Chapter 14: The Missing Piece
The night was deep, and the streetlights cast a dim glow over the nearly empty streets.
Kagehara Tetsuya knew the location of Yomikawa’s home because he had found a past delivery slip on her phone, which listed her address—Nagano YonchĹŤme.
This was a well-known affluent neighborhood. Kagehara Tetsuya had only been here a few times before. Fortunately, the streets were deserted, and the lights in the surrounding villas were off, allowing him to search slowly.
5839.
Finally, Kagehara Tetsuya stopped in front of a modern, minimalist villa. He used the key to unlock the door, thinking to himself that he needed to contact a locksmith as soon as possible. He wasn’t sure if Yomikawa had a spare key, and if she sneaked back while he was asleep, it would be disastrous.
After changing his shoes in the entryway, he turned on the lights. Yomikawa’s parents weren’t home. They were renowned scholars who often traveled abroad to attend academic conferences and give lectures at various universities. Yomikawa had mentioned during the club meeting that her parents wouldn’t be back in Japan for the next two weeks.
The soft fluorescent light illuminated the living room. Suddenly, Kagehara Tetsuya’s eyes narrowed.
On the coffee table in the center of the living room sat a black handbag. Inside, something round and bulky was stretching the bag out of shape.
Putting down Yomikawa’s small suitcase, Kagehara Tetsuya approached the coffee table. He put on the medical rubber gloves he had bought on the way and slowly unzipped the handbag.
Even before the zipper was fully open, he already knew what was inside.
A human head.
Kagehara Tetsuya wasn’t in a hurry to examine the head. Instead, he took another look around the room. The living room had doors on both the left and right sides, and there were stairs leading to the second floor and the basement. No matter how you looked at it, there were plenty of places to hide in this villa.
Yomikawa had been here. In fact, she might still be inside the villa.
"It would be great if she’s still here."
Kagehara Tetsuya muttered to himself as he walked toward the corridor on the left, turning on the lights as he went. There were two doors inside. He slowly pushed open the first one.
Creak.
The darkness of the room gradually revealed itself to Kagehara Tetsuya. With the light from the corridor, he could make out that this was a study—or rather, a library.
The walls were lined with tall bookshelves, densely packed with books of all kinds. To make accessing the higher shelves easier, two lightweight wooden ladders leaned against the shelves.
This was truly surprising. A significant portion of the books had titles that Kagehara Tetsuya couldn’t even begin to understand. If he wanted to grasp their contents, he’d probably need another lifetime.
He turned on the light and casually ran his finger along the inner edge of one of the bookshelves. There was no dust on his fingertip, indicating that this room was frequently used and meticulously cleaned.
He stepped out of the room and slowly pushed open the other door.
To his surprise, it was another library, almost identical in layout to the one across the hall. However, the books here were far less specialized. There were numerous translated novels from various countries, as well as folders.
He randomly pulled out one of the folders. Inside was a business contract signed by Yomikawa’s father with a company three years ago. Presumably, the other folders contained similar documents.
"Truly a scholar’s home. Just the books alone are overwhelming."
After inspecting the two libraries, Kagehara Tetsuya moved to the right side of the house. There were two more rooms here—a walk-in closet filled with seasonal clothing for the family of three, and a genuine study.
This study had two computers. The large desk was cluttered with various office supplies, but what caught Kagehara Tetsuya’s attention was a photo frame on the right desk. It held a family photo of Yomikawa and her parents at Mount Fuji.
The photo must have been taken a few years ago. Yomikawa looked much younger, standing between her parents, striking a cute pose with an adorable expression. Her outfit was also stylish and charming.
"Is this how senpai behaves with her parents? It shouldn’t be too hard to mimic."
"Though, her fashion sense back then was truly terrible."
After putting the photo frame back in its place, Kagehara Tetsuya thought he might need to find time tomorrow to check what was on these two computers. For example, if there were diaries or articles written by Yomikawa’s parents, it would be a great help in understanding how Yomikawa interacted with her family.
This was the area he was most worried about exposing himself. For ordinary people, family bonds were fundamental, and everyone had their own unique way of interacting with their family.
But for Kagehara Tetsuya, familial affection was something he couldn’t feel. Whether it was his mother’s death or his father’s suicide, he felt nothing—no sadness, no joy.
Take Kagehara Tetsuya’s father, Kagehara Kento, for example. When he jumped to his death, he reportedly left behind a suicide note, which became a key piece of evidence for the police to determine it was a suicide. Later, the police tried to return the note to him, but Kagehara Tetsuya didn’t care. He wasn’t curious about the contents of the note. After all, Kento had chosen to end his own life—it was his decision.
He still remembered the look on the police officer’s face when he handed the note back without even glancing at it, suggesting it be kept as evidence at the police station. The officer had looked at him as if he were a monster.
At the time, the officer couldn’t suppress his curiosity and asked why. Kagehara Tetsuya kindly told him the truth: people die eventually, and being able to end your life when you want to isn’t such a bad thing.
Returning to the topic of Yomikawa’s parents, it was fortunate that they were busy, renowned scholars. If they had been ordinary parents living together day in and day out, even Kagehara Tetsuya wouldn’t have had the confidence to keep up the act—unless he had the real person’s help.
"Next, let’s check the basement."
The stairs leading to the basement were dimly lit. Despite wearing the fake chest and being dressed warmly, Kagehara Tetsuya still felt a faint chill in the air.
*Creak, creak...*
It seemed the Yomikawa family didn’t use the basement often. The wooden stairs weren’t well-maintained, emitting sharp, grating sounds with each step. Not knowing where the light switch was, he used his phone’s flashlight to illuminate the way. The moment he entered the basement, he noticed something unusual.
On the storage table directly ahead, there was a rectangular area about a foot long and half a foot wide that looked noticeably different. Compared to the dusty mess surrounding it, this spot was surprisingly clean. He ran his finger over it, and the white rubber glove barely picked up any dirt.
Clearly, something had been placed here for a long time, blocking the dust and leaving the surface much cleaner than its surroundings.
Now, that something was gone.
"Could it be something related to Lord Mask-Taker?"
"Judging by the size, it must not have been a particularly lightweight item."
"Speaking of which, since the item here is gone, it’s likely that senpai has already left."
Kagehara Tetsuya felt a pang of disappointment as he began inspecting the remaining items in the storage room. He hadn’t expected to find anything else, but when he spotted a bundle of old, worn-out textbooks—the kind only elementary school students would use—he was genuinely surprised.
"To think they even kept something like this. This is incredibly fortunate."
Textbooks and the like weren’t particularly useful, but what caught Kagehara Tetsuya’s attention were the notebooks. If there were records of holiday activities or essays, it would be a goldmine.
Through these, he could almost reconstruct the atmosphere of Yomikawa’s family, her parents’ personalities, and how she interacted with them. With this knowledge, it would be much harder for him to slip up.
However, as Kagehara Tetsuya crouched down to carefully sift through the pile, he suddenly noticed that the topmost book was completely free of dust. He moved it aside, and the one beneath it was also clean. He kept going, and it wasn’t until the thirteenth book that he finally found signs of neglect—dust and grime.
"Senpai didn’t just take the item from the storage table. She also went through this stack of books."
Kagehara Tetsuya’s eyes narrowed as he began organizing the pile. He grouped the first-grade textbooks together, then the second-grade ones, and so on. After sorting through about a quarter of the pile, he finally noticed something odd.
Up to this point, he hadn’t found a single essay or activity report.
"If they kept the elementary school textbooks, they probably kept the middle and high school ones too."
Kagehara Tetsuya quickly located the middle and high school textbooks and assignments. As expected, the situation was the same as with the elementary school materials. There wasn’t a single essay or activity report in any of the middle or high school notebooks.
They had all been taken by Yomikawa Tsuko.
"This is strange. Why would she specifically take her own essays and activity reports?"
Comments (1)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.