Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner

The background noise included the sound of a door closing. The two of them instantly realized this recording captured their conversation on the night of Fujiwara Homare's crime.

Minamoto Tamako clenched her fists nervously. This feeling was very peculiar, both expectant and apprehensive, much like checking her answers after her central exams, knowing she scored well, but couldn't resist verifying.

Although it was unclear who sent it, for the case prosecutor, this was undoubtedly the most powerful evidence, perfectly reconstructing what happened on the night of the crime!

...If one had to investigate its source, it might have been some perverted waiter who liked to stealthily record guests' intimate moments and accidentally captured the entire murder process, then anonymously sent the tapes due to guilt.

Of course, this was purely personal speculation.

The tape continued to spin, and a woman's voice emerged from the recorder, presumably Yoshikawa Ritsuo speaking: "No need."

Fujiwara Homare's voice sounded again: "Uh, what's wrong?"

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Don't come over!"

Fujiwara Homare: "Wha-what do you mean? Why are you holding a knife?"

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Did you kill Ryosuke?"

Fujiwara Homare: "You're not drunk? You were pretending? You—you were lying to me just now..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "What else could it be? Where's Ryosuke? What did you do to him?!"

Fujiwara Homare: "Don't get agitated, I didn't do anything! I wasn't the one who killed him!"

"..."

After ten seconds of silence.

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Is he dead?"

Fujiwara Homare: "Uh, probably..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "What do you mean probably?! Tell me clearly! Tell me clearly!"

Fujiwara Homare: "Why are you shouting? Do you know who I am? I'm the sole heir of the Fujiwara family—"

The sound of a knife being drawn was heard.

Fujiwara Homare: "I'll tell you, just put down the knife..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Speak!"

Fujiwara Homare: "It's very complicated, do you know the Aum Truth Sect? He was taken to a place called Cat Island, and then all sorts of things happened... I was taken there too! Don't get agitated! There was chaos everywhere at the time, bullets were flying all over, and he fell to the ground..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Why did they take Ryosuke?"

Fujiwara Homare: "I don't know... They took a lot of people..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "You really don't know?!"

Fujiwara Homare: "I really don't know."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "What happened after he fell? How did he fall? Could he still move?"

Fujiwara Homare: "It seemed like he was shot in the chest, and then he fell to the ground..."

This silence lasted for five minutes, with faint sobbing sounds.

Fujiwara Homare: "Don't cry, why are you crying... If you want to cry, cry outside, it's frustrating to see..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Did he...say anything before he died?"

Fujiwara Homare: "I didn't get to talk to him."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "How could something like this happen... Why...why him of all people?"

Fujiwara Homare: "I really don't know."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Are you hiding something from me?"

Fujiwara Homare: "No."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "You tend to scratch your nose when you lie." This content is hosted at M|V|LE^MPYR.

Fujiwara Homare: "It's just an itchy nose."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Scratching again."

Fujiwara Homare: "I said it's an itchy nose."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Are you going to tell me or not! Tell me or not!!"

Fujiwara Homare: "I'll talk, I'll talk! Don't point the knife at me!!"

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "What's going on!!"

Fujiwara Homare: "It's very complicated, I, I can't explain it clearly..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Take the sobering pills! Quickly!"

Then there was the sound of a medicine bottle rattling, followed by the sound of drinking water. Fujiwara Homare let out a long sigh, burped, likely having drunk enough water, and then said: "Much better."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Then hurry up and tell me!!"

Fujiwara Homare: "I'll tell you, but you can't blame me. This has nothing to do with me."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "You go first."

Fujiwara Homare: "I'm sure you'll suspect I'm lying after I tell you."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "No, I won't! Just hurry up and tell me!"

Fujiwara Homare: "Alright, that Aum Truth Sect thinks I have a talent for spiritual practice, so they strongly urged me to join. They have a special initiation ceremony, which is to kill someone you hate..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "Do you hate Ryosuke?"

Fujiwara Homare: "A little, but it's not important. I hate Minister Suzuki more, but they only grabbed Ryosuke..."

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "So you killed him?!"

Fujiwara Homare: "No! I already said no!"

Yoshikawa Ritsuo: "You got him caught!"

Fujiwara Homare: "What did I say? What did I say! This has nothing to do with me! If I wanted to beat up Ryosuke, I'd have done it long ago, okay? Why wait until now?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yoshikawa Ritsuo broke down and cried, her speech becoming slurred.

Fujiwara Homare cried out in surprise, and a fierce scuffle broke out. The only thing audible on the tape was Fujiwara Homare's shouting, "Don't do this! Don't do this!"

The noise became increasingly chaotic, accompanied by Yoshikawa Ritsuo's screams. Fujiwara Homare only shouted "No, no, no", "Stop", "Are you crazy"... After about four or five minutes of screaming, all the noise abruptly stopped, leaving only furtive whispers.

"Please... help me..."

"No way... absolutely not..."

"I really can't hold on anymore..."

"I can't do it... I just can't."

"I believe you..."

"Don't do this, I, I lied... I'm the one who killed the person... It's okay if you hate me, even if you hate me..."

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"How can it not matter? Don't you want revenge for Ryosuke?"

"Will revenge bring him back? I just want to see him one more time..."

Afterwards, the voices got lower and softer, like a couple whispering to each other, the tape noise even drowned out their conversation.

Minamoto Tamako pressed her ear to the tape recorder, unable to hear what they were saying.

Four or five minutes later, there was a dull thud, sounding like a sharp blade piercing a body. Minamoto Tamako was instantly stunned. She turned around to look at Fushimi Roku, who was equally surprised.

This was not the same as Fujiwara Homare's statement.

Minamoto Tamako clearly remembered Fujiwara Homare claiming Yoshikawa Ritsuo did not believe his explanation, verbally accusing him, which led him to angrily kill Yoshikawa Ritsuo in a fit of rage.

But judging from the recording, Fujiwara Homare did not seem to be in an 'angry' state when he killed Yoshikawa Ritsuo; the latter did not seem to pursue whether Fujiwara Homare was lying or not, nor did she blame Fujiwara Homare for it—they seemed to have reached some kind of deal while whispering.

Minamoto Tamako even began to suspect that Yoshikawa Ritsuo had committed suicide.

"Mr. Fu Jian... what do you think?" She stuttered nervously, fearing her first case would turn out to be a wrongful conviction.

"What do you mean, what do I think?" Fushimi Roku feigned ignorance.

"What did they say in the end? Listening to Yoshikawa Ritsuo's tone, it felt like she didn't want to live..." Minamoto Tamako's hands trembled: "But why? If Yoshikawa Ritsuo committed suicide, why would Fujiwara Homare hide it? If it wasn't suicide, then what really happened that night..."

"It probably wasn't suicide," Fushimi Roku reminded her: "The knife was stabbed in from the back of the deceased."

"Oh right, then why would Fujiwara Homare kill Yoshikawa Ritsuo? There's absolutely no reason! He had taken a sobering pill and was completely sober at the time, and Yoshikawa Ritsuo didn't intend to hold him accountable... Why did he have to kill!"

Minamoto Tamako frantically shook the tape recorder back and forth, wishing she could dive inside and become part of the tape, so she could clearly hear what the two were babbling about.

"It might not have been a sobering pill," Fushimi Roku reminded again: "Maybe he took the wrong one, like a sleeping pill."

"True! That's why he collapsed on the bed and wouldn't wake up afterward..."

Minamoto Tamako looked anxious: "But that still doesn't explain why Fujiwara Homare would lie! I've already submitted the case files... Damn it, how can he deceive in the interrogation?!"

Fushimi Roku leaned on the sofa, scratched his chin, thought carefully, and vaguely came to a guess. He had experienced something similar once before and pondered whether to reveal it.

Weighing the pros and cons in his mind, he concluded that revealing it had more benefits. He turned and asked, "Do you want to know why?"

"You've deduced it?" Minamoto Tamako's pupils dilated.

She initially thought she had finally surpassed Mr. Fu Jian once, but she never expected to be overtaken again. She was only on the first level, Fujiwara Homare on the second, and Mr. Fu Jian on the third...

"Probably." Fushimi Roku thought he was close.

"What exactly happened?" Minamoto Tamako quickly sat up straight, looking serious, silently praying that the prosecutor hadn't started to file charges yet.

"Stamp it for me first." Fushimi Roku seized the opportunity to gain an advantage.

"But you didn't even go to work today! My super rewards are only for diligent people!" Minamoto Tamako was furious. Losing her Rabbit Coin was bad enough, and now she had to stamp for this guy. She felt very unbalanced and immediately refused firmly.

"You're the one who told me to rest at home. I'm trying to recover my spirit. Isn't that a form of effort? Do only the efforts you approve count as effort? That's too domineering, isn't it?" Fushimi Roku turned over, lying sideways on the sofa: "If you don't want to stamp it, forget it. Anyway, I don't have a stamp today, so don't expect me to investigate anything."

Minamoto Tamako thought to herself, no assistant is needed to deduce the truth!

She crossed her arms, pouted, sat on the sofa, pondering deeply for a long time, but couldn't figure out any results.

Feeling helpless, she could only hang her head in frustration and stamped with a face full of unwillingness and grievance, reluctantly showing it to Fushimi Roku: "Stamped, are you satisfied now?"

Fushimi Roku nodded, thinking that at this rate, he might collect enough stamps in a week.

Now that he had been paid, he didn't intend to withhold the conclusion any longer and asked, resting his chin on his hand: "Do you remember Fujiwara Homare asking you a strange question during the interrogation?"

Minamoto Tamako recalled for a long time, finding no suspicion: "I don't remember, did he ask any strange question?"

"Yes."

Fushimi Roku recited verbatim: "He said, 'Do you also believe in Christ?'"