~
"It was only a guess."
Akitani Reiko asked Fujino, "I heard Kawabe has already woken up. Didn't the police question her?"
"She did wake up."
Fujino flipped through his notebook. "But... the blast injured her head, and she seems to have lost all her memories. That's what the police handbook says."
"She has amnesia...?"
"Yeah. It's perfectly normal. She was very close to the explosion, after all."
Fujino explained, "Her back was against a wall, and the blast sent the back of her head straight into it. The fact that she survived was already a blessing. Losing her memory was practically the best possible outcome."
As he spoke, he took out an evidence bag and showed it to Akitani Reiko. "There's also this. It was found at the scene. It's very likely a clue left behind by the culprit, who may be planning a series of crimes."
"Part of a flute...?"
Akitani Reiko looked at the piece of flute in the evidence bag. Her expression suddenly changed, and her eyes darted to the side, as if something in her memories had been stirred. She fell into thought.
"Did you remember anything?"
"No."
Fujino narrowed his eyes slightly, noticing that. Akitani Reiko answered, then took a thermos from her bag beside her. She unscrewed the lid and took a sip, seemingly to calm herself. "I only remembered something unrelated to this case."
"Is that so?"
Fujino did not press her further.
But after studying her profile, he suddenly reminded her, "If you're drinking tea, it's best to use a transparent thermos with a lock. These kinds of thermoses aren't very safe."
"Not safe?"
"Yeah."
Fujino pondered for a moment. "And I suggest smelling it before drinking, to check whether it has any strange odors. Something like an almond scent."
"Why?"