"What exactly do you want to say!"
Facing Senichi's calm demeanor and the attitude of having the upper hand, Kimie Shimabukuro felt both anxious and fearful.
This emotional shift was evident in her increasingly unfriendly tone and impatient attitude.
Senichi looked at Kimie Shimabukuro, whose temper was flaring up, with an expressionless face, as he continued his reasoning, "During my investigation on the island, apart from the missing Saori Kadowaki, I also had contact with your other two childhood friends."
He paused briefly to create the impression that he had conducted thorough investigations. This way, his words would carry more weight and prevent her from dismissing him as spouting nonsense.
Or rather, it was to break her evasive psychology, preventing her from resisting due to a glimmer of hope.
"Now, let me continue with my analysis."
After pausing, Senichi gave her the impression that he had practical evidence to back his words. Whether she wanted to hear it or not, he continued:
"Let's start with Saori Kadowaki. Her act of seeking help from a detective due to the fear of the mermaid's curse speaks volumes about her unwavering belief in the mermaid legend.
As for your other two childhood friends, they exhibit an unusual and fervent devotion whenever they mention your grandmother, Elder Mikoto. Even though you, as the sole remaining family member, lack this fervor and are quite rational, which I find puzzling.
However, after my interactions on the island, I realized that only your three friends held this level of zealous faith. While some of the island's elderly also have faith, it's of a more general kind, far from this intense level of devotion. At that point, I had a bold hypothesis."
Senichi paused, his sharp gaze fixed on Kimie Shimabukuro until she grew somewhat uneasy. Then, he slowly continued:
"As the terrifying idea kept surfacing in my mind, the clues in my head grew larger and began to connect, much like threads in a web, forming a horrifying truth!"
Taking a step forward, Senichi looked at Kimie Shimabukuro and said in a low voice, "Miss Shimabukuro, you want to kill these three individuals to avenge your mother, don't you!"
This sentence was like the final straw that broke the camel's back, the last tidal wave that breached the dam. Kimie Shimabukuro's psychological defenses were completely shattered by Senichi's words!
She seemed to lose all strength, her body went limp, and she sat directly on the ground.
She couldn't fathom how this man before her, whom she had only met today, could seemingly read her thoughts as if he had mind-reading abilities, completely seeing through her intentions.
It was as if this man had such an ability, similar to a surgeon, to dissect her every thought and feeling precisely and sharply, leaving no privacy untouched.
Senichi's reasoning continued, "To be honest, this phenomenon is quite incredible. A place like Mermaid Island, which is relatively closed off, should typically only have elderly individuals with zealous beliefs.
After all, with the advancement of technology, the more young people are exposed to it, the less they believe in these myths. When faced with a long-lived deity like Elder Mikoto, their reactions should generally be like yours, thinking it's merely a form of longevity, which is a normal perspective.
And your three childhood friends, in their words and between the lines, all exhibit an unwavering belief in Elder Mikoto.
But that isn't something difficult to understand either. After all, the former Elder Mikoto was your mother in disguise, and the current Elder Mikoto is you in disguise."
Senichi sighed, looking at Kimie Shimabukuro, "Now you understand, the unswerving belief of your three childhood friends in Elder Mikoto is precisely because after your mother's death, you continued to impersonate her. And at this point, I thought of a question."
"What question..." Kimie Shimabukuro asked in a hoarse voice.
"That is, is such fervent faith truly just because of Elder Mikoto's longevity, or is it related to your mother's death?"
Senichi didn't wait for Kimie Shimabukuro's answer and continued, "In this context, I conducted a reverse deduction.
Connecting your mother's death by fire in the warehouse and the mermaid corpse discovered three years ago as Toshimi Ebihara mentioned, then I understood.
Your mother was burned to death by your three childhood friends, right?"
"Stop! Don't say any more!"
Kimie Shimabukuro shouted in agitation, but Senichi paid her no attention, continuing, "Because she needed to disguise as the shorter stature of Elder Mikoto, she tied her legs with ropes to shorten her height.
And it's exactly because of this that your mother's remains appeared so peculiar, even leading people to mistake them for a mermaid's corpse.
All of these speculations I've mentioned are contingent upon the fact that your three childhood friends are the true culprits behind the arson!"
Senichi looked at Kimie Shimabukuro, his expression solemn, and said in a deep voice, "It's precisely because they set the fire with their own hands. So, when they saw Elder Mikoto, who should have been consumed by the raging flames in the warehouse, appear before them once again, they became so steadfast in their belief.
In fact, even the remains of your mother in the warehouse, they believed to be a mermaid's corpse."
Yes, her mother's death, coupled with the inheritance of her dying wish, led to her continuation of impersonating Elder Mikoto for the village's sake.
And it's this very cause that resulted in the effect of instilling an unwavering belief in the three of them towards Elder Mikoto's power.
Kimie Shimabukuro understood Senichi's words, comprehending how this man pieced together the fragments of clues and logic, ultimately deducing the root cause of the situation.
To be honest, if you personally took someone's life, then turned around the next day and saw that person standing before you as if nothing had happened. Moreover, this person, who had been locked in a warehouse engulfed in flames, was an elderly individual who could barely walk and was practically incapable of escaping. The only special aspect about this person was their status as Immortal Elder.
In such a scenario, what would you think?
Especially in a time when technology wasn't highly advanced yet and superstitions still had some foothold. Coupled with being on Mermaid Island, a small island with a strong culture of belief and worship, where Saori Kadowaki and her two friends grew up exposed to such influences, they were more susceptible to believing in these things than the average person.
Under these circumstances, when they saw Elder Mikoto referred to as "Immortal Elder" emerge from the warehouse they had set ablaze, would you believe it was a manifestation of an Immortality?
It's likely that when the Elder Mikoto portrayed by Kimie Shimabukuro appeared before the three of them, the impact on them was akin to a reconstruction of their entire worldview.
They started believing that she had truly consumed mermaid flesh, possessing the power of eternal life. Thus, driven by the desire for immortality, the three of them fell into a more fanatical pursuit. This, undoubtedly, is a form of tragedy.
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