Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 388 A true man doesn't concern himself with trifles!
"Amazing! That's a perfect deduction!" Fushimi Shika clapped and praised, intending to give Minamoto Tamako a good laugh.

Gen Tamako thoroughly enjoyed her experience as a famous detective, and everything went exactly as she had imagined:
The handsome and intelligent detective Tamako takes on a murder case and goes to investigate with her bumbling assistant, Fushimi.

The case then hit a dead end, and Detective Tamako racked her brains, when her bumbling assistant Fushimi unintentionally enlightened her with a single sentence.
Detective Tamako had a flash of inspiration and tried to verify her reasoning process, while her clueless assistant looked on blankly and, out of pride, was too embarrassed to ask why.
In the end, Detective Tamako perfectly deduced the truth, and her bumbling assistant, Fushimi, upon hearing it, was immediately filled with respect, clapping and saying, "What an amazing deduction!"

Everything was perfect!

Aside from a few minor setbacks in the process, such as the bumbling assistant begging to help with the case, and how I actually used information asymmetry to solve the case first... none of that matters!
A true man doesn't concern himself with trifles!
She was so comfortable that her toes were tense, and she couldn't hide the pride on her face. Plus, she had just been kissed by Fushimi-kun, so she looked radiant.

Just one step left!

That's right, the final step that appears in all mystery novels or crime dramas:
— Detective Tamako breaks down the killer's defenses, causing him to weep, feel deep remorse, and admit his mistakes. He then recounts the events of the murder in detail. Ultimately, with Detective Tamako's guidance, the killer has a change of heart and decides to accept punishment and start anew!

Minamoto Tamako had even thought of her lines: "Miss Yoshikawa will be reunited with her lover in heaven. After she learns the truth, she certainly won't blame you..."

She had prepared her speech in her mind, signaling to Fushimi to follow her lead, and then she strode confidently into the interrogation room:

"Oh my, Fujiwara-kun, it's been a long time!"

Fujiwara Homare said weakly, "Didn't we just see each other at noon? I've already confessed, what else is there to interrogate me about?"

“Of course! The sentencing for manslaughter, crime of passion, and excessive self-defense is different,” Yuan Yuzi sat down in front of him, pretending to sort through the case file with both hands. “I’m doing this for your own good. Anyone else would have closed the case hastily by now!”

Fujiwara Homare looked indifferent. As the only son of the Fujiwara family, he could be stupid, clumsy, or incompetent, but he could never commit a crime.

Once convicted, his life is essentially over.

The Fujiwara family would not tolerate such a stain, much less allow Fujiwara Homare to become a weapon for political enemies to attack.

There are only two options: either exonerate him at all costs, or remove him from the center of power completely.

After greeting everyone, Minamoto no Tamako laid out her speculations in one breath. There was no question of interrogation skills, nor any coercion of the suspect. At most, when corroborating her deductions, she presented the graduation photo as physical evidence to put a little pressure on Fujiwara no Homare.

"In conclusion, is there anything else you need to argue?" She imitated Fushimi Shika, crossing her fingers as if she had the victory in her grasp.

"No."

Fujiwara Yu paused, as if he had thought of something, and then changed his words, saying, "There is one thing that needs to be added: Yoshikawa did not try to kill me for revenge. After I explained, she still did not believe me and thought that I killed Ryusuke out of personal resentment... She only made verbal accusations. I couldn't help myself and killed her with a knife out of jealousy and hatred."

Yuan Yuzi thought this made sense, but she vaguely felt that something was wrong, so she asked, "Where did that knife come from?"

"It's for self-defense. She thought I was going to do something inappropriate to her." Fujiwara Homare said, looking down and fiddling with his fingers.

"So how did you manage to sleep after killing him?" Minamoto Tamako asked again. "Afterwards, I sobered up and felt extremely regretful. I swallowed two sleeping pills, intending to commit suicide. Maybe the dosage was too low, or maybe I have a drug resistance... Anyway, I was fine the next day." Fujiwara Homare shrugged: "You didn't send me for a drug test either. It's probably too late now; they probably can't detect any residue."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Yuzi nodded, quite satisfied; now everything made sense.

She glanced back to make sure Fushimi was taking notes diligently, writing down their entire conversation. This was a crucial confession, key evidence in court, and it couldn't be wrong.

With the business concluded, Gen Tamako felt it was time to bring the case to a satisfying close—all cases end with the criminal's repentance, and without the intense interaction between the detective and the criminal, the murder would lack its soul.

She cleared her throat, put on a serious face, and said in a low, solemn tone, "Fujiwara-kun, Miss Yoshikawa will be reunited with her lover in heaven. She certainly won't blame you after learning the truth..."

"You're a Christian too?" Fujiwara asked instinctively.

“Ah, I’m a materialist…” Minamoto Tamako thought of Officer Rabbit and added, “A dialectical materialist… Heaven can neither be proven to exist nor to not exist, so let’s just believe it exists.”

“Yeah,” Fujiwara Homare said.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy. The suspect didn't seem to be deeply affected by it, and Minamoto Tamako also felt that it wasn't appropriate to say anything more in this situation... Sure enough, it's all just acting in dramas; a detective's verbal sparring only makes him annoying.

Having asked all the questions she needed to, she turned to Fushimi Shika and asked her partner if there was anything else she needed to add.

Fushimi Shika thought for a moment, then a small problem troubled him—this matter was unrelated to the murder, but he really wanted to know the answer.

"Why do you suddenly not want to become an immortal anymore?" he couldn't help but ask.

“Because it’s fake,” Minamoto Tamako thought the question was utterly stupid, and Fushimi-kun, true to his reputation as a dimwitted assistant, seemed to be experiencing a sharp decline in intelligence. “Didn’t Fujiwara-kun say before that he figured it out, that it’s fake…”

“He knew all along that it was fake,” Fushimi Shika interrupted. “Why did he abandon his dream of becoming an immortal now of all times? Why not earlier or later?”

Now, Minamoto no Tamako couldn't answer. She felt that this matter was unimportant, and that Fushimi-kun was just nitpicking, looking for doubts in the perfect reasoning, and vaguely questioning her... But then she felt that she might be overthinking it, and that her reasoning didn't seem so perfect either. There was a small problem: why was Fujiwara no Homare confessing the truth now?

If we follow her reasoning, he will most likely be convicted of excessive self-defense and receive a very light sentence; but right now he claims that he committed a crime of passion, so he will definitely not be out for less than fifteen years.

Was it simply because Fujiwara Homare had a change of heart?

Before Minamoto no Tamako could figure out the key point, Fujiwara no Homare slowly raised his head. The cold light of the incandescent bulb shone on his face, leaving a butterfly shadow that made his expression look very strange.

He seemed both relieved and deeply pained, giving a heartfelt answer:

"Because I am no longer the only son of the Fujiwara family, that's all."

(End of this chapter)