"I wonder if that was really the right thing to do," I said as I played with Kunagisa's hair. She said it was too heavy all tied up high like that and wanted me to redo it. Here I had thought it was adorable, but if she didn't like it, I had no choice.
Everybody had since split up, and the two of us had gone back to Kunagisa's room.
"I think it's okay. It's pretty much what I expected to happen. Akane-chan must be kinda grateful, too, eh? It's a way better idea than continuing that unproductive bickering, anyway."
"Hmm, I wonder…"
As the one who had suggested the idea in the first place, I couldn't imagine Akane-san was too happy about it. I felt a little guilty. It might well have been the only solution, but I couldn't help but wonder if there was some other way.
"All done."
"Thank you." She crawled over to her computer rack and sat down with her back to me. Then she switched on the power and started typing away.
"I just… I feel like we have wronged Akane-san."
"Maybe so. But some things can't be avoided, y'know, Ii-chan?"
After breakfast, Akane-san had gone off to my room on her own two feet. It had been decided that Akari-san and the others would deliver meals to her directly and that she would have to call them from the room phone every time she wanted to use the bathroom.
Akane-san had requested a reading lamp so she could pass the following six days reading books she had brought.
Six days… Objectively speaking, the room wasn't a particularly bad environment. But the door couldn't be unlocked from the inside and the window was way high up— there was virtually no means of escape. In that sense, it really was imprisonment.
Six days.
It really was too long to be locked up.
"If only Iria-san would call the police, we wouldn't have to do all this. It's like she's trying to cover up the incident altogether."
"But Iria-chan is right, y'know? If she had called the police, they would've blamed Akane-chan and closed the case right there. Or even if they didn't convict her, she would've been a suspect. I mean, wouldn't you want to avoid something like that? Seriously, one of the Seven Fools becoming a murder suspect?"
"Do you know a lot about the ER3, Tomo?"
"I've got a few acquaintances from over there. But I'm sure you know more than I do."
"Speaking of Seven Fools, Akane-san didn't have criminal immunity or anything, did she?"
"But it would be even worse of a situation for me, not to mention Yayoi-chan and Maki-chan, who are both well respected. Nobody needs a scandal like this to deal with. Of course the same goes for Iria-chan. So it's only natural that she isn't calling the police."
"Natural, huh?"
It was probably this island itself that was unnatural. But judging from Iria-san's manner, I got the feeling there was more to the story. Like she had some more fundamental reason for not wanting to call the cops.
"Do you suppose Iria-san has some specific reason for disliking the police?"
"Well, what if we asked her?"
"I doubt she'd tell us."
"Yeah, maybe. Anyway, why worry about it? Once this Aikawa character Iria-chan's so crazy about gets here, everything will be solved. It's just another six days."
"Yeah, but…"
Iria-san was the mistress of the island, and if she said no police, there was no going against her. For what it was worth, there would probably be no more murders with Akane-san locked in seclusion. But still…
"Say, Tomo."
"What, Ii-chan?"
"I want to ask a favor."
"I accept. What is it?"
"Can you do something about that locked door?
"I don't know, but for you, I'll try."
There was no need to spend the next six days just sitting around. I was the one who had proposed this course of action in the first place, so I had a duty to give the case some serious thought.
"If we can figure this case out quickly, we won't have to keep Akane-chan locked up in there, whether she did it or not."
She swiveled her chair around to face me. She beckoned me closer. "Here, here." I walked over to the computers as told.
"For the time being, I've typed up everyone's alibis."
Ibuki Kanami (murdered)
Sonoyama Akane
Before earthquake: X
After earthquake: X
Kunagisa Tomo
Before earthquake: O (Ii-chan, Hikari-san, Maki-san, Shinya-san)
After earthquake: X
Sashirono Yayoi
Before earthquake: O (Iria-san, Rei-san)
After earthquake: X
Chiga Akari
Before earthquake: Δ (Teruko-san)
After earthquake: X
Chiga Hikari
Before earthquake: O (Ii-chan, Tomo-san, Maki-san, Shinya-san)
After earthquake: X
Chiga Teruko
Before earthquake: Δ (Akari-san)
After earthquake: X
Sakaki Shinya
Before earthquake: O (Ii-chan, Tomo-san, Maki-san, Hikari-san)
After earthquake: O (Maki-san)
Handa Rei
Before earthquake: O (Iria-san, Yayoi-san)
After earthquake: Δ (Iria-san)
Himena Maki
Before earthquake: O (Ii-chan, Tomo-san, Hikari-san, Shinya-san)
After earthquake: O (Shinya-san)
Akagami Iria
Before earthquake: O (Rei-san, Yayoi-san)
After earthquake: Δ (Rei-san)
"Looks about right?"
"I understand the O's and X's, but what are those triangles?"
"Akane-chan was right about family testimonies. Iria-chan, Rei-chan, Akari-chan, Hikari-chan, and Teruko-chan seem like a pretty upstanding bunch, so for now, they get a check. It's just that, well, their alibis seem kind of shaky."
She scrolled down the screen and checked the alibi chart one more time.
"For now, let's ignore the possibility of an accomplice," I said. "And that includes family ties. If we assume that much, we can remove Shinya-san and Maki-san from the suspect list. Oh, and also Rei-san and Iria-san."
Four people down.
Seven people left.
"If Shinya-san's testimony was accurate, then the locked room with the paint becomes a problem. But if it was a lie, that means only Akane-san could have done it."
"I can't imagine why Shinya-chan would lie, though."
"Well, it could've been a misunderstanding or something rather than a lie."
Well, how about that.
I was starting to sound like Iria-san.
"But you know, Akane-san really is the prime suspect here, objectively speaking."
"Yeah, you can't help but think that, looking at this chart. No matter how fair or sympathetic you are, it doesn't change the fact that she's the only one without any smidgen of an alibi. If that weren't the case, she probably wouldn't have accepted this whole seclusion idea."
"Yeah, for sure. So, Tomo, do you think Akane-san did it?"
"I wouldn't say that. Like she said herself, there's no evidence. You can't decide who the criminal is by process of elimination alone. We haven't even examined Kanami-chan's body yet, either."
"Ah, and I suppose there is still the fact that the room was locked."
"But if you take that into account, nobody could've done the crime. Ii-chan, you have any ideas about that?"
"I've got a few," I said as I pondered. "Maybe I'll figure something out after a little while. How about you, Tomo?"
"I've got tons of ideas," she said. "Just need to give it a little more thought and it should all fall into place. Oh, and Ii-chan? Whether or not Shinya-san's testimony is true, I think the murder happened after the earthquake."
"Huh? Why?"
"That picture of you. Do you really think she could've finished a picture like that before the earthquake? I don't think so."
"Well…"
It was tough to say. Kanami-san was pretty damn fast when it came to painting. But if what Kunagisa said was true, then it was all the more certain that the door had been locked. That wouldn't be the most helpful development in the case.
"And then there's the headless body itself."
I nodded.
Regardless of who killed her, why would they cut her head off?
"They say to beware of swapped identities when the bodies show up with no head, but I don't suppose there's any need for doubt in this particular case. There were twelve people, one had her head cut off, and now there are eleven. And we know exactly who and where those eleven people are."
"If it was one of those three maid sisters who got killed, it would've been a real problem, huh?" Kunagisa asked rhetorically. "But with Kanami-chan, there's probably no need to worry about it. If there were other people on this island, it would be different, but y'know."
"We don't need to consider that notion, either. If we assume there are X number of other people on this island, all this narrowing down of suspects and alibi searching becomes pointless. I don't know what this 'detective' coming in six days will have to say about it, but for now, let's just worry about the eleven people we know about."
"You said it," she said, gaping at the ceiling. "Now, if you consider the possibility of an accomplice or some kind of remote trickery, only you and I can be taken off the suspect list."
"Why me, too?" I asked.
"'Cuz I trust you," she answered coolly. "Still, why did it have to be a beheading? Body-switching is the only feasible reason I can think of. But I wonder… Maybe that's not even how she died."
"Yeah. If it was, there wouldn't have been so little blood. It would've been more like a river of blood. But at a glance, there didn't appear to be any stabbing wounds or anything, so maybe she was poisoned or strangled. I mean, just to speculate."
"I wonder if she went down easy."
"Probably. Her legs didn't work, and even though her eyesight had come back, it definitely wasn't perfect. Once you approached her, the act of killing her probably wouldn't be very difficult. And cutting off the head wouldn't be much of a challenge, either."
As long as you didn't hesitate, it would only take a few minutes.
"There's no clear motive, either. Why did Kanami-san have to be murdered?"
"Nobody has to be murdered. But yeah, I wonder why. Aside from Shinya-chan, everyone here only just met Kanami-chan, right? Hmm, but maybe that's not the case. Maybe somebody actually had some connection with her before coming here. It wouldn't be so strange."
"I guess you could presume just about anything on that subject."
In which case, there was no point in presuming anything.
Kunagisa let out a groan.
"Well, let's just worry about these other details first, and figure out who knows who later on."
"How are we gonna do that?"
"Who do you think you're talking to?" She grinned at me.
Of course.
This blue-haired girl had a "background," so to speak.
"Now then, shall we do a crime scene investigation?" She picked up her nearby digital camera.