Chousuinou Kei 5

Chousuinou Kei 05

*Reserved for use by the NilaiTP Group

p1:
Kei: This crime scene / is riddled with impossibilities.
Upper left: He uses his godlike, superhuman deductive skills
to solve the mystery of the corpse roasted by the flames of hell!!
Title: Episode 2: Immolation Game II
Chapter 5: The Devil’s Dark Wisdom
Lower left:
Story: Gomi Kazuo
Art: Tanaka Yoshiki
Scenario: Mizuno Mitsuhiro

?

Kei: Haga-san, / may I see that clock?

!!

Haga: Of… Of course.

p2:
Upper left: Kei’s noticed something odd about the remaining battery life…

The battery’s… barely even been used.

Kei: Kionshita,
Maori: !

Kei: Could you look in that garbage can over there? / I’m curious if there are any used batteries in there.
Maori: Ah, OK.

Maori: Found one…

p3:
Maori <aside>: Here.
Kei: Thanks…

SFX: Beep…

Kei: I thought so… The battery’s dead…!

Kei: So you just changed the battery? / Sometime within the last six hours, perhaps?
Haga: …….?!

Kei: In the security camera footage, the clock had stopped at 1:03 A.M.

Kei: And then the clock started up again…. / …We must conclude the batteries were changed at 4:56 A.M.

Kei: That was 3 hours and 53 minutes after the clock stopped.

Haga: ………

Suzumori: Hey, hold it! You could make that out while the footage is being fast-forwarded? And the clock’s so small, too!
Kei: It’s just my intuition.
Suzumori: Your WHAT?!?!

Haga: …What are you trying to imply?!

p4:
Kei: …Nothing. / I just thought the gap was a little long.

Haga: …The gap?

Kei: The corpse…

Kei: Those clothes…

Kei: The analysis is at 78.1%! / What am I still missing…

Kei: Maybe…

p5:
Maori: Wah!

Suzumori: What… What are you doing, Kazaoka?! / <aside: You surprised me! >

Kei: I knew it! This floor is…

Kei: Granularity: 3.07. Water absorption: 2.65. PH: 7.06… / A sand floor…!

Kei: Haga-san…
Haga: !

Kei: This place looks rather aged. Have you worked here for a long time?
Suzumori: You idi… You can’t just say something that rude! <small: You! >
Haga: ……………..

p6:
Haga: Based on your uniform, / would you be in high school?

Haga: There’s a lot to life. / Though I’m not sure a child would understand.

<Aside: Deliberately Ignoring >
SuzumorI: I’m—I’m so sorry! He just acts a little rude pretty often.

Haga: it’s fine. Besides, if I had only noticed the shady game to begin with, / all this would have never…
Kei: There are more inexplicable events here.

Kei: The body shows no signs of a struggle. However…

Kei: Look closely at his upper back. / The marks suggest he was tied down.

Maori: You’re right!

p7:
SFX: Ahem.
Suzumori: So it’s like that, huh?

Suzumori: Even if someone were planning on setting himself on fire, / he’d know he might get scared and panic halfway through, so he would tie himself to the chair!!
Background: This is perfect! / Kyah!

Nikaidou: Then what happened to the rope, Suzumori?
Suzumori: Ah…

Suzumori: It must have burned up… but there’s no traces of that.
Kei: ……
Nikaidou: Sigh…

Kei: Afterwards, the sprinklers went off and the place was soaked, but this console still works.

Haga: Strange, isn’t it? I found it weird myself.
Suzumori: …….

Kei: There’s more strange things. / The trash bag in the corner near the counter…

Kei: It’s not particularly full, and it’s closed with duct tape…

Suzumori: What’s so inexplicable about that?

Kei: When we entered the store, I noticed the bags outside were all tied shut by hand.
Suzumori: Huh…

Tadokoro: I see… That is a little weird.
SFX: Smile

p8:
Haga: Would you like / to look inside?

!

Kei: No, I’m sure there’s nothing important inside. / There’s no need to look.

Haga: Is that so…

Kei: Haga-san, you seem rather unphased…..
Haga: Huh?

Kei: You’ve already accepted / all the incongruences.

Haga: Well… / I mean, this whole episode is truly mysterious…

Kei: Haga’s discomposure is at 12%... Low. Could he be the culprit?

Kei: But Haga-san, according to my “hypothesis,” this string of turmoil was triggered…

Kei: By you yourself.

p9:
Haga: No…Huh? What do you mean?!

Kei: And one more thing. / I have a very important hypothesis.
Haga: What?

Kei: The victim / was not set aflame here!

!

!

!

Kei: This corpse was soaked by these sprinklers,

Kei: but there are traces of dirt in his hair.

Kei: As are there on your clothes, / Haga-san.

Kei: This last one is just a coincidence, but the same dirt… / can be found on the bottoms of my shoes.

Suzumori: Wait… That can’t mean anything.

p10:
Kei: No, it does. / If all three of these things have dirt with the same consistency… / then the dirt must have come from the same place.

Kei: When Kinoshita and I came to this store,
Boxes: School / Park / Crime Scene
Kei: we passed through a park about 300 meters wide. <small: A shortcut… >

Maori: …So when you kicked your shoes, / it was to check the dirt on them?!

Kei: As an… example,

Kei: Suppose Nishi-san immolated himself. / You found Nishi-san in the park…

Kei: And brought him here on your scooter. / Then you made it look as if he were playing a certain game when he burst into flames. / On the corpse remained marks from when you tied his corpse to your scooter.

Kei: Though this nothing more than a hypotheisis.

p11:
Kei: Then, in order to prevent the game console from being soaked, you enclosed it in a garbage bag and closed it with duct tape.

Kei: Next, you used a lighter or something to trigger the sprinklers, washing the dirt off of the corpse.

Suzumori: Wait… Why would he do that? Wouldn’t that only hurt the store?!

Kei: There were plenty of reasons… / Kinoshita, could I borrow your phone?
Maori: Here.

SFX Bubble: Beep
Phone: News: “Forbidden Game” / The Strange Fire Inferno / When the player reaches Game Over, he’ll be burned alive!

Maori: Wow! It made the news already! <small: That was fast.>

Kei: That was your desire, right, Haga-san?
Haga: ……!

Suzumori: What are you implying?

Kei: This person is no mere clerk…

Kei: He is the man exiled from the gaming industry for developing Fire Inferno… / Haga Kazuyuki!!

p12:
!!!

Kei: You wanted the forbidden game, Fire Inferno, to again receive the world’s attention. / This twisted egotistical desire caused you to post on message boards about spontaneous human combustion, and caused you to leak information to the media!

Haga: Kh!!

Kei: This copy of Fire Inferno belongs to you, right? / There’s a QR code on it.
!!

Kei: Analysis of that QR code reveals that it was produced on the day the game was banned… / So no one uninvolved with its production could have acquired it. / Furthermore, when I played it just now, I saw your name in the credits.

p13:
Suzumori: He used the corpse of someone who committed suicide? You… / There’s no way he could have planned that much out—
Kei: That’s correct…

Suzumori: Huh?

Kei: This incident was not particularly… premeditated.

Kei: It was but a momentary flash
Haga: ……
Kei: of the Devil’s dark wisdom…

Kei: After playing game’s for a little while, Nishi-san left the store around 1 A.M. You then noticed the clock had stopped.

Kei: No other customers were present, and you had no spare batteries, / so you briefly closed the store and went to buy some on your scooter.

Haga: ……

p14:
Kei: On your way back from the store, / you found the victim in the park. He had committed suicide. / It was a complete coincidence.

Kei: That is when you first thought up your plan.

Kei: After bringing the corpse here on your scooter, / you made it look as if a tragedy had occurred within this store.

Maori: Wait a second, Kazaoka-sempai! / What about the camera?!

Maori: You saw the column of flame yourself on the camera! / If that wasn’t real, then what was it?!

Haga: The customer really did burst into flame / right in front of my eyes, I swear!

p15:
Tadokoro: I’ve found it, Kazaoka-kun!

Tadokoro: Look, here it is. I found it inside a game console hidden under the reception desk.
Mini-bubbles: Hah / Hah / Stretch
Kei: Thank you, President.

Kei: …The truth is, the footage from the security camera we saw earlier… / had a number of tricks embedded in it.

Tadokoro: I’ve already confirmed it. The legendary “Fire Inferno: Improved Version” was used… / in the security camera’s footage.

Tadokoro: This game recognizes humans in images recorded by a camera . / Then, those people—those targets—are killed in-game.

Tadokoro: Furthermore, they can be killed in many ways, / not just immolation. They can also explode, be cut in half, be crushed, and more.

p16:
Tadokoro: Well… such a crazed game should never be distributed to the world at large.
Haga: ……

Kei: You developed this product, and you used it to make it appear as if the security camera caught Nishi-san bursting into flame. / During a normal crime, the police fastforward the security footage to the moment the crime occurred, and only view that moment. / That’s why everyone initially thought he burst into flames. However, you prepared even more traps.

Maori: I get it! / If he cut out the footage of Nishi-san leaving the store and of him bringing Nishi-san back into the store, it would look as if Nishi-san never left.

Suzumori: But even so, modifying the tape and getting the immolated body all seems to be a little too rough, you know?
Maori: Yeah. It feels too easy…
Kei: To be sure, such a plot would easily be discovered… But he had a response for that.

Haga: Bwahahaha! Of course I do!!! / I committed no murder! Who cares if I’m found out—he killed himself!!
?!

Haga: Disturbing a corpse is worth three years, right? Sounds like a good break… And besides, the heavens won’t see fit to curse me for this. / Fire Inferno was my opus… What’s wrong with it being realistic? And then it was banned, and I was fired for it? Why would I stand for such ridiculousness?

Haga: Keh keh… But I created a new game while I was working here!! A murder game using all sorts of methods: Killer Inferno!! Looks like your little hypothesis was right!! / Bwahahahaha! Too bad, high school kid!!

Haga: You can’t corner a culprit for a murder that never happened!! / Heh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…

p17:
Suzumori: …Haga Kazuyuki, for the crime of disturbing a corpse…
Kei: Please wait!

Kei: There’s still something… / Something’s missing.

Nikaidou: What is it? It’s not like you to hesitate, Kazaoka.

Suzumori: Why don’t you just try kicking your shoes again?
Kei: !! …The shoes.

Kei: May I reexamine the corpse’s—Nishi-san’s shoes?

Suzumori: Huh? Why are you asking that now?
Nikaidou: Take as long as you want to satisfy your suspicions, Kazaoka!

p18:
Kei: Something that should be there isn’t!

Kei: I’ve just thought up a new theory. / This is a murder incident.

Maori: Huh? / It’s not suicide? …Then who’s the murderer?!

Kei: I’m just about to tell you.
Inset: Kei’s superhuman intellect has just deduced the true culprit! Wait until next time!!!