Chapter 29 Private Diary
Ms. Horii's parents haven't come to collect their daughter's belongings yet. So all the things are still untouched in the rented room.
Shinichi, under the guise of working for the Metropolitan Police Department, obtained the landlord's permission to go and investigate.
Although the police had already investigated, Shinichi still hoped that they might have missed some clues.
The room was small, and Horii had few belongings.
The shoe rack, wardrobe, kitchen, and bathroom are all ordinary and unremarkable.
Shinichi's gaze shifted to a small desk.
Several books were placed on top, each carefully covered with a book cover, and the title was written on the spine in neat handwriting.
It's clear that the owner is a meticulous and conscientious person.
At a glance, Shinichi realized that those were all books related to accounting.
However, one of them was unusual because its spine only had the word "Guide" written on it.
Out of curiosity, Shinichi picked it up and started flipping through it.
He initially thought it was something like an accountant exam guide. However, to his surprise, the full title was "Prenatal Education Guide".
"It seems Ms. Horii knows she's pregnant and is seriously learning how to be a mother."
Shinichi was holding that book, which was very thick.
However, he sensed an unusual thickness in the thick paper:
There seems to be something tucked inside the book.
Shinichi flipped through it and, sure enough, found a key inside.
This delighted him.
The key was very thin and small, only about half the length of his thumb.
The page with the key was marked with ballpoint pen marks; the first few pages also had them, but they disappeared later.
It seems Ms. Horii uses this key as a bookmark.
What kind of lock would have such a key?
Shinichi instinctively felt that this would be the key to solving the case, and that this key might unlock all the mysteries.
So, where would that taciturn woman hide her deepest secret?
Shinichi searched through the drawers of his desk but found nothing.
He even searched the entire house but couldn't find the corresponding lock.
"Could it be that the culprit destroyed crucial evidence?"
Shinichi's brows were furrowed, and he was in a melancholy mood.
We finally found a clue, but then it disappeared!
Shinichi sat in the chair in front of his desk, lost in thought.
Suddenly he felt someone watching him from behind. When he turned around, he saw several plush toys on the bedside table.
One large teddy bear, plus several smaller ones.
They were sitting in a neat row, each with a big smile on their face.
"You're not even a little sad that your master is gone!"
Shinichi said with a hint of sarcasm.
Of course, this can't be blamed on the doll, because it has only one expression since it was "born".
Happiness or sadness is not reflected on their faces.
“The estimated time of Ms. Horii’s death is between 5 and 7 a.m., a time when most people have just woken up or are still asleep.” Shinichi began to deduce with the dolls. “In other words, she was most likely murdered at home. If that’s the case, you all should have seen it, right?”
The detective was met with the same unchanging smile and silence.
Shinichi sighed deeply: "Ah! Your master is as silent as you. If only you could speak!"
"Look, you've all seen this key before, right?" Shinichi held the key up to the teddy bear as if possessed. "You're the boss, so you tell me. Confess!"
This is truly asking the impossible.
How can a teddy bear talk?
However, Shinichi was extremely frustrated because the clues had gone cold, and in his anger, he took it out on the bear.
"Your master is dead, stop laughing!"
Shinichi shook the adorable bear with both hands and roared angrily.
Suddenly, he sensed something was wrong.
The teddy bear's soft body seems to have a hard back?
It looked like something hard had been stuffed inside.
Shinichi suddenly realized what was happening and unzipped the plush toy bear's cover.
Reaching inside, I found a locked notebook.
I tried it with the key, and it matched perfectly!
"Thank you so much!" Shinichi exclaimed excitedly. "I was too rough just now, I'm so sorry!"
Xiong Xiong responded with a silent smile.
Shinichi eagerly flipped open the small, exquisite notebook, only to find the first page reading: "Let's start over from here!"
The next line indicates the date—February 3rd.
"Could this be Ms. Horii's diary?"
While it's certainly wrong to casually pry into other people's privacy, there might be records about criminals that could serve as important physical evidence.
So Shinichi silently apologized to Horii and continued reading.
——February 7
"The rent can be paid monthly, but the security deposit is so high! This is clearly different from the terms we agreed on at the beginning. I'm so stupid! I forgot to read the contract again! How am I going to raise the money now?"
"This is probably what unscrupulous agents are doing, scamming people out of their money, right?"
——February 11
"I borrowed some money from Hong. Thankfully, he's willing to pay me back! My former colleagues completely ignore me; I'm such a failure! But how am I going to pay him back?"
"Does Ms. Horii still keep in touch with Mr. Shintani? Or does she have so few friends that she can't find anyone to lend money to besides her ex-boyfriend?"
——February 16
"Ah! I failed... No company wants me."
For the next two months, she said similar things, which showed that she was having trouble finding a job.
The next diary entry caught Shinichi's attention.
——April 15
"You're a girl, and I hope you can have a wonderful life, unlike your mother."
It's July now, so April must have been when Ms. Horii first became pregnant.
How did she know she was having a girl?
Shinichi learned from the police that no hospital in Tokyo had any prenatal checkup records for Ms. Horii, let alone any fetal sex determination!
So either Ms. Horii determined the sex of the fetus through some informal or private channels, or...
"There is no such thing as a father; there is only fertilization through sperm."
Shinichi had this suspicion from the very beginning, when he couldn't find Ms. Horii's boyfriend no matter what he did.
Now, combined with this diary, it's clear that Ms. Horii has repeatedly encountered setbacks in her job search since moving to her new home, and she hasn't mentioned anything about dating, marriage, or having children.
So, the real story behind this pregnancy seems to have come to light:
Ms. Horii sold her uterus to pay off her debts.
This reasoning aligned with his expectations, yet Shinichi was unwilling to accept the truth.
"After graduating from university and starting work normally, how did I end up like this in just three years? Where exactly did things go wrong?"
Shinichi sighed heavily, and his next diary entry irrefutably confirmed his conjecture.
——April 16
"Great! All the debts have been paid off! I don't have to worry about debts anymore, and I can finally plan my life properly."
Despite his joyful tone, Shinichi couldn't feel happy at all.
He just felt very sad.
At that time, Horii, who was full of expectations for her new life, had no idea that her life was already on a countdown.
The later entries were mostly related to various physiological reactions during pregnancy and daily life.
Shinichi quickly skimmed over the pages, not intending to look at them carefully, but one page caught his attention:
Suddenly, a cat's head appeared on the diary, which was filled with nothing but words.
"Isn't that Inuya Neko's profile picture?"
"Could he be involved in this case?"
However, upon closer inspection, Shinichi discovered that this was not the case; the diary entry on that page described a heartwarming little incident.
——May 28
"Uncle Meow replied to me and answered my question very carefully. I'm so happy! Uncle Meow is such a kind and gentle person!"
Below this page is a transcript of Horii's conversation with Nyan-san. Shinichi glanced at it and it seemed to be a very ordinary question about cooking.
"I can't believe that food blogger with so many followers still has time to reply to each private message!"
Shinichi used to complain that nothing good ever came of mentioning that cat, and he always felt that the cat was too famous and didn't deserve it.
However, this time Uncle Meow successfully redeemed his image in Shinichi's heart.
Perhaps infected by Horii's joy, Shinichi also smiled, a rare occurrence for him.
But when he turned the next page, he couldn't laugh anymore.
——June 4
“They want me to abort the baby because of developmental problems… How could that be? I’ve been very careful about my diet and exercise, shouldn’t my baby be healthy?”
——June 5
"That's wonderful! They agreed to observe me for a while longer and even prescribed some medication. My child will definitely grow up safely!"
Shinichi fell into deep thought: "Who are they? Conception, prenatal checkups, prescriptions... do ordinary private institutions really have the technology and resources to do these things?"
"This is probably a very large industry chain."
However, what Shinichi read next in the diary was even more shocking.
——June 25
"I'm so stupid! I let him see it! I'll get him killed, I'll definitely get him killed!"
The handwriting in this diary is messy and completely unlike its usual neat and tidy appearance, which shows that Ms. Horii must have been in a state of great fear at the time.
"Who is he? And what did he see?"
However, given the current situation, the answer to the first question seems to be right in front of Shinichi: Hiroshi Shintani.
There seemed to be something written in the corner of this page, but it was too close together for Shinichi to see clearly. He could barely make out that it said something like "I shouldn't have gone out."
"Could it be that their experimental base has been discovered?"
"But judging from Ms. Horii's diary, it seems that those people did not restrict her personal freedom. Why can't she go out?"
With more and more mysteries remaining unsolved, Shinichi continues watching with a heavy heart.
Because he knew that Miss Horii didn't have much time left.
The last diary entry was written on July 10th, the day before Ms. Horii was murdered.
"They insist that I have an abortion. I feel so hopeless. Why is the world always like this?"
Two lines later, another sentence was added, which, judging from the content, was probably written sometime between late at night and early morning: "Run away! Get far away from those crows! I've decided, I'll pack my things and leave at dawn, and never come back!"
However, at dawn, Horii was not reborn, but his life came to an abrupt end.
Along with the unborn child in her womb, they were forever silenced...
"But now that I've heard those final words, I won't stand idly by."
"I will make those executioners pay the price!"
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