Where Did This Kid Come From?

Shiraishi took the file and flipped through it as he walked. The details recorded inside basically matched Aiichiro's account.

However, when he reached the crime scene photos, Shiraishi noticed several points that concerned him.

First, there were large amounts of meaningless streamers inside the room—

Although Aiichiro had mentioned before that streamers had hit them in the face when they forced open the door, Shiraishi had not thought much of it at the time.

Elaborately and festively decorating a suicide scene was considered a "performative suicide," commonly seen among minors and a typical display of "intent to communicate."

It was not particularly rare—

But upon actually seeing the photos, Shiraishi was still surprised by just how many streamers filled the room. Some were tied to the ceiling, while others lay scattered across the floor—

Second, both Aiichiro and Miki had stated that when they entered the room, they clearly felt that it was very hot. Along with the streamers, a wave of heat had rushed at them.

However, according to the weather records from that day, although the high temperature had reached twenty-nine degrees Celsius, the heat from the charcoal burning inside, combined with the outside temperature, could not possibly have created the stifling, instantly suffocating heat that the two had described.

Judging from the charcoal brazier in the photos, it contained no more than two kilograms of charcoal, and was probably closer to one kilogram.

Not to mention that it had been incompletely burning in an enclosed space—even if it had burned completely, the heat it released would not have been enough to raise the temperature of the room by even one degree.

When Shiraishi had heard Aiichiro say this before, he had assumed it was merely psychological.

Third, the tape sealing every gap in the room.

Miki's statement