Chapter 56

I confirm with the words that slipped out of my mouth.

"R-really, really? Male hornets really don't sting?"

Yachiyo-san declared in a strong, confident voice, thrusting the hornet's rear toward me as if to say there was no lie.

"Ah! No mistake! Only the females sting......! But still, who was it? Using insecticide......"

In short, one answer can be drawn from this. Mr. Kamakiri did not die in mutual destruction with a hornet. He was not killed by a hornet that had fallen.

Could there have been another female hornet in that room?

"Another hornet...... was in that room......"

Yachiyo-san turned at my murmur and reacted. Sensing something odd, the President now nudged her.

"Yachiyo-san, if you keep hiding things, people really will stop trusting you about the hornets."

"No, I already believe......"

"Sorry, but when it comes to hornets, I trust you more than Grandma. If there's anything you're hiding about them, please tell us. We might figure out who sprayed this hornet with insecticide."

The President's serious gaze. Perhaps his trusting heart got through; Yachiyo-san offered me one fact.

"Um...... actually...... when I found Mr. Kamakiri collapsed, while you two were desperately trying to help...... I caught a hornet. The one stuck to the entrance......"

We tilted our heads. We had been doing CPR and such; we'd hardly noticed anyone else's actions.

I had no idea what she'd been up to, but I never imagined Yachiyo-san had been doing insect collecting.

I mutter, stunned at her actions.

"......while someone was in trouble......"

"But everyone was doing that...... the hornet was more important...... because if that thing was the killer, everyone would...... to that thing......"

No, I still can't understand people who prioritize something over human life. Still, the President must have read the room; he sympathized with her feelings.

"Yeah, it must have been rough for you, Yachiyo-san. Having something precious almost killed—of course you'd be upset."

"Ah......"

"I get it. So did you let it go?"

"Into the forest over there. Probably got lost while trying to overwinter in those woods......"

"But you caught it so neatly."

"If you handle them gently, they don't struggle. Don't try to copy me...... Still—"

Yachiyo-san rests a hand on her chin. Staring, I notice black stains there. Had her chin been resting on something? Or else—but this is no time for that.

I'd like to know if there's any repellent spray in the house. Yet if she's asked whether she owns insecticide that could kill hornets, she'll surely say "no," and even if she had some, she'd never show us. I can't think of any more excuses to enter Yachiyo-san's house for another search.

In the end, I couldn't find the repellent or insecticide spray and identify the culprit.

While thinking the riddles only keep increasing, I step into the garden. There, Detective Chikage arrives and points at Room 105.

"Is that one all right? Come to think of it, we never entered it at all."

"Ah, I completely forgot. Well, we can enter anytime...... now Grandma won't get in the way, so the spray......"

The moment I turn to act on that pointer, the President plants himself in front of me.

"W-w-wait a sec."

"What is it, President?"

"Well, let's look for anything suspicious with those three. At the very least, we haven't searched Yachiyo-san's house yet. And Mr. Uriki might have pretended to look for an AED while actually throwing away the insecticide can. See, even if it wouldn't be noticed as evidence, he might've thought it best to dispose of it."

The President's words speed up oddly. His reasoning makes sense, but the fact that the President himself is offering a solid counterargument makes me suspect something.

Thinking about what I'm about to do, I can't help going "aha."

"......President...... 'because they're family' isn't a reason not to suspect them...... I hate unconditionally removing family from the suspect list just because they're family, or hiding their guilt. Your own sister, Miiko, said the same."

Those heartless yet natural words draw a retort.

"Huh, but I don't think you did it, and neither of us suspects Chikage-san, right!?"

"You have an alibi because you were with me, so I don't consider you in my investigation. Besides, you didn't prepare the hornets or spray cans needed for this trick...... I think Detective Chikage is unlikely to be the culprit because I don't believe she could have prepared them."

"......You and 'bonds'......"

"Bonds have no place in a murder case. No, on the contrary, bonds themselves can be the trigger for a crime. Trust alone is never proof someone didn't commit a crime......"

Exactly. I've proved countless times that a lack of love means nothing. Yet I've never proved that trust means someone didn't commit a crime. And I never could.

Saying that clearly, I pass the President. I'll at least check Grandma's room.

Sure enough. There's a spray can inside the sliding door. There's also a certain package, but I decide it's unrelated to this case and end the inspection.

Then the President finally reappears in front of me.

"H-hey...... you're not saying Grandma's the culprit just because of that, right?"

"Why not?"

"It's weird. The hornet hit with repellent spray isn't the one that killed Kamakiri. Probably Grandma sprayed it by chance...... it came in through an open gap we hadn't checked yet!"

"A gap......? Where else is there a gap?"

"Let's find out! Follow me!"

"Eh!?"

The President suddenly dashes off. I have no choice but to follow; he plunges into Room 101. It's vacant, so we can enter normally.

Even looking from the entrance, the President's gone. I think he's vanished—then I spot him in a weird place.

"Hey! President, where are you!?"

"Inside the sliding door! Come here!"

Calling me into the sliding-door space, the President suddenly points at the ceiling with his finger.

"What?"

"Don't you see it?"

"See what?"

"A hole. A hole! Could there be one around here......"

"Cut it out."

Something drops right then. A small object hits the President's face, bounces off with a pop, and lands in my hand.

"A wireless speaker......?"

"Huh? Why would something like that......?"

"No idea...... what is it...... really?"

A wireless speaker. Similar to one I've seen in a certain detective anime. Small enough to fit in the palm, yet able to project voices or music remotely.

Wondering why such a thing would be here, I twist my whole body and think.

A riddle.

Riddles keep piling up in this case. And while I'm thinking that, another riddle slips in—like the coup de grâce aimed at me.

The trigger was the President.

"Oh yeah, Grandma should be coming home soon...... hey, if Grandma were the culprit, wouldn't she have taken the spray can with her in the ambulance? Then she could've tossed the can......"

"No way she could take something like that......"

"No, maybe she could? Just maybe. She could've tossed it inside the ambulance!"

"Nobody illegally dumps stuff inside an ambulance......!"

I keep repeating ambulance, ambulance. The more I chant "ambulance, ambulance," the more a sense of wrongness rises in my heart.

Why didn't Mr. Kamakiri call for help right after he collapsed? There should've been a landline in that room. Yet he didn't move—why?

Had the pain from the sting been so severe he couldn't move?

Or had he been unable to reach the phone? Had the call not gone through?

"What's wrong......?"

"No, even if Grandma were the culprit, I don't get it. Why didn't Mr. Kamakiri call for help...... And more fundamentally, I can't understand why Mr. Kamakiri, who feared hornets, would take action that risked being stung...... The more I think, the more riddles appear...... My head...... my head hurts!"

Saying that, I ruffle my hair into a mess.

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