But Hashimoto Maya soon realized that his preparations this time had been for nothing: after splitting up, not a single one of them had died. Instead, they had gathered again without incident and resumed filming.
The second scene shifted from the gloomy, secluded front gate to a castle-like hotel.
In the reception room, a group of people gathered with terrified expressions, facing a "corpse" bleeding from the head.
The "corpse" lay face-down on the floor, covered by a gray tablecloth. Beside it lay a heavy golf club—if not for the body beneath the gray cloth subtly rising and falling with each breath, the place would have looked exactly like a real crime scene.
Under the camera's lens, Kazami Yoshiteru, playing the Detective, looked around and quickly revealed a confident smile. With his hands in his pockets, he walked over to the corpse and said gravely, "This body was covered with a gray tablecloth, while draped over this chair by the table is the black suit the victim wore before his death.
"Furthermore, the murder weapon used by the killer—the golf club with a white protective cover—was also discarded beside the body..."
He chuckled. "Taken together, the answer is already obvious."
Behind him, the old butler, the widow, and Widow's Daughter stood together, watching the scene with tense expressions.
Behind the Video Camera in the distance, Suzuki Sonoko quietly muttered to Mouri Ran, "This is pretty convincing. And there are exactly three suspects too—what an accurate recreation."
When Mouri Ran encountered a Murder Case, she did not usually give it much thought. Sometimes, she would not even count how many suspects there were.
But Suzuki Sonoko had been busy tinkering with her little game and had specifically researched case after case. She was extremely familiar with this three-person setup and could