The Island Village, the Murder, and the Daughter of the Abyss
“Now we must protect ourselves. Looking at the situation, the probability that the culprit is among us seems very high…”
Professor Honmura Koga addressed the entire group. The inn was located a short distance from the village, making it unlikely that a local had committed the murder. There was no reason to kill tourists who contributed to the village economy, and no one had even seen a villager inside the inn.
“Everyone, please provide your alibi for one hour and thirty minutes ago—that is, roughly fifteen minutes after we arrived at this inn.”
Professor Honmura Koga looked around at them all. In the end, alibis were what mattered. If they could determine what the man called Morisuke had been doing one hour and thirty minutes before his death, they should be able to identify the culprit easily.
“I’ll start with myself since I suggested it. I was in my room with Wano here, reviewing our itinerary.”
“Yes, we were confirming the investigation schedule for Chooten Island with the professor. We each visited the bathroom once, but there wasn’t enough time to commit murder.”
Professor Honmura Koga and Wano Haruto had alibis. Next, the plain-looking woman named Hijitani Saori spoke up. She seemed slightly flustered.
“As soon as Uchidate came into the room, I went straight outside, so there’s no one to confirm my alibi… but I really was in my room the whole time! I swear!”
Hijitani Saori insisted on her innocence. The problem was that there was no way to prove she had stayed in her room.
“Miss Hijitani, we’ll come back to you. Miss Uchidate, where exactly did you go right away?”
“I was feeling a bit seasick and wanted some fresh air, so I decided to leave my luggage for later and step outside the inn. When I went out, I happened to run into Mr. Taira Ryuta here, who was about to take a bike ride around the island, so we went together.”
Uchidate Kanimi offered me as her alibi. I nodded in confirmation.
“Just as Miss Uchidate said, we rode around the village on the bike. It started raining midway, so we came back a little earlier than planned.”
“You left to drive immediately?”
“No. I organized my luggage a bit first, so we departed about fifteen minutes later.”
I answered Wano Haruto’s question honestly. Come to think of it, that put me on the suspect list too. My timeline overlapped with the estimated time of murder by about a minute, and since Wano Haruto’s estimated time probably wasn’t one hundred percent accurate, if we allowed some leeway, both Uchidate Kanimi and I lacked alibis until we left to ride around the village.
“We obviously didn’t commit murder, but at that time my granddaughter and I were finishing up lunch preparations together.”
“Yes. I was helping Grandma set out lunch.”
The innkeeper grandmother and Hamahata Konoka provided alibis for each other.
“I was alone in my room too, but I’m really not the killer!”
Kimura Atsuhiro waved his hands emphatically, strongly asserting his innocence. His expression made him look genuinely wronged.
“We came to help because we heard there were guests today.”
“We arrived around the time lunch was ending, so it must have been after the murder occurred.”
The two laborers looked at each other as they spoke. Since they had arrived well after the time of the murder, they were naturally removed from the list of suspects.
Hmm. So including myself, there were four people without alibis? This was a bit awkward.
“There are four people without alibis in total. What should we do?”
“We’re not the police, so we can’t exactly detain anyone… How about splitting into two groups and moving together?”
It looked like I was going to end up in one of those groups. Having a tag-along would be annoying. Especially since this was connected to the Daughter of the Abyss—I had no idea what might happen.
“I’m not even part of your original group, and I’d never met the murder victim before, so I have no grudge against any of you. In other words, I have no reason to kill him. I was planning to visit the shrine briefly, and I see no reason to stick together while being treated like a murderer.”
“We were planning to head to the shrine anyway, so let’s go together for that part at least. From what I hear, you have a special room with a dedicated maid to attend you. Wouldn’t that work for everything except the shrine? The maid could provide your alibi.”
Instead of pressing me, the professor took a conciliatory tone. I saw no need to stay combative, so I agreed to go with them to the shrine. If the Daughter of the Abyss caused some incident and these people got hurt, it wouldn’t be my fault.
Come to think of it, the professor was ruthless. One of his students had just been killed, yet he still intended to continue the investigation all the way. He almost seemed pleased that the weather was preventing the police from arriving. That was just my personal impression, of course.
“Since the subject has come up, let’s visit the shrine now.”
Everyone nodded at the professor’s suggestion. Yes, it would be best to tour the shrine quickly and then relax in the private open-air bath.
We agreed to meet at the inn entrance in fifteen minutes. The implication was to gather any necessary items. I returned to my room and slid open the door connecting it to the open-air bath. The surface of the hot spring was covered with countless concentric circles created by the pouring raindrops. The sight made me crave pajeon and a bowl of makgeolli. I had only eaten a normal single portion at lunch, so I was hungry again. For dinner, I’d have to ask them to make extra even if it cost more.
But it was raining so heavily. Would this be all right? I hadn’t prepared an umbrella or anything… Did I have to climb the path while getting soaked?
Knock, knock.
While I was worrying about the rain, someone knocked on the door. When I told them to come in, Wano Haruto entered with his usual gloomy expression and dark circles under his eyes. In his hand was something wrapped in clear vinyl.
“I thought you might not have an umbrella or raincoat, so I brought one.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“It belonged to the late Morisuke, so it should fit you fine.”
Ah, so with Morisuke dead, there was now an extra raincoat. The man called Morisuke had been slightly taller than average but quite large and stout, so the oversized raincoat fit me well too.
“Who do you think the culprit is?”
Wano Haruto suddenly asked me who I thought the culprit was. Was he trying to test me, or did he already know I wasn’t the killer?
“Are you asking because you know I’m not the culprit?”
“Just as you said earlier, Mr. Taira, this is our first meeting and you have no reason to kill him. And most decisively, the wound on Morisuke’s head wasn’t struck from above in a downward arc but rather pierced at nearly a right angle. Therefore, anyone taller than Morisuke could not be the culprit. At the very least, Mr. Taira, who is taller than Morisuke, is cleared.”
Even though it was only his minor, his criminology background showed. To deduce the killer’s height from the shape of the wound… Still, I had only seen Morisuke lying dead in the coffin, so I couldn’t quite remember his exact height.
“Was Morisuke the tallest in your group?”
“Yes. He had the largest build and was the tallest. He had a gentle personality, though…”
“Then why didn’t you mention this at the murder scene earlier?”
“To make the culprit let their guard down. With so many suspects, I wanted them to think the chance of being caught was low. I apologize for that.”
Wano Haruto bowed his head politely. When he bowed so deeply, I couldn’t very well complain, so I simply said I understood and accepted the transparent vinyl raincoat.
“I have a question. Are all the people from Kanto University in your group close to one another?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know. The professor I was originally assigned to moved to an overseas university, so I’ve only been working with Professor Honmura Koga for one semester… From what I’ve heard, both Morisuke and Atsuhiro were under a different professor two years ago, but that professor passed away under some circumstances and they ended up under Professor Honmura. The two female students are undergraduates who took one of my general education classes. They showed a lot of interest in folklore, so I brought them along as assistants and for the experience.”
I see. So the whole group wasn’t particularly close. That made sense—when Morisuke died, everyone had been shocked, but none of them had seemed especially sad.
“It’s time. Shall we head out?”
“Yes.”
I nodded at Wano Haruto’s words, put on the raincoat, and headed for the inn entrance. Everyone was waiting for us under the roof overhang, sheltering from the rain.
“You’re wearing a raincoat too, Mr. Taira.”
Kimura Atsuhiro asked when he saw me. When Wano Haruto explained that he had given me Morisuke’s, everyone fell silent for a moment and nodded. It seemed that hearing the dead man’s name left them with nothing to say.
“Morisuke would want us to complete our investigation. Let’s think of it as him joining us and do our best.”
At Professor Honmura Koga’s words, everyone nodded heavily, and we set off for the shrine. The straight-line distance wasn’t far, but since the shrine was built near the summit, the climb took considerable time.
During the walk I had to listen to the overly talkative Professor Honmura Koga the entire way. As expected for Chooten Island, most of his stories concerned the island’s unique customs. Some of them were surprisingly interesting and made my ears perk up.
“On Chooten Island, when a woman’s husband dies, she returns to her original family name. We haven’t investigated deeply enough to know the exact reason, but that custom exists.”
“The people of Chooten Island each prepare their own coffin. After death, the body is placed in the prepared coffin and buried. Forty-eight days later it is dug up again, cremated, and the ashes placed in a box that is then buried in the family plot behind the house. Because the island is so small, keeping entire coffins buried long-term would eventually lead to a shortage of land. That’s why if you go behind the houses, you can see gravestones densely packed with names.”
“The Sea Goddess worshipped on Chooten Island is treated as an evil god on the neighboring Hachijo Island. According to records from Hachijo Island, a document was discovered a few years ago stating that an island two hundred ri (about eighty kilometers) to the west worships an evil deity.”
These were the interesting parts. The rest were either trivial details or so deeply academic that they failed to hold my interest. After walking for a while, Professor Honmura Koga pointed to one spot.
“Look. The torii gate is quite unusual, isn’t it? Black torii gates aren’t unheard of, but one as pitch-black as this is rare.”
Just as Professor Honmura Koga said, the torii gate standing before the shrine was so completely black that it looked ominous instead. After passing through the torii and entering the shrine grounds, we saw a puppy that appeared to be a Shiba mix tied to a post near the entrance. It watched us from inside its doghouse with indifferent eyes. Normally a dog would bark at strangers, yet this one simply stared with complete disinterest. It was fascinating.
“You have arrived?”
“Yes, I am Honmura Koga, who contacted you previously.”
Accompanied by a somehow mystical voice, a woman wearing miko robes came forward holding an umbrella. She wore the usual white top and red hakama, but strangely she had something resembling a jar covering her face.
“The reason I cannot show my face is a tradition that one must not look upon the impurities of the mundane world until the ritual is complete. Please understand.”
She could have worn a mask or a blindfold, but using what looked like an octopus jar was certainly unusual.
