３．Ｔｈｕｒｓｄａｙ　Ｍａｒｃｈ　２１，　２０１９

"You guys, gather here." 〈Silva〉 gave the signal. Then the remaining three, who were apparently working on their own tasks, came slinking into the room.
"It's a haunted place up ahead." Turning the crescent lock, 〈Silva〉 opend the window.

"Silva-san doesn't mind opening the window.【B of Fig.4】" Maruta is looking blank.
In response, 〈Number 4〉 said as if to add something. "Because he was an absolute leader."

In the video, 〈Silva〉 is still speaking. "Look at that. It says 'No Trespassing.'"
All four of them, except for 〈Number 4〉, look out of the window at the same time. Then the camera also zoomed in on it.
"It seems that beyond that 'No Trespassing' area is a suicide spot. When night falls, we'll all go to that destination. You'd better prepare yourself now."
"It's a sickening place to see." 〈Kirvy〉's voice came from outside the frame.
At the end of the garden, a narrow path stretches out, just mowed with grass and trees. It is bent so widely too, that it is impossible to see through to the other side. The dingy forest that hides something is already covered with a dark sky that looks like it is mixed with ink.

There is one rotting wood stake on each side of the entrance to that path. The chains passed over them are slackly drawing a suspension line. And in the center of the curve hangs a wooden tag that reads 'No Trespassing.' These were in negative harmony with each other due to homogeneous corruption, adding to the irredeemable desolation of the surrounding area.

"This 'No Trespassing' sign," Marta murmured. "At least tells us that this is not a recent traffic restriction by an official body."
"Seems so." 〈Number 4〉 did not seem to have any objections. "The words 'No Trespassing' are handwritten, and very old is the board with the words."
"Number 4-san, do you know who installed this sign? Would it be the landlord?"
"I don't know, I have no idea. This sign was already there when I first came here. I had only glimpsed that, though."

The video continues further. After the window of the room was locked again, the participants in the project dispersed indoors. Everyone except 〈Silva〉 gave negative feedback about the 'No Trespassing' sign they saw just before the event, such as "It's disgusting." However, the overall atmosphere was still the same as that of students on a school trip who had just arrived at a hotel.

Next, 〈Number 4〉 pulled the door, which was about to open, and entered the left room.
"This one's bigger." 〈Number 4〉 said as soon as he entered the room. Then the 〈Captain〉 said in a clear voice as he placed his baggage on the floor.
"Silva-san, can we use this room?" He was already naked on top, his sweat-soaked backside shining in the light of the adjoining room.
"It's okay." The camera turned to 〈Silva〉, who answered loudly. "You guys can leave all your stuff there, basically."

"I see nothing in the room to the left." said Maruta.
"This room was used for our luggage storage. It was to be used as our bedroom at night."

In that dimly lit room, the camera swiveled around. Maruta silently confirmed that the shape of the room and the position of the windows were as shown in the 'Ground Plan'. There seemed to be no place to hide well.
The sun had completely set by the time the luggage had been brought in and settled down.
Beside 〈Kirvy〉 and 〈Mont Blanc〉, who were jostling each other by wrestling, 〈Silva〉, who was holding a tripod, approached 〈Number 4〉.
"Number 4, give me your camera." Once the camera was in 〈Silva〉's hands, its position was fixed.

"This is important here," said Maruta. "Number 4-san, I see here that he has fixed the camera he received from you on this tripod."
"Yes."
"Are you sure the location is here in the middle room?【Fig.4】"
〈Number 4〉 looks at the spot where Maruta marked on the drawing with a ballpoint pen. "Yes, that is correct."

From then on, the camera was placed at the end of the room and continued recording. Maruta sensed some artificial intention in the fact that the door of the room on the right was firmly in the screen.

"Hey, guys! Stop playing around and do your job." When 〈Silva〉 bristled at the two of men, each of them gave the same old excuse, saying that the other had initiated the attack. But shortly afterward, in a surprise move, 〈Silva〉 applied a poor, unfamiliar judo move on 〈Kirvy〉. Seeing this, the members of 〈Tokyo Spread〉 commented with amusement, "You're playing, too, aren't you, Silva-san?"
One of them, 〈Number 4〉, silently walked out of the room. Not missing this scene either, Maruta threw the question.
"Which way did you go in this scene, Number 4-san?"
"I went to the restroom. At the end of the hallway, after turning the corner, there it was. I didn't have to carry my camera anymore, so I went there. I had always wanted to go there. But I'll be right back."

True to his word, 〈Number 4〉 was back in the room in about two minutes. At that time, he said to no one in particular, "It's so dark in the restroom, it's really scary."
Here, for the first time, his entire body appeared on the screen. He wears light clothing, no different from the other members of the group, but here he also wears today's black-rimmed glasses.

"Well, you guys," Standing in the center of the room, 〈Silva〉 takes command. "In the city below, buy food and drinks for six people."
"Silva-san, what would you like?" 〈Captain〉 asked.
"I'll leave it to your taste. And get some water, too. Besides drinking, we need it to wash our hands. About 100 million liters."
The members did not offer any particular reaction to the unrealistic instructions of 100 million liters.

"I'm editing in this room." 〈Silva〉 put his hand on the doorknob of the room on the right. Maruta did not make a sound, but spit in the back of his throat.
"I'll lock the door to concentrate, so don't open it without permission."
"It's like Pandora's Box." When 〈Shaggy〉 made fun of him, he nimbly said, "The meal 〈Tokyo Spread〉 is about to buy is more like Pandora's Box."

〈Silva〉 almost entered the room with a laptop in his hand. 〈Kirvy〉 then followed him, calling out to him. He has a smartphone in his hand.
"I see that Kirvy-san has gone inside," said Maruta.
"He'll be out soon." Certainly less than a minute after 〈Number 4〉 answered, 〈Kirvy〉 came out.
As 〈Kirvy〉 pushed the knob to close the door, the three heard 〈Silva〉's voice from inside saying, "If you don't have minced meat cutlet, I'll just have a hamburger steak. And some fried chicken."
"Yes, sir." After 〈Kirvy〉 said this, the door was completely closed.

"I wonder," Maruta moved the growing plate of food aside. "If Kirvy-san was simply asking about the leader's preferences here."
"I think he probably was. Also, I think he was trying to locate the restaurant. I don't think a smart phone would have been nearly as useful, though, since we were in a place where there was no reception."

"Well then," 〈Captain〉 stretched out in the middle of the room. "We'll go shopping. Number 4, you stay here."
"I'm on it." 〈Number 4〉 on the screen says in a low voice. He is much like Maruta in that he dares to speak in an ungainly manner.

All the members except 〈Number 4〉 began to get ready to go out, each of them making their own jokes. 〈Captain〉 put on a T-shirt on top. In the midst of all this, 〈Shaggy〉 walked out early, without saying a word.
"Shaggy-san got out very early." When Maruta said this, 〈Number 4〉 dismissively answerd, "Maybe he was playing a game on his smartphone in the car."
Then 〈Captain〉 and 〈Kirvy〉 left, too. 〈Mont Blanc〉, who had taken his wallet, followed them out.

In the video, 〈Number 4〉 placed his laptop on the floor, seemed to get the gist of things, and began to work on something.
"It's a long story from here." The real 〈Number 4〉 said. "Nothing happens at all until those guys come back."

The phrase 'Nothing happens' caught Maruta like a foreign object in the middle of his thoughts.
"Silva-san was killed between the time he entered the room and before he was discovered."
"Probably, yes."
"Did nothing really happen?"
"You will see it when you see it. Nothing really, really, happens in the video."
"What was the approximate time at this time?"
"I think it was after six in the evening."

Told that it would take roughly an hour for the members to return, it was unavoidable to see the images sped up to some extent. Suddenly, 〈Number 4〉 on the screen stood up, and immediately after, the image was cut off. Before Maruta could ask about this, 〈Number 4〉 added an explanation.
"The battery was about to die, so I replaced it. The time of interruption is only a few dozen seconds. I swear to you, I did not do anything else while the battery was being replaced. Silva-san still didn't come out of his room, and no one ever came back."
〈Number 4〉 looked Maruta straight in the eye. That being said, Maruta could only nod in agreement.

The video was shown again. The situation was the same as before 〈Number 4〉 changed the battery.
"As we can see," said Maruta. "Number 4-san, you were also working on editing the video at this time."
"Yes, that's right. Like Silva-san, I was here doing some editing that I had accumulated."
"You didn't go through the process of working with him?"

〈Number 4〉, on the other hand, appeared to be slightly at a loss for words.
"Well, it doesn't necessarily require two people to work together. We were producing our videos separately."
"That's true."
"To be honest, I don't quite understand his behavior at this time either. Working alone in such a remote place would normally be lonely. In fact, I was very anxious until the members came back. Maybe Silva-san was doing something in the room to the right that he didn't want others to see."

After the four members of the buying team went out, the monotonous images continued. As 〈Number 4〉 said, the door to 〈Silva〉's room was never opened. Maruta and the others stared at the quadruple-speed video. Maruta, in particular, was willing to pay maximum attention to even the slightest movement. However, 'the fraying of the thread' of the impossible crime that he expected to find was nowhere to be found.