Chapter 11 Chapter Six

It took a full minute for his words to really seep through Kashiwagi's mind. "——It's impossible. When I met the two of you for the first time in Shinjuku, the boy declared his name as Masumi Onitou, and the girl also said that she was Kaoru Sasayama. Do you mean I lied? Why? , why should I tell such a lie?" "At that time, those two were entangled by gangsters, right? The gangster picked up the student ID cards of the two, noticed the rare surname 'Ghost', and threatened: 'What is the relationship with Guitou Xianyi? If Onitou Senichi is related, we can’t just let you go like this.” At this time, in order to protect his lover, the boy stood up and reported the name Onitou Masumi himself, and asked his lover to report his name. Masumi and Kaoru These two names happen to be used by both men and women. Fortunately, the hooligans only know that Kitou Senichi has a child, but they don’t know the gender of the child. Therefore, in Xiaoshan Kaoru, he claimed to be Kitosenichi’s son. At that time, those hooligans didn't think it was strange."

Kashiwagi's mind replayed what happened at that time like a scene from a movie. When the boy said "I am Masumi Onitou. I am the son of Senichi Onitou", the girl looked at the boy in surprise.It turned out that he was surprised that the boy reported his own name? "However, it's okay to declare your lover's name to protect your lover, so why didn't you tell me the truth after I chased away those hooligans?" "Probably because the girl has been looked down upon as the daughter of Kito Senichi so far. Whether it's to people who live nearby, or to students of the same grade and the other's parents, or to the criminal police, if you tell me If you don't know the truth, maybe you will treat each other with the same cold eyes as those people. At least Kaoru Xiaoshan thinks so. So he still continues to call himself his lover's name in front of you. After the girl noticed the boy's thoughtfulness, It also matches his self-reported boy's name."

"So that's it, that makes sense..." "After you chased away those hooligans, you called a taxi to send Onitou Masumi and Sasayama Kaoru back to their respective homes, but of course the 'home' here is not their real home. After the two got off at the 'home' After that, they should each go back to their own homes." "Indeed, I didn't see the two of them enter the house from beginning to end..." "After the girl got off the taxi at the front gate of Xiaoshan's house, she thanked you and said 'thank you' to the boy, right? I can understand that thank you, but why should I thank the boy? That is Because the boy declared her name in front of the hooligans for her, and she thanked him for this."

The Chamber of Secrets collector looked at Kashiwagi's face and smiled. "From your retelling, there is actually another place where we can know that the boy is Kaoru Sasayama and the girl is Masumi Onito." "Anything else? For example, which point?" "For example, Kikuko Sasayama said, 'Although at this age it is generally difficult to tell my aunt about my troubles, but Kaoru will not do that' that's right." "Any questions?" "If Kaoru Sasayama is a girl, it would be strange to say, 'It's hard to talk to my aunt at this age. It should be easier to tell my mother about my thoughts with an aunt who is closer in age. However, if Kaoru is a boy, this sentence can be understood. It should not be an aunt of the opposite sex who is easy to talk to with a puberty boy But Uncle?"

"Indeed it is..." "Also, according to what you heard from Detective Eto, Kitosen was violent against Masumi, but if Masumi was a teenager, his tall stature should be able to fight back and stop his father's violence. The reason why he can't is because Because Masumi is a girl." Indeed.Kashiwagi could no longer refute.He walked towards the duty room with heavy steps, and replied to the inspector who wrote the information on the opposite side of the table: "Do you know about the murder of a young girl the day before yesterday?" "Yes." After the inspector replied, Kashiwagi asked what their names were.

"If I remember correctly, the boy's name is Kaoru Sasayama, and the girl's name is Onitou Masumi." "Thank you for remembering. You are a role model for the inspectors, and you will definitely become an excellent criminal policeman in the future." "Thank you for the compliment!" Said the inspector with bright eyes.Kashiwagi walked out of the duty room with his shoulders slumped. how so.The Chamber Collector's reasoning was correct.But why didn't I notice that I was making a mistake? Kashiwagi rearranged his memory and noticed several accidental overlaps.

After the bodies of the two were found in the reception room of Xiaoshan's house, Kashiwagi and his colleagues searched the house together. At that time, it was colleagues who searched Kaoru's room on the second floor, while Kashiwagi was in charge of the search on the first floor. When talking to Detective Eto who searched the headquarters, Kashiwagi always referred to boys and girls by their first names, and never used pronouns such as "he" and "she①" that can distinguish gender.Therefore, Kashiwagi and Eto have opposite understandings of the two characters named Kaoru Shinoyama and Masumi Onitou.

① "He (かれ)" and "She (かのじょ)" in Japanese are pronounced differently and can be distinguished verbally. When Hisako Shinoyama and Kitosenichi visited the remains of their child at the hospital, if Kashiwagi was there at the time, they would have discovered that Hisako was not visiting a girl but a boy's corpse, and Kitosenichi was not visiting a boy but a girl's corpse Bar?But Kashiwagi was in the waiting room at the time. Hisako Xiaoshan contradicted Guitouxian: "Your child seduced my child, right?" If he had said "Your girl seduced my son, right", Kashiwagi would have noticed his misunderstanding Alright.However, the other party used expressions such as "your child" and "my child" that make sense for both men and women, so he didn't realize his misunderstanding.

Several accidental intertwining made Kashiwagi never notice his fault.Having said that, shouldn't it be the most basic requirement for a criminal police officer to correctly grasp the name of the victim? Even if it's just a coincidence, it would be a big gaffe to get the face and name wrong. The Chamber of Secrets Collector looked at Kashiwagi sympathetically, and continued: "Speaking of which, the mystery of the secret room is easily solved. Previously, we all thought that the time for Kaoru Xiaoshan to go home was two o'clock. In that case, the time when your colleagues were in place to monitor and put Xiaoshan's house in the state of the secret room was half past two , so the possible time of committing the crime was before 2:30. However, Kaoru called Chrysanthemum at 3:00, so at least he was alive at that time. I heard that Kaoru survived for ten minutes after being stabbed, but even assuming He was stabbed when he called at three o'clock, and the stabbing time would not go back to before two fifty. However, since two thirty, Xiaoshan's house has been in a secret room state, which means that the prisoner cannot kill Kaoru. Since there are only traces of you, the discoverer, and your colleagues around Sasayama's house, the possibility that the criminal lurked until the body was found at 2:30 and slipped out of Sasayama's house was also denied.

"However, if Kaoru's home time is actually 3:25, the result will be different. In that case, Kaoru called Chrysanthemum from other places when she was stabbed. It was also in a place other than Xiaoshan's house. There was no problem at all. Speaking of which, according to Kikuko's testimony, after Kaoru called at three o'clock, she was very disturbed by the content of the call, and tried to call back to Xiaoshan's house, but Kaoru never heard. Answer the phone, right? In fact, it’s not that he didn’t answer, but that Kaoru was not there at all—because the place where Kaoru called Kikuko was not at Sasayama’s house. The victim was still alive for a short time after being injured by the prisoner, and personally Go into the secret room and die, so that people feel that the prisoner can't kill the victim.——The above case is called "internal bleeding secret room". Kaoru Sasayama's death belongs to this case. Just know that the time Kaoru returns home is 3:20 Fifteen minutes, we will know immediately that he died of this kind of case. But because I have always misunderstood that Kaoru went home at two o'clock, the establishment of the secret room after two thirty and the call to Chrysanthemum at three o'clock Two facts negate the possibility of a secret room of internal bleeding. On the other hand, we have always believed that Masumi Onitou came to the Shinoyama house at 3:25. It is impossible to kill her at Xiaoshan's house. But since she died instantly, it is impossible for her to be stabbed outside and then killed after arriving at Xiaoshan's house. In summary, the criminal will not be able to kill Masumi. However, since Masumi arrived at Xiaoshan's house The actual time is two o'clock, so the result is different. The time when Xiaoshan's house is in the closed room is after two thirty, and the back door can be entered and exited at will before that. Therefore, the prisoner took Masumi between two o'clock and two thirty There is no problem with killing. The victim was actually killed before the establishment of the Chamber of Secrets, but because we misunderstood that she was killed after the establishment of the Chamber of Secrets, it led to the illusion that the prisoner could not kill the victim—this case It's called 'time difference chamber'. The death of Onitou Masumi belongs to this case. She was actually killed before 2:30 when Sasayama's house was in the state of the chamber, but because we mistook her for 3:2 It took fifteen minutes to arrive at Xiaoshan’s house, which led to the situation where the prisoner couldn’t kill the victim.”

Kashiwagi listened to him blankly.Because he regarded Onitou Masumi as Kaoru Shinoyama, the secret room murder was established. "Previously we thought that Onitou Masumi left school at 1:20, and she was missing until she showed up at Xiaoshan's house at 3:25. In fact, after she arrived at Xiaoshan's house at 2:00 Killed shortly thereafter. From the very beginning, no trace of her past two o'clock existed at all. "On the other hand, I originally thought that Kaoru Shinoyama left school at 1:20 and returned home at 2:00, but in fact he returned home at 3:25. In other words, from 1:20 From 10:00 to 3:25, it is not Masumi Onitou but Kaoru Sasayama who has a free time. So, what did Kaoru do during this free time? Probably to buy a travel bag for elopement or something I searched the headquarters and thought it was Masumi who had a spare time, so I speculated that she bought a travel bag at a nearby backpack shop, and asked each clerk about her photo, but there was no result. Of course, the one who bought the travel bag The bit is Kaoru. "By the way, when Detective Eto mentioned taking photos of Masumi to inquire about, Kashiwagi thought the detectives were taking photos of teenagers, but in fact they used photos of girls. When the clerk said that he had never seen the photos, Kashiwagi said I thought the boy didn't buy a travel bag, but in fact he did. Because of Kashiwagi's misunderstanding, the photo used for inquiry was used as a photo of the girl, which in turn made it impossible to get eyewitness testimony. "So, who is the prisoner who killed Masumi and Kaoru Shinoyama? The first clues I got to identify the prisoner were still Yu and the phone." "how you said that?" "The place where Kaoru Xiaoshan made the call at three o'clock happened to be raining just now, while it started to rain at Xiaoshan's house on the other side at ten past three. It took ten minutes. Because it was 3:25 when the boy returned to Xiaoshan's house, it means that it took him only 25 minutes to reach the distance that Rain Cloud traveled in ten minutes. It is possible. Then we can speculate that he came back by car from the place where he made the call to the vicinity of Xiaoshan’s house. As a high school student, it is certainly impossible to have a driver’s license. It is hard to imagine that he drove back by himself. Then, you can It is presumed that he took a taxi back. Considering that he bought travel bags and other goods for elopement, it should be right to take a taxi back instead of walking back. It took ten minutes for Kaoru Xiaoshan to die from the stabbing, so he was probably about to He was stabbed in the car when he arrived at the destination, or when he got out of the car. In that case, the person who stabbed him would also be the taxi driver. And judging from the fact that the murder weapon is the same, the one who stabbed Masumi to death was also The driver." "Just pretend that it was the taxi driver who killed the two. However, there are hundreds of taxi drivers in Tokyo alone. How do you know that one is the criminal? Of course, if the alibi of hundreds of drivers is investigated, it is true. It is possible to find the culprit, but there is no doubt that you did not. How did you identify the driver as the culprit?" "It's true that there are hundreds of taxi drivers in Tokyo alone. However, under certain conditions, there is only one person." "Some kind of condition?" "I heard that yesterday morning, Guitou's family received a phone call from a man who claimed to be a reporter from a newspaper. "Did your child write anything down before he died?" Is this the sentence? As the police speculated, it should be It was the prisoner who made the phone call. However, what is strange about that is why the prisoner only called the Onitou’s house and not the Xiaoshan’s. What can be imagined here is that the prisoner already knew that Kaoru Xiaoshan hadn’t written anything down. Therefore, there is no need for him to call Sasayama's house and ask, "Did your child write anything before he died?" Then, the prisoner knew that Kaoru Sasayama did not write anything, but why didn't he know that Masumi Onitou did not write anything? Something? Probably, although the prisoner can confirm that Kaoru Sasayama was killed, he cannot confirm that Masumi Onitu was killed. But this is a bit strange. From the reasoning so far, it is easy for the prisoner to confirm that it was Masumi Onitou who was killed, not Masumi Onitou. Kaoru Sasayama was right. After all, when the prisoner killed Masumi at Sasayama's house, he could confirm his life and death without fear of being discovered. On the other hand, the criminal stabbed Kaoru inside or outside the car, and the boy walked into the car to escape the prisoner. The Shinoyama House, so the prisoner couldn’t confirm Kaoru’s death. It’s clearly true, but why the prisoner could confirm Kaoru’s death but not Masumi’s—what do you think?” "——Prisoner, did you mistake the identities of Kaoru Sasayama and Masumi Onitou?" The secret room collector nodded: "You are right. The prisoner also got the names of the two wrong. The boy who escaped from the prisoner and entered Xiaoshan's house without confirming his death, he always thought it was Masumi Onito. That's why he called I went to the ghost's house and asked." "But, am I the only one who confused the names of the two?" "No, it's not just you. The reason why you confuse the names of the two is because after you rescued the two who were entangled by hooligans in Shinjuku two months ago, in the taxi before sending them home, The boy reported Masumi Onito himself, and the girl reported Kaoru Sasayama by herself. And you were not the only one who heard this. Of course, the driver sitting in the driver's seat also heard it. He misunderstood just like you. So, the driver at the time was the prisoner." "Ah, so it turns out..." "Okay, let's sort out what happened that day. Onitou Masumi couldn't bear his father's violence, so he complained to Kaoru Shinoyama at school. The boy made up his mind to elope with her, and told her that he would buy elopement kits after school. I asked her to wait at my house and gave the key to the girl. Since the day before yesterday, Kaoru Shinoyama’s mother lived in the house of a friend from the girl’s school, so the opportunity was right. The reason why she separated from the girl was because she was worried about the two. It is easy to attract attention when a high school student buys a travel bag. Onitou Masumi entered Sasayama’s house at two o’clock in the afternoon after school. Kaoru Sasayama bought a travel bag for elopement at a backpack shop near the school after school. Bao. At the same time, the taxi driver who is a prisoner sneaked into the empty house next to Sasayama's house." "Is he in the empty house next door?" Kashiwagi suddenly realized: "Could it be that the supplier of smuggled cigarettes who was originally scheduled to conduct underground transactions in the vacant house next door was the driver?" "That's right, he is the one who provided the smuggled cigarettes. When you took a taxi to take Masumi Onitou and Kaoru Xiaoshan home two months ago, he found an empty house next to Xiaoshan's house, so he spotted it It was the best place to trade smuggled cigarettes. Then, when the driver was carrying the boxes of smuggled cigarettes from the back door into the empty house, Masumi, the ghost who was in the boy's room on the second floor of the Sasayama's house, jumped over the wall and witnessed her. I'm afraid she even killed herself. I don't know what I saw. However, the driver who saw her from the window on the second floor of the Sasayama house was suddenly overwhelmed by his own suspicions, so he entered the Sasayama house through the back door to find someone. The girl who appeared on the other side of the entrance must have been trembling Right. Although it was due to her uneasy state of being alone in someone else's house, the driver mistook it for her own cigarette smuggling and was seen through, so he sneaked into Xiaoshan's house and stabbed the girl with the dagger used for body protection to kill her. The driver There were no fingerprints on the dagger because she was wearing white gloves. The fact that the girl was in Xiaoshan’s house should have strengthened the driver’s misunderstanding that she was Kaoru Sasayama. The driver pulled out the dagger and fled through the back door. Recycled smuggled Cigarette box. After all, if the family comes back and finds the girl’s body, the police will definitely rush over. At that time, there will be commotion in the area, and the trading partner will not be able to get the box of smuggled cigarettes. It was before 2:30, you His colleagues had not yet joined the surveillance, so the driver was not taken for questioning. By the way, the dagger must have been hidden in the trunk of the taxi. Afterwards, the driver returned to his work. Another On the other hand, after Kaoru Shinoyama bought a travel bag for elopement at a backpack shop near the school, he called the public phone at three o'clock to bid farewell to his aunt. Because he had too much luggage, the boy called a taxi. And the car The taxi happened to be the driver's car. After getting in the car, the boy told him to go to Xiaoshan's house. Although the driver didn't want to go to Xiaoshan's house because of the boy's body, but since the guest said that he wanted to go, he had no choice but to start the car. . "About reaching home, Kaoru Sasayama stopped the car at the corner of the road. Probably because he thought that if he parked the taxi in front of his house, he would be easily seen by the neighbors nearby, so he must have noticed their elopement. The boy was about to receive his release. When I was packing the suitcase, I found smuggled cigarettes and a bloody dagger hidden in the suitcase. Kaoru Xiaoshan didn’t know that the dagger was the murder weapon used to assassinate the girl. However, the driver stabbed the dagger in order to kill the girl. To the boy. After all, it is a high-end residential street, there are almost no pedestrians passing by, and there is no need to worry that his crime will be witnessed. The boy reflexively held the dagger stabbed in the chest, although the handle was stained Fingerprints, but of course the boy couldn't pull them out. The boy hurried back home desperately with a dagger in his chest. The travel bag was still in the suitcase. The driver planned to catch up, but he noticed the surveillance of Xiaoshan's house. You, who had no choice but to run away.” "Why didn't Kaoru Xiaoshan ask the nearby neighbors for help? The scene is a residential street. If you shout loudly, someone will definitely notice it." "No, he doesn't want others to notice. If he is noticed, the boy will be taken to the hospital immediately, making his elopement plan with the girl go to waste. After that, the girl will be taken back to her home and tortured The father is more violent. Even if he wants to go to the hospital, he has to wait until he meets the girl and discusses the future countermeasures. For this reason, he must go to the girl first no matter what. The boy endured the severe pain and desperately Walking back home. The dagger stuck in his chest acted as a bolt, so he didn’t bleed much. Besides, he was wearing a coat and holding an umbrella, so you didn’t find the dagger stuck in his chest.” A boy walking in the rain appeared in Kashiwagi's mind.At that time, the boy was enduring severe pain, only thinking about returning to his lover and moving forward. "However, what the boy who returned home saw was a girl beyond recognition. With his last strength, the boy hugged his lover tightly until he stopped breathing..."