"You should be content! This person is only unconscious due to excessive grief, unlike Kujou's wife, whose cause can't even be found out!"
"Oh, I was just sighing! Speaking of Kujou's wife's illness, it's strange enough that looking at her hand, I'd believe she was a sixty-year-old old woman!"
'Kujou's wife? Sixty years old? Old woman?'
Thoughts raced in Thoma's mind. Kujou Takayuki's wife had long passed away, so the Kujou's wife here could only be Hitomi Hanatani, who had only recently married into the family.
But Hitomi Hanatani, at most, couldn't be over twenty-five. How could she be sixty years old?
Thoma silently noted it in his mind, then walked into the clinic and asked, "Excuse me, where is the man who was brought in a while ago, unconscious due to excessive grief?"
"Are you talking about Shiba Kazuto Shinichi? The one lying over there is him. We've already treated him, and he should wake up soon." The apprentice pointed to the young man lying on the bed.
Since it wasn't a serious condition, acupuncture and then placing him on a bed in the main hall was sufficient.
"Okay, thank you."
At this moment, Shiba Kazuto Shinichi also regained consciousness from his coma, and then tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes.
"Tomomi, have I done something to displease you recently? If you were upset, you should have just said it, why use this method?"
Shiba Kazuto Shinichi truly couldn't understand. They were laughing and talking yesterday, and this morning, she was gone!
On the other side, Thoma pulled up a chair and sat in front of Shiba Kazuto Shinichi, asking with a serious expression, "Shiba Kazuto Shinichi, listen! There's something suspicious about your fiancée's death. If you want the truth to come out, tell me everything that's happened recently!"
"Mr. Thoma?"
"It's me. An unknown person is specifically targeting women like your fiancée. Before Yamada Tomomi, another girl was harmed."
"Are you saying… Tomomi… didn't commit suicide? But she jumped down in front of me!" Dark red blood still stained Shiba Kazuto Shinichi's clothes, and there was no need to wonder whose it was.
"Do you believe your fiancée, who was living well, would go back and commit suicide?" Thoma countered.
"No." Shiba Kazuto Shinichi shook his head.
"Then think carefully about whether she had any unusual behavior recently, or if she came into contact with anything?"
"..."
Shiba Kazuto Shinichi remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "I'm not sure if this counts, but this morning when we went to eat, she suddenly asked me a strange question…"
"Hey, Shinichi, do you think people can fly?"
"How could they fly? Even a Wind Glider can only allow for a brief glide. Flight is a privilege belonging to birds and gods."
"..."
"She had never asked me about flying before, and she rarely went to high places because she was afraid of falling."
"Although this question was a bit strange, I didn't think much of it at the time. But now, something like this has happened…"
'Flying…'
Thoma closed his eyes. Using flying to make someone with a fear of heights stand in a high place—perhaps this wasn't suicide at all, but rather that they simply failed to fly this time.
"My condolences…"
Patting Shiba Kazuto Shinichi's shoulder, Thoma decided to ask the Hongda family if Hirota Ai had also said similar things.
If that were truly the case, it would mean his conjecture was correct: someone had given these girls a suggestion, making them believe they could fly.
Knock knock knock
Thoma knocked on the Hongda family's door, and soon Hirota Jiro, the head of the household, appeared before Thoma.
However, in just one night, his jet-black hair had already turned mostly white.
This showed that although he appeared calm on the surface, his inner grief was no less than anyone else's.
"Apologies, Mr. Thoma, I still haven't thought of anything unusual about her…"
"It's alright. I came this time to ask, was your daughter afraid of heights? Or did she like going to high places?"
"Afraid of heights?" Hirota Jiro was stunned. "I really don't know about that. Our family rarely looks down from high places."
"Is that so… I understand."
Thoma rubbed his temples. There must be someone behind this, otherwise, the characteristics of the deceased wouldn't overlap so highly.
Both deceased were young girls about to get married, and they rarely went to high places.
After much thought, Thoma decided to return to Komore Teahouse and wait for the Young Miss to arrive. He wanted to inform her of his findings, and to prevent anyone else from failing to fly, he needed a large number of Anbu ninjas.
Inazuma City's population is at least several hundred thousand. Even if the scope is limited to engaged but unmarried girls, selecting from such a massive base of hundreds of thousands would still yield a very large number of people.
As a house steward, it would be impossible for him to mobilize such a large number of Anbu ninjas, which is why he needed Ayaka to give the orders.
With Young Miss Ayaka's status, as long as it wasn't ordering the entire Anbu to their deaths, virtually any command would be accepted.
Near noon, Ayaka arrived in Inazuma City from Kamisato Estate. By then, she had also heard the news of the second suicide.
"Thoma, have you found anything?" Ayaka asked.
"Young Miss, I suspect someone is deliberately causing trouble, and it might not even be a person. Based on the characteristics of the two deceased, it likely possesses extremely strong suggestion or hypnotic abilities."
"Through this hypnotic ability, it can make people believe they can fly, causing them to leap from high places, creating the illusion of suicide."
"But in reality, it's not suicide at all. This is a premeditated serial murder. These two girls are just the beginning; it will absolutely not stop!" Thoma said.
"There are many such miraculous abilities in this world. Your theory indeed has a high probability."
Ayaka thought of the curse gods and the Yokai that only existed in legends. Perhaps Ioroi, who was currently cleaning up the mess at the Hiiragi Clan, should be called over.
According to Shiki's words, magic must be fought with magic. Ioroi is a Tanuki who has lived for over a thousand years; dealing with the anomalous naturally requires Ioroi, who is also anomalous.
"It's a time of trouble. I will have the Anbu compile a list as soon as possible. Now it's a race against time for both sides."
Ayaka planned to protect all eligible girls. Although the Anbu's work would be stalled as a result, they couldn't allow the culprit to continue killing with impunity.
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