The vengeful Kaoruko Kyogoku
Kaoruko Kyogoku is a hidden villainess of Kyoto Beauty Florist Murder Case. She was the older sister of Sakurako, daughter of Tsuruha, and an Ikebana artist of Akaike school in Kyoto.
Kaoruko's backstory revealed that she grew up learning the art of Ikebana under her father Seiryu, the Ikebana Master of Akaike School, along with Sakurako. Though the sisters appeared to be close in during their youth, their relationship gradually gotten worse as Kaoruko came to believe herself to be inferior to her twin sister, witnessing her father showering Sakurako with praise and admiration in the latter's talent despite her being equally deligent. Still, Kaoruko continued to endure without saying a word to Seiryu or Sakurako, even though she knew that her father had planned for Sakurako to become the school's successor. During this time, Sakurako became a friend with a young boy named Sakyo who was also a student under her father, whom Kaoruko didn't feel pleasent toward when they first met, something that was also mutual with Sakyo's. Sakyo eventually stopped visiting due to his mother's second marriage and with him and her moving away from Kyoto.
Tragedy began for the Akaike School after Seiryu passed away, with Seiryu's younger stepbrother Garyu usurped the master position from Sakurako and made himself one instead. Though Garyu was a talented pottery maker, his nasty temperament and personality quickly destroyed the school's fame and popularity, much to Kaoruko and the rest of the family's despair and resentment, as they're in no positiion to argue with him. During this time, Garyu began to make a sexual advance toward Sakurako, resulting in her deciding to instead became an independent flower artist, but also to financially support the school and family as Garyu had been squandering the school's finance for self gain. Because Sakurako didn't inform anyone of her true intention apart from her boyfriend Sakyo, who returned and became an apprentice at the school, everyone and especially Kaoruko came to believe that Sakurako did it out of selfishness, abandoning the task and pressure of upholding the school's legacy to the "less talented" Kaoruko, causing Kaoruko to resent her twin sisters even further, culminating in her going out with a man to relieve the stress from various Ikebana competitions and maintaining the school's stability inspite of her less than helpful uncle, not knowing that the man had planned to blackmail her with a revenge porn due to her being drunk at time. When the school's financial statue reached the deep end, Kaoruko resolved to enter a marriage interview with a rich heir of a successful company, despite not being in love with im, in an attempt to save Akaike school, cutting off the relationship with her partner in the process. Vengeful toward Kaoruko's action, the man released an intimating video between them on the internet as a revenge against her, driving Kaoruko to despair. During this time, her inner demon "whispered" her to kill her younger sister Sakurako and put all the blame on her, as Sakurako was the cause of all her life's misery. Although she resisted at first, Kaoruko's dark side eventually won over, and she soon plotted to murder her twin sister.
Being a recurring customer of a small restaurant that was famous about its small sand box garden, Kaoruko knew from the owner about the Sand Hardening Spray and came up with a plan to make it seemed like Sakurako had committed suicide out of shame.
On the night of the murder, Kaoruko used the spray to create an invisible pathway in the house's Zen Garden to get to the rock island formation in the center. She then lured Sakurako to her location and slashed her sister throat with a knife when Sakurako's guard was down. After the deed was done, she escaped back to the main house via the same pathway, believing that "it was the best way to protect Akaike School".
Though she succeeded in concealing her crime from the eyes of the police and Hajime Kindaichi, an employee of the company that planned to make a deal with her school, Sakyo Kurogi, Sakurako's boyfriend, began to suspect her involvement as he never got along with Kaoroku, and cornered her at the storage room. Frenzied that Sakyo had discovered her crime, the hysteric Kaoruko tried to slash him with a knife as she madly chant that she did everything for the Akaike. Their struggle ultimately ended with Sakyo strangling Kaoruko to death with a thread, but not before she bit his arm. Panicked that he had killed Kaoruko and that his blood got on her teeth, the evil Sakyo severed Kaoruko's head from her body and hid it in one of the vases in the living room, purposedly turning it upside down, and arranged her body in the middle of the room to make it appear that the case was a serial murder. Later, when the drunk Garyu almost discovered Kaoruko's head, Sakyo decided to silence him as well, and planning to dispose of Kaoruko's head later after the police has left to conceal his crime forever.
Unfortunately for Sakyo, Hajime had figured out the Kaoruko's trick she used to murder Sakurako and her motive, and confronted Sakyo for his crime with the police. Hajime then revealed Kaoruko's head hidden inside the vase, causing Tsuruha to break down in tears for never noticing her elder daughter's suffering all those years. At this point, Sakyo confessed that Sakurako didn't turn her back against the family and abandon all the duty to Kaoruko after being sexually harassed by Garyu, as she was trying to financially support the Akaike School individually through her fame and contest participation (though ultimately this didn't reach Kaoruko or anyone else in the school due to Sakurako believing that "no one except Sakyo would understand her action". Sakyo then tried to commit suicide, but Kindaichi stopped him.
After Sakyo was arrested, Tsurara had a reflection on her failure as a mother and her inability to understand either of her daughters' feeling, though Nishiki Ichioji, another of Seiryu disciple, comforted Tsurara and promised to help her restore and continue the Akaike School, presumably after they arranged a proper funeral for Kaoruko and Sakurako. Hajime also sadly expressed that, perhaps if Kaoruko and the rest didn't take their devotion for Akaike so far and actually converse with each others properly, the tragedy might not happened.
Trivia[]
- Kaoruko's role and motive is similar to Renko Kitami from File Series and Beniko Kirisawa from Short Series.
- Kaoruko and Renko misunderstood the intention of their younger talented twin sisters that they had murdered and whom they believed to have lead a much more fortunate life than they had.
- Kaoruko and Beniko were both deeply jealous of their younger twin sisters who were praised by their father/stepfather as the more talented Ikebana artist than they're, though Beniko's hatred was directed to her stepfather (who was later revealed to be her biological father) than her younger twin sister Midoriko.