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Authors: Yukito Ayatsuji
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skilled at it.’
‘It’s true they’ve become popular. Quite a few of my friends have them too. And there’s one in every office room at the university for students to use freely. But I still don’t think it’s all that common to use a word processor to write letters.’
‘That’s true.’
‘You can easily avoid leaving any handwriting with a word processor, but why would you need to avoid handwriting if it was just a prank? And the text. It was just that one line. Don’t you think it’s too short? If you’re out to scare people, you’d come up with more alarming things to say. Mr. Kōjirō’s letter was like that too. So I can’t help but feel there’s a deeper meaning behind it all.’
‘A deeper meaning, eh?’
Reaching the end of the slope, they arrived at a promenade. Boats of all sizes were making their way across the sea, which glistened in the sunlight.
‘Over there,’ Shimada pointed, ‘Let’s go there. It’s a nice shop.’
Across the road was a red roof with a weather vane. “Mother Goose” was written on the shop’s signboard in fancy lettering. Kawaminami couldn’t help smiling at the sight.
4
After they sat down opposite each other at a table near the window, Kawaminami took another good look at the man he had just met.
He looked over thirty—quite a bit more than that, probably.
His cheeks appeared even hollower than they actually were because of his half-length, soft hair. Kawaminami was of tall and thin build himself, but Shimada surpassed him. A hooked nose decorated his swarthy face and his eyes drooped a little.
The first impression most people would have of the man would be that he was a bit strange. He had the appearance of a dark and bad-tempered man, but the peculiar mismatch between his appearance and his way of talking was something Kawaminami found quite agreeable. He even thought it felt familiar in some way.
It was already past four in the afternoon. Kawaminami remembered he had not eaten anything since the morning, so he ordered pizza toast with coffee.
He took a look through the large glass window at the blue sea which formed a giant arc on the other side of National Route 10. It was Beppu Bay. The shop was the kind of cosy little place you’d expect to find on the outskirts of a town filled with students. The “Mother Goose” inspired paintings and dolls spread around the shop were probably a hobby of the owner.
‘Conan, let’s continue our talk,’ Shimada said casually as he poured a cup of Earl Grey from the pot that had just arrived.
‘You mean, about the letters?’
‘Of course.’
‘But I’ve already told you all my thoughts—Mind if I smoke?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Thanks.’
He lit a cigarette and the smoke stung his eyes.
‘As I just said, I don’t think it’s all just a prank. But if you ask me what it’s about, I don’t have any answers. To be honest, I can’t think of any reason why anyone would do it. But.…’
‘But?’
‘I might take a guess.’
‘Pray do.’
‘Well, if I look at the letter sent to me, for example, and try to read the sender’s intention from it, I think can detect about three different messages.
‘First, the letter is above all an accusation: “Chiori was murdered.” The second message follows from the first: I hate you, I’ll take revenge on you because you killed Chiori. So therefore, a threat. The name “Nakamura Seiji” was used to sign the accusation-cum-threat because he would have the best reason for doing so.’
‘I see. And the third message?’
‘For the third message, we have to look at the letter from a different angle: the hidden meaning behind sending the letters, so to speak.’
‘The hidden meaning?’
‘Yes. Why is the sender using the name of Nakamura Seiji, the name of a deceased man, now? It might seem terrifying at first, but nobody in this day and age would take it for real. Can you imagine a ghost using a word processor? So I think it
‘It’s true they’ve become popular. Quite a few of my friends have them too. And there’s one in every office room at the university for students to use freely. But I still don’t think it’s all that common to use a word processor to write letters.’
‘That’s true.’
‘You can easily avoid leaving any handwriting with a word processor, but why would you need to avoid handwriting if it was just a prank? And the text. It was just that one line. Don’t you think it’s too short? If you’re out to scare people, you’d come up with more alarming things to say. Mr. Kōjirō’s letter was like that too. So I can’t help but feel there’s a deeper meaning behind it all.’
‘A deeper meaning, eh?’
Reaching the end of the slope, they arrived at a promenade. Boats of all sizes were making their way across the sea, which glistened in the sunlight.
‘Over there,’ Shimada pointed, ‘Let’s go there. It’s a nice shop.’
Across the road was a red roof with a weather vane. “Mother Goose” was written on the shop’s signboard in fancy lettering. Kawaminami couldn’t help smiling at the sight.
4
After they sat down opposite each other at a table near the window, Kawaminami took another good look at the man he had just met.
He looked over thirty—quite a bit more than that, probably.
His cheeks appeared even hollower than they actually were because of his half-length, soft hair. Kawaminami was of tall and thin build himself, but Shimada surpassed him. A hooked nose decorated his swarthy face and his eyes drooped a little.
The first impression most people would have of the man would be that he was a bit strange. He had the appearance of a dark and bad-tempered man, but the peculiar mismatch between his appearance and his way of talking was something Kawaminami found quite agreeable. He even thought it felt familiar in some way.
It was already past four in the afternoon. Kawaminami remembered he had not eaten anything since the morning, so he ordered pizza toast with coffee.
He took a look through the large glass window at the blue sea which formed a giant arc on the other side of National Route 10. It was Beppu Bay. The shop was the kind of cosy little place you’d expect to find on the outskirts of a town filled with students. The “Mother Goose” inspired paintings and dolls spread around the shop were probably a hobby of the owner.
‘Conan, let’s continue our talk,’ Shimada said casually as he poured a cup of Earl Grey from the pot that had just arrived.
‘You mean, about the letters?’
‘Of course.’
‘But I’ve already told you all my thoughts—Mind if I smoke?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Thanks.’
He lit a cigarette and the smoke stung his eyes.
‘As I just said, I don’t think it’s all just a prank. But if you ask me what it’s about, I don’t have any answers. To be honest, I can’t think of any reason why anyone would do it. But.…’
‘But?’
‘I might take a guess.’
‘Pray do.’
‘Well, if I look at the letter sent to me, for example, and try to read the sender’s intention from it, I think can detect about three different messages.
‘First, the letter is above all an accusation: “Chiori was murdered.” The second message follows from the first: I hate you, I’ll take revenge on you because you killed Chiori. So therefore, a threat. The name “Nakamura Seiji” was used to sign the accusation-cum-threat because he would have the best reason for doing so.’
‘I see. And the third message?’
‘For the third message, we have to look at the letter from a different angle: the hidden meaning behind sending the letters, so to speak.’
‘The hidden meaning?’
‘Yes. Why is the sender using the name of Nakamura Seiji, the name of a deceased man, now? It might seem terrifying at first, but nobody in this day and age would take it for real. Can you imagine a ghost using a word processor? So I think it
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