Chapter 304: Could It Have Been Murder?

As they went off in their separate ways, Kimura Kazuki did not sit around idly. However, after finding a rundown gazebo and doing some basic cleaning, Kimura Kazuki sat down and did not move an inch. Knowing Ikioi Ito and the others were searching the mountain, he knew that his presence would not make much of a difference.

He had been so busy handling the issue in Sakagami Village that he had not rested properly. Even though it had been Mei that had killed Otome Sakagami, he had strained himself. Moreover, after handling that, he had been called over by Ikioi Ito. He was not physically tired, but his mental state was rather exhausted.

Harunaka was the one that was filled with excitement and energy. Kimura Kazuki knew that this was Harunaka’s first time handling paranormal matters and although she had not been of much help, her emotions definitely ran high. After all, these were matters that ordinary people were not aware of.

Hence, it would have been possible for him to prevent her from coming because of her excitement, and at the peak of her excitement, she would have followed him sneakily all the way here anyway.

As he thought of this, Kimura Kazuki picked up his phone. The signal here on Kanayama was full, unlike Mount Unto where he could not pick up any signal at all, cutting Kimura Kazuki off from news and information for the past few days.

He did not look for Chiba Shiori inside the groupchat. If he had done that, he would probably have alerted the others that he was slacking off.

Kimura Kazuki did not ask whether she was online or not, but simply told Chiba Shiori the information that he had acquired today.

Of course, he skipped over the part that Tomoya Saito had mentioned since Chiba Shiori was probably clearer on the matter than he was.

Afterward, he asked, “Where do you think a monster would hide if you think it exists?”

The question itself was a very illogical one, but Kimura Kazuki knew that Chiba Shiori had a very agile mind and Tomoya Saito had also uploaded a lot of photos onto the groupchat, so he believed that Chiba Shiori was probably already considering the matter already. Furthermore, the Internet was an easy source for photos of Kanayama. Hence, he firmly believed that she already had some of her own guesses despite her silence in the groupchat.

There was practically no one on Kanayama and a murder would have been very simple. However, Daisuke Kojima had no enemies, so murder had to be ruled out. Most importantly, from Tomoya Saito’s descriptions, there was definitely an apparition on Kanayama. Moreover, he had been bewitched by a pretty lady. In conclusion, it had to be either a wraith or a monster released from a Soul Summoning Pencil.

Although he had not picked up on any weird smell on the mountain, that was normal since Kanayama was so large. If the wraith stayed in one spot, it was only natural that he could not smell it.

Chiba Shiori replied almost instantaneously, but not to answer his question. Instead, she seemed quite jealous, “You went on a holiday with Harunaka?”

“No,” Kimura Kazuki explained, “I brought Harunaka to Kyoto to help her activate her consanguinity.”

As for the trip to Sakagami Village, that was just a small detour to help Harunaka expand her outlook.

“I see.” Hearing Kimura’s explanation, Chiba Shiori’s complicated emotions straightened out immediately. Going through his questions, she smiled confidently, “Do you think Daisuke Kojima was killed by a monster or a wraith?”

“With the information at hand, yes.” Kimura Kazuki paused. “Most importantly, Daisuke Kojima has been missing for two days and even though the police have been searching for almost half the day, they have yet to find Daisuke Kojima’s body. So it’s highly likely that he fell into the hands of either a wraith or a monster.”

“What you’re saying is quite possible, but Daisuke Kojima could have been murdered as well.” After sending the text, Chiba Shiori felt that Kimura Kazuki would definitely not believe that theory, so she added on, “Kanayama is an empty mountain, do you think that an ordinary university student would just recklessly go up because he wanted to sketch? He would have done some research to ensure that it was safe beforehand.”

“If Daisuke Kojima had done so and continued his venture up Kanayama, then Kanayam has to be safe. But then again, you all already said in the groupchat, there’s only been a handful of people that have been up the mountain across the decade. Plus, there’s a warning sign at the bottom of the mountain, so that proves that Kanayama poses certain risks to it as well.”

“However, Daisuke Kojima went uphill to sketch anyway. Where do you think Daisuke Kojima would have gone for a sketch?”

Seeing her say this, Kimura Kazuki pondered momentarily before coming to a realization. He continued to type, “He probably wouldn’t have gone deep into Kanayama but stayed in the outer regions instead…”

“Bingo.” Chiba Shiori sent an emoji of fingers snapping as she smiled. “You all fell into the wrong zone of assumptions in thinking that it had to be a wraith or monster that killed Daisuke Kojima. The possibility exists and is indeed a big possibility, but we can’t rule out murder.”

“Plus, we can ignore the possibility of a wild beast attack. If it had been a wild beast, Kobayashi Village would have already found him and wouldn’t need the police.”

Kimura Kazuki nodded to himself. A wild beast that attacked a human would not have covered its tracks.

Moreover, both the police and people from Kobayashi Village had already searched Kanayama and had turned up with nothing. So that itself ruled out the possibility of a wild beast attack.

“Cancelling the possibility of a wild beast attack, we would only be left with the options of either a wraith, a monster or murder.”

As he looked at this text, Kimura Kazuki could already imagine the confidence beaming on Chiba Shiori’s face on the other end and could not help but smile at the thought. Pulling Chiba Shiori into this group was the best decision he had ever made.

A few seconds later, Chiba Shiori’s text came again, “In my opinion, the probability of Daisuke Kojima being murdered and the probability of him being killed by a monster is about the same.”

“As a normal person, if Daisuke Kojima had known that Kanayama was dangerous, he would either chosen to not go up or he would have picked a safer spot. If that was the case, then the spot would have been somewhere very close to Kobayashi Village or somewhere he felt secure.”

Secure? Kimura Kazuki put down his phone as he scanned the surroundings and paused in realization. Subsequently, he took a deep breath and picked up his phone once again to type, “From the official trail up Kanayama, about a hundred meters East, there’s a gazebo.”

This place was the exact place that Kimura Kazuki was sitting in. This gazebo had most likely been built decades ago by people from Kobayashi Village. After all, if the Kobayashi Village people needed to rest after hunting, they would not have rested in a dangerous place. Therefore, the people from Kobayashi Village had probably built this gazebo.

The fact that the gazebo was here meant that people from Kobayashi Village thought that this spot was safe. So, if Daisuke Kojima had sought to ask them where it was safe on Kanayama, then they would have told him about this gazebo. Yet during the day, when he had overheard the police questioning the chief of Kobayashi Village, the chief had not revealed anything about this gazebo.

Did the chief not know about it?

From his outer appearance, the chief must have been above 60 years old and Kimura Kazuki knew that the chief had to have known, or maybe the chief had been the one to tell Daisuke Kojima about the location of the gazebo. Since Kimura Kazuki had not found him here after his disappearance, then the chief had to be keeping it a secret, obviously not wanting to be connected to the missing persons investigation.

After all, if the press were to report that, then Kobayashi Village’s reputation as a tourist spot would be affected. Moreover, as someone from Kobayashi Village, it had been wrong for him from the start to tell Daisuke Kojima about a safe location on the mountain instead of preventing him from going up.

Of course, there was also a possibility that Kobayashi Village itself was Daisuke Kojima’s murderer.

However, this was very unlikely. After all, Daisuke Kojima was a mere tourist, Kobayashi Village had no motive to murder him.

Amagasaki and his group however, probably had motive.