In the corridor outside the study.
Kurosawa Hoshino and the others arrived at the door.
"Teacher, can you hear me?" Tadokoro Toshiya knocked on the door and shouted loudly inside.
After a while, there was no response.
Kogorō Mouri stepped forward and pressed the doorknob. It wouldn't budge. "Looks like it's locked from the inside."
Torakura Etsuko sneered. "I think he's just afraid of Kurosawa-kun. He's pretending to be asleep, won't come out to see anyone, and even locked the door from the inside."
"Teacher shouldn't go to such lengths." After Tadokoro finished speaking, he pressed his ear to the door, listening for movement inside. After a moment, he frowned. "That's strange. I can hear the projector running, but no sound of a movie playing."
"Then let's go in through the window from the outside." Torakura Etsuko pointed to a door next to the corridor.
Although the study was built on a cliff, there was still a one-meter-wide railing around it. A small passage led to the floor-to-ceiling window facing the sea.
"So there's a door here." Kogorō opened it. Heavy snow and cold wind rushed in, making everyone shiver.
"It's so cold~" Sonoko hugged her arms and rubbed them.
"But during the day, it should be nice to stand outside and look at the sea view," Ran said with a smile.
"Let's go." Kogorō stepped onto the snow and led the way.
Everyone followed—until only Kurosawa Hoshino and Tadokoro Toshiya remained.
Just as Tadokoro was about to step out, a glance out of the corner of his eye revealed what Kurosawa was doing. He froze on the spot.
At that moment, Kurosawa mimicked Tadokoro's earlier action—pressing his ear to the door, listening to the sounds inside. A few seconds later, he took a step back and looked at Tadokoro.
Their eyes met. The atmosphere was quiet.
"I—" Tadokoro only managed to utter one word before falling silent. He slowly lowered his head with a relieved expression.
A click sounded. The locked door opened from the inside.
Ran came out, anxiously saying, "Hoshino, something terrible has happened! Mr. Torakura has been murdered!" She then recounted how Torakura Daisuke had been nailed to a cross in the study.
"I killed him," Tadokoro said.
Ran was shocked. The sound from the doorway also reached the study, causing everyone inside to come out and look at Tadokoro in bewilderment.
"Tadokoro, what nonsense are you spouting?" Doi Fumio said irritably.
"It really was me. Kurosawa-kun already knew I was lying before."
Hearing this, everyone looked at Kurosawa.
Kurosawa pointed to the door in front of him and said calmly, "Mr. Tadokoro said he heard the sound of a projector inside. After you all left, I pressed my ear against the door and listened—but I couldn't hear anything at all. The soundproofing is excellent."
Suddenly, everyone understood why Tadokoro had suddenly confessed to murder. Torakura Daisuke was dead in the study, and the door was locked from the inside. Tadokoro had pressed his ear to the door and claimed there was movement inside—but Kurosawa, the famous detective, had heard nothing. When Torakura's body was discovered, with Kurosawa's expertise and Tadokoro's lie, he would basically already have been identified as the murderer. So Tadokoro stopped struggling and simply confessed honestly.
"Kurosawa-kun." Tadokoro looked at Kurosawa with a pained expression. "Actually, I recognized you the moment I saw you. I was thinking about whether to postpone my plan to kill Torakura Daisuke tonight for a few days. But when I thought about how my sister died because of him, and that he deserved to live a few more days? I just couldn't bear it. So I had to kill him tonight."
"Your sister?" Torakura Etsuko, Doi Fumio, and Hamura Shuichi were all surprised. In all the years they had known Tadokoro, they had never heard that he had a sister.
"My younger sister's name is Kaori. She's ten years younger than me. She's had a serious kidney problem since she was little. My parents, to save on medical expenses, always hoped she would die soon and didn't give her proper treatment. Later, I met Torakura Daisuke, and he helped pay for my sister's treatment. In return, I helped him write novels and gave him my own novels so he could publish them under his name. That was our exchange."
Ran remembered what they had said in the car on the way here and suddenly realized, "No wonder Mr. Torakura hasn't published any vampire-themed novels in recent years."
Sonoko asked, "Then why did you say that your sister's death was related to Mr. Torakura?"
"Because he—he—" Tadokoro finally couldn't hold back his tears. They rolled down his cheeks. "Because he didn't give my sister proper treatment. He bribed the attending physician, completely disregarding the severity of my sister's condition, and only used the minimum treatment. Just to prolong my sister's hospitalization so I could continue writing novels for him and making him money. If that were all, and my sister were still alive, I could forgive him. But a month ago, the nurse who used to take care of my sister secretly came to see me and told me that my sister had died a year ago due to improper treatment that worsened her condition. I didn't believe it at the time, because when Torakura Daisuke wouldn't let me see my sister last year, he said he had helped transfer her to a better hospital. Later, I called my parents, and they told me that Kaori really had been dead for a year."
Tadokoro knelt on the ground, clutching his chest tightly. "The nurse also said that when Kaori left, she kept calling my name. But I had no idea. If she had received proper treatment, Kaori wouldn't have died. So I will never forgive him."
As the last word fell, the scene became quiet. No one spoke.
Haibara's eyes were somewhat vacant. Tadokoro's story reminded her of her missing sister. Her heart suddenly ached terribly. Sister, are you still alive? She lowered her head. Her eyes regained their light, but they were full of sorrow.
Ran and Sonoko were also very saddened. They wanted to say a few words of comfort, but they didn't know what to say. After all, it was all too late now.
"Tadokoro, I'm sorry." Doi Fumio's hoarse voice rang in everyone's ears.
Instantly, everyone's attention turned to him.
Doi continued, "If I hadn't introduced you to Torakura Daisuke five years ago and had you help him write novels, your sister might not have encountered this situation."
"Mr. Doi, what do you mean?" Kogorō frowned.