Bizarre Suicide Case

"The deceased was named Aragi Mako, 28 years old, and lived in this villa with a woman named Kodani Yayoi, who worked as a photographer."

As Takagi spoke, he pushed open the villa's door.

What comes into view is an exquisitely decorated living room with a minimalist black and white color scheme.

It's a little worse than the Suzuki family, but not by much.

After all, in Fujino's eyes, there was no difference between the villas of these rich and powerful families.

Fujino surveyed the luxurious living room, then turned to Takagi and asked, "By the way, has a murder ever happened here before?"

"How did you know, Detective Fujino?"

Takagi seemed somewhat surprised. "A murder did happen here a year ago. The victim died in the living room."

"I guessed."

Fujino chuckled softly.

Even renting a villa like this would definitely cost a considerable amount of money.

Logically speaking, if they're sharing an apartment, their financial situation must be quite precarious, making it impossible for them to afford a villa like this.

But if a murder had occurred here, that would be a different story.

"Ms. Hiroya, who shared an apartment with the victim Ms. Araki, went to a photographer's retreat two days ago and only returned this morning."

Takagi led Fujino up the stairs to the second floor. "But when she came back in the morning, she found that Ms. Araki's bedroom door was locked. After knocking and asking questions without success, she felt that something was wrong and called the police."

"Did Miss Honggu call the police immediately after discovering the door was locked and after her calls went unanswered?"

Fujino interrupted.

That's right.

After thinking for a moment, Takagi continued, "After receiving the report, at about 9:15 in the morning, the nearby patrol officers arrived at the villa. After forcibly breaking down the bedroom door, they found Ms. Araki's body lying on the floor in front of them."

Upon hearing this, Fujino couldn't help but twitch his chin.

Generally speaking, after finding the door locked, the normal behavior should be that the bedroom owner has left the room.

But how exactly was Kodani Yayoi able to confirm that Aragi Mako was in trouble...?

Just guessing?

The two then arrived at the bedroom door where the crime scene was located.

Wearing white gloves, Takagi pushed open the door.

What comes into view is a bedroom that doesn't quite look like a girl's.

From Fujino's perspective, the only thing that made her seem like a girl was that her room was clean and odorless.

Aragi Mako's bedroom is neither large nor small, about 30 or 40 square meters.

Directly opposite the bedroom entrance are two brown leather armchairs. In front of the sofas is a small table that serves as a coffee table. The coffee table is made of wood, and on its glass surface sits a solitary ashtray.

The ashtray is made of glass, and inside it are scattered cigarette butts from two different brands.

Turning my gaze, I looked towards the other side of the room.

The first thing you see is a window. At the far end of the room to the left of the window is a large gray wooden bed. To the left of the bed, facing the entrance, is a wooden wardrobe that is nearly two meters long.

Directly opposite the large bed, at the far left of the window, is a wooden writing desk.

The victim in this case was lying in front of the desk next to the chair.

Inside the small bedroom, besides the slightly cramped furniture, there were also many Forensic Science Division officers in blue uniforms who were rushing around conducting an on-site investigation.

Among the many figures in blue, one wearing a beige suit stood out.

"Officer Sato!"

"Fujino- kun, you've arrived."

Hearing the familiar voice, Sato Miwako turned around and saw Fujino wearing a suit vest.

"So, the victim was shot and killed?"

Fujino stepped forward, glanced at the body lying on the ground, and then asked Sato Miwako about the victim's condition.

"That's right. According to the preliminary deduction by the Forensic Science Division, the cause of death was indeed a gunshot wound."

Sato Miwako replied, "But whether it was a bullet fired by that gunman will need to be taken back to the police station for testing to determine."

Is that so?

Fujino continued, "I remember Inspector Megure mentioned on the phone earlier that this case was a bit strange. What exactly is strange about it?"

"The body's position is normal; it slid off the chair in front of the desk. The doors and windows are locked. Normally, this case could be closed as a suicide..."

Strangely, the muzzle of the gun on Ms. Araki's head was on the left side, while the hand holding the gun was her right, and no key to lock the door was found in her room.

"Key?"

Listening to Sato Miwako's description, Fujino said in surprise, "Normally, shouldn't doors have a knob for locking from the inside?"

"Normally that's how it is, but this villa is quite old, and the doors don't have an inside locking mechanism; they can only be locked with a key..."

"So I think this case may be an armed robbery. After being discovered by Ms. Araki, the murderer panicked and shot her, then disguised the crime scene as a locked-room suicide and fled the scene in a hurry."

After a pause, Sato Miwako looked at Takagi Wataru: "But Takagi always felt that something was strange, so Inspector Megure asked you Fujino- kun, to come and take a look."

Upon hearing this, Takagi scratched the back of his head sheepishly, looking embarrassed. "I just feel that since it was a robbery that killed someone, the murderer shouldn't have let go of Ms. Araki's obviously valuable watch."

"That's why I said it was a scene set up by the murderer in a panic."

Sato Miwako breathed a sigh of relief. "Not only did they get the gun barrel wrong, they even took the key to this room with them."

"But since he was shot, the people around him must have heard something, right?"

At this moment, Fujino, who had been listening in, suddenly asked a question.

"The preliminary estimate of Ms. Araki's time of death is around 11 p. m. last night."

Takagi Wataru replied, "I remember there was a fireworks display around here around that time last night. The gunshots must have been masked by the fireworks..."

Was it a murder disguised as a suicide?

Upon hearing this, Fujino murmured and slowly walked towards the windowsill.

Is it really just a robbery case, as Sato Miwako said?

But something just doesn't feel right.

Since the system released a bizarre suicide case instead of a robbery and murder case, there must be something fishy about this case.

Thinking it over, Fujino put on white gloves and went to the windowsill.

After confirming that the window was locked from the inside, he turned around and looked at the writing desk in front of the chair where Aragi Mako had been sitting before she collapsed.

In the center of the writing desk was an open leather notebook...

Upon close inspection, traces of pages being torn can be found in the seams of the book.

Furthermore, a rather high-end-looking fountain pen was inserted in the pen holder on the left side of the notebook.

Turning his gaze away, Fujino slowly walked to the body, bent down slightly, and began to examine Aragi Mako's corpse.

Aragi Mako was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and white casual pants. Her age was consistent with what Takagi had said. Judging from her appearance, she was probably between twenty and thirty years old. She wasn't particularly stunning, but she had a mature beauty.

However, the crimson flower blooming on her left temple shattered this sense of beauty...