Shiroshi nodded quietly. “Mr. Tosu assumed that she and the two of us were all ‘the executioner,’ acting in concert. That is why he restrained us, then performed a thorough search of Miss Unoki’s compartment and belongings on the pretext of ensuring her safety. However, he found nothing.”
In other words, she’d already disposed of everything, gun included?
“B-by the way, where is she now?” Seiji asked.
“In Room 602. When we ran to Ms. Nomura’s compartment, Mr. Tosu jammed a chair under the door handle, so I believe she’s unable to leave.”
…Ah. So they’d isolated her already.
But before that, though Tosu had been keeping an eye on Shiroshi, and Seiji had been chained up in the library, Mao had been free to come and go as she pleased. In other words, she really had killed Ms. Nomura. Or so Seiji thought, but…
“About that.” Unusually, Shiroshi hesitated. “After we escorted Ms. Nomura and Miss Unoki to their rooms, the two of us made it seem as if we’d returned to Room 202 for my interrogation, but we actually stayed in 601 and kept an eye on the corridor. If Miss Unoki went anywhere else, she would have to pass by Room 601.”
I see. Seiji nodded. So that was why they’d come through the library’s rear door earlier.
“That said…” Shiroshi looked perplexed. “We never saw her. In other words, when Ms. Nomura vanished from Room 301, Miss Unoki was still in Car Six.”
But that can’t— Seiji wanted to deny it, but the words wouldn’t come. After all, the ones keeping watch had been Shiroshi and Tosu. No alibi could be more solid than that.
“In addition, when Godou disappeared from Room 201, Miss Unoki was still at our table in the dining car. She has an alibi for both disappearances.” Shiroshi frowned, folding his arms. “As ever, it comes down to the question of how Godou and Ms. Nomura vanished. If it was the work of the executioner, how did she get rid of them?”
Yes, that was the crux of the matter.
As long as they didn’t know, it was even possible that Tosu would wink out of existence right before their eyes. In order to keep that from happening…
“Um, Mr. Tosu?” said Seiji. “I don’t suppose you’d call Takamura now and confess your sin…?”
“…No. There’s no guarantee they’ll release us anyway.”
I mean, he’s not wrong, but… “E-even so, it would be better to improve your chances of getting home alive as much as you—”
“Nah. Frankly, if it’s just me, I don’t care about getting out alive in the first place. I was planning to die soon anyway.”
“Huh?”
Was it reckless desperation? No, it didn’t look like that. There was an unmistakable note of truth in Tosu’s impassive voice.
Something else he’d said surfaced in Seiji’s mind. “Yeah, I doubt it. I already know the age I’ll die at.”
If that hadn’t been a nasty joke, then…
“Wh-why?”
“…My brother died when he was thirty-one.”
His voice was hollow. It sounded as if simply breathing was painful for him. Maybe because of his fever, his consciousness seemed to be fading in and out.
Seiji was seriously considering whether they should force him to drink some water or maybe tie him down to a bed, when…
“In that case, you are the sixth sinner,” Shiroshi said, leaning forward to look into his face. Tosu pulled his chin back, giving the barest hint of a nod.
Um, what was the sixth one again? As Seiji was fishing through his vague memories, Shiroshi took out his notebook and ran his fountain pen over it, adding to the list of sins and passenger names.
First—appropriated a large sum of money out of wickedness—Aburabouzu—Kenji Godou
Second—killed a pregnant woman, robbing her child of its mother—Yonaki-ishi—Atsushi Kaganuma
Third—drowned his wife on a stormy night—Azukiarai—Fumitake Ishizuka
Fourth—caused the death of someone they envied
Fifth— informed on others, causing several deaths
Sixth—stole their elder brother’s life—Kowai—Fumihiko Tosu
Seventh—left the corpse of a friend to rot—Itsumade—Seiji Tohno
There were just two sins left.
Ms. Nomura’s had probably been “causing the death of someone she envied.”
“Was I wrong to envy her?!”
The woman’s scream rose in his ears. Her voice had been angry and resentful, brimming over with negative feelings about the world. Even then, she’d longed for help more than anybody else. Seiji bit his lip.
Ignoring him, Shiroshi raised the notebook again and wrote quickly.
First—appropriated a large sum of money out of wickedness—Aburabouzu—Kenji Godou
Second—killed a pregnant woman, robbing her child of its mother—Yonaki-ishi—Atsushi Kaganuma
Third—drowned his wife on a stormy night—Azukiarai—Fumitake Ishizuka
Fourth—caused the death of someone they envied—Makuragaeshi—Shiori Nomura
Fifth—informed on others, causing several deaths
Sixth—stole their elder brother’s life—Kowai—Fumihiko Tosu
Seventh—left the corpse of a friend to rot—Itsumade—Seiji Tohno
That meant Miss Unoki had to be…
Fifth—informed on others, causing several deaths—Shoukera—Mao Unoki
Finally, they’d identified all the passengers’ sins. There was still one yokai Seiji wasn’t familiar with, though. “Um, what’s a kowai?”
“A yokai depicted in the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari, an Edo-period collection of strange tales,” Shiroshi replied. “It’s the shape assumed after death by someone who stole others’ food in life. It attacks shops, rummages through garbage, and even then, it constantly suffers from severe hunger.”
“Th-that sounds pretty awful.”
More than anything—it would hurt.
Seiji couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of crime the man had committed, but if this kowai yokai kept suffering even after death…did that mean Tosu was also in the throes of some sort of pain?
“Nah. Frankly, if it’s just me, I don’t care about getting out alive in the first place. I was planning to die soon anyway.”
Maybe those words came from that pain.
Although…I guess it isn’t just the kowai, is it?
The aburabouzu kept saying “I’ll give back the oil, I’ll give back the oil,” regretting his misdeeds even as a ghost. In addition, if Seiji remembered right, the yonaki-ishi had been created by the deep-seated grudge of a mother who’d been cut down by a bandit.
Then the azukiarai is the ghost of someone who fell in a river and drowned, and I’m pretty sure the makuragaeshi was originally a traveler who’d been robbed and killed… Wait.