Chapter 946

"First, we will start with a 5-7-5 opening verse, and then we will alternate between 7-7 lines and 5-7-5 lines."

"For the first two lines, pay special attention to the characters used at the end. In the following lines, you can incorporate descriptions of spring, summer, autumn, winter, and so on."

"Among them, there must be one line chanting the moon, and two to three lines used to express emotions. As for the 13th line, it must be about appreciating flowers, and the final line must be a perfect conclusion chanting spring."

"Although everyone's lines are quite good,"

Ando Reiko recorded in the linked verse notebook, "but since today is for Mr. Uwakubo, let's use his poem 'Autumn is crisp and clear, like my life without wind or frost' as the opening verse. Who will compose the second line next?"

"I'll do it."

Shiina Ryosuke raised his hand, looked at the poem he had written on a long slip of paper, and read: "The trees are lush and quiet, falling fruits clatter with sound... How is this line?"

"This line indeed has the effect of connecting the past and the future," Ando Reiko commented and recorded it in the notebook, "Next, please, Yagisawa, you connect."

"All right."

Yagisawa picked up the slip of paper, thought for a moment, and began to write: "My third line is 'The moon is bright and the wind is high, the vampire is unscrupulous'."

Akaso Kaze asked, "Is it okay to write poetry like this?"

It didn't sound good at all.

Ando Reiko smiled and said, "Yes, the more unexpected the third line is, the better the effect. The subject of a vampire is quite original."

Akaso Kaze drooped his eyelids.

Why does this linked verse feel like such low quality?

Akaso Kaze looked at the crowd.

A page had been torn from the victim Uwakubo's notebook by the killer, and it seemed to be because of the poem Uwakubo intended to use today.

Since that was the case, it was simple.

Akaso Kaze randomly picked two lines from Tang poetry and Song lyrics, then turned to Shiina Ryosuke and said, "Next is the flower appreciation, right? Mr. Shiina, you take the 13th line."

"Ah? This... all right," Shiina Ryosuke picked up the slip and wrote, "Someday, father and daughter can visit the flower temple together. How is that?"

After Shiina Ryosuke finished writing, he had a smug look on his face.

Akaso Kaze smiled.

"Mr. Shiina, you are too dishonest. This poem wasn't written by you, was it?"

"What? How could it not be written by me?"

Shiina Ryosuke's eyes shrank sharply, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Akaso Kaze said, "The person who actually wrote this poem is Mr. Tomonaga, the securities man we met in the lobby yesterday, but Mr. Uwakubo wrote this line in his own notebook."

"That's right, it's the page you tore off. I think you must have thought it was a poem written by Mr. Uwakubo himself, and you didn't think he was qualified to recite such a beautiful poem at all, so after you murdered Mr. Uwakubo, you tore this page from the notebook."

Everyone was shocked and looked at Shiina Ryosuke.

"Wait, wait a minute!" Shiina Ryosuke forced a smile, "Actually, Mr. Uwakubo showed me that poem yesterday, and I only used it because it was appropriate."

"Is that really so?"

At this moment, the Matsue police officers also arrived in the courtyard.

Akaso Kaze said, "Would Mr. Uwakubo's personality allow him to show it to you in advance? I heard that his attitude toward you wasn't very good. Would he casually reveal the lines he prepared for the Linked Verse Society to you? Yesterday, he even specifically drove Mr. Tomonaga away."

"And if you put all the lines you composed this time together, the 7th character of the 7th line, the 9th character of the 9th line, the 11th character of the 11th line."

"When read together, it is full of provocation. You are quite bold to point out 'I am the killer' directly in the linked verse."

"When I saw you hiding characters in the linked verse to say you were the killer, I thought about making you reveal your true colors. The facts proved that you really took that poem out to use. A poem that likes to describe the bond between father and daughter, and it just happens to be a line that speaks your own heart, it's not strange to think about it, right, Shiina Ryosuke?"

Shiina Ryosuke clenched his fingers tightly, looked up, and smiled: "That doesn't prove anything, does it? Hiding characters in a poem is just a joke. Besides, I have an alibi for when Mr. Uwakubo was murdered!"