Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 517 Taking a Bath Together

Fushimi Shika mentally summarized the information gathered from the police and the yakuza investigations.

It has been confirmed that the two victims died in Otaru and Sapporo respectively, both stabbed to death in alleys, and both had eyewitnesses who identified Kujo Hikaru as the perpetrator.

That's a bit strange.

According to Fushimi Shika's guess—he didn't know how and was too lazy to deduce, he usually guessed based on experience—Kujou Hikaru must have killed at least one person, since both of them died in unfamiliar alleys. In today's turbulent world, there's no reason for two beautiful women to go into an alley.

This means that the murderer knew the victim well, and may even have deliberately lured the victim to an alley to commit the murder.

Furthermore, with eyewitness accounts, Kujo Hikaru is the prime suspect.

But here's the problem: he can't kill two people in two different places at the same time.

Fushimi Shika vaguely realized that Kujo Mutsu had asked him to investigate the murder case for his true purpose.

If Kujo Hikaru killed his mistress, Kujo Mutsu would most likely cover it up and act as if nothing happened; if Kujo Hikaru killed his wife, Kujo Mutsu would need to give his in-laws an explanation and would most likely punish his own son... No matter which choice he makes, he must know the truth before he can make a decision.

If the investigation is conducted by someone within the Kujo family, it will be difficult to ensure fairness and impartiality; if it is entirely handled by outsiders, family scandals cannot be made public, and it is hard to guarantee that they will not be able to use this against them.

After much thought, it seems that only Fushimi Shika and Minamoto no Tamako are suitable to be investigated.

One is a granddaughter who isn't very close to her, and the other is her husband. They are related by blood, but there's not much affection between them.

Fushimi Shika snapped out of her daze, looked at Minamoto no Tamako, and asked, "What do you have to be proud of? Did you solve the case?"

Yuan Yuzi was about to say, "Of course I can solve it," but then she realized that this was definitely a trap, so she quickly changed her words and said, "I, I'm not proud of it. Whether I solve the case or not is none of my business. I'm just listening to the gossip."

Fushimi Shika glanced at her sideways. This guy's IQ had improved today, probably because he had been working all day and had regained some of his focus.

He shoveled the crab roe and crab fat into the bowl, mixed it with the rice, and said as he stirred, "Shall we continue with the 'rumor deduction' as usual today?"

“Okay, okay,” Yuan Yuzi also picked up her chopsticks and took a piece of crab meat: “Have you heard any rumors today?”

Fushimi Shika feigned doubt: "I have heard some, but not as certain as you... By the way, where did you hear such a definite rumor? Do people really talk about these things on the street?"

Feeling guilty, Yuan Yuzi tilted her bowl up to cover her face, pretending to bury her head in her rice: "Of course I do. You're not a native of Hokkaido, so it's normal that you don't know about the local customs and culture."

After saying that, she quickly changed the subject: "Tell me, what rumors have you heard today?"

Fushimi Shika shrugged, scooped up a spoonful of sticky mixed rice with a wooden spoon, and mumbled as he ate, "I heard that neither of the victims hired anyone to kill them, and the suspect's husband probably didn't have any accomplices either..."

"Huh? How can you be so sure?" Yuan Yuzi pressed for an answer.

Fushimi Shika was displeased. He had pretended to be deaf and dumb for a long time. It was one thing to play dumb, but he also had to come up with an excuse. How could he undermine him like that?

If we keep asking these questions, will we still be able to play the rumor deduction game every night?
"The fishmongers at Otaru Wharf are gangsters. They know this area well. There aren't many of them to begin with, so you can easily find out if anyone's made money or run away recently." Fushimi Shika countered, "And where did you hear that from?"

“Ah, uh, this, I…” Yuan Yuzi lowered her head again.

Fushimi Shika sneered inwardly, not pressing further. A gentle rebuke would suffice: "What do you think? The suspect had no accomplices, and the victim didn't hire anyone to kill him. How did they manage to commit crimes in two locations simultaneously?"

Gen Tamako breathed a sigh of relief and subconsciously wanted to raise her small hand to support her chin, but she suddenly remembered something, paused, went back to her room to look for the gadgets she had bought that day, and tore open the packaging box in front of Fushimi Shika.

Fushimi Shika was munching on his bibimbap, just like a mukbang streamer, his mouth all sticky and gooey. He glanced up and saw that Minamoto Tamako had somehow gotten a pipe and was pretending to hold it in her mouth, even supporting the bowl with her small hand. Her eyes were unfocused, her gaze deep and serious.

"...What are you doing?" Fushimi Shika stuck out his tongue and licked the rice grains from the corner of his mouth.

Yuan Yuzi glanced at him, feeling sorry for his misfortune and angry at his lack of ambition. As a member of the reasoning team, he was still licking rice grains with his tongue. He was so unkempt and had no style at all. How could he possibly highlight the captain's wisdom and prowess?

You have to understand that your subordinates are a reflection of your reputation!
As her personal assistant, she felt that Fushimi Shika should also tidy up her appearance, so she took out a rectangular cardboard box from the room and handed it to Fushimi Shika: "Open it and see, this is a little gift I bought for you."

"Oh, you've become sensible."

Fushimi Shika was pleased and took it, opening it as she asked, "Why so suddenly? Weren't we playing a rumor deduction game...?"

He quickly tore off the packaging, opened the box, and found a walking stick inside.

"What does this mean?" Fushimi Shika pinched the end of his cane, brandishing it like a sword, and asked, "Do you want me to hit you on the head with this thing?"

"What an idiot!"

Gen Tamako snatched it away and showed him the correct way to use it.

She sat in a chair, propped her cane in front of her, rested her hands on the cane, leaned slightly forward, and adopted a pose similar to that of a thinker, letting the head of the cane and her palms cover half of her face, revealing a deep and solemn gaze.

"Do you understand now?" Yuan Yuzi maintained this posture: "From now on, when you need to think, use this posture. If others see it, they won't dare to disturb you."

Fushimi Shika thought to himself, "This guy is really putting on an act."

But then he thought about it again and realized that detective movies and TV series these days seem to all be like this.

Once the protagonist strikes his signature pose of "I'm about to start deducing," everyone around him immediately falls silent as if facing a formidable enemy, and no one dares to disturb his thinking. It certainly exudes a cool and sophisticated aura.

"Well, I'll give it a try."

Fushimi Shika became interested. He took back his cane and, imitating Minamoto no Tamako, placed his hands on the handles, leaned forward slightly, and revealed a deep and solemn look in his eyes: "Is that so?"

"That's right. As long as you strike this pose and make this expression, even if you're thinking about what to eat tonight, everyone will just think you're seriously reasoning."

Gen Tamako nodded in approval, thinking that this was more like it. How could a reasoning team not have their signature thinking gestures?

Fushimi Shika pretended for a while, then got bored, casually put his cane aside, and continued eating: "Alright, now it's just the two of us, let's stop with this."

“You need to get into the habit so that you can naturally adopt this posture when you’re outside.” Gen Tamako paused, then wrapped her arms around the chair and lunged forward again, sitting down next to Fushimi Shika. “Besides, I’ve already thought of a combination thinking posture that I can use when investigating cases in the future…”

"What is the combined thinking posture?" Shika Fushimi started to feel like he was acting like a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur).

"I'll be sitting in front, holding my pipe; you and Sakura will be sitting behind me, one on each side. It'll look very impressive." Gen Tamako conjured up a vivid image in her mind, feeling quite pleased with herself.

“…We’ll see when the time comes.” Fushimi Shika looked constipated. He wanted to complain, but he didn’t want to upset Minamoto Tamako, since he had just received a ‘little gift’ from her.

"alright."

Yuan Yuzi leaned back in her chair, holding an empty pipe, and pretended to take a few puffs. She pouted her cherry-like lips and made a hissing sound as she inhaled.

Fushimi Shika remained silent and simply watched from the side.

Hira Sakura wanted to express that doing so was stupid and planned to show a disgusted expression, but unfortunately she was expressionless and couldn't say it directly, so she could only hint at it by blinking.

Genji was lost in thought and didn't notice Sakura's subtle movements. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, a thought suddenly struck her, and she said, "Perhaps the alley wasn't the primary crime scene. The murderer killed two people in succession and disposed of their bodies separately..."

“That still doesn’t solve the problem of synchronizing the time of death,” Fushimi Shika denied. “Besides, didn’t the police investigate the bloodstains at the scene? Just by looking at the scene and the amount of bleeding from the wounds, it would be easy to determine whether the alley was the primary crime scene, right?”

“That’s true…” Gen Tamako scratched her head.

Fushimi Shika also pondered for a moment, then asked, "Is it possible that the time of death determined by the police investigation is inaccurate?"

"How could that be!" Yuan Yuzi had a tendency to blindly follow official information: "Everyone is working diligently, and forensic medicine is a profession; people have to finish medical school to get their licenses!"

"Then how do you explain committing crimes in two locations simultaneously?" Fushimi Shika retorted.

“There are plenty of ways, like tricking the wife and mistress into killing each other!” Yuan Yuzi made a sinister expression on her face, picked up a chopstick as a dagger, and licked it with her pink tongue in a rather wicked way: “The wife and mistress were both badly injured, so in order to get home quickly, they took a shortcut through the alley, but they lost too much blood halfway there…”

“You just said that the alley was the primary crime scene,” Fushimi Shika interrupted.

When Minamoto no Tamako argues, her IQ drops significantly: "That means the two of them encountered robbers at the same time..."

“Both witnesses have identified the husband,” Fushimi Shika interrupted again. “What, are these robbers triplets with Kujo Hikaru, planning to commit a heist from two different locations at the same time?”

Gen Tamako wanted to argue again, preparing to say, "Maybe that's true," but then she thought about it again and felt that it was too stupid to say that—if Kujo Hikaru had two younger brothers, even if they were illegitimate children, he wouldn't have to resort to robbery.

The Kujo family is large and wealthy; supporting two idle people is no problem for them.

"Then how can you be so sure there's a problem with the time of death?" Yuan Yuzi had no choice but to ask back.

“I can’t be sure, it’s just a line of reasoning in the investigation,” Fushimi Shika said, repeating his old trick: “If I were the detective in charge of the case, I would double-check the exact time of their deaths.”

“Tch, the police have confirmed it many times already!” said Yuan Yuzi.

"Is there any supporting evidence?" Fushimi Shika seized the opportunity to give her a way out: "You've been asking around all day, you must have found some crucial clues, right?"

“There really is one.” Yuan Yuzi was quite proud. She put down her chopsticks, went back to her room, pulled out a file from under her mattress, took out two receipts, and returned to the dining table.

"what is this?"

Fushimi Shika looked down. The two receipts were sealed in plastic bags. He reached out to take them, but Minamoto no Tamako stopped him.

"It's a restaurant receipt."

Genji held the two receipts in her hands, like a crab showing off its claws. She gestured for Fushimi Shika to look at the receipt on the left: "Look, my wife dined at this Japanese restaurant at six o'clock that evening. The environment was very nice, and the flowers used in the arrangement were real chrysanthemums. It wasn't cheap."

"Oh……"

Fushimi Shika, holding a bowl, craned his neck and leaned closer to examine the food closely: "Sashimi, mushroom and egg rolls, cold seaweed salad, seaweed rice, abalone and red miso soup, grilled Wagyu beef with matsutake mushrooms, and the dessert is red bean ice cream... Damn it, she ate better than me!"

"Is this the point?!" Gen Tamako slammed the receipt on the table, tapping it repeatedly as if she were slapping Fushimi's face. "The point is that all the waiters present can testify that my wife ate this dinner that night."

"Did you finish it all? You have quite an appetite, or maybe the restaurant's portions are just too small," Fushimi Shika shook his head with a tsk-tsk, "Bad review, I won't go there again."

"He didn't drink abalone miso soup because... no, because the deceased was a foreigner who didn't like Japanese miso soup, saying he found it very bland."

Yuan Yuzi slammed her hand on the table again, the bowls and chopsticks clanging loudly: "No! That's not the point! The point is that according to the forensic examination, the food residue in my wife's stomach matches the dishes on the receipt. Combined with the digestive state, we can pinpoint the time of death to 11 p.m.

"And this one?" Fushimi Shika asked.

“This is the mistress’s. She went to a French restaurant at nine o’clock that night. The food residue in her stomach also matches the menu on the receipt. The time of death is still eleven o’clock at night.” Yuan Yuzi warned, “Don’t mention the menu again and say that she ate more than you.”

“Lorraine quiche…is that all?” Fushimi Shika shook his head: “She doesn’t deserve to be compared to my dinner.”

"..."

Ignoring his words, Minamoto no Tamako continued, "The trains stop running at 11 p.m., and the fastest journey from Otaru to Sapporo takes an hour and a half, so theoretically it's impossible for the murderer to have committed crimes in two locations at the same time!"

“I know that, why are you repeating it?” Fushimi Shika asked.

Minamoto no Tamako simply thought it sounded impressive, like a famous detective's statement, so she said it. Now that Fushimi Shika had exposed her, she couldn't help but retort, "Now that the evidence is all in front of you, the time of death can't be faked. What else do you have to say?"

Fushimi Shika started eating his bibimbap again, and said with a look of disbelief, "Even if you refute me, what's the use? You still haven't deduced any conclusions. You might as well take the photo of the deceased and confirm it properly. Seeing is believing."

Mentioning this, Yuan Yuzi felt a little annoyed. She silently put away the receipt and muttered, "The police can't bring photos when they ask questions."

"Why?" Fushimi Shika asked.

"How can we conveniently publicize the Kujo family's private affairs? Moreover, the wife's identity is sensitive. If she goes around asking questions with a photo of a foreigner, it might attract the attention of reporters and escalate into a diplomatic issue."

Mimicking the police chief's tone, Minamoto Tamako said, "The international situation is so sensitive right now. The major powers to the north are constantly negotiating, and the Kujo family doesn't want to lose face. They absolutely cannot cause any more trouble... The most important thing is stability. We must not cause any public outcry. During the investigation, just describing their characteristics will be enough..."

After saying that, she rested her chin on her small hand and sighed deeply.

It seems that Genji was hampered quite a bit while investigating the case, which is why she seemed somewhat frustrated when the topic came up.

Fushimi Shika thought about it again and realized that there was no need to bring photos.

After all, Kujou Yuka is a foreigner with very distinctive features, so it's impossible for so many waiters to mistake her for someone else at the same time—moreover, she still has the receipt for the meal and her stomach is full of the dinner she ate that night.

If the time and place are correct, and the suspect is only Hikaru Kujo, how did he manage to kill people in two different locations at the same time?
Fushimi Shika really couldn't figure it out, and he was too lazy to think about it too much. As the saying goes, things will work themselves out. If he really couldn't find out, he would just go out and find some wicked, unlucky guy to report.

He slurped down a large bowl of bibimbap, licked his lips, and, leaning on his crutch, went to open the refrigerator to find a drink.

Yuan Yuzi had been rambling on and on, and before she could even start eating, she quickly sat back down. Just as she picked up her chopsticks, Ping Yingzi put her hands together and said softly, "I'm full."

"Hey, won't you eat something else?" Yuan Yuzi quickly put some food on her plate: "You're still growing, eat more meat so you can grow taller in the future."

"I'm not eating anymore. I'm very satisfied with my current height." Hira Sakura jumped off the chair.

"You'll understand how disadvantageous it is to be short when you grow up."

Yuan Yuzi sighed and insisted that Ping Yingzi eat two more bites of fish before she finally ate her own meal with satisfaction.

She ate frantically, wanting to finish quickly so she could talk to Fushimi about the case, but unfortunately, her mouth had limited capacity, and even with her cheeks puffed out like a hamster, she still couldn't eat very fast.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Genji Tamako finished eating and drinking, wiped her mouth, put the bowl and chopsticks in the sink to soak, and hurriedly went to find Fushimi Shika who was half-lying on the tatami.

At this moment, Fushimi Shika was flipping through the instruction manual. He had bought a lot of local specialties today, and some of the ornaments needed to be assembled by himself.

Especially that broken music box, which he actually had to assemble himself.

Various small parts were scattered on the tatami mat. Fushimi Shika was assembling it according to the instructions when Minamoto no Tamako suddenly came over and said in a narrator's tone, "At this moment, Fushimi's assistant was fiddling with the music box... Suddenly, he got an inspiration from the assembly method and vaguely realized the murderer's method..."

"No." Fushimi Shika didn't even look up. "Why didn't you wash the dishes after you finished eating?"

"The rumor deduction game isn't over yet, let's chat a little longer, I'll wash later..." Gen Tamako paused, then said, "Or Sakurako can wash too."

After saying that, she turned around and called out into the room, "Sakura, do you want to do some housework part-time?"

Ping Yingzi peeked her head out from the doorway and asked, "What kind of part-time job?"

Gen Tamako pulled out her piggy bank wallet from her pocket and took out a coin: "Washing the dishes, 100 yen, how about that?"

"Deal." Hirayuko accepted the job.

Fushimi Shika suddenly raised his head and frowned. This guy was actually charging two salaries for one job. It was extremely immoral and had to be condemned!
But with Genji still nearby, he couldn't bring himself to talk about hiring child labor for the time being. He could only keep it in mind and criticize it when the opportunity arose.

“Alright, now the dishwashing is done,” Gen Tamako sat down next to him, poured herself a glass of iced barley tea, and stretched out her smooth legs in white socks. “Anyway, you don’t have anything important to do, so continue with the deduction game!”

"Really? Look what I'm holding in my hand." Fushimi Shika held up the music box parts.

“Playing with toys isn’t a serious matter.” Gen Tamako tried to show her maturity: “I don’t play with these kinds of toys, they’re boring. Mature adults only focus on improving themselves.”

Fushimi Shika said, "Then what are all those dolls on your bed for? And that watermelon rind helmet, I can't even be bothered to talk to you..."

"If you're too lazy to talk about it, then don't!" Yuan Yuzi blushed as she was exposed. She gulped down three mouthfuls of iced barley tea and then steered the conversation back to the murder case.

Unfortunately, Fushimi Shika has already given up on deduction.

He came here for a vacation, to meet his girlfriend's parents, not to be a slave. No matter how eloquently Kujo Mutsumi spoke, he had no interest in continuing to investigate the case.

You can just fool them; who hasn't fooled their father-in-law before?

But Minamoto no Tamako didn't think so. She still felt that she had a heavy responsibility to save the Kujo family. It concerned the reputation of the Kujo family's heir, and she had to find out the truth.

So the two started chatting casually, with Fushimi Shika doing the assembly of the music box to get by, while Minamoto Tamako kept talking to herself.

Fushimi Shika, having reached her limit, could only resort to her ultimate move to shut her up: "Speaking of which, where did you get those two receipts? Aren't they key evidence? How did you get them?"

Yuan Yuzi was speechless for a moment, stammering and not knowing how to reply.

Fushimi Shika seized the opportunity to give her a way out: "You didn't go to the restaurant to ask the owner for it, did you? I heard that some restaurants print two receipts, one for the customer and one for backup."

"Yes, yes, that's it." Minamoto no Tamako broke out in a cold sweat, but she didn't learn her lesson and continued to say to Fushimi Shika, "I plan to ask around again tomorrow, maybe I can find some clues."

"Where should we ask?" Fushimi Shika asked.

“We should ask the deceased’s family; they must know about him… Oh right, the wife is a foreigner, so we can only ask her friends,” said Yuan Yuzi.

"It's not like you're investigating the case, why are you so concerned?"

After saying that, Fushimi Shika finished assembling the music box. He twisted the metal parts, and the copper pieces made a tinkling sound.

"We are detectives, partners of justice. How can we pretend we didn't see the innocent people die unjustly?" Yuan Yuzi said righteously, "As detectives, we must be prepared to uncover the truth at all costs!"

Fushimi Shika nodded in agreement.

Since Gentamako is so motivated, let's put the plan to find a scapegoat on hold for now!
Let Yuan Yuzi investigate for a few days first. If she finds nothing, then he can step in.

Fushimi Shika had already made up his mind and quickly put the matter out of his mind. He was about to get up to take a shower when, unexpectedly, Minamoto Tamako followed him. She held onto the bathroom door with her small hand, looking as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"What?" Fushimi Shika asked with a sidelong glance, "You want to take a bath with me?"

(End of this chapter)