No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Not many people came to today's performance, but I still don't want to give up. If I give up and go back to my hometown, I'll only be able to deal with boring country folk. Also, that fat otaku audience member's gaze was truly disgusting.

The next entry is for February 6th, which doesn't seem to be a two-month gap between entries, but rather the day after November 23rd...

Forget it, let's not focus too much on these small details. It's all just Detective Conan theory, all just Detective Conan theory.

After reading through dozens of diary entries, Kitahara Masaki concluded that the deceased, Ms. Ninomiya, came from a remote, unnamed rural area and hoped to one day become famous in order to survive in Tokyo. The people who made her uncomfortable included a regular audience member, a colleague from her part-time job, and her boss at the entertainment company.

Basically, these three people were recorded in Ninomiya's diary because they often looked at her with lewd and disgusting eyes.

Seeing this, Kitahara Masaki finally felt relieved; it seemed this was also a three-choice question.

"Inspector Megure, I'll send you information on three people now. When you go to the entertainment company to investigate, make sure you find out their identities as well."

The diary mostly uses profanity to replace the names of the three people, so although Kitahara Masaki knows there are three suspects, he doesn't even know their names yet.

However, although it is a three-choice question, the trouble now is the evidence... In the past, the perpetrator would leave the evidence at the scene after committing the crime, and Kitahara Masaki could find the evidence by taking out a magnifying glass. However, at least eight hours have passed since Ninomiya died, so it should not be difficult to clean up the evidence. Moreover, it is not possible to obtain a search warrant from the court with just this diary.

Kitahara Masaki sat on a park bench, basking in the sun, waiting for the other police officers to report.

“Brother Kitahara! The three people you mentioned in the diary—we have all been found.”

"Okay, I'm coming right now."

First, there's the fat otaku who was initially scolded badly in the diary. The reason we were able to find out where he lived so quickly is because he had written many letters to Ninomiya-san, which contained his address and name.

Ding dong.

The person who opened the door was indeed a classic fat otaku, but Kitahara Masaki, who had received professional training, naturally wouldn't laugh out loud over such a trivial matter. He maintained his expressionless state, took out his police notebook, and then revealed his purpose.

"Mr. Tokunaga, what is your relationship with Ms. Ninomiya Kiyomasa?"

"Excuse me, what... happened?"

"Yes, this morning, Ms. Ninomiya Kiyomasa's body was found near her home."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Tokunaga was greatly surprised, fell backward and crashed to the ground, and immediately burst into tears, completely ignoring Kitahara Masaki, who was still about to ask questions.

However, as he covered his face and wept, Kitahara Masaki immediately noticed the ring on his ring finger. But it didn't look like a wedding ring, or even his own ring, because the ring, which had been shoved in, had made his ring finger turn white, so it didn't seem to fit his finger size.

"Mr. Tokunaga, would you mind telling me where you were last night?"

"What! Officer, you actually suspect me? I love her so much, how could I possibly have killed her?!"

Ah—it seems quite likely.

Chapter 188: Why are they all perverts?

"I love her so much, how could I possibly have killed her!"

"Ahem, Mr. Tokunaga, there's no need for you to get so agitated. I'm just asking routine questions about the case."

“I’ve always lived alone, and no one can vouch for me. In short, you police should hurry up and catch the real murderer instead of questioning me!”

"Hmm... But we found Ninomiya-san's diary in her room, and it contains things about you. She called you 'disgusting fat otaku.' I wonder what your thoughts are on this?"

"Shut up! What do you know to dare speak so rudely here? I'll report you!"

"No problem, sir. This is my badge number. You can go now."

Tokunaga Shousuke trembled at the sight of the policeman in front of him. After all, this policeman had denied his feelings for Miss Ninomiya, and his handsome face only made him angrier.

Speechless, Tokunaga Shosuke slammed the door shut, and Kitahara Masaki didn't stop him, nor did he mention the ring, because it was one of the Jokers under investigation and couldn't be played so easily.

Next, let's take a look at the other two—a colleague from her part-time job, and her boss at the entertainment company.

First, there was his part-time colleague, Yokoyama Yuufu, a tall, thin, and timid man. Upon learning that Kitahara Masaki was a policeman, he let him into the room without saying a word. To Kitahara Masaki's surprise, there was a poster in his room featuring the deceased, Ms. Ninomiya, in the center. He even found a clearly women's bracelet on his desk.

Then there's the entertainment company's boss—Yamamura Kaito. Unlike the usual bosses, this one had dyed his hair blonde. After hearing the news of the deceased's death, he didn't even bother to hide it like the previous two. He directly uttered some animalistic nonsense, such as "It's a pity I couldn't have a good time with her." Kitahara Maki, speechless at this, even saw women's underwear that hadn't been put away in the boss's office.

After Kitahara Masaki personally investigated the three people, he felt a headache coming on. With his acting skills, he could easily tell that the three people had probably been to the scene. Normal people would probably be stunned for two or three seconds when they heard the news of the death of someone around them, but these three people did not need any reaction time at all and immediately began their performance.

Most importantly, all three of them seem to possess items belonging to the deceased, Ms. Ninomiya. It's unclear whether she stole them while she was alive or took them after her death.

In short, these three people are incorrigible perverts, but if we really judge their behavior by the law, the other two, who are not the murderers, will probably only be locked up for ten days or so at most.

"Brother Kitahara, what do we do now?"

"What else can we do? Apply for a search warrant immediately. We need to thoroughly search those three people's homes! Since these three are the most likely perpetrators, we should figure out their movements yesterday and use their cell phone signals to determine if they went near the victim's home yesterday."

Kitahara Masaki then told Inspector Megure about his discovery, even though the veteran officer had been working in the First Investigation Division for thirty years and had never seen anything like it.

"Since the victim's diary categorized these three people as people she disliked, doesn't that mean they likely stole what they wanted after the victim died?"

"Yes, three complete psychopaths, and they actually bumped into each other, but I think there should only be one murderer. Their lives never intersected, let alone the fact that they all wanted to keep the victim for themselves."

Because the search warrant was personally applied for by Kitahara Masaki, the court quickly approved it. During the search, the victim's DNA was identified with great certainty from the items Kitahara Masaki saw.

Faced with irrefutable evidence, none of the three admitted to killing Ms. Ninomiya. They only said that on the day of the incident, they intended to talk to the deceased about something, which was actually a form of stalking. However, they only found the deceased lying in a pool of blood. The three people, who were supposedly in a state of 'confusion', all had the same disgusting thought process: before fleeing, they took something from the deceased as a souvenir.

The otaku took the ring, the skinny guy took the bracelet, and the entertainment company boss was the most perverted, stealing the deceased's personal clothing, which was confirmed when the body was sent back for autopsy.

However, there is still no conclusive evidence to prove who the real culprit is. Neither the bloodstained clothes and shoes nor the murder weapon have been found to this day.

"Brother Kitahara, where do you think the real culprit will hide all these things?"

"Sigh, this is the most troublesome thing now. The search revealed no conclusive evidence in their homes, and people had been keeping watch on them ever since the search began. So the murderer should only have one night to deal with the things that could prove he's the killer..."

Takagi and Chiba led their men to search every possible hiding place within a few miles of the deceased, but they found nothing.

Do I have to go and search for it myself with a magnifying glass?

No, no, no, the magnifying glass has a very small detection range. It would take forever to find them. By checking the surveillance footage at major intersections and near the suspect's home, we can determine that these people probably followed the deceased on foot, or at most by bicycle.

So when the murderer realized he had to deal with the evidence quickly, he certainly couldn't just find a place to dump it and leave it there. Digging a hole and burying it in a park or shrine was also impossible, because Kitahara Masaki had already had the adorable police dog confirm it.

So... then the only place left to hide the murder weapon and blood-stained clothes is the place that hasn't been searched yet.

"Oh dear, this is troublesome..."

"What's wrong, Brother Kitahara?"

"I think the murderer may have hidden the murder weapon, blood-stained clothes, and shoes in one or more homes. Because the area where the victim lived has many people who do repetitive labor, their work is heavy and extremely physically demanding, so many of their homes often have a lot of old items piled up. When the murderer put the murder weapon or similar items in their homes, these people may not have even noticed that such an item had been placed in their homes."

Inspector Megure nodded in agreement, but the police cannot arbitrarily search citizens' residences without reason, and there are many houses near the crime scene; it's impossible to search every single one of them.

"Let's talk to the local residents' representatives. That's the only way."

Kitahara Masaki looked out the window at the three guys who had made him waste so much of his life slacking off, and knew they were in for a world of hurt.

Chapter 189 The media is really useful!

As Kitahara Masaki had predicted, under the urging of the residents' representatives, all the residents near the crime scene carefully checked the situation in their backyards. Sure enough, one person found a buried package in their garden, which contained the murder weapon, blood-stained clothes, and shoes.

The police, having obtained the evidence, quickly found fingerprints on it, which matched those of the deceased's colleague at the convenience store.

The case was naturally closed, but Kitahara Maki called reporter Someya Hotaru and said:

"Although the recent case of the female idol's murder has been closed, as a police officer, I cannot disclose any details about the case to you."

“I understand Officer Kitahara’s predicament very well. I believe that even if someone told me about the case, he was just a police officer.”

"Ahem, listen carefully. Absolutely no one went up to the victim after she died and took her rings, bracelets, or even her personal clothing. Absolutely no one. However, it seems that the victim wrote in her diary about a fanatical fan, a colleague who worked at a convenience store, and her boss at the entertainment company she belonged to. I don't know if this information is true or not; perhaps you could investigate it."

Just after Kitahara Maki finished telling Sometani Hotaru about this matter, the magazine exposed those perverts in this week's issue, especially the entertainment company boss, whose company went bankrupt due to a large number of employees leaving.

"If you keep doing this, be careful that one day they find out about your relationship with that little reporter. Hmm... I can already imagine the headlines in the newspapers. Evelyn will probably be seen as a poor woman who was cheated on by a scumbag."

After listening to Kitahara Maki's phone call, Vermouth made a joke.

"Why do you seem to be in such a good mood ever since you came back from your trip? I think you've done a great job with the task I gave you."

"Hehe, of course, don't you know who I am? There are a total of thirty-seven criminals, all of whom were screened at your request. I have also recorded their weaknesses and anything that could threaten them."

"very good!"

Kitahara Masaki looked at his treasure girl, took a box from the trunk, and handed it to Vermouth.

"Oh, and there's a gift too."

When she opened it, inside was a necklace, the very one she had her eye on before leaving Tokyo. It was supposed to take a long time to arrive, but Kitahara Masaki had used her connections to find the son of the craftsman who made the necklace and paid a hefty price to have a brand new one made. The finished product arrived by plane just yesterday.

"Thank you, I really like it. Could you please put it on for me?"

"Of course, it's my pleasure. But I must remind you that I've installed a tiny transmitter on this side of the necklace."

"Oh, so you bought a choker instead of a necklace?"

"Ahem, that's why I told you, it's okay if you don't want to wear it."

"No, please put it on me, just so you can feel at ease."

"Haha, actually, there's the same men's watch, just like your necklace, it also has a transmitter inside. If you need to find my location—"

*Snap* After putting the necklace on Vermouth, Kitahara Masaki also put on a watch.

"Should we find your location so we can collect your body?"

"Ahem, why are you putting it so harshly? Couldn't it be that I wanted you to come and help, or that I just happened to run into some trouble?"

"Oh, so a chauvinist like you would let a woman interfere with your grand scheme? I hope your transmitter doesn't lead me to an empty place and then I get a call from Gin saying that because of your betrayal, he's taken care of you."

Kitahara Masaki narrowed his eyes and said:

"To die together sounds beautiful, like a tragic love story, but if it happened in reality, it would mean that no one would avenge their partner, and no one would live on for the deceased. That's why I don't like Romeo and Juliet, not because it's a tragedy, but because nothing changed."

"But for me, I'd rather see my other half close their eyes. If I'm not there, I'm no longer myself. Besides, I don't really think you'll die at their hands. Unlike the purity of the silver bullets, your purity is exactly the opposite of theirs."

"Heh, I don't think there's any such thing as pure emotion."

Vermouth looked at the man whose eyes burned with a fierce fire, just like she had in the desert country. Back then, the battlefield had reached the stage of urban warfare, with hundreds of soldiers dying every day. He had been racing against death, dodging tank fire and avoiding bombing zones. Relying on his skill in disguise, he took turns serving in both armies, from messenger to artilleryman, or rather, from cook to assault soldier. Basically, when it came time for him to actually go to the battlefield, he would escape again, relying on the intelligence he had gathered before.

He had been running for a whole month. The war in the desert country had killed or wounded nearly 100,000 soldiers and affected more than a million civilians. When Vermouth found him, he was using a cane, his head was wrapped in thick bandages, and his right leg was missing a section, just like other seriously wounded soldiers.

But when Vermouth asked him if he could still go on missions in the United States, he immediately ripped off the fake bandage on his head, then let down the half of his bound leg. He looked more like a new recruit than someone who had just returned from the battlefield.

At that time, Vermouth could see the emotion in his eyes: pure rage, a stance of fighting the boss to the death.

"Hehe, you just haven't felt it yet. When that day really comes, you'll know what that kind of purity is like."

He survived this meat grinder through sheer rage, so when he returns to a modern city where there are no more tanks and anti-personnel mines, he will be like a wolf among sheep.

Indeed, he has used various forces to expand his team, which is now taking shape. It remains to be seen what he will do next.

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