Pathway to Japanese Literature

Murder at the Seaside Villa

Four Guests

“El, still not ready?”

Takano Chiyuki called out while peering boldly in from the veranda.
Shizuko, who had been applying face powder at her mirror stand to prevent sunburn, was startled.

“Ugh, Chiyuki! Peeking from there like that… A man shouldn’t be looking at a woman while she’s putting on makeup!”
“I don’t particularly mind, but everyone’s waiting at the gate.”
“You go on ahead. I have to greet Grandfather first before I can go.”
“And another thing, Chiyuki—please don’t call me El.”

“Understood, El.”

“Are you mocking me?”

Shizuko turned sharply—Takano Chiyuki wore a bitter smile as he...

“Does it really bother you that much when I call you that?”
“Everyone calls you that, don’t they?”

“I don’t want anyone to call me that—only my late father could call me El…… He was such a kind man. Because I resemble Mother, he called me that in French—‘her.’”
“I lost Mother when I was little, so I don’t remember her face, but whenever Father called me El—it made me feel like Mother was alive inside me.”

“I’m sorry, Shii-chan.”

Chiyuki said while lowering his eyes.
"I didn't know there was such a reason."
"I'll be careful from now on—"

“Tell everyone else that too—‘I don’t like any of the four of them.’ You’re all delinquents—I hate you!”

“I think so too.”

Muttering to himself, Takano Chiyuki pivoted sharply and strode off into the garden.

This was the Shonan Kugenuma Coast—the villa of Viscount Nakamura Soemon, an old viscount.
In the white-walled Western-style mansion with an expansive garden lived the elderly viscount—long troubled by gout—his eighteen-year-old granddaughter Shizuko, along with the butler Karita Heikichi and three servants.

However, with the arrival of summer vacation, four young men came to this villa to escape the heat.
Inoue Ichiro, Kura Keikichi, Takano Chiyuki, and Araki Kiyoshi—all were relatives of the Nakamura family—but Shizuko understood full well what purpose had brought these four young men here.
To put it simply, they had their sights set on the Nakamura family’s vast fortune.
They were scheming to somehow win the old viscount’s favor, marry Shizuko, and thereby seize the Nakamura family’s immense fortune.

Hmm, perhaps that was true.

When he heard Shizuko's thoughts, the old viscount nodded and said,

"But among those who appear somewhat delinquent, there are actually geniuses."

However, Shizuko couldn't quite grasp the old viscount's meaning.
Takano Chiyuki was tolerable enough, but the other three were slovenly brutes—the type who'd even gotten into trouble with the police during their middle school years.

"I won't let my guard down."

So she had secretly resolved.

When Takano Chiyuki left, Shizuko hurriedly finished her makeup and went into her grandfather’s room.
The old viscount was seated deep in the armchair, reading the latest French magazine.

“Grandfather, how are you feeling?”

“Mm, thank you—”

The old viscount turned around,

"You look quite beautiful. Are you going to the sea?"

"Yes, this cape is new."

“It suits you well. Now turn around this way.”
“Oh, truly splendid!”
“Those delinquents will surely be astonished.”

“I hate it, Grandfather.”

“Oh, do hurry along—ah, wait a moment. Would you be so kind as to have Masaya bring out some wine?”

“My, how unusual! Are you drinking some?”

“Since yesterday, my condition’s been unusually good. I had them clear away the footstool too—think I’ll enjoy a glass for the first time in ages.”

"I'm glad! I'll go tell them right away."

"The key to the wine cellar is in Karita's room."

"Now that you mention it, Karita hasn't returned yet."

The butler Karita Heikichi had returned to Okayama three days earlier due to a telegram about his brother's sudden illness in Okayama City—though he should have returned by now—the old viscount remarked while glancing at the table.

“A telegram came just now—he says he’ll stay two or three more days.”
“Well, with four stubborn young men here, we’ll be just fine.”

Signs of Unease

When Shizuko finished her grandfather’s errand and went out to the beach, the four young men seemed to have already taken a swim and were lying under a large beach umbrella.

“Well, look who’s here—Princess.”

“You’re late.”

“Come right in.”

Chiyuki remained silent, but the other three stood up with overfamiliarity, as though about to take her hand.
Shizuko coolly

“Thank you,”

removed her cape,

“I’ll go swim ahead then,”

and briskly walked off toward the water’s edge.

“Thank you.”

She took off her cape,

“I’ll go on ahead and swim first.”

and briskly headed toward the water’s edge.
The curves that the snug, pure white swimsuit traced over her beautiful, fawn-like body—slim and rounded—were truly magnificent.
Even within Kugenuma, that beach was a bourgeois area where the young men and young ladies were all handpicked fashionable sorts, but among them, Shizuko’s beauty stood out so remarkably that—

—White Princess—

she was known as the White Princess.

“Good day, Young Miss.”

“Look, here comes Her Highness the Princess.”

“Don’t lose today!”

The youths who were nearby followed Shizuko into the sea while making such remarks.
Shizuko was not only beautiful, but when it came to swimming, there was no one on that beach who could keep up with her; every time she entered the sea, she would swiftly pull ahead and go alone far out into the open water.
By the time the pursuing group finally reached that area, she had already made a wide detour and briskly returned to the beach from another direction.

Today, just as usual, she was advancing rapidly further and further out to sea with her superb crawl stroke when—

“Miss Shizuko, wait!” a voice called out from behind.

“I have something important to tell you.”

“……?”

When she turned around, it was Araki Kiyoshi. Taking advantage of Shizuko having slowed her pace, he closed in with swift strokes and swam alongside her,

“Someone has sent threatening letters saying they’ll kill the Viscount and you.”

“A prank, right?”

“It says if you hand over 10,000 yen in cash, that’s acceptable. Otherwise, no amount of caution will save you.”
“I’ve received five of them as of today.”

“If it’s that kind of story, go tell Grandfather about it.”

As soon as she said that, Shizuko increased her pace and rapidly moved away from Araki.

Shizuko thought Araki’s story was a complete lie from the start.
He must be saying such things to get on her good side—otherwise there’d be no reason he’d bring it up in the middle of the sea like this—she thought.
However, when she returned to the beach by a wide detour and went to rest under the beach umbrella, she found herself hearing the same kind of story once again.

As Shizuko stretched out her lightly tired body comfortably on the sand, Inoue Ichiro quietly and swiftly approached her,

“Miss Shizuko, there’s something terrible happening!”

He sat down beside her.

“I’ve kept it secret until now, but there’s been someone sending threatening letters these past four or five days.”
“At first I thought it was just a prank—”

“They want us to hand over ten thousand yen or kill Grandfather and me—right?”

“Y-you already know?”

“I just heard about it from Mr. Araki.”

“Araki?”

Inoue Ichiro’s face paled abruptly.
Not only had his complexion changed—he now feigned punching the air while groaning,

“I see, so that explains it,” he said while turning around.

“Miss Shizuko, now I understand—it’s Araki. It must be Araki’s doing.”

“What do you mean ‘Mr. Araki’?”

“The only ones who know about the threatening letters are Kura and me.”
“We were discussing how to handle the aftermath just between the two of us, so we haven’t told Araki or Takano either.”
“And what’s more—well, from our perspective, the handwriting in the threatening letters does indeed appear to be Araki’s.”

“What are you saying about that?”

"Isn't it obvious? That guy was after you and the Nakamura fortune, but when he saw it was hopeless, he tried extorting ten thousand yen instead. The fact he knew things only known to us, plus the handwriting—those two points are proof."

"But why would only Mr. Inoue and Mr. Kura know about these threatening letters?"

"Because we wished to spare you alarm."

"Thank you. Then kindly refrain from startling me henceforth."
"I find such talk quite unpleasant."

With those words, Shizuko stood up.

Late-Night Incident

Shizuko was completely worked up.

A 10,000 yen threatening letter!
If we don’t hand over the money, they’ll kill both the Viscount and me—could such threatening letters have actually arrived?
Since Inoue Ichiro had said it and Araki Kiyoshi had too, it was probably not a lie.

Who could have done such a terrible thing?

Though Mr. Inoue had said that, upon closer consideration, he too had been targeting both me and the fortune, and must have known full well that I disliked him.

If someone had sent those threatening letters because they couldn't obtain me and the fortune, then rather than singling out any individual, I would have to say all four of them were suspicious.

When I thought about it that way, everything became hopelessly unclear.

"If only Karita were here now."

Shizuko suddenly muttered.

The butler Karita Heikichi was a taciturn man in his forties with an unfathomable air about him, but for seven years he had served with unwavering loyalty as a model butler.

"If it were Karita, I might be able to discuss this with him... I wonder when he’ll return."

“Shi-chan, mind if I come in?”

Outside the door, Takano Chiyuki’s voice called out.
Two hours had passed since dinner, and the clock neared nine.
Just as she was about to say “Don’t!”, Chiyuki opened the door and entered.

“Lonely evening, isn’t it, El… My bad—it’s becoming a habit. Sorry about that.”

“Do even *you* get lonely sometimes, Chii-chan?”

“Of course there are—though just occasionally—times when I feel unbearably lonely… especially tonight!”

“Why tonight?!”

“You might laugh at this,”

Chiyuki walked over near the window and, while gazing intently at the dark garden, said.

“There’s something strange about tonight.”
“I can’t settle down at all.”
“I feel like I’m constantly being chased from behind.”
“I’ve felt this way before.”
“Definitely—though I don’t remember well—it seems something ominous happened.”

“There are plenty of ominous stories as it is.”

“—I do too.”
“...I feel uneasy.”
“Hey Shii-chan, why don’t we go to Fujisawa together?”

“No.”

“I knew you’d say that.”

Chiyuki smiled a lonely smile and paced two or three steps around the room, but soon—
"I can't stand this—there's no way I'll sleep tonight like this. I'll go play some shogi over at Yu Village in Fujisawa."

He muttered as if to himself,

“Well, good night,” he said and quietly left.

What’s gotten into him?

Even as she worried about the threatening letter rumors, seeing Takano Chiyuki’s strange behavior—something she’d never seen before—made Shizuko’s anxiety grow even stronger.

Should I just go talk to Grandfather about this?

No, I mustn’t. There’s absolutely no way I can tell him such a thing when he’s finally in better spirits.
Shizuko shook her head firmly, then called the maid Masaya, changed into nightclothes, took the book she had been reading, and got into bed.

She drifted in and out of consciousness until she heard eleven o’clock, but at some point apparently fell asleep.

When she jolted awake at a heavy, ominous thud coming from somewhere, the wall clock was just striking 1 AM.

It seemed like there had been a strange sound...

As she sat up in bed, there came the bang of a door closing somewhere.

That was Grandfather's room.

Having thought this, she threw a robe over her nightclothes and, upon leaving her bedroom, hurried to the old viscount’s room.

“Grandfather, are you awake?”

She called while knocking on the door.

“…………”

“Grandfather, are you still awake?”

“…………”

There was no response.—Could it be?
No sooner had the thought struck her than she pushed open the door without a moment’s hesitation and went inside.
Inside the room, the electric light was brightly lit.
And the old viscount lay collapsed on the floor along with the armchair.

“Ah!
Grandfather!”

She rushed over screaming, but stood frozen there in horror.
Blood!
Blood!

Blood gushing from the old viscount’s occiput had thickly pooled across the floor.

“Masaya—”

Shizuko rushed out of the room while screaming.

The male servant Rokusuke-jii, Masaya, and the old female servant came running and immediately called the doctor and the police.

However, Inoue, Kura, and Araki were not inside the house.
Of course, Takano Chiyuki was also...

Who was the culprit?

The police chief and his top detectives arrived without delay.
The results of the investigation were as follows.

That is, the culprit entered through the window, killed the old viscount—who had been reading in his armchair—with an iron bar, stole over six thousand yen in cash from the safe, and fled.
This was the general outline of the facts.

The dreadful incident was finally carried out.

“Please arrest those people.”

Shizuko screamed like a madwoman.

“Kura, Araki, Inoue, and... and Mr. Takano.
Please arrest these four! The culprit is surely among them!”

“Young lady, please calm down.”

“No! I know!”

Shizuko interrupted the police chief and shouted.

“Those people were after this household’s fortune.”
“But I dislike everyone.”
“They all kept threatening me with things like threatening letters!”

“Threatening letters, you say—?”

The police chief involuntarily leaned forward.—And after hearing Shizuko’s detailed account of what had happened earlier in the day,

“I see, that’s a grave incident.—And none of the four are here now?”

“They were all present at dinner, but Mr. Takano left around nine, saying he was going to visit a friend in Fujisawa, and I simply assumed the other three were still here.”

“Hey, get those arrangements made now!”

As the Police Chief turned and shouted—Kura, Inoue, and Araki walked into the room.

“—Ahh!”

Shizuko jumped up and shouted.
“They’re here—those people!”
“Wh-what’s going on?”

As the three men tried to approach, wide-eyed at the bizarre scene before them, the Police Chief stepped forward to block their path,

“Hold your horses—I’ll do the explaining.”
“The Viscount was murdered.”
“The culprit entered through that window, killed the Viscount, stole the cash from the safe, and fled.”

“Wh-what… Is that true—⁉”

The three men instantly turned pale.
The Police Chief coldly observed the scene while—

“So I’ll ask—where exactly have you all been until this late hour?”

“Wh-where... that is... uh—”

“Speak plainly!”

All three turned pale and averted their eyes.—Seeing this, Shizuko seemed unable to bear it any longer,

“You can’t say anything—you’re the ones who killed Grandfather.
You fabricated the story about the threatening letters to cover it up as if it were someone else’s doing, then killed Grandfather and took the money—”

“That’s not true, Miss Shizuko.”

Araki interrupted frantically.

“That suspicion is outrageous—then I’ll tell you.”
“Actually, something strange happened.”
“After dinner, when I entered my room, there was a letter in the same handwriting as the threatening letters, instructing me to come to the lone pine tree at Nishihama by 1 AM.”
“Since it said it was an important matter and absolutely no danger was involved, when I went to check, Kura and Inoue were waiting there.”

“We also received the same letters.”

Inoue Ichiro said from beside them.

It was a strange affair. To verify the truth, the Police Chief began a rigorous interrogation. [...] And while they examined the letters both parties had received, dispatched detectives to the lone pine tree at Nishihama to confirm whether the three men had indeed spent several hours there (in fact, a great number of cigarette butts and burnt matches were scattered about), the night had completely given way to dawn.

When the clock struck six, the butler Karita Heikichi returned with a travel bag.
He seemed to have heard about the incident from the servant and, in a completely flustered state, hurriedly approached Shizuko’s side while—

“Young Mistress—Young Mistress”

He was flustered and incoherent.
Shizuko, also fighting back tears, in a choked voice—

“Karita, why didn’t you come back sooner? If only you had been here, this might never have happened.”

“I deeply apologize. My brother’s illness wasn’t improving... And has the culprit been caught yet?”

“You’re the butler here, correct?”

The police chief approached and asked.

“Yes, that is correct.”

“I heard you had gone to Okayama—have you just returned?”

“Yes, I returned on the train that arrived at Fujisawa Station at 5:30 AM.”

“Are you certain about that?”

“I would never lie to you.”

As Karita Heikichi answered clearly—the door from the guest room opened, and Takano Chiyuki entered with a leisurely gait.
—And then, advancing through the room where the Police Chief and the entire group stood in stunned silence, he spread his hands and said:

“Everyone must have been searching for me, I suppose.”
“I’ve hurried here as well, given that I’m one of the suspects in the Viscount’s murder.”
“—Oh, just a moment, please.”
“I’d like to have just a little while to speak at length.”
“That’s acceptable, isn’t it?”
“That’s acceptable, isn’t it, Inspector?”

“The first train!”

“You’re already fully aware of how events unfolded.”
“And the four of us—Kura, Inoue, Araki, and myself—are in the most suspect position.—Actually, I’ve been listening from the next room since earlier, but Mr. Inoue and the others being at Nishihama’s lone pine tree for hours isn’t entirely accurate.”
“Even if cigarette butts and burnt matches were found there, there’s no proof they’re conclusively from last night.”

“Are you saying we’re the culprits?”

Inoue bellowed.

“You’re the one whose whereabouts have been unknown all this time! Those letters that summoned us—maybe that was your doing too!”

“Well now, do listen carefully—the main act is just beginning.”

Chiyuki smiled quietly and turned back toward the Police Chief.

“Inspector, no one has touched anything in this room, correct?”

“We haven’t touched a single thing.”

“That footstool included, correct⁉”

Everyone looked where Chiyuki pointed—at the fallen old viscount’s feet, where the footstool on which the viscount had always rested his gout-afflicted leg lay overturned.

“Of course that too has remained exactly where it was.”

“Hey Shi-chan.”

Chiyuki turned toward Shizuko.

“The viscount’s condition had improved markedly these past three or four days—the footstool should have been stored away by now, shouldn’t it?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Odd—when I arrived last night, this was already pushed to the corner of the table.”
“—Inspector, everyone present knows that footstool had been put away.”

“What difference does that make?”

“Don’t you see?”
Chiyuki grinned slyly,

“The culprit didn’t know this footstool had been put away.”
“Take Mr. Karita—he left for Okayama a week ago.”
“At that time, the Viscount was still using the footstool.”
“So if—hypothetically—Mr. Karita were the killer, after murdering the Viscount, when he checked the room for evidence he might’ve left behind, he’d notice the footstool was misplaced. Out of sheer habit, he’d move it back to where it used to be—meaning he didn’t realize it had been stored away.”

“D-don’t talk nonsense!”

Karita Heikichi bellowed.

“You’re angry, Mr. Karita—that was just an example,” Chiyuki continued calmly. “In other words, if someone adjusted the footstool’s position, I meant there’s no one here but you who could have done it.”

“So you’re claiming I’m the culprit?” Karita demanded.

“I suspect him,” Takano replied pointedly. “Why? Because you’re holding those keys right there.”

“…………”

Karita pressed a hand against the chest of his vest in agitation.

“That’s the wine cellar key.
“And that key was used by Masaya yesterday, you know.
“Since the Viscount was going to drink wine, it had been brought here from your room.”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Shizuko involuntarily cried out—Chiyuki took a swift step forward and pressed sharply.

“You came to this room last night.”
“And murdered the old viscount, stole the fortune, and fled.”
“Let me give you the most damning evidence—you claimed you arrived in Fujisawa on the first train at 5:30 AM, but that train derailed in Numazu and was delayed by two hours!”

“—Ah!”

Karita Heikichi staggered unsteadily,

“You beast!”

With that shout, he lunged at Chiyuki like a wild beast.
At the last moment, Chiyuki twisted his body with fluid grace, seized Karita’s dominant arm from an unexpected angle, wrenched it upward, and executed a hip throw—

“Hyah!”

—slamming him down onto the spot. Instantly, detectives piled atop him to clamp handcuffs in place.

“Karita worked dutifully for seven years while secretly awaiting his chance all along.”

Five mornings later, Shizuko and Chiyuki were talking while sipping black tea on the veranda.

“That’s when we four arrived.”
“Apart from myself—Inoue, Kura, and Araki were scheming to marry you for this estate’s fortune—so he faked a telegram about his brother’s illness and left for Okayama City.”
“Of course that was just a pretense—in reality he’d been hiding locally and sent threatening letters designed to be discovered separately by Araki and Inoue.”
“They’d compete to make you feel indebted, which would ultimately make you suspect them—and indeed, you did suspect them.”
“So Karita lured those three men to Ipponmatsu with forged letters and committed that atrocity while they were away.”

“To be honest, until last night I too suspected those three men.”
“I was watching closely in case they tried anything.”
“If only I’d noticed Karita sooner… I might have saved His Lordship. It pains me to think about it.”

“But I must express my gratitude.”
“To tell the truth, I suspected you—how foolish I was, wasn’t I?”

“The only consolation is that we were able to expose the Viscount’s killer then and there.—Karita was a fool who made for an unconvincing villain.”
“That footstool and key.”
“His daily habits as a butler brought about his downfall.”
“And then that first train—”

“The first train?”

“The derailment in Numazu was a lie.
“It was a trap to test whether he’d truly arrived on that first train.”

“—Oh!”

“Hey, Shii-chan.”

As Chiyuki began to speak, Shizuko gently cut in and said:

"Please call me El."

"Huh?—You're permitting me?"

"Yes, only you..."

"Victory!"

Chiyuki clapped his hands and shouted.
—It was the first bright voice in this house of tragedy.