Displayer

Displayer

~~~~

"Any event related to Kazami Tazuru makes headlines around the world. Because of this, she and her copycats have all been given nicknames."

"Monikers like 'Murdist,' 'Figure Maker,' and 'Displayer,' who we'll be talking about today."

We were currently going to the prison once again to get information on yet another Copycat.

"Displayer… I haven't seen them on TV before."

"...Personally I don't like it no matter what kind of nickname they come up with. Giving them fictional sounding titles lets the public feel like they're separated from it all… Even though they could easily become a potential victim themselves…"

…

I guess in some sense that was true…

"I also used to watch the news as if it was something that didn't involve me at all. But then…"

"Asagao-san would it be alright for me to look at the photos of the crime scene?"

"Sorry I'm not allowed to let outsiders look at that material."

"Am I… an outsider?"

"..."

"I don't think that you're an outsider."

!

"The major parties involved with Kazami Tazuru are the district prosecutors and the police, both have contributed personnel to a point investigative task force in charge of the case."

"Since this kind of joint task force is fairly unprecedented, even I'm not sure where the regulatory boundaries lie right now."

"That's why… I'll trust in the character you've shown me."

Asagao-san passed me a file at a red light.

"...Thank you very much."

I opened the file and searched for the photos.

"The injured party this time is a clothing store that's popular with young people. It's a fashion brand called 'Greed'."

!!

What in the world!?

"The corpses… are dressed up…"

"The victims are all men and women of unknown origin. In total nineteen homeless people were victims of the Copycat's attack."

"Ni-Nineteen people!?"

How could such a large attack be unnoticed!?

"After the employees had closed up the shop, the crime took place in a single night. You should look over the testimony included in the case files."

"Incidentally in the original crime by Kazami Tazuru, corpses were stolen from a hospital morgue and every single mannequin was swapped out on a certain street in Ginza… There were also nineteen in that case. The Copycat has imitated that number."

…

"...It's a bit late to be asking this, but, about the information we're getting from Kazami Tazuru. Do we have any way of knowing that she's telling the truth?"

"Even though I know she didn't lie in our last meeting…"

"...Before the plea bargain was made to involve you in all of this, she had previously provided us with information on five other Copycat crimes…"

"...There wasn't a single error in what she said."

"Kazami Tazuru doesn't lie. It's just another one of her troublesome aspects."

.

.

.

Click!

I was once again in this room with her.

"Thank you for coming over again."

"Oh right, has your younger sister recovered?"

"..."

"Asagao-san told me not to engage in idle chatter with you."

I was wary of her, she changed me as if she was breathing. How could I not?

"Hmm… That's a lie. You simply don't want to talk to me…"

She said so while looking through her fingers that made an o shape.

"...You shouldn't lie…It isn't beautiful…"

"We're unsightly beings even at the best of times, after all."

"...The only unsightly being is the serial killer in front of me."

I wanted this case done and over with.

"Am I? Have you really looked closely at me? The color of my skin? The glow of the lips? The quality of my hair? The size of my breast?"

"Do I live up to your imagination?"

She started spouting sentences like a leaky hose.

"Stop it. Let's get to the main topic."

"Main topic? Oh!"

"Y.o.u.r. o.l.d.e.r. s.i.s.t.e.r.?"

"..."

I glared at her. She had no reason to say it so… infuriatingly…

"I'd tell you even if you didn't glare at me like that. But only after you solve this case, ok?"

"...Alright then, tell me about the copycat."

"No, no, that's not how you ask a question here."

"...Don't tell me this again…"

"Precisely"

"A lateral thinking game. I will only answer with either yes or no. The information I will provide this time is the 'Method of Display'. How did the displayer manage to dress up nineteen bodies inside the store in a single night?"

If I can understand how the bodies were displayed I'll be able to find out who the culprit is. And if I can figure out who it is, Asagao-san and the police will be able to arrest them.

My job is to get the answer out of her.

"Game Start!"

First, I'll determine the prerequisites for the crime.

"Was the crime really carried out in one night?"

"Yes it was"

"Did preparing the bodies take up additional time?"

"No"

"Otohito-kun, I assume you've thoroughly read the case files?"

"Huh…?"

Oh right…

"Ah, the estimated time of death for all of them was a day prior…"

"That's right! Although the date changed, the preparation of the corpses also took just one night! In other words, that whole crime of killing and displaying happened over two days."

I could see how she was smiling and having fun explaining everything…

…

Even when peoples' lives have been lost…!

"Is the culprit male!?"

"No comment"

"That question doesn't have anything to do with the display method, you know?"

"Ugh…"

I had to try…

…

It should be impossible for a single person to pull off such a large-scale Copycat crime… If so…

"Are there multiple culprits?"

"Yes~! Keep up that line of thinking"

"Are there two culprits?"

"No"

Uuu…

"Are there… five culprits?"

"No"

"So there are more than five…? Uh… Maybe there are more than ten culprits (maybe)?"

"Yes"

"..."

"...What?"

"Hah. Since this isn't going anywhere I'll give you a little hint."

"In total there are twenty-four culprits."

"Wha-!?"

This crime is a conspiracy between twenty-four people!?

"Nobody noticed such a crowd in the eyewitness testimonies!"

"No comment"

Wait… If there are twenty-four culprits… Then the possibilities for the display method have become infinite…

I turned toward the security camera in the corner behind me…

I need help…

Wa-!

I felt shivers.

"Don't do that."

"You're not allowed to discuss with Nomura-san."

"If you receive any help from this outside this room, I won't be providing more information than this."

"..."

"It's alright, the problem isn't impossible to solve. Think it through thoroughly."

…

If there were twenty-four suspicious individuals walking around, the employees should have noticed them.

But there was nothing stated about any of that in the testimony…

So then the corpses…

"...Did the culprits use a car to transport the bodies?"

"Yes. Actually it was one large semi truck to be more precise!"

"..."

"Huh!?"

"Hahaha!"

What!?

What is this? First twenty-four culprits and now something as large as a semi-truck was used!?

"Nobody in the testimony said anything about a truck at the time of the crime!!"

"No comment"

Ugh…

The crime took place in just the five hours from closing to the opening time.

There aren't any witnesses to a truck or twenty-four culprits…

What is it!!

The display method of the corpses…

Ugh…

There's no way I'd get it!

"Ugh…"

"...."

"News gets circulated around the internet, correct?"

What?"

"Wh-What are you talking about all of a sudden? The internet?"

"People find news on the internet only to find out later that it was false information… When they're asked how they got fooled, the answer is always roughly the same. 'I mean, that's what was written?'"

"You don't think there aren't other situations where this abandonment of thought happens do you?"

"One of the most important things you must do to ascertain the validity of any piece of information is to ask not 'what is written' but rather… 'who said it'."

…I get it…

It should be obvious… She gave me an obvious hint… But…

I don't get it…

…I don't get this person…

I was wrong… I thought she was human… What I thought of her was that she should be like me right!? No… I get her at all…

I can't tell if she's an enemy…

I don't know if she's an ally…

I…

Don't even know where she's leading me…

"...Were the employees lying?"

"Yes"

"Has the testimony in the case files been falsified?"

"Yes"

The veil of murky air was now gone.

All that was left now was a path leading me to victory.

"...Are the culprits related to the store?"

"Yes"

"..."

Hah…

"The testimony is all lies…"

"The culprits are all the fashion shop employees conspiring together…"

"They stayed through the night after the closing in order to decorate the bodies."

"That is the display method of the corpses…"

"...Spot on!"

Hah…

"Congratulations you've solved another case!"

"What's been solved?"

"I didn't solve anything, you've just been toying around with me!"

"It's fine if that's what you think."

"Hmm… But little by little you're getting sharpened. Eventually you'll be able to naturally emulate my thought process."

"..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"By the way, wasn't there something else you wanted to ask me?"

"...Please tell me about my older sister"

"..."

"I…"

"Really liked the way Koto's cheeks formed dimples whenever she smiled."

"...Wha- What's this about? Dimples?"

"What kind of relationship did you have with her?"

"Is she still alive? Where is my older siste-"

"Come again, Otohito-kun"

…

"Otohito-kun"

Asagao-san was behind me but I still had one last question.

"Speaking of which… In the original case you swapped mannequins and corpses, right? Why did you do that?"

"Well, that's because it's corpses that look better in 'clothes'."

"It is not we who choose the clothes, but rather the clothes that choose us."

"..."

"Oh? Is it that hard to comprehend?"

"At the very least, the twenty-four apparel shop employees this time seem to agree with this way of thinking."

"...I don't know where it is you're trying to lead me. But I will definitely never understand you."

.

.

.

Several days has passed since that case and…

"..."

"...It really doesn't suit me…"

♪Ring!♪

Asagao-san, huh…

"We just caught the leader of the group."

!

"Turns out he was that prison guard's… Figure Maker's younger brother."

"I WAS REWARDED BY THAT PERSON!!"

"TAZURU-SAMA IS WEARING THE PRISON OUTFIT THAT I DESIGNED!!"

"ARE YOU SEEING THIS!!"

"ARE YOU EVEN A LITTLE SATISFIED WITH THIS!!"

"THE WORLD IS NOW BEING DYED IN YOUR COLOR!!"

The news was currently showing him…

"So this person is the Displayer…"

"Someone who can understand Kazami Tazuru's thoughts…"

"That's not all a new case has occurred."

This fast!?

"Huh?"

"A copycat of the Displayer has appeared. The stage this time was a shopping mall. All the mannequins in the building were swapped with corpses."

"...A Copycat of a Copycat…"

Could it be that the world is already-

"But we've already arrested the culprit. It was an employee of the mall's cleaning crew."

"!"

"The Copycat crimes- We're ending them here."

Soon we ended the call.

Asagao-san hasn't given up if so…

Then there's no way I can give in to despair either.

I suddenly remembered something Kazami Tazuru said.

'But little by little you're getting sharpened.'

But it went on.

'The clothes you've just put on that you liked so much before. Why do you feel like it doesn't suit you?'

'Eventually you'll be able to naturally emulate my thought process.'

Is the reason why I feel like it doesn't suit me…

Because the quality of the clothes has degraded over time?

… Or maybe…

I'm the one who is-

"In other news, the sentence of defendant Yagamigawa Atsushi has been decided."

"Twenty-four years of penal labor-"

*

*

*

Ha.

Hahahahaha!!!

It isn't her!!!!

I know her!

Kazami Tazuru. She wouldn't do this.

So that begs the question of where?

Where is she?

If the one who is in prison isn't her then where is she?

At first it was mere suspicion. But as time went on more and more inconsistencies showed.

First, why meet Yuuki Otohito?

Because he is Yuuki-san's brother?

She wouldn't care for that.

When she said she was going to turn herself in I left. But I know she would just die peacefully leaving the world in chaos.

But then who would the one up there be?

There is only one person.

I'll confirm it soon enough…

Only time will tell…