"No. I only quickly glanced in the lens when I first came into the room. I thought it was probably just that the lenses hadn't been adjusted properly."
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"Your-you know, that ability of yours, it wasn't working?"
"I only hear the reaper's footsteps when danger is imminent."
"So I guess it wouldn't work on someone who's already dead." I sighed deeply. "Wait, huh? But, what about the torso? Where'd they hide that last part? You know, the biggest one? There aren't any more telescopes besides those five..."
"There is a certain location where the torso was hidden-and that is where the culprit is hiding now."
"What?! The culprit?"
"Yes."
"But I really don't think there's anywhere left for them to hide..."
"No, there's still somewhere else," said Kirigiri, sounding faintly amused. "But consider this. This space is a small area that can just barely fit someone's torso. For someone to be able to hide in there after removing the body part, they must be someone very short..."
"I guess you're right. But there wasn't anyone that short that came along with us. You were the shortest one."
"No. In fact, there was someone even shorter than myself."
"No there wasn't."
"I saw it clearly with my own two eyes."
"So who exactly were you looking at? Or, better question-where are they hiding now? It'll be obvious who it is once I drag them out of there. Hurry up and tell me."
"Right... Understood," said Kirigiri, extending her right hand and taking a bottle out of Inuzuka's bag. She opened it, and then, for some incomprehensible reason, started pouring it out onto her skirt, around her thighs. The strong smell of alcohol permeated the air immediately.
"W-Wait, what are you doing!?"
Her lower body was soaked with alcohol.
Next, she took out the lighter from Amino's briefcase.
"Kirigiri-chan!"
"This vodka is 96% alcohol by volume. I believe simply soaking fabric with it, as I have done, would allow it to very easily catch fire." Kirigiri held the lighter in her right hand, expressionless.
In my eyes, this was nothing short of insanity. "What are you thinking?!"
"I'm starting a fire."
"Stop it! What reason could you possibly have to..."
If she flicked on the lighter, then the vaporized alcohol might ignite. If that happened, her alcohol-soaked clothes would probably instantly go up in flames. That wouldn't just leave her with a few burns. She might just burn to death...
I didn't have the faintest idea why she would do something like that.
"I'm dead serious. Indicting the culprit means putting your life on the line. That's what Grandfather taught me."
"Kirigiri-chan, what are you saying?! Stop it!"
"And I have the resolve to sacrifice my own life in pursuit of the truth," she said, her voice cold enough to send a shiver down my spine. In that moment-her eyes had already lost color, as if she were staring down death itself.
She placed her thumb on the wheel of the lighter.
"Stop!"
"I will start a fire in five seconds."
Five... Four...
I approached her. All I could do now was kick her arm and try to send the lighter flying.
Three...
"Onee-sama, watch quietly." She barred me from coming any closer.
Two...
I stopped without even thinking.
One...
"I give up."
Suddenly, I heard a man's voice, seemingly out of nowhere. I turned this way and that, looking in all directions. No one was there.
"Your reasoning was spot-on. It's my loss. Pretty sure I can't talk my way out of this one anymore."
Whose voice is that?
"Then get out of there, Enbi-san," said Kirigiri, standing up and facing the chair, her left hand still handcuffed to it.
No way... Inside that little armchair?
Finally something began to stir, moving the chair... The back cushion became unfastened, and out came the tank-top-clad figure of Enbi-Enbi's impostor.
How could that adult male body fit inside such a small armchair...? Was there a portal to another dimension behind that cushion? I had real suspicions, but then I got a good look at him... His legs cut off partway through the thighs. The rest of them just wasn't there.
"I lost both my legs in a fire a while back. They still hurt, even now."
