Some creators had certain bizarre quirks, and given the particular environment of artistic creation and the like, many people could understand them.
But what Masutaka Shirokuchi described was clearly not that kind of situation.
Akiba had died while testing whether a locked-room murder method for him could work. The author who designed it had to have been fully aware of how dangerous the method was. His attitude toward his editor had long surpassed bullying—he genuinely wanted to kill him.
Masutaka Shirokuchi had done it deliberately.
"An overinflated ego." Tangze gave that decisive assessment. "His successful career and other people's adoration gave him the illusion that he really was, as the critics said, some clever man who could decide whether others lived or died."
"Maybe he was jealous of Editor Akiba too." Ran Mouri lowered her head as she analyzed it. "As his closest collaborator, Akiba earned less and had a lower social status than him, yet he had a happy family and was a responsible person..."
"There's no need to analyze it so much. He's just a pervert." Mori Kogoro frowned deeply and waved a hand. "There are plenty of mystery writers in Japan. He has no right to torture other people just because his own life is miserable."
Kakuji Ideda, whose emotions had been tense just moments ago, finally began to pull himself free from that dark state of mind after hearing the three of them. He lifted his head and smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I did try talking to colleagues I was close with before..."
He did not continue. He merely shook his head helplessly, and it was obvious that the outcome of those conversations had been deeply disappointing.
"In short, we should steer the discussion toward his mindset as much as possible, then get him to repeat