting down.