Kirigiri Novel Book 7

Chapter 2 Part 4 Transparent Black

Yukimura hurried forward. Kadomi and Yūhain followed, while Kirigiri and I were the last to pass through the door.

Walking down the cold passage, I whispered to Kirigiri. "There weren't those authentication devices before, right?" Kirigiri nodded silently.

Assuming that the Sirius Observatory was renovated into a hidden vault for Shinsen, the existence of those profound authentication devices is understandable. But things shouldn't be that simple.

That renovation is undoubtedly linked to the technique.

The path soon became a staircase to the top. As the detectives walked up fearlessly, Kirigiri stopped at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the floor.

"What's wrong?"

"Only the buried light here is dim."

Kirigiri pointed to her feet. The floor is inlaid with circular frosted glass, and the light is glowing softly inside. But from the looks of it, it's not so different from the others...

"Yui-onēsama, did you bring a screwdriver?"

"Fufu, I did!"

I took the Phillips screwdriver out of my backpack. "You have got everything in there."

"They say detectives should always carry 7 kinds of tools with them at all times. Do you do the same, Kirigiri-chan?"

"I don't need to. I'll be fine as long as Yui-onēsama is around."

"Am I your luggage porter?"

While talking, Kirigiri used the screwdriver to remove the screws holding the embedded light frame. What is it about this simple lighting that made her feel so uncomfortable. But clues to solving cases are always in these trivial places.

"The screwdriver removed all the screws... yet it still doesn't open."

Kirigiri wanted to confirm the lighting inside, but the glass panes are stuck in so tightly that it didn't look like they would come off.

"This... isn't glass." Kirigiri rubbed the glass with her fingertips. "It's thick ice."

"Ice? Why ice instead of glass..."

"It's a mystery."

When Kirigiri stood up and folded her arms, a voice called to us from above.

"Hey Yui-chan, Kyōko-chan, can you hear me?"

It's Yukimura's voice. I looked up at the top of the stairs. It's pitch black everywhere and I can't see anything, and it's impossible to identify the silhouette of Yukimura who is supposed to be there.

We ignored the floor lighting and went up the stairs.

"Heyyyy—"

"Yes, I can hear you." I replied to the darkness.

"Anyway, climb to the top first."

We climbed up the stairs as she said. No matter how much we climbed up, you couldn't see a light. What is the problem?

Soon we reached a ceiling.

"Here, it's covered. This is a trap door that can't be opened from the inside once it is closed. Can you try opening it from your side?"

I felt my hands on the ceiling and pushed up.

Then the door opened easily and the light from the interior came in.

Yukimura is standing in that direction.

"So we can only open it from that side of the stairs." Kirigiri and I climbed the stairs and entered the room.