"At 3:15 this morning, according to the surveillance footage, Kitahara Takashi and Hasegawa Sae left the bar, bid farewell to their friends, and drove from Yoshiwara towards Asakusa."
Inspector Suzuki spoke as he opened the laptop on the desk and pulled up the surveillance footage along the route.
"Did you question those friends?" Fujiwara Reya asked.
"Our colleagues questioned them early this morning; they're all still in a hangover state, so no useful clues for now. Oh, I'm going to step outside for a smoke. Little wizard, you take a look at the road footage first."
Saying this, Inspector Suzuki took a cigarette in his mouth and stepped out of the tent.
Fujiwara Reya watched the screen alone.
There wasn't much information from the surveillance. At 3:30 in the morning, when Kitahara Takashi drove to the cri scene, the car abruptly braked, skidding into the roadside barrier. When he opened the door and got out to check, the surveillance went black.
No need to say, sothing must have deliberately sabotaged the surveillance.
"Hey, little wizard, want anything to drink?" Inspector Suzuki poked his head back inside to ask.
"A cola will do."
"Coming right up!"
Soon, Inspector Suzuki returned with two cans of cola, handing one to Fujiwara Reya.
"It's clearly preditated murder!" the officer judged.
Fujiwara Reya took small sips of his cola.
Quietly pondering in the increasingly silent tent, it seed Inspector Suzuki could almost hear the wheels turning in his mind.
It can be concluded that this is indeed a supernatural case.
After all, the scene was terrifying!
No matter how brutal and twisted a killer is, they couldn't possibly chop a body into such fine, uneven pieces.
But then, a more severe problem arises.
A vengeful spirit can't appear out of thin air; it must have been summoned by soone!
Which ans the culprit behind this vengeful spirit murder might possess the ans to control and create vengeful spirits.
Dispelling the spirit is easy...
Identifying the more dangerous mastermind behind it is the real challenge.
After thinking for a while, Fujiwara Reya finished his can of cola and asked Inspector Suzuki, "Does Kitahara Takashi have any enemies?"
"This kind of spoiled young master has enemies aplenty..." Inspector Suzuki replied with a wry smile, leaning on the desk, "This year's only four months in, and he's been in lockup three tis for fighting. Who knows how many people he's offended?"
"Does he have any family left?"
"He has a brother on his way here. Oh, there's sothing I should ntion," Inspector Suzuki bent down and pulled up a personal file on the computer, "Here's his brother's information. Take a look."
Fujiwara Reya read through the entire docunt carefully.
Compared to the younger brother, this older brother Kitahara Takashi is quite impressive; a genius in the architecture departnt of Tokyo University, he won nurous professional awards in the architecture industry while still at university and soon took over the family business after graduation, running the company with increasing success.
"Kitahara Takashi's friends seed to ntion sothing," Inspector Suzuki said, "Kitahara Takashi used to be an optimist, confident and cheerful, but ever since his brother got into Tokyo University, he beca cynical and started neglecting himself."
"I'm not interested in others' family affairs," Fujiwara Reya said, stretching his arms.
The tent flap lifted, and in ca a man about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, not very tall, with a wide-shouldered gray suit over a crisp white shirt, a dark gray silk tie, and polished black leather shoes.
This was Kitahara Takashi's brother, President of Kitahara Architecture Design Office, Kitahara Takashi.
"Mr. Kitahara, over here." Inspector Suzuki waved him over.
"Hello." Kitahara Takashi bowed before coming over to listen to Inspector Suzuki give a brief overview of the case.
Fujiwara Reya noticed that despite his neat attire and hair, his eyes were dry, swollen, and lifeless, like soone who's been suffering from long-term insomnia.
"We received an urgent notification from our colleagues at 4:15 this morning and rushed to the cri scene..." After briefly explaining, Inspector Suzuki rubbed his nose, "The murderer of your brother is probably not human."
For most people, hearing such a statent would seem like the police were talking nonsense.
But Kitahara Takashi's expression was like soone who is aware of the existence of ghosts, showing no surprise. He simply took a deep breath and then bowed his head dejectedly, his gaze seed to inspect the shine of his shoes.
Fujiwara Reya was curious about such a reaction.
Even if one knows about ghosts, the normal reaction would be to ask the police for help in catching the killer, but this man seed resigned, letting his spirit drain away, not putting up a fight at all.
Definitely sothing's wrong.
"Hello, Mr. Kitahara," Fujiwara Reya stepped forward, introducing himself, "I am a priest from Asakusa Shrine, Fujiwara Reya. I'll be handling this case from now on."
Kitahara Takashi looked up at him, "Good day, Master Fujiwara."
His voice was hoarse.
Monotonous and devoid of emotion.
"What problem are you facing?" Fujiwara Reya asked directly.
Kitahara Takashi was silent for a few seconds, shaking his head, "Nothing, thank you for your concern, Master."
Inspector Suzuki glanced at Fujiwara Reya, realizing that the little wizard had work to do, so he imdiately turned and stepped out of the tent, considerately zipping up the flap and standing guard outside.
The tent grew dim, and Kitahara Takashi frowned deeply, sensing that sothing was amiss.
Fujiwara Reya said nothing, rely made creaking sounds as he turned his neck and cracked his knuckles.
"You don't plan on hitting..." Before the words were out, Kitahara Takashi's vision was consud by extre darkness.
It's like being in a black hole where anything tangible becos unperceivable, including a sense of one's own body, leaving only formless void.
"You..."
Kitahara Takashi opened his mouth, unable to speak.
His throat felt parched as if on fire, even swallowing saliva was difficult.
An overwhelming sense of pressure gripped him, his shirt drenched in cold sweat, nearly dripping. He felt as if he was pressed under a mountain, incapable of any movent.
"Mr. Kitahara, I hope you will honestly assist ."
After saying this, Fujiwara Reya withdrew the oppressive force, extending his hand forward.
The darkness receded.
The pressure vanished.
Kitahara Takashi took several deep breaths as if surfacing from underwater.
He was enveloped in an overwhelming sense of relief, the small patch of sunlight filtering through the tent flap looked to him as precious as the first ray of morning sun streaming through a window.
"Mr. Kitahara," Fujiwara Reya smiled warmly, "Did you hear what I said just now?"
Faced with the hand extended right before his eyes and the blatant threat on Fujiwara Reya's face, after a brief silence, Kitahara Takashi hesitantly reached out and shook Fujiwara Reya's hand.
Reviews
All reviews (0)