Hearing Ren Kuroda's seemingly casual remark, Hinano froze mid-motion, even forgetting she'd been pushing him back.
"Wait… how do you know that? Don't tell me this has something to do with you?"
Up until now, she had only thought of Ren as a student who wandered onto the scene. But after hearing what he just said, her expression sharpened with suspicion.
It wasn't surprising. To prevent the public from panicking, they had completely suppressed information about the incident.Yet Ren—neither an insider nor someone who had seen the victim—described the corpse's condition with disturbing precision.
Highly suspicious.
Sure, he looked refined and polite, tall, clean-cut, and harmless…
But wasn't it always the gentle, handsome, well-mannered guy in detective novels who turned out to be the psychopath?
"Detective, relax. If I were really involved, do you think I'd carelessly increase suspicion on myself in front of you?"
Watching her stiff posture and clumsy movements, Ren immediately realized he'd chosen the wrong person to talk to.This girl was clearly a rookie.
Were police recruitment standards really this low now? Or had the examiner simply been smitten by her athletic looks?
Competition for jobs was fierce these days. A cute girl like her, even if she relied on nothing but her face, would still attract plenty of applicants.
Honestly, if this incident hadn't happened right outside his house—and if his system hadn't issued a mission—Ren would never have bothered getting involved.
But since it happened here, it meant a rule-breaker had appeared in the neighborhood.One who was already attacking humans.
Ren wasn't scared for himself.But his mother and sister often walked these streets. It would be bad if something happened to them.
In modern society, yokai and other nonhuman beings had become rare. Times had changed, their habitats had shrunk, and humans were now the undeniable protagonists of the era.Against weapons of modern destructive power, even the most famous demons could hardly survive.
Demons existed because humans feared them, just as gods relied on believers. Without that, they slowly faded away.
And in this age, people hardly believed demons existed at all—let alone feared them.So the few yokai who remained had long accepted that humans ruled the world and began blending into society.
However, in every group, there were always those who refused to adapt—malcontents who believed weak humans were unworthy of dominating the world.
These troublemaking yokai were collectively called "calamities", because they acted purely on instinct, bringing disaster wherever they went.
The demon responsible this time was undoubtedly one such calamity—a calamity yokai.
"So? Explain how you knew the victim was torn apart. And don't even think about lying. I'm professionally trained—I can spot deception instantly.This is just like detective novels: high-IQ criminals love to do the opposite of expectations to clear suspicion. The darkest place hides them best."
The girl spoke confidently, thoroughly convinced she had exposed Ren's schemes.
Unfortunately, her deductions were entirely her own fantasy—pieced together from clichés in mystery novels—and collapsed the moment logic touched them.
Ren was once again speechless. He could reluctantly acknowledge her "high IQ," but hearing her claim professionalism…
Yeah. He'd reserve judgment.
To him, this girl's reasoning was on par with a certain perpetually sleepy movie-set detective—and that guy was also "professional."
As Ren suspected, Hinano was just a trainee assistant officer, and this was her first major case. Getting to participate had filled her with enthusiasm since morning.
Unfortunately, despite her eagerness, her captain had only assigned her to maintaining order at the perimeter.
But talent always finds a way to shine—at least in her mind—and with her glorious one month of "professional" experience, she had decided the young man before her was absolutely a suspect.
"Kujou! What are you standing around for? Do you still want to become a full officer? If you're done loitering, hurry up and get over here for evidence notes!"
Ren was just about to continue arguing with this voluptuous but intellectually tragic young woman when a middle-aged man with a mustache and a cigarette dangling from his mouth shouted at her.
From a distance, Ren watched Kujou Hinano flail through an explanation to her senior before being forced to run over.
"Kid," the mustached detective said, approaching him, "how do you know how the victim died? Did you know the deceased? Or did you witness something?"
This man was clearly experienced—unlike the rookie who had instantly declared Ren a suspect after executing several rounds of bizarre mental gymnastics.
The reason was simple: this was the third similar case this month.The previous two occurred in other districts, but this time, the crime scene was right here in Ukiyo-chō.
The victims were always the same—gruesomely mangled, their bodies appearing as though gnawed apart by something.
Forensics from previous cases had even suggested the killer might not be human at all, but some kind of wild creature.
So upon seeing Ren, the mustached detective didn't misidentify him as a suspect like Hinano did.Besides, the victim had been a sturdy adult man. A lightly built student like Ren would stand no chance physically.
Still—the way this kid knew the method of death without seeing the body definitely raised questions.
"I know what killed him," Ren replied, "but I doubt you have the means to handle it."
The moment he arrived, Ren had sensed—beyond the faint hint of demonic aura—the rank stench permeating the area.
Ordinary humans wouldn't notice it.But Ren's sense of smell was dozens of times sharper than average. To him, it was pungent and unmistakable.
"A sewer rat… scrawny as ever, yet still daring enough to cause trouble in my territory."
Walking casually toward the corpse under the white sheet, Ren lifted the cloth and took a look. One glance at the shredded body confirmed his suspicions.
"Hey, kid! Who said you could just walk around? And what the hell did you just say?Sure, Ukiyo-chō isn't exactly the safest area, but we're all authorized to carry firearms. As long as we're not dealing with an armed militant, we can handle it!"
The mustached detective initially seemed ready to scold Ren for lifting the sheet and talking big.
But when he saw how calmly Ren examined the mangled corpse—without even a flicker of discomfort—the words died in his throat.
(Author's note: Hinano isn't the main heroine. I get that many people dislike weak and trouble-prone female characters, but lots of anime include them so you can enjoy watching them grow stronger (╯﹏╰).The main heroine probably won't be human—meaning she's not an ordinary human girl. Whether she ends up being a Jorōgumo, a Yuki-onna, or a kitsune is still under consideration…)