037
Despite my apprehensions about leaking the girls’ personal information, there ended up being a high probability that information regarding our investigation had been leaked, which came as a shock—but the worst news was yet to come.
Earlier, I had likened the culprit’s actions to destroying the victim’s face or fingerprints in a mystery novel—but could you even take the fingerprints of a mummy? That was what came to mind, so I asked Gaen-san.
The response was a simple “no”.
“It’s just like how we can’t distinguish between their faces. They’re just skin and bones, after all. If we could accurately get their fingerprints, then we could’ve used them for cell phones with fingerprint locks, though.”
That’s right, in this day and age, fingerprints were also a mass of personal information in that sense, as well—however, coincidentally or otherwise, my question happened to connect to the second piece of bad news that Gaen-san wanted to convey to me by temporarily severing the pairing between Shinobu and me.
“Speaking of a mass of personal information, there’s DNA analysis.”
That was what Gaen-san said.
“However, we certainly wouldn’t be able to do that—if we tried to analyze genes that had undergone vampirification in a hospital, that in itself would be considered a strange disease. It would turn into a panic.”
“Yes, of course. That’s why I’ve avoided going to hospitals and getting physical examinations.”
“On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that the analysis of vampire genes in itself is impossible. We’ve managed to analyze the DNA of the four mummies discovered so far, rough as it was.”
“Hm? Um… What does that mean, exactly?”
“Originally, it was done for the sake of identifying whether all four of them were done in by the same culprit. Considering all the possibilities, it’s not necessarily the case that the same vampire attacked all four high school girls, right? You could even come up with the theory that there were four, or perhaps even five, vampires that had visited this town.”
What an insane theory.
Especially in this town, which had become overrun with monsters during the absence of a god.
“So, um, what were the results? Don’t tell me…”
“Ah, to start with the conclusion, all four mummies had their blood sucked by the same vampire—they’re all, so to speak, thralls of the same vampire.”
It must be like a DNA test done to determine parentage.
Perhaps, as a result of corporate efforts, the world of oddities has also advanced.
Like Hitagi, who kept going to the hospital because of her symptoms from the omoshi-kani, perhaps one day oddity phenomena will end up being simply a rare disease capable of being treated.
“Then, there’s no reason to change our plan of action, right?”
“Rather than not changing, at this rate we’re going back to the starting point.”
Gaen-san said as she folded her arms.
“The problem is that those vampire genes were a pretty close match to Suicidemaster’s genes, which I collected last night.”
A DNA test to determine parentage.
Gathering evidence based on corporate efforts.
“……”
That—was bad. No, it wasn’t that bad, but the reason Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicidemaster had been listed as the prime suspect was primarily because of circumstantial evidence and process of elimination—the cryptic message that had been left at the scene of the crime, and the fact that she had come to this town with such perfect timing.
However, DNA analysis was a completely different beast in terms of evidence. In the modern judicial system, it was like the king of evidence, brought out as a trump card.
“That’s a dangerous way of thinking about it. There are plenty of examples of DNA analysis having failed, and it’s a field with plenty of room for development. Not to mention, human error is something that’s unavoidable—treating it as the king of evidence could mean it ends up a hotbed for false accusations.”
That was true. It was too early to decide.
Even Gaen-san had been careful enough to word it “a pretty close match”—and, even if Miss Suicidemaster and the four mummies’ genes were a match, logically, the vampire genes of Shinobu or me would also be “a pretty close match”.
A parent-child relationship—from Suicidemaster’s perspective, I was essentially her “grandchild”… Although, right now, Shinobu and I didn’t exactly have any bloodsucking abilities…
“Right, so, it’s a fact that the suspicion on Suicidemaster has gotten stronger, so the implication of tonight’s interrogation has changed—no matter what that little girl says, we’re going to have to secure her. That’s why I set up this special barrier, although I’d also like to avoid it turning into a battle if possible. Putting aside me being a pacifist, even if it may be easy to exterminate the starved, weakened Suicidemaster, I don’t know how the now-cooperative Shinobu might react to that chain of events—and not knowing how Shinobu might react means not knowing how you might react, Koyomin.”
“Um, I probably wouldn’t—”
But I didn’t exactly know myself well enough to speak at that moment. And last night, I had lost quite a lot of trust, so that would make what I said even less convincing.
“…Even if Suicidemaster, that anorexic vampire, let hunger get the better of her and started laying hands on every high school girl in the area… If we manage to return all the mummified girls back to normal, would she end up not being judged for this incident?”
In the first place, oddities couldn’t be judged based on human laws. Even if I couldn’t expect her to be certified harmless, couldn’t we be flexible enough to let her go in secret…? Although that still left a problem that couldn’t be ignored…
“Once a bear has gotten a taste of humans, you have no choice but to kill it—it depends on how much you subscribe to that opinion. In a way, Suicidemaster has been on a diet for six hundred years. Ever since you became a vampire, Koyomin, you’ve probably never needed to diet, but once you break a fast, you end up on an incredible rebound—you end up eating mountains and drinking oceans.”
“But—”
“There’s no need to rush, Koyomin. I may have started with the conclusion, but I don’t want you to jump to conclusions. There’s still evidence to negate the theory that Suicidemaster was responsible for the crime—even if we put aside how much of Shinobu-chan’s testimony to believe, there’s still the strange idea that an ancient vampire that had lived for a thousand years snuck into the girls’ locker room and messed with the lockers. How probable would you say that is?”
It was as she said—and, in the same vein, the attempt to delay the discovery of the fourth mummy, Kanguu-chan, by submerging her in the reservoir was also a weird trick unbecoming of a traditional oddity.
And, under that theory (strange idea?), there was still no explanation for why Suicidemaster herself had turned into a mummy.
There was no logic to her cryptobiosis.
Nothing fit together.
While the suspicion grew stronger, the credibility faded.
In the end, the air of tension had abruptly increased, and there was still no change in the fact that we had to hear from the vampire herself—and it was as I thought that…
“My master.”
From behind the sliding door that I’d closed earlier, Shinobu’s voice spoke.
“Suicidemaster wants to speak with you. Will you talk with her?”
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