ONE WEEK LATER.
As luck would have it, just as Kunagisa and I had originally planned, we were able to return to the mainland in the afternoon exactly one week after we had arrived. Kunagisa having a tendency (albeit not as compulsive as her vertical motion thing) to hate changing plans once she's made them, this set me at ease a bit.
But if you looked back, Kunagisa's original purpose in coming to the island was, at least in part, to satisfy her interest in the "various things" that had occurred there in the past.
I asked her about it.
"My investigation is basically over," she said.
It seemed she had been up to some "various things" herself. Not that I wasn't wondering what she had been up to, but if that was the case, there was no problem for now. I just wanted to get home anyway.
I sat on a sofa in a room on the same cruiser that had brought us to the island. Kunagisa lay sleeping on the sofa across from me.
Now that we were set to return to the mainland, I had half-expected something to happen with Hikari-san or Akari-san, but they gave nothing more than the usual, dutiful formalities - like, "Thank you very much."; "Please visit again if you have the chance."; "Take care now." I don't even have to get into Teruko-san's farewell. She left me without a single word as if to say, "I've already spoken to you enough to last a lifetime."
But whatever.
That's how my life goes.
Sonoyama Akane-san and Sakaki Shinya-san.
The two perpetrators of this crime were of course no longer allowed to stay on the island and were currently laying low in the next room. I didn't know what they might be talking about.
We were heading back to the mainland as planned, and they were heading back because they had been kicked out. It was technically the opposite of being island-exiled, but if you thought about it, the word "mainland" was wholly subjective.
Yayoi-san and Maki-san remained on the island.
Yayoi-san's doubts regarding Iria-san and Rei-san seemed to have been swept away, but I wondered if that was enough. Of course, it was up to Yayoi-san to decide how she lived her own life, and not my place to butt in.
As for Maki-san… That woman was a sly fox to the very end.
"So how much did you really know?" I asked her before leaving the island.
Maki-san responded with an ambiguous smile.
"Well, you know. Maybe I don't really know anything. Like the whole thing was really just an act."
"You know, I get the impression you knew about Akane-san and Shinya-san's plans all along, and you were aiding them in creating alibis."
"What if I was?" she said nonchalantly. "What if I was?"
"Then you're an accomplice. That's all."
"But it's not like I had heard anything from Shinya-san, and he didn't try to tell me anything."
"If he had, you would've been abetting a murder. You invited him over two nights in a row, helping him create an alibi that was hard for me to trace. So what's the real story? If you were really cooperating with Shinya-san, then…"
"Then what?"
"Nothing. I guess nothing would happen," I shrugged. "Nothing at all."
Maki-san snickered at me.
In reality, I wanted to tell her something, but there was no point. If she really possessed those powers, there was no need to say anything, and even if she didn't, there was no need.
It's just that I had doubts. Shinya-san and Akane-san's serial murder plot just seemed too perfect, like it relied on one too many coincidences. In presenting my findings to Iria-san, I had made great efforts to step around that. It's not that their plans had been sloppy, but rather, it was like they had been unrehearsed, yet at the same time, everything had been prepared ahead of time. Or rather, it felt like luck was very much on their side… Yeah, it was like they had factored in coincidences and made friends with luck. As if the layout of the entire island and everything on it were on their side.
"Nonsense, huh?"
Of course, they probably were all just coincidences, and probably just examples of the Law of Great Numbers, and those two had simply won a bet, so to speak. Anything will look fishy if you think about it selectively.
"Occam's razor?"
However.
On that island was someone who knew everything, and I do mean everything, even the future.
Was even this a coincidence?
Sigh.
Indeed, it probably was. I could draw no other conclusion. Even if it wasn't a coincidence, it was all over already, and there would be no way to prove it, plus Shinya-san and Akane-san sure weren't talking, so there was no point in pursuing it. Even if there was a point, it had nothing to do with me, and even if it had something to do with me, I wasn't interested.
So that was the situation. Instead, I asked a question.
"Are you the one who told Teruko-san I was in trouble?"
There was no reason anyone should've known I was about to be done in by Akane-san in Yayoi-san's room, and thus there was no reason Teruko-san should have conveniently busted in with all the grace and good timing of an action heroine like that.
Unless there was someone who could predict the future, that is.
"Do you think I would do something like that?"
"No."
"Then I probably didn't, did I?"
She gave me a wicked smile. I decided any further inquiry would be meaningless, so I didn't even thank her. There was no reason to.
"I wonder what's going to happen now. To the island, to Iria-san…"
"Mmm." Maki-san gave an expectedly short response.
I shrugged once. "Well, how about telling me what's going to happen to me and Kunagisa? As a continuation of that 'compatibility reading' from the other night. Are the two of us going to stay like this forever?"
"My readings are expensive."
"In that case, I'll have to decline," I said.
"The two of you will stay that way for a little while longer," she said, answering me the very second I had given up. What a perverse contrarian.
"A little while?"
"Yes, a little while."
"How long?"
"Two years plus change."
I tilted my head at her.
"You mean it'll turn into something else after two years? Or it'll completely fade away?"
"Well, I don't know." She laughed a bit cynically. "I can't see more than two years into the future."
Hadn't heard that before. I probably failed to hide my surprised expression.
"It's a secret though," she continued. "So I don't know what will become of you and Kunagisa-chan two years from now."
"You mean that's the limit of your power?"
"I mean I'm going to die," she said plainly. "Time is not on my side. As far as I'm concerned, all-time stops at that point. Two years from now, on March 21, at 3:23 p.m. That's the date and time that I will die."
All I could do was be silent.
"Spewing guts and brains all over the place, it'll be a fitting death for a heretic like me."
"Can't you avoid it?"
"When the time comes, be sure to get my killer. Just like you did this time. I'm asking you now as a favor."
"What's the point in asking a favor if you won't be able to see whether or not I've fulfilled it?"
"That's true," she seemed to say as she stuck out her right hand, her chest out as if to express pride that she, too, had an unforeseeable future. "Let's shake hands."
"Sure. Might not be bad to pretend we're friends now that we're at the very end."
Even having said that, I couldn't grab her hand.
I still had no idea why she had picked on me so much. It probably didn't matter, and it was probably actually better that way.
However…
I still had some doubts.
"Excuse me." The cabin door opened and in walked Rei-san. "We'll be docking soon. Please get ready."
"Sure," I replied.
Time to wake up Kunagisa.
She seemed to be sleeping awfully comfortably so I didn't really want to, but I couldn't just leave her be. Although that would have been pretty funny.
"Um, thank you so much for everything." Rei-san took the time to say. "You, especially. We're grateful to Kunagisa-san as well, but you…"
"Did you have a blast, Akagami Iria-san?"
"Sure," Rei-san nodded without any particular sign of surprise. "You bet. I had tons of fun."
Akagami Iria-san grinned a genuinely happy grin. A smile she hadn't given once during her performance as Rei-san. This wasn't acting, it was a real, human smile.
"How did you know Rei and I switched? Since when?"
"I just thought of it now. It was just a wild guess. I figured if I was wrong you'd just get a little ticked off, it wasn't like a breach of your human rights or anything," I said to her. "If you had left this room quicker, I probably wouldn't have even noticed, or at least I wouldn't have said anything."
"Is that right?" she nodded. "I always get sloppy at the end, huh? My grandfather used to say it all the time. But you must have had some reason to think that. Please, enlighten me."
"What's it to you?"
"I can use it as future reference."
She was going to keep doing this?
"Well, yeah. Yayoi-san still hasn't noticed, plus Maki-san… Well, I don't know about her."
She snickered. Seeing her childish demeanor, she seemed to lack a certain refinement in comparison to the "real" Iria-san, the one on the island — Rei-san, that is. It was like the fake version was more real than the real one.
She just seemed to be very free.
"Well, let's see," I said. "You didn't talk very much, did you, Iria-san? It was so unnatural. I'm sure you thought that if you spoke, you would give yourself away; but on the other hand, not talking at all was just as much of a blunder. So you made Teruko-san act silent as well to create a sort of universal 'lack of presence' — thereby covering yourself."
"No, that's just her nature," Iria-san said. "I can tell her apart from the other two even if she's not wearing her glasses. 'Cause she never talks."
Apparently, that was her nature.
Well, if you thought about it, it didn't really seem like Teruko-san had been acting.
"Is that right? Well, either way, I figured if that Iria-san was an imposter, there was only one possible person it could have been. After all, Akari-san, Hikari-san, and Teruko-san are triplets. I guess it's a little counterintuitive that they couldn't have swapped places because they're triplets."
"You said it," she smiled.
It was the smile of someone addressing an equal.
At least that's what I thought.
"And then, there was something about your aura. Like, Teruko-san never seemed to be doing much work. That's because she was mainly your bodyguard. But I never saw Rei-san do much work, either. I was wondering about that."
"I poured your tea, didn't I?"
"Yeah, it was great." I had forgotten to thank her earlier. "Oh yeah, and also, the first time I visited your room, you were sitting on the sofa and Iria-san was standing. It seemed like it should've been the other way around."
"My, my." She was gleeful. I supposed Rei-san had been copying such mannerisms all along, but there was nothing like the real thing. "Go on."
"Right. Where was I…"
If you thought about it, Akari-san and Hikari-san obviously knew about the switch, which meant that they, too, were quite the pair of little actresses. Especially Hikari-san. As spry and pitiable as she was, I never would've guessed she was lying all along.
Somebody owed her an Oscar.
"The nail in the coffin was when the fake Iria-san covered for you. That night 'Iria-san' and Yayoi-san were together talking all night. Makes sense, right? Rei-san was probably asking her for culinary advice. She's really a maid, after all, so it wouldn't be that strange if she had an interest in cooking."
"Yeah, Yayoi-san believes Rei is me, so she doesn't even spend much time with the real me. That was my miscalculation." she sulked. "And hey, come to think of it, where does Rei get off imitating me like that? I don't change my clothes in front of random people, and my personality isn't that crappy."
Apparently, her personality wasn't that crappy.
Hmm, sounded like another lie to me.
"So what were you really doing that night, anyway?"
"That's a secret."
"It's a secret?"
"A lady never discloses her evening's affairs," she said mysteriously.
I had a feeling that if I pressed any further, it would just tick her off, so I decided to let it go. I wasn't looking for any more trouble. I didn't like "making waves," after all.
"Anyway, even though 'Iria-san' did nothing to protect Hikari-san — even treating her like a criminal, she went as far as lying to save your hide. Why? Because Rei-san is closer to Iria-san than Hikari-san is? Maybe. But something about that answer doesn't float my boat. Living on a deserted island like that, I would think you'd all get pretty close and cozy. And I don't think human beings are such a cold species."
"That's true," Iria-san said. "Those girls are like my family. My precious family, who stayed by my side even after I was exiled."
Exiled.
And the reason for that exile?
"Even so, 'Iria-san' protected 'Rei-san' but not Hikari-san. Why? Could it be because 'Rei-san' was really her superior, someone she had sworn allegiance to?" I clapped my hands together. "Something like that, right?"
"You're marvelous. I want to hug you."
"I don't mind."
"I will refrain," she giggled innocently.
"This time, I have a question. Why exactly did you switch places with Rei-san and pose as a maid? Was it because, as the granddaughter of the Akagami family, you couldn't show yourself unguarded in front of the guests, even though you were exiled?"
There was no guarantee that there wasn't some unsavory individual mixed in with all those geniuses. As our prior investigation had indicated, sometimes these things happen.
Thus, she had prepared an imposter — a body double.
Was that it?
But Iria-san shook her head daintily. "Nope," she said. "I just wanted to see who would notice first. Just a little prank. No reason, really."
A prank.
It was the kind of line that made your knees wobble, and I didn't think she was lying this time. And until now, not a single one of those so-called geniuses had caught on.
In all these years, unnoticed by anyone, geniuses are nothing special.
Perhaps that was what Iria-san thought. And she would probably continue to think so.
"But you noticed."
"If you hadn't gone a little too far at the end there, I wouldn't have. Even if I had noticed, I wouldn't have said anything. You should have just stayed at the mansion instead of coming on this boat with us."
"Well, I have to go apologize to Aikawa-san for all the unnecessary hoopla. There's still a visit scheduled. We're going to meet straight after dropping you off. Oh, Aikawa-san's going to be ticked. Not a person you want to see get angry. Even though it's inevitable. Plus, well, I wanted to talk to you like this. You showed me such a good time, after all."
"It's an honor."
"Say," she said sweetly, "won't you return to the mansion sometime? Kunagisa-san, Maki-san, Yayoi-san, and you. I think you'd make a terrific family. I hear you've taken a liking to Akari and Hikari. I don't mind letting you have your way with them."
"That's not the kind of thing you say to a family member."
"True, but I'm serious. I'm always serious. So how about it? Like my proposition?" She stuck her tongue out at me.
At this point, I was becoming disgusted. You couldn't just write this off as free-spiritedness or vibrancy or lack of restraint.
"I don't like murderers."
"Ehehehehe," Iria-san laughed.
I didn't know why she was laughing.
"Regardless of their reasons?"
"Regardless of their reasons."
She nodded. "I'm not sure what you heard from Hikari and Teruko, but you can't possibly be thinking they told you anything but the truth. Those girls are generally liars. I think the fact that they never told you about me and Rei's switch is proof enough of that."
"Eh…?"
"The reason I didn't call the police was simply because it wouldn't have been any fun that way. Absolute authority is so unromantic," she said as she rolled up her left sleeve. This revealed a lovely, perfectly unscarred arm. "Please excuse me then," she said with a smile and left the room.
"Hey, hey…"
Sigh…
Sure didn't see that coming.
What was real and what was fake?
Who was real and who was fake?
It's a mixed-up world, and I for one never claimed to know anything, nor do I think all people are honest and all things are as they seem.
What was it?
The truth.
"Man, what a load of tomfoolery."
It wouldn't be long now. I thought to wake up Kunagisa, but seeing her peaceful face as she mewed like a kitten made me lose the motivation. It wouldn't be too late to wake her up after we reached the coast. The rule of thumb is, the longer you can stay dreaming, the better.
Nevertheless.
Family?
"Man, I'm gonna regret turning down that proposition," I said to no one in particular, expecting no response. But I knew there was only one response one could give. For me, there was only one person I could ever call a family. "What a load of nonsense," I muttered in the usual way.