７．Ｓａｔｕｒｄａｙ　Ｍａｒｃｈ　１６，　２０１９

When Maruta returned to his apartment in Kawasaki, the hands of the analog clock were pointing to 10 o'clock. The afterglow of labor was so much that the residents on both sides could share it if they wished. Since he does not have the skills to toss boiled pasta with olive oil and season it with basil sauce, he finished his dinner with a packed lunch from a Lunch Box shop open until midnight.

Maruta started the TV viewing software on the screen of his PC equipped with a tuner. The evening program featured very serious people discussing very serious matters with very serious looks on their faces. How serious they were was comparable to the choice of whether one should drink coffee or tea after a meal.

Maruta stopped the software and opened the video site. The hand movements are so imbued with his body that he can do that with his eyes closed. He looked at the thumbnails that came up in order, thinking to himself that he should imbue his body with more everyday activities, such as windsurfing.

〈Tokyo Spread〉 had posted the latest video, and, as usual, he clicked on it. The title is 'We tried Mentos Geyser[*1] with potassium'. The number of views has already exceeded 80,000.

〈Captain〉, 〈Shaggy〉, and 〈Mont Blanc〉 sit side by side, mouthing that not-so-serious greeting. Maruta has been in their room once, so he can now rigorously identify where the camera is and where the three of them are.
"Do you all know what potassium is?" 〈Captain〉 says in a playful tone.
"I don't know." "I have no plans to know that." 〈Shaggy〉 and 〈Mont Blanc〉 respond, respectively.
"Now, watch this first." After 〈Captain〉 said this, a video unrelated to 〈Tokyo Spread〉 played on a small screen in the corner. Two people seem to be watching the video on a laptop placed at the side of the room.

A beaker half full of water is placed on the desk. A gloved hand emerges from outside the frame and tosses a small individual between tweezers into the water. After a short pause, a furious explosion shattered the beaker into pieces. In response, 〈Shaggy〉 and 〈Mont Blanc〉 on the original screen shouted in surprise, their bodies shaking violently.

"It's bad, isn't it?" 〈Mont Blanc〉 protests deliberately. "What's that?"
"We'll do taht." 〈Captain〉 said, taking out a beaker of water and a solid that he had hidden behind him and placing those in front of them. Then, without a pause, he threw the solid into the water.
"You, stupid!" Panicking, 〈Shaggy〉 flew out of the frame. 〈Mont Blanc〉 did likewise.

Seeing this, putting his hands on his stomach, 〈Captain〉 began to laugh.
"What?" 〈Shaggy〉, who has returned, says. "What did you put in there, dude?"
The water and solid in the beaker remain completely in their original form, causing no reaction. Finishing laughing, 〈Captain〉 mumbled a few words. "It's just a soft candy."

The room and the men remained the same as before, only the cut moved on to the next.
"Oh, by the way," 〈Captain〉 says. "That curvy isn't here."
"Where did Kirvy-san go?" 〈Mont Blanc〉 shakes his head from side to side.
"Kirvy is out right now." 〈Captain〉 answered, then straightened his posture. "What was put in the water in the video is potassium, a very dangerous substance. As you can see, it reacts violently just by touching water. We cannot easily purchace such a hazardous material. It is different from the kind of thing sold with snacks at the convenience stores. So,"

〈Captain〉 took a moment, then raised his voice slightly. "Show Kirvy the video from earlier and put just candy in the water like that, just like now. Immediately after that, we'll break the balloon right behind that guy. This is what we'll do."
"I like it." When 〈Shaggy〉 said this with a wan smile, the cut changed even more.

Returning home unannounced, 〈Kirvy〉 is forced to sit in the center of the screen.
"What, what?" 〈Kirvy〉's fright didn't look like an act. "All I know is that it's not good."
"Kirvy, watch this." 〈Kirvy〉, who was shown the explosion scene earlier, reacted the same way as those two. Next, 〈Captain〉, with a quick movement, placed a white candy in a plastic bottle filled with water. Finally, just as 〈Kirvy〉 was about to move, 〈Mont Blanc〉 stuck a needle into the inflated balloon. Maruta stopped the video as 〈Kirvy〉 screamed in slow motion.

These guys are no different than usual. Maruta doesn't even want to count the number of times he has hoped for information that would lead to the case, only to be betrayed. He checks the other thumbnails, but does not see the video showing the visit with Kira, which was supposed to have been taken a week earlier.

It occurred to him to look for a video of 〈Silva〉 that was put up around May 2017, when 〈Milley〉's accident occurred. It seemed like a good idea, but there was no video of 〈Silva〉 that could be determined to have been taken on that very day. He checked several videos from that period, all of which were taken by him alone indoors. Again, there was no information about the accident.

Then, as if zapping, he opened related videos as he saw them. In a collaborative video, 〈Silva〉, dressed as a baseball pitcher, throws water balloons at the five members of 〈Tokyo Spread〉, pretending that they are 'filled with a deleterious substances'. This says the post is about a year old. But to begin with, he has already viewed all the videos on 〈Silva〉's channel, which contain no new information, or even the slightest stimulation.

Bored with the same content, Maruta turned his attention to the comments section at the bottom of the screen.
"Silva would have had a million subscribers."
"If he were alive, he'd be a big shot by now."
"He deserved to be a star."
"Enough was his star power."
"Why did he have to die?"
"To think that the killer is still living carefree is unforgivable!"
...

After 〈Silva〉's death, many memorials are sent to him. They make Maruta realize how Silva is continuously supported by the fans.

Then, his smartphone rang. It is a call made by Kira via a messenger app.
"Hello, is this Maruta?" Kira's voice.
He was tempted to say, "You know, it's almost never anyone but me who answers my phone," but then he remembered they had just gotten to know each other. Instead, "Yes, I'm Maruta. Thank you for your help today," he responded.
"Thank you for your help as well. And you drove me around all day."
"So, what happened?"
"Last week we went to Tokyo Spread's room."
"Yeah,"
"There was a guy called Number 4, remember?"
"Yes, of cource."
"He says he wants to talk to us."

A chill ran down his spine and a sense of anticipation in his brain, both at the same time. While Maruta thought for a moment, Kira spoke further.
"I'm going to hang up for now. So I'll send you the ID of Number 4 right away. He wants to talk to you now."

He added the account information for 〈Number 4〉, which was sent to him immediately, just as Kira had asked. Maruta confirmed the account name of 〈Number 4〉, which had just been added. It was simply given as 'N4' and his real name was not confirmed anywhere.

Soon after the ringtone sounded, Maruta did not hesitate to press the 'Accept'.
"Hello, this is Number 4 of Tokyo Spread." The very polite tone included a lot of nervousness and a tremor in the voice.
"It's Maruta. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule last week."
"No problem,"
"That's very unusual. Is there something wrong?"

〈Number 4〉 said, stammering. "Can we meet sometime next week? I have a few things I'd like to talk to you about."
When he listened carefully, he heard 〈Number 4〉's voice echoing across the other end of the line. Apparently, he was calling alone from the bathroom.

[*1]When Mentos are thrown into coke, the contents are blown out all at once along with the vaporized carbonation. Videos showing this situation became very popular in the late 2000s.