I would like you to give us all the information you have about the murders shown in your book, okay? In return, when the case is solved, I'd like to buy you something to eat, you can bring Touka-chan with you.
Huh? That's it? I thought you were going to ask something irrational like me joining the investigation... but if that's all it is, I guess I can cooperate. So let's start with the first of these crimes... you said it was a dismemberment case, right?
That's right... I shouldn't show you this, but this is the image of how the body was found.
I slide on the table the photograph that the surveyors had taken when they arrived at the scene of the crime.
Manabu-kun looks at the photograph, frowning at the way the body was laid out. Probably.
Chapter eleven, page ninety-one. There you find this murder described. You can't see it, but the victim's eyes here were gouged out, weren't they?
Just as I should expect from the man who wrote it, it makes me nod. A perfect memory as to what the text reflected in a literary way, and that somehow made it less repulsive while reading.
I also remember it. It is the eighth of the murders described in his book. On the other hand, the second murder under investigation is based on the thirteenth murder in the book.
Manabu-kun puts a hand to his chin as he begins to speak:
─This murder was one of the most brutal... the limbs were cut off with a butcher knife, the eyes in turn, were gouged out with a fork. In the book, the killer is described as cutting up the body of a teenager who was dating his daughter. It is, in a nutshell, the story of an overprotective father who didn't want his daughter to have a boyfriend.
I remember it.
It was done by a man in a rage after learning that his daughter had been emotionally hurt by the boy. The father was driven by his instincts and sought a way to make the young man pay for his actions.
The protagonist of the novel watches the father's mental degeneration closely until the end, which is when the man himself is caught by the police and sentenced to death.
Did they find the traces of the poison?
─Poison? What are you talking about?
─Oh... we have a problem here, Homura-san. In my book, I mentioned that the teenager was already dead before he was cut into pieces. Antifreeze to be exact.
─! Really? Oh, wow... so that changes the cause of death? Are there any other details I'm unaware of?
I took out my notebook to write down what I should ask the coroner in the examination. Tell me that the antifreeze was used to poison the victim.
Manabu-kun thinks for a second longer and asks again...
─Investigate the sexual orientation of the victim in this case.
Ah, I almost forgot!
He is right, in the book, the crime was only committed because the boy hurt the feelings of the man's daughter, the cause of this was due to the individual's sexual orientation, which was homosexuality.
These are very important pieces of information that can be used to build the case perfectly, but I know I will get to the culprit behind it all later.
─We'll keep that in mind... now, about the second murder. ─. I mention it while sliding the picture of this murder.
Manabu-kun looks a bit calmer about this one. Well, maybe it's because I had told him before coming here. He looks at the photograph and says:
─Ah, the one of number eighteen. There's not much to say about that one... if they identify the victim it would be a good thing. I can say that this is by far the second most brutal of the murders described in my book. I'd just like to know... Did you find the murder weapon?
─The murder weapon?
I'm checking my notes just in case...
And there's nothing about the murder weapon used in this case.
If I remember correctly, in the book, they used a circular saw, didn't they?
That's what destroyed the victim's head in there.
There is no trace of a circular saw. In fact, the murder was not even carried out there.
─Without a murder weapon, the cause of death cannot be determined... but Homura-san, I don't know if you've noticed, this is not damage that can be done with a circular saw.
What are you talking about?
─The wounds on this kill have a single laceration. This is not something that could have been done cleanly with a circular saw and its number of teeth. Also, if we look at the cut of the flesh, we can tell... this was done with a single motion that split the face in half.
Huh?
I take the picture from Manabu-kun. Who was calmly giving a much better autopsy than the coroner himself.
Now that I notice, it's true.
The saw might have been deflected, but in this murder projected from a book, it's a clean cut that severed an entire head in half.
In actuality it's too obvious and to leave it in human terms...
─ An axe, right?
─Maybe that or a machete, I don't know. And you may not have noticed, but this corpse was preserved a bit.
The next assertion was blunt enough to turn the tables.
I, who had been piecing this case together bit by bit, was sent flying by a child younger than my own age.
The writer who had narrated word for word, in the first person, everything that happened as if he had been in the very place and at the very moment it all happened.
He surprised me more than any of my co-workers.
If the murder was carried out as in the book, it means that some of his organs were eaten by the crows, as I can see, half of the small intestine is missing, and part of the liver. Look deep inside the body and you will find traces of bird food there. The killer designed a very good crime scene, to hide the fact that he just went to dump the body. It is likely that he collected the victim's blood as I wrote in the book...
His words shocked me a bit.
And they also made me feel a bit of admiration.
This boy had studied from beginning to end the human anatomy and how the inside of a body was constituted, as well as the human limits of the body.
It was too strange for me alone to deduce that the blood at the crime scene was too much for him to have just gone and dumped the body there.
I really couldn't expect anything less from the writer, he knows these crime scenes best, as he designed it for two purposes: To make the reader think about how they came about and to make sure that no one would find his writing unpleasant through good storytelling.
Without a doubt, Tatsuda Manabu is a genius.
No one could have analysed a crime scene more well than him, the one who first wrote them down in words.
Something to be admired coming from a boy of his age.
He could easily put adults to shame if they were all more aware of his thoughts.
─So, the third murder?
Once again he slid across the table a different photograph.
This one was of how the third corpse had been found...
A scene even more gruesome than the first two.
Manabu-kun's eyes widened when he saw that scene reflected in the photograph.
Just as it seemed.
This photograph represented everything profane, an inexhaustible disrespect towards the Church itself, which made all the people who read "Mushinron no Catharsis" word for word and managed to read between the lines of Tatsuda Manabu's intentions in writing it reflect.
A scene that he created based on his own imagination, without being guided by his mother's manuscripts or in dedication to the person he loves. A heretical scene that seeks to offend Christianity itself.
The only murder with which the protagonist of the novel gets her hands dirty.
─Final chapter... page three hundred and seven... paragraph two. "I will punish all those who doubt the power of [God], for this impure Angel has wretched my benevolence." This is... the most brutal murder... the [Destitution of the Angels]. In this chapter, Akira accepts his status as [God] and drops a divine punishment against an angel who doubted his omnipotence.
─That's right... I guess the scene is much worse to watch than I could have imagined. We won't leak that these murders are being based on your book just yet, but anyone who has read the book can find out.
We have a pile of extra work because of the bastard who is doing these murders.
Manabu-kun clutches his head in his hands and with the most... smug expression I've ever seen in my entire life, he boldly declares:
─Whoever did this, he's stupid.
─Why?
Isn't it obvious, Homura-san? This is an idiot who wants to imitate the acts of [God], which is impossible within our human limits. Well you see, this murder has a certain trick in the making.
─¿?
I find myself confused at Manabu-kun's words.
The young man himself, he removes his hands from his head and flashes a smile at me while pointing... to the [Tokyo Tower] where the corpse was found.
...
¡¿?!
I hadn't noticed it until now, but...
─Is this about the location?!
─Thank goodness you understand, Homura-san! That's right, Homura-san, the location is the trick I manipulated in the book! That way, everyone would be able to see it from the ground... but it's not just about that. We're talking about the [Tokyo Tower], there are countless security cameras all over the area to make sure to record any attacks happening in the vicinity. In the book, no one could tell who was responsible, because it was [God], but humans can't help but be recorded by security cameras!
Oh, hell!
This kid really thought it all out?!
Now that I remember, it's true. The scenarios are based on reality, which probably took Manabu-kun hours and hours of field research, but thanks to that, we can definitely get to our criminal.
The cameras of various establishments and buildings point upwards on purpose, to record and report any damage that may be caused to the [Tokyo Tower].
Even the tower itself has built-in cameras, which would make it impossible in more ways than one not to be able to catch the perpetrator on video.
This kid is genius.
To have thought of everything, down to the last detail to create magical realism, that's what made Tatsuda Manabu-kun able to win the [Akutagawa Prize] in literature.
It has put even me... who claims to be a professional detective, to shame.
Such abilities of judgement and field investigation are worthy of respect within society, if this boy becomes a contributor to society... no, wait, in a way he already is by becoming a celebrity within the world of literature.
Unable to withstand the impulse... I let myself get a little carried away and undo Manabu-kun's hair while smiling.
All this information will be used efficiently! You've got the makings of a detective, Manabu-kun! That was great!
From remembering the mystery works written by this boy's mother, who is following in leaps and bounds the path taken by the person she probably admires the most...
Somehow, I remember the renowned writer known as Tatsuda Kana (whose maiden name was Yuzaki and was the one she used in the literary world), as I once went to one of her signing meetings.
No doubt about it...
The works that woman wrote were absorbing enough to make you read her books one after the other. Impeccable writing, worthy of a true genius.
The boy who was her apprentice and the only one among her four children who decided to follow in his mother's footsteps was Tatsuda Manabu, who turned the world upside down with his first work called "Mushinron no Catharsis", which quickly rose through the pillars of literary society and which challenged his mother's achievements with the [Akutagawa Prize] when he was only a little over fifteen years old.
Seeing this child's smile... it reminds me of his mother's in a way.
I stand up from my chair and say to him:
─You can go, and by the way, Manabu-kun, I'd like to ask you Touka-chan's full name, may I?
─Hm? It's Katagiri. Katagiri Touka.
─... I see. That was close. Thanks for everything, Manabu-kun, I'll call you if I need anything else from you, okay?
─Ah, well... and thanks to you, Homura-san. For listening to me, a mentally ill man.
I couldn't answer that.
Manabu-kun leaves the interrogation room before me, and when I remember that his presence has disappeared...
The name of the third victim.
It's Kiyama Touka.
If only his surname had been "Katagiri".
To be honest... I don't know what Manabu-kun could have done from there.
It really was a save.
─Wow... Manabu-kun looks like the third type of love... those willing to kill to protect the ones they love. I just hope it's just a hunch...
And that it stays that way.
I wouldn't complain about it.
I look down a little... and Manabu-kun's medical record is still there.
My eyes are drawn to a part of the record that's from a couple of months ago that says: [Hives and stomach ulcer].
What the...?
Those are very strong symptoms of stress, which Manabu-kun doesn't seem to have had in the past, and the presence of this is very striking to me.
And it just makes me wonder...
─How much do you keep to yourself, Tatsuda Manabu...?
I'd like to ask him in the future about those details.
But I think for now I should be a good cop and take all this information to Kotori.