Chapter 20 End - July 17, 11:50 p.m.

The heavy rain outside the house was still pouring down, showing no signs of abating.On the contrary, the sound of beating on the roof of Liuying Pavilion became louder, which really made people worry about when the rain would stop.Although Qianhe didn't say anything, he secretly groaned in his heart.If this rain falls for the last year, no, the next ten years, will they stay here forever?This vague uneasiness is getting stronger and stronger.Hirado said the day before yesterday that the body cannot be controlled. As he said, I felt that even my heart was beating faster and faster with the never-ending sound of rain, so fast that I couldn't breathe.

I have already received a notice that there will be a reception at twelve o'clock in the middle of the night to calm everyone down—this is Hirado's idea again.After seeing the scene in the underground cave, everyone was in a bad mood; after learning the heinous true face of Sasebo, everyone was even more depressed.Since someone proposed to use alcohol to suppress the panic, no one objected, and the matter of the reception was settled in this way.If you don't drink a little wine at this time, you will be very frantic, and everyone knows that.Only drinking can relieve the trauma in my heart, and only holding a reception can comfort Jimei's spirit in heaven.

After I changed my clothes in the room, I went to the lounge hall to see that Omura was looking into the kitchen with his back turned to me.Wine and wine glasses were already placed on the table in the hall, and the news of the rain was still playing on the TV, and the glass ceiling was even more pitch black, and nothing could be seen. "What are you looking at?" I couldn't help asking. "I'm looking for Matsuura-kun." He replied without turning his head. "Ten minutes ago, she said that she would prepare food and drinks for us, but she disappeared in a blink of an eye."

"Omura, you can prepare for her." Hirado, who was sitting at the table, poured wine into his glass and said to Omura.He has impatiently picked up the wine glass.I was worried that the eavesdropping conversation at the door of Hotaruza had been discovered, so I carefully tested their reaction, but Hirado and Shimabara didn't show any expression that they knew I had eavesdropped. I didn't dare to stare at them all the time, I just felt guilty for a while. "It's easy to handle. Since Hirado-kun has been waiting impatiently, I'll just grab a few." Omura happily agreed, and walked to the kitchen without saying a word.

It seems that he cares more about the fact that the murderer has escaped than exposing Sasebo's true face. "Maybe Matsuura-kun went to the toilet?" "Don't worry, I'll have a drink first." "Wait a minute, it's still ten minutes before twelve o'clock." Shimabara gently dissuaded Hirado while opening the bottle cap. "I wish Kyoko Komatsu rest in peace," Hirado said. "Forget it." Shimabara turned around and said with a gloomy face, "Testing me with such words won't work at all." Hirado smiled awkwardly, stood up, went to Shimabara's side and patted him on the shoulder twice, and said: "You are amazing, I admire you very much. To be honest, the person I admire is really Not many." After finishing speaking, Hirado walked around behind Shimabara with a glass of wine in hand.

"Where are you going?" "Go to the toilet and call Matsuura-kun back by the way." As soon as the words fell, Hirado had already turned the corner and disappeared at the end of the corridor.Although he hadn't drunk the wine in his glass yet, he seemed to be staggering, as if he couldn't walk.Maybe he's exhausted these days. "I always feel that Hirado-kun is too tired." I said to Shimabara. But he replied disapprovingly: "It can't be helped, who made him the leader? If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't know who to listen to." "Then you have to listen to Omura-kun?" We all laughed at the same time.

At this time, a hoarse cry suddenly came from behind, like the call of the ancient Neanderthals in the wilderness.Shimabara immediately stood up, and Omura, who was busy in the kitchen, poked his head out in a panic and looked in our direction. "...It seems to be Hirado-kun's voice, right?" "It seems to be calling us over." When we listened carefully, it turned out that he was not screaming, but shouting: "Come here quickly!" The three of us hurried to the toilet.There are three men's urinals in the toilet, a toilet on the opposite side, and two sinks next to the door.We went in and saw that Hirado was bending over and squatting in front of the sink, and Chizuru was lying on his back on the ground with Hirado's head in his arms.Chizuru's limbs shrugged feebly, and she seemed to have lost consciousness.

"What's the matter?" "I don't know. As soon as I opened the door, I found Matsuura-kun lying unconscious in front of the sink. It seems that he must have been attacked." Hirado raised Chizuru's arm and took her pulse. "It doesn't seem to be a big deal," he said. There was a faint line of blood on the lace of Qianhe's shirt cuff, but no wound could be found on her wrist. "Maybe you're injured, take off Matsuura-kun's clothes quickly." Shimahara said while reaching for Chizuru's neckline. "Hey, stop!" I couldn't help reaching out to stop Shimabara, "From the outside, there is no wound at all."

"What are you talking about?!" Shimabara glared at me angrily. "If there was an injury on the body, the blood would have seeped into the clothes." I said. "In such a critical situation, we can't make a conclusion prematurely." Shimabara retorted mercilessly, not caring about my face as a senior. I couldn't help but take a step back. "Hey, you two are arguing, shut up! I don't think Matsuura-kun has been hurt." Hirado stopped our quarrel and came up with his own conclusions.Chizuru's head was still resting on his lap. "Even Hirado-kun said that! Where is the evidence?" Shimabara asked Hirado in disappointment.

I think he is also worried about Chizuru, right?This feeling is understandable. "It seems to have some kind of smell... Smell it, it's like the smell of some kind of medicine." Hirado said. Upon hearing this, Shimabara put his nose close to Chizuru's mouth, frowned and took a few deep breaths. "Really. Maybe it's the narcotics?" "I think it's chloroform, right? It's the kind found in the horizontal hole with the big bed in the ground." At this moment, Qianhe groaned softly.Her eyes remain closed, and she does not appear to have regained consciousness.

"Hey, you must hold on!" Hirado leaned close to Qianzuru's ear, encouraged her loudly, and at the same time patted her on the cheek lightly. This method actually worked. Chizuru slowly opened his eyes and said vaguely, "... Hirado-kun?" "Are you okay, Matsuura-kun?" Hirado called softly like a prince waiting for the princess to wake up. "Huh? What's going on here... What's the matter with me?" Qianhe asked with eyes wide open as if waking up from a dream. "I should have asked you what the hell was going on. You passed out here when I went to the bathroom." At this time, Qianhe came back to his senses.She hurriedly stood up from the ground, looked around a few times and said, "Just now when I opened the door, a white mass suddenly covered my mouth tightly from behind... I fell into a coma at that time." .” It seemed that Qianhe hadn't fully come to his senses yet, and just gave a rough outline of what happened intermittently.From her words, it can be known that someone hid behind the toilet door in advance, and when Qianhe pushed the door to come in, the other party rushed out from behind, covered Qianhe's mouth with a towel stained with chloroform, and made her lose consciousness.As for who did it, Qianhe himself didn't know. Due to being frightened, Qianhe woke up trembling non-stop, and after explaining the incident to everyone, she gradually regained her composure. Seeing that she was fine, Hirado asked with concern, "Quickly check the things on your body to see if there is anything missing." "Is something missing?" Qianhe turned around and checked carefully and replied, "Nothing is missing, I didn't bring anything with me." "Where's the key?" Shimabara, who was standing aside, asked. "The key? Oh, it's also on my body." Qianzuru took out the key from his pocket and showed it to everyone. "For the time being, I don't know what the other party's purpose is, but there must be some trouble waiting for us. I have an ominous premonition." Shimabara said calmly. "But, who did this? Didn't it mean that the murderer had fallen into the river? Could it be that she climbed up the bank again and came back here secretly?" Omura suddenly made a big turn, revealing Said with an even more frightened expression than Chizuru.Perhaps in his mind, the loosened string was suddenly tightened again. "It's possible." Hirado replied absent-mindedly.In fact, in his heart, who did this matter may have been very clear for a long time, but he just doesn't want to reveal these details for the time being.He picked up the wine glass that had just been placed in front of the sink mirror, poured the wine into his mouth in one breath, and solemnly announced: "Unfortunately, the reception can only be postponed. Matsuura-kun should go back to his room to rest for a while." "Let me take Matsuura-kun back, it's dangerous to go alone." Chizuru was gathering strength to walk slowly, Shimahara stepped forward to support her. "I can walk by myself." Qianhe stubbornly shook off the opponent's arm, but the effect of the chloroform had not completely passed, so she staggered a few steps and leaned against the wall. "Look, let's say you still can't do it." Shimahara forcibly held Chizuru's waist from behind, and for a moment, the expression on his face froze. "... Matsuura-kun, it's time for you to take a good rest." His voice suddenly became very cold, completely different from before, and his tone became non-negotiable. "But……" "Do you want to be attacked again?" Shimabara said in an almost threatening tone. Chizuru had no choice but to remain silent.With the help of the two, they limped slowly out of the toilet. "Hey, Matsuura-kun, don't forget to take your glasses!" Hirado grabbed Chizuru's glasses that had dropped under the sink, and handed them to her after a few steps. But it was Shimabara who reached out to take it, and he said, "Look! Forgot about it?" Then he put the glasses on for Chizuru. "I don't need you to help me wear glasses, do I?" Chizuru muttered, leaning on Shimabara's body, and staggered forward. Hirado watched their backs leave with a smile on his face, and said, "What is the purpose of knocking Matsuura-kun unconscious? Now, we have one less person." "I thought I heard someone taking a bath here just now." Hearing what Omura said, everyone couldn't help but glance at the bathroom at the same time.Sure enough, there was a faint sound of running water rushing to the ground—it came from the bathroom that had no secret passage entrance and was closer to the lounge. "I remembered, he did say that he was going to take a shower just now." I said, and at the same time looked at the bathroom with a stiff expression, approached the dressing room tremblingly, and pushed open the door. "Hello—" Hirado yelled, but there was no reply. "Maybe it's because the water is on, so you can't hear it?" I said. But Hirado ignored it at all, and then shouted a few more times: "Hey-hey-" No one answered, not even a sound was heard. "Maybe he has escaped..." Hirado muttered in a low voice, and then shouted at us: "Come in with me!" He walked quickly into the dressing room and pushed open the door of the bathroom.Suddenly, a thick steam rushed towards the dressing room, mixed with the smell of medicine, and rushed straight into our brains.A stench filled the air with the steam, which was very similar to the smell on Chizuru's face just now.However, this time, the smell of iron was mixed into the smell. Hirado's body froze suddenly.His hand that pushed the door was stiff, and he stood motionless at the door without making any sound.I glanced behind him and saw that the bathtub was red, it was stained red with blood.The water in the nozzle is still pouring into the bathtub, diluting the thick blood, overflowing the bathtub, and continuously flowing into the ground along the small drainage holes.A mass of gauze washed down by the water flow was still blocking the drain hole, and at the same time, a blood-soaked dagger fell from the side of the bathtub—the dagger stuck in the wax figure's chest lay quietly on the ground. Looking further in, in the misty bathtub, a pale corpse that lost its blood color was submerged in the water. There was a cut wound on the wrist, and the water in the tank did not reach the shoulder of the corpse.The body was sitting in the water with its back to us. "It's gone, the pulse has stopped." Hirado recovered from the stiffness, walked quickly to the bathtub, touched the artery on the corpse's neck with his hand, and shook his head blankly.Then, he bent down and picked up the ball of gauze, and sniffed it vigorously. "Chloroform again, the legacy of 'George'." "...is it suicide?" I asked. Hirado nodded slowly while turning off the nozzle.The noise of the water flow disappeared in an instant, and only the sound of continuous rain from a distance could be heard. "In order not to let himself die too painfully, he cut his own artery and sucked out the blood vigorously. It seems that he is very determined to die!" Hirado turned his head calmly, looked at me and said, "... ...Blame me for not telling everyone in time, Sasebo, no, 'George's' accomplice is actually him. Maybe he was standing at Hotaru's door and overheard the conversation between Shimabara and me. It seems that he realized that he has no escape , just committed suicide... But the strange thing is, why did he attack Matsuura-kun in the end?" "Perhaps he wanted to die quietly by himself without being disturbed?" I said. "It also makes sense. It seems that he entered the underground cave, fetched chloroform, and then exited through the tunnel entrance of the changing room. He happened to see Matsuura-kun approaching, so he hurriedly hid in the toilet. Only when he was in a coma can he commit suicide calmly. Maybe the whole process is like this? It seems that after his scandal was exposed, he felt ashamed to live any longer. This guy is really shameless, and only his courage at the moment of death is worthy of praise. " "What's going on? Isn't the murderer a woman named Wenzhi?" Omura, the only one who was still confused about the ins and outs, stared at Hirado with a surprised expression and asked. But Hirado ignored it, and continued, "Omura, he was the one who attacked you. Fortunately, this guy is not a murderer. If it were Sasebo, he would definitely kill us all without hesitation." Hirado's gaze was full of contempt.I think, maybe the leader of the Achilles Club is in a very complicated state of mind at this time? "It seems that all of this is over..." Standing in the steamy bathroom, standing in front of the bathtub with the sound of rain, Hirado quietly stared at the corpse that had already lost its color. Isahaya's body.