Sleepwalking

Gen and Yamada both stared at Koga Junko in front of them, completely baffled.

Just now, she seemed to have confessed, but only "seemed to."

"Possibly? Miss Koga, what do you mean by—you possibly 'killed your sister'?" Yamada could not help pressing her.

But Junko's mood suddenly took a turn for the worse. She covered her face and began sobbing, giving Yamada a terrible headache and leaving him no choice but to turn to Gen for help.

Gen simply reached out, held Junko by the shoulders, and looked at her seriously. "I understand. You're terrified right now, and you don't know what happened either. But—we detectives exist to confirm the things no one knows. Can you leave the rest to us?"

With Gen's reassurance, Junko gradually calmed down. Only then did Gen continue, "Is there something difficult for you to say?"

"Actually, I—"

Early Sunday morning, September 17, inside the Criminal Affairs Division office—

"Sleepwalking?"

Inside the Criminal Affairs Division office, everyone was astonished by the conclusion Gen and Yamada had reached through their questioning.

"That's right. According to Koga Junko, her parents' sudden deaths traumatized her badly. Not long after that, she discovered that she suffered from sleepwalking." Gen's tone was somewhat worried as well.

"Ugh—what stinks?" The moment Fuji walked in, she pinched her nose and looked at Gen and Yamada. "Why do you two stink so badly this early in the morning?"

Yamada immediately complained, "Isn't it because of that Koga Junko? When she woke up and found herself wearing bloodstained clothes, she got so scared that she threw them away. Based on what she told us, we spent the entire night digging through the dump. Unfortunately—they were probably already incinerated."

That was why Gen and Yamada had only returned that morning, carrying such a particularly foul