Interrogation

"Dead?"

Hearing Thor's account after he returned, Kate stuck out his tongue and licked the corner of his mouth.

"Drowned in a washbasin? Honestly... people sure find all kinds of ways to die."

Thor was still leaning against the single bed, still holding the book he'd had with him before leaving.

But he wasn't reading. He stared at the air in front of him, looking puzzled.

It was as if he were explaining things to Kate, and as if he were sorting through his own thoughts.

"I examined the White Porcelain Kitten. There was no Magic Power inside or out. It was made entirely of the most ordinary clay and pigments, and none of the materials were used in Witchcraft."

"It could still have been murder," Kate said. "That man went around cheating people. He probably made plenty of enemies."

Thor lightly tapped his chin with the spine of the book. "I checked his luggage. He had a large sum of notes hidden inside. But no one had touched his luggage, so it probably wasn't robbery or revenge for being cheated out of money."

Kate hadn't cared at all about whether some swindler lived or died. But then he realized Thor was investigating the matter quite seriously.

It seemed he was very concerned about the swindler's cause of death.

Kate propped himself up and perked his ears to listen to Thor.

"I also examined his soul, hoping to learn the cause of death by probing his consciousness." Thor stopped tapping his chin with the spine of the book. "But his soul was gone."

"Meow?"

"His soul had vanished completely, without a trace, like a bowl after you've licked it clean."

"...As long as you're happy."

Thor chuckled softly, then fell back onto the bed and covered his face with the