The sales clerk moved her lips, as though she wanted to say something.
But she could not defend herself faster than the detective could close the case. "Mr. Ide happened to capture the moment the corpse was projected onto the screen. Look closely, and you can see that the image on the screen was out of focus. That was because removing the two lenses used for reflection changed the projection distance. The change was subtle, but it still served as evidence for this method."
"Also..." Jiang Xia looked at the sales clerk. "There was clearly a broken mirror in the break room, yet when you made tea for the Projectionist there, you specifically went to the restroom outside to adjust your Contact Lens in the mirror. That was because the mirror in the break room wasn't there at the time—it had been taken by the Projectionist to reflect the beam."
The sales clerk pressed her lips together.
The projectionist sighed and said to her, "You don't need to cover for me anymore. It's regrettable that my method had a flaw, but I don't regret killing that guy."
He looked through the small window of the projection booth, his expression darkening. "When I worked, I loved looking out through that window and watching all the audience's reactions. But that bastard made the guests in the Screening Hall dwindle day by day, until even on holidays there were only a few scattered customers. So I decided to hang him in front of the projection window, so he could properly experience how I'd felt these past few days and see this lonely scenery for himself."
Having said that, his expression softened as he looked at the manager. "I'm sorry something like this happened on the final day."
The old manager sighed helplessly. "It's