Killed Again, Mr. Detective Volume 1 Case 1 Chapter 4 part 2

Volume 1

Case 1: Queen Irie Murder Incident

Chapter 4 I Finished My Warm-up (Part 2)

TLed by: TanoshiKara

"Sheeshhh! Here!"

Yuriu passed the camera to me and ran towards it.

"What is it!? Even though it is showing an important scene right now!"

Sozorogi scratched his head with both hands.

"I am sorry! But this kitty is scratching the balloon......! It went Pshhh"

"Pshhh?"

For a moment, I did not know what that sound effect meant, but I looked up at the clown balloon and understood. The clown's smile is starting to shrivel up little by little.

"Geez. Lulu poked a hole in it huh"

"I must go and apologize to the circus members! But this kitty was scratching this balloon when I found her earlier. Did some kind of smell draw her in? Ah! Hey!"

While Yuriu was talking, the mischievous kitten, Lulu, stuffed her head into the hole she opened and got into the balloon. 

"Get ooouuuttt! Lulu!"

Chasing after Lulu, Yuriu also stuffed her face into that hole.

"N-No!"

This time, it was Kashihiko-san who shrieked when he caught sight of that.

"This is bad, this is bad! That is......! Stoppp!"

"Is something wrong? Is something that should not be seen in it, perhaps?"

"Ah! No......erm" Kashihiko-san mumbles, his eyes wandering everywhere.

"Hmm? Ermmm!" Yuriu calls out to us, the upper half of her body still in the balloon, a position that a maiden should not be in.

"What is it now? Do not tell me you cannot get yourself out Yuriu-chan?"

"Nope! Erm, there is something inside......"

"Insideee? There is air1 inside the balloon no? Read the room1 here!"

Sozorogi was furious.

"That is......Erm, there are a lot of green cotton-like stuff, wrapped in plastic, stuffed inside......"

"Cotton? Why is such a thing"

"It smells kind of sweet"

Sozorogi and I looked at each other.

Green cotton with a sweet smell. There are not many that fit that description.

While everyone's attention was drawn over there, I discretely pressed the play button to watch the continuation of the video.

In the video, the once-alive Nejihiko shouted at his mother.

"I never......never would have wanted to be brought up by money earned from selling weed!"

□

Watanoya Confectionaries's sales had been on the downturn for many years, to the point where there were rumors about it going bankrupt. It was the biggest crisis the traditional business, which had been in business since the beginning of the Meiji era, had met. With product development and their sales ending up fruitless, it was thought that the time for them to close up had come. However, after a certain year, their family became wealthy once again.

This was discovered when Lilithea investigated them at a later date.

"To think that the Watanoya Confectionaries is involved in the trafficking of weed......"

Sozorogi let out a sigh while tying up the Watanoya couple.

"I sure loved their Black Sugar Okra Melon Cookie 'Poirot'" He lamented.

Seems like he was a closet Watanoya Confectionaries fan.

"Watanoya Confectionaries has fields both locally and overseas. I see that you used them to secretly grow weed, is that right, Kashihiko-san?"

When I asked again, Kashihiko-san nodded resignedly.

He had repeatedly used the fields locally and overseas to produce and ship dried weed. It was not on a scale where it was done because he was tempted by greed. He used his company to traffick weed in order to raise funds.

That was the family secret shared between Kashihiko-san and his wife, Wako-san.

It was found out in a later investigation that even their eldest son, Amahiko, and daughter, Miko, had no idea that their parents had been involved. However, only Nejihiko knew for some reason.

"Nejihiko......that child of mine said that we should stop, but I did not listen...... He said we should tell the public everything and atone for our sins......" Kashihiko-san said as he hung his head.

The second son of a wealthy family, a violent philanderer. I do not want to badmouth the dead, but, honestly, the impression I got of him from what I heard was not good. Even so, it is hasty to think that the man known as Nejihiko was a person who would approve of every evil deed in the world. He brooded over and was troubled, in his own way, by his parents' crimes and tried to ascertain them even if it meant giving up his stable lifestyle.

"But doing that would bring an end to our entire household! Our entire family no doubt, our relatives’ subsidiaries that partnered with us, and the livelihoods of our many employees as well! I could not turn back at this point......"

"That was why he had to be killed? That was why both of you falsely testified for each of your alibis to cover the incident up, even after you found out that your wife had killed Nejihiko-san?"

Wako-san was not in the room when Nejihiko's murder took place. Miko-san did not realize as she was taking a bath, but Kashihiko-san was the only person who knew. However, he lied, saying his wife was in the room with him.

As expected, testimonies from family members are null and void.

"It was because that child was a blockhead," Someone said in a chilling voice.

It was Wako-san. She had sunk to the floor and was staring blankly at the dark sea far into the distance.

"He was a disobedient child to the very end. If he could not listen to his parent's words......then did I have any other choice besides killing him?" She said monotonously.

Amahiko and Miko were terrified by their mother's mood.

Judging from her attitude, I do not think that Wako-san killed her son mercilessly. The act this time is an accidental one through and through. She flew into a rage, gave in to the temptation, and did it accidentally, on impulse. It, of course, cannot be dismissed with—

I did not press Kashihiko-san about how he got the idea for weed trafficking and how he knew about the trafficking route. Perhaps it was through a criminal group or a bad "friend" overseas who convinced him. 

In any case, pressing him about it is not my job. I am also not the one punishing him.

"With that, the case is solved, I guess"

Leaning my back on the railing, I see the Watanoya couple off as they got brought away from the deck into the ship. I tried to touch my right arm nonchalantly. The pain was still there. I might have dislocated it when I pulled Yuriu up.

"Well done"

When I realized it, Lilithea was standing on my right.

"Good work. I got saved by your impeccable support, Lilithea"

When I tried imitating the movements of a dart throw with my uninjured arm, Lilithea fidgeted, slightly embarrassed.

"Our mutual understanding is perfect even without any explanation. Aren't we the strongest pair? And with this, the game is finished!"

"Don't say such lame things, Sakuya"

How curt.

The clown balloon had become completely deflated by now. The large amounts of dried weed hidden inside it will probably be meticulously brought away and strictly managed.

"They sure did something bold like boarding a cruise to traffick weed. And to think they would hide them inside the clown balloon"

On the contrary, that might have been the most optimal location which exploits the loophole in the logic of "There is no way such an eye-catching location would be chosen as a hiding spot".

"Well, it could not deceive the nose of a pet though"

"Watanoya Confectionaries was most likely involved in the cruise project from the very start"

"Then the circus was as well?"

"I do not know whether the members were, but the person-in-charge (owner) was most likely a conspirator"

"Adults suree are scary"

In the end, the clown had an ulterior motive in their mind, just like the impression I had of them.

About Yuriu, she was trying her best to console Miko, who was sobbing. I watched over their interactions from afar for a while. I saw Miko smile all of a sudden. I could not hear what clever joke Yuriu told her from here though.

When Miko stopped crying, Yuriu put Lulu on her shoulder and walked up to Lilithea and I.

"We did it huh, Master"

"Nice work, Yuriu-chan"

There seems to no longer be any worry that Lulu would run away and, although it was a coincidence, the hidden weed was discovered as well. 

"Ehehe. The incident wrapped up without me understanding much though"

"I apologize for getting you caught up in this. I extend my apologies on behalf of Sakuya-sama"

Lilithea's polite bow troubled Yuriu.

"No, no. ......By the way, master, who is this beauty?"

Come to think of it, this is the two's first meeting.

"Ahh, she is Lilithea. My assistant and......"

"By the way Sakuya-sama, what is this master matter about?"

Lilithea lifted her head and looked at me with chilling eyes.

"I have not been told about this though? Just what sort of entertainment were you immersed in for you to have a girl call you master? I have not been told though"

"I-I missed the chance to say"

When I averted my eyes, she said, "What a dummy", in a low voice that no one in the world could hear—except me.

Oh boy, I made her sulk.

"By the way, just asking, but at which stage did Master realize that Wako-san was the culprit? And you rushed to my side because you knew that all of a sudden right? Yuriuuu! Don't dieeee! Please don't go to the other worlddd, or so you said"

Yuriu acted out her skit with a dreamy look on her face. Of course, I have never shouted those lines, and that is a fact.

"I reached that conclusion after several pieces aligned, but the decisive one was the dying message that Nejihiko left behind, I guess"

"That M? How did you know it was Wako-san from that?"

Yuriu had a puzzled look on her face. I took out my phone from my pocket and showed it to her as I turned it a hundred and eighty degrees.

"That letter was flipped in the first place. Come to think of it, I should have realized that possibility sooner"

"Upside...... M......M......Emu2......Mueee"

"When you flip M, you get?"

"Ah! I see! W!"

"Right. When I first saw it, I mistook the letter left on the screen as the traces to unlock the smartphone lock. It was discussed later that it had another meaning, but the biasedness I had, from the start, made me forget about considering the possibility that Nejihiko wrote that letter while holding his phone upside down"

"I see! If those were traces for unlocking the smartphone lock, then the smartphone would obviously be in the right orientation......"

"Yeap. When he took his phone out of his pocket to write anything at all on it, he did not think about the orientation. He did not have the time to think"

After all, he was being hanged and was about to suffocate.

"When we turn the M into a W, only a single person fits the bill—Wako (WAKO)-san" I explained, but there was a slightly different way to interpret it. It was the possibility that W was Watanoya (WATANOYA).

Nejihiko might have left the letter W with the intention of making the Watanoya family, that involved themselves with trafficking weed, the culprit. This is only what I had imagined, of course.

"Did you not realize it initially, Lilithea?" I whispered in her ear.

Lilithea nodded slightly. But the words that came out of her mouth after that surpassed my expectations.

"I realized that as well"

"That as well?"

"Regarding your deduction that you mistook the orientation so the W became an M, I thought of it like this. Perhaps, from the very beginning, Sir Nejihiko already thought about it, in his own way, and left the dying message such that, regardless of how it was interpreted, W and M would lead to the culprit"

"By regardless of how it was interpreted....."

"M is the M for Mother (Mother3)"

"Ah!"

"This is merely my interpretation. Now that it has come to this, both are possible interpretations"

I am, once again, in awe of my assistant's perceptiveness. And it seems like Yuriu felt the same.

"So that was the case. I am moved! I see that Master is really a real detective!" She said, moved.

"A real detective......huh"

It is true that I seem like a full-fledged detective for involving myself in a murder incident on board a cruise. I would say that it was a remarkable performance for me, a half-baked detective lacking determination.

But—.

"This is merely a single night's fluke. It would not usually go like this"

I am still half-baked starting tomorrow.

"Well, that said, it has been successfully resolved, so anything will do. With that, I can finally relax. I am tired"

"Sakuya-sama. You are forgetting that you still have an important job"

I was already in the mood to finish up, but Lilithea pushed the harsh reality in my face.

"......Ah"

I then recalled the request I had completely forgotten about.

"Katsuragi's infidelity investigation! I had completely forgotten about it......"

"Eh? Katsuragi's infidelity?"

Shocked, Yuriu pressed her hand against her lips.

Damn, I accidentally leaked the details of the investigation.

However, Yuriu gave me a sidelong glance, as I was lamenting my blunder, and let out a radiant smile.

"I seeee! Kekekek! It is alright then! Katsuragi cheating!? Aha! There is absolutely no such thing! None, none!"

"Why?"

"Because Katsuragi feels like the definition of a workaholic"

"Well, you cannot tell what people would do behind someone else's back though......"

"Shall I show you the video evidence then?"

"Video evidence? Do you have something like that? Where?"

"Here!"

The object that Yuriu thrust proudly into the air was the Go Camera which played an important role earlier. She operated it with finesse and selected the video recording.

"Actually, I did get a glimpse at the start of the video earlier. Take a look"

Katsuragi was shown on the screen when I did as I was told. The location was most likely his own room. It was taken from Lulu's point of view, an angle that was close to the floor. Katsuragi was kneeling on the floor, trying to look at the camera.

"What in the world is Katsuragi doing......?"

His room was in a bizarre state. If I had to describe what I saw literally: there were countless cats—British Shorthair, Scottish Fold, Maine Coon, Munchkin, American Shorthair, Persia, and Russian Blue—in his room. And, in a state where he was close to nude as he only had his underwear on, Katsuragi had an ecstatic expression on his face as the cats clung onto him.

"Don't tell me......Is this person an extreme cat fanatic?"

Unsavory sounds leaked out from his mouth whenever a cat's sandy tongue licked his upper body.

"I see that he is a pervert......"

Lilithea and I met eyes.

So these were inside the large suitcases that Katsuragi brought to this ship.

"I heard this from Katsuragi-san before I went to look for Lulu-chan, but Katsuragi-san seems to be a closet cat maniac. But it seems like his wife does not understand this part of him at all" Yuriu recalled as she spoke.

"He did say that he secretly rented a mansion for his cats recently. Being that considerate usually, he was eager to at least be able to use the project this time to play with his cats to his heart's content. But, I wonder, why is he naked?"

"Then his infidelity partners are......cats?" Lilithea and I said at the same time.

Love comes in many forms—huh.

"I don't quite know what you two are talking about, but both of you suree are in sync huh" Yuriu said as she gave us a warm gaze.

"I am at a loss about whether I should report this as infidelity, but in any case, we figured out Katsuragi's secret so this request has also been successfully completed"

All that is left is to enjoy the remaining cruise trip to the fullest, then present this video evidence to Katsuragi's wife and collect the payment after we return to Japan.

This is the best.

I did a stretch while feeling a satisfying weariness set in.

"So much happened today and I sure am tired...... It is already this late, so I should return to my room and sleep....."

I look up at the night sky while I am at it.

I then noticed that there was a burning passenger plane in the sky.

"..................Eh?"

It was a passenger plane. No doubt about it. Definitely one.

Enveloped in flames, the passenger plane was crashing towards Queen Irie.

When did it appear? Where did it come from?

I had not caught up with the situation yet.

The shadow of that plane stood out in the night sky and looked hopelessly gigantic.

"Wha......in the......!"

Lilithea and Yuriu noticed my reaction and looked up at the sky.

The passenger plane stayed on its course and crashed into the bridge.

A rumble, so intense that it sounded like it came from something otherworldly, and a shock, so great that no one was left standing, reverberated across the ship causing us to collapse on the spot.

"Get down!"

"Eekkkkkk!"

I shielded Lilithea and Yuriu on the spur of the moment. The plane's right wing had snapped off due to the shock, zipped right over our heads like a boomerang, and disappeared into the night sea.

There was no time to turn back to follow its trajectory, however, as the passenger plane's body had snapped right in half and was burning furiously; It then caused a huge explosion.

Crimson flames that felt like they were spouted out from the depths of Hell spread higher and higher up the cruise.

"Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa!" A passenger shrieked from afar.

Long and excruciating shrieks. That was the sound that came from each window of the hundreds of rooms on the cruise. Within a moment, Queen Irie had been engulfed in a sea of agonizing cries.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky, and the ship's body tilted greatly causing many people to scream.

"Wha.......What is happening......What is that......? M-Master......"

Yuriu had sunk to the floor. She stared blankly at the tragedy before her.

"What is this situation......What is that......!"

That is what I want to ask. What is that?

That thing that crushed everything—the incident that was resolved after I experienced death, the tranquility I earned after experiencing my murder—and burnt them up.

That passenger plane is—.

"No way......right......Lilithea?"

"Saku......ya............ No......ahh......my goodness......that is!"

"......Why is that plane here!? Why did it crash here!"

I saw it while that plane was crashing towards this place; The Aircraft registration (Registration), marked on the plane's fuselage. There is no mistaking that it was that very hijacked passenger plane that was all over the news. The plane that Tatsuya Outsuki boarded to resolve the incident.

I took my coat off, threw it to the side, and dashed towards the inferno.

"Sakuya-sama! Do not do that! That is reckless! Sakuya!"

I shook Lilithea off and charged straight ahead. However, I was no more than ten meters in when the heat made breathing difficult.

"Hey......You are kidding, right? You are alright, right? You are immortal, right? For this little of an incident to......Right......!"

I desperately tried to protect my body from the heatwave as I edged closer to the plane. The closer I got, the more heartless of a reality I saw.

The passenger plane had been damaged beyond repair; It was disintegrating, hopelessly, bit by bit, and was burning ferociously.

Strewn around my feet was a cluster of a dozen arms of unfamiliar people, all burnt alive.

Countless ribbons, resembling those used for Christmas decorations, hung down from the gap in the broken fuselage straight ahead. When I took a closer look, I noticed that they were human guts. At this point, they painted an even clearer picture, much clearer than looking at the fire, that none of the passengers—no one at all—survived. Everyone was dead. The death that they could not escape from had caused them to lay sprawled on the ground indiscriminately.

"This is a lie right!? Dad!"

He is immortal; Undying. After all, this is the Tatsuya Outsuki, you know? That dad of mine, you know? Surely he is alright. He will pop out from under the debris and lightheartedly say, "Think I got a little suntanned", or something—.

"Ugh......!"

I slipped on a viscous mixture of oil and blood, fell, and slammed my shoulder against the floor.

My phone fell out of my pocket at that moment. The screen lit up all of a sudden.

"Ah......"

A message addressed to me had been sent to me. I picked up my smartphone with trembling hands. The sender was Tatsuya Outsuki. It was sent just two minutes ago.

—I leave the rest in your hands.

"What is this......This is not like you...... You are always like that......short on the explanation......selfish......always doing things out of nowhere!"

I had a feeling that the message was slightly longer, but I could not finish reading everything. After all, my smartphone had been fried due to the immense heat. My entire face hurt, as if it was being grilled. No, it had been scotched by the inferno and was starting to burn.

My hair and eyelashes smelt of char.

The floor tilted even further. Queen Irie had started to sink. Its hull let out otherworldly creaking noises as it began to crack.

I moved aside the mountain of wreckage one by one. The passenger plane's skin and frame were as hot as a hotplate, sizzling my hands whenever I grabbed them. The skin of my hands quickly melted and peeled off. This soon left me unable to open my hands. Even so, I squeezed out every ounce of strength from my entire body to look for survivors.

"What is the color of your brain?"

That voice felt like an ambush; It was low and cold, as if its owner was stepping directly on someone else's organs.

I breathe in the black smoke, vomiting the contents of my stomach as I raise my head. I then noticed a shadow on the other side of the inferno.

It stood there, calmly.

"Is it red? Is it blue? Is it grey?"

The heated air wavers, causing my vision to blur.

"Silence, huh? But, that is fine. No one has seen their own brain after all. The people who can answer instantly are organ traffickers" The person, standing on the other side of the inferno, said to me nonchalantly, as if it was idle banter while waiting for the traffic lights before the crossing.

Silence? Absolutely not!

I attempted to answer that person's question. It was because I had seen my own brain before. I do not know when, but I remember seeing it just before I was dead as my head was split in half. That was why I wanted to answer. However, my throat had long been ruined, burnt to a crisp by the inferno.

Strength seeped out from my body, my knees gave way, and I collapsed. The oxygen had finally stopped circulating to my brain.

"Would be nice if it was grey. Your brain that is. Just like Tatsuya Outsuki"

As my consciousness faded, I traced the shadow, standing on the other side of the fire, with my eyes. However, my vision was soon obstructed and I could no longer follow it. The inferno had evaporated by eyeballs and I could not see the very world itself.

With me unable to see nor say anything, my whole body was burnt to a crisp—and I died again.

Oh God, this is quite the ill-treatment, isn't it? This is too nonsensical. Did you perhaps, design not only my body, but my fate whimsically as well?

At this rate, the wills won't be enough no matter how many I prepare.

1 - Air and room, in this context, are the same phrase in Japanese (空気 [ku|u|ki])

2 - This is how M is read in Japanese

3 - Written Mother, in alphabet, read 母親 (ha|ha|o|ya) which is Mother in Japanese

--------

Feel free to comment/pm me if you find any mistakes. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.