Chapter 179
After calling Kudo Shinichi and arranging for him to send any clues he found, Usuha Izuki also sent an email to Hattori Heiji, similarly asking him to share any clues with him.
This way he could freeload information from both sides and pass it on to Hagiwara Kenji later—no one would see that he was slacking off.
Without his request, these two would investigate anyway. Having them send him a copy meant he could even provide emotional value!
System: [You're way too much of a capitalist...]
Usuha Izuki: [Stop nagging. This is called trusting the people you use.]
However, compared to Kudo Shinichi's cooperative attitude, Hattori Heiji's dissatisfaction was much more obvious, and he directly called.
Usuha Izuki usually didn't answer his calls much, but since he was asking for a favor now, he still picked up.
Hattori Heiji questioned from the other end: "How do you know I'm going to investigate this case? Were you also in the restaurant just now? When you heard those ridiculous things about snow woman murders, didn't you react at all?"
Are you still a detective? How can you tolerate this!
"Let the young people show off a bit more." Usuha Izuki's tone was light.
Hattori Heiji keenly sensed something: "What, did you also see that other guy who's about my age and said similar things?"
"Yeah." Usuha Izuki said shamelessly. "That's also a kid I knew before. Same age as you, also wants to become a detective. As for deductive ability... you've both never solved cases independently, so it's hard to compare. He's already agreed to share the information he finds with me. This is a good opportunity, so I thought I'd ask you. If you don't want to, that's fine too."
"...You mean in your mind, his level is about the same as mine?"
Deductive ability couldn't only be judged by solving cases. It should be that during previous discussions of other issues, both he and that middle schooler performed similarly in front of this guy, so they entered the next stage of comparison.
Hattori Heiji understood the implication, and his competitive spirit immediately burned fiercely: "I'll also tell you the information from my side! I'm going to investigate right now!"
System pondered: [Are you doing PUA? Why are you comparing them like this?]
[I didn't put anyone down. I just mentioned that the other person had already agreed.] Usuha Izuki calmly put away his phone. [Giving Heiji some motivation.]
System: [...Doesn't Kudo Shinichi need motivation?]
Usuha Izuki was baffled: [He already agreed. What more motivation does he need?]
[So your motivation refers to motivation to share information with you?!]
What else? Making a big fuss over nothing.
Usuha Izuki put on his wind goggles and took the cable car—he refused to walk up. That would be too tiring.
The mountain scenery was nice, but the wind direction seemed to have changed, and it looked like the wind and snow were getting stronger.
Hattori Heiji, who finally finished eating and came out, immediately became anxious when he saw the sky.
Toyama Kazuha quickly grabbed him: "Where are you going? The teacher said to stay indoors when the wind and snow get stronger..."
"I need to investigate the case. That guy ahead doesn't know how much of a head start he has..."
Toyama Kazuha: "...??? Who? That big brother?"
Hattori Heiji shook his head: "No, it's that middle schooler who had similar ideas to mine... He also wants to become a detective. With that guy as judge, we can compete properly..."
Toyama Kazuha suddenly felt speechless.
He always complained that someone wouldn't answer calls or reply to emails and was suspiciously missing in front of police, but at times like this, he directly let that person be the judge...
With much persuasion, Toyama Kazuha finally succeeded in convincing Hattori Heiji to wait until the wind and snow weakened before setting out to investigate.
However, just when Hattori Heiji finally got on the cable car and was about halfway through the journey, an accident happened.
A sound like gunfire suddenly rang out, and not long after, the cable car stopped directly in mid-air.
Hattori Heiji immediately realized something was wrong, but the cable car was too far from the ground. Jumping down now would be suicide. With no village ahead and no shop behind, there was nowhere to ask what was happening—wait, he could ask!
So Hattori Heiji called Usuha Izuki.
The line was busy.
He persistently called several more times. Just when he was starting to suspect that the phone being constantly busy meant the other person had blocked him and was playing dead, the call finally went through.
"Hello?"
Hattori Heiji didn't realize that the moment he found the other person had answered, he immediately relaxed, as if he trusted the other person greatly: "It's me. Did you hear that gunshot?"
Usuha Izuki replied: "Oh, that? That wasn't gunfire—it was fake."
Hattori Heiji instantly forgot what he originally wanted to ask: "Hah? Fake? How do you know?"
"Because I've heard real gunfire before."
Hattori Heiji was skeptical: "Is that so? Is the difference that big?"
Usuha Izuki pondered: "Not that big, but if you hear enough real gunfire, you can still tell the difference."
"Where did you hear so much real gunfire?" Hattori Heiji asked suspiciously.
Usuha Izuki: "America."
Hattori Heiji thought for a moment and accepted this explanation: "I see."
System: [...So if it's America, it's understandable?! Are you telling dark humor jokes?!]
[America averages over 100 gun deaths per day. Non-fatal shooting incidents are even more common. From a probability and logic standpoint, it makes sense.]
System: [...]
After getting the answer from Usuha Izuki that the earlier sound wasn't gunfire, Hattori Heiji relaxed for a moment before becoming tense again: "If it wasn't gunfire, then why did the cable car stop?"
Usuha Izuki was very calm: "Because someone died."
Hattori Heiji: "..."
"Although that was fake just now, someone really did die. It was probably done with a silencer, for the purpose of—"
Hattori Heiji quickly answered: "—to mislead about the murder and create an alibi!"
Usuha Izuki paused: "Right, exactly."
Hattori Heiji wiped non-existent sweat: "Can you give me some objective information without adding your own thoughts..."
That was close—he almost got spoiled. Detectives can't stand that kind of thing!
Usuha Izuki was speechless: "Anyway, that male actor from the film crew is dead. The cable car will start running again soon, and when you get off, you'll be able to see."
Hattori Heiji couldn't help but punch the cable car handrail: "How could this happen!"
"It's quite normal—revenge for that person from four years ago." Usuha Izuki's tone was somewhat casual, completely lacking the anger or worry that a justice-filled person should have upon learning of a murder. "The method is the same as four years ago too. It's tit for tat."
Hattori Heiji felt somewhat uncomfortable with Usuha Izuki's tone, but before he could think deeply, he was shocked by the information: "...??? Wait, what do you mean? Do you already know the method?"
"Yeah, do you want to know?"
"...What about that other middle schooler you know?" Hattori Heiji asked warily. "Has he already deduced it too?"
"Not yet, but he's close to the crime scene. When you couldn't get through earlier, he was telling me about the situation from the scene. Actually, if you want to know—"
"I'll investigate myself." Hattori Heiji interrupted. "The cable car is moving. I'll go to the scene soon. Wait for me there."
Usuha Izuki, who was slacking off far from the scene, heard the dial tone and shrugged.
He had just seen Kudo Yusaku and Kudo Yukiko too. Kudo Yusaku should also know the truth by now, but neither of them seemed inclined to tell the police.
Kudo Yusaku didn't want to interfere because he discovered his son was solving the case and didn't want to affect this experience. As for him...
He figured Hagiwara Kenji could also deduce it, so he wouldn't meddle.
He hoped Hattori Heiji and Kudo Shinichi would be quick. Otherwise, if the police solved the case first, there wouldn't be anything for the detectives to do. He didn't want to accidentally ruin their detective experience.
Children's wishes were always worth protecting.
After the anxious Hattori Heiji finally escaped from the cable car that had trapped him, he immediately rushed to... what couldn't really be called the crime scene.
Because the body was originally on the cable car, and to avoid passengers still on the cable car panicking from being suspended in mid-air for too long and causing accidents, they chose to restart the cable car so all passengers could get off first.
But they were also worried that with the current heavy wind and snow—visibility of only three meters—if they restarted it, the scene might be tampered with during transit, so the body had already been moved down.
After all passengers got off the cable cars, they could then examine the primary crime scene.
Hattori Heiji waited for ages before all relevant personnel finally gathered, and the cable car where the incident occurred finally came back around.
The guy he was waiting for didn't come, which was expected. Being stood up was something he was used to. Hattori Heiji directly began questioning the suspects.
"The director was in the cable car in front of the victim, this detective who used to be a police officer was in the cable car behind, and Miss Tateishi passed by in a parallel position with a descending cable car. The stunt actor Mitsumata-san wasn't on a cable car... All of you had the opportunity to shoot the victim. After all, with current visibility so low, the cable cars in front and behind can't see what the other is doing."
The ex-police detective coughed: "Although I don't know why a kid is here... I didn't do anything. I have a witness—someone else was in the same cable car as me."
He pointed to someone who was communicating with the local police.
As if he'd been listening to the conversation here all along, that person almost immediately turned and greeted Hattori Heiji: "I was in the same cable car as my senior. I didn't see him do anything strange."
Hattori Heiji hadn't seen this person before and didn't think he looked like part of the film crew: "...Are you acquaintances?"
If acquaintances were testifying, that would need to be taken with a grain of salt...
"No, we've never met before. I was just curious about the case from four years ago, so I wanted to ask this senior about it since it was our first meeting. That's why I took the same cable car."
Hattori Heiji was stunned. If they really were meeting for the first time, there would indeed be no need to cover for each other. But this senior's explanation...
"Are you also a police officer?"
"Yes, I'm a detective from the Criminal Investigation Division." Hagiwara Kenji smiled. "Although I know you're very curious, children shouldn't get involved in these things."
Hattori Heiji refused: "No, I won't cause trouble for you. I can help too... For instance, I've already discovered three suspicious points."
He immediately rattled off all his discoveries in one breath, afraid of being treated as a hindrance and driven away, unable to continue participating in the investigation.
Hagiwara Kenji applauded admiringly: "For your age, that's really impressive. That kid earlier also found these three suspicious points... Today's children really can't be underestimated."
Hattori Heiji was heartbroken: "Damn it, I really was too late... Where is he now?!"
Watching Hattori Heiji's figure skiing down the mountain, Hagiwara Kenji put away his smile for comforting children and sighed.
Sigh... Even though he managed to follow them here, someone still died...
But he had no way to convince the film crew not to take the cable car...
Just then, Hagiwara Kenji felt his phone vibrate.
He took it out to check his email and found it was from his partner who didn't know what he was doing but had indeed been constantly sending him information.
[Someone recorded a video. I looked at it—the person who got on the cable car wasn't that male actor.]
Hagiwara Kenji: "..........."
You saw it from the video, and I was even watching the real person right there, but I didn't notice...
Just what kind of eyes does Samukawa Shinryu have?!