Okay, let’s review. What exactly happened?
– Fukami is busy with police interrogations, so he tells Sakon that he’ll speak with him later.
– The next day, Fukami finally gives Ukon back to Sakon. It seems that he really liked Ukon’s design, so he decided to work on it on his own at the final minute. Therefore, Ukon was kept safe for the flames.
– Sakon equips Ukon, and turns back to normal.
– Keiko lost her husband and daughter to a fire ten years ago.
– Ririsu died in the fire as well.
– Ririsu gets blamed for the murder, as a fireman reckons that it was he who snapped off the hose of the gas cooker.
– Ririsu hated Hayami.
– Ukon reckons that the hose was too firm for a cat to remove.
– Keiko behaves entirely different, and warns Sakon not to get involved.
– After Keiko brought Hayase to his building, nobody was there. Afterwards, the doors were locked.
– Inside the gas cooker, there’s a bit of cheese left.
– The windows of the building were very high so a cat couldn’t have climbed in on its own. They’re too small and equipped with bars to prevent humans from sneaking in.
– On the ground in front of the window, marks of a ladder or a chair are visible.
– Sakon reckons that the following must’ve happened: the culprit stuffed the open end with cheese, Ririsu’s favourite food. Then, when Hayase was asleep, Ririsu smelled the cheese, toyed with it and ate it, allowing the gas to escape. The murderer did this in order to make things look like an accident.
– Aoki seems to have lost his daughter in a fire as well. He also seems very friendly with Sayoko.
– Kishikawa is seen, burning Hayase’s paperwork.
– Kishikawa is seen talking to Yoshida. They both suspect each other.
– Hayase suggests to Keiko to leave the place. Keiko declines, as leaving would make other people think they’re weird.
– Hayase tells Aoki that he plans to quit. He also tells him that Aoki’s the only person he told it to.
– Hayase is packing. A person in diciple-clothes walks in, Hayase looks happy.
– Keiko enters Hayase’s room, sees his body hanging on a rope and screams.
– Sakon spots a note. “To resolve this wicked deed, requires this fateful body to become a wretched wisp of smoke.”
– Kishikawa reckons that this must mean that Hayase actually was the one who killed Hayami.
Okay, there are two possibilities:
– There’s one killer. This killer killed both Hayami and Hayase, though the killer used Hayase to make it look like the murder on Hayami was meant in order for him to repent. This, however, would make no sense at all, as the killer would still be the major suspect for the murder on Hayase.
– Hayase did kill Hayami. There’s someone who didn’t like this and went to the extreme measures to kill Hayase because of it.
There are two possible people who could have entered Hayase’s room:
– Aoki. Hayase smiles when he first sees him. However, Aoki is seen in a tuxedo when the murder is discovered.
– Kishikawa. Aoki is seen in a tuxedo when the murder is discovered, while the intruder wore brown pants. However, Hayase smiles when he first sees him, and the two hate each other.
If Aoki was the one, he quickly changed clothes afterwards. If Kishikawa was the one, the two of them were plotting something sinister. The fact that one of these two entered his room right before the murder also isn’t 100% guarantee that the murder happened afterwards. Something else could have happened, after which the person left and another person arrived and killed the guy. Also, why did a glass and a bottle lie on the floor at the scene of the crime?
I don’t think Keiko was the murderer. More like an important side-character. If you just murdered the guy you love, you won’t be telling other people to go away. Not only would this make sure that they’d do the exact opposite, though as a murderer, you’d be more like, scared instead of certain and cocky like she was. She’s got her own problems, definitely. And her warning to Sakon definitely had something to do with these problems.
If Aoki was the murderer, Sayoko probably involves the reason why he did it. I don’t think Kishikawa was the one, otherwise, he’d not be this confident. I do suspect that Fukumi knew what was going on. The fact remains that he’s very enthusiastic about Ukon. He knew that the storehouse would be in flames, which would mean that Ukon would also be destroyed if Hayami would work on him. His inner puppet-love eventually got the best of him, and he decided to save Ukon.
