Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 393 The Truth About Truth

The background noise of the conversation included the sound of a door closing, and the two realized in an instant that the recording contained their conversation on the night Fujiwara Homare committed the crime.

Yuan Yuzi clenched her fists nervously. The feeling was strange, a mixture of anticipation and trepidation, just like when she checked her answers after the national unified exam. She knew she could get a high score, but she still couldn't help but want to verify it.

Although it is unknown who sent it, for the case officer in charge, it is undoubtedly the most powerful evidence, which can perfectly reconstruct what happened on the night of the incident!
...If we really want to trace the source, maybe it was a perverted waiter who liked to secretly record customers' moaning during sex. He accidentally recorded the whole murder and, because he felt guilty, anonymously sent the tape over.

Of course, the above is purely personal speculation.

The tape continued to spin, and a woman's voice came from the tape recorder, presumably Yoshikawa Rio speaking: "No need."

Fujiwara Homare's voice rang out again: "Uh, what's wrong?"

Rio Yoshikawa: "Don't come any closer!"

Fujiwara Homare: "W-What do you mean? What are you doing with that knife?"

Rio Yoshikawa: "Did you kill Ryusuke?"

Fujiwara Homare: "You're not drunk? You're faking it? You...you were lying to me just now..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Otherwise what? Where is Ryusuke?! What did you do to him?!"

Fujiwara Homare: "Don't get agitated, I didn't do anything! I didn't kill anyone!"

"..."

After ten seconds of silence.

Rio Yoshikawa: "He's dead?"

Fujiwara Homare: "Uh, I guess so..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "What do you mean by 'should be'?! Explain yourself! Explain yourself!"

Fujiwara Homare: "What are you yelling about? Do you know who I am? I'm the only son of the Fujiwara family—"

The sound of a sword being drawn rang out.

Fujiwara Homare: "I'll talk, I'll talk... Put the knife down..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Speak!"

Fujiwara Homare: "It's a complicated story. You know Aum Shinrikyo, right? He was captured and taken to a place called Cat Island, and then... and then all sorts of things happened... I was captured too! Don't get excited! It was chaos, bullets were flying everywhere, and he fell to the ground..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Why did they capture Ryusuke?"

Fujiwara Homare: "I didn't know... They arrested a lot of people..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "You really didn't know?!"

Fujiwara Homare: "I really don't know."

Rio Yoshikawa: "After he fell to the ground? How did he fall? Could he still move?"

Fujiwara Homare: "It seems he was shot in the chest and then collapsed to the ground..."

The silence lasted for five minutes, with faint sobs heard.

Fujiwara Homare: "Stop crying, why are you crying... If you want to cry, go outside, it's annoying to see you crying..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Did he...did he say anything before he died?"

Fujiwara Homare: "I didn't get a chance to speak to him."

Rio Yoshikawa: "How could this happen... Why... Why him of all people?"

Fujiwara Homare: "I really don't know."

Rio Yoshikawa: "You...you're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

Fujiwara Homare: "No."

Rio Yoshikawa: "You like to scratch your nose when you lie."

Fujiwara Homare: "It's just an itchy nose."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Scratching again."

Fujiwara Homare: "I already said my nose was itchy."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Will you tell me or not! Will you tell me or not! Will you tell me or not!!"

Fujiwara Homare: "I'll talk, I'll talk! Don't point a knife at me!!"

Rio Yoshikawa: "What on earth happened?!"

Fujiwara Homare: "The situation is complicated, I... I can't quite explain it..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Take your hangover medicine! Hurry up!"

Then came the clattering sound of medicine jars and the gulping sound of drinking water. Fujiwara Hideaki let out a long sigh, burped (presumably from drinking too much water), and said, "Much better."

Rio Yoshikawa: "Then say it!!"

Fujiwara Homare: "I told you not to blame me, this has nothing to do with me."

Rio Yoshikawa: "You go first."

Fujiwara Homare: "If I told you, you would definitely suspect that I'm lying."

Rio Yoshikawa: "No! Tell me quickly!"

Fujiwara Homare: "Okay, the Aum Shinrikyo cult thinks I have a talent for spiritual training, so they strongly insist that I join. They have a special initiation ceremony, which requires you to kill someone you hate..." Yoshikawa Rio: "You hate Ryusuke?"

Fujiwara Homare: "A little, but not important. I dislike the Suzuki cabinet ministers more, but they only arrested Ryusuke..."

Rio Yoshikawa: "So you killed him?!"

Fujiwara Homare: "No! I already said no!"

Rio Yoshikawa: "You're the one who got him arrested!"

Fujiwara Homare: "What did I tell you? What did I tell you! This has nothing to do with me! If I wanted to beat up Ryusuke, I would have done it already, okay? Why wait until now?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Rio Yoshikawa broke down in tears, her words becoming slurred and incoherent.

Fujiwara Homare screamed, and a fierce struggle ensued. The only thing that could be clearly heard from the tape recorder was Fujiwara Homare's shout: "Don't do this! Don't do this!"

The sounds grew increasingly chaotic, accompanied by Yoshikawa Rio's screams. Fujiwara Homare could only shout "No, no, no!" "Stop!" "You're crazy!"... After the screams continued for four or five minutes, all the noise abruptly stopped, leaving only furtive whispers.

"Please... help me..."

"No... absolutely not..."

"I really can't take it anymore..."

"I can't do it... I can't do it."

"I trust you……"

"Don't do this, I... I lied... I killed him... Hate me, you can hate me..."

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"How could it not be important? Don't you want to avenge Ryusuke?"

"Can revenge bring him back to life? I just want to see him one more time..."

The sound grew softer and softer, like a couple embracing and whispering, with the static from the tape even drowning out the voices.

Even with her ear pressed against the tape recorder, Yuan Yuzi couldn't hear what the two were saying.

Four or five minutes later, a muffled thud was heard, sounding like a sharp blade piercing through a body. Gen Tamako was stunned. She turned around and looked at Fushimi Shika, who also looked surprised.

This is different from Fujiwara Homare's testimony.

Gen Tamako clearly remembered that Fujiwara Yoshio claimed that Yoshikawa Rio did not believe his explanation and verbally criticized him, which led him to kill Yoshikawa Rio in a fit of rage.

However, judging from the recording, Fujiwara Homare did not seem to have killed Yoshikawa Rio in a state of 'anger'; the latter did not investigate whether Fujiwara Homare was lying or accuse him of it—the two seem to have reached some kind of agreement in their whispers.

Minamoto Tamako even suspected that Yoshikawa Rio had committed suicide.

"Fushimi-kun... what do you think?" She stammered nervously, fearing that her first case would be a wrongful conviction.

"What do you mean, how do you see it?" Fushimi Shika feigned ignorance.

"What did they say at the end? Judging from Yoshikawa Rio's tone, it seemed like she didn't want to live anymore..." Minamoto Tamako's hands were trembling. "But why? If Yoshikawa Rio committed suicide, why did Fujiwara Homare hide it? If it wasn't suicide, what exactly happened that night..."

“It shouldn’t be suicide,” Fushimi Shika reminded him. “The knife was inserted into the deceased’s back.”

"Right, why did Fujiwara Homare kill Yoshikawa Rio? There's absolutely no reason! He was fully sober after taking hangover medication, and Yoshikawa Rio didn't even intend to hold him accountable... Why did he kill her?!

Yuan Yuzi frantically held the tape recorder and shook it back and forth, wishing she could crawl inside and become part of the tape so she could hear what the two of them were talking about.

“It might not be a hangover cure,” Fushimi Shika reminded her again, “You might have taken the wrong thing, like sleeping pills.”

"That's right! That's why he collapsed on the bed and fell into a deep sleep afterwards..."

Genji Tamako looked anxious: "But this still doesn't explain why Fujiwara Homare lied! I've already submitted the case file... Damn it, how could he lie during the interrogation?!"

Fushimi Shika leaned back on the sofa, scratched his chin, and pondered for a while. He had a vague idea of ​​what was going on. He had experienced something similar before and wondered whether he should tell her.

He weighed the pros and cons in his mind and felt that it would be more beneficial to tell the truth, so he turned his head and asked, "Want to know why?"

"You figured it out?" Genji's pupils dilated in shock.

She thought she had finally surpassed Fushimi-kun, but she never expected to be overtaken again. She was only on the first level, Fujiwara no Homare on the second, and Fushimi-kun was on the third…

"Probably." Fushimi Shika thought it was pretty close to the truth.

"What exactly happened?" Yuan Yuzi quickly sat up straight, her face serious, silently praying that the prosecutor hadn't prepared to file charges yet.

"Give me a stamp first," Fushimi Shika said, taking advantage of the situation.

"But you didn't go to work today! My super reward is only for diligent people!" Yuan Yuzi was furious. She had already lost her Rabbit Coins, and now she was being asked to give this guy a stamp. She felt very unbalanced and immediately refused.

“You told me to rest at home, and I’m trying to recover. Isn’t that a kind of effort? Does only effort that you approve of count as effort? That’s too domineering.” Fushimi Shika rolled over and lay on her side on the sofa. “If you don’t want to stamp it, fine. Anyway, I don’t have the stamp today. Don’t bother me with any investigations.”

Minamoto no Tamako thought to herself, "Fine, I won't look for her. I can deduce the truth even without my idiot assistant!"
She crossed her arms, pouted, and sat on the sofa, deep in thought. After pondering for a long time, she still couldn't come up with any conclusion.

Left with no other choice, she could only dejectedly and reluctantly stamp the seal, turning her face away to show Fushimi Shika: "It's stamped, are you satisfied now?"

Fushimi Shika nodded, thinking that if this trend continued, he might be able to collect 22 stamps in a week.

Having taken the money to do the job, he didn't intend to keep anyone in suspense. He rested his chin on his hand and asked, "Do you remember when Fujiwara Homare asked you a strange question during your interrogation?"

Gen Tamako thought carefully for a while but couldn't find anything suspicious: "I don't remember. Did he ask any strange questions?"

"Have."

Fushimi Shika repeated the original words: "He said, 'You also believe in Christ?'"

(End of this chapter)