Chapter 9: Taking Control of the Situation
Outside the window, it was pitch black—still the middle of the night.
Kagehara Tetsuya sat up and shook his head to shake off the drowsiness. He checked the time: 1:50 AM.
Instinctively, he touched his throat and tested his voice.
"Ah—ah—"
His voice had truly swapped. Not only that, but his Adam’s apple was gone.
"Did Hanako’s wish come true at midnight?"
It was now clear that Ćgami YĆsuke’s earlier reasoning about Hanako’s wishes was completely wrong.
But...
Kagehara Tetsuya frowned. He had felt like he had forgotten something before falling asleep. What exactly had he forgotten or overlooked?
Before leaving, he had mentally reviewed his actions and was sure he hadn’t left any loose ends. He also had a clear idea of how to handle the detectives’ questioning.
Perhaps it was just an illusion.
Kagehara Tetsuya pushed the door open and stepped out.
The clerk at the counter looked over and immediately widened his eyes in surprise.
"Someone screamed just now, right? What happened?"
Of course, Kagehara Tetsuya knew what the clerk was surprised about. From the clerk’s perspective, a high school girl emerging from a male classmate’s room in the middle of the night inevitably led to some suggestive assumptions.
"Oh... someone screamed, but I’m not sure what happened," the clerk said, snapping out of his surprise.
"I’ll go take a look," Kagehara Tetsuya said, heading up the stairs. Suddenly, he turned back and made a "shh" gesture. "Please, don’t tell anyone I went there—"
He pointed to the room next to the stairs, the one belonging to "Kagehara Tetsuya."
The clerk gave him a knowing look and made an "OK" gesture.
Even though they had made this agreement, Kagehara Tetsuya didn’t think the clerk would keep it a secret when questioned by the police.
However, a girl would likely care about being seen coming out of a male classmate’s room in the middle of the night, so asking for discretion fit well with the character he was currently pretending to be.
When he reached the second floor, as expected, the door to room 216 was wide open. Three members of the folklore club were gathered in the hallway.
In the middle, a girl sat slumped against the wall, her face pale and her body trembling, clearly in shock. She was probably the unlucky one who had discovered the body. He remembered that her name was Tanaka Kana.
On Tanaka Kana’s left, a girl was comforting her—Ueno Junko, a second-year student. On the other side, Ćgami YĆsuke looked grim, his fists clenched tightly. However, he was bold enough to keep looking into room 216, though it was unclear if he was actually looking at the corpse.
"What’s wrong with you all?"
Kagehara Tetsuya pretended to know nothing as he walked toward the three of them. The folklore club had six members in total, including himself, but only four were present now.
Takada ShĆji wasn’t here—maybe he was still asleep and hadn’t been woken up by the commotion. But where was Yomikawa? Was she still sleeping too?
"Senpai!"
"It’s so terrifying, Senpai!"
"Senpai, whatever you do, don’t look inside the room!"
"You all look so strange. What on earth happened... Ah!!" Kagehara Tetsuya feigned confusion as he glanced into room 216, then let out a startled scream. As he instinctively stepped back, he accidentally stepped on Ćgami YĆsuke’s foot. Without bothering to apologize, he stammered, "W-what’s going on...?"
Inside the room, a male corpse lay face down on the bed. The head was missing, and the severed neck was a gruesome mess of flesh and blood. Perhaps because the blood had already drained, the corpse’s skin was deathly pale, exuding a grayish, decaying stench of death. However, at the corpse’s waist, a bright crimson color stood out starkly. The skin there had been cut away, and transparent serum dripped from the wound onto the sheets, leaving a murky stain.
"I-I don’t know... I just smelled something strange, so I got curious... When I opened the room, I saw the body..." Tanaka Kana’s voice trembled with sobs as she haltingly explained how she had discovered the corpse.
Kagehara Tetsuya had acted enough. He took a deep breath and asked, "What about Takada-kun and Kagehara-kun? Have you seen them?"
"Huh? No, I haven’t," Ćgami YĆsuke said, momentarily stunned.
Kagehara Tetsuya put on a serious expression, mimicking Yomikawa’s usual tone. "This is a murder case. Ćgami, you and Junko take Kana back to her room and call the police. Stay in your rooms until the police arrive, and don’t open the door for anyone."
"What about you, Senpai?" Ćgami YĆsuke asked urgently.
"I’ll go check on Takada and Kagehara. If everything’s fine, I’ll return to my room right away."
Ćgami YĆsuke looked worried. "But it’s too dangerous for you to go alone..."
"It’s fine. If I run into anyone suspicious, I’ll scream right away. You go call the police and explain the situation clearly. Make sure they send people quickly. And you need to protect Junko and Kana. As a man, you have to take responsibility now!"
As a new student and club member, Ćgami YĆsuke ultimately yielded to "Yomikawa Tsuko," who was both his senior and the club president. "Alright then, Senpai. Please be careful."
Watching the three of them enter their room, Kagehara Tetsuya let out a sigh of relief. He walked toward room 221 and tried the door. As expected, it was locked. Where on earth had Yomikawa gone? Was she even in the room?
He had to confirm this.
If she was inside, they needed to align their stories before the detectives arrived.
But he also had to consider the possibility that she wasn’t there and prepare accordingly.
The front desk on the first floor should have a spare key. Kagehara Tetsuya first went to check on Takada. Takada was safe and sound, and when asked to stay in his room, he didn’t show any suspicion.
Next, he returned to the first floor. First, he made a show of entering the room belonging to "Kagehara Tetsuya" in front of the clerk. After coming out, he explained the situation to the clerk: "I’ve already had someone call the police. They should be here soon. Oh, and I can’t find the key to my room. The door’s locked. Can you give me a spare key?"
The clerk, already startled by the news of a murder, was in a state of panic. He hurriedly found the spare key. "H-here it is... By the way, are you students all right?"
"Anyway, you need to stay here," Kagehara Tetsuya said, not wanting to get entangled in this issue before confirming Yomikawa’s status. He changed the subject. "Just a reminder, the murderer might still be hiding somewhere in the inn. You’d better stay here and make sure no one sneaks out. Wait for the police to arrive."
"W-what? You want me to stay here?" The clerk’s face turned pale. This was a dangerous task. "What if I get attacked? When will the police get here?"
"Isn’t there a camera over there? You should be fine if you hide underneath it," Kagehara Tetsuya added, then immediately returned to the second floor. The hallway was empty. He went to room 221 and unlocked the door with the spare key.
The room was empty.
Yomikawa wasn’t in the inn.
Kagehara Tetsuya frowned as he looked around. The layout of the guest rooms was the same throughout the inn. Yomikawa’s room was very tidy, with no personal belongings except for a small blue suitcase on the square table.
He opened the lid of the suitcase. Inside, two sets of clothes were neatly folded. On top of the clothes were a set of keys, a phone, and Yomikawa Tsuko’s student ID.
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