The laughter and excitement that should have filled Tropical Land had been replaced by the wail of police sirens.
Several patrol cars from the MPD sped into the park, and detectives from First Division Violent Crimes Section Two stepped out, dressed in formal suits and wearing grim expressions.
The middle-aged man at the front, clad in a brown suit, tugged at his tie and frowned.
"Date-kun has already arrived at the scene, right?"
"Yes. When we contacted him, he happened to be at the amusement park. He was apparently on a date with his girlfriend."
The man gave a wry smile and shook his head.
"A date, huh? That kid really has terrible luck. Nakamura, contact the Information Division and have them monitor social media. Make sure no photos from the crime scene get leaked."
"Yes, Inspector Higo!"
Inside the roller coaster area, the metallic scent of blood mingled with the smell of vomit.
Several ordinary employees with average mental fortitude had witnessed the headless corpse up close. Unable to suppress the nausea rising from their stomachs, they rushed aside and vomited repeatedly.
A long-haired woman wearing a red dress with a black wool shawl was sobbing in another girl's arms.
"Why... why did something like this happen to Kishida?! Waaaah!"
Having already experienced quite a few murder cases, Ran wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and looked worriedly toward Shinichi, who had just finished helping the staff block off the entrance and keep waiting guests away.
Meanwhile, Wataru was examining the body.
His gaze shifted toward the pitch-black tunnel.
The killer must have acted when the roller coaster entered the darkness. In that case, the victim's head was probably still somewhere inside the tunnel.
But...
His eyes settled on the neatly severed neck.
What kind of method could the killer have used to decapitate someone so cleanly and precisely?
Standing in a corner, Gin lowered the brim of his hat as much as possible. Taking the handkerchief Vodka handed him, he wiped away the blood that had splattered onto his clothing.
"Hmph. What an unlucky bastard."
He pulled out his phone and dialed Ritsu.
"Where are you?"
Having heard the police sirens long ago, Ritsu had already withdrawn to a vending machine some distance away from the crime scene. He inserted a coin and pressed the button for canned coffee.
"The MPD isn't mine to command. You want me to openly pull a suspect like you out of there? I'm not capable of that."
Gin's expression darkened. Both he and Vodka were carrying firearms. If the police decided to conduct body searches, things would become troublesome.
"Augier, we're on the same boat."
Hearing the threat, Ritsu remained unfazed. "Relax. I won't let the police take you away. That's because I've already heard someone's voice."
Thanks to the listening device, Ritsu had successfully overheard the conversation between Wataru and Shinichi.
With those two working together, they wouldn't immediately arrest Gin and Vodka as suspicious individuals.
At the same time, he couldn't be certain whether the endlessly curious Shinichi would set his sights on the pair, who looked suspicious no matter how one looked at them.
If Shinichi got any ideas, he could always call and stop him.
"Someone's voice?"
"Yeah. The high school detective I mentioned before, the incredibly curious Kudo Shinichi."
Gin glanced coldly at the boy helping disperse the crowd.
"Hmph. It'd better be."
Then he hung up.
A staff member looked at the increasingly restless crowd of onlookers. After receiving a call from upper management, he approached Wataru, who was inspecting the roller coaster seats.
"Officer, this was just an accident, right? Can we disperse everyone now?"
"An accident?"
Wataru swept the man with an icy gaze. "How does this look like an accident? This is clearly a murder case. And the killer is one of the seven people who rode the roller coaster together with the victim."
"M-Murder?!"
The staff member's face turned pale. Clearly, he wasn't accustomed to this sort of thing. His eyes cautiously drifted toward Gin and Vodka standing in the corner.
'If anyone could do something like this, it had to be those two, right?'
As he was about to voice his theory, a commotion erupted near the entrance.
"Excuse us! Please let us through! Sorry, please let us in!"
Escorted by Officer Nakamura and amusement park employees, Inspector Soichiro Higo appeared in everyone's view, already wearing white gloves.
The moment Wataru saw him, he immediately stood and saluted.
"Inspector, you've arrived!"
Shinichi leaned closer to Wataru and whispered, "Who's that old guy?"
"He's Inspector Soichiro Higo of First Division Section Two, my superior."
Wataru didn't continue chatting. Instead, he stepped forward and reported the information he had gathered so far, reducing the workload for the forensic team.
After hearing the report, Higo immediately reached a conclusion.
With a sweep of his hand, he declared, "Everyone except the seven people who rode with the victim is to leave immediately. Anyone who refuses will be treated as interfering with police duties!"
The spectators who had been enjoying the spectacle quickly dispersed.
Quite a few ill-mannered individuals even muttered insults about Higo behind his back as they left.
Wataru's eyes landed on the two men dressed in black. Quietly moving closer to Higo, he whispered,
"Inspector, should we have the officers search everyone's belongings?"
"Mm. Let's do that."
Listening through the bug, Ritsu's expression immediately changed. He pulled out his phone and prepared to make a call, but a sudden shout interrupted him.
"Inspector! I found this inside this lady's handbag!!!"
Nakamura held up a kitchen knife wrapped in white cloth that he had recovered from the purse of the victim's girlfriend, Aiko Maruta.
More importantly, blood had already soaked through the cloth, staining it red.
Aiko, who had been quietly grieving until now, stumbled backward in shock.
"N-No way! I've never seen that thing before!"
"Aiko! Why would you do something like this?!"
Nagashima Hitomi, dressed in a purple cardigan, stared at her in disbelief and loudly demanded an explanation.
"N-No! It wasn't me!"
"I thought you and Kishida had a great relationship! Why would this happen?!"
The voices coming through the listening device made Ritsu breathe a sigh of relief.
Nakamura had done well. Otherwise, things could have become quite troublesome.
Wataru's gaze settled on the kitchen knife in Nakamura's hands. Rather than increasing Aiko's suspicion, it actually made him rule her out.
Earlier, he had barely paid attention to the three women. After all, the victim had been decapitated with a sharp weapon. Such a feat required tremendous strength, something an average woman generally couldn't accomplish.
But after seeing the kitchen knife, Wataru finally realized something.
The murder had never been possible through human strength alone. The killer had used the roller coaster itself.
And if that was the case, then any of the three women could have committed the crime.
Shinichi, crouching down to tie his shoelaces, reached the same conclusion. His eyes locked onto the long-haired woman whose tear tracks ran sideways across her face.
It reminded him of the tear that had landed on his face before the murder occurred. At first, he had assumed it was simply a tear shed from fear during the roller coaster ride.
But now...
It seemed more like a tear shed in advance because she already knew the victim was about to die.
'Wait!'
Shinichi's eyes widened as he looked at the woman's neck. If he remembered correctly, she had originally been wearing a necklace.
Which meant—
'I see. So that's how she killed Kishida.'
Seeing that the murder weapon had been found, Vodka impatiently spoke up.
"Hey! If you've already found the weapon, then that woman is obviously the killer, right?! Hurry up and let us go, Officer!"
Gin silently looked toward the two women.
When he noticed the tear tracks and the missing necklace, the corners of his lips curved upward beneath the lowered brim of his hat.
His gaze shifted to the high school detective Ritsu had mentioned before. Walking over, he looked down at him from above.
"Hey. Hurry up and solve the case. We don't have time to stand around here playing detective games with you."
Shinichi turned around and met Gin's snake-like, icy stare. His pupils contracted sharply.
'W-What kind of eyes are those?'
'Why do they look like the eyes of someone who's killed countless people without a second thought?'
'Who... exactly is this man?!'
Forcing himself to remain calm, Shinichi stood up. A strained smile appeared on his face as he met Gin's gaze head-on.
"Heh. This isn't a detective game. It's deduction."
"Shinichi..."
Ran frowned worriedly. Those two men dressed in black didn't look like good people at all.
'Could they cause trouble for Shinichi?'
Gin hadn't expected the boy to maintain eye contact even while he was releasing killing intent.
'Just as Augier had said. A courageous young man overflowing with justice and curiosity. Tch.'
Put those three traits together, they looked like an omen of a short life.
"Officer, Aiko-san isn't the killer. The real culprit—"
With one hand in his pocket, Shinichi raised the other and pointed at the long-haired girl whose face still bore traces of tears.
"The killer is you, Hitomi-san!"
----
bonus chap every 20 PS
read ahead on my [email protected]/Siamus404