The last day of the year always seemed to hold warmth amid the cold, a warmth born from the festive atmosphere of New Year's Eve. Even though it was already approaching midnight, there were still plenty of pedestrians strolling leisurely through the streets.
Ritsu wasn't in a hurry to return to the car. Instead, he stopped at a vending machine and bought a can of coffee.
Standing beneath a traffic light at an intersection, he turned his head toward the crime scene and noticed a bouquet resting on the bench.
He was confident in his memory. He could say with certainty that the bouquet hadn't been there when he first arrived at the scene, nor had it been there while he was buying coffee.
The bouquet of gardenias had just been placed there and was highly likely connected to the victim, Atsuko, in some way.
There were too many pedestrians around, so questioning each of them individually was impossible. His gaze shifted toward the convenience store nearby. Despite supposedly operating twenty-four hours a day, the interior was completely dark, showing no signs of business.
"Being closed actually works better for me."
Quickly slipping into the alley behind the convenience store, he found an area beyond the reach of surveillance cameras.
Lockpicking was practically one of his old trades. After easily prying open a rear window, he put on dust-free gloves and climbed inside.
Moving with practiced familiarity, Ritsu headed straight to the register counter. After turning on the computer, he immediately began reviewing the surveillance footage from the past few minutes.
Five minutes earlier, a man and a woman had arrived at the crime scene, placed the bouquet of gardenias down, bowed toward it, and then left.
He zoomed in on the footage as much as possible and noticed a metal badge attached to one of their backpacks. After examining it, he identified it as the emblem of Ibaraki University.
Ibaraki University, the same university Atsuko attended.
Looks like there's a new lead.
The fact that they had come to leave flowers on New Year's Eve clearly suggested they had a close relationship with the victim, most likely friends.
Ritsu didn't linger in the convenience store. After deleting all the surveillance footage from the computer and shutting down the monitoring system, he retraced his steps, carefully removing any traces of the break-in.
Returning to the car, he had barely opened the door when Hayasaka complained,
"Where did you run off to? The hamburger I bought for you has already gone cold. Do you want me to buy you another one?"
Opening his foldable laptop, Ritsu replied while operating it, "I went looking for clues about the killer. As for the burger, could you remove the tomatoes and onions for me? Thanks."
"You're seriously picky."
"I just don't like the way they taste when they're put inside. If they're prepared differently, I'll eat them."
He directly sent the video footage to Vodka's email and asked him to decrypt the road surveillance systems around Ibaraki Prefecture, searching for any footage that might have captured the murderer.
...
Far away in a safe house in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo,
Vodka was lounging on a sofa with a bottle of vodka in hand, watching the NHK Red and White Song Battle. There were less than ten minutes left until midnight.
Ding.
The notification sound from his phone instantly sobered him halfway.
Startled, Vodka grabbed his phone. Upon realizing the message wasn't from Gin, he let out a relieved sigh.
[Augier: Vodka, could you help me check whether this man appears in surveillance footage from this area? Sorry for disturbing your New Year's Eve break. I've still got a few bottles of vintage liquor here, I'll bring them to you later.]
"It's from Augier?"
Perhaps due to the alcohol, Vodka's drooping brows furrowed sympathetically.
"The MPD actually makes people work on New Year's Eve too? That's too much. I'd better finish this quickly so Augier can get off work earlier."
When it came to hacking, Vodka's skills were no worse than Augier's. In fact, for certain straightforward cracking tasks, he was even faster.
Using software he had developed himself, he quickly analyzed the surveillance network and marked the suspect's appearances across multiple intersections.
After organizing everything, Vodka packaged the edited footage and sent it to Augier's email. Sighing, he muttered,
"That guy takes everything way too seriously. If he'd just slack off a little, people wouldn't dump every job on him."
Ding.
A reply arrived almost immediately. After opening it and reading the contents, Vodka couldn't help but break into a goofy grin.
[Augier: Thanks. Also... Happy New Year. Drink a little less and take care of your health.]
"Hehehe."
Messages like that were exceedingly rare within the Organization.
Vodka quietly saved the email into a locked mailbox folder. Precious correspondence commemorating the friendship between brothers deserved to be preserved carefully.
...
Unaware that his casual courtesy had been treasured like a priceless keepsake, Ritsu pushed the laptop toward Hayasaka and instructed,
"Help me compare the footage. See if the man has any distinctive characteristics, his movements, gait, anything."
"Got it. Hurry up and eat. Even the fries have gone soggy."
"Yeah."
Unwrapping the burger, he found all the ingredients he disliked had already been removed. Taking a bite, he chewed twice before taking a couple of sips of cola.
Cold burgers really didn't taste very good.
The cheese had solidified, and the beef patty had become dry and devoid of juices.
Hayasaka stared attentively at the screen while comparing the videos. She was curious where the footage had come from, but when she thought about Onizawa's hacking abilities, she decided it was better not to ask.
After all...
This was definitely bending a few rules.
Five minutes later, Hayasaka suddenly paused the video and exclaimed, "Onizawa, I think I know where we should investigate next!"
Eita, who had nearly fallen asleep in the passenger seat, instantly woke up.
"Really? Did you find something?"
"Yeah. Onizawa, look here."
After replaying several clips repeatedly, Hayasaka explained,
"This man keeps placing his left hand on the back of his neck. It's hard to see in these two clips, but in this one, you can clearly tell he's scratching his neck. I think he may have some kind of skin condition."
"And in these two clips, he takes off his hat. We can get a clear look at his face."
'A skin condition causing itching?'
Ritsu nodded in agreement.
"That's very possible. Combined with the petroleum smell we detected on his clothing earlier, we can narrow the search area to auto repair shops and gas stations. Add in the fact that he's left-handed and may have a skin condition, and we should be able to identify him."
"So we're going door-to-door now?" asked Kamio as he rubbed his eyes.
"That would be too slow."
Setting the laptop on his lap, Ritsu cleared his throat twice. "You all get some rest. Leave the rest to me."
Aside from Eita, the other two immediately understood what Ritsu meant.
He was obviously planning to use hacking techniques to access hospital records directly, filter male dermatology patients around forty years old, and then compare their appearances against the footage.
"Onizawa-nii, how are you going to investigate from inside the car?" Eita asked curiously.
"Eita, if you want to—"
"Ta-ka-shi O-ni-za-wa."
Hayasaka shot him a glare. "Don't corrupt children, okay?"
Then she instantly switched to a warm smile and turned toward Eita. "Kids shouldn't be curious about what adults are doing. Curiosity killed the cat, you know."
"That's actually pretty true. Curiosity really does kill the cat."
Thinking about a certain high school detective who had been reduced to an elementary schooler, Ritsu couldn't help but feel that people were better off not being too curious.
----
Happy Birthday, Ritsu! 🎂
bonus chap every 20 PS
read ahead on my [email protected] / Siamus404