Kirigiri Novel Book 4

Chapter 4- Part 3. Kareobana Academy - Salvador Yadorigi Fukurō

Columbo handed the black letterhead to Yadorigi.

Yadorigi read the seemingly hard-to-read text silently, struggling to understand the meaning.

"To all of you in the Mystery Study Group, the activity room you are now using was originally owned by the Black Magic Study Group and should be returned. The Black Magic Study Group hereby announces that it will try to retake the activity room. We are ready to take action at any time, but we will still strive for a peaceful solution to the issue first. With the utmost compassion, we will give you some time to consider. Please assemble at the following location within 6 hours, 6 minutes and 6 seconds from the receipt of this document, where we wish to have a final meeting with you."

"Who was the first to find the letter?"

"It was me." Tōru raised his hand. "I saw this letter on the table when I went to the study group's activity room to get a book. Because the letter asked us to gather, I contacted the manager first."

"That was around 9 PM." Columbo continued. "After that, I tried every means possible, gathered all my wisdom, and got in touch with the members of the Black Magic Study Group, but only four people came. Although there were only five members of the Black Magic Study Group."

"I... live in the university dorms... as soon as the manager called, I rushed over."

Ellery said, hiding behind the umbrella.

"The student dormitory is right next to the university." Tōru explained. "It's divided into a girls' dormitory and a boys' dormitory. Ellery lives in the girls' dormitory and I live in the boys'. I ran out of books to read, so I went to the activity room in the university to check out books that others had put there, and that's when I found this letter."

"Was the university still open at 9 PM?"

"Everyone can come and go as they please from 6 AM to around 11 PM. Other than that, you have to show your student ID to the guard to go in."

"Other than students, can other people come and go as well?"

"Yeah, as long as you don't dress up in a particularly strange way, you won't be stopped."

It's also possible that someone from outside put the letter there. But that person needed to know where the activity room of the Mystery Study Group is.

"When Tōru contacted me, Columbo and I were playing Mājan at a Mājan parlor near the university," said Kōsuke. "I was having perfect luck at that time, but I had no choice but to put down my tiles and gather in the activity room."

"And after that?"

"The four of us got in a taxi together. The fare was quite expensive, but fortunately Ellery paid for it."

"I have plenty of pocket money... but I can only go to the beauty salon three times a week with it..."

Ellery said downcastly.

"I think we arrived around 1 AM?" Kōsuke said.

"Yes, that's right." Tōru replied. "It took about 4 hours from the time the letter was found until everyone gathered here, so it shouldn't have taken longer than the prescribed time. I didn't

expect this to happen..." "How did you find the body?"

"When we got here, the gym was already like that. She was dead, and looked like she had just been killed."

"It was already like that when you arrived?"

"Yeah, that's correct." Columbo said. "After we arrived at this abandoned academy, we first stayed in the yard for a while waiting for the girls from the Black Magic Group, but there was no sign of them at all. So, we wondered if they had already arrived and started to look around in the academy. In the process, we quickly found the gym, but couldn't open the door at first, so we gave up. We looked around more but had little success... Only the gym door was locked and couldn't be opened. So we turned back and forced the door open, then saw it."