Don't forget to read the first or previous part if you haven't!
In the last part, we finally faced the kidnapper and rescued Yuusuke. However, many questions still remained, for what reason did the hospital burn down, how did Yukimura survive, why did she have so much strength, and what was the connection between Yukimura and Anzai? This route should give us all the info we need, hopefully. Let's begin, shall we?
[Let's begin at the route split]
The Discomforting Feeling's Identity
When a child is abducted, the first thing most mothers do is---
>Worry about their child
>Cry and beg for the return of their child
>Try to find out who the kidnapper is
This may be a memory quiz, but there are two right options here.
>Worry about their child
That's right. Parents are supposed to try to protect their children's lives first. Here's how Ms. Yukari responded to the phone call---
>"Who are you?"
>"Give back my son!"
Only one option still.
>"Who are you?"
Ms. Yukari asked, "Who are you?" How could she ask such a question so calmly in such a situation...?
Does she not love Yuusuke, as Anzai said?
>She doesn't love him.
>Surely, isn't that going too far?
>Maybe there's some kind of reason for that?
Wait, you ask (maybe), where did that third option come from? Simple, let's go back even further.
Let's go with the new option.
>Maybe there's some kind of reason for that?
There must be some reason why Yukari doesn't love Yuusuke...
So, what Anzai said at that time... "That mother there, she's relieved that her son's gone..."
That comment's intention was...
>To lie.
>To divert the investigation away from herself. (Conclusion)
The first option just asks another question that leads to a similar conclusion.
>To divert the investigation away from herself.
Satoko Anzai may be trying to get the investigators' eyes to fall on Ms. Yukari instead of herself... To put it in another way, she must be hiding something.
...Let's cautiously set our aim on her.
As I left the restaurant and parted ways with Doumyouji, I told him about the theory I had developed, indirectly requesting him to look into Anzai's background.
I was worried that he had other jobs to do, but he lightheartedly accepted it saying, "Nobody will notice it’s an underling like me."
Once we returned to the MPD, we decided to organize the situation up to now.
"Ah, Junya-kun!" Ms. Yuuka showed her smiling face all of a sudden.
"Hey, you, DO NOT SAY "JUNYA-KUN"! SIR IS OLDER THAN YOU!"
Mr. Kogure, who’s fastidious when it comes to manners, admonished Ms. Yuuka, but she didn’t seem to care.
"It’s okay, isn’t it? More importantly, do you have any juicy info? I’ve been running all over the place, but couldn’t find anything particularly good."
It seems she’s continued fervently gathering information for us. "I don’t know if I should disclose it to you or not, but..."
I told what happened to Ms. Yuuka. About the seemingly severe injuries of Satoko Anzai and how they simply disappeared the next day---
She nodded several times as I relayed the information, looking deeply interested.
"Hmm, I see. It’s certainly a curious story. It would do us good to hear the opinion of an expert."
"An expert?"
"You’re a detective, you probably know a doctor or two, right? Try to ask them what they think."
"In that case, I believe we should go with Doctor Shikibu!"Mr. Kogure, without a moment’s delay, raised his hand. His cheeks a little reddened.
"Ms. Hitomi, hm...?" She’s a superb doctor, but holds prejudice against occult talk.
Perhaps she would help us again, like with the retrogressive hypnosis matter, even though we had just asked something unreasonable of her.
[Quick shot of the hospital's front]
"Oh? That girl, is she your girlfriend?"
Ms. Hitomi, as soon as she saw our figures, let out outrageous words.
That’s because it wasn’t just Mr. Kogure and me. Ms. Yuuka was following behind me.
"No! That’s wrong! I’m only lending my help with the investigation!" Ms. Yuuka flatly denied it.
Although her words were correct, declaring it to that extent made me a little sad.
I introduced Ms. Yuuka to Ms. Hitomi. When I told her that Ms. Yuuka was a student studying under my brother, Ms. Hitomi commented frankly, "You have strange tastes".
When I asked her if she could give me her expert opinion on the case, she readily agreed.
"Well? What happened this time?" Ms. Hitomi nudges me to get to the point.
"Yeah, actually, is it possible that a... human's injuries could disappear in just one day... or something like that?"
Ms. Hitomi faintly raised her eyebrows at my somewhat unclear words.
"I'm not sure I understand your question at all. It depends on the extent of the injury, doesn't it? A minor cut or scrape will heal in a day. Of course, there might be a scar for a few days."
"It was a serious injury by the looks of it. But the next day it was completely..." Mr. Kogure added more information.
"In that case, it definitely wouldn't be possible. Even if there's a terrible amount of bleeding, sometimes the wound can be surprisingly minor, but the scar will never totally disappear."
Ms. Hitomi looks at me with a questioning look in her eyes. "You guys... came all the way here just to ask me that, by any chance?"
"......" When I couldn't answer her question, Ms. Hitomi let out a sigh and said exasperatedly.
"Have you guys poked your nose into another weird case?"
"Yeah, well..." I somewhat felt a sense of inferiority.
"So? Which answer does Detective Kazami wish for?" I had no idea what Ms. Hitomi meant.
"You know I disapprove of the occult, don't you?" For a moment, Ms. Yuuka's shoulders twitched, but she didn't try to interrupt. She seemed to be more or less aware of the situation.
"Then, you should also know there’s no point in asking for my opinion, no? Even if such a strange event were to happen, I would never give an occultic explanation."
I could only stay silent, unable to say anything. "Since you came to ask me while knowing that, let me ask you in return, which answer do you hope for?"
"Do you want me to deny it? Or do you want me to affirm it with a scientific explanation?"
"You should believe what you see and act accordingly. My role is to provide knowledge, not to dictate the direction of your investigation."
"No matter what I, or any other person for that matter, says, you should believe in what you see and act accordingly... There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
After she stopped talking, she caught her breath and gulped some coffee.
I came to ask Ms. Hitomi’s opinion while still unable to face the unscientific keyword "oni" for what it is.
Ms. Hitomi saw through that half-hearted mental state and gave me advice in a deliberately cold manner.
I feel as though she was encouraging me. That, even if something unscientific was at the heart of this case, I should be ready to see it eye to eye.
"Thank you very much, Ms. Hitomi."
"Do your best, Junya-kun."
Having left the Kamone University Hospital, we got into Mr. Kogure’s car and headed to our next destination.
"That Ms. Hitomi... She’s cool..."
I didn’t expect those words to come from Ms. Yuuka’s mouth. Ms. Hitomi is a denier of the occult while she’s a self-proclaimed occult journalist.
"But doesn’t Ms. Hitomi deny the occult?"
"You misunderstand, Junya-kun. That’s not what I’m talking about."
"People are barbaric creatures who are quick to deny, criticize, and attack the unknown. I hate scientists who want to deny anything and everything mysterious."
"But Ms. Hitomi is a person who can deny the occult with her firm will and theories, and yet recognize the strange phenomena that others have seen. Isn't that really cool?"
I can't quite understand what Ms. Yuuka is talking about, but I know without being told now that Ms. Hitomi is cool.
"Indeed." I acknowledged with a big nod.
"Sir, where are we going?" Mr. Kogure asked me as he gripped the steering wheel and looked ahead. Come to think of it, I had left him waiting without telling him our destination.
My mind was already made up. To be honest, I was hesitating before talking to Ms. Hitomi.
But not now. I'll believe in what I see and investigate accordingly. Ms. Hitomi told me that there's nothing wrong with that.
"Let's find out about Satoko Anzai. Let's assume that she is the 'oni' and investigate her." I declared the course of our investigation.
"Y-yes, sir! I've come this far, I'm ready to do the same! ...Assuming the 'oni' part is just hypothetical!"
"Of course, I'll help too! Because the oni absolutely exists!"
We decided to visit Satoko Anzai's house first. This would be our second visit today. Our steps were heavy, as this visit wasn't for a good reason.
I thought it would be too daring of us to suddenly go and meet the most promising suspect, but Ms. Yuuka kept saying, "I'm going to go there whether you're willing or not", so I had no choice but to agree to go.
However, I asked her to promise me firmly that she would only talk a little and never say anything uncalled for.
---Even so.
[Ding dong]
"......"
I rang the doorbell, waited for a while, but got no response. That's strange. She was still here this morning...
[Ding dong]
Again, nothing. No one's coming.
We had no choice but to go around to the garden.
"This is...!"
Looking at the garden, Mr. Kogure expresses his surprise. The scene spread out before our eyes. There were no blooming flowers or beautifully trimmed trees and plants, as there should have been.
There isn't the slightest trace of the beauty that I saw in this garden before. The beautiful garden that Satoko Anzai had carefully nurtured and cared for. It's in a state of disarray as if it had been cruelly ravaged by someone.
"How horrible... I wonder what happened here?"
"...I have no idea."
Was this done by someone with a grudge against Anzai? Or by Satoko Anzai herself...? If so, how could she have done this to something she cherished so much...?
"Sir, it seems Anzai isn't here."
"It can't be helped. With the garden in such a state, she's not going to be able to listen to me properly anyway."
I remembered this morning, Anzai was swirling with negative feelings of discontent, hatred, and anger.
I don't know what I could say if she saw the garden in its current state. Let's leave for now and gather information on Satoko Anzai from other people.
The visit to the Anzai house came up empty.
We decided to meet someone who knew Satoko Anzai and inquire about her personality.
We arrived at the Sagami residence, where the threatening letter of "curse you" was sent. Mrs. Sagami was one of the few people who had a relationship with Satoko Anzai.
"Oh, you're...?"
"Good day, Ms. Sagami. I've come to talk to you again." Ms. Yuuka greets her amiably.
"Um, do you have any new clues as to who kidnapped Lucky-chan...?" Ms. Sagami asked with a faintly expectant expression.
"No, I'm sorry. Not yet." Ms. Yuuka bowed her head apologetically.
"Oh..." Ms. Sagami dropped her shoulders.
Mr. Kogure and I introduce ourselves to Ms. Sagami and start talking about Satoko Anzai.
"Ahem... You know Ms. Satoko Anzai, correct?"
"Y...yes. I know her. Did she do something?"
For a moment, I wondered what I should say. Of course, there was no way I could've answered with "Yes."
However, the way Mrs. Sagami said it was somewhat concerning. She didn't ask, "Did something happen to her?", but rather, "Did she do something?"
I may be making a mountain out of a molehill, but she spoke as if she already expected Satoko Anzai to be guilty of something. I believe Mr. Kogure and Ms. Yuuka thought the same as me, as their eyebrows were slightly frowning.
"In actuality, Ms. Anzai was attacked the other day by some ruffian... So we wanted to ask some questions."
"Oh, dear..." Ms. Sagami’s expression changed completely to one of sympathy.
"I received information that you were close with Ms. Anzai, and I wondered if you knew anything about her."
However, the reply that came back was blunt. "It’s a bit much to call it close..."
I tried prompting her to talk in more detail. "But I heard that she once came to your house to meet up with you?"
"Yes, that did happen, but... Many other members of the gardening club also came. Our relationship went so far as Ms. Anzai being among them, but we weren’t really close..."
I think this is quite different from what our info told us. "In that case, what type of person is Ms. Satoko Anzai, from your point of view?"
"What kind of person, you say, but... I’m confused."
"Anything is fine. Even if it's just trivial stuff. For example, did she have any problems with other people or anything like that?"
"I can’t think of anything like that in particular... We didn’t interact much... It’s just... she’s not an easily understandable person."
"What do you mean?"
"When she came over, she was quiet, only looking at the inside of my house silently."
Try as I might, it’s hard to put together the images of Satoko Anzai that Mrs. Sagami and I have.
She certainly has a hard-to-grasp impression, but she’s not quiet by any means.
"Other than that, well... How should I put it, she’s a pitiable person..."
"Pitiable...?" I asked in return if that was the word she actually wanted to use.
"Yes. Now, I didn't ask her directly, but I did hear that her husband and child had both passed away, you know?"
"Not only that but both her parents died when she was young. After that, she was passed around from relative to relative, ending up separated from her only sister..."
"Well, I have to admit, if I was her, I don’t think I would be able to live anymore. A truly pitiable person..."
Although she called Satoko Anzai pitiable, Ms. Sagami’s tone seemed vaguely happy, but maybe I’m overthinking it.
"Um. Oh, but when it came to having a passion for gardening, she had much more than anyone else. Maybe because that was the only thing that could comfort her heart in the end..."
"Oh, that reminds me, she once told me, quite happily, that she had reunited with her separated {younger sister}."
"Younger sister... you say?"
"Yes. Because her parents passed away, she had to move from home to home... Have you ever noticed the {bracelet} that she wears all the time?"
Speaking of which... Satoko Anzai was wearing a bracelet with a red-colored jewel in it.
"That garnet bracelet was given to her by her sister... She said it was like a good luck charm and she couldn't part with it."
The garnet bracelet... And Anzai's younger sister...
In the end, I couldn't get any decisive information from Ms. Sagami.
We also visited the Kounoike residence where the "Kill" letter was sent, but the information we obtained was very similar...
"I feel so sick...!"
It wasn't me or Mr. Kogure, but Ms. Yuuka who sighed loudly while gazing at the amber liquid in her teacup at the usual coffee shop.
"Mnh. I agree. I felt like I was watching a daytime talk show." It's no wonder why Mr. Kogure said so.
Both Ms. Sagami and Ms. Kounoike assured me that they weren't close to Satoko Anzai.
It seemed as if those two were keeping their distance from Satoko Anzai.
Even so, the women told us in detail about Satoko Anzai's background and her current living situation.
Of course, it's nice to be able to gather information, but to be honest, it didn't feel very pleasant.
---A pitiable person. I remembered their expressions of pity for Satoko Anzai.
Their pity seemed to come from a sense of superiority. Wouldn't that be nothing but insulting to her?
Vilified and condescending sympathy brings only torment.
However, those around her are unaware of this, mistakenly believing that they're kind people, and try to console her even further.
Perhaps such behavior may have been the breeding ground for an oni. When I think about it, I realize that human beings are utterly...
"What's the problem, Junya-kun?" Ms. Yuuka looked at my face, lost in thought, worried.
"Ah, it's nothing. I'm just thinking that, if Satoko Anzai was the oni, it wasn't only herself, but also the environment around her that was the problem..."
"So it seems."
"Eh?" Without thinking, I asked back in response to her assertion.
"Perpetrators are often victims in the beginning. They're swept along by their surroundings, accumulate {negative emotions}, and once those erupt, it results in crime."
For some reason, Ms. Yuuka's explanation had a certain persuasiveness to it. "Negative emotions, huh...?"
"I've been looking into it myself. It's quite a deep subject." She began to flip through a book.
"According to some folklorists, oni wield a strong negative power."
"N-negative power...?" Mr. Kogure sounded startled by the eerie turn of events.
"Even if you try to divide people into good and bad, you can't separate them completely into two equal halves. Even bad people have a little bit of good in them, and good people aren't flawless."
"Human beings possess both the good and the bad in this way. However, when the bad side, that is, the negative power, has grown too large to be controlled, people become something else--- That is the oni."
"Hmm. I think I understand it somewhat... But then, wouldn't the boundary between human and oni be too ambiguous?"
I raised my doubts about Ms. Yuuka's story.
"That's right. But I think that's the extent of the difference between humans and those who aren't..."
"Human beings are creatures that can easily turn into oni or demons at a moment's notice... I'm sure."
The difference between humans and those who aren't... Indeed, there may be no such boundary line. Considering what I experienced in the "Mr. Kokkuri Incident" the other day.
People can change so easily sometimes...
Ms. Yuuka also mentioned that she had encountered a strange incident some years ago. She too may have witnessed the moment when a human being transformed into something that wasn't human...
"Sorry, sorry! The conversation ended up taking a weird turn!" She said cheerfully, as if to compose herself.
"In short, the difference between onis and human beings is that vague."
"Now, finally, let's talk about the oni horns that we discussed earlier. It seems that the pairing of oni and horns is not necessary."
"There are many stories, legends, and writings about oni in the past, but not all of them say that oni have horns, you see."
"In other words, the horns are merely an item to make the inherently ambiguous distinction between oni and humans easier to understand."
"It doesn't have to be horns in that sense. It could be an incredibly large body, or sharp claws, or ravenous fangs..."
I see what Yuuka is trying to say. "...Like bright red glowing eyes?"
"Bingo! That's right."
"And, by the way, that's why they're believed to eat people and kidnap young women, because of the imprinting of such an image."
"...I don't know if this is of any help, but there's a book from the Heian period called "Brief History of Fusang" that tells of the first footprints of oni discovered in recorded history."
"On April 25 of Enchou 7, that is, 929 A.D., an oni's footprints were found within the Imperial Court."
"And, among the footprints of the oni, there were also those of a human child, which could mean that the child was kidnapped by the oni, couldn't it?"
"An oni kidnapping a child... hm." Ms. Yuuka must have synchronized that old story with Yuusuke-kun's kidnapping in her brain.
"Well, there are plenty of other stories about oni." Ms. Yuuka then began counting with the fingers of both her hands as she went on and on.
"There's the old mother who eats her children in the "Tales of Times Now Past". And in "A Collection of Tales Old and New", an aggregate of stories from the Kamakura period, there is even a story about a monk who turned into an oni because he was unwilling to teach his disciples his doctrines."
"Even monks can become onis?" Mr. Kogure says in surprise, to which Ms. Yuuka nods strongly, as if it were only natural.
"Because even monks are only human. They are no exception. However, the most common reasons for people to become onis are negative emotions such as resentment, envy, and hatred."
"Is that what's called human karma? Is that why there's no clear difference between humans and oni?" Ms. Yuuka sounded like she attained a little enlightenment.
"The Hannya in "Kanawa", which we talked about yesterday, is a prime example of this."
"Kanawa is a story about a demoness in "The Tale of the Heike". It follows a woman who, out of resentment over the loss of her husband's love, performs the Hour of the Ox Pilgrimage ritual and becomes an oni."
Resentment... They say that 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Did Satoko Anzai also resent something? Was it a person or the whole world...?
"But you know, negative feelings are not always aggressive ones, like resentment or hatred. For example, do you know "Kurozuka", a Noh play similar to Kanawa?"
Mr. Kogure and I looked at each other and shook our heads. ms. Yuuka let out a light sigh as if to say, "Well, I'd guess so", before continuing.
"There are several Noh plays that feature Hannya, but most of them, like Kanawa, are about a man who abandons a woman who turns into an oni because of a grudge. But "Kurozuka" is a little different."
"The setting of Kurozuka is Adachigahara in Oshu, now Fukushima Prefecture. The oni who appears in it is a lonely woman who lives quietly in the mountains. She had been alone for years and years..."
"She told a traveling monk, when he stayed in her house, never to look at her bedchamber... Ah, I mean her bedroom... But the monk broke that rule, and she turned into an oni."
"The reason being, her bedroom was piled high with the corpses she had eaten..."
"T-that's a gigantic difference from The Crane's Return of a Favor!" Mr. Kogure's face turned pale as he spat out his words.
[Mr. Kogure brings up a folk tale where a crane, saved by a peasant from hunters, returns the favor by helping him live under the disguise of his wife (which he didn't actually have). After a while, she says she'll go to a room for some time and that he is not to enter, he follows that request for a week when she comes out with a beautiful piece of clothing, but also looking ill. The peasant was advised by her to sell it, thus making him rich. Following that, the wife said she was going into a room and that he wasn't to look again, but his curiosity overtook him, at which point he discovered she was the crane. The crane, now revealed, said they couldn't stay together and flew away.]
"But it wasn't anger at the monk for breaking the rule that turned her into an oni, it was loneliness, emptiness, and {shame}."
"Loneliness, emptiness, and shame...?" Those words seemed somehow far removed from something like an oni.
"Yes. The shame of the situation she put herself in, the remorse of having committed an unthinkable act, and the shame of having been seen doing it, changed her into an oni."
"She chased after the monk who saw her form. She chased and chased, and eventually, the sun rose. And so, she went away right before him."
"She hates the morning sun? She's like Dracula." Despite his cowardliness, Mr. Kogure was surprisingly aware of the vampire's weakness. Or perhaps he knew because he was cowardly.
"She wasn't afraid of the sun. She was ashamed that the sunlight allowed seeing her transformed into a wretched, ugly figure, and so she left."
"The stories of oni women always have a sense of sadness somewhere in them. It's the same with the story of "Kanawa" I mentioned earlier."
"She, too, becomes an oni and appears before the husband who abandoned her, but in the end, she cannot kill the man she loves."
Oni women are always burdened with sorrow--- So Ms. Yuuka added at the end.
If... If Satoko Anzai is an oni, what exactly is the sorrow she bears?
Is it a lonely life? Envy of other people's lives? The pain of being hurt by the words of pity from others?
I remembered the beautiful garden of the Anzai house.
There's nothing she can open her heart to. There is no one around her that she can call a friend.
Only flowers and plants can soothe her heart. That's, too sad...
"Um, sir..." Mr. Kogure's voice was rather quiet as he called out to me.
"We're now pursuing the case on the assumption that Satoko Anzai is the culprit, right?" Mr. Kogure confirmed the obvious.
"If Satoko Anzai is the culprit, what about that Ryo Kobayashi's eyewitness testimony...? He said he saw that oni..."
"And I don't understand the motive for kidnapping Yuusuke-kun. Was anyone fine, and it just happened to be him? Or was it because of... negative emotions and stuff?"
"I can't quite put my finger on it, but... Satoko Anzai is certainly involved in this case."
"If the results of the tests show that Anzai's saliva was found in the "curse you" and "kill" letters, that will be a definite confirmation."
"In fact, Satoko Anzai was jealous of Ms. Sagami and Ms. Kounoike, who were in completely different circumstances from hers..."
Mr. Kogure's words were poorly enunciated and roundabout. "...What are you trying to say, Mr. Kogure?"
"That's right. Say it clearly like a man." I reined in Ms. Yuuka, who was about to poke fun at him. I wanted to know what Mr. Kogure was worried about.
"I... I... just have a bad feeling about this..."
After saying just that, Mr. Kogure would not talk about his premonition, no matter how much I asked him about it.
We fell silent in the awkward atmosphere, each of us absorbed in clearing our own heads.
However, the hazy feeling in my head didn't clear up, and in fact, a dark cloud began to hang over me.
A ringtone echoed through the quiet store. I rushed to take out my cell phone and answer the call.
"Sir. It's me, Doumyouji. Do you have a laptop with you right now?"
"Pl-please wait a minute. ...Ms. Kogure, did you bring a computer?"
Mr. Kogure said "Yessir" and headed outside. It seems he put it in his car.
"We have one, Doumyouji."
"That's good. Then, I'll send the data now. Please tell me your e-mail address."
After Mr. Kogure returned with it in hand, I told Doumyouji his e-mail address.
"Well then. I hope you enjoy it." Once he announced that, he cut the call without explaining the contents of the sent data.
"Sir. What did Doumyouji send us?"
"Well... He ended the call without saying that. At any rate, let's check his e-mail."
Mr. Kogure took out a laptop from a black carrier case.
The tactful Ms. Yuuka moved the cups on the table aside for me, and I put the computer there. She's indeed a girl in this respect.
We quickly opened the data we received.
It was Satoko Anzai's personal history. Doumyouji must have done some research on her. The results of the investigation were written in such detail that I couldn't have imagined it from his usual attitude.
Satoko Anzai. Her age is fifty-three. Her maiden name is Satoko Kashima. She was born in Kanagawa Prefecture.
"What about her sister!?" Ms. Yuuka urged me, almost snatching the computer away from me.
"Wait a bit... Huh?"
"S-something wrong, sir?"
"No, she certainly has a sister, but... Look at this."
"She's... adopted? Her sister's not blood-related?" Indeed. As Mr. Kogure said, her sister was adopted.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Ms. Yuuka grabbed my hand and shouted as I was about to move on to the next item.
"...W-what's the problem, Mr. Yuuka?"
"Look, and well at that. This sister of Ms. Satoko Anzai. This person... is dead."
"Eh!?" Mr. Kogure and I looked at the computer at the same time.
"See, here." She moves the cursor on the screen for clarity. There we find...
{Kyouko Yukimura}. Vice Director of Granada Maternity Clinic. Two years ago, Hironobu Yukimura, her husband and the director of the clinic, attempted a forced double suicide, the hospital burned down, and both Yukimuras were found dead.
"It's true... Her sister was burned to death in a forced double suicide two years ago."
"No way!? Please wait a minute! If that's true, then who in the world was the sister that Ms. Sagami was talking about!?"
"Wasn't she happy for having met her sister!? And she also gave her the garnet bracelet...!"
Mr. Kogure grew pale as he insisted, but I couldn't give him an answer.
"Wait, wait. Garnet..." When I turned to her, Ms. Yuuka was mumbling "garnet, garnet" as if she was pondering something.
"That's right! Garnet! The birthstone of January, its Japanese name is... the pomegranate gem!"
<<Pomegranate seeds... come alone>>
The kidnapper's threatening call to the Saitou house. The word "pomegranate" certainly made its entrance into this case then.
We were so concerned with what pomegranate meant that we did not investigate the pomegranate itself.
"Agh, why didn't I notice! Ms. Sagami even told me about the garnet! I'm so disappointed!" Ms. Yuuka scratched her head in genuine frustration.
"B-but, Ms. Yuuka, Anzai's bracelet may be garnet, but the contents of the threatening call are..."
"Never mind that, just give me that computer! It's connected to the Internet, isn't it?" Mr. Kogure was overwhelmed and silently shook his head.
"Doing some research on pomegranates will definitely give us some clues!"
Ms. Yuuka, as if possessed, began to search for information on pomegranates.
"......OK! Got it! Pomegranate. A deciduous tall tree of the family Punicaceae [now moved to Lythraceae], genus Punica. In the language of flowers, it means "mature beauty" and "foolishness". That second one fits us right now, doesn't it?"
"It's zakuro in Japanese. Grenadier in French. Granada in Spanish..."
Granada...? Speaking of Granada, isn't that Anzai's adopted sister's...
"{Granada Maternity} Clinic!" Mr. Kogure stands up in a snap. He seems to have arrived at the same answer.
Yuusuke-kun's abduction, his mother Yukari Saitou, neighbor Satoko Anzai, the garnet bracelet, the pomegranate seeds, Granada Maternity Clinic...
The intermingled information is finally coming together. The paths that can be drawn from this information are---
The Secret of Pomegranate Seeds
The culprit assigned Yukari Saitou to "come to pomegranate seeds".
Did she phrase it this way because she was sure the location would be conveyed?
>She was sure
>She wasn't sure
Let's follow the same conclusions as the previous route.
>She was sure
So the culprit had conviction. And when Yukari Saitou heard this, she---
>Said she knew what "pomegranate seeds" meant (Conclusion)
>Said she had no idea what "pomegranate seeds" meant (Conclusion)
Quiz time!
>Said she had no idea what "pomegranate seeds" meant
Yukari Saitou said she didn't know about "pomegranate seeds". However, that contradicts the killer's words.
In other words, Yukari Saitou is lying. The truth is, she knows what "pomegranate seeds" means.
Why was she hiding the truth about the pomegranate seeds--- the Granada Maternity Clinic? Could "pomegranate seeds" have another meaning?
We decided to talk to Yukari Saito directly to find out the truth.
Ms. Yuuka said she would go her separate way to investigate Granada Maternity and ran out before I could stop her.
I couldn't afford to bring her to Ms. Yukari, so it was fine with me, but I remained anxious.
I hope she doesn't act recklessly...
"Sir!"
Doumyouji revealed his usual smirk. I had asked him in advance to set up a meeting with Ms. Yukari.
"Sir. Superintendent Innami has just obtained an arrest warrant for Satoko Anzai."
"Eh!?" Flustered, I pressed Doumyouji for more information.
"Have you found any conclusive evidence?"
"It was the threatening letter that you gave to Superintendent Innami. We got the results back. Guilty as charged. The saliva on the stamp and Anzai's blood matched."
"I knew it!" So it was definitely Anzai who sent the threatening letter! Then, the fax with the "oni" character probably was too...
"But, sir, Superintendent Innami and the others don't know where Anzai is. If you want to outsmart them, now is the time."
Doumyouji seems to be enjoying this as if it was a game. What the hell is this guy thinking...?
He smirked at me, and while raising an eyebrow, I spoke.
"Please let me see Ms. Yukari Saito. ...I have some questions I'd like to ask her."
Well, see you next time!
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