Chapter 54

"Ah... ah... tell everyone."

The President's hair falls over his face, casting it in shadow. At that moment, I already sensed what the news he had received meant. Yet I couldn't help but ask.

I wanted to believe my artificial respiration had meant something.

"President... Mr. Kamakiri..."

Having received the hospital report on his smartphone, the President opens heavy lips and announces to every resident gathered in the yard.

"According to them, he apparently passed away many minutes before we even entered the room. He was stung on the neck by a hornet and suffered what they call anaphylactic shock..."

No one could hide their sorrow over the death of a fellow apartment resident. All of them cherished even an insect's life. They must have felt the same grief over a human life being lost.

Only then did I finally grasp their strangely human side.

Suddenly I find myself thinking unnecessary thoughts.

There's an impostor here. Someone carrying fake sorrow, smiling on the inside.

"...It's an unfortunate accident. A hornet that happened to be nearby flew in, and by terrible luck stung Kamakiri-kun while he was sleeping."

Mr. Uriki had suggested the possibility of an accident. I had taken that as a denial. The threatening letter served as evidence.

Once a letter arrives and then an incident occurs, you can't help but think someone arranged it on purpose.

"It's a lie! It's a lie... Kamakiri-kun... Kamakiri-kun is dead... It's a lie..."

Kamezaki-san, Mr. Kamakiri's colleague, collapses to her knees. Watching her, it feels almost disrespectful to investigate his death, yet I must.

I have no choice but to investigate. If anyone among us threatened the President's grandmother and aimed for Mr. Kamakiri's death, I'll find them.

I return silently to Room 201 where Mr. Kamakiri died. We broke the lock, so I needn't hesitate to enter. Perhaps because it's deemed accidental, the police haven't come; there's no tape.

Nothing hinders me. Except the two nuisances behind me.

"Hey now... what are you planning to do alone? Isn't this an accident? Or did Hyoga's incident sensor blurt out that this is a murder?"

The President leans against the wall and pompously rattles on.

"...There aren't any bugs there, right? If not, I—I'll investigate. Tatsuya-kun... no matter how you think about it, the threatening letter and the death happened together. Any detective would consider the possibility of murder... Ah, a spider!? Eek! Hey, Hyoga-kun, there really aren't any bugs in Room 201, right!?"

Detective Chikage clings to the wall, terrified of insects. If she hates it she shouldn't come. Detectives have an incurable curiosity—what a pain.

And once these two show up, complications multiply. I have to tell them what bothers me.

For instance, when we first entered and spotted the hornet.

"Hyoga... is this a paper-wasp...? It's dead, right?"

"Ah... yes. It's smaller than a hornet, so yes. And it's lying still, so probably dead."

"It's... prettier than I expected. Ah, right. When it stung Mr. Kamakiri, the hornet got a good jab in and died with him."

"President..."

So I have to correct the President's misunderstanding.

But this time, Detective Chikage sidled up and spoke while keeping her face glued to her smartphone so she wouldn't see the hornet.

"Th-that's wrong. Wait a sec... I heard before... yes! According to social media, 'only honeybees die after stinging.'"

"Why?"

"J-just wait. I'll look it up... Ah! I told them not to send hornet pics!"

Looks like that backfired. In the end I have to explain.

I was stupid to sigh in relief.

"President, honeybees have barbs. When they sting human skin the stinger gets stuck. Trying to pull it out tears the body—well, if I go on, insect-hating Detective Chikage will tear me apart, so I'll stop. Anyway, only honeybees die. Hornets like the paper-wasp can sting straight and won't die."

"Then why..."

"With it this pristine, probably... I think it died from hornet-repellent spray."

That would normally mean Mr. Kamakiri in the room tried to repel the hornet with spray. But the hornet didn't quite die, managed to sting him, and both perished. That script comes to mind.

Yet nothing confirms it.

No spray in the closet or the room. The only thing that could have killed the bug is a flyswatter dropped by the futon.

There's a flattened, blackened corpse. Unrecognizable. Yellowish stains here and there. If it's a crushed bug, little red blood is shed—unless it sucked human blood.

I open my mouth to ask the President and Detective Chikage.

"Um, about bug blood... ah, never mind."

I saw Detective Chikage's smile and stopped. If I asked, she'd yell "How could you say that!" and punch me. Better to ask someone else.

We've got plenty of bug specialists.

That's all I've checked. What to do with the hornet itself? Right. I'll use it in my plan to ruin Detective Chikage. If she ever assembles perfect evidence, I'll toss this hornet at her—success guaranteed. Her scream will color the reasoning show beautifully.

A tool for revenge on the detective who wrecked my life. If one detective quits, those who admire her will vanish too.

Then no one will stick their neck into dangerous cases and lose their life.

So I take the hornet corpse, the evidence, home in a bag.

If Detective Chikage spots me I'll be thrown out the window, so I do it quietly. The President noticed anyway.

He mistook it for preserving evidence and wryly smiled, "You sure handle it a lot."

"Ah!"

"Eh!? Wh-what!?"

Detective Chikage's sudden shout made me think the thing hidden in my pocket was found. My legs shook, but while staring at the hole connecting to Room 202, she says something outrageous.

"There's no way in through the window. If that tiny hole leads to Room 202, did you two see a hornet come through it at the estimated time of death?"

"Eh... no."

"No, we didn't see anything."

"So... you noticed the hornet corpse, thought he might've been stung, and entered the room. Earlier, when you looked through the peephole, there wasn't a hornet, right? No sign of one..."

"Exactly. There was no hornet anywhere," we answered in unison.

I see. Detective Chikage noticed something rather sharp.

"Therefore, this is a locked room! The window and door were locked, and apart from that hole there's no space a hornet could enter! If you didn't see a hornet come through that hole, then the idea that a hornet dazed by spray staggered in and stung Mr. Kamakiri is impossible."

"Right. Impossible..."

After the President nods, Detective Chikage voices the script she'd been considering.

"In short, after the hornet killed Mr. Kamakiri, someone used repellent spray to finish it off. Then, from this locked room with window and door locked and no string trick possible, the spray was taken away. If the person who vanished from this perfect locked room sent the hornet to sting Mr. Kamakiri, it's unquestionably a flawless locked-room murder!"

Brilliant deduction.

I almost threw the hornet then and there to wreck her thinking—but that stays secret.

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