Killed Again, Mr. Detective Volume 1 Case 3 Chapter 2 part 2

Volume 1

Case 3: ?????????

Chapter 2 You Mustn't Pull My Skirt (Part 2)

TLed by: TanoshiKara

There was a man standing in front of me.

"Whoa!" I shouted reflexively.

The man was reading a book by one of the windows.

"Good evening," The man, probably noticing me, greeted me in a slightly carefree and gentle voice.

"......Good evening," I replied while trying to prevent him from catching on to the fact that I was taken aback.

It was the first time I had seen him. He looked older than me, but I could not accurately grasp his age due to the dimly lit corridor.

"I am Kyuu Kanashino from room 901. A troublesome night, huh"

He was one of the few guests staying on the top floor. He was tall and slim, but he was the same height as me, as he was hunchbacked.

"Troublesome, you say?"

"Troublesome because I planned to check out today, but I am stuck here due to the heavy rain, you know"

"Ahh. Erm, I am Sakuya Outsuki. You have had it tough. But what are you doing in a place like this?"

"As you can see, I am reading a book. You know, under the moonlight"

"I see"

"You have the 'Under the moonlight? In this weather?' expression"

It seems like I had let it show on my face even though I was trying not to.

The man calling himself Kanashino looked out of the window as the rain droplets trickled down it.

"You know, the moonlight always shines down from the sky, no matter what kind of night it is, regardless of whether there is a storm or if it is cloudy. The moon is always above the rain clouds after all"

Seems like he has quite a unique view.

"What were you reading?"

I got slightly interested in what such a unique person was reading.

He shook his head shyly after he heard my question.

"It is not something that should be introduced to someone"

"No, no, don't be like that"

"......Really? In that case," Kanashino said before passing me his favorite book.

"Let's see. Errm......'Between Themselves ~He who Cultivates and Proliferates His Right Hand and Turns Them Into a Beauty. The Gentleman who Hugs Himself~'......"

Truly something that shouldn't be introduced to someone. Quite the niche erotic novel.

"Ah, it's the wrong book! This one, this one!"

He hurriedly snatched the book from my hand and swiftly handed me another one.

"I thought so! You surprised me. This book is......Three Little Pigs? A picture book"

This is surprising in itself.

"Yes. Picture books are quite deep. You realize quite a few things when reading them after you have become an adult," He said fervently, his face crimson.

"So you were reading a story about pigs in the middle of reading Between Themselves, He who Cultivates and Proliferates His Right Hand or something, huh"

"P-Please don't say thatt! Still, both of them are famous works!"

He's seriously freaking out. What an amusing person.

"So you say, but what are you doing at a time like this?"

"Night patrol. Thought there might be a wolf"

"Wolf?"

"It's a private matter. I'm investigating a little something. Ah, I am a detective"

"Detective! For real? That is something I would very much like to hear about! I am a manga artist and I am thinking about drawing one with a mystery genre next!"

"Manga artist! First time seeing one! You're amazing. Then is Kyuu Kanashino your pen name? Whoaaa! I may look like this, but I read quite a lot of Manga. Has any company serialized your works?"

"I am a small web manga artist who no one knows about. Also, I don't upload regularly......my mangas don't sell. Haha"

He bent his back even further.

Seems like I've triggered a complex of his.

"Ehhhh, but you're amazing. I don't have any artistic talent after all. So you were staying in this hotel because of an upcoming deadline and were so-called forced into a small hotel room, perhaps?"

"No. I came to stay because I heard about Kowloons Hotel from rumors online. It seems like this hotel has a strange atmosphere that is unthinkable for one in Japan. In other words, the curiosity of being able to see something scary, but my artistic inspiration has been stoked thanks to this"

First with Toriho and again with Kanashino, it seems like this hotel is overflowing with a kind of charm that draws in creators.

"I am thinking of going about conceptualizing my new work when I return to my room later. If I am being locked in, then I might as well make good use of my time"

Meeting a manga artist for the first time had me pumped, so I talked with Kanashino for quite a while after that.

We started by discussing our favorite mangas. New topics were then brought up one after another, and it had long passed midnight by the time I realized.

How do I put it...our interests are exactly the same.

However, I still had the lower floors to patrol, and taking too long to return to my room would make Lilithea worry, so there was no way I could continue talking like this.

"I must go"

"You're leaving already, huh, Sakkun"

"It pains me to do so, though"

I thought to advise him not to walk around in the middle of the night as a wolf might appear, but I stopped myself. It did not involve him as he was not involved in the movie, so I had no right to restrict his movement.

"Well then, good night......"

"Ahh—come to think of it"

"Eh?"

Kanashino suddenly called out to me when I was about to leave.

"Well, you were saying something about an investigation just now, right? I won't ask you too much, but was there an incident?"

"Errrm"

I was hesitant about whether I should tell him.

"Ahh, it's fine. It was just that I asked quite a bit about the hotel's history yesterday, and heard an interesting tale from the owner"

"......From Chou-san?"

"Yes. I thought that this tale might help with your investigation"

"What is the tale about?"

"It's a tale about the past. Seems like twenty years ago—there was a murder incident in this very hotel"

A strong gust of wind caused drops of rain to pelt against the glass window before they broke up into smaller droplets.

"A murder incident? That I didn't know"

"One night, a family staying here at the time got murdered one after another. Rumors say that their heads were bitten off"

What a miserable and brutal tale.

"It might have been an old tale, but it's impressive that you could make that Chou-san talk about a murder incident that occurred in his hotel"

"That is, you know, I do interview people of different occupations occasionally as a manga artist, so I'm quite good at befriending other people"

Is that how it works?, or so I thought, impressed.

Come to think of it, I did become quite close with him before I had even realized it.

"I say that, but I only managed to ask him up until that point. He didn't tell me anything else after that"

"A shame," Kanashino said as he shrugged.

"An incident twenty years ago......huh" 

I don't think it's related to the threat letter, but I should remember this just in case.

"And one other thing. It's something that's unrelated though, is that okay?"

"Of course"

"This Kowloons Hotel has a weird structure, right? Can't say that it's nice even as a compliment, and it's inconvenient in many ways"

"Well, that's true"

"The building itself is old, and there was such a gruesome incident in the past. Even so, it's able to continue operating as a long-standing hotel. Also, I don't know whether it was planned, but it was built on terrain that could easily withstand heavy rains, so it kinda feels like it's blessed, no? That was what I wanted to say"

"......Blessed? You sound vague all of a sudden. Are you talking about the occult stuff?"

"Please don't look at me with such doubtful eyes. But, well, it's occult......I guess? In my opinion, this hotel seems to have been built while taking Feng Shui into heavy consideration"

"By Feng Shui, you mean that Chinese fortunetelling stuff about directions? So fortune was a concern"

"Yeah. I did some research on that too, as part of an interview last time. I guess they call it the 'Four Taoist Gods' Ideal Topology?' This hotel places four guardian deities in the four cardinal directions to ward off evil"

"Four Taoist Gods"

I've heard of them before. It is the school of thought linking Genbu, Suzaku, Seiryuu, and Byakko to the North, South, East, and West, respectively.

"You know, that dragon sculpture is one of them. Among the four Taoist Gods, it likely represents Seiryuu"

That means the taxidermized tiger at the western wing has that sort of meaning as well, huh.

"The incident twenty years ago might have been a trigger for him to be concerned about fortunes. You know, there's the thing in the atrium, right? Seems like that is not good for the Feng Shui, so he might be using something else to make up for it"

"So you're saying that this is Chou-san's way of being concerned about the past?"

"It might be. This is where I asked Just think of this as small talk

"I'll do that. Thanks"

Parting with Kanashino, the manga artist, I went down the stairs and continued my patrol floor by floor.

"Kowloons Hotel......the incident twenty years ago......huh"

While going down the stairs, I tried using my phone to look up the old incident I had heard about. An incident like that did turn up when I searched.

[Little Kowloons Family Murder Incident]

The victim was a family who stayed in the hotel, and four people were killed.

I said stay, but they seem to have lived here for several months, and their rent was relatively cheap. The owner at that time might have provided the room to the family, who had no home to return to, out of the kindness of their heart.

And that family was then killed. Every single body looked like it was bitten to death by a beast with sharp fangs—or so the article wrote.

Not an article I should be reading alone at a time like this, when I am in a place like this.

"Ugh, I don’t like this, I don’t like this at all"

The only solace was that the culprit was arrested. However, I could not find other details like the culprit's motive.

"And so, twenty years passed, and it's a threat letter this time, huh......"

Bad things overlap in bad places; Don't know if this is because of the flow of Qi or the flow of people, but this hotel is filled with an atmosphere that something bad might happen.

I went down to the first floor while being cautious, but I could not find anything or anyone suspicious.

It's fine if this is the case. Way better than if something or someone were suspicious.

"Guess I should head back," I murmured, trying to relieve myself from the silence of the night as I walked back to the lobby from the western corridor on the first floor.

Just then—I stopped in my steps.

I had no choice but to stop. I stopped in front of the front counter with no one behind it.

Someone was standing in the pitch-black darkness. Their face was shadowy, and I could not see it from where I was.

"Who are you......?"

That person was half-naked and had an oddly-shaped weapon in his right hand.

And on top of the counter was—

A human head that was just severed.

"Urgh-!?"

My voice leaked as I could not hold it back.

It was clear that the head had just been placed on the counter by that mysterious person, just like how a guest would entrust a key or a coat to someone at the counter for safekeeping.

That face, that head, I remember it. It was Nakuji. That was the head of Jungo Nakuji, Yuriu's manager.

I could not feel any pain or sadness from that head. It had met its end without showing any expression.

The mysterious person standing in the darkness meticulously checked the width of the counter's sides. It seems like they were shifting Nakuji's head, wanting it to be at the center.

That odd meticulousness made me shudder.

After getting the position right, that person nodded, seemingly satisfied, before turning back to me once again.

In a split second, I was able to get a clear look at that person's face, and I shuddered once again.

That person's head was—a hound's.

There. They appeared. There they are. The Hound-Headed Bell Boy! I guess it's not just a name, but that their head is truly a hound's, huh.

"What is up......with you......! What are you doing to that head!"

I shouted, but that person ignored me and started running up to me.

Their teeth and tongue were peeking out from their half-opened mouth, and their eyes were pitch-black. There was nothing. Pitch-black. Nihility.

"Whoaaaaa!"

The hairs all around my body stood on end, and I reflexively ran towards the stairs.

I'm gonna be killed. Death has taken physical form and is approaching.

You've gotta be kidding me. I have neither the interest nor the courage to stand up to such a person head-on.

The sixth floor. I should head to the sixth floor if I'm running away. The filming crew is staying on that floor. Lilithea is there too, along with Yuriu.

The way there is a long one, but I should find a way to get there and seek help. It's alright. I'm way closer to the stairs. There's no need to worry about them catching up unless I trip over like they do in the horror movies.

As I worked out a plan in my head, I ran up the stairs three steps at a time without giving myself any time to catch my breath......or so I tried, but the Hound-Headed Bell Boy was already standing at the top of the stairs when I lifted my head.

"H-How could you be there......"

When did they overtake me?

"Don't tell me......you took a shortcut by running up the wall beside the stairs. Even though it's a three-meter-high shortcut......that sort of inhuman movement......"

What if they're not human?

"What's up with yooou!"

—That's why I'm telling you that I have a hound head, or so their silent head seemed to say as it looked at me.

It was then that I finally knew the weapon they were carrying. It was a willow-leaf saber. A Chinese saber with an oddly wide blade and a unique shape, it is often confused with the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, but my eyes would not be deceived.

But so what if my eyes are not deceived

Jumping high up into the air, Bell Boy attacked.

"Ugh......Kgh!"

I reflexively bent backwards.

The willow-leaf saber sliced through the thin air before my eyes—well, it did not.

Reality was not an action film; It seems like dodging an evil-doer's sword would not go as smoothly.

I was sliced from my left shoulder to my upper arm. The wound was deep. Even my bones were severed.

I took a kick head-on and was sent flying backwards. I tumbled down the stairs I had taken the effort to climb.

"Arg......Kg......*cough*......!"

I could not breathe. I could not talk. My vision was blurry, and the taste of blood spread throughout my mouth.

I managed to stand up somehow by hugging the wall.

Blood flowed out from my wound like a waterfall, and Bell Boy was swinging his sword whimsically as they went down the stairs one step at a time.

Trying to put some distance between us, I started moving through the lobby in a counterclockwise direction.

What's up with this person? What is with this abnormal physical prowess and close-combat skills?

Is it because we're in Little Kowloons? Wonder if it's like all of the characters in a Chinese movie being skilled in Kung Fu by default.

My legs shook. I could not catch my breath.

Bell Boy charged straight at me.

Oh man, I'm gonna get killed, huh, or so I thought.

Can't run, can't face them either. Then—I've got no choice but to do it. Thought I would much rather not get killed ever again though—.

"You......!"

I steeled myself and took a step forward.  

As I held onto hope in my heart, I went to get myself killed.

Don't you fade away now, my consciousness.

I thrust my hands forward and grabbed that person.

With a gushing sound, the edge of the willow-leaf saber was stabbed deep into my belly.

In a split second, the lower half of my body lost its strength. However, I had steeled myself for this.

Using both of my hands, I hugged Bell Boy with all my might, as if I was giving them a passionate embrace.

With them up close, I understood. This person was wearing a hound's head like it was a mask. In more accurate terms, they were wearing a taxidermized head of a wolf.

I saw the taxidermized heads of animals displayed on the walls of the corridors around the hotel, but I wonder if they stole one of them and used it as a disguise.

With my belly pierced, it would have been fine if I merely waited for my death, but I decided to make good use of my final moments.

"Why the hell......are you doing this......?" I tried asking that person.

Hey, just tell me. Why did you kill Nakuji? Ain't it fine? I'm about to die anyway.

"They say......that dead men tell no tales......right?"

"Don't sully......celestial maiden," That person then told me, in a low and muffled voice.

When I realized it, my body had already collapsed to the floor.

I looked up at the atrium as I lay on the floor.

Only the dragon was looking down at me as I lay there, motionless.

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