Tokyo Mystery Writers

"With only one key to the sanctuary, how did the murderer gain entry?"

"This question is actually very easy to answer."

Maishiro Kyosuke looked at Jiang Liu Meili in front of him and said:

"Miss Jiang Liu, do you remember? Xiao Zhen invited McCato to the island because she was looking for suspicious people on the island."

"And what exactly did Xiaozhen say about discovering suspicious individuals?"

"It was from a dusty bookshelf that we found a five-centimeter-thick reference book that was free of dust."

"Actually, this doesn't make sense, because judging from the dust on the book alone is too much of a coincidence. After all, it's a bookcase that isn't opened often. So the reason is simple: Xiaozhen lied."

"Little Needle was the first to discover that her keys had been tampered with, which is why she called McCartney to investigate suspicious individuals."

Jiang Liu Meili looked puzzled upon hearing Mai Shiro Kyosuke's words.

"So? Ms. Mai, who exactly moved the key?"

When Maijo Kyosuke was writing "The Convergence," he had many new ideas about the story, so he had already considered this point and immediately provided an answer:

"After Xiaozhen was shot to death, the people who went to check the sanctuary key were the butler Hakuyama and the believer Terao."

"This means that both of them knew where the key to the sanctuary was."

"But at the same time, after Xiaozhen died, Uchino found a brooch in Xiaozhen's room, and Yoko immediately identified the brooch as belonging to the nanny, Aoyama."

"So, why did the nanny Aoyama's brooch end up in Haru's bedroom?"

"Actually, this is a foreshadowing I planted, subtly indicating that the nanny, Aoyama, knows where the key is. After all, Aoyama's purpose in coming to the island was to steal the 'Katrina Sutra'."

"Yoko and Uchino already have a physical relationship. This coordinated attack is clearly a scheme to frame Aoyama using the brooch, preventing him from saying anything related to the key."

"So in reality, Yoko and Uchino can obtain the key to the sanctuary through Aoyama's help."

"Since Uchino was able to get the key, he can certainly get it if Naomi Maki, whom he likes, needs it. And given the ambiguous relationship between Naomi Maki and Hiroshi Sekiya, she can also get it."

Jiang Liu Meili looked very surprised when she heard what Mai Cheng Jingjie said.

I admire even more the way Maijo Kyosuke lays the groundwork!

After all, such a well-hidden clue could easily be missed if you looked too quickly!

"So in reality... everyone on the island has their own way and means to obtain the key to the Sanctuary?"

"So, the Holy Chamber may seem like a secret room that no one can enter, but in reality, it's a room that anyone can come and go as they please, and only Little Needle doesn't know that?"

Maishiro Kyosuke nodded and said with a smile:

"You can understand it that way, because this story itself is like 'The Tokyo Zodiac Murders.' If 'The Tokyo Zodiac Murders' is the devil whispering in my ear..."

"Then the 'Conclusion' is like a revelation from God."

"I took the idea of ​​Schrödinger's cat and expanded it into a logically consistent short story, which contains many foreshadowing elements to give readers more room for imagination."

"It's the Holy Chamber issue you just mentioned. Setting the plot there not only arouses readers' curiosity, but also misleads them into thinking it's a locked-room mystery novel."

"But in reality, this so-called 'secret room' is just a free gift, completely designed to mislead everyone, because anyone on the island has a chance to get the key."

"The secret room does not exist."

Jiang Liu Meili nodded upon hearing Mai Cheng Jingjie's words:

"In that case, we'll have to wait until things are settled and we see who the victims are in the sanctuary to deduce who the murderer is and find out who moved the key."

Jiang Liumei flipped through the notebook and raised her second question:

"Mr. Wucheng, is McCarte in 'Convergence' intentionally misleading Meidai?"

"Because all the questions Mei-dai asked were related to Xiao-zhen's death, and she never mentioned that there would be a murder in the Holy Chamber."

"However, McCarteau kept talking about the murders that occurred in the sanctuary, and deliberately linked the two murders together."

Jiang Liu Meili, holding the manuscript, sat down next to Mai Cheng Jingjie and pointed to a line of text on the manuscript, saying:

"But, Ms. Mai, you wrote in the story that after Xiaozhen died, there was black hair in the mouth of her corpse. So this means that Xiaozhen's death and the black hair were predetermined events."

"Just like Schrödinger's cat, before the situation inside the box is observed, the cat inside the box is in a state of superposition between life and death."

"But Xiaozhen is dead, and the hair in her mouth is also dead."

"Even if the victim in the sanctuary dies the next day and the murderer is revealed, it doesn't change the fact that Xiaozhen was killed at this moment, or the question of who owns the hair stuffed in her mouth."

"So? Who killed Little Needle? And whose hair is that?"

Upon hearing Jiang Liu Meili's words, Maishiro Kyosuke pondered briefly, then smiled and said:

"Miss Jiang Liu is indeed worthy of being the magazine editor-in-chief; her thinking is very sharp."

"If we think according to your way of thinking, then this story will have a second twist."

"It can also be seen as an extension of another possibility."

"That is, the murderer who killed Little Needle and the murderer who finally killed someone in the sanctuary are not the same person."

"From this, we can hypothesize a series of possibilities."

"First, Terao killed Koharu, and then that night he killed Yoko, the murderer who killed his own sister."

"Second, Terao killed Koharu and planned to kill Yoko that night, but Yoko killed Uchino, who had been tormenting him, first."

"Third, Terao killed Koharu and planned to kill Yoko that night, but Uchino killed Sekiya Hiroshi, who had taken away his goddess Naomi Maki, first."

"Fourth, Yoko killed Koharu, and then killed Uchino, who had been tormenting her, that night."

"5. Yoko killed Koharu and planned to kill Uchino, but Terao took her away and killed her instead."

"Six, Yoko killed Koji, but Uchino killed Sekiya Hiroshi first."

"Seven, Uchino killed Koharu and then successfully killed Hiroshi Sekiya, whom he was jealous of."

"8. Uchino killed Koharu and planned to kill Sekiya Hiroshi, but Yoko took him to the seibutsu and killed him."

"Nine, Uchino killed Koharu, but Terao killed Yoko first."

"If it cannot be determined whether the murderer who killed Xiaozhen is the same person who committed the second crime, then logically, these nine possibilities would arise!"

"But since the sanctuary has not been opened and cannot be observed, everything remains unknown."

"Only when the doors of the Sanctuary are opened will these nine possibilities be resolved!"

When Jiang Liumei heard Mai Chengjingjie's answer, the muscles on her face twitched involuntarily, because she had read "Convergence" three times just now and had never considered this possibility!

"Ms. Mai, given so many possibilities, why did McCarte link the two cases together?"

"While McCarteau's sense of morality is indeed almost zero, he is clearly a very intelligent detective, and in theory, he should be able to see through these nine possibilities."

"Then why did he combine the two murder cases?"

"This is really strange..."

Jiang Liumei scratched her head, feeling very confused.

Because this short story, "Conclusion," which is only 30,000 words long, still hides countless unanswered questions...