Chapter 139: The Investigation Record of Shinomiya Tomie

"My name is Hakuba Saguru. Born in the City of Romance, currently residing in Japan. My profession is detective.""When Miss Smith A. Hayasaka first approached me with this case, I intended to refuse..."

"Although I am a private detective, I cannot accept prying into the life of a young woman and delving into her privacy."

"But, Miss Hayasaka convinced me with some information about the target, and it seems this is not a simple case of malicious voyeurism."

"The target, Tomie (with the Surname Shinomiya crossed out), seems to be an enigmatic existence with significant implications."

"Three of the four major financial conglomerates are involved, and countless detectives have died on the path to uncovering the truth. Such secrecy makes it impossible for me to give up."

"Ultimately, I accepted Miss Hayasaka's commission to investigate 'Tomie' and uncover the truth."

"I utilized some connections in the City of Rome to conduct a background check on 'Tomie' and discovered something interesting."

"Miss Hayasaka is a highly capable person with a commendable background, but the information she provided contained errors."

"The target 'Tomie' is not an individual; they seem more like an organization, not just Shinomiya Tomie."

"In Japan, there exist multiple individuals such as 'Shinomiya Tomie', 'Suzuki Tomie', 'Senzaemon Tomie', etc."

"Moreover, the above individuals share almost identical appearances, body characteristics, voices, and speech patterns, like clones."

"The organization named 'Tomie' has infiltrated many financial conglomerate forces in Japan, but how they achieved this is unclear."

"Upon obtaining the above information, my hands trembled slightly as I held the materials, realizing that this case involves more than I initially thought."

"But, I am Hakuba Saguru, not to boast, but I am not accustomed to giving up halfway, especially in the pursuit of truth."

"Therefore, I continued the investigation and left this record of my findings, updating it as I go. If I am unable to continue recording, this information will be sent out."

"Given the danger and unknown nature of the target, I did not charge in recklessly but chose a more subtle approach—starting with the predecessors."

"Miss Hayasaka had commissioned several famous detectives to investigate 'Tomie', and all of them went mad and met their demise."

"These predecessors are important sources of information, and I began to carefully investigate their life records for clues."

"The first few detectives adopted the most direct method of tailing and investigation, with several conducting covert filming."

"Three of them were discovered during their tailing, and one seemed to lose his mind, charging towards an individual named Tomie."

"All three were killed by Shinomiya Tomie's henchmen, and the footage was found and destroyed, leaving me with no access to the information."

"But, why did that detective charge towards Tomie after being exposed? And without any preparation for a fight, like... a moth to a flame?"

"From the above information, it's clear that Tomie holds considerable power within the Shinomiya family, which is unreasonable but a fact."

"The last detective, who acted like a moth to a flame, gave me a strange hypothesis, and my intuition tells me it's likely the truth."

"The one who could provide more information is a famous detective from Japan named Daigo Shukuzan, who was the detective before me."

"As a famous detective, Daigo Shukuzan had deep experience, excellent intuition, and remarkable judgment, but unfortunately, he died."

"The apparent cause of Daigo Shukuzan's death was food poisoning, but besides being a famous detective, his most notable title was that of a gourmet."

"A gourmet dying from food poisoning sounds reasonable, but in reality, it's a complete cover-up, with the case information sealed by the Shinomiya family."

"I infiltrated the morgue of the Chiba Police Department. It's against the rules, but sometimes, special measures are necessary for the truth."

"Daigo Shukuzan was specially stored, and when the drawer was pulled out, I was utterly astonished... cough, mixed with personal feelings, sorry."

"Daigo Shukuzan's abdomen was cut open, and the wound looked as if it was made from the inside out, as if something burst out from his stomach... an alien?"

"Anyway, this is definitely not food poisoning, unless Daigo Shukuzan liked to have facehuggers from outer space for lunch."

(T/N: Ngl, I want a Xenomorph pet. They're fucking cool bro and moreover, their whole body is designed perfect for a killing machine, how cool is that?!)

"Detectives have their own habits in handling cases, and most like to keep records of their cases, especially the more intricate ones."

"I obtained Daigo Shukuzan's fingerprints and then left the morgue of the police department, heading to a restaurant."

"This is a restaurant opened by Daigo Shukuzan, supported by his reputation as a gourmet detective, now closed for business."

"I used some tricks... simply put, a wire and a hairpin, and successfully entered the restaurant, searching carefully inside."

"Luckily, I guessed right! Daigo Shukuzan had a secret archive room for storing case files."

"Earlier, when I saw the police report stating that no clues were found in Daigo Shukuzan's home, I had this guess."

"The archive room was hidden in the restaurant, so the lock wasn't very secure, and I easily opened it with the obtained fingerprints."

"No need to search, on the table in the archive room was Daigo Shukuzan's investigation record on Shinomiya Tomie, clearly showing his dedication to the matter."

"Daigo Shukuzan tailed Shinomiya Tomie and conducted filming. I reviewed the footage but felt even more puzzled."

"Tomie is an extremely beautiful woman with a well-proportioned figure, the standard golden ratio, characterized by a tear mole under the corner of her eye."

"In the investigation footage, Tomie showed no abnormal behavior, mostly frequenting high-end luxury venues, spending extravagantly."

"Based solely on the footage, my profile of Tomie is a highly vain, arrogant, and capricious woman, but nothing more."

"My profiling is usually accurate, but this time it must be distorted, as such a woman could not have gained power within the Shinomiya family."

"The dates on Daigo Shukuzan's footage are off; he died three days ago, but the footage abruptly ends seven days ago. Where did the four days in between go?"

"In the computer in the archive room, I found a hidden locked file, so I hired a hacker to crack it."

"The content of this file was the missing four days, even up to the moment of death, recorded by Daigo Shukuzan."

"The file was filled with a large amount of abnormal text, full of passionate love for Shinomiya Tomie... did the detective fall in love with the target?"

"One day before his death, Daigo Shukuzan wore a pinhole camera, approached Tomie in person, and confessed to her."

"In the footage, Tomie verbally humiliated Daigo Shukuzan, belittling him to worthlessness. In her eyes, detectives and gourmet food are far less valuable than money."

"Daigo Shukuzan was thrown out by Shinomiya's people and began to show obvious signs of mental derangement, becoming paranoid, neurotic, and insane."

"On the day of Daigo Shukuzan's death, the records show him facing a picture of Tomie ... well, I'll just post the original record. (Record.avi)"

"Daigo Shukuzan claimed to deeply love Tomie and developed the desire to murder, dismember, and scatter her remains, and he arranged to meet Tomie again."

"Next is the footage from the pinhole camera, which I haven't watched yet, but I have a hypothesis. My intuition reminds me of that detective who acted like a moth to a flame."

"I think I already know the truth..."

"In the footage, Daigo Shukuzan confesses again, and without waiting for Sonomiya Fujiko's reaction, he grabs a knife from the dining table and charges at Tomie ..."

"Tomie is dismembered by Daigo Shukuzan, her body cut into more than ten pieces, with more than a third of her body, including her head, eaten by Daigo Shukuzan."

"In the footage, Tomie's dismembered limbs begin to regrow, and the blood spilled on the floor and walls starts to grow."

"Yes, Tomie can reproduce through her body's cells, with the ability to split, proliferate, and reassemble her body like a planarian."

"Several minutes later, a Tomie bursts out from Daigo Shukuzan's stomach, reappearing in the footage."

"Shinomiya's people arrive, showing no surprise at the scene. Tomie harshly demands they burn her remains on the ground with fire."

"At this point, the footage ends. And I... have a hypothesis about the truth."

"'Tomie' has the ability to make men (or humans) fall in love with her. After visual contact, one will completely fall for Tomie."

"Those who obtain 'Tomie' will cater to her every whim, while those who do not will develop a strong desire to dismember Tomie."

"After being dismembered, all 'Tomie' will undergo cell proliferation, regrowing into complete individuals, presumably with independent thoughts."

"Fire is 'Tomie's' weakness."

"But, the above are just hypotheses. The truth requires verification; reasoning and evidence should not be conflated."

"To verify the reasoning and uncover the truth, I will continue the investigation. If the reasoning is true, I will become the evidence that confirms the truth."

"I began tailing Tomie, reminding myself that this is a cell-proliferating monster, utterly different from a human."

"I started to find Tomie beautiful... although her appearance is already flawless, the current perception seems unrelated to mere looks."

"Tomie's figure appeared in my dreams, causing sleepless nights and symptoms of mental fatigue."

"I think 'I' have fallen in love with Fujiko; she is perfect. 'I' want to kiss her, slit her throat, dismember her!"

"Fire is 'Tomie's' weakness!"

---------------

The above is the record sent by the last detective.

Clearly, the record was not sent by him personally but, as mentioned at the beginning, automatically sent to Hayasaka Ai when he could no longer continue recording.

Reading this record, Hayasaka Ai felt a chill down her spine, her hair standing on end.

Without a doubt, Shinomiya Tomie is an anomaly.

Hayasaka Ai blamed herself; she should have realized it sooner.

It's just that being long involved with the Shinomiya family, she was blinded by proximity and only now realized.

As the saying goes, "You can't see the whole forest when you're lost among the trees."

After reading the record, Hayasaka Ai did not hesitate, pulling Kaguya beside her, ready to flee the evening party venue.

At the same time, Hayasaka Ai took out her phone and called Haruto.

Kaguya, being pulled by her maid, though puzzled, followed Hayasaka Ai's lead. But perhaps due to extremely bad luck or being in a Mercury retrograde, before the two could leave the evening party venue, the Shinomiya family's motorcade arrived.

That 'Shinomiya Tomie' stepped out first from the expensive vehicle.

Kaguya's father, the head of the Shinomiya family, and Tomie stepped out from the same car.

He looked at Kaguya and Hayasaka Ai, frowning.

Clearly, the current situation did not allow the two to leave without permission.

At the same time, the call made, due to being unanswered for a long time, eventually ended automatically.