Mirror Mirror (self-insert #9)

Chapter 12

Naru returned with the others not too long after, and right away he attacked me with questions. Did you feel a drop in temperature? Did you hear anything? Could you tell where the smell was coming from? Exactly what were your symptoms?

"Think it was one of the spirits?" Bou-san added in.

I sniffed daintily. "I don't believe in spirits. But if I did, I would say yes, that was one of the spirits."

"She's fine." Bou-san told Naru.

"I already knew that. When you think about it, it's odd that the spirit decided to show itself right when Hirota-san returned." Naru glanced at Masako. "Could it be one of the spirits warning us to leave?"

"Possibly. It didn't seem to be the mother, though."

"I see."

The doorbell rang, followed by hurried, approaching footsteps. I jumped as Yasuhara yanked open the door without warning. Hirota hovered behind him, a little confused—he must've answered the door. "I found it! There was one! An incident!" He announced, sitting down and pulling out a stack of papers from his bag. "It's the trap of the street name revisions, after all. And yet, I never did imagine that this major incident realms happened.l

Bou-san grinned. "Even the genius Yasuhara thinks so?"

"That's why they say, 'anyone can make a mistake', right?" He said, miffed. "It's because this place had changed its street name twice. The incident happened twenty years ago. At this time, this house belonged to Yasuhiko Kawanabe—40 years old. His father Yasuhisa, his wife Toshiko—37 years old, his daughter Hitomi—12 years old, and his son Minoru—9 years old, were living together with him."

"A family of five people?" Bou-san noted.

"That's right. A family of five people were also living in the neighboring house: Kazuo Sekiguchi—46 years old, his wife Mitsue—44 years old, and their three children. The incident happened on the evening of October 12. After visiting their relatives, Sekiguchi's children returned home and found their dead parents. Their father committed suicide, and their mother was murdered. Looking at it, it would seem like a forced double suicide."

Bou-san didn't look impressed. "That's the anticipated story of the neighbor?"

"Not really. The police visited and asked the residents in the neighborhood about the case, but they didn't get a response from here, the Kawanabe house. They thought it was strange and when they entered the house, the saw the corpses of the entire family."

"All five of them?"

Yasuhara nodded grimly. "All members of the family. It was from late at night of October 10 to early morning of the 11th that the Kawanabe family and Mitsue Sekiguchi passed away. However, it was noon of the 11th that the daughter, Hitomi, passed away too. It was presumed that Kazuo Sekiguchi had been here on the night of October 11."

Bou-san frowned. "The one who commited suicide was just Kazuo. Moreover, he is the last tone who died?"

"That's right. The result of the investigation suggests that the Sekiguchi couple killed the Kawanabe family. On the night of the 10th, the two trespassed here ar the Kawanabe house. They killed 4 people in the family and, after that, returned home at once. Then Kazuo murdered his wife, Mitsue. Kazuo returned here and started dissecting the corpses of the family."

"Four people in the family? One person is missing."

I wondered if I'd ever witness the day Bou-san could follow a conversation.

"That day the daughter, Hitomi, was away from home for her elementary school excursion. She returned home the next day and then she was murdered by Sekiguchi. Sekiguchi commited suicide in his house afterward."

"As for the motive of the crime?" Naru asked.

"The Kawanabes and Sekiguchis disputed about this land's boundary line. At a loss, the Sekiguchis resolved to kill the Kawanabe family. They excused their children from school and made the latter go to their relatives' house, it seems they discussed about the neighboring house with their relatives." Yasuhara explained, handing Naru the wad of papers. "In this area, address revisions often took place. When I read Narumi-san's email and searched 'family of five' as a keyword, I found this incident. I checked the old map at the National Diet Library, and without a doubt this was the house. But since I found the day the main culprit of this incident was publicized, there was no follow-up report in the newspapers. I've probed and looked at the other periodicals, but nothing further about this matter emerged."

"Is that so?" Naru glanced at me. "Nira, what do you think?"

"We don't know enough yet to solve this case."

"Well, duh." Bou-san muttered.

I gave him a frosty look. "I really don't want to hear that from someone who can't follow a conversation."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, for now we can only keep researching deeper. Nira, do some searching of your own if you can." Naru interrupted. "We need to look into this incident as much as we can."

I grimaced.