Chapter 171
With understanding for his colleagues in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department, Kenji Hagiwara set foot on the land of Tsukikage Island.
A person from the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department came to pick them up, and he was somewhat reserved.
"Welcome, Hanchuan-kun, Hagiwara-kun, I've been waiting for you... Um, my partner is still investigating, so I'm the only one here to pick you up. Please don't misunderstand..."
Kenji Hagiwara, embarrassed, said, "We're all police officers, we know how busy you guys are, don't worry."
He was so afraid that Fukaru would misunderstand him as not taking him seriously enough. Luckily, Inspector Megure let him come along, otherwise, I can't imagine what kind of life his colleagues in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department would be living in today... a living hell caused by his own imagination.
Kenji Hagiwara has actually discovered a problem in recent years: he feels that most people's troubles when facing Shinryu Hagiwara are self-inflicted.
The remaining small part was caused by Hanchuan Shenliu's own mischievous whims, and the victims were completely innocent.
However, considering that suppressing Hanchuan Shenliu's hobby all the time is not a good idea, and there is a risk of a backlash, his colleagues generally turn a blind eye if the object is a criminal.
It's better than Hanchuan Shenliu messing around with his own people when he's bored, right?
Kenji Hagiwara's strong affinity and emotional intelligence acted as a stabilizer, providing timely explanations or taking charge of communication to prevent the other party from losing their temper due to Shinryu Samikawa and avoiding unnecessary trouble. They were a perfect pair, and everyone in the First Investigation Division praised Chief Odagiri's arrangement as perfect—how many of them were truly sincere, and how many were simply glad they weren't paired with Shinryu Samikawa, remains unknown.
In short, with Kenji Hagiwara around, the colleagues in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department relaxed a bit, lured them into the car, and then drove them to the scene of the death, explaining the situation along the way, since they couldn't explain everything via email.
"The deceased was the village chief here, Kameyama Isamu, who was also someone we found to be a suspected informant of the doctor."
Upon hearing this uncertain wording, Kenji Hagiwara asked, "Is there any evidence?"
The police officers from the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department chuckled dryly: "These kinds of transactions are all recorded with codes. The code we deciphered was Moon Shadow Island, and then they drew a turtle. They found out that Kameyama Yu had passed away... so we guessed it might be him."
Simply put, there was no direct evidence, and it was just a coincidence that led them to ask Han Chuan Shenliu to make this trip. It's understandable that they felt guilty.
But this is a police officer's intuition! It's really hard to give up without confirming it!
Feeling guilty, he tried to secretly observe Han Chuan Shenliu's expression in the back seat through the rearview mirror. When he met those dark red eyes, he was so frightened that he quickly looked away and continued driving as if he hadn't been paying attention to the road ahead as much as he had when taking his driving test.
"In short, the current situation is that we found out that the village chief of Guishan Village passed away last night. The case was closed as an accident, and the body has even been moved so that they can hold a funeral for him... If you need to check the body, we don't have much time left. The scene hasn't been cleaned up yet, but there might still be some clues..."
He became increasingly embarrassed as he spoke, feeling as if he had pushed someone into a pit.
"The forensic doctor has confirmed it was cardiac arrest, and since the body has already been placed in a coffin, any clues related to the body have probably been destroyed... Is the person who performed the autopsy still around?" Hanchuan Shenliu asked.
The police officers from the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department quickly said, "She's still here. She's a doctor who just arrived on Tsukikage Island. Her name is Asai Narumi. Because there aren't enough people in Tokyo to perform autopsies, she's temporarily in charge."
"Hmm, then call her and the person who found the body to the mansion," said Han Chuan Shenliu casually.
The colleague quickly nodded: "That's the right thing to do! I'll contact them right away."
One person has knowledge of the body, and the other has knowledge of the crime scene; of course, they should be called in to inquire about the situation in more detail.
While waiting at the traffic light, the colleague quickly contacted the two men by phone and asked them to meet at the mansion.
After he hung up the phone, Kenji Hagiwara continued, "Do you have any suspects?"
“Well… he’s got a heart attack, right…” his colleague coughed. “I’d like to ask him if he’s offended anyone, but his family insists he’s friendly to everyone and deeply loved by the island’s villagers, which is why he was elected village chief. It’s impossible for him to have offended anyone…”
As he spoke, he glanced discreetly at the rearview mirror again.
Han Chuan Shenliu stared out the window with a bored expression, seemingly uninterested in the case.
Sigh, it really feels like we've pushed a lot of trouble onto Hanchuan-kun... It's normal for Hanchuan-kun to be unhappy, but I feel a little sorry for Jinma-san. If it's really because he and his partner overthought things this time, Hanchuan-kun might even lose his affection for Jinma-san.
Moonshadow Island wasn't very big. With their minds preoccupied, the colleague quickly drove to the entrance of the mansion on the island and then led them to the room where the piano was kept.
"This is it. This is the new doctor on the island, Ms. Asai Narumi, who is in charge of autopsies. This is Mr. Hirata Kazuaki, who was the first to discover the crime scene."
After introducing his colleagues, he then introduced the two men: "These two are detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division, Officer Kanakawa Shinryu and Officer Hagiwara Kenji. We'd appreciate your cooperation with them."
"Ah...oh, okay."
They both responded with somewhat stiff expressions.
Although the police officer didn't match names with people when introducing them, and the two new officers weren't wearing any name tags, Asai Makoto and Hirata Kazuaki subconsciously matched them.
—That guy with dark blue hair and dark red eyes, who looks dangerous like an Italian mafia member from "The Godfather," must be Shinryu Sugawa!
The frigid glaciers in winter, the streams flowing slowly beneath the ice... just hearing the name makes you feel cold.
"What was the situation when you found out? Why did you suddenly come here in the middle of the night?" Han Chuan Shenliu didn't bother with any warm-up and went straight to the point.
Hirata Kazuaki paused for a moment before realizing he was being asked a question, and quickly replied, "I was just passing by when I heard the sound of a piano being played. I thought it was a bit strange, wondering who was playing the piano in the middle of the night, so I wanted to take a look. But as soon as I got to the window, the music stopped. Since the lights weren't on, I couldn't see anything inside, so I went into the mansion to check. When I entered, I found Village Chief Kameyama slumped over the piano, already dead..."
The organized crime countermeasures team arrived a little late; the body had already been removed. Since the cause of death was cardiac arrest, there wasn't even any blood in the room. Kenji Hagiwara felt it was a difficult situation and didn't know where to begin his investigation.
Hanchuan Shenliu asked, "What was his posture when he fell?"
Hirata Kazuaki glanced hesitantly at the piano, perhaps still a little disturbed by the fact that a dead body had been lying on it before, so he gestured to illustrate: "It's something like this, head on the keyboard, hands hanging down..."
Hanchuan Shenliu walked up to the piano and pretended to touch the keys.
He always wore black leather gloves, and when he arrived at the scene, he didn't wear the white gloves he used for crime scene investigation. But what stopped him was not his police colleagues, but Hirata Kazuaki.
“Um, let’s not touch that piano.” Hirata Kazuaki’s voice trembled, and he looked terrified. “This piano must be cursed by Mr. Aso! Look, Mr. Aso died while playing the Moonlight Sonata, and now the village chief is also…”
"snort……"
The young man with deep red hair and eyes, whose expression had been cold and indifferent, suddenly became lively. He looked at him with great interest: "You really don't want anyone to touch this piano?"
Hirata Kazuaki's expression froze: "...After all, it's not a good omen, like it's been cursed...No one has touched it in all these years, and the village chief died last night for some reason as soon as he arrived..."
"Using such an excuse to keep people away from this piano?" the young man remarked.
Hirata Kazuaki felt cold sweat breaking out on his back, and even his fingertips were numb with tension. His brain was racing, trying to figure out how to defend himself.
But Hanchuan Shenliu seemed to have just mentioned it casually, not caring about his explanation or Hirata Kazuaki's feelings after he said it. After speaking, he sat down at the piano and began to play "Moonlight Sonata".
This time, no one stopped him, since there really wasn't any evidence that the piano needed to be strictly preserved.
However, he did not play the slow and tranquil first movement that the public is more likely to hear when the name "Moonlight Sonata" is mentioned. Instead, he played the very exciting third movement, and with the keys being struck like a storm, the magnificent melody instantly filled the entire room.
Hanchuan Shenliu stopped after playing for only a dozen seconds, stood up, opened the lid of the grand piano, and began to gently tap around.
Kenji Hagiwara leaned closer: "Is there a problem?"
"They say no one has touched it in all these years, but this piano sounds like it was just tuned; it's very accurate," said Hanchuan Shenliu. "And that guy won't let anyone touch it."
Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help but glance at Hirata Kazaki.
After all, he was Hanakawa Shinryu's partner. Based on his understanding of Hanakawa Shinryu, these words not only referred to a problem with the piano, but also implied that Hirata Kazuaki himself was problematic.
As Hanakawa Shinryu examined the piano, Hirata Kazuaki's breathing became increasingly unsteady. Even Asai Narumi, who was standing nearby, noticed something was wrong and glanced at him several times.
Finally, Hanchuan Shenliu seemed to have discovered something. He bent down and opened a hidden door from below the piano.
"Hmm? Why would a hidden door be designed in a place like this?" Kenji Hagiwara squatted down and shone a flashlight inside. "There's white powder."
Finally, his colleagues in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department couldn't hold back any longer and came over to oust Kenji Hagiwara.
When Han Chuan Shenliu discovered the hidden door, their expressions changed. Now, seeing the white powder, those who were closest reached out and touched it, carefully examining it, and were instantly overjoyed.
"It's heroin! So someone on this island was involved after all!!!"
Their great achievement has arrived!!!
Although the drugs the doctor mentioned were illegal, they weren't considered very serious; they were only considered to have some addictive potential. They were even legal in other countries, but here it was a different story—illegal in most countries!
Han Chuan Shenliu stood by the piano, holding the keyboard. Although he still had no expression, one could clearly feel his happy mood.
Hirata Kazuaki was horrified to find that those dark red eyes were once again fixed on him.
"That's why you don't want anyone near the piano."
Hirata Kazuaki felt as if he had fallen into an abyss.
He suddenly realized something, which was...
Before discovering the hidden door, this dangerous and terrifying young man seemed to already know what he had done, and everything he did afterward was just to verify his own ideas.
How could there be such a terrifying person? He only said two sentences. Even if he really wanted people to stay away from the piano and not discover the secret on it, the reason he gave was quite plausible!
Why would anyone suspect them?
Before Hanakawa Shinryu could even produce any more evidence to convince them, the police from the Organized Crime Countermeasures Department had already approached Hirata Kazuaki and taken out handcuffs: "Mr. Hirata, do you have anything to explain?"
Hirata Kazuaki's face turned deathly pale: "Where's the evidence?!"
Kenji Hagiwara laughed: "If you were wronged, you would be yelling and screaming angrily right now."
"Although we don't have any evidence yet, we've already traced it back to you. Further investigation will eventually uncover evidence," the organized crime countermeasures team said cheerfully. "Please cooperate with the investigation."
Asai Shigemi, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Kankawa, how did you find out?"
The dangerous-looking young man glanced at him and replied meaningfully, "I'll know once I see."
Asai Narumi: "…………"
He... he had a slight suspicion that his true gender had actually been revealed.
Did they figure out what happened last night? Surely not...
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Landmines (extra chapter)
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I also quite like Moonlight Sonata, but the third movement is a bit difficult...
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Han Chuan's colleagues have already tacitly approved of him toying with the prisoners.
The idea was that everyone needs to have some hobbies; suppressing them can easily lead to abnormality. And if Han Chuan were to become abnormal, his colleagues would be the first to suffer.
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