Sanga’s face, already brutal, twisted into a mask of pure, murderous rage as he loomed over Yugo.
Undaunted by the man’s aggression, Yugo met his gaze directly and spoke with calm precision.
"It’s simple. Earlier, when Melt was trying to convince En not to run, you said something very specific to her. You said, 'If she’s going to be treated as a criminal based on the testimony of someone who might not even be trustworthy and a single, cheap magic item that can't even be called evidence, then she’s better off running away.'"
"What’s so strange about that?! Is there something wrong with what I said?!"
"Leaving aside whether or not it's a good idea to tell En to become a fugitive, your logic isn't necessarily flawed. However, that’s not what caught my attention."
As he spoke, Yugo reached down and picked up the evidence item sitting on the table—the communication device he had dropped the day before.
He held it up before Sanga’s eyes, staring the man down.
"Sanga, how did you know this was a 'cheap magic item'?"
"Huh? ...Ah!"
For a heartbeat, Sanga looked genuinely confused, as if he didn't understand the question. But as the weight of his own slip-up settled in, a look of pure dread washed over his face. He had realized, too late, that he’d just hung himself with his own words.
Sensing the shift, Jinba stepped in to finish the thought for the rest of the room.
"This left-behind item, which the culprit supposedly dropped at the scene, looks like nothing more than an ordinary compact at first glance. In fact, neither Rommelo—who failed to investigate thoroughly—nor I realized this was a magic item until it was explained to us. Yet you, having only caught a glimpse of it from across the room, called it a 'cheap magic item' without a moment’s hesitation. As Yugo said, that is incredibly suspicious."
"Just to be clear," Yugo added, "you’re the only one who used the term 'magic item' during this entire conversation. Melt and the Master knew it was mine, but they never mentioned what it actually was. So, how did you know? I think we’re all waiting for a convincing explanation."
"Ugh... guuh...!"
Sanga began to falter, his bravado replaced by a look of sheer agony as he searched for a lie that wouldn't come.
As the large man's silence grew louder, Jinba pressed his advantage.
"Yugo, I have one more question. You said you entered this shop immediately after the Security Force arrived. Did these two men enter after you?"
"No, I didn't see them come in."
"Which means they were already here before Yugo arrived. However, as you can see, there isn't a single customer in this shop. We would have noticed them immediately. So, at what point exactly did these two enter?"
"...Are you suggesting they came in with us?" Rommelo stammered, trying to deny the implication. "Ridiculous! If men like this were mixed in with my squad, I would have noticed—wait!"
Rommelo’s face drained of color as the pieces finally clicked into place.
Jinba nodded grimly, speaking as if lecturing a slow student.
"It is only a theory, but everything fits if we assume one thing: these two had a way to disguise themselves as members of the Security Force. If they could do that, it wouldn't have been difficult for them to change their appearance to match En’s during the robbery."
"Then... then that means these two are the ones who committed the robbery?! They were trying to pin it all on En!?" Melt cried out.
"To be precise, they likely intended to frame her so the Security Force would hunt her, leaving her with no choice but to crawl back to them for protection. Rommelo, you were dancing exactly to their tune. If you had conducted a proper investigation instead of deciding En was guilty from the start, none of this would have happened."
"Gu... gugu...!"
Rommelo let out a strangled groan, his face turning a humiliated shade of crimson. The realization that his own narrow-minded bias had been weaponized by criminals left him utterly speechless.
En stepped forward, her eyes wide with hurt and disbelief as she looked at Sanga.
"Is it true? Are you two really the ones? You committed a robbery just to drag me back to that life? Did you really hate the idea of me leaving that much? Answer me, Sanga!"
"No... that’s not it, En! We just wanted to—huh?"
A dull, sickening thud echoed through the shop.
Sanga, who had been desperately trying to plead with En, froze. He looked down slowly, his eyes going wide as he saw a blade protruding from his side, blood beginning to bloom across his shirt.
"San...ga!?" En screamed.
"Guh... hah..."
Sanga collapsed onto the floor in a heap.
Standing behind him was the person who had delivered the blow. Batz looked down at his fallen partner and spat his words out with cold contempt.
"...Useless. We were so close. I was so close to having En all to myself forever."
"Batz!?" En recoiled in horror. "Do you realize what you’ve just done!?"
"I know. I know exactly what I've done, En!" Batz said, the mask of the weak, timid young man falling away. His eyes glowed with a terrifying, feverish intensity. "I won't let you leave me. I won't let you go somewhere I can't follow. I love you. I want to be with you. That’s why... that’s why..."
He gripped the blood-stained sword, a low, jagged laugh bubbling up from his throat. Then, his expression went completely blank, his voice dropping to a chilling monotone.
"I’ll destroy everything that gets in my way."