Chapter 49: A Good Show

In the VIP section behind the seats of Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko, Miyagawa Yosuke was conversing with the vice president of Tokyo Woman's Christian University sitting next to him.

Seeing the stage play begin, the other party politely ceased the conversation, and he let out a sigh of relief, shifting his body back into the chair to make himself more comfortable.

After settling into position, he shifted his gaze to the stage.

He was also a bit curious: how would this stage play, which the vice president claimed was adapted from a mystery novel, perform?

Miyagawa Yosuke was a mystery novelist who had debuted over 30 years ago; he could fully be considered a veteran.

But beyond his identity as a mystery novelist, he was also a professor at Waseda University, with his primary research field being European and American mystery literature.

The main reason he came to Tokyo Woman's Christian University this time was due to an academic invitation from the other party; as for watching the stage play, it was actually just a side matter. However, since the other party had extended such a strong invitation, there was no harm in coming over.

But to be honest, he didn't have much interest in the stage play arranged by the university, as he had already seen countless professional stage plays, and as for one rehearsed by college students, he assumed it would be just so-so.

Besides, what kind of script could they possibly use? There weren't many excellent mystery stage play scripts on the market right now.

Carrying this disdain, he relaxed his posture, preparing to take the opportunity of watching the play to get some rest, as he still had a series of meetings to attend later.

A moment later, as the lights in the hall dimmed, the lights on the stage began to rise, and the stage play officially began.

Under the lights in the darkness, a pair of "siblings" lying on the ground slowly rose.

The sister stood up, explored the dark environment around her, pounded on a large door, and shouted loudly, "Is anyone there? Is anyone there!"

The brother also woke up at this time; he followed his sister's movements and began to grope around the surroundings.

But apart from the door, there was only bread and water on the ground, and a sewer (prop) in the room.

Finding nothing, the "siblings" quickly began to panic, and their expressions became exceptionally fearful.

The two pounded on the door together, lowered their heads, and shouted toward the crack in the door, "Save us!"

But no matter how they pounded, there was no response from the outside.

Hungry and tired, the two leaned against each other and fell asleep.

After watching this scene, Miyagawa Yosuke sat up straight; he was suddenly a bit interested.

What was going on with this scenario?

Could it be that the siblings were constantly obtaining clues to escape the locked room?

A voice-over played, indicating that time had reached the second day.

The "siblings" woke up on the cold ground and found another piece of bread and a small bowl of water passed through the crack in the door.

It seemed the kidnapper didn't want them to starve to death?

At this time, the brother expressed that he needed to use the bathroom, and the sister told him to use the sewer.

Just then, the sister glanced at the sewer, gestured, and found that the width was just right for the brother.

She muttered to herself, "This might be the only way out!"

So she told the brother to swim upstream and to call the police for help immediately after getting out.

Although the brother thought the sewer was disgusting, under his sister's threat, he had no choice but to crawl in and start swimming.

At this point, the lights dimmed, then brightened in a spot nearby, and the sister disappeared, replaced by another young woman, signifying that the brother had swum to another room.

"Ah!" The young woman let out a scream upon seeing the brother swim over.

The brother hurriedly climbed onto the bank and explained the reason to her.

The lights dimmed twice more, signifying that the brother had swum through two more rooms. Then, the brother swam back to his own room and saw his sister again.

The sister said with dissatisfaction, "Why are you back, you idiot!"

The brother said aggrievedly, "I couldn't get out!" Then he reported the situation in detail.

Upon learning that there were three more women being held upstream, the sister couldn't help but be surprised, but she continued to order, "Try swimming downstream through the sewer."

The brother responded with disgust, "Sister, you go yourself."

"It's precisely because I can't fit that I'm asking you."

"How is this asking? It's an order."

Although he complained, the brother still swam; this time he also encountered three rooms.

The first room held a female college student who had just been captured, the second room was empty, and the third room contained a mentally unstable woman.

That mentally unstable woman, upon seeing the brother climb onto the bank, immediately lunged at him, grabbed his hand, and said excitedly, "Do you see it? That guy comes to kill every day at 6 o'clock, and blood and fragments of corpses flow along the sewer."

At the same time, she grinned hideously and said, "Everyone will die."

The brother subconsciously looked at the sewer and suddenly discovered a clump of something that looked like a woman's hair; terrified, his face turned pale, and he immediately swam back to find his sister.

Upon learning this news, the sister fell silent.

It was now 6 o'clock in the evening (voice-over); the "siblings" crouched in front of the sewer and found nothing, feeling a sense of relief.

Perhaps that woman was just scared out of her mind and was lying?

Miyagawa Yosuke became increasingly interested after seeing this scene; he was very curious—this didn't seem like traditional orthodox mystery?

However, how exactly was the screenwriter going to design a way for the siblings to escape? It couldn't possibly be a tragedy, could it?

He thought for a moment, sat up straight, and decided to keep watching.

The third day arrived, and the sister gave the brother a task: to go to other rooms to collect supplies.

Upon hearing this, the brother swam to the room of the woman on the far left and requested, "My sister told me to come and ask what everyone has; collecting them might come in handy."

The woman asked, "Isn't it only you two who can be saved?"

"If one person can be saved, then everyone can be saved, right?"

Hearing the brother's reply, the woman felt he made sense and gave the brother a condom to take back.

From her, the brother also learned that she had been locked up for 6 days.

Subsequently, the brother went to the other rooms one by one and collected other supplies, including lipstick, keys, a room card, a note, and the previous condom.

Seeing the things he collected, the sister was furious, because these items clearly had no use for escaping. She asked angrily, "Did you ask everyone properly? Is this all there is?"

The brother pouted and said aggrievedly, "I asked everyone."

Then he added a piece of information: a newcomer had arrived in yesterday's empty room, supposedly captured while jogging.

After listening, the sister thought for a moment, as if realizing something. With the help of the dim light, she picked up the lipstick.

On the wall, she drew 7 boxes in a row, representing the 7 rooms where they were being held.

Then she marked them with numbers, indicating how long each had been held.

With the brother's additions, the sister discovered that this row of numbers decreased from left to right: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0—6 referred to the woman on the far left who had been held for 6 days, and 0 referred to the crazy woman on the far right, whom the brother said had "disappeared."

Upon hearing the words "disappeared," the sister couldn't help but tremble.

The brother immediately added, "Maybe she was let out."

The sister was noncommittal; she decided to verify the crazy woman's information once more.

That night at 6 o'clock, the siblings guarded the sewer in the room again, staring fixedly at the flowing water.

But just like last night, there was no change in the sewer.

The sister breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when the brother suddenly saw something and pulled her back.

At this moment, the stage lights flickered, and the prop representing the sewer was suddenly hit with "red" light, the color of "blood."

At the same time, a thriller soundtrack played, making one's skin crawl upon hearing it.

The brother pointed at the blood-red sewer in a panic and said, "This clothing and nail art belong to the person who gave me the condom yesterday."

The sister also became terrified; she hugged her brother, and the two began to cry bitterly.

It was the fourth day.

The brother swam to the room of the next woman about to be killed and told her with his head lowered, "The kidnapper kills one person every day in order; if you don't want to die, you must think of a way."

The other party was shocked upon hearing this.

After a moment of silence, the woman said to the brother in an inexplicable tone, "You can live without being killed, right? Being able to sneak through the sewer is truly enviable."

The brother saw that the other party's expression was extremely gloomy.

He wanted to explain but didn't know what to say, so he could only swim back.

After returning to the room, the sister asked him, "Did you tell that person it was her turn today?"

The brother shook his head, "No. If you were her, what would you think? Would you want me to tell you?"

Upon hearing the brother's reply, the sister's expression was very complex; she opened her mouth but said nothing.

She stood up and muttered to the distant audience, "My brother is still young; he can't die here! No, I must find a chance to escape."

On the fifth day, the brother repeated yesterday's action and arrived at the room of the woman about to be killed today.

This woman seemed to know she was about to be killed; she took off her extra clothes and let the brother take them for his sister to use.

She also took off the necklace she was wearing, lowered her head to pray silently for a moment, and then solemnly placed it in the brother's palm.

She looked at the brother and said with a grave expression, "You must live."

The time was already 5:45, only 15 minutes away from the kidnapper's killing time.

The woman began to grip the brother's palm tightly and sobbed.

Seeing time passing, the brother began to say nervously, "Someone is coming; I'll be discovered."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, her face changed several times, and she reached out to hug the brother, "They are coming to kill me; I don't want to die alone, don't... don't..."

The large door slowly opened at this moment, and the sound of a chainsaw and footsteps slowly entered. The brother wanted to leave quickly, but the woman's arms tightened, making it impossible for him to break free.

By 6 o'clock in the evening, the sister still had not waited for her brother to return.

The lights turned red again, reflecting on the gutter and revealing a color like "blood."

The sister knelt on the ground and began to shed tears helplessly.

……

Seeing this scene, the people in the audience couldn't help but gasp; this included Miyagawa Yosuke, whose interest in this stage play grew stronger, completely casting aside the disdain he had at the beginning.

Asano Aiko felt afraid when she saw this; she was someone who had read the original work, but even knowing the outcome, she still couldn't control herself.

Subconsciously, she grabbed Akiwara Yuto’s hand resting on the side of the seat and held it tightly.

Akiwara Yuto felt his right hand being grabbed and was a bit surprised, but he didn't think too much of it, only feeling that Asano Aiko was a bit too timid.

……

Just as the sister began to cry, she heard the sound of splashing in the gutter; it turned out the younger brother had swum over from next door.

She hugged him directly and wept bitterly, "I thought you had been killed too."

The younger brother complained about her hugging him too tightly while telling her about what had happened this time.

When the door was half-open, the woman finally had a change of heart, let go, and let him leave.

He took the opportunity to slip into the gutter and began to flee in a hurry.

After seeing his sister, the younger brother was silent for a moment and began to describe the killer he had discovered: "I didn't see the other person's face, but he was tall and big, holding a chainsaw in his hand; the two of us couldn't beat him."

At the same time, he pointed at the main door and said he heard the sound of a door bolt when the other person opened the door.

After listening, the sister walked to the main door, took a room card from her items, inserted it into the gap between the door and the wall, and slid it from bottom to top.

At this moment, the voice-over came again.

"This main door is controlled by a door bolt, not a chain or anything else."

"But even if you know that, what way is there to escape?"

"There is only one day left until the brother and sister are killed."

……

The lights dimmed and the voice-over sounded, signaling that it was finally 6 PM on the last night, the day the killer would arrive.

With a series of "heavy" footsteps, the main door slowly opened, and a masked person holding a "chainsaw" prop walked into the room.

From the dim light, one could faintly see the sister hiding the "younger brother" behind her.

Seeing the kidnapper, the sister stood up, her small figure appearing exceptionally tall at this moment, and she shouted hoarsely at the kidnapper: "I won't let you touch a single finger of my brother!"

The kidnapper ignored her and slowly approached, holding the chainsaw.

When he reached the brother and sister, he raised the chainsaw and slashed it down.

The sister jumped away, letting the chainsaw strike the "younger brother."

But the "younger brother" split open by the chainsaw was actually a dummy made of clothing.

At this moment, the real younger brother stood up from the shadows of the gutter and began to rush toward the main door.

The kidnapper tried to chase after him to kill the younger brother, but he was slowed down by the chainsaw in his hand, and the sister also rushed up just in time, hugging the kidnapper's thigh.

The kidnapper couldn't shake her off for a moment and could only watch helplessly as the younger brother ran outside the door, dropped the bolt, and closed the main door.

The lights on the stage went out, but the sounds of a chainsaw, a woman's laughter, and tearing could be faintly heard from the speakers.

At this time, the voice-over sounded again.

"The younger brother remembered his sister's instructions and went to other rooms to open the main doors."

"Everyone was saved, except for the sister."

"The woman's laughter stopped, and the sound of a chainsaw cutting through an iron door came from the room again, but the door showed no signs of deformation."

Under the stage lights, the younger brother knelt on the ground, tears falling uncontrollably.

At this point, the curtain slowly lowered.

……

After watching this, Miyagawa Yosuke let out a long sigh.

He knew the stage play was over, but many scenes still flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern: the kidnapper's cruelty and perversion, the different reactions of the victims before death, and the sister's sacrifice to save her brother.

This was by no means a simple locked-room mystery; this was a pair of siblings struggling for survival in a desperate situation.

Where on earth did the Women's University get this script?! It couldn't have been written by the students themselves, could it?

He looked at the actors who had come out on stage to thank the audience, was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but applaud vigorously.

In the theater, the applause had long since become a roar and did not stop for a long time; everyone believed that this was an excellent stage play.

This was beyond doubt!