Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 578 The Only Flaw

When Mouri Nai loudly proclaimed this, no one took her words seriously.

First there was Kotaro Kanesaka's fraud, then Michitaka Tsutsui's forgery, and now there's Nao Mori. She's not even a detective, just a novelist. How could she possibly find out the truth?

Compared to Mouri Nai's statement, everyone was more concerned about Tsutsui Michitaka's alleged forgery, and they bombarded him with questions:

"Are you kidding me?! Is this report fake?"

"That's illegal! How can you lie about something like that?"

"You're a habitual liar, aren't you? You should have been sent to jail long ago!"

……

Tsutsui Michitaka became the target of everyone's criticism. Even with his thick skin, he panicked a little and quickly changed the subject, saying, "B-maybe it's a printing error...that's not important! There are still people who want to deduce! Can you please not interrupt?"

"Stop rambling! Just tell me—"

"Alright! You bunch of rude bastards!" Tsutsui Michitaka suddenly shouted, tearing the forensic report to shreds with both hands. "Is this alright now? Listen to what others are saying, you idiots!"

After saying that, he pulled Mouri Nai in front of him: "Madam, please speak up! Anyone who interrupts you is going against me!"

The others couldn't pursue the matter in front of the innocent woman, and besides, the bride and groom hadn't said a word, clearly waiting for Mouri Nai to speak, so they put the matter aside for the time being.

Mouri Nai was a little nervous; it was the first time she had spoken in front of so many people.

Don't be afraid! Just treat them like radishes and cabbages...

Mouri quickly wrote the character for "person" in her palm and then "swallowed" it. Before giving speeches or performances on campus, her friends would suggest that she draw three "person" characters in her palm and then pretend to swallow them, which would effectively relieve her anxiety.

After doing all that, she wasn't so nervous anymore, and at least she could speak fluently.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am very confident that the 'truth' I have deduced will be accepted by you."

"First of all, the first auditorium shooting case raises questions about where the fourth person's fingerprints came from."

"If there were no fourth person present, all problems would be solved."

"Nagino Kawai died from being stabbed by Sakurai Chizuru, and Sakurai Chizuru died from being shot by Nagano Kawai. There was no so-called 'divine punishment murderer' at the scene!"

Gentamako's hand holding the pipe trembled slightly: "You mean, Kawai orchestrated everything?"

Mouri Nai also considered the deceased and the truths they wanted to hide: "No! Nagano Kawai was acting in self-defense, which is why he had to fire."

She turned around, trying to construct another truth for everyone: "Just imagine, at the very beginning of the performance, Sakurai Chizuru used her power to try to abuse the trainees—Mr. Fushimi can clearly confirm this—Nagino Kawai's act of self-defense with a gun is perfectly reasonable. If she had premeditated murder, how could she have been stabbed to death with a sharp knife?"

"So the situation at the time was that Sakurai Chizuru attempted to abuse the students, which was witnessed by Nagano Kawai who was following her. The two argued and fought fiercely, accidentally injuring Mr. Fushimi. In the end, both of them died from their injuries."

……

Everyone looked at each other, but no one spoke.

This reasoning is so far-fetched that it's hard to even begin to refute it.

Yuan Yuzi was the first to react and asked, "Then where did the blood-written divine punishment on the wall come from?"

“It was written by Mr. Fushimi,” Mouri Nai said.

Before the crowd could laugh, she immediately added, "But he's not the murderer."

"What does that mean?" Kensaka Kotaro was also confused.

Mouri explained, “Mr. Fushimi suffered a head injury, but he was not completely unconscious. His description of the incident was that he ‘lost his memory’ rather than ‘fell into a coma,’ which means that he may have been in a state of concussion at the time.”

“When an ordinary person is injured, they will instinctively call for help. Mr. Fushimi was the same. He picked up the cell phone that had fallen at the scene and accidentally dialed Ishizuka Kazuo’s number... This explains why there was a call record on the phone at the scene.”

“Mr. Ishizuka confessed the truth to us in prison,” Mori Na looked at Kanesaka Kotaro and gestured for her partner to agree: “He claimed that he was still brooding over his daughter’s death and wanted to take revenge but could never find an opportunity. When he learned that Sakurai Chizuru had died unexpectedly, he was filled with remorse. He was too ashamed to face his deceased daughter because he could not personally kill his enemy.”

"Therefore, he encouraged the mentally unstable Mr. Fushimi to wipe away the fingerprints on the murder weapon and write bloody words on the wall, so as to announce his revenge to the world by surrendering himself."

"In the end, as he wished, the media coverage of him was all positive, and he received the punishment he deserved."

After finishing his sentence, Mouri sighed and concluded, "The psychological state of a criminal is unfathomable."

Minamoto no Tamako recalled the phrase 'criminals are unpredictable chaos,' and couldn't help but glance at Fushimi Shika, pressing for an answer: "Then what about the fourth person's fingerprints?"

“It’s very simple, it’s because of ‘plastic residue’,” Mouri Nai said.

"What?" Everyone was stunned, as they were completely unfamiliar with this term.

Mouri extended his right hand and said, "Human sweat contains substances such as salt, lactic acid, and fatty acids, which are slightly corrosive. For example, salt absorbs moisture from the air to form an electrolyte solution, accelerating the slight corrosion of metals; lactic acid and fatty acids may produce a slow chemical reaction with low-quality metals and certain plastics, eventually leaving 'plastic residue' on the gun handle."

"For example, when that gun left the factory, a worker touched it with his hand before the plastic grip had completely cooled, thus leaving a fingerprint."

"Or perhaps it's because a certain owner, through years of handling the gun, left a fingerprint on the handle due to the corrosion from their sweaty fingers..."

"This is not a baseless conjecture, but a very simple deduction."

"The gun handle has been cleaned, and there are no other fingerprints on it. So where did this fingerprint come from? Why couldn't the police extract the other four fingerprints, but only one clear fingerprint?"

"Eliminating all other options, the only remaining answer, no matter how impossible, can only be the truth!"

“That’s right, that fingerprint was originally on the gun handle.”

"The possibility is extremely small, but not zero."

……

Mouri Nai then uttered a classic Sherlock Holmes line, and the entire auditorium fell silent.

This is perfect reasoning, which explains all the doubts, clears Mr. Fushimi of suspicion, preserves Nagano Kawai's reputation, and reduces Ishizuka Kazuo's guilt.

The only problem is that it's too far-fetched.

"How could it be such a coincidence?" Emotionally, Minamoto Tamako wanted to accept the answer, but her reason still remained skeptical.
"With Fushimi-kun's skills, how could he have injured his head?"

"After injuring his head, he happened to be disoriented but not unconscious. He happened to call Mr. Ishizuka and explain the situation, but he followed orders in a daze, which led to him accidentally losing that memory..."

With her hands on her hips, hands dangling from her smokeless pipe, Yuan Yuzi frowned and said, "Is it really that much of a coincidence? One coincidence might be an accident, but two coincidences must mean something else!"

Mouri Nai insisted on her reasoning, but she was tongue-tied and didn't know how to refute it.

Fushimi Shika chimed in at the opportune moment, saying, "Life is made up of countless coincidences. The probability of a single sperm successfully entering an egg in natural conception is about 0.0000002% to 0.0000005%, which is about one in five hundred million sperm... You and I are the result of five hundred million coincidences. Is this also a trick controlled by humans?"

He patted Minamoto no Tamako on the shoulder: "Life is a miracle, so nothing is impossible. We've ruled out all other options, this is the only answer."

This made a lot of sense, and the guests couldn't help but nod in agreement, but Yuan Yuzi felt that something was off, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She pondered for a moment, unable to find any logical flaws, and continued to press, "What about the remaining cases?"

"The Sugamo apartment massacre, as the case file states, was caused by a gang fight." Mori Nai countered, "I'd like to ask Ms. Gen, why do you believe the Sugamo apartment massacre and the auditorium shooting were committed by the same person? Is it simply because there were 'divine punishment' written in blood at the scene?"

“Yes, the handwriting is very similar…” Minamoto Tamako realized the problem.

Mouri Nai continued, "Perhaps this is just a coincidence. There's no evidence at the scene to prove that the person who wrote the blood-written words 'Divine Punishment' was the murderer."

“There is another possibility: after the murderer committed the crime, a second person appeared and left the words in blood on the wall.”

"A swordsman, after all, needs a sword, but the murder weapon found by the police was a fruit knife, so the theory that it was a solo crime is obviously unrealistic. The police investigation results are correct; the Sugamo apartment massacre was a gang cover-up."

"Perhaps it was the gang that left the bloody words on the wall, or perhaps it was someone else who left them... It has nothing to do with the truth, it doesn't matter, right?"

Mouri Nai looked at Minamoto no Tamako, while Minamoto no Tamako looked at Fushimi Shika.

After an eerie silence, Gen Tamako nodded: "Indeed."

Finally, Mouri Nai recounted the Snowfield Punishment Case and the Unidentified Female Corpse Case. The former was a copycat crime, and the latter was untraceable. She basically copied and pasted Aoshima Hara's words.

The general public was fairly satisfied with the result.

The ending of a story always leaves some foreshadowing, just like the post-credits scene in a movie. The protagonist, who is in a daze, suddenly opens his eyes; a mysterious supporting character smiles evilly; a dead villain awakens in his grave... The last two unsolved cases of divine punishment are perfect as post-credits scenes, allowing novelists to use their imagination to create.

Minamoto no Tamako also agreed with this reasoning, and she kept her promise by handing over a check for 25 million yen to Mori Nai in front of everyone.

The hall erupted in applause as the five-day wedding reached its climax. The bride and groom, having shed their past obsessions, entered the hall of marriage in front of everyone.

The organ played the solemn melody of the Wedding March, and the guests sat on the benches on both sides of the hall. The detective took out the Bible, put on his priest's robes, and stood on the altar to wait.

Despite Kujo Mutsu's insistence, Minamoto no Tamako eventually changed into a white kimono.

The candlelight flickered as the groom stood on the altar, waiting. Kujo Mutsuki, holding his granddaughter's hand, walked down the red carpet, showing no signs of being seriously ill or dying.

Kotaro Kanesaka and Nami Mori sat side by side on a bench, watching this scene, each with their own feelings.

“We agreed on 12.5 million yen each,” Mouri wrote another check and handed it over: “I’ll cash it first, then you can cash it, otherwise I don’t have the money in my account to cash it.”

Kotaro Kanesaka didn't answer: "Is this the ending you were talking about that will satisfy everyone?"

“Yes,” Mouri Nai said.

"What if Mr. Fushimi really is the murderer?" Kensaka Kotaro asked, "Wouldn't you become an accomplice who lets him go unpunished?"

“You said it yourself, it’s ‘if’.” Mouri shrugged. “That’s the truth as you see it, not necessarily the fact.”

"Did you make the phone call just now, Mr. Fushimi?" asked Kotaro Kanesaka.

“Yes,” Mouri Nai admitted again.

"What deal did you make with him?" Kanesaka Kotaro pressed.

Instead of answering directly, Mouri asked in return, "Didn't you notice? There's a fatal flaw in all my reasoning."

"what?"

Kotaro Kanesaka was taken aback. If the evidence were disregarded, he couldn't find anything wrong with it.

“Ms. Gen was unable to obtain a satisfactory ‘truth’,” said Mouri Nai.

Kotaro Kanesaka thought for a moment and asked doubtfully, "Isn't this truth the best for her? She has finally gotten rid of the past and cleared her fiancé of suspicion. What else could she be dissatisfied with?"

"The truth that is best for her is not necessarily the truth she wants."

Mouri Nai had a more acute insight into human nature than Kanesaka Kotaro. When she was doing fieldwork and writing practice, she would often observe passersby and write their biographical sketches: "Compared to truth and facts, she wanted an honest partner more."

After a moment of recollection, Kotaro Kanesaka crossed his arms and sighed, "That's a pity. No man is without a lie. I could tell that the groom was hiding something."

“Yes, I noticed that too.” Mouri Nai nodded.

"Then why..." Kensaka Kotaro turned his head, about to question her, but seeing the check in Mouri Nai's hand, he swallowed the rest of his words and changed the subject, saying, "We're getting off topic. You still haven't answered my question. What deal did you make with him?"

“I made him swear an honest oath,” Mori said earnestly. “In exchange, I cleared his name.”

"Ha!" Kensaka Kotaro couldn't help but chuckle dryly. "If he really is the murderer, this kind of agreement is not worth mentioning at all... Believe me, he will lie to the bride without batting an eye."

"Want to make a bet?" Just as Mouri was about to take back the check, Kanesaka Kotaro reached out, grabbed it, and snatched it away. Then he asked, "What are we betting on?"

"Let's bet on whether Mr. Fushimi will lie on the altar," said Mori. "You're a rich man, so how about we bet 500,000 yen?"

"Okay."

Kotaro Kanesaka felt that this was free money, and in his view, the wedding vows themselves were the biggest lie.

The bride, holding her grandfather's hand, walked up to the altar. The pastor opened 1 Corinthians and taught the newlyweds that 'love is patient.'

Then, he officially announced that the newlyweds could recite their wedding vows.

(End of this chapter)