Late that night, tensions in the police station were strained.

In the silence, many of the staff members' eyes shifted back and forth between the clock and their telephones, counting the seconds in that stifled atmosphere.

Kumagaya-kun burst in with a young guy trailing behind him.

"Ooishi-san, I've got the autopsy results!

The court physician just got here!!

I'm ready to go, sir!!

I'll head straight for the burned body's location!!"

"Kuma-chan, things have gotten a bit complicated.

They appear to be having a very difficult time determining who the victim is."

"Could they have been... dismembered...?!"

"Nope.

Cooked to a nice, light brown."

He spoke in sportive tones, but the meaning behind his words was heavy.

...The staff gave a collective sigh.

"All the way? Head to toe...?"

"Completely blackened, it seems.

Probably smells terrible, too.

What a shame it is to be Gifu-san."

Cooked, with no possessions.

Then, discarded outside the prefecture...

At worst, it would have taken a week for the body to be identified.

...The fact that they'd sniffed it out tonight was huge.

"Komiyama-kun and a few others are performing a thorough night raid on the dentist in Okinomiya.

All we can do is hope a tooth matches some medical records.

...Sorry!

Could someone go buy me two or so boxes of strong cigarettes?"

The young guy answered in affirmation and darted out into the hallway.

"...We did an excellent job finding it this year.

...It could be that the people who disappeared in past years were scattered outside the prefecture like this too."

"Then why not bury them,

or sink them into the Sea of Japan, or Lake Biwa, or somewhere like that?"

"...Why, though?

...Hasn't the pattern so far been one person dies, and another disappears?"

"Kuma-chan, the corpse was inside an oil drum, unrestrained, and cooked.

They probably burned them after strangling them.

They knew it would be found."

"So what you mean is... from the beginning, they didn't want a person to disappear this year?"

"Not so much that as they just aren't related.

The person didn't disappear—in fact, whoever did it seems to have wanted to make a show of it."

"You mean... it could be a warning?"

He folded his arms... and then heaved a long and heavy sigh.

"That might have been the case had it happened in town.

...If they'd messed up, taking the victim far away and burning them alive wouldn't have been noticed.

If they meant it as a warning, they should have done it closer to Hinamizawa.

...They wanted to emphasize the fact that they killed the victim, but instead of doing it somewhere for dramatic effect, they did it outside the prefecture.

Did they want to emphasize it or hide it?

......Boy, I do wonder what Oyashiro-sama is up to this year~"

A telephone ring cut through the heavy silence.

A staff member nearby snatched up the receiver.

"Ooishi-san!

It's Komiyama!!

They have it!

The dental clinic in Okinomiya fixed the wisdom tooth three years ago!!"

"What about the records?!"

"Complete with X-rays!"

"Well... I feel bad for waking up the dentist before dawn.

Kuma-chan, get out there as soon as you get the records from Komiyama-kun."

"Will do!!"

"Oh, it's the Chief!!

Thank you for coming out at this hour!"

"Ooishi-san, my apologies for my lateness.

What's the situation?!"

"Hmm... Well, it's just getting good, you see.

We're all getting fired up!

Waa~o♪!!"