8:21 AM.
At the entrance to Room 205 of the Green Moss 3-Chome Apartments in Beika Town 5-Chome, Hayasaka rang the doorbell. The person who emerged from inside was a middle-aged woman around sixty years old.
There were still faint tear stains at the corners of her eyes. It was obvious the police had already informed her of her son's death, and she had undoubtedly been sobbing inside the apartment just dozens of minutes earlier.
After seeing the two of them, Miho Nagai adjusted her messy bangs slightly and asked in a hoarse voice,
"You two are police officers, right? Have… have you found the person who killed my son?"
Hayasaka softened the icy beauty expression she usually wore, resembling the bright and approachable person she had been when she first joined the force six years ago. In a gentle voice, she comforted her,
"We haven't found your son's killer yet, so we'd like to take a look around the house and see if we can uncover any related clues. Judging from the current situation, it's most likely a revenge killing."
"I see… then please come in, officers."
Miho bent down to take slippers out from the shoe cabinet. Pointing toward a bedroom on the left side of the living room, she said,
"That's Tatsuya's room. Would you like some tea or juice? We only have oolong tea and fruit juice at home."
"There's no need to trouble yourself, ma'am. We'll just take a quick look and leave."
"Alright then. Please make yourselves at home."
After politely nodding to Miho, Ritsu pushed open the bedroom door and stepped inside Nagai's room.
The south-facing bedroom had excellent lighting. The room itself was very tidy, except for the bedsheets, which were slightly messy. It was obvious his mother had been sitting there crying earlier, and a few teardrops still remained on the wooden floorboards.
He slowly surveyed the room, examining every place that might contain important clues. Eventually, he walked over to the desk and pulled open the drawer to inspect its contents.
The inside of the drawer was a complete mess.
Clearly, the room's cleanliness wasn't maintained by Nagai himself. His mother must have tirelessly cleaned up after him every day.
Children from single-parent households often received excessive affection or even outright spoiling from their parents. Because those parents felt guilty for failing to provide either a father's or mother's love, they desperately tried to compensate for it.
Yet they selectively ignored the serious consequences that excessive pampering could create.
"Tch."
Hearing Hayasaka make that sound, Ritsu turned around in confusion, only to discover she had pulled several cardboard boxes out from underneath Nagai's bed.
After taking one glance, the tips of his ears instantly heated up.
Who could've guessed those boxes were completely filled with "coming-of-age instructional materials for boys"? The covers alone were spicy enough to make people embarrassed to look at them.
At least for someone as inexperienced and innocent in romance as Ritsu, his first reaction was pure awkwardness and embarrassment, especially because he was alone in a room with a woman while looking at this stuff.
Hayasaka shoved the boxes back under the bed with visible disgust and muttered quietly after glancing at Ritsu, "…He really was both a pervert and a creep."
"Hey, could you not look at me before saying things like that?" Ritsu said helplessly.
"The top two books Nagai left out were specifically about stalking and molestation fantasies. He'd probably already turned Nishitani-san into his ideal fantasy target long ago," Hayasaka frowned as she spoke.
Ordinarily, people felt sympathy for the dead. But right now, she found herself thinking in a rather twisted way that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing for a creep like this to die.
"He wasn't just fantasizing. He'd been putting it into practice the whole time."
Ritsu flipped through a photo album in his hands. Every single photo inside had been taken secretly.
And more importantly, he noticed that several of the stalking locations weren't from the apartment where Mikako currently lived.
Which meant… there was a high chance Mikako had moved because of Nagai's harassment.
There were pictures of her on the way to work, during her daily life, hanging laundry on her apartment balcony… there were even photos of her working part-time at a dessert shop.
The photographs had clearly been taken in a very concealed manner.
A hidden camera device?
If that was the case, then there was definitely something he had overlooked. Looks like I need to return to the crime scene.
"Hayasaka, I'm heading back to the crime scene. Stay here and continue searching. Also, go ask Nishitani a few questions."
"Alright. What questions?"
"Show her this photo album and ask whether she knew she was being photographed secretly. Pay close attention to her reaction. Also ask whether she used to live outside Tokyo."
"Got it. Once I'm done, I'll head over to the crime scene to find you."
"Mm."
As Ritsu stepped out of the bedroom, he saw Miho sitting in the living room. The cloudy eyes that met his were filled with hope.
Looking downward, he noticed countless tiny scars covering her hands. In a nearby corner sat red-and-white string.
It didn't take long for him to deduce her occupation, a crab-binding laborer.
Hard work with terrible pay, where earnings depended entirely on the number of crabs tied up. Grueling labor through and through.
"Inspector… have you found anything?"
The way she asked was painfully cautious. From how tightly her hands were clenched together, it was obvious she was suppressing her emotions.
"Not yet for the moment, ma'am. I need to return to the crime scene, so I'll be leaving first."
"O-Okay. Please take care."
He quickly left the apartment building, leaving Miho's line of sight behind. Even though Ritsu had already made up his mind long ago, he now found himself hesitating.
'Looks like I'll need… to come back here for another visit.'
The house was extremely close to the crime scene, close enough to reach easily even on foot.
Spotting Takagi standing inside the police tape perimeter, Ritsu walked over and lightly patted his shoulder.
"Go back and get some rest. I can handle things here alone."
"How could I do that? Inspector, someone has to stay by your side to protect you!"
'Protect him?' Ritsu couldn't help lowering his head with a faint laugh.
He moved instantly. In less than two seconds, the completely unprepared Takagi had been forced against the wall with both hands restrained.
Smiling, he asked, "Takagi, do you really think someone like me needs protection?"
"Ow ow ow! Inspector, you're actually this good at fighting?"
Ritsu released him and explained with a smile,
"Yeah. I trained in combat techniques a long time ago. You know I used to live in America, right? Guns are legal there. If I didn't learn how to fight properly, my identity could've easily gotten me killed."
After thinking about it, Takagi realized that actually made a lot of sense. A high-IQ criminal consultant like Inspector Onizawa probably gave plenty of criminals headaches.
"Inspector, should I bring these belongings back to the Metropolitan Police Department or—?"
"Give them to me. I'll file them away later."
After watching Takagi leave, Ritsu crouched down and inspected Nagai's personal belongings. Eventually, he focused on a silver flip-top lighter.
It was a modified camera device.
Besides functioning as a normal lighter, sliding aside the metal casing revealed a camera lens and shutter button.
There were probably incriminating photos stored inside.
Ritsu slipped the lighter into his pocket.
As long as the critical evidence was hidden away, this case would never be solved. Even if they knew who the killer was, there still wouldn't be enough evidence for a conviction.
Now there was only one thing left to do. Figure out where the green paint on Nagai's shoulder had come from.
Ritsu followed the route Mikako usually took home from the station after work, carefully observing every place nearby that had green paint.
Eventually, he found a streetlamp painted green, with a sign beside it that read: "Caution: Wet Paint."
Crossing through a patch of shrubs, he discovered a sports shoulder bag hidden beside the lamp post.
After unzipping it, he found not only a kitchen knife, but also ropes, duct tape, and various kidnapping tools. The streetlamp was less than a hundred meters from Mikako's home.
It seemed Nagai had planned to ambush her on her way home from work.
'Just as I thought. If Nishitani hadn't poisoned him… Then the person lying cold on the asphalt tonight would have been her instead.'