Fushimi Roku stared at the man in front of him. His appearance was ordinary, with heavy frown lines, slanted eyebrows, and droopy eyes that made his features look lifeless.
Because of his short and flat nose, his glasses continuously slid down, and he frequently adjusted them, revealing a timid demeanor.
"Criminal index: 12%"
"Vices: Being a pushover"
"Clearance Reward: Eliminate Ishizuka Yoshio's sins to gain Level 1 Handwriting Imitation Skill"
Fushimi Roku pondered for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry to disturb you, we will keep this confidential," and prepared to leave.
"Eh? Leaving already?"
Minamoto Tamako looked back every few steps and inadvertently made eye contact with Ishizuka Yoshio, who immediately averted his gaze guiltily.
Fushimi Roku quickly walked through the corridor, saying as he went, "Something feels off."
Ishizuka Yoshio's crime value was too low, at least lower than the average person's. Besides, his vice was being a pushover, so what he said was likely true.
"What is it?" Minamoto Tamako was puzzled, "What's wrong?"
"Not sure." Fushimi Roku couldn't quite put his finger on it, but based on past experiences, he had a vague intuition.
"Let's go over it from the beginning then!" Minamoto Tamako suggested, "When I hit a dead end with a puzzle, I start from the top to clear my thoughts."
The two went downstairs, greeted by the calls of Class B's drills from the field, while the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom in the side yard. They sat on a bench under the tree, and Minamoto Tamako began to analyze, counting on her fingers:
"It started with an anonymous letter, the class monitor secretly helping Instructor Sakurai trace its origin..."
"Then the nighttime office investigation, where we found threats of revenge and accusations of murder in the letter..."
"Next was the special red ink, through which we identified Ishizuka Yoshio as the sender..."
"Finally, Mr. Ishizuka confessed everything, laying bare the revenge plan, supposedly unveiling the truth..."
Minamoto Tamako went over it step by step and concluded, "There's nothing wrong."
She turned her head to find Fushimi Roku looking enlightened, but she had no idea what he realized.
"I know where the problem is." Fushimi Roku intertwined his fingers, and his thumbs spun around – his habitual gesture when deep in thought.
"Tell me quickly!" Minamoto Tamako was eager to find the loophole in her reasoning.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Too smooth, just like an intelligence puzzle." Fushimi Roku was intrigued, and finally began to take this 'case' seriously.
"That means my reasoning is flawless!" Minamoto Tamako felt he was nitpicking.
"You haven't dealt with a real case before; the investigation process isn't a direct path from A to B, but rather searching for pieces in the chaos. When a clue leads directly to another, there's a ninety percent chance it's fabricated; the correlation between two clues is an extremely rare coincidence you only find in detective novels."
This was Fushimi Roku's experienced insight.
Minamoto Tamako was quite dissatisfied, asking, "Have you ever dealt with a real case?"
Fushimi Roku was thinking of something else and accidentally let it slip. He coughed tactically and diverted the topic:
"Instructor Sakurai was hired as an instructor five years ago, and Ishizuka Yoshio has been working at the police academy for eight years. They got along peacefully over the years. Why is it recently that Ishizuka suddenly thought of taking revenge on her?"
Upon hearing this, Minamoto Tamako bit her thumb and furrowed her small eyebrows:
"That is indeed suspicious, but didn't you mention before? The criminal himself is the most uncertain chaotic factor, maybe he acted on a whim... who can say for sure?"
Fushimi Roku did not argue.
He actually didn't care at all about what the truth was, nor who killed whom, he just wanted to get dirt on Instructor Sakurai and make that pervert worry about acting recklessly.
Minamoto Tamako, on the other hand, was very concerned about the hit-and-run case sixteen years ago.
A young innocent girl was killed by a car, someone had to be held accountable, how could the murderer escape legal punishment? Even if the victim's family had given up on pursuing responsibility, and even if fifteen years had passed since the statute of limitations expired, she still wanted to bring the culprit to justice!
The two fell silent, racking their brains in thought, while only the wind spoke around them.
From a distance came the whistle of dismissal on the field, and the students of Class B scattered in groups of threes and fours.
After a while, Minamoto Tamako's vision suddenly went black, and a joyful voice came from behind: "Guess who I am!"
Kawai stood behind the bench, covering Minamoto Tamako's eyes with her hands.
"Really, I'm not in the mood to play this right now," Minamoto Tamako turned her head and pushed Kawai's hands away, crossing her arms and frowning, "We're thinking about something serious now!"
"Huh? Still thinking about the anonymous letter?" Kawai propped herself on the back of the bench with one hand, flipped over nimbly, and plopped down next to Minamoto Tamako, "Any progress?"
Minamoto Tamako told Kawai about Ishizuka Yoshio's confession, leaving the latter astounded, "Really? Instructor Sakurai actually killed someone?"
Then, with an angry look, she pounded her fist on her knee and said, "Hit-and-run offenders like that are the worst! They should be arrested and sentenced to death! Death penalty!"
Upon hearing this, Fushimi Roku instinctively glanced at the top of her head.
"Criminal index: 15%"
"Vices: Superstitious of Ghosts"
"Clearance Reward: Eliminate Nagono Kawai's sins to gain Level 1 Lock-opening Skill"
The criminal index was ordinary, but the vice of "superstitious of ghosts" piqued his interest a bit.
Noticing Fushimi Roku's scrutinizing gaze, Minamoto Tamako hurriedly defended her friend, "Kawai's family runs a temple, her father is the temple abbot, so she despises killings, besides..."
Minamoto Tamako hesitated, glancing at Kawai, uncertain whether she should reveal more.
"It's okay, Tamako's friends are my friends," Kawai patted her on the head, taking the initiative to explain, "I had a younger brother, who died in a car accident, so I hate hit-and-run criminals."
She paused and asked curiously, "By the way, how did you deduce that Mr. Ishizuka's daughter died in a car accident?"
Minamoto Tamako scratched her little nose with a finger, whispering, "We drew lots."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Kawai looked completely baffled.
"Fushimi-kun wrote a bunch of paper balls with different causes of death, and let me randomly pick one," Minamoto Tamako stammered, explaining, "But, well, luck is also a part of skill! Haha, right, Fushimi-kun?"
Fushimi Roku leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring into Kawai's eyes, "But there's something that's been bothering me."
"What is it?" Kawai playfully crossed her hands, "You're not about to confess to me, are you? Sorry, but you're not my type!"
Fushimi Roku ignored her banter and calmly asked, "Didn't you say your father was a locksmith?"