Kirigiri Novel Book 4

Chapter 3- Part 3 Twins Ability Development Institute - Kirigiri Kyōko

Hoshī finally stood up and left the room with Tsutsumi. The five people met in the front hall.

"What the hell is going on?" Tsutsumi pressed Kirigiri. "We can still think of a possibility on Room R's side because we got knocked out, but there is absolutely no way here. Nagate-san and Hachisuka-san have been together. They have an alibi, and of course they didn't faint. No matter what, the murderer shouldn't have been able to break into Room L!"

"True."

Kirigiri said lightly. "That's right..."

Tsutsumi suddenly lost his momentum and became speechless.

"Sure enough, it was Ashvins who registered their fingerprint in the padlocks as the master key in advance. I've decided to believe this explanation." Nagate raised his hands like a surrender. "Everything was prearranged. They called us here to frame us, and they were the one who drugged the coffee. That's right, the murderer is Ashvins!"

"Hold up." Hachisuka raised his hand to stop him. "If they have the master key, they should also be able to open the doors of Room R easily, wouldn't that make it unnecessary to specifically knock out Tsutsumi-san and Hoshī-san?"

"Well, that... could it be that they were unconscious not to unlock the doors, but to temporarily stop surveillance? If the murder was carried out under surveillance, it would've been very likely that they would be caught immediately. To kill the two twin brothers, the murderer came up with a foolproof plan so that they wouldn't be interrupted in the middle of it—"

"Assuming that Ashvins is the murderer, why did they purposely get us here before killing the twins...?" Tsutsumi murmured and organized his words. "It's as if they wanted us to see the murders happen, which is too strange. Wouldn't it make more sense to kill someone secretly and then find a place to bury them in the mountains..."

"This means the logic of a lunatic has nothing to do with reason of ordinary people."

Nagate concluded so.

He seems to have thought that the mysterious person Ashvins is the murderer.

"About this Ashvins." Kirigiri said. "Has anyone met them directly? Did you communicate with them through documents or emails and the like?"

"Y-yeah... it's true that none of us have ever met Ashvins or heard their voice."

Tsutsumi replied.

"Nagate-san said just now, the letter you received was black, right? Was that the same with others?"

"It was pure black!" Hoshī said. "Although I thought the letter was weird, I was very short on money... Twin research would also allow me to learn something and thought it was perfect so I came all the way here..."

"That's their usual tactic." Kirigiri said, holding her arms. "Their?"

"Crime Victims' Relief Committee, a criminal organization with strong financial and organizational power. They instigate those who have a desire for revenge to commit murder, design the killing process into the form of a game, and offer it as an entertainment program."

"Baha, what the hell? Is this whatever whatever committee belonging to some kind of urban legend... or a conspiracy theory."

Nagate laughed from his nose and said.

"It's no wonder that you don't believe it, you can think so at first if you want." Kirigiri's countered without an expression change. "But don't forget, the fact of the matter now is that two people have already been killed."

"Then the person who claims to be Ashvins is a member of that criminal organization. They created the locked room to give the murders a game-like nature?"

Hachisuka said, stroking the stubble on his chin.

"It's a bit different. Ashvins is not a member of the organization, but a challenger in the game. They were also thrown into the game by the organization. And in that aspect, they are the same as us. The difference is that they were given the role of the 'murderer'. What the organization has prepared is this location and the killing technique, the challenger has to use these to complete the killing and escape the detective within a week to be considered a victory, that's the rules of the game."

"Uh-huh, I see... So it's like... this locked room is the murderer's 'exam'."

"H-hey, Hachisuka-san, you believe what she is saying?" Tsutsumi asked in surprise.

"Whether we believe it or not, we have never considered the problem from this perspective. Her statement is sufficient to explain the current absurd situation, so I accept it."

"I- I agree." Hoshī said, raising her hand. "It's hard to imagine that the absurd and ridiculous thing she just said is something she made up off the top of her head. This little girl may have experienced this kind of game in the past and dealt with the same incident several times before, correct?"

Kirigiri nodded slightly.

"It's so easy for you guys to believe in others. What if we think of it like this? This little girl is Ashvins." Nagate said with one finger to Kirigiri. "I don't know if the thing about that criminal organization is true or not, but in any case, if you consider her as Ashvins, it makes sense in every aspect. Apart from the four of us who received the letters, no one else knew that the twins research was going on here, but somehow an outsider like her was able to sneak in. and she looks like she knows the inside story. Who else could do this kind of thing besides the host, Ashvins, who invited us here?"

"Hmm... indeed..."

Tsutsumi secretly glanced at Kirigiri' expression. However, she was unmoved.

Is she really a detective?

If she isn't a detective, then what is she?