If you haven't, don't forget to read the first part or the previous part!
Last part, we met with the sender of the chain mail, a woman who reveals herself to be the idol Miyuki Kawahara, whose real name is the same as that of the killer, "Erisa Hattori"! In this part, we'll hear her testimony and figure out if we should trust her or not.
"It was about half a year ago..."
"At first, I didn't pay attention to it, but strange things started happening around me..."
"My dressing room was ransacked, I found a knife in my bag... and I always felt like someone was watching me close by..."
The outraged Kogure let out a snort. Putting a knife in her bag certainly was done in bad nature.
"I talked to my manager and my agency's president, but they didn't take it seriously, saying that it happens to every idol.""But it didn't stop there, I kept feeling like someone was near me, and before long, I could clearly feel their presence..."
"And then, a week ago... I finally saw her."
"Speaking of a week ago, that was when that office lady was killed on her way home from Setagaya." Mr. Kogure whispered."That's right, I had gone shopping that day, it was my day off and I hadn't done that in a long time.""On the way back, while I was walking through Shimokitazawa... I felt that presence stronger than ever..."
"Everything had gone pitch black, and my head was fuzzy..."
"I don't know how to describe it, it was like an unconscious world without any grasp of reality..."
"I found myself standing in a dark alley... and in there, I saw her."
"She... was killing a person..."
"She was stabbing the dead body over and over... As if she was filled with hatred..."
"Then, she began skinning the corpse's head with the knife... carefully... thoroughly..."
"Ugh...!" It seems that, in the imagination-rich brain of Mr. Kogure, the scene is being realistically reproduced.
He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and desperately struggled against the backflow of gastric fluid.
"I was so scared I couldn't even scream, I was just shaking...""Once she finished her work, she stood up, then... our eyes met!"
[A flash frame of demonic-looking eyes appears and disappears as soon as it came.]
Miyuki Kawahara covered her face with her thin white hands and her delicate form started trembling.
"I was so surprised I felt my heart jump out... It was ugly and distorted, but... that was..."
[These are those same eyes.]
"That was... not a human face... It was something much more evil and frightening..."
"I was terrified, but I asked... "Who are you?"..."
"And then... she answered, "Erisa Hattori"..."
"...But I'm not that stupid! Because Erisa Hattori is my name...!?"
"How come that horrible {homicidal maniac} has the same name as me...? Can such a coincidence exist!?"
"I didn't know what was going on... I lost consciousness again... Before I realized it, I was in bed..."
That was the testimony of Miyuki Kawahara.
"This story... You don't believe it, don't you?"
"At first, I thought I was hallucinating too... I couldn't believe it so I went to counseling... Of course, I didn't mention the murderer..."
"Hallucinations, delusions, a {split personality}... They suspected various possibilities and tested for them, but my mental state was found to be always normal..."
"In the end, the doctor just diagnosed it as exhaustion... You're going to laugh, aren't you...?"
"I don't know what to do anymore..."
Mr. Kogure and I, not knowing what to say to her, could only make a low "Uhm" and fold our arms.
"I tried calling the police once, but they didn't take me seriously at all..."
"But I couldn't leave it at that... so I came up with the idea of a chain mail."
"With a chain mail, I can call on a lot of people to help me, and they don't even need to know who I am..."
I see. So, for her, the chain mail was a desperate measure chosen after much thought and consideration.
But I have a feeling she is still hiding something. I can't say what exactly, that's just how I feel.
"I'm sorry. I'm going to have to excuse myself for a bit." Said Miyuki Kawahara, clamping a handkerchief on her mouth, before standing up.
She must have felt sick remembering the murder scene. She looked pale when she limped off to the washroom.
"Mr. Kogure, what do you think of her story?" When I looked at him, his face, too, was pale.
"Y-yessir... I fully support Miyuki-chan, but I didn't really get her story just now."
"Why did the killer use the same name as her real name? And why didn't they kill her for witnessing them?"
Mr. Kogure's questions are right on. There's something seriously strange about Miyuki Kawahara's testimony.
Once again, it seems necessary for us to think about the true intentions behind her actions.
Miyuki Kawahara's True Intentions
Why did she choose such a roundabout way as chain mail in the first place?
>Because she didn't need to use her name.
>Because it can be sent to an unspecified number of people.
Well, that was quick. Let's trust her for now, I'm interested in seeing the supernatural route.
>Because she didn't need to use her name.
Why did she want to avoid using her name?
>Because she was afraid of a scandal.
>Because she was being targeted by a criminal.
Both options make sense, but the second one is the most logical, so I'm choosing it.
>Because she was being targeted by a criminal.
What we should do is---
>Protect her. (Conclusion)
>Wait, let's think again.
If you're wondering, the second choice restarts from the beginning of the segment at the cost of lowering your final score. Thankfully, I saved before the segment began, so I can avoid this problem.
Let's go with the conclusion then.
>Protect her.
According to her testimony, there truly is a murderer with the same name as her.
I think it's too good a story, but it's reasonable to believe her for now.
It's still a mystery why a cold-blooded murderer didn't kill a witness like her on the spot, but there's a good chance he'll target her soon.
Her protection should be our priority here. And so I relayed my thoughts to Mr. Kogure.
Okay, I'll stop here this time. It does make this post shorter than most, but to make it up, the next post will be larger. How large, you wonder? Maybe bigger than even the last post. Please wait for it!
Like always, see you next time!
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