Let's sort out the crime scene again.
The deceased, Inoue Mura, appeared to have committed suicide by slitting his own throat with a fruit knife.
But as everyone knew, a human neck could not realistically be cut open with such a weapon. The instinctive desire to survive, combined with rapid blood loss and physical weakness, made it nearly impossible for Inoue Mura to inflict a wound almost bowl-sized on himself.
More importantly, Inoue Mura had clearly been afraid before his death.
So the possibilities were limited.
Intimidation?Psychological coercion?Incitement to suicide?
Or—when he cut his neck, did someone help him?
"Is there any surveillance?" Kudo Shinichi asked casually, without much expectation.
Sure enough, he saw the embarrassed, wrinkled expression on Inspector Megure's face.
Who would dare install surveillance in a residential area inhabited by middle-class elites? Everyone knew how sensitive that group was about privacy.
Abandoning that line of inquiry, Kudo shifted his gaze back to the body.
Something felt wrong.
Inoue Mura's expression was frozen in terror, but beneath that fear was exhaustion—deep exhaustion, like that of someone who had stayed awake for days under constant stress.
But Inoue Mura was wealthy.
How could a rich man look like an overworked office worker?
Kudo felt he had found the key.
Someone had been intimidating Inoue Mura for a long time—so long that he couldn't even rest properly.
Which meant the real culprit hadn't acted suddenly.
They had been harming him continuously.
"Inspector Megure," Kudo said firmly,"I need the deceased's interpersonal interactions from the last few days of his life."
Inspector Megure immediately became alert.
Here it comes.
Whenever Kudo Shinichi wore that expression, it meant the case was close to being solved. He ordered Takagi Wataru to retrieve Inoue Mura's recent files at once.
Almost immediately, Kudo locked onto a suspect—
A fellow manager from the same company. Bald. Middle-aged. Greasy. With a protruding belly.
Kudo grinned faintly.
I thought this would be difficult… but it's really just this?
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Kudo felt his scalp tingle as he watched the man confess.
Too fast.
Unnaturally fast.
Kudo hadn't even spoken—he had only rung the doorbell—yet the man collapsed and confessed everything on the spot, proactive and cooperative to an absurd degree.
No resistance.No denial.No struggle.
And this man was also wealthy.
Kudo had seen countless cases. Even when the evidence was overwhelming, people like this fought tooth and nail—argued, delayed, bribed, shouted.
But this man?
Relief.
As if being arrested had saved him.
Kudo's expression darkened.
He wanted to stop the arrest that Inspector Megure and the others welcomed so eagerly, but he lacked a concrete reason. In the end, he could only sit silently in the police car afterward, lost in thought.
Takagi Wataru, driving, chatted excitedly.
"Kudo, you really saved us this time. You don't know how much pressure came from above."
"But honestly, I don't get it. They make so much money, yet still try to drag each other down."
"Inoue Mura and Kawaguchi Watari were fighting fiercely. They probably didn't sleep for days, thinking about how to destroy each other…"
—
Kudo froze.
"Stop."
He slammed his fist against the seat.
Takagi jumped. "Huh?"
"Turn back. Now."
"Back where?"
"Their company."
Everything connected in an instant.
Yes, there were conflicts.Yes, there were interests at stake.
But not enough to justify murder.
Unless—
There was someone above them.
A higher-level figure.
The true common enemy.
Kudo's heartbeat accelerated. His breathing grew heavy.
The company president.
Seiichiro.
For middle-level managers, the person they hated most was never each other—it was the one squeezing them dry from above.
"Drive faster," Kudo ordered.
Takagi stepped on the accelerator.
At the same time, an urgent message was sent to Inspector Megure.
Hurry.
Kudo could feel it.
He was close.
Dangerously close.
But his instincts screamed—
Before the truth was revealed, someone would die.
And that someone would be the company president.
Elsewhere.
"Beautiful…"
Mizunotsuki Seiren observed quietly.
So this was the criminal-investigation protagonist.
That unreasonable, lightning-fast intuition.
Completely unscientific.
And yet terrifyingly effective.
Seiren finally confirmed that his long-standing caution had been correct.
Against someone like this, only two methods worked—
Overwhelming force,or an absolute information gap.
Fortunately, the extraordinary information gap was firmly in his hands.
Still, it was outrageous.
His layout had been deliberately chaotic, improvised, and even contradictory. And yet, Kudo Shinichi had connected everything.
Absurd.
But satisfying.
Smart people were arrogant.They trusted deduction over perception.Inference over what they actually saw.
Which made them perfect chess pieces.
Seiren hadn't even pushed.
And yet the detective was already chasing the "truth" on his own.
Efficient.Extremely efficient.
"Are we there yet?!" Kudo shouted anxiously.
"Almost!" Takagi replied.
At that moment, Inspector Megure received the warning—
The company president might be in danger.
Panic spread instantly.
This was no longer just a case.
It was an incident.
"Takagi," Kudo said coldly,"I don't care who's in the way. Go through."
The commercial building loomed ahead.
The lights were still on.
Kudo's pupils shrank.
On the office floor—
An elderly man sat calmly, as if he had been waiting all along. His eyes were tired, his expression composed.
"Ah… as expected."
He smiled faintly.
"The savior of the Metropolitan Police Department really is as sharp as ever…"
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