Chapter 173

"It feels like we put up a magic circle." Fujimaru Ritsuka pointed at the character photos on the blackboard and complained, while analyzing the current situation with Tsukioka Tsumugi, "It's still the pentagram type - on the surface, no one has any relationship, except William and Sherlock who admit that they are closer than others."

"Are they close?" Tsukioka Tsumugi said with her hands in her pockets as she watched Fujimaru Ritsuka write about the relationships between the characters.

"Didn't they spend the whole day together?" Fujimaru Ritsuka added "relatives and friends?" after "colleagues" on the line connecting William and Sherlock's photos. "What does the detective think? Didn't we just focus on collecting evidence before to save time without communicating at all?"

"...I think it's very possible that the principal is not a good person either." Tsukioka Tsumugi hesitated to speak.

"How can a good person have so many arrows wanting to kill him? There's no way there's only one arrow today." Fujimaru Ritsuka winked at Tsukioka Tsumabuchi. "As someone who searched the principal's office, I think there must be a lot of people who want to kill him. I suspect it's at least the level of Milverton."

"Then let's call everyone in and start the discussion." Tsukioka Tsumugi walked towards the detective seat while smiling, and at the same time switched back to the state of alchemist Izumi, "Please invite our suspect in--"

After everyone was seated at the long table, the first collective discussion officially began. Everyone had a thick stack of photos in front of them, proving the truth of what William said to Fujimaru Ritsuka: "The evidence collection process can reveal a lot of big information."

"Ritsuka doesn't look like she's in the role at all." Before the filming officially started, Holmes, who was sitting in the three-person seat, commented, "But Assistant Detective... it's true that even if the script wants to cause trouble, it won't cause trouble for you guys."

"Since we've discussed it, there's no need for me to be in the show anymore." Fujimaru Ritsuka happily spread his hands, "This is my first time here, and I took so many photos, let me have some fun."

"Then you speak last." Tsukioka Tsumugi leaned back in her chair, smiling as she gestured to indicate the order of speaking, "I'll speak first, and then we'll go through the order and let Ritsuka finish at the end."

"OK."

"Well, let's invite our detective to explain his reasoning to us first--" Sherlock, who was sitting on the double seat, clapped his hands vigorously, apparently enjoying the excitement and looking forward to making more trouble.

"I went to the crime scene." Quan took out a photo and showed it to everyone. "Well, first I took a photo of the original scene that was completely untouched. The body of the deceased on the stage looked like this - you can see that the scattered joints of the deceased's body look like the spherical joints of a doll..."

"Wait a moment!!!"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"The deceased's death is exactly the same as the death of the alchemist who touched the taboo in the legend." Holmes twirled his pen and began to tell the story in a quiet tone unique to scholars. "Legend has it that many years ago, an alchemist used alchemy to touch the taboo of creating life and created a friend for himself."

But touching taboos always brings punishment, so the alchemist and his friend died in a great disaster - it is said that when people found the alchemist's body, his body was scattered everywhere like a broken doll; and the only thing that could prove that his friend was dead was a metal spring representing the android's starting device.

"...I also found a metal spring at the scene of death." Quan paused for a moment, then took out a new photo with a subtle expression. "According to my knowledge of alchemy, this is the spring needed to activate the android - just remove the spring to stop the android from running."

"Do you have anything to add to this legend?"

"We haven't seen the principal's body before, so we don't know what it looks like just from the description..." William frowned slightly and pointed at the photo in Quan's hand with a pen, "But there is a sequel to this legend - it is said that our academy was built at the place where the alchemist died. After the death of this alchemist, the entire discipline of alchemy became a taboo."

Ritsuka: "But didn't the deceased invite my master to come to the academy to teach alchemy starting from this semester?"

"That's because half a year ago, another story began to spread among the students," Sherlock added. "It said that the alchemist was not punished for violating a taboo, but that the alchemist died because of people's struggle for power. It is suspected that someone coveted the alchemist's ability to create life and wanted to use it for himself, but because the alchemist did not agree, he was killed."

"In order to quell the rumors among the students, the principal chose to add an alchemy course." Alyssa smiled and pointed at Quan with her pen. "This is why the principal invited Quan to the school."

"Okay, thanks for the supplement." Quan nodded gracefully to the three people and took out a close-up photo of the corpse's hand. "Also, I want to add one more thing - the small joints of the corpse have not become spherical joints. They are the structure of normal human joints and can move. In other words - the possibility that the corpse at the scene is a dummy is ruled out."

"Because the technology for making androids was completely destroyed a long time ago, this body cannot be a android." Tsukioka Tsumugi smiled very embarrassedly to everyone, "I only looked at the crime scene, and there is only this information at the crime scene - in general, the amount of information is very small. I hope everyone can provide some strong evidence for the case later."

"I searched Sherlock's place." Nishikino Maki walked to the blackboard, cleared her throat and began to show the evidence she had taken. "It is more convenient for me to say it in this state - in the desk drawer, I found an invitation letter, which is the invitation letter from the principal to hire a teacher. It is consistent with the content of Sherlock's self-introduction before. Sherlock joined the company three years ago, on April 9th ​​of U316."

"Then there are two books on his desk - one is "The Kingdom of Dreams" and the other is "The Elixir of the Snake God." Maki Nishikino took out two photos and passed them around. "I looked at the contents of these two books. Sherlock is interested in the following parts - one is the magic that allows you to see the person you want to see in your dreams, and the other is a disguise potion. Why are you interested in these contents?"

"Personal interest." Sherlock replied to Nishikino Maki's question briefly, "Just a personal interest."

"It depends on whether there is any other evidence that can be related to this." William concluded, "It's not that there is nothing, but the evidence is not complete yet, so we can keep it to ourselves."

"Then I also found a locked box and a locked notebook - not opened." Maki Nishikino showed the photos of the two pieces of evidence, and then went on to talk about other clues she found. "At the end, I found a ball of paper in the trash can. It was a half-written letter. The content seemed to be written by Sherlock to Quan. But -"

"The recipient's name was blacked out, and you could only vaguely make out that the first letter was different from Quan's name. Quan's first letter was I, and the first letter of the recipient's name was K."

"That's all the evidence I found."

"Sherlock!" Fujimaru Ritsuka pointed at Sherlock while laughing. "He breathed a sigh of relief after saying 'that's all' just now - I think we should focus on his notebook and the box in our second search. If we open them, we should be able to get some important clues."

"I went to William's space." Holmes stood up and waved the photo in his hand at the two people opposite him with a smile. "It's very informative - it should be able to answer some of the questions that Alyssa found out from the clues before. But I feel that the evidence here will kill William."

"...You should know that the most obvious result may not be the real murderer." William smiled helplessly, "Let me see if the result of your search is really big news."

"That's really big news."

Everyone sat up straight and stared at Holmes.

"Would you like to hear the big news first or start with the small things?" Holmes rested his hands on the table and looked at everyone with ease.

"Let's proceed step by step." Tsukioka Tsumugi made the decision while sitting on a chair.

"First, the invitation letter is the same as Sherlock's. William's employment date is also April 9, U316 - this is consistent with his previous statement." Sherlock said while changing the photo, "Second, William also has a part-time job in the digestion business. Usually, students come to him - the digestion business starts at 8 pm. But starting from half a year ago - when the rumors spread among the students, the principal began to frequently look for William for digestion."

"Oh?"

Everyone turned their attention to William.

"I don't know why the principal came to me for possession, but it is true that he came almost every day in the past six months." William gave his own answer and challenged Holmes with ease. "If it is only this extent, it is not even big news, and stabbing to death is even more nonsense."

“Don’t worry, I’ll finish it in one breath.” Holmes looked at William calmly, took out a stack of photos and opened them like a fan in front of everyone. “There is a family photo on William’s desk. It should be his brothers. You can see that the eldest brother sitting on the chair does not look like William and the youngest brother. William and his younger brother should not have a blood relationship with the eldest brother.”

No clue can hide from Holmes' eyes. When searching for evidence, Holmes also dismantled the photo frame and found a threatening letter made of newspaper cuts and collages in the frame. But the target of the threatening letter is William's eldest brother. The recipient's name is Albert. The content of the threatening letter is that if Albert does not do what someone asks, he will lose his two younger brothers.

"...I think I guessed what the development would be." Fujimaru Ritsuka widened his eyes in surprise, and the pen fell from his hand onto the open notebook. "Wow, then throwing out this evidence is indeed the most obvious motive at the moment - wait and show you what I found in the principal's office, and you will understand."

"There is a book called Asteroid Mechanics on the bookshelf, and inside it are two death certificates." Holmes gave William a mysterious smile, "And under the desk in the office is a newspaper from five years ago - the two deceased on the death certificate are William and his younger brother Louis, while the deceased in the newspaper are the eldest brother Albert and his younger brother Louis."

"I have finished my testimony. Now it is your turn."