(If only I were a little smarter… no, regretting won’t raise my IQ.)
I pulled myself together and began probing the mind of butler Hanzawa, targeting him specifically.
“By the way, you’re butler Hanzawa-san, right? Was there anything unusual about the lady’s condition?”
“No, nothing particularly unusual…”
[That woman probably never thought she’d be killed today! I feel so refreshed!]
(Instead of basking in satisfaction, give me some better hints!)
This is exactly it – if I don’t ask questions skillfully, they think about completely irrelevant things.
Butler Hanzawa was in high spirits after the crime, praising himself with thoughts like “I did so well.” I really hate this about culprits – it feels like being forced to listen to disgusting bragging about heroic deeds from a punk at nearby tables in family restaurants.
Though I felt discouraged, I decided to ask more pointed questions to get hints leading to evidence.
“I see, then could you tell me in detail about the situation when you entered the room…”
“Ah, yes, I heard a loud sound and thought [maybe someone fell?], so I went with the master and Hitomi ojou-sama to check, but the door was locked…”
[The time-delayed mechanism to knock over the vase worked perfectly! Actually, I hit her much earlier, jumped from the window to the tree outside, and used a trick I read in manga and novels to lock the window from outside!]
(Alibi work!? And locking from outside!?)
Apparently butler Hanzawa had read detective books at manga cafes and used bookstores, planning this locked room murder. From the atmosphere in his mind, he seems to have quite a grudge against Futsuka san. But manga and novels, huh…
(So it’s not such an original trick after all? But if he doesn’t think about the specific “trick details,” I’m in trouble…)
Just when I was troubled by the frustrating desire to say “be more specific,” butler Hanzawa was grinning in his mind.
[Now, if those dim-witted police notice “that thing,” my plan will be complete!]
(That thing? What’s “that thing”?)
As I wondered, a detective in the hallway called Inspector Gori in a panic.
“Inspector, we found this outside.”
“Hm? What did you find?”
The inspector went to the hallway to check. I decided to leave the room and see too.
The detective held a plastic bag containing transparent thread. It was less than thirty centimeters long with a loop tied at the end. It certainly looked suspicious – something that could definitely be used for some kind of trick.
“Where was this?” Inspector Gori asked.
The detective solemnly replied, “Yes, under the tree outside the crime scene.”
Then, apparently eavesdropping on this exchange, butler Hanzawa was shouting joyfully in his mind.
[Too slow! Looks like they finally found it! The fishing line I threw away!]
(Fishing line? What’s that?)
I tilted my head at the unfamiliar word. Well, looking at it, it’s probably a type of sturdy thread. No, more importantly──
(Why did he throw away this thread… and “finally found”?)
As if answering my question, the excited butler Hanzawa was laughing in his mind.
[Heh heh heh, if something like this is outside the window, someone will notice the classic locked room trick of “making a loop at the end, hooking it on something, pulling from outside to lock the door, creating a locked room, then escaping!” And then it becomes “the loud sound was from hastily knocking over the vase by the window while escaping through the window!” But! I set up a time-delay trick to knock over the vase! Therefore my alibi is perfect! The only one without an alibi becomes Ayashi! I’ll frame that brat who was in the garden for patricide!]
(Wh-what!?)
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
Apparently butler Hanzawa had intentionally dropped the evidence of the locked room trick – the fishing line or whatever – outside the window to frame Ayashi-kun.
[The detective was unnecessary, but calling the police immediately was the right choice! Arrest Ayashi with that evidence! Ichiwada! I’ll destroy your family!]
(Going so far as to call police to frame someone – he must really hold a grudge.)
I’m curious about the reason for his grudge, but… thanks to him explaining the trick from the beginning, even stupid me could finally understand the locked room trick he set up.
(I see, a crescent lock trick.)
First, he struck the victim, set up some mechanism to make the vase fall later, then hooked the loop at the end of the thread onto the downward-facing lock handle.
Then he climbed onto the tree, closed the window from outside, and slowly pulled to lock it. By continuing to pull, he could retrieve the thread. After that, he climbed down from the tree and returned to his workplace with an innocent face… that’s how it went.
(It certainly is classic – you could probably find tons of examples in detective manga and novels.)
The intentionally discarded thread was clearly evidence of the locked room. But because of the vase alibi trick, that evidence quickly turned into a trap for a false accusation.
(Ugh, how did he do the vase trick? Think about that!)
While I felt frustrated and annoyed, the detective was asking Inspector Gori for his judgment.
“What do you think? This looks like important evidence.”
“Hmm… Detective, what do you think of this?” Inspector Gori asked.
Knowing it was butler Hanzawa’s trap, I──
“Hmm, I don’t think it’s related to the case?”
I decided to pretend not to notice out of spite.
[H-hey!? Notice it, idiot! You’re a great detective, right!? You’re dismissing my masterpiece false accusation trick as “unrelated”!? How could fishing line in a locked room not be related!?]
(Ooh, he’s getting worked up. Heh heh heh.)
Looking into the room from the hallway, I could see the culprit desperately trying to appear calm but with sweat appearing on his forehead. I stuck out my tongue slightly, thinking “it’s just a cute high school girl’s mischievous heart.”
Ryosuke-san called out to the sweating butler Hanzawa.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
[Well, being suspected of having the culprit in the family would naturally make anyone feel sick.]
(Despite his attitude, this person is considerate of his companions…)
By the way, I heard later that Ryosuke-san donates the money he earns to child welfare facilities. He’s not greedy for money – he just seems to be a good person who doesn’t waste money and wants to use it for society’s benefit.
Meanwhile, Inspector Gori looked a bit unsatisfied as he returned the thread to the detective.
“It seems like it might be related somehow… well, it’s the great detective’s opinion, so let’s just collect it for now.”
“Ah, yes, I’ll send it to forensics.”
The police officer bowed and left. Butler Hanzawa, whose plan had been thwarted, was cursing in his mind with words like “idiot” and “lousy detective.” Well, the fact that I’m an idiot is true though.
Though he was agitated like that, perhaps tired from all the mental screaming, he regained his composure after a while.
[Haa haa… well, whatever. As long as I have an alibi, the fact that Ayashi is the prime suspect won’t change!]
(That’s right, isn’t it~)
Just as Butler Hanzawa said in his mind, the trick of “when the sound came from the room, everyone except Ayashi-kun was in the living room” remains a mystery. Unless we figure that out, Ayashi-kun will continue to be suspected.
(An alibi trick, huh… I wonder how he knocked over the vase)
As I was thinking about how to question him next to expose this, Inspector Gori approached me.
“Hey, great detective! We still haven’t identified the murder weapon, but do you have any leads?”
[The great detective Oba-kun probably already knows, so I’ll ask just to be sure!]
(Ah, well-meaning interference!)
Um, I’m still in the middle of reading minds about the alibi trick!?
Inspector Gori, trying to be considerate, brought up the topic of the murder weapon. This person often tries to assist me, but this time it backfired.
—
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