The lunch was prepared by Hikari-san. Yayoi-san had complained of being under the weather and was now resting in her room. Indeed, she did seem pretty pale when we passed her in the hall.
"It's nothing like what Yayoi-san makes us, but please enjoy," Hikari-san said with a shy smile, and then left the dining room. That left only me and Kunagisa… And Maki-san, who seemed to be in the middle of lunch. I did my best to ignore her as I crammed Hikari-san's cooking down my throat. Kunagisa didn't seem to be hungry, so she was just tagging along, staring off into space.
"Hey, boy-o." As expected, Maki-san was going to harass me. "Looks like you've been having some fun, eh? Eh?"
"Isn't this what you said would happen?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"That things will get worse before they get better. Isn't that what you said at dinner yesterday? What a lovely precognition that was."
"I sense a bit of sarcasm there, but I'll go ahead and take that as a compliment."
"If you knew this was going to happen, couldn't you have prevented it?"
"No. All I can do is watch and listen. I think you're misunderstanding my abilities. Psychic abilities aren't such a great convenience. I told you before, didn't I? It's like watching TV. Can you alter the contents of a TV show?"
She gave a mocking smile as she shoveled down her meal.
Something about her resembled Kunagisa, I thought. She was so emotionally immature, yet at the same time, she seemed somehow enlightened. In the aftermath of Kanami-san's murder, she seemed completely unfazed. In fact, it didn't seem like anything could faze her.
"Then please inform us, what's going to happen next?"
"Sure. If you pay me."
Suddenly she looked furious, and without another word, she got up and stormed out of the dining room. Why was she so mad?
"That was cold of you, Ii-chan."
"What was?"
"Forget it. If you're done eating, let's go back to my room. We've got things to do."
"Yeah, okay."
Maki-san must just have been a moody person. I decided to assume that was the case and give it no further thought. I didn't know what darkness lurked in the heart of someone who knew everything.
We returned to Kunagisa's room. First, we unloaded the digital photos onto her PC with a USB cord. Then she switched on the workstation and inserted a floppy disk.
"What's on the disk?" I asked.
"Tools. My original creations, of course. It's set up so that they only run on this workstation, so even if I drop the CD, it's okay. Now let's get to the bottom of this."
To put it plainly, what Kunagisa was about to do was illegal.
But I guess you could also call it "research."
Including Kanami-san, there were twelve people. Excluding Kunagisa and me, there were ten. As planned, Kunagisa was going to run a background check on these ten people and find out who knew whom.
Kanami-san had been murdered. There must have been a reason for that. Of course, there are those murders that occur for no apparent reason, but the other type is overwhelmingly, absolutely, and depressingly more common. Supposedly, everyone here had met for the first time on the island, but what if that wasn't the case? The possibility was there, and just thinking about it wouldn't do much good.
And thus it was time for Kunagisa Tomo, leader of the "team" that had thrown the cyberworld of the previous century into total chaos, to act.
"So what now?"
"First I'm gonna access the hi-spec machine I've got back home. This workstation doesn't have the power we need."
"Even though it's got so many terabytes?"
"This has nothing to do with that. Ii-chan, you really don't know anything, do you?"
"Quit saying that. I might not know as much as you, but I know a little. I took an electronic engineering class back in Houston, at least."
"Really? Sounds like a lie to me. Weren't you the one who always used to have to go to the convenience store and be like 'Will you copy this disk for me? Here's ten yen'?"
"That was before I went to Houston."
Curse that memory of hers.
"Well, whatever. That's Ii-chan for ya," she said. "Anyway, then I'm gonna set up ten UG servers at platforms and contact Chii-kun."
"Chii-kun? Never heard that name before."
But I could've guessed it was a member of the "team." I asked if it was, and she nodded.
"Chii-kun was mainly in charge of 'seeking.' There's nothing in the universe he can't track down."
In the universe?
This was a freakish pack of talented people indeed.
"He's got a terrible personality, but he's a good guy."
"He's not the guy who made that operating system, is he? That was Atchan, right? So what's this Chii-kun doing nowadays?"
"He's in prison. He got a 150-year sentence. Oh, plus eight years—158 years. He kept hacking on his own even after the team disbanded, and tried to crack the G-eight database, but he was caught. He made it pretty far, but he got stuck at the eighty-eighth line of defense. Hehe, if you get too good at something, it's always the easy stuff that gets you in the end."
"You sure know a lot about it."
"Yup. I was the one who designed that line of defense."
I made no reply.
"I had heard a rumor that Chii-kun was after top-secret UN information. I couldn't just let the situation be, so I contacted a few friends and we set up a defense. Even then it was a close call, which is a testament to his skill."
"So that's how he got thrown in prison? You really think he'll help us? In fact, how can he help us from prison? They don't have the Internet there, do they?
"There's always an exception to the rule, y'know. And Chii-kun happens to be pretty exceptional. And he'll definitely help out. Chii-kun's not the type to sweat the small stuff."
She continued typing away even while she talked. I already had no idea what she was doing.
"Why do you call him Chii-kun?"
"His Net handle is Cheetah."
"Kind of a smarmy handle, huh?"
"Yeah, well, he's a fast guy. He says he's hit cars before."
"What, you mean while driving?"
"No, while running. I'm pretty sure he was the first person in Japan to be fined for hitting a car while on foot."
How's that for eccentric?
Did Tomo attract these kinds of people like a magnet?
Nah, maybe talent just attracted like talent.
"Don't ever introduce us."
He sounded like the kind of person I'd rather quietly observe from a distance.
Kunagisa nodded. "You got it. We all have rules, after all. We never introduce friends to each other no matter what. 'Cuz friends aren't information. I don't want you introducing me to any of your friends, either, Ii-chan."
"Sure… So I guess I'll just leave all this up to you then? If you're going to be talking to that guy, I probably shouldn't be hanging around, huh? And I've got a few places to go, too."
"Peace out," Kunagisa saluted.
With that, I left her room and made my way down the spiral staircase. There, I paused for a deep breath and began down the hallway. I was on my way to Iria-san's room. Hikari-san had given me directions earlier, so I didn't think there was any danger of getting lost.
Even in a mansion like this, where everything was of the finest quality, the door to her room was of exceptional craftsmanship. I doubted whether the sound of my knocking would even reach the other side of such a chunky door. Nonetheless, after giving it a try, the wave of sound did somehow appear to reach the inside, and my knock was answered with a "Come in!"
I opened the door and went inside. The room was probably twice the size of Kunagisa's. It wasn't straight out of a movie, it was an entire movie in and of itself. It was like the legendary Urashima Taro.
The words receive an audience that came to mind.
Head maid Rei-san sat on the sofa with Iria-san standing beside her. They must've been in the middle of a conversation.
Iria-san tilted her head at me. "Is something the matter? Um…" Her expression was clueless. It seemed she had forgotten my name. Or rather, couldn't remember ever having said or heard my name.
"I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Certainly. Please take a seat there."
I was thrown off by her cooperativeness. As ordered, I sat on her sofa, which was even swankier than the sofa in Kunagisa's room. It was like sitting on air.
"I didn't get much sleep last night. I was about to go to bed, so please keep it short." She slowly began removing her dress as she spoke, presumably to change into her sleepwear.
Rei-san immediately rose to her feet but hesitated to raise a complaint with Iria-san's actions and ultimately said nothing.
Seriously, this was about what you'd expect from a "woman of pedigree." The gaze of a mere plebeian meant nothing to her. What a crock.
"Iria-san, why won't you call the police?"
My question brought her to a halt. "I believe I've already explained that. If we call the police now, they'll treat Sonoyama-san like the criminal."
"But isn't that what we're doing already? We've already locked her up. And aren't we committing crimes here?"
"Sheltering a criminal, imprisonment, and… Abandonment of a corpse, right?" She continued changing. "So what's wrong with that? Murder, theft—those are crimes. And Sonoyama-san isn't being imprisoned, really. She gave consent. And besides, aren't you the one who suggested it in the first place?"
Indeed, that was the case.
There was nothing I could say to that.
Iria-san continued.
"The people gathered here are the VIPs of the world. I refuse to allow them to become victims of the boorish government. And why call for excess meddling? Nobody wants that. Plus"—she grinned—"no matter who did it, I don't intend on subjecting anyone here to the law. Even if it means exercising the full wealth of my family's foundation, I'll be protecting them."
"Why?"
"Because geniuses are above the law."
Of that, she sounded totally sure of herself. But her words didn't sit well with me. It meant that if Shinya-san or I were the criminal, she wouldn't protect us.
God, what a feeling.
What a crappy, crappy feeling.
"How do you define the word 'genius'?" Iria-san suddenly asked.
"Well, doesn't Kretchmar describe it as 'an individual capable of having a strong and extraordinary impact on the assertive values of a vast variety of people'?" I answered after a moment's thought.
"I asked for your opinion."
Seriously, what a crappy feeling.
But really, she was right. After another moment's thought, I answered once again.
"Someone who's 'far away.'"
"That's right," Iria-san said. "That answer is spot-on."
"I get the feeling there's some other reason you won't call the police, but…"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just saying. It doesn't mean anything."
"Well then, are we done here? I want to go to bed."
What a waste of time. It was like we were having a prescripted debate.
"Sorry I bothered you," I said and rose from the sofa.
Rei-san stood up with me. "I'll see you out."
"You don't have to do that, Rei," Iria-san said.
"It's okay, it's my job, right? Please excuse me, madam."
Rei-san and I left the room together. It felt rather like I had been given the brush-off, but, well, I had expected as much for now. It would take more than a modest effort to convince someone like Iria-san, I thought.
"Please don't feel bad about what she said," Rei-san said softly on the way out. "She's not the most sensitive person."
"Sure."
Come to think of it, this was the first time I had spoken with Rei-san like this.
"I don't really mind, anyway."
"She's really so fond of Aikawa-san, you see. That's why she doesn't want to call the police."
"Aikawa? Oh yeah, the person coming in six days."
"For her, this is sort of a welcoming present. You see, Aikawa-san's got a knack for these kinds of incidents, and, well, it's no coincidence that my mistress uses the term detective."
Interesting. So this whole murder fiasco was sort of a present for this Aikawa guy. If that was the truth, he must've been a hell of a guy.
No.
To say it plainly, maybe this whole incident was just Iria-san's way of killing time. Island-exiled heiress to the Akagami Foundation. She certainly had no lack of money or time. And she had already gathered all these geniuses here for her amusement. Could it be that this murder was just some sort of… Special event?
I shook my head. I was thinking too much. There aren't people like that out there. People like that can't exist in this world.
"Well, please excuse me now."
Rei-san bowed to me in front of the door and I went back the way I had come. After talking, she had turned out to be an unexpectedly nice girl, so I was a bit taken aback. Hikari-san had made her out to be so strict.
Thinking about that made me feel a little funny as I returned to Kunagisa's room and opened the door. Inside the room, Kunagisa was face-to-face with her computer rack, and one more person — that ultimate, unrivaled fortune-teller.
Why?
Maki-san was smoking, but once I entered, she put out the cigarette with her own index finger. She rose from the sofa and approached to pass me without a word. But as if changing her mind midway, she butted her head into my chest and pushed me out the door with her. With a hand behind her back, she shut the door.
I eyed her suspiciously.
"Heh, heh, heh," she laughed childishly. But that's all she did, without even attempting to speak.
"In a better mood now?"
"It's not just my mood that's improved. Hehehe. You're so careless. Or maybe just rash?"
"What brought this on?"
"Do you have a favorite author?"
This conversation was all over the place.
"No."
"How about a celebrity?"
"No."
"You're so boring. Fine. Well, you know how some people have someone they admire, right? But those people fall into three different categories. There are those who think 'I love this person, I admire him, I respect him, I want to be just like him.' Innocent, right? Then the second type is similar to the first, but they separate themselves completely from the object of their admiration and even hold that person's life above their own. And finally, the third type of person is the one who thinks that by taking an interest in this wonderful person, they can absorb some of that wonderfulness and increase their own worth in turn. It's a despicable, rotten-minded breed of people who only live for others. Now, which one of those three types do you belong to?"
"The second one, I suppose."
"Correct. And twisted as it may be, even I can't help but be moved by your loyalty to Kunagisa-chan," she sneered. "But with that said, aren't you being awfully careless? Leaving her all alone in her room like that? What if I was the killer? If you really, truly want to take care of something, you shouldn't let it leave your sight even for a second. Keep that in mind, boy."
Pat pat.
She smacked me twice on the shoulder and disappeared, singing some tune.
I was left alone in the hallway.
"Huh?"
Dammit.
I cursed to myself and then opened the door to Kunagisa's room and entered once again.