There was a trail of bloodstains extending from the entrance to the living room, but the brightly lit living room gave people a chilly feeling.
Mitsuyo Asao, a researcher in a white lab coat, arrived at the crime scene with her hands in her pockets. She looked around before her eyes fell on the victim lying face down on the floor. As she lifted the blanket, she sighed:
"What a shame, she's so young and hasn't even reached adulthood yet, but she's already going through this. Come to think of it, at her age, spring break should be coming up soon, right? She won't be able to enjoy cherry blossoms and sake with her friends. Oh, I forgot she's still underage and can't drink. Her mindset is completely different from someone like me who's older."
Fujiwara Yuu, standing aside with his back turned, hadn't expected Asao Mitsuyo to be this type of person. She wasn't like this the last time they met. Could it be that something had happened to her? Just as he was about to say something, he felt someone poking him in the waist. Puzzled, he turned around and saw Otaki Goro hooking his finger at him, motioning for him to come over and talk.
"What's wrong, Otaki-senpai?" Fujiwara Yu felt strange. Is there anything that cannot be heard by Asao Mitsuyo?
"Ahem, Asao was just dumped by her boyfriend of three years, so you should speak a little more gently and don't provoke her." Otaki Goro whispered. If Asao wasn't the only female researcher on duty at the Scientific Research Institute today, he wouldn't have asked her to work overtime.
Although Asao Mitsuyo was a bit talkative due to her heartbreak, she still took her job very seriously. After carefully examining the victim's genitals, she came to a conclusion that surprised everyone present:
"The victim was not assaulted, and her cause of death was not likely knife wounds; these wounds were inflicted posthumously."
Fujiwara Yu was not surprised by the previous conclusion, but by the sentence "the wounds were all caused after death". He did not carefully examine the knife wounds just now, but just had a preconceived notion that the victim died of excessive blood loss due to a ruptured thoracic aorta.
He realized that his previous inference was flawed, and hurriedly bent down to check the wound on the victim's knee. With his rich experience, he determined with the naked eye that it was a post-mortem injury. In other words, the inference that the victim broke the front door glass with his knee while escaping was impossible.
Since the victim had already died before the wound on the knee was formed, how could she have escaped after death?
Mitsuyo Asao held up the victim's left hand and pointed to the purple-blue nails. "The lips, face, and nails are all purple, a sign of asphyxiation," he said. "The conjunctiva is also congested. It looks like someone stabbed her posthumously. The kitchen knife in her right hand is likely one of the murder weapons."
"It was my negligence. I made a judgment without checking in time."
After Fujiwara Yu admitted his mistake, he felt that this case was a bit strange. He went back to the window leading to the backyard, bent down and checked carefully, and realized that there were only footprints walking outward on the windowsill, but no footprints walking inward.
What does this mean? This means the footprints were deliberately made by the murderer. He wanted to create the illusion of a burglary, and his real way of entering the crime scene was through the front door.
This is not a burglary. It is definitely a crime committed by an acquaintance. At least there is some connection between the murderer and the victim.
After making a new judgment, Fujiwara Yu immediately walked towards the front door. He needed to ask the victim's mother, Matsushima Yoshie.
He came to the front door and saw the dejected Matsushima Yoshie still being supported by Toyama Kazuha. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke directly:
"Ms. Matsushima, are you able to accept the police's questioning now? I have two questions for you."
"As long as the murderer who hurt Pengmei can be caught, you can ask anything." Matsushima Yoshie is not an unreasonable person. Her daughter's life cannot be saved, so she must cooperate with the police to successfully capture the murderer so that her daughter can rest in peace.
"Can I ask if your daughter comes home at this time these days?"
Matsushima Yoshie didn't answer immediately, but after a moment's thought, she shook her head and said:
"No, Pengmei usually participates in school club activities on Fridays. She didn't participate today because she had to wait for the package at home. Usually, she doesn't get home until after 6:30."
"Express delivery? What is she waiting for?"
"It's a ballet costume. I came home early today because I wanted to send her to ballet class. The child has been looking forward to the new ballet costume since last week, so... wuwuwuwuwu..." Thinking of this, Matsushima Yoshie couldn't control her emotions and burst into tears. If she had known that something would happen to her daughter, she would not let her skip the club activities and go home early.
But there are no assumptions in this world. After something happens, everything is empty.
Fujiwara Yu knew that he would not get any useful information if he continued asking, so he simply asked Otaki-senpai to check with nearby residents to see if anyone had seen any suspicious people during the time of the incident.
Since no useful information can be obtained from the crime scene, we have no choice but to rely on on-site investigations.
"Brother Takashi, don't you think there's something wrong with this delivery?" Hattori Heiji rested his chin in thought, then said seriously, "Matsushima waited at home specifically to avoid missing the delivery. He must have returned home directly after school. The delivery should have arrived before the incident, but there's no empty cardboard box left at the door."
"Well, that's a problem, because I didn't see any ballet clothes in the house either. I've asked Otaki-senpai to investigate this."
"Then let me go with you to investigate? I'm a child, and I might be able to let the murderer down."
"Okay, then—"
However, before Fujiwara Yuu could finish her words, she was interrupted by Toyama Kazuha. After hearing what she said, both of them looked surprised.
Because Toyama Kazuha actually expressed his willingness to go with them to investigate. Previously, Kazuha had no interest in reasoning and even felt scared when dealing with cases.
"The victim this time is my good friend. I, I might be able to help. Take me with you!"
After saying this, Toyama Kazuha's eyes were wet. It was not because she was threatening, "If you don't take me with you, I will cry in front of you," but because she had been restraining her emotions. After seeing Matsushima Yoshie crying again, she really couldn't control her emotions anymore.
She originally came to ask her friend for her exercise book, but she didn't expect that what greeted her was not a friend's smile, but a cruel death notice.
"Idiot, you can't help much, so just stay here!" Hattori Heiji was worried about Kazuha in his heart, but he was still unforgiving in his words. He was afraid that Kazuha would get stuck in a dead end and think that Matsushima Tomomi's death was related to her, so he had to use this method to cheer her up, even if it was just to scold him a few times.
But what surprised Hattori Heiji was that before Kazuha could scold him, Takashi lifted up his baseball cap with one hand, rubbed his head with his big hands a few times, then put it back on and agreed to Kazuha's request.
"Since you want to go, let's go together."
"Huh? Brother Yingsi, you..."
"If you keep talking too much, I won't take you with me."
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