The ringleader, police executive Hijikata, committed suicide. A suicide note was found, and handwriting analysis confirmed it was definitely written by Hijikata himself.
However, there’s no one more attached to honor and his own life than that guy. It’s only natural to think he was murdered.
Funds are still flowing from multiple companies and disappearing… that ridiculous plan is still alive.
If he was killed, then by whom? Who is the mastermind? Someone I don’t know…? I should be able to get a lead from that lawyer Arima from before.
一Perhaps I’m tired – I find myself sleeping at my desk more often.
This morning, creepily enough, the PC screen was filled with the character “復讐” (revenge) written all over it. The memo papers also had “復讐” scribbled all across them.
Since it’s me, I can tell – it looks exactly like my handwriting when I’m writing in a hurry. Whether I was half-asleep or my subconscious desires were leaking out… either way, it’s creepy.
一Just in case, I’ll store this document case in the usual place.
一I won’t let any more people become unhappy because of crazy researchers and corrupt police executives pursuing their own selfish interests! It’s not just Kanako and Koyomi! There are tons of other unhappy people out there! Don’t underestimate the police who protect citizens!
“Naomi-san…”
The final scribble was filled with her kindness, and I couldn’t help but get a little teary-eyed.
And it’s clear that Naomi-san had been considerably exhausted recently.
“She was doing strange things while half-asleep… this doesn’t seem like much of a clue.”
While Naomi-san’s passion came through, both Koyomin and I felt disappointed by the underwhelming results regarding the mastermind.
As a somewhat heavy atmosphere settled over us, I forced a laugh.
“Ahaha, Naomi-san must have been really tired. Tired, tired… ah, maybe she was possessed by a fox or ghost or something? Just kidding.”
I made a silly pun to lighten the mood. However, Koyomin suddenly fell silent at that joke.
“Wh-what’s wrong? Was it that unfunny?”
“…Yes, that’s part of it.”
“It is, huh.”
But from her tone, it seems there’s another reason besides my joke falling flat.
“Well, it was certainly too silly… but talking about ghosts is unrealistic. Frankly speaking, it’s not good.”
Seeing Koyomin fall silent, I remember something.
“Ah… sorry, Koyomin doesn’t like that kind of talk, right?”
That’s right, despite her poker face, she’s extremely afraid of ghosts. Whether it’s movies or dramas, she immediately changes the channel if there’s even a hint of horror elements.
“Unscientific things are just… if it’s something I can deal with physically, I’m not scared, but curses and things like that are nonsense, really—”
My sister goes from silent to suddenly talkative. Hmm, she has her cute sides.
Her sharp tongue won’t stop as she tries to cover up her fear.
“This [thought entity] that Dr. Ataoka was researching is also dubious. Cybernetics would be more understandable. I read through the research materials, but it’s basically astral projection, isn’t it? It’s completely beyond my comprehension—”
“Astral projection—”
At that moment, I feel something connecting in my mind.
The unnatural behavior and changes around Naomi-san—
Research on thought entities—
Ugo-Honjou-sensei, who has no memory of us—
And “that day,” what was in her heart—
I moved closer to Koyomin and declared:
“Koyomin… I think I might have solved the mystery.”
“Huh, are you joking?”
“No, I’m serious.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously serious. Look at this, this.”
I point to one of the research documents for the half-believing Koyomin.
“…What about the thought entity research?”
“In other words, ghosts. So the culprit is a ghost, isn’t it?”
With such an outlandish idea, Koyomin becomes speechless with disbelief… or rather, she’s openly showing disgust. Well, it is occult talk that she hates.
“Even for Kanako, isn’t that idea too ridiculous? I’d sooner believe an Arsène-like phantom thief was in disguise.”
My dear sister certainly has things to say, but I excitedly explain my deduction and its credibility.
“It’s hard to believe at first, but when you think about it that way, too many things make sense.”
“…Let me hear it for now.”
“First, there’s Ugo-Honjou-sensei’s strange behavior. Before we knew it, she was captured. And she said [Nice to meet you] to us…”
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“When I read her mind, she really had no memory of us.”
I nodded vigorously.
“If I couldn’t read minds, I might have thought [she was lying to cover things up], but she really had no memory. When we first met, if her consciousness had been taken over by a ghost, that would make sense. Plus, there was something strange about that time.”
“Something strange?”
I tell her about hearing an unprecedented inner voice.
“Well, she was sleeping.”
“Sleeping?”
It might not make much sense, but this is the only way I can explain it.
I desperately try to convey the difficult-to-explain content to Koyomin.
“That’s right, I heard sleeping sounds like [Goo] or [Zzz], and I couldn’t hear her inner voice. I thought maybe she was tired from being dragged around by Naomi-san.”
I thought her brain was sleeping, but if she was possessed and her ego was taken away, that would make sense.
But it’s unrealistic… Koyomin, who doesn’t believe in occult things like ghosts, shakes her head in denial. Geez, she really hates ghosts!
“I see, if, hypothetically, in the unlikely event that she was possessed by a ghost and her consciousness was sealed, such sleeping inner voices wouldn’t be strange. But if she was being dragged around by Naomi-san, it wouldn’t be strange if her brain had a standard feature to turn off its functions.”
Koyomin wants to deny the occult. But she seems to sense possibility in the theory I’ve presented, so she continues:
“However, regarding multiple personalities, when one personality is controlling the body, the other is sometimes sleeping.”
“Ah, I’ve heard of that, Billy Mi… something?”
“Billy Milligan. The other one is a steakhouse.”
Koyomin sighs at my “usual food obsession” while telling me about Billy Milligan. He was a multiple personality sufferer troubled by many personalities, but the main personality was always in a box in his mind.
“So you’re saying Ugo-Honjou-sensei, possessed by a ghost—oops, thought entity—became a temporary multiple personality?”
“That possibility can’t be denied. Honestly, it’s hard to believe.”
The ghost-hating girl looks down at her desk, but I continue further.
“If it’s a thought entity, then Hijikata Koshizou’s suicide case could also be explained by this, right? I think he died by poisoning.”
I can’t immediately think of how it was done, but I have a feeling it’s somehow possible.
Koyomin, the brain of Oba Detective Agency, nods “Indeed” and begins deducing in my place.
“If it’s hypothetically a thought entity, first it would take over Hijikata’s main personality, steal poison from evidence or seized items, and return home. Mix the poison into wine at home, write a suicide note and hide it somewhere hard to find…”
“I see, and then?”
“Please think a little more yourself… Then later, it would transfer from Hijikata’s body to someone else.”
Having been told that much, even I can somewhat understand.
“Ah, so the unknowing Hijikata drinks the poisoned wine after returning home and dies. If a suicide note is discovered during a house search, it would basically be judged as suicide… right? The fact that poison was deliberately mixed into the wine bottle also makes sense.”
“The suicide note being in his handwriting also makes sense this way, because he himself wrote it.”
Having talked that far, I remember Naomi-san’s notes.
“Wait a minute, then the [unknown writing in my own handwriting] mentioned in Naomi-san’s memo means…”
Naomi-san was also possessed… is that it? Even without saying it out loud, Koyomin reads my intention.
“Probably. For some purpose, it temporarily took away Naomi-san’s personality. But who is this thought entity?”
Koyomin, still skeptical of the thought entity theory as unscientific, tilts her head.
(That’s right, but…)
I’m the only one who can point to a possible person.
“Maybe it’s this person?”
I pointed to Dr. Ataoka listed in the document.
Looking at the photo of that cunning-faced researcher, Koyomin makes a dubious expression.
“No, he’s dead, isn’t he… unless?”
“Right, the theory that he long ago abandoned his physical body and became a thought entity.”
Koyomin frowns, thinking it’s ridiculous. I’m happy to see various expressions from Koyomin today.
“Such an unscientific thing…”
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