The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

“If Saburo Hosei is telling the truth, then these things can definitely be found out.”

"If your police force has the resources, you can also conduct a test on Hosho Saburo, who was arrested by you. It hasn't been more than 24 hours since the incident, and with the current testing technology, it shouldn't be difficult to find this substance."

After Jiang Hang stated his deduction, Keisuke Itokuro quickly realized what was going on and contacted his colleagues in the identification department.

Seeing Keisuke Itokogawa urging his colleague impatiently, Ryuichi Naruhodo, who was next to Jiang Hang, also connected the doubts Jiang Hang had raised at the photography studio with the sleeping pills that had appeared here.

His eyes lit up, and he made his judgment to Jiang Hang: "He Xing Saburo was injured during rehearsals with Ibuki Takeshi, so Ibuki Takeshi must also know about He Xing Saburo's leg injury."

"Yesterday at noon, it was Takeshi Ibuki who made lunch again, so he had every opportunity to put sleeping pills in Saburo Hosei's steak and make Saburo Hosei sleep until the afternoon rehearsal."

"Moreover, Takeshi Ikubukuro must have had a key to the back room. After confirming that Saburo Hosei was asleep, he secretly slipped into the room and changed into the general's costume."

"Because the general's costume doesn't reveal the person's appearance, and since Hosei Saburo and Ikuta Takeshi are not that different in build, there won't be any problem with this general's costume on Ikuta Takeshi."

"That's why there were no shots of Takeshi Ibuki going to the First Studio on the surveillance cameras."

"Although we still don't know why Takeshi Ibuki did such a thing, nor do we know the exact cause of his death, as long as we can detect sleeping pills in Saburo Hosei's body, then Saburo Hosei can be confirmed as innocent!"

Although the case wasn't directly related to him, Phoenix Wright couldn't help but feel relieved after recounting his deductions in one breath.

Jiang Hang is truly amazing. In such a short time, he has found the key to this case. It seems that Teacher Qianxun's case will be solved smoothly this time as well.

Just as he was about to send his speculation to Ayato Chihiro, he heard another man's voice from behind him.

"Do you now believe that Takeshi Ikubukuro is trying to frame Saburo Hosei by committing suicide?"

"But I need to remind you that even if sleeping pills can be detected on Hosei Saburo, it could just be a deliberate illusion created by Hosei Saburo after he committed the crime."

Upon hearing this dismissive tone, Naruhodo Ryu instinctively wanted to retort.

But when he turned around and saw a young man in a red suit, impeccably dressed and with a calm expression, the words he was about to say immediately stuck in his throat.

Although they hadn't seen each other for over a decade, Phoenix Wright still recognized his childhood friend, Reiji Mitsurugi, at a glance.

“Miken…” Although Phoenix Wright knew that Miken Reiji would come, he did not expect that he would arrive here in just over ten minutes.

However, Reiji's gaze only swept over Phoenix Wright briefly, lingering for a moment on the gold badge on Phoenix Wright's chest that symbolized his identity as a lawyer.

It seemed he had no intention of greeting his old friend, Phoenix Wright, whom he hadn't seen for many years. Instead, he focused his attention on Jiang Hang and extended his hand to him.

"Mr. Jiang Hang, thank you for your help to the prosecutor's office in this case. I am Reiji Miken, prosecutor of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. With your help, I believe the truth of this case will soon come to light."

Contrary to Jiang Hang's expectations, the situation was somewhat different. He had thought that the "not yet cleared" Miken Reishi would be more assertive in his attitude, but to his surprise, the other party immediately thanked him, the detective, in a very gentlemanly manner.

It seems that Reiji has known him for a long time. Could it be that Reiji has handled some of the cases he has taken on?

Jiang Hang no longer listens to the "confessions" of prisoners after they are exposed, and of course he doesn't pay attention to what kind of prosecutors the prisoners he personally sent to prison would encounter.

However, the way Reiji stood behind Phoenix Wright, listened to Phoenix's analysis, and then directly confronted him showed a bit of his game persona.

They truly are best buddies who love and hate each other.

Thinking this, Jiang Hang shook hands with Yu Jianlian.

"I'm just expressing my own opinion, cooperating with the police. Just don't think I'm causing you trouble." Jiang Hang casually made up these words to deal with Yu Jianlian.

Chapter 231: Chapter 229: The Secret Hidden in the Steak

After greeting Jiang Hang, Reiji went directly to Keisuke Itokogiri to inquire about the current status of the case.

Phoenix Wright wanted to greet his former best friend, but faced with the other's cold demeanor, he couldn't find a suitable opportunity at all.

Jiang Hang took advantage of this time to go to the kitchen to conduct another investigation.

After listening to Keisuke Itokogiri's report, Reiji Mileskein rested his chin on his hand and began to think.

The surveillance cameras did not capture Takeshi Ibuki going to the First Studio, and now there is a possibility that Takeshi Ibuki may have given Saburo Hosei sleeping pills.

If the prosecutor's office has already decided to prosecute Saburo Hosei, then as a prosecutor, in order to maintain the prosecutor's office's 99.9% conviction rate, he will probably have no choice but to hide these doubts, or, as he just said to Ryuichi Naruhodo, simply use these doubts as a cover-up for Saburo Hosei to get acquitted.

But now that the prosecutor's office has not yet filed charges against Saburo Hosei, he can no longer pretend that he has not discovered anything after these doubts have been laid bare before him.

At this moment, Reiji was pondering how Takeshi Ikuta got to the First Photography Studio.

If Takeshi Ikubukuro were to wear that general's costume, what would his intention be?

Did he use his own death to frame Hosei Saburo?

Several months ago, he had heard about a case in which the ex-boyfriend of famous actress Yoko Okino committed suicide at her home and staged the murder, leading the police to initially consider him a suspect during their investigation.

However, with the help of another famous detective, Kogoro Mouri, who has recently been enjoying a surge in popularity just like Jiang Hang, the truth of the case was eventually uncovered.

The reason why Reiji Mitsurugi knew Jiang Hang and Kogoro Mouri was because most of the cases he had taken on in the past two months were related to these two people. In fact, the recent case of Kyosuke Kazato was personally handled by his teacher, the legendary prosecutor Karuma Gou, who had never lost a case in his forty years as a prosecutor.

The final result was that Kyosuke Kazato, who illegally possessed firearms, killed three people and injured one, and also used a bomb in a public place like a hotel, was sentenced to death in the first instance. The main reason for this was naturally the extremely heinous crime committed by Kyosuke Kazato. However, in Japan, a country that is extremely cautious about death sentences, even harsh, the powerful and tough prosecutor Go Karima also played a part in the decision.

In short, let's return to the topic of this case.

In Yoko Okino's case, her ex-boyfriend committed suicide due to a relationship issue. In this case, Takeshi Ibuki is unlikely to be involved in such a case, at least not in the police's current investigation. Although this possibility exists, it is more likely that the murderer killed Takeshi Ibuki elsewhere and then moved his body to the photography studio.

"Is it possible for two people to fit inside that general's costume?" Reiji recalled the large costume of the general that appeared on TV. If the costume were modified, it would indeed be possible to fit another person.

“Prosecutor Mitsurugi, do you mean that after killing Takeshi Ikuboku, the murderer put his body inside the Grand Shogun costume, and then took the body to the photography studio?” Keisuke Itokogiri quickly understood what Reiji Mitsurugi meant, and he slammed his fist down. “In that case, we have a reason for the murderer to destroy the costume after committing the crime.”

Seeing these people suddenly start wondering if the general's costume could hold two corpses, and even preparing to find another spare costume for testing, Jiang Hang, who had just finished inspecting the kitchen, couldn't help but sigh.

"Why don't you investigate whether the cameras have been tampered with while you're discussing this so much?"

“We had already checked the surveillance footage from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and found nothing wrong,” Keisuke Itokuro explained to Jiang Hang.

"Have you checked the surveillance footage from noon to 2 p.m.?"

Keisuke Itokogiri hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "We haven't checked this carefully, but the surveillance footage between noon and 2 p.m. only showed a little kid sneaking into the camera room and causing trouble, and no one else appeared... Do you think there's something wrong here?"

However, after he finished speaking, he felt the "death stare" from the swordsman beside him.

"Have someone thoroughly investigate that surveillance footage, don't miss a single second." After giving this instruction to Keisuke Itokogiri, he looked at Jiang Hang.

He knew that these famous detectives often noticed things that ordinary people wouldn't.

"Mr. Jiang Hang, have you discovered something?"

Jiang Hang nodded and looked at the several unwashed plates on the table.

“I suggest you go and ask the ‘people who were there’ yesterday noon again, whether they concealed the presence of certain people.”

“I just went to the kitchen and found that the number of bone-in steaks they ate for lunch yesterday didn’t match up. According to them, there were only four of them in the studio yesterday, but I found six steak wrappers in the kitchen trash can.”

Keisuke Itokogiri paused for a moment, then tried to explain: "Maybe it's because Takeshi Ikubukuro and Saburo Haisei have big appetites, and each of them can eat two portions."

“That is indeed possible, but I just checked again,” Jiang Hang said, pointing to the dining table next to him. “I only saw the bones of four steaks on the dining table and in the trash can. I didn’t see the bones of the other two steaks. Did your police find the whereabouts of the other two bones during your investigation?”

After listening to Jiang Hang's explanation, Yu Jianlianshi's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

The bones in six steaks are half the number of bones in four steaks. Jiang Hang, the famous detective, is a trustworthy judge. Does that mean that those people, including He Xing Sanlang, were lying?

As a prosecutor, he sometimes hides unfavorable clues and evidence for various reasons, but if witnesses conceal these things during questioning, it undoubtedly puts the prosecutors in a very passive position.

It's even possible that the real murderer is hiding here, and that those people are just giving false confessions to protect the real culprit.

"Go and question those witnesses again, and don't forget about He Xing Sanlang in the detention center. Find out exactly how many people were here yesterday at noon!"

Chapter 232: Chapter 230: The Truth of the Case

After obtaining a lead, the police acted swiftly.

The forensic department sent over some basic test kits. After testing, it was preliminarily determined that the plate left over from yesterday noon by He Xing Saburo contained sleeping pills. At the same time, while Takeshi Ikuta's fingerprints were found on the bottle of sleeping pills, He Xing Saburo's fingerprints were not found.

If the ingredients of the sleeping pills in the plate are tested again, and the ingredients are confirmed to be the same, then based on this evidence alone, the possibility that Saburo Hosei is the murderer is already very low.

However, what's more important now is to find out exactly how many people were at the Yingdu Photography Studio yesterday noon, and whether those witnesses, including the suspect He Xing Sanlang, are suspected of giving false testimony.

During this round of investigation, the security guard, who was a fan of Takeshi Ibuki, fell silent after learning that Ibuki had actually put sleeping pills in Saburo Hosei's lunch.

“Sleeping pills… So that’s how it is. Xiao Yidai did what he shouldn’t have done in the end,” she sighed, and then frankly told Jiang Hang and the others what had happened yesterday.

"Actually, besides the four of us, there were also the director and producer from Yingdu Studio and several big shots from the TV station yesterday noon. They held a meeting at the Second Studio yesterday noon to discuss the film that Yingdu will be shooting next."

"Because his body was found at the First Film Studio, the director told us not to talk about their affairs after the incident, so as not to displease that big shot at the TV station and the producer. Also, before you police arrived, the director and his team deleted the footage of them appearing yesterday at noon from the surveillance cameras, so we didn't say anything about it..."

As she said this, she sighed deeply, and a story from five years ago was once again brought to mind.

Five years ago, Yingdu Studio was still shooting sword and spear films, which were declining in popularity. Takeshi Ikuta could be said to be one of the last stars of the sword and spear film era. However, during a filming, one of the supporting actors who was acting opposite him died in an accident.

At the time, Himegami Sakura, who had just joined Eito Studio as a producer, had a very deep underworld background, and this matter was eventually suppressed.

After that, Takeshi Ibuki became depressed, and now he can only play villains in tokusatsu films for children.

After hearing her explanation, Keisuke Itokozuke, who was conducting the interrogation, seemed to be still in a daze.

But Reiji Mitsurugi and Ryuichi Naruhodo seemed to realize something.

"The Second Photography Studio?"

Fortunately, there was a map of the entire Yingdu Photography Studio posted nearby, so Naruhodo Ryuichi went straight to the map to check it out.

"The camera is right here. If Takeshi Ikuta is wearing the costume of the Great General and walks under the camera, it's impossible to figure out which studio he went to!"

“The murderer could have easily moved Takeshi Ikuro’s body to the studio after killing him, and then left without being noticed by the others after everyone else arrived at the studio in the afternoon.”

Meanwhile, Miken Reiji was silently reciting the name that the old woman had spoken.

"Himegami Sakura..."

He seemed to vaguely recognize the name.

Police officer Keisuke Itokogiri seems to know more about Sakura Himegami's background.

"If it's about yakuza connections, I know there's a yakuza group called Himegami-gumi in Kyoto, but I'm not so sure about the ones in Tokyo."

The information about a woman with yakuza connections almost immediately elicited a reaction from Keisuke Itokogiri.

He made a phone call to an acquaintance at the Metropolitan Police Department, asking them to help him look up information about Himegami Sakura. Then he and Mitsurugi Reiji headed directly towards the Second Photography Studio, while Naruhodo Ryuichi quickly followed the two of them.

Jiang Hang then comforted the woman who was in a bad mood, and it was clear that after learning about the sleeping pills, the woman had probably already guessed the truth of the matter.

"I never expected Xiao Yidai to make such a choice. If I had known sooner, this tragedy wouldn't have happened."

As a fan of Takeshi Ikuta, she seemed somewhat remorseful at this moment.

She looked at Jiang Hang, who had stayed to comfort her, and then, as if remembering something, she ran back to her guardhouse and carefully retrieved a slightly old photograph from a hidden spot.

"This is a photo from that accident back then. Because of that woman Himegami, she probably destroyed all the other photos."