Romantic Troubles of Duanmu-kun

“What are you two… doing?”

Both girls’ hair was slightly disheveled, beads of sweat dotting their smooth foreheads as they lay entangled and breathless. To an outsider’s eye, it might have been quite a lovely scene… but what puzzled the Novelist was the “why.”

Though the three of them were nominally living under the same roof, in reality, their relationship was that of landlord and tenants. Just as it had been when he lived with Miyagi-san before, they mostly stayed in their own rooms. Whether it was him focusing on writing or her with her unusual occupation, they each had their own matters to attend to.

…Of course, lately those two had been treating his room like their own hangout spot. It was the information age after all—most work could be done with just a laptop. But at least between the two of them, there hadn’t been any history of visiting each other’s rooms.

Yayoi, wrapped tightly in the blanket like a silkworm, poked her pretty face out and let out a small breath as she prepared to crawl out. She pressed one hand directly against Miyagi-san’s chest to support herself (Aki letting out a sweet moan at the right moment), then proceeded to undo the blanket’s constraints and was the first to break free.

“It was an experiment,” the young woman replied calmly, adjusting her hair and the sleeves of her kimono.

“Uh… what kind of experiment?”

The Novelist asked while placing his manuscript papers on the table. He tried to keep his expression neutral to avoid losing composure from excessive shock later.

…He felt uneasy because with these two women, the possibility of something outrageous was quite high—nothing they did would be surprising.

“We were testing the feasibility of the ‘blanket restraint murder’ method—the truth behind the ‘Ghost Manor Murder Case’ that your protagonist, the mystery Novelist-detective, deduced in your story,” Yayoi explained.

Ah…

An unexpected answer.

“I see, so that’s what this is about.”

The Novelist nodded.

That was one of the murder methods mentioned in his debut work Butterfly, Midsummer Night, Dream, and also one of the core “tricks.” A “trick,” simply put, was “how to achieve a certain crime.” It could be a killing mechanism using fishing line or piano wire, or it could be a wordplay that deceived readers. A story could certainly have multiple tricks of different forms and types, with the most central one being the key to the entire mystery.

In the Novelist’s debut work, the killer had exploited the victim’s sleeping habits, using a blanket to suffocate them without their knowledge, accomplishing an impossible “locked room murder.” This was the final “trick” that unlocked the truth.

“So, what was the result?”

He spotted the novel turned to its back cover on the table, figuring that must be it.

“With just the two of us, it can’t be done,” Miyagi-san said lazily while sprawled on the blanket, shaking her head in denial.

“However, we can’t deny the possibility that ‘someone might be able to do it.’ After all, the victim in the novel had a special hereditary condition, and also had previous experience with related physical training. Additionally, the mechanical details of similar setups…” Yayoi added supplementary explanation.

Even so, surely no one would actually try to implement a murder method from a novel.

This was the gap between current mystery works and reality. Some bizarre cases and murder methods, even if logically possible, were simply impossible to imagine anyone using such complicated tricks to kill in reality.

This was also why some mystery works were often criticized as “impractical.” Rather than viewing them as realistic technical methods, it was more accurate to see them as intellectual games played between authors and readers with agreed-upon premises.

In the past, during the golden age of mystery novels, there had indeed been classic works that both created unexpected shocking effects for readers of the time while keeping cases close to reality.

But as writers’ era had progressed to the present, traditional tricks had reached their limit. For the rationality and realism of mystery works, the vast majority of writers had to abandon one or the other; or simply abandon both for the sake of creating impact with core tricks.

…

“I can actually understand regular readers’ perspective,” the Novelist said with a wry smile, scratching his cheek.

“The most crucial point is that ‘tricks in mystery novels only need real-world possibility, not reality itself.’ Even though I write relatively reality-pursuing ‘physical tricks’…”

He suddenly remembered his conversation with the editor and asked somewhat nervously.

“By the way, um… since you’ve both read it, what did you think?”

“It was really good! I got completely absorbed and read all afternoon without realizing it!”

“Ordinarily interesting.”

The two girls quickly gave characteristically different responses.

“…I see.”

He quietly let out a sigh of relief.

Even while maintaining an objective evaluation of one’s own level, still hoping for encouragement from those around you was only human nature.

Yayoi’s evaluation was hard to classify as good or bad, but being “interesting” should be the priority—

“But why did you suddenly decide to read my book today?”

He hadn’t hidden his identity as a Novelist from them, and they hadn’t paid it much mind. Their meeting and familiarity had nothing to do with occupations or identities.

The Novelist’s gaze fell again on the book cover on the table.

…There was only one copy.

Which meant Miyagi-san and Yayoi had likely read it together, then jointly conducted their “experiment” to verify the novel’s content.

Well, setting aside how their relationship had become close enough to sit together and read, or how they had reached consensus afterward, or why they had ended up rolling around in the blanket… without some kind of chance trigger, they wouldn’t have sat down to read his work together in the first place.

“Did something happen?”

The Novelist frankly voiced his doubt.

“Hehe~ As sharp as ever, Landlord-san. Want to know?”

Just as Miyagi-san was about to play coy, Yayoi had already opened her laptop.

“The latest news from Shibuya NEWS.”

She said softly, turning the screen toward him.

“A certain writer died. The cause was murder.”

Huh…?

“The person was a bestselling author under Gakutan Publishing. If I remember correctly, Liang, you publish your novels there too? After that, Miyagi-san brought up reading your work…”

The Novelist couldn’t help but frown as he looked at the photo and name in the news.