Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig- Fourth Bite [Parts 1 to 3] by Takuma Sakai

Author:Takuma Sakai
Language: eng
Format: epub

The room was chilly and dim—our surroundings were only illuminated by the faint moonlight. Jess gestured for Neu to sit on a sofa before taking a seat next to him. As for me, I plopped down on the carpet and told Jess what to say.

“You are the culprit who stole the ring, Mister Neu,” Jess declared. “It was easy for you to access the suite since you had the key. But you must have thought that you would become the suspect if you didn’t take any precautions—that’s why you opened the window and tipped over the potted plant to divert the suspicion to me.”

For accuracy’s sake, I asked her to add this: “You ended up having to open the window during the search earlier, and my guess is that after you left it open during your theft, the strong wind blew it closed.”

This mansion’s windows opened outward—they would close on their own if there were a gale. The window handle, which served as a lock, would clamp down automatically when the window was closed, making it impossible to open from the outside. Assuming this had happened, it would mean one less piece of circumstantial evidence pinning the blame on Jess. He would have to devise an explanation to back up the lie that the elderly couple had carelessly left the window open.

Neu didn’t make any objections.

Jess continued, “Your statement that my clothes might be sullied solidified you as the culprit in my mind. You avoided bringing up the truth in your thoughts, but you couldn’t fully conceal your shock when you learned my clothes were clean. But that’s only natural—after all, you distinctly remembered soiling my clothes with mud when you bumped into me in the vineyard.”

This was likely the sequence of events.

After guiding the elderly couple to the wine cellar, Neu had stolen the ring with the spare key. He’d then planted misleading evidence pointing to the neighboring guest—Jess—around the suite by opening the windows and tipping over the potted plant. After that, he’d probably waited to ambush Jess in the vineyard to reinforce his narrative.

Instead, his fastidiousness had dug his own grave. But this wasn’t Neu’s blunder—after all, how could he have ever predicted that Jess could instantly cleanse mud from her clothes with magic?

There was a choked noise in Neu’s throat. He was crying. “I’m sorry...”

Neu had attempted to frame Jess for the crime. Yet, Jess gently placed a hand on his shoulder. The tearstained face of a young boy turned to her.

In a kind, angelic voice, Jess whispered, “Let’s return the stolen ring to that couple. I will help you so it doesn’t escalate into a major incident. Could you please give me the ring?”

Neu replied in a nasally voice, “It’s...outside.”

“All right. Can you fetch it for me?”

“Okay.” With his eyes fixed on the ground, Neu left the room.

There was pin-drop silence inside the darkness.

After a while, I mused, <<He’d get in a lot of trouble if he had the ring on him in the unlikely event that other people found him questionable.

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