When I came back to my office from the interrogation room, there is
another person I knew well sitting at my desk besides Kutaragi.
It's my junior colleague, Ryoko Terashima.
「Terashima...
don't come here so easily! We haven't even found Nakamura yet. Stay in hiding」
「That said...
I heard from Kutaragi that the hit-and-run case is related to the victim of
mass disappearance of the track and field club... so I was wondering if there's
a connection」
「Kutaragi,
you're spouting off investigative information again!」
I glared at him, but Kutaragi smiled without any sign of regret.
「It's okay,
it's not like I'm leaking information to other departments or outside the
office, it's just that Terashima insisted that she wants all the information
regarding the disappearance of the track and field club members」
「Yes, I asked
Kutaragi-kun to do it」
I shrugged my shoulders with a sigh.
「It's great
that you're so passionate about your work, but you have to realize that you're
in a protected position, Terashima」
「Yes, I'm
sorry... So, how was the hit-and-run case?」
「I don't know
what to say, but the suspect is in a state of confusion. He claims that he was
attacked by a woman in a full-body rubber suit like Miss M and a dog-eared
maid...」
「Miss M in a
full-body rubber suit? How can there be such a thing? I think he should have a
psychological evaluation」
「I guess
so...」
Terashima looked as if to say it's absurd, but that would be a
normal reaction.
「Well,
Nishida admitted to the hit-and-run. He accidentally bumped the steering wheel
and ran away because he got scared. It's just a coincidence that the victim is
related to the case」
「Accidental
steering? ...Is that so?」
Terashima seemed somewhat unconvinced, but she didn't ask any
further questions about this matter.
「Well, since
you're here. I'll tell you about the other case... an eyewitness testimony of
Hikari Teruya has appeared」
「Eh!?」
Terashima's eyes widened.
「It seems
she's still working with Junichi Kasuya, but whether Anna Teruya is with her or
not is unknown」
「T-That means
she hasn't been seen since she disappeared from the TV station, right? Where
was that? Tokyo?」
「No, Okinawa」
「Okinawa? You
got out of there and went there?」
「Well, I
don't think so...」
Kutaragi took over the conversation.
「Because it's
related to the devil」
「Anyway, the
Okinawa Prefectural Police is working on it, so we're waiting to hear from
them. As for you...」
「Me... that
means you still have something?」
「Do you
remember? The murder of the receptionist, Kutaragi caught the tail of the
person he thought was responsible for the staging of the contract killing」
Terashima turns to Kutaragi with a surprised look on her face.
Kutaragi then puffed his chest with a very annoyed and smug
expression.
「It was quite
a challenge, though. I tracked down the overseas server used as a stepping
stone and filed a request for disclosure. And it turns out that the person in
question is accessing the site from an Internet cafe in the city」
「And?」
「The name of
the person using the computer at that time was a fake. No security cameras. But
the clerk somehow remembered the customer's name」
「That was a long
time ago. How can you trust them?」
「I don't
know... Well, he said he remembered her because she was his type. A petite
young girl with her hair in a twin knot... Of course, it's impossible to
identify her from this alone, so I'm gathering relevant information now...」
- There's a new project in the works. It's kind of Boku no Hero, but with an adult twist. The table of contents can be found in here.
