After waiting behind the curtain for the guests to change into their yukatas, the proprietress watched the two people emerge together. Before she could speak, a gust of wind swept past, and one of them vanished without a trace.

"..."

"Feel sorry."

Masashi Yukimura instinctively reached for his glasses, only to find that there was nothing on the bridge of his nose, so he naturally lowered his hand.

"This isn't directed at you; I'm the one who made him angry."

The proprietress shook her head: "It's alright."

“But after this happened…” She was no longer as talkative as yesterday, and spoke wearily, “Although the murderer has been roughly identified, everyone is still in a state of panic.”

"For safety's sake, it's best if we all stay together until the police arrive."

She said apologetically.

Masashi Yukimura nodded knowingly.

"I understand. Where do we meet next? I'll bring Wei Li there right away."

"The dining room on the first floor."

Watching Masashi Yukimura's departing figure, the proprietress breathed a sigh of relief.

This young man, though seemingly young, appeared inexplicably reliable; with him around, she felt a little more at ease.

Sigh, how could something like this happen at her hotel...

At 7:23, everyone gathered in the dining room of Hidden Hot Spring Residence.

Vili and Yukimura Masashi were the last to arrive, both wearing matching yukatas, and walked in one after the other.

Despite wearing uncomfortable wooden clogs, Willy moved quickly, his face cold, and found a cushion to sit on, dragging it to a corner of the dining table, far away from the others.

...like a cat with its fur standing on end.

As Yukimura Masashi thought this, the boy seemed to hear his thoughts, his eyes widening instantly, and he turned his head as Masashi approached:

"You're not allowed to sit here with me!"

Masashi Yukimura stood still and looked around.

"This is the only place with available seats."

He spoke calmly, as if he were merely stating a fact.

Vili looked over in the direction he was referring to.

At that moment, the proprietress was sitting at the head of the table, and she managed a weak smile when the boy looked over.

Sitting next to her was Mio, who was poking at the grains of rice in her bowl without any appetite, seemingly unaware that there were two more people in the room.

Opposite Mio was Tomoya, who was wearing glasses. He looked injured; his arm was wrapped in bandages, and one of his glasses was missing. He was looking down with a dazed expression.

Further away was Ayami, tied up in a corner with rope. The moment Willie saw her, he knew why the landlady had called her the murderer.

Her fair hands were covered in dried blood, and her clothes were splattered with red liquid. Even more horrifying, her once pretty face was also covered in blood, especially around her nose and lips.

Perhaps out of fear, everyone sat together, far away from Ayami in the corner, except for Vili, who immediately chose a spot close to her.

Therefore, Masashi Yukimura could only sit next to or opposite him.

"..."

While he was observing, Yukimura had already sat down, facing Vili.

Seeing that he didn't obliviously sit down next to him, Willy snorted, lowered his head to eat, and ignored him.

Masashi Yukimura didn't rush to pick up his chopsticks. Instead, he looked at the proprietress and asked:

What happened this morning?

"ah……"

The proprietress, perhaps unable to bear the heavy and unbearable atmosphere, sighed and put down her chopsticks.

"This morning I got up, wanting to make breakfast for you. But when I got to the kitchen, I found that my sashimi knife, which I use to cut raw fish, was missing."

Willie's chopsticks, which were reaching for the sashimi on the table, froze in mid-air. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was looking, he quietly withdrew them.

"I thought it might have been borrowed by a guest to cut fruit, so I didn't think much of it. After I finished cooking, I went upstairs to call you down for dinner."

"But what I heard was a loud argument."

“I rushed over to check and saw…” She glanced at Tomoya, “Mr. Ito was arguing with Ms. Miyamoto.”

"And in Miss Miyamoto's hand, I still held the sashimi knife that I had lost."

"On the bed behind them, Mr. Sasaki lay motionless, his collar covered in blood."

"I was so terrified that all I could do was scream... By the time I came to my senses, Ms. Miyamoto had already been subdued."

"After that, I got some rope, and together with Ms. Sato who had arrived, we tied up Ms. Miyamoto and moved her to the dining room."

"After I've done all this, I'll come and call you..."

Masashi Yukimura listened quietly to everything she said, nodded without changing his expression, but asked some rather pointed questions.

"Excuse my bluntness, didn't you try calling an ambulance? After all, Mr. Sasaki might not actually be dead..."

"Ryosuke is indeed dead."

A hoarse male voice interrupted his question; it was Tomoya. He seemed to have finally come to his senses, pressing his temples in pain.

"You'll know once you see the body... such a horrific scene... it's impossible for someone to still be alive."

"At first, I wanted to save him."

"I……"

He recalled the nightmare he had that morning, his voice broken and intermittent.

“Ryosuke slept in my room last night… I’m a heavy sleeper, and in the middle of the night, I heard a rustling sound, like someone gulping down water.”

"I thought it was Ryosuke getting up to drink water, but the sound kept going on and on. I called him, but he didn't answer."

So I got up and turned on the light.

"What I saw was Ayami lunging at Ryosuke's throat..."

At first, Tomoya thought that the couple who always broke up had gotten back together, so they were being intimate regardless of the occasion.

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