Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 376 Guilty!

The Japanese Constitution and the Japanese Code of Criminal Procedure establish the status of the accused as a party to the case and grant them the right to remain silent.

Suspects can explicitly state "I don't want to talk" or "I want to remain silent" to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers conducting the search.

If the suspect requests the presence of a lawyer, the police should wait for the lawyer to arrive before conducting the interrogation; otherwise, the interrogation record may not be authentic and cannot be used as evidence in a conviction.

The police officers handling the case were all aware of this basic regulation, but very few actually followed it.

Coincidentally, Genji was one of them.

In her mind, Section Chief Fujiwara should be innocent. After all, she had seen Fujiwara Homare's behavior on Cat Island. It wasn't exactly horrific, but he was harmless enough... If Fujiwara Homare were some kind of psychopathic killer, he would have done it without hesitation when Asahara Shoko asked him to sacrifice himself.

But Fujiwara Homare is currently behaving very uncooperatively, remaining silent as if he has something to hide.

While waiting for the lawyer to arrive, the forensic department and the laboratory released their results: the handle of the knife had the fingerprints of both Fujiwara Homare and the victim, and the deceased had no other drugs in his body besides alcohol.

"Hmm, that's strange."

As Minamoto no Tamako read the forensic report, she turned to Fushimi Shika and whispered, "Look, the wound on the deceased's back is strange, it's crooked and uneven... What do you think happened?"

Fushimi Shika, too lazy to guess, slammed his hand on the table and shouted at Fujiwara no Yoshiharu, "I'm asking you a question! What happened? Tell me the truth!"

Seeing Fujiwara no Homare hanging his head and remaining silent, Fushimi no Shika resorted to his old tricks again, starting to deceive him, claiming that this was also a tribulation he had to go through before becoming an immortal, and that only by sincerely repenting and eliminating his sins could he attain enlightenment...

“I was just saying,” Fujiwara Homare’s dejected air was comparable to Kazama Takusai’s. “You actually took it seriously?”

"..."

Fushimi Shika and Minamoto Tamako exchanged a glance.

Something's not right with this guy.

Wasn't he the eldest son of the Heavenly Emperor, the second son of the Fujiwara family, and the third son of the Heavenly Emperor? Where did that arrogant and domineering attitude go?

Fushimi Shika crossed his fingers and placed them on the table, asking seriously, "After so much diligent training, are you just planning to give up now?"

“There’s no cultivation involved; I’ve just been deceiving myself.” Fujiwara Homare stared at his fingers.

"How could that be? I can feel it, your soul has become purer..."

"fake."

"How could it be fake? You saw it yourself, those evil spirits..."

"It's just some kind of fungus. Shoko Asahara took me to see it."

Fushimi Shika was about to continue persuading him when Minamoto no Tamako couldn't help but interject, "If that's the case, why did you choose to believe it in the first place? Why deceive yourself? Becoming an immortal... that sounds like a lie, doesn't it?"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance sideways at Fushimi Shika.

This guy used exorcism as an excuse at the Murin-an Temple to knock Fujiwara Homare unconscious by piercing his ears with his twin peaks—maybe that's when Section Chief Fujiwara was mentally unstable.

Fushimi Shika was equally dissatisfied. He glanced at her sideways and thought, "What happened to the deduction team helping each other? Why is this guy always undermining his partner?"
Fujiwara Homare fell silent again, staring at his fingers, lost in thought.

Yuan Yuzi leaned forward, stretched out her small hand, and waved it in front of him: "Hey! Let's put the matter of becoming an immortal aside for now, how about we talk about what happened last night?"

"We'll talk about it when the lawyer arrives," Fujiwara Homare still refused to budge.

"Has your family hired a lawyer yet?" Yuan Yuzi felt she had waited long enough.

"do not know."

"So what are we waiting for?"

"Wait for the lawyer."

"..."

Minamoto no Tamako felt that Fujiwara no Homare had become an idiot. He spoke incoherently and his expression was very blank. It was possible that he had suffered a brain injury and his mental state was deteriorating. After getting drunk, his second personality emerged and he killed someone.

Waiting any longer wasn't going to work, so Gen Tamako had no choice but to call the Fujiwara family and, as the lead detective, ask Chief Inspector Fujiwara to call a lawyer for her son.

Director Fujiwara didn't say anything special, nor did he ask Minamoto Tamako to make an exception. He simply replied, "Thank you for your hard work. The lawyer will be here in half an hour," and then hung up the phone.

Gentama felt that Director Fujiwara's attitude was a bit too calm. His own son had killed someone, yet his tone showed no worry or anxiety, which made Gentama even more suspicious.

She closed her flip phone, turned her head, and whispered about crickets:

"Do you think Fujiwara Homare committed murder?" Fushimi Shika glanced through the case file. There were security cameras in the corridor of the upscale hotel where Fujiwara Homare was staying. From the time Fujiwara Homare carried Yoshikawa Rio into the hotel until the police arrived at the hotel the next morning, no third person entered the crime scene. He casually replied, "I guess he did."

“Then I bet he didn’t kill him,” Yuan Yuzi said hastily, afraid of being beaten to the punch.

She always loses to Fushimi-kun in investigations, but this time she finally has a chance to redeem herself!
Based on her understanding of Fujiwara Homare, and considering the detective novels and dramas she had watched, this locked-room murder case was definitely not as simple as it seemed on the surface!
"Look, if Fujiwara no Homare committed the murder with a knife, why would there be the victim's fingerprints on the hilt of the knife? This means the victim also wielded a knife, right?"

Genji Tamako eagerly shared her suspicions: "If the murder weapon wasn't prepared by Fujiwara Homare beforehand, then it means the victim brought the knife to the scene. From this, we can infer that the victim intended to commit a crime, but Fujiwara Homare disarmed him and killed him in self-defense. Conversely, it's illogical that Fujiwara Homare brought the murder weapon to the scene, the victim disarmed him, but failed to leave a wound on Fujiwara Homare. Therefore, the former possibility is more likely..."

Fushimi Shika casually tossed the dossier onto the table and said, "Is it possible that Fujiwara Homare was preparing to rape her, and the victim resisted with a knife, only to be disarmed and killed by Fujiwara Homare?"

"Eh?"

Gen Tamako scratched her head, feeling that Fushimi-kun's explanation might make sense.

She rested her chin on her hand, pondered for a moment, then frowned and asked, "How do you explain the wounds on the victim's back? If there wasn't some deep-seated hatred, why would someone stab so many times? And the angles are strange too..."

“Fujiwara Homare was drunk at the time. It’s not surprising that people do anything when they’re drunk,” Fushimi Shika said, leaning on the table, intending to doze off for a while. “Maybe he was planning to get a tattoo with the girl?”

The two did not hide their discussion from Fujiwara Homare.

Knowing he had heard everything, Yuan Yuzi couldn't help but turn to ask, "Is that really true?"

Fujiwara Homare remained silent, which made her so anxious that she wanted to crack open Fujiwara Homare's head to see what had happened last night.

After synthesizing all the clues, Minamoto no Tamako concluded that the doors and windows were tightly closed, no one had entered or left, the two were alone, one person was dead, and there was sufficient witness testimony and physical evidence. Fujiwara no Homare's murder charge was practically a foregone conclusion!

But she felt the evidence was too complete, and for some reason had a feeling that Fujiwara Homare had been framed.

Isn't that how it always goes in TV dramas? The murderer condemned by everyone is actually framed and wrongfully imprisoned. After a series of twists and turns in the investigation, a battle of wits and courage with the villains, and the sacrifice of several minor supporting characters, the truth is finally revealed to the world...

Of course, Yuan Yuzi knew in her heart that TV dramas were all acting and novels were all made up, and there were not that many coincidences in real life, but the strong sense of déjà vu in front of her could not help but make her suspicious.

She found the swift reaction from the public to be particularly strange.

The criminal police hadn't even arrived at the scene yet, and the reporters were already blocking the entrance. And they weren't even criminal reporters; they didn't follow any rules when they saw the police. They must be third-rate local newspapers.

When she left the scene earlier, she specifically asked the hotel manager, who said that their internal training was very strict and they would never leak customer privacy, let alone leak the murder case to the media. This would be a devastating blow to the hotel's reputation—who would stay at a hotel if someone died there?

So who deliberately leaked the information?
Yuan Yuzi pondered deeply, but to no avail.

Fortunately, the lawyer arrived on time. The other party was covered in sweat, probably having run all the way here.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting..."

The lawyer took out a business card, and the name field read "Akiji Kikuta".

In the 90s, exchanging business cards was very popular in Japan and the United States. Wealthy and influential people would hire designers to create their own business cards, and social interactions often began with exchanging business cards.

Given the current special circumstances, it's impossible for Minamoto no Tamako and Fushimi Shika to exchange business cards with the lawyer, and they've never prepared business cards before.

“Before the interrogation begins, I need to speak with my client alone,” Kikuta Meiji said with a smile, wiping sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. “Please excuse us for a moment…”

Seeing this, Fushimi Shika was the first to get up and sit back in her wheelchair; Minamoto no Tamako was unwilling to give up, and kept looking back as she pushed Fushimi Shika out the door.

She desperately wanted to eavesdrop through the crack in the door, but because lawyers have the right to request a certain level of confidentiality when negotiating with their clients, the police should not be present to listen in or interfere.

Genjiro turned to ask Fushimi Shika's opinion, but saw that the guy was dozing off, so she couldn't help but pat him on the head to wake him up:
Aren't you curious about what they're talking about?

In his previous life, Fushimi Shika had talked to his clients so much that he was practically sick of it. He was familiar with all sorts of tactics, such as the "red-hat faction," the "die-hard faction," the "collusion faction," and the "formalist faction." Even if he didn't listen, he knew what the lawyer behind the door was talking about, so naturally he wasn't interested.

“Not curious.” He yawned. “Once they’re done talking, we can just ask them who killed the person. It won’t make a difference if we wait a little longer.”

"What if the lawyer instructs Fujiwara Homare to lie?" Minamoto Tamako was deeply worried. She didn't have a good impression of those legal wolves in Japan: "Lawyers make money through dirty tricks, you have to be careful!"

Upon hearing this, Fushimi Shika perked up. He frowned, turned his head, and said, "What nonsense are you spouting! Lawyers, like police officers, have a sacred and honorable profession. Everyone performs their duties and works together to uphold the fairness of the law..."

“I understand everything you’re saying!” Minamoto Tamako interrupted impatiently, lowering her voice to whisper in Fushimi Shika’s ear from behind: “But the atmosphere in Japanese law firms is terrible! There are hardly any good lawyers left who stay true to their original aspirations!”

Fushimi Shika was speechless, thinking to himself, "Aren't they all equally bad? Is the atmosphere in the Japanese police force really that much better?"

However, Genji's words still served as a reminder to him.

Maybe the lawyer was also afraid that the two of them were setting a trap, which is why he asked to discuss things privately with his client as soon as he entered the door. He was probably asking Fujiwara Homare if he had been subjected to torture or forced confession... Fushimi Shika stroked his chin, subconsciously putting himself in the lawyer's shoes, and pondering what method he could use to exonerate Fujiwara Homare.

Well, judging from the evidence the police have, it seems like there's no way they can get a not-guilty plea...

(End of this chapter)