News in media companies generally spreads fast.
The news of Michihiko Suwa's death by gunshot soon spread throughout the Yomiuri TV building. His body had just been taken away by the police, and the next moment, a group of news department colleagues, carrying cameras of all sizes, rushed forward with excited faces.
"Mr. Matsuo! Mr. Matsuo!"
"How are you feeling right now?"
"Please tell us, it's being rumored that your show is about to be canceled. Do you think it might be your fans who couldn't accept it and did this?"
"Or perhaps, Mr. Matsuo, you had a conflict with Director Suwa, which is why—"
Excited reporters scrambled to shove microphones in front of Matsuo Takafumi, a barrage of questions hitting his face like cannon fire, making his expression increasingly grim.
"Shut up!" he roared, glaring, to drive back these colleagues. "Are you ever going to stop!?"
The police beside him quickly stepped in to restrain the media people.
Just as an officer tried to escort Matsuo Takafumi to the side, his shoulders trembled, and his eyes grew dark, as if he was struggling to suppress his emotions: "We did talk about canceling the show... But, but Mr. Suwa told me that he still hoped I would continue hosting."
"And, the reason Mr. Suwa came to this mixing room during the broadcast was actually to discuss this issue with me. He said then that we would discuss how to make the content more interesting after the show ended..."
"And the result...!"
Matsuo Takafumi was on the verge of tears as he spoke.
The reporters quietly held up their microphones, watching him.
"I, Matsuo Takafumi, swear here, in front of everyone! I will inherit Mr. Suwa's will and continue to host this program, and..." Matsuo Takafumi gritted his teeth, his eyes becoming extremely firm: "I will bring this case to the screen and do my utmost to investigate the murderer of Mr. Suwa!"
At this moment, in the television set within the mixing room, Matsuo Takafumi's resounding declaration was broadcast live.
"This guy, does he think we police can't catch the murderer?"
Inspector Juzo Megure was displeased to hear that.
Because Michihiko Suwa was monitoring the show here before the incident, he naturally had the TV on and tuned to Yomiuri TV, and what Yomiuri TV was broadcasting now was the live evening news from within the station.
"Even though a colleague from the same company died, those reporters are so excited, carrying cameras and broadcasting live..."
Standing at the entrance of the mixing room, Asamiya Nanae looked at the reporters' reactions with a strange expression.
Eri Kisaki, however, wore a calm expression, as if accustomed to it:
"That's how media people are."
"Mr. Hayashi, let's continue our previous discussion. You said you had some findings, right?"
"Yes, the culprit should indeed be Mr. Matsuo."
Hayashi Yoshiki, who had merely walked around the mixing room, came over and said with a smile.
He didn't lower his voice at all.
Because the reporters and Matsuo Takafumi were right at the door, upon hearing this, Matsuo Takafumi, who had just been teary-eyed in front of the camera, reacted strongly. He suddenly turned around: "What nonsense are you talking about, Mr. Hayashi!?"
"How could I possibly kill Director Suwa? Although I did have some arguments with him before, but that was...!" He shook off the camera, walked over, and shouted, somewhat flustered: "Hey, you police aren't seriously going to suspect me just because of his one sentence, are you? Also, hasn't Suwa's time of death been determined yet?"
"Director Suwa's time of death should be within those forty minutes, from 20:15 to 20:55."
The one who answered was Hayashi Yoshiki.
On his handsome face, a dignified smile appeared. He raised his index finger and said, "At 20:15, Mr. Matsuo, you asked a staff member to call and confirm Director Suwa's location, and you received a reply quickly. I was nearby, so I heard it."
"I called then because—"
"These aren't important. For efficiency, could you please let me finish first?" Hayashi Yoshiki interrupted him. "Afterwards, at 20:55, when the show ended, the staff called again and there was no answer. Therefore, I'm tentatively setting Director Suwa's time of death within those 40 minutes."
"That's right then! I was recording the show during that time, wasn't I? How could I possibly have time to kill Mr. Suwa!?"
"During the commercial break near the end of the show, a 4-minute VCR was played. Mr. Matsuo, you left your seat without a word then, didn't you?"
"That was only 4 minutes!?"
Matsuo Takafumi shouted loudly.
It was at this moment that he secretly rejoiced in his heart. The 4-minute timeframe was the subtle genius of his planned murder.
"You know that our recording studio is on the 9th floor. To run from the 9th floor to the 4th floor to kill Mr. Suwa and then run back, how could that possibly be enough time!?"
"Yes."
To Matsuo Takafumi's surprise, Hayashi Yoshiki actually nodded in agreement.
He rolled up his left sleeve and glanced at his watch, his face still holding that incredibly clear expression: "When everyone first heard about Mr. Suwa's death, they immediately rushed here from the studio backstage. Because the direct staircase was blocked, it took about seven minutes... I imagine even if you were faster, you could only shorten it to around 6 minutes."
"Uh, you actually had time to notice such things?" Inspector Megure was somewhat surprised.
Hayashi Yoshiki didn't respond.
And Matsuo Takafumi, upon hearing this, immediately straightened his back and said: "So you also know it definitely couldn't be—"
"But if you fire the shot from the seventh floor and then return to the studio, it would only take about 2 minutes to go back and forth cleanly."
"!!"
Hayashi Yoshiki's almost flat voice made Matsuo Takafumi's face suddenly turn pale. His heart tightened, and he almost couldn't breathe.
But he still clung to a sliver of hope, forcing himself to speak with a semblance of composure: "What seventh floor? Didn't the police just say the culprit entered from outside the door—"
"Because of the TV station's set requirements, the environment within the entire building is irregular, and the positions of windows in different rooms also vary. If you stick your head out of this mixing room window and look up, the 5th and 6th floors don't have windows set up; windows only begin to appear on the 7th floor."
Hayashi Yoshiki's words made Matsuo Takafumi's legs feel weak.
If he could, he truly wished that mouth would not utter another sound.
However, Hayashi Yoshiki didn't stop speaking:
"Do you know, Mr. Matsuo? Actually, when I just opened that casement window, looked out, and found that there was a similar window directly above on the 7th floor, I immediately thought of this method."
"But because I felt it was a bit too simple and not very interesting, I didn't plan to record it as material."
"..."
"Wait, Mr. Hayashi, you mean..."
Inspector Megure was somewhat dazed. He turned to look at the casement window in the mixing room, hesitantly asking: "Michihiko Suwa actually opened the window, looked up with his head tilted, and was shot dead by the culprit from the 7th floor?"
"Yes."
"But why would he open the window and look out?"
"I don't know that. Perhaps the culprit used a phone or something to get him to look outside, like an excuse about aliens or a UFO outside."
Hayashi Yoshiki said this with a smile, causing Inspector Megure to twitch the corner of his mouth.
Matsuo Takafumi, who had been reacting so intensely just moments ago, was now speechless.