１．Ｓｕｎｄａｙ　Ｍａｒｃｈ　３１，　２０１９

"It was a terrible disaster."
Maruta glanced toward the passenger seat. Kira, who had been on the verge of sleep, opened his eyes thinly at the sound of Maruta's voice.
The two attended the police crime scene inspection until dawn, and then rode on the highway without sleeping a wink. Now they must face the morning sun head-on. The only saving grace was that the roads were empty, as it was early in the morning on a holiday.

"Kira-san, I'm sorry to bother you, but we still have one more task to do today."
Saying yes, Kira rubbed his eyes, which were about to open.
Whether he was listening or not did not matter to Maruta. His mouth often moved as if he were bragging, because he aligned his rational explanation of the incident into a complete line.
"I will not let those guys get away. I am impressed, though, how they came up with something like that. They're schemers, those guys. We almost allowed them to operate with impunity, wearing masks of innocence."

Maruta pulled Kira with him as they entered 〈Tokyo Spread〉's apartment. He pressed the intercom, and 〈Captain〉, unusually, opened the door.
"Excuse me for coming in early," Maruta put his hand on the knob of the open door. "I really need to speak with you today."
〈Captain〉 seemed a little dazed, perhaps because he had just woken up.
"Earlier, I contacted you out of the blue," Maruta further said. "But it's just urgent. If you don't have plans after this, I would like to talk to you."

〈Captain〉 hesitated for a moment, then said, "Come in," and went back into the living room. After Maruta took off his shoes, he went up to the room without showing any hesitation. A sleepy Kira followed suit.

In the living room, 〈Captain〉 was sitting alone on the sofa, still looking weak. There was no sign of movement to get breakfast. From another room, Maruta heard 〈Mont Blanc〉 and 〈Number 4〉, so he turned toward them. As soon as he saw the backs of those two, he turned his attention back to the leader.
"Those guys are editing right now, so they can't leave thier seats." 〈Captain〉's voice was muffled.
"Where are Shaggy-san and Kirvy-san?" Maruta asked.
"Those two are out there. We don't know when they will be back."
"That's unfortunate."

It was about ten minutes ago that Maruta made an appointment to meet with 〈Captain〉. Have the two of them escaped already? After all, even if it was a little rude, it might have been better to barge in without contacting them. Maruta bit his lip as he thought about it.
Maruta and Kira sat down, unprompted, in the chairs provided at the table. Seeing this, 〈Captain〉 said nothing in particular.

"Captain," Maruta called out to him. "Even if it's a hassle, could you please sit in the chair? It's very important."
〈Captain〉 dragged himself like mud to the table. Maruta just watched the action in silence. Eventually he took a seat near Kira.

After some silence, Maruta began to speak. "We've solved the mystery of the case."
"Good for you, man." 〈Captain〉 said without looking Maruta in the face.
"Let me explain step by step." Maruta pulled his bag closer.

"Just yesterday, Kira-san and I went to the crime scene in Yamanashi again."
He then went on to tell him that they had found a decomposing body in the woods near the ruins of the house. 〈Captain〉 said nothing, but listened with his hands folded between his legs.

"It was almost certainly the dead body of the owner of that house, Takeo Oku. The forensics team is probably still in the process of investigating, but after that we found the ID card that had fallen near the body with the police. Oku's name was listed there. The police also made a round of emergency inquiries into the identity of the body in the village beyond. As a result, they said, it is extremely likely that it is Mr. Oku himself. Exactly how long after death is not known at this time. We will have to wait for the police to make a statement on this. However, the state of decomposition was so severe that even to our untrained eye, it was obvious that he had been dead for more than a few years."

Maruta pulled out of his bag that 'Ground Plan' he had seen so many times. He also looked sideways to see if the leader of 〈Tokyo Spread〉 was about to flee. 〈Captain〉 was still in a state of absentmindedness.

"Let me start at the beginning of the case flow." Maruta is unaffected. "About two weeks ago, I drove to the crime scene with Kira-san. There, we were approached by a man who had nothing to do with the incident and was a resident of the neighborhood. The person was very angry that we, outsiders, had interfered with his peaceful life. It was an unwarranted accusation, not much of a problem. But as he was leaving, he said, 'Just when I thought the commotion had died down, it's like that. I'm totally disgusted.' Let me say it again, 'Just when I thought the commotion had died down, it's like that.' Strange phrasing, don't you think? In this case, what is 'that'? At first I thought the man was 'bothered by us because we came after the murder of Silva-san'. However, what if the matter that falls under 'that' was 'Silva's case'? It could be interpreted that the man said, 'I was disgusted by a commotion that occurred before the incident and next, the incident with Silva.' If so, we can say that 'some commotion' occurred near the crime scene before the incident."

Maruta reached out and placed the 'Ground Plan' in view of 〈Captain〉. He did not touch it, only turned his emotionless eyes on it.
"It is, as I said before, an official document that I independently obtained from the legal affairs bureau. So there is no mistake about this, but it is old. These stories are all just my guesses from the beginning. There is no direct evidence or corroboration, either. However, I can assure you that it is consistent, so please hear me out. The house on that drawing was torn down and a new, different house was built there."

〈Captain〉's eyebrows twitched. Kira said, "I didn't realize that," sounding out of tune. Maruta did not respond to, but continued to state his own theory.
"The narrow path leading to that crime scene is clearly rutted. This means that it is possible to drive a vehicle to the house location. So we would have been able to bring in large machinery to demolish the house listed there. I assume that the 'commotion' mentioned by the man living in the area meant the demolition and reconstruction of the house. The timing is unknown, but I am sure that by the time Silva-san said he was going on a 'haunted spot search', the new house had been completed in addition to the original one. Perhaps, the culprit, hmm, okay. We will refer to the person or persons who plotted the incident here as the 'culprit'. The culprit probably decided to use the land where that house was located for the crime, and when he ransacked it, he found Mr. Oku dead inside. It is probably a solitary death. In a deserted house deep in the mountains, the old man passed away quietly and unnoticed. This can be explained by the fact that the surrounding woods were littered with household items. As I told you earlier, plates and other utensils were dotted in the bushes surrounding the house. Further searching revealed even large items such as a bath tub. Come to think of it, the interior of the house we saw in the video was extremely strange. If a person lived in the house until just before, why are there no kitchen, bath, or any other facilities necessary for living? The culprit dumped everything in the surrounding woods. Oku's body as well. The culprit then remodeled the house to make it easier for him to commit the crime. I don't know the specific process, but it would be much easier than building a high-rise condominium. Old wooden huts are abandoned all over Japan. So the culprit may have broken them and brought them as building materials. Alternatively, it is not impossible to carefully dismantle the original house and reuse the building materials as is."