Box of Demons

Chapter 89

"I?"

—It's you.

Yoko said those words to Kiba at the time.

"Miss Yoko desperately wants to save Kanako, but Mr. Mimasaka, whom she relies on, declares despair to her. This device can only operate for half a month, and Kanako's life can only be sustained until August 31st."

"The day you disappeared—?"

"But he also said this to Yoko: 'If we had the money to buy fuel beforehand, Kanako could have been saved—'"

Kyogoku-do scratched his head.

"This is not the same as the terror of dying at any moment. If there were a chance of being saved, even if the odds were low, at least there would be hope—but this is not the case. Ms. Yoko is facing the situation that Kanako will definitely die on August 31st. Can you imagine what that situation is like?"

I—cannot imagine. If I had to describe it, it's like the feeling of a death row inmate awaiting execution. Unlike dying suddenly in an accident, although the impact is less, the terror increases with each passing moment, much like torture.

"Moreover, the cruelest thing is that death is not absolutely unavoidable. As long as she has money, she can live indefinitely, and a large sum of money is right in front of her, gleaming brightly. This is the situation Ms. Yoko is facing. If you were given the choice in this situation—it would be strange if you didn't want to stage a kidnapping. No one has the right to blame her or criticize her actions—it's just too cruel."

Yoko looked at Mimasaka. Kyogoku glanced at the two of them and continued:

"Professor, your statement to Yoko is seen by others as asking someone to risk their life for money. You may not care, but don't you think it exceeds the standards expected of a doctor?"

"Chūzenji, are you asking a question you already know the answer to? I'm no longer a doctor, I'm a scientist."

"Wouldn't you lie for your daughter's sake?"

"Utterly foolish."

"I understand how Miss Yoko feels."

Aoki said, then frowned and said:

"—But I don't understand her actions. What exactly is she trying to do? What kind of plan is that fake kidnapping? And it's so elaborate—"

"There was no plan at all. She never even considered carrying it out; it was just her delusion, a pipe dream. The more concrete a pipe dream is, the more effective it becomes in some ways. Miss Yoko used this to cover her ears to avoid the countdown to Kanako's death, to close her eyes to avoid seeing the pitiful state of her daughter lying before her—"

"—She just made threatening letters."

"Was that... made by her?"

Aoki was surprised, but I had more or less guessed it.

"You can tell at a glance, right?"

"I can't tell. Although it was a poorly crafted threatening letter, I can't find its source or the scraped material."

Aoki took the photo out of his breast pocket.

"Aoki, that's a movie script."

"script?"

“When cutting printed material to create a threatening letter, you usually have to cut it out word by word, otherwise it’s hard to piece together the desired text. There’s no way around it. It’s time-consuming, the meticulous work is also nerve-wracking, and you need to pay attention to choosing the words. But this threatening letter clearly didn’t take much time or effort.”

"Why?"

"Don't you understand? Look closely, the clippings aren't in units of text, but in words. No, there are even whole sentences. 'If you want to save your life' is a unit. Tell me, what printed article would have such a period drama-like sentence? That sentence is probably 'If you want to save your life, leave your toll.' That's a line from a period movie."

"I get it! It's a line from the Iron-Faced Squad leader in 'The Girl in the Detective' sequel'!"

Fukumoto shouted loudly, his expression momentarily excited, but he was quickly absorbed by the somber atmosphere around him and immediately restrained himself.

"I see. I haven't seen the photo, so I can't be sure. But I'm very familiar with the first part, it's the French part. Aoki, what does it say?"

Aoki read it aloud, pausing between each sentence:

“Ir-ar-ru, Diyabu-o, Kou-er.”

"Although his pronunciation is terrible and doesn't sound like French at all, Aoki can still pronounce it. Have you studied French?"

"Of course not. Because there are katakana characters on it, of course I can read it."

"The reason for the phonetic transcription is that the actors couldn't pronounce it either. This is a scene from Soseki's play 'Sanshiro,' specifically the one in the student assembly hall. It's the line where the students tease Yojiro. Although I haven't seen the photo, I've read the original work two or three times, so I know it. This scene isn't particularly memorable, and the person who says this line is probably a minor character. So the scriptwriter considered that the actors might not be able to pronounce it, so they added the phonetic transcription. The pronunciation of 'devil' in the letter as 'devil' is also quite unique. Nowadays, it's usually 'devil,' but Soseki did it this way. I suppose the scriptwriter wasn't very familiar with foreign languages and just quoted the original text directly."

Oh, so this line is from Soseki's "Sanshiro"! I had forgotten it.

"I'd like to ask you something, Ms. Yoko. Why did you use that French line in the threatening letter? I really don't understand it. Did you misunderstand its meaning?"

"Excuse me—what is the real meaning of that sentence?"

Soseki translated it as "possessed by a demon".

"Ah—I thought it meant being tempted by a demon. Because I felt that child's life was like being tormented by a demon—"

"If you follow what is written above, you will become the devil yourself."

Yangzi didn't say anything.

I didn't realize it at the time, but Kyogoku-do immediately understood and remained silent.

"Kyogoku-do, you said—that night Kiba showed you the photo of the threatening letter, so you knew it at a glance back then?"

"Anyone can understand this at a glance! I also mentioned the issues of clipping units and phonetic symbols when I informed you. I didn't expect you to have to wait until I give a speech here to think of it. The creator, Yoko, was the same! She also knew that this kind of thing would be seen through immediately, no, she never intended to use it at all."

"—It's not that I'm completely against using it. You're right, I did fantasize—I did think—that if things went smoothly, perhaps such a childish act could still save Kanako's life. I saw a threatening letter made from cut-outs in the film studio. I forget which movie it was, but that threatening letter was used as a prop in the movie. I was really impressed by how the detective could guess the culprit just from those words. So when I went home to get a change of clothes, I also picked up the script. Kanako is a girl who loves to read, but I rarely read. The only printed thing I have is the script."

Yoko spoke in a soft voice.

"Really—did you do it?"

Kiba's posture remained unchanged, but his anger had subsided.

"—But even though I made it, I couldn't possibly hand it to Masuoka myself, nor did I know who in the Shibata family to give it to—no, normally these things should be delivered to me, right? So, foolishly, I was truly at a loss, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to exchange this letter for cash. So, ridiculously, at first I pasted the ransom date as the day it was made—August 25th, even though I hadn't been kidnapped yet—so I later tore it off. Also, the script didn't have the word 'police,' so originally it was labeled 'government officials.'" But it felt strange, so I tore it off. The envelope originally had "Respectfully addressed to the Shibata family" on it, but I tore that off too. After tearing it all off, I felt incredibly stupid and ridiculous, so I crumpled up the torn-off type and threw it away. But throwing it away made me feel unusually sad and unbearably lonely, so I decided to finish the letter and pasted the type back on. I had cut out the number "nine" and pasted it on, but then I realized it would be too late by September, so I completely lost interest. Then I sat there in a daze for a while, thinking that leaving it like that wouldn't do either, so just as I was about to put the letter back in the envelope—"

"So it wasn't about taking it out, but about putting it back in? So—was it my fault?"

Kiba shouted loudly, his mouth agape as he stared at me, Shimaguchi, and Aoki.

"I—I actually made a mistake about such a trivial matter, and even..."

Both the actions and the lines are like a comedy.

Kyogoku-do glanced sideways at Kiba.

“It happens all the time. As Toriguchi said before, if this were a scene from a detective novel, it would be hilarious. But this isn’t a novel, and it’s not something that can be solved with a joke. At the request of the stubborn Kiba-san, the police actually came. What Yoko didn’t know how to do was taken care of by Detective Kiba.”

"I--"

"Without any plan, the kidnapping, which you orchestrated yourself, began. Unfortunately, the request came from a detective in the Metropolitan Police Department, so the Kanagawa headquarters naturally didn't dare to act rashly. You were confused and could only repeatedly emphasize that it was a prank, but you didn't dare to admit that you actually did it."

"Amamiya—he probably gave false testimony to protect me, saying that the letter was tucked under the door. He probably really thought I had deliberately planned this kidnapping."

Kiba didn't move, seemingly trying desperately to recall the situation at the time.

"Thus, the threatening letter naturally became a kidnapping notice. And then came Suzaki's scheme."

"A strategy? What strategy?"

Masuoka reacted quickly; he was probably the best listener present.

"The follow-up plan that made this unsuccessful crime possible. I believe he also involved Professor Mimasaka and Mr. Amamiya in his scheme. Listen carefully, everyone, the crime is about to begin, and everything before was just a misunderstanding."

The second incident: Kanako's attempted kidnapping—

"Susaki seems to really enjoy this kind of thing. I'm not very familiar with him, but we've talked once or twice. He once said to me, 'Your nature is perfect for being a con artist, how about we team up and make a fortune?' I think this was his idea too. Normally, no one would be tempted by such sweet talk, but this amount is extraordinary, too huge, even someone like Mimasaka Koshiro was swayed. Or perhaps it was just going with the flow? How foolish—"

Mimasaka stared at the boxes on the shelf.

"No matter how eloquently Suzaki speaks, he is ultimately a stranger to you. Such a plan could never have been devised by an outsider. Mr. Mimasaka, Ms. Yoko, why did you agree to such a cruel plan? If you think—since there's no hope, and death is inevitable anyway, might as well make the most of it—if that's really what you're thinking, you should apologize to Ms. Kanako!"

"Apologize to Kanako? Foolish!"

Mimasaka showed a look of disgust.

"What do the dead know! If they were alive, they could still communicate in some form, no matter what state they were in, but once they're dead, they're just objects. There's no way to communicate with an object without consciousness. To cherish the act of communicating with such an object, or to pray to such an object, is just a base fantasy. All things worth cherishing actually exist only in the consciousness of the one who prays! That's just asking and answering oneself, it's self-satisfaction."

"So-called satisfaction is always just self-satisfaction; it can never satisfy others!"

Kyogoku-do said sternly.

"Trying to measure satisfaction or happiness with external standards other than your own is a fantasy. You're the one trying to deceive yourself with this materialistic attitude! It's self-deception. Learn from Ms. Yoko just now, and honestly admit that you've been blinded by money!"

"Is wanting money a crime? Then why wasn't that old man named Shibata Yohiro arrested? Aren't there tens of thousands of people who live without ideals or goals, only driven by their desire for money? I didn't do anything wrong, and Kanako deserved to die!"

"dad!"

Mimasaka fell silent upon hearing Yoko's voice.

Masuoka said:

“Mr. Chuzenji, but I heard that the ransom demanded is ten million yen. Although that is not a small amount—two and a half million yen if split among the four of us. The first salary I receive after graduating from university is about 11,600 yen, so this amount is about twenty years' worth of salary. It would be a lie to say I don’t want it, but is it really that attractive? I think this amount is far less than the maintenance cost of this research institute, right? Or is Amamiya’s dismissal a good deed? That’s not far off either. To describe it as extraordinary, I really cannot accept it.”

“Mr. Masuoka, that’s not the case. Suzaki’s plan was not to extort ransom, but to extort money from Kanako’s family based on her death.”

"What did you say? If Kanako dies, her inheritance will be—"

"Didn't they almost inherit it?"

"Ah! I see! So, Kanako died on August 31st. If Yaohong had died before that, it would have been a different story, but such things are uncertain. So, they made Kanako kidnapped before her death, making her status unknown. As long as her death couldn't be confirmed, they could continue negotiating the inheritance—was that their plan? However, even though reality happened to unfold this way, Mr. Yaohong might not necessarily die immediately, and Kanako's prolonged disappearance would also be considered as death. Moreover, my organization might not necessarily recognize Yuzuki Yoko as their agent. This plan is full of loopholes."

Masuoka demonstrated his reasoning skills with his rapid speech and pointed out the flaws in the plan.

Kyogoku-do's supplementary explanation:

"However, everyone knows that Mr. Yaohong doesn't have much time left—and in fact, he has passed away. Apart from that, everything is as Mr. Masuoka said. So I think that if the plan goes smoothly, they will send threatening letters regularly to inform Kanako that she is safe."

"A threatening letter? What can that prove?"

Kyogoku-do laughed without fear. He skipped the question for now; perhaps it wasn't time to reveal this information yet.

"That's right. I don't know how much consideration they gave after implementing it, but I do know what happened here."

Kyogoku-do stopped in front of the operating room door.

"The day Kanako disappeared—in Suzaki's plan, the sooner the better, but I think—the choice of August 31st was probably due to Yoko's desire to let Kanako live one more day. Surely she hasn't lived long enough? Therefore, August 31st was undoubtedly the day this box stopped—and also the critical point of Kanako's life. On the other hand, the threatening letter turned into a pre-announcement on the 25th, and it was on that very day that Suzaki conceived this plan. Yoko, am I right? I have no information about Suzaki, so if I'm wrong, I hope you can correct me."

Yoko looked at Kyogoku-do's shoulder and began to whisper:

"Mr. Suzaki said—there is a way to keep Kanako alive."

"Is there a way?"

Kyogoku-do raised a question mark.

“You—Mr. Chuzenji, you just said that this plan is based on Kanako’s death, but that’s not quite right. He told me that there might be a way to keep Kanako alive and also to swindle her inheritance, and asked if I was willing to take a gamble. So after hearing these words, I—wavered.”

"I see. Then I take back what I said earlier. What you said is indeed easier to understand, but—"