15. For Example, There Are Aliens Out There

News in media companies usually spreads quickly.

The news that Suwa Michihiko was shot dead soon spread throughout the building of the Nichiuri TV Station. As soon as his body was taken away by the police, a group of colleagues from the news department came up to him with cameras and excited faces.

"Mr. Matsuo! Mr. Matsuo!"

"May I ask how you feel now?"

"Please tell us, there are rumors that your show is going to get cancelled. Do you think it is because your fans cannot accept this?"

"Or maybe you, Mr. Matsuo, had a conflict with Director Suwa, so—"

Excited reporters rushed to pass the microphone to Matsuo Takashi, and a series of questions hit him in the face like a cannon, making Matsuo Takashi's expression more and more ugly.

"Shut up!" He opened his eyes wide and shouted at his colleagues to leave. "Are you guys done yet?!"

The police nearby also rushed over to stop the group of media people.

When a police officer tried to escort Matsuo Takashi to the side, he was seen with trembling shoulders and dark eyes, as if he was trying hard to hold back his emotions: "We did talk about cancelling the show...but, but Mr. Suwa told me that he still hopes that I can continue to host it."

"Also, the reason why Mr. Suwa came to the mixing room during the broadcast was actually to discuss this issue with me. He said at the time that we could discuss how to make the content more interesting after the show is over…"

"But, I never thought this would happen."

When Matsuo Takashi said this, his eyes were already filled with tears.

The reporters all raised their microphones and looked at him quietly.

"I, Matsuo Takashi, swear here in front of everyone! I will inherit Mr. Suwa's will and continue to host this program, and..." Matsuo Takashi gritted his teeth and his eyes became extremely determined: "I will bring this case to the screen and do my best to track down the murderer who killed Mr. Suwa!"

At this time, the TV in the mixing room was broadcasting Matsuo Takashi's resounding declaration.

"Does this guy think that we police can't catch the murderer?"

Megure Juzo looked unhappy when he heard this.

Because before the incident, Suwa Michihiko was monitoring the program here, so naturally the TV was turned on and tuned to the Nichiuri TV channel, and now Nichiuri TV was broadcasting the station's live evening news.

"It's obvious that a colleague from the same company died, but those reporters were so excited that they even carried cameras to broadcast it live..."

Standing in front of the entrance of the mixing room, Asamiya Nanae looked at the reactions of the group of reporters with a strange expression on her face.

On the other hand, Kisaki Eri had a calm expression as if she was used to it

"This is the media."

"Mr. Hayashi, let's continue with the previous topic. Did you find something just now?"

"Yes, there is no doubt that the murderer is Mr. Matsuo."

Hayashi Yoshiki, who had just walked around in the mixing room, came over and said with a smile.

He didn't lower his voice at all.

Because the reporters and Matsuo Takashi were at the door, when he heard this, Matsuo Takashi, who was originally facing the camera with tears in his eyes, reacted greatly. He suddenly turned around and said, "What nonsense are you talking about, Hayashi-Sensei!?"

"How could I possibly kill Director Suwa? Although I had some arguments with him before, that doesn't matter..."

He shook off the camera, walked over and shouted anxiously, "Hey, you police officers won't really suspect me because of what he said, right? And hasn't the time of Suwa's death been determined yet?"

"Director Suwa's death should have been within the 40 minutes between 20:15 and 20:55."

The person who gave the answer was Hayashi Yoshiki.

With a noble smile on his handsome face, he raised his index finger and said, "At 20:15, Mr. Matsuo, you asked the staff to call and confirm the location of Director Suwa, and they responded very quickly. I was nearby at the time so I heard it."

"I called at that time--"

"These are not important. For the sake of efficiency, can you please listen to me first?" Hayashi Yoshiki interrupted him. "After the show ended at 20:55, no one answered the phone when the staff called again. Therefore, I will temporarily set the time of Director Suwa's death to be within these 40 minutes."

"That's right! I was recording the show during that time, right? How could I have had the time to kill Suwa-san!?"

"When the show was about to end, a 4-minute VCR was played. Mr. Matsuo, you left the room without saying anything, right?"

"That was only 4 minutes!?"

Matsuo Takashi shouted loudly.

It was at this time that he was secretly delighted in his heart. The 4 minutes was the ingenuity of the murder he had planned.

"You have to know that the place where we record the program is on the 9th floor. How can I run from the 9th floor to the 4th floor to kill Mr. Suwa and then run back? How can I have enough time!?"

"Yes."

To Matsuo Takashi's surprise, Hayashi Yoshiki nodded and acknowledged this.

He rolled up the sleeve of his left hand and glanced at his watch, his face still with that incredibly clear expression: "When we first heard the news of Mr. Suwa's murder, everyone rushed here from the backstage of the studio. Because the stairs going down were blocked, it took about seven minutes... I think even if we were faster, we could only shorten it to about six minutes."

"Uh, do you actually have time to pay attention to this kind of thing?" Megure Juzo was a little surprised.

Hayashi Yoshiki did not respond.

After hearing this, Matsuo Takashi straightened his back and said, "So you also know that it definitely can't be--"

"But if you shoot from the seventh floor and then go back to the studio, it will only take about two minutes to go back and forth."

"!!"

The voice of Hayashi Yoshiki with little fluctuation made Matsuo Takashi's face suddenly pale. His heart tightened and he almost couldn't breathe.

But he still held on to a glimmer of hope, and spoke calmly, "What 7th floor? Didn't the police just say that the murderer entered from outside—"

"Due to the needs of the TV station's set design, the environment of the entire building is irregular, and the positions of windows in different rooms are also different. If you look up from the window of this mixing room, you will see that there are no windows on the 5th and 6th floors, but only on the 7th floor."

Hayashi Yoshiki's words made Matsuo Takashi feel weak in the knees.

If possible, he really hoped that mouth would stop making any sound.

However, Hayashi Yoshiki did not stop narrating:

"You know what? Mr. Matsuo. Actually, when I opened the flip window and looked out, I found the same window on the 7th floor directly above. That's when I thought of this method."

"But because it feels a bit too simple and not very interesting, I don't plan to record it as material."

"…"

"Wait, Brother Hayashi, what you mean is..."

Megure Juzo was a little dazed. He turned his head to look at the flip window in the mixing room and asked hesitantly, "Did Suwa Michihiko actually open the window and look up with his head tilted when he was shot and killed by the murderer from the 7th floor?"

"Yes."

"But why did he open the window and look out?"

"I'm not sure about that. Maybe the murderer told him to look outside through a phone call or something, like saying there's an alien UFO outside and he should go out and take a look."

Hayashi Yoshiki said this with a smile, which made Megure Juzo twitch his lips.

However, Matsuo Takashi, who had been reacting violently just now, is now speechless.