Chapter 18: Kishida Masayoshi’s Deduction
Kishida Masayoshi likely had no idea just how significant the information he had just revealed was.
Kagehara Tetsuya began to piece things together. For Yomikawa, both Hasebe Koichi and Ōshima Masaki were targets—dead men walking, so to speak. The only question was the order in which they would meet their end. Yomikawa must have known this from the very beginning.
So, how should she have carried it out? Considering Yomikawa had an accomplice, the best approach would have been to act on both fronts simultaneously. While Yomikawa made her move at the inn, her accomplice should have dealt with Hasebe Koichi at the same time—or at the very least, restrained him to prevent any unforeseen complications.
But last night, Ōshima Masaki had gone to Hasebe Koichi's house. Kishida, unaware of the face-swapping scheme, couldn’t possibly grasp the truth behind this.
The "Ōshima Masaki" who had visited Hasebe Koichi's house last night was, in fact, Hasebe Koichi himself, his face altered to resemble Ōshima Masaki. The real Ōshima Masaki was at the inn, staying in Room 216 under Hasebe Koichi's identity.
In other words, Hasebe Koichi had not been under Yomikawa and her accomplice's control at that time.
This left only two possibilities:
First, Yomikawa's accomplice had not yet made their move.
Second, they had already acted, but Hasebe Koichi had managed to escape.
With this in mind, Kagehara Tetsuya asked, "What did Ōshima Masaki go to Hasebe Koichi's house for?"
"Money," Kishida replied, spreading his hands. "Ōshima Masaki claimed he was there on Hasebe Koichi's behalf, demanding that Hasebe's parents hand over all the family's money. Of course, Hasebe's parents didn’t comply and simply chased him away."
So, it seemed the second possibility was the more likely scenario.
Yomikawa's accomplice had already made their move to take control of him. Regardless of how it unfolded, the bottom line was that Hasebe Koichi had managed to escape. It seemed he hadn’t been able to turn the tables on Yomikawa’s accomplice either, otherwise he wouldn’t be in such a desperate rush for money.
What a fool. Kagehara Tetsuya had a growing premonition that Hasebe Koichi would likely meet his end sooner or later. In fact, the best course of action for him now would be to seek police protection. If he provided information about the face-swapping scheme, solving the case at the inn would be child’s play. But instead, Hasebe Koichi had chosen a different path.
That fool was probably planning to use the information he knew to blackmail Yomikawa.
The terms of the exchange? Most likely, he wanted to pick a new target for another face-swapping—someone who fit the criteria of being wealthy and young.
To pull this off, he would need to stay hidden until Yomikawa was backed into a corner and had no choice but to agree to his demands. And in the meantime, he would need money to survive.
“Ōshima Masaki failed to extort money from the Hasebe household, but he probably won’t give up. Does he have any family?”
Kagehara Tetsuya guessed that Hasebe Koichi wouldn’t stop. Since he had swapped faces with Ōshima Masaki, he must know a thing or two about Ōshima’s family. If he couldn’t get money from his own family, he’d likely try to squeeze it out of Ōshima’s.
“Ōshima Masaki has a younger sister, Ōshima Mana. I’ve already contacted her. Once we’re done here, I’ll go see her.” Kishida Masayoshi had no reservations about sharing this with the young woman in front of him. In his eyes, the likelihood of Yomikawa being the culprit was minuscule.
From a timing perspective, the window between the end of the ghost story gathering and 9:45 PM was only fifteen minutes—any longer, and it would exceed the time of death established by the medical examiner.
Even if she had somehow managed to pull off the first step, she would have had only fifteen minutes to dispose of the head and the murder weapon. And before the clerk finished his meal, she would have had to return to the first floor and stay in Kagehara Tetsuya’s room until 2 AM.
Factoring in the need to make a round trip, if Yomikawa were the killer, she would have had only seven and a half minutes to handle the head and the weapon. How far could she possibly get in seven and a half minutes?
Approximately one kilometer.
However, the police had already combed a three-kilometer radius around the inn and found no trace of the head or the murder weapon.
At the investigation headquarters, most shared the same view: the likelihood of any of the five students, including Yomikawa, being involved in the crime was extremely low.
"I see," Kagehara Tetsuya murmured, pondering for a moment before asking, "Officer Kishida, could you share your current theory on the case? Only then will I know what kind of information about Kagehara Tetsuya you need."
"Information about Kagehara Tetsuya? Well, the more, the better," Kishida replied.
"However," the young woman hesitated, "there are certain privacy concerns involved. I can only share so much, so I’ll have to trouble you, Officer Kishida."
After the lessons learned a year ago, Kishida Masayoshi was reluctant to reveal his deductions. He wrestled with the decision internally but ultimately, considering the unique relationship between the young woman and Kagehara Tetsuya, as well as the lack of other avenues to investigate him, he had no choice but to speak.
"Calling it a deduction might be a stretch—it’s more of an integration of the facts we have. I believe that the missing Kagehara Tetsuya was at least involved in the dismemberment of the body. According to the autopsy report, among everyone present at the inn, only Kagehara Tetsuya could have left such calm and precise cuts when severing the victim’s head."
"Based on Ōgami Yosuke’s testimony, Kagehara Tetsuya spent over twenty minutes in the second-floor restroom. This means he couldn’t have been the killer, as it wouldn’t align with the time of death. Therefore, he must have been an accomplice."
"The actual killer of Ōshima Masaki is someone else. The prime suspect is Hasebe Koichi, since the crime took place in his room. It’s highly unlikely he knew nothing about it."
"So, piecing together the timeline: Ōshima Masaki was first killed by Hasebe Koichi in the room. I suspect this happened before your ghost story gathering ended, which would explain why no one heard any unusual noises."
"After the ghost story gathering, Kagehara Tetsuya and Ōgami Yosuke went to the restroom. Once they came out, Kagehara first slipped a note under your door, then went to Room 216 to dismember the body. After finishing, he stayed behind to clean up the scene, while Hasebe Koichi went to dispose of the head and the murder weapon."
The one thing Kishida Masayoshi couldn’t wrap his head around was why Kagehara Tetsuya had slipped a note to the young woman in front of him, luring her to the room on the first floor.
After listening to Kishida’s explanation, Kagehara Tetsuya raised a question: “Why are you so sure it was Hasebe Koichi who committed the murder? Anyone without an alibi between the end of the ghost story gathering and 9:45 PM could be the killer, right?”
Kishida nodded. “Theoretically, yes. But this case isn’t just about the murder—it also involves dismemberment and disposal of the body. What we can confirm is that only Kagehara Tetsuya could have dismembered the body with such precision, and only Hasebe Koichi had the time to dispose of it. Plus, the crime took place in Hasebe’s room. So, these two are indispensable to the crime. At the same time, it’s entirely plausible to assume that these two are the only perpetrators.”
“Therefore, given that none of you had any prior connection to Ōshima Masaki, we’re not considering the possibility of a third culprit at this time.”
The fact that Yomikawa and Ōshima Masaki didn’t know each other was good news. Kagehara Tetsuya felt a quiet sense of relief.
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