Chapter 59

Just as I expected, Kamezaki started to argue back with a nervous laugh.

"W-What? Why am I the one who killed Kamakiri-kun? I only tried to take this trash outside because it was in the way inside the house."

The president, looking disappointed, pointed out forcefully.

"B-But just now, you went toward the dump! Tomorrow isn't garbage day! You were trying to run away, weren't you?"

Yet Kamezaki dodged the accusations casually.

"I just happened to pass by the dump, and besides, I thought you looked suspicious, so I... that's all."

With that rebuttal, Kamezaki must have thought she'd won. She was secretly gloating, believing she could escape guilt.

My job is to break that illusion. I'll hit her with the reasoning.

"That's all? No way. We're not accusing you just because of that!"

"W-What! Then what's your reason!?"

I held up three fingers. Then I laid out the reasoning one by one, explaining why she had to be the culprit.

"You tossed in the hornet so the victim couldn't phone—three pieces of evidence point squarely at you."

"W-What do you mean!?"

"First, the smartphone. Kamakiri-san's smartphone. If you hadn't stolen it, he could have called for help without moving off the futon. You couldn't allow that. So you took the phone and left it at the president's grandma's house. Only someone who'd met Kamakiri-san and entered the grandma's house could have done that."

"...! That would—"

"Granny, or Yachiyo-san who left right after Kamakiri-san, might have had a chance to steal it. The president, me, even Detective Chikage could have done it... but only one person couldn't: Mr. Uriki."

"W-What...? You're only eliminating one person—"

Despite acting composed, her face was turning purple. I pressed the attack.

I folded one more finger. "Second."

"Second, the male and female hornets. If Kamakiri-san had known about them, he might have looked closely, realized the male had no stinger, and phoned for help. In the end he didn't know and died, but that possibility existed. The culprit probably didn't know either, and mistakenly believed the male also had a hidden stinger."

"Um, what do you mean!?"

"So, if the culprit knew hornets, to prevent a call for help they'd have thrown in a female hornet, not a male. Otherwise, noticing no stinger on this hornet, the victim might think it safe and call for help. Thus Yachiyo-san's chance is low. And Detective Chikage, me, or the president—none of us had the time, place, or motive to prepare such a hornet, so the chance we're the murderer is low."

"But that doesn't leave only me."

I raised a single finger at last. She clutched her chest, waiting for my death-sentence evidence.

"When did the culprit drop in the hornet to block the phone? Only Room 202's peephole makes sense. Before the cockroach hunt there was no dead hornet, so it must have been placed afterward. But after that we cleaned Room 202. Someone entering to drop the hornet would have been noticed."

"So?"

"The culprit must be the person who disappeared during the cockroach uproar. During cleaning you tried to sneak the corpse in under cover of confusion, but you'd definitely look suspicious later. Then the cockroach hunt started. While everyone's eyes were on the cockroach, it was the perfect chance."

"But after that I searched with the landlady granny!"

"But after that?"

"After?"

"When the cockroach was near Detective Chikage! You didn't scream then!"

Remembering the moment the cockroach clung to her, Detective Chikage shuddered and nearly sank to the ground.

I let her be for now and listened to Kamezaki's rebuttal.

"It's just a cockroach, right? I keep stink bugs as pets. I love them! Of course I wouldn't scream!"

"More than Yachiyo-san? More than Mr. Uriki?"

"Of course!"

I gave the calmly lying Kamezaki one line.

"Liar!"

"W-What!?"

"Anyone who loves them would have screamed! You said it yourself when you came to help clean Room 101: 'Nothing surprised me.' Seeing a Madagascar cockroach and not being surprised!?"

The president started to say, "It is rare, but—" so I shouted louder. "Seeing a Madagascar cockroach!" I drowned out the president and Detective Chikage at neighbor-bothering volume.

Kamezaki snorted through her nose and said,

"Sorry. I'm just used to cockroaches as a lover of them."

The president and Detective Chikage's expressions changed in an instant, from exasperation to shock.

They sensed something off in her careless remark. While Kamezaki looked around puzzled—"What? What is it?"—I enlightened her.

"Banana. Nicknamed the Green Banana Roach. Not found in Japan. A special cockroach sold at a certain Tokyo pet shop. I heard from Mr. Uriki. If you love Madagascar cockroaches, you'd never mistake that all-green Green Banana Roach...! While we were busy catching the cockroach, you ran to Room 202! To toss your hidden trump card through the peephole!"

"B-But then Granny could also—"

"You think Granny with her bad hip could reach the second floor unseen? Compared to that, you have plenty of suspicious slips like this. That's why I'm pointing to you as the culprit!"

Almost there. I swallowed. Of course the cornered Kamezaki shook her head wildly, resisting.

"Wait, wait! Everything I've said so far is just probability! Probability! Playing with the speaker and not seeing the cockroach—same thing. I was only pranking! And killing someone by mistaking a hornet for a horsefly—impossible!"

"It's possible. Apparently Kamakiri-san couldn't kill the hornet, but he did kill the horsefly. Yellow liquid was on the flyswatter used to kill it!"

"Yellow liquid..."

"You painted it! You changed the colors of the sleeping hornet and horsefly with yellow and black liquid. You made them as alike as possible. To the drowsy Kamakiri-san, they'd look identical, so you used a brush—"

The president's calligraphy brush. She must have tried to hide that. The president noticed and pointed.

"The brush I saw in Kamezaki-san's room is in there..."

"It is."

Kamezaki kept making excuses as I declared. She flung the trash bag at us and shouted.

"Look if you want! The brush is in there. But there's no yellow liquid! Even if there were, I washed it off! I was only throwing out a brush that had become unusable!"

Detective Chikage bristled at those words.

"That excuse won't work!"

I stopped her seriously.

"Detective Chikage... stay calm. Kamezaki... as you wish, I'll refute every word. That brush isn't the only evidence of murder..."

Detective Chikage and Kamezaki looked at each other.

The president asked me.

"What evidence!? Isn't it the brush in this trash?"

I shouted with passion, keeping the flame inside burning to the end.

"It's more than that! The reason you sent the Choudou Manor threats—the very fact you wove Choudou into this case is the true hint that leads to the real evidence!"

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