Following the clues provided by the surveillance footage, the group indeed found a scattered janitor's uniform and an overturned cleaning cart by the sea access passage on the dry deck.
No detective needed to explain it; the scene spoke for itself.
"Can this hatch lead directly outside?" Hitoshi Shiratori stopped Makino Yosuke from reaching out to touch it and confirmed first.
Judging by the surveillance footage, whoever had taken Naomi was unlikely to leave behind such a low-level piece of evidence as fingerprints. Still, this was likely their only lead for tracking the missing woman, so they could not casually compromise it.
"Yes. We're a sealed, airtight structure, after all. We can't possibly have only one entrance and exit; that wouldn't meet safety standards." Makino Yosuke nodded. "But the problem is, going out from here means reaching a depth of nearly a hundred meters. The nearest point of Hachijōjima Island is over five kilometers away. How could they take Naomi away?"
There was a heavy implication in his words, and everyone present could hear it.
In this situation, they had to consider the possibility that the people who had taken Naomi... had never intended to let her live.
If they simply threw someone into water at this depth, even a strong swimmer would struggle to reach the surface and would quickly lose their life.
"Who can open this door?" Kuroda Hyoe stood with his arms folded, surveying the surroundings as he went straight to the key question.
An entrance built in a place like this could not be opened casually. The facility needed to remain airtight to keep its personnel safe. If a door leading into the sea could be opened at will, building this thing would be no different from turning people into match-three tiles.
Since that was the