"Mr. Uchikawa, could you please tell me the details of what happened today?" Inspector Megure turned to Mamoru Uchikawa and asked.
Uchikawa Mamoru seemed a little reserved when facing the police: "Inspector, I was planning to go shopping with Aiko today. It's lunchtime now, so I brought her to this restaurant because I heard that the food here is very good and also reasonably priced."
"Tell me what happened," Inspector Megure said.
Uchikawa Mamoru nodded quickly: "We were eating here when we noticed that Aiko was pinching her neck as if she was in pain, and then this happened."
As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and he looked very sad. Guangyou and Xiao Ai watched the case being solved while eating the meat in their bowls. Of course, Xiao Ai had no interest in eating anymore, and she was already full.
"Did Miss Komori eat something she shouldn't have? Like persimmons or crabs?" Takagi suddenly asked.
"It's not impossible." Inspector Megure nodded, then turned to Mamoru Uchikawa and asked, "What did you eat today?"
Uchikawa Mamoru looked at the dishes on the table, lost in thought: "Today we only ate some meat and some vegetables..."
"There was some seafood, and I drank a little bit of baijiu (Chinese liquor) at most."
Looking at the leftovers on the table, Inspector Megure nodded. There was indeed nothing on the table that would cause the two foods to clash.
At the same time, the restaurant owner arrived after hearing the news. He was a somewhat overweight middle-aged man who took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The man clasped his hands together and bowed slightly, saying, "My name is Liang Shangxiong Jian, and I am the owner of this restaurant. Officer, if there is anything you need to know, I will tell you everything I know."
Xiong Jian adopted a very humble attitude, but of course he had no choice but to be humble. If this wasn't handled well, all the reputation his family's restaurant had built up in Ginza would be wasted.
Many onlookers peered through the restaurant windows. When they heard the news that someone had apparently died, the crowd panicked somewhat, though most were just curious onlookers. Their panic stemmed from the fear that there might be something wrong with the food in the restaurant.
They had just come out of the restaurant, and if there was a problem with the food, they might end up like the person inside. So those who weren't in a hurry waited outside for news.
If something happens, the emergency medical personnel here aren't just sitting around doing nothing, are they?
"Show me your business license," Inspector Megure said to Xiong Jian.
Xiong Jian wiped his sweat and nodded repeatedly. Then he turned to a man who looked like the store manager and had a slicked-back hairstyle and called out, "Hoshino, quickly bring out our store's certificate and get the head chef over here."
Soon, the manager named Hoshino brought out various licenses and certificates. Next to Hoshino was a man wearing a chef's hat who looked very composed.
"Officer, these are our store's certificates. Please take a look." Hoshino placed the various qualification certificates on the table, then bowed slightly and took a few steps back.
After reviewing the store's documentation, Inspector Megure nodded repeatedly, noting that the documentation was complete and legitimate.
After Inspector Megure finished inspecting everything, the head chef stepped forward and handed some documents to Inspector Megure as well.
Inspector Megure took the certificates and flipped through them. When he came across one of the certificates, he paused for a moment, looked up and asked, "Does your restaurant still serve pufferfish dishes?"
Xiong Jian nodded: "Yes, but only the head chef in our restaurant has that qualification, so every pufferfish dish we serve is made by the head chef himself."
Inspector Megure nodded knowingly, understanding the situation, and now they were just waiting for the test results.
"Inspector, the test results are in," Takagi said, jogging up to Inspector Megure.
"explain."
Takagi took a slight breath and took out the police manual: "The deceased, Aiko Komori, died of asphyxiation due to tetrodotoxin poisoning, abbreviated as TTX."
Inspector Megure nodded, then turned to Xiong Jian and the head chef and said, "Then please come with us first."
Having heard Takagi's words, and now hearing Inspector Megure's words, they understood that the police might suspect they hadn't properly handled the ingredients.
So they quickly waved their hands, Xiong Jian's chubby face already covered in sweat: "Officer, believe us, we are really a legitimate business."
"Yes, I've never had any problems handling pufferfish."
"We didn't say you had any problems, we're just conducting a preliminary investigation. We won't wrong innocent people," Inspector Megure said solemnly.
Although he spoke quite seriously, he understood in his heart. However, he had seen too many of these things to react in any special way.
Ai turned to Kousuke and asked, "Kousuke, what do you think?"
"Anyway, it couldn't have been from actually eating pufferfish; to be precise, it was from eating the pufferfish served at the restaurant," Guangyou said calmly, having just finished the last bite of meat.
Who do you think the murderer is?
Hearing Ai's question, Kōyū quietly pointed at Uchikawa Mamoru: "It's pretty much true."
Ai asked, puzzled, "Why?"
Kōyū also turned to look at Uchikawa Mamoru: "First, they look like a couple, because when I got up to get some food earlier, I saw that the woman's and man's desks were filled with each other's photos."
"Secondly, this man doesn't seem to be in a good financial situation. His jeans are faded from washing, and his clothes don't seem to be brand-name; they look like they were in style two years ago. I saw him casually grab his pocket the moment we started eating."
Kōyū sized up Uchikawa Mamoru, his gaze finally settling on his pocket: "His pocket is slightly bulging, and he's holding his phone in his hand, which is most likely his wallet. So I think he's a guy who's a bit financially strapped and cares a lot about saving face in front of his girlfriend."
Then, Kōyū turned to look at Ai: "But there's a contradiction. This woman's coat is this year's limited edition GUCCI coat, which is quite expensive. Her high heels are also not cheap. In particular, her perfume is definitely not the kind of cheap perfume, but I can't tell for the time being."
"You have a good eye for observation." Ai seemed slightly surprised, as if she were meeting Kousuke for the first time.
A smile appeared on Kōyū's lips, clearly pleased with Ai's praise, but the smile vanished in an instant as he turned to look at Uchikawa Mamoru.
In Kouyu's eyes, Uchikawa Mamoru seemed to be radiating light, which was green, of course.
Seeing that Inspector Megure seemed to be heading to the Metropolitan Police Department to investigate, Kōsuke said, "Inspector Megure, why don't you go take a look at the things that were thrown away after the pufferfish were processed?"
Inspector Megure stopped what he was doing, looked at Kōyū, and nodded: "Alright."
Guangyou was calculating in his mind. For poisonous ingredients like pufferfish, there should be a special place to store the scraps after processing. Whether it was restaurant food or a deliberate setup, it would be clear at that time.
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