Rest 23

Rest 23

"It wasn't him."

Even though she was under the silent pressure of everyone's gaze, Sayaka still held her head high, with a strange sense of satisfaction in her eyes. "He didn't commit a crime," her father, Komatsu Masao, was looking at his daughter with an unbelievable look, while her brother, Komatsu Taiyo, seemed much calmer than his father. He just looked at the stranger living in his home carefully, like a child observing the biological visitors through the glass in a zoo, with a little curiosity, "Noda couldn't have killed anyone."

"Is this gentleman's last name Noda?" Shota Miyake turned his gaze to Officer Megure, "Have the police confirmed his identity?"

"...This," Officer Megure responded a little awkwardly after receiving the information from his subordinates, "Neither the fingerprints nor the facial information were matched in the database," and quietly winked at the police officers, asking them to think of another way, this time adding the last name "Noda" to the list, "At present, we can only confirm that there is no criminal record..."

"That kind of thing is fine!" Komatsu Masao interrupted with an excited voice, "Hurry up and catch this murderer and sentence him to death!" He stared at Sayaka, "Mom and Midori said you were a bad kid, I thought you weren't, but now you're protecting the murderer--"

"Um..." Hattori Heiji raised his hand, "Mr. Komatsu, I understand your feelings, but," he pointed at the Noda and said, "Why don't you listen to what Mr. Noda has to say?"

"If he is indeed the murderer, then a lot of things don't add up."

Mr. Noda's head, which had been lowered, trembled slightly. He looked to be in his forties or fifties, short and thin. Sosuke Fusako felt that he looked less than 1.6 meters tall. His messy hair covered most of his face, and his hunched back made him look like a mouse. The clothes draped over his body looked like mouse skin. No wonder he could live in the hidden room. After all, even though the Komatsu residence had a room reserved on the ceiling due to its height, it was still so narrow that it was unbearable for ordinary people.

"...I didn't kill anyone," Noda blinked, as if he was adjusting to the sunlight. He looked around and met Sayaka's gaze, then he grinned with a somewhat funny smile, "That old lady...I was so hungry that day, so I wanted to go eat something, but she saw me. I pushed her away and ran to the stairs. I heard someone fall down. She was lying on the ground shouting 'medicine'. I don't know when the medicine bottle in her pocket fell into my pocket...I didn't dare to go over, so I could only roll the medicine bottle back to her..."

"Then I went back to my room," Noda spoke haltingly, sometimes stopping to think. The police officer holding him would pat him on the shoulder from time to time to remind him that he was still asking questions. "Then.. Sayaka told me that the old lady was dead..."

"Sayaka, what is your relationship with him?" Shota Miyake looked at the girl with worry in her eyes. Her expression was much more lively than before. He asked softly, "Have you always known that he was on top?"

"No," Sayaka shook her head and pointed at the house, "I found out the next day after that uncle came to ask about my mom and grandma."

She puffed out her chest with an inappropriate amount of pride on her face, "He's my friend."

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