People Like This Usually Don't Live Past Tonight

Outside the Ogata Family home in the suburbs of Tokyo.

Fujino stood at the doorway, his gaze sweeping over the courtyard before him, his eyes slightly narrowed.

From the outside, this courtyard is in the style of a Japanese-style room, with an overall wooden building that has a Japan retro feel.

From Fujino's perspective, he seems quite similar to the Tomoaki Araide family.

They seem to be from a wealthy family.

"Sorry to bother you!"

Haruna Yuki called out to the room, "I'm Haruna Yuki who called before."

"They're here!"

A middle-aged woman came in from inside the room to greet him.

However, upon seeing Fujino, she raised an eyebrow and asked in surprise, "Didn't you come alone?"

"I'm Haruna's friend, and I brought her here this time."

Fujino chuckled softly, a hint of doubt flickering in his gaze as he looked at the woman.

The statement "He didn't come alone" is quite interesting.

Generally speaking, this is not the proper way to greet guests; it seems rather odd...

Could it be that they're planning to kill her?

Fujino thought about it and felt that the Beika people might be capable of doing such a thing.

If that's the case, then he made the right decision to come this time.

After all, Haruna's final payment hasn't been settled yet. If Mika people were to kill her, the remaining 200,000 yen would likely become a bad debt.

Just as Fujino was pondering, a young man wearing a blue shirt and with a middle parting walked out of the room. "Mom, you're in too much of a hurry. You can talk about it later."

The young man's name was Shiro Ogata, the second son of the Ogata Family, and the woman he had just spoken to was Kazuko Ogata, the wife of the current head of the family.

"Since our grandpa is always talking about Miss Haruna, we should naturally give her a proper welcome."

Shiro Ogata seemed somewhat familiar with her, "After all, she's been Grandpa's pillar of support all these years..."

"Grandfather?"

Both Fujino and Haruna were taken aback.

Haruna had considered that the other person might be an older man, but he couldn't possibly be this old...

They're all grandfathers now.

"That makes sense."

Hearing this, Kazuko Ogata nodded and then echoed, "No matter what, we should at least help by offering incense first."

The puzzled two followed the mother and son of the Ogata Family to a shrine in a room inside the house.

On the black wooden niche, there is a Buddha statue, and in front of the Buddha statue, there is a memorial tablet for [Shugo Ogata].

At the top of the memorial tablet are black and white portraits of an elderly man and an elderly woman.

Clearly, this is Japan shrine for the deceased, and the two people in the photo, according to custom, should be a married couple.

Fujino glanced at the shrine. "Is Mr. Akigo already dead?"

"Yes, my father-in-law passed away at the end of last year," Kazuko Ogata replied.

"How so..."

Ogata Haruna looked at the portrait above, appearing both sad and surprised.

Fujino turned to ask, "May I be so bold as to ask how Mr. Akigo passed away?"

"Grandpa passed away due to illness."

Shiro Ogata, who was standing nearby, said, "Speaking of which, even on his deathbed, he was still thinking about Haruna- san."

"Um, Haruna- san."

Kazuko Ogata suddenly looked at Haruna, "My father-in-law must have given you a Music Box before he died, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Qiuwu did give me a Music Box."

Haruna took the Music Box out of the bag and handed it to the other person, "But I really didn't expect that he had already passed away..."

Without offering any words of comfort, Kazuko Ogata took the Music Box and turned it on, appearing somewhat impatient.

As the Music Box was opened, ethereal music began to play, but she seemed somewhat surprised. "This piece is..."

"Spring is coming."

Before she could finish speaking, the sliding door to the room opened, and the head of the family, Tsuneo Ogata, wearing a blue shirt, walked in and recalled, "I remember my mother used to play this piece often."

"Speaking of which, Grandma's name is also Haruna."

Shiro Ogata remarked, "Grandpa must have connected Haruna with Grandma back then. I remember he happily told me that Haruna was back. I hadn't seen him so happy since Grandma passed away three years ago."

"Is that so?"

Upon hearing this, Fujino narrowed his eyes slightly, realizing the whole story.

It seems this case doesn't have much to do with the mistress; it's just that the name Haruna sounds somewhat like the old man's deceased wife, which is why he sees her as a source of comfort...

But if it's just like that, it still feels a bit strange.

This family seems to care a lot about the Music Box.

But judging from the Music Box itself, it's not worth much, so what exactly...?

Just as Fujino was pondering, Ogata Tsuneo, who was standing next to her, looked at Haruna somewhat Tsuneo Ogata and asked, "Excuse me, Ms. Haruna, is there nothing else in the Music Box that my father gave you?"

"Other things?"

Haruna shook her head. "All Mr. Akigo gave me was this Music Box. Did you leave something in this Music Box...?"

"My dad meant stamps or something."

Just then, a man wearing glasses suddenly appeared at the door, saying, "It's one of those stamps that comes in a set of four and is currently worth 200 million yen."

"Brother!"

Shiro Ogata looked at the man with a resentful expression. "What are you talking about?"

"Hmph, you're just taking sides with outsiders."

The man snorted coldly, looking at Haruna Yuki with ill intent, his tone somewhat unpleasant, "I think this woman must have heard about the treasure that Grandpa left behind before he died, which is why she came all this way to steal those stamps."

"Well?!"

Haruna Yuki a little wronged, "But I didn't know anything about treasure or anything like that..."

"Alright, you don't need to argue anymore."

The man interrupted Haruna, "Anyway, I'll take off your vixen mask sooner or later and let everyone see your true colors."

Have you said enough?

At this moment, Fujino couldn't stand it anymore and looked at the man, saying in a deep voice, "Calling someone you've just met a vixen or a thief, don't you think that's very ill-mannered?"

The man was momentarily speechless, then glanced at Fujino and changed the subject, saying, "Who knows if you two, this pair of scoundrels, came here for the treasure?"

"If that's the case, then there's no need for us to continue this conversation."

The client was being bullied, and he himself was also dragged into it. Fujino's face darkened a bit. "We don't know anything about the treasure you're talking about. We're only here to return the Music Box. If this is how you treat your guests, Haruna and I will leave now."

At this point, Fujino's aura surged, and the temperature in the room even dropped considerably. He took two steps forward and said in a deep voice, "But before that, you have to apologize to us first."

"It's nothing..."

At this moment, Haruna also noticed that something was wrong and quickly came over to try to grab Fujino.

"Nen!"

At this moment, Tsuneo Ogata, the head of the family, couldn't stand it anymore and quickly tried to smooth things over. He said to the man named Minoru in a deep voice, "No matter what, she is a guest. Miss Haruna was a friend of your grandfather. What you said is really too much. Apologize at once!"

"Sorry..."

Minoru Ogata said something with a hint of helplessness, then turned and left.

"I'm so sorry, Ren's company hasn't been doing well lately, and he's been speaking very bluntly. Please forgive him."

Tsuneo Ogata sighed and said apologetically, "If it's alright, why don't you two stay here for dinner tonight as an apology for what just happened?"

"Haruna?"

Fujino didn't pay attention to that kind of person, because in his impression, such people usually didn't live past tonight, and instead asked Haruna.

After returning the Music Box, Fujino and Haruna were asked to stay at the Ogata Family for dinner.

After dinner, it started to rain, and the sky gradually darkened.

Fujino originally planned to drive straight home, but Haruna didn't care too much and wanted to stay there for the night.

He, who was pretending to be a fellow traveler, could only call home to tell Akemi Miyano that he would have to spend the night there.

The sound of rain pattering in from outside drifted into the room through the paper sliding door.

Fujino lay on the futon on the tatami floor, his hands behind his head, feeling somewhat annoyed.

There is no air conditioning in this Japanese-style room in the courtyard. The only thing in the room is a fan, which, like a decoration, does not dispel the damp and stuffy feeling.

Furthermore, the old electric fan was very noisy, and the buzzing sound made the already noisy environment even noisier.

Actually, none of this is a big deal. With Fujino's patience, he can get through it.

The key is...

His room was the same one with the shrine that had been there before!

Fujino glanced at the shrine in the corner of the room, his expression somewhat strange.

Although he wasn't afraid of ghosts or spirits, sleeping so close to something that resembled someone else's ancestral hall did make him feel a little uneasy.

Fujino sighed, closed her eyes, and tried to distract herself by recalling what had happened at the dinner table.

He didn't have a very good impression of this family.

Tsuneo Ogata was alright, just a little shy. Shiro Ogata was always very polite, but for some reason he always seemed to stare at him and Haruna.

There's a sense of scheming and backstabbing Kazuko Ogata and Minoru Ogata, who is openly targeting her.

Based on the family's reaction, Fujino deduced that they were probably looking for several valuable stamps that Akio had hidden before his death.

The secret of the stamp is most likely hidden inside the Music Box, which is why this family is behaving so strangely.

If that's the case, then those previous messages must have been sent by them as well.

Just now at the dinner table, these people kept pressing Haruna about the stamps, and he, who hadn't said a word, was even dragged into it...

Thinking about it, it makes sense, after all, 200 million yen is a huge sum of money.

"Ah!"

Just as Fujino was pondering, a scream suddenly came from next door.

He looked up and activated Eagle Vision, but frowned, looking somewhat puzzled.

In Hawkeye's world, Haruna's vital signs were still intact, and there was nothing else around that could threaten her.

But why would they scream?

No one died...

With a puzzled look in his eyes, Fujino opened the sliding door next door. "Miss Haruna, what happened?"

"Just now, I saw a dark figure quickly walk to the left in the corridor..."

Haruna huddled in the corner, pointing at the corridor in front of her, looking frightened.

"A shadowy figure?"

Fujino opened the sliding door to the corridor, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

Under the Eagle Eye Vision observation, no signs of life were detected in the surrounding area.

However, it wasn't that nothing was discovered.

Fujino walked to the window and tore off a piece of black paper that had been cut into the shape of an old man.

Then, he looked up at the half-open door outside the window and quickly figured out what was going on.

'This family seems a bit dishonest...'

Fujino thought to himself, then turned around, pulled the fluorescent light on Haruna's ceiling, and comforted her, "It was just a prank."

"Mischief?"

At this moment, Haruna also came to her senses and looked at Fujino with a puzzled expression.

"Um."

Fujino showed the black paper to Haruna. "Miss Haruna, this must be the shape of the thing you just saw, right?"

"That's right! The person I just saw was this shape."

Haruna nodded. "But the figure I just saw was moving."

"It's just a visual illusion created by using light."

Fujino glanced out the corridor window. "The door outside is open. Whenever a car drives by, the headlights will shine in, and as the light shifts, the figure will move accordingly."

"So that's how it is. As expected of Detective Fujino..."

Haruna understood immediately. "But who would make such a joke?"

"From the very beginning, I felt that something was off about this family."

Fujino said in a deep voice, "Their purpose in doing this is probably to prevent you from snooping on the stamps left by Mr. Qiuwu. Those text messages before were probably sent by them as well."

"Well?!"

Haruna was surprised for a moment, then said somewhat dejectedly, "But I didn't want those stamps... I already explained that."

"That's 200 million yen. Some people would kill for that kind of money."

Fujino glanced at Haruna, feeling that this college student was incredibly naive. "Even if you didn't, they still wouldn't believe you had no interest in those two hundred million yen..."

"Excuse me, what happened?!"

Before he could finish speaking, Shiro Ogata rushed over, followed by Kazuko Ogata and Tsuneo Ogata.

"Nothing..."

Fujino glanced at the group but didn't see Minoru Ogata. "Someone stuck a black piece of paper on the glass and startled Haruna- san just now."

"Who on earth would pull such a silly prank..."

Shiro Ogata took the black paper and glanced at it, then suddenly remembered something. "Could it be that my older brother did this?"

"Thinking about it carefully, it seems that you two brothers were also scared by this kind of thing before... But Ren wouldn't make such a low-level joke."

Kazuko Ogata seemed a little dazed. As she spoke, she walked towards the sliding door on the other side of the room and opened it. "I think someone who has lived here before has mentioned experiencing something similar. Could it be that other kids from the neighborhood have broken in and are playing a prank?"

"That might be true..."

Tsuneo Ogata's expression was also somewhat strange.

"Thump!"

Just then, a loud thud was heard as something heavy fell to the ground.

Immediately following was the sound of a string snapping.