Chapter 33 Chapter 33 I Must Be Destined to Punish Kamono Bridge
Perhaps it was fate that brought Kamohashi Ron here, Isshiki Totsumaru thought. He had originally wanted to find some time to investigate what Oda mentioned about Liar and his father, but he didn't expect a kidnapping case to occur here.
"Please be quiet, I'm a police officer." Isshiki Totomaru calmed the panicked crowd, while Kamonohashi Ron watched the other party disappear:
"There were no signs of a struggle, and it even seemed like they left voluntarily... Was it someone they knew?" Kamonohashi Ron looked puzzled. He then turned to a teacher at the high school and asked, "Teacher Inukai, was the kidnapped student the type to be easily gullible?"
Teacher Inukai shook his head. "For some reason, he's overly cautious. I actually have a few candidates in mind... but if it's really the student I'm thinking of, could you please keep the police quiet? It's just childish pranks."
"This involves kidnapping. How can you call it a joke?!" Isshiki Todumaru said in a serious tone, "There's no way we can just ignore this kind of thing."
"Inukai-sensei, are you planning to mention a student you know?" Kamohashi Ron asked. "And you're thinking he wouldn't do such a thing, so you're not going to say anything?"
"...I think it was Shikano-san. He had a fight with the kidnapped kid today."
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"Please don't make accusations if you're not sure, Inukai-sensei," Kamohashi said. "You just saw something and thought it might be that Shikano-san."
"...Well, Shikano and the missing child had an argument after lunch yesterday, and I happened to see it," Inukai-sensei continued. "Actually, they were very good friends."
"I'll go ask Shikano-san." Kamohashi Ron realized something, "He should still be on the school rooftop now?"
"Hmm, ah, that's probably it," Inukai said. "He must have been in a bad mood since the argument with his friends yesterday. The school rooftop is probably the best place to relax after class, with the fewest people around."
When Kamohashi Ron and Isshiki Totomaru arrived at the rooftop, Shikano was fiddling with his phone. Although he didn't know why he was fiddling with his phone, he was just nervous out of habit.
But when he looked up and saw Kamonohashi Ron's face, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and muttered softly: "Duck... Duck?"
Kamo no Hashiro: "......?"
"Huh? So you've seen Ron's live broadcast." Isshiki Totsumaru wasn't surprised. "But if I remember correctly, Ron's live broadcast seemed... ah, no, it was indeed broadcast after school."
"It's about time to finish my homework, right?" Shikano muttered. "But I... uh... I haven't thought about it..."
He was clearly a bit too reserved.
"Someone is suspecting you of kidnapping," Kamonohashi said. "If you know anything, tell me now. Being arrested isn't going to be easy."
Lu Ye was stunned for a moment, and he clearly realized that the emotional anchor on the other side was not lying at all. He said as if frightened: "Why do you suspect me? It's not me!"
Kamo no Hashiro: "Of course I know, so I came to ask if you have any clues."
"Ren, weren't you too blunt just now? I felt like Shikano-san was frightened." Isshiki Todumaru said uncertainly, while Kamohashi Ren just shook his head and looked at Isshiki Todumaru:
"Touto, don't underestimate today's high school students, especially ordinary high school students in Japan. They can do anything." Kamohashi Ron said seriously.
"Huh, is that so?"
"Oh, is that so? So this is why I'm suspected of being a kidnapper?" Shikano actually nodded.
"That's not the point of the question—no, don't go along with what Lun is saying!"
Kamo no Hashiro: "So Shikano, are you able to detect when others are lying?"
"How on earth did you come to this conclusion?!"
Isshiki Todumaru felt like he had missed over a hundred episodes.
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Shikano nodded. "I knew I couldn't hide it from you. You're like a detective straight out of an old-school detective novel. I don't know if this ability is innate or acquired, but I've been able to tell if someone is lying since I can remember."
"It must be acquired training. When you observe others speaking, you subconsciously observe their micro-expressions and movements." Kamohashi Ron looked at Shikano, "Even now, you are subconsciously observing me."
Luye: "..."
Luye: "But when I was watching your live broadcast, I didn't have that feeling at all, and I couldn't tell whether you were lying or not."
"That's probably because you have a natural distrust of what's on screen. After all, you don't see it with your own eyes, so who knows if it's real? But as soon as you're face to face, you can tell when someone's lying." Kamohashi Ron asked, "Did you argue with your friend because they lied to you?"
"Yes."
Shikano was silent for a moment, then said, "But I wouldn't kidnap him for something like this. I just rejected his confession."
"Hmm... I see. I feel like I've been hearing about confession rejections a lot lately. Is it just my imagination?" Isshiki Todumaru said uncertainly, "It seemed like it was during your live broadcast..."
"Hey, so you didn't notice it, Todu." Kamohashi Ron patted Isshiki Todumaru's shoulder, "This is the author who doesn't want to be a scumbag and has debts."
"Ah?! A high school student?!" Isshiki Totsumaru was so shocked that he almost lost his voice. "Don't high school students have debts?!"
"...That's family debt," Shikano said. "My dad was a gambler. He abandoned my mom and left, leaving my family with nothing but debt. I don't want to have that debt if I can help it."
"Sorry..."
"It's okay, Mr. Officer just didn't react for a moment, and I don't really care about these things." Shikano said, "...But my dad has a history of kidnapping. Maybe he escaped from prison and kidnapped my friend. Can I investigate with him?"
"If they are not related to the case..."
"No, Toto, Shikano-san is a person of interest in the case."
"ah?"
"He's a suspect, have you forgotten?"
"Oh, I see." Isshiki Todumaru nodded. "It makes more sense than having the person who reported the crime come along for the investigation."
Kamo no Bridge Theory: "..."
Kamo no Hashiro: "I have a detective license, Toto."
"You didn't show this to me then."
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Because Shikano was the suspect in the case, he was brought directly to the scene. Inukai looked at Shikano and said, "It's not you."
Shikano's response was clear: "Of course not, Sensei, I wouldn't joke about precious feelings like that."
Inukai began to feel strange: "If that's the case, then it would be..."
"Actually, I'm concerned about one thing," Shikano asked. "Why did the police and teachers conclude that this was a kidnapping, rather than him simply leaving a note and walking away?"
"Because the kidnappers recorded a video on Inukai-sensei's phone." Isshiki Totomaru said, "Come to think of it, have you not seen that video yet?"
"Not yet. Inukai-sensei, isn't it because you suspect Shikano-san...isn't it because Shikano also has your social media account?"
"Well, it's easy to register a secondary account that you don't use anymore," said Inukai. "There used to be a genius programmer student at our school who could even create hundreds of secondary accounts. Sadly, I heard he passed away in a car accident a few years ago."
"Hmm? Is that genius programmer student's surname Oda?" Kamohashi Ron asked without surprise. In fact, he already had the answer in his mind.
"That should be the case. I didn't teach him that." Inukai said as he showed Kamohashi Ron the live threatening video sent by the kidnappers. Kamohashi Ron felt that it was a bit troublesome and called Shikano over. "Shikano-san, do you think this video can prove that your friend was kidnapped?"
Luye looked at the video and fell silent for a moment: "That place... was coming for me."
"Be more specific." Kamohashi Ron asked.
"This feels like the kind of place Dad would choose for a kidnapping," Shikano said. "Maybe he wanted to kidnap me to force Mom to give him money."
"That's not right." Inukai-sensei said, "If that's the case...ah, I didn't kidnap you."
"Is there a photo of your father?" asked Kamohashi Ron.
"here."
After looking at the photo, Kamobashi Ron was clearly surprised: "...I didn't expect to see him here."
Isshiki Todumaru looked at the photo with some curiosity, and now it unexpectedly became two people.
"...What's wrong?" Shikano was obviously not sure why the two people who seemed very reliable fell silent.
In the end, it was Isshiki Duduwan who held his head and complained:
"Why is this communication expert here?! Shouldn't he be back at the Metropolitan Police Department eating pork chop rice?!"
"It's okay, Toto." Kamohashi Ron comforted, "We can send him in again."
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The communication expert hummed a little tune as he faced his kidnapped guest: "I said you definitely know what Oda left behind, don't lie to me..."
"There's a police officer behind you."
"This kind of trick can only fool high school students. A smart person like me won't be fooled—"
"Lun, he's still the same. I can't tell he's actually a kid as old as Shikano." Isshiki Totomaru said, "So why did you leave the Metropolitan Police Department again?"
Communication Expert: “…”
Communication Expert: "Why the hell did I run into you two again? I must be doomed to be at Kamo no Bridge!!!"
"We were wondering why you always happen to be the one in every case," Isshiki Todumaru said. "You can't be the one who causes most of the cases in Tokyo, right?"
“…This is slander!!!”
The clever victim saw that the communication expert was not paying attention, so he dropped the rope and ran away.
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