Chapter 413

"Okita Souji F: Don't get close to any detective - I mean, the local detectives here. It's not Beika Town that is cursed, it's the detectives of this world that are cursed."

"Holmes:?"

"Okita General Manager N: We encountered a death in Kyoto, and the preliminary judgment is that he was murdered."

"After all, why did something like this happen in the hotel where we are staying?" Tokito Muichiro, who had just called the police, watched Okita-kun and Okita-san film the scene and upload it to the internal chat room of Chaldea, seeking help from the detectives. "Could it be that being a detective really means that there is a curse that can randomly trigger murders?"

"Although I hate to say this..." Ms. Okita glanced at the body lying against the wall, "But after we go back, it's best to stay away from Holmes and the others. Who knows if they will be assimilated into this world - ah, the police will take some time to arrive, right? Then how about we call Hattori over first?"

"Is he awake at this time?"

"Who cares if he's awake or not? Hattori is a detective. Just tell him there's a dead person here and he'll come right away."

"...I think the bigger question is why you are here at six in the morning, rather than a body lying here." Hattori Heiji, who was dragged out of his warm bed by Ms. Okita's life-threatening calls and continuous knocks on the door, rubbed his eyes speechlessly and began to sort out the situation at the scene. "Let's start with how you three found the body."

"We each have a separate room. Should we start talking from the moment we wake up?" Okita-kun confirmed with Hattori Heiji.

"No need to go to that lengths... But the police might ask you questions, so just tell me first, and I'll explain the situation to the police later." Hattori Heiji opened the notebook he brought with him and assigned the order to the three of them, "Let's start with Sakura-san, and Okita-san and Muichiro can wait until she finishes to add to the story."

At the same time, in a hot spring hotel in Hokkaido.

"Everyone, get up." Lansemero ruthlessly used the phone to call all the members who joined the Hokkaido trip. "Okita and his friends who went to Kyoto encountered a death case. I have moved the corpse video to the Line group. Please confirm the condition of the corpse yourself. We need to solve the case before Okita and his friends' identities are discovered. After all, strictly speaking, all the people related to Chaldea are 'people who do not exist in this world.'"

All the Chaldea members who received the video from Ms. Okita and Mr. Okita started investigating this sudden case at the same time. Hattori Heiji's investigation of the situation at the scene came to a temporary end after the arrival of the Kyoto police.

"That is to say, the three people who found the body all claimed that they found the body while doing morning exercises using the hotel's emergency exit - right?" The policeman with a squirrel squatting on his shoulder confirmed with Hattori Heiji who had learned about the scene first, "And they came to Kyoto for a trip during the winter vacation and didn't know the deceased at all..."

"Yes, that's right. Because Okita-san and his family invited Kazuha and me to travel with them, that's why I'm here - Officer Ayanokouji." Hattori Heiji stood beside the body and nodded to Ayanokouji Fumimaro. "I think the sooner we can identify the body, the sooner we can identify the murderer, right?"

"Don't worry about this matter. We have already investigated the identity of the deceased before we came here." Ayanokouji Fumimaro looked around and locked his eyes on Tokito Muichiro. "Because when the police were called, the child gave us a detailed description of the deceased's clothes."

"clothes……?"

"I thought most people would be able to recognize it at first glance - even though it's stained beyond recognition by the dead man's blood." Tokito Muichiro looked at the haori hanging loosely on the dead man's body, "but the original color should still be visible from the parts that are not stained with blood, right? Such a bright light green haori... generally no one would wear it."

"Then we found an applicant who matched the description of the body's wounds given by the caller," the police officer following Ayanokouji Fumimaro added, "The deceased should be a member of a group called 'Okita Souji Club' - everyone in this club has a knife-carrying permit issued by their place of residence. They applied for a one-month Cosplay photography permit in Kyoto, and it happened to be this month."

"We police officers collect photos of applicants for such activities. It seems that the deceased is the organizer of the photo event of the club, Yui Ren." Ayanokouji Fumimaro put on gloves and picked up the blood-stained haori of the deceased. "Even if it is stained with blood, the different shades of color can still make out the mountain pattern on the cuffs, right?"

"However, it looked like he was taken from the filming location to the hotel after changing his clothes..."

"It is also possible that the murderer took him away by force after the filming was over before he had time to change into his regular clothes." Hattori Heiji concluded, "After all, you can't wear cosplay clothes directly on the street, so the murderer would only attack this gentleman when he was wearing cosplay clothes... What's going on outside?"

"Hey, Hattori - why are you surrounded by the police again? Why are you bringing those three guys from Tokyo with you this time?" Souji Okita's voice came from the door of the emergency passage from afar.

"The concentration of Okita in this space exceeds the limit." Tokito Muichiro complained.

"Are you kidding me, Tokito-kun?" Okita-kun turned his head to look at Tokito-muichiro, but noticed that Okita-san was looking at the corpse in deep thought. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about the wounds." Ms. Okita pouted at Mr. Okita, signaling him to pay attention to the wounds on the body. "One cut in the neck, one cut in the abdomen - what can you think of when you see these wounds?"

"Seppuku."

"That's wrong."

The voices of Tokito Muichiro and Okita Souji, who had squeezed in at some point, were heard one after another.

"No, it's obvious that both wounds were made by the murderer. Although we can't be sure which one was the fatal wound, it's basically certain that the murderer died of excessive blood loss." Hattori Heiji looked back at the four people gathered together. "Moreover, Officer Ayanokouji also found restraint marks on the body of the murderer, which were left by the murderer to control the victim's movements."

"Although there are no tools left at the scene that can be used to restrain the mobility of an adult male." Ayanokouji Fumimaro stood up, handed over the task of collecting evidence to other police officers, and walked to the side of the students. "You mentioned seppuku and kaishaku earlier. Did you think of something through the wounds on the body?"

"Hey, policeman, seppuku was the method used by samurai to commit suicide in the past..." Hattori Heiji said with half-moon eyes, but suddenly stopped and looked at Miss Okita in surprise who was holding her mobile phone.

"Although the wounds were definitely caused by the murderer, have you ever thought about whether making such wounds on the body of the deceased has any special meaning for the murderer?" Ms. Okita looked at the mobile phone screen that used magic to cover up the true content of the internal chat room of Chaldea, and pointed out a possible direction, "For the murderer, making the deceased commit seppuku has a meaning."

"Since the deceased was a member of the Okita Souji Club, he should have known one thing." Okita-kun blinked and glanced at the haori that was almost completely stained with blood. "That is, the Shinsengumi are not samurai, but ronin who are no different from the wandering samurai they are targeting - only regular samurai have the qualifications to commit seppuku."

"The chief of the Shinsengumi, Kondo Isami, was beheaded."

"Speaking of seppuku, there is another way to understand it." Tokito Muichiro blinked and expressed his thoughts in a very normal tone, "If the murderer is a member of the club - it can also be understood that the murderer wants the deceased to apologize for something he did. Although I see that you have already locked the murderer in the range of members of the club."

"That's right." Ayanokouji Fumimaro glanced at the time and invited everyone to move to another place. He also gave the young people legitimate identities to appear at the interrogation scene. "The suspects should be here soon. As the body discoverers, detectives, and swordsmanship consultants, come with us to confirm their statements."

"Come to think of it, the source of the weapon should have been determined, right?" Hattori Heiji asked Ayanokouji Fumimaro.

"Yes, it's a real knife that the deceased brought with him. Whether it has the palm prints and fingerprints of the murderer depends on luck." Ayanokouji Fumimaro tilted his head and motioned for them to look at the knife in the hands of the police who were collecting evidence. "If the murderer wore gloves, there should be no items at the scene that can be used to detect information about the murderer."

"If it comes to that, we'll have to find other evidence to identify the murderer." Ms. Okita put her phone into the pocket of her down jacket, exhaled and rubbed her hands, "Have the police confirmed the hotel's surveillance?"

"This hotel doesn't have surveillance cameras." Ayanokouji Fumimaro sighed and explained to the group of teenagers around him, "High-end consumption places don't install surveillance equipment because they want to ensure the privacy of guests. I originally thought that even if there are no surveillance cameras in places where guests pass by, there should be surveillance cameras in the employee passageway... I didn't expect this hotel to have no surveillance cameras at all."

"This is really troublesome..."

Okita-kun and Okita-san, who have become accustomed to Chaldea's ubiquitous surveillance cameras and Sheba's constant observation, complained.

"What should we do then?" When seeing the detective reasoning for the first time, Toru Muichiro turned his head and asked Hattori Heiji.

"It all depends on what we can find from the autopsy results and the confession of the suspect." Hattori Heiji explained to Shitoori Muichiro, "Even if the police search the places that the deceased and the suspect have been to, they need sufficient reasons to search - otherwise it is illegal."

"After all, we are different from those guys in the Ministry of Public Security. We cannot do illegal things at will." Ayanokouji Fumimaro smiled and joked to everyone, turning his head and asking them, "The suspects have been brought to this conference room in the hotel in advance. You should not have anything unfinished, right?"

"Ah!" Ms. Okita exclaimed, and hurriedly took out her cell phone and started dialing, "He Ye should have gotten up - let me tell her about the current situation! And we haven't had breakfast yet, right? It seems that I can only trouble He Ye to bring some for us..."

"Why did you ask Kazuha to come here too!?!" Hattori Heiji protested loudly against Ms. Okita's actions, "Isn't it strange that Okita is here!?!"