"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Hayashi."
"It's truly an honor to have you here today."
After the show,
As the live audience left in an orderly fashion, backstage, Matsuo Takafumi sincerely shook hands with Hayashi Yoshiki.
Ayako Nagai also came over and bowed in thanks.
"Not at all, I'm the one who received care from both of you. Thank you very much. It's my first time participating in a show, so I just realized how much work hosts put in."
"But Mr. Hayashi, it's your first time on TV and you weren't nervous at all. Some cross-over guests were fine when discussing show arrangements, but then they'd get overwhelmed with nerves once the camera was on them."
"Actually, I just wasn't obviously nervous."
"Haha, Mr. Hayashi, could you sign for me?"
"Certainly."
The conversation here was friendly.
Eri Kisaki, as a family member, also came backstage, along with Hayashi Yoshiki's editor, Asamiya Nanae.
"Where's the director?"
Still no sign of the show's director, Suwa, Asamiya Nanae couldn't help but frown.
Usually, at this time, the show's director would definitely come to communicate with the guest, and with staff busy all over the place, the director's continued absence was quite unreliable in itself.
Just as Asamiya Nanae was wondering if the director was being arrogant and disrespectful, a staff member ran over: "Mr. Matsuo, Director Suwa seems to be missing."
"Huh?"
"Neither my call to the mixing room on the fourth floor nor his mobile phone was answered."
"How can this be? Would you mind checking the mixing room?"
"Okay."
The staff member immediately went.
Matsuo Takafumi turned his head, giving a helpless, wry smile: "Good grief, I wonder what's going on with Suwa. Mr. Hayashi is still waiting here."
"Perhaps he got caught up in something."
Hayashi Yoshiki didn't seem too concerned.
He looked at Eri Kisaki, and saw the beautiful woman in a professional suit, mature and enchanting, looking at him with satisfaction:
"You performed very well today, Yoshiki."
"Then how about we find a nice restaurant to celebrate later, Auntie Eri?"
"Sounds good."
Eri Kisaki replied with a smile.
If her daughter hadn't gone on a date today, she would have liked to take this opportunity to introduce the two.
The few of them waited backstage for a while. Suddenly, the nearby landline rang. A staff member picked it up, and the next second, their face completely changed:
"What?! Mr. Suwa is covered in blood?!"
His voice startled everyone.
The staff member's face was tense. He hung up the phone and said, "The call said Mr. Suwa seems to have died in the mixing room..."
"How could that be?"
"Let's go take a look!"
To suddenly hear news of someone dying out of nowhere felt somewhat unreal to everyone. They wanted to go check the situation immediately.
So several people quickly left the studio backstage.
The mixing room was on the 4th floor, while their current floor was the 9th. Just as everyone prepared to take the elevator down, they found it blocked and unusable, so they had to take the stairs instead.
However, upon reaching the 7th floor from the 9th, the stairs going down were blocked by a large number of material boxes, making them temporarily impassable. They had no choice but to take the stairs on the other side of the 7th floor down to the 4th floor.
At this time, many people were gathered at the entrance of the mixing room.
"Excuse me, please make way—!"
After finally separating the crowd blocking their view, everyone immediately saw the body of Michihiko Suwa in the mixing room, slumped on the ground with a blood-splattered flipped window as a backdrop, and a bullet hole in his temple.
Screams erupted momentarily.
At the same time, a few quick-thinking individuals called out: "Has anyone called the police? Call the police quickly!"
"I've already called the police!"
"Then until the police arrive, please do not enter the room casually."
Hayashi Yoshiki's clear voice quelled the surrounding commotion and panic. He stepped slightly forward, standing at the room's entrance.
Even seeing the bloody corpse didn't change his expression; the only aura emanating from him at this moment was tranquility... The onlookers looked at each other and unanimously took a step back.
About twenty minutes later, the police, having received the report, rushed to the scene.
The leader was a somewhat chubby and very kind-looking inspector. He immediately, with seasoned experience, arranged for the scene to be cordoned off and for the medical examiner to begin work, while also starting to question those present.
A shooting case was different from an ordinary murder. With a gun as the murder weapon, the nature of this case was far more serious.
"Inspector Megure."
"Hmm? Oh dear! Kisaki!"
Inspector Juzo Megure, who had been frowning, looked over when he heard the voice and was surprised to see it was Eri Kisaki: "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here accompanying this child for a show recording," Eri Kisaki gestured to Hayashi Yoshiki beside her.
"...And this is?"
"Hayashi Yoshiki, my nephew, a mystery novelist."
"Nice to meet you, Inspector Megure."
"A mystery novelist?"
Inspector Megure's eyes lit up.
The mystery novelist he knew before was extraordinary, so upon hearing this title now, he felt somewhat energized... After collecting himself, he immediately shook Hayashi Yoshiki's extended hand.
Just then, the busy police officers and medical examiner in the mixing room quickly came to report:
"Report, Inspector Megure."
"The victim is Michihiko Suwa, 37 years old, a producer at this TV station. The murder weapon was a handgun. The bullet penetrated his head and then hit the flipped window."
"We also found other bullets in the wall."
"There are two bullets under the poster near the window, and one next to the wall clock."
"Report, four bullet casings found in the corner of the room!"
Information was collected very quickly.
Perhaps because of Eri Kisaki, Inspector Megure did not prohibit Hayashi Yoshiki from listening to the collection of these pieces of information.
"The number of bullet casings found matches the number of bullet holes in the room. And apart from that one window, the entire mixing room only has this one door as an exit... But there's no railing outside the window."
"No doubt about it, the culprit must have come in from outside the door, fired wildly to force the victim to the window, and then shot him dead with one shot."
Inspector Megure quickly drew this conclusion.
In the crowd behind, Matsuo Takafumi couldn't help but secretly grin when he heard this.
Just then, Hayashi Yoshiki suddenly asked:
"Inspector Megure, do you mind if I go in and take a look?"
"Did you find anything, Mr. Hayashi?"
"Yes, because I write mystery novels, I occasionally like to imagine methods of committing crimes... I just thought of some interesting ideas, and perhaps they might include the method used by the culprit."
"Likes to imagine crime methods?"
Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure opened his mouth.
No, that statement sounds a bit dangerous, little bro!