Chapter 81: Second Diary Analysis (Part 6)
Suzuki leaned back, his hands laced behind his head, and offered his summary. “So, this public fight… it wasn’t the real reason behind Kagehara’s dark plans. The earlier diary showed he was already deep down that twisted path. At most,” he paused, a shadow crossing his features, “it was like… a spark in the dark. Something that sped things up.”
“Before I saw this diary, I thought that fight was the trigger,” Kishida admitted. “Tanaka Erika mentioning a ‘secret’… it sounded like she had something on him.”
“But something feels off, doesn’t it?” Suzuki said, choosing his words carefully, like navigating a treacherous path. “Kagehara, from what we’ve read, is cold, calculating. Why risk a big, public fight with his target right before he plans to kill her? It just shines a spotlight on himself.”
Kishida rubbed his chin, his mind turning the problem over like a cold stone. “Maybe we need to think about why Kagehara had to get angry in public. What forced his hand?” He paused, a deeper unease settling in his gut. “Actually, first, did he even really get angry? Given his… unusual mind.”
“Psychologically, real anger from Kagehara is unlikely,” Suzuki judged. “But logically, in the real world, to have such a risky fight at the wrong time… it must mean he truly snapped, even for a moment. In that flash, maybe he thought, should I just do it now? End it all right there?”
“So,” Kishida murmured, the pieces clicking together with a disturbing finality, “we’re back to the same question: why did they fight? The ‘pencil sharpening’ story was a lie, obviously. Was it just that Kagehara was his usual cold self and refused to help her?”
“Tanaka Erika was smart, maybe even smarter than Kagehara. If she asked for his help, it must have been important, something that scared her,” Kishida theorized, painting a grim picture. “Maybe Kagehara just brushed her off, said something cruel. Then Tanaka, in anger, reminded him of a secret she knew, a secret she’d been keeping for him.” Kishida sighed, the weight of the unsolved hanging heavy in the air. A simple argument, yet it felt like stumbling through a haunted maze.
“Someone as sharp as Tanaka wouldn’t ask for help with something small,” Suzuki said, his gaze thoughtful. “So, what was it? Did you find out? Did you ask her parents?”
Kishida spread his hands, a gesture of defeat. “Of course, I asked. A lead like that… but it went nowhere. Tanaka hadn’t told her parents or friends about any trouble. No debts, nothing like that. I even considered some darker possibilities… but they all led to dead ends.”
“The only one who truly knows is Kagehara. But maybe he didn’t even listen to her request before he shut her down.”
Suzuki made a soft, disapproving sound. “He really is heartless. A girl asking for help… By the way, did you ask the tech guys if they can somehow see through that black ink on the diary's photo? Maybe the real reason for the fight is hidden there.”
“I wish we had that kind of magic,” Kishida said, a bitter smile twisting his lips. The one who blacked that out… it had to be Yomikawa Tsuko. And that meant she was the other person who might know what scared Tanaka.
But why hide it?
Could it be tied to some darkness of her own?
It was a frustrating dead end. He knew that even if he asked Yomikawa directly, he’d get nothing but a cold, empty stare in return.
Suzuki shrugged, a gesture that said he’d expected as much. “Anyway, about the fight, we can probably focus on two main mysteries. Everything else just branches out from these.”
“First: what was the trouble Tanaka Erika was facing?”
“Second: what was Kagehara Tetsuya’s secret?”
Kishida had already wrestled with the first question. But the second made him pause. “You don’t think the secret was just the dog killings? Do you have proof, or some psychological insight?”
“Nothing concrete. Just a hunch, a feeling,” Suzuki said. “From what the diary tells us, Tanaka knew about the dogs. And Kagehara knew she knew. It’s a twisted circle, but I just don’t think that’s a big enough secret to cause such a public blow-up. It feels… too small. And Kagehara’s reaction seems too extreme. So, I think the secret must be something he cared about even more.”
“I see,” Kishida nodded slowly. “That makes a dark kind of sense.”
After a moment of shared contemplation, they turned back to the digital image of the diary.
Speaking of which, the final two tools are now ready.
First, the stun gun. Finally saved enough from work to buy the right brand and model.
Of course, testing was needed. I now know about how much power leaves visible marks. I just need to be careful not to go over that limit when I use it.
With this, I should be much calmer when I finally act.
Also, the rope has been acquired.
Let’s review: the place, the dumping ground, the scalpel for the face, the makeup, the clothes, the rope… everything is ready.
In short… I can move at any time.
Seeing this, Suzuki Koji’s brow furrowed. “The rope? When did he get that? It wasn’t mentioned before.”
Kishida had a sinking feeling. Yomikawa Tsuko must have taken out that part. It made sense that Kagehara would have written about getting the rope in the nine days between May 2nd and May 11th. He just couldn’t fathom why Yomikawa would hide that specific detail. It felt like a missing piece of a macabre puzzle.
“Wait, wasn’t the Makeup Hunter’s weapon also a rope? Was there anything special about the one he used?” Suzuki asked, turning his head.
“From the marks, it seems like the same rope, or at least the same brand and size. But that’s easy information to find online, thanks to all those sensationalist reporters,” Kishida explained, then urged, “Don’t get caught up in the small things. Look at the next part. Kagehara’s planned attack.”
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.