５．Ｓａｔｕｒｄａｙ　Ｍａｒｃｈ　２，　２０１９

Maruta noticed that a number indicating notifications has been added to the icon of the short-form submission application on the tablet screen. Without hesitation, he opened a new direct message. As his intuition told him, it was an email from Kira.

"I'm sorry. I had to take care of something. I will be a little later. My apologies."

Maruta was relieved to think of Kira, who had not yet given up his intention to come, although he was taking his time.
This email was sent five minutes ago now. The relationship is free of ties, so for that reason, there is plenty of sincerity on the part of Maruta. After reading this, he quickly composed the text of his reply.

"I don't mind at all. Please come slowly. I'm having coffee upstairs at the Domir Cafe right now while wearing a white shirt!"

The reply came in less than a minute, as if the other side had a melancholy consideration to act condescendingly toward the host.

"Mr. Maruta, sorry for the delay. I will hurry as soon as I can."

Suddenly he felt the urge to urinate and almost sat up. But when lookig up, he also saw that one of female guests was just heading to the restroom. Then, Maruta sat back in his hard chair.

The short-form posting site, which remains displayed on the tablet, continually receives new messages from accounts Maruta follows. In it, he found a post by 〈Tokyo Spread〉 with a link to the 'Latest Video of the Day'.
Already, investigating developments in the 〈Tokyo Spread〉 has become a top priority in his daily routine.
Maruta reflexively tapped the link with the belly of his index finger, forgetting to urinate.

The video is titled 'The Man Revealed, Who Will Unlock All Puzzle Rings in the World.'

It is obvious even before watching the film that it is contentless. The important thing is to read what they are currently holding and feeling from their movements and facial expressions. Telling himself that in his mind, he began to stare at the tablet screen.

"Hey, This is Captain of Tokyo Spread," 〈Captain〉 who still dyes his hair red, is followed by the others, who say, "With Shaggy," and "It's Mont Blanc,". However, these self-introductions must have become completely routine. Since each member of the group identifies themselves in extremely casual tone of voice, it is difficult for first-time viewers to hear their names. Maruta is accustomed to watching 〈Tokyo Spread〉 videos, so he can distinguish these words that they say in a laconic manner by comparing them with the respective 'names' tickers that are shown for a brief moment.

As usual, the shooting location would be a room in an apartment building somewhere in Tokyo where they are based. Surrounded by furniture with a lived-in feel, such as a bed in disarray and a table with a plastic bottle, three of the members of 〈Tokyo Spread〉 sit in their position in the frame of the screen.

All three have fine skin texture. They are young men with passion for pleasure, no matter how.
The slender, clownish-looking man in the center of the group, with makeup removed, is 〈Captain〉 who plays a central role in the group. He is not an ugly man, but he gives viewers the impression that he is a show-off who takes the initiative in doing the most ridiculous things.
To the right of him, the second, 〈Shaggy〉 is looking away from the camera, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Although he has clear-cut eyes and nose, he does not actively flaunt himself, so tends to be somewhat indifferent. In observing their videos, Maruta has discovered that this handle name derives from his distinctive Afro style.
The third, 〈Mont Blanc〉 is a transparent man who makes viewers think he has just left a pop group. He seems to be the youngest in the group, with a flirtatious look radiating from his slit eyes. From the depths of his eye sockets peeks a will that celebrates vulgarity over common sense, just as much as 〈Captain〉 possesses.

First, 〈Captain〉 opens his mouth to the men on either side. "Quick question. Have you guys heard of puzzle rings?"
With no more tension than a pinky fingernail, a sleepy-eyed 〈Shaggy〉 answers. "I know. The one that's all mixed and tangled up."
"Yes," said 〈Captain〉. "Actually, here's one that is."

Before 〈Captain〉 could finish the conversation, he tossed a puzzle ring he had pulled out of pants pocket onto the floor in front of him.
When 〈Mont Blanc〉 picks it up, he says with a smirk on his face. "Are you trying to liven up the video with a flimsy metal ring like this, Captain?"
〈Captain〉 retorts. "That's up to you guys. Mont Blanc, you try it."

At the mention of this, 〈Mont Blanc〉 began to play with the tangled metal rods. Then, with a look of surprise on his face, he let out a pathetic "Oh, what's going on here?"

"Give it to me." Next, 〈Shaggy〉 snatches the ring of wisdom from 〈Mont Blanc〉's hand. And then, "Hey, what's going on here?" he responded exactly the same way that 〈Mont Blanc〉 did just before.
"Don't worry." 〈Captain〉 interrupts them. "I know that your brains are considerably lacking. So I don't blame you for that."
"Can you solve this?" 〈Shaggy〉 hands the ring to the 〈Captain〉.
"Hmm?"
"You heard me, right? I asked you if the leader of our Tokyo Spread, could unravel the puzzle ring."

〈Captain〉 took on the metal puzzle, as did the two men. After a somewhat silent moment, he said, "What's going on, this?" which was a cliché of the previous process.
"Captain," 〈Mont Blanc〉 asks. "What was your grade in geometry in high school?"
"Geometry grades? F, of course."
Hearing this, 〈Shaggy〉 said without a pause. "Your brain is what you're missing the most, isn't it."

The cut changes once here, but the location and members remain the same as before.
"That's not what I'm talking about." said 〈Captain〉. "I'm inviting 'the man who can unravel any puzzle rings' into this room right now. You guys want to meet?"
"No," "I don't want, at all." 〈Shaggy〉 and 〈Mont Blanc〉 each said.
Ignoring their responses, 〈Captain〉 looks to the right side of the screen. Then, he raised his voice. "Sir, please."

"Did you call me?" The voice was heard. A Large figure entered the frame. This is the man who uses the handle 〈Kirvy〉. Despite the ongoing cold season, he exposes his upper body as if the excess belly fat is his greatest pride. The smile attempting to ridicule others without discretion still brings to mind the frivolous attitude reminiscent of the other members.

"Seems like," 〈Kirvy〉 says in a theatrical tone. "You all can't solve even a simple puzzle ring. With that kind of skill, you probably can't even turn the key to your own house, right? No, let's rephrase it in a more concrete manner. If it's you all, it would take a hundred thousand years just to open a can with a can opener."
"What's the matter with this big guy?" The expressionless 〈Shaggy〉 says.

"Can you solve it, Kirvy-san?" 〈Mont Blanc〉 asked.
"This gentleman is," 〈Captain〉 interjects. "'The 'Giant of Knowledge', so to speak, who can unlock all puzzle rings that exist in the world. It's a miracle that guys like you, with dusty hair or misunderstandings, can even come face to face with this person. Do you understand that part?"

"Hey, Kirvy," 〈Shaggy〉 turned his head toward the big man. "What was your score in geometry in high school?"
"Geometry?", said 〈Kirvy〉. "From the start, what is geometry?"
"He's the biggest idiot of all." 〈Shaggy〉 said matter-of-factly.

"I don't care about that." 〈Captain〉 tapped the floor with the palm of his hand. "Are you ready, sir?"
"All right." When 〈Kirvy〉 said this, the scene changed again.

The location is still the same as before, but differs from the previous scene in that a single string is hanging from the ceiling. In addition, at the lower end of the string is tied the rings that has been discussed since the beginning.

"I hang," 〈Kirvy〉 says triumphantly. "Another string on this puzzle ring. Then, two strings are tied at each of the top and bottom across the puzzle ring. You know what I'm talking about so far, don't you?"
〈Captain〉 and 〈Mont Blanc〉 respond to his question with a "Yes". The three men, except for 〈Kirvy〉, are sitting on their haunches in a row against the wall of the room. Among them, only 〈Shaggy〉 showed no interest in the series of exchanges, scratching behind his ear with his index finger.

"Furthermore," 〈Kirvy〉 continues to speak in the same tone he had before. "Tie again the end of the under string, that is not connected to the ceiling, to the puzzle ring. Then, from the ceiling, a string, the puzzle ring, and a circle made of string, each connected in turn, would hang from the ceiling. No further explanation would be necessary. In this circle..."

〈Kirvy〉, who is waving his long-winded tongue, does not even check the three men's reactions before continuing. "I put my body!!"
〈Kirvy〉 began to awkwardly thread his body through the circle he had just created, as if he were passing through a tennis racket without a net. Then, as the loop wrapped around his thick torso, he kicked the floor and floated into the air.

"Wait, it's a lot scarier than I imagined!" 〈Kirvy〉's clumsy writhing in the air reminded Maruta of an insect wriggling unnoticed under a stone, in addition to a hanging frog.
"Captain!" 〈Kirvy〉 cried out. "Captain, help me! This is really! It's so tight, it digs into my stomach. Captain, Please! Captain!"
〈Captain〉 watches 〈Kirvy〉's movements like a high priest who has attained spiritual enlightenment. The next moment, 〈Kirvy〉's body, being abandoned by the upward force, fell to the floor with a thud like a rice bale.

"Has the ring been untied?" 〈Kirvy〉 hurriedly picks up it between the strings. However, it was not deformed at all. The hook that had been fixed to the ceiling had simply come off.

The word 'Sermon' appears in the center of the pitch black screen for a few seconds. The video then moved on to the next cut.
"You know what?" 〈Shaggy〉, standing at the edge of the room, begins to speak. The other three sit side by side, nodding their heads as they sit on their haunches.
"In this project, the plot had 〈Kirvy〉 dangling from the string that tied the puzzle rings, so that it forcibly deformed by his weight, would finally unravel, right? Captain, you wrote the script yesterday, didn't you? I remember you drunkenly saying something like, 'Kirvy is heavy, so he can probably unravel the puzzle ring'. So what? Kirvy hanging from the ceiling by a string, only to fall to the floor? You guys say something in the title about 'The Man Who Will Solve Any Puzzle Rings in the World', and then just show a guy who is obnoxiously large for nothing flailing around in the air. At the end, 'Huh, We didn't solve the puzzle ring'. Who would publish such a video?"

〈Shaggy〉 looked down at the members with a cold stare. All are quiet.

"Captain," 〈Mont Blanc〉 turns to the leader. "What do you think, is this video good?"
After a short pause, all four turned their faces toward the camera.

When Maruta saw the expression on each of their faces, he felt caught by surprise. In addition to the three who had been sitting on the floor, even 〈Shaggy〉 who had been giving them a hard time, was smiling broadly. All four of them shouted in unison, with their thumbs up in front of them. "Yes, Good!!"
The video is over.

As usual, Maruta thought, the video was very typical of 〈Tokyo Spread〉.

Their channel has less than 160,000 subscribers at this time.
In the comments section, comments from fans and antis, respectively, are mixed.

"They don't want to solve the puzzle rings at all.www[*5]"
"What a shameless content! I don't watch them anymore."
"The scene of 'Yes, Good!' is Grass[*6]"
"Pranks by those at the bottom of society."
"The last four smiles are very cute."
"I want my time back."

There are also half of the votes each for high and low ratings.

Maruta began to feel tired of watching the video. For him, whether the video is funny or not is not important at all.
Again, no promising information was obtained that could be the key to solving the case. 〈Tokyo Spread〉 has never mentioned the incident, in video or otherwise, at least not once that Maruta has been able to confirm. Although Maruta do not expect 〈Tokyo Spread〉 to reveal the name of the real culprit in the video, he was once again caught flat-footed.

Speaking of which, Maruta turned to his tablet, thinking.
I haven't seen 〈Number 4〉 recently.
As a member of 〈Tokyo Spread〉, 〈Number 4〉 often works behind the scenes, filming and editing.

Thinking that he might have dropped out of the group, Maruta checks the 〈Number 4〉 account on the short-form posting site.
Contrary to Maruta's fears, 〈Number 4〉 was still alive and well. The most recent post given as "I had steak for dinner. The onion sauce was good." a message with no particular change jumped out at him. Of course, even here, there is no brand new information approaching the core of the case.


[*5]:A Net slang used in Japan. It is the equivalent of LOL.
[*6]:Because 'www' looks like grass that has grown, 'Grass' is used in the same way as www.