Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 539 Suicide?

“Meet in private? Oh, you mean Mr. Aoyagi? Because I was providing psychological counseling for people in Beika Prison, Mr. Aoyagi must express his gratitude after his release,” Nishimuta said matter-of-factly.

That's the reason, but...

"But I saw that, Miss Nishimuta, you also gave Mr. Aoyagi an envelope? Inside should be..." Mori was about to ask more.

But Nishimuta interrupted, saying, "That's right, it's some psychological counseling content."

gross profit:……

Mori didn't believe this claim, but he had no evidence to refute it, and besides...

"Alright, Detective Mouri, why don't you check if someone is targeting Ye Hui?" the narcissist interrupted.

"Nishimuda-neechan, you're amazing! You can even dream about someone trying to harm you?" Conan said, blinking his big eyes.

Nishimuta, however, showed no sign of nervousness. Instead, he confidently stated, "That's right, psychology is amazing, isn't it?"

"Did Nishimuta-neechan dream about who the murderer was?" Conan continued to ask.

“No, I just dreamt that I was enveloped by black, lumpy things. Hmm… according to Jungian dream interpretation, this represents death,” Nishimuta replied calmly.

Conan: ...

Conan couldn't do anything about the other party using this excuse.

“Well… Senior Narcissist, why don’t you take the lady home first?” Amaki said at this moment.

I've gotten used to being narcissistic...

Whether it's "senior" or "police officer," even though these are respectful titles, everyone still calls themselves "narcissistic," as if they've already accepted that as their default self-designation!

After Narcissist and Nishimuta left, Amagi specifically asked, "Detective Mori, is there anything else you wanted to say? About Ms. Nishimuta?"

Mori hesitated for a moment, but still whispered, "Actually... besides meeting with people with criminal records in private, more importantly, I found out... she seems to be... well, very likely... having an extramarital affair with the deputy director of the research institute."

Tian Shu: ...

really!

Xiaolan stopped her father from continuing because of this—it was too rude to say that someone's girlfriend was having an affair with an older man.

After all, Mori wasn't 100% sure; he hadn't actually photographed anyone entering the hotel, it was just "clues" or "a detective's experience."

“I see… By the way, why did she hire Detective Mori to investigate Ms. Nishimuta?” Amagi asked, puzzled.

When Mori talked about it, he was quite angry and said, "That girl originally told me that she suspected Nishimuta was being followed recently and was very uneasy, and hoped that I could investigate... Later I found out that she was doing this investigation because she was competing with Nishimuta for the same promotion position, so I refused her!"

Because of this, Mori couldn't find solid evidence of the affair, and when he met with the ex-convict, he didn't specifically take photos of her giving him money.

There are principles to gross profit margins too...

If it's a request from a partner or couple regarding infidelity, Mori would certainly accept it, since it's a significant source of income for detectives.

However, Mori would not accept investigating a colleague's infidelity in order to avoid unfair competition.

“Just as I thought…” Tian Shu said knowingly.

"Hmm? Officer Amagi knows what happened?" Mori had dealt with the detectives from the Beika Police Station before and knew that Amagi was one of the most reliable among these "elites".

“I know… Narcissism is probably going to fail again this time,” Amagi said matter-of-factly.

The Mori family: ...

Because of her narcissism... and mainly because Nishimuta was almost killed just now, so Mori couldn't ask her anything at this moment.

……

The next morning, Narcissistic arrived at Nishimuta's building on time to take her to work... Amaki followed along!

Narcissistic couldn't really say anything against it, after all, judging from yesterday's situation, Nishimuta might really be being targeted, and one more person meant one more safety—if it weren't for Amagi last night, someone would probably have died.

The three of them walked all the way from Nishimuta’s house to the research institute, since the distance was not far.

Just as we were getting close to the research institute...

"Wait a minute..." Tian Shu smelled something again, stopping the other two first, then sniffing carefully: "Did you smell anything?"

"You mean... gas? Whose gas is leaking?" The narcissist smelled it too after being reminded.

Narcissism has a very keen sense of smell, but it's not as meticulous as Amagi.

"Yes... Ah! Get out of the way!" Tian Shu then noticed that there was a gas cylinder at what seemed to be the back door of a restaurant, and it appeared to be leaking gas.

If that's all there is to it, does it seem like there's no need to run?
At the same time, Tian Shu looked up in the direction of the gas cylinder and saw someone reaching out with a cigarette butt in their hand...

Upon hearing Amagi's warning, Narcissistic quickly pulled Nishimuta away and fled, while also alerting passersby.

With the sound of the explosion, the shockwave knocked three people down...

The passersby were also startled, but thankfully no one was closer than the three of them!
Clearly, this is yet another "attack" targeting Nishimuta.

After getting up, Amagi told Narcissistic to take care of Nishimuta, and then went upstairs to chase after him, but...

No one was found!
The other party came prepared, so it was indeed unlikely that they could be caught. Tian Shu only looked around the window to see if any traces were left.

……

The Mihana Police Station responded to the incident again due to a gas explosion.

This time, Nishimuta was also invited to the police station...

After all, the first electrical leak could be considered an accident, but now that we are about to encounter another potentially fatal threat, it is hard to call it a "coincidence".

Of course, Nishimuta wasn't a criminal. After being brought to the police station, he was only questioned over tea in the conference room. And because of his narcissism, the other detectives couldn't get any information out of him.

then……

Although no special search team has been established since no casualties have been reported yet, a small meeting has already begun in the criminal investigation office.

"That's certainly suspicious... Could it be that he's trying to clear himself of suspicion?"

"Even the search team didn't suspect her, yet she almost killed herself twice?"

"Ah! I know, could it be that she actually wanted to kill Narcissist?"

"Good guess, don't guess next time."

“We should start with Emoto’s murder case…” “Hmm? Take a look at Emoto’s case file. The person who called the police was a ‘woman who used a public phone without leaving any identification information’… Kanzaki… uh, can someone go and check with Souichi?”

Putting aside Fuji's wildly imaginative ideas as he passed by, Haiya, looking at the case file of the Emoto case, genuinely began to suspect something, but...

Kanzaki can indeed perform "voiceprint comparison," and even though he's currently in the forensic department, asking him for help wouldn't be a big deal. The problem is... the police report isn't in the Beika Police Station!

"I'll go ask Inspector Aoki," Suzuki said, taking out his phone.

When Aoki was at the Beika Police Station, Suzuki and Maki were his direct subordinates.

Aoki is now the director of the 17th Division at headquarters...

Shortly after, Aoki, having completed the formalities, sent over the police report.

After listening to it, Kanzaki confirmed that it was indeed Nishimuta Yoru's voice!
"So, the first person to discover it really was Nishimuta? Then why didn't he just call the police directly and instead used a public phone?" Gen asked, puzzled.

"So...she's the murderer?" Miss Kobe guessed from the side.

"No, no, no, if she is the murderer, it makes even less sense to call the police..." Tian Shu shook his head.

"Huh? I've seen in TV dramas that many murderers will proactively call the police..." Kobe said, puzzled.

Tian Shu didn't find her annoying, but explained, "It is true that there are cases where the murderer takes the initiative to call the police, but there are only two purposes. One is to be the 'first person to discover' the body, so that even if there are traces of her at the scene, they cannot be considered evidence. The other is to make sure that the police can find the body in time so that they can create an alibi for themselves within the estimated time of death."

Tian Shu only mentioned the motive. As for why it's not one of those two situations now, that's as clear as day for Xiahou Dun looking in the mirror!
First, she concealed her identity and was not the first person to discover the crime; second, she had no alibi at all.

However, they were investigating a more suspicious suspect on the other end of the search and couldn't pay attention to her at all!
"Then why did she secretly call the police?" Kobe asked, puzzled.

"Maybe she found it by accident and was afraid of being suspected later... I'll ask her about it later. Seriously, what's wrong with that narcissistic guy..." Ash Valley complained.

Just then, an old woman, led by Yuanwei, arrived at the Criminal Investigation Department office.

Since Munakata wasn't there, Haiya stepped forward to greet him, saying, "Chief Mado, what's wrong?"

"Director Haiya, this Aunt Nishimuta said her daughter was arrested by you?" Madoka was also puzzled. The family members came to the door, but he checked and there was no arrest record.

Yuanwei was a little worried that it was an improper search, which is why he came to ask.

“Nishimuda? Oh, you must be Ms. Nishimuda’s mother? Don’t worry, we’re helping Ms. Nishimuda because she encountered some trouble before,” Haiya reassured her.

Grandma Nishimuta looked very simple and rustic, and her clothes had a rural feel to them, as if she had just come from the countryside.

Upon hearing what Ashiya said, the old lady quickly said, "Officer! You must catch the criminal who is harmful to Ye Hui!"

"Hmm? Aunt Nishimuta, do you... know something?" Upon hearing this, Haiya immediately realized this.

"Well... that's right. Actually, I received Ye Hui's suicide note a couple of days ago. Since I couldn't get in touch with her, I rushed to Dongdu." The old lady said worriedly.

"A suicide note? Can I see it?" Ash Valley asked hurriedly.

The old lady didn't hide anything and took a letter out of her luggage...

It was said to be a suicide note, but it did not mention suicide.

In her letter, Nishimuta Yoe only mentioned that she had recently had a "precognitive dream" and suspected that she was about to die—the same raft as her previous lies.

However, it was later mentioned that the Mikasa Bureau was unaware of this beforehand...

After Ashiya had Maki take the old lady to the meeting room, he looked at the "last will and testament"—it was actually just like a last will and testament, but it was in the form of a family letter.

Nishimuta Yoe actually bought herself a large accidental death insurance policy and told her mother that after the insurance claim was paid out, she would take out half of it to help the victims who were suing Emoto—that is, the copyright infringement case in which Emoto wrote a book about the patients' privately disclosed medical conditions.

After reading the suicide note, everyone was stunned!

What's the situation?
They even bought a large sum of insurance...

In this situation, wouldn't it usually indicate suicide?
but……

The purpose of defrauding insurance money was actually to help the patient who was fighting a lawsuit in Emoto?
"Women... are truly terrifying... is it really necessary to die together like this?"

"Does this prove that she absolutely hates Emoto?"

"But leaving behind a suicide note would actually prove that she didn't kill anyone, wouldn't it?"

"Indeed, otherwise it would be too strange..."

"Perhaps this is how they want to escape punishment?"

"Impossible! She almost died!"

"Could it really be... because of a precognitive dream?"

"Wait... if this is how she committed suicide... I think I understand now."

Suddenly, Tian Shu realized something.

Seeing this, everyone couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

However, Amagi did not answer immediately, but instead went to Nishimuta to verify his conjecture...

“Aunt Nishimuta, please wait a moment. May I ask Ms. Nishimuta a few last questions?” Amagi said to the old lady who had just met her daughter.

The old lady breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her daughter was alright, so she didn't refuse and went outside to wait.

At this point, Amagi didn't keep them in suspense and asked directly, "Ms. Nishimuta, in Emoto's murder case, you were the one who called the police, right?"

"Huh? How could it be me? I..." Nishimuta naturally had to retort.

However, Amagi shook his head and said, "Don't rush to deny it. Actually... I believe you have nothing to do with the murder case. After all, this murder case disrupted your plans. You originally wanted to commit suicide and use the insurance money for the victims of Emoto Publishing, right?"

Upon hearing this, Nishimuta knew that his mother had already shown them the letter, so he had no choice but to deny one of the key points: "Indeed, I wanted to use the insurance money this way, otherwise it would only make patients lose faith in psychologists... But I never thought about suicide. You don't think that the accidents we encountered before were all deliberately arranged by me, do you?"

Tian Shu shook his head and said, "Of course it wasn't something you arranged on purpose. You really don't want to die right now, otherwise you wouldn't have asked Senior Narcissistic to protect you. However... you've encountered a big problem, which is your own 'suicide,' which you can't stop now!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" the narcissist couldn't help but question.

but……

Nishimuta has stopped talking.

"I think you probably contacted Aoyagi, who has connections in this area, and asked him to hire a professional assassin to kill you. But after discovering that Emoto had already been killed, you no longer wanted to die. However, you suddenly found that Aoyagi had gone abroad and you couldn't contact him..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Dongdong: Today is September 17th, the 1280th anniversary of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang bestowing the title of Consort Yang Guifei. I'm asking for your monthly votes!

(End of this chapter)