"Now you see why I called it a boring revenge drama, right?"
Hoshino Ai gave Hiro Saitou a teasing smirk.
"You say that," she added, "but didn't you already reveal the killer's name? You gave enough clues to figure it out. Honestly, I think the real culprit is the biological father."
Hiro nodded. "Yeah, that's where I'm leaning. I'm using the setup to dig into the past."
Ai tilted her head. "So the story's bad on purpose? The dad kills the mom, and the son grows up just to find and kill him? Isn't that a little extreme?"
She was half-joking, but the plot summary did sound intense: Sapphire, the son, watches his mother get murdered. Years later, he learns the killer is his biological father—a man he's never met.
"That's way too dark," Ai said. "Only a made-up story could be that twisted."
"…That's what I went through," Hiro muttered quietly.
Ai's smile faded, but before she could say anything, Hiro leaned back and asked,
"Then guess—what kind of guy would do something like that to a girl he once loved?"
Ai narrowed her eyes. "I mean, the motive would have to be messed up. But if you don't even know it yourself…"
"Right. That's what's bothering me," Hiro said, rubbing his temple. "I have a direction, but the motive still doesn't make sense."
"Maybe he was mentally ill?" Ai suggested.
"Too easy," Hiro replied. "That kind of logic always feels lazy."
He sighed. "I want it to be believable. But trying to understand someone who's totally broken inside… I just can't."
Ai leaned back, thinking hard.
What motive could justify such cruelty?
Crazy? No. The girl never betrayed anyone. She even gave birth to his twins.
Psychosis? Cliché.
Serial killer? Far-fetched.
A pervert who enjoys killing? … Too forced.
"And if he's really like that, why wait so many years to act?" she asked.
"Exactly," Hiro nodded. "A real psycho wouldn't wait."
"It has to be deeper. Some kind of twisted logic only he understood."
Ai sighed. "This is starting to feel like a real detective story."
"A detective story?" Hiro repeated, perking up.
Ai nodded. "Yeah. If the dad is the killer, then the real mystery is figuring out why he did it. That's the hook."
"But if you don't give a satisfying answer, your readers will eat you alive," she added.
Hiro chuckled bitterly. "Tell me about it."
He looked at her again. "So, what do you think? How should Ruby and Sapphire find the killer?"
"DNA testing," Ai said without hesitation.
"But what if that's not an option?"
"Why not?" she frowned. "This is your world. You control the rules. If you don't want DNA testing, then you better write around it."
"Right…" Hiro scratched his head. "Can they find the killer with just what I've set up so far?"
Ai smiled slyly. "I'm just the audience. You're the author."
"But you're good at figuring things out," he said.
After a long pause, he straightened and said,
"Actually, I already do know who the killer is. And what he did. But I want you to figure it out—just from the clues I give."
Ai smirked. "Alright, I'll play. But only if you give me all the characters."
"Deal."
Hiro began to narrate again.
"After the girl died, Sapphire held her lifeless body close, feeling her warmth slip away. He promised he'd find the man who did this.
"But no one else came down that road. No one saw what happened. The forest stayed silent.
"Sapphire returned to town and told the old nun what had happened—that Liang was the killer.
"The nun went to Liang's house... but he had already taken his own life."
Ai blinked. "He killed himself?"
Hiro nodded. "Which made the nun suspicious. Liang was impulsive but not a murderer. Something didn't add up.
"And then she asked Sapphire something strange:
'How did you know where your mother died?'"
Ai leaned forward.
"Sapphire told her everything—he had followed his mother that day. He was trying to meet his father."
Ai's eyes widened.
Hiro continued:
"The nun immediately realized—the real killer must've been the girl's 'wild man.'
"She started investigating. Looking into every man who might've been the girl's lover.
"Poor farmers, traveling merchants, nobles, monks, even priests at the Great Monastery…"
Ai's expression turned serious. "And none of them stood out?"
"Not yet," Hiro said. "But the deeper she looked, the closer she got to the truth."
Author's Note:
I changed the book's title and intro this morning and tried to resubmit the chapter… But the new cover failed the review process, and my intro edits didn't save. I'm dying inside.