Fujino stared unblinkingly at Akiyoshi Mibuko's delicate-looking face. "And then? You came up with this plan to frame Kusaka, then get yourself out of it afterward?"
"I never intended to get myself out of it."
Akiyoshi Mibuko's expression darkened. "There's still one person I haven't killed. I've long been prepared to drag that person down to hell with me. You understand that too, don't you?"
She crossed her legs. "There's no meaning in simply killing that despicable Yashiro Family. Only by having Kusaka reveal everything can the Yashiros be thoroughly ruined..."
Her voice paused before she continued, "As for Kusaka, he was merely incidental. After all, that bastard actually said those things about my father in his diary."
"So you wanted to kill them, then commit suicide?"
Fujino recalled something. "Come to think of it, I once encountered a criminal like that before. She was also a woman—except she was actually a man pretending to be one."
"What happened afterward?"
Akiyoshi asked with interest, "What became of him?"
Fujino answered honestly, "I solved the case beforehand and caught the people he intended to kill. I'm not too sure what happened after that..."
Akiyoshi Mibuko teased, "Is that so? He was caught by you before he could kill anyone. I really don't know whether that was fortunate or unfortunate. He had a chance to personally kill his enemies, but you ruined it."
"Yeah. Thinking about it now, I think those people deserved to die too."
Fujino responded, then glanced at Akiyoshi Mibuko's hand near the bedside cabinet. "But you lured me into saying all that because, if I'm not mistaken, there's a weapon in your bedside cabinet, isn't there?"
"You saw through it?"
"Still, everything I said was true."
Akiyoshi Mibuko smiled helplessly, swiftly pulled open the bedside cabinet, and took