Ezume no Himitsu Nōryoku (Ezume's Secret Ability)

Crime Scene, 2:18 P.M

Officers were still walking back and forth around the train. Riku was stopped when he got to the depot, and they allowed Daniel and his two followers passed and they told Riku to return as he could potentially disturb the scene of the crime.

Daniel and company were lead back aboard the train and they went to Maria.

"Daniel, you have returned." Maria noted with a tone of shock. "Do you think you missed something on your first perusal of the scene?"

"No, I didn't see any more clues than you have already discovered, so I'm pretty sure I have all I need from the scene for now." Dan announced.

Maria nodded. "You mean to say there is nothing more to discover from the scene."

"Yes, Maria, that is what I mean." Dan replied.

"Well, we are still waiting to get the go ahead to clean things up so this train can be put into service." Maria noted.

"But the case is still open." Daniel proclaimed.

"Well, a case can still be open with the crime scene destroyed, we have a lot of pictures and reports from the forensics, so it's not as if we can't recreate the scene using a train that is being used for scrap." Maria explained.

Daniel nodded. "I get it, having this train out of service must be bad for business."

"So, why did you come back here if you didn't return to give the scene another look?"

"I actually came to ask about Ezume's wife."

"Sakura? Do you think she did it? We were looking for a man." Maria stated flabbergasted, she simply couldn't accept that idea.

"No, we are definitely looking for a male, at least that seems the most likely. After all the train guard said he saw a strange man, and he never said that the man didn't sound like a man. He referred to the man as he. In other words, there is absolutely no ambiguity, our killer is a male. At least, I believe the gender of the killer is most likely male." Dan elaborated.

Maria sighed a sigh of relief. "Good, because she didn't have a motive, the victim didn't even have life insurance."

Daniel nodded. "I never actually suspected her, I only heard that the victim had a wife from you and you only recently told me her name, it is just hard for me to make someone I barely know a suspect."

Maria nodded. "So, what exactly do you want from Sakura Watanabe anyway?"

"Information." Dan stated.

"Information?" Maria stated with a really confused look. "But she works at a mini market, she sells seafood. How could she possibly know anything about trading?"

"It's not trading I'm looking for, the information I seek is of a different variety." Dan replied.

"Then what, if I may ask, is the information you are looking for?"

"I'm looking for information about Ezume."

"We checked him out already, he was just a normal humble young Japanese man. He was nothing out of the ordinary. He went to work, did his job and went back home. Don't you get it, this guy was as innocent as a school girl."

"Maybe Sakura knows something about Ezume that the police could never find out because Ezume had a secret that he wasn't willing to tell the police."

"A secret? But how could he have a secret, everything we have on the guy says he's as clean as a bar of soap."

"But you can't deny that there is the potential that a secret could exist."

Maria laughed. "I suppose not."

"So, please could you tell us where she lives?"

"I can do one better; I can take you there."

"Really? But aren't you needed here?"

"(If anybody needs me, please raise your hands now.)" Maria shouted as loud as she could. But nobody rose their hands.

"I'm not sure of what you said, but I'm guessing we are clear to go?"

"Yes, Dr. Smith, let's go."

Maria left and Daniel and company followed her, they entered her car and she drove them toward Sakura's house.

#

Watanabe residence, Asahigaoka, Miyagi prefecture, 2:55 P.M.

Maria parked her car directly in front of the Watanabe residence. "Good luck, Dan." Maria announced and Dan and his friends exited her vehicle.

"Thanks Maria." Dan stated and Maria drove off. "Alan, since you can speak Japanese, would you introduce us?"

Alan nodded.

Daniel and company walked to the front door and Alan knocked on the door. A little Japanese woman opened the door, she had a beautiful sky-blue kimono on. Her hair was tied up with some beautiful and long hair pins in it. Her dark brown eyes looked up and met Alan's face.

"(Hello?)" The lady stated.

"(Are you Sakura Watanabe?)" Alan asked.

"(Who told you my name?)" Sakura stated in an angry tone.

"(My name is Alan Ticket; this man here is Dr. Daniel Smith; he is here to figure out who killed your husband.)" Alan stated.

"(Oh yes, he solved a crime in New York, right?)" Sakura inquired.

"(I think he might be that guy; I didn't hear anything about it.)" Alan announced.

"(So, that is Dr Smith, who is the young lady with him?)"

"(That is Cynthia, or as she likes to be called: CD.)"

Sakura put on her shoes and walked up to Daniel. "It's nice to meet you Doctor Smith, welcome, please come in and take off your shoes." Sakura stated slowly and with difficulty, she had a somewhat sad look on her face, a look that said 'I'm not sure if I'm saying the right things so, please don't hate me if I say something wrong.'

"[It's okay Sakura, you don't need to force yourself to speak a language you don't understand. I have a translator with me so you can speak Japanese if you prefer.]"

Sakura sighed in relief and she entered her house and removed her shoes, Daniel and company followed her in and removed their shoes as they went in.

Sakura led them to a low table atop some tatami (Japanese mats). The trio sat cross-legged around the low table. Daniel still couldn't believe that Japanese people sat and ate like this.

"[(I hope you like green tea.)]" Sakura stated. "[(It was my husband's favourite.)]"

"[I like green tea.]" Dan announced.

"[I have never tried green tea.]" Cynthia added. "[But I'm willing to try new things.]"

Sakura nodded and proceeded to make green tea. "[(You are not here because the Japanese police hired you, am I right?)]" She announced from within the kitchen.

"[You are a sharp one.]" Daniel noted.

Sakura soon returned after the tea finished brewing. "[(Thank you. So, then, who did hire you?)]" Sakura asked.

"[It was one of the people in charge of Kinkawa co.]" Dan stated.

"[(My husband's workplace? Why did they hire you?)]" She stated with a tone of shock.

"[They believe that the police would charge the wrong person, and they don't want that.]"

"[(I bet they did say that, they only visited twice, once after hiring him and the second visit was the one-year anniversary of him joining the company.)]"

"[So, I take it he's only been working there one year?]"

"[(That's right, the company has a tradition to celebrate every year an employee has worked there, it was going to be his second anniversary too and I would have seen his office for the first time.)]"

Daniel nodded. "[They sound nice.]"

"[(Oh, they were.)]"

"[Anyway, let's get to the matter at hand. Did your husband hide anything from anyone, anything at all?]"

"[(That sound serious, are you suspecting him of some sort of crime?)]"

"[On the contrary, we believe that he was murdered because he stumbled upon a criminal, we want to know if he had some way of figuring out who that criminal was?]"

Sakura nodded. "[(I'm not sure if this will help, but my husband was a Linthero.)]"

"[He had an ability? An ability originating from earth?]"

"[(Yes, that's what Linthero means right?)]"

"[It is new Rhombodian for 'other power' meaning that an individual has an ability that did not come from the planet of Rhombodian, all earth Lintheros have powers, but not all of those powers come from earth.]"

"[(Well, no matter how you look at it, a power is a power, but I don't have a power.)]"

"[Well, of course you don't, the 'marriage consequence' only works with magicians and Rhombodians.]"

"[('marriage consequence?')]"

"[When someone marries a magician or a Rhombodian they start sharing powers, that is why I'm technically an owlmierey and you don't share your husband's power.]"

Sakura nodded. "[(Oh, that makes sense.)]"

"[So, what was your husband's ability?]"

"[(He can sense other people with abilities.)]"

Cynthia's eyes shone. "He had ability detection?" Cynthia stated giddily.

"That's what I heard." Dan stated.

"Then our culprit must be an Auditorium!" Cynthia announced. "Our killer is none other than Ami Fuse!"

"Are you sure about that Cindy?" Dan asked.

"Well, tell me why it can't be her, one of the heads of the company and Maria said she was an Auditorium." Cindy proclaimed.

"Remember what the guard said, he saw a strange man who spoke in broken Japanese, how do you explain that?" Dan asked.

"Easy, Ami manipulated the sound around her to make the guard believe that she was a man. The disguise helped sell the illusion." Cindy announced.

"I still see one issue with your deduction." Dan retorted.

"Oh yeah? What is that?" Cindy asked.

"How did she get off the train unnoticed."

"The train guard practically admitted that it was pandemonium at the station after Sendai, the guard and his colleagues were having trouble keeping new passengers from boarding the train. She could have easily escaped during that." Cindy stated.

"Well, I suppose we should talk to her." Daniel admitted.

"Goodie. I hope I'm right, because if I am, I will get to graduate, and that will show Michelle!" Cynthia rubbed her hands together deviously.

"You really don't like this Michelle, do you?"

"Oh, no, we are best friends, you don't know teenage females, do you?"

"I only deal with the adult kind." Dan chuckled.

"The only one who might have issues with her is Simon."

"Simon? As in Simon Blueford?"

"Oh yeah, he told me that the both of you took on a mystery on together."

"How is he?"

"He's well, he chose Lucinda Star to observe."

"I'm sorry, chose?"

"He drew Lewis Shock's name, but since Lewis is with the NTSB now, he's not classified as a detective anymore, at least not one we can observe. So, he got to choose one of the names that were remaining after everyone else drew names."

"Hey, I know you two are having fun chitchatting about Yanaught detective school." Alan announced. "But don't you two have a killer to catch?"

"Oh, quite right you are." Dan replied. "Why don't you get us a taxi?"

"Sure." Alan replied. "(Sakura, do you mind if I borrow your phone?)"

"(It's no problem, go ahead, don't let me stop you.)" Sakura stated in a sweet tone and she drank the cup of green tea she poured for herself.

Alan called a taxi service and the taxi came around to pick them up. Daniel showed the taxi driver the card that the police gave him.

"From out of town, are you?" Gus Huge stated. "Sorry, but we taxi drivers don't accept those."

"But I don't have any yen on me." Dan stated.

"Do you have any currency on you at all?" Gus asked.

"I have Ascossian dollars and Australian dollars on me." Dan replied.

"Oh good, I have a currency exchange crystal, seeing you're a member of FORMAL, you must know how it's used."

"I'm pretty sure everyone could guess that it changes the money you present it to the equal value of another currency. So, I give you foreign currency, you put it near the crystal to change it to yen and then you give me my change." Dan explained.

"Oh, we have a chatterbox, I love chatterboxes." Gus rolled his eyes. "So, where we heading?"

"Kinkawa co, if you don't mind." Dan stated.

"Fancy place. Alright, let's go."

Gus drove off and headed to Kinkawa co. Daniel was still skeptical however, he didn't really think that Ami was the person selling information to outsiders and that she also killed Ezume. There were two reasons for this. Daniel himself admitted that he finds it hard to make someone he barely knows a suspect and the second reason was the fact that one of the heads and the police already knew that she had the Auditorium ability. If Ezume detected an Auditorium, it couldn't have been her, could it?