The Final Curtain
A fourth victim had appeared.
Charles McCarthy.
The man the Professor had mentioned.
...I decided to organize my thoughts.
Its shape suggests the attacker was likely left-handed.
I sometimes get pins and needles from carrying my heavy bag with gloves on.
Items believed to belong to your Journey member were found at every scene.
And today, when I returned to my room...
I found this note.
Captain,
Please meet me at the lab tomorrow.
We still have something to discuss.
Sleep wouldn't come that night, but I forced myself to close my eyes.
If she was the culprit... what should I do?
I'm here.
On the appointed day, I arrived at the Professor's lab and found the atmosphere had changed.
Everything connected to the case had been cleared away, and her distinctive perfume was gone.
Only the Professor remained.
I've been waiting for you.
I knew you wouldn't refuse my invitation, Captain.
I also tidied the lab before you arrived.
Weren't you investigating?
The recent incidents, I mean.
Yes, I was... but I no longer have any reason to continue.
No reason to continue...?
I assume you've heard about the fourth incident.
The victim was an older man found with a gunshot wound on a path outside NOA.
But those secondary details surrounding his death aren't what matter.
The four recent victims, including this one, all had something in common.
They did?
All four were prime suspects in cases whose truth was never uncovered.
...What?
Some cases were recent. Others happened quite a long time ago.
There was either no direct evidence identifying them as the culprits, or someone else was blamed instead.
Each escaped the investigation in a different way and returned to an ordinary life among ordinary people.
The cruel necessity of this world dictates that suspicion alone can't condemn someone as evil.
And so, they received judgment.
Justice, anger, pleasure... Only the judge knows what motivated that judgment.
If countering evil with evil was the only way to break the world's cruel rules, there must have been reason enough.
The Professor placed something on the table.
It was the bag I always saw her carry, though I'd never known what was inside.
...The trolley problem.
People are often divided between saving the many through the sacrifice of a few, or arguing that even the few are still lives.
But you gave me a different answer.
Yes. The sort of answer one might expect from a Savior of a world facing destruction...
Fufu. An idealistic answer that doesn't belong in this world.
What are you trying to say?
The Professor opened her bag.
I couldn't see what else it contained.
Only the object she'd removed lay between us.
Is that... a gun?
But the fourth victim was...
The forced answer you seek can't exist anywhere in this world.
A way to save everyone? That's merely a convenient fantasy, isn't it?
Four villains died.
The lives they took will never return.
But what guarantee was there that they wouldn't commit another atrocity?
...
That judgment prevented further victims.
Just like the trolley.
Many lives were saved through the deaths of a few.
So was that judgment... a good deed or an evil one?
Who decides? If it was good, can we praise it? If it was evil, can we condemn it?
...Can you give a definitive answer, Captain?
It's the same sensation as before.
The feeling of a grip around my throat, preventing me from taking a single breath.
I already knew you suspected me.
There must have been plenty of clues. Nothing that could serve as direct evidence, only circumstances that linked together and fed your doubt...
The same circumstantial suspicion that kept the four victims from being treated as suspects.
But what about this?
Suppose I'm the culprit behind those incidents.
...What did you say?
Professor! Put that down!
Now, I'll give you another choice.
This time, I'm not placing an imaginary switch in your hand as I did with the trolley problem.
...Shoot me with this gun.
Professor!!
Otherwise, I'll shoot you.
Villains exist everywhere. Though they deserve judgment, they live beneath the same sun as everyone else, wearing perfectly ordinary faces.
Unless someone stops them... there's no guarantee the judgments will end.
So shoot me and put a stop to them.
You said you'd save everyone, didn't you? If you can't decide, I may eliminate you and continue passing judgment.
Come now...!
Shoot me. Hurry!
...
That's enough!
I... I will never shoot you!
...Ha.
...Why not?
The value of a life...
Isn't for anyone to decide.
And that includes me.
...Ahh.
How terribly dull.
But... that also makes it far more delightful.
...There wasn't a single bullet in this gun.
Yes. You win, Captain.
You're truly... just like H. No, you've surpassed her.
H?
I'm going to report to Public Security now.
An official summons was delivered to me.
What? Then that means...
Fufu. Don't worry. Everything will work out.
I heard the Town Guard visited my office the other day.
They found traces of me at every scene, didn't they? Fufu.
So you knew.
As the Town Guard said, it's true that I was present at every scene.
I told you I wasn't at the third scene... but in truth, I was there.
I thought I could be certain if I could verify that the fourth victim shared the others' past crimes.
And... that was indeed the case. It's what allowed me to infer the identity of the fourth victim.
Then what I saw in the storage room...
Those were your investigation materials?
Yes. And you happened to see them.
Ah, I understand. Several pieces of evidence led you to suspect me.
They weren't connected to the third incident at the reservoir, but coincidentally, they almost matched.
For example... me being left-handed, the worn glove, and the gun.
...I'm sorry, Professor.
Fufu. You needn't apologize. You had good reason to suspect me.
I had no reason to tell you that I'm ambidextrous, or that the glove happened to wear through in that particular spot...
Or even that the object in my bag was a gun.
My presence at every scene certainly contributed, but I believe I've just explained that point.
Are you sure... everything will work out?
Don't you trust my word at all?
...No, perhaps not. It may be perfectly natural for you not to trust me.
If you're truly curious... you could watch what happens after I report in.
Aren't you walking me back too far?
It's late, and we've finally had an honest conversation...
So today, I'll escort you all the way to your quarters.
Even you should be careful, Captain... The culprit may be watching.
Urgh... Don't say that.
Accompanied by the Professor's laughter, I made it safely back to my quarters under her escort.
The entire sequence of events flashed through my mind like black-and-white film...
But perhaps it was finally over.