"Hey, stop spouting nonsense!" Tsurugi was instantly furious, pointing and roaring at the man.
"Mr. Kudo, save me! They almost killed me just now!" Seeing that he couldn't get down the stairs, the man quickly ran to the other end of the hallway, pleading incessantly with Kyuichi Kudo on the first floor.
Seeing that the situation was turning hostile, the five civilian Devil Hunters beside Kyuichi Kudo readied themselves for battle, drawing their weapons one by one.
"We didn't kill anyone, he's talking nonsense," Tsurugi desperately explained. Beside him, Arata's expression remained perfectly calm, as if he didn't take the situation seriously at all. He simply stood there quietly, waiting to hear what else this framing man would say.
"Why did you suddenly appear in my house?" Kyuichi Kudo asked, clearly trusting the words of his employee more. After all, the framer had been a cleaner in the Kudo household for over a decade; he definitely wouldn't lie to him.
"Our Captain brought in outside help, so we planned to inspect the crime scene again today. However, after ringing the doorbell many times with no answer, I had a colleague scan the inside of the villa. When we discovered many people were dead inside, we climbed over the wall to see if you were alright, Mr. Kudo."
"Seeing that you are fine, Mr. Kudo, we can rest easy," Tenten added.
Seeing the Division 3 members trying so hard to explain themselves, Arata guessed that this Kyuichi Kudo guy must hold a lot of power and influence.
"Where is my wife?" Kyuichi Kudo demanded.
"We aren't sure. We only saw male corpses. As for female corpses, we haven't seen a single one. Your wife must have disappeared just like Miss Kudo Ran."
"My wife is missing too!!"
Kyuichi Kudo felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He leaned backward, nearly collapsing to the ground. Losing two of his most beloved family members in a matter of days—anyone would find it impossible to accept.
"Mr. Kudo, they are lying! They killed everyone! I hid under the bed in the Madame's room and saw everything!" the framer started shouting again.
"You!! Why are you framing us?!" Tsurugi roared, pointing at the man. Had Peter not held him back, he would have rushed over and delivered a right roundhouse kick long ago.
"I'm not framing you. I'm telling the truth."
"Peter, can you tell if he's a devil or a human?"
"I can sense that he isn't a devil."
Peter was puzzled too. Furthermore, Arata hadn't sniffed out any devil scent from the man. As it stood, the framer was either crazy or being controlled by a devil.
Looking at the two groups arguing upstairs, Kyuichi Kudo on the first floor couldn't distinguish who to listen to for a moment. But one thing was certain: the killer was definitely among them.
"Mr. Kudo, what should we do?" asked a civilian Devil Hunter wearing a green hat. He was the captain of the civilian Devil Hunter squad.
"Call the Public Safety Devil Hunters to come here."
"It seems the Nara Prefecture Public Safety Devil Hunters are already here... plus two strangers."
"Their Captain isn't here."
"You can't call my Captain here! She's sick and can't even get out of bed right now," Tsurugi immediately objected, not wanting to drag his sick Captain over. On one hand, he was worried about Kiko Natsume's health. On the other hand, he didn't want to cause trouble for her at a time like this.
"What? Is it because you don't dare face her?" the green-hatted man pressed.
"Why wouldn't I dare? It's just that it's inconvenient for our Captain right now. You can call other Public Safety Devil Hunters to come over, we'll wait right here."
"There's no need."
At that moment, Arata's voice rang out from behind Kyuichi Kudo. The sudden voice from behind startled everyone.
"When did you get behind us?!" The five civilian Devil Hunters instantly went on high alert.
"If all of us were devil murderers, would we really need to waste our breath talking to you?" Arata said casually. "I alone could finish you all off."
Arata's words instantly cleared everyone's minds. Kyuichi Kudo glanced at the two parties. Clearly, the framer was the weakest party. As for Tsurugi's side, they had the numbers and the strength; there was absolutely no need for them to put on an elaborate act.
Seeing Kyuichi Kudo looking at him with deepening suspicion, the framer hurriedly changed his tune. "Actually... only one of them is the devil!"
The moment the framer changed his story, suspicion toward him skyrocketed. Kyuichi Kudo, who had initially believed him, now held a highly skeptical attitude. Yet, the framer didn't seem panicked.
"That blonde boy is the devil, or at least the devil's accomplice!"
"Me?" Denji pointed at himself, wondering if he had heard wrong. He just borrowed the bathroom to take a dump, and ended up being accused of being a devil?!
"That's right, it's him."
"First it was us, now it's him. Do you think I'll believe you?" Tsurugi said, already striding aggressively toward the framer.
Seeing Tsurugi's vicious expression, the framer hurriedly yelled, "Wait!"
"The reason I initially said you were all the killers was to make the devil hiding among you lower its guard! I wanted to wait until you were all restrained before pointing out the true culprit."
"Do you think we believe that?"
"I have evidence!!" the framer said confidently, seemingly holding a trump card.
"What evidence?!" almost everyone asked simultaneously.
"Before coming here, didn't you say you hadn't seen a single woman's corpse?"
"Yes, that's right."
"That's because he hid the woman's corpse." The framer pointed squarely at Denji. "Do you remember what he said when you came back from looking for Mr. Kudo's body?"
"That the bathroom had no toilet paper?" Denji answered himself. It was utterly absurd to be identified as the killer just for saying the bathroom had no paper.
"He didn't actually go to the bathroom. He hid the corpse in the bathroom! And that corpse is the Madame's! He didn't have time to dispose of the body the first time, so he chose to stay on the second floor a second time to finish the job!"
"It actually does seem like that," Tsurugi recalled. Denji staying behind on the second floor truly was suspicious.
"How do you know all this?" Tenten asked.
"When the devil was killing people, I hid in the study. After the commotion stopped, I came out to check. My first thought was the Madame's safety, so I went to her room. But just as I entered, I heard the doorbell, and saw people jumping over the wall. So I hid under the bed in the Madame's room. I heard your conversation in the hallway; you seemed to be Public Safety Devil Hunters investigating the case."
"But then, I saw the blonde guy drag the Madame out from where she was hidden in the closet! Although the blonde guy looks different from the devil I saw at first, he could be a puppet sent by the devil to clean up the female corpses, or maybe the devil transformed into a human and returned to the scene. He might even have some twisted fetish for female corpses!"
The framer paused for dramatic effect.
"Just as he dragged her to the bathroom, you guys called out to him. He dropped the body and left. I wanted to escape then, but I didn't expect the blonde guy to come right back and enter the bathroom again. I took the opportunity when he closed the bathroom door to quickly run out."
"Peter, can you tell if Denji is being controlled?" Tsurugi asked.
"I can't tell. But if I probe deeper, I can sense danger."
"Then couldn't it be that you killed the Madame and hid her body in the bathroom?" Tenten challenged the framer.
"If I had killed the Madame, why would I run out and identify the killer? Why wouldn't I just stay hidden under the bed? Besides, I have a very good relationship with the Madame; I have no motive to kill her."
"If that is the case, let us look at the evidence," Mr. Kudo said sternly. If the evidence held up, then what the framer said was likely true. After all, Denji truly did enter the Madame's room twice.
"Restrain him! Then feel free to go to the bathroom and check for yourselves," the framer said, seemingly eager for everyone to hurry and look in the bathroom.
At that moment, a rope somehow wrapped around from behind the group. Denji was instantly bound tightly.
"Until we can be certain, it's best to keep him tied up," the green-hatted man spoke up.
Slash!!
But the rope, which had only been tied for two seconds, was swiftly sliced apart by Arata.
"What are you doing?"
"He is my apprentice. I trust him. If you five want to make a move, I'm ready whenever you are."
"You..."
"No rush. We have the numbers anyway, let's look at the evidence first. If the evidence is conclusive, I trust they absolutely will not harbor a devil," Kyuichi Kudo said, not issuing an immediate order to attack.
The five hired civilian Devil Hunters had no choice but to stand down.
Subsequently, two of the civilian Devil Hunters went up to the second floor and followed the others into the bathroom to check. The remaining three stayed below to protect Kyuichi Kudo and keep an eye on Denji.
Once the group entered the room, sure enough, they discovered a female corpse inside the bathroom.
"It's the Madame's corpse!!" the green-hatted man exclaimed in shock. "He really is the killer! We must apprehend him right now."
The green-hatted man pulled out another rope. But Arata stepped in and blocked him.
"What are you trying to do? Harbor the murderer again?"
"There is no harboring of murderers here. On the contrary, I'm about to send the real killer on their way."
Looking at the Madame's corpse in the bathroom, and then taking a glance at the bathroom sink, Arata instantly extended his bladed claws.
At this moment, a clear, definitive truth had already formed in his mind.