NABC Page 100
Page 100
I went to the pier in advance to familiarize myself with the surroundings.
When he arrived, I took him by surprise and strangled him from behind with a rope I had prepared.
He was strong and struggled fiercely. During the fight, I felt as if he had ripped a button off my coat.
But I didn't pay much attention at the time; I just wanted to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
After disposing of the body, I noticed that one of my cufflinks was missing. I guessed it might have fallen off during the struggle and he might have picked it up.
I frantically searched him and his surroundings, but couldn't find him. I thought he might have fallen into the sea or into some corner, so I gave up.
“That cufflink belongs to Kentaro Ishikawa,” Yuki Takada pointed out.
Mizutani Keine gave a strange smile: "I know. I deliberately approached Ishikawa Kentaro before the party started and stole it when he wasn't looking."
I had originally planned to direct the investigation towards him and Nova Chemicals if necessary. Yosuke Hayakawa, unexpectedly, cooperated with my plan after receiving the cufflink. Too bad you didn't fall for it.”
"And that bright blue tracer?" Yuuki Takada took out the evidence bag.
“That must have gotten on me accidentally in the lab,” Mizutani Keine glanced at it. “Professor Yasuda’s classified project does use this. I probably got it on his shoes by accident when I was with Hayakawa Yosuke. It’s just fate…”
Her confession is basically complete.
From the generation of motives, to the meticulous planning to use the hotel server to create an excuse, to hiring Yosuke Hayakawa to make a smokescreen, to personally committing murder and attempting to interfere with the investigation, to the impromptu response to an unexpected encounter with the police, and finally killing Yosuke Hayakawa to silence him and attempting to frame Kentaro Ishikawa.
Throughout the process, her application of chemical knowledge, her use of internet technology, and her calm yet ruthless mentality were all chilling.
"You took advantage of your knowledge and trust in the teacher to commit this murder."
Yuki Takada concluded, his tone carrying a barely perceptible heaviness, "Your expertise, which could have been used to create value, was instead used for crime."
Mizutani Keine remained silent for a moment, the madness on her face gradually fading, replaced by a bottomless weariness and emptiness.
“Value?” she murmured. “When the path to value is ruthlessly cut off, when your hopes are trampled on, do you still care what means you use? Inspector Takada, this world is inherently a dog-eat-dog world. Akio Yasuda taught me this, and I am just… putting what I’ve learned into practice.”
A long silence fell over the hotel room.
The night outside the window began to fade, and a faint light appeared on the horizon, but the air inside the room was as cold as the ice blocks in Yasuda Akiya's room.
Yuki Takada signaled to the police officers to take notes and to have Keine Mizutani sign and fingerprint her statement.
The truth behind the murder case surrounding Akiya Yasuda has finally come to light.
Yuuki Takada watched as Keine Mizutani signed her name and pressed her red fingerprint on the confession record.
"Alright, take Ms. Mizutani back to the Metropolitan Police Department now," Yuuki Takada instructed his colleagues behind him.
The police officers took Mizutani Keine away from the hotel room.
She stood up, not looking at Takada Yuuki again. Her back was straight, but it exuded a deathly stillness as if her soul had been emptied.
The expensive suit was now rumpled and wrinkled, and his once meticulously styled hair was now disheveled and plastered to his face. A young scholar who once had a bright future had thus completely consumed himself in the flames of resentment.
Mizutani Keine's plan was meticulous; she made full use of her knowledge, understanding of the victims, and the advantages of the environment.
The system notification sent via the hotel's server was indeed a clever psychological trap, making Yasuda Akiya completely unprepared for the appearance of the maintenance worker.
The introduction of Yosuke Hayakawa as a pawn not only created a witness to the timeline but also successfully disrupted the direction of the investigation in the early stages.
If it weren't for that unfortunate loophole in the mass texting, the cufflink that Hayakawa Yosuke accidentally left behind that didn't belong to him, and the irrefutable evidence of the tracer, it would have been much more difficult to break through Mizutani Keine's strong psychological defenses.
"The strong prey on the weak..." Yuuki Takada murmured, repeating Keion Mizutani's last words.
Of course, the only person who could have caused all of this was probably Yasuda Akiya.
Akira Yasuda's exploitation of students' work is a classic example of the survival of the fittest in academia.
Mizutani Keine's murder of her mentor and silencing her accomplices was a form of retaliation born from her distorted understanding.
And isn't Yosuke Hayakawa's attempt at blackmail just another form of greed stemming from the struggles of the lower class?
Stripped of its academic prestige and meticulously planned murder, this case reveals a core that is utterly primitive and ugly.
“Inspector Takada,” Sato Miwako’s voice sounded from behind, tinged with a tired excitement, “The formalities are all done. Mizutani Keine will be transferred to the detention center first.”
In addition, the technical department confirmed that they found the script records for hacking into the hotel server, as well as her records of searching for ether usage, in the encrypted partition of her personal computer.
Although she cleaned it very thoroughly, we were still able to recover some of the data.
"Hmm." Yuuki Takada nodded slightly, then instructed the officers who were about to return to take all the important evidence with them.
Seeing the police officers leave the hotel, the hotel manager immediately approached them, his face beaming with a smile, and said, "So you are the officers. I'm so sorry for all the unpleasant things that happened today. If it weren't for your timely intervention, this hotel would probably be in trouble..."
"So, I'll cover all the hotel expenses for today?"
"A free meal?" Yuuki Takada smiled faintly. "Wouldn't that be a bit inappropriate?"
"Don't worry, if it weren't for you, Officer, this murder case probably wouldn't have been solved so quickly." The hotel manager continued, "So, this is just a small token of our appreciation."
As he spoke, the hotel manager had the receptionist come over and personally processed the check-in for Yuuki Takada.
Turning around, Yuuki Takada glanced at Miwako Sato and wondered if she had something she hadn't said at the beach.
So, he took Miwako Sato to the beach again.
Chapter 119 Miwako Sato's Confession
Following in Yuki Takada's footsteps, Miwako Sato walked to the beach.
The two strolled along the beach.
After a short while, Yuuki Takada finally stopped, turned around, and looked at Miwako Sato in front of him, asking, "Miwako, so was there something you didn't say when you were here earlier?"
Hearing this, Sato Miwako lowered her head and said softly, "Takada-senpai, if you ask me to say this right now, I can't remember it either."
"Ah... I see!" Seeing this, Yuuki Takada could only say to her, "Since you can't remember, then forget it. Just pretend I never asked this question before."
Miwako Sato tugged at Yuuki Takada's sleeve and said coldly, "Isn't it all because of you, Takada-senpai? You treated me like an unimportant woman. That's why I was so angry before."
Upon hearing this, Yuuki Takada finally understood why Miwako Sato had seemed rather angry earlier; it turned out to be because of this matter.
He was stunned for a moment.
The sea breeze swept across the stray hairs on his forehead, carrying a salty scent, and also bringing with it the rare, direct, almost sharp sense of grievance in Sato Miwako's words.
His usual image as a "junior" was torn open by these words.
"An unimportant...woman?"
He repeated it in a low voice, his voice slightly hoarse, as if confirming a fact he had never realized before.
Yuuki Takada looked at Miwako Sato, whose head was still bowed, and his gaze fell on her fingers, which were tightly gripping the hem of her clothes.
Her fingertips, white from the force of her grip, betrayed the tension beneath her feigned indifference.
Yuki Takada began to explain, "Miwako, I never..."
"You have."
Sato Miwako suddenly raised her head, her eyes slightly red, but her gaze stubbornly fixed on his.
"In Takada-senpai's eyes, I am probably just a reasonably capable junior."
"A colleague you can investigate cases with and work overtime with, right?"
"When the mission is over, a simple 'thank you for your hard work' is enough to send you on your way. But when danger arises, you will rush to protect anyone without hesitation."
Including me, but that's only because you're a police officer, a senior officer, not because...that person is me.
Miwako Sato spoke much faster, as if she had finally found the words she had been holding back for a long time:
"Last time on the Shinkansen train, you almost died on that exploding Shinkansen train while trying to save me, and you even laughed and said it was nothing."
Sato Miwako lowered her head again, her voice trembling slightly. "There was another time, at the Blues Jazz Bar. If I hadn't been injured that time, I would be very grateful to you, Takada-senpai, for that."
But you seemed completely unconcerned, and the next day you acted as if nothing had happened, assigning me new tasks and discussing the case with me.
In Takada-senpai's world, work responsibilities are more important than anything else, and someone like me... is I easily replaceable and relegated to the unimportant category?
Yuuki Takada looked at her silently.
The waves crashed against the beach again and again, making a loud splashing sound, which only made the silence between the two of them seem even more heavy.
Yuuki Takada recalled many scenes from the past: her serious profile when she stayed up all night organizing case files, and her courage in facing the criminal without flinching.
Occasionally, he would show subtle expressions that were inconsistent with his usual capable image... He always thought that they were tacit partners and comrades-in-arms who could entrust each other with their backs.
Yuki Takada never considered what kind of delicate yet turbulent emotions might be hidden beneath this tacit understanding and trust.
“That’s not how it is,” Yuuki Takada finally spoke, his voice much lower than usual.
He raised his hand, seemingly intending to pat her shoulder as usual, to comfort a junior, but his hand remained suspended in mid-air.
In the end, it gently landed on her hand, which was still tightly clutching the hem of her clothes, and the warm palm covered her slightly cool fingers.
Sato Miwako's body trembled slightly, but she did not dodge.
“I have never thought you were unimportant, Miwako.”
Yuuki Takada looked at her, his gaze no longer the gentle one a senior would show to a junior, but rather a complex emotion mirroring the undulating sea before him. He said in a deep voice, "On the contrary... perhaps it's because it's so important that I'm even more afraid."
This time, it was Sato Miwako's turn to be stunned: "Scared?"
"Hmm." Yuuki Takada turned his gaze to the vast ocean, where the moonlight dyed the surface a warm gold, shimmering and somewhat dazzling.
"You know, being a police officer is a dangerous job, full of dangers. I can calmly confront any criminal, but..."
Yuuki Takada sighed softly and looked at her again, his eyes filled with undisguised vulnerability. "But I find that I can't calmly imagine what it would be like if I were to hurt you because of any negligence or misjudgment on my part."
"Therefore, I can only place you in the position of a reliable colleague, which seems to be the safest distance. I can remind myself to hold you to the highest standards and make you stronger, so that perhaps... I can better protect you."
He chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Now it seems like this approach was foolish, and... it seems like it actually hurt you. I'm sorry, Miwako."
As Sato Miwako listened to his words, the grievances and frustrations in her heart seemed to be soothed and melted away little by little by the gentle sea breeze and his honest words.
It turns out that Yuki Takada's indifference was actually another form of being overly concerned.
She felt the warmth from the back of her hand, a warmth that seemed to soothe her heart.
Sato Miwako sniffed softly, lowered her head, and said in a muffled voice with a hint of softness that was barely perceptible: "Senpai is the idiot... a big idiot."
Yuuki Takada watched as she lowered her head again, her hair fluttering gently in the sea breeze, and felt as if something had gently bumped into his heart.
With a slight pressure, Yuuki Takada gently grasped her hand, then pulled it away from the hem of his clothes, but did not let go.
"Yes, I might really be an idiot," he admitted softly, his fingers carefully and tentatively intertwining with hers. "So... now, this clumsy senior wants to ask, is there still a chance to make up for this mistake?"