Chapter 65: The Fourth Wish
When Kishida left the Yomikawa residence, the sky was even darker than when he had arrived. He sat back in his car, lit a cigarette, and his mind began to process the vast amount of information he had just received.
“Sigh, high school students these days are truly something.”
When he had listened to ĹŚgami YĹŤsuke’s reasoning, he had thought the young man was incredibly sharp and intelligent. But after meeting Yomikawa Tsuko today, he felt as though ĹŚgami wasn’t quite as impressive after all—at least, not compared to Yomikawa.
“When I asked him about his opinion of Yomikawa before, he overlooked such important information. If I had known she was this perceptive, I would have brought ĹŚgami along.”
Kishida initially thought this, but then shook his head. He couldn’t put it that way. After all, he himself wasn’t encountering Yomikawa for the first time; he even knew about her visit to the Hasebe residence. Yet, her performance today had far exceeded his expectations.
ĹŚgami YĹŤsuke’s reasoning had been incredibly compelling, leaving him deeply impressed. But when it came to Yomikawa, she had seen through the flaws with ease, and she had remained so calm throughout.
This even gave Kishida the illusion that she had known he would come to find her and suspect her, and had thus been mentally prepared.
Casting one last glance at the villa under the cloudy sky, Kishida started the car, thinking that rather than agonizing over Yomikawa, he should focus on investigating the suspected individual being blackmailed by Hasebe Koichi—‘A’.
Currently, there was no evidence to prove ‘A’s’ existence. All deductions about ‘A’ were based on conjecture. But Kishida had a feeling that ‘A’ definitely existed, and perhaps the day they found ‘A’ would be the day these two cases were solved.
…
Night fell. 9:40 PM.
Tetsuya washed his hands, looking with satisfaction at the cone-shaped plaster he had made. Plaster generally took 24 to 48 hours to dry, so he would leave it as it was for now.
The first task of the night was complete. Next was the second.
This second task was the main focus of the night.
“Today is June 17th, Sunday.”
“The face swap with Yomikawa-senpai was on June 9th, last Saturday.”
“Tonight is when Hanako makes her fourth wish.”
Hanako’s first wish had been to exchange voices.
The second wish was to exchange hair.
The third wish was to exchange skin.
“The content of the fourth wish is that Hanako wants her body to become as alluring as Natsuhime’s.”
In Tetsuya’s understanding, “body as alluring as Natsuhime’s” meant having the same figure—that is, exchanging shoulders, chest, waist, hips, legs, and so on.
Applying this to his own situation, his exchange partner was Yomikawa-senpai, so his body should exchange with hers tonight. He would become female, and Yomikawa-senpai would become male.
But because the sixth wish hadn’t arrived yet, his fingerprints, blood type, DNA, and other information shouldn’t change.
“On June 13th, I had a hypothesis that the time interval between Hanako’s wishes was increasing, likely because the side effects of making wishes were becoming greater.”
“Hanako’s wishing times were the first day, the third day, the fifth day, the ninth day, the fourteenth day, the twenty-first day, and the forty-eighth day after the face swap.”
“Now it seems this guess was likely correct, because Kishida said undigested ibuprofen sustained-release capsules were found in Hasebe Koichi’s stomach. He probably took them to resist the pain caused by the physical changes.”
“Yomikawa-senpai and Lord Mask-Taker killed him so easily, without any resistance, probably for the same reason.”
For Tetsuya, ĹŚgami YĹŤsuke and Kishida’s deduction had considerable merit.
First was the identity of ‘A’. Tetsuya believed that ‘A’ likely referred to Lord Mask-Taker, the woman with the bow and arrow who had appeared with Yomikawa-senpai in front of the Hasebe residence that night.
Hasebe Koichi and Lord Mask-Taker likely had a long-term relationship involving physical intimacy and money. This wasn’t difficult to imagine; Hasebe Koichi wasn’t someone who could control his desires, and Lord Mask-Taker could shapeshift, freely exchanging faces and bodies with others.
Therefore, it made sense that Hasebe Koichi wouldn’t be interested in other women.
Furthermore, handwriting analysis showed that Hasebe Koichi’s recent handwriting closely matched his previous writing habits. In other words, investigating ‘A’ through Hasebe Koichi was definitely a good starting point.
“Speaking of which, there’s also the anomaly that occurred on the night the second wish was fulfilled—my sudden fainting, the sound I heard, and the peculiar smell I smelled.”
“Only two hypotheses can explain this. The first is that what happened that night had nothing to do with Hanako’s wish and just happened to occur on that night, causing me to misunderstand.”
“The second hypothesis is that this anomaly will appear on the nights the second, fourth, and sixth wishes are fulfilled, and the reason for its appearance is unknown. But if that thing appears tonight, I will definitely capture its traces.”
Thinking this, Tetsuya began to prepare his bedroom.
The overall setup was the same as a few days ago. He first locked all the doors and windows, then used his phone and computer to start recording, making sure the windows and doors were all within the camera’s field of view.
In this way, it was like a net spread wide. If that thing appeared, it would definitely leave traces.
After adjusting the equipment, Tetsuya could already feel his body heating up. It was now 10:40 PM. He took some medicine and lay down on the bed.
Even with the medicine, the fever was clearly much stronger than last time. Before it was even 11 PM, Tetsuya was already shivering all over, his teeth chattering even under a thick blanket.
“My body feels terrible.”
As time passed, waves of negative sensations began to assault Tetsuya. First, all his joints felt as if they were rusted, making even simple actions like raising his arm extremely difficult.
Then, the stiffness began to spread. His muscles became sore and painful, ten times more unbearable than a muscle strain. He even suspected that he would have a full-body cramp in the next second.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but all the strength had been drained from Tetsuya’s body. He felt as if a raging fire was burning inside him, the flames searing his muscles and bones. The burning sensation was so intense that he felt as if his body was melting. He couldn’t even manage to cry out.
Even though he had been mentally prepared, these intense side effects far exceeded Tetsuya’s expectations. His consciousness began to blur, and he gradually lost all sensation of his body. His sweat-soaked hair stuck to his pale cheeks, and his unconsciously furrowed brows under the light revealed a strange hint of softness.
In the silent night, the transformation proceeded silently.
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