Chapter 24 Chapter Twenty-Four

Dear readers, should this story draw a happy ending here?Can Hitomi Hirosuke, played by Komita Gensaburo, indulge in the joy of this unique Panorama country until he is a hundred years old?No no no, there can be no such thing.Like most old stories, after the big climax, there is always a completely reversed tragic ending waiting, and Panorama Island is not immune. One day, Hirosuke Hitomi was suddenly hit by a burst of anxiety for no reason.This may be what the world calls the sorrow of the winner.It may be the fatigue brought by the continuous carnival, or it may be the fear of past sins in his heart, in any case, an uneasiness quietly invaded his sleepy dreams.In addition, the menacing aura from a man enveloped him from time to time, seeming to unknowingly enveloped the island in an atmosphere that could not be judged as good or bad. Perhaps this was the main reason for Kosuke's uneasiness.

"Hey, who is that guy standing by the pool in a daze? I don't remember seeing him." The first time Guangjie saw this man, he was standing by the hot spring pool in the garden, and he immediately asked the waiter poet. "Has the master forgotten him?" replied the poet. "He is a man of letters, like us. He was one of your second hires. I heard he was at the old house for a while, so you have never heard of him." There is no chance to see him, he may have just returned from today's ferry." "Oh, so. What's his name?" "His name is Kogoro Kitami."

"Kogoro Kitami? I don't have the slightest impression of this person." There is no such person in Guangsuke's memory. Does this imply some kind of omen?Since then, no matter where Kosuke goes, he can feel the following eyes of the writer named Kogoro Kitami.Among the flowers in the garden, on the other side of the hot spring steam, behind the cylinders in the land of machines, among the statues in the statue garden, and under the big trees in the forest, he felt that Kogoro Kitami was watching his every move at all times. One day, Hirosuke couldn't stand it anymore, and finally stopped the man behind the big pillar in the center of the island.

"Your name is Kitami Kogoro, right? No matter where I go, I can always see you, which makes me very uncomfortable and strange." The man who looked like a melancholy elementary school student was lazily leaning on the column, a slightly shy expression appeared on his pale cheeks, and he respectfully replied: "No, this is completely a coincidence, master." "Coincidence? Maybe. But what are you thinking about here?" "I'm thinking of an episode in a novel I once read. It was a novel that stuck with me." "Oh, a novel? By the way, you are a writer. So, who wrote the novel? The title is..."

"The owner probably doesn't know him. The writer is unknown, not to mention the novel has not been published at all. It is a short story called "The Story of RA" written by a person named Kosuke Hitomi." Today's Kosuke has been tempered by life into an indestructible body, this little surprise can't stir up any waves in his heart at all, even if he hears his name popping out of the other party's mouth, he can take it calmly.His expression didn't change and his heart didn't beat.Not only that, but he accidentally ran into a fan of his past works, and felt an inexplicable joy in his heart. His tone was full of nostalgia, and he said: "Hirosuke Hitomi, I know him. His novels are all They are fairy tales, let me tell you, he was my friend in school days. Although we are friends, we haven’t talked in depth. I haven’t read "The Story of RA", how did you get that manuscript?"

"So that's it. He is the master's friend. It's really surprising. "The Story of RA" was completed in 19XX. At that time, the master should have returned to T City, right?" "Yeah. The last time I saw him was two years ago, and I haven't contacted him since then. I only learned from the magazine advertisement that he writes novels for a living." "So, the master didn't know him very well when he was a student?" "Well, that's right, at most, it's just to say hello when we meet in the classroom." "Before I came here, I worked in the editorial department of K magazine in Tokyo. Because of my work, I came into contact with the works of Mr. Hitomi, and I was fortunate to read his manuscripts that could not be published. I feel that this "RA Story" It is a masterpiece, but the editor-in-chief felt that the description of the content was too pornographic, so it was not published in the magazine for a long time. The reason for this is also because Mr. Hitomi is an unknown writer who has just debuted."

"That would be such a pity. So, what is Hitomi Hirosuke doing now?" It took Hirosuke a lot of effort to hold back the words "I can let him come to the island".He has such full confidence in his own fake death, and now he has completely turned into Gensaburo Komoda. "It seems that the master doesn't know about it yet," Kitami Kogoro said with emotion, "he committed suicide last year." "Huh? Suicide?" "He committed suicide by jumping into the sea. Only by leaving a suicide note will the police judge it as suicide." "He must have run into some difficulty."

"It should be, although I don't know... Anyway, the master and Mr. Renjian look like a pair of twins. When I first came here, I was shocked and wondered why Mr. Renjian would hide Here? Of course, the master must also know that you look alike, right?" "Back then we were often teased by our classmates because of this, and God really loved making such exaggerated jokes." Hirosuke showed a candid smile, and Kitami Kogoro also smiled as if he could not help but laugh. On this day, the sky on the island seemed to be covered by a gray rain cloud, and it was the calm before the storm, not even a breeze.Despite this, the waves roared like wild animals, beating violently around the island, and the weather was extremely strange.

The towering large column is like a devil's ladder leading to the dark clouds above. It can't be seen in the surrounding area. At the base, it takes about five people to hug each other. Two small figures are talking about something.Kosuke usually sits on the lotus platform of a naked woman, or leads a few servants, but this day he came here abnormally alone, chatting with Kitami Kogoro, who is just a servant, for so long, it is rare, and it is indeed rare . "Master and Mr. Hitomi really look like they were carved out of the same mold. Speaking of similarity, there is another interesting thing." Kitami Kogoro's tone became more and more urgent.

"What's interesting?" Guangjie was very curious, and didn't want to leave just like that. "It's the novel "The Story of Ra" I mentioned just now. Has the master heard the outline of this novel from Mr. Hitomi?" "No, not at all. As I said just now, Hitomi and I just go to the same school. We are just classmates, and we have never had an in-depth conversation." "Really?" "You are really strange, why should I lie?" "But, do you really want to insist so firmly? You won't regret it then, will you?" Hearing Kitami's abnormal advice, Kosuke couldn't help feeling nervous.But why?At that moment, he seemed to have forgotten something that should be very clear, but at this moment he had no clue and couldn't remember it at all.

"What on earth are you trying to say..." Guangjie was in the middle of speaking, but suddenly fell silent.He vaguely understood something, his face turned pale suddenly, his breathing began to become short of breath, cold sweat broke out under his armpits. "Here, you understand more or less, you understand why I came to this island." "I don't understand what you're talking about, please stop talking crazy." Then Hirosuke laughed a few more times.It's just that the laughter is as empty as a ghost, and it seems weak. "If you still don't understand, why don't I explain it clearly." Kitami seemed to have abandoned the division of master and servant, "In "Ra's Story", there are several scenes that are exactly the same as the scenery on this island. For example You and Mr. Renjian look very much like each other, and the scene on the island is similar to the content described in the novel. If you have never read Mr. Renjian's novels, and have never heard of the content, how could such an extraordinary situation happen? An imaginary coincidence? If it is really just a coincidence, it is too similar. The creation of this Panorama Island would not have been possible without the same ideas and interests as the author of "The Story of RA". Even if you Wouldn’t it be too unreasonable for me to resemble Hitomi-san no matter how much he looks like him, even if he thinks exactly the same? That’s what I was thinking just now.” "So what?" Guangjie held his breath and looked at the other party. "Don't you understand? In other words, you are not Komoda Gensaburo at all, but Hirosuke Hirosuke. If you have read or heard "The Story of RA", at least you can justify that you imitated that novel to create this novel. Island. Unfortunately, you have blocked the only way of life with your own hands just now." Only then did Guangsuke realize that he had fallen into the trap set by the other party.Before starting this big project, he had re-read the novels he had written and confirmed that there were no works left that would become a disaster in the future, but he really didn't expect that the submissions that fell into the sea would actually slip through the net.He has even forgotten that he wrote "The Story of RA".As mentioned at the beginning of this story, most of the submissions are sent out without a follow-up, and he is a pathetic writer at best.But after Kitami reminded him, he remembered that he had indeed written such a novel.The creation of artificial scenery and scenes has been his dream for a long time. Part of the dream has been transformed into the text of the novel, and the other part has been transformed into the real thing that is exactly the same as the content of the novel. In this regard, it is not too surprising.His plan was conceived so carefully, but he didn't expect there to be omissions, and the flaw in the plan was actually a submission with no follow-up. He really regretted it. "Ah, it's over. Maybe I'm going to be exposed by this guy. Wait a minute, isn't the evidence in this guy's hand just a novel? It's too early to be discouraged at this time. Even if the scenery of this island and the scenes in the novel The description is similar, so it’s not evidence of a crime.” Hirosuke calmed down, and immediately recovered his calm attitude, “Hahaha...you are such a waste of effort. You say I am Hitomi Hirosuke? Okay, You can say that I am Hirosuke Hitomi, but I am indeed Gensaburo Komoda himself, so what can you do with me?" "No, if you think that's the only evidence I have, you're very mistaken. I have all the evidence, but I'm taking this roundabout way to get you to confess for yourself. I don't want to put You are handed over to the police because I admire your artistic talent from the bottom of my heart. Even if it is at the request of the Countess of Dongxiaolu, I don’t want a rare genius like you to be punished by secular laws.” "So you are the lackey sent by Dongxiaolu?" Hirosuke suddenly realized.The husband of Gensaburo's younger sister, Earl Higashikoji, is the only exception among Gensaburo's many relatives that cannot be settled by money.Kitami Kogoro must have been sent by Mrs. Higashikoji. "That's right. I came here at the request of Mrs. Dongxiaolu. Mrs. Dongxiaolu has almost no contact with her natal family. You must be surprised that she would monitor your actions?" "No, I was surprised that my sister would doubt me. It's ridiculous. But I'm sure she'll understand once we've had a thorough talk face to face." "Even if you say that, it's useless now. It is true that "The Story of RA" is an opportunity to make me doubt you, but I still have other more definite evidence in my hand. "Then, let me first listen to what evidence you are talking about." "For example……" "For example?" "For example, a hair sticking to this concrete wall." Kogoro Kitami said, pulling away the vines on the surface of the large cylinder, revealing a long hair like Udanka growing on the white surface. "You should understand what this means... Oh, this is not allowed. You see, my bullet will be fired before your finger pulls the trigger." Kitami said, stretching out his right hand, his hand Holding a shiny object.Kosuke's hands were in his pockets, unable to move like a sculpture. "I have been thinking about the hidden meaning of this hair before. And in this conversation with you, I finally learned the truth. I am sure that this hair did not fall here by accident, it must be related to something There is a fatal connection. If you don't believe it, why don't we make sure." As soon as Kogoro Kitami finished speaking, he took out a large pointed hammer from his pocket, and slammed it hard on the cylinder under his hair several times.After a while, a hole was smashed into the cement pillar in front of him, and bright red liquid gushed out along the hammer tip spring. The surface of the white cement looked like a bright peony flower blooming. "You don't need to dig it all out, but you can guess that there is a corpse hidden in this pillar. It's yours—no, it's Mrs. Komoda Genzaburo's corpse." Guangjie's face suddenly turned pale like a ghost, as if he would collapse on the ground at any moment.Kitami supported him with one hand, and continued in a steady voice: "Of course, I didn't deduce the truth from just a single hair. I just accidentally discovered that if Hirosuke wants to impersonate Koda Gensaburo, the biggest obstacle is undoubtedly Mrs. Koda. So, I have been observing the actions of you and your wife all the time Unexpectedly, Madam suddenly disappeared from our eyes one day. Even if you can hide it from others, you can’t hide it from me. I thought to myself, you must have killed Madam. Since you killed someone, there must be a place to hide the body. And like As a creative person like you, where would you choose to hide the body? Then again, maybe you have forgotten that the location of the body was hinted at in "The Story of RA". In that novel, the man RA, due to his unusual hobby , when building a large cement column, although there is no need to imitate the legend of ancient bridge-building, a woman was buried alive in the concrete column, which is called a human column (this is a novel, the protagonist can kill people at will). I thought to myself... Then I recalled On the date when my wife came to the island, I found that the construction was in progress to build the hoarding of this column and start pouring. This is indeed a safe and safe place to hide the corpse. You just need to look around and put the corpse Carry it on the scaffolding, throw it into the hoarding, and pour in two or three buckets of cement, and you're done. But, you probably never dreamed that a hair would flow out of the concrete wall. There are always unexpected loopholes when committing crimes. " Kosuke could no longer bluff, and collapsed to the ground, just in the area where Chiyo's blood flowed on the column.Kitami Kogoro looked at his miserable appearance with pity, and resolutely finished his thoughts: "You have to kill Madam. This just proves that you are not Gensaburo Komoda. Do you understand? Madam's body is one of the evidences I just mentioned. Of course, it's not only that. I also have another most critical piece of evidence .I think you should have guessed what it is, nothing else, it is the cemetery of the Bodhi Temple of the Komoda family. People witnessed the corpse disappear from the cemetery of the Komoda family, and then a living person exactly like Komoda appeared in another place, Therefore, everyone believes that Komada must have been resurrected. However, even if the body in the coffin is gone, it does not necessarily mean that the body was resurrected or disappeared, or it may have just been moved to another place. The so-called other places, then Isn't there a lot of coffins buried nearby? If the person who dug up the body wants to hide it elsewhere, there is no better place than the coffin next to it. This is really a wonderful magic. Next to the grave of Genzaburo Komoda is the grandfather of Genzaburo Because of your thoughtful arrangement, the bones of their grandparents and grandchildren are embracing each other, and they are peacefully sleeping together." When Kitami Kogoro said this, Hirosuke, who was originally depressed, suddenly jumped up and laughed strangely: "Hahaha... Thank you for finding out so clearly. You are right, absolutely right. To be honest, I don't need to bother a famous detective like you to appear. I'm almost done, it's just a matter of time. Just now I I was so shocked, I almost killed you, but think about it carefully, even if I do that, it can only prolong the current joy for another half a month or a month, otherwise what else can I do? I created all The art I want to create, the pioneering work I want to accomplish, I have no regrets. Simply restore your true colors and return to the original Hirosuke Hirosuke, and let you dispose of it. Frankly speaking, the only remaining wealth of the Komoda family is to maintain this kind of wealth. It's only about a month. But, you said just now that you don't want people like me to be easily punished by secular laws, what do you mean?" "Thank you, I am also satisfied to hear you say that... What do you mean by that sentence? I hope that you will accept the punishment decisively without resorting to the police. This is not the order of the Countess of Dongxiaolu, but the order of the same person My personal wish of the servant of art." "Thank you, and please accept my thanks. Then, can you please give me a little more free time? Just thirty minutes." "Of course there is no problem. There are hundreds of your servants on the island. If they know that you are a terrible murderer, they will not be able to continue to help you. Besides, you are not the kind of person who will gather accomplices and break your promise. Then, Where can I wait for you?" "The hot spring pool in the garden." After Hirosuke finished speaking, he immediately disappeared on the other side of the big cylinder.