Starting With The Sefirah Castle In The Anime World

"Although I'd love to help Officer Sato add some dramatic twists to this incident, unfortunately, there's no plot reversal in this case."

Ren didn't joke around. He got straight to the point.

"The tragedy in this case was caused by Takahashi Ryoichi. The reason the police can't close the case easily, even with clear evidence and witnesses, is that several aspects defy scientific explanation."

Sato Miwako immediately caught on to the core issue.

"So, what do you mean by 'defy scientific explanation'?"

At the same time, her mind raced, reviewing every strange detail about the case.

There was no flaw in the chain of evidence. Everything pointed to the murderer. And yet, all the evidence described actions beyond what a human being should be capable of. That contradiction was the crux of the problem.

"It means exactly what it says."

Ren didn't try to hide anything and explained it patiently.

"All the current evidence clearly identifies Takahashi Ryoichi as the killer. But the way he committed the murders doesn't line up with human capabilities. The weapon he used was a regular tree-cutting axe. Its blade isn't large, and its weight is moderate. It's just not capable of cutting someone cleanly in half in one swing."

"That's the core contradiction in this case."

"And it's a contradiction that science can't explain."

Sato Miwako nodded slightly. That much was true—nothing about it made scientific sense.

The evidence pointed directly at the killer, but the method he used was… completely unscientific.

Seeing she was following, Ren continued.

"The second contradiction is Takahashi Ryoichi himself."

"How did his body deteriorate to that extent in just a few hours? He looked like a man in his 60s or even 70s."

"And it wasn't just muscle atrophy. His entire body was affected by the aging. But this wasn't caused by natural time progression, it was triggered by an external factor. Otherwise, he wouldn't have aged so rapidly."

"That's another mystery that defies explanation."

"But I think soon… it won't be a contradiction anymore. It'll be a conclusion."

Sato Miwako frowned.

"You mean he's going to—"

She made a gesture across her neck and looked at Ren for confirmation.

Ren nodded slightly.

"His aging isn't without cause. His time is already running out. The reason the police haven't been able to wake him from his coma is because of a survival instinct."

"If he regains consciousness, the aging will accelerate violently."

"This isn't science. It's a phenomenon caused by something beyond it."

Sato Miwako fell silent.

This time, she truly didn't know how to respond. The murderer was going to die—due to aging. That in itself was deeply unnatural.

But what truly shocked her was that all of this had come from the mouth of someone she thought was just a witness.

Unable to find a scientific rationale, Miwako suddenly had a strong, nagging intuition.

Maybe this really was the truth—one that couldn't be explained.

She quickly raised her eyes to Ren. At this moment, she realized something else.

This boy was also enveloped in fog.

"So then, how do you know all of this?"

"I just happened to gain access to certain knowledge. That's how I can understand what's going on. Just like what happened on Tsukikage Island."

At that, Miwako finally understood why he knew so much. She took a deep breath.

"So you're the one who called the police during the Tsukikage Island incident?"

Ren didn't deny it.

"Yes. Even I was shocked by what those drug dealers were doing. It was inhumane. They matched every bit of what I imagined real traffickers to be. Of course, aside from knowing those details, I didn't do anything else. Just like today."

"Otherwise, why would I have called the police?"

"Of course I know you weren't the one who did it."

Sato Miwako rolled her eyes at him.

"Judging from how entrenched those drug dealers were, they must've been using Tsukikage Island as a trafficking hub for over a decade. Do you think a high school student could've lived through all that?"

After venting a little, Miwako felt more at ease.

Now, she was just curious about what had actually happened to Takahashi Ryoichi.

"So, what exactly happened to the murderer?"

"Does Officer Sato want the truth, or something else?"

"The truth, obviously."

Ren nodded slightly, then replied directly:

"He was possessed by an evil spirit."

The bluntness of his answer left Miwako speechless.

She had expected a roundabout explanation—maybe two or three layers of build-up—but he just dropped it on her like a hammer.

Evil spirits?

Was this even real language?

Miwako composed herself and asked again, this time with disbelief coloring her tone.

"Are you serious? In this day and age… there are things like evil spirits?"

"Then why is Officer Sato so certain they don't exist? Think about this case. Review every abnormality you observed. Now consider what I just told you."

Sato Miwako mentally ran through the abnormalities again, now under the lens of Ren's "evil spirit" claim. Strangely, it all started to line up.

Was this real?

Was he kidding?

"…Hard to believe, isn't it?"

She shot an annoyed look at Ren.

"What do you think?"

"This explanation is shattering decades of my worldview. It's like telling a mathematician that math doesn't exist. You think any of them would take that well?"

Ren thought back to the physicists in The Three-Body Problem. He understood how this kind of cognitive shift could destroy someone's internal logic.

"Yeah, I get it. Those scientists are all materialists who would reject anything that goes against their beliefs. If reality put that much pressure on them… suicide wouldn't be out of the question."

After a long pause, Sato Miwako finally calmed her breathing and looked at the boy in front of her again.

"This topic is a bit beyond what I can handle right now. I'll focus on investigating the case first. When I've wrapped that up, I'll come back. By then, I'll be mentally prepared to hear the rest."

(To be continued.)

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