Not a detective

Page 40

"You mean... the murderer isn't a monster?" Principal Komiya asked incredulously.

"To be precise, the culprit is not the Snow Woman."

Asakawa Riku clarified his own statement.

"What's the difference? Isn't the Yuki-onna a yokai too? How could someone who can freeze people like that be a normal human?"

"There are people with superpowers in this world. For example, I can chop wood with my bare hands, right? Some people may also be able to wield the power of ice like the Snow Woman. This may sound unbelievable, or even overturn your common sense, but since you believe in the existence of the Snow Woman, why not believe in some other things as well? Please think about it with this in mind."

In reality, Riku Asakawa's power wasn't a "superpower," but to make it easier for them to understand, he decided to use himself as an example to fool them.

Although the two men still looked somewhat skeptical, he continued:

"Let's assume there's a [prisoner A] who has the ability to freeze people into ice, and is lurking among us—"

"Wait!" The sentence was interrupted, and Mr. Matsuyama's eyes widened: "You mean there's a murderer among us? How is that possible!"

In his eyes, Principal Komiya was naturally trustworthy, Asakawa Riku was also his student, and Yukie was an innocent shrine maiden...

"Although this is a cruel statement, I have to think this way."

Asakawa Riku said expressionlessly, without wavering: "These past few days I have been observing the surroundings and being wary of anyone who approaches, but unfortunately, I have not found any trace of suspicious persons. If someone is hiding in this blizzard and can sneak into the house every night without me noticing, then there is nothing I can do."

He went out on patrol several times under the pretense of hunting and replenishing firewood, but he found nothing. The house was surrounded by a vast expanse of white snow, and anyone who walked by would leave a trace.

This is a true "locked room in a snowstorm," and also a "secret room."

There were no outsiders, no other infiltrators; the murderer could only be among these people.

"No! How could there be no outsiders!" Teacher Matsuyama retorted vehemently. "And what about that girl in the snow wearing a kimono?!"

That's the Snow Woman.

"What...what do you mean by this?!"

"The snow woman is the snow woman, and the murderer is the murderer."

Asakawa Riku spoke calmly, gesturing two circles on the ground. Unfortunately, there wasn't a useful little blackboard like the one the mystery club had:

"The key to solving this case is to separate these two identities. The Yuki-onna we saw does exist; she may have caused this terrible blizzard, trapping us here. But she is not the culprit who freezes people every night. The culprit is a superhuman with the ability to freeze. He froze Hirata Kokichi and Takagi Ichiro, disguising the crime scene as if the Yuki-onna had committed the crime, leading us to make the wrong judgment—"

In layman's terms, this is a copycat.

"Copycat..."

The boy's earnest reasoning made the absurd conclusion seem less outrageous.

But Mr. Matsuyama still wanted to laugh. A copycat? What kind of copycat imitates monsters to commit crimes? And a superpowered person at that... That's just too outrageous.

Only Asakawa Riku knew that he wasn't joking; he was thinking this very seriously.

—Take the incident in the spring, for example.

At that time, a superpowered individual with the ability to teleport was impersonating Tsuchigumo to commit the crime, which led Chizuko to make the wrong deduction.

If you think about it this way, you can understand that if you are blinded by monsters, you may be dominated by fear and unable to detect the real culprit.

"The problem is, how can you be sure the murderer isn't a monster? Since they both have the power of freezing... superpowered beings, sigh, even if we accept that premise, what will it change? Our situation is still very dangerous, isn't it? You say the culprit is among us, then I can also say the culprit has the superpower of melting snow and wind, so she sneaks into the room every night."

Principal Komiya was a very logical person; she sighed and refuted those words.

"You're right, that's certainly possible."

Asakawa Riku's tone softened a bit. Stupid people are beyond saving, but the other party had expressed a desire to discuss and communicate, so there was at least room for negotiation.

He didn't answer immediately, but turned his head and spoke first to Yukie, who was covering her ears and looking terrified:

"You can stop listening now and go somewhere else. We'll finish soon."

"...Then, I'll go cook first." Yukie practically fled in a panic, almost tripping over something.

It seems that the discussion about monsters and snow women has stirred up her inner resistance and fear, leading to her current state.

After sending Yukie away, Asakawa Riku continued:

"However, what truly convinced me of this reasoning was Mr. Takagi Ichiro's actions."

"Do you know what happened when I found Mr. Takagi Ichiro's body? He was indeed frozen in a block of ice, but unlike Haoji the day before yesterday, Mr. Takagi was not asleep. He was awake, watching himself freeze to death. He was kneeling on the ground, tightly holding an extinguished torch in his hand."

Teacher Matsuyama's eyes widened: "A torch?"

"To be precise, it was burning firewood taken out of the stove."

Asakawa Riku pointed to the burning fireplace next to them: "I didn't find Mr. Takagi's body in his room, but here, in the lobby on the first floor. This proves that Mr. Takagi didn't sleep in his room last night, nor did he follow my advice to close the door tightly. Instead, he sneaked to the fireplace in the middle of the night and forced himself to stay awake all night."

"Why would he do this..." Principal Komiya was also puzzled.

Why would someone sneak out of a safe, locked room instead of staying inside?

"Because he thinks it's safer that way."

Asakawa Riku hit the nail on the head: "In his reasoning, the murderer is the Yuki-onna, so he believes that to fight the Yuki-onna, the problem cannot be solved by simply locking the door."

He turned to Principal Komiya and asked, "Principal, do you remember the legend of the Snow Woman you heard when you were a child?"

"I?"

Principal Komiya pointed to himself, and only after Asakawa Riku nodded did he begin to recall:

“My hometown is Niigata Prefecture. I told you about the legend there yesterday. Well… Long ago, a man knocked down an icicle. That night, a woman came looking for lodging and asked to marry him. The man boiled a bucket of water for her to bathe in. The woman jumped into the hot water and disappeared. Only the thin shards of the icicle floated to the surface. That’s how it is.”

“Yes.” Asakawa Riku was referring to this story: “The key to the problem lies hidden within this story—”

"The Snow Woman's weakness is warmth, heat, and fire."

Summer of the Snow Woman: Chapter Twenty-Two - A Delaying Tactic

“I once asked Mr. Takagi if he knew how to fight the Yuki-onna, and he shook his head and said he didn’t know.”

"Thinking back now, that might have been a lie. He probably didn't trust us, or he thought we might try to kill him and steal the ten million from his briefcase. So he concealed the Snow Woman's weakness and sneaked to the fireplace in the middle of the night, hoping to gain a chance to survive."

"If we look on the bright side, it's possible that he suddenly had a change of heart in the middle of the night but didn't have time to tell us. How we interpret it is up to our own judgment."

"In short, he hid by the scorching fire, thinking that the Snow Woman wouldn't come after him, but unfortunately, the 'murderer' arrived."

"The culprit is not a Yuki-onna (snow woman), so even when Mr. Takagi, in his panic, disregarded his burns and reached into the scorching stove to grab burning firewood and wave it in resistance, the culprit was not defeated. He is not a Yuki-onna, so he is not affected by the Yuki-onna's weaknesses. He is not afraid of flames and easily froze Mr. Takagi into an ice block."

Based on this, Asakawa Riku arrived at his final conclusion: "The culprit is not the Yuki-onna, but a copycat with similar superpowers who committed the same crime."

"...But so what?"

But this brilliant reasoning did not earn applause; instead, it was met with a disgruntled look from Mr. Matsuyama: "Whether the culprit is a snow woman or a psychic, what does it have to do with our current situation? They are all just dangerous individuals. You said that Mr. Takagi's use of fire to protect himself was ineffective. Isn't all we can do to escape?"

“That’s right. Let the police decide who the murderer is. Our most important thing is to survive.” Principal Komiya nodded.

get away?

Asakawa Riku sneered inwardly. These two were blinded by fear and hadn't considered what was going on with the blizzard outside.

Letting them out would mean they would truly perish under the power of the Snow Woman. Only the "culprit" can solve this; the snow disaster itself cannot.

He could only try to stall for time: "There's another reason why we're certain the culprit is human and not a snow woman."

"Ok?"

"That is Mr. Takagi's briefcase."

Asakawa Riku pointed to the fireplace, where the melted ice water was almost dried up: "When I found his body this morning, I didn't find the briefcase, nor in his room. Logically speaking, Mr. Takagi always carried the briefcase with him and never left it, so it's impossible that he put it somewhere else. Therefore, I suspect that the murderer took the briefcase."

"what!"

Now, both of them were surprised, remembering that it was not a small amount.

Ten million.

"The Snow Woman shouldn't be interested in human money. Only humans would commit crimes for money, so I'm certain that the culprit this time is human."

Asakawa Riku observed them carefully and realized that their expressions didn't seem feigned surprise, so he could only bite the bullet and ask:

"Excuse me, I need to search your backpacks."

...

Five minutes later.

"Sorry, it seems I misunderstood." Asakawa Riku put the items back into the bag, returning them to their rightful owner.

A backpack and a women's handbag, both containing simple daily necessities; even the cash in the wallet wasn't a large amount.

It would be impossible to stuff 1000 ten-thousand-yuan banknotes into the container.

Mr. Matsuyama and Principal Komiya took their bags. Although their expressions were somewhat unpleasant, they didn't say anything because the other party was, after all, a student and a junior.

She just said sarcastically, "Asakawa-kun, you should be the first person to find the body. If you say you didn't find it, it's possible you hid it yourself."

"Yes, that's why I said we are all suspects, including the lady who was cooking."

Asakawa Riku frankly admitted it.

The box has vanished... It wasn't in Mr. Matsuyama's or Principal Komiya's bags, but the culprit has superpowers, so he could have hidden it anywhere.

He knew that searching the entire house would be pointless, as everyone was a suspect and no one's suspicion could be easily ruled out.

"Let's not talk about it anymore, let's go."

Mr. Matsuyama slung his bag back over his shoulder, losing his patience, and was about to pull Principal Komiya away.

Just then, a girl's voice rang out:

"Um...everyone..."

With difficulty, Yukie carried a steaming pot of soup, stood on tiptoe to place it on the table, and then looked at them and said, "The food is ready."

Asakawa Riku smiled and gestured for a waiter to invite him to join in.

"If you two really have to leave, why don't you finish your meal before you go? You'll die even faster if you lack calories and energy."

"..." Mr. Matsuyama and Principal Komiya looked at each other, swallowed hard, and their stomachs rumbled involuntarily.

Only at this moment did they realize that they had fallen for Asakawa Riku's delaying tactic.

...

After we finished eating, it was already dark.

It feels like the days are getting shorter and shorter; it's no exaggeration to say that it's as if the sun is being buried and obscured by a terrible snowstorm.

　Looking at the pitch-black world outside the door, which seemed like the entrance to hell, Mr. Matsuyama lost the courage to go forward.

Even he, who was eager to leave, had to admit that it was a pipe dream.

If there is still a glimmer of hope during the day, the mountains and forests at night are the gaping maws of monsters that devour all living beings. They have no flashlights for lighting, and if they accidentally slip and fall, they may tumble down the cliff. Even if they just fall into a pit in the snow, they may never be able to climb out again.

There is no rescue here... They have been waiting for days, and no one has come to rescue them.

In this blizzard, even helicopters cannot take off.

"Tonight is my last night here." He closed the door reluctantly. "If anyone else dies tomorrow, I will leave no matter what."

"Yes." Asakawa Riku nodded. He would do his best to catch the murderer tonight and save everyone else.

He suggested:

"Tonight, I hope we can all sleep together in this living room, with a sofa and blankets, where we can sleep, and it's close to the fireplace."

"...Didn't they say flames are useless...? Mr. Takagi died right here." Principal Komiya said, still shaken.

"Flames are useless against the Snow Woman, but at least they can keep us warm."

Asakawa Riku insisted, "Moreover, none of the people in our pairs were hurt yesterday, which may indicate that the murderer only dares to target those who are alone."

Last night, he mistakenly believed that the Snow Woman's target was "those who had witnessed her," and thus protected the wrong person, Mr. Matsuyama, which led to Mr. Takagi's sacrifice.

Tonight, he will not let the same thing happen again.

He wanted to gather all the survivors together for the night; he wanted to protect everyone.

"Come on... if you've got the guts, try killing someone right in front of me."

------

I went to see the movie "Looking Back"!

The adaptation is quite good. I recommend everyone to see it since it's showing this weekend!