Not a detective

Page 109

"and then?"

Asakawa Riku thought this was a reasonable move; he had warned them yesterday that these suspects might be in danger…

Thinking of this, a sense of unease welled up in his heart. Could it be that the murderer, possessed by a monster, had gone berserk again and killed the police officers who were monitoring the area?

“At 21:13 p.m. last night, Midori Fukushima visited Takesuke Omura’s home.”

Inspector Takahashi showed footage captured by the police on surveillance, showing Takesuke Omura coming out to greet him. Although the footage was blurry and his expression was unclear, he appeared to eventually come inside.

"The suspects... visited each other's homes?" Asakawa Riku was puzzled.

"Yes, and this is just the beginning."

Inspector Takahashi switched to the next picture: "Regarding the situation inside the house, our police didn't have a search warrant and couldn't just go in rashly. Also, it was nighttime, so we couldn't follow the proper procedures. Therefore, they thought they would record it first and report it tomorrow, which is understandable. Anyway, about half an hour later, Midori Fukushima came out."

At 21:45, Midori Fukushima left Takesuke Omura's house; at 22:23, she returned to her own home.

Both photos, with dates included, clearly show the sequence of actions, and the map next to them also shows the red lines marking the trajectory.

"Then, something strange happened. At 23:35 p.m., Takayuki Ono and Mizuka Doi arrived at Midori Fukushima's house together."

"What……"

Asakawa Riku stared in surprise, but the photo on the screen faithfully showed that the couple had indeed arrived at the door of Fukushima Midori's residence.

These suspects were actually visiting each other in the middle of the night. Does this mean they must have a common secret, or even conspired together, or were accomplices?

Why do they take turns going to each other's homes? Why not just find a place to meet up and talk together? Is it to avoid the police?

If you're worried about the police, why not just chat by phone or in an online group? Are you worried the police are listening in?

"They stayed a little longer this time; they left after forty minutes."

At 24:00, Takayuki Ono and Mizuka Doi left Midori Fukushima's house; at 00:27, they returned to their shared apartment.

"If that's the case... then the other two nurses did similar things, right?"

Asakawa Riku could already guess what would happen next.

"Yes, these people visit the previous residence in order, and so on."

Inspector Takahashi nodded and showed the remaining photos:

At 00:46, Sumire Ogawa arrived at the apartment where her assistant and her partner lived together, stayed for 20 minutes, and left at 01:02.

At 1:38 AM, Sumire Ogawa returned to her rented apartment. Ten minutes later, at 1:50 AM, Reki Yoshimura arrived.

[Yoshimura stayed for 15 minutes and left at 02:07 AM. Since their residences were very close, he walked back to his rented room at 02:20 AM.]

Because these incidents all occurred late at night, the police would be easily noticed if they got too close. In addition, due to the poor lighting, the photos they took were rather blurry.

Only the outline and clothing could be vaguely seen; the specific actions and expressions were not visible. However, the police officers who were monitoring the scene testified that what they saw was definitely the person involved in the case.

...Everyone let the "guest" into their home, then left after a while, so that the next "host" could take over.

...What does this mean?

Spring of Events: Chapter Twenty-Seven - A Chain of Disintegration

"Mr. Asakawa, have you noticed anything unusual?"

After the projection ended, Inspector Takahashi turned around and asked a question.

Asakawa Riku noticed that the detectives in the room were all staring at him silently. He realized that this was a test, and if he couldn't answer, their trust in him would be greatly diminished.

But he already knew the answer: "--It's the bag."

"Yes."

Inspector Takahashi nodded vigorously: "These people carried bags when they went to or left their destinations."

This doesn't seem strange at all, since it's normal to carry a bag when going out. But Asakawa Riku was thinking that women might have the habit of carrying bags when going out, but men might not. If there is no need to carry anything, they generally won't carry a bag. It's enough to carry keys, wallet, and phone in their pockets, unless it's for work, just like he wouldn't carry a schoolbag if he didn't go to school.

Of course, judging solely by habit is a bit far-fetched, but Asakawa Riku has another crucial association:

"If I remember correctly... Dr. Omura went home briefly at the time, and he brought his briefcase with him."

"Yes."

Inspector Takahashi immediately replied, "That's what we thought too, so we're worried that this bag might contain some important stolen goods."

When Midori Fukushima left, she was carrying a canvas bag; when Mizuka Doi and her boyfriend left, they were carrying a handbag; when Sumire Ogawa left, she was carrying a woman's handbag; and when Hiroki Yoshimura left, he was carrying a backpack. Once the pattern is connected, it becomes very obvious.

At the time, the police judged that the murderer's motive was not "murder for money." The criterion for judgment was that the victim, Ms. Otsuka Rika, had not lost any of her personal belongings, such as cash, jewelry, and bank cards. However, the repeated appearance of this "bag" now may mean that these people are passing something to each other, which is very likely stolen goods.

"But what exactly is inside?"

Asakawa Riku looked at the close-up of the four bags on the screen, and adding the briefcase that Dr. Omura had at the beginning, that made a total of five.

Rika Otsuka was a somewhat famous idol. She had nearly 100,000 yen in cash on her at the time, as well as jewelry that had been removed during surgery. Although it wasn't anything as expensive as diamonds, it was still gold and silver jewelry given to her by the generous Shinonome family, and its price must have been considerable. However, the murderer ignored all of that and only took "something".

What could be more valuable than cash and jewelry that would drive these doctors and nurses to commit murder?

"We can't be sure either. Based on the size of these backpacks, we can only judge that the thing is not large, but it is not small either."

"That's obvious."

Asakawa Riku glanced at Inspector Takahashi speechlessly.

The forensic personnel explained in a professional tone: "The length is between 30 and 70 centimeters, and the width is between 15 and 35 centimeters. If it's shorter, there's no need to carry it in a bag; you can just stuff it into your clothes, and it shouldn't be noticeable from the outside. If it's larger, it will definitely leave a mark in a backpack, but we didn't see anything like that."

In other words, on average, an item that is 50 centimeters long and 25 centimeters wide...

Riku Asakawa thought of basketballs. The standard diameter of a basketball is about 25 centimeters. So, if you put two basketballs side by side, they should look a lot like that thing.

This kind of thing can be stuffed into a bag without being noticed.

Unless it's a gold nugget of the same size, it wouldn't have any value, but gold is very heavy. Could those doctors and nurses really move such a large gold nugget so easily?

Asakawa Riku felt that this endless guessing wasn't a solution, so he simply asked directly:

What exactly is inside?

The answer is, we don't know yet.

Inspector Takahashi shook his head. If he knew, there would be no need to keep him in suspense.

“Last night, each group of officers recorded the whereabouts and time of their respective targets, but this morning when we put all the reports together, we immediately noticed something was wrong. The suspects’ behavior was too abnormal, so we decided to use this [stolen goods] as a breakthrough. One group went to Omura’s house, and the other group went to Yoshimura’s rented house.”

"The source that was lost, and its final destination?"

"Yes, we originally wanted to try and trick the surgeon into asking him about the contents of that briefcase."

Inspector Takahashi's expression suddenly turned serious. He gritted his teeth and said, "But we discovered something incredible at Takeshi Omura's house..."

—The projection on the screen switched to the next image, and Asakawa Riku's eyes widened.

That's... a corpse!

Moreover, they were the bodies of two people.

One of them looked very familiar.

"Omura Takesuke, dead."

Inspector Takahashi closed his eyes: "And his wife, she's dead too."

The living room was stained with blood, and crimson liquid splattered onto the ceiling. The gruesome scene reappeared: the couple had been torn apart and their bodies were scattered in pieces.

Just like Rika Otsuka back then, only this time it was the Omura family's living room instead of the operating room, a scene resembling hell on earth.

“We knocked on the door many times, but no one answered. However, the lights were on in the room inside, so we broke in. We never expected that something like this would actually happen.”

Inspector Takahashi said in a somber tone, "We can only call their daughter who works out of town. She's on her way back to confirm the identity of the body."

Notifying the family of a death is a difficult task for both doctors and criminal investigators.

Asakawa Riku could only try to comfort him in return:

"Fortunately, their daughter wasn't there that night."

He wasn't really good at comforting people, so he only realized his words were a bit blunt after they left his mouth. Fortunately, Inspector Takahashi was also a straightforward person, and he quietly lit a cigarette.

"Yes, you're right. If he had been there too, there would probably be three corpses."

The scene was horrifying; the two bodies were almost mixed together, making it impossible to tell who was who. However, the cross-sections of the bones and muscles were clean and clear, without any impurities.

Such precise and sharp segmentation is indeed something that ordinary people cannot achieve.

Possessed by a monster... is that so?

Asakawa Riku roughly guessed what was going to happen next. Since Inspector Takahashi had summoned him so early in the morning, it couldn't be that simple.

"Let me guess, you found similar situations in the next few accommodations, didn't you?"

Inspector Takahashi was momentarily surprised, and the detectives present also made sounds that they couldn't help but make, but they knew that this news had absolutely not been leaked yet.

"Mr. Asakawa... is indeed a very capable person. Yes, after discovering this situation, we immediately split into groups and rushed to the residences of the remaining suspects."

A series of bloody photos appeared on the screen.

Not only Takesuke Omura, but also Midori Fukushima, Takayuki Ono, Zuika Doi, and Sumire Ogawa were all brutally dismembered and killed.

Spring of the Item: Chapter Twenty-Eight - Passing on the Dismemberment

Midori Fukushima lived with her high school son. The two were killed together, adding another innocent victim to the list. The mother was still protecting her child in her final moments, but she could not withstand the blade.

Ono Takayuki and Doi Zuika, a young couple living together, died curled up in their bed. Their blood soaked the sheets, creating a breeding ground for flies and maggots.

Sumire Ogawa ran to the bathroom of the rented house, seemingly aware of the danger and trying to escape, but the bathroom door was also split open, and she could not escape the fate of disintegration.

The images on the screen are displaying a terrifying impact that no other horror film can match.

These people were alive and well, speaking and walking right in front of us just a few days ago; they were definitely not fake.

But Asakawa Riku remained calm and his expression unchanged.

"Have you found out who killed them?"

Inspector Takahashi swallowed hard, clearing his stomach of nausea: "There's no definitive evidence yet, but we think there's only one possibility."

He opened the duty log from the previous night:

“We’ve been monitoring and tracking them 24/7. We started tailing them last night after they got home. Two teams of officers can ensure that all entrances and exits to the residences are completely sealed off. It’s impossible for anyone to sneak in from the back or slip out. In other words, these five residences are like the ‘locked rooms’ often mentioned in detective novels. Only one person has entered or exited them…”

It goes without saying that the only thing capable of killing the "master" is a visiting "guest".

"In other words, each suspect killed the previous suspect, took the stolen goods, and went back to his own home."

Asakawa Riku summarized: "Then the next suspect comes to visit him, gets killed, and the cycle continues..."

The order is: Omura Takesuke ← (kill) ← Fukushima Midori ← (kill) ← Ono Takayuki + Doi Mizuka ← (kill) ← Ogawa Sumire ← (kill) ← Yoshimura Shuku.

If we include the initial victim, then we should also add Otsuka Rika ← (killed) ← Omura Takesuke before that.

"I've been handling cases for twenty years, and I've never seen such an absurd serial murder case. Should this even be called a serial murder case? Even I don't understand it, because theoretically each case is committed by a different killer, but their methods are surprisingly consistent. They all commit insane dismemberment killings, and their cycle maintains an astonishing consistency. If the next killer visits the previous killer's house to steal stolen goods, that's understandable, but why would the previous killer obediently let the next killer kill him?"

Inspector Takahashi scratched his head in distress, his tone revealing a frantic struggle, as if he were about to lose his hair.

The detectives in the room also began to whisper and discuss, expressing their opinions one after another. It seems that they had been struggling with this issue before Asakawa Riku arrived.

This case is indeed very bizarre, and it's no wonder the police were baffled, because they were missing a crucial piece of the puzzle.

Asakawa Rikuya once lacked that piece of the puzzle, but now he has it.

...It is a possessed monster.

Yes, only this phenomenon can explain the truth behind this "serialized killing spree".

Let's go back to the case at the beginning: a murder in the underground operating room of a shady clinic. At the time, the victim, Rika Otsuka, was undergoing surgery. The surgeon, Takesuke Omura, was suddenly possessed by a monster for some reason. The motive could be greed for the stolen goods, or as Chizuko-senpai said, the motive itself is not important. In any case, he used the monster's power to kill Rika Otsuka.

Perhaps out of fear of his terrifying power, or perhaps due to his usual prestige, the other doctors and nurses who witnessed the incident gave false testimony and did not tell the truth.

Last night, Midori Fukushima suddenly visited Takesuke Omura, possibly for the stolen goods, or perhaps to threaten him with her testimony, saying she would tell the truth to the police if he didn't share her money. In any case, at that moment, the possessing monster changed hosts and descended upon Midori Fukushima, killing Takesuke Omura and his family.

Everything that followed was just a repetition of this cycle.

Ono Takayuki and Doi Zuika probably learned through some channel that the stolen goods were now in Fukushima Midori's hands, and they also wanted to try to win them back.

Then, one of them was possessed, killed Midori Fukushima, and took the stolen goods back to their apartment.

But they were not the last survivors. Sumire Ogawa used the same trick again, killing the couple, and was then killed by Reki Yoshimura.

In other words, they had all become hosts of monsters and killed people, but were also killed by the next host.