Well hello! Here is a new chapter of Azure Redi!-fanfiction. I start planning the next chapter. See you in the next chapter.
"Y-You don't suspect one of us of being Yumi's murderer, do you?" Yukio asked.
"Hey, hey! Don't worry!" Nakamichi said. "Didn't we already tell you? Yumi died around 3pm. It happened right after she returned to this room. There was no way we could have killed her since we were in the table tennis room from 3pm to 6pm. The only person who left in the table tennis room was Omura who went to the bathroom. But by then it was about 5 pm, and he came back about a minute later. Omura couldn't have committed the crime either".
Shizuka looked at the startled Omura:
"By the way, when Omura-san returned to the table tennis room after going to the bathroom, he looked startled. Before that, I heard the sounds of running from the hallway of the inn outside the table tennis room. Then Omura-san opened the door of the table tennis room looking startled. Maybe Omura-san saw something scary after going to the bathroom, and ran hence back to the table tennis room", Shizuka suggested.
Everyone looked at Shizuka, and then Omura.
"Maybe Omura saw someone trying to break into this inn and therefore ran back to the table tennis room after using the bathroom", Noriko suggested.
"Then does that mean someone had snuck into this inn from the outside?" Yukio asked.
"Yeah. Maybe", Nakamichi said, and opened the door leading to the balcony leading to the balcony, the window of which he opened. "If you leave the balcony window of this inn, you can get anywhere through the veranda of this inn. The balcony door was not locked. It is certainly possible that someone sneaked into this inn from the outside".
"Nakamishi made a quick conclusion about how the murderer got inside this inn", Shizuka mused.
It was still raining outside.
Nakamishi closed Yumi's balcony window, then returned to Yumi's room, closing the balcony door:
"Anyway, let's talk to the owners. They might have noticed something suspicious".
The gang left Yumi's room to question the inn's staff in case they saw a possible burglar.
"Did Omura-san really see the burglar before returning to the table tennis room?" Shizuka thought looking at the silent Omura.
Later, the group spoke to the inn's staff.
"Someone suspicious?" An old woman working at an inn said. "About three o'clock I took a break and went out. After I came back, I didn't see anyone suspicious... Oh! There was someone!"
"Eh?" Kogorō, Nakamichi, and Ran were surprised.
"Can you describe that person?" Nakamichi asked.
"They were two, young girls", Old Woman said. "They looked like they were in a hurry and ran upstairs to this inn".
"W-What did that girl look like?" Nakamichi asked.
"See? He's standing right behind you all", Woman told Rania. "That's where those kids are. As I recall, it was around 6:30 when the fireworks started".
"Oh yeah. We saw you earlier when we ran into Horikoshi-san's room to get him to watch the fireworks with us, but he didn't open the door then. Then we saw Nakamichi just coming out of the bath. He said he took a bath after playing table tennis", Shizuka said.
"Yes. Remember? I came back to wake up Yumi-san because the fireworks were about to start", Ran said.
"Oh, so it was about that time", Kogorō said.
"Like Irene-chan already said, after that we were going to Yumi-san's room, and we tried to get in", Ran said.
"But I stopped them", Nakamichi said. "I thought it was best not to wake up Yumi because she's always in a bad mood after waking up".
"Nakamichi, Were you here then?" Kogorō asked.
"Yeah. I was sweating after playing table tennis, so I went to the bath to freshen up," Nakamichi said. "But I felt bad when you and Omura went to get us seats for the fireworks festival. Yukio, and Noriko took a bath too, right?"
"Yeah, but we were in an outdoor bath", Yukio said.
"If we had bothered to wake Yumi, Yumi would still be alive", Noriko cried.
"What are you talking about? Yumi died while we were playing table tennis," Yukio said to his wife. "We were already too late".
"Hello, Omura-san. I have a question. What scared you so much earlier that you ran back to the table tennis room? Did you perhaps actually see a burglar near this inn when you used the bathroom earlier?" Shizuka asked.
"Hey, Omura! Irene's right. You're hiding something, aren't you?" Kogorō asked grabbing Omura's shoulder.
"Ah", Omura got nervous.
"You've been acting strange all evening!" Kogorō said.
The others also looked at Omura curiously.
"Tell us! What are you hiding?" Kogorō asked Omura.
"No. I'm not hiding anything!" Omura shouted.
"Was that you?" Kogorō asked.
"When I went to the bathroom, I saw it!" Omura shouted.
"Did you see the murderer?!" Yukio asked.
"N-No. I saw Yumi!" Omura shouted.
"What are you talking about?" Kogorō asked. "You went to the bathroom after 5:00! Yumi was already dead by then!"
"T-That's right!" Omura said. "I saw Yumi who was supposed to be dead!
Yumi was staring at the table tennis room from the second floor!"
Everyone got nervous.
"It can't be? Why Yumi?" Noriko asked.
"Don't be unreasonable! It's impossible!" Nakamichi yelled.
"S-So I'm saying that the Yumi I saw might have been…could have been…" Omura said.
"Don't be stupid! There's no such thing as ghosts!" Yukio yelled, and grabbed both of Omura's shoulders to calm Omura down. "You were just tired, so you were confused. That's why you thought you saw him".
"Y-You might be right", Omura said.
"The table tennis room? Really! Yumi-san got nervous earlier when Nakamichi-san suggested playing table tennis right before Yumi-san went back to her room", Shizuka thought, then looked at Kogorō:
"Excuse me, Mōri-san, but is there any way for a murderer to fake the time of death of the person he murdered?"
"Hm! There are ways to do that", Kogorō said. "Maybe the murderer did that when he murdered Yumi. So Omura could very well have seen Yumi while going to the bathroom earlier, and Yumi was still alive then".
"So I really saw Yumi, but when exactly was she murdered?" Omura asked.
"Perhaps during the fireworks, or just before the fireworks started. The sound of the fireworks could very well have drowned out the sound of the gun going off, which is why no one heard the sound of the gun going off. Or did any of you hear the gun go off during the fireworks?"
"No. Um...Did something happen at this inn during the fireworks?" An inn worker asks, "You talk about ghosts and dead people..."
"My friend, Horikoshi Yumi was shot today with a pistol in her room in this inn", Kogorō said.
"Huh?!" The employees of the inn were surprised. "We better take care of him before it's too late!"
"It's already too late", Kogorō said. "The police are already on their way here".
"Wait! That's weird!" Shizuka thought. "Why did that Nakamichi-san suggest playing table tennis earlier, then later said that only he and Kogorō must approach Yumi-san when we found Yumi-san in her room?! Is Nakamichi-san Yumi-san's murderer?! Nakamichi-san disappeared when we went with him, Yukio-san, and Noriko-san to watch the fireworks! Maybe Nakamishi-san came back to this inn in the crowd, came to Yumi-san's room, and put a gun in Yumi-san's hand. Then he escaped through the balcony, and through the roof, and returned to the fireworks site. That would explain how Nakamichi-san jumped to the conclusion that the murderer escaped through the roof".
"The murderer is not one of you, is he?" An inn employee asked.
"There's no way it's one of us! The murderer was sneaking in from outside", Kogorō said in a troubled tone. "Do not worry".
"Hey you!" The inn worker shouted as Kogoro walked to the side.
"Nakamichi, I'll let you handle this. I have to go to the bathroom", Kogorō said.
"Hey! Hey! Mōri!" Nakamichi shouted as he calmed down the inn workers.
Shizuka went to follow Kogorō:
"Mōri-san, who could have wanted to do something bad to Horikoshi-san?"
"It's still too early to tell", Kogorō said, pausing like Shizuka.
"Isn't it too early to decide that it was a crime committed by an outsider?" Shizuka asked. "The way Horikoshi-san was killed...Are you listening to me, Mōri-san?"
Dhak! Kogorō punched the wall to his left, surprising Shizuka:
"Listen! You're still too young to understand this. The work of an outsider? Would someone who happened to sneak into the inn try to make his murder look like suicide? The murderer is someone here! In other words, it's one of my best friends! I don't know why he did it, or what trick he used, but there's no way I'm letting the murderer get away with this! I'm going to find out who it is, whatever it is!"
Kogorō then walked to the bathroom.
"So you think Mōri-san, Nakamichi-san is one of the suspects too?!" Shizuka thought. "Mōri-san is right. The murderer is 1 of the 4. No. I already have a good idea of who the murderer is. Probably that person said that strange thing! But that person has an alibi. The murderer was with us in the table tennis room the whole time. It's perfect alibi! I also checked Yumi-san's estimated time of death and there is no mistake. So how did the murderer commit his crime? What bothers me is the fact that Yumi-san's finger did not hold the trigger of the gun. If you want to make it look like suicide, it would be more natural to put your finger on the trigger. Also, the fact that Yumi-san had no underwear and was wearing a big yukata. Could it be that the murderer put that yukata on her? Why?"
Shizuka then saw Benkei's statue on a nearby table and walked in front of it:
"Benkei? Oh yeah. This inn's name is Benkei. All the arrows on him. It must be when he made his final stand. His final stand? That's it! The answer is Benkei! This is what the murderer used! I've figured out the trick the murderer used!" Nakamichi-san probably promised Yumi to meet him in the table tennis room. But even so, Nakamichi-san asked us to come to the table tennis room before the fireworks started. Yumi was not happy when Nakamichi suggested we play table tennis before the fireworks started. This of course made Yumi angry so she went back to her room. After 6 o'clock, when everyone was gone to the table tennis room, Yumi went to meet Nakamichi in the table tennis room. Nakamichi must have had something private to discuss with Yumi. But then Nakamichi asked Yumi to play table tennis with Nakamichi. After Nakamichi had played table tennis with Yumi for a while, Nakamichi led Yumi back to Yumi's room. Nakamichi then shot Yumi in the head while Yumi was in her own room. Nakamichi did it to change the estimated time of death, and to create a perfect alibi for himself. Most likely, Nakamichi led Yumi back to Yumi's room by taking advantage of her short-tempered nature. Proof of this is the fact that Yumi was still holding her ping pong racket in her right hand when she returned to her room. His right hand, where the gun was, stiffened when he was holding the table tennis racket in his right hand! So Omura-san really saw Yumi when she went to the bathroom. Yumi was still alive at the time. He was then standing on the second floor, waiting for Nakamichi to be alone in the table tennis room. Yumi was killed around 6:30 a.m. when the fireworks started. This means Nakamichi shot Yumi when the fireworks started! But Nakamichi still had to wipe his sweat, and change his clothes. If it is found that he was sweating, then it would be possible for his tricks to be discovered. Nakamichi removed Yumi's underwear, but Nakamichi had to change Yumi's yukata as well. Nakamichi changed it to an extra yukata. But as Nakamichi did so, he had an unexpected interruption. Ran and I came to wake Yumi up to watch the fireworks. Nakamichi finished his work, left Yumi's room through the balcony, and the roof, and then went to the hallway of the inn next to the veranda, and then Nakamichi stopped Rani from entering Yumi's room. Next, Nakamichi went with us to the fireworks site. Using the crowd for cover, Nakamichi went back to the inn, and finished his job. That's when Nakamichi made Yumi hold a pistol to make it look like suicide. But by then, Yumi's hand was completely stiff, and Nakamichi couldn't put Yumi's finger on the trigger of the gun".
Then Kogorō came out of the restroom.
"What do you think of Benkei?" Shizuka asked.
"A legendary man", Kogorō said as he walked past Shizuka to go talk to the others.
Shizuka took out her perfume bottle from the pocket of her yukata until she remembered Kogorō's words from earlier. Shizuka was so moved by Kogorō's words that she decided to let Kogorō solve the case without sedation:
"I see, Mōri-san".
Shizuka followed Kogorō into the inn's lounge where there was still talk of Yumi being shot.
"But why did the murderer shoot Yumi?" Yukio asked.
"Maybe because Yumi found the murderer when he broke into this inn while the murderer was trying to steal money from here", Nakamichi said.
"But isn't that strange?" Yukio asked. "Why didn't we hear the gunshot while playing table tennis? Or did the murder really happen right during the fireworks?"
"Why? Why is the murderer someone here? Because they all have alibis", Kogorō thought. "Looking at the state of Yumi's body, her estimated time of death was around 3am. That would mean that Yumi was killed right after she left our company and went to her room. We were all in the table tennis room from 3am to 6am. No one had a chance to kill Yumi, but what Omura said he saw Yumi going to the bathroom while the rest of us were in the ping pong room. Omura went to the bathroom after five o'clock. Yumi couldn't have been alive. So why did Omura say that, unless the murderer really faked Yumi's time of death somehow?"
"I guess I'll have to give Kogorō some clues to solve this shooting case", Shizuka mused:
"Mōri-san, why don't we play table tennis now?"
"H-Hey!" Kogorō was surprised.
"I don't think this is a good time to play table tennis", Ran said.
"True, but my handshake technique is pretty good!" Shizuka said. "Wait a minute! Horikoshi-san also played with the handshake technique, didn't he?"
Kogorō and Ran were surprised.
"Remember? Ran-san, you saw it too", Shizuka said thinking about the pictures Noriko had shown earlier. "Horikoshi-san was 1 of them in the picture Noriko-san showed me earlier, holding a table tennis racket with the handshake technique".
"That's true, but", Ran said. "Anyway, you can't talk about table tennis these days! Got it?"
Shizuka looked at Kogorō very quickly:
"You're right. I mean, if we started sweating, we should change clothes!"
"Sweat...Change clothes..." Kogorō thought. "Handshake technique...Yes! Yumi was wearing a big yukata. She also had no underwear on. And there was no gunpowder residue on her skin from firing a gun, or anything like that! And her finger was stiff without holding the trigger of the pistol. When you use the handshake technique, you extend your fingers the same way you hold a ping pong racket. Then that means Yumi was casually playing ping pong with the murderer before Yumi died. That's absurd! What would that accomplish? Wait! If I remember correctly, there was a case like this at the police academy years ago. I'm sure thence".
"Excuse me ma'am! Benkei died standing didn't he?" Shizuka asked.
"So, so," the Inn's old, female employee said. "Benkei cut down wave after wave of enemies, and then he died standing up after being hit by countless arrows".
"Benkei was legendary, but can you describe him in another way?" Shizuka asked.
"Unrelenting would be an appropriate word", Woman said.
Kogorō was surprised to hear:
"S-so it must be! So it happened!"
"H-Hey, Mōri! What's the matter with you suddenly yelling like that?" Nakamichi asked.
"Heh heh! I've finally figured it out", Kogorō said. "I know who killed Yumi!"
"What?" Nakamichi asked.
Everyone was surprised.
"W-Who is that, dad?" Ran asked.
"The person who killed Yumi is you!" Kogorō pointed at Nakamichi with his right index finger.
"What? Nakamichi killed Yumi?!" Yukio asked in surprise.
"Hey, stop kidding!" Nakamichi said. "Wasn't I in the ping pong room with everyone at Yumi's estimated time of death?"
"Yeah. Your alibi is perfect if Yumi really was killed at 3pm!" Kogorō lowered his hand. "Unless you somehow faked Yumi's time of death".
"D-Don't be stupid. Both you and I saw how stiff his body was!" Nakamichi said.
"It's true that even Yumi's toes began to stiffen", Kogorō said. "That's why I initially estimated that more than 7 hours have passed since Yumi's death. But there is an exception...when the murdered person suddenly dies in the middle of training".
Nakamichi was surprised.
"In that case, the protein in the muscles will harden more easily, and the body will stiffen much faster than usual. Exactly. Just like what happened to the warrior Musashibo Benkei!" Kogorō said.
"So when they say Benkei died standing", Ran said.
"Yeah. It's medically proven that one can die standing up", Kogorō said.
"Hey hey! Yumi's body was found in her own room", Nakamichi said. "How would I have gotten him to train there?"
"No, because you didn't make him practice in his room. It was in the table tennis room!" Kogorō shouted. "You made Yumi play table tennis with you until the moment you killed her!"
Nakamichi looked irritated.
"You probably promised Yumi to meet her in the ping pong room. But even so, you asked us to come to the ping pong room before the fireworks started. Yumi wasn't happy when you suggested we play ping pong before the fireworks started. This of course made Yumi angry, so she went back to her room. After 6, when everyone was out in your ping pong room so he went to meet you in the ping pong room. You must have had something private to talk about with him. But then you asked Yumi to play ping pong with you. After playing ping pong with Yum for a while, you led Yum back to his room. You shot Yum in the head then, while she was in her own room. You did that to change the estimated time of death, and create the perfect alibi. You probably led Yumi back to her room by taking advantage of her short-faced nature. Proof of this is the fact that Yumi was still holding her ping pong racket oh in his hand as he returned to his room. His right hand, where the gun was, stiffened when he was holding the table tennis racket in his right hand!" Kogorō said.
"After I saw Yumi after 5 o'clock", Omura said.
"It was indeed Yumi", Kogorō said. "Yumi was still alive at the time. She was standing on the second floor then, waiting for Nakamichi to be alone in the table tennis room. Yumi was killed around 6:30 when the fireworks started. That means Nakamichi shot Yumi when the fireworks started! But Nakamichi still had to wipe off his sweat, and change his clothes. If it was found that he was sweating, then it would be possible for his trick to be discovered. You took off Yumi's underwear, but you also had to change her yukata. You changed it to a spare yukata. But when you did that, you had an unexpected interruption. Ran and Irene came to wake up the fireworks in Yumi's canopy. You finished your work, exited Yumi's room through the balcony, and the roof, then went to the hallway of the inn through the veranda next door, then you stopped Rani from going to Yumi's room. Next, you went to the fireworks site with everyone. Using the crowd for cover, you went back to the inn, and finished your work. That's when you made Yumi hold the gun to make it look like suicide. But by then Yumi's hand was completely stiff and you couldn't put her finger on the trigger of the gun".
"Heh heh! Your conclusion is really interesting. But do you have proof that I did all that?" Nakamichi asked.
"Do not be stupid!" Kogorō shouted. "Out of all of us, you and I are the only ones who could have done it!"
"See! You could have done it too!" Nakamichi said. "Besides, anyone could have done this if they did enough research beforehand".
"Why-why you!" Kogorō is angry.
"You must be an idiot, Mōri-san?! There's no way this great policeman could be a murderer!" Shizuka said.
"'Awesome policeman'?" Kogorō asked.
"Nakamichi-san is a police officer, right?" Shizuka asked. "Nakamichi-san knew that Horikoshi-san was dead just by seeing the blood on Horikoshi-san!"
Kogorō was surprised.
"Huh!" Nakamichi became nervous.
"Without touching Yumi, you said this:
"Don't touch him! Only me and Mōri can enter the room because I'm a cop and he's a detective!" What you wanted to be called was not the paramedics, but the police. You already knew it was too late! It's because you killed Yumi!" Kogorō said.
Nakamichi was nervous.
"Huh?!" Omura grabbed Nakamichi's yukata. "I can't...I can't believe you did this to Yumi!"
"Shut up!" Nakamichi threw Omura to the floor. "I didn't want to kill him! Yumi and I had been dating for 18 years!"
"18 years?!" Yukio asked in surprise. "That's right! I dated him until I got it, an arranged marriage for me", Nakamichi said.
"So you killed Yumi because she would have prevented your marriage?" Noriko asked.
Yukio angrily grabbed the collar of Nakamichi's yukata:
"Why? Why didn't you marry Yumi?"
"Shut up!" Nakamichi threw Yukio to the floor. "I proposed to her countless times, but Yumi's answer was always 'no'! She said 'no' for 18 years straight! Then I had enough of Yumi, so I broke up with her. Later, my boss introduced her daughter to me. When I had no choice but to marry me with my betrothed, Yumi told me this:
"There's no way I'm letting you be the only one happy!" That's how it started. Yumi sent threatening letters and made threatening phone calls to the girl I was supposed to marry. After all that, Yumi threatened me by claiming that he would send my fiancee pictures of Yumi and me. I got Yumi to bring all the pictures to this meeting and stated that I would buy them all from her. That was the day you captured that bank robber, Mōri. I had just met and broken up with Yumi. As I was thinking about what to do to that selfish Yumi, that bank robber's pistol fell at my feet. At that moment I suddenly came up with this plan. He had to give those pictures to me in the table tennis room. After the table tennis game was over, I said this to him:
"I'll go and take those pictures out of your bags myself!" My motive was this:
Me and Yumi had been secretly dating for years, but Yumi always refused my marriage proposals no matter how many times I asked her to marry me. However, at some point I went on an omiai apa(arranged date) with my boss's daughter, and we liked each other, and I decided to marry my boss's daughter. When I told Yumi about it, Yumi got so terribly jealous that she started blackmailing me with private photos of herself and me, which Yumi threatened to send to my fiancee. Tired of him interfering with my life, I made a deal with him to buy all the photos of us together this judo club reunion. This Judo Club reunion was supposed to be the last time Yumi and I would see each other. I took the photos of Yumi's purse and then told Yumi about it after playing a couple of rounds of table tennis with Yumi and then Yumi quickly ran to her room where I shot her when she turned to look at me".
"I see. So then Yumin went back to his room confused while still holding his ping pong racket in his right hand!" Kogorō said. "After that you followed him to his room, and you shot him".
"That's right! I shot that devil woman who completely ruined my life!" Nakamichi shouted.
"I wonder which one of you is the real devil", Kogorō said.
"Shut up! You can't understand! You just can't!" Nakamichi grabbed Kogorō's yukata.
"You're right. I don't understand", Kogorō said, throwing Nakamichi to the floor. "Regardless of what the reason is, I can never understand what makes people kill. I don't want to understand".
"F-father!" Ran said in disbelief.
"Nakamichi-san, is Mōri-san the member of your judo club that you never beat at judo that you mentioned earlier in the table tennis room?" Shizuka asked, believing she understood who Nakamichi had been talking about before Nakamichi had murdered Yumi.
"Yes. Mōri, you are as strong as ever", Nakamichi said.
"You fool! This only happened because you weakened both physically and mentally", Kogorō said.
"Yeah", Nakamichi said.
(A couple of days later)
The weather was sunny, but a dejected Kogorō looked out the window of his study.
"Mōri-san must have been depressed lately", Shizuka said, sitting with Ran on the sofa in Kogorō's study.
"I don't blame him. They were all friends, but such a terrible thing happened", Ran said, thinking of her father's judo club friends.
"Hey, Ran-san. How come your father never won judo matches even though he's so good at judo?" Shzuka asked.
"Apparently dad was so exhausted from his judo matches that he couldn't actually fight", Ran said.
"Judo competitions just didn't seem to be Kogorō's thing", Shizuka thought. "Shouldn't we try to cheer your father up now?"
"Wait! Let's leave him alone for a second", Ran said. "Dad will be back to normal soon".
Suddenly, it started to get a little windy.
"Ah!" Some woman cried out in embarrassment as the wind quickly lifted the hem of her dress up, and she quickly tried to lower the hem of her dress back down by grabbing the front of the hem of her dress with both hands.
"Oh! They were pink!" Kogorō muttered with a small smile when he saw the woman who had stopped on the street under her skirt.