Chapter 10: A Bold Idea

The pink-colored walls, and wooden plank flooring—Chouno Yoko's room was quite simple. There wasn't much in the way of furniture, either.

Perhaps it was just a temporary residence.

The moment he stepped inside, Fujino immediately felt a wave of stifling heat.

Looking up, he saw that the central air conditioning unit was currently blowing out streams of hot air.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the key breakthrough point for this entire case."

Fujino examined the central air unit, muttering to himself before shifting his gaze toward the corpse lying in the center of the room.

The body lay sprawled on the floor, a fruit knife embedded in its back.

As he scrutinized the corpse—its limbs already starting to stiffen—an indescribable sense of unease welled up inside him.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of dizziness, even nausea.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to endure the discomfort until it finally subsided. Then he sighed. "Looks like… I'm still not used to this after all."

To be honest, despite living two lives, this was Fujino's first time seeing such a fresh corpse up close.

True, he'd originally been a high school detective, but most of the cases he took on were things like missing pets, missing people, or catching cheating spouses—simple, everyday commissions.

In a murder case like this… he'd never touched one before.

Still, Fujino's adaptability was strong. After just a moment, that wave of discomfort completely faded away.

Now composed, he glanced around the room behind him.

Seeing that no one else was in the room, he walked over to the sofa in the corner.

Bending down, he reached underneath and groped around.

Soon enough, his fingers brushed against something hard.

Pulling it out, he found a single earring.

Examining the small golden earring, Fujino couldn't help but frown deeply.

If his memory served him right, this belonged to… Ikezawa Yuko.

He had originally assumed that since Ikezawa Yuko had already hired him, she wouldn't bother sneaking in here to investigate on her own… but clearly, the reality was rarely as neat as one would hope.

Despite hiring him, that foolish woman had still come here to conduct her search—and in doing so, she had set off the Bloody Idol Case.

Did she… not trust him?

Fujino slipped the earring into his pocket, feeling rather irritated.

But now that things had escalated to this level, at least the tangled mess had more or less untangled itself.

As he pondered, a bold idea quietly formed in Fujino's mind.

Perhaps this time… he could make an absolute fortune out of this.

…

Five minutes later, the sharp wail of police sirens echoed as law enforcement arrived at the scene.

Leading the team was a rather rotund man named Inspector Megure.

"So, you're saying that when you returned home, you found this man already murdered, is that correct?"

Inspector Megure studied Chouno Yoko, conducting the routine questioning.

"Yes… that's right."

Chouno Yoko lowered her head, a faint trace of sorrow in her eyes. "Right after I got back from Detective Fujino's place, I opened the door… and saw him lying there dead in the room…"

"Detective Fujino…"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure turned his gaze to Fujino. "You're the detective who was with Chouno Yoko when she discovered the crime scene?"

"Yeah,"

Fujino nodded, briefly introducing himself, "My name's Fujino—I'm a detective."

"Don't tell me… you're a high school detective?"

Inspector Megure glanced at Fujino's slightly youthful but mature-looking face and asked suspiciously.

Fujino nodded and continued, "I go to the same school as that guy Kudo Shinichi."

"I see, so you're Little Brother Fujino."

Inspector Megure gave Fujino a once-over, memories of a familiar junior surfacing in his mind.

Now that he thought about it, that junior of his, Kudo, hadn't shown up for quite some time, had he?

The recent slump in case-solving efficiency was starting to get on his nerves.

He couldn't help but wonder—was this kid another one of his juniors, like Kudo Shinichi?

After mulling over the thought for a while, Megure turned to Fujino and asked, "If I'm not mistaken, the emergency call was made by you, wasn't it? Did you notice anything unusual at the scene?"

"Unusual, huh…"

Fujino rubbed his chin. "Well, I'd say the room temperature was a bit high."

"Overheating in the room, huh…"

Megure wiped the sweat from his temples. "I've been feeling it since earlier—this room is unusually hot."

With that, he turned to Yoko Okino and asked, "Miss Yoko, was the AC already cranked up this high before?"

"No!"

Yoko was briefly stunned. "I remember there was a power outage in the room earlier this morning when I went out."

"That's strange…"

Taking a deep breath, Megure called over to one of the forensics officers by the body. "Any updates on the cause of death?"

"It's been confirmed."

The forensic officer in blue overalls by the corpse looked up and said, "The cause of death was a fatal stab wound to the victim's back by a fruit knife. As for the time of death… due to the room temperature being unusually high, it's hard to estimate precisely."

Nodding, Megure's gaze darkened as he looked toward Yoko Okino suspiciously. "Miss Yoko, if I'm not mistaken, the murder weapon should be that fruit knife belonging to you…"

"Officer! Are you suspecting Yoko?!"

At that moment, her manager, looking panicked, cried out in disbelief at Megure.

"Based on the evidence so far, Miss Yoko does have a pretty strong motive for murder…"

Megure frowned slightly, then glanced at the shifty-eyed manager in dissatisfaction. "By the way—who are you? Why are you so concerned about whether we suspect Yoko Okino?"

"I—I'm Yoko's manager. My name is Yamagishi Eiichi."

"Oh, so you're her manager, huh? No wonder…"

Megure muttered softly, then asked, "Anyway, do either of you recognize the victim?"

The two of them examined the corpse more closely—and both their faces instantly displayed visible shock.

But strangely enough, that look of astonishment was quickly hidden right after.

"I… I want to take a closer look."

The manager noticed a strand of long hair in the victim's hand. Speaking up, he moved closer to the body.

Suddenly, his foot slipped, and he almost fell on top of the corpse.

But just before he hit the floor, Fujino reached out from behind and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him upright.

Smiling slightly, Fujino said calmly, "Mister Manager, slipping near a corpse might interfere with the investigation, you know."

"Or… could it be that you were deliberately trying to mess up the investigation for some hidden agenda?"

As he spoke, Fujino's smile gradually widened, and his narrowed eyes gleamed slyly—like a cunning fox that had just caught a whiff of something interesting.

"N-No way!"

Panic spread across the manager's face as he hurried to explain, "I-I just slipped! That's all!"

"Really? Just slipped?"

Fujino's squinted eyes grew colder, and the smile on his lips turned sharp. "Why do I get the feeling you know the victim…?"

(End of this chapter)