Chapter Text
"Shoko Nadami's eyeball?"
Date's question was met with a long moment of silence.
"That would make it likely that Renju is the one who took her eye," Boss offered, her voice low. "But..."
"He can't be our killer," Date finished. "Not if he's the second victim."
"However, we must still address the question of how eyeball got into his stomach," Aiba said.
Boss raised an eyebrow. "You think the killer forced him to swallow it?"
"Let us consider the timeline of events," Aiba suggested. "Shoko and Renju were killed over twenty-four hours apart from each other. The deterioration of Shoko's eyeball indicates it was in Renju's body for a similar length of time, while he was still alive."
"Then, the whole time he was in for questioning, and when Iris saw him Saturday evening..." Date replied, "the eyeball was already there."
"Indeed. However, that raises the question: why would he keep quiet about that?"
"He certainly didn't report anything out of the ordinary during his questioning," Boss replied.
"You don't really think he did it, do you?" Date asked.
She frowned, stopping to ponder the possibility. In her silence, Aiba spoke up again.
"Why don't we look back at each murder as a separate case?"
Date and Boss both turned their heads to look at her.
"Despite his death," Aiba continued, "Renju is still the most likely suspect for Shoko's murder. The use of his own car and his message to Mizuki link him to the crime, and the eyeball in his stomach indicates that he was physically present when it was taken. Whether the person who took the eye and the person who committed the murder are the same is unclear, but it is highly likely."
Date frowned. The evidence was stacked against Renju, and Aiba's argument was compelling, but he still couldn't begin to fathom what his motive could be. Renju's feelings toward Shoko had always been complicated, but murder?
"Alright, let's say he did it," he replied. "Who killed Renju?"
"First question: who was our previous suspect for his murder?"
Date exchanged a glance with Boss before replying, "Iris."
"Second question: what new information regarding Iris have we learned since the attempt on her life?"
Boss spoke up first, realization dawning on her. "That's right! Ota saw her driving Renju's car."
"Correct," Aiba answered. "During her interrogation, Iris denied that she might have driven Renju's body to Sunfish Pocket. Ota's testimony proves that she lied. Furthermore, Ota told us she was alone in the car, but it is easy for her to have hidden the body and oil drum in the trunk."
Yet again, Date thought, the pieces fit together too perfectly. It wasn't just evidence this time—Iris had lied directly to his face, but accusing her of murder still didn't sit right with him. It was ridiculous, of course, he had only known her for a matter of days, but something deep in his gut told him it wasn't in her nature.
His gut meant nothing next to the pile of evidence growing larger by the minute.
"I'm guessing our next question is about the polar bear incident," Boss said, interrupting Date's thoughts.
"You're not gonna say Iris staged that, are you?" Date asked.
"Unclear," Aiba replied. "We have already discussed the possibility that Ota was responsible, but that seems unlikely after further investigation."
"What about the person in the polar bear costume?" Boss suggested. "Any chance she was working with them?"
"Considering the footage I recorded while Date was unconscious, it is very possible that Iris was an accomplice in her own attempted murder. She could have given the person in the costume that kitchen knife at any time."
"She gave it to them?" Date asked.
"She took it in the first place for a reason," Boss said. "Still, to pull out your own eye just to get suspicion off yourself..."
Date sighed. "Alright, what about the polar bear?"
"Consider the timeline outlined by Mayumi's taxi driver. The van she tailed made two stops. One at the Sejima residence, and one in the Kabasaki district," Aiba explained.
"So Sejima's our polar bear?" Boss asked, a note of curiosity in her voice.
"He's definitely suspicious," Date agreed. "But I still can't wrap my head around his connection to Iris."
"We may not be aware of the details, but it seems he has one. We still cannot determine why he appeared in her Somnium," Aiba said.
"Next question, then. If he was the polar bear, and Iris was in the hospital, who killed So?" Date asked.
"Unknown. His security cameras were all turned off and his bodyguards have reported nothing. There seem to be no reliable leads at the moment," Aiba explained.
The three were silent for a while. Boss was the first to speak again.
"There's a pattern."
"Huh?" Date asked.
"Each victim is the prime suspect from the previous murder," she explained. "Either our killer is targeting them on purpose and framing them for the crimes..."
"Or the victims are actually killing each other in a chain," Aiba finished.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Date protested.
"It would fit the evidence," Boss said.
"Even if it fits, where does that get us?" he asked. "We don't have any leads on So's murder, and all of our previous suspects are either dead or..."
He trailed off, realization hitting him. Boss and Aiba shared a glance before turning to Date.
"Iris."
The hospital room was quiet. Only the sound of Hitomi's voice filled the room as Date entered, her voice just audible enough to catch her words.
"You really do remind me of Manaka like that," she said, almost under her breath, before the sound of the door opening caught her attention.
Iris had certainly seen better days. She was awake, but barely held herself up where she sat in bed. Her hair was down, unkempt, with bandages wrapped through it to cover her left eye. She looked small in her hospital gown, her cheerful demeanor wiped away.
Hitomi was hunched forward in a chair, her back to the door. She turned her head when she heard Date's footsteps.
"Mr. Date," she breathed, a note of surprise in her voice. Her eyes flicked to Boss for a moment as she entered behind him, then back.
"Sorry to interrupt," Date began, "but we'd like to ask Iris some questions about the case, now that she's awake."
As Date turned to look at Iris, he saw her gaze fall sheepishly from where she had been looking up at him. He suspected she already knew what they were here to talk about.
"Oh," Hitomi replied. "Of course. It's late, isn't it? I should be heading home soon."
She turned back to Iris. "Tomorrow morning, I'll bring back some things from home for your hospital stay."
Iris nodded almost imperceptibly. Hitomi got to her feet, threw one last smile in Iris's direction, and headed for the door.
"I hope you catch them," she whispered as she passed Date.
Hitomi wanted justice, Date knew. He didn't think he could bring himself to explain that her daughter might be guilty.
The door clicked shut, and the room went silent. Date slid into the seat Hitomi had left, while Boss elected to stand by the opposite side of the bed. Iris's remaining eye flicked between the two of them, apprehension on her face. Her body was completely still, exhaustion written all over her.
"Iris, I know you've been through a lot, but we need to ask you about a few things," Date began.
She didn't respond.
"Ota told us about 'that thing' earlier today. What were you doing in Renju's car on Saturday?"
"What?" she breathed, more to herself than in response to Date.
"As I recall, you told us you were at home the whole time," Boss said.
"What are you talking about?" Iris asked, her voice louder than before.
"Surely you remember."
"No," she replied, confusion in her tone.
"Aiba, thermograph," Date thought.
"There is no noticeable rise in body temperature," Aiba replied. "However, the same was true of when Iris lied during her interrogation."
"She really is a natural liar, huh?"
"It appears so."
"Iris," Date began, leaning forward in his chair. Iris tilted her head to look at him, a hint of what looked like disdain in her expression. Date paid it no mind. "I know your career is important to you."
She let out a breath that might have been a laugh and turned back away from him, half-heartedly rolling her eye.
"But if that's all you're concerned about, I need you to tell me the truth," he continued. "The general public doesn't have to know the details."
"I don't know anything," Iris insisted, her voice a forceful whisper.
Date shared an exasperated look with Boss.
"A different question, then. Why'd you take the kitchen knife?" he asked.
Iris frowned, one visible brow furrowing.
"Iris, we have video evidence," Date said.
"I don't know anything," she repeated, almost hissing the words out.
"So Sejima," Boss cut in. It seemed she could tell they were getting nowhere.
Iris fell silent. She stared at the wall, hard, as if desperate to escape Boss's stare.
"Interesting," Aiba said.
"What?"
Aiba overlayed an infrared image of Iris's body in his left eye. She had lit up bright red.
"She is most certainly hiding something about So," Aiba elaborated.
"Why didn't this work before?"
"Perhaps she wasn't lying. Or perhaps the mention of So simply elicits a stronger response than your previous questions."
"What about him?" Iris asked, her gaze still drilling a hole into the wall, fingers tightening around a fistful of her bedsheets.
"What about Sunday, after the Psync? Why didn't she respond like this then?" Date asked Aiba.
"I can think of one logical conclusion—Iris must have encountered him between then and now."
Boss had noticed Date's long, idle stare. She wouldn't know exactly what Aiba was saying, but she had known him long enough to be able to tell when the pair were locked in mental conversation.
"What about him, indeed..." Boss trailed off, before adding, "Was he the person in that polar bear costume?"
"No," Iris replied immediately.
"So you do remember that one," Boss confirmed.
Iris looked at her, mouth agape.
"What can you tell us about that incident?"
Iris closed her mouth.
"Your silence won't do you any favors," Date said.
"Well, if she won't tell us anything..." Boss muttered under her breath. She looked at Date, one eyebrow raised, a knowing gleam in her eyes.
He knew what it meant.
"That's the 'Psync with her' look, isn't it?"
Mizuki couldn't sleep. It had been the quietest day since last Friday, but she still felt restless. Date had come by earlier that afternoon to give her an update on the most recent victim, and to let her know he would be busy with the investigation all evening. He still refused to take her along, despite her insistence—what else was she supposed to do with herself? She had been sitting at home, unable to take her mind off the case.
A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts.
Mizuki hopped out of bed, a burst of nervous energy shooting through her. She hurried to the door and propped herself up on her tiptoes to glance through the peephole.
Her homeroom teacher stood outside, a soft smile on her face. She gripped her right arm with her left, fingers fidgeting idly. Her face was not an unwelcome sight, but a surprise nonetheless.
Mizuki unlocked the door and cracked it open. "Teacher...? It's late, isn't it?"
Hitomi's smile grew wider, her eyes gentle. "I thought I would see how you're doing before I went back home. I know you've had a rough week, and it doesn't look like Date will be back any time soon."
Mizuki looked down. She was right, of course, but she didn't know where to begin putting any of her feelings into words.
"Yeah," she said, then opened the door wider. "Um... you can come in if you want."
"Of course." Hitomi nodded and walked through the door, taking a moment to survey the inside of the apartment. It was the first time she had seen it, Mizuki realized. After a while, she took a seat on the chair opposite the bed.
"Um, Iris... is she...?"
"The surgery went well," Hitomi reassured her. "She's woken up, but... she won't be fully recovered for a while yet. I think she needs some time to get back to her old self."
Mizuki nodded. Iris was one of the only people left she knew cared about her. With her gone, Date was all she had left for family. And with how busy the case was keeping him, she didn't know if anyone would even have the time for her.
"Mizuki," Hitomi spoke up after a moment. "If it's alright by you, you could stay over at my house tonight. It'll be awfully lonely here...and you could come with me to visit Iris in the morning."
"Oh, I don't wanna be any trouble," she replied.
"It'll be no trouble at all. It wouldn't be the first time you've stayed the night, after all."
"Then...yeah. I'd like that."
"What are we even expecting to find here?" Date asked under his breath as he opened the door to the Psync Room. Iris was asleep in the Psync chair—the bandages over her eye had to be removed for the machine to work properly, and her empty eye socket was an unpleasant reminder of the previous day's events.
Boss was silent on the other side of the high window, her mouth a tight line.
"We will hopefully be able to discover what Iris knows about the incident at the cold storage warehouse," Aiba explained.
"Right."
"That includes her connection to So Sejima as well."
"Let's hope it's not as incomprehensible as her last Somnium," Date muttered.
"Alright, we're ready," Pewter announced. Date looked between him and Boss, then gave a small nod before sitting down.
"Six minutes, Date," Boss called down to him.
"I know, I know," he replied absentmindedly. "I'll be careful."
As Date felt his consciousness sink into Iris's mind, he wondered if what he found there wouldn't raise more questions than it answered again.