Chapter 116
Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei were currently in a state of being somewhat confused, somewhat unable to understand, yet somehow able to accept the situation.
After all, this was Samukawa Shinryu. Once Samukawa Shinryu encountered a case, any outrageous thing could happen.
It's just that this development was too fast—they couldn't quite keep up, feeling like they'd missed several episodes...
The progress on Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei's side was still at completing the preliminary examination of the corpse and discussing how to preserve the body to minimize impact on the coroner who could only arrive the next day.
During this time, after Matsuda Jinpei received Samukawa Shinryu's call, he relayed Samukawa Shinryu's speculation to Hagiwara Kenji.
Hagiwara Kenji had said at the time: "I did feel that Yukiko was a bit strange... Since Little Shinryu said so, it probably wasn't my imagination."
"What a coincidence, I thought so too." Matsuda Jinpei said. "Samukawa wants to act alone—maybe he'll discover something else."
They had also discussed this, and the most extreme situation they could imagine was just Samukawa Shinryu using his old tricks to break down the criminal's psychological defenses, leading to self-confession. They'd reached a consensus that as long as no one saw it, they'd pretend not to know.
After all, not everyone pursued procedural justice. They trusted that Samukawa Shinryu knew what he was doing. Besides, they weren't currently on duty and hadn't even officially been assigned positions, so there was more operational flexibility.
Then they saw Samukawa Shinryu leading someone over, who immediately bowed to them and said something like "troubling everyone to come so far because of my matter"—practically self-incriminating words—while calling Samukawa Shinryu "Master."
This respectful attitude immediately confused Matsuda Jinpei.
Huh? Why does it seem like he hasn't been intimidated by Samukawa Shinryu? But what's with these words?
Hagiwara Kenji instantly thought of what happened before Christmas.
Officer Shima had called to tell him that Samukawa Shinryu had been mistaken for a young boss by Sumiyoshi Group executives, escorted all the way to his destination, doing whatever he pointed to, following all orders...
Hagiwara Kenji had found it very surreal at the time, lacking a sense of reality. Today he finally got to see a live performance.
The two handled this unexpected situation with a mix of confusion and calmness.
Regardless, having the criminal explain his own criminal process and record it would make things much easier afterward.
Until Kenta asked with a voice carrying a hint of hope: "Master, stop joking. You're that 'Moriarty,' right?"
Hagiwara Kenji: "...???"
"Well, some people do call me that." Samukawa Shinryu admitted. "I'm actually curious how you recognized me."
Hagiwara Kenji wanted to say something but was silenced by Samukawa Shinryu's look, so after hesitating, he remained quiet.
Kenta had a moment of realization and breathed a sigh of relief.
He knew he hadn't mistaken the person! That had scared him.
But the master's attitude was really strange... Could it be the master thought his disguise was perfect and resented him for seeing through it?!
Thinking carefully, someone who liked pursuing perfect crimes might indeed have some strange obsessions... But he was truly innocent! If the master didn't disguise himself well enough as a good person and he recognized him, was that also his fault?!
This wasn't something he could control!!!
"Master, I won't tell anyone else, so..."
Before he finished speaking, handcuffs were snapped onto his wrists.
Kenta stared blankly at Samukawa Shinryu.
Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei were also stunned.
"...Little Shinryu, you bring handcuffs when bathing in hot springs?"
"I went back to the room to get them earlier, felt they might be useful." Samukawa Shinryu cuffed him, then signaled Hagiwara Kenji to make a call. "Contact the police station—we've caught the mastermind. Matsuda, go arrest that Yukiko."
"No! I'm not the mastermind!" With that bit of self-deceptive fantasy shattered, Kenta finally realized Samukawa Shinryu wasn't joking. "I bought the plan! You're clearly the mastermind!"
Samukawa Shinryu said carelessly: "Is that so? But I haven't committed any crime."
Kenta was speechless.
Come to think of it, during the transaction, the master had indeed said he could get away scot-free because he was only selling crime novels...
Legal layman Kenta had believed this nonsense, but when the master not only danced in front of him but also used him for performance metrics, Kenta still couldn't accept this outcome where only he and Yukiko were in trouble.
"I'm going to report you! I'm going to expose everything you've done!!!"
Kenta completely changed from his previous respect and began raging helplessly.
Matsuda Jinpei sneered, providing an assist for Samukawa Shinryu's suspicion values: "Go ahead and report him. This guy has so many reports against him already, he's drowning in debt and doesn't care about more."
Kenta: "...???"
So the next day, when professionals dealt with the avalanche and the police station finally sent people to arrest Kenta and Yukiko, Kenta began reporting frantically from the moment he saw the new police officers.
"That guy made me kill someone! He gave me the idea! And he's a police officer too! Aren't you going to do anything?! He's a parasite in the police force!"
The police officers, who had been briefed on Samukawa Shinryu's situation beforehand, remained very calm: "Understood, we'll record your complaint here..."
Then Kenta exploded: "They said all police were corrupt and I didn't believe it, but after I've complained this much, you really have no reaction at all... Even if he sells crime novels, shouldn't that at least be criminal solicitation?! Someone like this can be a police officer?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm talking about Moriarty! He's Moriarty!"
The police officer coughed: "He is indeed, but we generally don't call him that—it's not very polite. Where did you hear about it?"
Kenta went crazy: "Ahhhhh!!! You won't even arrest him for this! You won't even arrest him for this!!! Is this Japan?! Too dark!!! I should have emigrated long ago!!!"
Because Yukiko didn't have Kenta's experience of severe deception and walking into a trap, just the normal experience of being arrested like an ordinary criminal, although she was very sad, she could barely maintain rationality and wasn't completely incoherent.
She tried to explain to the police: "Kenta bought a crime plan from Moriarty. Shouldn't that Moriarty also be guilty?"
"Uh, let's discuss this in detail back at the station..."
After much effort getting the two uncooperative criminals into the police car, one of the local police officers wiped his sweat and ran to Hagiwara Kenji's car to ask: "So we'll take them away now?"
"Mm, you drive ahead, we'll follow behind." Hagiwara Kenji gripped the steering wheel. "Regarding his misunderstanding, you can try to explain, but I estimate he won't believe it."
This was also Samukawa Shinryu's idea.
When Samukawa Shinryu acknowledged the "Moriarty" title yesterday, Hagiwara Kenji had wanted to explain but was stopped. Later, after separating and detaining the two criminals, Samukawa Shinryu told him:
"Just let him continue misunderstanding. His hatred toward me will make him more forthcoming when revealing information to drag me down."
Hagiwara Kenji sighed: "You've worked hard, Little Shinryu. This sacrifice..."
Matsuda Jinpei said ruthlessly: "He did it on purpose. He might even be happy about being misunderstood—it's not really a sacrifice at all."
Hagiwara Kenji: "............"
Indeed, Little Shinryu enjoyed creating these misunderstandings of unknown significance...
How could anyone be happy about being misunderstood? What kind of twisted pleasure is this?
"This time is different. I really feel I made a sacrifice." Samukawa Shinryu frowned.
"So you're admitting that before, none of it counted as sacrifice..." Matsuda Jinpei complained. "What's different about this time compared to before?"
"I barely got to properly enjoy the hot spring, just that little while." Samukawa Shinryu sighed melancholically. "We came here to vacation—why did it turn into overtime work?"
With this incident, continuing to stay and soak in hot springs was out of the question. Now that police from the station had arrived, they had to go to the station as investigating officers to hand over this case.
Perhaps because murder cases were quite rare in this small place, when they were almost at the station, they actually encountered reporters—probably other guests at the mountain inn had called friends and family to complain, and someone had tipped off reporters for information fees.
Reporters with cameras surrounded the police car, trying to interview Kenta and Yukiko as they got out: "Do you have anything to say? Why did you commit murder?"
Hagiwara Kenji, driving behind them and watching this scene, fell silent.
A few seconds later, he chose to turn around and leave before the reporters noticed them, planning to return when there were fewer people.
Because of this, he missed the subsequent drama.
Generally, when facing reporters, criminals would either keep their heads down to avoid showing their faces and quickly pass through the crowd, or they would rant—either claiming innocence or playing the victim, taking this opportunity to describe their hardships, especially those seeking revenge against society, using it as a perfect chance to promote their ideology.
But this criminal was different.
No one knew where he got the strength, but the criminal actually broke free from police restraint and shouted at the reporters:
"Police entrapment! Moriarty sells crime plans! Then comes to the scene to arrest people! Police create cases themselves to increase their solve rate!!!"
The reporters were immediately in an uproar.
—What?! The Japanese police world is actually this dark?! They thought their pens had already painted them black enough, but reality was more outrageous than fiction!!!