Box of Demons

Chapter 62

"—I must reiterate that this incident is not a series of consecutive events, but rather they share a common part or have causal relationships in places unrelated to the essence of the matter, causing each event to obscure the truth of the other."

After saying this, Kyogoku-do slowly looked around at everyone present and continued:

“Several of these cases are already closed. I don’t think it’s wise to investigate the truth behind these cases.”

Why is that?

"It's perfectly reasonable for someone who upholds the law to have such a question," Aoki asked.

"Because revealing these truths will only cause many people to feel sadness, misfortune, or have their futures hindered—not a single person will feel joy or happiness. In addition, although there are indeed people in each case who should be punished by law, so-called criminals—those who should really be punished have not committed any crimes under the law; and the criminals are also victims in a sense—so revealing the truth will only bring about a very bad aftertaste. Even so, should we still dig out the truth? —I have been thinking about this question."

—What I mean is, the aftertaste is terrible.

I recall Kyogoku-do saying something similar the day before yesterday.

Bird-mouth, with a docile expression, said:

"But if someone breaks the law, they should still be punished, right?"

He probably made this statement out of consideration for Aoki.

“Of course we should. Especially now that Officer Aoki is on the scene, and he already knows about this, he can’t possibly turn a blind eye. That’s fine. However, I think it would be better to focus our efforts on resolving the ongoing issues rather than spending time on these concluded cases.”

"You just mentioned four events, right?"

Bird Mouth said.

"What are those four? And which of the events you mentioned have already ended?"

"Well, regarding this, firstly, there was the attempted murder of Kanako Yuzuki, that's the first one. Next was the attempted kidnapping of Kanako Yuzuki, that's the second one. Then came the murder of Taro Suzaki and the kidnapping of Kanako Yuzuki. Finally, there was the series of dismemberment and body abandonment incidents."

"Wait a minute, there are two cases of Kanako being kidnapped."

I helped him with the statistics.

"One of them is the attempted kidnapping of Kanako."

"Don't tell me it was an attempted kidnapping! I was clearly kidnapped!"

"Kanako's hasty kidnapping plan ultimately failed, but it was accomplished by someone other than the planner. If we don't reason this way, too many parts of it don't make sense."

"So, you mean there are four prisoners, or four groups of prisoners?"

After thinking for a while, Aoki asked a question.

"There are probably four perpetrators who would be referred to as criminals under normal circumstances."

"What's the meaning?"

His speech was somewhat hesitant.

"As I just mentioned, because the perpetrator is also a victim, someone who cannot be punished by law—a victim of a so-called non-criminal incident. Moreover, although many people died on the surface, among these four incidents, only the initial attempted murder of Kanako and the third murder of Suzaki can truly be called murder cases. And the initial incident was also an attempt."

"Dismemberment case—it should be a murder case, right?"

"That's a very reasonable question," Aoki asked.

If that's not murder, what is it?

“I wasn’t sure about that at first—but after hearing what you all said today, I understand. That should be considered…right, it should be considered homicide—right? And the damage and abandonment of the body. Yes, that’s right.”

"Huh?"

"In reality, the only thing that can be confirmed is the case of the body being abandoned, and we should not make hasty judgments. But in any case, we must absolutely respect Satomi's opinion."

"—Does that mean the prisoner had no intention of killing?"

“That’s right. Right now, the only ongoing incident is the dismemberment. If we let it go unchecked, it might lead to new victims, so at the very least, we have to stop it from going any further. But investigating the dismemberment will lead to other incidents, and secrets that didn’t need to be revealed will have to be exposed. That’s why I’m so troubled. In short, finding the culprit in the dismemberment is the top priority.”

"Didn't you know who the perpetrator of the dismemberment case was?"

Natsuki asked, and Kyogoku-do smiled and replied:

"Yes, that's the only thing I don't know."

"So you know everything else?"

"That's why I'm so frustrated. I don't even know who the criminal should be caught first."

"Then how did you know the rest?"

"Because I have intelligence. It's the 'intelligence that only I know' that Sekiguchi keeps accusing me of. That intelligence was only effective in solving the attempted kidnapping of Kanako in the four incidents. Revealing this intelligence would not contribute to solving the dismemberment case at all, and might even lead the other incidents in a bad direction—that's why I'm unwilling to reveal it. Once you know one thing, it's not hard to know the others. Corroborating evidence will also appear one by one."

"So?"

"Yes, after listening to what you have to say, I have almost completely grasped it."

After Kyogoku-do finished speaking, he extended his hand from the collar of his kimono.

"Mr. Chuzenji, are you saying that you finally know who the perpetrator of the serial dismemberment case is?"

Aoki was a little overly excited.

"That's why I'm in charge of protecting Lai Zi!"

Kyogoku-do scratched his chin and said:

"However, knowing this is one thing, but we still lack conclusive evidence, so to be precise, we only have a clue. But if my reasoning is correct, then the people we are dealing with are very dangerous, so it's best to prepare as soon as possible."

Who is the culprit?

Natsume asked.

"I think the culprit is Kubo Junko."

Kyogoku-do said the name without hesitation.

"Is it necessary to issue a warrant for his arrest?"

Aoki asked.

“I think there’s no need to say anything as long as we can protect Kusumoto Yoriko smoothly – after all, we lack evidence and can’t say much.”

"Please explain your reasons first."

Aoki was a little stiff.

"First, I must say that there is no direct connection between the dismemberment and corpse abandonment incident and Mihako-no-Kami, but there is a strong indirect connection—I'm not very good at explaining, but you should understand as I continue. Next, it was Kubo who connected the dismemberment incident with Mihako-no-Kami—this might also be a bit difficult to understand. Anyway, where should I begin—"

Is it really that difficult to explain? Kyogoku-do, unusually, fell into deep thought. Aoki swallowed hard, waiting for him to speak. The explanation suddenly began.

"I think the victims in the dismemberment case are indeed the three that the police identified through comparison. I'll explain why later. The reason the police hesitated to confirm is simply because there are too few things in common among these three individuals, right?"

"Yes, that's exactly it. While it's possible the murders were impulsive, a killer who roams across one capital and two counties, searching for targets, seems too far-fetched. So we speculate that either there's an unknown regional reason, or the victims share commonalities—for example, shared interests, or former accomplices in wrongdoing. No, even mutual resentment is possible. For example, the parents of the three victims were once accomplices in wrongdoing, but later fell out, and the perpetrator killed their daughters to avenge a past grievance."

"So, their ancestor was the Minamoto clan, and the prisoner is a descendant of the Taira clan (note)?"

Note: In folk tales, the Minamoto and Taira clans were two major samurai families during the late Heian period of Japan. After seizing power, the Taira clan became arrogant and extravagant, devoting themselves to eliminating their political rivals, the Minamoto clan. They eventually faced backlash from Minamoto no Yoritomo, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and other members of the Minamoto clan, ultimately leading to their decline and demise. Therefore, there is a common perception that the Minamoto and Taira clans were irreconcilable enemies. However, the historical reality was not so simple, and will not be elaborated upon here.

Natsume was joking again.

"Hmm, that works too. But there aren't even any of these kinds, no common projects."

"Only Mikoto-no-Kami, right?"

"Yes. But can that be a motive? For example, it sounds too illogical for a criminal who harbors hatred for the Tiantai sect to specifically target believers. That would require a large-scale killing."

Torikokuchi countered:

"—The number of believers on the rooftop is as numerous as the stars, but the number of believers in the God of the Jade Basket is only a mere three hundred."

"But even so, they can't kill three hundred, right? Besides, since the group is small, if they hate the religious group, they should kill the leader first, right? Large religious groups have many targets, but Mikogami only has one leader. But in any case—in reality, the one who was killed was neither the leader nor a believer, but the believer's daughter."

Torikochi brought up the theory of the prisoner of the mikoto god that we discussed a few days ago.

"That's it. I noticed Mikoto because I suspect he himself is a criminal. Mikoto's system is utterly despicable; it makes believers more willing to donate money the more unfortunate they are. So I wondered, could it be that it specifically targets criminals who are inclined to donate very little, thereby swindling them out of their money—"

“I’ve heard Mr. Chuzenji mention this opinion before, but unfortunately—it doesn’t apply to the victims in this case. Am I right, Mr. Chuzenji?”

Kyogoku-do nodded in agreement.

"Why? Kyogoku-do, don't you agree with Toriguchi's opinion? Why?"

“Sekigokuchi, and Toriguchi, listen carefully. As I said before, Kiyono’s annotations are an overly insightful view.”

"Hmm, so your belief that people who donate little money are prone to misfortune is influenced by preconceived notions? You said it's just a coincidence—"

"It's not exactly accidental, but it's a view based on preconceived notions. A few days ago, I said that this list brought by Kiyono shouldn't be interpreted as 'believers who give less alms suffer misfortune,' but rather as 'because they become unfortunate, they increase their almsgiving.' However, in reality, both interpretations are the same and cannot be applied to the families of the victims."

"What does this mean?"

“When Kiyono obtained this list, none of the three families—the Asano family of Saitama, the Ozawa family of Senju, and the Kakizaki family of Kawasaki—had suffered any misfortune. It was just a prophecy written by Kiyono based on his own preconceived notions.”

But in reality—

“That’s right, the unfortunate event did indeed happen as predicted, but the amount of alms given by these three families did not increase after the misfortune. No, not only that, but all three families abandoned their faith after the misfortune.”

"Huh?"

The bird's beak was wide open.

"Toriguchi, your idea has a good perspective, but you are too influenced by Kiyono, that gloomy man."

"嗄嗄?"

"Kiyono hopes the magazine will publish reports that slander and attack Mikoto, so he's trying his best to make you believe him—no, perhaps he himself is convinced of it. In any case, Toriguchi has completely fallen for his trick. Sigh, I'm not much better off myself. Before seeing the detailed information Aoki brought yesterday, I hadn't given up on this possibility either."

"So, what you mean by giving up your faith?"

Aoki replied:

"No matter how earnestly one believes, if this is the outcome, no one would believe in such a religion anymore. They've already had a daughter missing, how could they have time to worship the box? These families were already troubled and financially struggling; unfortunately, after the incident, Kakizaki Photo Studio went out of business and changed hands, Asano divorced and resigned from her teaching job, and Ozawa suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized. Their circumstances are dire; they have no mood to increase their offerings. The wives of these families were all believers, but now, when asked about the box, they only offer resentment and insults. Therefore, this possibility was ruled out very early in the investigation."

Kyogoku-do then pressed his advantage:

"To commit murder in order to increase the amount of money given away, and to do so in such a horrific way as dismemberment, is far too risky. Even the underworld wouldn't do such a thing. The reason it doesn't seem unreasonable is probably due to the illusion created by the unconventional fixed ideas of emerging spiritual mediums."

Bird Mouth seemed unable to recover from the shock. I asked on his behalf:

"So—all of Toriguchi's hard work in investigating Mikoto was just a wasted trip?"

"No, it was a great help."

"Huh?"

The bird opened its mouth wide again.

"The Mikoto is a spirit medium created by humans. But if my guess is correct, the reasoning behind it is utterly ridiculous."