"What's the meaning of this?" "I figured it might be better if they spoke to Ms. Tendo personally." "Of course not!" "She is in the midst of writing!" "Oh..." "I'll go to bed first." "Satomi." "Mr. Sato." "Good night." "The day after tomorrow is Christmas Eve." "Yes it is." "I'll go and buy another Christmas cake." "please." "Kageyama!" "Milady." "What ever is the matter?" "Didn't you go off somewhere last night?" "I rang the servant's bell but you didn't come." "A thousand pardons." "I had urgent business." "what's up with that?" "I was being careless." "Hm." "You're a lot clumsier than I thought." "Be more careful." "does Milady have any plans for Christmas Eve tomorrow?" "please forget that I asked." "What for?" "Do you think a question like that would unnerve me?" "I've been flooded with requests for my presence on Christmas Eve for the last six months!" "As expected of Milady." "I am sure it is because of your most lovable personality." "but more importantly I'm pretty." "you're so cute!" "They say." "I can't make solid plans." "crime doesn't take Christmas off after all." "speak of the devil." "Detective." "Do we have a case?" "do you have any plans for tomorrow evening?" "Why are you asking?" "Because we've got a case on the eve of Christmas Eve." "But never fear!" "I'll close the case in a single day as I always do!" "A single day?" "Hosho?" "All of the cases that've come my way lately have been solved––thanks to me––by the following day!" "that's thanks to Kageyama." "I've got to find Ms. Shao Rei by tomorrow evening." "I see." "so hurry up and come to the crime scene." "Tendo Shizuko." "we've got a case." "It's at Tendo Shizuko's house." "It's real close." "Ms. Tendo's house?" "don't you?" "I have the utmost love and respect for Ms. Tendo as a mystery writer. she abruptly changed her writing style and broke new ground- just hurry up. why did you ask about my plans for tomorrow?" "about that..." "I have important plans for tomorrow night." "Say what?" "! I have a prior arrangement and must be away from the manor." "I beg your forgiveness." "You traitor!" "You're just a butler!" "Just a butler!" "Milady." "Christmas Eve is but a single night." "I have already informed the master." "I see!" "have fun!" "so see ya!" "I wish you luck." "28 years old. an up and coming mystery writer." "She was hit on the head THUD!" "with a blunt object." "Estimated time of death is around midnight." "{alternately: we could go real liberal and call Rumi the "crown princess" since Shizuko is the "queen"}" "the Queen of Mystery?" "It seems there were plans to have a Christmas Party with some mystery writers." "Those that stayed over last night were:" "Kawamata Sosuke;" "Miyaji Saori;" "known for his hard-boiled literary style;" "Kunioka Jiro. in a detached writing studio at the time of the crime." "the suspect should be within this group of people." "Yes yes yes yes." "Mystery authors vs. Kazamatsuri Kyoichiro." "Hosho?" "never." "But the match is already over." "Behold!" "What is it?" "X!" "this is without a doubt a dying message! ink spilled on the floor to leave this message." "But "X?" "Hosho?" "Huh?" "Nothing less from a pro mystery writer she's left a complex code!" "But I already see the meaning of the X!" "Really?" "Let's expose the culprit on Christmas Eve Eve!" "which dressing would you prefer?" "I'll go with your recommendation." "don't talk to me for a bit." "There's something that I've been trying to work out." "Does it have something to do with Detective Kazamatsuri?" "Of course not!" "the case." "the case that occurred in Ms. Tendo Shizuko's residence?" "Might I inquire how the investigation is progressing?" "the idea of being straight with him gets on my nerves." "Kageyama's been solving all of my cases lately." "Kageyama: reveal the culprit!" "it'll spit out the answer." "Why wouldn't I use such a convenient crime-solving device?" "MILADY." "THAT MAN." "IS." "THE CULPRIT." "Would a professional detective really be unable to understand something so simple?" "{const.}" "totally LOL." "Where were your eyeballs?" "The one downside is his foul mouth." "I can't let every little thing get to me." "I'll just have to turn the other cheek to my butler's forked tongue." "listen up good." "This case is a bit unusual." "Unusual you say?" "The victim left a dying message." "A dying message you say!" "Yeah." "What's with the shouting?" "That's not very like you." "Such things almost never appear at real crime scenes!" "Yeah. but I don't think I've ever encountered one for real before." "what was it?" "I don't know what it means." "It was just an X." "An X?" "Yeah." "above the crime scene." "My word!" "It is pretty surprising." "Why is the murder weapon on the second floor?" "It's a trophy for the most valuable pitcher in the east Tokyo little league." "I have one too." "Is that why you were surprised?" "They say there's a jinx on it; that whoever wins this trophy will wreck his shoulder in middle or high school." "and?" "But I made it out just fine." "Jinx: no relation.{mhae - maybe change to "no effect"}" "What a man I am..." "What sort of brag is that? Sato Takeo." "so he comes to the house every day." "Why don't you tell us what happened?" "In detail!" "I don't really know what happened." "You don't know?" "Yeah." "The other writers just showed up out of the blue yesterday." "but..." "What is everyone doing here all of a sudden?" "Excuse me?" "What's up with you?" "Didn't you call us out here?" "Call you?" "We came because we got these from Ms. Tendo." "If you don't mind." "We couldn't exactly refuse an invitation from Ms. Tendo." "I can't wait." "I've never met Ms. Tendo before." "She better show soon." "you know." "How long is she gonna make us wait?" "I'll go check with her right now." "we're not leaving until she shows." "where's the bathroom?" "Right this way." "thanks." "a gift.{what do they call that gift you're supposed to bring to parties for the host?" "}" "can you prepare a room since I'd like to work?" "I know I don't have time to waste." "Then I'll get on it right away." "Trying on the crown already are we?" "Ms. Tendo number two." "At least I'm not some narcissistic hardboiled wannabe." "What are you implying?" "You're pretty full of yourself for someone who can't even sell a tenth of what I do.{mhae - urette inai in this sentence means "popular"}" "bitch." "I'll fucking kill you." "Be my guest." "Just be sure to use that little brain of yours." "Your tricks always fall a bit limp.{oh no she didn't} bitch." "Mr. Tachibana." "didn't get along well with the other authors?" "Ms. Kenmochi became successful quite young so she has quite a few enemies among her fellow writers." "jalousie." "So the other writers had a cornucopia of reasons to want Kenmochi Rumi dead." "Those are all synonyms." "What?" "Then I went to ask Ms. Tendo about the situation." "I've never seen this before." "But everyone said they'd received them from you." "Someone must have called them together to mess with me." "I didn't do it." "but–" "I'M BUSY." "Yes ma'am." "she doesn't know who called them?" "Ms. Tendo is a rather infamous misanthrope." "She shut herself away in her study and all outside communication went through me." "Yes yes yes yes." "Hosho?" "Um..." "It means that someone used Tendo Shizuko's name to gather the other writers." "intending to kill Kenmochi Rumi from the very beginning." "Nope!" "It means that someone set a trap to call out Kenmochi Rumi!" "Isn't that what I just said?" "we let them stay the night and then that happened... where were you at midnight last night?" "Around midnight... we were at the supermarket." "Supermarket? so I asked Mr. Sato to drive me to the 24-hour super market to buy ingredients for breakfast." "We got back at around 1 a.m." "then we went to the store and Sato Takeo and Taguchi Yoneko's alibi checked out." "I see." "we went to ask about last night again." "Ms. Tendo Shizuko collapsed?" "!" "Yes." "I think it was about 2 a.m. this morning." "I was going for a drink with Mr. Kunioka when I found her." "Ms. Tendo!" "please wake up!" "That's Ms. Tendo?" "I'll have to take a rain check tonight." "Satomi." "And Ms. Miyaji came too." "What's all the ruckus about?" "Ms. Tendo just collapsed." "What?" "She collapsed!" "Ms. Tendo's health had gotten noticeably worse lately." "so she's been resting in the annex." "when was Ms. Kenmochi Rumi's body discovered?" "I think it was about five this morning." "I stayed here as well and I suddenly heard a crash while I was sleeping." "I found the bloody trophy on the second floor." "but Ms. Kenmochi was nowhere to be seen." "I was worried so I went to check on her." "And then..." "So that means... the culprit killed Kenmochi Rumi around midnight went outside and tossed the murder weapon into the second floor." "But why wait five hours to do that?" "I have no idea." "So I'm just gonna ignore it." "Ignore it?" "Forget about actions that make us go around in circles." "We have the dying message after all." "you mean the X?" "where did the trophy come from?" "I got it when I was a kid." "I showed it to Ms. Tendo a while ago and it's been here since." "you threw out your shoulder in middle or high school?" "in high school." "That's why I quit playing." "I was at a nearby bakery for my Christmas cake appointment." "This one is a Christmas cake and this one is a birthday cake." "which is rather confusing." "How confusing!" "you were out buying Christmas cake while I was working?" "Oh." "My apologies." "Christmas Eve is tomorrow." "so don't bother telling me!" "we gathered the four mystery writers together for questioning." "I'll get straight to the point." "What were you all doing around midnight last night?" "How dull!" "Investigating alibis right away?" "just like a multi-course meal." "At midnight you'd be able to catch both the culprit and the last train." "Impact and humor are the key." "I think they're making fun of us." "So your alibis have gone bye-bye?" "Is there something wrong with him?" "even without your alibis." "There was one big hint pointing to the killer:" "the dying message Kenmochi Rumi left behind." "A dying message?" "Don't tell me you mean that X?" "Indeed." "naturally the suspect will become clear." "That X is–" "Yes yes yes yes." "I can see it now." "It's parfait!" "There are a paltry few words that begin with the letter X." "And today is December 23rd." "it can be but one thing!" "{christ?" "lol} you don't mean––" "Oh but I do." "The dying message "X" is indicating Christmas!" "And?" "if it's Christmas then what does it mean?" "Merry Kazamatsuri!" "{lol wut}" "I finally succeeded in entering the Tendo estate disguised as a pizza boy." "Why are you fooling around?" "Gimme that pizza." "I was searching for a lost item." "Gross." "the pizza got cold." "My most humble apologies." "X X X" "Could it be?" "There's no way that's related." "Mr. Detective." "You want us to tell you who the prime suspect is?" "the most suspicious person is obvious." "I'm gonna fucking kill you." "Cut the crap!" "You were all with me on that one." "didn't you?" "you hated her that much~" "I have an alibi." "I went to a nearby diner by myself." "I'm sure the waitress will remember me." "A diner?" "I heard the news." "didn't she?" "didn't you?" "Now hol– Yes yes yes!" "I've just come up with a new way to narrow down the suspects!" "The culprit has to have been able to throw that heavy trophy into the second floor from the yard." "we can eliminate anyone who can't do so from the suspect pool." "Good idea." "In that case we can rule out Satomi." "so she doesn't get a lot of exercise." "There's no way she could do it with those arms." "Pardon moi." "Sounds good to me." "but I went to the national little league tournament." "I can tell just by touching your arm." "You couldn't have done it." "right?" "Pardon moi." "Rejected." "What about me?" "REJECTED." "You won't even touch me?" "!" "All of the men could have thrown it." "Mr. Sato who won the same little league MVP award as I did and then threw out his shoulder." "you said all that just to brag?" "all of a sudden..." "Satomi!" "Satomi collapsed." "Satomi?" "it turned out to just be anemia." "I was just so shocked that this happened." "Yeah." "But don't worry." "We don't suspect you; and Mr. Sato and Ms. Yoneko both have alibis." "that's good." "I have to buy a Christmas Cake." "X!" "I just thought something might happen if I shouted it really loud.{fucking lol}" "I happened to hear it too." "X!" "You were still here?" "I had not found what I had lost." "What were you looking for?" "What was that just now?" "nothing." "but where is Satomi's father? but apparently he's a terrible man who's racked up a great deal of debt and ended up selling all of the assets and intellectual property Ms. Tendo had at that point before running off somewhere." "Ms. Tendo's left Satomi's care up to other people so she could focus on writing to make money and keep this estate." "Satomi understands her reasons all too well." "Is that so? so I decided to have teatime at the baseball field near the Tendo manor." "I figured it was about time for that." "Hey." "though to be honest it's the first time I realized it." "stopping half way through teatime?" "who's said to be the most suspicious on account of the fact that her boyfriend was stolen from her." "You have an alibi?" "Yes." "so I just had to meet her." "when I came to visit around 11 last night..." "You don't really give me much of a choice." "Fine." "She let me into her work room." "She turned out to be much more sociable than I'd expected and we ended up talking until 1 a.m." "So you mean you met her before she collapsed at 2 a.m.?" "yes." "so maybe I shouldn't have." "But why didn't you mention it before?" "Ms. Tendo asked me to keep it a secret so she wouldn't have to meet everyone else." "We learned that Miyaji Saori and Tendo Shizuko both had alibis for the time of the murder." "your homework is solving what the X means." "That's all folks." "I'm gonna hang back at the crime scene for a bit." "did something happen?" "is there a better way to make this fit with the "lol homework" line?" "}" "Ms. Shao Rei always appears at the crime scene after the investigation is over." "Ms. Shao Rei should be here tonight." "Have you ever heard this saying:" "Ho Shao Rei" "At the crime scene" "She appears" "Keep your eyes and ears peeled!" "Yessir!" "should sound dismissive}" "And so that's where the investigation left off today." "Kageyama?" "you say?" "I mean regarding the key to the case: the dying message." "The dying message?" "What's wrong with you?" "Weren't you super excited about it?" "What are you tittering about!" "if you have something to say just spit it out." "Milady." "I seem to have a bad case of the giggles." "Hosho Reiko." "How many times have you had a taste of this behavior?" "The giggles?" "How fine." "Just let the fool laugh." "I shall allow him to laugh!" "how long are you gonna keep laughing!" "You're fired!" "Fired!" "Totally fired!" "What's so funny?" "Out with it!" "Out with it!" "Don't "ha" at me!" "I am laughing at the image of Milady and the detective being fooled by the dying message "X." "does it not seem a bit misleading?" "Misleading my foot." "the dying message has nothing to do with the perpetrator of the crime." "What?" "Explain yourself. the reason why the culprit threw the trophy into the second floor." "The trophy?" "I did think it was weird that they'd toss it into the second floor." "Indeed. then there must be a distinct reason for that action." "Huh?" "A reason?" "it should become clear." "Hrmmmm...." "I don't get it!" "Just tell me!" "It would be my pleasure if you do so desire." "you are still in the middle of your meal." "let us save the reveal for dessert." "I must first consult with Milady who performed the investigation." "Huh?" "What is it?" "is that right?" "the murder weapon was thrown into the second story." "isn't that right?" "but what are you getting at?" "That is the culprit's objective." "And it appears to be working as they had hoped." "What?" "the notion that whoever could not have thrown it could not be the culprit." "The culprit threw the trophy into the second story precisely to plant that idea in the minds of the investigators." "Oh I see." "Wait?" "So that means the culprit is Satomi?" "You mean she threw the trophy into the second story to rule herself out as a suspect." "Ms. Satomi has absolutely no motive to kill Ms. Kenmochi Rumi." "But we didn't rule anyone out but Satomi." "there was probably one other person." "Who?" "Ms. Tendo Shizuko." "Oh." "It appears that lately Ms. Tendo's physical condition has been deteriorating." "Surely Milady and the detective concluded that it would be impossible for her to toss a heavy trophy into the second story." "Totally." "So you mean she tossed the trophy to eliminate herself as a suspect?" "Ms. Tendo did not have the physical strength to do so after all." "did so in order to protect her mother." "Huh?" "But Satomi shouldn't have been able to do it." "Ms. Satomi should have been able to do it." "when Detective Kazamatsuri shouted" "X!" "––I saw it." "The room with the broken window was just below Ms. Satomi's room." "Oh." "Yes." "Ms. Satomi aimed at the window below hers and threw the trophy in." "That should have been within her power." "was there a need for Ms. Satomi to cover up for Tendo Shizuko?" "right?" "treaded upon the scene of the murder at around 5 am." "she saw the dying message that wrote of some information connected to Ms. Tendo Shizuko." "There was nothing like that." "Just the letter X." "her mother would be arrested as the culprit and frantically erased it." "there was the likelihood that the bloodstains left on Ms. Rumi's fingertip would be deduced as her writing something." "Thereupon Ms. Satomi dipped that finger into the ink and wrote down 'X' she would erase the bloodstains from her fingertip and turn the eye of the investigation onto the X." "you're saying that X didn't have any special meaning?" "it was merely an enigmatic letter." "Ms. Satomi thought of a further way to remove her mother as a suspect." "the trophy and threw it into the second floor." "this gave rise to the peculiar circumstances of a dying message "X" being left at the scene five hours after the crime took place." "I see." "Makes sense." "is the real culprit?" "there surely is a limit to the shallowness of your thoughts." "vaguely dissing me." "Whatchu trying' to say?" "seldom are those who can write letters on the verge of death." "it is quite natural to think that the culprit wrote it." "you're right." "could the culprit have fabricated a dying message to blame the crime on Tendo Shizuko?" "Indeed. whose name would you write?" "Someone who seems really culprit-y." "Indeed." "was there not an individual that seems more like the culprit than Ms. Tendo?" "Oh!" "Your tricks always fall a bit limp." "should have been much easier to set up as the culprit." "He surely is fitting." "I think that too." "Then why did the culprit not write Tachibana Kunio's name?" "then he would not write his own name." "he had an alibi." "he said that he was at a diner." "there is one possibility." "And that is that the culprit did not see Ms. Kenmochi Rumi and Tachibana Kunio's fight." "who was not present?" "Where's the toilet?" "This way." "thank you." "Miyaji Saori." "Miyaji Saori murdered Ms. Kenmochi Rumi out of hatred from having the literary prize and her lover stolen from her." "Tachibana Kunio and tried to set up Ms. Tendo Shizuko as the suspect." "And that is the truth of this case." "Milady?" "Milady?" "can I say what I'm honestly thinking right now?" "But of course." "What could it be? but are you 'daft?" "'" "Milady?" "Didn't I just tell you?" "That Miyaji Saori has an alibi." "do you mean that testimony about how she was meeting with Ms. Tendo Shizuko." "that was merely her word and is lacking credibility." "Too bad." "Miyaji Saori was substantiated." "Substantiated?" "In what way?" "Because Tendo Shizuko acknowledged it." "Ms. Tendo did?" "Be my guest." "I didn't take no for an answer and talked with Ms. Tendo for a bit while she was lying down." "she met with you here from around 11 p.m. to 2 a.m." "Is that true?" "Yes." "Miyaji Saori had a proper alibi." "So that means your reasoning is wrong." "See?" "Kageyama." "Who is the true culprit?" "Milady." "I have completely ceased to grasp the truth of this case." "Huh?" "Miyaji Saori is the culprit." "I should have thought that this was not incorrect." "Detective? just found promising eye-witness information." "Eye-witness information?" "I see." "I will be there straight away." "Kageyama." "Very well." "A suspicious person." "Yes." "there was a strange man peeking into Ms. Tendo's house." "When was that?" "I think around midnight last night." "That is..." "Consistent with the time of crime." "Did he have any prominent features?" "Hm..." "He was properly attired in something like a tuxedo." "and holding his right hand in pain." "Right hand." "What's up with that?" "We probably have to change our plan of investigation." "we need to take into account the possibility that the attack could have come from outside." "From outside." "Yes." "a crazy Tendo Shizuko fan gathered rival mystery authors together to crush their talent!" "Hosho." "X again?" "Who's there?" "Kageyama?" "what's up with that?" "I was being careless." "He was properly attired in something like a tuxedo." "and holding his right hand in pain." "I had not found what I had lost." "Miyaji Saori is the culprit." "I should have thought that this was not incorrect." "Kageyama?" "you broke into this house and murdered Kenmochi Rumi." "you tried to push that crime onto Miyaji Saori." "Were you trying to end it all here by killing her?" "Hey!" "Tell me the truth!" "Kageyama!" "I'm keeping something from Milady." "Who in the world are you?" "What a great present for Christmas!" "Master!" "I'm keeping something from Reiko." "Kageyama." "Kageyama." "I couldn't ignore it after all." "Oh my give me give me give me love for me" "I'll chase you down" "Let's begin a thorough body check" "{\an8\i1\cH13D7E4}You and I met all of a sudden" "{\an8\i1\cH13D7E4}And you put me at ease like I've known you my whole life" "{\an8\i1\cH13D7E4}Our personalities and interests may have been different" "{\an8\i1\cH13D7E4}But you were dazzling in your clumsy honesty" "{\an8\i1\cH13D7E4}If the day comes when the door of judgement is to be opened" "{\an8\i1\cH13D7E4}Those pure thoughts will let you grasp the key 1500)}" "0000"