Chapter 2 Not-So-Daily Life*

(*or “Deadly Life” if you want to be consistent with the localized games)

This chapter starts with Samidare returning to her room at the dorms in the early morning hours, as has become custom as of late. Since classes have started for the day, there’s no one around, making the entire area feel creepy and surreal. 

I rushed to my room, seeking its life-saving comfort, and threw open the door.

But…Kirigiri wasn’t there.

I had expected that she of all people would have already solved her mystery, and I’d find her curled up in my bed, but instead I found nothing in the futon. It wasn’t even warm, hinting that she hadn’t returned yet.

I collapsed into bed and passed out. It was a dreamless, death-like sleep.

I woke up to the sound of a bell, shooting up in bed and looking around to assess my surroundings.

Looking around, soaked in sweat and suffering chills, I realized I wasn’t at the site of a bizarre murder, or trapped within a creepy building. It was just my room.

Whew.

I’d been able to come home safely. Even as my head pounded from the drop in my blood pressure, the sense that this was real finally began to wash over me. 

I looked at the clock to find that it was already noon. The bell I’d heard was the school bell signaling we were halfway through the day.

Next, I checked my phone; this was the set time we’d agreed upon to check in. I was supposed to hear from Yaki at twelve sharp, followed by Yadorigi fifteen minutes later, then Mizuiyama, and finally Kirigiri. 

Even though it was five past noon, though, I didn’t get a call from Yaki.

Without bothering to tame my bedhead, I trudged to the dorm’s cafeteria and switched on the TV there. A news report announced Yaki’s death, on the corner of a shuttered up shopping street.

So he was killed…

Though he hadn’t been the most approachable type, he had been a good person, and very cooperative.

If we hadn’t asked him to help us with the investigations, he’d probably still be alive. No matter how you sliced it, his blood was on my hands. I might as well have killed him myself. Me. I killed him. I…

I hid my face in my hands in the empty cafeteria, hiding in the darkness behind my eyelids.

This was the path I had chosen.

The one Kirigiri had been walking all this time.

No matter how hard I worked to protect people, in the end, I couldn’t save everyone’s lives. No matter what, I had to make choices about who to save and who to let go.

Though, maybe if I’d been talented enough, I could have saved him.

Please, just let me save more people…

At that moment, my phone buzzed in my hand. I didn’t recognize the number.

“…Hello?”

“Is this Samidare Yui-san? This is Tooakitsu Nazuna.”

“Ah!” I was so happy to hear a familiar voice that I looked up without thinking. “Naz-chan! What’s up? How did you get this number?”

“Detective Yadorigi asked me to call you at exactly 12:15. You had an agreement about checking in, yes?”

“Oh, yeah, I mean… Man, how dependable.”

After the whole ordeal, Nazuna, Tsukiyo, and Yadorigi all went to the hospital in the ambulance. They recommended I come along too, but I just wanted to get home as soon as possible and regain some sense of normalcy. 

“Yadorigi-san is currently in the ICU. He was conscious on the way to the hospital, but given that he sustained a head injury, you never know how things may go.”

“Yeah… Naz-chan, are you and Tsukiyo okay?”

“There’s nothing wrong with us. Tsukiyo-san is sleeping right here beside me.”

“That’s good to hear…”

“Also, I have a message for you from Yadorigi-san.”

Nazuna told me the details of the Kareobana Academy case. Since I hadn’t actually been a part of it myself, the whole thing sounded outrageous.

“Thanks, that means we’ve solved at least one of the cases so far. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank Yadorigi-san.”

Without him, we’d have been trapped in the Libra Girls’ Academy forever, and the case would have gone unsolved. On top of that, he even solved the Kareobana Academy case too. No wonder–Rank 2 detectives were on a whole other level.

Perhaps best of all, he hadn’t betrayed us in the end. Though even without the whole Mizuiyama thing, I was so happy that someone as attentive and skilled as him was helping us that I could have cried. 

“By the way, what happened to the Mystery Club? It looked like they came with you to the hospital…”

“After making sure Yadorigi-san was okay, they headed to the police station. Apparently they went to let them know what happened during the case.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I’ll leave that part of it to them, then. Sounds like they’ve got it.”

“Indeed. Oh, also, Yadorigi-san said one last thing. ‘It may be inevitable that I need to retreat from the front lines, but I have no intention of giving up. I need to fight for her sake.’”

“Her sake?”

There was only one person he could mean.

So, she really had been that important to him. I felt like I could more or less tell why he’d decided to help us. Perhaps it was simply by chance that he was on our side. 

After the message, Naz talks about how cool Samidare was, and how even though she’s a high school student like her and Tsukiyo, she seemed so much older and wiser. Samidare protests, claiming that she didn’t do much of anything, and asks if she’s calling her an old lady, to which Naz says no, and she shouldn’t be so modest. The way she was ready to protect them no matter what was really impressive, and she thinks that being a detective is a really noble profession. 

In fact, she asks Samidare if she too could become a detective someday, and in the process of answering that hell yeah, she’s got the stuff, Samidare remembers that there’s some significant drawbacks to the life. 

She remembers what Mizuiyama asked her earlier:

“But who saves the heroes who save so many others?”

Her words echoed in the back of my brain.

Who did save detectives when they were hurt or in trouble?

“Samidare Yui-san. When this is all over, can we meet up again?” Nazuna asked.

“Sure, of course. Hey, when summer comes, let’s all go to the beach.”

“That sounds great. I’ll have to lose some weight before then.”

And with that promise for sometime in the unknown future, we hung up.

It was 12:30.

It was time for Mizuiyama to check in, but given that she was currently under arrest, that probably wasn’t going to happen.

As soon as I thought that, my phone rang.

Worried, I pressed the button to accept the call. 

“Hello…?”

“You know there is no need to be that frightened of me, right?”

It was Mizuiyama.

Dun Dun DUUUUUUUN!

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Libra Girls’ Academy - Samidare Yui

As you may or may not remember from last time, Samidare had figured out the trick behind the Libra Girls’ Academy case, and is currently being held at nail gun point by Mizuiyama, who had also not only solved Yaki’s case for him, but had also brained him in the head with a lead pipe like some kind of Japanese-themed Clue character.

This part picks up where part VIII left off, with Samidare being on point as ever.

“You’re the culprit, Mizuiyama-san?”

“That I am.” She nodded, the nail gun still pressed to my chest. “I had thought that I’d win by separating you from Kirigiri Kyouko and forcing you to solve the case on your own, but you defied my expectations by figuring out the secret of Libra Girls’ Academy. Unfortunately, that has made you quite the pain in my side.”

“So you ending up the suspect during the Takeda Haunted House case was all part of the plan too?”

“Perhaps it was.”

“What do you mean, ‘perhaps’?”

“This is all being guided by Mr. Ryuuzouji, no?”

So basically, she was saying that despite all of the seemingly random things that had happened, we were still all playing right into Ryuuzouji Gekka’s hand.

“Why did you kill Takezaki-san?”

“We had a bit of an altercation two years ago when I was working as a school counselor, but I won’t get into the details. It’s a long story that you won’t be interested in anyway, and my arm is getting tired.”

((Well jeez, Mizuiyama. I wanted to know. Just like I wanted to know why the Despair Twins have different last names.))

“Mizuiyama-san, if you’re the culprit, then that means you’re well-versed in Duel Noir. You’ve lost. Even if you killed me, that wouldn’t change anything.”

“I suppose you’re right. I have lost this game. But what about the others still remaining?”

“Huh...?”

“You must solve all twelve cases in order to defeat Mr. Ryuuzouji, isn’t that right?”

I had no idea what she was getting at, so I just nodded.

“You really don’t pick up on much, do you? You need me to explain? I don’t want Mr. Ryuuzouji to step down. Not as a detective, and not as a member of the Committee for the Salvation of the Victims of Crime.”

Ah, so that was it. She was one of Ryuuzouji Gekka’s devotees, huh.

Even compared to other great detectives, Ryuuzouji was on an entirely different level. Lots of people looked up to him and wanted to be just like him. I had to admit that I’d had quite the respect for him too, so much so that even now I couldn’t shake it entirely.

“I too have considered becoming someone who could save people. Despite that, there’s just some kind of deficiency in me that prevents that...conviction, in other words. Conviction is easy to talk about, but much harder to follow through on. There are so many things that can prey on it... Giving up because of a lack of skill, making concessions to the opinions of those around you, allowing your authority to be undermined... There are so many ways for it to break under the slightest pressure. Yet, what I see in Mr. Ryuuzouji’s expression is pure, beautiful conviction. If you follow the laws of this world, beauty is stability. Like transmuting something on a molecular level to create gold--don’t you think conviction could be said to be the emotional form of that?” Mizuiyama said, excited.

I didn’t really understand what she was talking about, but it was clear that she was devoted to Ryuuzouji. 

((I mean, who wouldn’t be? Dude is badass. Even Junko Lico respects him.))

“I mean, if you kill me here, it’s true I wouldn’t be able to solve all twelve cases, but...do you really think Ryuuzouji-san would want to live that way? Considering how much he talks about fair play, I can’t imagine he’d be satisfied with our battle of wits ending this way.”

“You sure are speaking as if you know anything about anything,” Mizuiyama said, angrily pressing the nail gun into me. “You misunderstand. I have no intention of killing you here. Just as originally intended, I plan to keep you held prisoner until the time limit is up.”

“You can try, but someone will come to rescue me. I have full faith in that.”

“For instance, Kirigiri Kyouko? You have a point...she is the most dangerous adversary I have right now. But I wonder if she’d even bother to come here? Remember, I have your phone. I can have you tell her yourself that you’re doing just fine.”

“And if I tell her I’m in danger?”

“Well then, if you were that dedicated to throwing everything away, I suppose you’d force my hand, and I’d have to take a more forceful approach to ending the game. In other words, I’d kill you.”

“It doesn’t matter, she’d still come here of her own accord anyway. After solving all of the other cases, she’d come here no doubt. Probably faster than you’d think, even!”

((Samidare doesn’t even flinch at this, she’s so secure. What a good. I love this ship.))

“Don’t worry, I’ve already planned a countermeasure for that.”

“How?”

“Yesterday, after I split off from all of you, I went to the Museum of Medieval Western European Torture Devices as promised and poked around. Right after that, I headed to Bar GOODBYE to investigate there. By the way, I’ve already devised the culprit and the trick for both cases.”

((To be fair, the culprit for the Bar GOODBYE case wasn’t exactly difficult.))

“Wha?”

“Do you understand what that means?”

“...I don’t.”

“I already know the question and the answer for both cases. I’ve cracked both of them before any of you, and whether or not I hand over that information is entirely up to my discretion.”

“Who cares? We can just investigate ourselves!”

“Looks like you still don’t get it. You’re all lagging behind. While you’re all playing catch up, I could have mixed lies in with the evidence. Of course, I can’t do anything to change the answer, but what about the question? I could plant false evidence, fake testimony, involve unrelated people as red herrings...”

((A few years later, Kirigiri just shakes her head during the second trial of Junko’s game, thinking about how Togami is amateur hour.))

“Huh?!”

How did she even come up with something like that?

“So next I’m going to start handing out fake information like candy. You lack the ability to tell if any of the clues you find are real or fake. You’d run out of time trying to puzzle it out.”

“You aren’t our only source of information, you know! Putting the museum aside, Yaki-san is handling the case at the bar.”

“He’s dead.”

“If we just ask him for informa... What did you just say?”

“He’s dead.”

“He died?”

“Yes. I killed him. Oh dear, it seems I’ve added an unnecessary crime to my plate. I may have lost my chance at changing my name and starting a new life since I lost the game, but if I can help Mr. Ryuuzouji win, then I don’t mind staking my life on this.”

“Why are you so into Ryuuzouji-san...?”

“Haven’t you ever wondered who comes to the aid of the hero who has saved so many?” Mizuiyama said in a harsh tone. “No one thinks of the worries he carries on his shoulders. He has the right to salvation.”

“Can you really call what you’re doing salvation though? You’re just getting in the way of our showdown!”

“Shut up! What are you calling a showdown?!”

The usually reserved Mizuiyama exploded in fury.

Looks like I had touched a nerve.

“How dare you... A showdown, ha! ...Why were you chosen...?”

Mizuiyama’s hand trembled, but I knew she couldn’t lay a finger on me.

Of that I was sure. This was still Ryuuzouji’s game, and she’d never dream of breaking its rules.

“Don’t move.” Mizuiyama wiped her eyes with her free hand. “The second you think I won’t shoot, you seal your fate and prove what an idiot you are. I’ll do what I want. If you don’t want to end up like that man over there...”

It’s at this point that they realize that Yadorigi’s body is gone, a conspicuous blood trail leading out of the chapel and into the hallway. 

They both realize that Tsukiyo and Naz haven’t been sitting idly while all of this villain monologuing has been going on.

Mizuiyama keeps Samidare at nail gun point and has her walk backwards across the chapter and open the door to the hallway. There, they see Nazuna and Tsukiyo dragging Yadorigi toward the room at the end of the hall, and thanks to the ridiculousness of Samidare having to walk backwards toward them, they don’t get there in time to stop them from hiding out in the scale room. 

They go in, the scale goes down, and they’re no longer accessible.

Mizuiyama isn’t too upset by this, saying they aren’t her focus anyway. She moves the nail gun to aim at Samidare’s head instead.

“On your knees, hands behind your back.”

“Um...”

“I don’t care, just do it!” she yelled.

It seemed like she was getting close to her breaking point. It would be better not to push her right now.

I followed her orders.

I was really in it now.

What would Kirigiri Kyouko do at a time like this?

...That wouldn’t work. There was a huge gulf between our basic level of ability. I didn’t know any self-defense techniques, and it’s not like my quick wit was going to tip the scales.

“As we agreed, you are going to sit here obediently and wait for time to run out.”

Mizuiyama pulled a set of handcuffs from somewhere and slapped them on my wrists.

How many times had I been handcuffed now in recent memory...?

Just accept the kink, Samidare. It will be easier this way.

Mizuiyama goes on to say that she’ll feed Samidare and let her use the bathroom and bathe as she deems fit, though if she tries anything funny, those privileges will be revoked.

It’s at this point that they hear someone’s voice from the chapel.

“Hey, Detectiiiiive! Where’d you go? We thought we were trapped, but then all of a sudden we could get out!”

It was a boy’s voice. He sounded like an idiot.

Who the heck was that?

“Oh, someone’s here.”

They entered into the hallway from the still open door.

“Detectiiiiiiive... Huh, who’re you?”

A short young man in a trench coat was ambling our way. Behind him I could see a robust, punk-looking boy and a girl wearing a qipao for some reason.

What was with this weird group?

Something I couldn’t quite accept was going on.

Mizuiyama appeared to be the same boat.

Thrown off, she turned to face them, nail gun drawn and aimed in their direction.

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

“Yo, Columbo, this is lookin’ pretty damn rough, y’know?”

It seemed the punk boy had finally realized something was amiss.

“RUN!” I yelled at them, as loud as I could.

“What should we do, Senpai? They’re telling us to run...?”

“Telling us to run? No, no, that’s them asking for help! Let’s go, Kousuke, Ellery!”

The boy in the trench coat began to run toward us.

“Feckin’ hell!”

The punk and the girl in qipao followed after.

What the heck were they thinking?!

In a panic, Mizuiyama aimed the gun and pulled the trigger with a trembling finger.

A fat nail fired from the gun with a thun sound.

“Ellery!”

The girl opened the umbrella she had in her right hand. The nail ripped into it, but stopped, its head still visible on this side.

“Kousuke! Jump!”

“Alright!”

The punk boy sprang from behind the umbrella, like a giant bullet, drop-kicking Mizuiyama.

((I fucking love these side novels, man.))

Surprisingly even for a small woman, Mizuiyama flew backwards into the door so hard the air around me shuddered. She collapsed to the floor, looking like a doll whose soul had just left it.

“Y-Yo, she ain’t dead, right? I don’t want to be a fuckin’ murderer!”

“It’s okay... She’s alive...” said the qipao-clad girl, taking Mizuiyama’s pulse.

“That sure was a close one, eh young miss?” the trench coat wearing boy said, coming closer. “We are the escheemed members of the Ouu Daitouitsu University Myschtery Research Club, at your schervice.”

“What’s the fuckin’ lisp, man? Ah, that’s our club prez.”

“President, that was...not very cool...”

“I uh...thank you?” I still had no idea what was going on, but I bowed my head for the time being. “Could you get these handcuffs off me?”

“Aw yeah, it’s time!”

The boy pulled something that looked like a hairpin from his trench coat pocket and stuck it into the keyhole of my handcuffs. After about five minutes, during which he kept muttering “huh? weird” to himself, in the end the cuffs came off.

I used them to restrain Mizuiyama instead.

Letting out a sigh of relief now that the danger had passed, I sank to the floor.

Samidare learns that the Mystery Research Club was involved in the Kareobana Academy case, and tagged along with Yadorigi to join him here. Originally, only Yadorigi was going to get off the helicopter, but the club members (minus Tooru, obviously) wanted to help out and so disembarked as well. 

While investigating and ripping the boards sealing the entrance, they ended up entering into the room on the opposite end of the scales as Samidare & co., which was why they were able to get out. (Samidare notes that they must have been slightly heavier to set off that reaction, considering that they were roughly the same number of people, plus a body on one side and a Virgin Mary statue on the other. She chalks this up to Kousuke being a big boy.)

Samidare considers how Mizuiyama’s plan was likely to escape once she and the girls were trapped, planning to just seal the doors back up from the outside. But then she got to the entryway, found it already busted open, and in her panic jumped out to attack Yadorigi.

After cuffing Mizuiyama, we began to carry items in to try and offset the scales and move the left tower. We used large rocks lying around outside, boards that had been used to seal up the door...then shut the door to see if the scales moved. When they didn’t, we tried adding more. Following several failed attempts, we finally got the scales to move again.

We rushed to the right tower.

When we opened the door, Tsukiyo and Nazuna looked in our direction, terrified. Once they saw it was me, though, they threw themselves forward to hug me and sobbed.

“He! He’s still alive! We need to hurry and get him to a hospital!” Tsukiyo said, pointing toward Yadorigi. Her and Nazuna’s sailor uniforms were smeared with blood. I wondered if they’d held onto Yadorigi this entire time.

“He’s the one who suggested we hide in this room. Thanks to him, we were saved,” Nazuna said.

Thanks to them putting their combined weight on the scale, they were able to force the room down and not let anyone else in. That was what had let the Mystery Club members out, and thanks to that, I’d been saved from my desperate situation.

It was just after seven a.m. on January 12th, that the case of Libra Girls’ Academy was closed.

So yeah, that’s it for Chapter 1 of DRK5!

The next chapter is pretty hefty compared to these mini-chapters, so it will take me a little bit to get it all down. 

That said though, I’m back in the swing of things and will start working on it right away!

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Bar GOODBYE - Mizuiyama Sachi

I’m going to level with you--unless you really care a lot about how these cases are being carried out and/or about a couple of minor characters, this isn’t going to be the most thrilling of chapters.

As such, I will try to get out another one asap, though it may have to wait until the end of next week when I’m visiting the States and up at like 4 a.m. at my parents’ house.

Anyway, this chapter starts on January 11th, at 11:11. Mizuiyama looks at the time on her phone, noting how beautiful it is and lamenting how it’s not November to make the symmetry really great.

(Coincidentally, the day I’m posting this is Jan. 20th, 2020, which in Japanese-style dating is 20/1/20.)

Mizuiyama’s hanging out in the general vicinity of Bar GOODBYE, when she sees someone round the corner up ahead: it’s Yaki!

He asks what she’s doing there, and Mizuiyama answers that she’s coming to check in, since she’s already solved her case. Yaki is surprised/impressed, and asks her if she’s seen a kid who looks like they’re on their way to a piano recital. Despite that Mizuiyama suspects she knows exactly who Yaki’s talking about, says that no, she hasn’t.

Catching his breath, Yaki relays all the information from earlier about his case, and Mizuiyama nods along.

When he finishes, she notes that Arai is clearly the culprit, then proceeds to explain the trick of the case to an astounded Yaki.

Besides the fact that Arai is a Scorpio and this case’s weapons included scorpion venom, charybdotoxin, it’s obvious if you look at the larger picture. 

Yaki has apparently forgotten about the toxin already, having assumed the man in the bar was stabbed to death. No, Mizuiyama tells him, this case required the victim to die at a very specific moment, which is incredibly difficult to finagle, and it required poison to work effectively. 

You see, all that junk on the counter in front of the body had a purpose: the phone was set to call Arai’s cellphone as long as someone hit the CALL button; the pen was there so that the bound man could pick it up in his mouth to hit the CALL button; and the matchbook was there to let the victim know where he was being kept and lure the detective there.

Mizuiyama goes on to explain that the victim died right as they all arrived on the scene. Yaki can’t believe this, since there was no way the culprit could do the stabbing and get out without getting caught, and Arai never even set foot inside the bar--he just waited at the door.

“I suppose that means that you must be the culprit then,” Mizuiyama says, pointing out that she’s being sarcastic when Yaki reacts with outrage.

She continues, leading Yaki down a narrow alleyway and exposing the trick of the case: the knife was coated in deadly charybdotoxin (Yaki notes that it would have been a close shave for him if a scorpion was just loose in the bar), then hung above the victim. The culprit used the handle to balance the knife across two parallel ropes. One end of one of the ropes was then tied to the top of the front door. That way, Arai could still leave the bar by only opening the door just enough to slip out, but if it were opened fully, one rope would be pulled away and the knife would fall into the victim’s back.

Yaki is distressed to hear that him barging in through the door resulted in the victim’s death, but Mizuiyama assures him that she doubts a knife falling from one meter up would be fatal, so the culpability still lies with Arai, who put the poison on the blade.

How did Yaki not notice the ropes if they were only a few feet above them? Well, first of all, Mizuiyama tells him, who would think to look up? Secondly, the bar’s power had been cut in order to keep it too dark to see them unless you were really looking for them. (Or if you were Kirigiri, Mizuiyama privately thinks, the low price tag on this case acting as a deterrent to keep her from choosing to investigate it herself.)

Being a pretty good sport about this, Yaki says that Mizuiyama is damn good at homicide stuff for someone who doesn’t specialize in it, to which she says it’s just professional interest. Besides, this case was super easy.

“I dunno if I’d call it easy...”

“More importantly, is it okay to leave things this way?”

“Whatd’ya mean?”

“Right now, the culprit is collecting the rope used for the trick, no?”

“Ah, shit! He should still be at the scene of the crime! I’m gonna go catch him!”

Yaki turned around and moved as if to run off.

Seeing an opportunity, Mizuiyama took the iron pipe from her thigh holster.

“You can tag along, if you want,” Yaki said, looking over his shoulder.

Mizuiyama quickly hid the pipe behind her back.

“Oh, sure.”

“Awesome! It’s time to rock!”

Yaki turned again to dash off, but Mizuiyama swung the pipe and caved in the back of his skull. He let out a croak and fell to the ground, face down. Since Mizuiyama could still feel a pulse, she brought the pipe down on him once more, ensuring Yaki would never draw another breath.

In no time at all, she was able to gather information on two separate cases. She felt rather satisfied with her own progress.

There was no point in recklessly setting a trap to stop Samidare Yui. She was already several steps ahead and had claimed the high ground. That was the usual way to win.

Well then. Time for the main event.

I’m curious as to whether or not this is actually Mizuiyama, or someone disguised as her. You never know in this series.

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Libra Girls’ Academy - Samidare Yui

For those of you reading these as I post them, here’s a quick reminder of the current stakes:

Kareobana Academy case: solved, Yadorigi last seen with Lico heading back to the others, current status unknown

Bar GOODBYE case: still unsolved, with Yaki dead

Museum of Medieval Western European Torture Devices case: Mizuiyama seems to have figured it out, but is alone after dark in the museum after having had a really eerie encounter with Lico

Twins Research Facility case: solved, though Kirigiri is currently unconscious and bound in the back of Tsutsumi’s car, ready to be used as a hostage to make Samidare let him go

Libra Girls’ Academy case: unsolved, though last time we left, Samidare had an epiphany about the trick involved

Obviously, when she announces this, Tsukiyo and Nazuna are pretty shocked and want to know what she means.

Samidare goes to the desk and starts to draw to show them, which is also helpfully supplied for the reader, since it’s kind of complicated to explain. I’ll just insert the diagram from the book, which is something I usually don’t do, but I think it’ll save us both a lot of headache. 

“Libra means ‘scales’, right? What I mean is that this entire building is one huge scale.”

Both Tsukiyo and Nazuna don’t really process that, so Samidare goes on to explain that the room they’re in right now is sitting on one side of the scale, while the other small room with the coffins is on the other side. The church is the fulcrum. The beam, rather than overhead, is actually under them.

Like so.

The way there can be two different rooms in seemingly one space is that one room is inside this “box” sitting on the scale dish, while the other room’s floor is the top of the “box”. Since each side of the scale has a long vertical tower wrapping around it, the casual observer wouldn’t see any difference in the box’s static walls vs the top of the box’s non-connected walls.

I told you it’s difficult to sort out verbally.

Anyway, this explains how the culprit was able to move around and confound them so easily: they used weight to change the rooms on either side of the scale to “disappear” and “remove” the body.

This chapter takes like a good ten pages going over the exact way this trick works, and other than a few pithy quips from Tsukiyo, you aren’t losing much, so here’s the tl;dr version:

Samidare and Black Cape start in the first room with Takezaki’s body. This room is on top of the box, because those three are heavier than Tsukiyo and Nazuna together, who are trapped in coffins on top of the opposite box.

Tsukiyo notes that of course this is the case.

The reason the two girls were confined to the coffins was to keep them within the little clearance gap at the top of the vertical shaft, and also to conceal the whole scales thing.

Samidare chases Black Cape across the beam of the scale.

Black Cape enters into the box on that side, meaning that now there’s three people’s weight to one dead body on the other side, so the culprit gets into an empty room to hide, that’s then pushed down the shaft and rendered inaccessible. 

The doors function like elevator doors and cannot be opened while the scale is in motion, so that’s why Samidare couldn’t get in right after Black Cape. 

When she entered into the room, it meant there were four people on one side of the scale and only a dead body on the other.

Ah, I know that you, eagle-eyed reader, are probably wondering how the scale didn’t even out while the three girls were searching the church. Shouldn’t the single culprit and the single dead body weigh about the same and reset the scale?

Well sure, it would, if the culprit hadn’t counted on that.

See, you need to remember that Tsukiyo and Nazuna were handcuffed at the hands and feet, and the key was around a statue of the Virgin Mary. A statue that Samidare refused to break to take the key and instead used a conveniently placed handtruck to carry it into the room with everyone else.

Yep. 

I’m impressed the culprit knew Samidare would be morally opposed to breaking a statue of the Virgin Mother--they really did their research.

So anyway, as you’d imagine, the Mary statue plus the culprit was enough to keep the box room with the corpse on top of it level with the hallway. Then the girls were tricked into trapping themselves by all going to see the body. (Which, again, was Naz’s suggestion.)

So yeah, here we are now.

The three girls are trapped, and the culprit is free.

That summed up everything that happened at Libra Girls’ Academy.

Was it possible to even make a building that worked like a scale? The Committee for the Salvation of Victims of Crime could probably do it. We were facing Shinsen Mikado and Ryuuzouji Gekka here. In fact, this is pretty much exactly what I’d expect from them.

“Wait, so the culprit gets to run away...and we’re just stuck here forever? That sucks! You solved the mystery and it didn’t get us anywhere!”

“Uh...right! Since we know there’s another room above us, couldn’t we break through the ceiling to escape?” I said, looking up at the ceiling.

It was over thirty meters high.

“It’s easy to say that, but how would we do it?”

“...Let’s try throwing a chair.”

((Ah yes, Samidare, take a page out of Nanamura’s book.))

I took the small chair beside the writing desk in my hands and tossed it above me. It clamored to the ground without even hitting the ceiling.

It would be really tough to throw something in the direct center of the ceiling. Besides, something as small as this chair probably would never reach it on its own.

“Looks like that won’t work.”

“Okay, how about this. Naz-chan, get on my shoulders.”

“Huh? Me?!”

“Yeah. Tsukiyo-chan’s got a lot of issues going on right now.”

“I appreciate your sympathy.”

I crouched down and Nazuna climbed up onto my shoulders. Careful to keep my balance and not drop her, I stood up.

“Woah, woah!” 

Nazuna seemed a little worried.

“Well?”

“I c-can’t reach it. Not at all.”

I wondered if maybe I could jump and reach that spot instead.

((YES! YES, PLOT-RELEVANT SAMIDARE JUMPS!!!))

I let Nazuna down, whose face looked like a little kid who’d just been lifted up for the first time. She mumbled “high, so high” to herself.

“Hey, what did you do to Naz? Her cheeks are on fire!”

“I don’t know. I didn’t do anything weird.”

“You’ve done nothing but weird stuff since you got here!”

“That’s not what we’re supposed to be worrying about now! Help me think of a way out.”

“I don’t think breaking through the ceiling is realistic,” Nazuna said, sitting flat on the floor. “It’s probably reinforced with concrete or thick beams. We’d need serious firepower if we wanted to break through it.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right…” I said, shoulders sagging.

“Ah, I just had a great idea,” Tsukiyo said, suddenly looking up. “What if all three of us jumped at the same time, and that made this side of the scale lighter so it would go up?”

“I mean sure, if we jumped it would be lighter while we were in the air, but I doubt the scale would move in the 0.1 seconds we were airborne.”

“Well we won’t know unless we try, right?”

“I mean I guess… Should we?”

“Nah, sounds like a pain,” Tsukiyo said, quickly abandoning her own plan and flopping onto the floor, going back to her withdrawn stage.

Nazuna sat beside her, her face twisted in thought about how to escape. It didn’t seem like she was having much luck.

I picked up the chair I’d thrown at the ceiling and sat in it.

I wanted to be out of here already.

I wanted to go home, to my dorm room.

I wanted to get back to my peaceful, normal life.

Normal, huh. 

I wondered if it would be possible to live a calm, normal life with Kirigiri without cases to solve. It was possible that even if we managed to establish some normalcy around us, she’d set off in search of her next case. 

Was there even anywhere for us to return home to?

“I’m hungry…” Tsukiyo said, starting once again to proclaim her desires to the room.

“I wonder what time it is…” Nazuna said, understandably losing steam herself.

“Don’t worry. My friends will definitely come save us. We all decided to check in by noon, so if they don’t hear from me, someone will come.”

“How many hours away is that?”

“Uh…”

“Don’t get my hopes up like this,” Tsukiyo said coldly, only her eyes pointed in my direction.

“Hey, by the way,” I said, hoping to change the topic. “Do you guys really not have any idea who the culprit could be? Even though we unraveled the trick, we still don’t know who the killer is. Do you guys know of anyone who might want Takezaki-san dead?”

“Obviously not! We were kidnapped by some weird pervert, weren’t we? It’s not like we’d hang out with anyone like that and not tell them to take a hike!” Tsukiyo said, starting to get upset.

“So you don’t know anything about Takezaki-san? No weird rumors or anything?”

“Weird rumors?”

“Ah,” Nazuna said. “Now that you mention it, I did hear something about her. That back in middle school, she drove one of her former friends to suicide…”

“The hell? I never heard that.”

“That’s because you don’t take any interest in our classmates, Tsukiyo-san…”

“Well duh, why would I? I only have eyes for you, Naz, hehe.”

“You really should expand your horizons, Tsukiyo-san.”

“What? You’re telling me that too, Naz? You sound just like my dad.”

“Hey, so, about Takezaki-san?”

“Well, I don’t have much interest in gossip myself, so I just passively listened, but apparently, Takezaki-san was being extorted for money by a classmate back in middle school. Then one day, the bully changed targets from her to some other girl, allegedly someone Takezaki-san was once close with. Rumor says that she paid 100,000 yen ($1000 roughly) for it. In reality, it was probably closer to the bully demanding 100,000 yen in order to focus on some other target, and she just complied. Eventually, the friend ended up killing herself.”

“That’s pretty tragic…”

“Seems like there was someone who wanted to make Takezaki-san out to be worse, so they exaggerated the rumor. Said things like Takezaki-san herself was the leader of the extortion group and such. There’s no way to tell what’s true and what isn’t.”

“Certainly seems sufficient as a motive,” I muttered to myself. “Perhaps it’s a school friend, or a relative… Can you think of anyone?”

“As I mentioned before, Takezaki-san and I weren’t exactly close…”

“Right… Oh wait, can you think of any Libras?”

“Libras? I don’t really remember other people’s zodiac signs.”

“Yeah, I guess not…”

“I know Naz’s zodiac sign. She’s a Leo! It’s the same sign as me. We match! Hehehe!”

It might have just been my imagination, but it seemed like Tsukiyo was starting to lose it. Maybe we’d been shut up in here for too long, and it was starting to take a mental toll.

That or she’s just threatened by your oblivious allure, Samidare.

This subplot is fantastic and I’m going to miss it when it’s over.

Soon after this conversation, everyone starts to feel weird, and the room begins to shake. They realize that the scale is moving, which is good in that it shows that they’re going to get out, but is bad, since the only one who knows how the scale works is the culprit. 

Samidare motions for Tsukiyo and Nazuna to move away from the door, and hoists the chair over her head to use as a weapon.

Then the door opens, and the person standing there is…

A man with the physique of a model, wearing an expensive suit and sunglasses.

“Ya-Yadorigi-san?” I said without thinking.

“Oh, Samidare-san,” he said back, as if we’d just bumped into each other on the street. “Good morning. Are you in the process of solving this case?”

“Huh? Uh, erm, I am, but…” What the heck was going on here? “What are you doing here, Yadorigi-san?”

“It’ll take a while to explain, so let’s chat over breakfast at a hotel or something. By the way, you aren’t hurt, are you? I know you must be exhausted.”

“I’m already tuckered out, for sure.”

“Those two behind you are connected to the case too?”

“Yeah.”

“Then have them join us for breakfast,” Yadorigi said with a smile.

Nazuna crept up behind me, whispering in my ear: “Is that man the Black Cape?”

“Huh, there’s no way…”

“You know each other?”

“We sure do, this is one of the other detectives in our group.”

“This is really strange, though. The only one who should know how to let us out is the culprit…”

“What? No!”

“Do you have something you need to discuss?” Yadorigi asked, offering an arm to escort us. “For now I think it’s best if we leave this room, no?”

“Oh right,” I said, then looked over my shoulder to whisper to the others. “We’ll be in trouble if we get trapped in here again, so let’s get out of here for now. Stay behind me.”

Nazuna and Tsukiyo nodded, and Yadorigi walked into the hallway.

The rest of us followed, finally taking a step off the dish of the scale. Despite that, I felt more confused than elated. Like there was something going on that was above my head.

((Hey, Samidare? I’m going to remind you that your Big Bad is a guy who can disguise himself real good.))

We followed down the hall, me carefully leaving thirty meters between us and Yadorigi. 

Finally, the hallway ended, and Yadorigi took a step into the church. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, waiting until we closed more of the distance between us before starting to walk again.

In the next moment, I saw a black shadow jump out from the left of my peripheral vision.

It was Black Cape.

I didn’t have time to yell out.

Black Cape brought the metal pipe down on Yadorigi’s head.

Fresh blood spurted everywhere.

I couldn’t even look away.

Yadorigi crumpled on the spot, falling to the ground as if dead.

I heard Tsukiyo and Nazuna scream behind me.

Black Cape’s hood was facing me.

I’ll never forgive you…

I’ll never forgive you!

Murderer!

“I’m Samidare Yui, the detective assigned to this case! You cannot hurt me!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “If you’re going to hurt someone, you’ll have to go through me. If you’re ready to face the consequences of breaking the rules, then come at me!”

I took a step toward Black Cape, who responded by taking a step back.

We faced off in the silent church, the smell of blood growing ever thicker. 

Black Cape held up the bloody pipe in a defensive stance and began to retreat.

“Running away?”

As soon as I said it, Black Cape stopped.

They seemed unsure, as if they hadn’t considered that this would happen.

“From here I can reach you in two steps,” I said, pointing to my feet. “If you turn to run, I’ll catch you immediately. If you want to fight, I’ll face you. Don’t you get it? You’ve already lost. Give up, and put down the pipe.”

Without noticing, we’d moved to the area closest to the entrance. So they were planning on running way. 

The door was on the left of where I was standing, the area where I saw Black Cape jump out to attack Yadorigi. I could see that the boards sealing up the door had already been removed. It was possible to leave.

I turned my attention there. That was likely where the culprit would try to flee.

On the other hand, the hallway leading to the coffin room was right behind them. It was equally possible that they might try to make a break for it and hide in that room like before.

“I’ve already figured out your trick. There’s nowhere to run,” I said. “All that’s left is to unmask you and make you confess.”

Black Cape’s identity…

I looked over the person before me again. Though the cape helped hide it, they were extremely small. They had to be a woman, or a child.

Who the hell?

((Samdiare…))

I couldn’t imagine a mystery where the culprit was someone who’d never been introduced before, but...I couldn’t think of anyone who it could be. Plus, the Libra Girls’ Academy case had just started, and it was possible that there were more murders planned.

Black Cape’s hood hid most of their face, but I could see their mouth.

It was smiling.

I felt as though I’d seen it somewhere before.

Mocking me, trying to taunt me.

((Samidare, come on...))

As soon as I thought that, Black Cape turned to make a break for the hallway.

“Ah!”

I was too slow!

I sprung from the floor.

I wouldn’t let them escape…

Just as I thought that, the culprit tripped and fell spectacularly. From inside the hood, a pair of glasses flew across the floor.

Glasses?

Whatever, now was my chance.

This entire time, I’d been chasing after the back of his black caped culprit, and now I was going to tackle them like I’d wanted to since the start.

As I lunged, Black Cape rolled first onto their side, then their back.

Shit!

A trap?

The hood back, our eyes met.

Black Cape grabbed my sleeve with their left hand and pulled, pressing the gun-like thing in their right hand against the left side of my chest.

“Gotcha,” she said.

It was a voice I’d heard before.

It was a face I’d seen before.

“Do you know what this is? It’s a nail gun. If I pull the trigger, it’ll stake you through the heart and turn you into a voodoo doll.”

“Why would you…”

It was one of the detectives in our group, Mizuiyama Sachi.

Ha! You thought it was Lico! But no!

The curse of Jess starting to like a seemingly unimportant character and them ending up evil strikes again!

Though still, Shinsen can disguise himself as anyone, so maybe check on Yadorigi to make sure he’s dead? Something?

But anyway hell yeah! This is the kind of shit I’m here for!

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Location Unknown - Kirigiri Kyouko

Kirigiri Kyouko visiting the Center for the Research of Twin Abilities had thrown a huge wrench in Tsutsumi’s plan.

While before, he’d been on the defensive, it was now time to take the fight to his opponents. It didn’t matter if he used cowardly methods, so long as he won in the end. He needed that 561 million yen for clearing the game to start his new life, so there was merit in taking a few risks.

Kirigiri Kyouko was one tough opponent, but she was still just a little brat. Compared to an adult, her physical body was frail, which was why she’d sustained such serious injuries in the car accident while Tsutsumi got to walk away with some minor scrapes. Though there were no external wounds, she’d been knocked out cold and was still barely conscious. 

I’ll kill her, he thought, though once he calmed down he realized it was a bad idea. Even if he killed her, the game wouldn’t end, since his true opponent was not Kirigiri Kyouko, but Samidare Yui.

If that was the case, then there were better uses for the girl.

He wanted to limit his contact to the detective assigned to his murder case as much as possible, which was why his initial gambit was to try and bluff them out of investigating at all. The second the detective took a close look at his case, his chances of winning plummeted, so he needed to buy himself some time.

So what was the best way to combat the detective?

Just as he’d originally planned, the winning move was to get them to not even play...and he had the exact thing he needed to make that happen.

Kirigiri Kyouko--he’d use her as a hostage to control the detective on his case.

He was sure Kirigiri Kyouko and Samidare Yui shared a deep connection, so it should be possible to get the detective to back down this way. 

((oh, Tsutsumi, you have no idea))

If you want her to live, forfeit the game. Or if you don’t care about her life, then feel free to continue.

When it came down to it, which would Samidare Yui choose...?

Tsutsumi peeked behind him, where Kirigiri Kyouko was lying across the backseat. Her hands and feet were tied together with rope, her body bound in meters of tape. It seemed like she hadn’t quite regained her senses yet.

The problem now was finding a safe place to hide out while waiting for Samidare Yui to realize what had happened. 

Where could he go to stay safe...?

Ah, that’s right.

If he went there, it’d be safer than anywhere else.

Ruh-roh!

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Bar GOODBYE - Yaki Hajiki

This is the noon news report for January 12th.

At about 11:00 p.m. last evening, a man was stabbed to death in an abandoned store on a shopping street. The victim was sixty-year-old local man, Kodama Katsumi. The victim attempted to contact the realty company that owns the building for help, and a staff member was dispatched. However, the victim had already expired by the time he was discovered.

The abandoned store was known to be a common gathering place for young locals, so the police are investigating a possible connection to the crime. 

The individual who originally found the body, twenty-eight-year-old Yaki Hajiki, was found in a nearby alley. It appears that someone had used a blunt object to cave in his skull. The police are currently looking into whether or not the two crimes were committed by the same culprit. 

In our next story...

Womp, womp.

There’s the DR staple, blunt force head trauma! Also of note: this news report says nothing about Ooba...

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: Libra Girls’ Academy - Samidare Yui

Now that we’ve checked in with everyone who didn’t get much screen time last book, let’s get back to seeing what Samidare is up to.

Turns out she, Tsukiyo, and Nazuna have been in the small circular room for...well, Samidare isn’t actually sure how long, since there aren’t any clocks around. It’s felt like hours, but it might have only been tens of minutes.

“I’m hungry... I’m thirsty...” Tsukiyo had been crouched in the corner of the room for some time now, deliriously mumbling about what she wanted. “I need to go to the bathroom... the bathroom...”

“If worst comes to worst, you can just go over there. We’ll forgive you,” I called in response. 

“No way! If it came to that I’d kill you and myself! Who do you think you are, looking down on me like this? You think you’re better than me because you’re a little better at holding it in? I don’t take orders from you!”

“That’s not what I meant...”

Feeling exhaustion on a spiritual level, I decided to ignore Tsukiyo’s angry outburst. Trying to engage her right now would just wear us both out.

Instead, Samidare sits down at the desk and uses a pencil and sheet of paper she found inside to draw a map. She’s going to figure out the mystery behind Libra Girls’ Academy, dammit.

Nazuna watches over her shoulder as she jots down everything they know so far and occasionally offers some input. Her observations are so astute and point out so many things that Samidare hasn’t even considered that she begins to worry that Nazuna is actually better suited to being a detective than her.

They discuss what transpired right when Samidare came to, going once again over how she woke up, found Takezaki’s body, and saw the caped suspect. Nazuna asks what the caped figure was doing, and Samidare reports that they were just kind of...standing there...menacingly...and holding a steel pipe (the murder weapon according to the challenge card). When Nazuna asks, she explains that the suspect didn’t attack her, but that makes sense since Samidare is the detective assigned to the case and cannot be harmed. She’s apparently filled in the other two girls about how Duel Noir work, and while they didn’t believe her at first, as they’ve all been sitting in this room together, both of them have come around.

Nazuna confirms once again with Samidare that Takezaki was actually dead, and Samidare says that yes, she’s sure. She didn’t just check her pulse using her wrist, she actually checked her neck, and there’s no drug to mask that pulse as far as she’s aware. Besides, Takezaki’s body was already cold, so there was no way she was still alive.

Nazuna tells her to hold up for a second, did she just say that the body was already cold? So in other words, she wasn’t freshly killed just before Samidare woke up?

Yeah, Samidare admits, that makes sense.

In that case, Nazuna continues, the suspect’s actions make even less sense. The killer standing over the body when Samidare woke up would make sense if Takezaki had just been murdered, but the actual killing must have taken place at least an hour beforehand for the body to already be cold. So what the hell was the culprit doing during all that time?

Samidare supposes that perhaps they were setting up the trick? If she woke up too early, they might not be able to prepare everything, so they’d have to hurry.

However, Nazuna points out that it would be silly to try and run around doing that while carrying an iron pipe, and even more importantly, to not try and impede Samidare in any fashion. If Nazuna were the caped culprit (which I’m not entirely sure she isn’t at this point), she’d have tired Samidare up, or blindfolded her, or something to reduce the risk of her seeing something she shouldn’t lest she wake up before the expected moment.

Yeah, sure, Samidare admits, she guesses that tracks.

Still on a roll, Nazuna posits the question of why the culprit wouldn’t restrain Samidare if they had such ample opportunity. Her hypothesis is that it’s because they didn’t need to. And under what circumstances would they not need to? If the trick had already been prepared. So then, the logical path to follow would be to assume that by the time Samidare even ended up in the room, the trick was already in place.

Nazuna’s just out here laying down the logic, and it’s very much hurting Samidare right in the ego.

She just keeps going, too, concluding that if the trick was already set up by the time Samidare even got there, then that wouldn’t explain why the culprit was hanging around for an hour or more at the scene of the crime. Samidare asks what they were doing then, but smarty-pants Nazuna hasn’t figured that out yet. She’s sure it’s an important clue, though.

Begrudgingly, Samidare puts on her thinking cap and reviews what happened when she woke up. That’s when it hits her: the first thing she remembers is the caped culprit staring at her!

...Though what that means exactly she isn’t sure, so she tells Nazuna to see if she has any ideas. Naz begins walking around the desk, looking at Samidare, suggesting that maybe the culprit had done something to her? She doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary...

“My glasses!” Samidare cries, and explains that when she first woke up, she had a short Velma episode where she couldn’t make out much while she fumbled around for her glasses. Nazuna asks where her glasses ultimately were, and Samidare answers that they were nearby on the floor. They agree it’s possible that the culprit may have removed them, but that doesn’t answer why they were staring at Samidare. It’s not like they would have needed to check to make sure her glasses were off.

“Maybe it’s because your face just looks that awful when you’re asleep?” Tsukiyo cuts in from the Peanut Gallery. 

She was still crouching in the corner, with a nasty smirk on her face. 

“True, I don’t have a lot of confidence in how I look when asleep, but that has nothing to do with this!”

I suddenly remembered that back in junior high, one of my classmates had secretly taken a photo of me sleeping while we were on a field trip. She’d showed it to me later, but I’d been shocked at my open jaw and fully exposed stomach...

“Or maybe they were wondering when your stupid face would wake up, hehe.”

“Ah!”

In a moment, all the puzzle pieces fall into place in Samidare’s head. Tsukiyo yells at her for yelling, but Samidare just tells her that she’s exactly right. 

“You’re admitting you’re a stupid face?”

“No, not that. Why the culprit was staring at me. They were waiting for me to wake up!”

She goes on to explain that if they follow Naz-chan’s line of thinking, the trick was already set up before she arrived. However, it probably needed to be triggered, and Samidare herself was likely the catalyst. Nazuna seems a bit confused, so Samidare explains in more concrete terms: for the trick to activate, the culprit probably needed her to chase them. When she began to pursue, it was likely going all according to keikaku--Samidare wasn’t really chasing the caped culprit, she was being led.

That explained the part that she couldn’t figure out earlier too, about why all the doors were left open as the culprit was running away. It also means that the culprit vanishing into the thin air and the corpse disappearing were also intended to be seen, since the culprit would want Samidare to witness the elements of the trick. 

Not to mention it explains what Black Cape was doing in the room originally: they were waiting for Samidare to wake up.

She briefly wonders why the culprit would wait rather than tap her on the shoulder or something to wake her up sooner, but maybe it was to increase the chances that Samidare would give chase. If the culprit had roused her, she probably would have noticed and been a bit more skeptical of the scene.

“I unwittingly fell directly into the culprit’s trap,” Samidare concludes, to which Tsukiyo yells that yeah, they been knew! Who else but some weird pervert would trap a bunch of high school girls for their own pleasure?

Well, Junko for one... Actually, no. Checks out still.

Tsukiyo is less concerned with this nonsense and more focused on finding a way out. She’s progressed now to hugging her knees.

Samidare admits that they’re still not quite at that point yet, but Tsukiyo’s already busy having another breakdown. As far as she’s concerned, they’ve made zero progress. She cannot be in here a second longer, so she needs to know how to get out NOW. If she misses one day of violin practice, it might as well be three days’ worth of work down the drain. Does Samidare even understand that? Get her out of here!

“It’s okay, Tsukiyo-san.” Nazuna sat beside her, gently wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sure we’ll get out soon, okay?”

“Sniff... Naz... I’m scared... Do that thing you always do... please...”

Tsukiyo put her head between her knees and began to shake.

Nazuna reached up as if to pat Tsukiyo on the head, and began to comb through her hair with her fingers, parting the strands for her over and over. After a few minutes of it, Tsukiyo calmed down, and her trembling stopped. 

me, reading this and putting a hand over my gay little heart: Oh...?

Samidare admits mentally that if they’re stuck here without food and water for nearly a week, they’ll definitely die. That might actually be what Black Cape is trying to do, intending to win the Duel Noir by letting the clock run down.

She’s got to think.

If they want to survive, she needs to get her little gray cells in gear.

If Kirigiri-chan were in this situation, she’d just keep pressing forward. That’s the greatest weapon a detective has--her tenacity. 

Of course, if Kirigiri-chan were here, she’d probably have already figured out what was going on.

“If I tell you this much, you should get it, right Yui-oneesama?”

It’s just like she always said. If I thought over the evidence hard enough, I’d find some kind of clue.

Let’s review it again.

Samidare mentally tallies the facts: they aren’t trapped here by accident, they’re here because it’s where the culprit wants them. That means that the culprit had to know they were going to come into the room.

...You know, I’m just saying, I remember Nazuna insisting that we all come see Takezaki’s body.

Sadly, Samidare forgets about that. She does remember that they came back to investigate the body though, only to find it had vanished into thin air. Why did it disappear? And how? If they can figure that out, they should also stumble upon a way to escape.

The body vanished from this room, so there’s got to be some kind of clue here.

Isn’t that right, Kirigiri-chan?

Reaching further back, Samidare confirms that Takezaki Hana was indeed dead in this very room. She remembers the blood pouring out of her head staining the rug. Yet right now, there’s no sign of a corpse anywhere. And moving it out of the room would take a not-insignificant amount of time and effort. Samidare considers the wheeled trolley she used to escort the Virgin Mary statue--that’d be a way to easily move the body. You could cart it out and hide it somewhere in about ten minutes or so.

The other, more pressing issue, is the lack of any bloodstains. Cleaning a rug is not a quick fix, and how could you clean it so well that there was absolutely no evidence left behind? 

Samidare gets up to examine the rug, noting that she’s not finding any wet spots or discoloration. Though it’s a red rug, it’s not blood red, so you should be able to see if there’s any bloodstains on it. (Kitayama-sensei, are you making DanRon blood color jokes again?)

Confused, Samidare muses to herself out loud about her hypothesis so far: you’d need a lot of time, water, and detergent to clean up that much blood, but there’s no evidence of cleaning having even happened.

“If you had specialized tools, you could clean everything perfectly within about an hour,” Nazuna said, running her fingers through Tsukiyo’s hair. 

“An hour, huh...”

However, Samidare rules this out, since she’s pretty sure finding Nazuna and Tsukiyo and setting them free didn’t take an hour. Next they consider the possibility that the Committee could have provided a special cleaning machine that could have taken care of the bloodstains faster than they’d expect, but Nazuna points out that in that case the culprit would have to ensure that Samidare wouldn’t come back to the room in the meantime. (Also I’m pretty sure something like that would be listed on the Duel Noir Challenge Card?)

She’s got a point, Samidare admits. It’s pretty unlikely that the culprit would spend more than five minutes moving the body and ten minutes cleaning, max. Was that even realistically possible?

Nazuna, appropriately given that Celes has been indirectly mentioned in this book, suggests that maybe the culprit rolled up the rug with the body in it, moved it, and then laid out a new rug. Samidare is ready to go along with that until Nazuna herself points out that the trick likely would be something that wouldn’t be affected by whether or not the victim bled everywhere. They both agree that cleaning up a bloody corpse is not something that can be done in a matter of minutes.

Next Samidare muses that perhaps the trick is on a grander scale than they might have anticipated--what if the entire floor of this room could be flipped over like a coin? Something similar to how Norman’s Hotel was on a giant lazy susan? Then you could dump the body and have a nice clean floor for Samidare and the others to find.

Nazuna’s not so sure about this, asking about the other furniture in the room. If the desk and chair aren’t attached to the floor--which they aren’t--then that suggests that the floor didn’t just flip over. Samidare counters that you could wait outside with a different desk and chair to set up within a few minutes after the flip, which Nazuna agrees is possible.

Riding the high of having a working theory, Samidare goes to examine where the floor and walls meet to look for gaps. Those will give away that the floor can be flipped over!

Yay, Samidare!

...There aren’t any gaps.

There isn’t even any evidence of gaps that have been since filled.

Samidare’s pretty bummed that her idea didn’t work out, but she figures that it makes sense that the Committee wouldn’t recycle tricks she’s already seen. *cough*unlikeKodaka*cough*

Nazuna tries to console her by saying that she at least feels like they’ve made some progress. Now they have a better idea of what kinds of tricks to consider being in play. Samidare says that yeah, the Committee is pretty extra when it comes to their murder tricks, and she sits back down with a sigh.

She may not know what the trick is exactly, but there’s got to be some kind of clue hidden in what’s happened so far at Libra Girls’ Academy.

Samidare reviews the things she’s thought were weird since she woke up:

Black Cape was standing over her when she woke up. Solved: They were waiting for Samidare to wake up and witness the trick.

She wasn’t wearing her glasses when she woke up. Solved?: To slow her down and buy Black Cape some time to get a head start?

All of the doors were left open. Solved?: To make them easier to chase?

After Black Cape went into the coffin room, the door wouldn’t open when Samidare pulled on it. It did open after some time passed.

Black Cape disappeared from the coffin room.

Nazuna and Tsukiyo were tied up inside the coffins.

The key to unlock Nazuna and Tsukiyo’s restraints was around the neck of a Virgin Mary statue in the chapel.

When the three of them went back to the room to check on the corpse, it was gone.

They got locked into the room that used to have the body in it.

According to Samidare, the most relevant issue is probably #4. How did Black Cape manage to keep the door locked despite there being no lock? They couldn’t have been holding it closed since they were gone the second Samidare stepped into the room. That really was a mystery.

Maybe there was a set up in the room that made it so that the door couldn’t be opened while it was doing its thing?

For example, like how elevator doors can’t be opened when the elevator is in motion...

Hold on a tic, Samidare thinks, getting up to go examine the door.

Sure enough, it’s a sliding door on a track. It’s set up to close on its own unless you pull it all the way to the end of the track, in which case it will stay open. There’s no handle, only a divot to put your fingers in so you can pull the door. No sign of a lock or a keyhole.

So how the heck is the door being kept shut?

Since the track isn’t on the inside of the room, the logical assumption to make is that it’s out in the hallway. Black Cape could trap them inside if they put a pole or something in to stop the door from being able to slide on the track, but is that really what’s going on? The door to the coffin room was locked just like this one, and there was no evidence of anything blocking the door.

Is the track for this door even out in the hallway? The coffin room door didn’t have it on the hallway side, so it must have been in the room. If this room and the coffin room are identical in all other ways, why are the door tracks on opposite sides? And why bother to do that?

Is it possible that the door track isn’t in the hallway OR inside the room for both of them?

Where did the door go when it was opened?

Thinking about it like an elevator makes it pretty obvious: the doors go into the wall, or more accurately, into a space in the wall specifically for the doors. 

And if that’s the case...

“Are you okay, Samidare-san?”

“I feel like I just realized something important. But it’s usually not me who’s doing this sort of thing, so I’m a little light-headed to be honest...”

“Get it together! You’re a detective, aren’t you?” Tsukiyo said, looking up. “We’re counting on you...”

“S-Sure.”

I stepped away from the door and began to circle the room. I’d found a clue, but how to proceed from there? If I were Kirigiri-chan, I’d put it all together immediately. I felt a pang of frustration at my own stupidity. The nerve of some talent-less hack like me, pretending to be a detective...

I suddenly remembered what Kirigiri had said to me when we last saw each other. 

“Mind the Scales.”

Neither Nazuna nor Tsukiyo had the Scales as their zodiac sign, so I could probably rule them out as suspects. So where was the culprit who had that sign then?

The Scales...

Wait.

No way...

“Hey, do either of you know about horoscopes?”

“Huh? Do you mean like zodiac signs?” Nazuna asked.

“Yeah. The ones they put on the news in the morning and stuff.”

“What girl doesn’t like horoscopes?” Tsukiyo said. “Why, do you want to know your fortune?”

“No, not that. What’s the name of the Scales sign in English? Do you know?”

“Sure. It’s Libra.”

“Ah!”

“I knew it!” 

Nazuna and I cried out at the same time. 

“Right...that’s it! I get it! The secret of Libra Girls’ Academy. And the reason why both Black Cape and the body disappeared, and the reason we’re stuck in here!”

Sometimes, you translate a thing, and then more gets added later that paints you into a corner, but such is life, I suppose. Anyway, see you very soon for the next update!

P.S. Did you find my foreshadowing pun in this update? うぷぷぷ…

Chapter 1 The Mania of Existence: The Museum of Medieval European Torture Devices - Mizuiyama Sachi

Like Yaki, Mizuiyama was introduced in DRK3 during the Takeda Haunted House case and was given a specific Duel Noir to handle last book. Mizuiyama was the one who was framed at the Haunted Mansion case, the tiny woman in kimono with glasses. She also seemed to be developing a crush on Yadorigi last book. 

Anyway, this part opens with Mizuiyama arriving at the museum a few hours after leaving the others, musing about how the building was originally for storing things for a nearby university, but about twenty years ago was turned into a museum, only to then more recently wane in popularity thanks to its creepy vibe and the surrounding home owners not being crazy about being so close to torture devices. It’s this bizarre, unnerving building up on a hill overlooking a peaceful residential area.

In the past, Mizuiyama had actually been called out to inspect the property because there was interest in refurbishing the building, but ultimately the university decided it wasn’t worth the cost, so they just closed the museum down. What’s happened there since then is known only to those in the neighborhood.

The reason Mizuiyama had come by before had nothing to do with what the museum housed, but rather to see the building. It was one of those famous places that she’d wanted to visit as a young scholar. 

Arriving this time, she notes that the vibe of the place hasn’t changed--it’s still got the glass facade and the imposing square structure. She does notice that the sharp edges of the building have been angled off, maybe to try and off-set how creepy the building looks.

Also, to her surprise, the grounds are crawling with people. 

Not patrons, of course, but the police and the fire department. Looks like she’s too late.

Pretending she’s supposed to be there, Mizuiyama heads inside the building, drawing some eyes but not being stopped by anyone. There’s a chill in the air inside the building, and it isn’t long before a man, wearing a university staff badge around his neck and standing by the entrance counter, approaches her to ask why she’s there. They aren’t accepting any visitors today because there’s been a...problem. About to ask further, Mizuiyama trips on her zouri sandals and her glasses go flying, which unnerves the staff member a bit as he picks them up and asks if she’s okay. She tells him it’s fine, the glasses are made to be particularly hardy (ignoring his confused clarification that he meant is she okay), instead asking for more details into the problem.

He reluctantly tells her that there’s been a fire on the premises, which is a surprise to Mizuiyama. A fire? Didn’t the challenge card distinctly say the murder weapon would be an iron maiden? (This is the Virgo case, P.S.) This prompts a short dip into what an iron maiden is, and about its supposed use as a torture/execution device for the likes of Elizabeth Bathory and such in the Middle Ages, but its actual role in history is disputed today. Mizuiyama remembers the museum has a replica of the iron maiden from Nuremberg (the original having been destroyed by bombing during WWII), and she had been assuming that the victim of the case would be killed by locking them into the iron maiden replica.

So what’s the deal with this fire? Is it related to the Duel Noir and the Committee for the Salvation of Victims of Crime at all?

She asks the staff member if anyone died in the fire, to which he replies yes, someone affiliated with the university perished. When Mizuiyama asks for the person’s name, the man gets suspicious and says that if she’s from the media, he’s not going to talk to her.

It’s at this point that Mizuiyama starts to impress me. 

So yeah, she could just tell him that she’s a detective investigating what is now a possible homicide, but instead she takes a completely different approach, since she doesn’t know who this guy is or if he’s part of the Duel Noir or not. Remember, Mizuiyama is cautious to a fault--she didn’t even want to meet with Kirigiri and Samidare until the other detectives showed up.

“Do I look like someone from the media?” Mizuiyama showed off her Japanese outfit. “My husband works for the university. I came worried that something may have happened to him...”

“O-oh? My apologies, may I have your name?”

“Mizuiyama.”

“In that case, there is no need to worry, ma’am. The deceased is a professor named Idogaki. ...Um, Mizuiyama-san, which department does your husband work in...?”

“Idogaki-san is dead?” Mizuiyama asked, ignoring the question. “My husband has been indebeted to him many times during conferences.”

“I see... My condolences, then.”

“Would you mind sharing the specifics of what happened?”

“Um, my apologies, but as you can see, things are a bit of a mess right now...”

“I owe Idogaki-san so much. At the very least, please tell me what happened.”

She doesn’t even miss a beat here with the lie, it’s kind of incredible.

Thanks to her pushing, the guy breaks down and give her an overview of what happened. The fire broke out in a small cottage built of prefab in the courtyard around four hours ago, 1 p.m. on January 11th, which was the time that Mizuiyama was with all the other detectives divvying up cases. The fire department was called and rushed out, putting out the fire quickly, only for them to find the charred remains of fifty-year-old university professor Idogaki Fukuju inside the burned hut. His cause of death has yet to be determined.

Mizuiyama asks if the building has been closed all this time, and the staff member reveals that usually it is, as a few years prior it was purchased by some organization. The only people who come are those to take a look at the records and items stored there. Mizuiyama’s next question is who the person is that is responsible for those things, but the staff guy doesn’t know--he’s only worked for the university since last year and has been mostly doing office work. Her final question is if all of the torture devices inside are still where they’re supposed to be, to which the man answers probably, but starts to look suspicious. Noticing that, Mizuiyama thanks him and leaves.

Though her usual detective work is with wood and concrete, Mizuiyama actually has a really good talent for reading people (GET IT? CAUSE SHE’S THE MEGA JAPANESE ONE?). She’s so good at picking up on facial expressions and tones of voice that if she’d become a therapist, she’d surely be running a famous clinic by now. In fact, she has experience being a school counselor. However, she believes that buildings are much more complex and difficult to read than humans, and she has an academic interest in studying and understanding the souls of buildings. (It’s a Shinto thing.)

What sort of soul dwelt in a building full of torture devices?

That’s the whole reason Mizuiyama took this case--in order to find out. Since the goal was just to gather information, nobody should complain if she wants to exercise her academic curiosity. 

There’s still too many holes here in the case though--why is the victim burned to death if the listed weapon was an iron maiden? Why choose this place as the site for the Duel Noir at all? Mizuiyama decides she needs to know more, and heads outside into the courtyard to get a look at the remains of the burned-down hut.

When she heads into the back garden, it’s as she remembered it, save for one thing sitting on top of the large hill in the center.

An iron maiden.

It’s just chilling there on top of this snowy hill, the highest thing in the entire garden. Mizuiyama realizes at this point that the Committee is definitely involved. She knows their calling cards well. Strange cases. Strange motives. Strange methods. 

There’s a bunch of footprints in the snow leading up to the iron maiden, which Mizuiyama assumes are from the police. Making sure to mix her footsteps in with theirs, she makes her way up to the device, and realizes something’s off about it. It’s certainly in the shape of a woman, and you could shove someone in there, but it’s missing its head.

Thinking for a second that a headless corpse might be inside, Mizuiyama peeks into the iron maiden, but sees nothing in there. Which makes sense, since if there’d been a body, the police probably wouldn’t be leaving the device on its own like this, and there’d be blood on the snow around it. Upon further investigation, Mizuiyama notices that the iron maiden is...really small. Like, even with the head, it would only be big enough for non-fully-grown girl to fit inside. Both halves are closed, but she can still see countless spikes within. Given this is a replica, for safety reasons they’ve been rubbed down into a non-threatening crayon shape.

It hardly strikes fear into one’s heart.

Two guys then show up asking what she’s up to there. They’re in suits, so Mizuiyama assumes they’re cops, and shows both her inspector’s license and her detective ID card. She wasn’t intending to give away her real identity while here, but trying to keep track of a bunch of lies wouldn’t really help much with investigating. 

The cops ask what she’s doing there again, and she turns the question back on them. One looks offended while the other snorts as if she’s joking, and they both show their IDs, proving they’re actually the police. Mizuiyama is one of the many detectives out there who isn’t good with dealing with law enforcement, especially after her horrible encounter the day before (yes, DRK3 was one day ago in DRK time) at the Takeda Haunted House. Though she’s itching to get back at the police for all the questioning and indignity of being treated as the prime suspect, she decides to tamp it down for now and be good.

Instead, she shows a copy of the Duel Noir challenge card, explaining that she received it and thought it was a joke, but decided to come check things out just in case it wasn’t. One of the cops takes a look at the copy, commenting that he has no idea what it says, thanks to an effect applied to it that makes it difficult to read. She points out that you can just make out where it talks about the museum, and says that she received it from an unknown fax number (faxes are still a thing in Japan to this day). Mizuiyama reports that some other detectives she knows also received it, and asks if something has actually happened.

The policemen share a look and one of them comments that he’s heard a rumor about a black challenge card before, and wonders if this could be it. Mizuiyama plays dumb, asking what he means by a black challenge card, thinking to herself that it would make sense if the higher ups in law enforcement know that the Committee exists and were trying to find a way to combat them.

The cops ask Mizuiyama if she can spare some time to talk to them about the Duel Noir challenge card, and suggest heading back into the museum, but she wants to know what the iron maiden is doing outside and how long it’s been there. Though they have no clue why the device is in the garden, they finally relent after Mizuiyama refuses to budge in telling her that it wasn’t there as of the day before. 

“So it was placed here right before the fire?”

“We don’t actually know if that’s the case.”

“So then the fire and the sudden appearance of this strange thing in the garden are unrelated?”

“We have no idea.”

“So they aren’t related.”

“Er...Mizuiyama-san?”

“Is this the only thing you found left here in the garden?” Mizuiyama continued.

The two police detectives exasperatedly shrugged.

Despite that the plan was for the two policemen to question Mizuiyama, in the end she’s the one asking questions and they’re the ones answering. She considers this to be appropriate payback.

According to the intel she receives from the cops, the cottage was a fairly large one (like, larger than my 2DK apartment) that’s situated at the bottom of the hill behind the museum. Mizuiyama was only able to catch glimpses of it, since the two cops were standing in the way. It was mostly used for storage.

Though the inside was completely charred, the hut managed to keep standing. The windows were broken by the time the firemen arrived, which was judged to be a result of the fire itself. The windows and doors were locked from the inside, with keys being discovered in the pants pocket of the victim. However, there’s a possibility that the key discovered does not actually go to the locks on the cottage entrance and windows. 

Still, when the fire broke out, there’s no doubt it was a locked room situation.

The fire started after noon, and if anyone were to approach the cottage then, their footprints should have still been in the snow. The victim was found face up on a futon in the center of the room, with no outer wounds nor signs of struggle. For the time being, his cause of death is considered to be burning.

Apparently, the origin of the fire was his pillow, and there were matches and cigarettes found in the general area, so the current assumption is that the blaze was started by a lit cigarette.

While this is all well and good for a news story, there’s still several things that don’t add up. For one, why was Prof. Idogaki smoking himself to sleep in a locked storage shed on the property of a closed-down museum? 

Apparently he’d quit smoking several months prior, and perhaps was getting his fix in private. Maybe since most of the campus was becoming non-smoking, he decided to hide away in an abandoned spot that belonged to his place of work?

This is the police’s explanation, and most people would consider the case closed at this point.

However, the cops have ignored one huge, glaring piece of evidence.

That lonely, headless maiden that suddenly appeared in the garden.

She’s the one who holds the key to this locked room murder, Mizuiyama thought.