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Mar 28

Danganronpa Kirigiri Volume 2 Full Translation Part 4

Thanks to everyone for the wait, but here is our translation for DRK2 CH4 after 4 years. A big thank you to everyone who helped out! Full credits will be in the volume release.

Chapter 4: Massacre Auction (The Detective and the Killer)

For a while, we watched the electric screens slowly fade away. Arguing on whether our situation was just a prank or a comedy show was asinine now. The only thing that mattered was Taehime's body being real. She, better than any evidence, made the situation crystal clear: everyone was to obey the rules established by the killer.

"We should remove Ms. Uozumi's body." That suggestion came from Kyoko.

She was a girl that was just starting out her junior high school life, yet stood in front of a charred corpse like it was nothing. We wrapped Taehime in the tablecloth on the table, and laid her down in a corner of the room. Before entering the cafeteria, Kyoko put her little hands on Taehime's chest. She closed her eyes and began to pray.

It was very… pure. Then we all returned to the dining room. The burnt table was clearly no longer stable, and everyone had moved to their chairs, quietly. On top of them were bags full of money. The air was stuffy, but there was no way to open the windows, so we had to put up with the odor.

"Hey, you two. You should probably get those bags of yours. Leaving huge piles of cash around, unattended, is asking for trouble. Be more careful!" warned Yuzen. He pointed towards our bags of money that were still in our empty chairs.

Oh, right, I did have 100 million yen now. I looked into the bag. There was exactly the right amount; so there didn't seem to be any thieves in the room. Not with so many eyes around.

"This is all really serious." said Akio, touching the visor of his cap. "I can't be sure yet, but it's not the <CIA> or <NASA> that's behind it, so it has to come from the heart of the army. Maybe it's a psychological experiment? I've heard that a certain research institute is doing studies on the minds of people in mortal danger..."

"What army?"

"What a question… the US Military, of course!" he said, chuckling.

Yuzen frowned and said, "What? What does the US Military have to do with this? Didn’t that glasses detective say this was in that note of hers? Some psycho killer started acting like what that notice said. It has nothing to do with the US Military. "

"But then how do you explain all this money?" Akio said as he pointed at the bags. "This huge amount isn’t possible for regular folks. An organization has to be behind this."

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

There was no doubt that without the help of this organization, a plan like this one would have absolutely no chance of working. They still didn't know anything about the Victim's Catharsis Committee. Should I tell them? Would they really understand if I told them?

"So, what are we gonna do?" Seiunsai asked everyone. "When the auction starts, will you bid or not?"

"It's three hours till 10:00." Mikado said, "There's still time to discuss it together."

"Discuss? What the hell more is there to discuss?"

"I think everyone should cooperate!" I got out of my chair so everyone would look at me. I was waiting for this opportunity!

Yuzen looked at me with disdain. "Oh, joy. The glasses detective is back to say her piece."

"And say my piece I will! If we join forces in this auction, we should be able to get out of this alive!" Everyone took a moment to think about it.

"Okay, what's the plan?"

"We all take turns buying Detective's Right. The person who becomes a detective for that day must go around the rooms at nightfall, and collect all the keys one by one. The murderer can't kill in front of the detective, so we can avoid a crime. If that's the case, I don't think anyone would betray us because we're protecting each other. "

"An idea only a little kid can come up with… too bad it won’t work."

"Why not? If the problem is money, there is a solution. If the person buying the Detective's Right for the cheapest amount has 1 million yen and does it five times, that's only 5 million yen in total. You can go home safe and sound, with a profit of 95 million yen."

"Can we be sure that everyone will survive?" Yuzen asked me."I don't know how the hotel is really organized at the moment, but there is a possibility that the detective can't prevent a murder when he inspects the rooms. There are ten rooms. Barring the detective who can go out, and the deceased, that leaves eight rooms. The person who winds up in that eighth room for the detective may get very unlucky."

"But…"

"If you think about it, four of the nine people here can’t become detectives. Who then? Can we really let chance decide? Would you be willing to risk yourself being excluded from that chance?"

"Well, that’s..."

"Can you see it now? Your plan for the detective to protect everyone is just too unreliable. Plus, think about it? Doesn’t the detective also have to abide by certain rules like the curfew? There isn't any for the murderer, and with all that time to prepare, the murderer will have time to act."

The difference between one of us could influence our fate; and that's what will point to the victim. If there is even the slightest possibility, the completely safe Detective's Right cannot be handed over to others.

If they start thinking like that during the auction...then working together is outright impossible

"I saw what happened with Taehime and I won’t give up on getting that Detective's Right without a fight." Yuzen practically snarled out.

Yes, we still haven't had time to recover from her death. I wasn't in complete control of the situation.

"The bullet seemed to come from the wall across from it." Suisei's voice was heard from above. Before I could react, he started inspecting the portrait on the balcony. There was a small hole under the damaged canvas. "It wasn't an impact mark, so this must have been the point of impact, and I think it's out of ammunition, but be careful not to pass in front of the trajectory."

Suisei came down from the balcony rolling up his sleeves.

"Mr. Real Detective..." said Meruko. "I don't know why all this is happening, but… please catch this killer and cancel this auction!! I want to go home!"

"<Nice idea>, lovely lady. Once the culprit is caught, there’ll be no need to participate in this auction."

"Can you catch the culprit?" Seiunsai asked as he stood up, but Suisei shook his head from right to left.

"Unfortunately not yet, because I have work left to do." said Suisei pensively as he sat back in his chair. In the end, time just passed on with no bids made. Everyone seemed anxious, wondering what to do while watching the clock with an anxious eye. Kyoko and I were sitting side by side, apart from the others.

"It’s been three hours and no one has entered that booth to place their bets yet."I said to Kyoko. She stared at the floor, touching her braid with her fingertips.

"Because today isn’t the only time to get the auction… I suppose they’re trying their best to the last minute to think of a way to get the Detective's Right consecutively with no losses." she said.

"Yeah, it makes sense. If you don’t get the Detective's Right, chances are you’ll be killed on the same day."

"I think you were right earlier." "Huh?"

"Everyone needs to work together. This game should be approached directly, even if at first glance it seems like a poor idea."

"But...if someone goes against the rest, everything will just fall apart."

"True, and it's likely a dissident will certainly make themselves known in time."

"Agreed...still. I...don’t completely think that trying to save yourself at others expense is too out there. It’s sort of like a built-in instinct…"

"Would you do that, Yui-Oneesama?"

"I...I’m not sure. It kind of requires being in the right situation."

"I think this qualifies as the right situation." she said, chuckling.

"...Wait, did you just laugh?"

"Nope."

"I’m pretty sure that was laughter. That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh before."

"By the way, have you noticed it yet, Yui-Oneesama?" Kyoko was awfully good at changing the subject.

"What's up?"

"The culprit is among this group of people."

"Oh, that’s, uh… wait, what?" I accidentally let slip in a loud voice. Everyone glanced in our direction, but they looked away after giving us annoyed looks. I focused my attention on Kyoko and spoke, loudly enough for her to hear. "No, I didn’t think that was really possible. Why do you think so? Did something give you an idea?"

"The Norman we saw was from a pre-recorded video. If the killer was somewhere else watching us, they could have done this in real time, but they didn't, because they couldn't. They are among us after all."

"But how did they predict our reactions?"

"It's easy to divert someone's attention and guide the conversation. If you didn’t catch that, it proves how foolish you are, Yui-Oneesama."

"Hey! I know I’m… sort of foolish, but still!"

"See? I got the answer I wanted. All that’s left is to prepare the right answer in advance. For example… ‘Don’t be so angry Yui-Oneesama’."

"Eh? Ah??"

"That was my demonstration of Norman’s approach."

"Um… not quite sure how to react honestly, but I think I get it."

"To start with, Norman was fairly one-sided and quite forceful with his speech pattern, and his delivery was stiff, for that fact."

"I guess so…"

"Looking back, it was rather noticeable when Susei asked Norman a question, more than likely to make sure if Norman was a recording."

Come to think of it, Norman did in fact ramble on after Suisei asked him something.

"Perhaps the culprit may have hidden a remote to pause the recording whenever they wanted. Though it seems to me they can’t have done anything more complicated than that."

"How did they kill Ms. Uozumi?"

"Well, I have several theories, but the most plausible one is this: An automatic launcher. Behind the wall laid a pistol, or perhaps simple fixed bullets. From there a percussion cap and something else like a spring to actuate the drummer. Thus, creating an automatic trigger mechanism."

"So… why did Ms. Uozumi catch on fire after being shot?"

"The killer likely hid an ignition device on Ms. Uozumi, probably as a last resort if the bullets didn’t hit her. It could have been a medallion, a watch, a phone…"

"Oh! She did mention that she was given her clothes here!"

"In that case, the device that triggered its combustion had to be in her uniform. If you look at the way she burned, I think her clothes were made of highly flammable materials. The culprit planned from the beginning to kill the maid in a spectacular manner to show that the auction was the real deal."

"So they went that far just to get us into this game?" I folded my arms across my chest and turned towards the remaining participants. One of them really was the culprit?

"By the way, I forgot to tell you something important about Ms. Uozumi." I recalled.

"What’s that?"

"She was actually a detective."

"...Oh, really?" As expected, Kyoko was surprised.

"Yeah, I saw her detective library card, DSC 756" I lowered my voice "I don't think it's fake either. She said she was after Seiunsai Toyano'ou who had committed various frauds and forgeries."

"Hm…" She looked at her fingers and didn’t bother glancing at Mr. Toyano'ou.

"If he's the culprit, it would make sense that Ms. Uozumi was the first to be killed. He kills the most troublesome detective who's directly after him. Ah, then maybe this auction is part of a giant scam and-!"

"Impossible. The Duel Noir is revenge against a culprit." She answered.

"Oh, right."

"I don’t think Ms. Uozumi was killed because she was a detective. Plus, I don’t think the culprit knew about that either."

Then, Seiunsai doesn’t have anything to do with the Duel Noir. It wouldn’t be far-fetched since sometimes unrelated innocent people can be dragged into one, only for the culprits sake of pulling off a trick.

"Among us is the murderer, and the other is the target who committed a crime so awful that the murderer’s goal is to gain vengeance by killing them. Perhaps we can go about this angle? If the target has to have done something awful then…" I reason.

"Do you really think that people would be willing to open up about their past sins so easily?"

"I suppose not…"

"Regardless, we should probably find a way to handle the auction." Kyoko said as she looked at the electronic scoreboard.

"Are we really competing against each other?"

"It’s unfortunate, but there’s no choice."

With curfew starting at ten, we have less than three hours remaining. Accounting for betting and allocation of rooms, really that’s only two hours left.

I couldn’t help but feel nervous.

"There are five auctions in all, and the limit is 100 million yen. Honestly, when you consider the math, no more than 20 million will probably be used per auction."

Even now, I couldn’t fully believe that I was talking about such huge sums. With that much money you can buy all the clothes you want, new glasses, designer bags...

"Yui-Oneesama?"

"Ah! I was having an awful fantasy! No, no this money… it’s no different than Monopoly money!" I shook my head, looking rather flustered.

"By the way, are you gonna bet for the Detective's Right at the next auction?"

"Of course, if I want to save everyone I need that master key. How can I protect you without it?"

"I see." said an embarrassed Kyoko who took to looking at the ground. "The others will definitely be taking this seriously. They aren’t out to protect others, but merely to save themselves. I can’t exactly condemn them for that. However, winning that auction is essential for us, otherwise we can't do anything."

If we fail, we are powerless. You need to play in order to win and win in order to remain a detective. I would never have imagined that I would need to compete with others in order to gain that Detective's Right, but if I don’t want someone to waste it then I had no choice.

"Say, don’t you need the Detective's Right? You have been a detective since birth, so is it really okay for you to be alright with the possibility of someone essentially taking your title like that."

Kirigiri put one hand against her chest and looked up at me.

"Well, you're right, but I'm surprised I'm able to adapt to the situation so quickly."

"You’ve gotten used to it already?"

"I thought…there was nothing beyond being a detective. If I stopped being a detective, I'd disappear like the mermaid princess in the fairy tale. Yet, here I am, a powerless detective, but still around. Maybe, I was fearing in vain that I would disappear, dissolving into sea foam.."

"Of course it was in vain!" I said smiling, but she was serious.

"After that last Duel Noir, I reflected to myself… I believe I was too attached to the identity of a detective. Of course, I still want to be a detective that carries on the Kirigiri name. I will always be proud of it. Still, I haven’t forgotten about our talk… about concealing one’s thoughts."

"R-really?"

Despite how she had hidden away her feelings, even a kid like her still has problems. But due to how well she had kept her mask on, I never really noticed...

"I don’t have the Detective's Right, but strangely I feel calmer than usual. Like I have woken up from a dream, and it has been easier on me to distract myself from my emotions."

Kyoko smiled, her hand covered her mouth. I didn't fully understand her, but I knew this Duel Noir had awakened some sort of fighting spirit within her. Her expression, which was unusually eloquent, conveyed a sense of elation. To put it in a more modest way, she seemed to be excited.

Being a detective may have been the meaning of her life, but at the same time it put a great strain on her shoulders. She was so small and frail, yet she carried a heavy burden. Ironically, the confined space freed her for a moment from that pressure. Perhaps because of this she managed to realize how much she overestimated her real self.

"It's thanks to you, Yui-Oneesama."

"Hey, I didn’t do anything…"

“You were the one to tell me I wasn’t empty. I suppose that having someone like you by my side is…” she trailed off, suddenly too embarrassed to continue her sentence.

I let a moment pass in the hope that she’d continue, but perhaps due to some sort of inner conflict she couldn’t bring herself to.

“Well, when you think about it, we were only really stripped of our “Detective's Right” while we’re in here, under the 'Victim's' rules… We’re technically still actual detectives, right?” I attempted to reassure her.

“I hope so,” Kyoko said unemotionally. She tucked her small hands into her uniform pockets.

“Either way, I don’t intend to be like you, Yui-Oneesama. I’m not concerned with protecting everyone or keeping them alive. I must solve the case by any means necessary… that’s what it means to be a Kirigiri.”

“Whatever you say, Little Miss Detective.” I pet her on the head as if coaxing a child. She only replied with her usual agitated glare.

“So, any ideas for the auctions?” I asked to avoid her scolding me.

“We could win the Detective's Right five times in a row.”

“Huh? Do you have a way to consistently win without someone snatching it from us?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I’ll team up with you, Yui-Oneesama. It doesn’t matter who wins the Detective's Right, because as a team, we have a very clear advantage. By combining our money together, we have 200 million yen, double the amount everyone else has. That’s twice as much as the others who would only be able to spare 20 million yen in comparison to our 40 million. Norman never mentioned any rules regarding lending or borrowing money, correct?”

The words ‘team up’ coming out of Kyoko Kirigiri’s mouth sound unreal, but here we are. The plan will work in theory, but trust between the two of us will be required. Well, of course I trust her. Does she trust me?

“What do you think, Yui-Oneesama?” she asked me.

“We could use our partnership and combined money for one or two days, sure, but… It wouldn’t be long before the others catch on and realize that teaming up would be beneficial for them. If that happens, then they might team up into groups of three, and we would have no chance of winning the auction then,” I answered.

“Either way, winning the first three auctions would still be possible. We can spend more money on the third auction in particular. If everything goes according to plan, then the others should ideally develop a different mentality.”

“What do you mean?”

“We win the Detective's Right for the first three auctions and successfully protect everyone, like you want. The others will start to accept that we’ll win, along with feeling assured enough to trust us with their lives,” said Kyoko. “They’ll start to consider that they should save whatever money they have left when they leave, practically guaranteeing us the Detective's Right each time.”

“But will things really turn out that well for us…?” I mumbled, slumping my body against the back of the chair. My body had slowly grown numb, no thanks to me spending the day sitting in one spot.

“Unfortunately, there are still two flaws in this plan,” she said as she raised her pale finger. “The first is the idea that we’ll be able to save everyone. We don’t know if protecting everyone is possible, as Norman left the murder weapons and method of murder intentionally vague.”

“No, we have to protect everyone,” I said.

Kyoko shook her head. “That’s not the only issue. If you want to protect everyone, ‘everyone’ potentially includes the murderer, who is also the 'Victim' of the Duel Noir.”

“Ah, right… The 'Victim' is participating in the auction with us!”

“Indeed, they also possess the master key, so winning the auction isn’t necessary for them. They’ll likely try to disrupt the auction.”

“So the teamwork method is useless after all…”

“No, I wouldn’t say that,” Kyoko let out a disagreement. “I believe there’s still some merit to it.”

“Why’s that?”

“We can at least work to win the first and second auctions, but things may start to take a turn by the third. I’m not entirely sure if we can win the Detective's Right by then. But that’s okay. The main concern is who will win and how they’ll win, and we must deduce if there’s any abnormalities. If we continue to back the 'Victim' into corners, they may begin to intentionally sabotage us. They’ll eventually expose themself that way,” she explained.

We have to turn the 'Victim's' rules in on themselves and use that to lure them into exposing their own identity. To come up with such a plan in such tense circumstances… I’d say it surprised me, but I’ve come to expect that of Kyoko. What would I do if it wasn’t for her? I ponder that possibility for a while, and the more I do the more anxious I get.

“This plan is going to work!” I exclaimed. “We don’t even need to win all five auctions. If we expose the 'Victim's' identity in the middle of the game, it’ll be over before we reach that point!”

“That’s true.”

“Then… you can have my money, Kyoko. You’ll win the Detective's Right.”

“…Are you sure that’s the best idea?”

“Better idea than me winning them,” I replied, smiling. “Our first order of business is the first auction. We just have to win.”

“…I know that.”

I opened my bag and looked inside, but I’m interrupted by Suisei standing from his chair.

“Alright, ladies and gentleman.” He spoke like he was on stage, eccentricity in every gesture. “If each person takes five minutes to bid, then finishing this single auction will take us forty-five minutes. It’s about time we stopped wasting time.”

“H-hey, I thought no one was bidding!” Yuzen said.

“H-hold on, I’m not done calculating!” Seiunsai counted his fingers.

“I don’t wanna be a detective! I just wanna buy vacuum tubes! Why did this happen to me…?!” Meruko sobbed.

Mikado, legs crossed, silently scanned the pages of a book he was reading. He was in a world of his own, uninterested in interacting with us. He mentioned that he wasn’t here for the auction in the first place, but I wonder if he changed his mind after hearing our lives are on the line.

Sae embraced her money bag in her arms, cradling it with her eyes shut. Looking almost intoxicated, she treated the bag like a small baby… This place just kept getting weirder.

“Hey, Kyoko,” I leant over to her ear and whispered. “What about Suisei…? Do you think we should tell him about our plan?”

“That’s not necessary. I don’t doubt that he’ll catch on after the auction results.”

Right. As a Double Zero, Suisei was also competing against us to win the Detective's Right and to stop the 'Victim'. It doesn’t surprise me if he’d be able to pick up on all the small details.

“Then I’ll be placing my bid first,” proclaimed Suisei. “If you have any objections, please raise your hand.”

As a matter of course, nobody raised their hands. After Suisei ensures that everyone is content with his decision, he hoists up his hiking bag and walks towards the booth.

“You can discuss the general order of your bids while I'm here. Less time wasted,” Suisei said as he opened the door.

I noticed a machine reminiscent of an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) from the door crack. Suisei faced the machine, and shut the door behind him. The auction had finally begun.

“Okay, everyone, then we can decide our bidding order,” I said as I stood from my chair. “I think it would be fun if we decided by playing Detective Rock-Paper-Scissors, right?”

“Can we use Detective-Culprit-Target?”

“What's Detective-Culprit-Target?” Mifune tilted her head to the side.

“You never heard of it? The Culprit beats the target, but is defeated by the Detective. In turn, the Target beats the Detective. It’s that sort of game!~”

“What? No, that sounds stupid. Just use normal Rock-Paper-Scissors,” Yuzen said. Rude…

In the end, we played plain old Rock-Paper-Scissors instead. We would bid in order of Seiunsai, Kyoko, Sae, Mikado, Akio, Meruko, Yuzen, and finally Yui (me).

Just as our bidding order concluded, Suisei came out from the booth. He had a strange card in his right hand, and stranger still, a noticeably smaller bag in his left. Everybody’s head turned towards Suisei, and more specifically, his bag. It’s a little… no, a lot lighter than before. I don’t think he could have hid the cash anywhere. It definitely wasn’t on his person, as his jacket was very burnt from putting out the fire earlier on.

“Great, now who’s turn is it? It takes a little while to complete all the procedures in the booth, around five minutes, so you best hurry.” Suisei revealed the card in his fingers, before leisurely yanking out a chair and taking a seat. He tossed his bag over his shoulder, and it slowly deflated as it met the floor. It didn’t take long before the crowd went into a frenzy. I quickly grabbed Kyoko by the hand and pulled her aside.

“H-hey, Suisei is definitely up to something!” I said.

“You’re overreacting, Yui-Oneesama.”

“For good reason! He’s clearly done something with his money!”

“Yes, I didn’t expect that… definitely worthy of a Double Zero.”

“Don’t start praising him, it’s because of him we can’t win the Detective's Right!”

Seiunsai walked into the booth as Kyoko and I talked in hushed voices. It would soon be Kyoko’s turn after he’s done.

“What now? Do we revise our plan?” I asked.

“Yes…” Kyoko crossed her arms and fell silent, lost in her own thoughts. “We should skip this auction.”

“Skip it? So we shouldn’t bid at all?”

“Indeed. We can’t compete with Suisei.”

“Can’t compete… ugh, this is ridiculous!”

“Don’t worry, Oneesama. Did you forget? Suisei is on our side.”

“But, I… I just don’t think we can trust him!” I blurted out. “He’s a total cheapskate! You ended up having to pay for both the taxi and our dinner, didn’t you?”

Kyoko shook her head. “Cheapskate would be inaccurate. As you just saw, he spent plenty of money on the auction.”

“What if he’s tricking us somehow…?”

“That’s always a possibility. But if that’s true, then that only emphasizes the fact that we shouldn’t blindly throw our money away. If the empty bag is only a bluff and he only wishes to make us bid higher, then we’ll end up losing all of our money.”

“We’re running out of time. What do we do?” I glanced back to the bidding booth where Seiunsai just left. His bag looked the same size as he entered with.

“It will be better for us to keep it.”

“Hmmm… I don’t know… if that’ll work…” Kyoko walked toward the booth, as I slowly gave my opinion with a drawl. Struggling with the weight of millions of yen in both her hands, she dragged the bag behind her. With arms so small, getting the bag to move was a battle in itself. As Kyoko made her bid, I approached Suisei.

“So, umm… how much did you…?” I pointed to the empty bag while I questioned him.

“Woah, don’t you know that it’s a closed bid? I can’t tell you no matter how much you beg, little lady.”

“This isn’t the time, Suisei!” I didn’t want to yell, but the frustration is getting to me. “If you have a plan, then you need to tell me, please. If we work as a team, then-”

“Ms. Samidere.” Suisei stared down at me with a scolding glare, his arms crossed. “I’m not revealing this information to you because I expect better from a detective. But perhaps you’d prefer for me to treat you like you’re any other little girl?”

Despite the stern lecture, the intent behind it is probably ‘stop relying on others’. Regardless of how dire the circumstances are, ‘please tell me’ won’t cut it in the eyes of a detective. Is Suisei going to win? Judging from the look in his eyes, he’s already convinced that he will. I dejectedly dragged myself to a secluded corner of the room, before Kyoko exited the booth. I nearly sent myself flying over my own feet when I darted over to her.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“Fine,” Kyoko played with a strand of pale hair beside her cheek. “I didn’t place a bid. Thankfully, it looks like they allow you to do so.”

She suddenly showed me a card. “And this is?”

“A bidding card. I’m assuming it’s not too different from the Detective Library registration cards.” she said. The bidding continued on in the background of our chatter. Sae’s turn was after Kyoko, and she spent almost all of her allotted 10 minutes inside the booth. When she came out, she was still cradling her bag of money like an infant. Maybe she took so long because she was torn between the choice of life or money.

Then Mikado walked into the booth, and came out after a few seconds. He held the bidding card in his right hand, all wrapped up. His and Sae’s attitudes are like night and day, Mikado wasn’t concerned with the auction whatsoever.

After Mikado finished, Akio, Meruko and Yuzen all entered the booth individually. Meruko took the longest of the bunch. She could barely budge her hiking bag, and when she finally got it inside, it took her even longer to figure out how to operate the ATM. Then after an eternity, my turn arrived.

The booth was almost menacing. It towers over me as I open the door. When I do, I see a machine with a touchscreen. If the Victims’ Catharsis Committee were the ones to prepare this specifically for the auction, they’re certainly going all out for this singular Duel Noir. I walked inside and shut the door behind me. Nobody would be able to see what I was doing in here as long as the door was closed.

【Please Enter Your Name】

8-bit text? In today’s day and age? Weird, but alright… I moved past my suspicions and did as asked of me. For a moment, I thought about using a pseudonym in place of my real name, but it wouldn’t make a difference, so I used my real one.

【Yui Samidare】

The process wasn’t any different from an ordinary ATM. After I entered my name on the touchscreen, an authentication pop up requesting my fingerprints was displayed. I accepted the request and pressed my thumb against it.

【Registration Successful】

The screen flashed to one that requested I enter the desired amount of money. I typed in 0, but just as I was about to press the ‘OK’ button, I stopped myself. What if Suisei was bluffing? What if he’s deliberately fooling us and was hiding his money somewhere? He could be trying to create the illusion of him bidding all of his money, when in reality he’s luring us into a trap. It’s possible that he only bid the bare minimum of one million yen and he’ll manage to snatch the Detective's Right right from under our noses.

Suisei winning the Detective's Right wasn’t the issue, though. The others were. Did they catch on that he was bluffing? They had to, right? With his rather blatant display of his empty bag, it would have drawn suspicion from at least one person. So if they knew he was bluffing, then what would they decide to do?

Their minds would lead them to a plan for winning the Detective's Right. All they’d have to do is to bid two million. So with that in mind, would someone actually take the risk and spend two million? But wait, surely they wouldn’t be the only person to think of that, right?

Two million won’t be enough to win. Three million? Four million? Aaaah, what do I do?! 10 p.m. is rapidly approaching. I have to act, and I have to act soon. Everyone is counting on me. I opened my bag and tore open the plastic wrap containing my money. After a bit of struggle, I unbundled five stacks-which is five million yen.

【5 million yen】

After I pressed 【OK】, a drawer automatically opened from the machine, and I placed my money inside.

【Bidding Successful】

Then a card, similar to the bidding card Kyoko showed me, popped up from a slot beneath the touchscreen. I took it out and inspected it thoroughly, and that’s when I came across a warning on the back.

【※Caution: After the end of the auction, the winner’s card will automatically become the master key. Please keep this card safe.】

I left the booth with my newfound bidding card in hand. Everybody’s eyes followed me as I walked past. Ten minutes passed us by, before the sound of a siren blared around the room. If I recalled correctly, that siren signaled the end of the auction. Everyone’s eyes darted across the room.

“Hey, look!” Yuzen pointed to the balcony.

The portrait, which had once displayed Norman, now displayed a leaderboard. It wasn’t legible from the dining table, so we climbed to the top of the balcony to get ourselves a closer look.

That leaderboard displays the auction results.

Today’s auction results:

Suisei Nanamura 100 Million

Yui Samidare 5 Million

Kyoko Kirigiri 0 Million

Mikado Shinsen 0 Million

Akio Chage 0 Million

Seiunsai Toyano'ou 0 Million

Yuzen Minase 0 Million

Meruko Mifune 0 Million

Yae Sozuru 0 Million

Among all of us, I was probably the most shocked upon viewing the auction results. I wanted to scream out ‘he got me!’ and drop down to my knees- but I did my best to contain myself. I tried my best to maintain an emotionless front, but my expression on my face probably came through regardless.

“Wait, Mr. Real Detective bid 100 yen? But wasn’t the minimum 1,000,000 yen??” Meruko said and curiously tilted her head with a finger to her mouth.

“No, you Pumpkin-head. If you paid closer attention, you could clearly see it said 100 million yen, not 100! He used everything up already!” Yuzen shouted.

“Huh? Really?!” Meruko exclaimed.

“That’s right,” Suisei said. He leaned against the balcony railing, flamboyantly raising his arm over his head.

“Have you gone insane?!” Seiunsai snapped. “Now you don’t have any money left. What’s your plan for the next auctions?”

“Uh, wait, none of you spent anything?!” I blurted out. “What’s happening?”

“What’s happening…?” Yuzen rolled his eyes. “Did you not see that detective’s very clearly empty bag? Or did you actually waste your money even after seeing it? Any smart person wouldn’t bid.”

“You’ll lose your money if you don’t win, right? Didn’t you bother to listen to the rules?” said Seiunsai.

“How could you throw five million yen down the drain?” Even Sae rebuked me. I wanted to defend myself, but I couldn't find the words. I really was overthinking… I glanced over my shoulder to Kyoko, whose icy glare was harshly piercing through me. I’m sorry…

“Then I guess it’s up to the detective to protect us,” Akio said, attempting to wipe off his sweat drenched face.

“A-are you really going to save us?” Meruko asked Suisei.

“Of course, what else would I be here for? Now, please follow me, ladies and gentlemen. It appears this card is now my master key.” Suisei waved the card in the air, swiftly backflipped off of the balcony, and gracefully landed on his feet. Not waiting for anyone, he strolled out of the dining hall without another word.

“H-hey! C’mon, guys!” Yuzen ran down the stairs, and we all followed quickly after him.

After we left the dining hall and entered the lobby, I whispered, “I’m sorry, Kyoko, I failed… This isn’t how I thought things would go…”

“It’s not difficult to imagine the train of thought that led you to your bid, Yui-Oneesama,” Kyoko said, less frustrated than I imagined she would be. “It may have been a failure, but this just seems to be your style.”

“Is… that a compliment?”

“No.”

“R-right.” I downheartedly hung my head. “A-anyway, what do you think Suisei is up to? He spent all of his money in a single day. Do you think he has a plan?”

“Perhaps he intends to end everything tonight.”

“Really…?” It didn’t seem too far-fetched, he’s a Double Zero, after all. He might’ve already discovered the 'Victim's' true identity… As he checked the rest of the doors in the lobby, we all curiously crowded around him.

“There’s a card slot here.” A thin slot was installed in the wall next to the door. Suisei slid the card halfway in, then an electronic beep rang out and opened the door. Everyone let out an audible gasp. “There’s forty-seven minutes left until 10 PM. It’s crucial that we find the guest rooms as soon as we can.”

Kyoko spoke up for once, “Suisei.”

“Yes?”

“May I see your card?”

“Ah, go ahead.” Despite the bidding card’s value of 100 million yen, Suisei didn’t think twice about entrusting the expensive item to Kyoko. She took the card and inserted it into a different door, but nothing happened unlike Suisei’s prior attempt. Kyoko wordlessly returned the card to its owner.

“It appears that this card registers the user's fingerprints. For such a flimsy card, it really is quite intricately designed.” Suisei hid the card in his suit pocket. I was always left puzzled whenever these two detectives interacted. Their lack of communication certainly didn’t help with my confusion. I could deduce they were confirming if anyone other than the auction winner would be able to use the card, (“No” being the answer).

Opening the door led us to a brand new section of the hotel. Across from us was a narrow hallway, with walls that stretched out to fit 5 doors installed on each side. There was a staircase to our left, which I assume led to the next floor. Suisei walked to the door closest to us, but there was no card slot. He pulled at the door handle, to which the door opened up. But what stood before us was… a wall of pure solidified cement. Initially baffled, I came to the realization that the purpose of this barrier was to block irrelevant areas to the game off. We opened the other four doors, but they were sealed with concrete as well. There were no secrets, nor hidden mechanisms, nor passageways, nor anything else of note.

“Thankfully, since we’re so limited in where we’re allowed to go, our workload has been cut in half,” Suisei said leisurely.

We went to look upstairs. Strangely enough, the stairwell and hallways were spotless despite the hotel being abandoned. The hotel had to have been recently polished, but despite that, the stairs were incredibly steep, which would likely be uncomfortable to guests. Then again, it wouldn’t be out of character for this game’s host to design the stairs to be as insufferable as possible.

We came to a stop at a platform to the side of the stairs, where a plate stood which read ‘2F’. It was only the second floor, but the entryway was similarly blocked off with a concrete wall. Yuzen attempted to kick it down, but to no avail. We climbed the stairs further until we reached another floor. The text on this plate read ‘3F’. Fortunately, the third floor’s doorway actually had something on the other side. As for the staircase to our left, another plate read ‘4F’. However, the stairs had collapsed with a massive hole in the middle that exposed the stairs below. We had better be careful, or else someone might trip and fall…

“That’s too dangerous… Is an under repair notice too hard to put up for the owners!” Yuzen complained.

We didn’t have any other option but to enter the third floor. The hallway was about twenty to thirty metres long, with a red carpet extending forwards, until the corridor came to a stop and directed towards the left at a ninety degree angle. A complete lack of windows led to dim lighting that was barely bright enough for us to see. A sign that read ‘301’ hung on the nearest door.

“It appears to be a guest room.” Suisei said as he held the door handle. There was no card slot, but it was not locked so he opened it without inserting his card. We took a peek inside the room…

The first thing that came to mind was not a bedroom, but a prison cell. This is the worst excuse of a hotel room I have ever seen. A bed supported by iron pipes lay in the center of the room; it definitely wasn’t installed here before the hotel’s closure. The Victims’ Catharsis Committee must have designed it for the game. It looks so cheap…

A pile of bedsheets was haphazardly thrown over the headboard. We had to make our own beds thanks to the lack of maids that once used to work here. The only source of light we are provided with is a flickery lamp that was built into the ceiling. There was a window, although I can hardly call it one. High above our heads across from the doorway, it was merely a rectangular hole in the wall. It has no glass or other barriers to prevent the elements from blowing inside, only three iron pipes barring it off as the harsh night air howls. No wonder it’s so cold.

A wall heater sat alone in the corner of the room, though its effectiveness in protecting us from the outside elements, I would put into question. An integrated bathroom was to our left, which had running hot water. It was our only hope in what is essentially a despair-inducing prison cell. That sums up all we have in our rooms.

“Seriously…? We really are prisoners, aren’t we…?” Yuzen groaned.

“Nowadays, prisoners have better living conditions than this,” Seiunsai said with a frown. “I’m going to freeze to death here…”

“I wanna sleep in the lobby…” Meruko sniffled, as if she were to burst into tears at a moment's notice.

“I’m just as disappointed as the rest of you are, but we have to obey the curfew,” said Mikado. Despite the situation, he sounded as calm as if he already came to terms with it all.

“Mr. Real Detective, please, you must come to our rescue.” Sae lewdly wrapped herself around Suisei’s arm and pampered him, as if she were a cat, pressing her body closely against his. Did she forget there’s minors here…?

“There’s only five rooms. Where are the rest?” Yuzen asks as he glances around the hallway.

“Maybe they’re around the corner?” I asked.

We left the room for the time being and turned the corner. The hallway went around the left corner, and five doors were lined up on the right wall. We could see the corridor stopped at a dead end without any windows or emergency exits, as much as I would’ve liked to have seen one. The third floor took the shape of an L. Completely empty aside from the guest rooms. My assumption was that the hotel was renovated for the Duel Noir, straying from its original and far more luxurious designs.

“Now then, where would you all like to stay for the night?” Suisei, unbothered by the unusual circumstances, said.

“Choose whatever.” Yuzen opened the nearest door.

“H-hold on, we should really consider our assigned rooms!” Akio objected. “Just think about it. The closer someone is to the Detective, the safer they’ll be.”

We fell silent upon hearing what Akio said. He was more than likely correct. While the Detective is occupied with opening all of the rooms, the 'Victim' will have the chance to commit murder, which will endanger the person in the room farthest from the Detective.

“If we consider this floor’s structure, then it would be safest for the detective to stay in the room closest to the entrance, right?” said Seiunsai.

The third floor led to nowhere aside from the guest rooms. Essentially a cul-de-sac in the form of a hallway. If the detective stood guard by the entrance, then the 'Victim' would theoretically be unable to escape.

“Then it’s settled, I’ll stay in room 301,” said Suisei.

“So who gets to stay in the room next to him?” Yuzen asked.

“Oh, I know! We should play Detective-Culprit-Target-”

“We already told you, no one understands what that game is!” Yuzen cut me off. “Well, if there’s no other volunteers, then I guess I can take one for the team. No objections, right? Right, then-”

“Hey, quit messing around!” Seiunsai suddenly grabbed Yuzen's shoulder.

“What’s it to you, asshole?!” Yuzen snapped.

“We need to be fair, don’t we? So let’s decide fairly.”

“How so?”

“What if we used the bid results to decide?” Mikado stepped forward, mediating the brimming war between Yuzen and Seiunsai. “Whoever bid the second most will earn the room closest to the detective.”

“Ah, so then our money won’t be totally wasted,” Seiunsai stroked his white beard. “That sounds like a good idea. Alright, I agree.”

No one objected to Mikado’s proposal. As the lucky one who bid, I was allowed to stay in the room next to the Detective, Suisei.

“Wait a minute… everyone else didn’t bid, right?” said Seiunsai.

“Then we can use Detective-Culprit-Target to decide… actually, nevermind. That’d be a pain in the ass.” said Yuzen.

“H-hold on, let’s use a more creative method this time.” Seiunsai pulled out something from his tuxedo’s chest pocket; a deck of playing cards. Specifically a bicycle deck, a brand commonly used for magic tricks. “Hmm… we have seven people left, so we’ll use the cards from Ace of Hearts to Seven of Hearts. The smaller the number, the closer your room is to the detective’s. Does that sound fair?”

“Wait, how can we know you won’t cheat, grandpa?” Sae blurted with a skeptical glare in her eyes. She nabbed the deck of cards away from Seiunsai, and held them closer to the light. She carefully inspected each and every card on both sides.

“Well, if you’re so bothered with me dealing the cards, then someone else can.”

“I’ll do it.” Yuzen swiped the cards from Sae’s hands. After an awkwardly long amount of time, Yuzen is finished shuffling the cards. He crouched down and lined up a total of seven cards along the floor. “C’mon, pick your cards!”

Everyone took turns selecting their cards. Minase was left with the only remaining card on the floor, the Ace. The final order was: Yui, Kyoko, Yuzen, Sae, Mikado, Seiunsai and Akio.

“Why am I last…?” Akio questioned. “...Ah, are you all also in on this conspiracy?!”

“Conspiracy this, conspiracy that… Do you only ever talk about conspiracies?” I couldn’t help but ask. Well, this auction was a conspiracy with a certain organization behind it, but he didn’t have to bring it up all the time.

Nobody occupied room 312 at the end of the hall, because the person who intended to stay the night there, Taehime, had died. It didn’t feel right to take the room of the deceased, so either out of fear or respect, we left the room be. I also noticed that none of the room numbers had a four or a nine. That’s something you commonly saw in older hotels. Apparently it was considered bad luck to include them. I decided to check the time: it was 9:45 PM.

“We should enter our rooms as soon as we can,” Suisei said. “It’s safe to do so, until 10 PM, that is.”

We followed his request, and we headed to our newly assigned rooms.

“I’ll open all of your doors in order after 10 o’clock. Remember that you won’t be able to open your doors until then, so I advise you to be careful.” We nodded in response as confirmation that we understood. With that, we all split up into our separate rooms, along with a silent prayer in our hearts that we would wake up the next morning.

“Kyoko…” I called out to her and stopped her in her tracks.

“Yes?”

“We’ll see each other again, right?”

“…Who knows?” she bluntly replied, and without sparing me a glance, she walked into her room. The door closed. Each time we parted, I couldn’t stop worrying if it would be our last. I stood alone in the hallway and absentmindedly stared at the door that had just shut on me.

And then… I snapped out of my daze by movement in the corner of my eye. I swiveled around to see Akio walking toward me. It felt odd to me; a man in baseball attire slowly approaching me in an old hotel in the dead of night.

“Akio? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing major…” Akio took a look behind his shoulder, scouting for potential eavesdroppers. “You’re alone now, right?”

“Yeah, as you can tell.” Also as far as I could tell, at least.

“You’re a detective too, yeah? I have something to tell you.”

“…Let me guess, a conspiracy?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but… nothing about this sits well with me.” Akio stepped a little closer, and lowered his voice into a hushed whisper. “You know Mikado Shinsen? He might be behind this odd social experiment.”

“Huh?!” I exclaimed, before I made sure to lower my voice. “Mikado? What are you talking about?”

“I swear I’ve seen him before. Didn’t you hear? There was an accident recently, a tunnel that collapsed. All fifteen people inside died…”

“Oh, yeah, I did. When the rescue team came three days later, it was too late, right?”

“Yeah. Strangely enough, there were also a ton of paranormal sightings around that tunnel. I used to collect all sorts of things there. Once I heard about the accident, I thought it might have been caused by a paranormal phenomena, and I lived nearby, so I rushed to the scene. There, I took all the photos I could, and… I saw it in one of them.”

“A-a paranormal phenomena?”

“No, no, it was him. Mikado. He was just staring at the tunnel, in a crowd full of news reporters and onlookers.”

“…That has to be a coincidence, doesn’t it? Maybe he was there because he had nearby work to attend to.”

“Work? Media report? Maybe, maybe not, who knows? But that’s not all. A while ago, I was investigating a house that was the scene of a murder, and I was taking a couple photos around the area. It had been a week since the case closed, so there weren’t any reporters, but… there was still someone caught in the pictures, looking at the house. It was Mikado.”

“Well, what if he just happened to look like him?”

“I’ve already compared the two, and there’s no doubt about it. It was definitely Mikado.” Akio’s body shook. “When I arrived here, I saw him… I thought the same thing, that maybe they just looked alike. But when he started talking, I started to piece it all together… That man is Death Incarnate. He will bring despair. This odd social experiment is the Grim Reapers’s game, and it’s here to watch how we react...”

Mikado? Reaper? I’m a detective so solving cases with the supernatural was against the rules of mystery. But judging from Akio’s trembling body and wide eyes… he wholeheartedly believed what he just told me.

“Shit, we’re running out of time. Ugh, I really don’t want to sleep in that prison cell… but I don’t have any other choice. I’m off.” Akio tilted the brim of his baseball cap below his eyes, before he walked down the hall for a little.

“Why tell me all that?” I asked him.

“I don’t really know myself. My sixth sense, I guess.” It was 9:50. We said goodbye, and I opened the door to my room. In an attempt to regain my courage, I took a long and deep breath, and stepped inside. Just as I let go of the door handle, it shut behind me by itself. Another automatic lock? Filled with an instinctive panic, I rushed to open the door again, which thankfully it did. So the door could freely be opened before the curfew arrived. Still I would be better off keeping it shut if I didn’t want to get punished. Even if I opened it by accident, I could get into trouble.

I looked around my new room. It was practically the same as Suisei’s room, which we were just in. Drab concrete was present in every corner of the room; the ceiling, the floor and even all four walls. The dreary gray blended together, uniting everything in the room, dragging my mood into a lifeless lack of colour. There wasn’t much decor inside, which was tolerable. My main gripe was the unbearable frost of the night breeze, which despite my wishes I had no way to block the open window.

I progressed further inside and stared up at the barred window. It was placed high above me, about three heads taller, impossible to look out from. My rough estimate would be two meters or so. Could I use the blanket to cover the window? I cast my eyes over to the bed, but when I grabbed the blanket, a realization dawned on me. The bed’s feet were screwed into the floor. It wouldn’t budge, probably to prevent us from barricading the door to escape the 'Victim'. I could sense the 'Victim's' malice from that alone. They clearly don’t want us to have any chance of fighting on.

Our only guaranteed safety is in the Detective's Right. No, what if that’s what the 'Victim' wanted me to think? After all, the door opened outwards, so the bed couldn’t be used as a barrier anyway…I kept myself busy by hopping up and down trying to peer outside, when 10 p.m. struck. The click of the door locking told me that. Every muscle in my body tightened at the noise, and even knowing it won’t matter, I looked back to the door.

The 'Victim' will be making their move now. The building’s atmosphere completely shifted. The concrete walls ran deadly cold. I could feel them closing in on me as the gray swallowed up my focus. And then there was that silence, as if all life on earth had inexplicably vanished… 10:01… 10:02…

I tried to force open the door, but no matter how hard I shook it over and over again, it refused to comply. It’s really locked tight… I’m completely helpless. I willingly participated in the Duel Noir this time, but I no longer wanted to. I just wanted to go home.

The 'Victim' could open the door at any moment. The perpetrator of this current case… are they really here with us? The internet report I read before coming here emerged in my mind. That report mentioned a case where a man had gone insane, and killed each guest one by one. It was apparently an extreme case of hallucination, and the culprit said that ‘someone was watching him from inside the walls’.

Inside the walls… Goosebumps ran through my body. I could feel each wall watch me with invisible eyes. Indeed, there are people watching us. The wealthy who find sick entertainment in watching these killing games… But there’s something I found far more terrifying. Death. The walls were as cold as death itself. Maybe it was Akio getting to me, but the word ‘death’ rang nonstop in my mind.

The walls felt suffocating, all this time crushing me under their oppressive nature. I want to scream. But I don’t. It’s okay. …It’s okay? Why would I think that? My only chance at safety was the one with the Detective's Right- the actual detective. I’m not a detective here. I’m just a weak high school girl. But I long to be one. I long to regain my power to fight through the darkness and fight against crime. A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts.

“It’s me, Suisei.” Yeah… Yeah, that’s Suisei Nanamura’s voice! “I’m opening the door now.”

I heard a beep accompanied with the familiar click of the lock. The door opened. I shrunk into the corner of the room and pinned both of my arms against the walls to ensure a guarded stance.

What if it isn’t Suisei behind the door? Or… what if Suisei is the 'Victim', the perpetrator and culprit behind the case? I know it’s impossible, but right at that very moment, I was a frightened animal acting on instinct alone. The cold air only further put me on edge.

“Are you okay?” None other than Suisei Nanamura stood in the doorway. He held something in his right hand, which I envisioned to be a knife or a pistol, but it was merely a card. I nodded and wiped away the cold sweat from my forehead. “Very well. Let’s go, then, follow me.”

I stumbled after him as he left. The lights in the hallway were dimmer than they were before. Maybe it was to set the ‘nighttime mood’. The next room was Meruko’s. Suisei slid the card into the slot beside the door, and it unlocked. Even if Suisei was only opening a few doors, he was a hero in my eyes, and I know he must be to everyone else too.

“You saved me, you saved me! Thank you!” The former supergirl bolted from the confines of her room and pulled me into a hug.

“A touching reunion, but we can save the hug for later. We still have rooms to open.” Suisei continued down the hallway. Next up was Kyoko. I checked the time: 10:15. At this rate, we would have everyone safe and sound in less than fifteen minutes. But as Suisei was about to open the door to Kyoko’s room, I saw movement. At the end of the hallway, the figure of a person stood.

“Suisei! Look!” I called out to him. The figure ran around the corner with the patter of footsteps following them. Suisei stepped away from the door and looked toward the hallway's end, following my outstretched finger- but there was no longer a trace that anyone had been there.

“There’s a person there!” I said.

“A person?” Suisei repeated.

“I saw them too!” Meruko nodded.

“Well, it was dark and from a distance so I couldn’t really… make it out… but there was definitely someone there, I’m sure of it!” I said as I ran down the hallway with both Meruko and Suisei trailing behind me. I stopped at the hallway’s corner. In front of me, in the depths of the dimly lit hall, a door slammed shut! “Did you see that?!”

“Ah!” Suisei narrowed his eyes, then nodded.

“Yes, that empty room, the last one in the hall.” The figure hidden by the dark was the one to close the door, now hiding themselves behind it.

“Now that it’s past 10 p.m., the only people who can open doors are those with a master key,” Suisei said, gesturing to show off the card he held in his right hand. “Other than me, the detective, the 'Victim' is the only one with the master key.”

“Then that’s the 'Victim'!” I said.

“Let’s catch them!” Meruko agreed.

Meruko and I scurried towards the room, but Suisei stopped us. “Wait! One of you should stay here. You can keep watch since you can see the whole hall from here.”

We stood by the bend of the L-shaped hallway, and we could indeed see every room.

“Then I’ll wait here. Mr. Real Detective, you have to take the 'Victim' down!” Meruko walked back to the bend and crouched down beside the wall.

“You’ll be okay by yourself?” Suisei asked.

“Yeah!”

“If you see somebody, yell out their name. Understand, little lady?”

“Hey, I’m an adult!’

“Very well, I’ll be counting on you. Now, hurry up, Yui.”

“Okay!” I nodded.

Suisei and I hurried into the depths of the hall, and came to a skidding halt by the empty room. Suisei abruptly halted himself, and took a moment to listen for any noises behind the door. After a few seconds, he inserted his card into the slot.

Suisei swung the door open so forcefully that I thought it might hit me. Was the 'Victim' going to charge out of the room straight at us? Or will they be hidden somewhere inside, concealing a weapon? That’s what I imagined, and those thoughts lead me to take a fighting stance. But the room was completely empty. The light was on, so I could see inside the cramped room as soon as the door was open. As far as I could tell, not a single person was present, let alone the 'Victim'.

How?! I definitely saw the door close, and I definitely saw someone go inside. It’s not just me either, Suisei and Meruko testified to seeing it, too! The room was the exact same as the others we saw with a pitiful bed in the very center. Except the blanket and sheets were still draped over the headboard because nobody was here to make their bed. Nobody was hiding underneath the bed either.

We stepped inside and we immediately investigated the bathroom. As expected, there still is no sign of anyone. Where did the 'Victim' disappear to? Is this the “Disappearing Act”? That wasn’t the only oddity, though. A big, neon pink ‘X’ was painted onto the rightmost wall. “What is this…?”

“I’m assuming the 'Victim' left it for us,” Suisei said. He touched the paint, which stained his finger bright pink. Did the 'Victim' paint the X before they came into the room, or did they get caught after drawing it and ran back inside?

“The 'Victim' was definitely here at some point. But if that were true, don’t you think there has to be a secret passage somewhere?” I suggested.

“Hmmm…” Suisei stared blankly at the wall, deep in thought. I knocked on everything I could find. Under the bed, the bedroom walls, and even the walls of the bathroom. But I failed to find any secret passages.

What about the window? I sprung from the ground and hooked my fingertips into the window sill. I managed to successfully grab the iron bars after struggling to climb up, the touch of the freezing metal stung my hands like tiny needles. The bars couldn’t be taken off, which I expected. Either way, I definitely wouldn’t fit through that gap, which was only about forty centimeters horizontally and twenty centimeters vertically. Even if I could fit, I couldn’t go anywhere since the only thing beyond the window was the cold and abyssal night sky.

It was a completely locked room. Suisei stopped staring at the wall and came over to investigate with me. We took a little too much time investigating each and every corner of the room, and I started to worry about Meruko. She was all by herself, and the 'Victim' was nowhere to be seen. What if she’s…?

Finally, Suisei dusted off his suit and said, “Other than the door, it’s impossible to enter or leave this room.”

We came to the same conclusion. “So then where did the 'Victim' go, and how did they escape…?”

“Perhaps…” Suisei pointed to the wall with the X painted on it.

“The wall? Are you saying that the culprit somehow walked through the wall…?” Walking through walls was obviously impossible, but what if…? That's when I recalled Akio slept in the room neighboring it.

“I’ll check.” As if he had read my mind, Suisei entered his card in the slot and walked out into the hallway. The door closed on me before I could say anything.

“Ah, I’m coming too!” I ran and tugged on the door handle in an attempt to follow him, but it was a fruitless effort. The door wouldn’t budge, leaving me, once again, trapped.

“Mr. Real Detective!” I heard a shout from the hallway. Meruko yelled out for a drawn-out period of time.

Suisei had said, ‘If you see someone, yell out their name’, so it appeared she was following Suisei’s instructions exactly as he asked.

“Sorry, Mr Nanamura! I’m stuck in here…” I said as I knocked on the door. Suisei returned after roughly two or three minutes, so I finally stepped out into the hallway.

“Yui!” Meruko waved from a distance, still at the bend of the L-shaped hall. I waved back.

“I believe we’ve been tricked.” Suisei raised his chin and angled his head toward the room beside us; Akio’s room. Tricked?

The neighboring room had its door shut. The door probably closed automatically after Suisei concluded his investigation inside. He slid the card inside the slot again and opened the door. What greeted us is something I didn’t expect… or maybe something I didn’t want to see.

Akio Chage was slumped against the bed like he had slid off of it in the middle of a deep slumber. His head still rested against it, his eyes were shot wide open, his mouth left agape. Both of his arms were spread out and limp against the sides of his body, and his equally limp legs were splayed out against the floor. His baseball cap, which I figured as his personal trademark, was now lying behind the bed. The sports bag sitting in front of the bed must have been his luggage.

“Akio…”

“He’s dead,” Suisei declared such horrible news so indifferently. It didn’t even matter to him.

“He’s really dead?” I asked.

“Yes, he’s no longer breathing nor does he have a pulse, both of which I confirmed a few minutes ago. I noticed that he has marks on his neck. He must have been strangled to death.”

“Strangled to death…” Of course, there wasn’t anyone here besides us. I checked the time on my phone: 10:30 p.m. By the start of the curfew, 10 o’clock, the 'Victim' managed to murder Akio and flee the scene without getting caught. We saw the supposed 'Victim' not too long ago. But weren’t they in the empty room next door?

There’s evidence that they had been there, something that the 'Victim' left behind after they entered the room. The X on the wall… Was that hinting at Akio’s demise? Or was it some kind of deranged prank? I shakily stepped inside the room. Without getting too close, I inspected the corpse.

He drew not a single breath, and as for his pulse… No, I’m not able to do it. I can’t touch him. I’m not like Suisei or Kyoko, I didn’t have any experience in murder cases, nor did I know how to perform an autopsy. But I can tell that Akio is dead because of the unsettling sight of his lifeless eyes.

I investigated the bathroom. Nobody. I looked under the bed. Nobody. I checked the window. The iron bars refused to move. The blankets were placed on the bed and rolled into a ball, but it’s too small to hide a person inside. Another locked room mystery.

“Yui, take a look at the victim’s neck,” Suisei told me. “There are marks, marks clearly resembling human fingers. He must have been strangled by hand. There’s also evidence that he resisted his attacker.”

“Then the 'Victim' might’ve been scratched,” I said.

“True, unless they were wearing gloves.”

I suddenly spied something. “Huh? Hold on, Akio has something in his mouth.”

There was a foreign object inside of his mouth. Suisei pulled out a pair of tweezers from the inner pocket of his suit and plucked out the unknown item; a piece of paper crumpled up into a ball. Suisei lowered it onto the bedsheets and unfolded it with the tweezers. He avoided touching the odd note with his own fingers, but read out what was written on it.

“Target #1 - Revenge SERVED!”

We’d been tricked. The 'Victim' had slipped out right from under our fingertips. Suisei and I left the crime scene alone and returned to the hallway. We informed Meruko what had happened, while doing so she sobbed uncontrollably with her face twisted in horror.

“You girls should head back to the lobby,” Suisei instructed us. “I’ll continue releasing the others.”

“Okay…” Meruko sniffled.

Meruko and I walked down the stairs to the first floor together, but our plans were cut short when we found out that the door to the lobby could only be opened with the master key. We decided to wait for Suisei and the rest, and merely sat together silently in the hallway. In this case, we could find some ease knowing safety due to the ‘only one person dies each night’ rule.

At least no one else will die tonight. Ironically, someone’s death was our only source of comfort… I wondered just how long we would stay trapped in this hellhole before we snapped. How did the 'Victim' kill Akio? And just where did they go?