Qi lässt sich leicht weitergeben

Kapitel 39

"There were several candidates, but each lacked a decisive factor, and the defendants were completely unrelated, which was very frustrating. The daughter of the photographer and the daughter of the teacher not only lived far apart, but their family backgrounds and personalities were also completely different. In addition, they didn't know each other, so it is currently believed that the murder target was chosen randomly. The only common point we know is that the mothers of the victims all seem to believe in the same religion. However, I don't think this is related to the case."

"Same religion?! Has this been checked?"

"An investigation is underway. But if someone was killed simply because their mother shared the same religion, who knows how many more people will be killed in the future? Actually, I'm more concerned about other news right now."

Aoki leaned closer, while Kiba withdrew his upper body.

"The daughter of the photo studio, named Yoshimi Kakizaki, was seen walking with a man dressed in black and wearing gloves before she disappeared. Several people testified that they saw Yoshimi walking with him before she disappeared."

"What did you say?"

"Next was the girl from Senju, named Ozawa Toshie. She was a girl of good character. Her parents believed she had been kidnapped and reported it to the police first. So the police station there conducted a search first, and during the investigation, a person emerged, a young man wearing gloves."

—Dressed entirely in black, with gloves on his hands—

"No way, Aoki, you..."

"But it's really strange, isn't it? It happened in the summer, so where did all those people wearing gloves come from? Is it just a coincidence?"

The two events are related; Kiba accidentally twisted the banana into pieces.

Were Yukiko Kusumoto and Yoko Yuzuki telling the truth? Kiba thought both were lying, but now it felt like he was back to square one. He felt endless anxiety.

"So, you mean—Kanako was also kidnapped, murdered, and dismembered?"

“I didn’t say that.”

"But the dismemberment incident didn't happen before Kanako's kidnapping, and didn't you say there were already several relatively certain candidates for the victim?"

"He's just a substitute."

—Kanako was dismembered.

I never thought about this kind of thing, but something inexplicably feels off.

"Those in higher positions also believe that there is a connection between the two events."

"No, I'm the only one closely monitoring information from both sides. Other police officers haven't even exchanged intelligence, let alone conducted a joint search."

Who examined the body?

“The locations were very scattered, so there were a lot of forensic doctors involved in the investigation—but Brother Satomi should have seen them all.”

"Li Village!"

"Anyway, I don't believe Kanako was dismembered. Because there's a candidate who's almost certain. It's just that Kanako's whereabouts are still unknown, right? And if, I mean if there's some connection between these two events, Kanako might also..."

"Stop talking."

Kiba didn't want to listen anymore. He wondered how Yoko would react if she heard that her seriously injured sister had been kidnapped, murdered, and her body dismembered and scattered in various places.

Just thinking about the depth of the grief and the intensity of the impact at that time...

—Impossible.

Such an ominous thought. I don't even want to think about it.

--But.

"You mean—if it's a newly discovered body, then that's a possibility?"

"Of course it is, it's 120% possible."

"There's no way that kind of bastard would do that!"

Will Kanako's dismembered body be discovered in the future, given the series of dismemberment murders and the attempted murder of Kanako?

There may be a connection between the incidents, but that's not the case.

Aoki looked at Kiba with the clear, student-like eyes.

Kiba was struggling to cope with the way his young subordinate was looking at him.

"You!! Think these two events are related?"

"That's right, that's what I think."

"The reason is the man with gloves?"

"There is a connection—but it's mainly my intuition that tells me so. You often say, senior, that subjective judgment is useful, and evidence will follow."

Kiba avoided Aoki's gaze.

"You bastard. Don't be so arrogant. If you think you can rely on your intuition based on your experience, you'd better cultivate for a thousand years first."

--etc.

Perhaps this is a breakthrough.

We need to be more calm and examine the Kanako incident from the beginning. Simply recalling individual scenes, no matter how many details we remember...

Even with a single section, it's impossible to grasp the overall image.

Cool down and be more objective.

Kiba stood up, crumpled the banana together with the newspaper he had originally used to wrap it, and threw it into the trash can.

—What a pity.

Then he looked out the window.

He was blinded by his desire to help Yoko and failed to see the truth of the matter. He needed to return to the calm and collected eyes of a detective. That's the value of Kiba's box.

That's right.

September 24th —

And so, Detective Shutaro Kiba was finally brought back to life.

After dismissing Aoki with indifference, Kiba went to the public bathhouse first. Since it was neither too early nor too late, there were many customers.

few.

Immerse yourself in a steaming hot bathtub.

Next...

Kiba no longer engages in pointless activities like organizing thoughts and tracing factual relationships; it's of no help to the detective, and Kiba knows this better than anyone. Evidence certainly exists; instead of spending time thinking, he should move around more, observe more, and sense more. His body will naturally recognize when he encounters evidence.

Timberyard doesn't understand the difference between thinking and imagining. Using the mind is subjective, relying on the body is objective. Timberyard's principle is that simple.

Therefore, you must first confirm your own resilient physical strength.

Thick arms and a broad chest—that's all you need.

The content itself is not important at all.

Kiba first confirmed the box's sturdiness; that would make him Yoko's helper. What feelings Kiba had for Yoko was irrelevant.

The most important thing now is to first become a sturdy box. Regardless of whether the contents are empty or plentiful, the box only has the value of existing as a box.

After shaving and cleaning myself, I set off for the woodyard.

—There's a saying among detectives: "Revisit the scene a hundred times." But which one is the scene? Is it Musashi-Koganei Station? Is it the Mimasaka Institute of Modern Medicine? Or is it Lake Sagami?

——Satomura.

In short, our immediate priority is to confirm that the discovered hands and feet did not belong to Kanako. If they did, then we must change the direction of our search.

Kiba went to Satomura Hospital.

Kiba wasn't entirely clear on the reasons why Hiroshi Satomura became a forensic pathologist, but he had heard from his friend Ozu Nozomi that Satomura was renowned for his exceptional surgical skills in the navy during the war. Kiba, however, was in the army, so he didn't know the details.

Satoshi usually runs a small, elegant surgical hospital in the 9th Dan area. His kind expression and talkative personality are very popular with patients, and the hospital does a good job. However, as soon as he hears that a corpse has been discovered somewhere, he will leave the living person aside and rush over excitedly.

He seems to really enjoy dissection.

Satomura was more gentle and honest than most people, and had an outstanding personality, but he just had a penchant for dissection. Kiba simply couldn't understand it. Although he was forced to do so out of duty, Kiba genuinely didn't understand how anyone could enjoy cutting up human bodies so much.

Especially compared to his usual nice guy personality, the contrast is even greater.

Kiba arrived during a break and hadn't even had a chance to explain his purpose to the nurse when the doctor, with a broad smile on his face, appeared from the back room upon hearing Kiba's voice.

"Brother Kiba, isn't this Brother Kiba? Hahaha, you're done with your confinement? You actually got this punishment, that's hilarious. You look pretty good, did you eat something bad? Should I do a seppuku to check?"

"Hmph, you're the one who should be confined and reflecting on your actions. Why don't you have your nurses sew up that mouth of yours that's always grinning like an idiot? And maybe sew up your eyes and nose while you're at it too."

"No, no, even if I sew it up, I'll cut it open right away."

Rimura made a gesture as if holding a scalpel.

After exchanging greetings as if no one else was around, Kiba followed Satomura into the examination room inside.

The hospital wasn't large; perhaps "clinic" would be a more accurate description. However, the rooms were surprisingly spacious and poorly cleaned.

The explanation was very thorough. Kiba sat in the patient's consultation seat, explaining his purpose as if describing an injury or ailment.

At the beginning, Kiba mentioned that Satomura repeatedly called out Kiba's name, "Kiba-kun, Kiba-kun," likely because he already knew what Kiba was going to say and lacked the patience to listen to the whole thing. However, Kiba ignored his impatience, and Kiba's conversational skills weren't so simple as to be interrupted just because someone called his name. Kiba ignored Satomura's calls until the very end, explaining the possibility of a connection between the kidnapping and dismemberment cases implied by Aoki, and questioning him about whether Kanako might be one of the victims.

Rimura laughed in a spasm-like manner.

"That's impossible!!"

Having finally gotten a chance to speak, Satomura simply laughed off the "Kanako victim's statement."

"—Actually, the idea that first came to me was not Aoki-kun, but Oshima-kun."

"Section Chief?"

"Think about it, when he went to bring you back, didn't he also come across this case? So he has some knowledge and noticed this."

"Therefore," Rimura opened the binder on the table, took out the documents, and showed them to Kiba.

"This is Kanako's medical record at Mitaka Hospital. Oshima-san is very well prepared; he truly lives up to his reputation as a police inspector."

Kiba had no idea that Oshima was such a thoughtful person.

"Stop keeping us in suspense, just give us the conclusion."

"So, you should know that human blood has different blood types, right? There are many ways to classify blood, but the ABO classification is the most common and easy to identify. Kanako is blood type B, and among the four murderers, only the first person found was blood type B! Saying 'person' isn't quite right, it's just the hands and feet. The blood types of the hands and feet that were found later were different. But when the earliest hands and feet were found, Kanako hadn't been kidnapped yet. You saw that with your own eyes, Kiba, right? So it's absolutely impossible."

Kiba was finally relieved and even thanked Oshima for his meticulous preparation of the information. At least—for now—he didn't have to worry about having to report the worst-case scenario to Yoko.

"So Oshima gave up on this lead a long time ago, but I'm still feeling really uneasy."

"I knew you had something wrong with your head all along, it's too late to say it now."

"Who's out of their mind? I mean I'm really angry."