Chapter 75

Once again, Detective Chikage showed up at the hospital room. Apparently her purpose was to exchange contact information with me. She said it was too much trouble to keep going through other people every single time.

After the contact exchange was finished, she poked at her smartphone while half-watching the television.

What was on now was news about Ms. Hasegawa's case. A report that the woman who worked part-time at a nearby department store had been arrested in connection with the incident. It was about Haruki.

At that news, Detective Chikage pursed her lips like a duck and muttered in dissatisfaction.

"If only I'd been a bit healthier, we could've caught the culprit. Is there still a chance? To prove Haruki's crime... or else..."

In the middle of it, she glanced at me once. She must have thought I would investigate and solve the riddle myself, and her competitive spirit was burning. It was extremely awkward. I shifted my feet back, wanting to flee.

Then, as luck would have it, a call came in. The number belonged to Detective Akaba. Saying "I'll take this call" to Detective Chikage, I stepped out into the corridor. She seemed to think "It's fine even if I stay right here," but there was a reason I couldn't tell her the truth.

"Hello... Detective Akaba, right?"

"Yeah. There's something I want to ask about the previous case—do you have a moment?"

"Yes... what is it?"

"Why did you say that when Mr. Uchima died, he died because of you? Did Ms. Hasegawa realize it...? I didn't hear that part of the reasoning. When you told me about it the other day."

"Oh, did I not mention it...? Come to think of it, maybe I skipped it..."

It was a gloomy topic. If there was a reason I hadn't spoken of it, I figured it was because my heart was still dominated by it.

Admitting my own mistake had been painful.

"So, why was it?"

"Ms. Hasegawa was the very first to approach Mr. Uchima. That's probably when she noticed the reason Detective Akaba started doubting the suicide... remember? There was nothing laced with pesticide on the table..."

"Yeah. That's why we began investigating. Could Ms. Hasegawa have taken it?"

"Well, rather than took it, it might have slipped into her own clothes without her noticing. She realized later it was there, and inside it was poison or something... maybe that poison wasn't meant for Uchima to drink... maybe it was meant for Haruki... once you think that far, you notice the mistake you committed."

"Ah... so once the pouch got overturned, you realized Uchima wouldn't have had to die."

Exactly. If only at that moment I had stopped Ms. Hasegawa. If, like a detective, I'd valued preserving the scene and shouted "Don't touch the body!" Ms. Hasegawa might not have died.

It was maddening. Agonizing. Every time I bit into that fact, I clenched my teeth against my lip.

"Is that... all?"

"Ah, just one more thing, sorry. About Mr. Uchima... the food-poisoning bacteria he brought, it shows up quickly if you leave raw fish lying around... so the difficulty of obtaining it is probably low... but why did he choose that?"

"Why, you ask..."

"Ah... that was a hard question to follow, wasn't it. If the police figured out that the bacteria detected from Mr. Uchima came from fish, they'd realize he was the culprit behind the food-poisoning scare, right?"

"Ah... after the crime, he probably didn't mind being found out. Even if it came out... if someone died in the shop, customers would stay away, or if the food-poisoning traced to his own place caused trouble with other stores... he only needed not to be caught by the police until then... after the hospital tests, I think all his goals would already be met."

"I-I see. So he thought his sister would be avenged by that kind of revenge, huh."

"I don't think she'll be avenged at all. His sister is probably still alive... after she wakes up, how will she feel about losing her brother and his friends—or maybe people precious to her—because of his revenge..."

"It's someone else's problem, after all. Try not to dwell on it too much. Detectives and police can't do their jobs if they think about that all the time... though you aren't a detective."

"Y-yeah... just an ordinary citizen."

Someone else's problem, huh.

No, that's wrong.

I hung up and went back to the hospital room, stealing a glance at Detective Chikage. She seemed to be posting her thoughts to SNS with a smiling face while watching TV. Apparently she could be discharged soon.

She noticed my return and spoke up.

"Ah, hey—! About this case... you didn't happen to see the truth and were just talking to Detective Akaba about it, right?"

Why is her intuition only sharp at times like this? I thought that, but I mustn't let her realize she'd hit the mark. I answered with a natural, wry laugh.

"No way. Even I have one or two cases I can't solve. I'm not a detective; the one or two I solved before were just flukes."

"R-right! You can't beat a pro like me! Lately, well, you've been solving so many cases I've been in a bit of a slump."

"Probably that slump... will last forever..."

"Did you say something!?"

"No, nothing!"

Oops, my tongue slipped and she glared at me.

Right, that's enough. It's best if she can laugh, get angry, and cry like an ordinary person.

I must never say it.

The fact that Ms. Hasegawa had protected her. If only she hadn't accidentally committed murder. If only she hadn't dropped the sugar from the pouch.

What had been inside the powdered cheese she'd tasted was pesticide-laced sugar. In that case, her own life could have been in danger.

Ms. Hasegawa, who took her own life out of remorse for that crime.

If Detective Chikage learned the whole truth, she probably wouldn't stay sane. I know, unexpectedly, how fragile she is. She might grieve over having thrust herself forward as a detective. It could become a lifelong trauma.

So I asked the police not to reveal the truth. Thanks to the fox-eyed female detective accepting my request, the culprit's name never appeared in the news.

I also asked Detective Akaba to tell Detective Chikage that this case hadn't been solved. I have to thank the fox-eyed detective again.

Because of my grief, the Retaliation Café Murder Case officially went cold.

Until the day Detective Chikage fully understands and accepts the murder of Ms. Hasegawa, who has passed away. Until she grows strong enough to keep living.

This heartbreakingly sad case is better left sealed in darkness.