User blog:Seieireppa/Nanako’s Magical☆Mystery☆Adventure, part 5 (Final Chapter)

As this is the final chapter, I have prepared a little something extra – I will be using gold text to denote certain statements made by the culprit that are of some importance or have to do with the mystery. These are obviously not important for solving the mystery, so feel free to ignore them. They are merely an extra treat.

At long last, the decisive moment had come. All the clues had presented themselves and the truth had been made apparent. Nanako brought everyone into Julius’ room to deliver the final verdict.

As the tension in the room reached an all-time high, Nanako whirled around dramatically and addressed the crowd.

“Members of Fenrir!” Nanako proclaimed. “I thank you for assisting me in my investigation so far. This morning, I swore I would bring justice to Julius and bring the truth to light. And now, I have found that truth! For I will now declare that the culprit is among us… in this very room!”

A collective gasp issued forth from the crowd. To know that the murderer was among them was a chilling feeling. What if they struck again right now? What if another victim made an appearance?

“So who is it, then?” demanded Kota. “Get on with it!”

“In that case,” retorted Nanako, “I shall.”

Steeling herself, Nanako prepared to deliver her verdict. “Right here and now, I proclaim… that the culprit– ”

Nanako stretched out her finger and pointed.

“ –is you!! ”

The crowd gasped once again… then let out an expression of exasperation and confusion, for the one to whom Nanako was pointing was none other than the body of Julius Visconti, laying on the floor!

Shun Ogawa had had enough. “Is this some kind of a joke?!” he shouted. “You expect us to believe that Julius… killed Julius?”

“Calm down,” replied Nanako. “ I never said that he killed himself. Julius, if you will…?”

With those words, the body stirred as Julius slowly rose to his feet… revealing that he was, in fact, very much not dead at all!

The crowd’s reaction was wildly varied. Some gasped, some shouted for joy, and some even fainted from the shock. Kota even cried out “A ZOMBIE! THE APOCALYPSE IS UPON US!!” before promptly vomiting and dashing away in a panic.

The only one who did not show a reaction was Ciel Alençon. “Ciel, I can see that you seem not to be fazed by this revelation,” stated Nanako. “Would you kindly explain to the crowd why this is?”

“Gladly,” Ciel affirmed. “You see, everyone, last night, after dinner, I was the one who brought Julius his evening tea.”

“And what does that have to do with anything?!” Shun returned.

Ciel was about to continue, but she was interrupted by none other than Julius himself.

“Allow me to explain,” spoke Julius. “You see… recently, I had been suffering from terrible bouts of insomnia. No matter how hard I tried, I simply could not get to sleep. So I asked Ciel here, who brings me my evening tea every day, to prepare a special order. What she brought me last night was a cup of chamomile tea. ”

“And…?” came Karel Schneider’s response.

“…and chamomile tea is known for being a proven sleep aid. I thought that this would help me get to sleep within a reasonable time and get a good deal of sleep at that, and I was right. Unfortunately, I didn’t count on it working as well as it did … so I sincerely apologize for worrying you all.”

Nana came forward to address Julius. “Nonsense, you big dummy!” she exclaimed. “I’m just glad you’re alright!”

Sakaki raised a further question. “But if Ciel was the one who brought you your tea, Julius,” he began, “ wouldn’t that make her the culprit? ”

“That well may be,” Julius answered, “but it was me who requested the chamomile tea in the first place. Therefore, the onus for this event lies squarely on my shoulders. Please, accept my apologies.”

The crowd erupted in all manner of cries of “Julius,” “Julius,” etc. It seems that news of Julius’… not death… had almost completely diffused the tension of the situation.

As the crowd huddled around Julius to express their happiness at his being alive, Nanako turned to leave the room, but was stopped by Sakaki.

“Aren’t you going to stick around?” the latter inquired.

Nanako, however, shook her head. “Nah… my work here is done. I wouldn’t want to impede on everyone’s celebration.”

“Nonsense,” Sakaki replied. “You’re just as much a member of Blood as anyone else, are you not? In that case, I’m sure Julius would certainly have a few words for you.”

“It’s quite alright,” Nanako assured. Besides… who knows when or where a new mystery will pop up?”

Sakaki merely sighed. “Fair enough, I suppose.”  He stepped aside as Nanako walked to the door, turned the handle, and exited.”

The sounds of the crowd became muffled as Nanako closed the door behind her.

“Another job well done, I guess,” she spoke aloud to herself.

She then turned to the side, addressing some unknown listener.

“ Even with this level of evidence present,” Nanako exclaimed, “see how far Nanako Kawashima’s reasoning has taken her. What do you think, everyone? ”

And with that, Nanako Kawashima, the Detective, turned and entered the elevator as it sped off to its next destination.


 * THE END

And thus ends Nanako’s Magical☆Mystery☆Adventure. It has been a wondrous experience writing this and seeing you all formulate your own theories. Vina T succeeded in arriving at the truth in her comments on Chapter 4, and for this, I give my most sincere congratulations. I honestly did not think anyone would catch all the hints I’d dropped.

However, did any of you catch the huge hint I left in chapter 4?